Ryan Palmer has seen a bit of a career resurgence in the last 9-12 months. The four-time PGA Tour winner has always been known as one of the most consistent ball strikers out there, but even more, a player who stays ridiculously loyal to his clubs.

Case in point: The irons he played before his current set. Palmer cycled through multiple sets of Titleist AP2 710’s for almost nine years. In that time, Titleist introduced four iterations of the AP2.

“Why would he do this?” you ask. “Because they worked,” is the answer.

The same can be said for multiple drivers, 3-woods, and 5-woods that stayed in the bag for 3-4 years at a time.

It might not seem like a big deal but on tour it is. OEMs cycle in new gear almost every year, and these days the equipment improves from cycle to cycle, so having a player like Palmer stick to certain parts for so long is a bit of a rarity. The only other players I know who do it at this rate would be Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer.

RP and I have become friends over the past couple of years, and his approach to equipment is what every golfer should aspire to: it has to work. And if it does, don’t ditch it until it breaks or something comes around that is significantly better.

Over the past 9 months, Ryan has made more changes to his bag than any over the past decade. He replaced a driver, a four-year-old 3-wood (M2), and a five-year-old 5-wood (R15).

But as you will see when we look a bit closer, the changes have been for the better in every capacity.

Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees, Upright Setting, 18G Back weight)
Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke RDX USA Limited Edition 60 6.5 (D4, Tipped 1″, 45.25 Inches) 

“This combo was good from the start. Faster and longer than my M6 setup. I wanted to draw it a little easier than my M6. We dialed it in with Shawn Mullin and True Temper. It started more left than I wanted, so Adrian went to work to help correct my start line. I still wanted to hit my fade off the tee. He went and changed the sleeve to half-degree flatter and boom…was exactly what I was looking for. I’m excited about what this driver has. Faster, longer, and more stable. Even my mishits are longer and not as offline. With the help of Shawn and True Temper and the great mind of Adrian, we dialed it in. Getting longer at 44 will add to the excitement 2021 will hold.”

According to TaylorMade’s Senior Tour Manager Adrian Rietveld

“The main fix was I found a sleeve that sat max 1/2 flatter for the driver, and I bent loft onto his 3-wood without telling him before I ran it out to him on the course. I knew the 3-wood was near perfect, and when he asked for a backup driver exactly the same, I knew that was money too. He is as good off the tee as anyone—in my top 10 for sure.”

3-wood: TaylorMade Sim Max ([email protected] degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke Green “Hulk” 70 6.5 (D4, Tipped 1.5″, 43 Inches)

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM Max (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke RDX 80 6.5 (D4, Tipped 2″, 42 Inches)

How did this 5-wood finally bump the trusty R15 out of the bag? “It does everything way better. I loved my old 5-wood because I trusted it with multiple shots. When Adrian dialed me into this one, I added even more versatility to it and some distance, which I’ll never run away from.”

Irons: Srixon ZU85 (23), Srixon Z 785 (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Elevate VSS Pro X (4), KBS Tour 130 X (5-PW)

After his final set of 710 AP2 irons basically keeled over and died, RP tested a few sets and fell in love with the turf interaction of the Z785.

“I already get into the ground fine, so I like irons with a bit of bounce to add some speed through the turf. Once I had a chance to get around with these at home, it was pretty clear that they were an ideal replacement to the 710. Now I just hope I can stockpile 20 sets.”

His U85 came after some testing with the Z585 4-iron he played for a few months. He liked but didn’t love that iron for a few reasons but it was a shaft test with the U85/Elevate combo that won him over.

“I was at a tournament and finally brought this combo out to try and VERY quickly knew it was a gamer. I can hit it up/down/left/right and it flies to my number with a nice descent angle. It’s the first time I’ve had that much versatility with a club between my 5-wood and 5-iron. The shaft was the key—it’s simply awesome.”

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50-08F, 56-10S @55, 60-04L)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X (50), KBS Tour 120 S (56, 60)

SPECS Length/Lie/SW

• 50: 35.5/63/D3
• 56@55: 35.25/63/D3
• 60: 35/63/D3

According to Vokey’s Aaron Dill, Palmer is fairly low maintenance when it comes to his wedges.

“RP is a pure feel player with impeccable tempo. It may look like he’s gliding thru the ball but with his lag and great hands, he not only creates great speed at the bottom when he needs to but can also take a lot off with little thought. The only real tweak we have made lately is going to a softer shaft (KBS 120 S) in his 55/60. This helps with feel obviously but also added a bit more spin out of those shorter shots.”

Putter: Odyssey Rossie II

“I tried some different putters over the past year or so, but this one just has so much history for me. I’ve used it since college, and no matter what, I can always go back to it and feel at home.”

– Ryan Palmer

Grip: Flat Cat

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

58R/+3 wraps/Logo Down

• ONLY WADE LILES on TM truck does his grips, no one else.

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x ‘21

“I’m killing this thing. It’s really fast off the driver.”

Carry Distance (Stock) 

Driver: 295

• Swing speed: 117 (Stock) 120 (Hard)
• Ball speed: 175 (Stock) Low 180 (Hard)
• Spin: 2100-2200 (Stock) 1800-1900 (Hard)
• Launch: Try to stay at 12-13 degrees

3-wood: 265 carry off ground. 275 carry off tee

5-wood: 245 off ground. Stinger 5-wood flies 230-240 and runs out to 270-280

U: 225

5: 200-205

6: 190

7: 175-180

8: 165

9: 152-155

PW: 142-145

50 degree: 130

56 degree: 115

60 degree: 92-95