Equipment

That one time Dustin Johnson got super protective over his M3 weight setup

Published

8 years ago

Jan 2, 2018

Recently, I recounted conversations with Dustin Johnson and Keith Sbarbaro (VP of tour relations at TaylorMade) regarding DJ’s switch into a TaylorMade P-790 long iron, DJ proto irons, and TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, including a 64-degree wedge.

At the time, TaylorMade’s M3 driver, which is currently in DJ’s bag, was off limits to write about. Given that TaylorMade has officially launched its new M3 and M4 products, however, I can now reveal some very interesting tidbits about DJ and his M3 driver.

As previously addressed, DJ does not like to change driver shafts and will likely continue to play a Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution II Tour Spec for the remainder of his playing career — I joke, but he really might. So aside from the shaft, let’s get into 3 things I learned about DJ and his M3 driver based on discussions with Keith and DJ, and from a hitting clinic at The Kingdom last month in front of 50 or so media members.

1) Dustin’s thoughts on Twist Face

“Twist Face” is TaylorMade’s new design that makes the high-toe area of the face more open and more lofted, and the low heel portion more shut and lower lofted. The goal here is to reduce the slice off the low heel and reduce the hook off the high toe. For Dustin, he seemed most excited to get relief on his high-toe miss.

“Twist Face really helps my miss on the high toe that goes left,” Dustin told me. “So this will definitely help with that. It works, and it’s gonna help the consumer.”

You gotta love the world No. 1 golfer thinking about the consumer.

2) The Long Get Longer

In 2017, Dustin Johnson ranked 12th in ball speed on the PGA Tour, averaging 180.06 mph per drive, with his fastest recorded speed being 184.65 mph. If his early testing with the TaylorMade M3 is any indication, however, he may be picking up some speed this year.

Have a look at this Tweet from the driving clinic at the Kingdom. DJ says his ball speed is up 3 mph, and the 185.1 ball speed is higher than any of the drives he recorded in 2017.

.@DJohnsonPGA‘s Trackman numbers with an unreleased @TaylorMadeGolf driver (he says ball speed is up 3mph from his M1 ’17) ???? pic.twitter.com/H2erLRaoZK

— GolfWRX (@GolfWRX) December 14, 2017

That could partly be due to how DJ and his fitter Keith have the weights adjusted…

3) Do NOT touch DJ’s weight setup in his M3 driver

Since the clinic was put on by TaylorMade, of course the company wants to show how much influence the weights in the M3’s new Y-track have on trajectory. That’s a reasonable thing to expect from a company, especially with a new CG adjustable driver and arguably the world’s best driver of the golf ball to use as your experimenter.

As such, the speaking host of the clinic asked DJ’s fitter to adjust the weights in his M3 driver to showcase the different settings and how the golf ball would react.

DJ, however, did not want his weight settings to be touched. It seemed he was joking at first, but after he expressed his discomfort with adjusting his weight setup that had been dialed in based on testing, it was obvious he was dead serious.

I’m paraphrasing, but DJ said something to the effect of… “if you move the weights and then when we move em back and it’s not performing the same, I’m gonna be mad.”

So, in order for the show to go on and have DJ hit shots with different settings, the TaylorMade team had to fetch an entirely new driver to play around with. The M3 driver they used, however, didn’t even have his Fujikura Speeder shaft in it! While DJ didn’t mention anything about the wrong shaft, you know that hitting a different shaft probably didn’t sit well with him since he’s been “essentially playing the same shaft since coming out on Tour.”

Funny stuff, and lesson learned: Don’t touch Dustin’s adjustable weights, or you will have earned an enemy.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

17 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

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.

Whats in the Bag

Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)

Published

17 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

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

See more in-hand photos of Bud Cauley’s clubs here.

Equipment

Name every set of irons you’ve owned – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

17 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

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”

Entire Thread: “Name every set of irons you’ve owned.”