Stephan Jaeger's WITB

A German professional golfer, Stephen Jager (Jaeger), turned professional in 2012, but had his first PGA Tour win at the 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open, defeating world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

If Scheffler had made the last birdie, a playoff would have been forced, which might have changed the champion because the playoff would have included runner-ups Thomas Detry, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Taylor Moore and Alejandro Tosti. Jager won with a score of 268, under 12, by one stroke.

However, this was Jager's seventh professional win, his first professional win came on the Korn Ferry Tour at the 2016 Ellie Mae Classic, defeating Rhein Gibson by a score of 250, under 30 by seven strokes.

He has five more wins on the Korn Ferry Tour between 2017 and 2021, including the 2020 Albertsons Boise Open. On Korn Ferry, his most recent win was at the 2021 Emerald Coast Classic against David Lipsky in a playoff.

In the past decade, he has played in five major events, making cuts in only three, with his best U.S. Open finish being T34 in 2020 and the PGA Championship's T50 in 2023. He missed the cut in the 2024 Masters Tournament.

As of May 2024, he has played in 12 events, making the cut in nine with three top-10 finishes. Most recently, he finished tied for 20th place at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson with a score of 268, under 16.

What’s is in Stephan Jaeger’s bag?

Stephan Jaeger’s Driver

Jaeger uses Ping's G430 LST driver set at a nine-degree loft angle with a Project X HZRDUS Black 60 TX shaft. Ping launched a new technology known as a Carbonfly warp in the G430 LST driver in 2023, and the brand's engineers have been working hard to figure out enhancements to go into the range.

The new driver's low spin model is the only one with a carbon crown. Eight layers of carbon wrap around the driver's whole crown and into its heel and toe, reducing weight that the designers claim may be repurposed to improve overall performance.

The ball speed and spin are the two important figures that immediately stand out. The ball's speed of 167 mph is on par with the quickest drivers that Golf Monthly tested in 2023, including the outstanding Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond and the Cobra Aerojet driver.

In comparison to the Max and SFT variants of the G430, the spin was lower even with the increased speed. This produced a powerful flight with lots of range.

Stephan Jaeger’s Fairway

Jaeger uses two fairways woods, a three-wood Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond HL with 16.5 degrees, set at $15.8 and Fujikura Ventus Blue 7X, while for seven-wood, he uses a Ping G425 Max set at 20.5 degrees with a Project X HZRDUS Yellow 83 6.5 shaft.

An excellent Callaway driver from the Paradym family, which debuted in the low spin market in 2024, has all the qualities a pro looks for in a driver—looks, sound, feel, and ball statistics. This is a unique product for 2024 since it has some visual enhancements over the previous model and a minor adjustment to the face technology.

Despite being somewhat older, the Ping G425 Max is the greatest model in its class and was named Editors' Choice by Golf Monthly in 2021. The Max, which is among the most forgiving woods, gets its name from the fact that it has the greatest MOI of any Ping driver to date. This is no small accomplishment, given how forgiving its predecessor, the G410 Plus, was on those extremely common off-center shots.

A movable weight, a CG Shifter made of 26 grams of tungsten, was made possible by weight savings achieved through improvements in the driver's dragonfly crown design. To alter shot shape and forgiveness, this weight can be fixed in one of three settings: neutral, draw, or fade.

Stephan Jaeger’s Irons

Jaeger has a Ping S55 iron with a True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft. The Ping range's S series is not a mass-market product. Rather, it's made for skilled players who want a small set with more forgiveness than they would anticipate from a design like this.

It retains excellent control while producing a greater flight distance. Both short and long irons look fantastic when the shape is addressed. As per Golf Monthly, using these irons was a pleasure during their testing. They were incredibly easy to shape and quite workable.

Though there aren't many obvious alterations from the original design, the feel has significantly changed and is now much softer. It looked great from every angle.

Stephan Jaeger’s Wedges

The three Titleist Vokey Design SM10s that Jaeger uses are 50-12F, 54-14F, and 56-14F, with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400.

The Vokey SM10 wedge has undergone minor yet significant improvements over the previous model. Because of its higher spin, more centrally situated CG, and lower launch, this wedge is simpler to predict and manage. The appearance alone will excite golfers, and there are other perks, including extended groove life, greater feel, and a range of grind variants.

Stephan Jaeger’s Putter

Jaeger uses Odyssey's most recent Ai-One Miiled Two-T putter. It uses artificial intelligence to generate what Odyssey calls "the most advanced insert in golf," which is the main feature of their 2023 released putters.

The AI works by gathering tons of data from tens of thousands of shots to figure out where players often strike the ball. From there, it designs a face that is optimized to reduce the impact of any off-center hits.

Identify the areas where golfers are missing and then designate contours behind the face to best offset the damage caused by those misses. This strategy works for the most forgiving drivers, fairways, and putters.

To accommodate golfers of different skill levels and preferences, the Odyssey AI-One Milled line offers a broad choice of head shapes, shaft lengths, and hosel options. With blade putters, high-MOI mallets, face-balanced alternatives, numerous hosel types, and degrees of toe hang, there's something for everyone. Even the weights in the head are adjustable.

Stephan Jaeger’s Golf Ball

Jaeger uses one of the most famous golf balls, the Titleist Pro V1; however, in its new variant, Titleist may have made some small but important adjustments without drastically affecting the features that have attracted golfers to the Pro V1 because of its increased long game consistency.