Amateur Adjacent: Best mid- to high-handicap options similar to Brooks Koepka’s winning bag

Brooks Koepka held off the weather, the field, and the tight track at Oak Hill to claim his third PGA Championship, tying notable icons Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead in Wanamaker Trophy history.

For Koepka, it’s a comeback tale that only sports can provide, a one-eighty from injury-plagued seasons that were saturated in doubt.

That’s now in the rearview as the talented golfer secures his fifth major, a solid follow-up act to his 2023 Masters run.

As expected, the national stage always piques amateur golfers’ interest, especially regarding what’s in the bag. And that includes high school golfers who are tinkering with their equipment ahead of the summer practices and the fall seasons—in certain states—after that. 

With that in mind, here’s the full breakdown, which includes other options that might fit higher handicappers a litter better.

For more equipment breakdowns, check out the wonderful work from Golfweek’s gear guru David Dusek.

Driver

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Koepka uses the ZX5 LS MK II Driver, which is an option better suited for faster swing speeds.

Find your ZX5 LS MK II Driver

Amateur golfers at the youth and high school level should also check out the ZX5 MK II Driver, which adds heightened forgiveness and little more spin that will benefit more moderate swing speeds.

Find your ZX5 MK II Driver

Fairway wood/3-Iron

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Koepka relies on a TaylorMade M2 Tour HL 3-wood (16.5 degrees), which, like his Nike Vapor Fly 3-iron, is an oldie but a goodie.

Both choices go to show: sometimes, newer isn’t necessarily better.

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Irons

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Brooks has the ZX7 MK II Irons (4-9), a good-looking players’ iron with the characteristics of a blade/muscleback but the added forgiveness from a cavity-back setup.

Find your ZX7 MK II Irons

For younger golfers, opting for the ZX4 MK II Irons, which feature a hollow head design that can add distance and forgiveness.

Find your ZX4 MK II Irons Find your ZX5 MK II Irons

Wedges

 

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While most of us focus on booming drives off the tee, it’s the shots from 100 yards in that ultimately take the game to another level. That’s why finding a solid set of wedges is such a crucial part of the game.

For Koepka, it’s an all Cleveland setup, with a RTX ZipCore Tour Rack Raw (46-10 Mid) and two RTX6 ZipCore Tour Rack (52-10 Mid, 56-10 Mid, 60-6 Low).

Find your RTX 6 Zipcore Tour Rack Wedges

While any of the are worthy of a look, we’d also suggest checking out the CBX Full-Face 2 Wedges. The gist: “you strike it anywhere with complete confidence from any greenside position or condition.”

Find your CBX Full-Face 2 Wedges

Putter

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Koepka had more than a few impressive putts with his T22 Teryllium Newport 2 prototype. It’s an older model, so we’d suggest testing new Scotty Cameron putters that works for your stroke.

Find your Scotty Cameron Putter

Ball

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Koepka had mentioned that his original move to Srixon—away from Mizuno at the time—was mainly because of the golf ball. Since then, there has been some tinkering, but the PGA Championship winner looks like the Srixon Z-Star Diamond is a perfect match for his game.

And the good news, Srixon’s tech known as FastLayer DG Cores makes the ball a solid choice for amateur golfers as well.

Find your Z-STAR DIAMOND 2023 Golf Balls Shop all Z-STAR 2023 Golf Balls

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