Equipment

Spotted: Rory McIlroy adds Qi35 driver, fairways, and a new wedge to his bag

Published

1 year ago

Mar 5, 2025

The PGA Tour’s minimal off-season makes switching into the latest golf equipment a little harder for the professionals. This week, we spotted Scottie Scheffler working with TaylorMade’s new Qi35 drivers on the range, and Rory McIlroy looks to also be adding some new gear to his bag as well. McIlroy had the TaylorMade Qi35 driver, fairway woods, and a new Milled Grind 4 wedge in the bag ahead of the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

TaylorMade Qi35 driver

Rory looks to be adding a TaylorMade Qi35 “Dot” driver to his bag this week. If you look at the loft on the head you can see a small dot on the upper right that isn’t just the symbol for degrees. Retail Qi35 drivers don’t have this little detail. Rory played a Qi10 “Dot” all of last year, as did many other pros, which was a lower spinning head. This Qi35 “Dot” looks to have a shape that looks more like the Qi35 LS head from address. The new Qi35 model has a larger and more rounded shaped to it where this Dot head tapers more down near the heel. Not sure if there are any performance changes but the shape might take a bit of stability out of the head. Rory has also made the switch to the new 2024 Fujikura Ventus Black with VeloCore+ 6 X shaft. Performance should be very similar to the previous 2019 Ventus Black with maybe a little added ball speed and stability.

TaylorMade Qi35 3, 5-woods

Club junkies jumped for joy when TaylorMade added its Loft Sleeve to their fairway wood line this year. We can now dial in the fairway woods with loft and lie adjustments to make them fit our swings and shots shapes even better. But out on tour, Rory has some Qi35 prototypes with a simple bonded hosel like last year’s Qi10 fairways. Bonded fairways typically let club engineers move some extra weight around to increase launch and forgiveness. The 3-wood is 15 degrees and the 5-wood is 18 degrees, but we are not sure if they are bent to any specific loft or lie. My guess is that these bonded models are designed to play just like the Qi10 as they were some of the most popular fairways on tour last year, used by Rory and others over the titanium Tour model. The 3-wood is shafted with a Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X and the 5-wood has the Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X shaft.

At Bay Hill, McIlroy told our Andrew Tursky the following about setting up the top end of his bag:

“Then I sort of had to look at the top end of the bag then of how I was going to configure it. For a while I’ve been looking for a club that sort of carries 300 in the air. I feel like there’s a lot of golf courses we go to that really pinch in at like 310, 320. I would hit a 3-wood — I can’t hit driver because it’s just too narrow, but then I would hit my 3-wood that’s going like 285, 290. Still, guys that are shorter than me are hitting driver sort of 300 or 310, so I’m actually, I feel like I was at a disadvantage in some ways, even to like people that hit it shorter than me, depending upon the course setup. So I sort of, and I messed around with that the mini driver last year, but I just couldn’t quite get comfortable with it. So I’ve sort of been playing around with like stronger 3-woods.

“So this 3-wood that I have carries like 300, 305 in the air, which is a really, it’s a really good club for me to have. And then I’ve went from a 5-wood to a 4-wood. And that 4-wood sort of bridges that gap. And then I’ve got the 3-iron that sort of replaces the 5-wood. So I’ve got a club that sort of flies 260, a club that flies 280, a club that flies 300, and then the driver. So that was sort of the reasoning behind ’em. It just sort of gives me more options off the tee. Especially with being so comfortable at the other end of the bag with the wedges and hitting those three-quarter shots that it’s nice to have those options up at the top end of the bag.”

TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 Wedge

While the MG4 wedges aren’t really new, Rory has a new one in the bag this week. The head is a 46-degree SB sole with nine degrees of bounce that is available through custom order on TaylorMade’s website or any authorized dealer. The team at TaylorMade then bent the wedge two degrees weaker to 48 degrees. I am not sure if this wedge is going to replace his 46 or 50-degree that he was carrying previously, but it must have been built for a specific need. Bending a wedge two degrees weaker will increase the bounce by the same amount, now making this an 11-degree SB sole. Some of the offset is also removed when bending weak, and I do see that from address, the straight leading edge and zero offset look great. The wedge is shafted up with a Project X 6.5, the same as he uses in his other wedges.

Check out the rest of our photos from the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational here.

Whats in the Bag

Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)

Published

9 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

9 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

12 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.