Equipment
12 Revealing photos from the RBC Heritage and Lotte Championship
GolfWRX was live this week from the 2016 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, and we also had contributing photos (thanks tod071!) from the LPGA Lotte Championship at Ko Olina Golf Club on the Island of Oahu.
Make sure to catch up on all of the photos in the links below:
From South Carolina to Hawaii, GolfWRX was living the island life this week and providing some amazing photos from both the PGA and LPGA tours. Let’s throw those shaka fingas up and reveal some photos.
Jason Day’s preshot routine, gone awry
It appears that Jason Day’s preshot routine, featuring intense and long-lasting visualization, is sweeping the LPGA Tour. Except something tells me some of these ladies aren’t doing it right.
You’re not supposed to shut your eyes the entire round!
Ground control to Major Tom
Bryson DeChambeau working on the Air Traffic Controller drill to keep his head steady.
Looks about right.
The putter seen round the world
Surprisingly, Ernie Els is sticking with the same putter he used in his Masters 6-putt ordeal. Hank Haney was calling for him to putt lefty in his second round, so the fact he isn’t changing it up shows some gumption.
We can joke all we want, but that took guts from Ernie to not only continue playing, but actually taking a run at making the cut.
Those yips will forever give me nightmares, however.
Sea Pines vs. The Masters
Are the people at Sea Pines Montessori Academy trying to tell me their Pimento Cheese sandwich is $2.50 better than The Masters famous Pimento Cheese sandwich?! Blasphemous!
Actually, maybe they’re right.
The real Tour sauce
You don’t know Tour sauce until you literally have a graphic of pasta sauce on your golf bag.
Stayin fly on the links
Take notes, boys. This caddie rocking Baltimore Orioles’ mid socks and Nike Kyrie 2‘s in the White/Urban Lilac/Bright Mango/Hyper Jade colorway is how you bring the heat.
Michelle Wie has some decent kick game at the LPGA Lotte, as well. And her putting stance is looking more and more like Jack Nicklaus’ by the day.
She just needs to start wearing her glove.
Bro-in’ Out
Bro.
I don’t know what’s more chill, a man bun or 80 pounds of ice.
Tyga may have brought snapbacks back to the world, but Harris English is bringing cord hats back to golf. Nice lid, bro.
Bringing back the old style, I dig it.
LPGA Headcovers
PGA Tour players have some interesting head covers, like Tiger’s and whatnot. But the ladies on the LPGA Tour really go all out.
Check out the gallery below of awesome head covers, and some interesting club setups, too.
Is that a Callaway Steelhead X-14 iron? You can buy one here for $50… not one iron, the entire set!
Swag daddy
Someone smack me the next time they see me at golf course and I’m not wearing rainbow Skechers and skull socks, equipped with a ball retriever. Go hard or go home.
All corded up
Check out Jim Herman’s SuperStroke prototype cord grips.
So that’s how he held onto the lead so tight at the Shell Houston Open.
Harbour Town Golf Links
The course is diabolically tight off most of the tees.
But it’s an undeniably gorgeous track.
And I can’t remember the last time I saw someone make par on the par-3 17th (pictured below). I recall Jim Furyk making birdie last year in a playoff to win, but it seems as though everyone else just makes bogey or worse.
Zach Johnson’s PXG wedge is awesome
Wait. Why does Z. Johnson have Florida-Gators colored headcovers?
Wait. That’s not Zach Johnson’s bag.
Turns out Billy Horschel is playing Z. Johnson’s wedge? #PXGTroops stick together, including sharing weapons of mass par saves, apparently.
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.
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
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.
What’s the story behind Webb Simpson’s custom-stamped irons?
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blindkarma
Jul 23, 2016 at 10:05 pm
Andrew Tursky graduated with a bachelor’s in Journalism from Rutgers. Yet he writes casually racist jokes about Asian women golfers with their eyes closed. Way to crush it and make your alma mater and professors proud of your career. To the publisher and editors of Golfwrx, would Mr. Tursky make jokes about hair or skin color if he was covering the NBA or professional boxing? But Asian females in his own sport, sure why not.
Mike R
Apr 21, 2016 at 2:39 pm
What’s happened in the last 5-10 years with the whole over-sensitivity and the whole “somebody somewhere might be hurt”. I work with a lot of East Asians and have never even thought about eyes closed thing, and Asians blink just like everyone around the world (apart from the people with some disease preventing them from blinking whom I obviously don’t want to hurt by writing this comment).
I just thought that this was the girl’s reaction to a bad shot somehow. It’s a a very common reaction around the golf course, just like the more offensive reactions like swearing or throwing clubs around. So what, captured on a photo and put in a different perspective to attempt humour (it’s not very intelligent kind of humour, but still…). I really don’t see the problem.
All of a sudden, it’s an Asian thing.
I’ll write “photos of East Asians with eyes closed” on an every expanding list of things that offend people these day. Hopefully, I won’t forget before I use one get castigated for being a racist.
