Opinion & Analysis
The equipment changes this Tour player made to improve
I spend most of my days working with club players who are trying to reach their potential, and most often they feel the answer is a better-looking swing. I thought it would make an interesting read for people to learn about what touring professionals do to find the 1 percent of improvement that can make such a big difference to their lives.
I have been working with Ben Silverman, a PGA Tour Canada player, for nearly two years now. Ben originally came to me looking to find some extra yardage, so we broke out all the usual testing protocols, including strength and power screens, as well as 3D motion capture. We were able to identify a couple opportunities for him to mix up his physical conditioning program to help him build some more speed, but this wasn’t the answer for him to have a better season in 2015. The first few months of our relationship were spent getting the technical thoughts out of Ben’s head so he could play freely. Once we had achieved a mental state where both practice and play were fun again, we started to identify opportunities for improvement.
Ben on the tee at an event this year.
The first thing we started looking at was Ben’s ability to stop the ball with long irons under tour conditions. His landing angles were coming in shallow, and we also found a yardage gap in a key scoring area. The first things to go were the shafts; Ben had been playing stiff flex Aerotech i95’s at the recommendation of another fitter. I feel it’s important to note that these were not tested for performance on a launch monitor. The Aerotech’s ended up in Ben’s bag due to a couple common assumptions that I’ve seen from both tour pros and amateurs alike:
- Lighter is not always faster.
- Graphite does not always fly higher.
Some players do experience a slight increase in club head speed, but this is not always the case, and there are several other factors to consider. Shaft manufacturers give us basic shaft information such as weight, flex, kick point and torque, but what they can’t tell us is how the golfer will respond to the shaft. Through controlled testing, we were able to increase launch angle and steepen landing angle by going to a shaft that was actually heavier and stiffer. True Temper’s Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts performed the best in Ben’s irons, and they weigh a whopping 130 grams. That is an increase in static weight of nearly 40 percent.
Why did it work?
The increased overall weight caused Ben to release the club better, resulting in a significant increase in dynamic loft. By only changing the shaft, the ball was flying 11 feet higher, 6 yards farther and landing a full degree steeper with Ben’s irons. These went into play right away and he nearly got a win with the new shafts at the Mackenzie (Canadian) Tour stop in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Heaver and stiffer shafts resulted in higher and farther shots with more stopping power.
Now that the shaft issue had been dealt with, it was time to get the gapping sorted out. A gapping analysis is a process whereby we measure the carry distance of every club in the bag. This is a critical step if you truly want to optimize equipment performance, but it is one that nearly all amateurs and most professionals have never done properly. In order to get this done, I hopped on a plane from Toronto and headed out to meet Ben in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at a PGA Tour Canada event.
This is 5iron through Lob Wedge. Clearly there was room for improvement.
To do a proper gapping analysis is a very arduous process. We did outdoor Trackman testing with each individual iron and Ben’s tournament golf ball to make sure that they hit the carry numbers that we charted out in the hotel room the night before.
Here is Ben’s “wish list” and our predicted lofts that would create those numbers.
In order to maximize accuracy, we found a spot on course at The Willows Country Club in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where we had level ground and no wind. The Normalize feature from Trackman is fantastic, but when working with a Tour Pro, I don’t want to leave anything to chance. We had our list of desired carry distances, but that did not mean we could create that with optimized landing angles. We went through the whole bag club by club until we had things exactly the way we wanted.
On our first run through the bag, we measured every single club to get a good baseline of where performance was. We could have checked the lies and lofts first, but I think that would have been a waste of time. After all, it is not the loft that matters; it’s the carry yardage. I think it is a good idea for most players to work backward here, determine the number you need for each club in the bag, and then find a club fitter that can optimize equipment to perform to your needs. Head Professional Brennen Gee was kind enough to give free reign in his club repair room so we headed back get to work where we immediately found that we had to work on both the lofts AND the swing weights.
Here is Ben giving me a hand with the swing weight scale.
While swing weight is important for consistency in the balance of the club throughout the set, it also has a small affect on launch angle. Several of the clubs in Ben’s set were lighter than his preferred D2 swing weight. I started weighing and carving the lead tape on the head, and then we had Ben double check everything on the swing weight scale. We adjusted the necessary lofts and headed back out to test.
