I spent four years watching Xander Schauffele from the front row, and from a gear heads perspective it is a fascinating case study in efficiency. The elite ball striker that Xander has always been was amplified with speed AND consistency in late 2023 due to his work in the gym and with coach Chris Como.
When you study Xander Schauffele’s TrackMan data, the numbers paint a very interesting picture.
In this weeks episode of Fully Equipped, Jake Morrow and I sat down with Trackman Tour representative Harrison Shih who is the man tasked with following, tracking and informing Xander, his caddy Austin Kaiser and Callaway Tour reps on exactly what Schauffele is doing with the golf ball week to week.
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Schauffele’s setup isn’t built for chaos. It’s built for repeatability — optimized across every club to create one thing: a predictable window.
The work he has done with Callaway’s Tour Performance rep Kellen Watson rivals any combo in professional golf.
“The work he has done with Chris has changed a lot in terms of delivery and face orientation. At the end of 2020 or 2021 we were focused on trying to elevate the ball even with the lofts he currently and always has played. We were seeing steeper attack angles and lower launches with most clubs. His work with Chris has gotten him into a better position with delivering the club more neutral to the ball. With his 4-iron during that time, he was 8° down on the ball and launches were low with spin rates exceeding 5200 rpm. His team was concerned about the spin, but the numbers were telling me that we needed that spin at those variables to stop the golf ball. He and Chris have done a great job to mitigate that delivery. With that neutralization, the closed face issue reared its head a bit. You would see it more in swing videos than you would in TrackMan numbers, but I would never take the range TrackMan numbers as gospel. I base everything off the on course numbers that are captured because Xander has an amazing talent for hitting the shot that is called for. Very little attention is given to the stock, range shots unless we are trying to tighten or fill gaps.”
As mentioned by Watson, with a neutral attack angle and a 3.5° in-to-out path, he’s creating a piercing flight that lives in that 10–12° launch window, spinning in a window of 2300-2700 up and down the face.
His smash factor of 1.50 tells you everything — center contact, over and over again.
According to swing coach Chris Como, with the new shape to his swing and the strength training, it allows Xander to own impact more efficiently even on the off days. In the past when the action declined he would find himself losing his posture on the downswing causing a fade that didn’t fade and a draw that had a mind of its own.
In terms of ball flight Xanders “shape” from a stock sense is a straight ball that falls slightly left. Over the past few seasons I’ve seen him more comfortably move it left to right especially with the driver.
In terms of the numbers below it must be addressed that due to the rib injury, welcoming a new child to the family and a more or less casual season, Xanders speed is down 4-5 mph than in 2024. Getting fast is tough, holding on to it is no small feat either. So the numbers make look a little light based on what we have seen on TV the past couple of years but hey, give the guy a break.
Irons: Callaway Apex TCB 24 Raw (4–PW, Std Length, 1 Flat) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
TrackMan Data (8i):
Attack Angle: -8.0°
Club Path: -0.2°
Ball Speed: 124.9 mph
Dynamic Loft: 22.5°
Smash Factor: 1.36
If you ever wonder what true compression looks like from a numbers standpoint this is textbook.
He delofts a 39° iron down to around 22.5° at impact, which is how a stock 8-iron for X flys roughly 175 yds with 7900-8200RPM of spin.
His 8° downward attack and neutral path yield elite consistency — ball speeds hovering around 125 mph with a tight 1.36 smash. Every rep has that flat, flighted window you see on TV. This isn’t about distance — it’s about flight control, spin hold, and gapping perfection.
This is where the term SPIN LOFT gets brought up. It’s a metric that more or less explains how spin is generated shot to shot.
Spin Loft, in the simplest sense, is the difference between your dynamic loft (the loft the club actually presents at impact) and your attack angle (the direction your clubhead is traveling — up or down — when it hits the ball).
So, Spin Loft = Dynamic Loft – Attack Angle.
What makes Xander’s spin loft so special is that its consistent from club to club. The dude’s not creating spin with effort — he’s creating it with geometry. He’s presenting the face perfectly square, slightly delofted, and attacking from a shallow-steep blend that lets him trap it but still launch it mid-high. Harry Shih explains this in detail in this weeks episode of Fully Equipped.
Model: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas CH Xander Proto (34.5”, 71.5°, 3°, 520g) Grip: SuperStroke Zyn Pistol 2.0
Final takeaway: Numbers never lie
Bang for your buck is what I call Xander Scahuffele’s whole set up from action to tool. It’s no secret that he’s a phenomenal overall athlete but what hes able to do speed and efficiency wise in a frame that doesn’t scream 340 yard bombs, Xander is considered one of the premier ball strikers in the game.
As Callaway rep Kellen Watson mentioned at the opening, Xander can “out hit” any property on Tour and that puts him in a class of maybe 5-7 players in the world that when they are on, there isn’t a golf course on the planet that can hide from them.
Talent? yes. But this is perfect harmony of talent, technique, tool and team work.
I’m pumped he and Kaiser made it back in the winner’s circle, when these guys are playing well, it’s great for the game and the conversations around it.
