Your Shopping Cart is Empty
Or continue with
8 - 20 characters, containing at least the following 3 types of characters: Lower case letters (a-z), Upper case letters (A-Z), Numbers (i.e. 0-9).
Welcome to Jack’s Place. And what a place it is! After spending practice rounds with Team TaylorMade on the grounds at Muirfield Village, there’s a lot to get to in this week’s tour report. But first…milkshakes.
I was told all week I needed to get one of the heralded Muirfield Village milkshakes, so Team TaylorMade content creator Dane and I went to the clubhouse on Wednesday to check things out.
Who knew Strawberry + Oreo would be the most lethal combination since Shaq + Kobe? I’m usually a chocolate and peanut butter guy but oh boy did my eyes get opened to a new milkshake dimension. Our guy Michael in the clubhouse made two of the best milkshakes this side of the Mississippi (and maybe the other side too), that rounded our trip off right. Dane went back for seconds on Thursday and can report Twix + Coffee is also an elite combination.
Alright, now to non-milkshake related news. It is ball week for Team TaylorMade and we will do a deep dive into why our guys play TP5, TP5x and pix. However, let’s start with perhaps the biggest equipment change of the week coming in the form of a new flatstick for World No. 4 Collin Morikawa, who finished 2nd here at The Memorial one year ago.
When we arrived on the grounds on Monday, Collin had his gamer TP Juno in the bag alongside a few different models from the GT family. As we learned when we spent time with Collin at his first TOUR event on the mainland in 2022 at Riviera, he loves the feel of the Pure Roll2 insert featured in all of our Spider GT putters. The Pure Roll2 insert is crafted from a firm TPU urethane material with silver aluminum bars angled at 45° that produces that consistent feel and roll the two-time major champ can rely on.
Collin continued to like the way the ball was rolling off the face during testing this week and ultimately put Rollback in the bag Thursday morning because of the combination of the insert and the stability in the way in which the mid-size mallet sits at address. That stability comes from an 80g tungsten rollbar on the perimeter, which you can see on his putter below.
INSIDE THE SPEC
Spider GT Rollback Silver
Sightline: Short Line
Length: 34.75”
Loft: 2°
Lie: 71°
Swing weight: E2.5
Head weight: 335g
Grip: Super Stroke Pistol GTR Tour
In the spirits of ball week, let’s go deep on the ball played by our Team TaylorMade athletes and why. To understand the differences between each model, head to our golf ball guide here.
Six Team TaylorMade athletes in the field this week are playing TP5, including Collin Morikawa and Lucas Herbert. Why? We asked them:
“I can work it a little more and have a little more distance control but when you get around the greens I think that’s when the ball is phenomenal with the soft feel and the spin. You want to be able to understand that I can hit this shot with this ball and it’s going to react how I want it to and that’s what the TP5 does. I also chose the TP5 because I can get a little more spin sometimes off tight lies on fringes and fairways and I feel like I can get a little check sometimes.” Collin Morikawa
“I was able to play a high spinning ball in the TP5 because with the woods and irons I could take spin out of it but I didn’t need to do that with the ball. It just gives you so many more options around the green and TP5 is just a really stable golf ball and I’m really happy with it.” Lucas Herbert
Rory McIlroy, however, games the TP5x. TaylorMade Senior Tour Manager Adrian Rietveld tells us why:
“The TP5x spins less for Rory but holds the spin at the same time. Every player will have a low spinning miss and a high spinning miss and will have their range. You can tell how good the ball is performing for a player like Rory when they hit the high spinning miss and see that the spin difference isn’t that high and it holds perfectly. With the speeds that he swings at, it’s a testament to the products’ performance that it is almost like it is made for him that the ball has the tolerance to handle that speed.” – Adrian Rietveld, TaylorMade Senior Tour Manager
TP5 and TP5x aren’t made just for speed and spin, however. In the TP5/TP5x pix model co-designed by Rickie Fowler and played by Fowler, Matthew Wolff and Tommy Fleetwood, instant feedback helps with consistency and alignment on the greens.
“For me it’s the direct feedback that ClearPath Alignment™ produces. When I’m rolling it well and seeing what the ball is doing, it’s reassuring and building confidence that I’m hitting good putts. I also get the feedback on if my speed was correct or if I was mis-aligned from the halo on the outside on each roll, so there’s no faking it. You’ll know if you’re rolling it well or not and you’ll get quick feedback.” Rickie Fowler
For full WITB for Team TaylorMade this week, click through our gallery below. Also, enjoy some behind the scenes photos from practice rounds courtesy of our Team TaylorMade content creators...the best in the game!