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Streelman to W/S Triton in Play This Week


GolfSpy Barbajo

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From GD -- Streels is putting the Triton in play on Tour this weekend.  What I found most interesting from the article: in 10 years Streelman has only had one driver contract for about half a season. 

 

 

How does a PGA Tour player put a driver in play designed by an armchair engineer? Very carefully...

 

Kevin Streelman, who was a judge on Wilson Golf's Driver Vs. Driver television show is going to put the winning Triton DVD driver in play this week at the PGA Tour's CareerBuilder Challenge. In speaking with Streelman about the decision he made two things very clear: This was not a kneejerk decision and he's not contractually bound to do it.

 

“Dead honest—I'm not getting any bonus and haven't signed anything contractual to play this club,” said Streelman, who does have an endorsement contract with Wilson, but it does not include the driver. “I love to support Wilson and the company, but for me to switch to this club it had to be as good if not better than what I was using before. I know some people will be saying, ‘Oh, he's getting paid a lot of money to switch' but that's not the case.”

 

While it would be easy to raise an eyebrow to that statement, consider Streelman has played 10 years on the PGA Tour and only had a driver contract for half of one season. He has essentially used two drivers for the last six seasons. It's not an easy club to get in Streelman's bag.

“I'm very particular about my driver,” said Streelman, a winner of two PGA Tour events. “It's the best club in my bag year to year. I've been top 20, 30 in driving most every year I've been on tour [he's been in the top 26 in strokes gained/driving three of the last four years]. I was all about being fun and supportive during the design process, but once I had a prototype to hit, I was going to be their toughest critic.”

 

Now 38, Streelman knows he needs to find the right launch angle to spin ratio in order to keep up with the Justin Thomas' of the world. ShotLink shows Streelman's numbers at a shade over 11 degrees launch and 2,554 spin. Not bad, but not ideal.

 

“Triton is high launch and low spin which for me is very exciting because I tend to have a spinnier ball flight,” noted Streelman. “I'm excited to see my swing launch it at 12 to 13 degrees with 2,200 to 2,300 rpms of spin. Before when I got that high on launch the spin was closer to 3,000. That difference can equate to 20 to 30 yards of roll on the firm fairways of the PGA Tour.”

 

Streelman's testing process involves a significant amount of time on TrackMan gathering data using clubs built to specific specs. “Whenever a company wants me to try a club I say ‘it has to be this length; this shaft, tipped this amount, with this grip.' Basically I want to compare apples to apples,” said Streelman. After gathering his data from TrackMan, Streelman then goes on course. “You play practice rounds or money matches with it and it's amazing what you'll see on the golf course that you don't see on a range,” he said. “That's because we play at a different speed on the course. There's a different intention of the shot. There's the nerve factor. You have to play with some pressure to see how it truly performs. Then I'll take it to maybe a pro-am, then give it a shot in a tournament. That's how I do my business. It's critical to get it right and I'm a harsh critic. It's my livelihood and that of my family on the line. It has to be right.”

 

Part of getting it right was arriving at the final setup. After extensive testing at his home course of Whisper Rock as well as TPC Scottsdale, Streelman arrived at a 9 degree clubhead with the loft setting at neutral. The adjustable sole plate is the lighter, 9-gram carbon fiber version (which Streelman says also helped reduce spin) and the weights are 6 grams in the heel, 6 grams in the back and 2 grams in the toe. The final piece was the shaft.

 

“At first I struggled with it because we kept trying to build it to the same spec as my Ping G30, which I have used for three years now,” Streelman said. “I kept trying my Aldila Rogue shaft but it didn't feel right in the Triton. Then we tried some different shafts and one, the blue Oban Kiyoshi Tour Limited, clicked. I was seeing the ball flight I wanted with the lower spin.”

 

All of which, along with taking some of ex-Chicago Bear and fellow Driver vs. Driver judge Brian Urlacher's money at Whisper Rock, has Streelman confident enough to put it in play in PGA Tour competition.

 

“I'm really excited to see what this driver can do under tournament conditions,” said Streelman. “I had a great start in the fall and I hope this thing makes it in the bag all year and I win multiple times with it. You can't predict what the future will hold, but it'll be in the bag this week so we'll see.”

