A week before the PGA Tour was forced to cancel the remaining three rounds of the Players Championship, Golfweek was able to get detailed, in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s golf equipment at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge. See all the gear the world’s No. 1 player is currently using.
THE CLUBS
DRIVER: TaylorMade SIM (10.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver XTS 70X shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX shaft; SIM (19 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX shaft
IRONS: TaylorMade P790 UDI (2)*, P760 (3, 4), P730 (5-9), with Project X 7.0 shafts
WEDGES: TaylorMade P730 (PW), Milled Grind 2 (54, 60 degrees), with Project X 6.5 shafts
PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider X Copper
BALL: TaylorMade TP5
GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
(*McIlroy takes his 5-wood and his 2-iron to each event, and at some events early in 2020 also took a TaylorMade SIM Max Rescue club. He selects one of those clubs at each event based on course conditions.)
The Yardages
While McIlroy is listed in the PGA Tour’s media guide as being 5-foot-10 and weighing 160 pounds, he is one of the most powerful players in tournament golf thanks to his dedication to fitness and his talent. Harry Diamond, McIlroy’s caddie, said the numbers below are his stock yardages when playing under typical conditions (77 degrees at sea level):
Driver…………………………… 321 yards
3-wood …………………………. 287 yards
5-wood …………………………. 268 yards
3-iron …………………………… 245 yards
4-iron …………………………… 236 yards
5-iron …………………………… 217 yards
6-iron …………………………… 205 yards
7-iron ………………………….. 188 yards
8-iron …………………………… 176 yards
9-iron …………………………… 161 yards
Pitching wedge ………………. 146 yards
Sand wedge …………………… 122 yards
Lob wedge …………………….. 105 yards
The Driver
At the 2017 Players Championship, McIlroy announced his signing of an endorsement contract with TaylorMade. He started using the company’s woods a few weeks before inking the deal. In his three completed seasons with TaylorMade, he has ranked first, first and second in average driving distance. McIlroy again ranks second this season with an average of 320.2 yards per tee shot using his new TaylorMade SIM driver. With the adjustable weight in the center of the track, the club is set up without a draw or fade bias.
The Irons
McIlroy is one of the best iron players in the world. He splits his set and supplements his TaylorMade P730 muscleback irons with a pair of cavity-backed P760 long irons. The P760 irons launch the ball higher and create a steeper descent angle, so when McIlroy plays long par 3s or approach shots into par 5s, the ball stops faster.
The Irons
The P730 irons McIlroy uses are oriented for control and feel. They have the smallest blade length, thinnest topline and narrowest sole of any TaylorMade iron.
The Wedges
In the first half of 2019, McIlroy used 52-degree, 56-degree and 60-degree TaylorMade Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges, but like many TaylorMade staff players, he switched to the Milled Grind 2 wedges when they became available during the FedEx Cup playoffs. The Milled Grind 2.0 wedges have a polymer insert in the back to soften feel, and by milling the sole, TaylorMade easily can replicate the exact sole grind McIlroy prefers.
The Putter and Ball
If there had been an Achilles’ heel in his game, it was his putting. But last season, after teaming with Brad Faxon and switching to a copper-toned TaylorMade Spider X putter, he ranked 24th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting. That’s up from 97th in 2018 and 159th in 2017. While it is compact, the Spider X has weights in the back heel and toe areas to boost stability on mis-hits and a grooved True Roll insert to encourage the ball to start rolling faster.
McIlroy played the firmer-feeling, higher compression TaylorMade TP5x ball at the start of 2019 but switched to the softer TP5 to get more greenside spin. All of his golf balls are No. 22. He married Erica Stoll on April 22, 2017, and McIlroy looked up the symbolic meaning of 22 and liked that it represents power, high risk and ambition.
