Xander Schauffele stepped out of the shadows and ripped the “best player never to have won a major” monkey off his back by capturing the 2024 USPGA Championship at Valhalla. Leading pretty much from start to finish, it was an emphatic display and one that Schauffele will be hoping propels him to further major glory over the coming years.
At first glance, Schauffele’s equipment choices seem fairly conventional, but diving a little deeper into his bag uncovers a few interesting choices…
1. Raw irons
Shauffele’s iron play was imperious throughout the week and was a huge factor in his success. A Callaway Staff player, Schauffele uses the Apex TCB iron, but the eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed a slightly unusual appearance with regard to the brownish color of the heads. This is because Schauffele prefers a raw finish on his irons. Essentially, what this means is that Callaway has deliberately missed out the final stage of protective finishing that it would ordinarily undertake for retail equipment which allows Schauffele’s irons to rust and discolor over time. This practice is relatively commonplace in the best wedges but for some reason not so with the rest of the irons.
Callaway and a few other major OEMs have released selected models with a raw finish in recent years but for some reason, the finish hasn’t captured the imagination of the wider audience and remains more of a 'tour only' option.
I for one, love this rusty, industrial look and would welcome more models being offered in a raw finish.
2. 10-iron
If you were paying close attention throughout the broadcasts this week, you might have seen one or two close-ups of the new PGA Champions bag and spotted a slightly unusual sight, a 10-iron. With traditional iron numbers stopping at 9, some of you may have been wondering what a 10-iron actually is? Well, the answer is very simple and probably as you would imagine. The 10-iron is just a direct pitching wedge replacement, same loft, same bounce, same everything, just with a far more logical name in my opinion.
As someone who games the Callaway Apex CB irons, I can also tell you that I play with both a 10 and 11-iron. Once again, as you would imagine, the 11 iron is simply a re-labeled gap wedge. In my set, the 10-iron is 46 degrees and the 11-iron sits at 50 degrees.
3. Two Different Grip Types
Congratulations if you spotted this during the course of the week, you are officially as big of a geek as me. Xander has an interesting nuance when it comes to the grips he uses. Throughout the bulk of his bag, he uses the Golf Pride Multi-Compound Align grips, which feature a very prominent raised spine down the back, allowing you to easily find the correct finger placement and replicate this time after time.
However, when it comes to the wedges, he switches to a standard, round Golf Pride Multi-Compound Grip without the Align feature. This is a practice I have seen in only a handful of Tour players' bags before but it makes a lot of sense. With the wedges, top players will generally spend a lot of time manipulating the face either open or closed to produce different shots, so if you have a perfectly aligned raised spine on the back of the grip, as soon as you alter the face angle, that spine is now in a different and potentially uncomfortable position. Using a round grip in the scoring clubs is a good way of alleviating that problem and allowing more freedom.
4. Alignment Sticks
The next interesting point in Xander’s equipment comes in the form of his alignment sticks. Now, as potentially one of the most inanimate and boring pieces of equipment in the bag, you may be wondering where I am going with this, but bear with me...
A stickler for a disciplined routine, Schauffele actually uses one of his alignment sticks at the start of his practice sessions to ensure he is standing the correct distance from the ball. This stick, marked with specific measurements is placed on the edge of the ball closest to him, perpendicular to his footline. This allows Schauffele to see exactly how far his toe line should be from the ball with each club and he can consistently reinforce these good habits throughout his practice.
It may seem like nothing, but when you consider that just being a half inch too close or far away from the ball can result in significant heel or toe strikes, surely this simple preventative practice method is worth the minimal effort.
5. Mixed Brand Wedges
Unlike many touring pros who are seeking constant feel, Schauffele employs a mixed brand wedge set-up at the bottom of his bag. After his aforementioned 10-iron, Xander uses a Callaway Jaws Raw 52-degree gap wedge before, like so many, deciding to trust Bob Vokey with the shortest of shots, using a Vokey SM10 56-degree wedge and a Vokey WedgeWorks Proto 60-degree.
Another interesting point on his Vokey wedges, that again is fairly common in the professional ranks, is that they are bent a little weaker than their stated loft. This will predominantly be to hit a certain yardage but can also be to remove offset. Bending weaker will reduce the appearance of offset while bending strong will increase it, and with most better players preferring little to no offset in the scoring clubs, you will rarely see a wedge bent stronger than its stated loft in the pro game.
6. Very Custom Putter
You don’t win major championships without putting well, and Schauffele certainly did that. Those putts were holed with a (very) custom Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas putter. The first thing you will notice is that it is bright red! Now, this isn’t the first bright red putter I can recall winning a major championship, Jason Day and Sergio Garcia spring to mind with their TaylorMade Spider putters at the USPGA and Masters respectively, so maybe there is something in it?!
Schauffele’s Odyssey version is the popular number 7 and he uses the CH (or plumber's neck) version. The face is very deeply milled and painted black which is interesting of itself. This may be because Schauffele prefers the visual distinction of a contrasting face, or it may simply be a marketing trick from Odyssey attempting to create the illusion of its DFX face. It is fitted with a matt black shaft and Superstroke Zenergy Tour 2.0 grip. While you might not be able to pick up Xander’s exact model, the First Run Las Vegas H1 is available from the Toulon website with some pretty cool customization options.
