Equipment

FairwayJockey.com Review: My custom Vega wedge

Published

12 years ago

May 22, 2014

Until recently, having the ability to play a bag full of custom clubs was something reserved only for the most elite players and those golfers willing to devote extra time, effort, money and usually travel to have clubs perfectly fit for their game. While the golf equipment market is still dominated by golfers who buy clubs off the rack, the importance and value of being fit for every club in the bag is starting to make its way into the mainstream. OEMs and individual clubmakers, like Fairway Jockey, are offering golfers a wider and more exotic selection of custom heads, shafts, lofts, and grinds than ever before.

Founded three and a half years ago as a brick and mortar fitting center, Fairway Jockey is a group of club fitters who got together to change the custom club fitting market. Late last year, FairwayJockey.com went live, opening up an opportunity for golfers anywhere to be able to go through a customized club building experience and have clubs built to spec and delivered right their door. To get a sense for their process and build quality, I had a chance to have a wedge custom built to my specifications by Fairway Jockey.

Browsing the club selection, you’ll find every major driver off any of this year’s hot lists such as the Callaway Big Bertha or Taylormade SLDR, but also less common models from Miura, Vega and others. The same goes for irons, hybrids, fairway metals, wedges and putters. If a particular head or shaft isn’t listed, Fairway Jockey can usually get it for you. One of their main goals is to be able to offer options that a golfer can’t normally find through an OEM or local golf shop. They pride themselves on carrying many of the harder to find shafts and heads, and can generally order anything a golfer might want.

Right now, the site is focused on building new clubs. But in the near future, Fairway Jockey is planning to offer a service where golfers can send in their existing clubs to be reshafted with all the same custom options. While this service isn’t available today, the company hopes to have it up and running in the very near future.

Price match and shipping

Fairway Jockey’s primary goal is to offer the greatest number of options and flexibility for its customers, but they also want to be competitive and will match any reputable offer from the major OEMs. So if you’re building a set of Mizuno irons and choose a shaft that Mizuno considers a stock shaft and not a custom upgrade, Fairway Jockey will match that price. Graphite shaft upgrades are also generally priced in line with other sites and retailers. If a price is higher than an advertised price elsewhere, simply contact the company and they will look into it. That said, building a stock set of clubs likely isn’t the best use of a site like Fairway Jockey and their real value starts to show when you begin customizing your clubs.

Any order over $99 automatically qualifies for free shipping and some individual items also come with free shipping.

Assistance with shaft and club selection

Many golfers coming to Fairway Jockey will know exactly what they are looking for and will be able to spec their clubs without assistance. But for those who are looking for additional insight and help, Fairway Jockey can also make professional fitting recommendations. With a few key pieces of information such as height and wrist-to-floor measurements, as well as tempo, transition, release and a variety of spin and launch angle data, their proprietary shaft fitting software, combined with the experience of the clubfitters, can help determine the best options based on information you provide. While the product descriptions are very basic and don’t go into a lot of detail, if you’re looking to talk through the merits of a heel grind versus a toe grind, their team can help there as well.

VIP Membership

For those planning to make numerous purchases through the year, or maybe build an entire bag, Fairway Jockey offers three tiers of VIP membership, which includes discounts of 5-to-15 percent. Starting at $49.99 per year and up to $149.99 per year, VIP membership gives you discounts on equipment as well as special offers, newsletters and product reviews. Unlike some other VIP programs, you can use your discount on your first purchase.

Custom options and my Vega wedge

Vega is one of those wedges that is part shotmaking tool and part work of art. Forged out of one piece of soft carbon steel by a master craftsman, their wedges are some of the most coveted on the market. I’ve wanted to put one in my bag for a long time and when I had the opportunity to build a wedge, a decided to go with the 60-degree VW-06 in raw finish which will naturally rust a bit over time. The classic shape of the VW-06, tightly ground curved leading edge and extra heel grind make this an extremely versatile wedge.

Building a custom club on Fairway Jockey is simple thanks to their intuitive drop down menus. After selecting my dexterity and finish, the rest of the options are selectable in any order. For the Vega, True Temper Dynamic Golds are the standard shaft option, but many custom shafts are available from the Shimada Tour Wedge to the Oban Oi103 and almost everything between. For custom shafts, the price to upgrade is displayed in the drop down menu, which makes it easy to see where any extra charges will be added. That is the same for any option requiring an upcharge. I went with the KBS Custom Tour Black Pearl shaft. For my height, I happen to play their wedge at the stock length, which is listed, but you can go shorter or longer in half inch increments.

