How do players adjust their equipment with Covid-19 restrictions?

If you’re like me you probably spent most of the weekend glued to your TV as the PGA Tour resumed and brought with it some well-missed live professional sport.

While it was nice to get back to some sort of normality, we’re still not quite there yet, of course.

Behind the scenes manufacturers have had to make changes, meaning the stars can’t just pop in and out of the tour trucks as they please anymore – so I spoke to TaylorMade to find out how players are getting their gear tweaked during tour events.

There are currently no players allowed on the manufacturers’ tour trucks, so any new kit or clubs that need changes made have to go through special drop-off zones where they are sanitised following each interaction.

Club fittings are still taking place but only in designated zones with face coverings worn at all times. Each player has a pass allowing one guest on the range at any one time, be this their coach or an equipment rep.

So who made changes at Colonial?

A quick glance at the top of the leaderboard shows the difference a big equipment change has made to Justin Rose’s game. In his first tournament since officially splitting with Honma Rose was back to old ways with a T3 finish that opened with a bogey-free 63.

• Related: Justin Rose WITB 2020

After a quick fitting Rory McIlroy made some small tweaks to his setup, swapping his SIM driver head for a SIM Max to increase his spin numbers back into his optimal range.

• Related: Rory McIlroy WITB 2020

As you can imagine lots of players needed new wedges after the lay-off. Jon Rahm was one of them but this time he couldn’t sit and watch as the tour team checked his loft, lies, and swing weights. The rest of his clubs stayed the same but he did have a fresh set of grips as well as having a full assessment of his clubs to make sure the loft and lies hadn’t been knocked out of place during lockdown.

• Related: Jon Rahm WITB 2020

Perhaps the most obvious equipment change came from Dustin Johnson and it was no surprise at all that it comes in the form of a new putter.

The greens at Colonial were slower than usual tour conditions due to Covid-19 restrictions not giving them their usual months of preparation. DJ felt the Truss TM1 putter helped him keep the ball on line as a result.

• Related: Dustin Johnson WITB 2020

If you have any questions let me know in the comments below or you can tweet me and I’ll be happy to answer.

Follow NCG on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for free online golf instruction, the latest equipment reviews, and much, much more.