Equipment
Chicago-inspired Swag covers, CC Sabathia’s WITB and Justin Rose’s old TaylorMade M3 driver
As the FedExCup Playoffs climb toward the pinnacle of excitement with two events to play, the top 50 PGA Tour point earners were dialing in this week at the 2023 BMW Championship to compete for big money, and solidify their spots in the season-ending Tour Championship next week at East Lake.
Compared to “normal” Tour weeks, the early-week equipment testing was relatively slow at Olympia Fields, which makes sense this late in the season, and with this much on the line. That being said, the equipment news was still abound with a few interesting storylines at the BMW Championship this week.
Below are the top-5 equipment notes from the 2023 BMW Championship.
Click to see all of our photos from the 2023 BMW Championship
1) A taste of Chicago Swag

In case you haven’t noticed, Swag Golf has been elevating its connection to the PGA Tour this year. The putter/headcover company has sold its custom products inside official merchandise tents at several events, including The Players Championship, the Valero Texas Open, and the FedEx St. Jude Championship, according to the company.
This week, the Chicago-based company (technically, Northbrook, Illinois), kicked it up a notch for the local event. Inside the official BMW Championship merchandise tents, Swag Golf is selling four different custom headcover designs for the week, featuring Ditka-inspired Italian Beef, Deep Dish Pizza, the Downtown Chicago skyline, and, of course, Chicago dogs.

Swag also created a line of “Iceman” headcovers and putters, which are named after a popular local Olympia Fields drinks, that are selling in the pro shop.

Click here for more photos and discussion in the GolfWRX Forums
2) Rose is running the TaylorMade timeline gamut

Equipment free agent Justin Rose has kept things wildly interesting with his equipment setups this year, especially with the driver. Throughout the year, he’s used the TaylorMade M2 2016, the TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus, and now he’s using the TaylorMade M3 from 2018. He’s just sliding up and down TaylorMade’s driver release timeline.
Also, Rose has switched into TaylorMade’s new MG4 wedges, in addition to his Cobra King MB and CB irons, TaylorMade’s M6 fairway woods, and his longtime Axis1 putter.
Now THAT’S a GolfWRX-approved bag right there.
See Justin Rose’s full 2023 WITB from the BMW Championship
3) CC Sabathia’s lefty gamer setup

CC Sabathia, a legendary left-handed pitcher who used to play for the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Guardians, played in the Wednesday Pro-Am at the 2023 BMW Championship alongside Scottie Scheffler and Corey Conners.
Read more about CC’s WITB on PGATOUR.com
Sabathia says he took up golf after retiring from the MLB in 2019, and the 15-handicapper has serious power and an eclectic equipment setup. He has a Callaway Rogue ST Max driver, a PXG hybrid, Titleist U-505 driving irons, Mizuno Pro 223 irons, custom-stamped “CC 52” Titleist SM9 Jet Black wedges, and an LA Golf all-carbon putter.
See more photos of CC’s bag here
4) New TaylorMade Spider Tour putters

This week at the 2023 BMW Championship, TaylorMade unveiled four new putter models, including the Spider Tour, Spider Tour X, Spider Tour V and Spider Tour Z.
GolfWRX Equipment Expert Brian Knudson wrote about TaylorMade’s new Spider Tour putters earlier in the week if you’re looking for more information and photos.
5) Chris Kirk speaks on his new Callaway Apex CB irons

Kirk has typically been a blade iron user throughout his career, but last week in Memphis, Kirk switched into Callaway’s new Apex CB irons.
My full story on his switch is over on PGATOUR.com, but here’s a snippet of what he had to say about the new irons:
“Last week [at the FedEx St. Jude Championship], was my first week with them in the bag,” Kirk told GolfWRX.com. “I had them at home for a few months, just kind of testing around with them. But the main reason I put them in, I would say, is because of the consistency out of the rough.
“My older blades were kind of coming out slow out of the rough. If I flew it 330, I would like that. But there were a lot of times, like in Greensboro [at the Wyndham Championship], I’d be 160 out and have an 8 iron and come up short. They were coming out slow. And I would get the occasional jumper. But these are really, really consistent out of the rough. They’re coming out a bit hotter.”
Click to see all of our photos from the 2023 BMW Championship
Whats in the Bag
Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)
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
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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Benny
Aug 21, 2023 at 3:33 pm
Love it. Thanks Golfwrx!