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Charl Schwartzel switches putters after a phone call with Adam Scott

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It seems that Adam Scott’s recent putter switch is having a bit of a domino effect on the PGA Tour.

As recently covered on GolfWRX and PGATOUR.com, Scott switched to an L.A.B. Golf “Mezz.1” proto putter head in a broomstick-length version ahead of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open.

The recent Mezz.1 design from L.A.B. capitalizes on the company’s unique Lie Angle Balance design philosophy that helps to reduce torque throughout the stroke and keep it square to the arc of the putter. According to Scott, the new winged head shape from L.A.B. is more appealing than the company’s original Directed Force head design.

Scott’s version of the putter looks a little bit different than the new stock offerings, because he needed more weights on the sole to achieve the correct weight in his elongated putter.

Fellow PGA Tour player Charl Schwartzel, apparently, not only took notice to Scott’s switch, but he sought out his advice on it, too.

Adam Scott’s Mezz.1 proto putter (left) versus Charl Schwartzel’s new Mezz.1 putter.

Speaking with GolfWRX on Tuesday ahead of the 2022 Honda Classic, Schwartzel said that he’s believed in L.A.B. Golf’s technology for awhile, but he spoke to Scott following the Aussie’s switch and finally decided he needed to try one for himself.

Schwartzel, who’s been struggling recently to find a putter he can play for the long-term, will be bagging the Mezz.1 putter this week at the Honda.

“Sam (Hahn, CEO of L.A.B. Golf) sent me a picture of the putter quite a while back and Adam Scott started using it, so I chatted to Adam and he liked it,” Schwartzel told GolfWRX. “So then I phoned Sam and asked him, ‘Will you make me a putter? I’m not putting very well.’ He brought me one out on Monday. This week is the first time I saw it in real life.

“I’ve always believed in Sam’s technology. He’s a perfectionist, so everything he does, it needs to be absolutely perfect. I mean the technology behind this putter’s amazing.”

Since a huge part of L.A.B. Golf’s technology is based around getting the weight correct in order to be perfectly balanced based on the lie angle, Hahn and Schwartzel worked together on Tuesday to get the weight in the sole correct. In the end, they landed on the stock eight-weight sole with a strip of lead tape added to the heel portion.

It looks a bit different than Scott’s custom raw aluminum head, but Schwartzel’s black version is meant to work the same way: reduce torque and allow the golfer to stroke the ball freely with their preferred stroke. He also opted for the dot sightline instead of Scott’s top line.

“I think it putts easier than any other putter because if you look on the arc of a stroke, it can basically stroke a ball by itself,” Schwartzel said. “No other putter can do that. So, if you’re comfortable letting it go like that, it does it basically by itself. It’s very well balanced and it feels good. It’s very sensitive to lie angle, though; you need to get the exact lie angle.”

For Schwartzel, he’ll be using a 70-degree lie angle at 35 inches and a swing weight of E9 with an LA Golf shaft and a L.A.B. Golf Press No.2.m grip this week.

We’ll keep an eye on how his performance changes on the greens.

Check out more photos of the putter, and the rest of Schwartzel’s mixed bag of clubs here.

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Nick

    Apr 21, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    Lead tape on a LAB putter? lol

  2. Bob

    Feb 25, 2022 at 11:06 am

    Doesn’t Edel and Axis make the same toe up/torque balanced type of putter?

    • Sam

      Mar 2, 2022 at 9:03 am

      Same family but we’ve taken it quite a few steps further. Search the lab website for “torque revolution” and you can see direct comparisons.

      • Jeff

        Jul 30, 2022 at 12:10 am

        Hi Sam, How many grams is the head weight on the ‘heavy’ mezz max? And will LAB sell their putters on golf galaxy anytime soon? best,J

  3. BobbyN

    Feb 24, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    Great putter! I’ve used it and it works.

  4. Garrett

    Feb 23, 2022 at 7:20 pm

    LAB has made the best putter out there for YEARS. Literally every other manufacturer makes an inferior product IMO. Glad they are finally getting some recognition!!

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Whats in the Bag

Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)

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Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D LS (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold X100

Wedges: TaylorMade Prototype (50-SB09), TaylorMade MG5 (56-HB12, 60-LV07)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400

Putter: TaylorMade TP Juno

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

Check out more in-hand photos of Christiaan Maas’ clubs here.

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Equipment

TaylorMade MySpider Tour and Tour X: More customizable build options now available

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TaylorMade Golf’s MySpider program underwent a substantial overhaul over the last month. Firstly, the company launched the option to customize the Spider ZT model, and now the program has returned with the MySpider Tour and MySpider Tour X.

The revamped page now gives golfers complete control over every visual and functional detail of their putter on the popular Tour and Tour X head, with every cosmetic idea thought of. In MySpider Tour, golfers can choose from four head finishes, 16 paint fill colors, nine Surlyn face insert colors, three aluminum insert options, six sightline configurations, and four hosel options — L-neck, small slant, double bend, center shaft. Six sightline options are available in MySpider Tour, including the optically engineered True Path alignment system. MySpider Tour X gives builders the option of four head finishes, four hosel configurations, and five sightline options, also including True Path alignment.

