Equipment

Truist Championship Tour Report: McIlroy makes club changes in Charlotte, new club releases + more

Published

5 days ago

May 8, 2026

Rory McIlroy makes his first start on the PGA Tour since winning his sixth major championship, going back-to-back at the Masters Tournament, and he does so with new clubs in the bag.

As one of the favorites at Quail Hollow Club for the Truist Championship, a tournament that he’s won on four occasions, McIlroy switched out his double-Masters-winning TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood for the newer Qi4D model that he had been playing up until his tee time at Augusta National this past April.

“I had been using the (Qi)4D 3-wood at the start of the season,” McIlroy said Wednesday ahead of the Truist Championship. “I noticed that it just had a little bit of a left bias in it. So I went back to an old Qi10 for a while. But that wasn’t, it really wasn’t spinning enough. It’s more like a mini driver than a 3-wood. It sort of spins like 2,700, it’s pretty fast. It could be a good club for like Memorial, for example. But I felt like I needed a 3-wood that just spun a little bit more.”

After a week of testing with the TaylorMade team in Florida leading up to the Truist Championship, a discovery was made as to why the Qi4D head was performing the way it was.

“What was interesting is he was hitting it right out the center, but the club was kind of acting like he was toeing it,” said Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade’s VP of Tour Operations. “So he was getting a little bit of a left gear effect. It wasn’t drastic like a closed face, but it was just a slight overdraw.”

The fix: moving the center of gravity towards the toe and a little bit higher to help with the spin rates.

“The first hit came right out the middle, 3,200 spin, didn’t overdraw,” Sbarbaro added. “He had eight balls in a row. The spin rates were all 31 to 3,300, where he went back to his Qi10 and he hit some that were 32(00). Then he would get one at like 28(00). So it really matched up well, and he was still hitting it out of the center and seeing the flight he wanted. So it is just a much more playable 3-wood, and I think he’s pretty excited having the bag this week.”

Along with the 3-wood, McIlroy also acknowledged that he has a fresh set of irons in the bag this week in Charlotte. It was actually the original reason for the TaylorMade trip to Florida for the team to dial in the heads, lofts and lies to that of his previous gamer set. Don’t worry, blade fans; he’s not back into the cavity-back irons – just a shinier version of his RORS Protos.

Titleist launches new mini driver

Shortly after launching the GTS drivers and woods on the Tour, Titleist gifted gear heads with another option in the newly added lineup with the GTS300 mini driver. While no official information on the latest mini driver to hit the circuit, one could believe that the 300 could relate to the sizing of the head. The previous GT280 played at you guessed it – 280cc head – so it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the latest head is a touch larger at 300cc.

Ryan Gerard gave his initial thoughts on the club.

“Mini drivers are a weird club; some guys really like them, I’ve been trying to be one of those guys,” Gerard said. “… I like the fact that this one’s a little bit bigger.

“Jason Day and I were talking about mini drivers and some of the new ones they have more of a round edge here (the bottom of the face) so they’re harder to get off the ground. I really like this kind of flush to the ground, so I can go down and get it a little bit easier.

“Going to tinker around a little … but my initial thoughts are there’s possibilities here.”

Take into account that the metalwood team at Titleist designed the original GT280, so consider this option more of a larger 3-wood than a smaller driver like other equipment manufacturers.

Tony Finau’s putting

Tony Finau has had a resurgent year on the greens in 2026. He switched into a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue putter earlier in the spring and, since then, has climbed to 18th on the PGA Tour in putting average, and is gaining strokes on the greens for the first time since 2022.

So it may surprise some to see him potentially switching putters at Quail Hollow Club ahead of the 2026 Truist Championship, and he’s doing it in a very unconventional way. Finau, a six-time winner on Tour, was spotted using a broomhandle putter, a less-than-traditional length putter.

“Putter’s felt good and bad, kind of inconsistent,” Finau said Monday at the Truist. “So I’m like, it’s (a long putter) something that I’ve thought about. It’s something never really fully gave a chance. So off week, I didn’t play last week, so I was like, maybe this is the time to give full chance.”

The way Finau was spotted gripping the club may be a more surprising aspect to the switch, with his hold on the club even less-than-traditional. Instead of the standard top-arm elbow pointed towards the hole and anchored into the chest, Finau has elected to externally rotate his forearm, having his thumb pointing down the grip of the club, towards the ball.

