Five things every golfer can learn from Brian Harman’s equipment at The Open Championship

Brian Harman dominated The Open Championship en route to a six-stroke victory Sunday at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, capturing his first career major championship title and third career PGA TOUR win.

The 36-year-old veteran, who ranks just 144th on the PGA TOUR in distance off the tee (293.7 yards), combined consistent ball-striking with an other-worldly performance on the greens to hold off the top players in the world in difficult conditions.

While Harman may be giving up 20-30 yards per drive to fellow competitors, such as Rory McIlroy (who finished T6) or Jon Rahm (T2), Harman sets up his equipment to help magnify his strengths and minimize his weaknesses.

Below, GolfWRX.com highlights five important takeaways from Harman’s gear setup, and what amateurs can learn from them.

To see more photos and information on Harman’s winning equipment, head over to GolfWRX.com.

1) The right flex

Harman plays with more flexible shafts than others on TOUR. Since he has a slower swing speed, he doesn’t need to use shafts that are extra stiff or XX stiff. So, he uses shafts that are comparatively more flexible.

He equips his forgiveness-forward Titleist TSi2 9-degree driver head with a Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ 5S shaft, and his Titleist TSi2 13.5-degree fairway wood has a Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution II S shaft. By PGA TOUR standards, his shafts are relatively more flexible, thus allowing Harman to create more launch and spin to carry the ball farther, optimizing distance and accuracy.

For amateurs, take this as a lesson to tuck your pride when it comes to picking a driver shaft. Play the right shaft for your speed. If your swing speed is more similar to Harman (109.88 mph) than the 120+ mph speeds of the bombers on TOUR, it could be worth looking at weaker flexed shafts to boost efficiency and gain yardage.

2) Capitalize on forgiveness

For his short and mid irons, Harman uses Titleist’s 620 CB irons, which are designed to have compact bodies and thin toplines that look like a blade from address, but their cavity-back constructions help to add a touch of forgiveness on off-center strikes.

As for his 3, 4 and 5 irons, Harman takes the technology up a notch by using Titleist U-500 iron models. The U-500 uses a multi-material construction to increase ball speed off the face, and each iron uses heavier tungsten weighting within the clubheads to control center of gravity and increase stability and launch. Compared to his 620 CB irons, the U-500 irons fly higher and reduce the negative effect of mishits.

Long irons can be some of the most difficult clubs to hit in the bag, and technology helps slower-speed players maximize distance and stopping power on the greens.

3) An old, trusty and oversized putter

In his four rounds at the 2023 Open Championship, Harman made an astounding 58-of-59 putts inside 10 feet.

For years, Harman has trusted a TaylorMade Spider OS (Oversize) CB mallet putter, which was first released to the market in 2016. GolfWRX.com first photographed Harman with the putter in 2017.

The Spider OS CB has a spaceship aesthetic and a large footprint that’s designed with a high moment of inertia (MOI) to reduce face twisting on off-center hits. It also helps keep the head stable throughout the stroke. It has a dual-winged shape in the back for rear weighting and three white lines on the crown for alignment assistance.

Although Harman and his Spider OS CB have been together for six years and counting, he actually almost benched it earlier in 2023 during a down period on the greens. The photo below was taken by GolfWRX.com on Wednesday ahead of the 2023 RBC Heritage.

“There was a time middle of this year to where we were seriously thinking about going to the bullpen and pulling out something different (a different putter),” Harman said on Friday. “It’s been a good putter, but she’s been misbehaving a lot this year.”

Ultimately, Harman stuck it out with the old flame, and he absolutely torched the greens at Royal Liverpool with it at the 2023 Open Championship.

4) Reflecting on alignment

Game-improving technology isn’t just reserved for golf clubs themselves. Golfers can also use certain pieces of equipment that are designed to improve their games before even heading to the course.

Following his victory Sunday, Harman spoke on the putting alignment aid he’s been using recently.

“I found this, it’s a silly looking mirror where it’s got like a little better release pattern,” Harman explained. “I was just kind of cutting my putts too much. I spent a lot of time just feeling the ball, almost hitting like a baby draw with my putter, and it’s been really, really good the last month or so.

“I picked it up on the putting green at some tournament over the years. There’s all sorts of trinkets and different things up until Wednesday, so I saw it, liked it. Hadn’t been putting very good this year until last month or so, but I found that in my barn at my house and it made sense, and I started putting well with it.”

According to Arnie Cunningham, a PGA TOUR equipment representative, the putting mirror that Harman uses is an EyeLine Golf “Putting Alignment Mirror” that helps users align their eyes properly over the ball and gives visual feedback on stroke path, as well.

5) A properly fit golf ball

The golf ball is the only piece of equipment that’s used on every shot, and golf ball design plays a major role in how it flies through the air. As such, it’s just as important to use the right golf ball as it is to use the right golf clubs.

Harman, now a Titleist staffer, switched into a Titleist Pro V1 2017 golf ball from a competitor’s ball, which has made an impactful improvement.

“I switched to this ball in 2017 from a different company and the effects were immediate,” Harman said prior to the 2022 U.S. Open, according to Titleist. “You know, the last four years on TOUR have been my best four put together. I just was never able to flight my old ball. I had trouble controlling and especially in the wind and we ended up playing so much wind out here.

“The effects for me were immediate switching to this Pro V and I mean, it’s been a complete 180. The way that I flight iron shots, the way that I control it around the green, it saves me, I don't know how many shots it saved me.”

If there’s one event where controlling the golf ball in the wind is imperative, it’s The Open Championship. Harman was properly prepared, and he executed in dominant fashion to secure his first claret jug.