By E. Michael Johnson
The biggest equipment free agent in golf is off the market. After five years without an equipment contract, Brooks Koepka has signed a multi-year deal with Cleveland/Srixon to play the company’s clubs and ball, with several changes to the bag coming this week for The Match against Bryson DeChambeau in Las Vegas.

“I am very excited to join my good friends Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell and Hideki Matsuyama as a Srixon and Cleveland Golf Tour Staff member,” said Koepka in a statement released by the company. “I’ve been an equipment free agent for the past few years, so it will be fun to be involved with a company on a daily basis and be able to contribute to the development of their future equipment. I put the ZX7 Irons in play in January and it is the best iron I have played on tour. I look forward to kicking off our new partnership this week in Las Vegas!”

In addition to the ZX7 irons (which have True Temper Dynamic Gold TI X100 shafts), Koepka will use a 9.5-degree Srixon ZX5 driver with a 44.5-inch Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 70 TX shaft, tipped an inch. He also will use a trio of Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges with the “Tour Rack” raw finish. The 52- and 56-degree wedges have a mid bounce while the 60-degree is low bounce. The shafts are True Temper Dynamic Gold S400s. Koepka also will play a Srixon Z-Star prototype golf ball and have a Srixon staff bag.

According to the company, Koepka chose the ZX5 driver over the ZX7 because he preferred the shape. Meanwhile, the ball not only best fit his launch conditions throughout the bag, but performed well in the wind.

As for the irons, which he first put in play at the 2021 American Express: “I just felt like the irons were going a little bit higher,” he said when asked shortly after at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, which he won, what he liked about the clubs. “The ball flight was pretty good. The way the sole goes through the turf. They don’t stick, [which is good] because I do come in pretty steep on it.”

In August 2016, Nike announced it was exiting the golf equipment business. With that, its tour staff suddenly were equipment free agents. Among them was Koepka, a talented player but with only one win to his credit. In the ensuing five years as a free agent, Koepka went on to win seven more times, ascend to No. 1 in the world in 2018 and capture four major championships (two U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships). Now he’ll try to build on that résumé with some new sticks in the bag.

The post Brooks Koepka, golf’s biggest equipment free agent, signs deal with Cleveland/Srixon appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Jim Herman is a 42-year-old on the PGA Tour who took until 2016 to win his first PGA Tour title at the Shell Houston Open. So it should not come as a shock that it took him a while to get going before going on to win the Wyndham Championship. Herman birdied three of his last four holes on Friday just to make the cut, then went on a tear, shooting 61-63 over his final 36 holes to win by one over Billy Horschel.

Although much attention will be paid to his sharp iron play over the final nine holes, resulting in a trio of short birdie putts, what kept Herman in contention was three big putts on the front nine. Herman dropped a 29-footer for birdie on the first and followed that with a 59-footer for an eagle 3 at the par-5 fifth hole. One from 14 feet followed at the eighth hole, too. For the week Herman was third in strokes gained/putting, picking up more than six shots on the field. In all, he made 444 feet of putts over the four rounds.

Herman’s putter is a Bettinardi Inovai 5.0 Tour F.I.T. Face mallet with a circle of open space in the cavity. Herman has used three different models of Bettinardi putters in his three wins on the PGA Tour (he also won the Barbasol Championship last year).

But that’s not to downplay his work tee to green as well. Herman ranked fourth for the week in strokes gained/tee-to-green, picking up nearly another six strokes on the field. With a split set of Mizuno JPX 919 irons.

What Jim Herman had in the bag at the Wyndham Championship:

Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade SIM (Graphite Design Tour AD 6X), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M6, 15 degrees
5-wood: TaylorMade M4, 21 degrees
Irons (4): Mizuno JPX 919 Tour; (5-PW): Mizuno JPX 919 Tour
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 588 (52, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM6 (60 degrees)
Putter: Bettinardi Inovai 5.0 Tour F.I.T. Face

The post Jim Herman’s equipment at the Wyndham Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
When Shane Lowry spoke to Golf Digest about his equipment in 2016, we asked him about his comfort level in major championships. “I enjoy that kind of golf,” he said. “There is something about me that likes the big stage. I like the major championships and big tournaments. It’s where I feel my most comfortable, which is weird.”

There was nothing weird about Lowry’s play at the Open Championship. The Irishman jumped out to a large lead over Tommy Fleetwood and managed the rest of his round to win his first major championship.

Lowry’s short game rightfully receives its proper amount of attention (see the crucial up-and-down par save from the sand at the par-3 13th), but a closer examination of his week shows reveals that it really was his tee-to-green game that propelled him to the blowout win at Royal Portrush Golf Club.

Lowry not only led the field in greens in regulation at 79.16 percent, but produced an impressive 19-plus strokes gained/tee-to-green on his way to becoming the Champion Golfer of the Year.

Lowry employs a split set of irons comprised of three models from Srixon and, interestingly, eschews the four-wedge setup the majority of tour players utilize in favour of three (pitching wedge plus a 51- and 58-degree). Lowry carries two Srixon Z U85 utility irons, an 18-degree and a 20-degree that is bent to 21 degrees to provide the proper distance gap. For the 4- and 5-irons, the Irishman uses the company’s Z 585—a players distance iron where a speedy face plate is surrounded by a groove indented on the perimeter of its interior, creating, in essence, a slot around the entire face. In the 6-iron through pitching wedge, Lowry has Srixon’s Z 785 irons, a one-piece forged iron with compact short irons with a narrower sole. Key to these clubs is a center of gravity location that is more in line with the center of the face. All of Lowry’s irons have KBS Tour 130X shafts except for his 2-iron, which has a Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White TX hybrid graphite shaft. His grips are Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet 58 round with the grips put on upside down so the logo is underneath.

For wedges Lowry uses a pair of Cleveland RTX 4 wedges. The 50-degree is bent to 51 degrees and the 58-degree is a recent addition to the bag, replacing the RTX 3 he had been using. Lowry’s putter also is notable, as he uses an Odyssey EXO 2-Ball Stroke Lab, but with a twist: the 2-Ball alignment feature on the putter is normally white, but the two cylinders on Lowry’s putter are black. The putter has a milled aluminium cage to remove weight from the center of the head and redistribute it to the perimeter with stainless steel for added stability. Lowry also uses a White Hot insert instead of the microhinge insert that would come with the production model. The putter also has a grip adorned with a shamrock, a touch included just for this week. Lowry’s putter, which he switched to at the RBC Heritage earlier this year, is 34 inches long with a customized all-black finish to complete the look.

Which is sort of like Lowry at major championships. A little weird, but very comfortable.

What Shane Lowry had in the bag at The  Open
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Driver: Srixon Z 585 (Mitsubishi Diamana White 70X), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M4, 15 degrees
Irons (2-3): Srixon Z U85; (4-5): Srixon Z 585; (6-PW): Srixon Z 785
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4 (51, 58 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey EXO 2-Ball Stroke Lab

The post The Open 2019: Shane Lowry’s winner’s bag at the Open Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.