PGA Professional Joe Ferguson has produced ‘What’s In The Bag’ videos with some of the best players in the game, and there are some observations to be made…
As a PGA Professional and equipment tester, I’ve had the incredible privilege of spending the last year interviewing some of the world’s best golfers, specifically about their golf bags.
From major champions to rising stars, I’ve had a unique glimpse into their minds, their methods, and the tools of their trade, and while every player is a unique individual, certain themes and philosophies about equipment emerged from these conversations. Here’s a look at what I’ve learned about how the pros approach their gear.
In many cases, I’ve observed a direct correlation between a player’s knowledge of their equipment and their achievements in the game. The best players aren’t just blindly trusting a tour rep or a launch monitor; they are actively involved in the fine-tuning of their clubs – in fact, a good few, such as Ian Poulter, Richard Bland, and Retief Goosen, actually do much of their own club building.
A prime example of the level of detail top players go to became apparent in a ‘What’s In The Bag’ interview with the leading all-time European Ryder Cup points scorer, former world number two and Masters champion Sergio Garcia. Arguably the highest-profile player I’ve spoken to, Garcia knew every little specification of his equipment down to the exact loft and lies.
He even employs a highly unorthodox setup of heavy counterbalance weights (30g in his irons and wedges) in the butt end of his clubs. This allows him to increase the overall weight for stability without raising the swing weight, giving him the exact feel he wants. This is the level of knowledge, feel, and detail I’m talking about.
In contrast, many of the lower-ranked players I’ve spent time with very often say they have little interest in their equipment, preferring to let the technicians on the tour trucks handle all the thinking for them. A large number of them don’t know why they are in a particular shaft, how many layers of tape are under their grips, or even the approximate loft and lie of their irons.
While without a shadow of doubt they are working incredibly hard on their techniques, mental and physical conditioning, I can’t help but feel that a little more attention to detail regarding their equipment could offer that additional one percent they are seeking to advance their careers.
The best of the best all seem to take this no-compromise approach. Tiger Woods famously knew every detail of his specifications, including using different grip taping between his woods and irons and using wooden dowels in his iron shafts to fine-tune feel.
Jack Nicklaus was notoriously fussy about the sole grind of his irons and the thickness of his grips, while TaylorMade Tour Rep Adrian Rietveld told us that world number one Scottie Scheffler can go through 30 grips on an individual club just to find the perfect feel. Is this a coincidence? Not in my opinion.
Of course, there are always exceptions to rules, and one of those may be two-time Masters Champion Bubba Watson, who certainly doesn’t know a lot of the technical terminology, but his unorthodox grip setup with something like 16 wraps of tape under a ribbed grip that is oriented about 30 degrees open shows that his feel is paramount.
While the rules state they can only carry 14 clubs in a competitive round, almost every tour player I have come across travels to every event with far more.
On practice days, the players I have spent time with all had a minimum of 18 clubs in their bag. This usually consisted of a choice between a utility or driving iron and a lofted fairway wood, as well as a variety of wedges of different lofts and sole grinds to match up to the specific conditions.
I was surprised to learn that several players even travel with two sets of the same wedges, but of different ages. The purpose of this is simple: if the greens are soft and the conditions are particularly “spinny,” a player will select their older set with more worn grooves to minimize spin.
If the greens are firm and fast, they will use their fresher set to provide maximum grip and stopping power. This level of preparation is remarkable.
In addition to this, almost everyone carries spare drivers to cover the event of a breakage, which is more common than you may think.
Finally, I was surprised at just how many players travel with at least a couple of putter options, or could be seen testing numerous demo models around the putting green.
Perhaps the most surprising finding of all is that I can’t think of a single player I’ve interviewed who has had a full bag of this season’s clubs. Instead, they all favored the familiarity and trusted performance of (significantly in some cases) older models in key areas of the bag.
Former US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick, for example, was using some Ping S55 irons released in 2013 and was onto a second head of a Titleist TSi3 driver, having cracked his previous gamer at the 2024 BMW Championship.
Henrik Stenson was using the same Callaway Legacy Black irons and a Callaway Diablo 3-wood he has been using for over a decade, and Ian Poulter had been delving back into his archives to dig out a very old tour-only, half-mallet Odyssey putter in order to address a poor putting spell.
2018 Masters Champion Patrick Reed had a seriously interesting mixed bag, including a Titleist T-MB 2-iron from 2016 and a set of Grindworks irons he had been wielding for over five years.
The major equipment manufacturers and their marketing teams tell us over and over again that the latest equipment is longer, more forgiving, and just generally better year on year, but this love for older, trusted gear amongst players who can access anything they want is a testament to the fact that when something works, you stick with it, no matter how new the latest model may be.
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