Equipment

AVL: 10 things from 10 years ago at the Truist Championship

Published

4 days ago

May 9, 2026

A few observations from our GolfWRX archives! Let’s head inside the ropes and back in time to May of 2016. We take a look at 10 things inside and outside the bag from the Truist Championship (then the Wells Fargo Championship) at the Quail Hollow Club.

Steve Williams, pictured above, was caddying for Adam Scott this year. Getting ready for the round, it’s time to grab a pin sheet. Needing to tidy and quick for information from hole to hole, what caught my eye here is the tournament fold of this sheet of paper. This is very niche, but that’s why we are here. When you’re getting the hole locations scoped out, you can’t have any delay in finding where the pin is above the ridge or near a false front.

2.) Tony Finau’s driving iron, which we just saw this last week on the Lead Tape Report, with a little zoom in, you can see the club in his bag all the way from 10 years ago. This was the origin of the Nike driving iron being in the bag, and it still remains there in play today.

3.) Bryson’s Edel irons. DeChambeau turned pro in April 2016 at the RBC Heritage, right after competing in the Masters as the defending NCAA and U.S. Amateur champion. While he signed with Cobra Puma when he turned professional, he still played his single-length irons created by Edel Golf. Got a kick out of the members looking at his clubs, as you knew that was talk around the locker room in the following weeks.

4.) Putting drills. Two clubs, a line, and an alignment device. Blending simplicity and some technology, this is a look back at when putting training aids were plentiful, but not in the most complex form. Now you see all types of training aids with gates, alignment sticks, mirrors, and multiple lines. I’m all for it, but it is a refreshing reminder that, at the end of the day, it’s about getting the ball in the hole in the simplest way for you. I do see a line on the putting green here with a permanent marker. I always wonder what the superintendent’s take is on that decision. I’m partial to a chalk line, even though it requires a couple of extra moves compared to the permanent marker. It does clean up much more easily.

5.) Ernie Els with an M2. This driver was the talk of the golf world for many years. Same with Ernie Els. In today’s golf landscape, sometimes we don’t hear enough about how great Ernie was and still is. Really a trendsetter for the game in a lot of ways, being a good ambassador of the game and a multiple Major champion. 19 total PGA Tour wins, 4-time major winner (1994 & 1997 U.S. Open, 2002, 2012 Open Championship). 80 wins globally and has played the PGA Tour Champions Tour since 2020, where he has won 7 times. The Big Easy has always got it done since turning pro in 1989.

6.) Stewart Appleby and the cultural icon Adams Pro Gold Hybrid. Origins of this hybrid date back to 2009. The beefy, shot-making clubs bridged the gap from long iron to woods in a more distinct way ten plus years ago compared to today. Now we can choose between high-lofted woods, driving irons, hybrids, and clubs in between. But now, things are so fine-tuned with each club when you want to dive deep. This photo with Appleby’s clubs is also good to see with the lead tape on the hybrid signaling it was a certified gamer.

7.) The simplicity of these two staff bags full of putters really paints a different picture than today. Today we could see a bag for Blade, Mallet, Zero Torque, Counter-Balance and Face-Balanced. How would you break down your putter staff bags on the green? But this does make sense, putting was entering a new era after the USGA and R&A banned anchoring with putters which began on January 1, 2016. This was the origins of the 38″ counter-balance and arm-lock putters we see today.

8.) A look back at Mackenzie Hughes’ bag in 2016 at Quail Hollow, a couple of things I notice here are the training aid on the bag and then the glove on the alignment stick while on the putting green. I know this is a little odd to notice, but this is a total move of a tour pro. You are not seeing the glove on the alignment stick but anywhere else other than a tour event. If this happened at the weekly game, someone is wondering what is up.

Mackenzie Hughes won later this year at the 2016 RSM Classic, gaining full PGA Tour Status for the 2017 season. He is in the field this week as well.

9.) The Titleist T-MB driving iron. Right in the discussion with the Adams Hybrid seen earlier here. It is interesting to see the advances in technology today where we see a driving iron similar to this but so many more options in the top part of the bag to fill the 4 iron through 5 wood gaping. Not as common 10 years ago, it is common to see multiple styles of irons in bags on and off tour today.

10.) Hideki Matsuyama and Scotty Cameron putters. We see the tinkering week to week from Hideki on GolfWRX — but is it anything new? Here is a similar putter he has been using lately, going back to 2016. It is fascinating to see the nuance he works in between the putter styles for which one is played that week. I guess we could say, history repeats itself 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!