Hideki Matsuyama What's in the Bag (2024)

Famous for his slow and deliberate wind-up, Hideki Matsuyama became a national hero in Japan after winning the Masters in 2021.

The victory — the first men’s major claimed by a Japanese player — catapulted Hideki to superstardom in golf-mad Japan and he remains one of the most talented players on the PGA Tour. His 2024 campaign has been superb, beginning with a stunning victory at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera earlier this year (February 15-18) after a scorching nine-under 62 in the final round.

The victory was Matsuyama’s ninth on the PGA Tour and it was a significant one: he overtook Korea’s KJ Choi to become the most successful tour player from Asia. Hideki's season went from strength-to-strength when he claimed the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics (August 1-4) before winning the St Jude Championship (August 15-18) in Memphis, his first FedEx playoff title.

 Here are the clubs in Hideki Matsuyama’s bag:

DRIVER — SRIXON ZX5 MKII LS (9.5°)

Srixon’s ZX5 MKII LS driver suits Hideki’s muscular game off the tee perfectly with its low-spin characteristics.

Featuring a large footprint and flattish carbon fibre crown, it’s the lowest-spinning driver in the Srixon range. Yet it still offers more forgiveness than Srixon’s ZX7 MKII driver.

Srixon’s rebound frame technology powers the ZX5 MKII LS’s performance. It allows the driver to distort and flex across several areas of the club head and face to concentrate more energy into the ball at impact.

A single 8g sole weight just behind the face cuts spin, giving Hideki a long and high-launching trajectory off the tee.

Hideki’s Srixon ZX5 MKII LS driver is fitted with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI8 shaft.

FAIRWAY WOODS — TAYLORMADE Qi10 (3W: 15°), COBRA KING RADSPEED TOUR (5W: 17.5°)

Hideki relies on a couple of non-Srixon fairway woods, with a TaylorMade Qi10 three wood going into his bag at the start of 2024.

His Qi10 three wood has a 190cc head (slightly bigger than the Qi10 Tour fairway wood) and features TaylorMade’s new carbon fibre infinity crown, which creates a low centre of gravity to launch the ball on a high and long trajectory.

Meanwhile, Hideki’s Cobra Radspeed five wood has been in his bag for several years and is the gap filler between his three wood and four iron.

Hideki has used Cobra’s adjustable loft sleeve to tune in an extra 1.5° of loft, effectively making it 19° five wood.

A Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 9TX shaft features on Hideki’s three wood while a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 10TX is installed on his five wood.

IRONS — SRIXON Z FORGED II (4-PW), SRIXON ZX5 MKII (3)

Hideki carries a full set of Srixon Z Forged II irons in his bag and they allow him to unleash his creativity on the golf course.

Srixon’s tour staff contributed to the design of the muscleback blade irons, which are geared towards elite ballstrikers like our man Hideki.

The compact head shape of Srixon Z Forged II irons allows Hideki to shape the ball at will. The irons also offer a pure feel and precise feedback, which aligns with their narrow, progressive sole design that guarantees crisp turf interaction.

Meanwhile, Hideki's ZX5 MKII three iron offers a higher launch and more forgiveness, via its cavity back design and internal tungsten weighting.  

Hideki has True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts installed in all of his Srixon irons.

WEDGES — CLEVELAND RTX-4 FORGED (52°, 56°, 60°)

A trio of Cleveland RTX-4 Forged wedges gives Hideki the versatility to shoot from the fairway, chip around the greens or blast out of a bunker.

Cleveland RTX-4 Forged wedges are designed for tour use. They offer the kind of pure feel and highly attuned feedback elite players such as Hideki require and are characterised by extremely compact head shapes for a wedge.

RTX-4 wedges feature an aggressive groove milling pattern known as Rotex, which

provides Hideki with exceptional spin and control from all over the face.

Hideki prefers a mid-bounce grind in his 52° and 56° wedges and a low-bounce grind in his 60° wedge.

Hideki’s RTX-4 wedges have been superseded by Cleveland’s RTX-6 ZipCore wedges.

PUTTER — SCOTTY CAMERON NEWPORT 2 GSS

Hideki’s Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter has been a faithful flatstick for several years.

It features classic Anser-style shaping, a balanced sole and Scotty’s signature weight screw trio on the back cavity.

The GSS refers to the putter’s head material — German Stainless Steel — which is said to offer a softer feel off the face.

It’s the same Scotty Cameron model that Tiger Woods has used in his 15 major victories.

BALL — SRIXON Z-STAR XV

Hideki plays the 2023 Srixon Z-Star XV ball, a three-layer tour-level golf ball that features mid-spin and mid-launch traits.

The Z-Star XV helps Hideki launch his driver with minimal spin to maximise distance. But the addition of a new Spin Skin+ coating on the cover increases spin around the greens, meaning Hideki can stop his Z-Star XV on a dime when it hits the putting surface.