3 gear trends at PGA Championship that caught my eye

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Let’s be clear on one thing: Quail Hollow is playing longer than the numbers on the card. The course has drained exceptionally well after five inches of rain early in the week, but it won’t play fast, at least not for the first couple of rounds.

The par-72 design tips out at just over 7,600 yards, but with little roll out, it feels more like 8,200 yards for much of the field. For the bombers — Bryson, Rory, etc. — bag changes are not required, but for those sub-180 mph ball-speed players, more consideration is required.

The main questions to ask are around gapping and having options at the top of the bag. Peak height and carry are also key in softer conditions is key. Any yards you don’t get on the ground must be made up in the air.

This shift inspired some thought from caddies, players and Tour reps this week, and these were three of the adjustments I found most interesting.

1. Mini drivers in full flight

This week at Quail there are 25 mini drivers in play among Titleist G280, TaylorMade BRNR Mini, TaylorMade R7 Quad, PXG’s Secret Weapon, Cobra King and Callaway’s Elyte and Ai-Smoke minis.

The mini-driver thing makes more sense week in and week out on Tour. When you can hand a player like Min Woo Lee a club from which he can get 175+ mph of ball speed and that spins like a 3-wood (3,500 RPMs), that’s a huge asset. Attacking doglegs becomes much easier when you carry that kind of spin as does playing long/tight holes where driver is a risk.

Callaway Elyte Custom Mini Driver

$469.99 $419.99 from Fairway Jockey

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2. Lofted fairway woods even more popular

Any guesses how many 7- and 9-woods are in play this week?

Sixty-one. Sixty-one!

Why? Simple: PEAK HEIGHT, BALL SPEED and SPIN. When you can hand a player a club that easily goes the desired carry distance for that club slot, the ball launches with ease, spins more and lands like a pillow…the decision is an easy one. This is one of those situations in which performance far out-weighs a player’s desire for a preferred look. What’s that phrase — function over fashion?

Here’s what Scottie Scheffler said this week:

“This week may be more of a 5-wood [ed. note: it’s actually more of a 7-wood] week just because, like you said, the golf course is going to play really long, the rough is thick, and the run-up areas after this kind of rain are going to be really soft, and the greens are still going to be really firm because they’re new. You have to be able to land the ball up on the green. You can’t really run it up around this golf course. That’s one aspect that you’ve got to think about.”

To be clear, his club is not 5-wood but it goes a 5-wood distance. Here are the exact specs on the club..fair to call it a 6-wood?

TaylorMade Qi35 Custom Fairway Wood

$349.99 $299.99 from Fairway Jockey

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3. Narrow wedges vs. wider ones

This was something I noticed when hanging with defending champion Xander Schauffele and his caddie, Austin Kaiser.

Xander always travels with three lob wedge options. For the most part, it’s the Vokey T-grind or K* that see most of the action (he also a really cool A+ grind). On Monday, after the rain broke, they were hitting shots around the practice green with both options to see which made that snap sound that all great wedges make when the bounce is used properly.

Titleist Vokey SM10 Raw Custom Wedge

For every shot, every lie, every course, there’s a grind fit for your swing. Finding the right grind to match your swing and playing conditions will give you the best turf interaction, contact and shot performance. Master Craftsman Bob Vokey has spent decades crafting, developing and improving his tour proven grinds to fit players of all levels.Anyone can manufacture a wedge, but it takes a master to turn a piece of high-performance technology into an instrument of creative control. Bob’s six tour-proven grinds are designed to offer maximum creativity, versatility and consistency, all meticulously developed through years of working with the best players in the world. PROGRESSIVE CENTER OF GRAVITY SM9 features a progressive center of gravity (CG) throughout the lofts, which optimizes ball flight, accuracy and forgiveness. Using tapered top lines and varied hosel lengths, the Vokey R&D team has raised the height of the CG in the higher lofts, which promotes a lower, more controlled flight.The CG is also forward of the face, resulting in increased MOI, exceptional feel and a club face that simply wants to square up at impact. SPIN MILLED GROOVES SM9’s patented Spin Milled grooves are meticulously engineered through a new cutting process to maximize spin and durability. The process starts by cutting the face perfectly flat with a high-speed saw. Then every groove is individually cut based on loft and finish; low lofts (46°-54°) are designed with narrower, deeper grooves, while higher lofts (56°-62°) have wider, shallower grooves.Micro-grooves are individually cut in between grooves, which maximize spin on partial shots. A proprietary heat treatment is applied to the impact area which doubles the durability of the groove without impacting feel, making it the most durable groove in golf. The process is only complete when every Vokey wedge is 100% inspected for utmost quality and performance.

$225.00 from Fairway Jockey

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For you gear heads, you might think that the T-Grind and its narrow sole would be tough sledding in soft conditions, but it doesn’t really work like that. There’s more to consider. Soft grass means firm bunkers, so having a low bounce wedge really helps. Speed off the face also matters, especially because the greens are still running fast. Xander has said that he always wants a 1-to-1 ratio of how hard he hits the ball to the speed at which it hits his window. Often that comes down to bounce.

Xander has always been cerebral about his 60-degree. He views it in a few different realms. Turf interaction (easy); ratio of swing speed to speed off the face; bunker play; run out on greens; and types of shots he will be hitting from longer pitches, i.e., fly it and stop it or rely on run out. These all factor into his wedge of choice, but it’s still a feel thing and contingent on how Xander feels in a given week. Sometimes he’ll surprise you. At The Open, for example, you’d think the narrow T-grind would be the obvious choice for all the tight lies…but it doesn’t always add up that way. It’s all about how Xander feels in the moment.

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