Equipment
Spotted: Viktor Hovland tinkering with driver length at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Viktor Hovland recorded a top-ten finish at last week’s WM Phoenix Open, despite struggling massively off the tee. The Norwegian ranked 63rd for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee in Phoenix, losing almost 2.5 strokes to the field with his driver.
Before last week’s event, Hovland revealed that he was testing a driver shaft that was a quarter of an inch shorter than his regular driver shaft, and it appears that the 28-year-old is still searching ahead of this week’s event in California.
At Pebble Beach on Monday, Hovland was seen testing drivers at 45.75″ versus the 45″ driver he put in play last week:




At last week’s event, Hovland made a putter grip change that resulted in a positive positive uptick on the greens, but was very critical of the way he was striking the ball off the tee, saying:
“Yeah, my putting has been very up and down, very so-so, but I do feel like with the new grip change that will give me a bit more stability. So if I can continue to chip and putt well, my iron game is still good considering how poorly it feels to hit a golf ball, but the driver has really got to be figured out. I got to put the ball in play.”
Here are a few posts from our members discussing Hovland’s driver length testing, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- DTorres: “Fairly big jump in size! Wonder which one he puts into play.”
- stratgolf: “Wonder if that K stays in play for any extended period of time.”
- DE-ILLINI: “I heard Ping talking about the more forgiving K head allowing for a longer shaft with little lost in accuracy.”
Equipment
Neal Shipley, AKA, the “Big Fridge’s,” custom stamping
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.

“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
Equipment
From the GolfWRX Classifieds: L.A.B. Purple DF3 with Masters cover
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.

From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Whats in the Bag
Maria Torres WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4

3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4

5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4

Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms

Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80

Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105

Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Noonan
Feb 10, 2026 at 6:18 pm
This guy was one of the straightest hitters in all of college golf. Once he went pro and started tinkering, he completely fell off.