Sign up for our daily newsletter

Latest news, reviews, analysis and opinion, plus unmissable deals for bunkered subscriptions, events, and our commercial partners.

GEAR SHORTS

New Titleist Pro V1 and ProV1x prototypes have been seen on the PGA Tour for the first time.

There has been no official comment from Titleist about the prototype golf balls apart from the tweet below.

Titleist, the #1 ball @ShrinersOpen: 102
Nearest competitor: 14

Some top moments from prototype testing in Vegas: https://t.co/V00LdhEGoV pic.twitter.com/fuj3uh1hiK
— Titleist (@Titleist) November 4, 2016

The brand’s PGA Tour staffers and selected members of Team Titleist received the new prototypes last week as part of its validation process for new models.

The current Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls were released in January 2015 with the Pro V1 giving softer feel, slightly more long game spin and a penetrating trajectory for more roll.

The 2015 Pro V1x, meanwhile, offers a slightly firmer feel than previous models, with lower long game spin and a higher launch.

That’s all we know at the moment but we’re excited to find out more in the coming weeks and months.

—

Spieth sticking with Titleist

More good news for Titleist. Speaking to American broadcaster CNBC over the weekend, Jordan Spieth revealed its unlikely he will stop using the brand’s gear any time soon.

The two-time major champ was discussing his relationships at both Under Armour and Titleist and said: “I have played Titleist my whole life, so I just trust it.

“In golf, trusting what you are wearing and playing with is first and foremost so you don’t have to worry about anything but your game.”

—

New TaylorMade wedge spotted

The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open proved to be a hotbed for first looks at new gear. Alongside the new Titleist balls, TaylorMade revealed its new ‘Milled Grind’ wedge and made it available to its players for testing.

Pic credit: PGATour.com

TaylorMade hasn’t released any concrete details yet, but reports from the event suggest the ‘Milled Grind’ wedge could signal a move away from a hand ground sole to a fully milled product. This is said to eliminate the potential for inconsistencies in the grind, giving a more precise product.

—

Ping Glide gets upgrade

A second wedge also made its debut in Las Vegas with the Ping Glide 2.0 wedges seen in the bags of David Lingmerth and Ping’s senior design engineer Marty Jertson.

In terms of looks, it’s very similar to the original Glide.

.@PingTour staffer were testing the company’s new Glide 2.0 wedges yesterday at the #ShrinersOpen https://t.co/JemkECrNyP pic.twitter.com/fbsZBPkejl

— GolfWRX (@GolfWRX) November 2, 2016

The wedge was reportedly available to players at the event in four different grinds: Standard Sole (SS), Thin Sole (TS), Wide Sole (WS) and Eye Sole (ES).

—

Horschel debuts new PXG gear

We told you last week about Billy Horschel’s cool new wedges, this week he put them in play alongside a new PXG 0341X fairway wood and Gunboat H putter.

.@BillyHo_Golf has a couple new @pxg clubs in the bag this week…https://t.co/qjHZZJp6ve pic.twitter.com/ZR1EwGbmUn

— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) November 2, 2016

The putter certainly seemed to do the trick. Horschel’s Strokes Gained: Putting numbers sat at 1.288, well above the field average for the week of 0.945. He finished in a tie for 41st place.

—

And finally…

You can own the golf gear used by a former President of the United States.

That’s right. Boston-based RR Auctions has made several items used by President George H. W. Bush available for bid, including his Scotty Cameron Big Sur putter (below), his Callaway golf bag and his size 11 Nike Air golf shoes. A couple of golf balls and a scorecard from 2003 are also included.

According to RR Auctions, the items were given to a worker at the Cape Arundel Golf Club in Maine.

The auction ends on Wednesday and bidding is currently sitting at $733. It’s estimated the lot will go for over $5,000 and you can keep up to date with the latest bids here.