For the past two seasons Ludvig Aberg has topped the Total Driving stats on the PGA Tour.
This number is calculated by adding a player’s distance with their accuracy ranking and the Swede ranked 21st for distance and 59th for accuracy. Next on the list were Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
Aberg’s driver of choice is the Titleist TSR2 which is the same model used by the likes of Bob MacIntyre, Cam Smith and Jordan Spieth.
The TSR2 is a high launch, low spinning driver and Aberg has it set at D4 which means there is 0.75˚ of loft on top of the 9˚. Aberg complements this with the Pro V1x ball.
And for the Ryder Cup star everything starts with the driver.
“I build my game around my driver and I get really good spin numbers with my driver. It doesn’t get too high, it doesn’t get too low,” explains Aberg.
“Even though I tow it a little bit, it still stays over 2,000rpm. Even though I heel a little bit, it usually stays under 3,000rpm. So, that’s what I’m looking for.
“And then obviously, putting, chipping, if you want to compete on the PGA Tour, you need to put some spin on the ball around the greens. And that’s what I feel like probably ProV1x is doing for me,”
Favourite club
Unsurprisingly the driver is Aberg’s favourite club in the bag and it would help him to second place at Augusta this year on what was bizarrely his debut.
“I’ve played the TSR2 ever since it came out. I really love it. It still has that classic look from a tireless driver that hasn’t really changed over the years, but it still performs so well. So, it is my favourite club and it’s been good for me.
“No matter what driver you play, the good ones are always going to be good. But that’s not really how you play golf, unfortunately, because you’re going to miss it off the center. You’re going to hit it off the heel. You’re going to hit it off the toe every now and then.
“So, for me, when I hit it off the toe, the spin numbers are still very good. It doesn’t really go under 2,000, which just obviously makes it stay in the air longer and doesn’t get that left miss.
“Then the heel one usually stays around under 3,000, which, if you are in that zone, that’s when you can perform because you’re not going to hit every driver great. But if you can kind of narrow down your misses a little bit, that’s going to be key.”
Aberg is renowned as not only being long – he would average 310.5 yards off the tee last season – but he also sends it without any noticeable shape.
“I like to hit a pretty straight ball, but if I miss it, I want it to leak a little bit to the right.
“I think that’s the absolute easiest way to play a driver because the hard left miss is usually the difficult one to play with, but if you can somehow hit a pretty straight one, and then if it leaks just a little bit, that’s OK.
“My swing is pretty neutral. I don’t like to see too much going on.”
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