A golf ball is not just an important part of a professional's set-up, but it's also a very personal aspect.
Whether it be how it's marked up, or what logo it features, professionals will often have personal touches on their golf ball, with one of those being Scottie Scheffler, who is one of only a few players who uses high numbers.
Usually, if you were to look at the numbers on golf balls, they would be one, two, three and four but, in the case of the World No.1, he opts for the numbers five, six, seven and eight.
The reason? Well, it stems from Scheffler hitting the wrong golf ball in college, twice, with the American previously using the low numbers. By switching to the high numbers, it made the golf ball easier to identify.
One of the incidents occurred at a college tournament in Texas, where Scheffler actually hit fellow competitor, Beau Hossler's golf ball. The second, meanwhile, happened at a tournament in Arizona.
In an article by Fox Sports, Scheffler stated: "I hit it (ball) in the desert. I looked at the ball in the bush. I said, ‘Hey guys, I’m going to mark and identify it.’ I marked it, picked it up, looked at it and said, ‘Oh, cool, Titleist 4.’ I put it back down in the bush."
Hitting his shot out of the bush and on to the green, Scheffler went to mark the ball and it soon turned out it was the wrong one, with the 20-time PGA Tour winner adding "my ball is sitting clean in the desert, I told my coach, ‘I’m sorry. I marked it and identified it and it’s not my ball.’ There’s not much to say."
Following the incident, and when he earned his spot on Tour, Scheffler explained that "when I got on Tour, I saw somebody only using higher numbers, and I said, ‘let’s do that.'"
Using the Titleist Pro V1, it has been in-play for Scheffler since his junior golf days and, although it's just a number, that hasn't stopped his fellow pros from ribbing him.
At the 2024 RBC Heritage, Scheffler's Ryder Cup teammate, Justin Thomas, appeared on the broadcast and, speaking about his fellow countryman, he stated: "Does anyone else think it’s weird that Scottie uses high numbers? I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an elite player use high golf balls."
Certainly, given that Scheffler has four Majors to his name using the high numbered golf balls, we can't see it changing anytime soon...
