Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

“Golf is a game played by human beings. Therefore, it is a game of mistakes. Successful golfers know how to respond to mistakes.”

I’ve always liked that thought. It comes from “Golf Is Not A Perfect Game,” the well-read book from Dr. Bob Rotella, the famed sports psychologist. And over the past week, we saw some of that play out — from three golfers, interestingly. One rebound has been seen over the past few weeks. Another played out over a few years. The third, even longer. 

Let’s look, then, at what Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Anthony Kim did. And let’s try to learn. Can’t hurt.   

Scottie Scheffler’s slow-start struggles 

What the struggle was: Slow starts. Two weeks ago at the WM Phoenix Open, Scheffler opened with a 73. Last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Scheffler opened with a 72. This week at the Genesis Invitational, more of the same — Scheffler shot a 74 in the first round. 

What followed: At Phoenix, Scheffler tied for third, and at Pebble Beach, he tied for fourth. On Friday, he shot a second-round 68. 

How he responded: Scheffler said he stayed calm. And calm is not panicking. And panicking is blowing things up. 

“I think these are some of the weeks when you look back,” Scheffler said Sunday, “I’m very proud of sticking with it, not giving up even when I felt like things were going against me this week. Just kept fighting, kept trying to hit shots, kept trying to execute.”  

He added this, too: “Sometimes it’s just scoring stuff. Like we came around here the first round and I looked at Teddy [caddie Ted Scott] about the 15th, 16th hole and I feel like I’m doing kind of good and I’m 10 shots back. It’s a funny game. Sometimes things go your way and sometimes things don’t.”

Collin Morikawa’s two-plus-year winless drought 

What the struggle was: Morikawa won the 2023 Zozo Championship. Then he searched for two-plus years. 

What followed: Morikawa won last week at Pebble. 

How he responded: Morikawa said when he was young, he played golf. Then he got older, and he went fishing, looking for new methods. All of it was in good spirit — he wanted to win more. But one thought, he said, helped him win again: Just play golf, man. 

“I think I’ve been trying to make golf so perfect trying to hit these shots and trying to make these putts in a certain way,” Morikawa said Sunday, “that maybe others are doing it that you forget how to play the game of golf. 

“I think looking back when I was 10, 12, 15 growing up on Chevy Chase, playing 10 holes, dropping three balls, like I played golf. 

“And I’ve gone so far away from that, that creativity that I think the last two days, I went to go play golf. I caught myself today even after the bogey on 5 — I was like, man, I love being in this position. Like I hadn’t felt that in such a long time. And you feel that in the team events, you feel that here and there, but I just told myself like, man, like it just felt so good to be in that position.

“And I knew when I was able to convince — not convince myself, but just talk to myself in my head that way that I was ready. Whether it went great or it didn’t go great, I was ready to go execute the shots, play golf and not worry about the wind, not worry about the rain, not worry about, man, if I make bogey on 8 and I go try and make pars on 9 and 10 — it was very in-the-moment stuff. But I think it all comes back to how you start the day. I started the day this morning telling myself, yeah, let’s go out and win this thing.”

Anthony Kim’s 12-year absence from golf 

What the struggle was: Anthony Kim returned to pro golf in 2024 following a 12-year absence. His last win came in 2010. 

What followed: On Sunday at LIV Golf’s Adelaide event, Kim won.  

How he responded: I learned this from my interview this week with Matt Killen, Kim’s swing coach. Much like Scheffler, they didn’t deviate from who he once was. They just worked to find that again. Ahead of an event in early January where Kim needed to finish in the top three in order to play another season with LIV, Killen and Kim had this conversation:

“I don’t think either one of us was like, ‘OK, I hope you play good.’ We were like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to go do this. Like, how are you going to do it?’ And he said he’s going to do it. And so then backtracking, like what shots do you need, how are you going to manage that, what information do we put in that is helpful but doesn’t take away the ability for him to be an athlete.

“And what that means is letting subconscious take over. You don’t even think about positions or complex swing thoughts when you need to hole it. … You’ve got to play golf.”

