GEAR SHORTS Tiger & Scotty, Bubba’s gear overhaul

Early last week, Tiger Woods said two putters were off-limits to his son Charlie: the one he won the 1997 Masters with and the Scotty Cameron he put back in his bag this week.

And, according to Woods, the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS – which he used for 13 of his 14 major wins – couldn’t get back in his bag quick enough after Nike’s exit from the golf equipment industry.

When Woods was asked after his second round back when he picked up his old putter, he said: “I’d say the day we (Nike) got out of the hard goods side.”

Read more -> Twitter reacts to Nike’s golf equipment industry

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Other club testing continues

While Woods seems set on the Scotty Cameron putter, which he performed well with in Albany, other aspects of his bag are still up for change.

The 40-year-old also returned with TaylorMade woods, Nike irons and wedges and a Bridgestone ball, and hinted there may be changes when he next tees it up.

“I am still testing, I’m still trying to figure things out” – Tiger Woods

“I am still testing, I’m still trying to figure things out,” Woods told Golf Channel. “I just settled in on a couple things this week.

“For instance, the 3-wood I found, I found it in the back of a shed here early in the week. It’s still new to me here, ok, so let’s just take a little time.”

Read more -> TaylorMade unleash M2 driver

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Gear overhaul for Bubba

Hero World Challenge defending champion used this year’s event for some major equipment testing as he finally aims to transition the Ping iBlade irons into his bag following some ‘tweaks’.

As well as new wedges and a couple of putters to test, quite surprisingly, Watson also added a hybrid and hinted that it may become a feature of his bag in the future.

“The golf courses are getting so much longer now you need a ball that comes down a bit softer” – Bubba Watson

“I played a hybrid back in the Nationwide/Web.com days,” he said. “The golf courses are getting so much longer now you need a ball that comes down a bit softer.

“A 2-iron into these par-5s, the ball’s just going to go over the back of the green, so you need something that goes a bit higher and I’ve been looking at it for some other courses, too.”

REVIEWED -> See what we thought of the Ping iBlade

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Hideki’s bag tweak

Hideki Matsuyama has won an incredible four times in his last five starts. He’s faced 378 players in total and beaten 377 of them.

But that hasn’t stopped the Japanese star from making a significant tweak to his bag in recent weeks.

At the WGC-HSBC Champions, Matsuyama was using a TaylorMade Rocketballz Stage 2 3-wood. But this has now been switched out for a Callaway Big Bertha Fusion 3-wood, accompanying his Callaway Great Big Bertha driver.

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Spieth explains delay in irons switch

Jordan Spieth had new Titleist irons in the bag for his recent Australian Open win – the 716 AP2s – and, speaking to No Laying Up, the 23-year-old explained why it took so long to change.

“I had trouble switching to the 716s to start,” he said. “I was having a lot of success with the ones I was playing and I found a set that dug weird into the ground. I was stubborn about changing.

“I was stubborn about changing” – Jordan Spieth

“My coach wanted me to try a stiffer shaft and with that we were testing the CBs and AP2s to find the perfect shaft/iron combination.

“It probably took two full days of Trackman to get it right and we figured that the 716s were better in crosswinds – I’m hitting it straighter.”

Read more – 4 reasons why you should get custom-fitted

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And the new ball?

Spieth also put the new Titleist Pro V1 ball in play Down Under. So what was his verdict?

“I haven’t found much of a difference in the ’15 ball except that, with the same as the irons, the ball does better in crosswinds,” he added.

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