Equipment

Forum Thread of the Day: “Best driver for a short-hitting senior?”

Published

7 years ago

Sep 23, 2019

Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from platgolf who is on the hunt for a driver suited to a senior player in the 240 yards off the tee category. Currently playing a Fusion 12-degree driver, platgolf is looking to change things up, and our members give their suggestions on the big-stick that could work best.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

stmike: “I’m in the same “senior” hitting situation, and tried a couple of different new drivers last year. The one that gave me the most success is the Callaway Epic 10.5. But we all have different swings, and what works for others may not be for you.”
Markrip: “Sounds like your experience with the F8 weren’t good. You should try the F7. I have one, and the ball goes a long way. It also has an extra weight port the F8 doesn’t, and it really helps keep the ball from going right. I don’t use it in that setting because it makes the ball go way left for me. It also has draw settings with the loft adjustments if you needed that.”
CarolinaGolfer2: “Titleist TS1 10.5 with the Fubuki 45g shaft beats them all for me, and I’ve played or demoed them all. Titleist got it right with the weighting in this one. Usually, I can’t stand ultra-lite drivers. But this doesn’t feel too light, and I picked up 3 to 5 mph swing speed with it.”
golftejas: “You might demo a Ping G400 Max at 10.5* if you get a chance … this is a higher-spin head, so you might find it provides enough spin to provide good stability/accuracy/height for your shots. I’ve found this head to be extremely forgiving with good shot heights for me. And if you loft-it-up 1* to play at 11.5*, the face will be a little more closed to help with any right-miss tendencies.”

Entire Thread: “Best driver for a short-hitting senior?”

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Gianni Magliocco

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected]

7 Comments

Mike Barnard

Nov 5, 2019 at 3:10 am

240 yds… short , give us a break and get real.
Why publish such utter nonsense , oh wait I’m forgetting , all WRX non seniors hit it over 300yds with XX-stiff shafts weighing 85g, so it all makes sense now.
Nonsense but made WRX forum of the day…

Reply Report comment
john flavia

Oct 11, 2019 at 8:07 am

I would suggest dropping down in shaft stiffness. I’ve done that recently with a club that had a ‘stiff’ shaft, although I liked the way the shaft felt compared to other shafts, I got a ‘Reg’ flex in the same brand of shaft and it went ~10 yrds further. After hitting that Reg-flex for a while, I got to thinking, let me try the Senior flex in the same brand, so I got that and jumped another 10-15 yards (although with each jump my dispersion increased, but I learned to play it. So other than dropping flex, there’s always going to a more forward tee as has been suggested. I feel sorry for lady golfers who only have the 1 tee to work with.

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Morris

Sep 30, 2019 at 7:19 pm

Seriously? Best driver for SHORT HITTING SR’s who can only hit it about 240 off the tee. I’m 66 years old, I’ve played golf for 40+ years, and I’m a 9 handicap. I play golf 3-5 times a week pretty regularly. When I hit my driver on the “screws” I may hit 220-225 yards. I watch 50 other 65+ seniors play every week and MAYBE 10% of the seniors I know can hit their driver over 220 yards. Once again, another article not targeted to 90% of the amateurs playing golf every day.

Reply Report comment
- myron miller
  
  Oct 28, 2019 at 2:52 pm
  
  Fully concur!!! I play with a lot of true Seniors (well over 70 most of them) and very very few hit it average of 240. Best hit it about 220-230 at best. 240 is very very unusual for most seniors, in fact it seems unusual for the average golfer as well. Especially considering several major studies that say the average golfer carries it 200 and rolls it another 25 for a total of 225. And that average is for all ages. And most studies say the average senior 65 and over are lucky to average 200+ total. So 240 is not typical of the normal senior in my experience.
  
  Me, I’m in my mid 70s and seriously disabled as well as old. Severe arthritis and a severely torn oblique muscle that hasn’t healed well at all limit me to about 150 average on good days with a lot of days an average of 135-140. Would I love more distance, sure, but it isn’t going to happen, I fully realize and new drivers make zero difference. I’ve done extensive testing with many many different combinations of new drivers and shafts, including several fittings and so far nothing exceeds my current driver. And I do play forward tees. Fully recognize back is too long for me. Some courses don’t provide ratings for tees short enough for senior men. Only rate to normal white tees.
  
  Reply Report comment
Stephen Pearcy

Sep 23, 2019 at 4:45 pm

The best driver for a short hitter is called “Forward Tee”

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- Jim Barnett
  
  Sep 23, 2019 at 9:24 pm
  
  Precisely. And the best club to use If the swing speed is less than 95 mph swinging at 80% of effort is most likely a Wishon 919 with a 13° loft with Its GRT ( graduated roll technology ), and a shaft no longer than 44 inches using Wishon’s s2s (swing to speed) shaft. You will hit it further, straighter, and will not spend anywhere near $500 for an overhyped “major brand” club. Try it, you will like it
  
  A 71-year-old senior.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - M Gaston
    
    Sep 23, 2019 at 10:57 pm
    
    Best thing is get a driver custom fitted to your swing dynamucs. Ive been building and teaching golf for years. The proper fitted and designed club will give you all the performance you need. Send specs and ill send reccomendations.
    
    Reply Report comment

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Equipment

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

Published

2 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.

Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Titleist Vokey Proto Wedges 54M, 60T

Published

5 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

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.