I didn’t want the loft bent, but again, it is an option to bend the club plus or minus 2 degrees. With the Vega wedges, Fairway Jockey can adjust the lie up or down as much as 3 degrees to fit your exact profile. Since the shaft I was fit for came in black and the raw head was also black, I wanted to build an all black wedge. A rainbow-like selection of ferrules is available with everything from lime green to pink with two white rings, but I wanted all black with no white rings. To cap it off, I went with the Golf Pride New Decade Multi Blackout Grip with two wraps of tape. I could have gone with a grip that was more of a true black, but I like the feel of the New Decade and chose feel over looks.

Fairway Jockey also offers swingweight adjustment, hotmelt services and counterbalanced putters to round out the selection of custom options across all their equipment.

They build all the custom clubs from one facility, which allows them to keep tight control over the quality. In fact, only two people will ever touch a custom build. The club arrived in a sturdy, well-packaged box with a padded wedge cover and everything looked good. But I was more interested in the small polish-type details like whether or not the ferrule had any tiny clamp marks. There were not any marks anywhere on this club, and the overall build quality of the wedge is as good as I’ve ever seen. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it. This wedge is evil!

Performance

After I got past simply wanting to look at this wedge, I had to get out on the course. The very first shot was a 50 yard, half wedge to a pin just 10 feet off the front edge and tucked in about 5 feet from a slope that would take the ball straight to the back of the green. I played it to the front edge and flushed it on the number. Many people compare the softness of a forged club like this to butter. But to be honest, it was so soft it had the pure feel of almost nothing at all. The club slicing through the turf was the first substantial feeling I felt and even that made me want to throw another ball down and hit the shot again. Over the course of the day I hit low spinners, high lofted shots and dropped a few balls in the bunker just to see how it played. The extra heel grind allowed me to open the face up and nip a few spinners off the fairway, which hit the green and checked up immediately. The zip produced by this wedge was outstanding. The versatility, feel and distinctly unique look of this wedge makes it easily the best I’ve ever had the chance to play.

Bottom Line

Not every golfer is fortunate enough to have a quality golf shop and club fitter nearby that carries an extensive collection of equipment that can be truly customized down the tightest of specs. Fairway Jockey makes it possible to have a custom club built for your game, tested to their tight tolerances, shipped, and in your hand ready to play in about a week. If you’re looking at building a single club or an entire bag, they are definitely a site to check out.

As for the wedge… it’s a Vega. A stunning piece of craftsmanship that plays every bit as well as I imagined it would.

Equipment

Why Rickie Fowler is switching to a shorter driver at the PGA Championship

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In a golf world where players are looking to eke out every yard possible, usually by lengthening their drivers to add clubhead speed, there’s one player at the PGA Championship who’s going in the opposite direction. In fact, for Rickie Fowler, his goal off the tee is not about gaining extra distance or yards north to south, but rather about shrinking the misses from east to west.

Ahead of the PGA Championship and the week prior at the Truist Championship. Fowler mentioned to Cobra Tour Rep Ben Schomin that the driver didn’t quite swing feel the same as everything in the bag. As a result, and with Schomin’s suggestion to try and sync everything up with the big stick, Fowler decided to test out a shorter length shaft.

“He’s been at 45 (inches), and he’d been at 45 for a few weeks, 44 1/8 (inches) is really is where he is been living really for the most part, for the last couple of years, and is where he is been comfortable,” Schomin told GolfWRX. “It just felt like it was a little long and loose on him.”

Interestingly, Fowler ranks 40th in Driving Accuracy this year on the PGA Tour. It’s his most accurate season with the driver since the start of the decade. But sometimes for players, feel is more important than statistics.

“It was really more of a trying to get the swing to feel the fluidness from club to club to club to try to get it to feel the same,” Schomin added. “And so we took it down to 43 and a quarter, and it was a touch of a ball speed loss, just based on that overall club head speed. But honestly, he squared it up probably a little better. The right miss wasn’t nearly as far. So really, overall down-range dispersion tightened up a fair amount, and he felt confident in swinging it.”

The change in length had Fowler’s caddie, Ricky Romano, beaming at how well he had driven during Tuesday’s practice round at Aronimink. So much so, he was asking Schomin not to suggest changes anymore.

Fowler’s shaft-shortening is one of a few driver adjustments he’s made this season, and to Schomin’s credit, it’s thanks to the fact that he and the rest of the Cobra team had Fowler fit very well into three of the four heads in the Cobra OPTM lineup.

“He had three distinct drivers and the biggest decision was trying to decide which worked best at that time,” Schomin told GolfWRX previously. “He’s played the majority of the season with OPTM X, but has also played a couple of tournaments with OPTM LS. His overall driving stats have been good.”

At the RBC Heritage earlier this spring, Fowler switched drivers, changing from his Cobra OPTM X and into the Tour, low-loft Max K model that Gary Woodland used to win just a few weeks prior.

