Equipment

I think I found my unicorn driver – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

10 months ago

Aug 18, 2025

In our forums, our members have been reacting to a post from WRXer ‘mvhoffman’ who believes they may have found their unicorn (rare and perfect) driver. ‘Mvhoffman’ has begun playing Mizuno’s St-X 230 driver, and has detailed his experience with the club in our forums, writing:

“So after going back and forth for the past few years and regretting selling my SIM 2 MaxD, I fell back into the side of Mizuno drivers. I started the season with the ST-Z 220. Loved the look and the price and it played great for the most part. The shaft (Motore 7S) was a bit too much for me with the combination of a slightly open clubface. I lost shots right but had some nice distance. After deciding that I wanted to try something a bit better suited to me I decided to change the shaft. In came the Ventus Blue 5S and it was a game changer. More control, easier to swing, and my right miss didn’t seem so far right. Played that for a bit until I decided that I was sick of losing to the right. Went on the search and for $100 I was able to get the ST-X 230 driver head.

I did this not expecting anything amazingly different only being 1 model newer but just hoped to control my miss a bit more with the more forgiving head. Boy, was I WRONG. Played the morning that it came with the Z head and hit the ball terrific. Middled almost every driver and had a great round. The new head came that afternoon, took the old off the Ventus, tossed on the new one and waited until the morning. Went to the course to get in 9 holes before work and from the first tee shot I knew. The first tee shot was a decent swing that was almost a complete miss and ended up hitting the ball on the toe side. It launched lower and went out like a normal missed drive. Started walking down the fairway to the 150 marker where a miss would have went with the z head and the ball was not there. It was NOT a good shot, it was NOT an okay shot. It actually felt BAD. I stood there and out loud said to the walker with me “well so much for the first drive with the new head.” He laughed a little snarky as I was looking for my ball and said “I wish my bad shots ended up there.” I turned to him and he pointed up the fairway about 30 yards forward to where we were and my bright green Wilson was in the middle. Again, NOT good at all and it finished 10ish yards ahead of where good shots with the Z head would have finished. This continued… consistently better distance and less miss.

Fast forward to today (approx 2-3 weeks later) after a few rounds with the X head. After not playing for a week I decided to walk a handful of holes today. Same thing still. A couple not so good swings (rusty from vacation) and results as if I pured the shots with the Z head.

I’m dumbfounded by the Mizuno ST-X 230. I was told the MAX head is even better but I don’t even want to attempt to try it. I have a couple tournament rounds coming up and I can’t wait. Did I find my unicorn… maybe? I am definitely not in a hurry to try to find a different one. And on another note… If I ever write about trying something else besides the Ventus Blue, I deserve to be kicked off the forum.”

And our members have been sharing their thoughts in our forum.

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.

launcher: “The ST-X 230 has been my gamer since it hit the market. Just an awesome driver, and doubt that anything can outdo the sound/feel off this driver face. I don’t find the X to be particularly draw biased at all. I recently put a Qi10 in my back-up bag, and while it’s also a really phenomenal driver as well, it won’t bump my gamer.”
mikes919: “I really liked mine last year, the sound is absolutely awesome and it got a lot of “what was that?” comments. Really solid thump. Decently forgiving and straight. I just hit mine too high. Would have been perfectly fine switching into a lower-lofted ST-X, but I ended up in a Ping fitting and gained a handful of yards with the G430 Max. The Mizuno sounds/feels better though.”
gator022: “I don’t have the X, but prior I had the 220-Z, and now I have the ST Max 230. Underrated drivers. I recently ordered a Callaway Elyte driver due to the 2x trade in deal they had going and dumped some older or extra stuff. I can’t get the numbers on the Elyte and the face does not feel nearly as forgiving. Feels much harsher. I’m confident I could probably setup a fitting and get it tweaked to fit me better, but I’m not certain it’ll ever meet the ST Max 230. The prices on these Mizuno drivers are absolute steals. They don’t have great resale or trade in, so be warned if you try one you won’t get much for it on the backend. However, the performance is great and seems it can match all the major brands or even exceed them.”

Entire Thread: “I think I found my unicorn driver – GolfWRXers discuss”

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.