GEAR SHORTS: Gear switches deliver Ryder Cup magic

The Ryder Cup is over and what a weekend it was!

The USA played some scintillating golf on the way to winning the famed trophy for the first time in eight years at Hazeltine and plenty of players on both sides made changes to their bag for the showcase event.

In perhaps one of the most surprising moves of the week, Zach Johnson put his old Titleist 913 driver and fairway woods back in the bag – with one major difference.

The 2015 Open champ made the switch from Titleist to PXG at the end of the 2015 season and had been using a PXG 0811 driver throughout this year.

If you look closely at the driver he was using at Hazeltine, though, you may notice three small PXG weights on the sole.

This suggests PXG’s engineers have adapted the design to give Johnson either more spin, higher launch or a combination of the two.

Read more – What’s included in a $99k PXG Xperience?

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Koepka switching to TaylorMade?

The big-hitting American made the bold move to change his driver for the week, switching from his Nike Vapor Fly to a TaylorMade M2.

Koepka is one of the Nike staffers who is currently in equipment limbo after Nike announced it was stopping production of golf clubs, balls and bags. Putting a new M2 in the bag suggests TaylorMade could well lead the way of potential suitors.

“I started working with it, I think, last week,” said Koepka ahead of the event. “Just like the way we hit it. It was going really well. The first one I hit was Graeme McDowell’s driver. I was in Orlando last week and was just hitting balls and like it. So it’s here.”

Read more – TaylorMade unleash M2 driver

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Sergio, Westwood put new putters in play

Koepka wasn’t alone in making changes. Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood both put new putters in with varying degrees of success.

A few weeks ago at the BMW Championship, Garcia snapped his TaylorMade Spider Limited putter after his third round, so it doesn’t come as a real surprise to see the Spaniard emerge with a new flat stick.

According to reports, it’s a prototype TaylorMade putter that he used during a recent photo shoot for the brand. He liked it so much he decided to put it in play at Hazeltine.

Westwood, meanwhile, has been trying out a new Ping EyeMark prototype putter. It has been reported it has an extra degree of loft due to work Westwood has been doing with putting coach Phil Kenyon.

Read more – Ping Vault Series putters revealed

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Snedeker destroys Europe with $30 putter

Brandt Snedeker was in hot form at Hazeltine and he can put much of that down to his trusty Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie putter.

The model, which was released in 2008, was pivotal in helping the 35-year-old complete three wins out of a possible three, and the PGA.com Value Guide says it would be worth just $30 if it were to be sold on now.

That being said, we get the feeling the American will be keeping hold of it for a little while longer.

Read more – Odyssey X-Act Tank: Return of the chipper

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Custom Vokeys for Titleist staffers

We saw a lot of custom gear doing the rounds ahead of the event but these designs from the guys in Titleist’s Vokey Wedgeworks custom shop are up there with the very best.

Aaron Dill, Titleist’s PGA Tour wedges guy and Bob Vokey’s right hand man, headed to Hazeltine to present them to the players.

@Titleist @VokeyWedges @DrewJokerst A huge thank you to Drew and the Wedge Works team for the fantastic work done on the Ryder Cup pieces pic.twitter.com/5WWWIQLYL0

— Aaron Dill (@Vokeywedgerep) September 27, 2016

@Titleist @VokeyWedges team USA gifts from the Vokey family pic.twitter.com/YPJ8Rrare1

— Aaron Dill (@Vokeywedgerep) September 27, 2016

@Titleist @VokeyWedges pic.twitter.com/r44z9zwbeY

— Aaron Dill (@Vokeywedgerep) September 27, 2016

@Titleist @VokeyWedges Team UK gifts from the Vokey family. pic.twitter.com/PQk0WpLVfk

— Aaron Dill (@Vokeywedgerep) September 27, 2016

Read more -> Bob Vokey introduces ‘best ever wedges’

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Shoe heaven

With shoes one of the most visible places for player’s individual sponsors to promote their products during the Ryder Cup, we saw our fair share of custom designs. We’ll let you judge them for yourself.

Rory McIlroy

Rickie Fowler

Sergio Garcia

Jordan Spieth

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New Odyssey face insert?

While he was struggling to find a fairway off the tee, Mickelson’s putter was red hot all weekend. Going by these pictures, it looks as though he could have been using a new face insert on his Odyssey Versa #9 WBW.

Does @odysseygolf have a new insert in the works? Check out Phil Mickelson’s putter. pic.twitter.com/M0e3xtFijW — Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) October 1, 2016

Callaway and Odyssey’s chief marketing guy Harry Arnett (@HarryArnettCG) gave nothing away in his response.

@danwmeyer @jonathanrwall @odysseygolf — Harry Arnett (@HarryArnettCG) October 2, 2016

Read more -> Reed games special putter during Ryder Cup

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And finally…

Fred Couples, the man who kick-started the hybrid shoe revolution when he first wore them at the Masters in 2010, has signed a new multi-year deal with ECCO Golf.

The deal will see the 1992 Masters champ continue to wear ECCO’s hybrid shoes during tournament play and compete with the ECCO Golf logo on the side of his hat.