PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Tour pros are just like everyday golfers in that they’re always curious if a new driver or iron might unlock a little something extra in their game. And by tour pros, we mean ALL tour pros, even ones with four majors and $95 million in PGA Tour earnings.
So it was that Rory McIlroy switched into a new TaylorMade Qi35 driver (9-degree), 3-wood (15-degree) and 5-wood (18-degree) ahead of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. This, despite the fact that he had won at Pebble Beach only a month earlier with TaylorMade’s Qi10 driver and fairway woods, a set-up he had been using—and using effectively—for more than a year. The hope of course was to squeeze a little more distance and a little more accuracy out of the clubs; McIlroy praised the new clubs early in the week, saying he actually carried the new 3-wood more than 300 yards.
Unfortunately for McIlroy, the results didn’t materialize. After his third round Saturday at Bay Hill, McIlroy found himself seven shots off the lead in a tie for 10th, so he decided to end the experiment and retrieve his old clubs for the final round. The problem? They were back at Rory’s home in West Palm Beach.
Mind you, modern society had an answer for this issue: Uber. According to McIlroy coach/confidant Brad Faxon, speaking with Sky Sports, Rory had his clubs driven the 2½-hour ride to Bay Hill via Uber. (The cheapest ride we found cost around $200, but if he had them ride in style via Uber Premium, it could have cost north of $400.
During the final round at the API, McIlroy shot an even-par 72 to finish tied for 15th. He then spoke about the decision to switch back to his old clubs.
“Sort of going back to what I’m comfortable with,” he said. “I tried new woods for the first three days, didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to. So, yeah, I went back to my old stuff today. I led strokes gained/off the tee in both Pebble and Torrey, so it was a really good idea to change [laughs]. And then, like yesterday, I lost strokes off the tee, which is the first time I’ve done that in a long time.”
McIlroy isn’t exaggerating. He leads the tour this year in strokes gained/off the tee and is generally among the leaders in the category every week he’s competing. Through two rounds at Bay Hill, however, he had gained only 1.3 strokes on the field, which is usually the number he produced in 18 holes.
Then on Saturday, McIlroy actually lost strokes (-.032) for the first time since the FedEx St. Jude Championship last August, when he hit less than half his fairways over the week and finished T-68, his worst performance in 2025.
Interestingly, McIlroy’s SG numbers on Sunday were actually worse with the old driver back in play; he hit only five fairways. Even so, McIlroy says he’ll keep the old clubs in play through the Masters.
“I probably just didn’t give myself enough time — and it’s totally different, you know, it can look good on the Trackman and it can look good on the range at home at the Bear’s Club or on the golf course, but once you get out here in these conditions that’s where it really shows itself and it just wasn’t quite ready.”
Mind you, McIlroy didn’t sound like he regretted the change, nor does he think the decision to go back to his old clubs is an indictment of the new ones. Again, he’s just like any golfer and hopeful that a tweak in gear could be beneficial.
It’s about confidence, says Faxon, who says the old clubs had slightly more spin that allow him to have more control. “He doesn’t need more speed,” Faxon told Sky Sports. “There’s nothing prettier in golf than seeing Rory hammer a draw down a fairway or into a green.”
And it will be needed if McIlroy wants to win this week at the Players Championship or next month at the Masters.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
