Equipment
Report: Lydia Ko to sign equipment deal with PXG
Lydia Ko is going to be playing PXG golf clubs in 2017, according to a report by Jaime Diaz in Golf World. PXG is said to be “offering a sweeter financial deal” than Ko’s current equipment sponsor, Callaway.
PXG, an upscale golf equipment manufacturer founded in September 2014 by GoDaddy Founder and billionaire Bob Parsons, was able to quickly established a presence on the PGA Tour by signing endorsement deals with a slew of PGA Tour winners (James Hahn, Billy Horschel, Charles Howell III, Chris Kirk, Ryan Moore and Rocco Mediate), as well as major champions Zach Johnson and Charl Scwartzel. PXG has also signed LPGA Tour players Chritie Kerr, Alison Lee, Gerina Piller and Beatriz Recari to endorsement deals, but none of them have the resume or potential of Ko.
Related: What makes PXG irons and wedges so different?
Ko, 19, is the No. 1-ranked golfer in the Official Rolex Golf Rankings. She’s won two major championships and 12 other LPGA Tour events since her first LPGA Tour win at the age of 14, when she become the youngest-ever to win a professional tour event. There’s a consensus among golf experts that she could become one of the all-time great on the LPGA Tour.
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.
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mark mckeown
Nov 24, 2016 at 8:50 pm
looks like celeb friends George Lopez and Don Cheadle got into her head about them, or maybe they let her hit their clubs and she liked ’em, but anycase, they love their clubs, and may have told her about them in some way… maybe.
Deadeye
Nov 24, 2016 at 3:28 pm
Some thoughts: Lydia can play well with any club. But not necessarily better. You can’t buy a game is true at any level.
Leadbetter bashers: his A swing is a game saver if you are like me; getting older and struggling with shots you used to hit easily.
It seems odd at first but after some practice it all comes together. It is a huge positive for golf. But then, you still have to putt.
moneypowerrespect
Nov 23, 2016 at 3:13 pm
Why do people care so much about price? I feel like golfwrx is overrun by people on a budget. where my country club peeps at? seriously – the 500k initiation fee and the +10k I probably spend on annual dues and that’s just for 1 club.
how can something be overrated if you never had it? It’s like saying a bentley is overrated.
don’t hate just cause you can’t afford
aspire
Lester Diamond
Nov 24, 2016 at 5:44 am
Good grief. At least Smizzle is amusing most of the time. The whole “I am awesome because I am rich” schtick was tiresome in the 80’s, and even more so today. Get some new material.
Chris Washington
Nov 23, 2016 at 2:50 pm
I like this move! For PXG, signing the #1 woman in the world (who happens to be Korean) will help them grow in Asia. Asian markets love LPGA/KLPGA/JLPGA. For Lydia Ko, she gets the best clubs in the game (my opinion) and signs with a smaller company that can give her more time and attention.
Alfredo Smith
Nov 22, 2016 at 10:57 pm
Here come the haters, hahaha. Is it the arrow or the Indian, that’s a debate that people who don’t game PXG will have to answer.
Bob Chepeska
Nov 23, 2016 at 6:06 am
Absolutely.
People who have dropped 3K on a set of PXG’s know for certain that it is indeed the Indian.
Clay
Nov 22, 2016 at 9:28 pm
Sorry to see her leave Callaway. If she picks up some yardage, daunting! If not, so what. It’s all about the “money.”!!
Sometimes a smizzle
Nov 22, 2016 at 8:44 pm
I hope part of the contract is that she kick leadbetter out the door so he can’t ruin her anymore.
Alfredo Smith
Nov 22, 2016 at 7:34 pm
Here comes the PXG hate club hahaha. Are they expensive, hell yeah! Do they live up to the hype, darn tuttin! Is it the arrow or the Indian (lmao) who the ‘F’ cares. Personally since I started bagging the 0311’s my GIR is up, and my handicap has gone down. So phooey to the haters and good luck to L. Ko 😉
Chris Washington
Nov 23, 2016 at 2:38 pm
The “indian or arrow” comments are strange to me. Clubs are more like the bow in that scenario. For those of us who are into archery (bow hunting), we know the bow is incredibly important.
Tom
Nov 22, 2016 at 1:18 pm
Lydia wouldn’t make the move if she felt/saw that it will benefit her career. PXG isn’t employing any new technique to woo players that haven’t already existed.
Dat
Nov 22, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Kinda surprised she didn’t go with Honma. But it is all the same when it comes to uber high end clubs. They perform no differently other than how much they lighten your wallet.
Mat
Nov 23, 2016 at 4:12 am
+1.
The Parsons / HoDaddy money must be off the charts.
moses
Nov 22, 2016 at 11:12 am
IMO PXG is the US version of Honma (Japanese super high end). There is no money to be made selling drivers and irons alongside Taylormade, Titleist, Ping etc price points.
