News

Rory McIlroy sheds light on Nike Golf’s 2016 equipment industry exit

Published

1 hour ago

Jul 8, 2026

In 2016, Rory McIlroy took a call that even surprised him. Nike Golf had decided to end its club- and ball-building business after launching its first golf balls in 2000, before clubs made it to retail the following year.

Nearly 10 years on from the decision, McIlroy spoke ahead of the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open about the decision.

“Yeah, it was definitely – as you said – it took all of us by surprise,” McIlroy said. “I remember getting the call, whenever that was, and I felt like it was very funny timing. Because I felt like the equipment was like getting really, really good.”

McIlroy had even tested the next cycle of product that was supposed to launch at the start of 2017.

“I thought the golf ball was getting better,” McIlroy added. “The equipment was getting better.”

Nike’s decision came with Nike Golf finishing the 2016 fiscal year with $706 million in revenue, its worst since 2011, when the golf section of the company generated $623 million.

“But like with all these massive companies, when you have a change of leadership, it changes the direction of the company,” McIlroy said on Wednesday. “You know, someone comes in, looks at how much R&D is costing, Nike Golf in comparison to the revenue that they are making, and they are like, yeah, we probably need to cut that.

“But if a CEO comes in, and in four years’ time and says no, we actually want to start doing that again, they could start doing it again. All these massive companies, they are influenced so much by what happens at the top.”

With Nike Golf out of the picture, McIlroy had the license to experiment with his setup. At the South African Open in 2017 his was spotted using Callaway Epic woods, Callaway Apex MB irons, Titleist Vokey wedges, an Odyssey putter and Pro V1x ball.

“But it gave me an opportunity to, I guess, go to market and try different stuff and sort of see where I came out,” McIlroy added. “Landed with TaylorMade, and it’s been a pretty good run with them since.”

News

A unique setup: Details on Chris Gotterup’s TaylorMade putter

Published

1 day ago

Jul 7, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This past week, Chris Gotterup overcame a 5-shot deficit at the John Deere Classic and caught fire with a final-round 62, finishing the tournament at 20 under par for the win. He drove the ball to near-perfection on Sunday and backed that up by putting the dots off the ball. His putting for the week was +5.39 strokes gained on the greens.

Looking at Gotterup’s last calendar year with 4 wins, including defending his title this week at The Genesis Scottish Open, he made a particular change at last year’s U.S. Open, switching to the TaylorMade Spider Tour X1.

Gotterup has a particular style when it comes to rolling the rock; he favors having the toe down, with the heel raised a bit more at address. We have seen this style with Steve Stricker as well.

“Initially that week we tested some different alignment lines and lie angles. With his toe down set up the long line, always looked a bit off. When we bent it upright to get it to sole flat his wrist position felt off” said TaylorMade Senior Tour Representative James Holley.

So, a little more testing and the correct putter has been chosen with alignment, player preference, and lie angle. Personally, I like the lead tape on the putter’s sole for additional weight as well.

“With the short alignment line, he was able to line the putter up while being toe down. The ulnar deviation created by the putter being toe down reduced the face rotation and allowed him to match the path and face angle of the Spider X more naturally,” said Holley.

The putter is rolling, and so is Gotterup’s play. He is defending his title this week in Scotland and is now up to 7th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Equipment

Spotted: First look at Srixon’s new ZXi RKT fairway woods and hybrids on Tour

Published

2 days ago

Jul 6, 2026

Alistair Cameron

Just a couple of weeks ago at the Travelers Championship, Srixon launched its new lineup of drivers on tour, with the ZXi RKT family taking full flight.

Plenty of changes came with the new drivers, including a new sole makeup along with the new-looking material labeled “Acousticore,” which could be a different design structure internally, stepping away from the Star Frame that Srixon has used in the past. At the Travelers, Srixon showed off four different models: A core head, LS, Max, and LS+.

Now at the ISCO Championship, hosted at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, we have a first look at the new RKT fairway and hybrid lineup.

GolfWRX’s Tour Photographer Greg Moore was out earlier in the Bluegrass State to get first-hand images of the new clubs, which are posted here.

From what we can see from this week’s haul of images and a quick search on the USGA Confirming List, there is currently only one core model available. The ZXi RKT fairways come in 15, 18, and 21 degrees of loft, while the hybrids are 2- through 6-hybrids, ranging from 17 to 28 degrees.

Both fairways and hybrids feature a matte-style crown and a similar sole design to the drivers. The beam that runs front-to-back on the older generation ZXi woods is gone and has been replaced with a more streamlined design, narrowing to the rear of the driver head. There is also just the one forward and central adjustable weight on both the fairways and hybrids.

The i-Flex face pattern on the previous ZXi face is now replaced with a new face design called “RKT Face,” which we’ll have to wait and see how the tech works behind that. While the face of the woods seems to be shallow, the crown of the actual head looks to be raised higher than before, especially in the heel section.

Each club features the adjustable hosel, which was new to the previous ZXi woods and hybrid lineup.

ZXi RKT fairway wood

ZXi RKT Hybrid

News

Photos from the ISCO Championship

Published

2 days ago

Jul 6, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is staying stateside, traveling to Kentucky for the ISCO Championship at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

WITBs and custom putters are here for the viewing, including some very cool looks into the bags of some players whose setups we haven’t had the pleasure of shooting so far this year

Check out all our photos from the Bluegrass State below!