Trend Tracker: Gear Notes from the Genesis Invitational and Beyond

This week the PGA Tour is headed to Vallarta Mexico for the Mexico Open, and it's an important event on the schedule for players looking to move their way up the FedEx Cup ranking and into the Signature Events - like the one held this past week in San Diego. But before the event kicks off, let's take a look back at the week that was in professional golf at the Genesis Invitational held at Torrey Pines and beyond for gear trends in the bags of the world's top golfers.

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The Winner

Ludvig Aberg took home his second career PGA Tour victory at the Genesis after making a birdie on the final hole to edge past Maverick McNealy by one shot. Maverick shot the best round of the final day by two shots, an 8-under 64, but it wasn't enough once Ludvig hit the closing par-5 green in two and two-putted from over 73' - which in and of itself was an impressive feat.

His full club setup includes: Driver - Titleist TSR2, Fairways - TaylorMade Stealth2 (3 & 7-woods), Irons - Titleist T100 (4 - Pw), Wedges - Vokey SM10 / 50-08 F-grind, 54-10 S-grind, 60-08 M-grind Putter - Odyssey White Hot Versa Model One Ball - Titleist Pro V1x

7-Wood time for Scottie

There comes a time in most golfer's lives when they realize that a little more spin and a little extra height can go a long way. For most, this is because of diminishing swing speed, but in the case of Scottie Scheffler this week at Torrey Pine he opted to take out his longest iron and replace it with a new TaylorMade Qi35 7-wood for another reason.

The 7-wood swap-in had nothing to do with speed and everything to do with course fit and conditions. San Diego got hit by a ton of rain leading up the the event and with the thicker rough and softer conditions, the 7-wood made escaping and advancing the ball from the rough a whole lot easier. Something must have worked because Scottie finished T-3..

Speaking of 7-woods...

One thing both Ludvig and Maverick had in common with Scottie was that they too both had 7-woods in the bag and both used the same TaylorMade Steath2 model.

As a tester of many fairway woods - I will happily attest that the Stealth 2, especially the higher lofted options including the 7 and 9-wood were and still are fantastic clubs, and something you shouldn't sleep on if you come across a used one. Heck, they were good enough to finish first and second this week on the PGA Tour and that's saying something.

Tommy adds speed to long irons

In preparation for the Genesis Invitational Tommy Fleetwood tested and then added to his bag TaylorMade P770 4 and 5 irons to go along with his his P7TW blades. Something must have clicked because Tommy ranked number one in greens and regulation by hitting 75% of his greens for the week on his way to finishing T5.

What's old is new again

Titleist ambassador Billy Horshell was spotted at Torrey Pines with a set of fresh TSi fairway woods in the bag, and what makes this significant is that these were originally released on tour in late 2020. Billy has been known to hold on to fairway woods long after their initial release date and previously used older models while under contract with Ping and later PXG, before settling into Titleist’s more recently.

It goes to show that when it comes to fairway woods, pros treat them a lot differently than most amateurs because they want to create consistent gapping rather than always looking for the longest option. Something amateurs should keep in mind more often too.

Speaking of old clubs, Jake Knapp turned some heads in the gear world this week, too. Knapp (who is also defending his maiden victory in Mexico this week) got into the field at the Genesis Invitational last minute after Tiger Woods withdrew because of the sudden passing of his mother, Kultida, and made the most of his opportunity. The 30-year-old SoCal native showed up with a TaylorMade M5 in the bag - a driver that originally came out in 2019. During his last event at Pebble Beach, Knapp was using a TaylorMade Qi35.

The M5 seems like a bit of an odd choice considering how many other options Jake has at his disposal, but there must be something about this driver and its brother, the M6, that pros love because Aaron Rai continues to use an M6 to this day and back in 2022 Brooks Koepka went back to the M5 during the U.S. Open at the Country Club outside of Boston.

Changes don't always pay off

Viktor Hovland doesn’t make gear changes quickly but this week at Torrey Pines he switched to a Prototype PLD onset putter. According to tour reps he had been struggling with his alignment and was looking for something that offered a different look to the double-bend mallet he had been using. Unfortunately for Victor, the switch didn’t quite have the intended effect because he was negative strokes gained for the first two rounds he played before missing the cut.

A switch and a win!

A story that went under the radar, until we did a little digging was that LPGA Tour player Yealimi Noh made an end of year visit to Titleist's TPI (their club fitting and research facility) before kicking off her season at the Founders Cup. During the trip, she was fit into 12 new clubs and then went on to win in her first start with said clubs.

The biggest change was going from a set of one-piece forged irons to a combo set of irons featuring various technologies to boost MOI and ball speeds, and if you want to learn more, you can check out the full article here: The New Gear That Led Yealimi Noh's first LPGA Win

Who needs wedge options? Not Miguel!

Is the Champions Tour generally a hotbed of cool gear info? No. But, one thing that stood out from the bag of recent winner in Morocco, Miguel Angel Jiménez is that he only carries two wedges after his pitching wedge - a 52 and then a 60 which if my math is correct leaves a full 8° gap between clubs.

This is not how most fitters would ever recommend setting up the wedges in your bag but does demonstrate that for MAJ, he likes to have precise gapping at the top end of his set for longer approach shots rather than extra wedge options in his short game since he carries Ping G440 Max 3, 5, and 7-woods. Just because it’s unusual doesn’t that it isn’t right for him, and it’s hard to argue with the results.