Equipment
USGA and R&A announce areas of interest to mitigate distance increases
On Tuesday, the USGA and R&A announced their areas of interest for further exploration on the “Distance Debate.”
The governing bodies have unveiled three proposed changes to the equipment rules to ensure their effectiveness to distance limits—two to modernize equipment testing protocols and one to limit the maximum length for clubs other than putters from 48 to 46 inches.
Per the document, the three proposals are defined as:
- Proposal 1: Club length – reduction to 46 inches available as a Model Local Rule (MLR) (Original proposal delivered in 2016 and paused in 2017 due to the Distance Insights Project). Comment period ends on March 4, 2021.
- Proposal 2: Update on testing method for golf balls. Comment period ends on Aug. 2, 2021.
- Proposal 3: Change to testing tolerance – Characteristic Time. Comment period ends on Aug. 2, 2021.
Speaking on their research and proposals, Mike Davis, Chief Executive Officer of the USGA stated
“The research conducted through Distance Insights clearly shows that hitting distances have consistently increased through time and, if left unchecked, could threaten the long-term future of our game at every level and every golf course on which it is played. This is the first forward step in a journey and a responsibility the USGA and The R&A share with the worldwide golf community, to ensure that golf continues to thrive for the next hundred years and beyond.”
Beyond the immediate, the governing bodies will continue to examine the following, per the report, in a review period ending November 2.
- Reduction in the limit within the overall distance standard
- Modification in the limitation of ball efficiency (update to IV)
- Other ball specifications (size, mass)
- Reduction in the performance of drivers: club length and clubhead dimensions (including volume)
- Changes in the clubhead specifications on spring-like effect and moment of inertia, also
considering the utilization of radius of gyration limitations - Production of spin from all clubs from all areas of the course
The USGA and The R&A also today released their updated 2020 Annual Driving Distance Report, which was initially paused in February 2020 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Per the organizations, the proposals detailed above “are the outcome of this regular review of equipment-testing processes, protocols and standards to ensure their effectiveness.”
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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Bob Jones
Feb 3, 2021 at 4:51 pm
The long hitters bomb it because is the ball ends up in the rough they can still get par and birdie isn’t out of the question. The solution is to line each side of the fairway from 310-350 yards not with thick rough, but with a 10-yard wide bed of pea gravel. If they figure out how to hit out of that, we can change it to 3/4 minus.
DS
Feb 3, 2021 at 8:57 am
I saw “areas of interest” and “further debate” and didn’t read a word of the actual column. Are these guys paid by the hour? A union shop? Jesus – get something done for chrissakes!
Jack Mamm
Feb 3, 2021 at 7:33 am
I’m not worried – nothing can stop the hammer POW
Daniel Whitehurst
Feb 3, 2021 at 3:51 am
The question isn’t in equipment, it’s in course settup. Slow down the fairways! Plus if you roll back the distance you just hurt the mid to shorter guys on tour. Laws of percentages. You roll back distance the shorter guys lose more distance than the long hitters. It’s a fact. The higher the speed the more yardage per mph. Some long drive guys are 20 yards between irons, old ladies hit half their clubs the same distance. They are trying to fix an unfixable non problem. The average drive on tour goes up 1 yard per year. I don’t see a problem. Everyone plays the same restricted equipment. Colin Morikawa is at the PGA average club head speed and won the PGA at Harding Park where there’s 3 drives you can hit straight and had dense rough. There you go. Get more creative with course settup and distance won’t matter.
Karsten's Ghost
Feb 3, 2021 at 3:08 am
If you look carefully at what is being suggested, it’s not world-ending stuff.
46″ max driver. OK? So what? Testing to make sure they are, indeed conforming with a tighter test? Yep. Same rule, better enforcement. Same with the ball; 317y @120mph. That’s the rule now, and all they’re changing is how it’s tested.
This doesn’t amount to much. Brooke Henderson will be angry if the LPGA uses it, but I doubt they will.
What needs to happen is that COMPRESSION of balls needs to be reduced to no more than 65-70ish.
Funkaholic
Feb 3, 2021 at 10:30 am
You are talking out of your backside
James
Feb 2, 2021 at 11:18 pm
It will be interesting to see the unintended consequences that ultimately hit consumers.
Jbone
Feb 2, 2021 at 3:53 pm
Ask yourself who benefits from these rule changes?
