This is it — the final event of the season. The PGA TOUR has made its way to Atlanta, GA for the TOUR Championship where Titleist Brand Ambassador Justin Thomas enters as the top seed on the FedEx Cup Leaderboard following his convincing win at the BMW Championship. Justin will tee off today with a beginning score of 10-under-par, two shots ahead of his nearest competitor.
Justin Thomas has been a human highlight reel this season so we decided to take a closer look at what's in his bag to see how his setup has aided his recent success.
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Justin Thomas: Pro V1x golf ball, TS3 driver (9.5°), TS3 fairway metal (15°), 915 Fd fairway metal (18°), T100 (4) and 718 MB (5-9) irons, Vokey Design SM7 pitching (47.5 F Grind), gap (52.5 F Grind), sand (57 F Grind) and lob (60.5 K Grind) wedges, Scotty Cameron Custom X5 putter.
BALL
What's the one piece of equipment Justin uses on every shot? His Pro V1x golf ball.
"I was looking to get a little more spin,” Thomas said. “Sometimes my longer irons, 6-iron and up, sometimes my ball flight can get a little flat and won’t hold the greens quite as well, and obviously more spin around the greens is good, too — just to have more versatility and different shots. So for me, I felt like if I could add a little more spin to my game it could be a benefit."
“The testing I did [with Titleist Golf Ball Rep Fordie Pitts at the Bear’s Club] was great. My distance control with Pro V1x was great right away, which is most important, obviously. In switching, you need to be able to have the control to hit the ball the distances you want and the spin that you want. I definitely saw a little more height in my irons, which is something I started looking at through the ball fitting process. The peak height of my long irons — they were getting down into the high 70s and low 80s (feet) as opposed to the mid-to-high-80s or even the 90s for me to be able to hold the greens. And that was something I started to see with the Pro V1x, and I definitely had a little more spin around the greens.”
Watch how Justin marks his Pro V1x:
DRIVER
Justin was involved early on in the shaping of the TS driver. He has a great eye and was keen on ways to make the TS3 as good as it is, according to Tileist Tour Rep JJ VanWezenbeeck. “That being said, performance always trumps looks for JT. He really loved the ball speeds he was seeing in the early prototype testing, then during our commercial shoot players' week, he was able to hit the final product and see all TS had to offer him in terms of total performance. He is in a B1 setting to help with face strike location that moved him in at Phoenix 2017,” VanWezenbeeck said.
3-WOOD
“He moved to the Tensei Blue 80 at New Orleans looking for a little more stability and it’s been one of his favorite clubs since,” VanWezenBeeck said. “The TS3 has provided him preferred head shape, as well as great ball speeds that gives him a versatile club he can turn over off the tee or cut off the ground in to long par 5's. This week at East Lake it will be a key tee club for him off some of the par 4's.”
5-WOOD
JT still plays a 915 Fd. Early in his career he played a hybrid, but as he moved to the PGA TOUR he needed a club for some par 5's that had some height. This is a specific distance club for Justin so the TS series has some ball speed increases that effect his gaping.
4 IRON
“At our commercial shoot at Scioto, JT saw the T100 for the first time,” VanWezenbeeck said. “The top of his iron set has been an area where he’s been looking for a little more launch but having a club that is still pleasing in shape and offset. The T100 solved all of these in one shot. He asked to take this club from the shoot and wanted to play it that week. It is part of the reason the launch was moved up because it was such a performance difference in terms of launch, ball speed, and forgiveness compared to his 718 CB.”
5-9 IRONS
JT is playing 718 MB's. He was all ready to put in the 620’s for the playoff run, but ran out of practice days to feel 100%. “We always want our players to feel 100% confident before making a change in to any product. Justing loved the clean looks the 620 provided and the new offsets — we foresee him making the change during his off time before the fall season,” VanWezenBeeck said.
WEDGES
“A lot of this comes down to comfort, the type of shots they [TOUR Players] want to play, the technique that they use from course to course and certainly the golf courses that they play,” said Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill. For Justin, this translates into a wedge setup with grinds that feature high bounce. “Justin is a little bit steeper and his ball flight is a little bit higher,” Dill said.
PUTTER
Bouncing back and forth between a few different Scotty Cameron models, switching between blades and mallets, Justin is back using his SC-X5 — the same putter he used to capture his first major tournament victory (2017 PGA Championship).
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Good luck to Justin at East Lake!