Rory McIlroy is shaking things up in a big way ahead of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, swapping out nearly half the clubs in his bag.
The world No.2 is finally making the switch to TaylorMade’s newest driver, the Qi35, after sticking with his trusty Qi10 through several wins, including last month’s victory at Pebble Beach.
But this isn’t just about a new driver. McIlroy’s completely revamping the top end of his bag with some seriously powerful new weapons.
“I’ve been looking for a club that carries 300 yards in the air,” McIlroy explained. “There’s a lot of courses where guys shorter than me have an advantage because I can’t hit driver, but my 3-wood wasn’t going far enough.”
His solution? A souped-up new 3-wood that flies an incredible 300-305 yards through the air.
The changes started with something small – switching from TaylorMade’s TP5x ball to the TP5 before his Pebble Beach win. That one move set off a chain reaction of adjustments throughout his bag.
“With this new ball, I feel so much more comfortable hitting those three-quarter shots with my wedges,” he said. “So I tweaked my pitching wedge and went back to carrying three wedges instead of four.”
That freed up space at the top of his bag for a completely new setup:
– A new Qi35 driver
– Two new Qi35 fairway woods
– A prototype 3-iron
Now he’s got precisely spaced options off the tee:
– Driver for maximum distance
– 3-wood that carries 300 yards
– 4-wood for 280-yard shots
– 3-iron that flies 260 yards
McIlroy will put all this new gear to the test when he tees off with Shane Lowry at 1pm ET today at Bay Hill.
Here’s his complete bag setup:
– Driver: TaylorMade Qi35 9°
– 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi35 15°
– 4-wood: TaylorMade Qi35 18°
– 3-iron: TaylorMade prototype
– 4-iron: TaylorMade P760
– 5-9 irons: TaylorMade RORS Proto
– Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 48°, 54°, 60°
– Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
– Ball: TaylorMade TP5
