If you’re reading this article, you almost certainly know Matt Kuchar ended a four-year victory drought with a win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic last week. You may not know, however, about an interesting equipment change Kuchar made prior to hoisting the trophy.
Following a sub-par 2018 season that saw him record just four top-10 finishes in 24 starts, the Georgia Tech alum felt he needed to make some changes.
One of those changes: his golf ball. Now, given Kuch’s club head speed last year — 107.97 mph (183rd on Tour) — your wouldn’t have thought the happy warrior would switch to a lower-spinning golf ball. However, that’s just what he did, making the move from Bridgestone’s Tour B XS to its Tour B X. And according to the company, he did so after a recent fitting session in which he was driving the X seven yards farther than the XS.
I had a chance to ask Elliot Mellow, Bridgestone’s Golf Ball Marketing Manager, and Adam Rehberg, the company’s Golf Ball Fitting Manager, about the switch.
So, what was the thinking/data that had Matt Kuchar playing the XS originally?
Mellow: “Matt had historically been in our higher spin spec — he appreciated the spin control into and around the green. For years, the B330-S and then the Tour B XS, allowed Matt to hit his windows and optimize trajectory. As he started to reevaluate his fit, there were really two things in play here that allowed the door to be opened for Matt to explore a more distance spec ball: Over the years, we have continued to soften the covers of all Tour balls. So in our distance spec, the Tour B X, you really don’t sacrifice spin for distance, it still is a great spin control ball with irons and wedges. The other thing to consider is some of the club set-ups for Matt have changed, which allowed us to reevaluate his fit.”
Why test at this point in time, and what was the testing like? What were the results?
Mellow: “During the off season, Matt was really taking a look at every aspect of his bag. If you look at his equipment setup during the FedEx Cup compared to what he has in play these last couple of tournaments, basically everything changed: club heads, shafts, mix of clubs, etc. With those changes it’s natural for Matt, and any golfer really, to want to reevaluate their ball to ensure it still fits their needs.”
“Ball testing for Matt involves looking at the performance of the ball with every club in the bag. It’s no secret that Matt isn’t the longest driver of the golf ball so driver distance and ball speed are important to him. We take a look at what’s going on with the driver and work backwards from there. In short, start from the tee and work our way down to the green, much like you would play a hole.”
Rehberg: “Matt began initial testing of the Tour B X golf ball in Vegas with our Tour team. After seeing some great results on the range with increased ball speed, reduced spin and 7 yards longer distance, he decided to test the ball during the Pro-AM. Ultimately he made the decision to switch models for tournament play.”
“Coming out of Vegas Matt was starting to get comfortable with the Tour B X and carried that positive momentum over to Mexico as the ball gave him confidence to attack fairways (T3 in Driver Accuracy) and pins (79% GIR). In the small sample size since switching over to the X ball, Matt has seen an increase of 7 yards in Driver Distance, tighter dispersion and lower more piercing trajectory compared to his set up from last season.”
What this would seem to speak to, then, for the average golfer, is the detriments of picking a ball and playing if for years on end and the need to be re-ball fitted, if you will…
Rehberg: “There is a lot that goes into choosing a ball. And in Matt’s case, he went through a pretty significant equipment overhaul, especially with his shafts. We encourage golfers to include looking at their ball performance when they go through the process of rebuilding their bag. That’s exactly what Matt did. He noticed some increased spin numbers on his irons and driver during these shaft and driver changes and took advantage of switching to a ball that fits his game better.”
Mellow: “Your swing, club head, and shaft selection all factor into the science, the physics of the ball fitting process. You change one of these variables and the conditions at impact change, the launch data changes. As the data changes it creates a situation where your ball fit will need to be reevaluated.”
RELATED: Matt Kuchar’s Winning WITB: Mayakoba Golf Classic
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Scott Ivlow
Nov 16, 2018 at 2:50 pm
Wait why is no one complaining that Bridgestone just made a another golf ball that goes to far. Also it sounds like the new Bridgestone line just buried the long standing myth that lower compression golf are for those with slow swing speeds. I’m willing to bet that when Bridgestone made the X Line softer they lowered the compression. I’m also willing to bet it’s just under 80%. I’m thinking it’s a close comparison to the Wilson Tour FG.
Jaybe
Nov 16, 2018 at 12:24 pm
Paid ad by Bridgestone.
Greg
Nov 16, 2018 at 11:59 am
At first glimpse, the dimples remind me of the Royal balls of the early 70s.
ski_co
Nov 16, 2018 at 11:55 am
I would think the determining factor would be his distance not swing speed. I can see why he would take the extra 7 yards. Let’s face it, as you get older you lose distance. When your playing partner is hitting a 7 iron into the green and you have a 4 they have an advantage.
Steve McIvor
Nov 16, 2018 at 8:00 am
Swings it at 108 so that would determine that he wouldn’t play a lower spinning ball? How do you explain that one Ben? You don’t need loads of speed to generate spin. Statements like that which create confusion among golfers.
allan
Nov 15, 2018 at 6:35 pm
It’s all in the ball…. just look at that awesome dimple design… they are winners :-O
Bobby king
Nov 16, 2018 at 2:15 pm
Testing was done in Vegas. If I’m not mistaken doesn’t the ball fly longer out there. I would of loved to see testing done somewhere else. Not saying he doesn’t need a change up but I would never test anything out there
Buddy
Nov 15, 2018 at 9:07 am
Matt’s post-tournament interview was so balls-out “NASCAR” that we may have experienced a new PGA paradigm in equipment endorsements.