 

What's in the bag:
 
Driver:  :titelist-small:TSR3; :wilson_staff_small: DynaPWR Carbon
FW Wood: :wilson_staff_small: DynaPWR 3-wood; :titleist-small: TSR 2+
Hybrids:  PXG Gen4 18-degree
Utility Irons: :srixon-small: ZX MkII 20* 
Irons:;  :Sub70:699/699 Pro V2 Combo; :wilson_staff_small: D9 Forged;  :macgregor-small:MT86 (coming soon!); :macgregor-small: VIP 1025 V-Foil MB/CB; 

Wedges:  :cleveland-small: RTX6 Zipcore
Putter: :cleveland-small: HB Soft Milled 10.5;  :scotty-small: Newport Special Select;  :edel-golf-1:  Willamette,  :bettinardi-small: BB8; :wilson-small: 8802; MATI Monto

Ball: :bridgestone-small: Tour B RXS; :srixon-small: Z-STAR Diamond; :wilson_staff_small: Triad

Stat Tracker/GPS Watch: :ShotScope:


 
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Thanks for sharing that. Some very candid comments from him.

 

I'm anxious to see how it does for him this week.

:ping-small: G430 Max 10K 

:titelist-small: TSiR1 15.0 Aldlia Ascent 60g

:titelist-small: TSR2 18.0 PX Aldila Ascent 6og

:titelist-small: TSi1 20 Aldila Ascent Shafts R

:titelist-small: T350 5-GW SteelFiber I80 

:titelist-small: SM10 48F/54M and58K

:ping-small: S159 48S/52S/56W/60B

:scotty-cameron-1: Select 5.5 Flowback 35" 

:titelist-small: ProV1  Play number 12

 

 

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Yesterday he was very middle of the road for distance and accuracy. One round doesn't help to make a conclusion so I'll give it more time to see. 

In my bag:

Driver: :callaway-logo-1: Rogue ST Triple Diamond LS 10.5* (set to 9.5) UST Lin-Q Gunmetal 6f5

Wood: :titleist-small: Tsi2 15* Project X RDX Black 70 6.5

Hybrids: :cobra-small: King Utility 19.5* Diamana Tensei White Pro 90TX

Irons: :cobra-small: Cobra King Tour MIM 4-PW Dynamic Gold 120 X100

Wedges: :taylormade-small: Milled Grind 3 50*, 54*, 58* Tour Issue S400

Putter: :seemore-small: Nashville Z1C 34"

 Ball: :titleist-small:  Pro V1x

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  • 1 month later...

I don't know how I missed this before, very interesting read.

 

Sent from my VS986 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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I just assumed he bagged a Wilson driver all this time . . Good article

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Ping G430 Max Driver 10.5 Degree
Titleist TSR1 4, 5, & 6 Hybrids 
Titleist T350 Irons 7 - W48 
Cleveland
CBX ZipCore  52 56 & 60 Degree Wedges

LAB Mezz Max Broomstick Putter / TPT Shaft  (Platinum @ 45/78)

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

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Very interesting. Hope it works out for him. A win will go a long way for Wilson if street man can do it with all Wilson equipment!

 

MDGolfHacker

TSssWhat's In This Lefty's Bag?

Driver: :titleist-small: TSR2 11° Project X HZRDUS Black 4G 60g 5.5 Flex

Fairway Woods: :cobra-small: F8 3W Project X Even Flow Blue 75g shaft

Fairway Woods: 

Hybrid: :titelist-small: TSR2  18° Graphite Design Tour AD DI-85 Shaft

Irons: :titelist-small: 2021 T200's 4-GW AMT RED shafts Regular Flex

Wedge: :cleveland-small: Tour Satin RTX 4 Wedges in 52° and 56° 2 Dot

Putter: :nevercompromise-small: Gray Matter TDP 2.2 32.75"

Bag: :1590477705_SunMountain: Three 5

Ball:  :titelist-small:  PRO V1 / :srixon-small: Z*Star

RangeFinder:918457628_PrecisionPro: In search of new range finder

Social Media:

Facebook:   MD Golfhacker
Twitter:        @mdgolfhacker
Instagram:   mdgolfhacker

 

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