Tour Tommy Fleetwood's TaylorMade 9 wood - 2023 Valspar Championship

[GolfWRX_Spotted]

Put it in play last week at the Players

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CKaneb]

do we know if this is replacing his 4 iron?

[KennyP]

Looks like the KK shaft has been pulled.

[QuigleyDU]

Hearing about the rollback got him replacing long irons. 😂

[JungleJimbo]

7 hours ago, CKaneb said:

do we know if this is replacing his 4 iron?

Article mentions Fleetwood removed his UDI driving iron. 
 

https://www.golfwrx.com/709320/photos-of-tommy-fleetwoods-new-9-wood/

Quote

 

“Last week at The Players Championship, Tommy Fleetwood put a new TaylorMade Stealth 9-wood into play en route to a T27 finish.

The last time GolfWRX photographed Fleetwood’s full WITB was in February at the 2023 Waste Management Open, where Fleetwood was using a Stealth 2 Plus driver, a Stealth Plus 3-wood, a Stealth Plus 5-wood, and a Stealth UDI 3-iron. At The Players, however, Fleetwood took out the UDI and it replaced it with a 9-wood, likely to increase height for approach shots and navigating the long rough at TPC Sawgrass. ”

 

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by JungleJimbo

[UncleDrew]

how far did he hit this?

[ALIF]

I replaced my four iron with a Sim 2 24° 9 wood. I have a AD DI 5s shaft in it. It is my favorite club in the bag.

[Valtiel]

9 hours ago, KennyP said:

Looks like the KK shaft has been pulled.

Thought that too, but i'm wondering what would put a mark that far up. It almost looks to me like someone screwed up when turning down the ferrule with a belt. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Valtiel

[rukahs]

That ferrule is ugly AF 😄 

[jholz]

Super interesting.

 

I'm guessing he hits this 210?

 

Agree about the ferrule and hosel. Fixed, so you've gotta accommodate lie angle adjustments somehow. Total Frankenstein project at this point.

 

I imagine if this sticks - they will produce a much more elegant version in the not too distant future.

 

I do like Fleetwood.

[Tasals]

2 hours ago, jholz said:

Super interesting.

 

I'm guessing he hits this 210?

 

Agree about the ferrule and hosel. Fixed, so you've gotta accommodate lie angle adjustments somehow. Total Frankenstein project at this point.

 

I imagine if this sticks - they will produce a much more elegant version in the not too distant future.

 

I do like Fleetwood.

 

https://m.facebook.com/golfmagic/photos/a.180928785288032/4520552704658930/

 

found this from a while ago, based on those distance I figure hes getting it around a 225 carry or so?

[webber]

This is just a retail 9 wood head I gather?

 

Since Stealth are the tour guys just using the retail heads in the non adjustable models?  Before in the M5/M6/Sim/Sim2 day there was always a tour bonded retail head that had full face scoring lines....anyone know?

[nitram]

2 hours ago, jholz said:

Super interesting.

 

I'm guessing he hits this 210?

 

Should be pretty close to his 5-iron distance.

[Bdck]

2 hours ago, nitram said:

Should be pretty close to his 5-iron distance.

Technically should overlap with a 4 iron

 

2 iron/ 5 wood

3 iron / 7 wood

4 iron / 9 wood

[jholz]

2 hours ago, nitram said:

Should be pretty close to his 5-iron distance.

 

So I'm really bad at guessing...

[nitram]

17 hours ago, jholz said:

 

So I'm really bad at guessing...

No Sir, at least no more so than me, amigo

[GolfTurkey]

I like it, my prediction is that the 9 wood is the next club to go mainstream like the 7 wood has the past few years.

[wcbjr]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:59 AM, rukahs said:

That ferrule is ugly AF 😄 

 

This is the way.

 

-Taylormade Tour Van

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

22 hours ago, nitram said:

Should be pretty close to his 5-iron distance.

 

More like a 4i.

While I am sure sure Tommy Fleetwood hits it further than me (it's a 200+ club for me), this gap is one of the hardest I have to fill.

