Marc Leishman has finished top-6 in four of his last seven Open Championship appearances, including a T2 finish the last time the event was held at St. Andrews in 2015 (he lost in a three-way playoff to Zach Johnson after shooting rounds of 64-66 on the weekend).

Leishman knows links golf, and he knows the Old Course at St Andrews. That’s why he’s preparing his equipment to properly handle the windy and firm course conditions.

“It’s an interesting situation when you come to links golf,” Leishman told GolfWRX. “You do have to change little things, but obviously you don’t want to reinvent the wheel…I hear (the Old Course) is very firm, and the weather’s perfect, so I’m assuming it’s only going to get firmer.”

On Saturday, GolfWRX caught up with Leishman prior to a Saturday practice round at the Old Course to see what equipment changes he plans to make to adapt to the challenges.

 

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1) Adding a 2-iron…and shortening the shaft 

Leishman says: “Last week I played the Scottish Open and went to a [Callaway Apex UT 18-degree] 2-iron. I haven’t had a 2-iron in the bag for awhile. [Normally I use] a 5-wood, 7-wood, strong 3-iron, so I put a 2-iron in the bag…

“We actually cut it down an inch just to make it go a little lower and have a bit more control. It seemed to work pretty well.”

2) Removing bounce from his lob wedge

Leishman says: “I might take a little bit of bounce off the [Callaway Jaws Raw] lob wedge this week. Last week [at the Scottish], there was a few chip shots I was getting a groove or two low. I think if I can take off a little bit of bounce – not the front of it, just off the back of the sole…=you still need bounce for the bunkers, because there’s quite a lot of sand in them, but you don’t want bounce for chipping.”

• See more photos of Leishman’s 2-iron at St Andrews
• For more videos from St Andrews, head over to GolfWRX’s new TikTok account