Scheffler switched to a very new putter construct (grip included) for the Ryder Cup.
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Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Equipment, the weekly gear wrap-up through which GOLF gear editor Jonathan Wall takes you thru the newest tendencies, rumors and breaking information.
Still looking out
Scottie Scheffler’s seek for an obedient putter continued on the Ryder Cup, the place the 27-year-old tried to mix one thing previous and new in one other try and jumpstart the flatstick. The newest putter shakeup noticed Scheffler return to an Anser-style Scotty Cameron Super Rat 1 — the identical putter he used previous to incomes his 2020 Tour card — with a bigger SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0 grip.
The grip change simply occurred to coincide with Scheffler linking up with placing coach Phil Kenyon, who had Scheffler choking down on the grip to extend his higher physique tilt and get the putter extra aligned along with his forearms. The change additionally moved the toe of the putter from barely up within the air to soled at handle.
“I called [Phil] maybe Monday after the Tour Championship,” Scheffler mentioned. “It was something that I didn’t want to think about as the year went on because it would have been a change, but right when the Tour Championship ended, I was just thinking about it and I was like, oh, I’ll see what he’s up to. And he ended upcoming to Dallas a few days later, and we got some good work in. And it’s been great. He’s a fascinating person to work with.”
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SuperStroke Putter Grips
Putter grips to fit any golfer and any stroke type.
In addition to setup adjustments, the bigger grip is designed to scale back wrist motion and interact the bigger muscular tissues. It’s a straightforward approach to make sure the golfer isn’t getting overly “handsy” throughout the stroke. While the changes are small, they’re designed to assist Scheffler get again on observe with out making wholesale adjustments.
Scheffler debuted the brand new putter and setup in Rome and earned one level (two ties) from 4 matches — a small pattern measurement, to make sure.
With Scheffler anticipated to take a breather following the biennial matches, gearheads should wait and see if the putter stays within the bag for his subsequent Tour begin.
Not a SIMulation
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In a transfer that absolutely raised some eyebrows, Brooks Koepka swapped his Srixon ZX5 LS MKII driver for TaylorMade’s SIM2 the week previous to the Ryder Cup.
Koepka is underneath contract with Cleveland/Srixon, nevertheless it’s essential to notice he has a historical past with including TaylorMade that dates again to his time as an gear free agent when he gained 4 main championships in three years. Even when he inked a multi-year cope with Cleveland/Srixon on the finish of 2021, Koepka retained the 16.5-degree TaylorMade M2 Tour HL fairway wooden from his earlier setup.
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While the SIM2 possible felt like a brand new addition, Koepka really selected to reinsert the two-year-old driver final week throughout LIV’s Chicago occasion to see the way it carried out. He completed T24, eight photographs again of eventual winner Bryson DeChambeau.
Something else that’s price declaring? This is definitely the second TaylorMade driver Koepka has used within the final yr, courting to the 2022 U.S. Open the place he briefly performed an older mannequin TaylorMade M5 driver earlier than making the eventual transition into ZX5 LS MKII.
Shedding weight
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When Collin Morikawa’s putter is red-hot, he’s virtually unbeatable. The drawback is these days haven’t been as plentiful as Morikawa and teacher Stephen Sweeney would love. The pair have spent numerous hours attempting to provide you with an answer, taking a more in-depth have a look at the setup and grip to see if they may discover a long-term treatment.
What Morikawa has shunned doing throughout his time with Sweeney is endlessly tinkering with the putter — one thing he did on quite a few events throughout the 2022 season. Morikawa has remained loyal to TaylorMade’s TP Soto (L-Neck) with an LA Golf putter shaft — he began utilizing the shaft throughout the 2022 Presidents Cup — however as Sweeney advised GOLF.com, he began to choose up on a possible drawback with the general weighting.
More particularly, the carbon putter shaft he was utilizing on the time.
Carbon composite putter shafts have risen in reputation over the previous a number of years, due partially to their capability to scale back torque (how a lot the putter rotates at influence) and supply spectacular consistency. Morikawa noticed the advantages as properly, however one thing nonetheless felt “off” throughout the stroke.
“We wanted to make a change because he didn’t feel comfortable,” Sweeney mentioned. “His putter head is comparatively mild and the shaft was very heavy, so then the pinnacle felt very mild. That meant it was onerous to gauge the place it was in area and in his stroke. His placing was inconsistent so far as velocity management goes. If he needed to load the putter so as to add velocity, he didn’t have a way of how far to take it again.“
As Sweeney confirmed, he and Morikawa began discussing totally different shaft choices simply earlier than the Open Championship. They reached out to some totally different shaft producers to see if they may ship alongside shafts for Morikawa to check on his personal time — together with Mitsubishi Chemical, who embraced the problem of constructing one thing fully customized to satisfy the 26-year-old’s wants.
“When I contacted Mitsubishi they basically expressed enough interest that they decided they would make a custom shaft based on what I figured he needed, using player feedback from Collin and based on previous testing,” Sweeney mentioned. “They went above and beyond to create 1 of 1 putter shaft. That’s not something that companies do, that I know of.”
The collaboration between Morikawa, Sweeney and Mitsubishi resulted in a Diamana prototype putter shaft that’s a “different makeup” and roughly 20 grams lighter — Morikawa’s new shaft is about 105 grams — than the mannequin he used this season.
The cosmetics and full-length carbon fiber plies — used to create a clean EI for suggestions and really feel functions — nonetheless match up with the retail Diamana putter shaft, however the total design is particularly geared for Morikawa. It’s one of many many advantages of being the most effective golfers on the planet.
“It’s lower torque but with a little more flex,” mentioned Sweeney. “It increases the swing weight so that head feels heavier actually being heavier. His stroke length and speed control have improved dramatically because of it. This will be his first tournament with it in play.”
Leading the pack
Equipment producers take a backseat throughout the Ryder Cup relating to selling their staffers. With execs sporting purple, white and blue or blue, yellow and white, it’s tough to choose up on gear tendencies, except you already know what you’re for.
During the biennial matches, one pattern that stood out was the sheer variety of Titleist drivers being utilized by members on each groups. In complete, Titleist had 10 drivers in play at Marco Simone, 4 greater than the subsequent closest competitor.
Of these 10 Titleist driver customers, 5 had been taking part in the driving force with out an settlement. The checklist contains Matt Fitzpatrick, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Ludvig Aberg and Patrick Cantlay.
Having one-third of the victorious European Ryder Cup group taking part in your driver for free is all the time an excellent factor.
Big stats
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Justin Rose has recorded simply two wins within the final 4 years, which considerably overshadows his unimaginable placing prowess with an Axis1 Rose putter throughout the identical four-plus-year interval.
During the Ryder Cup, Rose led the biennial matches in Strokes Gained: Putting (plus-4.95) whereas recording one massive putt after one other for 3 days. The week was a continuation of an unimaginable run with the putter that dates again to his change to an Axis1 Rose mannequin in 2019.
Since 2019, Rose has led the most important championships with a mixed 54.65 strokes gained on the sphere with the putter. He ranked 1st in SG:P at this yr’s Masters and led the Tour in makes from 20-25 ft throughout the 2023 season.
Rose’s total physique of labor led some to query if he deserved a spot on the European Ryder Cup group earlier than the week commenced. Those questions had been put to relaxation with the assistance of a trusty putter that, as soon as once more, did all of the speaking.
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