A week after the first major of the year, and you’d think the gear news would want to take a week off. But at Harbor Town Golf Links, host of the 2026 RBC Heritage, new clubs were launched, and plenty of course-specific changes were made by an elite cast of PGA Tour pros.

Those teeing up on Hilton Head Island this week are presented with a unique test in Harbour Town. The short setup would be overpowered by many if it weren’t for its tight and winding layout, which underwent a major renovation over the last year. It has never been a track that favors the “bomb-and-gauge” approach. 

Mini drivers to the max

With that comes the opportunity for many to add a new weapon to the arsenal: mini drivers. 

Jason Day, J.J. Spaun and Akshay Bhatia were three names trying out mini drivers early in the week, with all three sporting different options in their bags. 

Day opted for the Tour-only Ping prototype head, which looks to use the same CarbonFly Wrap crown found on his current G430 LST driver. 

“You kind of need the 280 to 290 range, and the 3-wood may not go as far, you know what I mean, so it’s a good addition,” Day said Tuesday at Harbour Town. “… I like the Ping mini prototype. That feels fantastic.”

Day’s full specs:

• Ping proto mini, 13 degrees at 12 in Small Minus setting
• Shaft: KBS TG Black TXX, tipped 1 inch at 43.5 inches
• Grip: Jumbo Mac Zen Lite Logo Down

Callaway officially launched the Quantum mini driver, which Bhatia put through its paces on the range and course at Harbour Town. 

“We had Akshay (Bhatia) actually on the range yesterday testing it and there’s a chance this week he might put it in play and he was hitting it off the deck like 3,800 (rpm) was like if he felt like he bottomed the hair and then if you hit it pure, it was like 3,300 (rpm),” Johnny Thompson, Tour Content Manager for Callaway Golf, told GolfWRX. “So a 500 (rpm) cycle spin window off the deck, that’s good with a normal 3-wood, but the fact that you could have a deeper face, something that’s so much easier to hit off the tee, so much more control. That’s just a huge plus.”

Bhatia full specs:

• Callaway Quantum Mini at 12.2 degrees
• Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8x, tipped 1.5 inches at 43 inches
• Grip: Iomic Sticky 2.3

Finally, Spaun was spotted with a TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver in the bag ahead of the tournament. The U.S. Open champion’s setup featured 13-gram front weights and 4 grams in the rear. 

Spaun full specs:

• TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver, 13.5 on lower setting.
• Shaft: Project X Titan Black 70TX
• Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Titleist GTS fairway launch

Titleist began the tour seeding of its new GTS drivers at the Houston Open, and at that point, we spotted a few of the fairway woods also being hit. Some went into play straight away at Memorial Park. Just a few weeks later, Titleist officially debuted all of the heads available in the GTS2 and GTS3 fairway woods. 

All feature the silver face we noticed, which helps with seeing the loft of the club at address. It was also noticeable that the profile of the new lineup seems to be larger than that of the previous Titleist fairway woods. 

What was interesting about the tour launch is that the GTS model, which was spotted at the Houston Open, was not part of the heads available on release. See more here.

Hovland close to driver switch?  

Viktor Hovland continued the momentum from his final-round 67 at Augusta National that carried him to a top-20 finish, opening the RBC Heritage with a first-round 7-under 64.

The Norwegian has been testing between drivers for the last few months, and the work continued pre-tournament week at Harbour Town. GolfWRX caught up with Ping tour rep Spencer Rothluebber to get the details on where the testing stands between his current Ping G425 driver and a G440 LST.

Find out about the results here.

Custom protos for a Champion Golfer

Brian Harman unwrapped a custom set of Titleist cavity-backs on Tuesday, before testing them out on the range at Harbour Town. The 633BH prototypes, based on the 620 CBs, featured Titleist’s custom lead tape in the cavity, along with what looks like a raw finish on the face. 

It’s not the first time Titleist has created custom clubs for staffers. Justin Thomas plays a one-of-a-kind set of 621.JT irons, while Cameron Young uses 631.CY prototypes.

Club of the week

It’s not often you see an 11-iron on the PGA Tour. Maverick McNealy flirted with one in 2022 when he added it to his Callaway Apex MB set. At that time, the groove configuration in the 11-iron helped provide McNealy with the lower launch and greater spin. Well, in 2026, Jhonattan Vegas was spotted with one in the bag ahead of tee time in South Carolina. His 11-iron is also a Callaway MB, but part of the newly redesigned but unreleased versions. 

For more from Hilton Head, check out the latest episode of Inside the Ropes below!