Equipment
13 Revealing photos from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
GolfWRX was live this week from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. If you missed any of the photos, browse the galleries here.
You’ll notice there’s no photos of Tiger Woods, who’s won here eight times. It’s because he failed to qualify for the event, as he’s currently ranked No. 262 in the world.
But the tournament rolls on without him, and so does Revealing Photos. Let’s get to it.
What’s Phil so happy about?
I mean, he can hardly contain his excitement…
It’s probably his new Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond driver. He loves lead tape so much, he just can’t stop smiling about it.
Lead tape on the adjustable hosel? That’s a new one.
A look at the ever-popular Zen Meditation warm-up drill
Or maybe he’s just trying to keep his head still during the stroke. Either one.
A shoe-tying lesson
“Over, under, around and through. Meet Mr. Bunny Rabbit, pull and through.”
Shane Lowry sticks with ol’ faithfuls
Never bet against a guy with clubs that look like they were dragged through a parking lot; it means he found clubs he hits really well and doesn’t need to change.
One-handed finish from Spieth? We know what that means…
It’s right down the middle.
These PGA Tour guys really have it rough
Brandt Snedeker has a bag full of Bridgestone J815 drivers with his name on it (literally) to test out. Just add it to the list of PGA Tour luxuries.
Bubba Watson’s Blue Wahoos headcover
Why the Pensacola Blue Wahoos? He’s actually part owner of the minor league baseball team, which is a Cincinnati Reds affiliate.
Bjorn and his brethren
Thomas Bjorn has the names of his 2014 Ryder Cup teammates stamped on his wedge.
This shows just how close-knit the Euro teams are. What American would have the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup Team members stamped on his wedges? Take notes boys, let’s try to get a win this decade.
Is putting with your glove on an amateur move?
Jack Nicklaus always putted with his glove on, and he’s the best to ever do it.
Maybe the secret to making more putts is actually keeping the glove on.
Padraig’s pretzel drill
Padraig Harrington, who putts “left-hand low” on the greens, seems to have incorporated the cross-handed grip into his full-swing practice sessions. And he’s crossed himself right into a pretzel with this painful-looking, back breaker of a drill.
Ian Poulter’s fresh new “Whistle”-ing Straits PGA Championship putter cover
A nice play on words.
Sergio’s super sweet UltraSlim SuperStroke custom grips
Looks like I have a good grip on alliteration.
Pardon your French, Gary Stal
“La Foudre” is French for “lightning strikes,” or so Google translator tells me.
And based on some brief research, “tchiin tchiin coup maison” could mean a bunch of different things.
Any Frenchman care to help me out here, s’il vous plaît?
Equipment
Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory
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.
Equipment
From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Titleist Vokey Proto Wedges 54M, 60T
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @Putt4Dough is selling some prototype wedges from Vokey Wedgeworks. These include a 54 degree wedge with the M grind and a 60 degree wedge with a T grind.

From the listing:
(1) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 54M with a Tour Issue DGS400 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet (logo down). Standard length, lie, and loft. BB&F ferrule. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.
(2) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 60T with a KBS Tour 130X shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet. Standard length, lie, and loft. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.
Whats in the Bag
Ryan Palmer WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 60 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 70 6.5

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (18 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX

Irons: Srixon ZXiU (23 degrees), Srixon Z785 MB (5-PW)
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 100 6.5 (4), KBS Tour 130 X

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (50-08F, 54-10S, 58-04T @59)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey Dual Force Rossie II

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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Lesley Siwek
Aug 30, 2015 at 11:43 pm
The shot of the day from Lowry or anybody else on the course came at the 10th hole, where the Irishman hit a crazy swinger through the trees and dropped a recovery right on top of the flagstick. The ball materialized out of the ether and set up an easy birdie putt.
Sam the Eagle
Aug 12, 2015 at 3:11 pm
Timbleking is right.
But also ‘Coup’ means ‘shot’ in French, and like in English it can be used to talk about (amongst other things) a golf shot or a drink – hence ‘Tchin Tchin’.
For these reasons I would say ‘Coup Maison’ probably translates best as ‘House Special’.
Hj
Aug 9, 2015 at 6:18 am
Tchin tchin coup maison
Tchin tchin would be Cheers cheers, coup maison,usually is drink on the house or a glass of the house champaign
Rwj
Aug 7, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Why would Phil be smiling for his new driver? He couldn’t buy a fairway. I bet he wished there was a cut this week so he wouldn’t have to play the next two days in Firestone’s rough
greg
Aug 7, 2015 at 4:50 pm
You just keep getting better each week. Great job, AT!
Timbleking
Aug 7, 2015 at 4:10 pm
Yeap. And “tchin tchin” means “Cheers” as it refers to the noise of two glasses shocking when cheering. “Coup maison” means homemade stroke. You’re the only one to do it this way. The whole thing is standing for “Blam! Right in the cup, buddy!”.
Hope this helps!
Jean Van de Velde
Aug 7, 2015 at 3:50 pm
coup de foudre is lightning strikes
la foudre is the lightning