Now for the PGA Championship, Fowler’s back in the X head, but still using the UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore White 6TX shaft, just a little bit shorter.

“Will he stay there? I’m not sure,” Schomin added. “Could we end up say at like 43 and 7.5 (of an inch). If it’s giving him the same feel of consistency through the bag, then I think we might end up just a touch longer. But if he likes where he is at, he’s confident where he is at, that’s really all that matters.”

If there’s more testing, though, just don’t tell his caddie.

Equipment

GolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

What you need to know: As is customary for the Fairhaven-based company, Titleist officially announced today that its GTS drivers are headed to retail, following a successful tour release. The GTS2, GTS3, and GTS4 drivers will be available in golf shops June 11.

Since debuting at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the new GTS lineup has quickly gained traction on the PGA Tour, with more than 50 players already making the switch to a GTS2, GTS3, or GTS4 driver. Among them are Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.

Justin Thomas’ Titleist GTS2 driver (Greg Moore, GolfWRX)

According to Titleist, the GTS series builds upon the performance foundation established by the GT Series, while introducing several major technological advancements, including a new Split Mass Frame construction, refined aerodynamics, and an updated Speed Sync face design.

2026 Titleist GTS drivers: What’s new, key technology

Split Mass Frame and thermoform body

At the center of the new GTS lineup is a redesigned internal structure: the Split Mass Frame. This technology works with a full-thermoform body made from Titleist’s Proprietary Matrix Polymer (PMP), a lightweight composite that enables engineers to reposition mass more efficiently throughout the head. Compared to the previous GT generation, GTS drivers feature nearly double the PMP material, increasing from 13 grams to 26 grams, while maintaining the sound and feel preferred by better players.

The weight savings from the thermoform construction allowed Titleist engineers to strategically separate mass placement inside the head. Specifically, more weight is pushed rearward to improve stability and forgiveness, while additional mass is positioned low and forward to optimize speed, launch, and spin.

In short, golfers are able to maintain ball speed and consistency across both centered and off-center strikes.

Faster aerodynamics

Titleist also refined the aerodynamic shaping of the GTS heads to help players generate more clubhead speed.

The tails of the new GTS2 and GTS3 heads have been raised compared to previous models, helping airflow stay attached to the crown and sole longer during the swing. According to Titleist, the improved airflow reduces drag and increases speed without affecting launch conditions or center of gravity placement.

Typically, aerodynamic gains can compromise forgiveness or launch characteristics, but the weight savings from the Split Mass Frame allowed engineers to preserve preferred CG locations.

New Speed Sync face

The new Speed Sync Face design is engineered to improve ball speed retention across a larger portion of the face. A reinforced perimeter structure helps maximize face deflection and COR on centered strikes, while the upper portion of the support ring is opened up to increase speed on high-face impacts, a common strike location for many golfers. The face also features a variable thickness design to preserve speed and performance across a wider impact area.

Expanded adjustability

Each GTS model includes a dual-weighting system to fine-tune launch, spin, and shot shape more precisely than previous generations. GTS2 uses interchangeable forward and aft weights, while GTS3 and GTS4 combine a rear weight with an adjustable forward track weight system.

Tour-inspired face graphics

The new lineup features redesigned high-contrast face graphics to improve alignment and framing at address, according to Titleist. Sharp visual lines are designed to make it easier to center the golf ball and to perceive loft more easily at setup.

Additional model details

GTS2

The GTS2 is the most forgiving model, designed for golfers seeking maximum stability and consistent speed across the face.
It produces high launch with mid spin and features a larger, confidence-inspiring profile behind the ball.
Standard weighting includes an 11-gram forward weight and a 5-gram rear weight, with additional fitting configurations available.

GTS3

The GTS3 is aimed at players who want more control over launch, spin, and shot shaping.
Compared to GTS2, the GTS3 offers lower launch and spin while featuring a more compact profile and deeper face design preferred by many stronger players.
The head features an adjustable forward-track weight system to further fine-tune center of gravity placement.

GTS4

The lowest-spinning option in the lineup, GTS4 is built for golfers looking to reduce excessive spin and maximize total distance.
Unlike previous “4” models from Titleist, the new GTS4 features a full 460cc profile that improves forgiveness and stability while retaining its low-spin DNA.
Like GTS3, it includes a forward track weighting system for precise fitting adjustments.

What Titleist says

“When we talk about driver design, it’s never about the one feature or benefit — it’s about all of them,” said Stephanie Luttrell, Titleist’s Senior Director of Metalwood R&D. “Ball speed, forgiveness, spin stability, adjustability, exceptional sound and feel… these are all attributes that golfers care about. It’s our job to design a lineup that elevates performance across the board without sacrificing in key areas, and we feel we’ve done that with GTS.”

