There was no shortage of storylines from the PGA Tour’s only two-man team event! Let’s get right to what was new and notable on the ground this week in New Orleans.
PXG tour launches new irons
A new set of irons was spotted at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, with PXG seemingly launching its newest cavity-back option – the PXG 0317 Tour (CB?) 5x forged milled irons. At least that’s what we think they are!
The new irons are already in David Lipsky’s bag and are being tested by other PXG staffers, such as Chad Ramey. The 0317 Tour CBs feature a new-look cavity design, with two steps to it, along with heel and toe weighting on either side of the cavity.
When comparing the new cavity back irons to the current 0317 irons, the new cavity backs seem to have a higher and sharper toe when side-by-side with the older irons. The newer irons also appear to have a thinner topline than before, with minimal offset and rounding on the leading edge.
There’s a noticeable difference between the soles of the older irons and the newly spotted CBs. The newer CBs feature plenty of trailing-edge relief, along with a curved leading edge.
The current 0317 iron line features the forgiving T (Tour) model, the CB (Cavity Back) and ST (Super Tour) versions, and a driving iron.
During a testing session, Marco Penge seemed to think that the new irons launched a degree or so higher than his current PXG 0317 ST irons.
See more photos here.
Blair’s Circle L
Zac Blair’s Scotty Cameron collection is nearing Hideki Matsuyama’s levels. In the field at the Zurich Classic and paired with Patrick Fishburn, Blair rocked up to the TPC Louisiana practice putting green with an impressive Scotty Cameron.
Not only does the Scotty Cameron T-7.5 Phantom prototype have a custom face milling – horizontal grooves across the face, which, according to Scotty Cameron rep Drew Page, dulls and mutes the sound of the strike – but it also features a very rare Circle “L” stamp.
The lore behind the lucrative stamping is that if a touring pro loses to Scotty Cameron himself, they can ask for the Circle “L” stamp from the renowned designer and manufacturer of precision-milled putters.
We’re unsure, though, whether Blair actually took on Scotty or if he was able to wangle his way to another unique putter. Safe to say, it had forum members wondering whether a Circle “W” stamp exists.
See more photos here.
Dufner’s unique setup
We were treated in New Orleans, not only by Crawfish boils and Beignets on the range, but also with a chance to look at Jason Dufner’s setup ahead of the Zurich Classic, and what a treat it was.
The former PGA champion had quite the outlandish setup, including a custom DUF grind on his KING Cobra Snakebite lob wedge and his personal 3DP DUF irons from Cobra.
“Even though Duf doesn’t play a full schedule, he’s been a very important part of our 3DP research and development,” Ben Schomin, Cobra Tour Manager, told GolfWRX. “We’ve made at least six bespoke iron sets in the last couple of years based on what he wanted to see and test.
“His current set is a 3DP.CB with increased offset through the set. Long irons built with lower CGs for increased launch and forgiveness.”
Dufner is also gaming prototype driver and wood shafts, Gears Golf’s green OVVIO iron shafts, and True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner shafts in his wedges.
What also caught the eye was that Dufner had a special Cobra OPTM X head. The difference between his and the standard was that the weight port on the sole was central, rather than towards the toe.
See more photos here.
Quick hits
Davis Riley became the second player on Tour to add Titleist’s GTS4 driver, after Patrick Cantlay gamed it last week at Harbour Town.
Malbon and Bettinardi released a new collab featuring custom headcovers. Take a look at them below.
Club of the week
Tom Kim’s custom proto Scotty Cameron. The GSS-style head features a pretty clean look with a bare cavity and just the single Tiffany blue cherry bomb on the face. It also has a single dot on the top, along with a single black alignment line.
For more, check out this week’s episode of Inside the Ropes below.