COLLIN MORIKAWA

Collin was our Achilles’ heel last year, as he never switched into the SIM2, but don’t forget he had the year of his life and won two Majors with SIM. We started testing the Stealth with Collin the week after the US Open (at Torrey Pines in 2021).

Come the marketing shoot in Florida in November he was very close to being ready with Stealth Plus, the product was faster than his SIM with exactly the same levels of dispersion. You have to realise with Collin, if he sees one drive go left he doesn’t want to hit the product again. We spent 40 minutes getting shots to turn over so Rory, Tommy and Sergio had the right-to-left ball flight they wanted, then the same amount of time with Collin and DJ getting the ball to move in the opposite direction, all from the same driver head. That’s really impressive. Collin needed to get a head that sat flat enough to suit his eye; we used machines to measure and match everything exactly to his previous SIM. We tested with the adjustable sole weight in a neutral setting, which he saw good results with, but we dialled in the weight to get the ball to start left and fall back right onto the target in the way that Collin really likes.

After seeing such success with SIM, it’s testament to the Stealth Plus that he’s started the year with 3-4mph more ball speed, while seeing no other change to his driving. For his ball flight and launch conditions you’re looking at a 2.5-yard gain per each extra mph of ball speed, so he’s picked up 8-10 yards on a good hit and at least 10 yards on a mishit.

We’ve definitely seen that when Collin misses it with Stealth, the ball speed is higher than a good one with his old driver. He’s said to himself, “I’m giving something up if I don’t play this driver”. He’s a master of deciphering that, too. If a club isn’t better for him, he just doesn’t play it. With the same