Scheffler hasn’t seemed again since switching to Qi10 on the WM Phoenix Open.
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Scottie Scheffler has six victories this season, together with a second inexperienced jacket. It ought to come as no shock that his gear setup has remained static for the reason that win in March at Bay Hill. Shaking up the setup isn’t an choice if you’re on a heater.
When you want proof, simply examine the setup from Arnie’s place to the setup he used to log title quantity six on Sunday on the Vacationers Championship. It’s copy and paste when Scheffler hits paydirt.
Enjoying gear favorites is an not possible activity if you’re streaking, even when recency bias tells us Scheffler’s swap to a TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet — a change that went down at Bay Hill — was a very powerful gear shakeup of the yr. (You may learn concerning the putter transfer in a latest deep dive.)
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However let’s neglect concerning the putter for the second and shift the main target to a different early-season transfer that turned out to be equally essential for Scheffler’s driving.
Again in February, Scheffler moved away from TaylorMade’s Stealth 2 driver into Qi10 after going by in depth testing classes courting again to only earlier than the Ryder Cup. Scheffler discovered Qi10 to be an intriguing choice, nevertheless it wasn’t till the WM Phoenix Open that he determined to drag the set off and make the change official.
“There was no means he was contemplating switching out of the Stealth 2 for even the identical efficiency,” TaylorMade Tour rep Adrian Rietveld instructed GOLF.com. “He noticed a little bit little bit of ball velocity, however that didn’t matter to him in any respect. He values accuracy a lot, which is why he hardly appears to be like at a ball velocity quantity. His vary of spin is wider than different gamers as a result of he hits so many various pictures and trajectories. He’s hitting pictures at 6 and 12 levels of launch.”
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
The “core” head, higher often known as TaylorMade’s center-of-the-road providing, is an intriguing beast. Throughout GOLF’s 2024 robotic testing, Qi10 offered a decrease spin fee and launch angle than a majority of the drivers examined, two issues higher gamers with velocity are inclined to gravitate in the direction of. One other factor that intrigued Scheffler was the ball velocity retention and constant spin charges he noticed on off-center strikes.
With every testing session, Scheffler might sense they had been getting nearer. In the course of the closing meetup at TPC Scottsdale, Scheffler pounded drivers with Qi10 on the TPC Scottsdale driving vary as caddie Ted Scott and Rietveld noticed the outcomes.
The launch and spin numbers had been dialed. The one factor that remained was eliminating the left aspect of the course with inner modifications and a small loft adjustment, one thing Rietveld was in a position to obtain with a closing loft sleeve adjustment.
“It’s getting darkish and we’ve simply made the ultimate adjustment, shifting the top one click on greater again to plain upright, which is what he usually performs the 8-degree head,” Rietveld recalled. “Launch didn’t change, spin didn’t change, however the factor that modified for him is that he felt like there was zero left. There wasn’t even a straight shot. He actually felt like he might decide to his begin line. He was making an attempt to take the entire left aspect of the golf course out.”
Scheffler received the primary week out with Qi10 and hasn’t seemed again. For somebody who lives within the fairway, Scheffler has gotten even higher this season — a scary realization, to make sure. He’s gone from discovering the golf green 62 p.c of the time final season to virtually 72 p.c this yr.
The spectacular enchancment in accuracy highlights the main target TaylorMade positioned on decreasing the efficiency delta on mishits throughout product creation. Cut back the penalty for a miss and every little thing begins trying up.
In Scheffler’s case, modifications to the driving force have coincided with a season that rivals Tiger Woods’ unbelievable 2000 marketing campaign. One change didn’t fully alter the trajectory of Scheffler’s season, however there’s no query it performed a task in making the 28-year-old practically unbeatable on the course.
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