Equipment

Driver vs. Driver: Can a GolfWRX Editor design a better driver than what’s on the market?

Published

10 years ago

Oct 3, 2016

Designing your own driver is like running a race through a jungle that’s littered with booby traps. No matter how fast you are (or in this case, how good your idea is for a driver), you’ll need help navigating through the obstacles or you’ll never survive.

Myself and 18 contestants on Wilson Staff’s new TV show, which documents the driver design process in a competitive Shark Tank-esque format, found out just how many booby traps lay unseen in the jungle of driver design.

Golf Channel’s “Driver vs. Driver” reality show, sponsored by Wilson, airs October 4 at 10 p.m. EST and pits driver designs from novices against each other. Nearly 300 submissions were accepted from “bus drivers, engineers, college students who have never played golf… real people,” says Michael Vrska, Global Innovation Director at Wilson. The 18 contestants were a part of 11 different teams, and they worked with professional golf club designers from Wilson to refine their designs. The winner not only earns $500,000, but the distinction of having his or her driver brought to market for the golfing public to purchase.

Judging the driver designs on the show are former NFL linebacker Brian Urlacher, former USGA Technical Director Frank Thomas, Wilson Golf President Tim Clarke and PGA Tour player Kevin Streelman. The show host is Melanie Collins, who also co-hosts on Golf Channel’s Big Break.

As I learned — and I’m sure the contestants on the show did as well — the driver-design process has some serious and unexpected challenges. Personally, I needed major help along the way from Wilson’s design team to not only make an awesome driver, but make a legal driver. Below, I detail the process of my driver design from start to finish, including photos and real feedback from along the way.

GolfWRX Driver

My first challenge in designing a new driver was answering the question, “What hasn’t been done already?” Think about for a second. Not so easy, huh? And it’s especially difficult when you need to sketch something up, and send it to professional driver designers knowing the sketches will be on GolfWRX for the world to see.

No pressure.

Here’s what was going through my amateur-driver-designer brain during the design period.

The best-performing drivers have low CG and high MOI, right? So I’ll sketch up a driver that has extremely low and rearward CG. Duh.

So I slapped some carbon fiber on the crown to save some weight up top, and threw a rear extension low and back behind the club to drag weight all the back away from the face.

Looks good enough.

And we need some adjustability, too. Hmm… I got it! Let’s put the gear from GolfWRX’s Gear Trials logo, make that dual-weighted — half aluminum and half tungsten — and spinning that gear will allow golfers to shift CG.

There’s also some more room in the back of the sole. Might as well add some additional adjustability. And a speed channel behind the face, too, because… why not?

I figured the weights could be made of different materials of varying weights, and you’d interchange them depending on whether you wanted neutral, draw, fade, and could adjust head weight, too.

Brilliant!

OK, about a year’s worth of R&D done in 15 minutes. A great-looking, and probably awesome-performing driver. Maybe this really is easier than it looks.

So I sent my very amateur sketches off to Wilson and got some lunch. I may or may not have been thinking I’d have a new career in designing drivers when I came back.

GolfWRXWilsonDriverDesign7

A few days passed and I received an email with feedback from Wilson. It was much like checking an exam grade that you thought you absolutely knocked out of the park.

And… I failed. Miserably.

GolfWRXWilsonDriverDesign8

GolfWRXWilsonDriverDesign9

GolfWRXWilsonDriverDesign10

Initial Design Feedback Summary

Little chance the carbon fiber inserts and face-to-skirt radii would pass durability.
Front-to-back length must be less than heel-to-toe length, so the driver is non-conforming under USGA rules.
Volume is 478cc, which is also non-conforming under USGA rules, which set 460cc as the mass limit.
The gear is too large, and is estimated to be too heavy.
The four weight inserts would likely add even more mass to the design, which already weighs too much.

I didn’t think about the USGA, nor did I consider mass, durability… and reality. The gear design and rear extension might work after all, though, even though the four weights probably wouldn’t. There just wasn’t enough weight to go around, especially when saving weight is the goal.

Here’s the second round of designs after a few back and forth conversations via email with the Wilson team.

Click to enlarge.

