News

Rory McIlroy and his 6-iron: A love story

Published

12 years ago

Sep 4, 2014

The 6-iron is a traditional fitting club and the go-to club for hackers working on their games at the range. It’s also Rory McIlroy’s favorite piece of weaponry, according to a recent interview with PGATour.com.

It’s no surprise that Rory McIlroy presently plays Nike’s most recent generation of forged irons, the VR Pro Blades. Although we can assume he’ll be putting the soon-to-be-released Vapor Pro irons in the bag ahead of the upcoming 2014-2015 PGA Tour season.

Presently, in his 4 through 9-irons, Rory McIlroy plays the aforementioned Nike VR Pro Blades with Royal Precision Project X 7.0 shafts and Golf Pride New Decade MultiCompound grips (black/white).

When asked which club in the bag is his favorite, McIlroy said the following according Jonathan Wall of PGATour.com:

“My favorite club in the bag is actually the one I practice with the most when I’m on the range, which is my (Nike VR Pro Blade) 6-iron. It’s my go-to club when I’m working on something in particular because it’s right there between a long iron and a short iron. For me, I can hit a bunch of different shots with it, and over the years, it’s really served me well on the range and the course.

“I’ve actually become pretty accurate on approach shots from 175-200 yards because I spend so much time practicing with my 6-iron. I’m typically inside the top 5 or close to it every year in the PGA Tour proximity to the hole stat from 175-200 yards. I started using the VR Pro when I came on board with Nike and really like the look and shape of the iron.”

So, how is McIlroy’s iron play this year, particular from 175-200 yards out?

He’s sixth on tour in greens in regulation at 69.5 percent, and he leads the tour in strokes gained: total (2.31). He’s presently 15th on tour in approaches from 175-200 yards, averaging just over 30 feet from the pin across 85 tracked shots in that distance range. Last year, he was second on tour in the category averaging just over 27 feet from the stick with his trusty 6-iron in hand.

Rory-McIlroy-8-Iron

While we don’t have a shot of Rory’s 6-iron in-hand, he’s a picture we captured of the Ulsterman’s 8-iron.

See Rory McIlroy’s complete WITB here.

Related Topics:Nike

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Ben Alberstadt

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

8 Comments

marcel

Sep 16, 2014 at 10:44 pm

very smart article – depending on your course length and average drive length – we should practice the iron we use the most…

Reply Report comment
Bobbie

Sep 9, 2014 at 10:07 am

QU

Reply Report comment
William

Sep 7, 2014 at 6:45 pm

I personally believe my go to club is my 7 iron. When I feel out of sink I will spend time with my 5 wood. While I haven’t had a lesson lately I know my teacher preferred to work with the 6 or 5 iron. Golf is so mental so you should do whatever it takes to get you to a good place.

Reply Report comment
Derek

Sep 5, 2014 at 7:13 am

Strange that the 6 iron is what everyone else other than me considers the “middle”… haha

I mostly use my 7 iron when working on something as I feel as though it’s more in the middle even though generally considered a short iron.

4-5-6-7-8-9-P

The 7 is literally right in the middle haha. I guess the 6 iron makes more sense though as it definitely has more a long iron feel than a mid/short iron feel. At least to me.

Maybe I’ll start practicing more with my 6 iron. I’m already pretty accurate within the 175-185 range with it.

Reply Report comment
- Jeff Daschel
  
  Sep 5, 2014 at 4:15 pm
  
  Not of you consider the PW a a wedge in the same terms of gap, sand and lob. Rory’s PW is a wedge model, so his last blade style iron is his 9. Makes his 6 right in the middle of his irons
  
  Reply Report comment
Hugh

Sep 4, 2014 at 6:13 pm

LC

Reply Report comment
Snowman

Sep 4, 2014 at 6:09 pm

I think I read a long time ago that Jack Nicklaus preferred the 6 Iron as his “go to” club for practice.
I practice a lot with my 6 iron also, because it is a “tweener” (unfortunately I do not hit it 175)

Reply Report comment
Busterpar

Sep 4, 2014 at 3:01 pm

“What’s your favorite club in your bag?” The next one I’m gonna hit a shot with!!!!!

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News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

8 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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Why do we use it?

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.