Three victories. One major championship.
In the seven weeks since making their PGA TOUR debut, NEW Titleist TSR drivers have already made their way into the history books.
On Sunday at the Wyndham Championship, 20-year-old Joohyung “Tom” Kim became the first player born in the 2000’s to win on the PGA TOUR, earning immediate full-time membership and entry into this week’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.
In Kim’s bag: A NEW TSR driver – the next generation of the most played driver on the PGA TOUR.
“I had been playing the TSi3 for the longest time and I thought I wasn’t going to change it, but after trying it at TPI, it was just so good that I had to put it in the bag, and it’s been working out really well,” said Kim, who added his NEW TSR3 9.0 driver, along with a NEW TSR3 13.5 fairway, after a recent visit to the Titleist Performance Institute, where he worked with Titleist Tour Rep Dino Antenucci.
“My percentage in the fairway has gone up and, yeah, it’s a keeper. Missed hits, solid hits, it just stays in the wind so well for me, that’s what I’ve had trouble with before and I thought I was going to use the ‘i’ for the rest of the season, but I put it right in the bag because I gained ball speed, gained swing speed, smash factor went up and holds it really well into the wind. So it was great.”
Kim’s victory marked Win No. 3 for the new Titleist driver models since the start of the tour seeding and validation process began in late June at the Travelers Championship.
The second win for TSR came in its major debut at The Open Championship, where Cameron Smith used a NEW TSR3 10.0 driver to lift the Claret Jug at St Andrews.
“Cam loves everything that TSR has brought to the table in terms of ball speed and consistency,” said J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions. “He’s done a bunch of testing with both the TSR2 and TSR3 models, but when it comes to windy conditions, he really likes the feeling of being able to work the ball more. Going with TSR3 in St. Andrews not only helped him flatten his trajectory, it gave him that added workability versus the higher-MOI TSR2, providing him the versatility to shape shots and take advantage of the different winds on different holes.”
Open runner-up Cameron Young, who drove the 18th green to set up his closing eagle, made it a 1-2 finish for TSR driver players at the Old Course. Young finished the week fourth in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green with his TSR3 10.0 model.
“I’ve loved it. I put it right in play,” Young said. “It feels very much like the old one, but just a little faster. And I feel like especially the toe miss for me, I haven’t gotten as much curve out of it, which is obviously a good thing. It seems to be a little bit more consistent on my misses. I’ve put it right in play and it’s been great.”
J.T. Poston became the first player to win with a NEW TSR driver, just one week after the new TSR2, TRS3 and TSR4 models debuted at TPC River Highlands. One of the first players to get fit into the new model, Poston saw a 2 mph jump in ball speed with his TSR3 9.0 compared to his prior generation TSi3.
“That’s definitely further,” Poston remarked to Titleist Tour Rep Jim Curran, after making contact for the first time. “I like the sound of that a lot.”
Poston gained strokes off the tee in all four rounds at TPC Deere Run, while finishing the week with 73.2 percent driving accuracy, 12 percent better than his season average entering the week.
“Can’t say enough about it. It looks, feels, sounds awesome, and picked up a little ball speed right away,” Poston said. “My accuracy has been up. I mean, swinging it well, but even the mishits… they're going straight, which is nice, but they’re also getting out there just about as far as the ones that are hit out of the center. It really, really helps you kind of zero in on accuracy and the distance too.”
The performance of NEW TSR drivers has also made immediate impacts in the Strokes Gained: Off the Tee category.
In its first three weeks on TOUR, TSR driver users bested the field in SG: Off the Tee:
- Davis Riley moved into a TSR3 8.0 driver at the Travelers, where he averaged a career-best and tournament-leading 1.48 strokes gained off the tee per round. His 2.41 strokes gained off the tee during the final round in Hartford was also the best of his career.
Said Riley: “The overall look, the feel is awesome. It’s really good. The mishits are really good. I’m finding really consistent spin across the face no matter where I’m hitting it, so that you’re maxing out your carry numbers every time. It’s what you really want to look for. It’s not how good your good hits are. It’s, ‘How good are your bad hits?’ And just seeing that consistency across the face is really cool.”
- Cameron Davis achieved his best driving performance of the season at the John Deere Classic, gaining a tournament-best 4.69 strokes on the field. Davis switched to his TSR3 8.0 at Travelers after seeing his ball speeds increase 1-2 mph.
- Max Homa made the switch to a NEW TSR3 10.0 driver at the Scottish Open, gaining 4.47 strokes over the field. Said Homa: “I actually like the sound quite a bit. Sounds like you’re smashing it, which is nice. … I did notice that the spin didn’t change as much when you mishit it. The heel and toe strikes kept the spin a little closer to your good ones. That’s obviously something I think everybody would be happy to have. … It’s a mile an hour faster for me, just ball speed. So, yeah. It just doesn’t feel like any reason not to use it.”
In total, 60 players have already put a NEW TSR2, TSR3 or TSR4 model in play on the PGA TOUR. That group also includes
Will Zalatoris, along with
Justin Thomas, who put his NEW TSR3 10.0 driver in play for the first time Thursday to open the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“It’s obviously an interesting time of year to make a driver change, heading into the playoffs, but after some really great testing early on with TSR3, JT was able to spend some more time with it after the Open Championship,” J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions
“The top priority for JT with driver is performance on all of the variety of shots he likes to hit, from the low, piercing cut to the high draw and everything in between. He’s also looking for that classic shaping, a very clean look, and a driver that sounds great. TSR checked all of those boxes for him.
“He clearly had great results with TSi, he won a major with it this year, but with TSR he’s seen an uptick in ball speed with just incredible consistency off the face. He keeps mentioning how consistent his speed, launch and spin numbers are on off-center hits. For a tour player who’s trying to hit a variety of shots on these very difficult golf courses, it’s that consistency that really allows him to perform at his best.”
“The biggest difference is the spin,” Thomas told PGATOUR.com. “When I heel it, it doesn’t spin crazy high and when I toe it, it’s somehow spinning a little more. It’s unbelievable in terms of misses.”