Find out more about Finau’s reasoning for the unique grip and setup with the long putter here.

Webb Simpson’s irons

Quail Hollow member Webb Simpson has decided to step up his iron game ahead of the 2026 Truist Championship hosted at his home course. He’s not one to make changes often. He’s first to admit it, and “if something works,” he tends to run it out for “as long as possible.”

So when a shiny new set of Titleist T100 irons are in the bag of the Charlotte native, it’s a pretty big change. The clubs, in fact, came “right off the rack,” according to Simpson, and it’s a considerable move from a man who’s played muscle-back clubs for a long period of his career. So much so, Titleist even created a one-of-one prototype for the former U.S. Open champion. But they were a combination of what worked best for Simpson, including the sole shaping and grooves from a 2019 T100.

The real story about the irons isn’t to do with how new they are, or even the fact that they’re off the rack, but instead, what Simpson has done with them since he received the set.

Read more on the reasoning behind Simpson’s special iron set.

Quick Hits

Away from the Turist Championship, newly announced equipment-free agent Brooks Koepka didn’t take long to mix up his setup. He added four Vokey wedges to the bag: the SM11 48.10F, 52.12F, 56.10 and then a WedgeWorks 60B. The B grind is created for golfers who love the versatility of the M grind but would prefer a lower bounce option.

Club of the week

It would be easy to pick a Scotty Cameron every time Hideki Matsuyama is teeing it up on Tour. But the custom Cameron that was made for him at Truist is extra special. Usually, V soles are saved for irons, but the custom blade uses a unique sole design, along with some mint stampings.

Equipment

Spotted at the PGA Championship: Koepka’s new putter, L.A.B. Golf’s latest prototype and custom Philly gear

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

Aronimink Golf Club takes center stage for the 2026 PGA Championship, as the world’s best, along with America’s top club pros, take on the Donald Ross classic, just outside Philadelphia in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Even on the first official practice day of the championship, there was plenty of gear news and storylines to dive into, with a three-time champion going through an extensive putter testing, as well as new prototype putters spotted and custom gear galore. Let’s dive into it.

Brooks Koepka’s putter testing

Three-time PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka spent plenty of time Monday morning and into the afternoon on the practice putting green in front of the Aronimink clubhouse, working with coaches and Tour reps and putting plenty of different flasticks through their paces, after apparently recently breaking his new TaylorMade Spider Tour X last time out at the Myrtle Beach Classic.

Koepka tested out a couple of Scotty Cameron heads, similar to that of Cameron Young’s Phantom 9.5R with a full sightline. It’s not the first time a Tour pro has asked to follow in Young’s footsteps. Justin Thomas had the same request last week at the Truist Championship. Why not follow the hot hand?

Koepka’s custom Cameron featured the same style Teryllium insert that he has used previously, most notably during his PGA Championship wins in a Newport-style blade. The putter, however, that looks to have the best chance of making its way into the bag come Thursday is a TaylorMade Spider Tour V, the model of head recently launched on Tour at the RBC Heritage.

What’s unique about Koepka’s new Tour V putter is the custom length L-Neck (plumbers) hosel that he has equipped. The extended version looks ot reduce the toe-hang of the putter along with adding stability to the stroke.

The putter change comes with a plethora of additions to Keopka’s bag after his split with Srixon/Cleveland. Along with already playing a Titleist ist Pro V1x golf ball, Koepka added Vokey wedges to his Grove XXIII staff bag last week in South Carolina. The 36-year-old is using SM11s in 48.10F, 52.12F and 56.10, along with the WedgeWorks 60B, a special grind with an interesting letter choice.

Look at Koepka’s full bag here.

L.A.B. Golf’s new vision

As GolfWRX continued the long tradition of capturing players’ bags and equipment, we got a glimpse of the latest L.A.B. Golf putter in the bag of Adrian Saddier. The Frenchman, who’s making his PGA Championship debut at Aronimink, is rolling with the newly added VZN.1i putter, which features a closed-back, winged-mallet design, resulting in a square cutout in the middle of the mallet.

Saddier’s new stick is center-shafted with two thick white alignment lines. The VZN.1 is the latest L.A.B. putter to be spotted. It comes after the traditional blade-style LINK.2.1 & LINK.2.2 were released on Tour, featuring a heel-shaft.