Another instruction tip for your weekend 

2. Let’s stick with instruction. I thought the video below (in the second slide), shot after Morikawa’s win, was good. 

Another instruction tip for your weekend 

3. I thought the video below was good. It came from the “All Square” show on SiriusXM, and it features GOLF Top 100 Teacher Adam Schriber — and a talk he once had with Michael Jordan. 

One takeaway from the week that was 

4. The 2024 Genesis was the last event Scheffler played with a blade putter — and he’s since gone on to win 14 PGA Tour events with a mallet, including three majors. 

Why has it helped him so much? 

“So going to mallet where I don’t have to line the ball up,” Scheffler said, “and it gave me a better visual for what I wanted to see really just freed me up to where I don’t have to — I was never really a guy that was super good at, like — I don’t know if lining things up is the right word, but for me less is more typically.”

One takeaway for the weekend  

5. Should you be looking for someone to watch this weekend, Njoroge Kibugu might be your player. The 22-year-old Kenyan will be playing in front of his home crowd at the DP World Tour’s Magical Kenya Open — and below are two videos showing how he made the cut: 

11. Let’s do 11 items! Here’s a rundown of golf on TV this weekend:

– Saturday 

10:30 a.m. (Friday)-3:30 a.m. ET: Honda LPGA Thailand third round, Golf Channel 

4:30 a.m.-9 a.m. ET: Magical Kenya Open third round, Golf Channel 

1 p.m.-3 p.m. ET: Genesis Invitational third round, Golf Channel 

3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET:  Genesis Invitational third round, CBS 

– Sunday  

10:30 a.m. (Saturday)-3:30 a.m. ET: Honda LPGA Thailand final round, Golf Channel 

3:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. ET: Magical Kenya Open final round, Golf Channel 

1 p.m.-3 p.m. ET: Genesis Invitational final round, Golf Channel 

3 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ET:  Genesis Invitational final round, CBS 

“>

A few months ago, I got to live out every golf diehard’s dream: I got the opportunity to venture out to the Titleist Performance Institute to test out the new Titleist Vokey SM11 wedges and go through my first official Vokey wedge fitting.

With my fitter, Brandon, by my side, I ended up in a set of four new Vokeys, from pitching wedge through 60-degree. The final selections were wedges I probably wouldn’t have picked for myself, but I’m thrilled with the outcome. With that in mind, I want to break down exactly what went into that testing, and how you can repeat the process for your own game.

Starting with the full shot priorities

Before filming, Brandon and I hit a few shots with my 9-iron to establish carry distances and give him a baseline for what I needed from full swings with my pitching wedge. Vokey’s SM11 comes in 44-, 46- and 48-degree options in this range, and we settled on the 46-degree in a higher bounce to prevent the club from digging too aggressively at impact. The 46-degree gapped correctly off my 9-iron, while the 44-degree produced too much speed. Because I play a steep angle of attack — and the 46-degree loft comes in only one grind — the decision came down to bounce alone. The lower-bounce option dug sharply into the turf and was difficult to exit cleanly. The higher-bounce option accommodated my steep delivery consistently without getting stuck.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Titleist Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Wedge

Titleist Vokey Design’s new SM11 wedges feature a new precise CG position across each grind in a loft, meaning every wedge will now perform the same way with the same strike.

We ran the same process with the 50-degree wedge until we found the right match. For my game, the 46-degree and 50-degree need to perform identically — both are full, square-faced shots with no real variation required. Matching the 50-degree to the 46-degree we had already dialed in made this segment quick, and that brings us to our first takeaway.

Sometimes it’s okay to let good be good. Walking into your local PGA Tour Superstore and testing every loft and grind combination sounds appealing — and I would be a hypocrite to say it isn’t — but you can spend your time more efficiently when building a set. If two clubs serve the same purpose in your bag, one fitting session covers both. Some players use their gap wedge for bump-and-run shots or specialty pitches that require keeping a few options around, but that isn’t my game. My 50-degree needs to do exactly what my 46-degree does, so we moved on to the sand wedge loft.

