Welcome to the 2024 Cognizant Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, where the Florida Swing officially gets underway

Not to oversell the story below, but we spotted a surprising amount of interesting gear this week.

We got our first look at Maverick McNealy’s updated set (he’s mostly a free agent now, aside from the putter), Jake Knapp’s two-driver setup, Chris Kirk’s show-stopping new black irons, Tom Kim’s “new” custom Scotty Cameron, an oddly high-tech prototype driver headcover, and we even got a look at Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s set during the Wednesday Pro-Am.

There’s a lot to cover, and no time to waste. Let’s get right into the 9 interesting equipment photos below!

See all of our photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic here

1) Our first look at Maverick McNealy’s setup in 2024

Now as an Odyssey putter staffer, McNealy is free to play any 13 full-shot clubs that he desires. McNealy has always preferred a blade iron style with a longer blade length – ala Tiger Woods – so it’s no shocker to see him switch into the TaylorMade P-7TW iron head, co-designed by Tiger himself. What’s cool about the photo above is you can see that he originally had lead tape across the top portion of the head, but removed it and added weight to the bottom portion; in all likelihood, he still wanted the extra head weight, but also wanted a bit of extra launch and height. After all, it is a thin blade 3-iron we’re talking about, so it makes sense.

As for the rest of McNealy’s bag, he’s using a TaylorMade Qi10 driver, two Stealth 2 fairway woods (3HL and 7), a set of P-7TW irons (3-9), Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges (46, 50, 54 and 58 degrees), and he’s testing between his longtime Odyssey Toulon “Stanford MM” putter, and a new Odyssey Ai-One Milled “Stanford” black-and-gold putter.

He’s also using a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball, where he uses the “dot” while putting for visual focus, and the line for alignment on his tee shot.

McNealy is the type of gearhead that GolfWRX.com is all about; attention to detail, with a flair for style. He’s a pilot, too, which explains the Top Gun-inspired “Maverick” headcovers, and “remove before flight” headcover tag.

Check out McNealy’s full 2024 WITB here from the Cognizant Classic

2) Shane Lowry’s two heartwarming headcovers

Shane Lowry has two daughters.

One is named Ivy…

And the other is named Iris…

See what golf clubs are underneath Lowry’s family-oriented headcovers here.

3) Brandt Snedeker still has the Odyssey White Hot Rossie XG putter in the bag

He’s still got it!

But, let’s not get too excited, because on Wednesday, we also spotted Sneds with a Bridgestone TD-02 putter in the bag, which looks quite similar to his longtime gamer Rossie XG.

Snedeker certainly has a type when it comes to how his putter looks, doesn’t he?

Check out the rest of Snedeker’s 2024 WITB here

4) A prototype Swag Golf headcover

 

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It’s rare that “prototype headcover testing” happens on the PGA Tour, but that exactly what’s happening with Nick Hardy this week.

According to Swag Golf founder and CEO Nick Venson, Swag Golf is in the creation process of what the company is calling “Headcover 3.0,” which uses TPU welding and a support structure to create a three-dimensional look, and greater durability.

The new age of headcovers could be developing right in front of our eyes.

5) Tom Kim’s custom putter

I wrote in-depth about Tom Kim’s new custom putter over on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report this week, but below is a few snippets of what he had to say about the customized Scotty Cameron Tour-Only T5S mallet that he switched to recently at the 2024 Genesis Invitational:

6) Chris Kirk’s black Callaway Apex CB irons

We saw Kirk switch into Callaway’s Apex CB irons – which were the stock silver/chrome color – at the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Classic last year, but, we also know that Kirk prefers the look of black irons because they make the head look slightly smaller.

Well, it looks like Kirk is testing out some new black-colored Apex CB irons, which combine the forgiveness of the Apex CB iron head, with the “smaller looking” black colorway that Kirk prefers. He still had his old chrome versions in the bag on Wednesday, to go along with the new black models, so we’ll keep an eye on what irons Kirk decides to put in the bag come competition time.

