Jake Knapp is an unheralded rookie on the PGA TOUR. Or at least he was until he won the Mexico Open yesterday. Since he’s a tour newbie with limited awareness with fans, he isn’t a “staffer.” Good news – he doesn’t have to pay for any of his equipment, clothes or gear. Bad news – unlike some of his peers, he’s not getting rich off any endorsement deals. He goes about his craft an equipment free agent.
This week, he teed it up with one of the coolest set-ups we’ve seen in a while. A little of this and a lot of that. Five manufacturers in total: PXG (his hat logo $), Ping, TaylorMade, Srixon and Titleist. For him to come up with five, you just know that Knapp is a tinkerer.
Key takeaways:
- We aren’t surprised in the least to see him playing with a Ping G425 LST driver. That 2+ year-old model driver is very popular with equipment free agents on the PGA and LIV tours.
- His only fairway metal was a TaylorMade BRNR – 13.5 degrees. This is also Tommy Fleetwood’s favorite 3-wood. Both gents love this club for its utility.
- Jake carried a Srixon ZU-85 (2) utility iron. Watching him hit that in person would be incredible. He has the 5th fastest clubhead speed on tour, coming in at 123.68 MPH. Just imagine sitting next to him on the range while he’s hitting 290-yard head-high stingers. Sweet Jesus that’d be fun.
- He uses a PXG gap wedge (52 degrees), and Vokey SM9 sand (56 degrees) and lob wedges (yeah, baby!). Interestingly, he uses the same shaft in his gap and sand wedges, but a different shaft in his 60-degree lobber.
Knapp’s Golf Gear:
DRIVER: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees), Project X HZRDUS T1100 Green TX shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade BRNR Mini (13.5 degrees), Project X HZRDUS T1100 Green TX shaft
IRONS: Srixon ZU-85 (2), with Mitsubishi Tensei White shaft, PXG 0311 X GEN4 (4), 0211 ST (5-PW), with KBS C-Taper 130X shafts
WEDGES: PXG Sugar Daddy II Milled (52 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56 degrees) with KBS C-Taper 130X, (60 degrees), with Nippon Modus 125 WV shaft
PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider Tour DB
BALL: Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot
GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet (full swing) / SuperStroke Zenergy SGP 1.0 (putter)