US golfer Will Zalatoris can easily be touted as the next big thing in international golf. At just 26 years of age, he has achieved a lot. In 2021, he came as a runner-up at the Masters in his debut. He also bagged his first PGA Tour event win at the 2022 FedEX St. Jude Championship in August.
Fans are always fascinated by what equipment their favorite athletes use. In the case of a golfer like Will Zalatoris, budding golfers and fans are constantly curious which putters, balls, irons, wedges, or driver he employs.
In the latter case, Will Zalatoris naturally uses a Titleist driver since the brand is one of his sponsors. In fact, his entire bag is full of Titleist gear. To be specific, he uses an 8-degree Titleist TSR3 driver.
Previously, he used a Titleist TSi3 model with 9 degrees of loft but switched to the TSR3 model.
He spoke to GolfWRX about his decision to change his driver.
"The first time I got to see (the TSR3) was actually at The Players Championship. 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."
He highlighted the changes between the two models.
"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."
Zalatoris explained the differences between the acoustics as well.
"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."
He also elaborated on the driving ranges between the two drivers and his distances have improved since he started using the new TSR3 driver.
"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."
Of course, Zalatoris has made suitable accomodations to the driver and is not changing the driver any time soon.
Which irons does Will Zalatoris use?
Will Zalatoris has made some changes to his golf bag in 2022. While his entire bag is full of Titleist gear, he has switched to newer models to use this season. And the results are already showing as Zalatoris has had a wonderful year, having won the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
One of the major shifts in his bag is the irons that Zalatoris is using. He has experimented a lot with them in the past, but it seems he has found his match this year.
Previously, Zalatoris frequently used a hybrid, but in 2021, he started exploring utility irons like the U500. At the moment, however, it is believed he possesses the more recent T200 Utility, while the rest all are only Titleist T100 irons. The others range from a four-iron down to a pitching wedge. It's interesting to note that he utilizes the older T100 iron, but given his meteoric ascent to fame at the beginning of his career, this is not surprising.
The change in the irons has brought a new variety and consistency in his performance.
Titleist Tour representative, J.J. Van Wezenbeeck spoke to the PGATour.com about the changes in Will Zalatoris' bag with respect to the irons.
"When he hit the T200 for the first time, it launched higher, it had a little more ball speed, he could take something off it and he could flight it. It just created so many shots in his bag..."
He also recalled the first time he ever worked with Will Zalatoris.
"The first time I got to work with him was at Riviera (for the 2015 Genesis Invitational) when he was still in college. We had the challenge of trying to make him something that launched over 6 degrees in a 3-iron. He was (hitting) so down on it. He was so fast, but he was so down on it that it was like, 'How do we get him something that gets up in the air at all?'"
Hopefully these equipment changes will keep showering more such powerful performances from Will Zalatoris in the coming seasons.