Equipment
Tour Drills: 2 incredibly simple drills Adam Hadwin uses on a PGA Tour range
Having inside-the-ropes access to the range at a PGA Tour event means I often see and hear things that most amateur golfers aren’t privy to. While some may think there are “secrets of the trade” that PGA Tour players use to get so good at golf, it often comes down to a combination of incredibly hard work and pure talent.
There are, however, a number of drills and gadgets that Tour players use to practice smarter and get the most out of their practice sessions and abilities.
As I’m busy covering equipment news week-in and week-out on the PGA Tour, I also want to highlight some of the simple drills that PGA Tour use during tournament weeks. It’s important to note that you should absolutely consult with your local professional first before implementing any new drills into your own practice routine, but “Tour Drills” will highlight the things that PGA Tour players use and why. Hopefully they can be helpful for you in some way.
This week, from Riviera Country Club’s range at the 2022 Genesis Invitational, Adam Hadwin breaks down two incredibly simple drills that he uses during tournament weeks, and why they’re effective. To perform these, you’ll simply need an alignment rod (which you can find at most local hardware stores or golf shops), your clubs (obviously) and some range balls.
1) Stick an alignment rod directly on your target line, then hit fades and draws around it
Hadwin says: “The biggest thing I’m trying to do is find the club face, really, and I do that through exaggeration. I’ve got the alignment stick in front of me, and I’ve got to hit cuts and draws around it. But, before just hitting a standard cut and a standard draw, I kind of do it by hitting a pull cut and a push draw, just to feel that club head and that club face awareness in my swing to start out.
“Then I’ll start hitting some shots by aiming left and cutting it back to the target, and aiming right and drawing it back to the target. Again, it’s really just trying to find an awareness of, OK, my body is here, the club is here, the shot did this, and the alignment stick just helps with that visual to exaggerate things.
“The idea is to try and let the athlete react. It’s not as easy as that some days, but a lot of times, for me, my miss with a cut has been a pull, and I just need to feel the club head and my arms out-race my body a little bit more. Because I feel like I’m holding it off, but it never holds off. I think it’s just that the club kind of gets in behind my body a little bit too much, and then from there, it’s not really a cut anymore. It becomes sort of a push. To really feel that cut I sort of have to feel like the arms are out-racing the body and swinging around left of them, plus I’m holding off the club face.”
2) Turn your driver upside-down, then swing it both righty and lefty at increasing speeds
Hadwin says: “My trainer (Jason Glass) literally just put this drill in. I don’t want to say that I’ve done speed training, because I really haven’t done any. But, as for everybody, distance is very important and it obviously plays a very important role in the game. I’ve tried to increase that a little bit. So he just thought it’d be a quick and easy way during tournament weeks to fire up the nervous system a little bit while on the range just to keep that speed up while warming up before going out and playing.”
Make sure to check out all of our photos from the 2022 Genesis Invitational here.
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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AC
Feb 17, 2022 at 1:42 pm
From the photo, I thought Hadwin’s drill was “bean the ball picker” and I was like, that’s not special to Tour players, everyone does that
Benny
Feb 18, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Hahahaha I thought the same thing. I said “Ive been doing that drill (trying to hit the ball cart) since I was 9hears old”!