Don’t be surprised if he switches this week, or sometime in the near future.

See what GolfWRX members are saying Kirk’s new black Apex CB irons here

7) Knapp wins with two drivers in the bag

We already covered Knapp’s two-driver setup on GolfWRX.com and PGATOUR.com, but I wanted to re-emphasize how popular it’s becoming that PGA Tour players are using both a driver and a mini driver, rather than a driver and a 3-wood. Adam Scott and Tommy Fleetwood also come to mind.

I’m not saying you should switch to a setup like this for yourself, but even Knapp says that the BRNR Mini driver is significantly easier to hit than a three wood. When pros say things like that, it’s a cue to amateurs to at least test out its merits for themselves.

8) Make the forums go crazy, Jake!

We’ve already covered a few putters in this story, but still, the Custom Putter of the Week Award goes to Jacob Bridgeman, who showed off his Scotty Cameron putter with a “commando” finish and three white alignment lines.

GolfWRX Forums members weren’t ready for this type of heat, and some even slapped the “NSFW” tag on the putter photos.

Don’t hurt ’em, Jake!

See what else the forum members are saying about Bridgeman’s custom Scotty here

9) Left-handed NFL quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s right-handed golf clubs

Tua isn’t the first person ever to throw a football left-handed and play golf right-handed. Jordan Spieth is the same way. But, admittedly, it did throw me for a spiral when I first saw Tua swinging righty.

Too bad Tua can’t throw a spiral himself!

Sorry, that was a mean attempt at a pun. I’m a Giants fan, though, we can’t help it.

In terms of Tua’s WITB, he was gaming mostly PXG clubs, including a driver, fairway wood, irons, wedges, and a putter. He also had a Callaway Jaws lob wedge in the bag during the Wednesday Pro-Am, just to keep things interesting.

Something tells me the next time we see Tua on the golf course, he’ll be using a custom Miami Dolphins SuperStroke grip on his PXG putter.

And, with that cross-sport connection, we say goodbye to Palm Beach Gardens. We’ll see you next week in Orlando at Arnie’s Place for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational. See you there!

Check out all of our photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic here

• Brandt Snedeker what’s in the bag accurate as of the Cognizant Classic. Check out more photos from the tournament here.

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees, D4 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X

• Check out more in-hand photos of Brandt Snedeker’s clubs here.

5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Irons: Srixon ZX Mk II (3), Bridgestone J15CB (5-9)
Shafts: AeroTech SteelFiber i110cw, AeroTech SteelFiber i95

• Check out more in-hand photos of Brandt Snedeker’s clubs here.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-10S), Vokey WedgeWorks Proto (60-K)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey Rossie White Hot XG, Bridgestone TD-O2

• Check out more in-hand photos of Brandt Snedeker’s clubs here.

Grips: Lamkin UTx

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Check out more in-hand photos of Brandt Snedeker’s clubs here.

 

 

SuperStroke’s Pistol series is one of its more popular models with an oversized — but still traditional — shape that fits in the hands comfortably.

This week, we spotted a new grip on the practice green at the Cognizant Classic with the “Pistol” name but a little different shape. The traditional pistol shape flares out into the palm on the upper hand and usually has a flat top for your thumb to rest easily. The new grips feature two sizes at the moment, the 1.0 and 2.0, with the latter looking significantly larger.

This new Pistol Lock grip looks to have a similar flat top and flared-out back in the upper hand like the original. The taper to the upper hand looks to start further down the shaft and has a more pronounced shape at the top of the grip. The lower-hand section also might look to have a touch more taper to it, but sometimes these shapes are hard to tell from just photos. Here are the new Pistol Lock grips next to the current Pistol.

• Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Cognizant Classic
• Also spotted at the Cognizant Classic: LA Golf Malibu X putter with a new face insert