Power Rankings: Fantasy golf advice for The RSM Classic

A driver head and putter grip. That's all that has changed since Tiger Woods notched his record-tying 82nd victory at last year's ZOZO Championship. Tiger's bag is studied, mulled over, and marveled at more than any other player's in history —and rightly so after 82 wins, 15 majors, and thousands of jaw-dropping highlights. So, what are the things we can learn as we take another look into the bag? Well, for starters let's focus on spin/loft. Tiger loves spin wherever he can find it, preferring to have too much loft rather than not enough. If you look at his iron lofts, they are basically a club weaker than his competitors'. This is for two reasons: 1) He is very particular about carry, spin, and launch windows. These are non-negotiable. He's been hitting his irons a certain distance since he was 18. If it ain't broke… 2) Controlling dynamic loft. It has always been Tigers' preference to "de-loft" his irons to get more out of them than play with stronger lofts. It's actually an old school philosophy but who is going to argue with the guy? You can hit a predictable golf shot leaning the shaft forward. Finally, look at his pitching wedge and sand wedge. He has a seven-degree gap between the clubs, from 49 to 56 degrees. That's larger than most of his peers but Tiger knows exactly how to turn his 56 into a 52 and control spin and distance. His 56-degree wedge is now effectively three clubs in one with multiple shots built into it. Could all TOUR players do this? Probably. But with the trust and craftsmanship that Tiger does? Probably not. This is what Tiger will have in the bag this week at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD in Thousand Oaks, California. Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (44.75, D3) 3-wood: TaylorMade M5 (15 at 14.25 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX (42.75, D3) 5-wood: TaylorMade M3 (19 at 18.25 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX (41.75, D3) Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (3-PW) Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 All his iron shafts are tipped 1/4 inch with wooden dowels inserted for vibration dampening and SST Pure (by Scott Garrison on tour) at exactly 130 grams. All lengths without grips. (Loft. Lie. Length. Swing Weight) • 3-iron: 22.5, 59.5, 38 13/16, D4 • 4-iron: 25.5, 60, 38 5/16, D4 • 5-iron: 29, 60.5, 37 13/16, D4 • 6-iron: 32.5, 61, 37 5/16, D4 • 7-iron: 36, 61.5, 36 7/8, D4 • 8-iron: 40.5, 62, 36 5/16, D4 • 9-iron: 45, 62.5, 35 11/16, D4 • PW: 49, 63, 35 11/16, D4 Wedges: TaylorMade MG2 TW/MT Grind (56-12, 60-11) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Scotty Cameron GSS Newport 2 Grip: Lamkin Deep Etched Pistol Cord Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord 58R (Logo Down) Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS

Click here to read the full article…

BLAINE, Minn. – The fist pump said it all. Minutes earlier, Michael Thompson had deposited the 101st golf ball of the afternoon into the pond that hugs the right side of the fairway and guards the green on the 18th hole at TPC Twin Cities. His lead at the 3M Open was down to a stroke after a careless tee shot led to a bogey on the previous hole, and Thompson knew he needed to step up on the par 5. So, he took his drop in the intermediate rough some 267 yards from the green. While his third shot didn’t hold the short grass and bounded into a bunker, Thompson came up with a great save, blasting out to 7 feet and draining the putt for par. After he picked the ball out of the cup and walked to the side of the green, the understated Alabama grad clinched his fist in modest celebration. RELATED: Full leaderboard | After long layoff, Van Pelt finally likes where his game is going “To finish with that par on 18 is huge,” Thompson said later as the raindrops started to fall. “I really wanted that par. I didn’t want to compound the mistake I made on 17. I think that’s going to bode well for me tomorrow.” Thompson will start the final round of the 3M Open tied with Richy Werenski, who made an 8-footer for birdie, his third in the last four holes, just before that par save. With his win at the 2013 Honda Classic well back in his rear-view mirror, it’s hard to imagine a bigger momentum boost for Thompson. “To be able to do that, hit a good, quality golf shot that almost held the green and then to get that up and down with that bunker shot, I mean, I’m honestly just proud of myself for stepping up,” said Thompson, who shot 68 on Saturday to finish at 15 under. Behind Thompson and the 28-year-old Werenski, who said he just “plugged along” on Saturday and will be looking for his first win in his 99th PGA TOUR start, is an interesting mix of players who also have something to prove. Two strokes in arrears is one the game’s hottest players in Tony Finau, who has had more top-eight finishes in the last four years without a win – 24 — than any other player on TOUR. But the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup veteran can’t quite seem to get over the hump and win for the second time. Last week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide was another example when Finau held a share of the 54-hole lead but ended up finishing eighth. On Saturday, he felt he didn’t have his best stuff, hitting just seven fairways, but he still ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and Approach The Green. “I’m definitely proud of myself on just being mentally strong and emotionally strong,” Finau said. “It was a tough finish last week, but every week is a new week. Every week you have an opportunity to prove yourself. That’s what I love about the game. “Doesn’t matter how well you played the last week or how terrible you played, you have a new week to prove yourself and I’ve gotten another opportunity to try to prove myself tomorrow.” Finau says getting off to a quick start will be key on Sunday. “I think I’ve been a little slow out of the box in some of my round fours,” he said. “I think if I get off to a good start, get some momentum, I’ve got the ability to put the gas on the pedal and make some birdies. “As long as I don’t shoot myself in the foot early, I think we’re going to have a shot tomorrow. “I’m excited to put myself in those positions. Disappointing at times when you can’t get the job done, but for me, I have to welcome it at this point and just keep fighting and hopefully the door comes down eventually.” Charl Schwartzel, the South African with an immaculate resume that includes the 2011 Masters, is tied with Finau at 13 under after shooting 66 on Saturday. The wrist injury that prematurely ended his 2018-19 season is a non-issue but he’s just now starting to score. “I don’t know if I’m hitting it on all cylinders, but I’m managing to put a score on all cylinders,” said Schwartzel, who came to Minnesota on the heels of four missed cuts. “There’s a lot more to this game than just hitting it well. I feel like I’m managing my way around the course pretty good.” Schwartzel has really prospered on the par 5s this week. He’s the only player in the field to make birdie or better every time he’s played one in the first three rounds – playing them in 11 under – a first for his career. He likes the course, shooting 63 in a practice round, and is primed for a strong finish. “I think I’m definitely going to rely on my past wins and the experience I’ve got,” he said. “You don’t win it on the first hole, you’re going to have to hang in there for 18 more holes and keep with the process, and if I’m doing what I’m doing now, there’s no reason why I can’t post a good score.”

