Golfers can be sentimental creatures and even tour professionals can find themselves hanging on to favorite clubs for many years. A deep trust can be built in equipment through repetition, familiarity and memories of successful shots at important times.
This year's competitors are no different. Here I take a look into both teams' bags and pick out the golden oldies!
Team Europe
Ludvig Aberg
- Model: Titleist 718 T-MB 2 iron
- Year: 2017
Ludvig Aberg is very new to the scene of the professional game, but his two iron has been around for some time! Aberg still uses the Titleist 718 T-MB 2 iron from 2017 fitted with a KBS Tour 130 X steel shaft.
Anyone who watched his maiden win at the Omega European Masters will have seen how potent a weapon this is for him from the tee on tight holes.
Matt Fitzpatrick
- Model: Ping S55 irons
- Year: 2013
Former US Open champion Fitzpatrick is using a set of Ping irons that are now a decade old! Ping equipment is notoriously hard-wearing so it is no surprise to see them featuring on this list. The S55 irons were released in 2013 and feature a particular blunt leading edge to help with turf interaction.
Not many people will forget the 9 iron he played from the fairway bunker on the 72nd hole en route to claiming his US Open title.
Tommy Fleetwood
- Model: Odyssey White Hot Pro 3 putter
- Year: 2013
Like many, Tommy has experimented a fair bit in this area of the bag. Over the past couple of seasons he has tested numerous TaylorMade options, LA Golf shafts and even recently used Justin Rose’s Axis1 Rose putter in an event.
However, despite these little dalliances with other putters, he always seems to return back to his Odyssey White Hot Pro 3.
John Rahm
- Model: Callaway Apex UT
- Year: 2014
The reigning Masters champion Rahm, trusts a Callaway model that is approaching its tenth birthday to bridge the gap between his fairway woods and irons. Despite Callaway producing some great product in this area, Rahm still prefers the head of the Apex UT from 2014.
Justin Rose
- Model: TaylorMade M3 440 driver
- Year: 2018
Often manufacturers will prefer, or even stipulate that their contracted players must play the current models. However, that is not a problem for equipment free-agent Rose, who has returned into an old 2018 TaylorMade M3 440 model. He had a brief period over the summer in an even older model, the TaylorMade M2 from 2016.
Team USA
Sam Burns
- Model: Odyssey O-Works Black 7s putter
- Year: 2018
Burns is one of the better putters in the game so it is no surprise to find that he doesn’t change much in this department. Like so many of the world's best, he trusts Odyssey to take care of business on the greens. He uses the O-Works Black 7s model that features a short slant neck. This has some pretty heavy toe-hang to allow the putter head to rotate freely during the stroke.
Patrick Cantlay
- Model: Titleist TS3 driver, Titleist 915F 3 wood and Titleist 718 AP2 Irons
- Year: 2018, 2015 and 2017
Where to start?! Cantlay’s whole bag is like a time machine! The entire top end of his bag all the way to his wedges dates back at least five years. Cantlay must be a frustrating case for the tour marketing team at Titleist who would no doubt prefer him in some current models!
Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler
- Model: Odyssey Versa Jailbird
- Year: 2014
What a huge year for the Odyssey Versa Jailbird! We don’t often hear of comeback stories in the golf equipment space so this was a really fun trend that occurred in 2023. Incredibly, in the hands of Keegan Bradley, Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler, this putter won 3 PGA Tour events in a row, including a Major!
An incredible year for a putter first produced in 2014.
Brian Harman
- Model: Titleist TS2 Fairways and TaylorMade Spider OS CB putter
- Year: 2018 and 2016
Reigning Open champion Brian Harman is another who trusts some old favorites to produce his best golf. Harman conquered the links of Royal Liverpool with his Titleist TS2 3 and 5 woods from 2018. He also put on one of the most impressive putting displays in recent Major history with a putter from 2016, the TaylorMade Spider OS CB.
Brooks Koepka
- Model: TaylorMade M2 Tour HL 3 Wood and Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3 Iron
- Year: 2017 and 2016
When Nike tragically stopped making golf clubs in 2016, Brooks Koepka became a free agent and really embraced that position! For a long period of time, his bag was made up of numerous brands. Now a Srixon staff player, Brooks still manages to keep his bag pretty eclectic.
Like so many tour professionals, Koepka has an old faithful 3 wood to cover this notoriously tricky area of the bag. He chooses the TaylorMade M2 Tour HL from 2017.
Gear nerds all over the world will rejoice at Koepka’s choice of driving iron, the Nike Vapor Fly Pro. Considered by many to be a cult classic and still featuring in the bag of other tour players including Tony Finau, it is tough to see this club leaving his bag anytime soon.
Xander Schauffele
- Model: Titleist Vokey SM6 Sand Wedge
- Year: 2016
A Callaway staffer, Schauffele trusts an old classic in his sand wedge. Xander uses a Titleist Vokey SM6 56 degree wedge (bent to 57) from 2016. This could be an invaluable club this week at Marco Simone where there looks to be a premium on short game with quick undulating greens to contend with.
Jordan Spieth
- Model: Titleist Scotty Cameron 009 prototype putter
- Year: 2009
This is a club that is synonymous with Spieth and one he has used for every single one of his professional victories. The story goes that Spieth was using a Scotty Camerom Teryllium 1.5 putter very successfully, even winning the 2009 US Junior Amateur Championship, but his favorite two players at the time, Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilivy were using the 009 model.
Adamant this is what he wanted, Spieth actually manipulated his stroke in a testing session at the Scotty Cameron Gallery to ensure that he would walk away with the one he wanted!
Justin Thomas
- Model: Titleist 915FD 5 wood
- Year: 2015
Slightly out of form this year, Justin Thomas may need to lean on some old friends to help him through this Ryder Cup test. One of those friends could be his 8 year old 5 wood, the 915FD from Titleist. If you have never seen the deliberate rope hooks Thomas hits with this club down the stretch at Sawgrass to win his Players Championship, go and find it immediately! Shot-making at its finest.
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