South African amateur Christo Lamprecht carded seven birdies on Thursday to take the early lead at the 151st British Open, which is being played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. The Georgia Tech standout who earned a spot in the field by winning last season’s British Amateur Championship truly stands out in the field because he is 6 foot 8 inches tall.
The golf equipment you see on pro shop walls is designed to be ideally suited to a person of “average size,” but golfers who are taller or shorter often need clubs made at non-traditional sizes. Lamprecht, who is the tallest player to ever compete for Georgia Tech, falls into that category.
Lamprecht uses a 9-degree Ping G430 LST that has an actual loft of 7.5 degrees, and that is fitted with a Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XT 70 TX shaft. The club’s finished length is 46 inches, which is the maximum legal length for non-putters. The combination of Lamprecht’s long arms and that long driver helps him create enormous clubhead speed and distance, and on Thursday, his average tee shot went 325 yards, which was 33 yards longer than the average drive of the golfers in the morning wave of tee times . His longest drive of the day was 363 yards.
Lamprecht’s fairway woods, irons and wedges are all 1 1/2 inches longer than standard clubs, while his Ping 2021 Harwood Armlock putter is 43 inches long and has 4.5 degrees of loft.
Below is a list of the clubs he is using this week at Royal Liverpool:
DRIVER: G430 LST (9 degrees adjusted to 7.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XT 70 TX shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist TSR2 (15 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS Black shaft
IRON: Ping i230 (3), Blueprint (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
WEDGES: Ping Glide Forged Pro (50, 54, 60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
PUTTER: Ping 2021 Harwood Armlock
BALL: Titleist Pro V1
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Story originally appeared on GolfWeek