Tony Finau makes driver shaft change at Houston Open to address key weakness

Tony Finau has been experiencing challenges with his driving for several months, particularly with excessive spin. This issue has resulted in a loss of distance and accuracy in his drives, prompting him to make changes in his equipment.

Finau revealed that he changed the shaft of his driver during the Houston Open, where he is playing this weekend (March 28-31). While he continues to use the Ping G430 LST driver, he has switched to the Mitsubishi Diamana GT 70T shaft from the Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70TX that he had been using previously.

Tony Finau talked about it with the press and said (via GolfWRX):

"My driver's been a little high spin for me over the last month or so, and so I just figured it was time to probably check out the equipment. It definitely showed me that I was using a shaft that was maybe too tip-stiff for me, the way I load the club now."

Tony Finau began the 2024 season with higher clubhead speed and ball speed than those exhibited in 2023. The values are as follows (via Golf360):

Clubhead speed: 118.3 MPH (2023) x 123.9 MPH (2024)
Ball speed: 178.1 MPH (2023) x 183.3 MPH (2024)

Despite this, it has lost in range and accuracy, as the following comparison shows:

Average driving distance: 304.2 yards (2023) x 302 yards (2024)
Driving accuracy percentage: 60.7% (2023) x 54.9% (2024)

The reason behind the change lies in Tony Finau's excessive spin rate on his drives, which has been exceeding 3,000 revolutions.

A look into Tony Finau's performance at Texas Children's Houston Open

Tony Finau started the Texas Children's Houston Open with a score of 1 under, with four birdies and three bogeys. He showed improvement during the second round, with seven birdies and one bogey through 16th. He currently leads the event, with the first-round leaders yet to begin their rounds.

Finau's performance in the tournament has been notably better compared to his season average. He has achieved an average driving distance of 313.9 yards and a driving accuracy percentage of 68%. In addition, he is one of the best players in the field in terms of 'Stroke Gained: Off the tee' (2,354) and 'Greens in Regulation' (85.29%).

Finau is the defending champion, having won the 2022 edition (corresponding to the 2022-2023 season). He led that event with a score of 16 under, finishing four strokes ahead of Tyson Alexander.

Finau is considered one of the top favorites to win the title this year, too, alongside Scottie Scheffler and Sahith Theegala, among others.