Henrik Stenson is a man who knows how to stick with what works. Dating back to 2011, then 2016 Open Champion had been gaming the same Callaway Golf 3-wood, a Diablo Octane Tour model that he could blast nearly as far and hit more accurately than his driver.
Along the way, Stenson also won the 2013 FedEx Cup, the European Tour's Race to Dubai and a silver medal in the 2016 Olympic men's golf tournament.
However, all good things must come to an end, and, for Stenson, that means retiring the bionic 3-wood of lore. As of the 2019 Houston Open, Stenson's first start of the new PGA Tour season, the legend is out of the bag.
The face of his old, trusty 3-wood had caved in at the BMW PGA Championship, rendering it unplayable. Rather than scour the world for another increasingly rare version of his long-time friend, Stenson has moved on to a 2019 model from Callaway, now gaming the Epic Flash Sub Zero 3-wood.
It's not as though Stenson had used the exact same 3-wood for eight years. In 2016, he had to switch to a backup because of wear and tear from destroying the original so much. Then in February 2017, as PGATour.com reports, Stenson had to go to another backup for the same reason while playing at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. For that week, he moved into the new Callaway Golf Great Big Bertha (GBB) Epic line, putting the 15-degree 3-wood into. The Diablo Octane Tour was 13 degrees but the then-new GBB Epic 3-wood had a similar spec setup to Diablo Octane Tour, complete with a Grafalloy Blue X Shaft.
He eventually went back to the Octane, but he new the modern designs were more forgiving and much hotter.
Stenson isn't certain where he'll land in his quest for a new fairway wood, but the Swede wants to make sure he has something that feels familiar in his hands.
“If you’re standing there on the 72nd hole and you’ve got to hit a shot to position yourself to win the tournament, you don’t want to have something you picked up two days ago,” Stenson said to PGATour.com. “You want to have something you hit 5,000 shots with.”
While Stenson has been particularly clingy to his 3-wood (and for good reason), he hasn't been as protective of the 5-wood that goes into his bag. He's currently gaming the Callaway Rogue Sub Zero 5-wood.
