Scottie Scheffler Retires Trusty 11-Year-Old Fairway Wood

Find a club you like and stick with it. That’s what Scottie Scheffler did until this year’s WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. After putting pen to paper on an equipment deal with TaylorMade several weeks ago, the 25-year-old has now traded in his trusty 11-year-old Nike VR Pro Limited 3-wood for a TaylorMade Stealth. Talk about end of an era. 

Speaking to Golf.com, Scheffler discussed his history with the 13.5-degree fairway wood that was released back in 2011, as well as the reasons why he liked it so much and has therefore had such a hard time switching into a newer model.

“I put it away for a couple years in college, but I’ve used it the whole time I turned pro, most of my senior year, and pretty much all of high school,” Scheffler said. “I only wasn’t using it for two or three years in there.

“It was really clean, not a lot of loft so I was able to flight it down pretty easily and it was softer than the new 3-woods and for me that’s important. And when I wanted to hit it far, I just teed it up a little higher, hit it higher on the face. I got to know the club really well and for me I knew exactly what I needed to do with it each time.”

Scheffler did have one scare with his loyal companion when the face caved in prior to last year's Sentry Tournament of Champions. However, he was able to source a backup which has survived until now. 

The Texan has finally decided the time is right to switch into a 16.5-degree TaylorMade Stealth 3-wood which, TaylorMade tour rep Todd Chew says, matches up well to the outgoing gamer and actually gives Scheffler the ability to play more shots with it should he wish.  

"His previous 3-wood was about 12.5 degrees of loft and in order to match launch conditions and distance with Stealth, we had to go to the Stealth 3HL, make it an inch shorter and finish the loft at 16 degrees," said Chew.

"We were really close with matching launch conditions which was important to Scottie. The benefits of the 16.5-degree head are that he can hit it much higher and farther if he wants to but also match previous conditions, which were lower and feature more spin."

It's safe to say it doesn't seem to have done him much harm. Scheffler made it three wins in five starts on the PGA Tour at the WGC Match Play, beating Kevin Kisner 4&3 in the final to usurp Jon Rahm as the new World No. 1. As far as debuts go, that's about as good as it gets. 

The Texan is the 25th player to top the men's world rankings since their inception in 1986.