Led by three past champions in Kurt Kitayama (2023), Scottie Scheffler (2022) and Rory McIlroy (2018), Team TaylorMade is fully dialed and ready to go at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
It was a packed week for our athletes and our Tour Reps filled with Trackman sessions, iron changes, putter testing and 9-woods. Yes, 9-woods!!!
Let’s get into it!
SCOTTIE PUTS SPIDER TOUR X IN PLAY
Scottie Scheffler tested a Spider Tour X putter this week after doing some extensive work with the putter at home. After putting the putter through its paces on the practice green and on course, he put it in play for Thursday's first round. The putter is a half inch longer than Scottie’s previous gamer with the No. 1 L-Neck hosel and True Path and a full line sight line on top.
Spec wise, Scottie’s Spider Tour X has 3° of loft with a lie angle of 72° and an 80/20 Pure Roll insert. He is also using Golf Pride’s pistol grip.
Scottie also did Scottie things this week and ripped a driver with Qi10 8.0° driver and then unprompted guessed his own number within 3-yards of actual...as one does.
RORY’S STOCK CARRY YARDAGES
Rory McIlroy, who won this tournament in 2019, spent time on Tuesday dialing in his yardages to acclimate his performance in the wind conditions of Orlando and turf conditions of Bay Hill. The numbers Rory gathered…well, they are otherworldly…per usual.
- Qi10 Driver: 325-yards
- Qi10 3-Wood: 295-yards
- P·760 3-iron: 258-yards
- P·760 4-Iron: 245-yards
- Rors Proto 5-Iron: 225-yards
- Rors Proto 6-Iron: 210-yards
- Rors Proto 7-Iron: 195-yards
- Rors Proto 8-Iron: 180-yards
- Rors Proto 9-Iron: 165-yards
- Milled Grind 4 46° SB: 150-yards
- Milled Grind 4 50° SB: 136-yards
- Milled Grind 4 54° SB: 125-yards
- Milled Grind 4 60° LB: 105-yards
For your viewing pleasure, here’s Rory absolutely rocketing the Qi10 9-wood Tommy Fleetwood was testing this week (more on that in a bit).
COLLIN’S IRON CHANGE WITH TIES TO OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
Collin Morikawa, one of the best iron players in the world, made a notable iron change this week. For the last two seasons, Collin has played a P·Series combo set of P·770 4-iron, P·7MC 5-6 and blades that have been custom P·7MBs or P·730s in 7-PW.
When we talked to Collin today about it after his Pro-Am round, there was a unique connection behind the change.
In 2021, ahead of his eventual victory at The Open at Royal St. Georges, Collin worked with TaylorMade Tour Rep Adrian Rietveld to find a solution for low and spinny strikes in his mid to short irons. During that testing session 3 years ago, Collin and Adrian found that that with the different sole geometries in P·7MC vs P·730 that the P·7MC performed fractionally better allowing him to find the center of the face more often and launch at normal height on the links golf conditions at St. Georges.
As Collin told us this week, he went through a similar situation in testing during preparation for Bay Hill.
“Similar to when I switched in 2021 for The Open, I felt on Tuesday that I was swinging it alright, but my strikes were slightly low on the face making it come off low and spinny. I decided to put the P·7MCs back in and found the center of the face more often.”Collin Morikawa
Collin’s iron set is now P·770 4-iron, P·7MC 5-PW with Dynamic Gold Mid shaft.
RICKIE'S TP5x SHORT GAME SHOWCASE
Not many words needed here, we'll just let Rickie and his TP5x do the talking.
TOMMY TESTING Qi10 9-WOOD
Tommy Fleetwood, a gear head at heart, is considering bringing back his legendary top of the bag set up at some point during this Florida swing. His bag could go: Qi10 LS driver, BRNR Mini driver, Qi10 5-wood and Qi10 9-wood. Tommy tested Qi10 24.0° 9-wood on Monday and Tuesday with our tour reps as he was testing out a 3-iron replacement to fill his 230-yard gap.
When we left Tommy on Wednesday he said he was going to stick with the 3-iron to start the week and keep an open mind to any changes as the tournament progresses. The 9-wood is also a serious possibility next week at THE PLAYERS. For now, enjoy some pictures of this absolute beauty of a golf club.
KURT’S INSANE PUTTING DRILL
Kurt Kitayama won at Bay Hill last behind clutch putting en route to his first PGA TOUR victory. One year later, with a brand new Spider Tour X putter, the grind doesn’t stop for Kurt. When we arrived to Bay Hill on Monday, Kurt and his caddy Tim Tucker broke out their very intricate putting drill to start to refamiliarize themselves with the greens of Bay Hill.
As you will see in the video below, the combination of True Path alignment and a red sharpie over the side stamp of his TP5x was the first step to Kurt getting his alignment down. After that, you’ll see how imagination and work ethic plays a big part in Kurt’s success on the PGA TOUR over the last two seasons.
TEAM TAYLORMADE WITB AT BAY HILL
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