Hero World Challenge equipment roundup

When it comes to golf equipment, Tiger Woods is a creature of habit. Despite the fact that adjustable woods have been around for more than a decade, the 14-time major winner has opted for non-adjustable clubs over the course of his career.

The non-glued woods offered a level of consistency and familiarity that, to Woods, far outweighed the benefits adjustable weights and loft sleeves provided. That continued to be the case until this week, when Woods removed his bonded Nike woods for TaylorMade's M2 driver and M1 fairway woods.

For Woods, the move to an adjustable driver, 3-wood and 5-wood was a significant change.

"This is the first time I've ever played non‑glued hosels before," Woods said, "so the adjustability thing and the weight in the hosel and the weight distribution of weight throughout the clubhead, it's a different mechanical thing and it's also a different feel thing, too. I'm hitting shots and numbers that are surprisingly bad and surprisingly good, and I have to do a lot more testing in the future before I actually do feel comfortable."

The first week out with adjustable woods produced a mixed bag that saw Woods lead the field with 24 birdies but miss a number of fairways off the tee, leading to big numbers that derailed promising rounds.

When asked whether he would use the TaylorMade clubs in the future, Woods was non-committal, admitting after the final round that the TaylorMade M1 3-wood was a last-minute addition he found "in the back of a shed here early in the week."

"I don't know that one yet," said Woods when asked about the state of his equipment. "I am still testing, I'm still trying to figure things out. I'm still in that process, I just settled in on a couple things this week."

Along with the TaylorMade woods, Woods reintroduced a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter to the bag. The putter played a role in 13 of Woods' 14 major titles. He also returned to Nike VR Pro Blade irons and VR Forged wedges.

Despite the fact that Woods has used a Nike putter since 2010 — and on a full-time basis since 2011 — he said the decision to go back to his old Cameron was an easy one after Nike pulled out of the hard goods business.

Bubba Watson changes irons, adds hybrid: Bubba Watson is extremely particular about his iron setup. Prior to switching to PING's S55 irons at the 2013 BMW Championship, Watson used the S59 model for nearly a decade — going back to 2004 — which is astounding when you consider a larger majority of players on TOUR change irons every couple of years.

The comfort level Watson had with S59, coupled with the ability to work the ball both ways and hit it high or low, made it nearly impossible to get the irons out of his bag. However, once he felt comfortable with S55, he committed to the irons and never looked back.

Watson dealt with a similar situation this year with PING's iBlade at THE PLAYERS Championship. After testing the irons during during the tournament week, Watson decided to hold off on switching until the offseason. The decision to wait stemmed from some slight differences between S55 and iBlade — namely a straighter leading edge on iBlade and a slightly higher launch angle that needed to be tweaked.

Following the end of the 2015-16 season, Watson came back to PING looking to restart the iron testing process. According to PING Tour rep Christian Pena, Watson's irons were given a modified heel grind with reduced bounce to allow the sole to slide through the ground at impact. The leading edge grind was rounded to give Watson's irons similar turf interaction to what he had come to expect from S55. Watson and caddie Ted Scott also commented iBlade had a slightly higher launch angle and didn't bend as much as his previous set.

Watson finished T6 at 11-under with the new irons. He'll have a chance to work with another set when he arrives home that are a half inch shorter than his current set, which should help reduce launch. Strengthening the lofts has been discussed as well.

"When I talked to Bubba and Ted, they said they really liked the irons but there were a few things that they were trying to get used to on the course, like seeing the ball in a slightly higher window," Pena said. "He played well this week so he might not even mess with what he has. But we always want to give them options."

Watson also added PING's Glide 2.0 wedge and recently inserted a 19-degree PING G hybrid. Before the Hero World Challenge, Watson last used a hybrid during his days on the Web.com Tour, but felt it was worth putting back in the bag to attack long par 5s.

"The golf courses are getting so much longer now, especially around here you need a ball that comes down a little bit softer," Watson said. "A 2-iron into these par 5s, the ball's just going to go over the green, the small greens. So you need something to go a little higher but I've been looking at that anyway for other courses."

According to Pena, Watson liked that the hybrid gave him a similar flight to the G-Series 7-wood he had been carrying, but offered extra distance that could come in handy on approach shots into par 5s and off the tee as well.

Justin Rose takes prototype irons for a spin: Justin Rose was forced to withdraw after one round from the Hero World Challenge. However, he still managed to make equipment headlines with the addition of TaylorMade's forged prototype irons. Making his first start in nearly two months, Rose debuted the cavity-back model that was being tested recently at The RSM Classic.

Rose was spotted with the irons and some of the company's Milled Grind wedges during the first round. Very few details have been released on the irons. Based on photos, the long irons feature additional tungsten in the head that likely improves forgiveness and launch. The entire set is forged and has a minimal cavity and profile that's reminiscent of Tour Preferred MC.

Dustin Johnson bags new driver, wedges: Dustin Johnson enjoyed the best season of his career with a bag setup that changed very little over the course of the season. With the 2015-16 TOUR season in the books, he decided to tinker with his setup at the Hero World Challenge, adding TaylorMade's M2 driver (10.5 degrees) and Milled Grind wedges (52 and 60 degrees) for the invitation-only event.

Johnson used M2 earlier this year from the Northern Trust Open until the WGC-Cadillac Championship. According to TaylorMade Tour reps, he initially didn't like the softer sound and feel of the driver, but after testing it again on a launch monitor, he noticed distance gains, especially on off-center hits, that exceeded what he was seeing with M1.

Outside of the driver and wedges, the rest of Johnson's clubs remained the same, including the Spider Tour mallet putter he put in play at the BMW Championship.

Rickie Fowler tests new driver: Rickie Fowler has used end of season events as a proving ground for new equipment in recent years. Last season, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open was the first event Fowler had Cobra's King Ltd driver and King Forged MB irons in competition.

This time around, the Hero World Challenge served as the test site for Cobra's King F7+ driver. Fowler added the 8.5-degree driver (set in the draw loft setting) and finished T3 for the week. Compared to the standard King F7, Fowler's plus model has a smaller, more traditional head profile and lower loft range.

The driver comes with an adjustable weight system in the sole that features three center of gravity (CG) settings in the front, the back and heel that allow for differing ball flights (low, high and draw) depending on player preference and course conditions. Fowler had the 12-gram orange weight in the "Low" position for a more penetrating ball flight with less spin.

The club also includes a re-engineered Ti-811 E9 that's lighter and thinner than the previous version, and a larger Sweet Zone across the face that generates faster ball speeds. A multi-material TeXtreme Carbon Fiber was added to the crown that reduced weight by seven grams in the top of the head and allowed engineers to move discretionary mass low in the sole to improve launch and forgiveness.

Notes: Hideki Matsuyama replaced his TaylorMade RBZ Stage 2 3-wood with Callaway's Big Bertha Fusion. ... Following his win two weeks ago in Australia, Jordan Spieth still had Titleist's 716 AP2 irons in the bag.