Schauffele’s Apex TCB irons have a few of the weakest lofts on Tour.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
The gear crew at GOLF.com spends a variety of time at Tour occasions snapping images of the instruments utilized by the perfect gamers on the planet. Posting membership photographs on-line with out context generally works, but it surely doesn’t assist the weekend golfer perceive the why behind a professional’s setup.
On this GOLF.com sequence, gear editors Jonathan Wall and Ryan Barath reply these questions by highlighting fascinating golf equipment in gamers’ luggage, distinctive weighting, loft sleeve settings and extra. Welcome to “Bay Spy.”
Weak weapons
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
The numbers don’t lie. Going again to the 2021 season, Schauffele has elevated his common clubhead velocity from 119.8 mph to 123.1 mph this season, putting him within the high 10 on Tour. Pace is a nice-to-have, but it surely generally requires modifications to the gear to hit particular yardages.
In Schauffele’s case, he’s weakened practically each iron and wedge within the bag by one diploma to maintain carry yardages constant throughout the board.
“He’s weaker on just about all of the irons than just about anyone else,” stated Callaway Tour rep Kellen Watson. “He’s a 47-degree pitching wedge, which is sort of old-school. That extends up and down the set merely due to the velocity he’s added.”
It’s the reverse of “loft jacking.” The one Tour professional who can declare a set of irons and wedges with weaker lofts is Tiger Woods, who nonetheless performs a 49-degree pitching wedge.
Fixed reminder
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
See the purple line happening the again of Schauffele’s Golf Pleasure MultiCompound Align grips? It’s not there for present. For years, some tour gamers have added a “reminder” to the again aspect of the grip — a raised inner ridge working the size of the grip — to advertise constant hand placement.
Launched in 2017, Golf Pleasure’s built-in Align is a micro-diamond texture added to the rubber that serves the identical objective. Schauffele is a part of a rising group of execs preferring the Align model to the old-school, inner raised reminder that needs to be added by a membership builder in the course of the set up course of.
I give it a ten
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
We’ll be the primary to confess the 10-iron seems to be misplaced within the bag. Callaway has embraced a naming that many Japanese manufacturers at the moment use by changing the frequent “PW” with a ten. The ten-iron tag has been reserved for units with stronger lofts prior to now, however Apex TCB is a better-player providing.
So what offers? Based on Schauffele, there’s nothing particular occurring. “It’s only a pitching wedge,” he stated. In different phrases, Callaway merely wished to combine issues up with TCB.
Schauffele isn’t the one professional on Tour with a 10-iron within the bag. Callaway staffer Nicolai Højgaard’s Apex MBs have a 10-iron as a substitute of a pitching wedge as properly. It’s the type of trivia solely gear nerds can recognize.
Customized visuals
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
Schauffele’s mallet is unattainable to overlook on the course because of the purple paint on the pinnacle. It’s a coloration he’s come to embrace over time, exterior of a quick stint with the identical putter in a silver end. Visuals matter on the high stage {of professional} golf, and Schauffele’s not often seen a have to shake issues up.
Return just a few years and also you’ll discover an Odyssey O-Works Purple #7 CH in Schauffele’s bag. The pinnacle coloration matches up with the Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas Prototype he began utilizing final yr on the Arnold Palmer Invitational. So, too, does the black insert on the face. Or a minimum of it seems to be like a black insert at first look.
The insert discovered on the O-Works Purple #7 CH was merely a White Sizzling painted black to tone down the distinction between the 2 colours. Nevertheless, when Schauffele selected to go away from White Sizzling final to attempt a unique really feel with the diamond-milled groove sample discovered on his present wand, Odyssey designers had to determine a option to maintain the visuals constant sans insert.
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Schauffele wished to see a darkish end on the face that mimicked the black White Sizzling insert on his previous wand, so Odyssey added black paint to a big part of the face. The one half that didn’t obtain black paint was a small part on the high the place it transitions from the crown to the face.
“Transitioning from the topline and determining the place we wished the purple paint to cease was tough,” Toulon stated. “Should you cease it on the fringe of the topline, it might probably get chipped or look that means simpler. So we took it over barely to verify it didn’t look uneven.”
Complete package deal
Jonathan Wall
If Schauffele had his means, Callaway’s Chrome Tour ball would’ve been within the bag from the soar. Sadly, the USGA has to offer the sign-off on prototypes earlier than they ever discover their option to Tour, so the latest main winner needed to wait till January to green-light the brand new pellet. By the point he arrived on the Sentry Match of Champions, Chrome Tour was within the bag.
Schauffele hasn’t seemed again. A rise in velocity led him to focus on different areas of enchancment throughout testing towards the top of final yr. Two points that grabbed his consideration have been the improved spin and management across the inexperienced and stability within the air.
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“The [Tour reps] do an amazing job of dialing within the ball for us,” Schauffele stated. “However you’ll be able to’t make on-the-fly changes to the way it’s performing within the air. If the ball is getting moved round in a crosswind or into the wind, you are inclined to make compensations, which isn’t factor. With this one, I noticed it going by means of the wind with a constant flight from the beginning.”
Being able to decide to the shot and never have to fret about wind course or power has made it simpler for Schauffele to not fear about his gear and decide to the shot. In nearly all circumstances, less complicated is healthier on the course.
Favourite stick
Jonathan Wall
It ought to come as no shock that the favourite membership in Schauffele’s bag can also be the oldest. Launched in 2021, the Apex UW “utility wooden” options strategically positioned tungsten housed inside the pinnacle for a excessive launch and constant spin traits with a diminished draw bias.
As a consequence of Schauffele’s steeper angle of assault, he makes one necessary modification to the pinnacle, lowering the loft from 21 to 19 levels. Going stronger typically results in extra distance, however in Schauffele’s scenario, his steeper assault angle truly imparts extra spin on the ball. Much less loft is one option to fight the surplus spin.
At 41.5 inches, Schauffele’s UW is barely shorter than most of at the moment’s 5-woods. The good thing about going shorter, on this case, is that it permits him so as to add one other “management” membership to the bag.
Excessive ball hitter
Jonathan Wall
The HL (high-lofted) providing in most lineups is made for the golfer who wants assist lifting the ball into the air. Professionals have began to embrace them as properly in recent times, particularly these with additional velocity within the tank. Years in the past, Dustin Johnson stopped utilizing a standard 15-degree 3-wood as a result of it went too far. The membership was finally changed by an HL model that flew greater and match the carry hole between his driver and 7-wood.
Much like the choice to weaken the loft on his irons — because of an uptick in membership velocity — Schauffele wound up discovering a 16.5-degree Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond HL to be a greater match. The ahead CG on Triple Diamond retains spin numbers in verify whereas the additional 1.5 levels of loft ensures Schauffele isn’t too near his driver within the carry division.
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