Equipment

How far does Rory McIlroy hit a persimmon driver? We got the shocking answer in Scotland

Published

3 years ago

Jul 12, 2023

Scotland is a place of nostalgia for golfers – even for those who have never been there. As the home of golf, and the mecca of the sport itself, Scotland offers all golfers a place to pay homage to those who blazed the golfing trails before them, learn about the game’s history, and to experience golf courses that were built hundreds of years ago.

Every year, PGA TOUR players make the trek overseas to the United Kingdom to play in the Genesis Scottish Open, and then the Open Championship the following week (this year, the Open is at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England).

In recent years, we’ve seen PGA TOUR players post some of their local adventures to social media. Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, for example, visited the famed North Berwick Golf Club (West Links) this year for an evening round.

Just two friends having fun ?#GenesisScottishOpen | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/KtwO9lERJ5

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 11, 2023

In the same nostalgic vein, Rory McIlroy experienced a different piece of history before the start of the Genesis Scottish Open: a persimmon driver.

Persimmon drivers, which are made from wood (and have screws on the face to attach face inserts), were the most popular drivers of choice for golfers from the 19th century until around the 1980’s, when they were overtaken by steel (and eventually titanium and carbon composites). Famous golfers such as Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer used persimmon drivers during their careers.

Obviously, persimmon drivers are no where to be found in the bags of PGA Tour players anymore, since they produce slower ball speeds, less forgiveness, more spin, and decreased durability when compared to modern designs and materials. They’re fun to revisit, though, especially when in Scotland.

Using his new-age TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus driver, McIlroy currently leads the PGA Tour in Driving Distance for the 2022-23 season, averaging 327.6 yards per drive. He also ranks 6th in ball speed at 184.6 mph per drive, on average.

But what happens when you hand McIlroy a persimmon driver?

Past vs. Present ?@McIlroyRory tried out a persimmon driver during his practice round @ScottishOpen. pic.twitter.com/WdFb0uKPNs

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 12, 2023

According to the launch monitor results, McIlroy’s drive with the persimmon driver was clocked at 168.6 mph ball speed, with 255.7 yards of carry, and 4410 rpm of spin. It should be noted, he was using his modern TaylorMade TP5x golf ball.

McIlroy’s numbers with the persimmon driver certainly pale in comparison to his modern driver, which highlights how much technology has improved in the last 40 years. It also goes to show that golf doesn’t HAVE to be played with the newest and most expensive equipment for it to be enjoyable. Sometimes, mixing it up with older (and much less expensive!) clubs can provide a really fun challenge and memorable experience.

Not to make this about me or anything, but I recently got my own taste of what it’s like to play golf using an old wooden driver. In a recent match against my Two Guys Talking Golf podcast co-host Brian Knudson, I used just 3 clubs – one of them was a wooden Ben Hogan driver from last century. Technically speaking, it wasn’t a “persimmon” driver, but rather a “laminate.” Essentially, a laminated driver is built with sheets of wood, whereas a persimmon driver is made from a block of wood; persimmon drivers are currently more expensive and collectable, for the most part, while laminate drivers are arguably more durable. They’re similar in function, however, and equally technologically-stunted.

In my experience, I found the Ben Hogan laminate to produce drastically more spin and less ball speed compared to my 2023 driver, and it severely affected both direction and distance. While I typically average around 295 yards and 170 mph of ball speed with my gamer driver, I struggled to fly the ball more than 240 yards using the old wood driver.

By clicking on the video embedded below, you can check out the full 9-hole match between myself (0-handicap) and Knudson (9-handicap) to see my experience with the wood driver in action:

For more persimmon driver content, check out the links below:

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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.

14 Comments

Pingback: How Long Is Rory Mcilroys Driver? Exploring His Impressive Golf Game
Larry

Jul 27, 2023 at 3:57 pm

This is the answer to PGA and other Tours worries about distance, simple anything other than an Iron, (hybrids, fairway, drivers} must be made of wood. Simple distance taken care of and we move on all courses over 6,800 hundred yards would be fair play. And best of all reaching a par 5 would be a driver and a fairway wood not a driver and a 8 iron anymore and forget driving a 330 yard par 4 anymore.

