Davis Riley, winner of the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge, joins us to discuss the clubs he used to win on the Pga Tour. He plays a unique Titleist T Series iron setup and also uses slightly softer shafts in his irons. Davis also fills us in on how he was wearing the wrong sized shoes for years and the correct size helps with his swing.
all right everybody we uh have a special kind of day today we get to be joined by a just very recent PGA Tour winner Davis Riley thanks for taking some time man congratulations on the win thanks for joining us I know You’ probably been pretty busy after a big win like that at the Charles Schwab yeah know first thank you I appreciate it no it’s a super exciting week and obviously doing it so close to home being a being a Dallas guy in the recent years uh know it was a it was a dream week that’s pretty awesome and and it’s so interesting I mean you know everybody says on tour you know when talked to to recent winners about how hard it is to win out on tour I mean this is your second PGA Tour win how good does it feel to get that under your belt and you know does that give you a little bit more confidence going forward uh you know throughout the rest of the year yeah for sure no getting that second win was super special and uh yeah it was uh it’s never easy no matter how shot lead you have and especially when you got the number one player in the world breathing down your neck it’s you know it’s going to be a CH uh but no super fun week and uh you had to do it and uh pretty cool fashion to win by a couple was was awesome and I’m just over the moon and I’m super excited about kind of the doors this open adding some events to schedule and uh I’m really looking forward to it yeah that’s pretty cool yeah congratulations again it was it was fun to watch this weekend and like you said it was some uh some good golf which is which is always exciting and uh yeah here at golf W we’re Gearheads so definitely want to kind of jump into a little bit of your bag because you do play well I won’t call like a crazy unique setup you definitely have a little bit of a unique setup with the irons uh combo sets are kind of getting bigger and bigger in the amateur world uh we see it a little bit more on out on tour but you’ve kind of blending three different Titleist irons into your Set uh so so just an overview like what what kind of brought that about I mean to bring in you know kind of a different three iron uh and then you’ve got you know the 4 through 7 or 4 through six being a different Iron and then you know moving into another set of irons for the rest of it what was kind of the theory behind that when you started putting that together yeah it’s it’s funny I’ve had kind of had this pseudo combo set for I mean gosh ever ever since I can remember probably you know when I was in high school and college and stuff so I’ve done it for years um but yeah I’ve always you know I’ve play the 620 MB now I’ve always just loved the classic look of the um muscle back iron and and I’m a guy who likes to I’m always taking you know yards off a shot I love to work it both ways so I feel like the um MB just kind of gives me that you have the luxury of that and then just looking down at it just that classic blade look I love a lot and uh yeah the latter part in the t100’s that was pretty recent so I spent I remember at San Diego spend a lot of time with JJ and Jim Curran two amazing reps we have out there I’m having those guys are is amazing and uh yeah I was actually in the CB and I found with the t00 I had more consistent uh Apex height and uh spin numbers so it was pretty interesting that what we saw there and it was kind of a kind of a no-brainer switch so I was super excited about getting into the t100’s um they were amazing and then obviously I have the T200 and the three iron um um I love that club I actually played it this last week and uh it’s one of my favorite clubs in the bag and I you just with that one you have the luxury of looking down at that you know classic players um iron look and then you kind of have the Forgiveness of the big you know utility iron or hybrid so it kind of has the be you have the best of both worlds with it and uh yeah and that’s been a been a great addition to the bag yeah I was gonna ask because I mean you have that T200 there or yeah t2003 iron and I know we we shot your bag a little earlier in the year and you actually had a tsr2 hybrid in the bag uh as well uh does the T200 kind of is that something that you kind of go between between the tsr2 hybrid and the the t2003 iron or is it something that like like you just put in for certain courses or something like that or is that now been replaced with the t2003 iron right yeah I mean I carry them both every week yeah so it it a lot of it tailor to the course and I found myself playing it this week because I feel like there were a lot of three irons off the te you know being here in Fort Worth you know it’s pretty dry it was firm so it’s a club you can kind of for me I carried about 235 yards so it’s a club that I feel like I can just find the Fairway you know a lot of the time with and and around a colonial you need that kind of security blanket where you can get it far enough you know where you have a reasonable Club in but you know kind of with a lot of accuracy so I I switch I would say it’s fairly 5050 to be quite honest with you and I I love both of them they kind of fit different purposes you know the hybrid’s a lot more when I’ve got medium length par fives I’m kind of hitting into when I’ve got to you know get a little extra you know I hit that club