A deep dive into Wyndham Clark’s unique, award-winning US-made fixture (more than just a putter!) – GolfWRX

With all the hype surrounding Windham Clark’s racquet at the 2023 US Open, it’s easy to forget that he had 13 other clubs in the bag during his first major championship victory.

While I admit I’ve written a lot about his racket myself – hereAnd here, And Even here – I also wanted to understand more about the rest of his equipment. To recall, Clark turned the chaotic LACC course prep course and stacked Sunday’s leaderboard somewhat snoozes in the final round with his powerful and reliable shot. Obviously, it wasn’t just the bat that separated him from the field. And while Twitter might have led you to believe the course was anything but a flying fest, Clarke was the only player to finish under par double digits this week.

If Clark was under the radar of the general golf crowd before (even after winning the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship), he is no longer.

A quick look at his stats helps show that Clark’s first major championship win was actually gushing just below the surface, poised to burst onto the scene and into the mainstream.

So far in the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season, Titleist employee Clark ranks 14th in strokes gained: total, 25th in strokes earned: approaching the green, 6th in driving distance (314.6 yards), 19th in strokes gained: from Tee, and 19th in the Greens in regulation percentage (68.02 percent). He also ranked fifth in Club Head Speed, averaging 123.44 mph per drive. My offer is also beautiful.

The man is the attacker of the ball, through the pass. He’s also worked hard over the past year or so with Titleist tour rep JJ Van Wezenbeeck—along with Clark’s coach/caddy John Ellis—to dial in his equipment to improve his swing flight and ball.

I caught up with Van Wezenbeeck on Wednesday at the 2023 Travelers Championship (just days after the 2023 US Open) to learn more about Clark’s Titleist setup and recent changes.

Here’s what Van Wiesenbeek had to say about Clark winning the 2023 US Open.

ANDREW TURKEY: I heard Windham probably made a big change to the flat iron lying angle about a year ago? What is the effect of Clark’s lying angles on his iron game?

JG van Wiesenbeek, title player: Yes. He and John’s pack had spent a lot of time in their hammock, and decided to move the lying angles – we’ve actually moved them twice over the last year, and moved things a little flatter from where they had them. [Wyndham and John] They are really good at letting the flight of the ball dictate lie angles, so they work a lot on starting lines and hitting various golf putts.

When his swing gets too biased, it hits hooks in the range. When the position gets too neutral, they will hit big pieces at range, and will use the flight of the ball to help with their lie angle.

Remember what the lying angle changes like, like one degree upright to three degrees flat, or something?

JJ: I don’t think it’s even that basic… It was a scenario where it’s a little bit here, and then there’s a lot. Every club was not the same. It is one situation after another.

It’s not, “I’m one flat guy.”

Each club has its own unique lying angle to promote the ride it wants.

In general, what does turning the lie flat angle of a golf swing do?

JJ: You usually shift your starting lines far to the right for a right-handed golfer. Therefore, while we are moving upright, we will only shift the starting line to the left. When we go flat, we’ll shift this starting line to the right. And since they were working on different things on his swing, they just wanted to make those starting lines match the patterns he was making.

Then with his driver, he’s not an A1. How is his driver set and why?

JJ: Yes, for a mostly biased player, when we first started working together, he was testing some products at the end of 2021.

He wanted some help getting through his heel spur, so with this SureFit track, we could put all the weight into the heel. He’s in H2 mode, so when he hits him with his heel, he doesn’t over-injure him. It helps stabilize the ball’s speed and flights for him.

And then, can you just give people an idea of ​​what Windham-Clark looks like on the launch screen? What stands out?

JJ: It’s interesting to watch. His ability for a player that fast to hit a variety of golf putts on drive – there are a few guys I’ve worked with in the past that reminds me of them, because his stock shot would be kind of in the mid to-upper 180s, with a bit more spin than some of these guys on the PGA Tour. But he has the ability to equalize and drop his spin, getting into the 80s with a high launch and low spin. So he cuts center down to a high straight ball that allows him to take advantage of different holes.

So he’s impressive in range, and he’s one of those guys where we kind of knew the skill set when you see the short game shots he can hit, iron shots he can hit, how well he hits the drive. It was only a matter of time, and I think there’s a lot of discussion on the PGA Tour that when he got his first win he was going to open up more.

Anything else that stands out for Wyndham clubs?

JJ: Well, he’s playing [True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7 shafts] in irons. So he’s in that really heavy and rough scenario with his irons. He has a great grip, so he tries to do a lot to stabilize the ride. And then I think building utility irons into his longest iron, in the T200, you see how versatile that is around the US Open for him where he can fly it off the tee, but then he can hit the high soft pieces that he had to use in A few parity 3 and in some values ​​5.

To watch the full 2023 WITB movie by Wyndham Clark, click here!