{"id":15393146,"date":"2020-04-25T00:35:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T00:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prod-oct-27-golf-com.pantheonsite.io\/?page_id=15393146"},"modified":"2024-12-21T11:09:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T16:09:23","slug":"drivers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/golf.com\/gear\/drivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Latest in Drivers <\/h2>\n
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Will Zalatoris made his long-awaited return to the course two weeks ago at the Sentry Tournament of Champions<\/a> following a five-month layoff due to two herniated disks in his lower back. Much of the downtime was spent rehabbing the back \u2014 and getting married<\/a> \u2014 outside of trip to the Titleist Performance Institute in December to work with Dr. Greg Rose on possible ways to prevent a future injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversations with Dr. Rose eventually led to offseason swing changes he implemented for the first time in competition in Hawaii. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"[T]he big thing for me is we spent a lot of time understanding the pressures of my golf swing and understanding how I push off my right side,\" Zalatoris said. \"And I do it later than a lot of guys, so what that does for someone with a lot of side bend is that gets my right hip high and on my spine\u2019s tilted back, and so as Dr. Rose said, duh, no wonder I had a back issue.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coinciding with the swing changes, Zalatoris also made a minor modification to his Titleist TSR3 driver<\/a> that's hidden in plain sight \u2014 outside of a number written in black permanent marker on the head: 44.75. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number is the current length of Zalatoris' gamer, which happens to be an inch-and-a-quarter shorter than his previous at 46-inch build. During an interview on the latest edition of GOLF's<\/em> Fully Equipped podcast<\/a>, Zalatoris revealed the shorter length has sapped some of his distance, but not to the point where he's ready to go back to the previous 46-inch build. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In fact, it has<\/em> improved a valuable area of his driver game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The beauty is I'm actually only a mile per hour slower because I'm more efficient,\" Zalatoris said. \"That's going back to working with [Dr. Greg Rose] on everything.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 46 inches, Zalatoris boasted one of the longer driver builds on Tour last season. At his current length, he's right in line with the average driver length<\/a> on the PGA Tour, a number that might seem short by today's 45.5-inch retail average. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are obviously pros and cons to going shorter, and it greatly depends on whether the driver is a weapon or one of the weakest clubs in the bag. If a slice is the most common miss, going shorter can make it easier to square up the head at impact, thereby improving your chances of center face contact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most cases, going shorter to gain accuracy is the way to go, even if it means sacrificing carry distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Zalatoris, who 11th last season in SG: Off-the-tee, he was able to give up the added length and not skip a beat. (During the Tournament of Champions, he ranked 5th in driving distance.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the shorter driver length seems to fit Zalatoris at the moment, he's not sold on sticking with the build longterm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"I would love to [go back to 46 inches], especially after going around [PGA West],\" Zalatoris said. \"I'm looking at some of the bunkers where it's a 325-yard carry and saying, 'dammit.' I probably will [go back] at some point, but I'm still getting my feet wet coming back. I just want to see how my body reacts.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to overhaul your bag for 2023? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF\u2019s affiliate company <\/em>True Spec Golf.<\/em><\/a> For more on the latest gear news and information, check out Fully Equipped podcast below<\/em>.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n