Equipment
5 equipment questions with Nick Dunlap’s club fitter about his winning setup
Nick Dunlap recently shocked the world by winning The 2024 American Express as a 20-year-old amateur, but really, his playing resume should have been an obvious sign of early success on the PGA Tour.
Dunlap, who’s currently a Sophomore at the University of Alabama, won the U.S. Junior in 2021, and the U.S. Amateur in 2023. He also won his first collegiate event in March 2023, then reeled off wins at the Northeast Amateur in June and the North and South Amateur in July.
Now, he’s a PGA Tour winner.
Following Dunlap’s historic victory at The American Express, GolfWRX.com caught up with his longtime fitter and TaylorMade Senior Tour Representative Cory Johnson for a five-question, gear-focused Q&A.
Check out our interview with Johnson below, or head over to Nick Dunlap’s Winning WITB to see his full-bag specs.
GolfWRX: When did you start working with Nick? Was there anything performance-wise, or in terms of his equipment setup, that stood out to you about him?
Cory Johnson, TaylorMade: I started working with Nick in 2015 when he was 11. He was put on our radar by a past KFT staffer and I’ve been helping him through TM’s elite amateur development efforts ever since. From the beginning, he was ultra-competitive and just hated to lose. I remember an AJGA event when he was 14; he took fifth place and had to be talked into staying for the trophy ceremony since he was so mad at not winning.
Currently, compared to PGA Tour players, how do his launch monitor numbers stack up? Does he have exceptional speed or consistency? What are his strengths?
Nick’s numbers are usually in the mid 180’s with the driver and he has about four speeds that he can move it. He essentially has a low/mid/normal tee shot, and full ship-it shot for what the hole puts in front of him. He has plenty of speed, but I think his huge strengths are his ability to hit it those different ways, and put it in play depending on the hole/wind.
Would you consider Nick a “gear head”? Does he enjoy getting into the tech part of golf, or is he more of a feel player?
Nick added a launch monitor to his normal practice in this past year so he has become way more in tune with those numbers, which a big part of his wedge game improving. When it comes to the actual specs on the clubs, he falls way more in the feel category and doesn’t get in to that very deep. Most of the initial feedback is going to be on head shapes, loft/lie looks, and weight.
What was the fitting process like for the Qi10 LS driver, specifically? How did he improve by making the upgrade?
We were fortunate to have Nick test some prototype heads in August before he won the U.S. Am, so we had a pretty good idea what we needed to start this year off. Nick wants a driver that will not go left, can maintain enough spin when he hits the low tee shot, and starts in his intended window. The Qi10 LS was about 2 mph faster than his previous driver, and launched a little higher. He played the new driver for 4 rounds on a trip to Forida before coming to Palm Springs, then the three practice rounds at Amex, and just basically never missed a shot. At that point, he was ready to go, which shows how good the Qi10 line is because he isn’t usually a tinkerer with equipment and is hesitant to change quickly.
Does he have anything particular spec-wise that stands out, such as lie angles, lofts, grip size?
The usual tricky part with the driver is Nick liking a driver that won’t go left, but his eyes naturally go to a club head that is fairly upright and around 44.75 inches. When he is playing his best, his driver is more a push-straight ball that just never moves. Right now he is playing the driver in the “Std upright” position to get that start line where he needs, and the sliding weight is all the way in the “Fade” position.
Thanks, Cory!
- LIKE41
- LEGIT11
- WOW3
- LOL3
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK0
Whats in the Bag
Daniel Berger WITB 2024 (April)
- Daniel Berger what’s in the bag accurate as of the Farmers Insurance Open. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
6-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2011 (4-PW)
Shafts: Project X Denali Blue 105 TX (3), Project X 6.5 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50-12F), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-14F), Callaway Jaws Raw (60-08C)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56, 60)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Mini DB
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy PistolLock 1.0
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Check out more in-hand photos of Daniel Berger’s clubs in the forums.
- LIKE3
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB1
- SHANK0
Equipment
Heavy Artillery: A look at drivers in play at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
What are the driver and shaft combinations of the best golfers in the world? For gearheads, it’s an endlessly interesting question — even if we can only ever aspire to play LS heads and 7 TX shafts.
At this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, GolfWRX got in-hand looks at the driver setups of a wealth of players.
Check out some of the most interesting combos below, then head to the GolfWRX forums for the rest, as well as the rest of our galleries from New Orleans.
Rory McIlroy
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alex Fitzpatrick
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Daniel Berger
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees @9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Rasmus Hojgaard
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alejandro Tosti
Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees @10.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 75 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride MCC Plus4
James Nicholas
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (8 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Kevin Streelman
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Sang-moon Bae
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (9+ @8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Russ Cochran
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD TP 6 X
Grip: Golf pride MCC Align
MJ Daffue
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (10.5 degrees @9.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX 65 TX
Grip: Golf Pride ZGrip Cord Align
Check our more photos from the Zurich Classic here.
- LIKE1
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Whats in the Bag
Rasmus Højgaard WITB 2024 (April)
- Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Prototype (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Utility: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw White 85 TX
Irons: Callaway Apex Pro (3), Callaway X Forged (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 130
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S, 56-10S, 60-06C)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X
Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled Eight T DB
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Hojgaard in the forums.
- LIKE3
- LEGIT1
- WOW1
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole3 days ago
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
-
19th Hole3 days ago
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
FreddieKruger
Jan 25, 2024 at 1:32 pm
Great insight, thanks for the knowledge! Now, if only I can find a dependable “No Left” driver! The search is ON!
Benny
Jan 28, 2024 at 2:34 pm
Hahahaha, well said. I guess I would be happy in the 180’s no matter where it went.