The rare gear change Dustin Johnson made at THE PLAYERS

Dustin Johnson tests multiple putters during his practice rounds before nearly every one of his PGA TOUR starts. It’s not always clear what he’s searching for, but from Monday to Wednesday, it’s common to see Johnson on the practice green trying out a handful of different putters.

On the practice green, he’ll typically rifle between blade and mallet putters with differing hosels, weights and faces.

What’s funny about Johnson’s weekly testing process, however, is that he rarely actually switches putters come competition time.

By the time the first round starts, Johnson is usually back to using the all-black TaylorMade Itsy Bitsy Spider Limited putter he used to win the 2020 Masters.

This week was a different story.

On Monday, Johnson showed up to TPC Sawgrass’ practice green with four different putters: a new black TaylorMade Spider GT, a TaylorMade TP Bandon 3 with two 2.5-gram weights in the sole, a TaylorMade TP Bandon 3 with two 5-gram weights in the sole, and his trusty TaylorMade Itsy Bitsy Spider Tour Limited.

All of the putters were mallet models with rearward centers of gravity, and they were equipped with LA Golf prototype graphite shafts and SuperStroke Traxion Pistol GT 1.0 grips.

Again, this wasn’t out of the ordinary. Johnson always tests multiple putters in the days leading up to a tournament.

When Thursday came around for the first round of THE PLAYERS, though, Johnson wasn’t using his go-to Spider Tour model. Instead, he was using one of the Bandon 3 models.

The Bandon 3 – more specifically called the TaylorMade TP Hydro Blast Bandon 3 – is made of 303 stainless steel and has a unique “Hyrdo Blast” finish that’s created using high-pressure water streams for a smooth and durable surface.

The head design of the Bandon 3 has a dual-winged shape to achieve perimeter weighting and forgiveness, and a short slant neck that generates 32 degrees of toe hang to suit the feel of players who swing the putter open and closed throughout the stroke, as Johnson does. The model also comes with a TPU Surlyn “Pure Roll” face insert that has grooves facing downward to help achieve more topspin on the golf ball for a smoother roll.

Johnson isn’t a complete stranger to the Bandon head model series; he’s tested different versions of the putter on numerous occasions, and he even put a TP Bandon 1 prototype with a plumber’s neck in the bag for last year’s RBC Heritage.

Most weeks, Johnson would be using a Spider Tour Limited putter, but this isn’t “most weeks.” This week, Johnson is bagging a TaylorMade Bandon 3 putter as he tries to win his first PLAYERS Championship.

So far, the switch is working; Johnson currently sits at 4 under par and T9 through 16 holes of the weather-delayed first round, which is scheduled to finally conclude Saturday morning.

Check out DJ’s putter specs, below.

Length: 37 inches
Shaft: Black LAGP Soho
Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT 1.0