Matt Fitzpatrick driver: How forgotten club weight caused 'night and day' difference for golfer

Matt Fitzpatrick driver: How forgotten club weight caused ‘night and day’ difference for golfer

The smallest changes can have a drastic impact on a golf swing. In Matt Fitzpatrick’s case, four grams made all the difference.

Fitzpatrick had gotten off to a tough start to the 2024 PGA season, missing the cut in three of seven events and finishing no higher than 14th in the four in which he wasn’t cut.

But at THE PLAYERS Championship, something changed. Fitzpatrick was one of the hottest golfers in the field, and ultimately finished in fifth with a score of 16 under.

“Drove the ball well, putted well, and that’s kind of always been the key to when I’ve played well really,” Fitzpatrick said after the first day of THE PLAYERS, per the PGA Tour.

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He followed that up with another strong showing at the Valero Texas Open, tying for 10th and finishing 6 under.

Fitzpatrick will now see if that improved swing carries over to the Masters, where he will be looking to follow up on the top 10 finish he had at Augusta in 2023.

How has the improved swing come about? Here’s what you need to know.

Matt Fitzpatrick driver change

Fitzpatrick had placed weights on his irons for a test, and did the same thing to his driver. He removed those from the irons after a month, but he told the PGA Tour he forgot to remove the weight from his driver.

“They regripped [the driver] for me and they’re like, ‘Oh, you know there’s a weight in there,’ and I almost had a heart attack,” Fitzpatrick said, according to the PGA Tour. “It’s just as much my fault as everyone else.”

Fitzpatrick took a four-gram weight out of his driver in February, according to the PGA Tour, and the result, he said, was a return to feeling like his “old self.” Per the Tour, the change allowed him to reduce face rotation during impact.

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Fitzpatrick was second in The PLAYERS in strokes gained off the tee at +4.684. He was also second in driving distance (310.6 yards) and tied for 11th in driving accuracy (69.84 percent).

He recalled that after winning the 2023 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, he felt his driving “kind of got worse.”

“We were just very confused swing-wise, did all sorts (of testing),” Fitzpatrick told the PGA Tour. “Turns out, take the weight out of the top of the driver, and I think since Phoenix is when I’ve taken it out, I’ve driven it a lot better.”

Though he later won the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October, he said he could “have won four times” if he removed the weight earlier from the driver.

“As soon as I came out and hit the next day, it felt night and day,” Fitzpatrick said, per the PGA. “I could hit it as hard as I want and it wouldn’t go left. Previously, I felt like I hit it hard and it would just go straight left.”

Matt Fitzpatrick Master’s history

Fitzpatrick is making his ninth appearance in the Masters. He was cut in 2014 and did not play in 2015, but since then, he has made the cut each time.

He has twice cracked the top 10, tying for seventh in 2016 and 10th in 2023.