We had to repeat this process, adjust and retest three times to get the 6 and 7 irons perfectly tuned. Every player has challenging spots in their golf bag to get just right. I call this the “compression gap.” It’s a function of club speed and loft, but all you really need to know is if you have a lower club speed it will occur in a short iron, and if you have a high club speed it will shift toward the longer clubs.
Ben’s set looking pretty with some fresh lead tape.
With everything taken care of, the upgraded hardware was in the bag ready to go. And Ben found himself one shot away from a win at the PGA Tour Canada event in Saskatoon.
I would strongly recommend that serious golfers, regardless of skill level, go through the same process Ben and me did if they have access to a launch monitor, a lie/loft machine and a swing weight scale. Something as simple as optimizing your carry distance and landing angle can have a significant improvement on performance for players of all levels.
You can follow Ben on Twitter @benw_silverman or his website www.bensilvermangolf.com as he enters the final stage of Web.com Q-school in early December.
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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Panther
Sep 7, 2016 at 12:34 am
The merchandiser in town has a loft/lie leverage clamp. I would be there twice a year because I could see my gaps change on course, they thought I was crazy. But I bought a couple dozen balls each time as partial reparations. The pro at my favorite course had 56 & 57* wedges, but a tweek here, a shaft change there and his gaps were squared away. Good article, it shows what working with a experienced fitter can help your game right away.
RJ
Dec 7, 2015 at 1:29 pm
Great article. Probably a process that better players will benefit more from. However, all players could definitely use a gap check and loft/lie adjustment!
Dan Corun
Dec 3, 2015 at 12:05 pm
To begin with I have been fitted for the clubs I currently play. It just comes down to what feels right and plays best for you. I feel that I swing faster with all my clubs and still have feel with graphite shafts. Mainly 55-65 gr. With steel shafts I do hit them solid but, I lose club head speed and I was wondering what his normal swing speed is or did I miss it in the article. Mine is 85-90 with the driver. I’m 63 and I do drills to increase my swing speed and keep flexible and in shape so, it isn’t that I can’t handle heavier shafts but that I prefer graphite shafts and the performance I get from them. The 73 yr old gentleman seems to like the heavier steel shafts so, it would seem age isn’t always a factor. I enjoy these golf discussions and always enjoy reading about other golfers thoughts and the equipment they play.
redneckrooster
Dec 1, 2015 at 2:11 pm
For o’l man what’s the cost of a fitting?
Not all have access to such fittings , any in Tennessee /Mississippi?
Liam Mucklow
Dec 1, 2015 at 5:47 pm
You guys would need to find someone that has Trackman, Lie/Loft Machine, golf course access, real golf balls, and the willingness and logic to perform the process. I can’t imagine anyone throwing this service in for free if you purchase irons as the margin on golf clubs is so small to begin with.
Collin
Nov 30, 2015 at 4:20 am
Where could someone get this done at.
Rich
Nov 29, 2015 at 5:03 pm
Shaft change and gapping? BORING! When you said equipment changes, I thought you were going to tell us that he got a whole new bag of clubs and was transformed into world no.1! I was so excited, but now I’m left with this empty feeling inside 🙁
MRC
Nov 29, 2015 at 10:27 am
Enjoyed tha article. I made the switch to Aerotech shafts and my ball flight is higher and I’m carrying the ball further. Swing speed is low to mid 90’s. Made possible thru professional fitter using trackman & outdoor driving range. Shafts were also pured.
KK
Nov 28, 2015 at 10:56 pm
I am surprised that the pro was not fitted via Trackman prior to 2013.
Liam Mucklow
Nov 28, 2015 at 2:48 pm
His putting stats are through the roof 🙂
Bill
Nov 28, 2015 at 12:41 pm
What about his pants, surely some improvement could be made there
TCJ
Nov 29, 2015 at 2:38 pm
Agreed!
Bob
Dec 2, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Yes Ben need’s a fashion fix to match his club fix. While we are fixing things the correct grammar would be “Ben and I” not “Ben and me did if they have access to a launch monitor”.
Great advise though.
Anthony
Nov 28, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Great read. Just curious, did you consider changing heads as well to possibly change launch angles? Say a CB in the long irons or has your experience shown the launch doesn’t change much assuming same lofts?
