My 2020 “Kind Of” What’s in the Bag

I’ll make the most obvious statement about the 2020 golf season that anyone has said yet this year. The 2020 golf season has been extremely wild and interesting. (In case you didn’t already know.) Coming into this season, my plan was to get my bag dialed in over the offseason, stick with it for the whole year, and dial in my wedge game. Well, due to so many changes this year as a result of the pandemic, I was fortunate to play a lot of golf. My wedges continued to improve over the season as I documented closely, but the frequency of play allowed some new bad habits to sneak into my game. Naturally, bag changes came next to try and fix those habits. So here is what my “what’s in bag” journey looked like for the 2020 season!

The Driver

Given the past couple of seasons, I fully anticipated having a completely different driver in my bag this season than I ended up with. After testing 2020’s new models, the Cobra Speedzone driver was the runaway leader for my game. Just hitting the ball a mile, great control, and amazing feel. Putting it in the bag was a no brainer.

Then I added the new (at the time) VA Nemesys to my driver and things only got better. I was hitting the driver better than I have in a good long while. Just turning heads left and right.

After a small run of looking like my game was going to take off, my driver totally left me. I couldn’t get off the tee for anything. At that point, I started running through every driver in my house, different shaft combinations, you name it. Fortunately, a bunch of things clicked with me and I realized it was similar flaws that were hurting my wedge game. I made some swing adjustments and finally started hitting the driver well again. Just like before, the clear winner was the Speedzone/Nemesys combo so that’s what I’m sticking with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still fighting consistency with the swing flaws, but this was the driver set up for me this season that produced the best results.

The Irons

My irons were fairly consistent in my bag this year so I stuck to my plan in that category. For most of the season I played my classic Miura CB57 irons. They’re some of the best irons I’ve ever hit and I love them. Well, unfortunately, as my inability to get off the tee weighed on me, I watched the rest of my game go to absolute shit as a result of the mental toll it took on me. So naturally, I even tried switching irons. My second set is a set of Sub 70 heads that I pretty much always keep available for different testing purposes. They’re reliable and good clubs so they’re great to have for that reason. That also made them a tempting gamer option.

The shafts I had in the Sub 70s at the time ultimately weren’t a great match so they didn’t hop in my bag at that moment. By the time I was ready to try something else in them, I discovered the swing flaw in my driver and applied it to my irons which had me back in business with the Miuras. My iron game is in a good place right now so I’ll be sticking with the Miuras for the immediate future.

The Hybrid

The hybrid story is a little more uneventful. I was previously playing the Tour Edge CBX 119 hybrid and loved it so much. Then the EXS Pro hybrid came out and I liked it a lot with the stock Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black shaft. However, with that shaft, the EXS Pro never quite exceeded my CBX 119. I managed to get my hands on the EvenFlow Black, which I had in the CBX 119, and that did the trick. The EXS Pro hybrid went right into my bag with immediate success. Fast forward to getting the Fujikura Ventus Hybrid Black to test and the EXS Pro only got better for me. Going to be a tough one to beat next season.

The Wedges

In the pursuit of resolving my wedge woes, I did go through a handful of different wedges to try things out. Ultimately I ended up back at my Miura Tour sand wedge and TaylorMade Hi-Toe lob wedge. My big addition this year was a 52º Miura Giken MB5000-WC gap wedge. Based on my newly discovered wedge game, I discovered a real benefit in a gap wedge so my guy Chip Usher helped out with this gem. It’s been in and out of the bag due to club counts, but I think I’ve finally settled on a setup where this will stay in the bag. See next section…

The Fairway Woods

If you read my reviews of each of these Tour Edge fairway woods, seeing they have been in my bag should be no surprise. When the EXS Pro fairway wood came out, I got it in a 4 wood in order to go down to one fairway wood and put the gap wedge in my bag. Prior to that, I had the EXS 220 in a 3 wood and my CBX 119 5 wood. Both great setups.

When I started my woes of my whole game going down the tubes because I couldn’t get off the tee, I started juggling my whole bag quite a bit. I ultimately said “screw it, I’m going back to my usual 3 and 5 wood setup.” As I’ve started recovering my swing throughout my entire bag, I realized that I was finding myself relying on my trusty monster of a 3 wood, the EXS 220, quite a bit. I was rarely, if ever reaching for my 5 wood, and I was certainly finding myself in places where it would have been nice to have a 52º wedge. So I’ve dropped my 5 wood, have the EXS 220 3 wood in my bag with my gap wedge, and I couldn’t be happier thus far. That said, the EXS Pro 4 wood could get the call up at any given time.

The Ball

There isn’t really a crazy story here. I played the TaylorMade TP5X for a few years, got introduced to the previous Bridgestone Tour B X model and really liked it. So much so that I was open to a switch. So this season I picked up a few boxes of the 2020 Tour B X model and that has been my ball of choice. There is a chance I may switch to the Tour B XS next year to get a little more spin. I know, you’ll all be waiting for my 2021 “What’s in the bag” with bated breath!

My 2020 What’s in the Bag Final Thoughts

I didn’t mention putters at all, but that hasn’t changed. Still swearing by the same Scott Readman Concepts IKB2. Just rolling in putts…the usual. Overall, my bag basically ended up roughly where it started, but went through a period of bouncing around. My game was in bad shape for a few months and I was desperate to find some things to smooth it out. By the end of the season, I found some consistency and really only saw a few small changes. I stuck with my plan of staying with the same clubs fairly well. Of course, 2021 will bring a new season and we’ll see what catches my eye then. I already have my eye on a few things. Don’t forget the obligatory changes to the bag in the offseason without even stepping on a course. The true sign of a real golf gear guy.