Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Equipment, the Monday morning gear wrap-up in which GOLF equipment editor Jonathan Wall takes you through the latest trends, rumors and breaking news. This week’s notes are highlighted by Tommy Fleetwood’s driver shaft change, Adam Scott’s putter travails, Tiger Woods tinkering with lead tape, and new irons for two high-profile Titleist staffers.

Two is better than one

Tommy Fleetwood likely didn’t realize it at the time, but his recent work with TaylorMade Tour rep Adrian Rietveld on 3-wood in the run-up to the Open Championship had a direct effect on another club in the bag: driver.

Fleetwood’s search for a lower spinning 3-wood led him to shelve Ping G410 LST — a fairway wood he’d been using since the Genesis Open — for TaylorMade M6 at the Irish Open. Testing with Rietveld revealed Fleetwood was better off with a 15-degree head (bent to 14 degrees) with a flatter lie angle and a new Mitsubishi Diamana DF 70 shaft.

The combination of minor tweaks to the head and a different shaft helped Fleetwood lower spin while keeping the launch playable at the same time.

In fact, Fleetwood loved the new 3-wood setup so much, he decided to add the Diamana DF shaft to his driver as well. It’s not uncommon for a player to employ the same model in the driver and 3-wood, but it’s usually the driver that winds up being the impetus behind an across-the-board shaft change.

Lead balloon

Tiger Woods’ attempt to bump up the head weight of his putter with lead tape for the slow greens didn’t produce the result he was looking for at the Open. Instead of adding lead tape to the sole as he’s done in the past, Woods placed the weight directly in the cavity of his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 — something that likely allowed him to go up in weight without completely altering the MOI properties of the head.

Judging by Tiger’s practice round, it looks like there won’t be a putter change. Usual NP2 saw action, lead tape still in the cavity. pic.twitter.com/gOl1tnO1I6 — Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) July 17, 2019

Woods also tried a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 prototype with two sole weights, but with more mass positioned in the heel and toe, it’s very likely the 15-time major winner figured it made more sense to roll the dice with his trusty blade instead of going with a completely new wand.

Fresh set

Jordan Spieth wasn’t the only Titleist staffer who added a fresh set of irons at the year’s final major championship. Webb Simpson also switched from 718 MB to 620 MB prototypes (5-PW; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts) after breaking them in at home in advance of the tournament.

As for Spieth, he became the latest player to give Titleist’s T100 prototypes a shot in competition. According to the equipment manufacturer, Spieth played the biggest role during the development of the T100.

More than two years ago, Titleist’s director of iron development, Marni Ines, began a dialog with Spieth to address his wants and needs when it came to the new iron.