Yuna Nishimura had a problem with her fairway woods: she could hit them high but she couldn’t always get them to stop quickly enough on the green.

On Sunday, the club Callaway developed in response to that problem was in her bag for her first LPGA Tour victory.

Nishimura won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club, finishing at 21-under after rounds of 63, 63 and 66 (sheesh). It was a wire-to-wire win and her first on the Tour. 

The equipment connection is the Quantum Mini Spinner 7-wood. Nishimura’s request helped inspire the club as we reported when it launched in July. She wanted a high-lofted fairway wood that produced more spin and a steeper landing angle for approaches into par-4s and tee shots on par-3s.

According to Callaway, Nishimura has gained roughly 600-700 rpm of spin with the 21-degree Mini Spinner 7-wood while also increasing her peak height.

So the name of the club is definitely accurate…

Her winning bag included a driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and 7-wood, followed by a hybrid. Her lowest-lofted iron was a 6-iron!

It’s a setup plenty of recreational golfers could learn from if we checked our egos at the first tee.

What makes the Mini Spinner different?

Callaway built the Mini Spinner to behave differently from a conventional fairway wood. Its 7-wood has a carbon sole that lets the company position weight higher in the head, a design intended to increase spin.

Interestingly, it also plays three-quarters of an inch shorter than a comparable fairway wood (a deeper face and Callaway’s Step Sole round out the design).

A club designed to add spin and reduce rollout may give up some total distance. For a player trying to hold a firm green from long range, that exchange is often worth it.

This is a critical lesson for all golfers (man or woman). Instead of just automatically reaching for the fairway wood that will maximize your distance, search for the fairway wood that will fit the proper gap and the one that will help you hit the shots you need.

Take a lesson from Nishimura—a player who identified a gap in her bag, helped prompt a new design and then won with that club in the lineup.

Yuna Nishimura’s winning bag

A final lesson? Choose clubs according to how they can help you.

Most of us don’t have the speed to justify battling with a long iron that we can’t hit consistently. So don’t even try.

Nishimura’s driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and 7-wood (and then a hybrid!) give her options at the top of the bag without asking a long iron to do every job.

For recreational golfers who struggle to get long irons airborne or hold a green, that’s a setup worth considering—even if the right lofts and distance gaps will differ from Nishimura’s.

Top Photo Caption: Yuna Nishimura hits her 7-wood. (Courtesy Callaway)