The BMW Championship is played each year over the iconic West Course at Wentworth, Surrey, England.
Wentworth holds a special place. It's the headquarters of the DP World Tour, and the West Course has played host to Europe's premier golf event since 1972.
Wentworth faced a predicament that most courses of its generation faced. Modern equipment helped players overpower the fabled West Course, leading to record-low scores.
A significant overhaul of the course took place in 2017, altering the feel and look, especially the famous eighteenth hole.
The overhaul aimed to bring strategic play back into practice for the cream of European golf, which means the players have to make sure the clubs they are using are up to the test.
The first sixteen holes of the West Course offer an interesting mix of demands for players, ranging from accurate approach play from the fairway to the par threes.
We'll use Wentworth's famous closing par fives to give you some insight into how a player might set up their bag for this week.
As we get to the end of the season, the BMW PGA Championship can catapult players into the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, secure a PGA Tour card for finishing in the top ten of the Race To Dubai, or maintain full playing rights for another season.
Whatever the objective, having the right clubs in the bag is a critical component to success.
Join us as we dive into one of the most prestigious events on the DP World Tour, as we look through the following:
- Tour Trends - Combo Irons and New Wedges
- Can You Learn From How Professionals Set Up Their Golf Bags?
- Emulating The Tour Pro Experience At Nine By Nine Golf
Wentworth's West Course has an interesting finishing couple of holes.
Once players have battled their way through the first sixteen holes, they'll come to the seventeenth tee, which is a long par-five hole. The players then find another par five at the eighteenth to complete their rounds.
Each hole offers two very different challenges. We'll take each shot and look at what demands they place on the player, and how that might impact their choice of clubs for the bag.
The seventeenth has been stretched out to 610 yards from the championship tees. It presents one of the most intimidating drives on the course.
From a slightly elevated tee, the hole doglegs sharply to the left around the 350-yard mark.
To hold the fairway, players have to hug the left side of the fairway, which slopes left to right. Any tee shot slightly pushed will end up in heavy rough, or if it's really wild, in the trees.
Left is not an option since it's all out of bounds.
Players who naturally draw the ball will still favour the driver from the tee, but for players who fade the ball, the challenge is harder.
This could be the occasion where the mini-driver comes into play. Having slightly more loft than the driver, the mini-driver is easier to shape right to left for right-handed golfers.
The mini-driver can still get to the angle of the dog leg to contemplate a shot at the green in two, where a three-wood from the tee will leave most players having too much to do with their second shot.
Moving to the eighteenth, players face the opposite problem off the tee, and for right-handers, a fade is required. Hitting the driver is possible, but players need to be mindful of a ditch that cuts through the fairway.
Bunkers on the left protecting the angle of the dogleg are deep enough to ensure that most players will have to hit a lay-up shot for their second. There is no bailout to the right as trees and shrubbery will lead to a lost ball or penalty drop.
Having negotiated all the trouble safely, the player is now faced with a second shot that has changed drastically with the course refurbishment.
Players could routinely get home with low, boring long irons because there was no trouble to consider other than green side bunkers.
The second shot now requires much more elevation to hold a wickedly sloping green, which is protected by water hugging the left side.
The demanding approach shot, which is often played off a downslope in the fairway, is why players opt for lofted fairway woods or hybrids instead of long irons. Getting as much elevation as possible on the ball helps it to land softly without the risk of it running into the water or greenside bunkers.
Tour Trends - Combo Irons and New Wedges
The West Course at Wentworth tests players in so many different ways, beyond the challenging finishing two holes.
For many players, approach shots at the par five fourth and twelfth holes require a towing mid-iron to hold the green. Getting the ball into the right window of launch, spin, and trajectory means that the players can focus on hitting the right area of the green to set up the best scoring chances.
To achieve those desired shots, professionals teeing it up at Wentworth will favour more forgiving long and mid irons.
Let's take Rory McIlroy as an example. McIlroy opts for TaylorMade's P760 four iron before switching to his Rors Proto blades from the five iron. The P760 is a hollow-body multi-material construction player's performance iron ideal for getting the ball airborne while maintaining performance through TaylorMade's Speedfoam packed into the cavity behind the face.
If holes four and twelve are playing into the wind, McIlroy could be relying on his P760 four iron to find the green.
Opting for combo sets becomes a wise choice because Wentworth's greens are likely to play hard and fast, given the descent summer the UK has enjoyed.
