If you saw my WITB video from earlier this year…
..you would see that my bag was pretty damn dialed. From top to bottom, I was as happy with my set-up as I’d ever been since joining #teamcallaway. But a few things have changed; since last summer, I have been working on my body and added about +- 12 pounds of muscle, going from 150 to 162, and with that came SPEED. I had a significant ball-speed up-tick, especially with the longer clubs. In the past, my cruising speed with a driver (on avg as some parts of the year were faster than others) was in the mid-high 150s and now I can roll out of bed and get low to mid-160s with a swing speed of 113-115. At 46 that’s pretty solid considering my golf swing hasn’t changed at all (it’s still trash). I even hit an over-40 personal best of 168mph last month, I was faster before kids but here we are.
The other factor that has really helped my overall performance is adding a bit more loft across the bag. In the past, I would lean towards stronger lofts to keep the ball down because of my launch conditions but after talking to Jon Rahm a bit, I realized that one of the ways to force yourself to stay in the shot is to play with more loft and force yourself to keep the ball down. This was HUGE for me. For example, with the driver, I always used to grab a 9-degree head and either take a degree off or play as is because my AOA was always 4-5 up. Now in the new setup, I have more loft in the driver, tee it lower, and actually try to hit down on it (feel is not real) which adjusted my AOA to 2 degrees up. Now I’m catching it out of the right part of the face again, my misses are substantially better and I my stock shot changed from a TOMAHAWK draw to something straighter that falls a bit right.
I’ll dive into the numbers for each club as I go with the pictures and keep in mind that with the Apex launch the Irons may change a bit but that’s not today. I have content coming with an iron fitting coming in the next 30 days and that will shore that part up. Who knows what will happen? I really like where I’m at now.
Ball: CSX 22′
Glove: Callaway Tour Authentic
All grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 58R 1+1 Logo Down
Notes: Nothing to add here, it’s the best ball for me across the board and has been for a long time. Other iterations just don’t offer the across-the-bag spin consistency that these do and the ball speed is unmatched.
Driver: Paradym Triple Diamond 10.9@9.9 (Flat Cog D/-1, 196G, 8GF/10GB)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue TR 6X (45 EOG, Tipped .5, D3)
Notes: Still testing PX Denali as well, it’s the only section of the bag in turmoil LOL. With similar numbers with both, it’s more of a feel thing.
Driver by the numbers (Stock) indoors on Foresight August 1st, 2023:
Ball Speed: 164MPH
Launch: 11 degrees
Spin: 2476RPM
Carry: 284 yards
3-wood: Paradym TD (Bonded) 15@16.25 (Std lie)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7X (42.75 EOG, Tipped .5, D3)
Notes: I swapped out from Paradym Std. to this in Scotland, since my AOA was shifting from 1 up to 0/-1 I was getting a bit too much launch so going into this setup brought my launch down, keeping spin around the same.
3-wood by the numbers (Stock) indoors on Foresight August 1st, 2023:
Ball Speed: 155 MPH
Launch: 10 degrees
Spin: 3139RPM
Carry: 257 yards
5-wood: Paradym TD T 18@19 (STD lie)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X (41.5 EOG, Tipped 1, D3)
Notes: This video will explain a lot…
5-wood by the numbers (Stock) indoors on Foresight August 1st, 2023:
Ball Speed: 151 MPH
Launch: 9 degrees
Spin: 3716RPM
Carry: 241 yards
Headcovers:
Irons: (4-6) Rogue ST Pro (7-AW) Apex TCB
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 120
Lie: Std (61 5-iron)
Length: Std (38 5-iron)
Lofts: (4-AW) 22/25/29/34/38/42/46/50
Notes: The top part of the bag changed strictly due to turf interaction. It’s no secret if you followed me in 2021, I LOVED the Apex 21′. I absolutely striped them for 90 days. For whatever reason I’ve not been able to replicate that performance ever since. The Rogue ST Pro (4-6) has been far better for me in terms of turf interaction and quality of shot. It’s actually not even close.
Irons by the numbers (Stock) indoors on Foresight August 1st, 2023:
Gapping: (4-AW) 214/199/186/172/158/143/129/115
Wedges: Jaws Raw (54/10S, 58/10J)
Shafts: Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (35.25, 35 EOG, D4)
Notes: I was in the Z Grind all year until I changed my set-up/ball position and wanted something with a bit narrower sole. I tried S and C but ultimately it was the J (with a bit of a grind on the front for more bounce) that won the day. It seems to work in all conditions and is actually better on full shots out of the fairway, the ball comes out much lower (higher CG).
Putter: Odyssey Toulon Atlanta S “Midnight Mode” Neck/Long Line (35 EOG, 2.5 Loft, 71 lie, D9)
Shaft/Grip: Black KBS Steel/Super Stroke Tour
Notes: I have ZERO loyalty to putters, this one I picked up at The Open because Steph made it look amazing in his Tahoe win so here we are.
