Ryder Cup star has his best ever season after making this equipment change
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It only took one small adjustment for him to enjoy a career-best season – and it’s a change that could transform your game, too.
For most players, playing in a Ryder Cup is one of their biggest goals. Those who’ve never tasted it are desperate to experience it. Those who have been a part of it love it so much that they never want to miss one.
Harris English represented Team USA in the 2021 Ryder Cup by virtue of a captain’s pick, having won twice on the PGA Tour that year, and was part of a team that demolished Europe 19-9.
But he missed out in 2023. And it lit a fire.
“I don’t just want to be a pick,” he said earlier this season. “I want to make the team on my own. I don’t want to leave it up to Keegan [Bradley] to cipher through who he’s going to pick, I want to lock myself into that top six.”
“My two goals for the year were to make it to the Tour Championship, because I know what that means, and to make it onto that Ryder Cup team.”
The 36-year-old put a big green tick next to both of those after putting together the best season of his career to date.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing.
His season-opener, the Sony Open in Hawaii, was a missed cut, and he followed up a week later with a T43 at The American Express, finishing 13 shots behind Sepp Straka’s 25-under-par total.
The equipment change that kick-started Harris English’s 2025 season
Come the Farmer’s Insurance Open, English decided to make a change to a bag that was largely no different from how it had ended in his 2024 campaign. That switch would come in the form of Golf Pride’s, at the time unreleased, Align Max model, and it would prove to be an instant difference-maker for the Georgia native.
While English had played the previous generation of Align grip, launched in 2017, the updated Max has a stronger, more obvious alignment aid running down the spine. This is due to the changes made to the construction method employed by Golf Pride, with the new grip being compressed together from multiple parts, instead of built from a single mold.
As the overwhelming market leader in the grips category, you might expect Golf Pride grips to somewhat sit on their laurels, with no real need to innovate. Golf Pride don’t see it that way; they believe, to maintain their position, they need to constantly improve upon and create new technology and methods, so are always pushing the boundaries of their designs.
This has allowed the company to make a bolder ridge on the Align Max – 25% higher, in fact – which further highlights hand and finger placement, even on the larger sizes where the previous ridge might have been lost in the grip.
The effect was immediate. English was able to brave the difficult conditions and treacherous setup of the twin courses at Torrey Pines to take home his first win in nearly four years, and his career fifth. On the road to victory, his Strokes Gained stats saw a bump in performance, with his approach play ranking inside the top-5.
Since then, English has gone on to have his best-ever season as a professional golfer from an earnings perspective, with a total of $8,799,052 throughout the year, including a bumper $570,000 from his T13 final position in the Tour Championship.
Beyond the financial benefits, though, it’s also been the American’s best season in major championships.
In April, he fired home a four-under 68 in the final round to take a share of 12th at The Masters.
Five weeks later, he recorded his best major finish at the time, shooting six-under at Quail Hollow on the final day to finish the PGA Championship in T2, behind the inevitable Scottie Scheffler.
The Open had never seemed to suit English – he’d gone T46, MC, MC, T50 in the last four, and hadn’t cracked the top-20 since 2013 – but that changed this year.
Had it not been for another outstanding Scheffler display, English might now be enjoying the Claret Jug on his mantlepiece. Instead, he had to settle for a solo second.
His approach play at Royal Portrush was bettered only by Scheffler and T4 finisher Haotong Li.
While the quality of Harris English certainly goes beyond any one piece of equipment in his bag, I think it says volumes about the product when one of the best strikers in the game chooses to put his trust in something that is built to enhance that skill even further, despite the player being near the peak in that demand already.
With the Ryder Cup now looming just over the horizon, English’s performance will be an interesting one to watch, and, if he continues this season’s streak, Golf Pride may be struggling to keep the Align Max in stock.
As someone who also made the switch to the Align Max early this year, and who’s also seen a reliable increase in consistency and club face awareness, I’d encourage you to try them for yourself now to avoid any out-of-stock disappointment in the future…
Maximize your consistency with every club
- Consistent Hand Placement: Fits into the hand's natural contours, promoting consistent hand placement and alignment
- Player Confidence: Consistent hand placement helps facilitate a more repeatable swing, which helps build greater confidence
- Clubface Awareness: Enhances face angle awareness at setup and throughout the swing, promoting a square clubface
- Taper and Non-Taper: Align Max is available in both MCC and MCC Plus4 grip, as well as Standard and Midsize options
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Harris English finished in 2nd place at two of the four Majors in 2025
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The Golf Pride Align Max grip comes in taper and non-taper options
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The Align Max ridge is 25% higher than the previous generation of grip
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Harris English switched the Golf Pride Align Max at the beginning of 2025
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Harris English will attend his second Ryder Cup in 2025, at Bethpage's Black Course in New York
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English earned more than $8 million dollars on the PGA Tour in 2025
