Equipment

GolfWRX Members Choice: Best driver shaft of 2022

Published

4 years ago

Jul 7, 2022

What is the best driver shaft in 2022? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. Needless to say, that extends to GolfWRXers’ views on the best driver shaft of 2022.

The bedrock of GolfWRX.com is the community of passionate and knowledgable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members—the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.

Check out the full results and see what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

Best driver shaft of 2022: The top 5

1. Fujikura Ventus Blue

What Fujikura says: “A multi-material bias core construction that delivers ultimate stability through transition and impact (maximizing clubhead MOI) – increasing velocity and smash factor. The multi-material core is crafted with full-length, ultra-high modulus Pitch 70 Ton Carbon Fiber — 150% stronger and more stable than T1100g — for ultimate stability, and 40 Ton bias layers ensure incredible feel.”

From our launch piece: As a refresher: Ventus relies on Fujikura’s proprietary VeloCore Technology to tighten shot dispersion and enhance performance on off-center shots. “As swing speeds increase on Tour over the last few years, the Tour player is seeking tighter dispersion to hit more fairways,” said John Hovis, Tour Operations & Technical Services Manager at Fujikura. “We challenged our engineers to develop a stable, low spinning, stiff tip shaft to improve control and ball speeds and the result was Ventus.”

You can read what other golfers are saying in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here.

2. Fujikura Ventus Black

What Fujikura says: “A low launch/low spin profile with an ultra-stiff handle and tip section for players with a quick transition that prefer minimal flex during the swing.”

From our launch piece: “The Ventus Black is an extremely stout profile designed for more aggressive players with a stiffer profile in the butt section and especially in the tip section compared to the original Ventus Blue profile.”

You can read what other golfers are saying in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here.

3. Fujikura Ventus TR Blue

What Fujikura says: “Fujikura’s Product Marketing Manager, Spencer Reynolds: “Essentially, there’s a standard carbon weave and then there’s a Spread Tow carbon weave. What a Spread Tow does is it takes all these individual strands of carbon and irons them flat into a tape, and then weaves those over-under, over-under almost like a checkerboard pattern. So there’s very little space for resin to accumulate, you get super low resin content, and then you also get a lot of strength in varying directions. It can take pull and load in multiple directions. Another benefit is that it’s super lightweight. You’re getting an incredible amount of strength, in an ultra-lightweight package.”

From our paunch piece: “Fujikura has developed a new Ventus TR Blue shaft. Like the original Ventus Blue, the TR version is a mid-launch shaft, except it’s stiffer in the mid/handle section to improve stability and consistency of strike While VeloCore is still used throughout the Ventus TR shaft, the new construction features “Spread Tow” fabric in the butt-end section to increase torsional stiffness. Spread Tow, essentially, is a checkerboard-like design that weaves fibers together to increase strength and reduce weight. According to Fujikura, the torque is 10 percent stiffer in the section that uses this design.”

You can read what other golfers are saying in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here.

4. Graphite Design Tour AD DI

What Graphite Design says: “The Tour AD DI also utilizes premium, aerospace quality 50t carbon-fiber materials to provide the best performing shaft available. The softer mid-section bend profile of the Tour AD D allows the player to load the shaft properly, yet it maintains a firm enough tip section through impact promoting a high launch and low spin ball flight condition.”

From our launch piece: “The Tour AD DI “DEEP IMPACT” is designed to provide golfers with more power and stability in a golf shaft. It is the brand’s first shaft design that was integrated with Toray Company’s original NANOALLOY material technology in the tip section of the shaft. This material technology is known as “DI Technology” and aims to offer players additional shaft stability without the loss of feel.”

You can read what other golfers are saying in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here.

5. Fujikura Ventus Red

What Fujikura says: “A mid-high launch/mid spin profile with a softer tip section for players seeking increased launch and spin without sacrificing stability.”

From our launch piece: “The Ventus Red is designed to achieve slightly higher launch and spin than the current profile of Ventus Blue — which can be both helpful in the driver and fairway woods.”

You can read what other golfers are saying in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here.

Check out the full results and see what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

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

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.