about 250 um so quite a few of the par fivs and um and maybe some longer par 3s but uh yeah kind of switch in between those two yeah it was interesting because like I said looking back at some of your what’s in the bag stuff when you after your won as we were putting it together kind of noticed that well oh that wasn’t there but you know it’s been there previously and uh and then at the other side of the back like you mentioned you play the 620 MB at the you know the the the lower end of the bag but then you do play a vogi pitching wedge and I know people especially amateurs or more skilled amateurs kind of run that fence of seeing a lot of pros play kind of a sand wedge style pitching wedge and they kind of Wonder like what’s kind of the difference for you instead of playing the 620 MB pitching wedge going to the vogi sm10 the 46 degree what’s kind of performance difference that you see out there yeah for sure I honestly I think it’s a lot of a comfort thing um I because I feel like there’s something about stepping over a wedge that gives me Comfort I’m like okay I’m close to the hole I feel like I should this close I mean so and I love I love the Vogies as well as you know the 620 MB but there was uh not too much Rhyme or Reason to it just I love the classic look of the vogi um looking down at it and just something about having a wedge in your hand just kind of feels like all right let’s attack this thing um so it’s kind of a comfort thing I feel like more than anything gotcha so you’re not playing Just for because I think a lot of people like look at it as going you know is it gonna you know change a spin rate is it going to change you know launch angle thing like that uh where yeah do you if it’s just kind of a a the transition into the rest of the wedges that makes sense as well yeah for sure and like and like you said you you kind of people can get in that little Crossroads of like okay do I go with the vogi or do I go with the you know the um T100 set or whatever Titleist you know Iron it might be um but yeah I mean you can kind of fit the law similarly and I just feel like it’s just having a vogi I feel like I can kind of flight it take some stuff so there might be a little bit more playability there um just being a wedge but you know you know they both look so good you can’t really go wrong either way yep uh and then another thing that I found interesting when you look at kind of your bag in general and it seems like your tsr3 driver extremely stiff Stout profile shaft you look at hybrid uh and even utility iron you know three iron very stiff very you know low launch low spin stiff profiles and then you get into irons and it’s while it’s a low launch low spin shaft it’s the the 125 it’s not the 130 uh why do you go a little softer in the irons yeah you know I’ve played that shaft for so long and I I think it’s just like I’ve gotten so used to it that I I’ve tried the you know the x130 but it’s a thing like I don’t know just that feel the shaft I’m so used to it like it’s just hard for me to kind of get out of it because i’ I’ve played that I’ve played that shaft since high school it’s crazy so I’ve played it for I mean gosh years and years now so I think it’s a comfort thing and and i’ and we’re seeing really good spin numbers and launch conditions with it so I I haven’t seen much reason to change and um but yeah in in the um woods and stuff I definitely play the stiffer and low spinning stuff just being typically a high spin guy highe speed guy um you know there’s been a lot of you know trial and error there but we found a really good formula um with those shafts you know a lot of those ventage shafts and then the Hazardous and um the driver um but yeah I’m I’m just a high spin High launch guy so we’re just trying everything we can do to kind of bring me back to neutral and get those proper launch conditions yeah and then I would assume you kind of like you you kind of transition that into wedges as well I mean going with S400 as opposed to say X100 uh is kind of the same thing a little bit more feel a little softer something you’re used to when you look at the rest of the Vogies in the back I think just trying to put a finger on it it’s probably just because like I had mentioned I’m just such a like with my irons I just kind of like to be an artist I’m always taking you know hitting a you know taking 10 yards off with a cut okay I’m kind of back foot drawing a you know um you know an iron trying to draw it in there I think it’s just more because I play like I love feel and I maybe that softness gives me a little bit more feel as opposed to you know an x130 or you know a stiffer you know X100 in the wedges or something like that yep yeah no uh like I said it was just an interesting observation just overall but it makes total sense when you start explaining it like that um and and you kind of mentioned you know spin rates launch angle all that I mean is that something that you’re into all the time I mean I know I know there players on tour who kind of like just hand me the club I’m going to go hit it and then there’s other players who are very dialed into to what their numbers are and trying to you know achieve different numbers and things like that are you more on kind of the that Tech side of following up with that or are you more you know the FI just let me get over the shot and kind of visualize it and hit it for sure I I am very I am into it a lot I it’s something that me and my coach and obviously have spent a lot of time with the two reps out there um Jim JJ and you know a bunch of other guys um spent a lot of time with them but yeah certainly