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After more than eight years together, Henrik Stenson is finally bidding a fond farewell to his trusty Callaway Diablo Octane Tour 3-wood.
One of the most recognisable sights on tour over the last eight years has become the Swede (who often shies from hitting driver from the tee) bombing his old-school 3-wood a country mile down the fairway with its distinctive Grafalloy Blue X shaft.
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In what seems to be a permanent swap, the somewhat dated Diablo has now been replaced with the latest Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero model.
But why the decision to mix up one of the most recognisable and successful player/club combos in recent memory?
Well, unfortunately for Stenson, the face on his Diablo caved in at Wentworth a few weeks ago, and, even he began to recognise he was sacrificing performance for the sake of familiarity.
Speaking to pgatour.com, Stenson said, ““It’s always sad when one of the trusties has to retire.”
He continued, “I knew long before I gave up on it that the new technology was better and more efficient. When the other one broke in 2017, in February, I was out at a tournament in Dubai and I had to put [a new fairway wood] in; that thing that I put in for that week was much hotter.”
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One of the reason’s why the 43-year-old was able to power his Diablo 3-wood so far down the fairway was in part thanks to its low loft. Stamped on the under side was 13˚, but Stenson in fact had it set to a very low 11.8˚.
His replacement Epic Flash SZ is a 13.5˚ model, equipped with a prototype Project X HZRDUS Yellow shaft that has a custom blue paint finish.
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Stenson added: “I think the efficiency of this new one will probably be better than the one I had been using. The old stuff is out and the new stuff is in.”
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