Golfer
Feb 2, 2021 at 2:57 pm
This is a terrible idea and will kill golf TV ratings
Chuck
Feb 2, 2021 at 5:27 pm
This is a point that I think Geoff Shackelford has rightly trounced.
Does anyone watching golf on television actually “see” how far a ball goes? Is a 287-yard drive visibly, demonstrably different for a tv viewer, than a 347-yard drive? No, Shackelford points out, and he is right.
The shots that we will remember forever from our tv viewing are approach shots; short game shots; putts. I can think of 25 iconic televised Tiger Woods shots, and not one of them is a long drive. If any of them are drives at all, they would be things like one of his 2-iron tee shots at Hoylake, or a stinger 3-wood on a narrow hole.
Tgm
Feb 2, 2021 at 6:49 pm
Chuck is spot on.
jake
Feb 2, 2021 at 1:23 pm
Absolutely love this. The game is nothing close to its roots anymore. Ams would probably find the game easier playing a shorter ball and a shorter set of tees. They will hit the ball shorter offline when they banana slice it.
Jbone
Feb 2, 2021 at 3:26 pm
It will never be enough of a rollback to satisfy these elite club members and usga execs. They hate what Bryson did and it’s inevitable that players are going to hit it too far for these old courses.
jake
Feb 2, 2021 at 6:52 pm
I am a public golfer, and golf historian thank you. Protect the game. who cares about your tv ratings. A bunch of fat white men in suits
Funkaholic
Feb 3, 2021 at 10:32 am
You are an idiot, without interest, the game dies. You are no “historian’ you are just a dinosaur.
Plan Demic
Feb 2, 2021 at 12:34 pm
Take out the manufacturer influence and its an easy solution. Wound balls, steel shafts, lower the max CC and/or head material for woods (persimmon), 56* max loft for wedges. But you cant sell equipment on Monday if its not the “same” as what won on Sunday.
Ryan
Feb 2, 2021 at 12:23 pm
I don’t understand why they do not look at course conditions for the pros.
Jon
Feb 2, 2021 at 12:55 pm
You’re spot on, Ryan. There’s absolutely no excuse for the fairways to stimp out at an 8 or 9.
John
Feb 5, 2021 at 12:42 am
Exactly.
The USGA and PGA Tour have quietly made course conditions easier over the years all the while complaining about distance gains. The reality is, they secretly want guys blasting 350 yard drives and shooting -30 under par. Its sort of like how MLB ignored steroids for years because fans were in love with all the home runs.
Want to prevent guys from over powering courses? Make fairways 10 yards wide after 300 yards with thick five inch rough… and not that graduated nonsense the USGA has been using at the US Open. That alone would prevent guys from ripping 350 yard bombs all over the world.
They won’t do that though because casual viewers don’t want to see the long hitters forced to lay up off the tee…
JasonHolmes
Feb 2, 2021 at 11:51 am
I read Mike Davis and I immediately think – GTFO.
Except for about ten guys in the world, golf is still hard for the rest of us and we have no interest in hitting it shorter.
Please get Mike Davis out of golf completely.
jake
Feb 2, 2021 at 1:21 pm
Move up a set of tees if ya cant reach JasonHolmes
James
Feb 2, 2021 at 11:15 am
Fine, go ahead and do all this. But where does the line get drawn in, say, two generations when people are back to carrying it 300 again?
Paulo
Feb 2, 2021 at 10:03 am
Maybe be more visible in testing for PED’s too ?
BJ
Feb 2, 2021 at 9:52 am
Going after Bryson it seems
Smarterthanthisguy
Feb 2, 2021 at 1:42 pm
More like protecting integrity of the game and historical golf courses. Bryson will still be the longest with whatever rules are in place. The advantage is still his. How do people not get that?
Chuck
Feb 2, 2021 at 2:58 pm
When the Joint Statement of Principles was drafted by the USGA and the R&A in 2002, Bryson DeChambeau was 9 years old.
Jbone
Feb 2, 2021 at 3:29 pm
They are trying to but this isn’t the way lol. Making the ball shorter makes distance even more of a premium. They don’t know what they’re doing.
jake
Feb 2, 2021 at 6:51 pm
it isnt about bryson at all jbone. But you’re right, his advantage will be magnified as an unintended consequence which is completely fine