Equipment

Show Stoppers: Day 2 of the PGA Merchandise Show

Published

12 years ago

Jan 23, 2014

The GolfWRX team is live from this year’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla. The “Show Stoppers” segment will highlight our favorite clubs, gear, and training aids at the show.

At the PGA Merchandise Show, golf companies show off their latest equipment on Tuesday at the PGA Demo Day at Orange County National, and at the PGA Show inside the Orange County Convention Center on Wednesday through Friday. Follow along as we bring you inside the ropes of this year’s events.

Lamkin UTx Golf Grips

Lamkin’s new UTx grips are made from three functional layers. The foundation is a vibration-dampening layer of ACE 3GEN, the middle layer is a moisture-wicking fabric weave and the outer layer is firmer to reduce torque.

The grips are responsive and tacky, and the moisture-wicking fabric does a great job of curbing slickness. They’re available now for $8.99 each in a variety of colors.

Click here to see photos of more new grips from the PGA Merchandise Show.

Oban Kiyoshi “Tour Limited” and Kiyoshi Gold

Oban’s Tour Limited shaft is made from exotic four-axis material from butt-to-tip. The construction also includes 46-ton pre-preg material, making it the most expensive shaft the company has ever manufactured. The bend profile is closest to Oban’s Kiyoshi Black, the company says. It’s available in March are will sell for about $465.

The Kiyoshi Gold is produced using MultiPlex Design Technology to effectively combine a firm butt section and a responsive mid and tip section. It offers a slightly higher launch and spin than the Kiyoshi Purple shaft, making it a good fit for today’s lower-spinning driver heads. It’s available now and sells for around $400.

Click here to see more shafts we spotted at the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show.

SNAG Golf

SNAG (Starting New At Golf) is a fun system of learning development that professionals can use to teach youth golfers and senior players alike. Golfer hit velcro tennis balls to velcro targets with plastic clubs that have oversized club heads. The “Coaching Kit” comes equipped with clubs, targets, training tools, balls, launch pads and an equipment carrier that are designed for 8-to-48-year-old learners.

Over 10,000 schools and 5,000 golf courses utilize SNAG as a training system and entertainment for their learners. The basic “Player Pak” is available in retail for $109, and additional products can be purchased.

Sunfish Golf Headcovers

Sunfish Golf Headcovers are hand-knit from natural New Zealand wool that have a simple design, various color options and a matching pom on top. Covers are offered for all fairway woods, hybrids and 460c-or-less driver heads.

All color options are available in three sizes, and custom logo embroidery is offered in each. Driver covers are sold for $29.993, and fairway wood/hybrid covers are sold for $24.99 each.

The GolfBoard

The GolfBoard is an innovative way to transport golf clubs around the course that compares more to skateboarding, surfing or snowboarding than driving a cart. Combining extreme sports with the world of golf is not only fun, but functional, the company says.

Speed is controlled with a wireless electric remote, while the golfer controls the steering. Golf Board’s dimensions are 50-inches long, 20-inches wide and 10-inches tall, which allows it to easily fit into the trunk of your car. The cart has 4-wheel drive and posi-traction, and is supported by tires that measure 3.5-inches wide and 9-inches stall. A 48-volt lithium battery pack is built into the bottom of the board, and can be recharged in 1.5 hours.

Tour Striker Smart Ball

Insert the Tour Striker “Smart Ball” between your forearms and swing. The device encourages golfers to keep their arms and body working together. It also easily inflates and deflates to allow it to be packed in a golf bag.

Lastly, golfers can optionally attach it to a brace so the ball doesn’t fall to the ground if it were to be release it during the swing. Price and availability is yet to be announced.

TaylorMade 2014 Tour Preferred Wedges

It’s been two years since TaylorMade released a new wedge, but now what we know what they were working on. The 2014 Tour Preferred wedges might be the company’s best-looking wedges to date.

