Equipment

The Masters Tour Report: Bryson’s club building adventures and Rose’s custom Cleveland wedge

Published

1 month ago

Apr 10, 2026

It’s Masters week at Augusta National. While plenty of players have had their bags locked in for weeks, there have been more than a few notable changes that have surfaced heading into the year’s first major.

Check out our Tour Report from the 2026 Masters

Bryson DeChambeau’s club building adventures

It started on Monday at the Masters Tournament, where Bryson DeChambeau was spotted with lead tape on the top of his Krank Formula Fire fairway wood.

Then on Tuesday, he gave some insight into his current setup and the equipment he’s been testing.

“In South Africa, I was trying wedges,” DeChambeau said in the Masters press room. “So I was going quite a bit down a rabbit hole there and figured a couple cool things out.”

Between his two victories in Singapore and South Africa, DeChambeau had switched from Bettinardi Golf’s HLX 5.0 wedges to the newer 6.0s.

DeChambeau continued, “Then I am working on irons, building irons, building a driver. So we’ll see where it goes, we’ll see where it takes me. All I could say now is, if I don’t put them in the bag, it’s my fault now.”

After that, golf fans were wondering whether they’d see the golf clubs DeChambeau had been building. The wait wasn’t long. On Wednesday, he broke news to ESPN that one of the clubs he has built, a 3D-printed 5-iron, will be in the bag.

Why just the one club, though?

“Because they’re finally ready,” DeChambeau told ESPN.

Then on Thursday, after an opening-round, 4-over 76, he was quizzed again by the media about the process of printing the clubs.

“Prints in eight hours,” DeChambeau said. “Machines in either three or four hours. Then you have to cut grooves in it and do a bunch of other stuff. So you can have something within a day and a half.”

According to DeChambeau, he hit the mystery 5-iron once for his second shot on seven. He was quick to shut down more questions about where and how the club was made.

“That’s a longer conversation,” DeChambeau said. “It’s not for here.”

??? #SHUT DOWN — A reporter asked Bryson DeChambeau if he would want to have a new 3D-printed club ready for the weekend

Bryson: “Pffff… no. It has to be USGA conforming, it’s a whole process you have to go through.” pic.twitter.com/JgRNmsiw4c

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) April 9, 2026

TaylorMade’s fairway dominance

Defending champion Rory McIlroy went back to his older Qi10 3-wood ahead of an opening-round, 5-under 67, instead of the Qi4D he had played earlier in the season. Tied for the first round lead, McIlroy’s fairways were part of the 79 TaylorMade total in play at Augusta.

The newest to be added to a bag was that of Wyndham Clark, who vaulted ted up the leaderboard Friday with a second-round 68. He debuted a Qi4D Tour 3-wood equipped with a Project X Titan shaft.

“Wyndham called me Tuesday night and wanted to fit a 3-wood similar to the driver we fitted,” Adrian Rietveld, senior tour manager at TaylorMade, shared with GolfWRX. “He calls it his draw club. We built a 3-wood in his driver shaft and was able to fit him into a little bit more loft in the titanium Qi4D Tour head. The best thing about that head is that you have all of the weights in the bottom, where you can move the CG around to get it to do what the player desires from a spin and shape bias perspective.

“We did about 45 minutes of work on the range and eventually ended off in the upright setting 1 towards lower. He likes it upright and open. I found the highest lofted 15-degree head on the truck…it’s about 15.2 degrees. Weight is a little bit more forward to hold the spin. He played it in the practice round on Wednesday and it was good to go.”

Harry Hall goes full Phil Mickelson

Harry Hall made his Masters Tournament debut this week, but it didn’t go as planned. After an opening-round, 5-over 77 on Thursday at Augusta National, Hall had a pretty honest assessment of his game.

“I need to get a lot better,” Hall said.

After the blunt judgment of his first round out of the way, Hall went on to add he’s going to try some pretty drastic gear changes for Round 2.

“I’m going to change my driver,” Hall said. He went on to add, “I’m going to put two drivers in play tomorrow, different ones.”

Hall moved into a Ping G440 LST driver at Augusta, after previously playing a TaylorMade Qi4D LS while alternating it with a Titleist GT3 driver this season. It’s a potential combination of big sticks we could see for Friday.

