The mid-season driver change that’s launching Xander Schauffele into the 2023 PGA Championship

Seven-time PGA TOUR winner Xander Schauffele is still looking for the first major victory of his career, but he’s riding a wave of momentum into the 2023 PGA Championship.

Starting at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in late March where he was T5, Schauffele has recorded five straight top-10s, a career best streak. It includes a T10 at the Masters and a second in his most recent start, the Wells Fargo Championship.

In his three events prior to the Match Play, however, Schauffele finished T33 at the Genesis Invitational, T39 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and T19 at THE PLAYERS Championship.

What was the difference between the cold and hot stretches?

Well, during Schauffele’s week off prior to the Match Play, he spent about four hours with the Callaway team, working to dial in his driver-shaft combination.

At the beginning of the season, Schauffele switched into a 10.5-degree Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver, adjusted to the minus-1 loft setting (which made the driver measure about 9.5 degrees). He also continued playing a Mitsubishi Kai’li White 70TX shaft that he used previously.

During the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Schauffele gave Kellen Watson a call. Watson is a Callaway PGA TOUR representative and fitter who works with Schauffele on his equipment.

They needed to figure something out.

Schauffele’s misses were wayward, he wasn’t syncing up his swing to the shaft, and even his good drives weren’t curving quite as expected. So, Watson flew to Carlsbad, Calif., during Schauffele’s week off before the Match Play to have an extended fitting session.

And figure it out, they did.

As Watson explained to GolfWRX.com Monday, Schauffele has been increasing speed over the last several years and he’s worked to have a more upward angle of attack with the driver. Additionally, as part of his natural transition move, Schauffele pulls down aggressively on the handle of the shaft.

After trying a bevy of shafts from different manufacturers, Watson and Schauffele found the cure with a Mitsubishi Diamana PD shaft that has an active section in the handle, but a strong middle and tip section. It was just the combination that Schauffele needed to increase stability.

“With the shaft he was using, he just wasn’t syncing it up with the handle and the tip section, and it started to become more noticeable at Bay Hill,” Watson said. “With the Diamana PD, it’s a little softer in the handle and a little bit more stable in the tip, which allowed him to pull down hard on the handle like he wants to be able to feel.”

To go along with the shaft change, Watson also adjusted the hosel setting back into the neutral position (instead of minus-1), which returned the driver head to its original 10.5-degree loft. He also adjusted the weights in the sole of the driver to match Schauffele’s specs and dial in the launch-spin characteristics.

After the switch, Schauffele was hitting better flight windows, tightened up the dispersion, and his draws/fades became more predictable.

The shaft switch helped Schauffele find his groove again.

His next test is this week’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill, where the long yardage and thick rough will place extra importance on driving the ball well.

Luckily, Schauffele and Watson already put the time in. Now, it’s all in the execution in a bid to win his first major.