GolfWRXWilsonDriverDesign13

Round 2 Feedback Summary

Club is now USGA conforming, with a shorter front-to-back dimension and 458cc volume.
CG is 0.130 inches toe-ward.
Overall head weight is still too high, and that’s before the hosel adaptor or interchangeable weights are added.
The lip structure for the carbon crown will also add additional weight.

It was still too heavy, and CG was toe-ward, which is less than ideal. But at least it was USGA conforming!

Wilson’s team asked for my thoughts on how to reduce size, weight and reposition CG. I was stumped. Luckily I was invited to Wilson’s headquarters in Chicago to play lead driver designer for a day, and sat over the shoulders of design experts, helping making final decisions on every aspect of the design.

Truth being told, however, I was just along for the ride. Wilson’s team took what was an obviously amateur — and frankly, a non-commonsensical driver design — and turned it into something that looked really cool, and might perform decently in the real world if it actually went to production.

A special thanks to Mark Spencer, Mark Kerscher, Kevin Mayoux, Rich Hulock and Michael Vrska for all of the time and assistance!

Final Design

WRX_DRIVER_SOLE

Finals stats:

CG with gear weight max toe = 0.034 inches toe-ward
CG with gear weight max heel = 0.038 inches heel-ward
Total CG movement with gear weight = 0.072 inches
CAD MOI = Over 4100 for all gear weight positions

According to Wilson, MOI would probably be about 4300-4400 if it were actually to be produced. Also, with the amount of CG shift, the gear design would likely be enough to make a real impact on ball flight. Saving weight from various portions of the head made that possible.

Would it be the best driver on the market? Definitely not. But having the final product be USGA legal, and not a complete disaster was a success.

Final Thoughts

It would be a drastic understatement to say I have a newfound respect for driver design.

So much goes into designing a driver that it’s frankly overwhelming. Not only do you have to worry about conformity, durability, cost and production, but you need to highlight technologies in order to have a marketable driver, attract your intended consumers, and obviously, build something that performs better than not only your company’s predecessors, but other drivers on the current market. Oh yeah, and you only have about a year to do it.

As GolfWRX Senior Editor, I think it’s best I stick to reviewing the newest equipment rather than designing it.

Enjoy the gallery below featuring all of the sketches, CAD designs, FEA tests, etc., and don’t forget to vote in the poll below!

Poll

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Review: Gabe Golf Swing Trainer

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.

36 Comments

Jeremy

Oct 17, 2016 at 8:56 pm

The TV show is a trainwreck so far. None of the contestants really understand or seem to play golf. There is little drama. It’s not interesting-bad, but boring-bad.

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Dave r

Oct 9, 2016 at 5:12 pm

Great article was going to pass right by it but glad I read it very interesting in deed .

Reply Report comment
RAT

Oct 6, 2016 at 12:16 pm

I like the idea of a contest on designing a driver and giving all that money away. This gets other ideas and involvement from people that just may have a great idea that is out of the box ! I bet there would be a lot more discussion if some other mfg. came up with this (Callaway )(TM)(Titleist) .It would be sooooo super and the greatest driver ever with 17 yards gained. But it isn’t and that’s the thorn in the side. At least it’s got people watching how designs are turned into a product. It’s certainly not easy and designs are so close to copying some others that one has to be very careful . I hope that it’s a great driver and a great show. Time will tell.

Reply Report comment
Z

Oct 6, 2016 at 2:40 am

Somebody squash this idiot like a bug

Reply Report comment
Wesley

Oct 5, 2016 at 10:45 pm

Thanks for an insightful article. Interesting look at how it really is to design a modern driver. It looks cool to me. Any driver that allows the user to have a ‘Fade’ position is a real win.

Reply Report comment
Ronnie

Oct 5, 2016 at 1:36 am

I like this show it was a break from BIG Break….Wilson is getting more and more back into golf, loosing Nike should help keep them around……Still remember when Wilson tossed out John Daly soon after he won the British Open with their odd looking driver….it was said they would never sell another driver after that….I think they are still trying to regain that part of the market…they should just re-sign Daly he is the longest on the Champions Tour now.

Reply Report comment
rymail00

Oct 4, 2016 at 11:20 pm

Andrew—-

Are you on the actual show? Or was your WRX design driver just looked over by the Wilson team to help promote the show (just curious, regardless enjoyed the this article a lot).

