GEAR SHORTS Tiger boosts Bridgestone, “JDub’s” shoes

All the talk early last week was about the release of the all-new TaylorMade M1 and M2 families for 2017.

TaylorMade ambassadors Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose all took to Twitter to share their excitement at the new product launch.

Read more -> TaylorMade M1 family most adjustable yet

So pumped to get my hands on @TaylorMadeGolf's new #M1Driver. Already can't wait for 2017!! pic.twitter.com/0wldEXtrak

— Dustin Johnson (@DJohnsonPGA) December 6, 2016

Bring on 2017 @TaylorMadeGolf @TaylorMadeTour pic.twitter.com/9dfjc80Nli

— Justin Rose (@JustinRose99) December 6, 2016

I can't wait for 2017 to start. The new lineup of @TaylorMadeGolf equipment is awesome! So thankful to be part of #TeamTaylorMade https://t.co/oRa4eywKag

— Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@littleJRmaza) December 9, 2016

But the 2017 range will have a LOT to live up to. Why? Well, check out this stat from the Hong Kong Open about the amount of players that were using TaylorMade drivers.

Read more -> TaylorMade M2 family ‘most explosive ever’

Personal favorite tourney this week, UBS Hong Kong Open.

49% of the field used a TaylorMade driver! #TheFortressStillStands @DonCarlyon

— Chris Trott (@trottist) December 9, 2016

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Rose goes gold… again

Justin Rose just won’t stop going on about his Olympic gold medal – and quite right, too.

Now, he’s got his own gold numbered golf ball. The significance of No.99 is that nine is the favourite number of Rose’s wife – so Justin Rose put 99 on his golf ball for double luck.

Gold medal Gold ball

Starting tomorrow @JustinRose99 will be using a new, gold-number ball during tournaments. pic.twitter.com/tBxZjvaZWr

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 7, 2016

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Jimmy goes all-black

How about these for some seriously good looking golf shoes? FootJoy custom made these HyperFlex shoes for 2016 PGA champion Jimmy Walker – and he loves them.

Not sure about the ‘JDub’ nickname, though.

Oh yes….this just happened. All new JDub edition Hyperflex from @footjoy 6 pair came in!!! I'm so pumped about these. I've been asking for a while and boom!!!! Dreams come true!!!

A photo posted by Jimmy Walker (@jimmywalkerpga) on Dec 6, 2016 at 4:35am PST

Yep!!!! JDub Aprroved @footjoy

A photo posted by Jimmy Walker (@jimmywalkerpga) on Dec 6, 2016 at 12:25pm PST

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Tiger boost for Bridgestone

Tiger Woods put the Bridgestone Tour 330S ball into play on his return at the Hero World Challenge two weeks ago – and the impact of play it was something else.

According to Golfweek’s David Dusek, Bridgestone’s website received about the same amount of traffic from Monday-Friday of Hero World Challenge week than it did in the entire third quarter of this year (July-September).

Most of those visitors were going to the Tour B330S page, with a Bridgestone spokesperson saying: “It changes the way we can tell the consumers and the public how good we are in the golf ball category.”

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‘Side-saddle’ passes the test

You can’t not have seen Bryson DeChambeau’s new side-saddle putting technique by now – but here it is again below.

Looks like someone is taking a little different approach to his putting https://t.co/iTS85uTukl

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 6, 2016

And, if you liked it, then it’s good news. The 23-year-old said the technique ‘passed the test’ at the Franklin Templeton Shootout, so it’ll be interesting to see if he has it in action again at the Sony Open in Hawaii from January 12-15.

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Lexi hits it miles

But DeChambeau wasn’t the only one raising a few eyebrows at the Franklin Templeton Shootout. Step forward his fellow Puma athlete and teammate Lexi Thompson.

Lexi Thompson hit one drive 305 yards.

"She hits it money," Smylie Kaufman said.

Everyone took notice. https://t.co/ZP90SoYcwT pic.twitter.com/CozA86Cpdj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 9, 2016

“Let’s just say there were a few times I was kind of nervous walking up to my ball,” DeChambeau said. “I didn’t know if it was her ball or my ball.”

And, after that 305-yard drive…

Eagle for @Lexi Thompson!#QuickHits https://t.co/wnYFy2vANZ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 8, 2016

And finally…

How cool is this? Scottish European Tour pro Scott Henry posted this picture to Twitter over the weekend, showing his first set of golf clubs custom-fitted by his dad.

Just found my first set of clubs made by my Dad. Once a blade man always a blade man. 3 years old started using these #highrockets pic.twitter.com/ZIulxSraIz

— Scott Henry (@ScottHenryGolf) December 10, 2016

First ever golf clubs were custom fit by my dad. Had my own stamp back then pic.twitter.com/ltmY8sbDfs

— Scott Henry (@ScottHenryGolf) December 10, 2016

And he even had his on custom-made bag, too!

@MMcEwanBunkered also had the custom built tour bag to match. Remember before kids clubs were available #love pic.twitter.com/8tKqYySY5O

— Scott Henry (@ScottHenryGolf) December 10, 2016

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