Equipment

A Decent Demo Day for the Lefty Golfer

Published

18 years ago

Jun 12, 2008

A recent Demo Day at my local Roger Dunn Golf Shop was billed as the “biggest of the year” so I had to check it out.

Of course, I couldn’t resist seeing the latest clubs with a promise like that. These events are usually an exercise in patience for me since most manufacturers “forget” to bring left-handed clubs with them. Not today! Nearly everyone had lefties to try out and most had women’s lefty clubs as well. It was a great time for lefties and I even ran into three other fellow southpaws while I was there. Although I am a woman, I hit men’s regular flex clubs because women’s clubs are too short and “flimsy” feeling for me. Even so, I asked everyone if they had women’s lefty. Here’s the rundown on what I tried out and who had what:

Adams Golf – This manufacturer had a full set of men’s and women’s hybrid Idea irons and women’s Insight XTD in left-handed driver to try out. I personally gave the 4 iron a few swats and liked it just fine. I’ve not hit this type of iron before so I’m probably not used to it. They had no men’s lefty driver to try so I had to take my husband’s word for it. He tried tha men’s XTD Pro driver that has the discussion boards aflame with the recent price drop. I’m guessing he thoroughly enjoyed it since he promptly ordered one for himself.

Mizuno – This tent was quite busy when I stopped by so I didn’t get a chance to try anything out. They did have men’s lefty irons and CLK Fli – Hi hybrids in a few different sizes. There was no lefty women’s clubs at all.

Tour Edge – This tent had no lefty clubs at all but told me they were “on order”.

Taylor Made – I tried the men’s lefty CGB R7 irons here with a regular flex graphite shaft and liked them fine even though my personal preference is for steel shafts. The reps informed me that they would no longer be making a women’s lefty club but would have senior flex clubs. The challenge for women with senior flex is they can be a bit stiffer than the women’s flex and are a bit longer as well.

Cleveland – I hit the HiBore 8 iron and it was just adequate in my opinion. There is probably nothing wrong with the club, its likely just not for me. Cleveland also had no women’s lefty clubs to try. The rep was really quite helpful though and gave us a free sleeve of Srixon balls for watching the demonstration of their new bag. In a nutshell, it has technology that counts the clubs in your bag so that if you drive off and leave one at the green it will beep at you. The bag sells for about $300. I do really like Cleveland overall have a few of their woods now.

Cobra – As always, I can count on Cobra to have a good amount of lefties to try out. In addition, they have full sets of women’s lefty irons, hybrids, and drivers. I personally tried the S9 irons in men’s regular flex and found them to feel nice.

Nike – I can’t tell you how excited I was with Nike because of what they had. Granted, a limited women’s lefty selection but they had a lefty wedge to try out! I’ve never been able to try a wedge at a demo day. It was the 60° and I hit it like absolute crap, but it was nice to have the option! I probably hit it so badly due to my giddiness and excitement. The rep handed me a men’s Sumo hybrid and said I’d love it. He was right. You have to hit this club. In addition, the rep shared with me that Nike’s top priority was to get more involved with women in golf this year. Apparently they realized that they are missing something and are working to change that. Bravo!

Callaway – My irons today are the Callaway X18 men’s regular flex with the steel shaft and I really like them. I decided to hit the X20 in both the steel and graphite. What is interesting is that I used to only want the graphite but not anymore. The X20 steel were awesome. I am now itching to trade up very soon. This booth had a few men’s lefty options but no women’s.

Ping – I thought I was totally in love with the aforementioned Callaway until I hit the Ping G10. Wow. Each time I hit the ball it was straight and had distance. These clubs must be really forgiving because I am one that always hits best when I first pick up a club and then as time passes my swing gets lazy. Hitting these at the end of the day and not missing a one means they just might be the right one for me. They also had a decent selection of women’s clubs to try out.

Titleist was gone by the time we got to the event. Apparently our local rep is also a bartender and had to leave early. Maybe next time.

Overall, this event had the most left-handed clubs I’ve seen in a while. That along with the fact that I ran into other lefties that were asking for clubs means that manufacturers may stop “ignoring” us yet! My advice – keep asking reps for them when you see a demo and we will likely see more.

Whats in the Bag

Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)

Published

1 hour 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

1 hour 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

4 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.