Be realistic about what your wedges need to do

As we moved into the 56-degree, we decided to stay in the full shot area of the compound, which was certainly unusual. Full swings aren’t necessarily the 56-degree’s intended use, but I take full swings with it all the time — whether my coach likes it or not. It’s also a pretty big differentiator in my grind selection. Which leads us to my first surprise of the fitting…

After the full shot segment, we’d settled upon the D grind … for good. No chips or pitch shots necessary. At the start of the fitting, I’d told Brandon I’d split my 56-degree wedge roughly 50-50 between bunker shots and full swings. Once it came down to a couple of options with the full shots off the grass, he ended up only bringing the D grind along with him.

In the bunker, we hit the D grind a handful of times and confirmed it was the right 56-degree choice for my game. Left to my own devices, I never would have selected the D grind. The lesson: understand the role each wedge plays in your set and test them accordingly. Even when demoing wedges at a PGA Tour Superstore or indoor facility, hit the shots you actually need on the course. You will be able to identify which options work for your delivery and which do not. Do not let a mat fool you into thinking you cannot learn something useful. If you cannot feel confidence in a bunker-style shot off a mat, you will not have it in an actual bunker either. That sounds counterintuitive, but experience has taught me the difference between feeling confident with a wedge and not — on any surface.

Advertisement

The lobber is everything

Last came the lob wedge, which took the most time by far, and I would encourage you to plan for the same. This is where you make your money back. Most players need more versatility from their lob wedge than any other club in the set, and for me, it anchors my entire short game. From about 100 yards and in, I play almost exclusively my 60-degree. My coach has feelings about that. The one caveat I gave Brandon was that the 40-yard pitch and in needed to be the priority, and I would figure out full swings from there — or, as my coach would prefer, stop hitting it full altogether. So we started on the green side and hit short chips to a flag about 30 feet away.

Vokey places a strong emphasis on blind testing. They hand you a wedge before you can see it, removing any preconceived preference before you start hitting. If you can bring someone with you to manage the clubs during an in-store test, try to replicate that process. There is something freeing about not knowing what is in your hands — you simply try to hit shots. It also speeds up the session because you stop trying to force a result with a club you have already decided you want. I handed several options back to Brandon after one swing, because I could feel immediately that something else would be better. The key shot at this stage was a low runner with a toe-down setup. From the green-side chips, we advanced two options, and at that point it was genuinely close.

We moved back to about 40 yards, and things got interesting. One of the two remaining options started producing the kind of trajectory — high, soft, spinning — that you see on Tour and spend years chasing. I did not want to stop hitting it. Then the other option started doing it, too. For a moment, I thought I had found two legitimate choices. The difference came down to speed. One of the options came off the face hotter than I wanted, creating just enough hesitation in my swing that I felt less in control. The other let me swing freely with more speed.

We settled it in the bunker, and the M grind won out. It was also my preferred option from the green-side chips and the 40-yard pitch, which made the decision easy. I left confident in the 60-degree M grind. In the bunker, the M grind let me swing aggressively and pop the ball out without being precious about it — a big deal for how I play. One final note: pay attention to how your wedge looks in direct light. Take it outside or have someone shine a phone flashlight at the face as you open it up. You may find you strongly prefer one finish over another based on how it reflects at address. Personally, the nickel finish is the one for me.

Available right now at PGA Tour Superstore!

Vokey SM11 wedges are now available at PGA Tour Superstore. As I said above, don’t get frightened by people saying you can’t make a good purchase buying wedges in store. There’s plenty you can do with the resources available at PGA Tour Superstore and hopefully between this article and my last, you’re armed with the right information to get yourself into a brand new set and shoot some lower scores. If you haven’t read the pre-cursor to this article you can read that here.

Johnny Wunder also went through a Vokey fitting experience, which you can watch on the Fully Equipped YouTube channel!

“>