Equipment

Golf legend Bob Murphy’s new putter insert

Published

14 years ago

Jan 20, 2012

GolfWRX

If you ask any of the great players that have played golf with Bob Murphy, they will tell you that he is one of the best putters that ever lived. His tempo and putting stroke are like the movement of a fine Swiss timepiece, and were the fuel for his win at the 1965 U.S. Amateur, his 1966 NCAA Championship individual title, and his five wins on the PGA Tour.

Because great putting is important at every level, Murphy continued to win tournaments as a member of the Champions Tour. On the Champions Tour, he notched 11 tour victories, and missed only nine cuts in the 366 events he played in.

Arthritis has slowed his playing career, but not his passion for putting. He and his team have created a putter insert that they believe to be the next big thing in putting. Enjoy this story from Bob Murphy about the new insert that is being kept under type wraps … for now.

High Friction Insert Technology

By Bob Murphy with Craig Dolch

“‘Old Murph’ could make a putt or two”– that statement was spoken by Johnny Miller on many television broadcasts we were doing fro NBC. I did make “a few” and learned a lot by watching and listening to fellow PGA Tour professionals, including Miller, Nicklaus, Stockton, Watson, Floyd, Trevino and Colbert. We were obsessed with improving our putting.

Most of our work was on the putting stroke. But there was always concern regarding the putter, too. Did it look good? Did the lie have the sole flat when placed behind the ball? Was the loft correct? Was there a nice “sound” or “click” when struck? Did it “feel good” giving feedback to the hands and brain?

Today, we have a new consideration — the ball itself and the large dimples. Try taking a new Titleist or Callaway and roll it easily and softly by pushing it with your finger and it will veer directions, rock and then come to a halt quickly — all on a flat surface. The new golf ball is simply not perfectly round. The dimples are arranged in various patterns and the ridges of the dimples do protrude. A ball struck on a ridge point can easily impart spin and misdirection. This distortion varies greatly, of course. But the fact is it does happen.

My group is working to develop an insert with high friction to absorb the strike of the ball. The result is that the ball is on the face for a slightly longer time. It may seem infinitesimal, but the ball begins to true roll faster and leaves incredibly straight off this insert. My showing this to PGA Tour and Champions Tour pros Nick Price, Robert Allenby, Ken Duke, Olin Browne and Jay Sigel brings a similar response from each of them. They can see the ball rolls with no bounce and no spin. With this true roll, they notice how straight it takes off, especially on putts of 2 to 5 ft. How many of those have we seen missed on TV in the last three years — by the best in the business?

In trying these putters with the insert installed, these pros realize they can play less break on short putts. That becomes an advantage to them to trust that the ball is leaving so straight and rolling so purely.

Click here for more conversation in the forums

I am not the “mad’ scientist” who concocted this insert material. I am the voice of experience from golf assisting our group in filing the patent pending and obtaining the approval stamp of the USGA. We have that approval — it is legal.

This high-friction insert is ready to play. You will be watching television soon and Johnny Miller will say, “Old Murph has come up with something special here!”

More to come,

Bob Murphy

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

12 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

12 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

12 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.”