Equipment
10 Revealing Photos from the Crowne Plaza Invitational
We’re underway in the PGA Tour’s pseudo-Texas swing (which only lasts two tournaments) this week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club.
Most people know Colonial as Hogan’s Alley, and it’s fitting that the course puts a premium on ball striking with its tight fairways and small greens.
GolfWRX was live this week from Hogan’s old stomping grounds, and you can see all of our photo galleries here.
Now let’s see what those galleries offered us in this week’s Revealing Photos.
The Ducks’ Thomas Lim with an intriguing WITB
Iomic AND Golf Pride grips? It’s tough to pull off the mid-bag grip switch up, but the University of Oregon standout does it.
It looks as though the once Volt-colored swooshes on his irons are running out of electricity. Time to plug them back in and recharge?
Also, Lim has a 20-gram weight in the toe and a 10-gram weight in the heel of his Odyssey Tank 330M putter, which is most likely used to slow down the release of the toe of the putter.
Golfers with the case of the pulls on the greens, take note.
Ben Crane’s caddy: “Whoa! Slow down and take your time, Ben.”
Everyone else: “NOOOO!”
Train yourself to putt better for dollar-menu prices
Want to groove your putting alignment and stroke? A long string, two rods, two tees and something with a straight edge is all you need, even if you’re on the PGA Tour. This is a very comprehensive putting training station that you can have for less than $10.
Here’s another good one from Adam Scott.
Get yourself an alignment aid, draw a chalk line to the hole, and stick a tee behind your putter head to limit stroke-length, which encourages acceleration into the ball.
Another drill from Kevin Chappell. All this one takes is an alignment rod, which you probably already have laying around somewhere. This drill will encourage golfers to rock their shoulders and release their putter at impact.
Max Homa’s Kobe Bryant-inspired stampings
Kobe gave himself the nickname “Black Mamba” after watching Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, and thought the snake, which was used as a code name for a deadly assassin in the movie, was a perfect description of his basketball game.
In his veteran years, the 36-year old goes by the name “Vino,” meaning “wine,” implying that his game gets better with age. “KB24” is self-explanatory (hopefully).
Nike Vapor irons just don’t look the same for lefties
Because of the design of the club, the Nike Swoosh sits backward on the lefty’s irons. That’s gotta mess with Cody Gribble’s mind just a little. At least it puts my brain in a pretzel.
John Huh’s wedge stamp has to be one of the coolest ever
John HUH?!
The simple luxuries of the PGA Tour
Testing putter grips for most people means taking grips on and off of the same putter. Testing grips for PGA Tour pros means two of the same putters with different grips. Must be nice.
Congrats to KingMade Jerky on making the Wall Of Champions at Colonial!
KingMade Jerky: The mouth-wateringly tender champion of golf snacks. A well-deserved induction.
Here’s Charles Macdonald’s bag, the 1895 U.S. Amateur Champion
He defeated Charles Sands 12 & 11 at Newport Country Club 120 years ago. It’s impressive to see him teeing it up at the Crowne Plaza at Colonial in 2015. Talk about career longevity.
Hunter Mahan’s weak cover up
We’re on to your tricks, Hunter. One layer of lead tape isn’t enough to hide from GolfWRX. We know you’re testing a Callaway Mack Daddy PM Grind wedge.
This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.
Joel Thelen
Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.
First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.
Mitchell Meissner
Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.
Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX
Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.
@Lamosteve began:
Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine
Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6
Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
- JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
- jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”
Justin Rose WITB 2026 (April): Full WITB breakdown with new McLaren irons
What’s the story behind Webb Simpson’s custom-stamped irons?
Memorial Tournament Tour Report: Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young switch up drivers, and more
Cadillac Championship Tour Report: Spieth’s sizable changes, McLaren Golf launches, and more
Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Kristoffer Reitan’s winning WITB: 2026 Truist Championship
J.T. Poston’s winning WITB: 2026 Memorial Tournament
Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Best irons 2026: Best irons overall, most forgiving irons, and more
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2026 Cadillac Championship
Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament. Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura...
Hannah Green WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Titleist GTS3 (10 degrees, D4 SureFit setting) Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana RB 53 S 3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees,...
Asterisk Talley WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 S 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (16.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue...
Brianna Do WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 3-wood: Callaway Elyte Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 5-wood:...
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Benny
May 24, 2015 at 11:13 am
Love this new section. Awesome stuff!
Colin
May 25, 2015 at 10:27 pm
Yes! Definitely keep this section going for future tournaments.
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 8:33 pm
What’s the name of the green Adam Scott putting device?
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 8:31 pm
What does Vokey call that very dark finish on Max Homa’s wedges? If they were simply unchromed, they wouldn’t have such an even finish, and they wouldn’t be so blue-gray, right?
That finish really looks nice.
AndyB
May 25, 2015 at 5:27 am
I think it is probably the raw black finish that has been tinkered with to give it that even and darker raw finish. I stripped my raw black sm5’s with CLR, and this is about the color they were after the first soak and a light rub with scotch brite pad. I continues to work on mine until they looked like a typical raw wedge, but after seeing these, I am starting to regret it. Great looking wedges.
Rich
May 22, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Hunter Mahan testing a mack daddy pm grind. That’s hilarious! He used to use an eye2 so it’s even funnier that he’s gone elsewhere for the same design! I guess Callaway did it better. Karsten will be rolling over in his grave!
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 8:12 pm
Well that Callaway/Mickelson wedge looks the way it does precisely because Callaway was imitating an old Ping design that Mickelson longed for, right? The Ping guys ought to stamp “PING” into the lead tape.
Here’s another golfwrx thread, featuring Mickelson’s Ping wedge with logos covered up via lead tape, just like Mahan’s Callaway:
http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/955275-phil-and-a-ping-wedge/
RG
May 22, 2015 at 7:33 pm
Keep’em coming Andrew, look forward to this every week.
Agreed
May 22, 2015 at 4:25 pm
The PM grind is a Ping eye 2
RG
May 22, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Yeah, I don’t get why they are getting so much hype. I game the Eye 2 XG and the Cally is a straight clone of a wedge design that’s been around for 30+ years. Ping invented the U grind.
Well if your gonna rip-off something, that’s a good one to rip-off caus the Eye 2 is the greatest sand iron ever.
LorenRobertsFan
May 22, 2015 at 12:52 pm
You’d think that Ping would easily mill grooves out on the toe of a EYE 2 Gorge for Hunter so he wouldn’t have to test the PM grind..
Teaj
May 22, 2015 at 2:09 pm
+1
KCCO
May 22, 2015 at 6:13 pm
The height of toe looks a lot higher in person than any other oem’s wedge….may be the grooves making an optical illusion. But my comment is kinda pointless as I didn’t sit another wedge next to it to see height at top of toe if there is a significant difference