Also, what about his swing allowed him to hit it higher with a stiffer tipped shaft? I’m asking because I’m experimenting with XP115 to possibly increase launch.
Liam Mucklow
Nov 28, 2015 at 2:49 pm
Anthony,
This will be the subject of my next article.
MLECUNI
Nov 30, 2015 at 7:40 am
Hi, great article !
Really hope that you post the next one before x-mas !
Thanks
Sleng
Nov 28, 2015 at 3:40 am
Now that’s pants
I'm Ron Burgundy??
Nov 28, 2015 at 12:02 am
I enjoyed the read and love technology and tinkering.
Now about the irons.. Are those considered obsolete since Taylormade has come out with 15 sets since he got those?
Ob
Nov 28, 2015 at 10:44 am
You’re obsolete cos you’re only able to make the same stupid comments all the time
SAndrew
Nov 27, 2015 at 10:55 pm
Did the change in shafts for the longer iron (presumably 3, 4 & 5) resulted in the overall change in shafts for the shorter iron too? Or is it common for tour pros to use an odd shaft for a particular number of clubs only? If yes to the latter, does that matter?
Liam Mucklow
Nov 28, 2015 at 1:32 am
We changed the shafts in the entire set. The performance change was linear across all clubs.
Double Mocha Man
Nov 27, 2015 at 4:33 pm
Yep, Silverman needs to make an equipment adjustment with the pants. If I wore those I’d be distracted on every shot hearing chuckles from players within 300 yards of me.
Liam Mucklow
Nov 27, 2015 at 3:52 pm
There are a couple specialized testing techniques that I use for driver optimization. It takes to long to get into here, but could be a great subject for a follow up article.
BIG STU
Nov 27, 2015 at 8:15 pm
Finally someone who thinks and does like I have been doing for years. I ‘tune all of my clubs like that exactly. It does take a lot of time and effort when you do everything yourself.
N
Nov 27, 2015 at 3:44 pm
It’s the pants
Christian Sarran
Nov 27, 2015 at 1:50 pm
Any adjustments to the driver or fairway wood for more yards?
jjoro
Nov 27, 2015 at 12:52 pm
In my Experience I agree with the article. As a young man I played heavy, 130 gr. x tipped an inch in my irons and the same in Woods. I was really long with all and Graphite was not around then. I played a few PGA events and had a + hcp. for years. As I got older I fell into the light weight stuff thinking it would be better. As a club maker for a Major mfgr. I had access to all the latest stuff and fell into the lighter is better theory.
As I tried the newer light clubs I saw no significant gains and a real downturn in accuracy. At 75 I figured it was just age etc. Last year I was given a set of clubs from my old employer with 95 gr. steel shafts, they are wonderful. I hit the ball more solid, higher, and longer with the heavier clubs. Granted 95 gr. is not that heavy, but heavier than the 65 gr Graphites I have been playing, I love em. I also went to heavier Graphite Wood shafts and find it to be more manageable.
I really think that the lite clubs do little if anything to help. I have just had Open Heart Surgery and can hardly wait to get back at it and even to try heavier shafts. I have found that impact is more solid and consistent, height and distance is better, and accuracy is greatly improved, and I have found something I have lost with lite, and that is feel.
Bob Pegram
Dec 16, 2015 at 4:47 pm
jjoro –
I experienced the same thing. I went to 85 gram graphite x-flex shafts because I could hit a 4 iron in the shop farther than with the S400 is was using (with Flightscope). However, the 85 gram shafts were too light. I lost distance. As I have aged and become less flexible I made clubs that are 1-1/2 inches over length, still with graphite X flex shafts. Those got my distance back and allow me to stand more upright which is easier on my back. I lengthened the woods too for the same reason and got that distance back as well. The longer wood shafts are about 80 grams each.
In addition, with the longer shafts I don’t have to practice as much to keep my swing in shape.
Mat
Nov 27, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Iron gaps, ball flight, and landing angle. For every person that comes into this site and says they want more distance out of their irons, no. You don’t. THIS is how it’s done. Maybe you don’t have a trackman, but you can get your GameGolf to tell you your approximate gaps. This information is GOLDEN. Golf is a target game.
Now about those pants…
Don
Nov 27, 2015 at 10:25 am
This was a good read. Every little crevice is explored for the sake of that one percent!