Greens like the three-tiered third demand a mid-iron approach, which has to be flighted right to hold the correct tier for where the pin is located. A shot coming in too low can run up into the next tier or not hold the right tier and roll down to the next level.
The fourteenth is an uphill par three that can require a mid-iron approach, which has to come in at the right trajectory to have any chance of sticking close to the pin.
Combo sets need to be set up carefully to maintain consistent spin and launch rates while keeping consistent distance gapping. Tour pros also want a consistent level of feel and look through their irons. Manufacturers respond to this demand by creating more streamlined looks across their iron sets, like Titleist's T-Series golf irons.
Wentworth also has some shorter par fours, such as the seventh and sixteenth, where precision wedge play is needed.
While the rough and bunkers aren't too punishing around the greens by modern tour standards, control around the greens is necessary to land the ball in the right spot to navigate the subtle borrows and slopes of Wentworth's greens.
In preparation for the week, players will stop by the tour trucks to make sure loft and lies are correct for their golf wedges, along with any bounce and grind alterations made to combat the heathland-style turf, which can produce tight lies similar to links courses.
Can You Learn From How Professionals Set Up Their Golf Bags?
Are there any lessons that you can learn from how the professionals have their golf bags set up for the premier event of the European golf calendar?
The simple answer is yes.
We've seen how tour pros adopt lofted fairway woods and hybrids to give them better trajectory control on long approaches. While pros use these golf clubs for approaches into par fives, you could also rely on these clubs to get you home more routinely on longer par fours or par threes.
The added forgiveness and lower centre of gravity of lofted fairway woods and hybrids help get the ball airborne easily and flying consistently regardless of the strike location.
Combo iron sets can add more consistency and accuracy to your iron play. Opting for easier-to-hit long to mid irons before blending into precision-focused short irons will help create better scoring opportunities.
A similar theme develops when you move into wedges. Creating consistent distance gapping helps make approach shots easier, while getting the right bounce and grind angles can make the trickiest of lies around the greens much less challenging.
You can take a leaf out of the pro's book by stopping to consider the types of courses you regularly play to help make the bounce and grind selection easier.
If you play softer courses, more bounce might be needed compared to links courses. The types of shots you like to play and your angle of attack can help untangle the right grind option for your game.
If that all still seems confusing, the simple answer to getting the right golf clubs for your game is through custom fitting.
Emulating The Tour Pro Experience At Nine By Nine Golf
Building a better golf bag with clubs that work for your game starts with booking yourself for a custom golf club fitting session.
A fitting session is part data-driven via the use of a launch monitor and part consultation.
The consultation element is the fitter taking the time to ask you questions about your game, the clubs you use, and what you are looking to achieve.
This is similar to what the pros go through on the range at Wentworth, working with fitters from the various manufacturers on site.
Improvements are measured through the launch monitor and your feedback on how any proposed change feels before agreeing with the fitter on what the final spec looks like.
Once the spec is nailed down, it's time to build your clubs.
We were fortunate enough to be invited to the Cobra and Srixon tour trucks on the eve of last year's BMW PGA Championship. The common denominator in how the respective engineers work is the accuracy and precision with which they build golf clubs for players.
Precision measuring determines the correct length of the shaft, loft and lie setting, overall weight, even how the grip is applied, and the proper number of layers of tape used.
Tour pros can't be deceived and will not accept a club that is anything less than perfect, and it's a model we've adapted in how we build your clubs after your fitting session.
We use the same machines as found on the tour trucks to ensure that what is committed to your spec sheet from the fitting session translates perfectly to the golf clubs you receive.
Our independent status at Nine By Nine Golf allows us to select the best manufacturers and components to cover every level of golfer.
The fact that we build everything in-house gives a strong connection with how it's done at the BMW PGA Championship and any tour stop.
The fitter works with the player, the fitter feeds into the builder what's needed, and the engineers build the club or clubs to the exact specs. The same model applies to Nine By Nine Golf in how we operate.
Success at Wentworth comes down to precision, preparation, and having the right equipment in the bag. At Nine by Nine Golf, we bring that same Tour-level detail to every custom fitting.
- Book your tailored fitting session today and experience the same process used by the world's best.
- Explore our online store to browse custom-built clubs, shafts, and grips — the very tools players rely on at the BMW PGA Championship.
If you want to unlock better performance through improved equipment choices, Nine by Nine Golf is on hand to help you.
