If you have read any of my material over the past year, you know I am a huge Tommy Fleetwood fan. Yes, the hair game is strong and his affinity for a mixed set of clubs is awesome, but down to the core, it’s the way he plays that keeps me engaged. Beyond the Big Cat, the last time a player got my attention this much was David Duval. Something in the swing, the strike, and what it looks like when that particular player is in full flight. Something is very special about Tommy Fleetwood.

It was the day after the Masters that I learned that Tommy would be signing with TaylorMade. At the time, the Rahm conspiracy theory was running wild, so the speculation around Tommy wasn’t all that nuts. It’s got to be said that TaylorMade and all manufacturers have been trying to sign Tommy Fleetwood for years. What excited me most about the signing was this

1. It’s time for Tommy to take full flight and win a bunch, and I think TaylorMade was the perfect fit to get him there.
2. I was excited for my friend Adrian Rietveld who has been a friend and fitter to Tommy for a long time. Adrian cares deeply about all of his players but needless to say, for him, this one was well earned and special.

I’ll deliver the full WITB with specs below, but first, I reached out to ask Adrian about the process of getting Tommy dialed and what we can expect as we go through the rest of the year.

JW: You have been working with Tommy for a long time. What’s it like now having Tommy officially on Team TaylorMade? Knowing he has been in plenty of TM gear in the past, how does he being a staff player change things?

AR: It gives us more time and structure to get things better, to find measurable performance gain, to help him grow as a world-class player. Tommy believes it is a vital piece of the puzzle that, when done right, gives him the best chance at success. Tommy didn’t come to this decision lightly.

Tommy and I have always had a great relationship, but as a free agent we would only get certain windows of time to work. One of the main factors for him joining our staff was that he felt giving this relationship more time to grow and breathe would give him the best chance to grow and ultimately win. Personally, I’m excited for the challenge, Tommy has very high standards and getting him to where he wants to go will push us all in such an awesome way.

JW: Once it was official, where did you start?

AR: Oddly enough, the first official call to duty wasn’t any fitting or product presentation but rather a conversation between Tommy and I (on Zoom of course) just talking thru our philosophies and how we were gonna push each other to get better. We had one of those inspiring conversations where any question or idea was on the table, and by the end of it, we both knew there was so much work to be done, and it was going to be an awesome journey. This is just the beginning. After almost a month of being in the trenches, it’s a bit surreal to be at round 1. I’m living and dying with every shot, and it’s only day 1!

JW: You use the term “equipment sensitivity” in regards to the greats. Where does Tommy fall on a scale of 1-10?

AR: If you ask me, he’s an 11. Master class. If you ask Tommy, he’d probably think he’s a 5 or a 6. He knows far more than he thinks he does, but he’s still a young lad with talent. He has the work ethic and potential to reach the pinnacle of the game. He’s done well to trust his team up to this point but as he grows and succeeds, I think he will start to believe in his instincts around his gear. That stuff comes with time.

JW: Any changes to his iron setup? 

AR: Well it’s a brand new fresh set of irons. I wanted to build a clean set to start. He only played four TaylorMade irons before (6-9), he had a different 4 and 5-iron in his previous setup in their own spec and has always leaned towards a pitching wedge in a different head and shaft to his irons.

In this case, I built two sets for him, one that was flawlessly matched blades (3-PW) and one that was closer to what he had which could blend with a combo. The blades (3-PW) set was built around the new ball, I knew that the combo of a clean matched set in combo with the TP5X ’21 ball that there would be no turning back, a ball striker of his quality, and a golf ball that’s performance is unmatched with long irons would make him a better player. My instincts were correct, the testing just showed the class of the player. He is as dialed in as ever and it’s an absolutely perfect set of irons.

JW: In regards to the wedges, it sounds like that will take a bit longer. What potential options do you have and what was tested?

AR: How can you prove a golf ball performance is better if you are switching wedges at the same time? Impossible not to second guess where the performance is coming from? His wedge play is supreme, and it was more harmonious to leave that part constant to let the ’21 TP5x shine like I knew it would, and boy did he put the ball through its paces…particularly from 125 yards and in…There has to be a constant, and switching the ball and wedges over complicates things for no reason. The ball is impressive, so I wanted it to shine without any distraction.

JW: Tommy’s TF Proto, any tweaks adjustments made VS the P7TW, or are they just stamped differently? We know the lofts will be a bit stronger than TW’s gamers.

AR: No changes beyond being stamped with TF, which is our way of showing him some love.

JW: He was loyal to the M6 fairways for a long time. What did he like in that head and what you were able to improve on with SIM2?

AR: Simply, the new fairways give him better gapping coverage into the irons. He now has a 3-wood that gives him 280 to 260 coverage and a 5-wood that gives him 260-240 coverage. With his 4-iron carry up to 230 yards, his gapping is dialed. Honestly, I’m so impressed with these new TaylorMade SIM2 fairway woods. With the M6 5-wood, he had a club that just went too far, leaving so much room from 5-wood to 4-iron. That caused the 7-woods, GAPR Irons, etc to come into play. Now that hole is plugged up, and he doesn’t have to mess with the bottom part of his bag to accommodate. That’s a huge benefit.

JW: Let’s talk about the ball switch which in my opinion is huge. Where did he see improvement in regards to Driver, irons, and wedges. I noticed Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, and Tommy Fleetwood have quickly switched into this new TaylorMade TP5x ball…Something special is going on when those three names are mentioned?

AR: Since it’s a prototype ball, I can’t say much in regards to the tech, but I will say in 4-5 weeks of testing, the golf ball never failed once. It’ll be exciting to see him grow into this ball even more and I can’t wait to share more on the ball when the time is right.

Where he was: #WITB 2020 Masters

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees @ 8.25, D2 Surefit)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (tipped 1 inch, 44.75 inches)

3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees @ 14.25, C1 Surefit)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black  7 X (42.5 inches)

5-wood: TaylorMade M6 (19 degrees @ 18)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XTS 80 TX (41.25 inches)

7-Wood: Titleist TSi2 (21 degrees, B1 Surefit)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black  8X (41 inches)

*7-Wood and 4 Iron would flip flop along with a TaylorMade GAPR 3 (21 bonded) w/ a Project X 6.5

Irons: Srixon Z785 (4,5), TaylorMade P7TF (6-9)
Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5

Wedges: Callaway MD5 Jaws Raw (48-10S @47, 52-10S, 60-08T @59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue  S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro 3
Grip: SuperStroke Mid Slim 2.0

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (D, 3W, 5W, 7W and wedges), Iomic Sticky @1pm (Irons)

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

New Tommy Fleetwood 2021 TaylorMade #WITB

Driver: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (10.5 @8.5)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana DF 70TX (tipped 1 inch, 44.75 inches cut)

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Rocket (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana DF  70 TX (42.5 inches)

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 (19 degrees @ 18.5)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana DF 80 TX (41.25 inches)

Irons: (4-PW) TaylorMade P7TF
Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5

IRON SPECS: “The Dialed Set”

Loft/Lie/Length/SW

4-22/59/38.5/D3

5-26/59.5/38/D3

6-30/60/37.5/D3

7-34/60.5/37/D3

8-38/61/36.5/D3

9-42/61.5/36/D3

P-47/61.5/35.75/D3

Wedges: Callaway MD5 Jaws Raw (52-10S, 56-10S@55-9, 60-08T @59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue  S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro 3
Grip: SuperStroke Mid Slim 2.0

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (D, 3W, 5W, 7W and wedges), blue Iomic Sticky @1pm (Irons)

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x ’21 Proto #19