something that we’re looking at you know having that there’s a fine line between having that fi but at the same time we need to make sure these spin numbers and launch conditions are optimized and that’s what a lot of players are trying to do they’re trying to get everything optimized and my coach helps me out a lot with that because he’s probably knows a lot more about it than I do and to a rep so they kind of help guide me and and it’s and it’s a thing too like I I know when I get in tournaments and I see a driver that I’m like hey it’s feeling a little spinny right now hey it’s like launching a little high so and then it’s nice to have um you know all the data to hit some shots and kind of take a look at and say hey okay this is kind of where we’re Loose Ends we can kind of play around with the settings and the driver play around with the Loft and and I’ve obviously and I I’ve spent a lot of time with actually the CG weight in the back so we’ve made uh a bunch of tweaks to kind of get it right where we want it that’s awesome and are you a guy who kind of changes a lot or like you know if there’s anything new are you trying it or you kind of once you find the the Right Mix you kind of just stick with it and roll with it uh until you feel like okay A Change might need to be made uh you know are you a swapper or a tinker or no yeah no I don’t Tinker a lot no I really don’t when I kind of find something I like I’m like okay and if it’s working I’m like I kind of like this but also at the same time I get really excited when I step on the Range and they’re they launch a new new driver new iron and stuff I always want to try it out but like I know what works well for me so I gotta like kind of hone myself in from that like oh this is Christmas I just want to hit everything new kind of thing so it’s like you the fal line between saying hey this is what works for me and then you know hey is this you know and a lot of times it does the new stuff that’s the beauty of title it’s like the new stuff always just gets better and better so it’s hard not to switch but also at the same time what’s uh going to give me the best Comfort out there yep yeah and then you know talking about switches I know uh bwise you you you’ve recently made a switch as well you were playing prov1 Left Dot and now you’re just playing the standard prov1 but you also did kind of mess with the prov1x for a little bit as well just trying to trying to figure it out what would made what made you switch into the new prov1 from the left dot yeah for sure I would say yeah like you said I played the left dot for a lot my rookie year and man I had a lot of success with it but then as some things I was working on my swing I kind of saw like okay the launch and spin was getting a little low then I tinkered around the pro 1X and then I kind of went the other way and then the brand new prov1 was like the perfect ball so and uh yeah I I switched to that you know Midway actually you know a handful of months ago I think I spent a lot of time with 40 um our ball guy out there and he I think it was around Saw Grass time so around that four to swing we switched back to that uh Prov one and it’s been amazing it brought the launch with a spin and the launch and spin with driver perfect the long irons and it was just kind of the perfect ball for me yeah and is it true I mean when you when you talk to tour players I mean we’ve heard the rumor that you know the golf ball is one of the harder things to change because you do hit it with every single every single Club every single shot whether it’s you know trying to bomb a drive whether you’re trying to hit you know something short and spinny is it really the hardest thing to change when it comes to equipment for for you guys out on T oh 100% it’s very difficult just because you get so used to the feel you get I mean just little things like you get used to like how you chip with and how little chips are running out and stuff like it it’s the I mean it’s probably the most it’s one of the most important pieces of equipment you’re using it every single time and you can’t hardly say that about a lot of things but it’s uh it’s so important you just get little used to the little nuances of it and then you kind of hit something you’re like like wow that was kind of different or like just seeing it how it performs in the wind and stuff like that and that’s and honestly with the Prov honestly both the Prov ons having you know played both of them like they’re so stable in the wind it’s crazy they’re both so good in the wind and and it’s just the prov1 was that last little piece I feel like it just optimized all my spin and launch conditions and like for you to make a change of of a ball like that where you go from you know one ball to a totally different model like what’s the time frame for that like when you finally say okay like I think I’m going to make the change it looks like numbers whatever is it like instant I just have confidence go out and play or is it I need to get a few you know a few rounds under my belt before I put it play in a tournament or something like that for sure I I definitely there’s there’s kind of a phase of it I feel like the first phase is like okay let’s get this thing on our launch monitor whatever it is let’s get a really good sample size of golf balls and see get a baseline as comparative to the other ball and it’s like okay this is performing better let’s go on the course and get used to it because there’s things like hey this ball might perform Better In The Wind you might not get that hurt of 10 or 15 yards in a 15 mph wind as you would this new ball