What’s in the Bag: Shane Bacon & Marty Jertson

From G430 MAX 10K drivers to hit more fairways, to PLD custom putters to fit their stroke. Shane and Marty detail the equipment they have in the bag and how each club is custom-fit and custom-built to help them play their best.

[Music]
[Applause]
hey everybody I’m Shane bacon Marty Json
with me we are part of the Ping Proving
Grounds podcast but more importantly
today we’re going to look into our golf
bags and uh see where we’re playing a
lot of new gear for Ping so uh I have
almost entirely new gear in the bag what
about you same I think uh like pretty
fresh anything anything dated in this
bag uh well I’m trying to think I think
my my driver 3-wood thing we’re going to
talk about the most exciting part my
fivewood those are probably my oldest
clubs in the bag I’ve had for uh you
know maybe nine months or well let’s
start let’s start with what you get the
most excited about in that is driver um
probably the most exciting driver that
I’ve had in a long time I’m Max 10K I’m
assuming you’re Max 10K as well um been
playing by the way I’ve been playing
this tor 2.0 shaft from P 65 or 75 this
is 75 I’ve been playing it uh I think
since the last iteration of the driver
and I’m obsessed with it I’m 9° with the
driver I think you’ve got a little more
Loft on yours yeah I’m the 105 but I’m
in the big minus which turns it down 1.5
degrees so it’s like net nine net nine
why don’t you just can now let me ask
you a question why don’t you just play
nine uh so if you put it if you put the
10 five in the big minus you’re going to
open the face angle just slightly right
so and I I have a lot of things going on
in my driver to not hit it left okay
That’s my kind of thing I fight in my
technique so I like the 10 five and the
big minus opens the face a little bit
and I like how that sits down let me ask
you a question how did you figure that
out you know I mean versus somebody
that’s going to get fit for a driver how
do you figure out to tweak that yeah I
think it’s uh it’s one of actually the
benefits of having our trajectory tuning
sleeve you can use it to tweak The Loft
but as you’re tweaking The Loft and
putting the shaft in at a different
angle it’s changing the touch point on
the ground so it’s moving the touch
point more forward then when the head
gravity acts on the head it okay rocks
the face a little bit more open and it
also kind of points the face angle at a
dress slightly more open do the because
the club has Loft on it you’re delofting
it opens the fa face fractionally as
well that every little half a degree
matters Shane your bag is incredible all
right let’s show the the the funniest
coolest Club in your bag all right the
funnest one my driver now my driver with
the 10K I I’m playing close to 46 Ines
right it’s like 45 and 78 which is fun
because I’m able because the Nur is
really high I’m trying it a little bit
longer so I can get a little more Club
heads so far it’s going pretty straight
all right so most people are expected a
three-wood out of this head cover
exactly not a three exactly so let let’s
start with the Genesis of how this
happened okay we running put the back in
the bag you know it’s getting serious oh
yeah so we are running some stats and I
was wondering I I was just thinking
about my game and I’m like in Arizona
golf how many times do I hit three-wood
off the te cuz I was kind of struggling
with three-wood off the te versus how
many times do I hit it off the ground so
I started keeping stats on this I got
like 10 or 20 rounds in in Arizona golf
and I was like man I’ve only hit this
thing off the ground like twice and so
then we started mining everyone’s data
okay okay and that’s I think we’ve
talked about this on a few episodes
where if you hit it shorter you hit your
three off the ground a lot if you hit it
300 yards on an average FS right of
course it flips and you hit it 90% of
the time off the te well there to golf I
was hitting it 95% of the time off the
te so I was like I’m going to build this
fun little thing which is let me get
more inertia in my three-wood so I got a
12 Dee g430 Max CG shifter in the fade
and this thing is only 402 and 3/4 in
long and I got the same shaft you have
in your driver there the 2.0 75 yeah two
or 2.0 75 black Shane this thing is the
funnest thing so you you hit it off the
ground too when you need to it’s very
functional off the ground I made a few
Eagles off the ground but sweet I could
build this to go as long as I want I
need it to I mean you’re kind of
constrained by what you can hit with
your driver but I build it to go about
270 and a lot of times I Tee It really
low and if I’m
nervous um and my my tendency with the
three-wood even though we we have all
these fitting options is kind of get
underneath it some bad technique things
and hit hit it to the left I find so
many Fairways with this thing it’s
incredible that’s kind of your Fairway
finder that’s the Fairway finder totally
my Fairway finder I’m a little more
traditional next up I just 3-wood um I
didn’t I didn’t like tweak it down uh
this is g430 by the way LST um love this
thing beautiful beautiful in terms of
sitting in the dress and I like a little
bit more low profile with my 3-wood so I
love this thing the max is great but
again to me I found it as much as much
as I’m hitting off the ground I wanted
to go LST versus the max yeah LST so LST
tie body it’s really built like a driver
but supercharged TI body tungsten Soul
plate tons of mass in the soul plate CG
