Equipment

RBC Heritage Tour Report: More minis, course-specific setups, Spider & GTS launches

Published

4 weeks ago

Apr 17, 2026

A week after the first major of the year, and you’d think the gear news would want to take a week off. But at Harbor Town Golf Links, host of the 2026 RBC Heritage, new clubs were launched, and plenty of course-specific changes were made by an elite cast of PGA Tour pros.

Those teeing up on Hilton Head Island this week are presented with a unique test in Harbour Town. The short setup would be overpowered by many if it weren’t for its tight and winding layout, which underwent a major renovation over the last year. It has never been a track that favors the “bomb-and-gauge” approach.

Mini drivers to the max

With that comes the opportunity for many to add a new weapon to the arsenal: mini drivers.

Jason Day, J.J. Spaun and Akshay Bhatia were three names trying out mini drivers early in the week, with all three sporting different options in their bags.

Day opted for the Tour-only Ping prototype head, which looks to use the same CarbonFly Wrap crown found on his current G430 LST driver.

“You kind of need the 280 to 290 range, and the 3-wood may not go as far, you know what I mean, so it’s a good addition,” Day said Tuesday at Harbour Town. “… I like the Ping mini prototype. That feels fantastic.”

Day’s full specs:

Ping proto mini, 13 degrees at 12 in Small Minus setting
Shaft: KBS TG Black TXX, tipped 1 inch at 43.5 inches
Grip: Jumbo Mac Zen Lite Logo Down

Callaway officially launched the Quantum mini driver, which Bhatia put through its paces on the range and course at Harbour Town.

“We had Akshay (Bhatia) actually on the range yesterday testing it and there’s a chance this week he might put it in play and he was hitting it off the deck like 3,800 (rpm) was like if he felt like he bottomed the hair and then if you hit it pure, it was like 3,300 (rpm),” Johnny Thompson, Tour Content Manager for Callaway Golf, told GolfWRX. “So a 500 (rpm) cycle spin window off the deck, that’s good with a normal 3-wood, but the fact that you could have a deeper face, something that’s so much easier to hit off the tee, so much more control. That’s just a huge plus.”

Bhatia full specs:

Callaway Quantum Mini at 12.2 degrees
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8x, tipped 1.5 inches at 43 inches
Grip: Iomic Sticky 2.3

Finally, Spaun was spotted with a TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver in the bag ahead of the tournament. The U.S. Open champion’s setup featured 13-gram front weights and 4 grams in the rear.

Spaun full specs:

TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver, 13.5 on lower setting.
Shaft: Project X Titan Black 70TX
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Titleist GTS fairway launch

Titleist began the tour seeding of its new GTS drivers at the Houston Open, and at that point, we spotted a few of the fairway woods also being hit. Some went into play straight away at Memorial Park. Just a few weeks later, Titleist officially debuted all of the heads available in the GTS2 and GTS3 fairway woods.

All feature the silver face we noticed, which helps with seeing the loft of the club at address. It was also noticeable that the profile of the new lineup seems to be larger than that of the previous Titleist fairway woods.

What was interesting about the tour launch is that the GTS model, which was spotted at the Houston Open, was not part of the heads available on release. See more here.

Hovland close to driver switch?

Viktor Hovland continued the momentum from his final-round 67 at Augusta National that carried him to a top-20 finish, opening the RBC Heritage with a first-round 7-under 64.

The Norwegian has been testing between drivers for the last few months, and the work continued pre-tournament week at Harbour Town. GolfWRX caught up with Ping tour rep Spencer Rothluebber to get the details on where the testing stands between his current Ping G425 driver and a G440 LST.

Find out about the results here.

Custom protos for a Champion Golfer

Brian Harman unwrapped a custom set of Titleist cavity-backs on Tuesday, before testing them out on the range at Harbour Town. The 633BH prototypes, based on the 620 CBs, featured Titleist’s custom lead tape in the cavity, along with what looks like a raw finish on the face.

It’s not the first time Titleist has created custom clubs for staffers. Justin Thomas plays a one-of-a-kind set of 621.JT irons, while Cameron Young uses 631.CY prototypes.

Club of the week

It’s not often you see an 11-iron on the PGA Tour. Maverick McNealy flirted with one in 2022 when he added it to his Callaway Apex MB set. At that time, the groove configuration in the 11-iron helped provide McNealy with the lower launch and greater spin. Well, in 2026, Jhonattan Vegas was spotted with one in the bag ahead of tee time in South Carolina. His 11-iron is also a Callaway MB, but part of the newly redesigned but unreleased versions.

For more from Hilton Head, check out the latest episode of Inside the Ropes below!

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!