so it’s a learning stuff like that and like hey this ball might not curve quite as much for you so it’s like I think it’s like okay this ball is better now let’s get used to the things that’s making me better at and getting it on the course and I and to put actual time frame if I feel like if I get a ball that I know is better and I’ve seen the data and it’s optimized like I think a week or two at home I can go play that ball in you know two or three weeks time like it it doesn’t take too long I just feel like I just need to get in that controlled environment see the data then okay let me just get a handful of rounds under my belt then I’m like okay I’m confident in this let’s go game with it nice yeah that’s actually I mean that’s a little shorter time frame than I would have thought but it makes a lot of sense you know between range and course time if you get a week in there I mean probably you know quite a bit quite a few shots from almost every Club in the bag that you’re going to get kind of dialed in for sure and that’s the thing too it kind of um and that’s the thing with the tus golf ball it’s like oh dude how can this get any better I’m like I love this ball and then they do this and they show like oh wow your spin numbers got this much better you picked up x amount of yards with the driver and it’s like well crap how can I not play this so it’s better and I know it is and uh it’s crazy how they keep doing it but yeah I’ve just uh I’ve really enjoyed the new stuff and the new uh prov1 is obviously huge you know reason why I was able to play so well last week the wind was up the greens are firm and I knew I knew exactly what I was getting now that’s pretty cool the the last piece of gear I want to ask you about which was actually brought to me by by somebody which I had no idea with was your Footwear you interesting interestingly enough have been wearing FootJoy Shoes for a long long long time but you you some somewhat recently found out that you were actually wearing the wrong size for years and years and years so what what happened here what what happened with this shoe size change yeah yeah it was actually really funny this was back when I was on corn fairy and I was at the time this was during covid and um being you know top 10 on the corn fairy list we got into opposite field events I remember I was playing the Barbera in Kentucky um good longtime friend Bubba Krueger um has been great to me for years but anyways he came out walked a practice round and he was like he washed a couple holes I knew he was kind of looking at my shoes and feet and I’m like what’s going on here and he’s like dude I think I’m looking at your foot you’re losing like your stability in your right foot and like I think your shoes are too big and it’s like it’s like something I’ve never thought about and it’s funny like that’s something I work on to this day is like loading my right foot my right leg and and it just shows you how big and like I mean it’s it’s the one piece of equipment that you know connects you to the ground yeah know and he sent me some shoes like he’s like hey I’m gon send you some like size0 shoes cuz I was wearing 11 at the time and I was like okay I’ll try them out so I put them on I’m like whoa this is like different I was like how are you I guess you’re that good how did you figure out my shoe sizes like playing such a big factor here but anyways yeah I I tried the size t on and I was like dang I’m way more connected to the ground here and yeah I’m still wearing that same shy shoe ever since Bubba caught it back in Kentucky that I mean that’s just crazy to thing I mean you would have thought like you know just I mean over the years I think any of us who you know from kids on we would try and shoes with our parents and you know these feel good yeah they’re fine and whatever but it’s pretty funny that you went that and then all of a sudden you know late you know kind of middle of your career all of a sudden hey you’re wearing the wrong size shoe yeah yeah like you couldn’t have told me this a couple years [Laughter] earlier so’s still wearing tents now and then and and you you’ve actually noticed the difference I mean you can tell like when you know through the swing the the ground control is a little different oh 100% like especially in my right foot in the back swing like loading like if you don’t have that stability around your foot and around the ankle like you’re going to roll in the shoe and like having that like compactness and like stability like it it it honestly Chang I mean a kind of a light bulb went off and I was like whoa okay this is different and uh and it’s it was crazy how it worked out because it’s honestly something I would have never thought about um and it’s uh it’s been crazy how you know good it’s been and like having that connection to the ground is huge that’s pretty funny yeah that’s that’s got to be probably one of the most interesting gear stories you’ll hear in a while so that’s pretty funny well David say I know you get you’re busy guy you got a lot going on uh thank you so much for kind of going through the bag it was fun kind of getting your thoughts on on what you’re playing and why and congratulations again on winning the Charles Schwab that was just uh it’s an awesome Victory and you know hopefully you know we’ll wish you the best of luck for the rest of the year hopefully we’ll see some more great finishes yeah no I appreciate you buddy thanks for having me on and uh yeah I’m looking forward to the next and trying to get that next one
2 Comments
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Great video let’s go