Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, Lee Trevino 2018 WITBs

The PNC Father/Son Challenge at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando is packed with some of the biggest names in golf history, including Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Bernhard Langer, John Daly and many more. Of course, I had to take a look inside their golf bags to see their weapons of choice in 2018.

For golf equipment fans, this is about as fun as it gets. Enjoy the photos and information below!

Golden Bear's Sticks

Jack Nicklaus captured most of his 18 major championship victories using persimmon drivers and pure blade irons. Now, in 2018 at 78-years-old, the Golden Bear’s setup looks quite different, with a whole lot more forgiveness and technology.

Inside his current bag, Nicklaus has a Callaway GBB Epic driver (9 degrees), with a bunch of lead tape added to the toe portion of the sole, and a Graphite Design Tour AD-MJ 5S shaft. He also has a TaylorMade M3 three wood, with a Fujikura Atmos Red shaft, a TaylorMade GAPR-Mid 4-iron, TaylorMade P-790 irons with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 shafts, Jack Nicklaus JNP Classic wedges, and a Nicklaus Personal-Edition putter. He’s also using a TaylorMade TP5 golf ball.

I asked Nicklaus if modern technology has changed golf for the better or for the worse. Here was his answer:

“Depends who you are. If you’re the modern player, you’d probably say for the better. If you’re my age, you probably say for the worse. And what I mean by that is, modern player, that’s all they grew up with. And that’s what they’ve had. They’ve had the same golf ball that doesn’t curve a lot and goes a long distance. They’ve got clubs that they really can tailor totally to themselves… and ball. And they have that. When we played, we took what was there. We didn’t have enough sophistication to know whether we had good clubs or bad clubs. All the balls were the same. All the same dimple pattern. Just a matter of who made the ball better is what you used. You know, it’s what your mindset is. My personal mindset is that I think the guys in my era learned how to play more golf shots because they had to. Had a golf ball that wasn’t as forgiving, had clubs that weren’t as forgiving. So they had to be better golfers. The guys today, the golf clubs and the golf balls do a lot more work for them. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t do what we did, but they aren’t asked to do what we did. So I don’t know whether that’s good or bad. I think probably it probably produces more good golfers. I think we have more good golfers today than we’ve ever had. And I think that’s probably a lot to do with equipment. And that’s allowing them to do different things.”

John and Little John

Big John Daly has a bag full of mostly Callaway equipment these days, including a Callaway prototype driver with a Fujikura Atmos Black Tour Spec 7X shaft, Apex Pro irons and Mack Daddy forged wedges. His clubs are equipped with SuperStroke S-Tech cord club grips that have so many wraps underneath them that they feel more like baseball bats.

His putter is a Scotty Cameron Tour Only Napa-style prototype, with a John Daly custom SuperStroke 2.0 Mid-Slim putter grip. It’s an absolute show-stopper of a putter.

Unlike his father, Little John Daly has mostly TaylorMade equipment in the bag, including a TaylorMade M3 440 driver, a P-790 UDI 2-iron, P-760 irons, Milled Grind wedges, and a Hi-Toe 60-degree wedge. Like his father, however, he has a Scotty Cameron putter; Little John’s is a blacked-out Tour Rat prototype.

The new Titleist Pro V1x 2019 prototypes

A few different players in the field were testing out Titleist’s new Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls, so I had to ask them about the new golf balls. Here’s what John Daly and Davis Love III had to say about it.

John Daly

“The new Titleist Pro V1x golf ball I tried today, it’s the new cover, that thing goes man. It goes… It’s almost softer (around the greens), which is weird. It’s a thinner layer so it’ll go further. And then it’s supposed to be a softer, thinner layer so you can chip it a little easier. It’s good.”

Davis Love III

“I’m playing the left dot, and then I’m trying the new one, I can’t tell a whole lot of difference so… there’s three Pro V1s: last year’s Pro V1, this year’s -- the new one that’s coming out -- and the left dot that are all within 3, 4, 500 spin of each other. It’s hard to know which one fits you exactly. That’s where you need the Trackman. But I like the left dot if it’s really windy. I like the new Pro V1 if it’s not, so I gotta figure out which one.”

Bernhard, the ultimate tinkerer

Bernhard Langer takes mixed iron sets to an entirely different level, playing irons from four different sets. He has an Artisan-made cavity-back 5 iron, Adams Idea Pro Black mid-long irons, an Artisan-made blade 9-iron and a TaylorMade RSi Forged pitching wedge. He also has a Cleveland 588 RTX 56-degree wedge, and a Titleist Vokey 2017 Prototype 60-degree K-grind wedge.

“I had [Mike Taylor] build me two different sets of (Artisan) irons – one cavity back and one blade,” Langer told me. “These are the two irons I liked.”

Langer, who still opts for a long putter despite the anchoring ban, was testing two different Odyssey mallet putters, both of which have split “putter” grips that are actually Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips.

Why does he have normal club grips on his putter instead of putter-specific grips?

“I’m not sure. I never thought about it,” Langer said.

Duval’s new digs

Golf equipment fans know David Duval for his Nike equipment in his prime, but he’s since switched to Cobra’s staff. He now plays Cobra King Forged CB irons and custom King Raw wedges. His putter is a Kramski HPP 326; in case you don’t know, Wiestaw Kramski started the putter company in 2002.

Why the Kramski? “I like it,” Duval said. That’s why.

Lee’s lead tape

Lee Trevino’s clubs are absolutely caked in lead tape. In his bag, he has a Ping G400 driver (10.5 degrees), Callaway Steelhead XR hybrids, Callaway Epic Pro irons, a Cleveland Rotex 2.0 Custom wedge, and a Tileist Vokey SM7 60-degree wedge stamped “Mex.”

Vijay’s custom Mizuno’s, and a bunch more lead tape

According to his caddie, Vijay has his Mizuno MP-4 prototype blade irons bent weak because he doesn’t like offset, and weakening the loft of the irons helps reduce offset. That’s why his 6-iron is stamped with a “7,” his 7 stamped with an “8,” and so forth.

Also, his Srixon utility driving iron has just about the maximum amount of lead tape you could fit onto the back cavity.