The 304 stainless steel wedges have a raw finish, and a micro-milled face texture that creates more friction at impact for enhanced spin around the greens. They’re available in TaylorMade’s standard sole in lofts of 50 and 52 degrees, but the 54, 56, 58 and 60-degree wedges give golfers a choice of two different soles. Golfers can opt for either the standard sole or the ATV sole, which is substantially narrower than the original ATV sole design for more versatility.

They’re available April 15 for $129 each with KBS Tour’s Tour-V shafts. Click here to see photos of TaylorMade’s new equipment at the PGA Merchandise Show.

Scotty Cameron 2014 “Select” and GoLo Putters

Scotty Cameron’s new Select putters are what the putter maker calls “a refresh, not a re-do.” The line includes the usual Newport, Newport 2 and Newport 2.5 models, which Cameron said received small tweaks for 2014. But the mallets in the line are a departure from what Cameron putter fans are used to, with aluminum sole plates that project through their flanges to create a crosshairs-like alignment aid.

According to Cameron, the anodized-aluminum sole plates used in the Squareback, Fastback, GoLo 7, GoLo S5 and GoLo 3 save approximately 30 grams of weight from their designs. That weight was used to thicken the faces and cavities of the putters, improving sound and feel.

The putters will be available on April 18 for $349. Click here to see more photos of the new putters.

TaylorMade 2014 Tour Preferred Golf Balls

TaylorMade’s new Tour Preferred golf balls include a 4-piece “Tour Preferred” and 5-piece “Tour Preferred X.” According to TaylorMade, the Tour Preferred X is similar to last year’s “Lethal” ball, but it feels softer and spins more around the greens.

The Tour Preferred has a similar feel to the Tour Preferred X, but it is designed to offer more spin on long- and mid-iron shots. They’re available now for $46.99 per dozen.

Click here to see photos of TaylorMade’s new equipment at the PGA Merchandise Show.

Whats in the Bag

Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D LS (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold X100

Wedges: TaylorMade Prototype (50-SB09), TaylorMade MG5 (56-HB12, 60-LV07)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400

Putter: TaylorMade TP Juno

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

Check out more in-hand photos of Christiaan Maas’ clubs here.

Equipment

TaylorMade MySpider Tour and Tour X: More customizable build options now available

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

TaylorMade Golf’s MySpider program underwent a substantial overhaul over the last month. Firstly, the company launched the option to customize the Spider ZT model, and now the program has returned with the MySpider Tour and MySpider Tour X.

The revamped page now gives golfers complete control over every visual and functional detail of their putter on the popular Tour and Tour X head, with every cosmetic idea thought of. In MySpider Tour, golfers can choose from four head finishes, 16 paint fill colors, nine Surlyn face insert colors, three aluminum insert options, six sightline configurations, and four hosel options — L-neck, small slant, double bend, center shaft. Six sightline options are available in MySpider Tour, including the optically engineered True Path alignment system. MySpider Tour X gives builders the option of four head finishes, four hosel configurations, and five sightline options, also including True Path alignment.

One of the more interesting features of the new MySpider program is the availability of three distinct face insert options. Along with the usual Surlyn Pure Roll insert trusted by Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, which can be customized from nine colors, golfers can now also select firmer options. Two are offered with the black aluminum Pure Roll insert, slightly firmer than the traditional insert, or for the firmest feel, golfers can choose from two colors of milled aluminum inserts.

Another fun addition to the MySpider Tour is the ability to use the “Tommy Sightline.” The custom alignment aid design, which was first drawn onto Tommy Fleetwood’s putter by PGA Tour Rep James Holley, is based on the milled sightline on his Spider ZT head. There are five shorter lines on the left and right of a longer central line serving as the traditional short line alignment aid.

See below for the full specifications sheet for MySpider Tour and Tour X:

MySpider Tour

MySpider Tour X

Equipment

Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory

Published

7 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In Rory McIlroy’s first appearance at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, he crushed the record books to earn his 16th PGA Tour title in dominating fashion, winning by seven shots over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson.

McIlroy’s score of 22-under-par 258 is the lowest 72-hole score to date at the Canadian Open, and his closing 61 is also the best final-round score in the history of one of golf’s oldest tournaments. Finally, with his win in 2019, McIlroy became only the sixth player to win the career Triple Crown, adding to his victories at the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014, joining Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods in a coveted list.

