Equipment

Here’s why Jordan Spieth switched into a new Fujikura Ventus TR Blue shaft at Pebble Beach

Published

4 years ago

Feb 3, 2022

When Fujikura’s new Ventus TR Blue shaft launched in January 2022, we learned all about the updated construction and potential performance benefits compared to the original Ventus Blue. It was unclear at the time, however, exactly who would make the switch into the new TR design on the PGA Tour.

Well, we’re starting to get some answers.

Jordan Spieth, who’s been relatively slow to change into new products throughout his career, is among a handful of names making the change. Spieth conducted recent testing with a Ventus Blue TR 7 X shaft in his Titleist TS2 15-degree fairway wood, and he put it in play this week at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Titleist Tour representative J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, who works closely with Spieth on his equipment, said that Spieth came to the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) on Friday before the 2022 Pebble Beach Pro-Am for a check-up on his equipment. Since Spieth was previously playing Ventus Blue shafts in his Titleist metalwoods, he was intrigued by the new TR version.

As it turned out, Spieth found the new shaft to help with his transition and directional control.

“Coming from Ventus Blue, anytime they update a shaft you’re just intrigued on that, and he liked how [the Ventus TR Blue] loaded compared to the original Ventus Blue for him,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX on Tuesday. “He felt like when he mishit it, there was a little more control. So that was a good option for him…we did a little bit of internal work on the head to make sure there’s enough spin, because want to make sure his 3 wood doesn’t have too low of spin. He liked how the TR reacted on mishits where the spin didn’t drop, and it had more consistent spin from swing to swing.”

Due to a new Spread Tow fabric in the butt-end section, which is essentially a checkerboard pattern of woven material, the torque on the TR version is 10 percent stiffer in the mid-to-grip end of the shaft. As a result, Fujikura says the TR shaft is designed to improve stability and consistency compared to the original Ventus Blue.

Based on Spieth’s results with the TR shaft during testing, it seems Fujikura’s case holds water.

Spieth is using a Ventus Blue TR 7 X version in his fairway wood.

Pat McCoy, Director of Tour Operations at Fujikura, spoke with GolfWRX about the new shaft, and what players are seeing in their testing out on Tour.

“Compared to the original Ventus Blue, the TR has a stiffer mid-section and lower torque,” McCoy said. “Basically what the shaft does is it eliminates some of the dynamic loft. It eliminates some of the rotation. Obviously, the Ventus Blue was a very stable shaft and one of the best launching shafts we’ve ever had. And we just made it better.

“As far as ball speed and launch and spin, I’m not going to say it’s faster, but we have seen players who have achieved faster speeds with it. It provides more consistency and the ability to turn swing speed into ball speed better. And that’s it. It’s a little stiffer than the original Blue, and it’s a little bit weaker than the [Ventus Black]. It’s a ‘tweener. It gives you something in the middle, and depending upon loft and impact location, you get a better fit.”

The fairway wood shaft wasn’t the only potential change that Spieth will make in 2022, though.

In addition to putting the new Titleist Vokey SM9 wedges in the bag, Spieth is also considering adding another option to the top end of his bag.

Typically, Spieth changes between a hybrid and long irons, depending on course conditions. During the recent session at TPI, though, Spieth took a liking to Titleist’s U-505 wide-bodied driving iron. Ahead of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Spieth took a U-505 2-iron (Graphite Design AD-DI 105X shaft) out onto the course for testing.

“He’s experimenting with a U-505 this week (ahead of the event at Pebble Beach),” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “He’s always gone between a hybrid and either a 2 iron, or a hybrid and 3 iron, and we brought out a 505 as kind of a third option on a week where he isn’t sure whether he should play an iron or a hybrid. The 505 being a wide body iron is kind of a blend between the two. And he was really intrigued with how high it launched on a standard shot, and he could flight it more off the tee, where as with a hybrid he can’t do.

“So on weeks he feels like there’s a lot of irons off the tee, he likes to play the iron. On weeks where there are a lot of shots into par 5s, he likes the hybrid. On weeks where there’s a little of both…he felt the 505 might be an option, so he was taking it on the golf course [on Tuesday] to see how it would react.”

While it’s unclear exactly when Spieth will break out the new U-505, it seems like it’ll certainly be in the rotation going forward. The Ventus TR Blue shaft, on the other hand, has already earned a starting spot in the bag this week.

These changes may seem minor to some, but it shows Spieth’s willingness to find small equipment tweaks to improve his game. For amateur golfers, use this as a lesson when gearing up for the new season. Go through your bag, test some of the new shaft and head options, and see where you can make improvements. Now is the perfect time to take inventory and get prepared.

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Andrew Tursky

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

2 Comments

F

Feb 6, 2022 at 12:41 am

Yeah. It’s the lower torque in the lighter weight shaft. Duh

Reply Report comment
Matt

Feb 5, 2022 at 4:56 am

Jumping to TR probably had something to do with seeing his bro Zalatoris nearly win with it. For a guy who’s ‘slow to change’ in 2yrs its been driver twice, all wood shafts (now some twice), irons, wedges twice. About 5 different iron and wedge generations since the last time Stricker got a new sand wedge. The only thing consistent during the drought is the hybrid and putter.

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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.