Do Tour pros ever buy golf gear at retail stores?

PGA Tour pros have access to pretty much whatever they need in terms of golf equipment, but that doesn’t always stop them from going to a store and shopping with us regular folks.

Especially for gear nerds like Justin Lower.

Lower was the guest on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped and the PGA Tour veteran told host Johnny Wunder his favorite putter in his collection was actually a Rife Aruba he bought for $50 at a golf shop in Augusta, Georgia.

“I do it all the time,” Lower said. “I go to golf stores and the first place I go is the used section. Just to see if there’s a relic there or something someone turned in that could play maybe a little bit, just like, or maybe it got lost in a tour pro’s divorce or something and the wife turned it into the golf course, who knows?”

As you can imagine, with habits like that, Lower has developed quite a collection of golf clubs over the years.

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“We’re building a house right now. And when I get my golf setup, I will do a quick run, a quick recap video of everything I have,” Lower joked.

Lower is certainly not the only pro who has made a visit to a local golf shop.

During the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, Rory McIlroy sent caddie Harry Diamond to a Memphis Edwin Watts Golf to make a subtle length adjustment to his putter.

Just last year, 1980 Open Championship winner Mark Calcavecchia bought a putter off the rack at the pro shop of the host club of that week’s PGA Tour Champions stop.

And in 2010, Jim Furyk famously bought a Yes! Sophia putter for under $50 at a Massachusetts golf shop during the Deutsche Bank Championship and ended up using it to win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup later that month.

So the next time you’re browsing your local golf shop, take a look around because a Tour pro might just be doing the same thing.

For more from Wunder, Lower and Odyssey Tour rep Cody Hale, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast here, or watch it below.

Want to find the best putter for your bag?Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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