‘It has been fast’ – Justin Thomas explains unexpected driver change

Equipment
Justin Thomas

Justin Thomas made an unexpected driver change in the second quarter of the 2024 season.

Thomas had favoured a TSR3 driver from Titleist since 2022.

After his most recent start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas had a few weeks off, so he tried to adjust his driver setup remotely with the assistance of J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, a fitting expert for the Titleist Tour.

Van Wezenbeeck and Thomas talked over the phone about some potential driver and shaft combinations to try after reviewing his most current driver statistics.

When Thomas was at home and received a tailored package of product alternatives from Van Wezenbeeck, he discovered that Titleist’s TSR2 head, along with his trusted Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60TX shaft, significantly improved performance.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com

“I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it.

“Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast.

“Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Thomas is happy that he has a familiar shaft with the alternative head.

“I trust (Van Wezenbeeck) and I trust the guys at Titleist,” Thomas said.

“I feel I can make a swing and it’s doing what I want it to do, or I feel like it should do.

“Just putting a different head on and using the same shaft I’ve used forever is nice.

“There’s definitely some other shafts he sent that were great, but I think changing two things at once… it eliminates a question mark. At least if something is off, it’s like, OK, it’s maybe something with the head because I have the same shaft.”

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