Equipment

Michael Phelps’ mind-blowing gold Scotty Cameron + 10 awesome WM Phoenix Open photos

Published

2 years ago

Feb 8, 2024

The WMPhoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale provides golf fans and party-goers the perfect environment to celebrate what they love to do most: Watch golf, and party.

As such, the WMPO also provides apparel and equipment companies the perfect inspirations to make cool, fun and custom gear for the people to enjoy.

The creative and custom merch never ceases to please, and this year was no different. Actually, I think everyone turned up the heat on making cool stuff for this year.

Also, as always, we had some celebrity sightings during the Wednesday Pro-Am, and we dove into the celebs bags to see what kind of golf clubs they’re using. Big names such as Michael Phelps, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Saban, and DJ Kygo lead the way.

Below are 10 stand-out equipment stories from the 2024 WM Phoenix Open, and don’t forget to click here for all of our photos from the week.

1) Michael Phelps’ gold 1-of-1 Scotty Cameron putter (and Olympic Gold Medal TaylorMade wedges)

Michael Phelps, a 23-time Gold medal-winning Olympic Swimmer, deserves to play a custom golden putter, and Scotty Cameron delivered.

Based on the “DSS” stamping in the back cavity of the putter, it’s made of Demascus Stainless Steel, with a glistening gold finish.

“Scotty sent me the putter, and I told him I don’t know if I even want to play it [because of how beautiful it is],” Phelps told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at TPC Scottsdale. “Scotty said, ‘You better play it.’”

So, as instructed, Phelps used it in the WMPO Pro-Am on Wednesday.

If the gold 1-of-1 putter wasn’t enough, Phelps also uses custom TaylorMade MG2 wedges, which feature gold-and-silver star stampings that represent each of Phelps’ medal wins, in the precise order that he won them.

If I’m being 100% honest, that’s the coolest wedge stamping I’ve ever seen. Not sure how anything could top it, especially since you’d need at least 23 Gold medals to even compete. Looks like Phelps wins again.

See more Phelps WITB photos here

2) Alex Rodriguez, and his blacked out irons

Legendary baseball player Alex Rodriguez showed off a set all-black PXG 0311P Gen6 irons, which his caddie confirmed with GolfWRX.com that they were new in the bag for the event. He also uses a game-improvement Miura PI-401 long iron to add a touch of forgiveness at the top of the set.

Anecdotally speaking, for anyone curious about A-Rod’s power off the tee, he drove the ball nearly greenside on hole No. 10, which measures 373 yards from the Resort tees. It remains unconfirmed whether the ball took its first bounce off a cart path, but on a wet-and-rainy Wednesday, it was a colossal drive regardless. A-Rod has certified home-run power on the golf course (as much it pains this New York Mets fan to say).

See all the clubs Alex Rodgriquez has in the bag

3) DJ Kygo joins Cobra’s “Palm Tree Crew”

Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, a.k.a. DJ Kygo, is a world-famous music DJ from Norway, and he wow’d the golf equipment world by having a new Cobra Darkspeed “Palm Tree Crew” custom driver in the bag at the 2024 WMPO.

Some would even say his new driver Stole the Show…

4) Nicolo Galleti’s Silkyy custom Ping PLD putter

With all the talk of celebrities so far, I wanted to remind everyone that a serious PGA Tour event is also being played this week, and Monday qualifier Nicolo Galletti – a former ASU golfer and roommate of Jon Rahm – will be using this raw Ping PLD putter.

See Galletti’s full WITB here

5) Waste Management custom gear

As discussed previously, the equipment companies turned up this year at the 2024 WMPO with their custom gear.

Below is a collection of photos from Bettinardi, Ping, SuperStroke, Odyssey and Swag Golf.

6) Higgo switches to a DF3 for south paws

In case you didn’t know, L.A.B. Golf recently launched a new line of DF3 (Directed Force 3) mallet putters, and left-hander Garrick Higgo has one in his bag this week.

7) Coach Nick Saban is still Coach Nick Saban

The legendary Nick Saban recently retired from his longtime head coaching gig at the University of Alabama, and accepted a job as an analyst for College GameDay. Although Saban will now be part of the media, he’s still Coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide at heart, as displayed by his “Roll Tide” Ping Glide 4.0 wedge, and “Coach Nick Saban” stitched golf bag.

Check out Coach Nick Saban’s full WITB here

8) The 2021 National League Cy Young winner, Corbin Burnes, brings the heat

Three-time MLB All-Star Corbin Burnes, formerly a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, and currently a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, had a TaylorMade SIM “Rocket” 14-degree 3-wood in the bag, and this custom TaylorMade Spider GT putter on Tuesday at TPC Scottsdale.

See Burnes’ full WITB here

9) Spotted: New Scotty Cameron T-9 and T-9.5 putters

Scotty Cameron unveiled a slew of new T-9 and T-9.5 model putters this week, including compact mallet shapes with a slew of new alignment lines on the crown, and several different hosel styles. The one-piece milled crown allows Scotty Cameron a clean canvas for extended sightlines, while still providing angular shapes within the design to frame the ball at address.

Check out all of the new Scotty Cameron putters here

10) A 16th Hole miracle

The rain-shortened Wednesday Pro-Am, which also featured a brief hail storm, turned into a closest-to-the-pin contest for all of the celebrities on the 16th Hole. Within minutes following the contest, a double rainbow sprouted out of the grandstands.

Somehow, the photo above isn’t an A.I.-generated advertisement for Whoop, but a real photo that I took of a double-rainbow hovering over the 16th green.

Truly awesome.

And, with that, we say goodbye to the biggest party on grass, and we’ll see you next week at Tiger’s event: The 2024 Genesis Open in L.A.

See all of our photos from the 2024 WMPO here

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Andrew Tursky

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.

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Equipment

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

Published

2 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

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.

Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Titleist Vokey Proto Wedges 54M, 60T

Published

5 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @Putt4Dough is selling some prototype wedges from Vokey Wedgeworks. These include a 54 degree wedge with the M grind and a 60 degree wedge with a T grind.

From the listing:

(1) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 54M with a Tour Issue DGS400 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet (logo down). Standard length, lie, and loft. BB&F ferrule. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.

(2) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 60T with a KBS Tour 130X shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet. Standard length, lie, and loft. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.