One of the more interesting features of the new MySpider program is the availability of three distinct face insert options. Along with the usual Surlyn Pure Roll insert trusted by Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, which can be customized from nine colors, golfers can now also select firmer options. Two are offered with the black aluminum Pure Roll insert, slightly firmer than the traditional insert, or for the firmest feel, golfers can choose from two colors of milled aluminum inserts.

Another fun addition to the MySpider Tour is the ability to use the “Tommy Sightline.” The custom alignment aid design, which was first drawn onto Tommy Fleetwood’s putter by PGA Tour Rep James Holley, is based on the milled sightline on his Spider ZT head. There are five shorter lines on the left and right of a longer central line serving as the traditional short line alignment aid.

See below for the full specifications sheet for MySpider Tour and Tour X:

MySpider Tour

MySpider Tour X

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Equipment

Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory

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In Rory McIlroy’s first appearance at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, he crushed the record books to earn his 16th PGA Tour title in dominating fashion, winning by seven shots over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson.

McIlroy’s score of 22-under-par 258 is the lowest 72-hole score to date at the Canadian Open, and his closing 61 is also the best final-round score in the history of one of golf’s oldest tournaments. Finally, with his win in 2019, McIlroy became only the sixth player to win the career Triple Crown, adding to his victories at the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014, joining Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods in a coveted list.

So, with that, why not compare his current setup to the clubs he used to break all the records?

Driver

2019: TaylorMade M5 (9 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees @8), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7X (45 5/8 inches)

McIroy led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in 2019; he’s doing the same in 2026. Between now and then, McIlroy has switched from the Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX (a shaft with slightly more feeling in the tip) to the original Fujikura Ventus Black 7X, having just made the change to the heavier version from playing the 60X.

What’s interesting about McIlroy’s 2019 setup is that the weighting on his driver is actually set in the high-draw setting, using the T-Track weighting system, whereas in the Qi4D, he’s currently using a heavily rear-weighted setup. (Two 13-gram weights in the rear and only two 4-gram front weights.)

The TaylorMade M5 driver he played in during his Canadian Open win was the company’s first head that they claimed to design to initially exceed the USGA’s COR limit, and then injected with tuning resin to bring it back in bounds.

Fairway woods

2019: TaylorMade M6 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX; TaylorMade M5 5-wood (19 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X; TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood (18 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9X

The TaylorMade M6 fairway wood that McIlroy was using during the 2019 season is still in the bag of some of the best golfers on Tour in 2026. Just check out Justin Rose’s winning setup from the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. This year, though, McIlroy has still been searching for his top-end-of-the-bag setup, having played both the new Qi4D and the Qi10, which he won the Masters with.

The same shaft swap can be seen in the fairway woods as the driver, along with slightly less loft on the 5-wood.

Irons

2019: TaylorMade P750 (4) Buy here, TaylorMade P730 (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0
2026: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0

The biggest difference between McIlroy’s custom set and the stock P730s is the groove design. While the P730s were constructed with 14 MX-9 grooves on their milled faces, McIlroy’s proto heads instead use the higher-spinning, 16-groove layout of the TW2 grooves. Other big differences between the sets are that McIlroy’s 7- and 8-irons have thinner toplines, are 1 degree stronger in loft, and are 1/4 inch longer than the original P730 builds.

With McIlroy’s 4-iron, the switch from P750 to P760 sees a transition to a two-piece construction with Speed Foam in it, which allows McIlroy to launch the ball slightly higher, with more workability.

Wedges

2019: TaylorMade Milled Grind (48-09SB), TaylorMade MG Hi-Toe (52-09SB, 56-09SB, 60-LB09), Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5
2026: TaylorMade MG5 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, 60-08LB @61), Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Between 2019 and 2026, McIlroy’s focus on his short game has been much more apparent. It was the reason why he switched back to the TP5 golf ball, to help with launch, spin and control with his wedges leading up to his career Grand Slam victory in 2025. The most apparent changes to McIlroy’s wedge setup are his lofts and bounce. He’s slowly delofted his pitching to a sand wedge, but has increased the loft on the lob wedge, bending his current 60-degree to 61. With that, adding more loft to his lob wedge also slightly increases the bounce and leading-edge sit point, so, as a result, he plays a lower-bounce lob wedge compared to 2019. The MG5 wedges are also softer than the first Milled Grind option from 2019. McIlroy also no longer plays the full-face grooves found on the Hi-Toe.

Putter

2019: TaylorMade Spider X
2026: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Notice anything similar. Yes, the copper finish on Rory McIlroy’s Spider X putter in 2019 is a slightly more reflective finish than the recently released torched PVD finish. McIlroy was using the True Path alignment system, but now uses only a single white sightline.

Ball

2019: 2019 TaylorMade TP5 (#22)
2026: 2025 TaylorMade TP5 (RORS)

As mentioned above, McIlroy had transitioned from the TP5 to TP5x golf ball since his victory in Canada in 2019, but now is black with the same style of golf ball as his victory at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

Grips

2019: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
2026: Golf Pride MCC

Interesting, McIlroy actually used Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord grips during his victory in 2019 (it was during a 2+ year switch to the corded TV) as opposed to his usual MCC grips, which he has played for most of his career.

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