From players switching allegiances to swapping out old faithfuls and even going old school, we’ve picked the best equipment stories from the world of golf over the last seven days and wrapped them up in a nice little package. This week’s ‘Gear Shorts’ is packed full to the brim.
My new @CallawayGolf #XR16 driver. Awesome!! pic.twitter.com/O1LbtJH2Zt
— marc leishman (@marcleish) January 7, 2016
Have a hunch that these new @CallawayGolf XR ’16′s are going to make for a great new year! #boeing pic.twitter.com/Io9GbtckX3
— Harris English (@Harris_English) January 6, 2016
They may have only just been announced two weeks ago but Callaway’s new XR 16 drivers are getting a lot of love on Twitter from its staffers. Aussie Marc Leishman is one of Callaway’s most recent signings and he seems delighted with his new kit, while Harris English has been gearing up for a big year on the PGA Tour by testing out the new XR 16 and XR Pro 16 drivers.
Further reading -> Callaway reveals XR 16 woods
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He may have lost out to Fabian Gomez in a playoff but Brandt Snedeker enjoyed a top week in Hawaii, especially considering he switched a new driver into the bag. While a lot of players switch their driver on a regular basis, Sneds has famously been playing the TaylorMade Burner Superfast driver since 2010. That’s all changed for 2016, though, and he’s now gaming the new Bridgestone JGR driver. He still loves his old gear, though, and plays with a ten-year-old Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie putter.
Further reading -> Bridgestone Golf pulls out of UK and Ireland
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Arguably the biggest change to the Rules of Golf for 2016 in regards to the professional game is the outlawing of anchored putting. We’ve seen Ernie Els struggle to control his yips with the short putter recently and the Sony Open saw Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson and David Hearn all debut their new strokes.
Clark enjoyed a good week, finishing in tie for 13th place with the BioMech AccuLock Ace putter in the bag. He even finished seventh in the field in the strokes gained putting stat.
Pettersson and Hearn, meanwhile, went with Odyssey putters. Pettersson played with an Odyssey Versa #1 blade, while Hearn has chosen the counterbalanced Odyssey Works Tank 2 Ball Fang model that is 37 7/8-inch in length.
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Having been a member of Callaway’s staff for the last three years, Woodland has opted to join TaylorMade on a metalwoods only contract, keeping his lucrative apparel deal with Under Armour firmly in tact. Woodland play a TaylorMade M1 driver at the Sony Open along with a TaylorMade AeroBurner 3-wood. The rest of his bag is packed with Titleist gear, which he played before joining Callaway. You’ll see him playing a Titleist 716 T-MB 2-iron, along with 716 MB (3-9) irons and three Vokey wedges. He has also opted for a Scotty Cameron GSS prototype in the putter department and will play the Pro V1x ball.
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While we’re used to seeing the world’s best players putting new gear in the bag, Jason Day has been doing a little testing for himself … of an old-school TaylorMade Burner driver. Despite what he says, I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing this in play at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Originally published on bunkered on January 18, 2016.
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