And for the Asians who wrote above, please consider that the people in West Asia (e.g. Pakistan) might get offended by your generalisations.
Jnak97
Apr 17, 2016 at 2:20 am
I feel like you people need to cool it with the racism card. Four different women being shown at four different times in the round that are not a pre-shot routine with their eyes closed was definitely not interpreted as racist by me.
ana
Apr 18, 2016 at 3:14 pm
>was definitely not interpreted as racist by me.
Well Jnak97, it was, by me – and i’m not even Asian.
blindkarma
Jul 24, 2016 at 12:33 pm
*was definitely not interpreted as racist by me* Why do racists or misogynists always think this is a defense?
Michael Lee
Apr 16, 2016 at 9:31 pm
Apology accepted, please think about what you said though. Some of your last comments really did hurt especially the last one.
Matt
Apr 16, 2016 at 7:56 am
Why are people so butt hurt about the eyes closed thing. You probably aren’t even Asian. Get over it. This is what’s wrong with America. Write what you want man !
Jack Nguyen
Apr 16, 2016 at 10:55 am
Hello Matt,
Just to let you know I am Asian and I came to America 6 years ago. When I attended middle school I got made fun of people would also ask me why were my eyes always closed and people said I would never pass my drivers test because Asians are bad drivers. So when you see a post like this it does hurt. Although this is America and free speech is allowed please be respectful about others. What if this post had something that offended you. You would feel exactly the same.
Cheers,
Jack
Matt
Apr 16, 2016 at 10:08 pm
I’m American. I don’t get butt hurt. I can call me what ever u want. Also theses women have their eyes closed so…..
Michael Lee
Apr 16, 2016 at 11:11 am
It does hurt sometimes Matt. Being Asian-American growing up a lot of those jokes do hurt over time, such as “open up your eyes” and you got the casual joke where someone goes “Ching Chong li long” to me it’s joke a I get it, but some people would get hurt even if they are not Asian because their looking at our point of view and find it offensive. I do agree this post is inappropriate but there is no racism at all in the post. Just a little editing would help! 🙂
Golfer1
Apr 16, 2016 at 6:00 pm
These comments are uncalled for and getting out of hand. The comment section needs to be deleted on this article and Andrew has some explaining to do.
Cyd2293
Apr 16, 2016 at 6:26 am
Will you metrosexual millennials quit with the cries of racism. Most of you spoiled, pampered brats don’t know what racism is.
12 may have been inappropriate but racist. No.
In other words lighten up ladies.
Dr Troy
Apr 16, 2016 at 9:53 am
110% agree. Lighten up Francis.
TMTC
Apr 16, 2016 at 10:25 am
I agree wholeheartedly.
Lighten up.
Schizo Smizzle
Apr 16, 2016 at 4:19 am
Clueless. Totally clueless. And not even funny. And no, none of your comebacks will even be as clever as those girls.
Jane
Apr 15, 2016 at 10:16 pm
12 is rascist. seriously.
Schizo Smizzle
Apr 16, 2016 at 4:18 am
Smizzle just doesn’t get it. He never will.
ATC
Apr 15, 2016 at 7:22 pm
The guy in #11 is a ramp agent. Not an air traffic controller.
cgasucks
Apr 15, 2016 at 4:44 pm
I wonder who’s bag had that X-14 3 iron?
mark
Apr 15, 2016 at 4:22 pm
asian eyes closed the entire round?! well done golfwrx in making fun of asian. what next? people with different colour? go ahead and i leave your website altogether.
Derek
Apr 15, 2016 at 2:41 pm
Asian women…eyes closed? Really?
JZ
Apr 15, 2016 at 12:47 pm
The Asian women with their eyes closed is completely inappropriate.
Mike Thomas
Apr 15, 2016 at 12:07 pm
#12 isn’t even funny… Please edit this post. I agree that the writer should have took 2 seconds to think about what he just wrote.
Mike Honcho
Apr 15, 2016 at 11:29 am
WOW!!! 4 pics all of Asian women with their eyes closed. I agree that the world has gone over the top with PC, but you gotta stop and think a second before you post something like that. Writer may have a Masters in Communications, but doesn’t even have a 2-year JUCO certificate in Journalism (sorry Rutgers).
Tyler
Apr 15, 2016 at 10:37 am
Lot of guys starting to play PXG. Horschel is a big loss for Ping.
Fred
Apr 15, 2016 at 2:31 pm
Two of the players using the PXG irons at the Masters (Zach Johnson (+8) and Chris Kirk (+9) didn’t even make the cut. Billy Horschel made the cut, but finished 17th at +4. Johnson wants us to believe that he gave up using the irons he won 10 tournaments with, because the PXGs are better. Will be interesting to see how many, if any, PGA and LPGA players win with these irons this year.
Mike
May 2, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Let’s be honest here – PXG wants you to think that’s what Johnson wants you to think.
But we all know Johnson switched because of the $$$$. That’s what drives 99.9% of equipment choices on Tour nowadays.