Equipment

2012 PGA Show wrap up from the GolfWRX staff

Published

14 years ago

Jan 28, 2012

GolfWRX

2012 PGA Show Update.

Before I get rolling we have so much to post. All weekend and into next week we will be posting and loading video, photos and opinions of all the great things we captured.

Click here to see the discussion in the forums… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/578903-2012-pga-show-wrap-up-and-comment-from-the-golfwrx-staff/

Tuesday afternoon to Friday night six gearheads from GolfWRX armed with a digital armory went to Orlando for the PGA Merchandise Show with one objective… to cover the show for our readers. Not sure if we did a good job but certainly we tried our hardest. Here is a summary of the trip and I am sure the crew will add some of their thoughts.

Every year the guys that go down change. This year we had a final number of 6 guys and this is the roles they took…

Zack (KascoPro) to help out with Instruction and security 😉
Zak to Manage of the writers and help look out for special products. Also did a lot of interviews
Rob (HipCheck) to help manage this circus, do interviews, take photos and much more
Greg (PGA43) to take 17,893 photos and 79 videos (i wish) and talk for 21.5 hours a day like the iron man of media
Ryan (Gxgolfer) to keep the video running, gears turning, driving like crap and break the site on Tuesday to allow us to not be able to serve pages.
Myself Richard to sit in meetings most of the time and them escape to try to do what I love to do… walk the floor and see gear, companies and members.

Along with the 6 guys we took we must have had half or more of the attendees that are members and sudo reporters there. So many now are more than aware but active members. I will not single them out in fear of missing some but I must have met 300 guys and some gals that are active posting members here. It is always the best part of going down to the show to shake hands and say hello no matter how and where I am being pulled to and from.

We met with the CEO’s, Presidents, executives, managers and most importantly the designers and engineers of most of the OEM’s. We interviewed many of them and we are working to post up a lot of them now. As we always do we look to develop relationships and content that will lead to our readers excitement. We look to be inspired and are motivated by you our readers to provide more and more of things you want to see and hear. To connect golfers to the game.

Tuesday afternoon four of the six go tin earlier and headed to the convention center to get the credentials. Then we looked in the convention center to see the place a few days before it opened. WOW… 50% of the booths were ready and it was cool to see it before it was ready.

I will add some pics and description of what we did along the way…

Here is a pic of the before from Tuesday

Then we we went to lunch and Ryan broke the freaking site. We couldn’t serve pages all afternoon Tuesday. Real big time huh?

Checked in to the hotel and then we went to the Nike speed event. Sterling Sharpe (217 yd VR_S 6-iron). Suzann Pettersen looking on.

Got home and crashed. Then Wednesday was the all day at Demo day. All six of us got in the cherry mini van and got lost cause Ryan (Gxgolfer cant drive or do two things at the same time. Like listen to directions and drive I guess. Real sad stuff.

We had a great time at demo day. Here are some cool things we saw…

Great weather and a full house of companies…

Ran into Jeff McCoy of Scratch Golf. He is the lead grinder next to Don White. He showed us a burn mark from a putter head that whipped through a buffing wheel in an accident. The head was 400 plus degrees and landed on his forearm. Took some skin on impact…

Here is a shot of Greg taking one of so many videos you will see with the industries best…

The new and could be a best in show Adams sick Hybrid…

Tom Stites, Cindy Davis, Beth Gast and the whole Nike crew were great. Speed baby. Here is the video and the buzzz… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/577573-nike-vr-s-forged-irons-from-demo-day-at-the-pga-show/

Click here to see the discussion in the forums… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/578903-2012-pga-show-wrap-up-and-comment-from-the-golfwrx-staff/

True Tempers new Satin PXi shaft. Here is the video to… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/577563-2012-true-temper-project-x-pxi/

Fourteen beauty…

TaylorMade Madness!!! There was a line that had to be 50 people long at one point just to hit the equipment on launch monitors. They were killing it. So crazy they had bleachers to house the watchers. Rocketballz 3 wood and hybrid killed it an dthe drivers are well fan favorites all the time. Wedge buzz also.

The Mighty MP-59 form Mizuno had a glow cast over it. Just AWSOME! An the wedges along with the other iron sets made Mizzy very crowded. We will have full video up for that… http://www.golfwrx.c…m-the-pga-show/

Other great sights…

Crazy Yonex. Fresh looks from them. Lots of pop and excitement… We will have a lot of video to explain the brand and equipment…

Tour Edge love. They have some serious buzzz with this 2 wood they have out… We will have some great video live today

Odyssey Sickness. They had their new tour truck that will travel to clubs and tour stops to give us consumers the same treatment the tour gets…

Cleveland style…

Oakley sickness also. Killer truck…

Cobra gone crazy. Puma lost their mind and ran a sport bar with a DJ at the range…

After Demo day I went back showered and met with some big shot at some big huge gigantic company and had an awesome hour long drill down into equipment trends, social media and building things that our members want to see. Had dinner at Texas De Brazil and went back to work into 2:00 am to wake at 6:30 to go to the show in the convention center.

THURSDAY

Thursday morning and all day was awesome. Here are some random shots of some exciting things I saw and the other 5 saw different things…

Here is a $16,000 Cameron twisty that was being sold at Table Rock Golf. Here is the thread for all the pics… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/579031-2012-pga-show-table-rock-golf-with-scotty-cameron-pics/

Ping in da house. We got close up pics of the ping i20 woods line and more irons Pics…

Click here to see the discussion in the forums… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/578903-2012-pga-show-wrap-up-and-comment-from-the-golfwrx-staff/

I didnt know there was a Mercedes AMG Golf brand till last week…

Or an Austin Martin…

We will cover this in detail. This is Scratch losing their minds. I love Ari. Ari is th eowner of Scratch and he is more than like us. Gearhead to the core. He made a personal set of irons that are Don While grinds that he sent the heads to England were some crazy itching, engraving, and silver fill treatment like they do for shotguns. Some famous guy did them and he named all the iron heads a different name for the old historical names at the turn of the century. Freaking off the hook. Could be the best looking piece of jewelry I have ever seen. He is going to game them to. I love that. No iron headcovers here.

New Footjoys with some cool (I mean really cool) designs to give better performance. Grippers under you heel to prevent slip. gel tech in the structure around ankle to feel good and a wider base to aid stability…

Hundreds of Pics to be loaded today and then this crazy party it TMag. They had a booth that was almost 25% of the whole show at the opposite side of the contention center. It was bizarre. Awesome bizarre but it needs to be seen to believe it.
Here you go… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/578559-2012-pga-show-taylormade-adidas-ashworth-pictures/

And there was a party with a George Thorogood concert? Yes there was…

Dinner and then

FRIDAY

Did I show anyone this? Ohh yea baby…

Jones…

Vega pics coming…

Click here to see the discussion in the forums… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/578903-2012-pga-show-wrap-up-and-comment-from-the-golfwrx-staff/

Garmin

Swingbite… Not sure it is any good yet but looked cool. Small enough not to look like a bird at the range…

Greg Norman was wearing these. Last week we were wondering and hear we go…

V1 software with Annika…

More great views and better people…

Great stuff. After a 10 year sabbatical from the show Traditional (Japan Forged and USA owned) is make. With his son to help..

So we will be hard at work to try to get it all up ASAP. I have to get off this computer. My Daughter wants me to set up the sewing machine. Wish me luck guys. I will be sewing for the next 3 hours. She wants to make a hat for our dog. That is going to be interesting.

Click here to see the discussion in the forums… http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/578903-2012-pga-show-wrap-up-and-comment-from-the-golfwrx-staff/

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.