Equipment

The keys to Sepp Straka’s elite iron and wedge game

Published

1 month ago

May 8, 2026

Few hit the ball from the fairway to the green better than Sepp Straka. He’s relied on his laser-like approach play for all four of his PGA Tour victories. Austria’s most successful golfer ranks 13th in Strokes Gained: Approach on Tour, 14th when it comes to inside 100 yards and even more impressively, Straka sits second when the ball is outside that range.

Sepp Straka is one of the best fairway-to-green players on the PGA Tour. @ACameronWRX caught up with the @ClevelandGolf / @SrixonGolf staffer to discuss his setup. pic.twitter.com/DIuW0SgqiD

— GolfWRX (@GolfWRX) May 8, 2026

So what makes his iron and wedge play click?

Straka is one of many Srixon staffers out on the circuit to play a combination set of ZXi7 and ZXi5 irons. It’s no surprise, as the Huntington Beach, California-based team designed the clubs to share identical topline widths and common design philosophies to seamlessly blend across any combo set, despite being in different iron categories and having varying performance characteristics.

“ I got the ZXi7s all the way up to the 6-iron and then with a 4- and 5-iron just to help myself get a little bit of a higher launch, higher apex, I go for the ZXi5s, it’s seamless really,” Straka said on his setup. “You never feel like you have to put a different swing on it. Same swing just produces that little bit of a higher ball flight and that’s huge. When you’re playing big golf courses like this one this week (Quaill Hollow Club) where you’re going to end up hitting a lot of those into the greens.”

The irons have also paired perfectly with Straka’s Srixon Z-Star XV.

“The ball is great and it’s great in the wind,” Straka added. “I feel like it doesn’t really get hit by the wind as much as other balls that I tried.

“Spin numbers are great for me with this setup all the way from 9-iron through 4-iron to feel like they’re hitting exactly the numbers that you want and the consistency is incredible.”

When it comes to the wedges, Straka carries four Cleveland RTZ Tour Rack wedges to help him consistently hit it close to pins from scoring range.

“I go 60 56, 52, 46 (degrees) on the Cleveland RTZs,” Straka explains. “With the 60 and 56, I’ve got quite a lot of bounce, just kind helps my chipping motion around the greens. The four wedges in the bag, I think it’s pretty important. You hit a lot of wedges and you’re trying to hit wedges close, so you want that gap to be pretty small.

“I’ve always played higher bounce, used to have some issues in college and shifting yips issues, if you will. Since then, I’ve been kind of a high bounce player, just kind of giving myself as much forgiveness as I can get around the greens.”

With Cleveland’s all-new Z-Alloy wedge material, a low-density steel that Cleveland found was 10-percent softer than the brand’s RTX 6 ZipCore wedges, Straka has noticed longevity in the face, which continues to hold the “zip on them,” despite his heavy usage on Tour.

“I like seeing it pretty low trajectory on the wedges, especially in between shot,” Straka said on his elite pitching and wedge approach play. “I feel like if you can use your body and keep kind of an angle going into the shot, it kind of helps you hit those carry numbers a little bit better. You’re going to end up with plenty of spins, so you don’t really need the height to stop the ball. I’ve always kind of felt that flighting the wedges down kind of helps me a little bit.”

This article was presented in partnership with Cleveland/Srixon.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

10 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

10 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

10 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.”