Inside Gary Woodland’s driver switch and how Rickie Fowler played an influential role

Rickie Fowler’s switch to a custom Odyssey Jailbird putter reverberated through the PGA TOUR a year ago, as other top players tested it after Fowler’s success.

But his equipment influence didn’t stop with his putter.

Ahead of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Fowler switched to Cobra’s new Darkspeed X driver model, a slightly more forgiving option than the lowest-spinning Darkspeed LS model. The change caught the eye of fellow Cobra staffer Gary Woodland, who’s expected to make his own switch to the Darkspeed X model this week at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open.

“I played with Rickie recently, and he was smashing it with the X head,” Woodland told GolfWRX.com. “It made me want to try one out for myself.”

Woodland made the change to add more control and higher spin. The four-time PGA TOUR winner has continued to regain speed following brain surgery last September, currently hitting the “upper 180s” in ball speed. The X model produces slightly more forgiveness and spin than his previous LS head.

According to Cobra rep Ben Schomin, who works closely with Woodland on his club fitting and building needs, the new head also helped Woodland quell his right miss off the tee.

“For a lot of these guys, that’s where they’re trying to miss it, but it was too far right,” Schomin explained. “It was kind of similar with Rickie [before he switched to the X head]. So it was literally just trying to get a little more forgiveness on that right miss, and the X head definitely was doing that for Rick.

“There was no speed loss going from the LS head to the X head for Gary, which was huge. That LS is fast. It has a touch more spin now, so he went from living in the 2200-2300 rpm range to 2300-2700, so that’ll help substantially with misses.”

Fowler has three vertical white lines laser-etched onto the face of his Darkspeed X driver. Due to the matte black colorway of the driver crown and face, the lines help Fowler to see the loft.

Woodland is now using one vertical line down the center of his Darkspeed X driver. He uses it as a reference for the middle of the club face rather than an aid for loft.

“It’s for a completely different reason," Schomin said. "(Woodland’s) caddie actually mentioned it, because he saw Rickie’s driver, and he’s like ‘Oh, that’s cool. Let’s put a line on there.’”

Although Fowler’s three vertical lines started as a Sharpie experiment, they are now laser-etched onto the face. Woodland, who’s still early in the prototyping process of the line, is using a Sharpie. But he seems to like the concept since he’s put lines on not just his new driver but also his 3-wood and 7-wood.

“Rickie’s like my go-to club guy now,” Woodland joked.

With Woodland’s speed coming back to full strength post-surgery, it should also be noted that he’s switched back to KBS Tour C-Taper Limited 130X iron shafts, which are slightly stiffer than his former 125-gram shafts. These shafts help Woodland keep his spin down, especially on into-the-wind shots.

Check out Woodland’s full “What’s in the Bag” below:

Driver: Cobra Darkspeed X (8 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 70 M5

3-wood: Cobra Darkspeed X (14 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 GW100 prototype

7-wood: Cobra LTDx LS prototype (20 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TZ5 GW100 prototype

Driving iron: Wilson Staff Model (18 degrees)
Shaft: KBS Tour C-Taper 130X

Irons: Cobra King MB (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper Limited X

Wedges: Cobra SB (48 degrees), Titleist Vokey SM10 (52 and 56 degrees), Cobra King 3D (60 degrees)
Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper Limited X (48 degrees), KBS Tour V-Ten 125

Putter: Scotty Cameron T5 Tour Only