really really low and that’s it’s a good
mix of good off the ground and off the
tea um our next clubs a lot of the clubs
in our bag especially irons and wedges
are similar but this is where we’re
different you’re fivewood next is that
right fivewood and I’m kind of like some
of the tour players where I build my
fivewood short so our standard is 42 and
a half half inch shorter but I play mine
at like 41 and 78 um and that shorter
helps me keep it a little bit lower take
a little bit distance off and again I
have the tour 2.0 black 75 what’s that
thing fly uh this thing flies like 255
but I have a lot of Versatility like I
can hit a soft spinny cut with it if I
want to I can turn it if I want to what
do you got in that spot uh I’ve been a
crossover guy I had the seven wood in
for a bit um and I love the seven wood
but I I’ve been playing crossover since
you guys introduced what is that 10 12
years ago I can’t get away from it when
I start to spray it off the tea which
I’m like to do I will lean on the
crossover heavily so I go three iron
crossover I think it flies kind of like
a traditional two iron for me it’s in
that 240 250 range for me yep and um
again it’s like to your to your 12
degree driver this is kind of my Fairway
finder when I need it um and I like it I
can take stuff off it if I want to I can
hit it like kind of Stingy if I need to
sting it and I can hit the the the
bullet cut too so big crossover fan and
uh I have the two iron as well but I
typically lean on the three iron I was
looking at your huzzle setting so you
got it in the stock we got the
crosshatch there and denote that it’s a
lefty huzzle uh stock setting I think
one of the cool things that our of Love
though is that you can adjust that Loft
on it but also go to some settings that
flatten it if somebody needs to so uh we
are in the same iron but before we get
to those irons I’m in a little bit of a
different situation with my four iron I
230 just again a little bit more
forgiving I can hit a little higher in
the air big fan of this club this was
when I got my new set of pings last year
in May yeah I think this was the club
that I was most in love with out of that
bag and it’s Still Remains uh one of my
favorites so i230 one of the last
remaining uh clubs in my bag considering
the new stuff yeah so I’m playing the uh
blueprint S4 iron and one one thing I do
Shane a little bit different we might
have done this when I helped you with
that for with your 4 iron I think we did
is went a little bit longer right so I’m
playing mine when I start transitioning
my lengths starting at the five 456 I go
34 of an inch increments instead of
traditionally your irons would be a/
inch longer per Club so I get just a
little extra speed boost a little extra
Dynamic Loft boost and that’s really
helped me I actually also play a
different shaft in my 4 iron really so
I’m playing the KBS Tour X in my 4 iron
and then I transition to x100s I think
your 4 iron can kind of be treated as
like that it’s like your transition Club
it can be a little different model you
can maybe go a little lighter shaft that
has a little bit more kick in it so I
think for players of our caliber our
speed range it’s play around with that
to a littleit you know go a little
longer L little lighter shaft different
model transition it uh I you you
mentioned blue press That’s what I’m
playing as well I’m going to I’m going
to throw this out there likely to be the
most popular irons of 2024 and for good
reason seeing a lot of players put these
in the bag quickly fall in love with
them quickly I was the same way I I got
them in the mail before a golf trip I
didn’t hit them one time took them into
the golf trip loved them made some
birdies with them hit some close uh
beautiful beautiful iron Shane I’m kind
of with you uh I I think this is going
to be the players iron of 2024 and
Beyond I mean I think what you’ve seen
on the PJ tour so many of our staffers
tons of non staffers putting in play
which is an amazing sign especially in
the iron category we’ve we’ve learned
from some and brought in some of our
great characteristics um of our previous
blade style irons but the big thing on
these iron chain and why they feel one
of the reasons why they feel so good is
the CG is really low so it feels like
you’re always like making good contact
with the golf
so I love that about them I’m playing
mine with
x100s uh kind of a color code between
black and red I play right in between
black and red uh pretty traditional
Lofts like I play mine pretty
traditional Lofts they can blend right
into my wedges I’m X100 as well love uh
love them it’s funny with X100 I feel
like if you’re X100 you just it’s hard
to kick it out um and transitioning from
irons to the new wedges I mean we were
talking about the new wedges before we
started shooting we love yeah totally
yeah so I go to a pitching wedge and
then I go your blueprint with your
pitching wedge I’m blueprint with my
pitching wedge and I’m S1 1559 with my
pitching wedge yeah and what’s fun Shane
is when when I put my information into
um our find my grind app or webfit wedge
it spits out the exact recommendation so
I get spit out a 60t which I play then a
56 bent to 55 to perfect my gapping so
my pitching wedge goes uh or my my 56
bent to 55 goes 115 then I go to my 50
de right at 50 and that goes exactly 130
and then my pitching wedge at like 146
so now the thing I uh have done with my
wedges that some of our tour players do
is I play a very different grind in my