“We know that forward CGs drive speed with great launch and spin characteristics, but you need to be able to do that with an inertial stability that still preserves ball speed, launch and spin consistency on off-center hits,” Luttrell said. “We’ve never before been able to hit these CG positions and inertia properties at the same time, and we’re achieving that because of GTS’ construction.”

Club Junkie’s take

I feel like every time there is a new Titleist wood release, I figure they can’t outdo their previous driver. And every year, I am wrong and impressed with the performance. The GTS fits right into that narrative again, as I didn’t know where Titleist could go from GT, but they pushed the limits again, and my fitting proved the smart people there found ways to improve.

My past four Titleist drivers have been a 2 series as my swing typically requires a little height, spin, and forgiveness so I figured I would just get a new GTS2 and be on my way. During the fitting, I was impressed by the new GTS construction, its added PMP material, and the advanced adjustability on each model. My fitter, Joey, got to work putting together a GTS2 and we started there. The launch and spin were great, and the consistency on misses was very tight. My average ball speed with the GTS went up a little bit as the new Speed Sync face creates more speed away from the center.

Joey then built up a GTS3 in 11 degrees, but I figured this wouldn’t have the stability I needed for tight dispersion on my miss hits. That thought was quickly erased after a few shots, and I really liked the more center start line and reduced draw on the misses I was seeing. We tried a few different settings and shafts to dial in the details in order to get the best fit. Having a forward and rear weight in the head allowed Joey to set up the GTS3 with a heavier rear weight to keep the launch and spin up, while the Sure Fit hosel set flat created a more center start line for me. My misses were not nearly as far left, and I was really impressed with the consistency on the spin and launch when I didn’t hit it in the center.

Titleist again created a wood line in GTS that delivers improvements over previous drivers while keeping the traditional look and feel you expect. More adjustability, better off-center speed, and 3 drivers that are playable over a wider range of players should make these extremely successful in fittings.

Pricing, specs, availability

GTS2 lofts: 8, 9, 10, 11 degrees (RH/LH)

GTS3 lofts: 8, 9, 10, 11 degrees (RH/LH)

GTS4 lofts: 8, 9, 10 (RH/LH)

Featured shafts

Project X Titan Black
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Red

Premium shafts

Graphite Design Tour AD DI
Graphite Design Tour AD VF
Graphite Design Tour AD FI

Available for fittings and pre-sale now.

In golf shops worldwide beginning June 11.

Price: $699 (standard), $899 (premium)

Equipment

Titleist launches new GTS2 and GTS3 fairways

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Titleist has today introduced its new GTS2 and GTS3 fairways.

Lower and deeper center of gravity (CG) positions, new adjustable heel-toe weights and advanced clubface innovations drive total performance in the two tour-proven models.

New GTS fairway technology:

Wraparound composite crowns: Unlock lower CG positions for higher launch and lower spin as well as more CG depth for added forgiveness.

Refined shapes and profiles: With two distinct setups, with GTS2 featuring a shallower face height and larger address profile compared to GTS3’s deeper face and more compact profile. Both models feature flatter sole designs for better performance off the turf.

Dual-weighting systems: The dual-weighting systems allows for personalized performance, with interchangeable heel-toe flat weights helping to fine-tune CG location across the face.

A forged L-Cup face design: The new face design is optimized for GTS and works to preserve ball speed, maintain launch conditions and enhance sound and feel on low-face impacts.

Tour-inspired polished clubfaces: To help players see more of the clubface at address.

GTS2 Fairway

The new GTS2 fairway is designed with a shallower face and a larger profile than GTS3, ideal for players with more sweeping deliveries with their fairway metals.

GTS2’s new face height, inspired by tour feedback, was designed shallower than the prior generation GT2 model and more in line with the GT1 fairway. Each loft in GTS2 leverages a shallower profile except for the 13.5-degree, which maintains a slightly taller face.

With its new dual-weighting system, the ‘2’ model now has heel-toe CG adjustability.

Lofts: 13.5, 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, 21.0

Dual-weight system: 11-gram weight in heel, 5-gram weight in toe (standard)

GTS3 Fairway

The new GTS3 fairway is designed with a deeper face and a more compact profile, ideal for players who hit down on the golf ball more with their fairway metals.

New to the GTS3 family is a 21-degree offering, giving players two distinct profiles in Titleist’s 7-wood loft.

Instead of the track weight system featured in prior generation ‘3’ models, GTS3 now benefits from adjustable heel-toe flat weights.

Lofts: 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, 21.0

Dual-weight system: 11-gram weight in heel, 5-gram weight in toe (standard)

Price & Availability

The new GTS fairways are available for fittings and pre-sale now and will be in golf shops worldwide beginning June 11 priced at $399 (standard) and $599 (premium).