Equipment highlights from the 2019 Waste Management

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Waste Management Phoenix Open is known for its party atmosphere, highlighted by the stadium setting at hole No. 16 of the TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course. Some equipment companies embrace the party by making custom gear designed especially for the tournament.

In this week’s equipment highlights, we take a look at some of that Waste Management-custom gear, along with the bag setups of select celebrities at the Wednesday Pro-Am, and noteworthy equipment switches of PGA TOUR players.

Enjoy this week’s gear photos and information from the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open!

Please Putt Responsibly

Bettinardi, with its Party On headcovers, and Odyssey, with its “Please Putt Responsibly” headcovers, got in on the fun of the week, each making headcovers that embrace the consumption of adult beverages at the event. The Odyssey cover comes equipped with a bottle opener tucked into the beer-tap replica. For the TOUR participants bagging the Odyssey headcovers, maybe a divot repair tool would go to better use during the event, but surely the bottle openers will come in handy for those outside the ropes.

Carry bags aplenty

Assuredly the caddie’s favorite trend of the week has to be carry bags, which many players were using instead of the typical, hefty staff bags. Steve Stricker and Rickie Fowler were using custom Vessel carry bags, TaylorMade staffers were using a special, green-colored FlexTech bag, and Titleist staffers were using Players 4 Plus carry bags.

While Puma is releasing only 10 replicas of Fowler’s custom Puma bag made by Vessel, Titleist’s and TaylorMade’s bags are coming to retail. Both Titleist and TaylorMade have five different models of carry bags available starting at $200. Titleist has three “Players” models, which are made for additional storage than typical stand bags, and two “Hybrid” models with straps and stands for both easy cart-riding and walking. TaylorMade’s FlexTech carry bags have a self-adjusting strap system and a multi-collapsing base.

Cameron Champ’s driver and shaft adjustments

The longest hitter on TOUR recently made adjustments to soften up the shafts in his driver and irons. In his new Ping G410 driver, Champ lengthened his Fujikura Pro White 63X shaft by a quarter-of-inch, along with making a few adjustments to the weight and hosel settings of the head. In his new Blueprint Forged prototype irons, Champ switched from KBS C-Taper 130X shafts to the relatively softer True Temper Dyanmic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. For a deeper dive into why he made the changes he did, click here.

Brandel Chamblee’s classic setup

Before his golf-commentating career, Chamblee was a PGA TOUR player who notched a win at the 1998 Greater Vancouver Open. Nowadays, Chamblee says he makes a point to buy all of his own equipment, and on Twitter, he said, “I’m not one to give up on a relic just because of a little age …”

He’s not kidding about relics, either. In his bag at the Wednesday Pro-Am, Chamblee was bagging a Cleveland Hi-Bore XL Tour driver, TaylorMade Rocketbladez Tour irons, a TaylorMade ATV wedge and a classic Ping Anser putter with the white “Ping” letters on the grip blacked out with a sharpie. For a gear head, that’s certainly a classic setup. To be fair, though, he was using Titleist’s new 2019 Pro V1x golf balls.

Woodland adds Wilson fairway woods

Gary Woodland, defending champion at the 2019 Waste Management, continues to make equipment changes. He signed with Wilson earlier this year after switching to Wilson Staff Blade irons, and he’s now gaming a new Ping G410 Plus driver and Wilson D7 fairway woods, with “Made for Gary Woodland” shafts.

Phil Mickelson finally makes the switch

In his 2019 debut, Mickelson finished T2 at the 2019 Desert Classic while using his familiar Callaway Rogue Sub Zero driver and fairway wood. When he showed up at the 2019 Waste Management on Wednesday, however, he had only Callaway’s new Epic Flash Sub Zero driver and fairway wood in the bag. Mickelson’s Epic Flash Sub Zero driver head is the popular triple-diamond prototype that other Callaway staffers are using, such as Sergio Garcia, and his Epic Flash Sub Zero fairway wood has a bonded-hosel, whereas the retail heads have an adjustable hosel.

He also has a UST Mamiya iRod shaft in his Callaway X-forged UT now, and he has three different PM Grind 2.0 wedges (54, 60 and 64 degrees) in the bag.

Bubba goes yellow

Bubba Watson, who’s used to playing pink-colored golf clubs and golf balls, is playing this week with 2019 Pro V1x yellow golf balls. As a reminder, the yellow versions of Titleist’s new Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls will hit retail on March 15. Read about the new designs here.

MacGyver Kaymer

Kaymer’s warm-up-only club just went in the bag this week, according to his caddie, and it has a ridiculous amount of lead tape on the head. The grip is built up to be very heavy, as well, and it has a Nippon N.S. Pro 850GS regular-shafted iron in it.

“It’s literally just to warm up with,” his caddie told me. “He takes about five swings with it, and that’s about as far as it goes.”

Basically, the TaylorMade 5-iron with a mountain of lead tape is the equivalent of swinging two or three clubs together to loosen up, which you’ll see golfers doing on the first tee of just about every golf course in the country. MacGyver would be proud of Kaymer’s concoction.

2-ball for No. 22

Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher who wore the No. 22 on his Dallas Cowboys jersey throughout his career, played in the Wednesday Pro-Am at the Waste Management. In his bag was an original Odyssey 2-ball putter, Titleist Vokey SM4 wedges and Titleist 712 AP2 irons. Surely he subscribes to the Chamblee equipment philosophy: “I’m not one to give up on a relic just because of a little age.” He also plays by fellow-great, Michael Jordan’s golf tactics by always keeping a cigar near.