Options are:

23* hybrid

set 4i (24*)

Utility iron (23.5*)

9-wood (24*).

 

The hybrid with the set 4i, or the 9-wood with the set 4i are both pretty good options, or just the Utility iron blending into a 5i,  but I'll say this:

When the 9-wood is good, it's like a long range pitching wedge. 

When it's bad, it's worse than that 64* wedge you keep blading.

[JungleJimbo]

22 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

More like a 4i.

While I am sure sure Tommy Fleetwood hits it further than me (it's a 200+ club for me), this gap is one of the hardest I have to fill.

Options are:

23* hybrid

set 4i (24*)

Utility iron (23.5*)

9-wood (24*).

 

The hybrid with the set 4i, or the 9-wood with the set 4i are both pretty good options, or just the Utility iron blending into a 5i,  but I'll say this:

When the 9-wood is good, it's like a long range pitching wedge. 

When it's bad, it's worse than that 64* wedge you keep blading.

23* hybrid = way more reliable for me

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

19 minutes ago, JungleJimbo said:

23* hybrid = way more reliable for me

 

When it's good for me, it's really good.

 

But for some unfathomable reason, when I'm hitting every other club well, I usually hit the hybrid awfully.

 

The reverse is also true, which is why I like to bag it.

 

When everything else is good, I don't need it.

 

When everything else is bad, I use it as a crutch.

 

I have problems...

Edited March 16, 2023 by No_Catchy_Nickname

[Bdck]

24 minutes ago, nitram said:

 

FW Buying Guide.pdf 3.06 MB · 4 downloads

It's all hearsay because launch conditions determine everything, but the obky reason you could claim those correlations would be due to incredibly strong lofted irons.

 

My mizuno blade 3 iron is 21⁰.  No way I'm hitting it as far as a 21 degree 7 wood that launches higher, spins less, and has more ball speed, let alone my 4 iron matching up.

 

Again, all hearsay, but 24⁰ should be in line with a 4 iron unless you're loft jacking your irons.

[JungleJimbo]

22 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

I have problems...

Hopefully just "insomnia"! (isn't it past midnight in Japan already for you?)...

 

Insomnia = a lesser-problem... vs burning-midnight-oil-for-work ...a.k.a. risking "karoshi"? (perhaps so that you can play golf on Friday/ 3-day weekend!) 

Edited March 16, 2023 by JungleJimbo

[KennyP]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:33 AM, Valtiel said:

Thought that too, but i'm wondering what would put a mark that far up. It almost looks to me like someone screwed up when turning down the ferrule with a belt. 

 

You might be right. My first thought was that the mark was probably where the previous ferrule came to.

 

I guess these prototype KK's are getting scarce.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

13 hours ago, JungleJimbo said:

Hopefully just "insomnia"! (isn't it past midnight in Japan already for you?)...

 

Insomnia = a lesser-problem... vs burning-midnight-oil-for-work ...a.k.a. risking "karoshi"? (perhaps so that you can play golf on Friday/ 3-day weekend!) 

 

No danger of karoshi for me right now🤣

 

Just slightly odd sleeping hours yesterday, and no need to be up early today.

Edited March 17, 2023 by No_Catchy_Nickname
stupid autocorrect

[Jifmoli]

I guess Michelle Wie was right all along..even the men are now following her example

[Valtiel]

2 hours ago, KennyP said:

 

You might be right. My first thought was that the mark was probably where the previous ferrule came to.

 

I guess these prototype KK's are getting scarce.

My first thought was "pull" too because of the rarity, but I can't see a club it would have come out of that had a longer ferrule unless it was something from Tommy's club stash somewhere. Also it turns out Mitsubishi continued to make these for pros even after the XT was released, probably because they preferred the simpler non-ion black graphics. The XT came out in late 2015-ish, so if there was any time to cease production of the protos, it would have been then. However I have an 80XTS with the "Mitsubishi Chemical" script which was a graphic change from "Mitsubishi Rayon" that occured mid 2017.