Brandt Snedeker is a graduate of Vanderbilt and a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, including the 2012 Tour Championship. He recalls how his approach to equipment changed after he made the transition from amateur to professional.
When you’re in college you just play whatever equipment you like. You get a sense of what you think you like, and you play with it.
Once I turned pro, I changed everything and went with Bridgestone Golf. I changed irons. I changed drivers. I changed wedges. I changed everything except the golf ball. I already was playing the Bridgestone ball in college.
People think you hit it farther when you become a pro, but you actually don’t. I think most guys lose 10 yards when they go from college to pro because you can’t just swing as hard as you want on every shot.
Once you get on Tour everything changes. They measure you for everything and help you get dialed in. They check your ball flight, and you can change how you want the ball to come off the club and how it reacts.
They put you on the monitors that check things like swing speed and spin. They can tell you how much you spin the golf ball and change it however you want. You can tell them what shots you don’t want to see and which ones you’d like to see, and they’ll make the changes.
You begin to pay more and more attention to what works and what doesn’t work. And if there’s something that doesn’t work, they’re able to change it pretty easily.
Once they get it dialed in, I don’t like to mess with it too much. If it starts going bad, I’ll take a look at it, but I like to keep everything the same as long as I can.
About the Author