“I fade the driver that I’ve got in the bag at the moment, and I was driving back to the mini just to draw it off the tee on some of these fairways,” Hall said. “When you give up 30 yards, you’re not really being very aggressive.”

It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s gamed double-drivers at the Masters. Famously, Phil Mickelson played a pair of 9.5-degree Callaway Big Bertha Fusion FT-3 drivers. The difference: one was one inch longer (46 instead of 45 inches) and had different weighting to help Mickelson play a draw. With the two-driver strategy in play, Mickelson captured his second Masters title.

But back to Hall, he’s also going to make changes to the bottom end of his bag for Friday’s round. Find it all out here.

Justin Rose’s custom Cleveland wedge

Justin Rose returns to Augusta National for his 21st Masters Tournament. He arrives a year after his closest attempt to winning the green jacket, ending last year’s tournament as runner-up after a heartbreaking defeat to Rory McIlroy in a playoff.

A blast from the past aided Rose’s near success at Augusta National in 2025. He returned to what he knows best, playing a wedge designed off a head that he played for much of his early career.

“It is basically from the mold of the 588 Wide Sole from back in the day, but just current material and legal grooves,” Robert Waters, Tour manager for Srixon/Cleveland Golf, told GolfWRX.

The wider sole was perfect for Rose for the added forgiveness needed on the tighter lies around the greens at Augusta. The higher bounce and flatter overall sole of the wedge also helped with versatility, especially in the bunkers, which feature a different sand compared to other courses on the PGA Tour.

Check out more on the club and the project Cleveland has going on here.

Equipment

Spotted at the PGA Championship: Koepka’s new putter, L.A.B. Golf’s latest prototype and custom Philly gear

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

Aronimink Golf Club takes center stage for the 2026 PGA Championship, as the world’s best, along with America’s top club pros, take on the Donald Ross classic, just outside Philadelphia in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Even on the first official practice day of the championship, there was plenty of gear news and storylines to dive into, with a three-time champion going through an extensive putter testing, as well as new prototype putters spotted and custom gear galore. Let’s dive into it.

Brooks Koepka’s putter testing

Three-time PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka spent plenty of time Monday morning and into the afternoon on the practice putting green in front of the Aronimink clubhouse, working with coaches and Tour reps and putting plenty of different flasticks through their paces, after apparently recently breaking his new TaylorMade Spider Tour X last time out at the Myrtle Beach Classic.

Koepka tested out a couple of Scotty Cameron heads, similar to that of Cameron Young’s Phantom 9.5R with a full sightline. It’s not the first time a Tour pro has asked to follow in Young’s footsteps. Justin Thomas had the same request last week at the Truist Championship. Why not follow the hot hand?

Koepka’s custom Cameron featured the same style Teryllium insert that he has used previously, most notably during his PGA Championship wins in a Newport-style blade. The putter, however, that looks to have the best chance of making its way into the bag come Thursday is a TaylorMade Spider Tour V, the model of head recently launched on Tour at the RBC Heritage.

What’s unique about Koepka’s new Tour V putter is the custom length L-Neck (plumbers) hosel that he has equipped. The extended version looks ot reduce the toe-hang of the putter along with adding stability to the stroke.

The putter change comes with a plethora of additions to Keopka’s bag after his split with Srixon/Cleveland. Along with already playing a Titleist ist Pro V1x golf ball, Koepka added Vokey wedges to his Grove XXIII staff bag last week in South Carolina. The 36-year-old is using SM11s in 48.10F, 52.12F and 56.10, along with the WedgeWorks 60B, a special grind with an interesting letter choice.

Look at Koepka’s full bag here.

L.A.B. Golf’s new vision

As GolfWRX continued the long tradition of capturing players’ bags and equipment, we got a glimpse of the latest L.A.B. Golf putter in the bag of Adrian Saddier. The Frenchman, who’s making his PGA Championship debut at Aronimink, is rolling with the newly added VZN.1i putter, which features a closed-back, winged-mallet design, resulting in a square cutout in the middle of the mallet.

Saddier’s new stick is center-shafted with two thick white alignment lines. The VZN.1 is the latest L.A.B. putter to be spotted. It comes after the traditional blade-style LINK.2.1 & LINK.2.2 were released on Tour, featuring a heel-shaft.

