Equipment
10 Revealing Photos from the Crowne Plaza Invitational
We’re underway in the PGA Tour’s pseudo-Texas swing (which only lasts two tournaments) this week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club.
Most people know Colonial as Hogan’s Alley, and it’s fitting that the course puts a premium on ball striking with its tight fairways and small greens.
GolfWRX was live this week from Hogan’s old stomping grounds, and you can see all of our photo galleries here.
Now let’s see what those galleries offered us in this week’s Revealing Photos.
The Ducks’ Thomas Lim with an intriguing WITB
Iomic AND Golf Pride grips? It’s tough to pull off the mid-bag grip switch up, but the University of Oregon standout does it.
It looks as though the once Volt-colored swooshes on his irons are running out of electricity. Time to plug them back in and recharge?
Also, Lim has a 20-gram weight in the toe and a 10-gram weight in the heel of his Odyssey Tank 330M putter, which is most likely used to slow down the release of the toe of the putter.
Golfers with the case of the pulls on the greens, take note.
Ben Crane’s caddy: “Whoa! Slow down and take your time, Ben.”
Everyone else: “NOOOO!”
Train yourself to putt better for dollar-menu prices
Want to groove your putting alignment and stroke? A long string, two rods, two tees and something with a straight edge is all you need, even if you’re on the PGA Tour. This is a very comprehensive putting training station that you can have for less than $10.
Here’s another good one from Adam Scott.
Get yourself an alignment aid, draw a chalk line to the hole, and stick a tee behind your putter head to limit stroke-length, which encourages acceleration into the ball.
Another drill from Kevin Chappell. All this one takes is an alignment rod, which you probably already have laying around somewhere. This drill will encourage golfers to rock their shoulders and release their putter at impact.
Max Homa’s Kobe Bryant-inspired stampings
Kobe gave himself the nickname “Black Mamba” after watching Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, and thought the snake, which was used as a code name for a deadly assassin in the movie, was a perfect description of his basketball game.
In his veteran years, the 36-year old goes by the name “Vino,” meaning “wine,” implying that his game gets better with age. “KB24” is self-explanatory (hopefully).
Nike Vapor irons just don’t look the same for lefties
Because of the design of the club, the Nike Swoosh sits backward on the lefty’s irons. That’s gotta mess with Cody Gribble’s mind just a little. At least it puts my brain in a pretzel.
John Huh’s wedge stamp has to be one of the coolest ever
John HUH?!
The simple luxuries of the PGA Tour
Testing putter grips for most people means taking grips on and off of the same putter. Testing grips for PGA Tour pros means two of the same putters with different grips. Must be nice.
Congrats to KingMade Jerky on making the Wall Of Champions at Colonial!
KingMade Jerky: The mouth-wateringly tender champion of golf snacks. A well-deserved induction.
Here’s Charles Macdonald’s bag, the 1895 U.S. Amateur Champion
He defeated Charles Sands 12 & 11 at Newport Country Club 120 years ago. It’s impressive to see him teeing it up at the Crowne Plaza at Colonial in 2015. Talk about career longevity.
Hunter Mahan’s weak cover up
We’re on to your tricks, Hunter. One layer of lead tape isn’t enough to hide from GolfWRX. We know you’re testing a Callaway Mack Daddy PM Grind wedge.
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.
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
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
Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Photos from the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
CJ Cup Byron Nelson Tour Report: Koepka and Kim’s newest putters finally get hot
Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider
Details on J.J. Spaun’s surprise putter switch
GolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers
Photos from the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
PGA Championship Tour Report: Fitzpatrick, Koepka among big-name putter switches for Aronimink
Photos from the ShopRite LPGA
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...
Eric Cole WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: PXG Lightning Tour Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees) Shaft:...
Si Woo Kim WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X Mini driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Mini...
Wyndham Clark’s winning WITB: 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees) Shaft: Project...
Benny
May 24, 2015 at 11:13 am
Love this new section. Awesome stuff!
Colin
May 25, 2015 at 10:27 pm
Yes! Definitely keep this section going for future tournaments.
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 8:33 pm
What’s the name of the green Adam Scott putting device?
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 8:31 pm
What does Vokey call that very dark finish on Max Homa’s wedges? If they were simply unchromed, they wouldn’t have such an even finish, and they wouldn’t be so blue-gray, right?
That finish really looks nice.
AndyB
May 25, 2015 at 5:27 am
I think it is probably the raw black finish that has been tinkered with to give it that even and darker raw finish. I stripped my raw black sm5’s with CLR, and this is about the color they were after the first soak and a light rub with scotch brite pad. I continues to work on mine until they looked like a typical raw wedge, but after seeing these, I am starting to regret it. Great looking wedges.
Rich
May 22, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Hunter Mahan testing a mack daddy pm grind. That’s hilarious! He used to use an eye2 so it’s even funnier that he’s gone elsewhere for the same design! I guess Callaway did it better. Karsten will be rolling over in his grave!
Chuck
May 23, 2015 at 8:12 pm
Well that Callaway/Mickelson wedge looks the way it does precisely because Callaway was imitating an old Ping design that Mickelson longed for, right? The Ping guys ought to stamp “PING” into the lead tape.
Here’s another golfwrx thread, featuring Mickelson’s Ping wedge with logos covered up via lead tape, just like Mahan’s Callaway:
http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/955275-phil-and-a-ping-wedge/
RG
May 22, 2015 at 7:33 pm
Keep’em coming Andrew, look forward to this every week.
Agreed
May 22, 2015 at 4:25 pm
The PM grind is a Ping eye 2
RG
May 22, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Yeah, I don’t get why they are getting so much hype. I game the Eye 2 XG and the Cally is a straight clone of a wedge design that’s been around for 30+ years. Ping invented the U grind.
Well if your gonna rip-off something, that’s a good one to rip-off caus the Eye 2 is the greatest sand iron ever.
LorenRobertsFan
May 22, 2015 at 12:52 pm
You’d think that Ping would easily mill grooves out on the toe of a EYE 2 Gorge for Hunter so he wouldn’t have to test the PM grind..
Teaj
May 22, 2015 at 2:09 pm
+1
KCCO
May 22, 2015 at 6:13 pm
The height of toe looks a lot higher in person than any other oem’s wedge….may be the grooves making an optical illusion. But my comment is kinda pointless as I didn’t sit another wedge next to it to see height at top of toe if there is a significant difference