Scottie Scheffler won Olympic gold using this gear for every shot
Scheffler lines up a putt on the 18th green during Day 1 of the Men's Individual Stroke Play at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
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We’ve officially run out of superlatives to describe Scottie Scheffler’s dream season. The same goes for detailing the equipment in his bag. It’s difficult to spotlight one club when all 14 are working.
On Sunday, Scheffler erased a four-shot deficit with four birdies over his final five holes to win gold at the Olympics that once again confirmed the 28-year-old is lethal with any club in his hands.
However, instead of focusing on a specific club in the bag, we’re shifting to an item Scheffler used to execute every shot at Le Golf National — the golf ball.
In Scheffler’s case, Titleist’s Pro V1. The most-played ball on Tour has been a staple in his bag for years and played a role in all six triumphs this season, including the Masters and Players Championship. And yet, the ball rarely gets the respect it deserves after the final putt drops.
Titleist Pro V1
Asked to describe the benefits of Pro V1 compared to others in the marketplace, Scheffler said last year that it all comes down to two things: controlling spin and having the ability to execute a myriad of shots.
“It gives me the best performance across the board,” Scheffler said. “I can take off spin and apply spin. The ball does everything I need it to do, whether it’s going long and straight off the tee or hitting some nice, soft nippers around the green.”
Most of today’s tour-level urethane balls are designed to decouple launch and spin so golfers can reap the benefits of long-game distance without sacrificing short-game performance. When Titleist releases new versions of Pro V1 and Pro V1x, Scheffler takes them straight to the short-game area to see how they react. As we wrote about recently, starting around the green and working back is a surefire way to determine if a ball is right for your game.
In Scheffler’s case, the ball must be able to clear several testing hurdles, the most important being an 80-yard wedge shot that typically determines whether he’ll conduct further work.
“Most of the testing I’ll do is to make sure it’s going the right distance and has the right feel around the greens. That’s where I’ll start. After that, one of the things I always like to test is an 80-yard shot where I’m going to hit it really low with a lot of spin, and really high with a lot of spin to see the differences. With the Pro V1, I have the ability to hit that really low driving shot. If I was to hit that shot with a regular range ball, I wouldn’t be able to [hit those shots].”
It’s a good thing Scheffler doesn’t have to rely on range balls under the gun. Thankfully, he’s armed with a three-piece ball that’s designed to generate a penetrating launch — when compared to Pro V1x — with enhanced feel and short game spin. The ball decouples long-game and short-game performance with the help of a casing layer sandwiched between the cast thermoset urethane cover and high gradient cover that negates excess spin off the tee without negatively affecting spin and control around the green.
When you’re the best golfer on the planet, you demand a lot from the ball in the bag. This one has managed to pass every test with flying colors.
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