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N

Jul 13, 2023 at 2:13 pm

Not shocking at all. It’s exactly how it should be. Why would you say it’s shocking? I don’t get it

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Pingback: How far does Rory McIlroy hit a persimmon driver? We got the shocking answer in Scotland - SOCAL Golfer
Brian

Jul 13, 2023 at 10:08 am

Did Kamala Harris write this article:

“persimmon drivers are made of wood.” “Woods were used by golfers”

Lol. Terrible.

Reply Report comment
- Rich D
  
  Jul 14, 2023 at 11:14 pm
  
  You mean the woman who graduated from Hastings with her law degree? The one who was California State Attorney General, US Senator, and it currently the Vice President of the United States? The one who has never lost a general election? That Kamala Harris?
  
  No.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Jbone
    
    Jul 15, 2023 at 1:41 pm
    
    The woman is a disgrace…
    
    Reply Report comment
Jurren

Jul 13, 2023 at 9:48 am

Does anyone know how accurate these trackman numbers are with persimmon woods? Do they actually measure launch angle, spin and ballspeed a yard or two off the clubface, or do they calculate (predict) these based on the measured swingspeed and one or two other factors? Ball stays on the face of a persimmon driver a fraction longer than on a titanium or carbon driver for instance.

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- P
  
  Jul 13, 2023 at 2:10 pm
  
  Ballspeed is ballspeed. It doesn’t matter whether you hit the ball with a spatula, it just sees the ball flying and extrapolates that from the algorithm programmed into it
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Jurren
    
    Jul 13, 2023 at 2:44 pm
    
    ok thanks. Wasn’t sure if trackman just measured clubheadspeed and calculated ballspeed based on that or if it also measured ballspeed.
    
    Reply Report comment
M

Jul 13, 2023 at 12:36 am

Yeah? But what length was it? 43.5?
Rors TM driver is 45.75.
If you can add that extra 2 inches to a persimmon driver without making it too heavy to swing, he’ll be right there at 290 carry and then you’ll know tech really hasn’t done much

Reply Report comment
- Brian
  
  Jul 13, 2023 at 10:06 am
  
  The one thing I hate about these “persimmon” challenges is that whoever just grabs some random persimmon wood and gives it to somebody to hit. What’s the loft of it? What’s the shaft?
  
  Maybe if we put a 44” graphite shaft and fit the loft of the persimmon and matched it up to a ball with the correct spin, I bet we would see a huge difference.
  
  Knowing what we know now, do you think Rory would be happy with such low launch and high spin on that driver. This could easily be tweaked with a different ball and loft.
  
  Reply Report comment
Mike

Jul 12, 2023 at 10:01 pm

Makes me feel better about how I could hit the ball in my youth and wish I had today’s technology “back in the day” when all we played was blades and persimmon or strata block woods. If you found a good driver back then, you would replace the insert because a good cut of persimmon was hard to find.

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LivvyDivvy

Jul 12, 2023 at 9:49 pm

Jack Nicklaus “roll back the ball, roll back the ball, roll back the ball”…

Oops

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Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Titleist Vokey Proto Wedges 54M, 60T

Published

1 hour 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.

Whats in the Bag

Ryan Palmer WITB 2026 (June)

Published

1 hour ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 60 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 70 6.5

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (18 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX

Irons: Srixon ZXiU (23 degrees), Srixon Z785 MB (5-PW)
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 100 6.5 (4), KBS Tour 130 X

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (50-08F, 54-10S, 58-04T @59)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey Dual Force Rossie II

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Check out more in-hand photos of Ryan Palmer’s clubs here.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

22 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.

Joel Thelen

Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.

First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.

Mitchell Meissner

Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.