After securing his third career PGA Tour victory and second in five starts, Michael Brennan is opening up about one of Titleist’s most closely guarded prototype clubs.
Brennan clinched the Baycurrent Classic in Japan on Sunday, delivering an exceptional performance off the tee where he led the field in driving accuracy while ranking eighth in driving distance. He missed just five fairways all week, including none on Sunday, and dominated the stats with over seven strokes gained in the Off-the-Tee category—his best performance of the season.
Given that Brennan ranks among the tour’s longest hitters and Yokohama Country Club measures a relatively modest 7,322 yards for PGA Tour standards, he wasn’t required to unleash his driver on every hole.
Instead, Brennan frequently relied on his Titleist GTS 3W Prototype faireway wood from the tee. He was first spotted testing the club back in March, yet details about it have remained scarce until now.
Brennan first tested the GTS 3W Proto (Titleist’s internal designation) at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in March, coinciding with the GTS driver Tour launch. While Titleist has since released both the GTS2 and GTS3 fairway woods to Tour players and retail customers, the GTS 3W has remained under wraps.
Despite other Titleist players like Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, and Robert MacIntyre testing or using it—even when Brennan and Jackson Koivun triumphed in winner’s circles—no information had previously surfaced.
However, following his victory in Japan on Sunday, Brennan provided insights into his testing process and decision to adopt the club for competition.
“I’ve experimented with a few different 3-woods this year, and I believe I started using this one around the Colonial tournament in Fort Worth—that’s probably when I made the switch to what I’m still using today,” Brennan said Sunday. “Yeah, it’s been excellent. The spin consistency feels much better with this 3-wood for me. When I catch it thin, it doesn’t fly too far. When I hit it fat, it doesn’t spin excessively and maintains remarkable consistency.”
Like its presumed siblings, the GTS2 and GTS3, the GTS 3W Prototype features a silver face—a design element Titleist introduced this year to give the appearance of increased loft. Many players report improved confidence and more consistent contact when using brighter fairway wood faces.
In a notable departure from existing models, the GTS 3W Prototype incorporates a single sole weight positioned at the center of the club’s sole. Both the GTS2 and GTS3 utilize interchangeable heel and toe sole weights that allow players to adjust the center of gravity bias left or right.
Based solely on available photography, the GTS 3W appears to feature a larger, flatter profile with face height comparable to the GTS2. Given that Brennan previously used the GT1 3Tour fairway wood—along with Cameron Young, who has also occasionally played the GTS 3W—it’s likely this prototype serves a similar function in the lineup.
Brennan made an additional comment that might suggest this prototype represents something entirely new from Titleist.
“I feel like there’s a slight right-bias miss built in, which I think works well for me,” he said. “I typically play a fade with my longer clubs, so having confidence that it won’t hook left frequently gives me the freedom to swing aggressively.”
Titleist traditionally maintains fairly neutral ball flight characteristics in their stock settings. Should the GTS 3W indeed incorporate a deliberate right bias, that would mark a significant departure from their standard design philosophy.
It’s entirely possible we won’t learn what the GTS 3W will ultimately become at retail until Titleist’s next product cycle. The company employed a similar strategy during the third-generation T-Series irons launch in 2023, introducing a Tour-only T350 3-iron utility iron prototype. That prototype later influenced the shape of the fourth-generation U505 utilities in the 3- and 4-iron lofts, though Titleist continues to field an updated T350 3-iron prototype with limited public information.
However, with Titleist expected to refresh their “1” product line in the coming months following the initial GTS rollout, equipment enthusiasts can reasonably expect some clarity on the GTS 3W’s future trajectory.
