How A Cart Path Helped Forge Collin Morikawa's Irons For The Open Championship
Morikawa changed his irons to deal with the links turf prior to The Open, with the two-time Major winner going to extreme lengths to get the correct set-up
Players will do pretty much anything to get their set-ups correct ahead of the Majors, with Collin Morikawa doing just that prior to The Open Championship.
On Tuesday, the former Champion Golfer of the Year revealed that he changes his irons whenever he crosses the pond, with Morikawa claiming it stems from the contact with the hard turf links golf throws up.
In fact, Morikawa goes to extreme lengths to get the correct set-up, with the full process being explained by TaylorMade.
Opting to skip the Genesis Scottish Open, Morikawa was sent two different iron configurations to test at home - a custom set of TaylorMade P7CBs and a set of TaylorMade P7MCs.
According to TaylorMade, the custom P7CB featured "a specially developed sole package with modifications to both the leading edge and sole geometry.
"These changes were specifically designed to improve entry into firmer turf while maintaining enough effective bounce to prevent excessive digging."
P7MC, meanwhile, has the narrowest sole of the P Series range, which has less bounce and allows the club to make impact with the firm ground with very little resistance.
That wasn't the end of it, though, as the testing process Morikawa put the irons through has become the main talking point.
Instead of hitting the clubs off grass, the 29-year-old hit them off a cart path, which helped show where the sole was making contact with the surface.
TaylorMade states that: "By comparing the wear patterns between the different sole geometrics, Collin was effectively able to visualize how each iron would behave on links turf before arriving in Southport."
Eventually, Morikawa landed on the P7MC, due to the turf interaction from the narrow sole.
Carding a two-under 68 first round at Royal Birkdale, Morikawa finds himself three strokes back of leader Jackson Suber.
Producing five birdies and three bogeys, Morikawa ranked second in Greens in Regulation, while he was fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach, a metric where he has ranked highly all season.
In fact, Morikawa is second in SG: Approach for the whole of the PGA Tour, while he is seventh in Greens in Regulation Percentage.
