The GTS rollout expands to fairway woods this week at RBC Heritage and the JM Eagle LA Championship. Details remain scarce, but the weight configuration is worth talking about.
Three weeks after GTS drivers showed up on Tour, Titleist is expanding the family. This week at both the PGA TOUR’s RBC Heritage and the LPGA’s JM Eagle LA Championship (yes, that’s the full name), Titleist tour reps are putting GTS2 and GTS3 fairway woods in the hands of players for the first time. Well, mostly the first time. Cameron Young and Johnny Keefer jumped the line a bit, both gaming GTS3 7-woods before the official rollout—Young at Augusta, Keefer at the Houston Open.
No GTS win at Augusta, but the driver rollout is on track
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Titleist didn’t get the storybook ending it was hoping for at the Masters. A GTS driver win at Augusta would have been the kind of narrative that practically writes its own press release (and I’d have been happy to let it). That didn’t happen. What did happen is that more than 40 PGA TOUR players have put GTS drivers in play since the Houston Open, and at the Valero Texas Open, there were more GTS drivers in the field than any other brand’s total driver count. So, yeah—the slow burn toward a consumer launch is proceeding exactly as planned.
What we’re looking at
Titleist’s provided photos aren’t going to win any awards for detail, but they tell you what you’d expect. The GTS2 is the larger, shallower-face option. The GTS3 is more compact. Standard operating procedure for Titleist’s fairway wood lineup. Both are hosel adjustable, because that’s what Titleist does.
What’s actually interesting is the weight configuration. Both models appear to share the same movable weight setup: forwardly placed weights in the heel and toe positions. That’s notable for a couple of reasons.
First, this is the first time we’ve seen movable weight in a Titleist 2-model fairway wood. The GT2 fairway was a fixed-weight design, so the addition of adjustable weighting expands what fitters can do with it. Second, the fact that both models share the same configuration is a bit of a departure. With the GTS drivers, the 2 and 3 have distinctly different weight setups. Here, Titleist appears to be taking a more unified approach. Whether that’s a simplification play or a reflection of what testing showed works best in fairway woods, we don’t know yet.
The GTS1 question (again)
As we noted when GTS drivers launched on Tour, there was no GTS1 in the lineup. That’s still the case. There’s no GTS1 driver on the USGA conforming list and no GTS1 fairway wood Tour rollout either. But here’s the thing: the GT1 is currently included in Titleist’s promotional discounts alongside the rest of the outgoing lineup. That means one of two things. Either a GTS1 is coming, or Titleist is content to give up margin on a model it doesn’t plan to replace until January.
I suppose the interesting footnote in this part of the conversation is that GT1 fairway woods do get some play on Tour, so there is a reasonable argument to be made for getting the 1 out with the 2 and 3.
What’s next
Retail availability for the full GTS family is expected in May. Pricing, specs, and the technical deep dive are all still TBD. For now, this is Titleist doing what Titleist does: controlled rollout, Tour validation first, consumer details later. It’s not the most exciting approach in the world, but it’s consistent. And it works.
We’ll have more as Titleist is ready to share it. In the meantime, let us know—are you waiting on the GTS fairway woods, or has Titleist’s drip-feed approach tested your patience?
rkj427
2 months ago
Hoping that the retail models come with the silver faces, and looking forward to seeing what they say about the dual weight configuration on both the 2 and 3 models series.