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In a recent video shot in Austin, Texas, GOLF.com had the opportunity to dive deep into equipment with two-time world long-distance running champion Kyle Berkshire. Here are 7 things that stand out from the conversation.

It is important to have a set of clubs with proper face clearance.

Even if you don’t have the speed of Kyle Berkshire, it’s important to have a set of clubs with proper attic clearance. If the difference between one club and the other is less than 4 degrees, then you are likely to get a club with a similar yardage-leaving a fairly large hole somewhere in the bag. For ordinary golfers, having to step on the 6 iron or remove something from the 5 iron is not feasible.

The two-time world long-distance running champion is still fiddling with his setting gap, but thanks to the tips of four-time PGA Tour champion Camilo Villegas, he has learned not to pay attention to the numbers printed on the soles, but Focusing on a specific iron loft allows him to hit the ideal number of yards with each club in his bag.

"At my speed, the gap is a huge challenge," Berkshire said. "We have always insisted on maintaining a four-degree gap on the bag, but I don’t think my 9-iron is a 9-iron-I think of it as a 40-degree club. About a year and a half ago, I played at Bear's Club. When I learned this from [tour professional player] Camilo Villegas. I flipped through his bag and he showed me how his clubs are marked with degrees, not the iron numbers. This is a genius. Because you can use strong iron or weak iron."

If you know a good club manufacturer, you can print a loft on each club head. But these lofts are likely to wear out over time. This is one of the reasons why golfers should check their lofts and lies at the beginning of each season to ensure that the specifications are still in good working order.

For those with clearance issues, the surefire solution is to hire a certified club fitter and perform a comprehensive bag analysis. Let an expert take a closer look at your attic and lies to determine if you need to bend a club or two to solve the yardage problem.

We have a favorite club in our bag for testing and practice. When we try to determine whether this new set of irons is really worth four figures, it feels very comfortable in our hands and is often a good barometer.

For Kyle Berkshire, his club for testing and potential swing changes is the mid-iron.

"I like the 8 iron because it is a very mid-range club for my bag," Berkshire said. "I had to bend the club back and forth more than I counted because I use it a lot and I usually swing the club at 110 mph."

Kyle Berkshire hits the iron hard at least once—sometimes twice.

If you want to know the difference between hard and soft iron or wedges, please check this link. For those who don't have time, just know that pedaling hard will make the shaft stronger, reduce spin and reduce launch.

If you are Kyle Berkshire, this is one of the ways to make a set of irons playable.

But what happens when even a difficult step and a sturdy True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 shaft-arguably the toughest steel product on the market-can't solve the problem? You did a "double difficult step", which is almost unheard of in the industry. (Don't try this at home, kids.)

"We actually had to take [my iron] once hard," Berkshire said. "For those of you who don’t know what that is, you put the 5 iron shaft in the 4 iron. There is also a double hard step to put the 6 iron shaft in the 4 iron. I have to do this too, But we have now identified a difficult step. We are still monitoring it. I may build a second set, so on windy days, I may redouble my efforts."

Kyle Berkshire carried his Cobra King Forged Tec No. 1 iron for more than 300 yards.

Kyle Berkshire makes a living as a hay driver, but this is not his favorite club. The champion belongs to the 12-degree King Forged Tec prototype practical iron. When Berkshire received the ball from the middle of the face, the iron traveled more than 300 yards at a ball speed of 200 mph.

This club is so good, it makes his server a secondary choice for the teeing table.

"I am a golf purist and I love this sport," Berkshire said. "There is no doubt that this is my favorite club. But I also think Cobra will agree. They are very proud of this club. The biggest problem I have encountered in my career, especially when I reach a certain Hollow clubs cannot be used at club speed because they tend to collapse at a certain speed. Cobra has done a great job at this club. It took more than five months of development. They decided to use foam inserts in the material Inject metal to provide enough support so I can replace it every 2 to 3 weeks, which is a huge victory for me."

For Berkshire, a few weeks of use is equivalent to about 300 to 400 hits. Compared with the previous product, it only lasted 15 to 20 swings before the batting surface failed. This is a significant improvement of.

Kyle Berkshire's Sik putter features the silhouette of him lifting up the World Long Drive belt.

When you are the largest bomber on the planet, you will get a boxing belt to win World Long Drive. It is impractical to carry the belt with you in your golf bag. But do you know what is practical? Add the silhouette of you hanging the belt from the bottom of the putter.

If you are a long-distance driving champion, then this is the ultimate flexibility.

Kyle Berkshire uses a 45-inch Cobra RadSpeed ​​driver when he is not hitting the ball in a long-distance driving competition.

The ability to hit the ball for more than 400 yards makes Kyle Berkshire a human cheat code. But even the champion realizes that there is a difference between keeping it on the grid in a long drive and separating the fairway on a par four. Berkshire did not use the 48-inch Cobra RadSpeed ​​drive, instead preferring the 45-inch version when he tried to break the 70. (He is a plus two handicap, which seems unfair.)

"I swing [driver] on the golf course at 140 to 142 miles per hour," Berkshire said. "I just want to play a fade and let it go live. My main goal is to keep it working. Unless I have a lot of work space, I usually don't pull out the driver. I really don't feel the need to use it. It, unless there is a clear advantage and the hole is wide. Then I will let it go."

In order to play the pull gradient-he usually tries to use his 48-inch driver for rope traction-Berkshire added lead straps to the toes to slow down the face rotation when hitting the ball. This is the preferred shot shape and driver weight setting that you usually want to see on the tour.

Kyle Berkshire experienced 27 RadSpeed ​​during his World Long Drive championship.

Before the start of this year's World Long Distance Driving Championship, Cobra built 30 RadSpeed ​​heads for Kyle Berkshire and Bryson DeChambeau.

"Bryson has experienced two heads-I have experienced 27," Berkshire said, his club head speed in the game reached 159 miles per hour. "We only have one head left."

Cobra didn't expect Berkshire to get close to the numbers he put forward in the game—nor did Berkshire.

"I can't believe how fast I am. Honestly this is a problem," he said. "We had to adjust. During the whole preparation process, I had some fluctuations over 150 seconds, but it did not last, so we had to make adjustments. We had to completely change our game plan and plan to blow up these heads, because There is nothing we can do."

The face of the Berkshire Hathaway driver started with a CT of 215 and was then shaved to make it slightly faster—up to 230—while still staying within the USGA’s 256 limit.

"To be honest, 230 is not super fast," Berkshire said. "Most tour players have a CT score of around 230 or 240. My head is still slower than most people on the tour, but even so, the head is still exploding. I think Cobra is the only company capable of The company that handles this problem. [Cobra Tour representative] Ben Schomin and my coach Bobby Peterson did a great job keeping me on pace and changing my head. The speed of my production, we are not ready for them yet."

Want to overhaul your bag in 2022? Find a suitable location near you at True Spec Golf, a subsidiary of GOLF. For more information on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest fully equipped podcast below.

Jonathan Wall is the equipment editor in chief of GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. Before joining the staff at the end of 2018, he spent 6 years in charge of equipment for the PGA Tour.

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