7 cool tools finds inside Brian Harman's golf bag | BagSpy

The gear crew at GOLF.com spends a number of time at Tour occasions snapping pictures of the instruments utilized by the perfect gamers on the earth. Posting membership photos with out context generally works, nevertheless it doesn’t assist the weekend golfer perceive the why behind a professional’s setup.

On this GOLF.com collection, tools editors Jonathan Wall and Ryan Barath reply these questions by highlighting fascinating golf equipment in gamers’ luggage, distinctive weighting, loft sleeve settings and extra. Welcome to “Bag Spy.”

Massive boy

It’s not possible to totally admire the large footprint of Harman’s TaylorMade Spider OS CB putter till you may have it in hand. Let me guarantee you, it’s an absolute unit. Return through the years and also you’ll discover outsized putters have loved their second(s) within the solar, most notably Jack Nicklaus’ inconceivable 1986 Masters win with a beefy MacGregor Response ZT 615.

Jack’s putter was designed by the top of MacGregor’s R&D, Clay Long, who, as luck would have it, created Harman’s Spider OS CB round an analogous idea. The outsized head will increase stability at affect, thereby decreasing the quantity of head twisting on off-center strikes. The result’s (hopefully) straighter putts.

Whereas the design had advantage, Spider OS CB got here and went with minimal fanfare on Tour, exterior of a choose few who selected to maintain it within the bag. Harman is definitely essentially the most high-profile identify to make use of the putter. Two of his three wins have include OS CB in his palms, together with last year’s Open Championship.

“I’ve all the time preferred the bigger high-MOI, face-balanced putters for some purpose,” Harman mentioned. “Haven’t modified a lot up to now a number of years and don’t see that altering anytime quickly. It does the job.”

That it does, Brian.

Newest addition

Earlier this 12 months on the Genesis Invitational, Harman was noticed with a Titleist TSR2 driver within the bag. The membership by no means made the ultimate reduce, nevertheless it marked one of many few occasions the 37-year-old contemplated altering. For the higher a part of 4 years, Harman’s relied solely on TSi2 to satisfy his driver wants. In his eyes, there was no purpose to shake issues up.

Then along came GT2 to power his hand. Current testing revealed GT2 produced tighter launch and spin deltas on mishits, which satisfied Harman to vary on the Vacationers Championship.

The primary week within the bag was a dream begin for Harman, who completed second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee, gaining greater than 5 pictures on the sphere (plus-5.086). He additionally recorded his two greatest driving rounds of the 12 months on Friday (plus-1.610) and Sunday (plus-1.888).

Harman is on the rising checklist of latest GT driver converts who’ve switched within the final 4 weeks.

Troublesome to kick

Harman’s TS2 fairway woods turned 6 years previous this 12 months. For the common golfer, this may be simply one other membership within the bag. For the common professional, it’s thought of historic by in the present day’s tour requirements.

With new merchandise always biking by means of the bag, something older than 4-5 years deserves recognition. If there’s an exception, it’s the golf green wooden. Designed to deal with quite a few roles, it’s not unusual to see a professional stick to the identical fairway wooden for 5-plus years if it’s working. Don’t overlook, Brook Koepka nonetheless employs a TaylorMade M2 3-wood from 2017.

There’s a stage of consolation that may be troublesome to copy from one fairway wooden to the subsequent, which is why many professionals chorus from making wholesale modifications when new product is launched. Usually, they’ll work their method into one fairway wooden earlier than specializing in the opposite — assuming they carry two within the bag. And even then, there’s no assure the brand new stuff will click on.

Tiger Woods lately changed his TaylorMade SIM Ti 3-wood with a Qi10 Tour through the Genesis Invitational however avoided making an analogous change to the M3 5-wood. When requested why the 5-wood hadn’t been bumped, Woods gave a easy reply.

“My 5-wood is totally different, it’s previous, somewhat beat up, nevertheless it nonetheless works,” Woods mentioned. “However the 3-wood, I wished to seek out one thing I may draw somewhat bit higher and this one is unquestionably that.”

When a membership is working, there’s no purpose to shake up the setup.

Equally previous

Talking of older product, Harman’s 3-wood is provided with a Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution II S shaft that dates again to 2016. Not solely is Harman utilizing an older mannequin 3-wood, the shaft alternative confirms he hasn’t made modifications to the general construct. As soon as once more, stick to what works.

As a gearhead, the shaft alternative makes me downright giddy as you seldom see older mannequin shafts within the wild on Tour. Speeder 661 Evolution II was a highly-anticiapted product that featured a metallic pink, orange, and yellow end that glistened within the solar. In my view, it’s among the finest trying shafts Fujikura has ever launched.

Vital forgiveness

Again in March, Sports activities Advertising and marketing Surveys (SMS) launched a chart tracking club usage over the previous 15 years on the DP World Tour. The chart confirmed the standard 3-iron has all however been changed by high-lofted fairway woods, utility irons and hybrids during the last decade-plus.

Some professionals have began changing the 4-iron with one of many above choices — and even the 5-iron. Relying on the course setup, Harman will carry three Titleist U500 utility irons (3-5) after which transition right into a 620 CB 6-iron.

“I don’t plan so as to add a [U500 6-iron], however I’ve seen a number of advantages utilizing one within the 5-iron,” Harman mentioned. “They’re actually constant and provides me the flexibility to get away with one if I don’t hit it out of the middle.”

Pure’d it

Execs will do no matter it takes to seek out an edge on the course, together with tweaking their course of to make the tools of their bag even higher. The “P” sticker located just under Harman’s Golf Satisfaction Tour Velvet grip denotes his golf equipment have gone by means of an SST Pure evaluation to make sure the shaft is in essentially the most useful orientation for repeatable efficiency when the top is hooked up.

Resulting from manufacturing tolerances, SST Pure founder Dick Weiss began to note that not all golf shafts have been completely spherical or symmetrical, and even the smallest imperfections — be it wall thickness, straightness or roundness — may trigger variations in how one shaft carried out versus one other inside the identical mannequin household.

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A shaft with the inaccurate orientation, when assembled, would possibly launch an excessive amount of or not sufficient at affect in comparison with what it’s designed to do. The purpose behind the SST Pure machine is to ensure every shaft bends on a impartial axis, which might result in tighter dispersions and extra consistency all through the set.

Whereas it’s not broadly publicized, numerous professionals have put their golf equipment by means of the SST Pure course of through the years, together with Harman, Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and DeChambeau.

Small enhancements

A one-inch strip of lead tape weighs about one-to-two grams, which could not appear to be a lot. However take into account this: it solely takes two grams to maneuver from one swing weight to the subsequent. And each swing weight change can alter how the membership feels and performs in your palms.

Whenever you see a single strip of lead tape affixed to the cavity of Harman’s 620 CB iron, it’s pure to marvel if he actually notices a distinction. The straightforward reply is: sure, he does discover a distinction. Relying on the place the tape is positioned, really feel and CG will be altered incrementally.

Harman isn’t on the lookout for important modifications when he provides lead tape to a membership — and it must be famous the lead tape isn’t on each membership within the bag — however reasonably small changes that solely lead tape can present with minimal changes to the general membership construct.

Wish to overhaul your bag for 2024? Discover a fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

Jonathan Wall

Golf.com Editor

Jonathan Wall is GOLF Journal and GOLF.com’s Managing Editor for Gear. Previous to becoming a member of the employees on the finish of 2018, he spent 6 years masking tools for the PGA Tour. He will be reached at [email protected].