Equipment

Bringing back the blade: Maverick McNealy ends mallet experiment, returning to ‘Hideki reject’ putter

Published

3 months ago

Mar 11, 2026

In a world where many think putting with a blade is a dying art…rise Maverick McNealy.

Now his story doesn’t come without a slight bit of villainy. He, too, went to the dark side, but swiftly returned. It’s a plot for one of the greatest sci-fi movie franchises.

As McNealy heads to TPC Sawgrass for The Players Championship, the world No. 25 is coming off a week’s spell using the TaylorMade Spider putter on the West Coast. Surprisingly, though, and against all odds, McNeally has returned to his Odyssey Toulon Prototype Santa Monica blade, instead of following the mallet crowd.

“I think there’s, there’s a lot of value in a mallet to, to align properly and look where you’re aiming and stroke it that way,” McNealy said on why he made the initial switch to a TaylorMade Spider Tour X.

Oddly, he equipped it with the short slant neck instead of the L-Neck, which potentially would have better represented his Toulon blade.

His one-week experiment resulted in a missed cut at the Genesis Invitational, during which he lost over 3 strokes on the greens. A drastic decline from the player who led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2023 and hasn’t been outside the top 30 in the stat since 2021.

At the time, the change in putter meant that only four of the top 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking were using a blade putter, with almost half using a variation of the Spider. You couldn’t blame McNealy for trying it either, with five of the first six winners on Tour this season all using the TaylorMade mallet.

For McNealy, though, the Spider couldn’t replicate an all-important key that his Toulon has – sound.

“The sound of this Toulon, for whatever reason, it just matches perfectly with my ear with the speed I’m trying to hit,” McNealy said. “… the slightly louder sound has helped with faster greens.”

The Spider switch has helped McNealy. In the opposite fashion to some, most notably Rory McIlroy, who likes to practice his putting with an older blade putter, McNealy thinks the Spider has helped him train his putting stroke.

The Toulon blade in question actually has a comical backstory. McNealy describes it as a “Hideki reject.”

The putter itself was originally designed for the Japanese superstar. Matsuyama is a chronic putter swapper, travelling and testing at least a handful each week he’s out on Tour, but it was McNealy who picked it up off the Tour truck, having putted with prototype Toulon Stanford for most of his career.

Although the Toulon didn’t make it in Matsuyama’s museum-like collection of flatsticks, it fortunately found a great home with McNealy.

Equipment

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

Published

37 mins 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.

Whats in the Bag

Ryan Palmer WITB 2026 (June)

Published

39 mins ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 60 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 70 6.5

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (18 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX

Irons: Srixon ZXiU (23 degrees), Srixon Z785 MB (5-PW)
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 100 6.5 (4), KBS Tour 130 X

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (50-08F, 54-10S, 58-04T @59)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey Dual Force Rossie II

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Check out more in-hand photos of Ryan Palmer’s clubs here.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

22 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.