I have yet to see a U.S Open setup like this. Pinehurst #2 is INSANE. Greens are at a wicked speed and the pressure to place the ball in a decent spot on the greens is immense. It’s a TOTAL second shot golf course.
On site for Team Callaway we had a huge squad including:
Joe Toulon, Tour Manager
Jacob Davidson, VP Sports Marketing
Tim Reed, SVP Sports Marketing
Cody Hale, Odyssey
Dean Teykl, TOUR REP
Kellen Watson, TOUR REP
Greg Shaw, TOUR TECH
Scott Pudney, Callaway EU
Jason Eilerd, Callaway EU
Ishii Takashi, Callaway JPN
No major equipment adjustments this week beyond players grabbing fresh wedges and re-grips. As mentioned before, players don’t do much at Majors. You go in trying to eliminate as many variables as humanly possible.
My picks are in…I think X-man is gonna do it again.
Enjoy the gallery and info:)
Fresh wedges at the ready…
Callaway Next player Branden Valdes showed up with a Ai-Smoke TD S, don’t see these very often. This kid MOVES it.
DP World TOUR star Tom McKibbin has this Japanese-only Ai-One 7 proto in play. He’s also another X Forged JPN convert. He said they are the best irons he has had in a long time. He loves the sole and turf interaction and the ability to hit them down when he needs to. These irons are wild.
Min Woo!!!! Custom “Chef” Chrome Tour X
Chris Kirk went into the garage, pulled out this Metal X #9, and also put some final touches on his new X Forged JPNs. Chris wanted a bit more right start line to compliment his draw, so he bent each iron .5 degrees flat.
Ryo Ishikawa still has this Apex UW 23 in the bag. I asked him why this and no 4-iron, and he mentioned that this club was the perfect gapping club between his 5-iron and 19 UW, which flys about 235-240yds. This 23 UW gets him 215-220yds at 4000-4300RPM spin, depending on the shot he hits.
Waiting on the tee with the homies Manny Villegas, Si Woo Kim, Alex Gaugert, Eric Van Rooyen
Ryo’s Irons are on fire. The Nippon Proto he has is a version of the Modus 120 that spins slightly more.
Graphite Design GC made an appearance. Don’t know a ton about this one beyond its Mid-Launch, Mid Spin and it almost ended up in Rahmbos driver:)
Ryo has the 6S in his TD driver and 7X in his Smoke Max 3-wood. Why S vs. X in the driver? BALL SPEED!! He was 3-4 MPH faster with S. Something to think about. Ryo swings it at 113-115MPH, and the extra kick in the S is huge.
Practice Facility AKA The Cradle:)
LFG
JDub