Winner’s Bag: Carl Pettersson at The Canadian Open

DRIVER: Nike Victory Red Tour (11.5) with a Fujikura Six shaft FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade Burner (14.5) with a Graphite Design YS6 shaft HYBRID: Mizuno Fli-Hi CLK (20) with an Aldila NV Hybrid shaft IRONS: Nike Pro Combo (4), Victory Red Split Cavity (5-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts WEDGES: Nike Victory Red (49, 55, 60) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG #7 Long BALL: Nike ONE Tour See-Try-Buy: Learn more about

My Bag: Ricky Barnes at 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship

From the May 24, 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated Golf + “Changing all the grooves in my wedges and irons was a big deal for me. I'm a creature of habit and do not like to change much.”

Gear Notes: 2010 Masters

Callaway
Phil Mickelson cracked the crown of his Callaway FT-9 Tour Authentic driver at the Shell Houston Open. (A nearly identical driver, the FT Tour, is now available to the public.) Like a patient in critical need of an organ transplant, the club was flown to San Diego on Easter Sunday, where it was met at the airport by the head of Callaway’s R&D team, Dr. Alan Hocknell.

According to Callaway, the company, “performed an ‘unprecedented repair,’ removing the body from the clubface while never taking off the shaft in order to ensure that the loft and lie remained secure.”

Hocknell said, We decided to remove the carbon composite body from the face, and weve never done that before, so everyone was a bit nervous. But through a lot of teamwork, we had a new body and weights installed by 1:30 p.m. on Monday.”

Meanwhile, back in Augusta, Mickelson texted Hocknell: “How bad is it, Doc? Is she gonna make it?”

Needless to say, the patient made a full recovery, was flown back cross-country, and helped Mickelson win his third green jacket. For the week, Phil hit 60% of the fairways and averaged 297 yards per drive.

TaylorMade
Y.E. Yang, winner of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine, pulled his Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter out of his bag before the start of the Masters and used a TaylorMade Monza Spider Vicino (right) during the championship. Yang took 115 putts at Augusta and averaged an impressive 1.6 putts per green in regulation.

Mike Weir, Henrik Stenson and John Rollins all put new TaylorMade Burner SuperFast drivers in the bag for the first time at the Masters. Sergio Garcia became the first player to put TaylorMade’s yet-to-be-released R9 SuperDeep driver into play. He hit 68% of the fairways for the week and averaged 285 yards per drive.

Titleist
Adam Scott, whose tie for 18th marks his best performance at Augusta since 2002, had been playing a Titleist 909 D2 driver this season. But in order to get more roll on the firm fairways at Augusta National, the Australian decided to play a lower-flying 909 D3 driver instead.

Matteo Manassero, who at age 16 was the youngest player to ever compete in a Masters, also finished as the tournament’s low amateur with a final score of four over par. Manassero, who has a bag filled with Titleist clubs, swapped out his AP2 3-iron in favor of a higher-flying hybrid club, a Titleist 909H (21), so he could stop the ball more quickly on Augusta’s firm greens. The young Italian star plans on turning professional in less than three weeks, so look for him to become a Titleist staff player soon

Phil Mickelson’s Unique Odyssey Blade Putter

More than almost any golfer on tour, Phil Mickelson is willing to experiment and tinker with his golf equipment. He won the 2006 Masters using two drivers and the 2008 Colonial carrying five wedges. He broke out a 64 wedge at Winged Foot for the U.S. Open in 2006, inspiring other players to carry super-high-lofted wedges.

He’s also used a wide variety of putters over the years. Notably, Mickelson was the first player to use a Scotty Cameron Futura in a PGA Tour event. It wasn’t pretty, but Mickelson made it work.

While he’s also used a variety of mid-size mallets and heel-toe weighted Anser-style putters, these days Mickelson is using a classic blade putter, a White Hot XG Blade, made by Odyssey, the putter-arm of Callaway Golf. Unfortunately for Mickelson fans, his blade is not a part of Odyssey’s current line, so it’s not available to the public.

There are a few things that make Phil’s old-school putter unique.

“[Manufacturers] have never been able to put a line on a blade putter,” he said at Colonial in 2008, a week after spending some time at Callaway’s testing facility in Carlsbad, Calif. “But with the way they can grind it now, they were able to put a line in it. I can align it so much better.”

While his current blade has a darker finish than the one he used that week, Mickelson still has Odyssey grind a line into his putter to assist him with alignment.

There is an insert in the face of the putter, but that’s a variable he can change. An Odyseey rep told me that the company has supplied Phil with several identical putters that feature different inserts, some being firmer while others are softer. Based on the ball he’s playing and the speed of the greens, Phil changes putters accordingly.

The same thing goes for the lead tape you see in these photos. On slower greens, like those found on the West Coast Swing or in Europe, he often adds weight. On faster greens he uses less or removes the weight entirely. There was no lead tape on Phil’s putter at Augusta National.

