Equipment
WRX Insider: Jimmy Walker going back to steel at Colonial
It all started with an experiment during lockdown. It’s late March and 2016 PGA Champion Jimmy Walker is bored…so he breaks out his old 42-inch Titleist 970 3-wood with a Dynamic Gold X100 shaft (circa 2000) and starts ripping a few.
Odds are it’ll feel great but the numbers won’t actually hold up…right?
Now it needs to be said that I interact with Jimmy from time to time via text having met last year through Claude Harmon at the Canadian Open. He’s an awesome human being, one of the best out there. How can you not like a guy that’s kind, humble, loves BBQ, four fingers of whiskey, a good telescope, and talking gear. Hell, the guy is a unicorn in my book.
One of the most entertaining aspects to him is his pure love of gear and especially the classics. When I say classics, I mean late 90s/early 2000 classics. The guy knows his stuff. So for both of us to see the numbers above and realize what was possible was a total nerd parade. The question at that point was, if the 970 does this, what will TS3 do?
Zap ahead a month later and I get this picture…
Jimmy then proceeded to start testing this thing, and low and behold the numbers were solid. Even better, it felt like a hammer. That’s the feeling he was chasing.
Now, at this point, I’m inspired. I’m online trying to find 45-inch X100’s, which are hard to find FYI. JJ Van Wezenbeeck (Titleist tour rep) had to dig around and dust off some old stock to get this done for Walker.
So now what? He won’t take this any further will he? Is it possible to go steel in a TS3? Will it even function?
Then I get this picture…
Followed by these numbers…
To which I replied….
Will it pan out? Who knows but for a gear head like me, I’m rooting hard for a win. I’m grateful I was able to be a small fly on the wall for this experiment.
I love this guy.
Driver, 3-wood specs
Driver: Titleist TS3 (8.5 degrees @ 7.75, C1 setting)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X-100 (44 inches, tipped to length)
3 wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees @ 14.25, C1 setting)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X-100 (42 inches, tipped to length)
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.
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
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.
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Imafitter
Jun 9, 2020 at 10:21 pm
Will be fun to watch him play with these clubs this week. Met him when I was a volunteer driving players at the PGA two years ago…very nice guy!
Tom
Jun 9, 2020 at 10:17 pm
Not a club building expert, so please be gentle… if I wanted to try to build a 3 wood like this could I use a X100 1 iron shaft (42 in) or would that not turn out right
DeepRed
Jun 9, 2020 at 2:14 pm
Great, I just converted my fairway wood to graphite, mostly because my favorite club in my Maltby 23* hybrid, now I need to dig out the steel Rocket shafted three wood and consider yet another driver, either another of my Rocket shafts, a Rifle 6.5 or a Microtaper S.
Neil Cameron
Jun 9, 2020 at 1:29 am
Jimmys shafts were tipped to lenghth,same as Tiger did
I think Matt was using non tipped shafts(i think) which would be too soft for Matt.I remember the x100 shaft for woods was not very stiff.
ps I am a huge fan of TXG
brian
Jun 9, 2020 at 8:16 am
His dispersion was fine, but he lost something like 6mph of clubhead speed, his efficiency numbers took a dive and, of course, the ball speed some some 11mph lower with the steel shaft.
Rob
Jun 8, 2020 at 11:29 pm
I would agree with the 3 wood as I also have a steel shaft in my old Adams 3 wood…the heaver shaft just seems to work great in the 3 wood….I tried the steel shaft in an old Callaway driver but was not happy at all with that one.
Benny
Jun 8, 2020 at 6:56 pm
Awesome article and even better comments. Thanks boys!
Rule 15.3a
Jun 8, 2020 at 4:56 pm
Is he still backstopping for his buddies?
Delbert
Jun 8, 2020 at 11:33 am
I hit X100s straight and decent length. That’s all that matters is getting it in play on most days. It will be interesting to see how others react if he wins or places. Finding the right graphite shaft is like trying to find the right pair of jeans. With steel, you just hit it hard.
Topher
Jun 8, 2020 at 11:32 am
Any idea of the swingweight of these woods?
Dave
Jun 8, 2020 at 4:24 pm
D-Heavy. Or, Heavy D. Either way I’m super curious what it feels like.
Kevin Ricciardelli
Jun 8, 2020 at 4:25 pm
D5
joro
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:57 am
A lot of people think that heavier is still better than the light stuff being used today. I was a Master Wood Maker for Cobra and in my own game hit the steel shafted Driver around 260 pretty consistently and that was with a Wood hear with a COF of 7.5 which is nothing compared to todays Ti Meta, Graphite, bounce, faces that go to a COF of 8.3 and more. So I can see where with the extra weight and a fast swing good distance and especially more accuracy can be achieved. I think a guy like Phil would be better off with the accuracy of steel and maybe give up a few years to keep it on the Planet. But of course his ego will be affected if he is not the longest out there. Accurate he is not, long he is but where it goes nobody knows.
stanley
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:31 am
interesting. i hate to be a doubter but i think it’s safe to say that he will go back to his graphite shaft sooner than later.
gwelfgulfer
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:11 am
Golfworks here in Canada blew the remaining stock of DG woods shafts a couple of years ago, so I picked up a few to try out. Currently have an X100 in a 10.5* 9015D @ 44″. Feels great, lower flight that rolls out nicely. I also picked up some OG Rifle 7.0 and 6.0’s years ago and have them in some fairway woods, interesting to say the least with the 7.0’s in a wood (currently in a Wishon 949MC 16.5*).
Tommy
Jun 8, 2020 at 9:16 am
I’d want to know how the TS3 numbers with a graphite shaft compare to the TS3 steel shaft numbers, including ball speed, spin rate and dispersion. Hard to say whether it is worthwhile going back to steel without that comparison…
gwelfgulfer
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:06 am
These guys go more by ‘eye’ than numbers when you’re at the top. They have different needs/wants than just being ‘optimized’ for distance. Take the experiment that Woodland did a couple years ago dropping down to a 4wd and steel shaft and still flying it over 300. With graphite, his gapping was bad at the top of the bag.
Brandon
Jun 8, 2020 at 10:35 pm
In another article on Walker’s shafts it said he lost a little distance in the steel but it was good because his gapping was better. His next club is 3 iron with he can hit 240 so now he can add a 64 degree instead of the 5 wood or whatever he dropped.
brian
Jun 8, 2020 at 9:10 am
The TXG guys did a video on this and their results did not match Jimmy Walker’s.
chip75
Jun 8, 2020 at 9:50 am
Matty was losing a lot of club speed with the steel shaft, if Jimmy is losing an equal amount he’d be giving up a club or two. Would be interesting to see comparison numbers. 121.5 mph is pretty fast for the X-100. Being a “Steel Guy” I’ve always wanted to see the test, but after TXG’s results, I’m not sure if further study is required, perhaps another few brave souls are needed …
Jack Nash
Jun 8, 2020 at 8:55 am
Would love to see Jimmy in the winners circle again. Plus winning with a steel shaft? The graph boys would be spinning.
EastpointeCC
Jun 8, 2020 at 8:49 am
This is priceless. I would love to see a large sample size. My guess is that the dispersion will be much larger than modern graphite but who knows. This also highlights just how insanely good these guys are.
William
Jun 8, 2020 at 8:15 am
I had to email True Temper about X100 driver shafts. They don’t make them anymore but still have a few “in stock” that can be custom ordered.
Picked up a 970 15* and a 7.5* underline 975D to build out a Tiger Slam bag. Who knew the X100 shafts would be harder to acquire than T blades or a 970 fairway wood now.