Click here to read the full article…

Stewart Cink, the 48-year-old who this week is defending his title at the RBC Heritage, is ranked 50th in driving distance this season, averaging 304.1 yards per tee shot. That’s a significant increase from just two years ago, when he ranked 113th and averaged 295.7 yards off the tee. So how did Cink increase his driving distance even as he nears PGA TOUR Champions eligibility? “I set out to achieve (increased distance) two years ago,” Cink told GolfWRX this week. “That’s something we’ve been focusing on, gaining a little distance. I felt like I was leaving something in the tank. I just wasn’t properly using everything I had at my disposal. Me and my coaches went out and tried to solve that, and two years later, (it worked).” According to Cink, his secret to the distance increase was two-fold. First, he improved his technique as it relates to distance. Then, he optimized his equipment to better suit his improved mechanics. “It’s not like I found a hot driver and could hit it farther, it was definitely technique and form and biomechanics first, and then I got my equipment to be efficient to match that,” Cink told GolfWRX. “Fitting is one thing, but especially if you have optimized mechanics and form.” In a PGATOUR.COM article published earlier this year, Sean Martin went inside Cink’s new-and-improved, distance-focused golf swing. As highlighted, Cink learned that hitting drives with an upward angle of attack was more efficient than hitting drives with a downward angle. Cink moved the golf ball forward in his stance to help make this change. And it worked. “My attack angle went from, say, minus-2 to about plus-2, which is a kind of a big deal in driving these days,” Cink told PGATOUR.COM. “The best drivers and the guys who hit it the farthest … are the ones that attack up. … I wasn’t trying to change my attack angle, but the setup change and the way I was using the bigger muscles in my body on my back swing, I kind of accessed more of the power from stronger areas of my body, and those two changes just resulted in a lot more ball speed and a lot better attack angle.” Then came the equipment adjustments. Prior to his swing changes, Cink was using a Ping G425 Max 10-degree driver that was set to the highest-lofted hosel setting. It’s called “Big Plus,” which relates to the symbol used on the hosel; it equates to an added 1.5 degrees of loft compared to standard on the driver head. Back in 2019, before Cink changed his angle of attack, he was launching the ball only 8.6 degrees, which put him 169th on TOUR in launch angle. That meant Cink needed a bit of extra loft on his driver to keep him from flying the ball even lower. When he changed his swing to hit up on the ball, though, the higher-lofted driver was no longer optimal. He was spinning the ball too much and it was costing him distance. That’s when Ping Tour rep Kenton Oates worked with Cink to help him dial in the driver. Using the same Ping G425 Max 10-degree head model, Oates dialed the hosel into the “Small Minus” setting, which is 1 degree less than standard, and they eventually moved into the “Big Minus” setting (pictured above), which is 1.5 degrees less than standard. Despite the significantly lower lofted setting, Cink’s launch angle went up to 11.5 degrees in 2021 due to his swing changes, putting him T48 in launch angle. From 2020 to 2021, Cink also increased his ball speed from 171.7 mph to 175.1 mph (generally speaking, lower lofts can help increase ball speed; for a more extreme example, imagine the difference between hitting a ball with a 3-iron and a sand wedge). As a result, Cink went from averaging 295.7 yards in the 2020 season, to 306.6 yards last season. Although Harbour Town Golf Links isn’t known for its demanding length, it’s never a bad thing to have a little more distance in the tank when it’s needed. For the millions of aging golfers who are looking to increase their distance and hit the longest drives of their lives, follow the Cink model. First, figure out a technique and setup that can help you launch the ball higher. Then, find a driver to match those new delivery patterns. It worked for Cink, and it can work for you, too.

Click here to read the full article…