[PHOTO: Brennan Asplen]
It is well known that Scottie Scheffler’s tee-to-green game is so good that in weeks when the putter is working, he is nearly unbeatable. This year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational was one of those weeks, with Scheffler winning by five strokes over Wyndham Clark.
Scheffler blitzed Bay Hill on the final day with six birdies, ranking first in strokes gained/putting for the day, beating the field average by more than four strokes. That also allowed him to finish fifth in that stat for the week.
Scheffler’s change to a TaylorMade Spider Tour putter at the start of the week was the topic of much discussion. After doing extensive testing at home, Scheffler put the mallet putter in play. It is half an inch longer than his previous putter and has an L-neck hosel and TaylorMade’s True Path alignment aid on top with a full line sightline on top. The putter has 3 degrees of loft with a lie angle of 72 degrees. The insert is an 80/20 TaylorMade Pure Roll insert and the grip is a Golf Pride pistol.
Scheffler’s putter wasn’t the only thing working, however. He ranked first in strokes gained/off the tee for the week, second in greens in regulation and third in strokes gained/around the green.
Scheffler’s driver is TaylorMade’s new Qi10 model, a club with a combined moment of inertia of more than 10,000 which provides plenty of stability on off-centre strikes while a channel in the sole provides plenty of pop.
As for his irons, Scheffler uses TaylorMade P7TW irons, a muscleback blade model based off Tiger Woods’ irons. “I grew up playing Nike clubs like Tiger, so these had a special appeal to me,” Scheffler told Golf Digest in 2022. “I figured if he was using the irons they had to be pretty good.”
If Scheffler keeps this up, he might just start chasing Woods’ imposing record at Bay Hill, too.
What Scottie Scheffler had in the bag at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (Fujikua Ventus Black 7X), 8 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
Irons (3-4): Srixon ZU85; (5-PW): TaylorMade P7TW
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks prototype (60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
