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1 piece of gear connects Brian Harman and Jack Nicklaus | Wall-to-Wall

umarkamran June 6, 2024

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Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Gear, the Monday morning gear wrap-up by which GOLF tools editor Jonathan Wall takes you thru the newest developments, rumors and breaking news.

Sizable putters

One has 18 major titles. The opposite won his first on Sunday at Royal Liverpool. On paper, evaluating Brian Harman’s resume to Jack Nicklaus’ historic accomplishments seems like a large stretch. However hear us out. The 2 are literally linked by one thing aside from main titles — a membership that made Nicklaus practically unbeatable on golf’s greatest stage. Harman, too.

We’re, in fact, speaking in regards to the putter.

In Nicklaus’ case, the oversized MacGregor Response ZT (Zero Twist) 615 he used to win the 1986 Masters — a putter that helped set up the USGA’s width limit resulting from its abnormally massive dimension.

Earlier than mallets elbowed their manner into {the marketplace}, putters like Nicklaus’ Response ZT had been a uncommon sight. The putter regarded like a standard blade, however the in depth profile allowed it to influence the ball with little to no twisting at influence. With a better Second of Inertia, returning the face to sq. on a constant foundation was noticeably simpler to perform with the Response ZT.

The putter simply so occurred to be the brainchild of membership designer Clay Lengthy, who performed a significant position within the growth of many Nicklaus creations throughout his heyday. By now you’re most likely questioning why we’re discussing Nicklaus’ tools when Harman gained the Open Championship on Sunday.

Nicklaus’ Response ZT putter established the USGA’s width restrict resulting from its abnormally massive dimension.

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Right here’s the connection: Not solely did Lengthy create the putter Nicklaus used to win his remaining main in 1986, however he additionally developed the 35.5-inch TaylorMade Spider OS CB (G3 swingweight) Harman used to win his first main.

Following a latest pattern of older putter models having a resurgence on Tour, Lengthy launched the outsized Spider OS CB mallet in 2016, believing the bigger profile that helped Nicklaus discover his stroke may have related advantages for the modern-day client.

Thus, the OS CB (Counterbalanced) was born. What’s attention-grabbing about Harman’s particular putter is that it was 0.3 inches bigger than the OS head, making it roughly 13 p.c bigger than the usual mannequin. Whereas the putter provided loads of efficiency advantages — decreased head twisting and a beneficiant MOI — the OS CB noticed little to no motion on the PGA Tour, exterior of Harman.

The putter has been a part of his setup in some capability since 2016 when it was launched, however even the newly minted Open champion admitted the wand hasn’t at all times behaved. In actual fact, he revealed throughout the event that he thought of “going to the bullpen and pulling out one thing completely different” throughout the center of the season.

“It’s been an excellent putter, however she’s been misbehaving so much this yr,” he stated. “Previous few weeks I discovered a bit of one thing on the greens that I felt like gave me a bit of higher roll. I had one very nice day of placing on the US Open, after which the next weeks I putted very nice.”

The specter of a visit to the “timeout closet” obtained the membership again on observe as Harman cruised to victory whereas gaining greater than 11 pictures on the sphere with simply the putter. An outsized profile may not be for everybody, however as Harman proved time and time once more at Royal Liverpool, the one factor that basically issues is the extent of belief you’ve within the putter on Sunday afternoon.

The replacements

Spieth added a Titleist T150 Prototype 3-iron to the bag.

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The rain stored Royal Liverpool from taking part in agency and quick throughout the event week, nevertheless it didn’t cease a number of massive names from changing high-lofted fairway woods with lengthy irons. Jordan Spieth added a Titleist T150 Prototype 3-iron (Graphite Design Tour AD DI-105 Hybrid X shaft) and Collin Morikawa opted for a TaylorMade P790 Prototype 3-iron. Forgiving lengthy irons just like the Titleist T200 additionally noticed motion throughout the Open Championship.

“Numerous tee pictures name for sure distances,” stated Titleist Tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. “You want to have the ability to form and flight it.”

Whereas some gamers will proceed on with their new lengthy irons, count on to see many return to high-lofted fairway woods in preparation for the playoffs.

Seeing purple

If one TaylorMade Spider doesn’t behavereturn to the one which made you a world-beater. For Jason Day, that meant dusting off Spider Purple Itsy Bitsy (paint chips and all) for the Open Championship. The putter change didn’t result in a Claret Jug, nevertheless it did assist the Aussie end in a tie for second with Sepp Straka, Jon Rahm and Tom Kim at 7-under.