sand wedge than my lob wedge so I play
our wide sole y so the W grind super
wide if you look at the camber which is
how rounded it is uh from front to back
it’s got a lot more camber to it so I
feel like I can be like way more
aggressive on my full shots and this is
awesome for long bunker shots anytime
you have that like awkwardly long like
35 40 yard um I found that having this
wide sole is super helpful in those
scenarios but then my 60 I have my 60
bent to 61 is the tea grind and it’s
just stock I didn’t have to put any
extra grind on there so it’s thin it’s
got a lot of angle but it but the angle
is all built up close to the lead Edge
plenty of relief on the trailing Edge
the heel and the toe because I’m move
the handle around a lot I’ll hit a lot
of Chip shots with the handle up I’ll
hit High shots with the handle down I’ll
open the face a lot of Maximum
importance to me is being able to hit
like a high spinny shot off a tight
grass or tight L and that’s the tea
grind is going to do that the te grind
is absolutely perfect now one other
thing Shane I do that’s a little
interesting on my lob wedge is I played
a half inch short so a lot of people
grab this and they’re like this thing
feels tiny um so the shorter you go it’s
like everything you do is gripping down
on it yeah and swing weight is lighter
too not for everybody but the swing
weight on my lob wedge is like D1 and it
helps reduce the ball velocity coming
off the face so if you if you’re a
golfer that struggles with maybe you
hitting those chip shots and like the
ball speed’s always a little bit too
high something to kind of play around
with let’s go into yours it’s very very
interesting I’m I’m pretty standard
across the board I mean I’m escar across
the board 46 50 5660 it’s kind of been
the way I’ve played on wedges for the
last few years and um I’ve been in love
with these these these wedges they’ve
been so awesome I think the es grind is
perfect for you cuz you’re kind of the
meat and potatoes uh when we’ve played
golf you have kind of a meat and potato
short game technique like like plenty of
variety but you don’t do anything in in
in one extreme you move the handle
around you move the handle position
around a little bit you you travel a lot
you play a lot of different variety of
courses so the S grind is kind of the
meat and potatoes uh like reliable to
lean on if you very reliable to lean on
um and then Putters now you talk about
different in the bag yeah this is as far
off as we’re going to be maybe it’s the
fivewood in the in the crossover but I
mean this is wild I mean my PL is so
great uh I was so pumped to find the the
ti I mean I just think it’s perfect for
me a little bit of a smaller head um got
it stamped with the kids and the dogs
initials don’t forget the dog of course
and uh yeah I mean just I mean how can
you not love the look of this putter
yeah that time is sweet I think uh it
was fun for us to work on that with
Cameron Champ because we we originally
launched the time and it was like it was
too big for him and like hey let’s make
it smaller that’s that’s what PL program
is all about like customization like
make it for you yes make it and so
taking that smaller version has been a
great option for folks in blades that
are looking to go to like a mid Mallet
now I’m a long putter guy you know I I
uh and played around when you by the way
when did you switch to Long putter I’ve
been a long putter for like 20 years
yeah so like a couple years after
college it it wasn’t necessarily that I
was having the heie GBS I just liked it
it was fun I like the physics of it in
did you anchor previously and you had to
yeah the first year was a was a little
tough on that but a few things I’ve
adjusted there I’ve changed my setup a
lot and and compared to when I was
anchoring my putter is now about an inch
and a half shorter so I’m a little more
bent over uh use a claw grip and I have
the Oslo plld Oslo um and it has a full
shaft offset which I really like so if
you look at the trail edge of the shaft
and line up with the face it’s like a
perfect intersection and it has just a
slight amount of tow hang because even
with a long putter stroke I still rotate
the face a little bit so it’s very
important that’s like the principle in
putter fitting to help with your start
line is to match your face rotation to
your Arc so even with a long putter you
still can have a little bit of Arc and
it’s very important to still go through
that fitting process so this thing
though is about 490 grams it doesn’t
look big man but that this thing is
solid um and long single alignment line
I use a line on the ball so I I kind of
try to my catches the back catches the
front of the line marries it up there
and I love the way this thing feels with
the with the Milling on the face I mean
that thing will push you over 50 pounds
when you’re traveling I mean you have to
pay extra for the bag it help I have a
little luggage scale in my garage and I
always have to double check not
surprised by that by the way I mean
similar in terms of a lot of the stuff
we have in the bag but there’s obviously
some some differentiators in there with
the you know you have the drive versus
the three-wood and of course the
fivewood and the crossover and the
wedges are a little bit different the
putter is drastically different but uh
I’ve seen you make a lot of tinf Footers
so obviously it’s working for you yeah
yeah I’m trying to do the same thing
that’s what’s in the
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