Take a look at the full gallery here.

Custom Philly-themed gear

As with every major championship, the PGA sees a bevy of custom gear from equipment manufacturers to highlight the theme of the week. With Aronimink sitting just west of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love takes full focus.

Callaway is ringing the Liberty Bell with its Philly special-edition staff bag that tour players will be rocking at Aronimink. The bag features a pin-striped design, embossed with the Liberty Bell itself and a special green-fluff strap for the Philadelphia Phillies’ mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.

TaylorMade is also theming the staff bag around the birth of a nation, with a specially crafted staff back to celebrate the city where American independence was born. The bag features Philadelphia’s fingerprints with Independence Hall lives on the ball pocket, the Liberty Bell graces the valuables pocket, and Benjamin Franklin holds court on the back. The bottom collar reads – City of Brotherly Love – and custom “LOVE” zipper pulls pay tribute to the iconic Robert Indiana’s sculpture situated in the city center.

Tileist has adopted a different design for its GTS headcovers, going with Kelly Green, for the 2025 Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles.

Check out more custom gear in the forums.

Whats in the Bag

Alex Fitzpatrick WITB 2026 (May)

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X

7-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

9-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

Irons: Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (5-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (46-10F, 50-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-A+)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (46, 50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56, 60)

Putter: Odyssey Ai-One #7S

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Equipment

Lead Tape Hall of Fame: Hideki Matsuyama

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

Today is a very special day for the Lead Tape Hall of Fame. Our second inductee is announced, and with great honor, we welcome Hideki Matsuyama to the Silver Jacket ceremony. Hideki’s meticulous attention to detail and precision have earned him his place in the Lead Tape Hall of Fame.

Hideki turned professional in 2013 and began his career on the Japan Tour. He was the first rookie on the Japan Tour to lead the money list, highlighted by five wins in his first season. His first appearance on the PGA Tour was the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, where he came in 10th place in his debut. In 2014, he won his first PGA Tour event at Memorial. Hideki is currently at 11 PGA Tour wins, including a scoring record at The Sentry in January 2025 at 35 under par. In 2021, he won The Masters. An incredible career and still full of momentum, what kind of tools does Hideki use to get in the mix week in and week out?

Matsuyama has been a career Srixon and Cleveland staff player. Typically with Graphite Design shafts in his woods and True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts in his irons. A unique trait is that in his wedges, he will play X100 shafts that suit his launch preferences. Rarely do you see a stiffer profile in wedges compared to irons.

Speaking of wedges, Hideki plays the Cleveland RTX4 Forged wedges. These debuted in 2018, but due to his level of detail, this is what he plays today. You can see the lead tape placed on the wedges in different places on the back flange. Usually erring towards the heel promoting certain launch characteristics and if anything a slight draw ball flight. In a 2021 GolfWRX interview, we found Hideki does not want to see the ball fall to the right. He wants the ball to fall to the left.

We see the use of lead tape on clubs like his fairway metal, where we see a small strip near the ferrule and even at the base of the grip. Looking at the details, Hideki operates; everything is done with purpose and measured for his stats. Not the type of feel player that doesn’t know how much weight is where and says, “That’s fine.”

Srixon told us, “We also travel with pre-cut lead tape in half-gram and one-gram increments, and Hideki will apply the tape to different areas of the club (muscle, flange, hosel, shaft), depending on how the club feels while testing.”

Hideki and his team have his club spec’d to the half gram for what to add or subtract from his set. This is Hall of Fame level here, nearly alone, but with Hideki’s meticulous attention to detail for each club is amazing to see.

This attention to detail carries down to the putting green as well. Hideki rotates through a series of Scotty Cameron Newport putters with subtle changes on sightlines, bumpers, and welded plumber’s necks. Sometimes on the bottom of the putter? A strip of one-inch lead tape. The tape has been on there so long that you can see the hand-stamped logo underneath. That is absolutely Hall of Fame grade!

It is incredible to see through the lens of the level of detail that Hideki operates in. We see lead tape anywhere from the shaft, above the hosel, in different positions on the back flange of wedges, and on the bottom of the putter. The precision he brings to the course has translated into a record of winning results from the beginning. We will have to stay tuned if his new Silver Jacker accompanies his Green Jacket in the trophy room!