So, with that, why not compare his current setup to the clubs he used to break all the records?

Driver

2019: TaylorMade M5 (9 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees @8), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7X (45 5/8 inches)

McIroy led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in 2019; he’s doing the same in 2026. Between now and then, McIlroy has switched from the Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX (a shaft with slightly more feeling in the tip) to the original Fujikura Ventus Black 7X, having just made the change to the heavier version from playing the 60X.

What’s interesting about McIlroy’s 2019 setup is that the weighting on his driver is actually set in the high-draw setting, using the T-Track weighting system, whereas in the Qi4D, he’s currently using a heavily rear-weighted setup. (Two 13-gram weights in the rear and only two 4-gram front weights.)

The TaylorMade M5 driver he played in during his Canadian Open win was the company’s first head that they claimed to design to initially exceed the USGA’s COR limit, and then injected with tuning resin to bring it back in bounds.

Fairway woods

2019: TaylorMade M6 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX; TaylorMade M5 5-wood (19 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X; TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood (18 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9X

The TaylorMade M6 fairway wood that McIlroy was using during the 2019 season is still in the bag of some of the best golfers on Tour in 2026. Just check out Justin Rose’s winning setup from the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. This year, though, McIlroy has still been searching for his top-end-of-the-bag setup, having played both the new Qi4D and the Qi10, which he won the Masters with.

The same shaft swap can be seen in the fairway woods as the driver, along with slightly less loft on the 5-wood.

Irons

2019: TaylorMade P750 (4) Buy here, TaylorMade P730 (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0
2026: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0

The biggest difference between McIlroy’s custom set and the stock P730s is the groove design. While the P730s were constructed with 14 MX-9 grooves on their milled faces, McIlroy’s proto heads instead use the higher-spinning, 16-groove layout of the TW2 grooves. Other big differences between the sets are that McIlroy’s 7- and 8-irons have thinner toplines, are 1 degree stronger in loft, and are 1/4 inch longer than the original P730 builds.

With McIlroy’s 4-iron, the switch from P750 to P760 sees a transition to a two-piece construction with Speed Foam in it, which allows McIlroy to launch the ball slightly higher, with more workability.

Wedges

2019: TaylorMade Milled Grind (48-09SB), TaylorMade MG Hi-Toe (52-09SB, 56-09SB, 60-LB09), Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5
2026: TaylorMade MG5 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, 60-08LB @61), Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Between 2019 and 2026, McIlroy’s focus on his short game has been much more apparent. It was the reason why he switched back to the TP5 golf ball, to help with launch, spin and control with his wedges leading up to his career Grand Slam victory in 2025. The most apparent changes to McIlroy’s wedge setup are his lofts and bounce. He’s slowly delofted his pitching to a sand wedge, but has increased the loft on the lob wedge, bending his current 60-degree to 61. With that, adding more loft to his lob wedge also slightly increases the bounce and leading-edge sit point, so, as a result, he plays a lower-bounce lob wedge compared to 2019. The MG5 wedges are also softer than the first Milled Grind option from 2019. McIlroy also no longer plays the full-face grooves found on the Hi-Toe.

Putter

2019: TaylorMade Spider X
2026: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Notice anything similar. Yes, the copper finish on Rory McIlroy’s Spider X putter in 2019 is a slightly more reflective finish than the recently released torched PVD finish. McIlroy was using the True Path alignment system, but now uses only a single white sightline.

Ball

2019: 2019 TaylorMade TP5 (#22)
2026: 2025 TaylorMade TP5 (RORS)

As mentioned above, McIlroy had transitioned from the TP5 to TP5x golf ball since his victory in Canada in 2019, but now is black with the same style of golf ball as his victory at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

Grips

2019: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
2026: Golf Pride MCC

Interesting, McIlroy actually used Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord grips during his victory in 2019 (it was during a 2+ year switch to the corded TV) as opposed to his usual MCC grips, which he has played for most of his career.