Another unique thing about Mickelson’s blade is the amount of loft he uses. The standard loft on most putters is between 3-4. But Mickelson’s putter has slightly more because of his stroke. He recently told Golf Digest, “The amount of loft you have on your putter is going to be dependent on your hand position and ball position. My hand position is ahead, so I need more loft. Sometimes I have 5 or 6 on my putters.”

So will a blade putter like Mickelson’s help you drain more putts like his 20-footer for birdie on the 12th hole Sunday? That all depends on your stroke and how consistently you can hit a solid putt.

A blade putter is ideal for golfers who swing the club on an arc, taking it inside the target line on the backswing and follow-though. If your putting stroke goes straight back and then straight through the ball, a blade-style putter is probably a poor fit.

When you strike the ball in the sweetspot of a blade, it will perform wonderfully. But with almost no perimeter weighting, putts hit near the toe or on the heel will be short and offline. Forgiveness is not a blade putter’s strong suit.

Masters Bag: Phil Mickelson

DRIVER: Callaway FT Tour (7.5) with a Mitsubishi Fubuki 73 X shaft FAIRWAY WOOD: Callaway Big Bertha Diablo (15) with a Mitsubishi Fubuki 73 X shaft HYBRID: Callaway Prototype (22) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Thump X shaft IRONS: Callaway X-Forged (4), X Proto (5-PW) with Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts WEDGES: Callaway JAWS (53, 60, 64) with Rifle Project X 7.0 shafts PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot XG Blade BALL: Callaway Tour ix See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Callaway , and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC Related: Follow David Dusek on Twitter (Photo by Fred Vuich/SI)

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Masters Bag: Phil Mickelson

Winning Clubs: Ernie Els at WGC-CA Championship

Phoenix Open – Metrosexuals On Tour

I like the new fashions of these new guns on tour. For one, theyre bringing more attention to the sport and theyre also creating entire product niches and markets with the white belts, fancy belt buckles, pastel and neon colors, diva sunglasses etc.

I only wish I was the brilliant one who coined the descriptive phrase metrosexuals on tour in reference to the Phoenix Open. That came from a forum thread over on The Golf Space. Id already come up with my own name for the tournament, which I thoroughly enjoyed by the way. Battle of the white belts.

We have Rickie Fowler in contention, wearing some very killer but slightly feminine Puma gear. Those amazing Puma Cell Fusion shoes he was wearing are the same ones Im reviewing right now. Stay tuned. Winner Hunter Mahan was sporting a white belt and cool sunglasses which looked to be a combination diva/Elvis style. No sideburns though unfortunately. Camilo Villegas was completely decked out in what Id call tightie whitie. His whole outfit was white and fit very tightly. Ya gotta have the body for that kind of getup, like me. Right.

Other quotes Hmm. Battle of the flat bellies (except for Mark Calcavecchia) or the other good forum quote: put on ice skates and they would have fit in with the Olympic Mens Figure Skating competition.

I think these guys are cool. Im really looking forward to the next few years on tour to see how they develop.

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Phoenix Open Metrosexuals On Tour

Winning Clubs: Steve Stricker at Northern Trust Open

DRIVER:

Winning Clubs: Ben Crane at 2010 Farmers Insurance Open

DRIVER: Titleist 909 D2 (10.5) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Blue 73 shaft FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade V Steel (15, 18) with Mitsubishi Diamana Blue 83 shafts HYBRID: Titleist 909H (21) with a UST AvixCore Hybrid shaft IRONS: Titleist AP2 (5-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (51), Spin Milled C-C (55, 59) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot #5 BALL: Titleist Pro V1x See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Titleist clubs and schedule your fitting with GolfTec . Related: Follow David Dusek on Twitter | The Shop: Winner's Bags (Photo: Denis Poroy/AP Photos)

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Winning Clubs: Ben Crane at 2010 Farmers Insurance Open

Bag of the Day: Rickie Fowler

On New Year's Day, it seems appropriate to look toward the future. Rickie Fowler, a former All-American at Oklahoma State who won the Hogan Award as a freshman, earned his 2010 PGA Tour card by finishing T15 at Q school. his powerful, fearless game almost won earned him a two-year exemption when nearly won the FRYS.com Open, a Fall Series event played in Scottsdale, Ariz. DRIVER: Titleist 909D2 (7.5) with a Diamana White Board 73 X shaft FAIRWAY WOOD: King Cobra S9-1 Pro (15) with a Fujikura ZCom Pro 95 shaft HYBRIDS: Titleist 585H (17) with UST Proforce V2 100X shaft, Adams Pro Black (20) with a Matrix Ozik XCON IRONS: Titleist Forged MB (4-9) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (47, 53) Spin Milled (59) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts PUTTER: Scotty Cameron for Titleist Newport prototype BALL: Titleist's Pro V1x Follow David Dusek on Twitter Click here for a complete list of players featured in Bag of the Day. (Photo by Marc Feldman/Getty Images)

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Bag of the Day: Rickie Fowler

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