Equipment

5 Show Stoppers from the 2016 PGA Fashion and Demo Experience in Vegas

Published

10 years ago

Sep 16, 2016

What happened in Vegas certainly seems to have stayed there, so far as the 2016 PGA Fashion & Demo Experience is concerned. I mean, did you see any press coverage of the mid-August 3-day show?

For the record, I was making a first visit to one of these golf-industry get togethers, and did in fact find the whole thing oddly low-key, especially given the two venues: the breathtaking Cascata Golf Club and the Strip’s classy Venetian resort hotel and casino.

Maybe it’s that we’re in uncertain times for the game — declining rounds-played, Nike’s announcement, the Olympics withdrawals, Tiger’s absence — or maybe wild Vegas nights left everybody needing hushed show days. In any case, word should’ve gotten out about some of the Experience’s most noteworthy products.

Here are my 5 Show Stoppers 2016 PGA Fashion and Demo Experience.

The Steadihead Putting System

“You can’t consistently execute a good golf shot unless you keep your head entirely still over the ball. You must consciously and deliberately force your head to hold still.”

In the spirit of that timeless advice from the King himself, Bobbi Salmon, a California LPGA pro with three-plus decades of touring and teaching know-how has invented a sleek “awareness aid.” Worn like glasses and employing a pinpoint laser (“It’s SPOT on!”), the Steadihead trains you, in Bobbi’s words, to develop an accurate alignment of your eyes directly over the ball, while precisely sighting down your intended line and developing a repeatable putting stroke that minimizes head and body movement. Learn more.

coLLo Apparel

“Don’t get burned” is the motto of Tom Hurst’s SoCal-based coLLo Apparel, which takes its name from the Italian word for neck/collar. So while the entire range of coLLo polos offers burn-avoiding UPF 50+ sun protection, you won’t be surprised to learn that the distinctive feature of the company’s tops are its collars. They’re larger than usual, and especially around the back of the neck they’re extra-high. Larger, though, doesn’t mean annoyingly floppier. The coLLo coLLar’s patent-pending design is reinforced with internal collar stays.

They polos are available in in short- or long-sleeved; athletic or loose fit; high-density, moisture-wicking, 4-way-coLLo-stretch fabrics or with woven-in sunblock. The coLLo range will be in stores for spring 2017. Learn more.

Club Glove

Serious golfers should probably pay close attention when the overwhelming majority of tour players use a particular golf-related product. So have a look then at Club Glove, the impressive travel bags nine out of 10 pros use to endure all those endless miles.

CG’s travel bags come in sizes that match-up to stand bags, cart bags, and large tour bags. They can also be combined into a self-balancing “Train Reaction System,” such as the 3-piece ensemble of a rolling duffle, mini rolling duffle, gear bag — and add a shoulder bag for good measure, too. Choose the piece or pieces to accompany your clubs, and then unite the whole shooting match for effortless single-handed transport by means of CG’s ingenious TRS connection device.

While you’re at it, add CG’s Stiff Arm to that travel bag. Its premise is simple and irrefutable: when in transit, and especially when being thrown around by baggage handlers, your clubs are most vulnerable to damage from head-on collision. Sturdy Stiff Arm to the rescue. The 3-piece, 1.2-lb aluminum tube telescopes expand to 4 feet by means of precision-lock and spring-loaded pins, protecting all your clubs — especially that pricey new driver shaft. Learn more.

Zero Friction’s DistancePro GPS Glove

Why the shout out for a GPS glove, rather than, say, any of Bushnell’s popular range- finders, or even, despite the fact that I never wear a timepiece, Garmin’s powerful and snazzy GPS golf watches?

The answer turns out to be the bam! factor. I discovered this while talking about the DistancePro with Mike Roeser, the Zero Friction sales rep I met at the ZF booth. Mike, of course, was eager to provide me with the technical details. Powered by Bluetooth, the DistancePro GPS device attaches to the glove flap. It weighs less than half an ounce, has a replaceable 400-hour battery, and can be easily removed from the flap for transfer to a replacement ZF glove (Johnny Miller Motion-Fit Cabretta Leather, or men’s or ladies’ synthetics). Operating as slave to a cell phone master, the device has a simple uncluttered readout that gives distances to the front, center and back of the green on tens of thousands of courses worldwide. There’s automatic and manual hole advance, Mike went on, and…

“Yes, but it’s just like bam!” I interrupted, turning my left hand palm-down and giving it a smart smack just above the wrist. “I get to my ball, and my glove’s on anyway, and I just turn my hand, and bam! I’ve got my yardage.”

So that’s what got me — the bam! Learn more.

Dormie Golf Workshop

Get used to seeing this slightly surreal image of a cow standing on a golf club. It’s the striking brand icon of Nova Scotia-based Dormie Golf Workshop, and I have a feeling that its handcrafted premium leather goods are quickly going to become sought-after accessories.

Dormie’s irresistible vibe comes from the brothers Bishop, Jeff and Todd, who have cannily shaped their backstory into a single memorable sentence: “Born in Nova Scotia, raised in Nova Scotia, golfed the world and back to Nova Scotia.”

Specializing in custom-made head covers, the Dormie team wants to make the creation of your unique product a fun, collaborative effort. You introduce yourself via email. Then you choose from among available premium leathers, colors, stitching patterns, and so on (check out “hide on hair”!), and supply the imagery and/or text you want to use for digital rendering. And in about three weeks you get to astonish your foursome with what you and Dormie’s craftsmen and women have created together.

“Dormie,” as many holes up as there are holes to play. For the player on top, that’s right where you want to be. And that’s where I think Jeff and Todd Bishop find themselves and Dormie Golf Workshop. Learn more.

Whats in the Bag

Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)

Published

3 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

3 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

6 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.