Akshay Bhatia began his TOUR Championship debut ranked No 19 within the FedExCup rankings leaving him loads of work to do to catch as much as the leaders.
Bhatia, who started the week eight photographs behind No.1 Scottie Scheffler within the Beginning Strokes format, is experimenting along with his tools as a result of greens at East Lake Golf Membership being firmer than they had been in earlier years after a restoration undertaking.
Essentially the most noticeable addition to Bhatia’s assortment in Atlanta is a Callaway Ai Smoke Paradym Ti340 Mini Driver. In line with Bhatia, he enjoys drawing the ball off the tee and feels extra snug taking pictures a managed draw when utilizing the mini-driver.
“I feel there’s a very good likelihood (I’m switching into the mini driver) this week,” mentioned the 22-year-old in the beginning of the week. “If I’ve restricted begin traces, I can draw a driver, but when I’ve this mini driver to the place I can flip it so much simpler, then it’s a pleasant possibility.
“I can hit (my hybrid) 260 yards – and 3-wood for me can both be actually good, or I can hit it off the heel someday, or I can get a scorching pull. It’s simply very inconsistent for me. So the mini driver provides me extra choices; it’s sooner, however it spins a bit extra, so the consistency of the ball flight is tighter, and that’s what I would like.”
His Callaway Rogue ST driver stays within the bag, however Bhatia is switching right into a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft for added pace and management.
“It positively feels prefer it kicks a bit extra, and so after I really feel just like the shaft is absolutely stiff, I really feel such as you lose management off the face, no less than for me,” Bhatia mentioned. “Really my pace’s gone up like 2 mph.”
Bhatia additionally opted for a ball change to assist cope with the scaled-up inexperienced firmness at East Lake.
“I’m going to the softer golf ball, so from the (Callaway Chrome) Tour X to the Tour,” Bhatia mentioned.
“Clearly the greens are actually agency this week. Softer for me, like, you wish to win main championships, you have to hit it greater and softer. And the golf ball I play is a lower-spinning ball, which is nice, say, 16 weeks out of the 12 months, however then you definately’ve obtained 4 majors after which, clearly, some Signature Occasions play fairly agency.
“I’ve needed to make this swap for a very long time. I really feel like there’s no higher cause to do it than this week. I imply, it’s type of a free-for-all and making an attempt to get used to the golf ball, and prep for the majors and a few of the greater occasions.”
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