Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, home of the 2021 PGA Championship, is ripe with challenges. Penal hazards loom, the ocean winds blow, and the greens are raised and guarded. Its most notable nemesis, though, is the sheer distance. At its full length, the Ocean Course measures an eye-popping 7,876 yards, making it the longest course in major championship history.
Fairway woods, hybrids and long irons will inevitably get a workout from the players on approach shots, but the driver will be taking most of the reps off the tee. There’s no getting around it, consistently long and straight drives are a must to survive the Ocean Course over four rounds.
With such a premium placed on the big stick, we wanted to break down the drivers that each of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) will be using to tackle the Ocean Course. We dive into each of their setups below.
Dustin Johnson
Johnson is a consistently dominant driver of the golf ball, but he’s not so consistent with the driver he actually uses. He’s been known to test multiple drivers week-to-week, even switching models between rounds.
While he most recently employed a TaylorMade SIM driver (Fujikura Motore Speeder Evolution 2.0X shaft) at the 2021 Valspar Championship, he’s been spotted testing a TaylorMade SIM2 Max driver (LA Golf Prototype shaft) ahead of the 2021 PGA Championship.
As always, Johnson will be making a game-time decision between the drivers on Thursday.
World Ranking: 1
Driving Distance: 311.6 yards (9th)
Driving Accuracy: 59.66% (114th)
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee: 0.442 (26th)
Driving stats in this story are from pgatour.com
Justin Thomas
Thomas started the year using Titleist’s new TSi3 driver, but he since switched back into the Titleist TS3 model (Mitsubishi Diamana BF 60TX shaft). The driver worked at The 2021 Players Championship, which he won, and he’ll continue to use that build this week.
World Ranking: 2
Driving Distance: 301.0 yards (53rd)
Driving Accuracy: 57.90% (138th)
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee: 0.131 (78th)
Jon Rahm
Rahm, a new Callaway staffer as of 2021, uses a Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond LS 10.5-degree prototype head (Aldila Tour Green 75TX shaft). His driver is built for low spin, which may come in handy this week as he tries to pierce the ball through the Ocean Course winds.
World Ranking: 3
Driving Distance: 307.2 yards (18th)
Driving Accuracy: 63.57% (59th)
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee: 0.823 (3rd)
Xander Schauffele
Schauffele uses a Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond 9-degree head, which is built to provide slightly more spin than Rahm’s LS version, but lower spin than the standard Epic Speed retail heads. Schauffele equips his driver with a Graphite Design Tour AD-BB 7X custom black shaft.
World Ranking: 4
Driving Distance: 306.3 yards (26th)
Driving Accuracy: 58.39% (129th)
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee: 0.280 (44th)
Bryson DeChambeau
Much like Johnson, DeChambeau is also known to test numerous driver setups from week-to-week, always searching for the right fit. This week, it appears he’s settling into a Cobra King LTD 6.5-degree head, equipped with an LA Golf Tour AXS shaft.
