2020-05-01_Golf_Digest

50 golf digest | issue 4. 2020

Play Equipment

Photographs by Dom Furore

age 31

lives Abbotsford,

British Columbia

story Two-time

winner on the PGA

Tour, including the

2020 AT&T Pebble

Beach Pro-Am.

mario mania

My Twitter bio

reads: “Top 5 Mario

Kart N64 player in

the world.” I’m

kidding. Sort of.

I played way too

often at the

University of

Washington and

got pretty good.

In Seattle, golf

practice was pretty

minimal once

November hit, so we

had free time. And

my good friend

Kevin and I were

obsessed. I haven’t

played much since.

—with e. michael

johnson

feelin’ the burn

▶I got to carry the

Olympic torch when

it was on its way

to Vancouver for

the 2010 Winter

Games. I don’t

think I grasped the

magnitude of doing

that until later.

▶I’m Canadian,

so instead of an

American quarter

or dime, I use

a Toonie—a $2

Canadian coin—to

mark my ball. It’s a

special Toonie that

glows in the dark.

driver

specs TaylorMade M2 2017 (10.5°), Fujikura

Atmos Blue Tour Spec 6X shaft, 45.75 inches.

▶ I’ve had the M2 for about three years. I’m

low-spin off the tee, and this gives me what

I need without the ball falling out of the sky.

SIM and think I’ll play it soon. I just need to

practice with it in the wind some more.

fairway wood

specs TaylorMade SIM, 15°, Fujikura Ventus

Black 8x shaft, 43.5 inches.

▶ I tried this 3-wood at the Waste

Management this year, hit a few good shots

and put it in the bag immediately. I like the

adjustability, too. I added loft at that event

because I needed height into the par 5s but

changed it back the next week.

irons

specs TaylorMade SIM Max (4-iron); TaylorMade

P770 (4-, 5-iron); TaylorMade P750 (6-iron

through PW), True Temper X100 shafts, Golf

Pride Tour Velvet Cord 58R grips.

▶ I play a split set of irons, including

two 4-irons. One of them is this game-

improvement SIM Max. I added a couple

degrees of loft to get the height I want,

but I still get 3-iron-like distance.

wedges

specs TaylorMade Milled Grind Hi-Toe,

52°, 56° and 60°; True Temper Dynamic Gold

S400 shafts.

▶ I have the Hi-Toe in all my wedges. The

name is appropriate because I’m a toe chip-

per, and when I hit it on the high toe area,

I get good results. I used the 60-degree for

both my hole-outs during the final round at

the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

putter

specs TaylorMade Spider Tour Red, 35 inches,

2.5°, TaylorMade stock rubber grip.

▶ I used this model about three years ago,

then went away from it. I struggled on the

greens and went back to the Spider at the

2018 Wyndham and shot 63 in the final round

to keep my PGA Tour card. The T-shape

alignment aid along with the lines on my ball

make it seem like I’m looking at a grid.

all inked up

▶My TaylorMade

TP5 gives me about

400 revolutions per

minute more spin

than the TP5x. That’s

useful around the

greens. I used to

put thin alignment

lines on the ball, but

I made them thicker

and started putting

extremely well.

club yards*

driver 280

3-wood 250

long 4-iron 220

4-iron 205

5-iron 195

6-iron 185

7-iron 172

8-iron 158

9-iron 145

pw 135

52 ̊ 122

56 ̊ 112

60 ̊ 95

*carry distance