NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
After Xander Schauffele missed cuts at the Players Championship and the Masters earlier this year, he decided to make some tweaks to his wedges that would immediately pay dividends.
Both changes started at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May where Schauffele tied for fifth and began a run of five consecutive top-20 finishes, culminating in a victory at the Travelers Championship.
The first decision was to debut a 52-degree Callaway Jaws Raw wedge in place of his Jaws MD5. The club made its official PGA Tour debut two weeks ago in Connecticut as 18 players used the wedge – Kevin Kisner, Marc Leishman and Si Woo Kim were among them – but Schauffele had one in the bag before the coordinated launch.
The wedge features a raw, rusting face with the rest of the clubhead being plated. Many players have remarked that they have an enhanced feel with the raw face and appreciate the lack of glare. The glare can often be more of a problem on higher-lofted clubs because more of the face is exposed.
Schauffele’s other wedge tweak wasn’t a club switch, but it has a lot of gear heads talking.
Lob wedges are typically on the heavier side, often clocking in with a D5 swing weight. The standard line of thinking is that a heavier wedge provides more feel. However, Schauffele has decided to go in the opposite direction by employing a lob wedge with an ultra-light D0 swing weight. No other professional in the Titleist Vokey database has a wedge in that category, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any other tour player with a lighter lob wedge.
Schauffele’s irons and wedges are at a D3 swing weight, which matched the weight of his 60-degree Vokey SM9 wedge heading into the Byron Nelson. However, during practice time chipping and pitching with the 62-degree SM8 wedge of close friend Patrick Cantlay, Schauffele noticed that the D1 swing weight on Cantlay’s wedge seemed to suit him better.
After some testing, Titleist reps came up with two grind options in a D0 swing weight. The benefit of the lighter weight is that you can create more speed and get the ball higher, which generates more spin. Most don’t go too far in that direction because they are afraid of losing touch, but Schauffele has generated immediate positive returns since the switch – he now ranks No. 13 on the PGA Tour in approaches from 75-100 yards and No. 9 in approaches from 100-125 yards. He came into last week ranked No. 8 in strokes gained approach, which would be the best mark of his career if he were to finish the season there.
One other note of interest: there were many questions about how the LIV Golf tour would provide equipment assistance for their players, but that has been answered. The Tour Van, a club-fitting and -repair business run by Ben Giunta and Jason Werner, was spotted at Pumpkin Ridge this past week and will be heading to each domestic LIV event to help the 48 players in the field.
Giunta formerly worked on the Nike tour truck and acquired the truck itself once the brand exited the hard goods business in 2016. That van is now one of two trucks being used for The Tour Van’s business.
Sean Fairholm