Good for Lydia. She will be another great addition to the brand building that’s going on at PXG.
Weekend Duffer
Nov 22, 2016 at 10:59 am
Guess that means she is losing the Odyssey 2-ball too. Love seeing pros still using those things.
new stuff!!
Nov 22, 2016 at 1:02 pm
does not mean that – the majority of the pxg players don’t use pxg putters – in fact I do not think any LPGA pxg players use pxg putters. In fact many pxg players don’t even use pxg drivers –
surewin73
Nov 22, 2016 at 10:35 am
Doesn’t have the resume of Ko or go down as one of the greats on the LPGA? Christie Kerr doesn’t meet these standards. Please! Who writes this stuff?
PXG is way overpriced in my opinion. The law of diminishing returns. But if it floats your boat, go ahead and put down the money. I just think they are PING clubs with an inflated price.
Brandon
Nov 22, 2016 at 10:08 am
Who?
Chris
Nov 22, 2016 at 9:57 am
Good for her! I think it’ll do not only her but PXG a lot of good in the Pacific market. Between her popularity here in the US as well as in NZ and Asia, I think she’ll really get PXG a sweet portion of the market.
PC
Nov 22, 2016 at 4:22 am
Poor Callaway. Couldn’t figure out a way to hang on to her. Parsons got too much cash floating around
Ronald Montesano
Nov 21, 2016 at 11:05 pm
I hope that Lydia continues to play her game, continues to grow up as calmly as world fame allows, and doesn’t make drastic changes in lifestyle or golf swing. This past week, she seemed to have the CME in her grasp after 62, then closed poorly to lose the tournament and a few other baubles. Those losses are part of tour life. Perfection ain’t nothing but a noun.
Gopher
Nov 21, 2016 at 9:03 pm
Overrated!!! Not her, PXG!!!
Feel the Bern
Nov 21, 2016 at 7:52 pm
Epic!
Jake
Nov 21, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Would have loved to see her stay with Callaway. I think PXG is overrated…not many players winning with the clubs and they are way too expensive.
Don Quiote
Nov 22, 2016 at 10:51 am
I do not think PXG is overrated. I think most people know they are good golf clubs. Are they changing the game? No but people in the US pay up charges for things with a fancier name all the time. That is just how it works. They are trying out the boutique market of the golf industry. Why wouldn’t she change to PXG? They offered more money. People argue that they are inflated priced Ping clubs and they are not winning on tour…yet those same people argue its not the club its the player. People just want to argue for no reason. PXG is making good golf clubs. They are not winning a whole lot on the PGA tour because in reality they do not have the HUGE names signed. Is the price high? Yes. Do they care that you think the price is high? No. The market they are going for is not all of us that think the price is too high. Congrats to Lydia. She will be as good as ever and then all of you can come back and argue about how the clubs are still awful but she is so good the makes them look good or some garbage like that.
bogeypro
Dec 7, 2016 at 10:16 am
Nobody is saying they aren’t good clubs. We are saying that they aren’t worth the $350 per iron or $800 driver. That’s a heck of a lot more than an upgrade. That is snake oil and it is bad for golf.
Ron
Nov 21, 2016 at 3:52 pm
It isn’t the club, but the person swinging the club. I really hope this doesn’t adversely affect her game. Ledbetter has done enough of that!
Don Quiote
Nov 22, 2016 at 10:44 am
If it isn’t the club but the person swinging the club then the clubs will not hurt her game… Pick one and stick with it. Club either does or doesn’t have an affect.
Mike Honcho
Nov 21, 2016 at 3:10 pm
And we wondered who was going to take up Nike’s ‘slack’. Looks like PXG is taking up slack, market share and names!
RHowl
Nov 21, 2016 at 3:03 pm
From the Million Dollar mans entrance theme……
Money Money Money Money Moneyyyyyy.
B Hock
Nov 21, 2016 at 2:54 pm
There must be a lot of money being passed around to get a world #1 player to switch…
new stuff!!
Nov 21, 2016 at 2:54 pm
actually think this is a good move for Lydia – I hope she goes for the 0311 (not t) she’s always looking for distance and can use the jack up lofts with her slowish swing speed – As much as people hate on PXG – anyone who plays PXG knows that it is a great conversation starter.
setter02
Nov 21, 2016 at 2:50 pm
Lol, desperate for more validation. Aren’t they suppose to be the best performing clubs in the world? Now they have to throw more money at people.
Gmatt
Nov 21, 2016 at 3:16 pm
Well they sure haven’t set the world on fire winning with “superior” clubs
Michael
Nov 21, 2016 at 4:33 pm
Oh, relax, Ken.
HOP
Nov 21, 2016 at 2:34 pm
fat