Reply Report comment
James

Oct 4, 2016 at 4:19 pm

Is Brian Urlacher an avid golfer? Maybe they trust a gritty Chicago opinion? I’m so confused why he is involved in this show?

Reply Report comment
- VL
  
  Oct 5, 2016 at 12:53 am
  
  Because, doofus, he represents the 90% of hacker golfers in the world with a swing like his who seek a club helps them hit it long and straight. So him being a celebrity helps the show as well.
  
  Reply Report comment
The Real Swanson

Oct 4, 2016 at 2:56 pm

Wilson should try and make a decent blade like they last did in the 80’s and early 90’s.

Reply Report comment
- Stephen Tomlinson
  
  Feb 13, 2019 at 10:47 am
  
  #staff Proto is live! you were 18months ahead of the times
  
  Reply Report comment
Rich

Oct 4, 2016 at 10:01 am

Looks absolutely crap!

Reply Report comment
CHip

Oct 4, 2016 at 8:48 am

The rear extension is very smart, so is the clicking gear to change weights around. If I had one request to new driver designer it would be to go the way of the R11 and make the lie angle adjustable. That adjustment plate was genius. Change the loft on the hosel, change the lie angle on the sole plate.

Reply Report comment
- Matto
  
  Oct 5, 2016 at 6:13 pm
  
  Yeah………unless you hover your driver at address, which a lot of people do. And then it’s pointless. Which I believe was why that system was done away with.
  
  Reply Report comment
Ti

Oct 4, 2016 at 2:20 am

Well Andrew, one idea to be able to make this heavier head work would be to use it on 43 or 44 inch shaft with a slightly heavier grip-end set up where you could use some counter weight or something to offset the heaviness, and make yours a better player driver (which it would be with all the adjustable tuning that lazy amateur high-handicappers don’t really want to deal with), with a heavier, stiffer, more tip-reinforced shaft. Might be interesting to try it

Reply Report comment
Adam

Oct 4, 2016 at 12:51 am

Based on the fact that the parameters for production are so strict, is there the real possibility that drivers could be made THAT much better if they were non-conforming? One of the biggest issues in golf today seems to be getting people interested in “having fun” aka hitting it like the pros. Personally, I could care less if your average weekend golfer used a non-conforming driver.
Based on your experience, Andrew, do you think the designers at the major club manufacturers could provide normal golfers with leaps and bounds performance enhancements if they weren’t constrained by the USGA regulations?
It makes sense to me that people should play with what they want. If you’re not even thinking of playing in anything competitive, who cares what you use? Enjoying the game is what matters most, and allowing players to hit it longer and/or straighter seems like it could help draw players to the game.

All that said, I love your design, and the gear is a masterful idea. Similar to the R1 a bit, but great use of the space available.

Reply Report comment
KK

Oct 3, 2016 at 9:30 pm

One of the best golf articles ever.

Reply Report comment
Sean Hoffman

Oct 3, 2016 at 7:30 pm

Why you walkin?

Reply Report comment
Kurren

Oct 3, 2016 at 6:56 pm

This is so cool! Really looking forward to this show. I’m curious to see if there will be a HiBore type design. I made a thread last year asking why that shape wasn’t ever used again. It seems to tick all the boxes, you are saving volume with the scoop, so you have more room to make the driver have a bigger footprint to push CG rearward. Also since the crown weight is lower, the CG would also be lower. Seems great to me?

Reply Report comment
Des

Oct 3, 2016 at 5:18 pm

i think it’s a very cool design concept. I would love to hit it. I hope it at least makes it to prototype so we get to see how it performs. I think you’re on a very good track with this

Reply Report comment
- yMH
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 8:27 pm
  
  yEAH yOUR mUM’S hEAD IS ON IT
  
  Reply Report comment
Jake

Oct 3, 2016 at 4:52 pm

So once I saw this article and saw how overly complicated the process is and what is trying to be achieved through this show and what was designed here in by the author all I can think about is how about we just follow a couple of trends that are apparent across the OEMs producing top tier drivers.
1. Carbon gives you freedom to move weight around a little more freely
2. move able weight is a good thing when moved correctly….
3. Stick with a familiar shape… Like TM, Titleist and some of the Cally drivers. Weird shapes have came and gone already a few times. The market has already told these companies that doesn’t work.

