8H AGO
Presented by
Equipment
*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]>
A day in the life: Follow Vokey rep Aaron Dill at Bay Hill
*:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]>
A
Change Text Size
Written by Alistair Cameron
ORLANDO, Fla. — So even before he’s through the entrances to Bay Hill Club & Lodge for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Aaron Dill, Vokey Wedge tour director, is hard at work.
He’s checking the conditions, moisture in the air, the early morning dew, how the ground is feeling underfoot, what the grass type is, the length and then the ferocity the agronomy team has decided to leave it for the rough. It’s a constant process; The thoughts never stop.
Dill’s first port of call is heading to the state-of-the-art Titleist Tour Truck. He’ll start by preparing his workstation for a slew of wedge builds and grind modifications, as well as any and every stamp design that a Tour pro could ever dream of.
What’s different about Dill is that he’s the only Tour rep to have his own office on the road. An 8-foot-by-8-foot room at the front of the truck is his command center. It’s fitted with work benches, vices, loft and lie machines and the all-important sand belt grinder, where Dill can show off his craft.
Dill is Bob Vokey’s right-hand man. He’s studied Vokey’s craftsmanship for years, spending time with Vokey and the team to learn the ins and outs of becoming a master craftsman, and was handpicked by Vokey to be the company’s Tour rep.
“He gave me a lot of his time, and I didn’t ever anticipate that I would be out here doing this job today, but I definitely wanted to take as much of his knowledge as I could, so he was great about that,” Dill told PGATOUR.COM. “I spent time with his team. I polished a lot with his team. They taught me how to grind and what to focus on and how to clean it mistakes, which, I mean, when you first start, you wreck stuff all the time. I learned how to stamp properly fit stuff; a lot of the experience that I learned came from just being in the field.
“I was 23 years old. I didn’t know anything. I wanted to learn. I was hungry to learn. And that’s one thing that Bob (Vokey) always would say, ‘You can teach people how to fit, build, but you can’t teach hustle.’”
At almost 20 years of travelling on the Tour truck, Dill’s hustle has allowed him to build a relationship with almost every professional golfer on the circuit, along with the caddies, agents and the rest of the entourages that follow. He keeps a careful track of each player’s wants and needs, specs and requests, in a personal notebook and then later in the full Titleist database.
But to his credit, he can remember most of them by heart.
After meticulously working on a handful of requested wedge builds and checking the lofts and lies down to the minute degrees of clubs already dropped off at the truck, Dill heads to the practice putting green to get a scope on the day’s work ahead. As the TOUR travels from one side of the country to the other, it’s the first time some players are seeing the difference in grass conditions, so Dill will be taking requests when they come to switch grinds accordingly.
Aaron Dill, Vokey Wedge Tour Director, inspects a wedge at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (PGA TOUR)
“With the start of the year out on the West Coast, it’s very different turf conditions, weather patterns,” Dill said. “It’s a fun time of the year, where guys are just getting things going, they’re seeing how their games are trending, doing some equipment work, and trying to coordinate all that with the golf course conditions.
“Once you start coming here (Bay Hill), these grass types are so different. You have different types of Bermudas where the grain patterns are more aggressive, different sand types and that’s where you see players become a little more interested in equipment changes.”
“There’s an advantage here or there, more than half a shot, by exploring the different grind opportunities”
Aaron Dill
As Dill circles the practice area, he’s diligently looking at each bag one-by-one, checking in on every wedge to see if each tool is up to par for the tradesman who is using it. Only the best of the best make it to the PGA TOUR, and it’s the same for the clubs. If he sees something off, a quick jot in the notebook is made, a reminder to either talk with the player or caddie about a potential replacement.
“It’s more encouraging a player to change, but not making them,” Dill said, highlighting the need for fresh grooves.
Not only do these notes help Dill from Monday to Wednesday on-site at events, but they also go into making the next generation of Vokey wedges, taking the advice from the best players out on TOUR.
“I have the best R&D department in the world,” Dill said with a smile at the Bay Hill practice green.
From time-to-time, Dill stops to take time with a player to go through the mechanics and the understanding of what they’re feeling over certain shots around or into the green. This is where the master is really at work.
During the sessions, Dill puts each player through a short-game clinic, laboriously placing balls in different conditions, raking bunkers and constantly switching between wedges, all with a heedfulness to make sure no stone goes unturned.
*:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:var(–chakra-space-16);-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]>*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-1ldf37f>img,.css-1ldf37f>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-1ldf37f::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]>
Aaron Dill, Vokey Wedge Tour Director, delivers wedges to Jordan Spieth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (PGA TOUR)
Aaron Dill, Vokey Wedge Tour Director, works with Cameron Young at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (PGA TOUR)
Aaron Dill, Vokey Wedge Tour Director, with Sungjae Im at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (PGA TOUR)
“He knows what I’m thinking before I have even said it,” said Ryan Gerard. “… He can hear the ball almost better than he can see the ball.”
While working with Gerard, at a certain point, a green marker can be seen in Dill’s hand. He takes input from the PGA TOUR winner, using the fluorescent pen to mark out where he’ll shave certain parts with the grinder to help produce the best contact. Dill is also constantly experimenting, using multiple grinds from T to M to finally an A+, each providing a different benefit to Gerard’s short-game shots, helping with contact and flight.
After a vigorous session with Gerard, Dill continues his stride around the practice greens, pausing at times to converse with players like Ludvig Åberg, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young and Sungjae Im. Each stop adds to the list of references in his notebook, finding better options for each player to deploy. Once the orders are in, he’ll head back to the Tour truck, where the craft continues, building each wedge to pristine condition before returning them to their new owners.
The cycle continues for Dill, from the time the sun rises on a Monday morning to when the team packs up on a Wednesday and the truck is ready to drive to the next event on the PGA TOUR. Dill is preparing for work before heading back to Oceanside, California, where he will educate the team developing the next line of clubs, knowing even the most microscopic detail could make all the difference.
“We’ve become a lot busier in the last 10 years,” Dill said. “I think we’re in more of a world now where players are finding the right fit for them rather than they’re getting fit.”
As the most played wedge on TOUR, for Dill and the team, the grind never stops.
*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-11jnzpa>img,.css-11jnzpa>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-11jnzpa::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:66.66666666666666%;}]]>
Mar 4, 2026