Take a look at the full gallery here.

Custom Philly-themed gear

As with every major championship, the PGA sees a bevy of custom gear from equipment manufacturers to highlight the theme of the week. With Aronimink sitting just west of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love takes full focus.

Callaway is ringing the Liberty Bell with its Philly special-edition staff bag that tour players will be rocking at Aronimink. The bag features a pin-striped design, embossed with the Liberty Bell itself and a special green-fluff strap for the Philadelphia Phillies’ mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.

TaylorMade is also theming the staff bag around the birth of a nation, with a specially crafted staff back to celebrate the city where American independence was born. The bag features Philadelphia’s fingerprints with Independence Hall lives on the ball pocket, the Liberty Bell graces the valuables pocket, and Benjamin Franklin holds court on the back. The bottom collar reads – City of Brotherly Love – and custom “LOVE” zipper pulls pay tribute to the iconic Robert Indiana’s sculpture situated in the city center.

Tileist has adopted a different design for its GTS headcovers, going with Kelly Green, for the 2025 Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles.

Check out more custom gear in the forums.

Whats in the Bag

Alex Fitzpatrick WITB 2026 (May)

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X

7-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

9-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

Irons: Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (5-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (46-10F, 50-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-A+)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (46, 50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56, 60)

Putter: Odyssey Ai-One #7S

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Equipment

Lead Tape Hall of Fame: Hideki Matsuyama

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

Today is a very special day for the Lead Tape Hall of Fame. Our second inductee is announced, and with great honor, we welcome Hideki Matsuyama to the Silver Jacket ceremony. Hideki’s meticulous attention to detail and precision have earned him his place in the Lead Tape Hall of Fame.

Hideki turned professional in 2013 and began his career on the Japan Tour. He was the first rookie on the Japan Tour to lead the money list, highlighted by five wins in his first season. His first appearance on the PGA Tour was the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, where he came in 10th place in his debut. In 2014, he won his first PGA Tour event at Memorial. Hideki is currently at 11 PGA Tour wins, including a scoring record at The Sentry in January 2025 at 35 under par. In 2021, he won The Masters. An incredible career and still full of momentum, what kind of tools does Hideki use to get in the mix week in and week out?

Matsuyama has been a career Srixon and Cleveland staff player. Typically with Graphite Design shafts in his woods and True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts in his irons. A unique trait is that in his wedges, he will play X100 shafts that suit his launch preferences. Rarely do you see a stiffer profile in wedges compared to irons.

Speaking of wedges, Hideki plays the Cleveland RTX4 Forged wedges. These debuted in 2018, but due to his level of detail, this is what he plays today. You can see the lead tape placed on the wedges in different places on the back flange. Usually erring towards the heel promoting certain launch characteristics and if anything a slight draw ball flight. In a 2021 GolfWRX interview, we found Hideki does not want to see the ball fall to the right. He wants the ball to fall to the left.

We see the use of lead tape on clubs like his fairway metal, where we see a small strip near the ferrule and even at the base of the grip. Looking at the details, Hideki operates; everything is done with purpose and measured for his stats. Not the type of feel player that doesn’t know how much weight is where and says, “That’s fine.”

Srixon told us, “We also travel with pre-cut lead tape in half-gram and one-gram increments, and Hideki will apply the tape to different areas of the club (muscle, flange, hosel, shaft), depending on how the club feels while testing.”

Hideki and his team have his club spec’d to the half gram for what to add or subtract from his set. This is Hall of Fame level here, nearly alone, but with Hideki’s meticulous attention to detail for each club is amazing to see.

This attention to detail carries down to the putting green as well. Hideki rotates through a series of Scotty Cameron Newport putters with subtle changes on sightlines, bumpers, and welded plumber’s necks. Sometimes on the bottom of the putter? A strip of one-inch lead tape. The tape has been on there so long that you can see the hand-stamped logo underneath. That is absolutely Hall of Fame grade!

It is incredible to see through the lens of the level of detail that Hideki operates in. We see lead tape anywhere from the shaft, above the hosel, in different positions on the back flange of wedges, and on the bottom of the putter. The precision he brings to the course has translated into a record of winning results from the beginning. We will have to stay tuned if his new Silver Jacker accompanies his Green Jacket in the trophy room!