Why Will Zalatoris is predicting a 6-yard distance increase with his new driver

Will Zalatoris is 16th on TOUR in driving distance this season, averaging 312 yards per drive. He’s jumped seven spots – and five yards – in that statistic over last season. The added distance came after switching to a longer shaft in his driver at the start of the year. Now he thinks a new driver could add another half-dozen yards to his tee shots, thanks to the new TSR3 driver. Like the TSi3 he was using at the U.S. Open, the new TSR3 has 8 degrees of loft, is 45.63 inches long and is equipped with a Fujikura Speeder 661 TR X-flex shaft. The TSR3 driver is part of a family of drivers (TSR2, TSR3 and TSR4) and fairway woods (TSR2, TSR2+ and TSR3) that Titleist officially launched to PGA TOUR players at the recent Travelers Championship. Eighteen players switched into a TSR driver at Travelers and 13 switched to a TSR fairway wood. Most notably, Jordan Spieth switched into a 10-degree TSR3 driver and J.T. Poston used a 9-degree TSR3 driver in his win at last week’s 2022 John Deere Classic. Zalatoris switched into an 8-degree TSR3 driver for the Genesis Scottish Open. The tournament features 14 of the top 15 players in the world, and that includes Zalatoris, who sits 13th in the world. He is ninth in the FedExCup and sits atop the DP World TOUR Ranking thanks in large part to his success in the majors this year. After a sixth-place finish at the Masters, he was runner-up at both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. “The first time I got to see (the TSR3) was actually at THE PLAYERS Championship,” Zalatoris told GolfWRX.com. “Immediately, I was seeing the mishits were way better. My speed is up a little bit, about 1.5 mph ball speed. Same shaft, we really didn’t change much at all, it’s just the new head. Obviously, what they did is they took the technology and expanded it throughout the face. With Titleist, I mean, we push the limits enough to where it’s basically, there’s only so much we can do, but with the mishits being that much better, you might see my driving average pop up six yards just because of the mishits going that much farther and that much straighter, too.” “Acoustics are a little bit different. I always put a lot of hot melt in my woods, because I like that kind of dull sound. We didn’t put as much in this one as the last one. It sounds a … little bit quieter. … You can hear just a slight difference. When you hit one good, it just feels so hot off the face, and especially, like I said, the mishits are the things I’m amazed by, because normally if I hit one off the heel, I might go down to about 180 mph, and I’ve been hitting a couple on the heel and I’m about 182 mph. Like I said, that’s where you’re going to see that extra six yards out of me.” In addition to the new driver, Zalatoris is also using a TSR3 16.5-degree 3-wood, equipped with a Fujikura Ventus 8 X shaft this week.

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