Solution: Use a carbon crown that can easily be removed, you could use the same screw for the hosel loft adjustment. Maybe I’m not an engineer. Use hot melt for the move able weight. This is already a proven method of modifying weight dynamic and gives the driver better acoustics. Train fitters on where allocating the hot melt weight would best benefit the fitee. Doing this would increase the number of people buying at full retail and would encourage people to get fit to get the most out of the driver they are buying, do to restricted access to people able to hot melt.

There you have it a truly customized move able weight driver without all the ugly cosmetics of trying to find out how to move the weight around also cuts down on people like me and lots of golfwrxers who buy off ebay or other outlets to get the same driver at a discount.

Reply Report comment
- G
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 5:12 pm
  
  Why don’t you have a nice cup of STFU if you don’t know anything at all. You’re just clutching at straws like everybody other idiot pretending to know something they know nothing about.
  Every metal wood and hybrid all have some amount of goop in them. Beyond that, having adjustable removable weights is the norm. The design on this page needs to have that component instead of having to hot metal anything at all.
  Go play tennis, if you don’t want this stuff
  
  Reply Report comment
Jnak97

Oct 3, 2016 at 3:19 pm

I would be interested to see what the tails does in a wind tunnel, but the top view is a little hard to look at. The gear is an interesting advent and pretty unique compared to other cg shifting techniques in the market now. So it would have a carbon fiber crown?

Reply Report comment
Sean

Oct 3, 2016 at 2:48 pm

Nicely done Andrew! I would certainly give it a “shot”. Good luck!

Reply Report comment
MIKEYP

Oct 3, 2016 at 2:30 pm

An honest question, if there was a way to make a driver better, wouldnt the R&D departments at all the large club manufactures have figured it out by now? I hit my 2005 Cleveland as straight and as far as my M2 with the same diamana shaft and golf pride grip.

Reply Report comment
- Ummmm
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 3:45 pm
  
  Yes – there is no more innovation left only cosmetics
  
  Reply Report comment
- Eej
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 3:50 pm
  
  No.
  Because you’re an eejit
  
  Reply Report comment
Get air

Oct 3, 2016 at 12:42 pm

Great article, and I like your design. Already set the DVR for the show. What a great idea for Wilson. Hope this gets their name back out there again. Even my kids who aren’t really into golf yet are super interested in this show.

Reply Report comment
Matt

Oct 3, 2016 at 12:10 pm

That thing is hideous.

Reply Report comment
Phil

Oct 3, 2016 at 11:12 am

How many episodes did you just ruin by posting this? Do I even need to watch the show?

Reply Report comment
- Mouldfan
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 11:36 am
  
  Did you fail third grade reading comprehension? The article was about the author’s personal experience attempting to accomplish what the show’s contestants were being asked to do. It mentions nothing about the show other than noting its name, sponsor, air time, host, judges, and the ultimate reward. It reveals nothing about the show’s actual content, divulges nothing about specific episodes, and, therefore, in no way “ruins” anything. Do you really think the folks at Wilson and/or the Golf Channel would be that dumb to provide specific details about the show before it even airs? Please do us all a favor and step away from your computer and out of your mom’s basement.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Mike Honcho
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 12:36 pm
  
  I thought you were too busy making snide remarks at the Ryder Cup to have time to come on here and do the same.
  
  Reply Report comment
Boobsy McKiss

Oct 3, 2016 at 10:45 am

Telling story of the state of the golf industry when they are asking randoms to design the next gen gear?

Reply Report comment
- the guy
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 2:16 pm
  
  This article proves that what they are looking for is not a new golf club engineer, just a simple good idea. They took Andrew’s hideous and kind of silly idea and turned it into something sort of workable that looked like a driver you might see (that nobody would ever buy thanks to that tail).
  
  The Wilson engineers are going to do the heavy lifting.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Ummmm
    
    Oct 3, 2016 at 3:46 pm
    
    Yeah because they have such a solid track record creating golf clubs that do well at retail 🙂
    
    Every single one of them should be fired
    
    Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory

Published

1 hour 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

4 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.