Equipment

Mickelson using an RBZ 3 wood in China

Published

14 years ago

Nov 2, 2012

Many GolfWRXers speculated that Mickelson was playing a 3 wood of some sort with a slot on the bottom at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China. While the club appeared to be a black-painted TaylorMade RBZ fairway wood, the photos were inconclusive, leading to theories that the 3 wood was actually using a soon-to-be-released Callaway product.

We’ve learned that Mickelson is indeed using an RBZ 3 wood in China, albeit a heavily modified one. It is bent 11.5 degree and includes a lighter-than-normal shaft for Mickelson as well as a lot of lead tape to lower the center of gravity.

Not Mickelson’s, but an example of a black-painted RBZ

How do we know? Frequent GolfWRX poster and Callaway Senior Vice President of Marketing Harry Arnett confirmed it in the forums. Read his post in its entirety below, in which Arnett rewards a GolfWRX member for discerning from photos that Mickelson was using an RBZ 3 wood with a prize, and provides other members with a dozen HexBlackTour golf balls.

Click here to read the thread in its entirety.

Callaway_HarryA:

“First of all, these guesses here were awesome. And I am going to make our R&D and product guys read this thread because there were some killer ideas/concepts you guys threw out. Should have known that the dark knights of club ho-edness could come up with some cool stuff.

Here’s the answer, and I think it will surprise many of you. But like I said when we jumped into this and as part of our mission to be a “different” company, a new company, we are going to do things differently and be more straight shooting and transparent.

About two weeks ago, Phil said that the HSBC at Mission Hills isn’t a course where he can hit driver at all. He doubted he would hit driver on any of the holes. He wanted to play a high COR fairway wood there because he wanted a club that went farther than his current 3 wood but not as far as his driver. He knows we have one coming and he asked to play one of our prototypes. Unfortunately we are not ready to launch this product yet and didn’t have the right lofts in left-handed for him. Our primary interest is supporting our players at all times so we told him to play whatever he wanted until he thinks we have the best possible product for him which we believe we will have imminently. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for us. Not well known to many is that Phil has one of the most flexible equipment contracts of any top player and has played other equipment from time to time during his relationship with us, and is well within his right to do so.

That, gentlemen, in Phil’s hands, is a modified RBZ 13 degree, bent to 11.5, “driving 3-wood.” Phil painted her up matte black because he thought that looked cool, put in a lighter shaft than normal so he could actually launch it in the air, and put a crap load of lead tape on the bottom of it to move the CG location so it could actually get up in the air. Result? He has a mini driver that’s good for 290 [yards] off the tee, right between his current 280 3 wood gamer and his 305 driver. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Phil Mickelson, the Crowned Prince of this Forum and club junkies everywhere.

SethPistol gets the win. Seth, HashtagChad will be reaching out to you to pick/claim your prize.

Everyone else who played? Since nobody’s a loser with the new Callaway, we’re going to send you all a dozen HexBlackTour golf balls. HashtagChad will DM you for your address.

Thanks for playing. Tip your waitresses on the way out….

ps: we have a product coming that will instantly replace this FrankenFairway in his bag…”

Click here to read the thread in its entirety.

Related Topics:TaylorMade

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10 Comments

Mike Kotter

Aug 11, 2013 at 3:01 am

Actually, looking at my friend’s pic of Phil’s bag it appears to say X HOT or HOT X and it didn’t look lime green on the back of the head it looked Denver Broncos orange. Which is my only doubt that it’s a RZR. I think personally the RBZ 3 wood is the best club I have ever hit. It jumps off the face well, unlike anything else I have hit. Better than the R1 in my opinion.

Reply Report comment
Mike Kotter

Aug 11, 2013 at 2:46 am

I looked in Phil’s bag at the PGA Championship at Oakhill In Rochester during the 1st round. In fact it was on hole 2 & I swear he has a Calloway RZR 3-wood. I have the TM-RBZ driver, 3 wood, & 5 wood. I understand that last year he hit the TM-RBZ but as of Aug 8, 2013 he is swinging a RZR. I had plenty of drinks before He tee’d off that day but I was right behind Bones when I saw it in his bag. Is this thread old news & if so could you point me in the direction of the most current info? Whatever he is hitting, if it is the new RZR 3 wood bent to 11.5 he is hitting it well. I’m sure it was the same club he hit at Muirfield because he didn’t have driver in his bag. I beg everyone their pardon if I am wrong on this. I don’t think I am breaking any news here but I have yet to find any info newer than this message board as of yet.

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Blopar

Dec 22, 2012 at 11:36 am

You must be blind Petter!

Reply Report comment
Petter

Dec 18, 2012 at 1:42 am

Why is he using a right handed club…?

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Vint

Dec 3, 2012 at 8:50 pm

I would love to know how and where he put the lead tape. The club is so light I couldn’t feel the clubhead. I tried adding tape into the recessed part of the sole to no avail. After 3 layers of tape I had to put it away.

Reply Report comment
MJ

Dec 2, 2012 at 11:18 pm

Callaway: “Do you really have to use RBZ?”

Phil: “I can paint it black.”

Reply Report comment
Lee H.

Nov 20, 2012 at 3:31 pm

11.5 Deg Fairway Food…

Exotics just released the XCG6 line of Drivers and Fairway woods. They do, in fact, have a 11.5 degree fairway wood. I hit it a week or so ago at a local golf shop. Great feel to it. This could in fact replace my current Driver later next year if I still struggle with a new Driver I am getting.

Reply Report comment
phil04

Nov 6, 2012 at 4:43 pm

Why would Phil not use this magic Rocketballz 3 wood bent to 11.5 deg in the majors in 2013.? His contract is fluid with Callaway, and 290 yards in the fairway works everytime !

Reply Report comment
tlmck

Nov 4, 2012 at 2:39 am

I would buy a 10.5 or 11.5 degree 3 wood and ditch my driver if available. I have never quite gotten used to the 460cc driver heads. With the right shaft, I could probably hit it as far as the driver.

Reply Report comment
Derick

Nov 2, 2012 at 8:22 pm

I couldn’t post since I’m a new member to this site. I knew Lefty wasn’t using a new callaway Fairway wood, since Callaway hasn’t released them yet. It looked alot like a RBZ 3wood all taped up to counter the weight and to get alot of loft to get it in the air farther for Lefty…

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Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

11 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

11 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

11 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.”