ORLANDO, Fla. — During Wednesday’s pro-am at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy record a 307-yard poke on the par-5 6th hole. A drive of 300-plus from one of the longest players on tour normally wouldn’t register during a practice round. McIlroy’s used to bombing it out there with regularity.
But this drive deserved further investigation.
That’s because it’s no longer safe to assume every tee shot McIlroy records over 300 yards came with a driver in hand. Not after McIlroy confirmed during his pre-tournament press conference that he now has two clubs in the bag with a carry number that starts with a three — and one of them is a 3-wood.
“So this 3-wood that I have carries like 300, 305 in the air, which is a really, it’s a really good club for me to have,” McIlroy said.
It’s the kind of club that could come in handy next month at Augusta National. Indeed, McIlroy is in full-on prep mode for the Masters as he prepares to chase the elusive green jacket with a re-worked gear setup.
All of the gear changes McIlroy unveiled at Bay Hill can be tied to an impromptu ball change from TaylorMade’s TP5x to TP5 in the run-up to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. McIlroy liked the feel and “spinnier” shots TP5 produced around the green, so he decided to see how it performed in a game situation at Pebble Beach. He went on to win by two shots.
The ball change eventually led McIlroy to weaken his 46-degree Milled Grind 4 wedge this week to 48 degrees to “to sort of bridge the gap between having a 46 and a half and a 54” for three-quarter shots where he’s comfortable adding spin.
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“I just feel like with the ball I’m a lot more comfortable playing those sort of half- and three-quarter shots, so comfortable going back to three wedges,” McIlroy said.
The ball change led to a wedge setup change, which eventually turned into wholesale changes at the top. Never one to turn down more speed, McIlroy went searching for a club that pushed 300-plus in the air to handle courses where the landing areas “pinch in” at 310, 320 yards.
“Then I sort of had to look at the top end of the bag then of how I was going to configure it,” he said. “I can’t hit driver because it’s just too narrow, but then I would hit my 3-wood that’s going like 285, 290, but guys that are shorter than me are hitting driver sort of 300 or 310, so I’m actually, I feel like I was at a disadvantage in some ways, even to like people that hit it shorter than me, depending upon the course setup.”
McIlroy found TaylorMade’s Qi35 3-wood (15 degrees) and 5-wood (18 degrees) to be the ideal fit to fill the 300- and 280-yard carry roles. Yes, McIlroy’s 5-wood goes 280. The TaylorMade Proto 3-iron, another new addition, goes 260, if you aren’t already slack-jawed.
If you’re keeping track at home, McIlroy’s 3-wood is more of a 2-wood, the 5-wood is a 4-wood and the 3-iron is a glorified 5-wood.
McIlroy also added a TaylorMade Qi35 “Dot” driver that features the forgiveness of the core head with a slimmed down profile that’s reminiscent of the Qi35 LS. This one goes 330 yards without breaking a sweat.
“It just sort of gives me more options off the tee,” he said. “Especially with being so comfortable at the other end of the bag with the wedges and hitting those three-quarter shots that it’s nice to have those options up at the top end of the bag.”
It’s nice indeed, Rory.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
