NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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After a memorable and historic 2025 season, Rory McIlroy may be making a major switch to his equipment setup as he launches into the new year.
On a video for his Boston Common TGL team ahead of his simulator league opener two weeks ago, McIlroy teased a possible change in his iron setup.
“I’m actually trying a new set of irons, which I’m very excited about at the minute,” McIlroy said.
After a long and successful nine-year run with his TaylorMade Rors Proto irons (5-9) and TaylorMade P760 4-iron, McIlroy switched into TaylorMade’s P-7CB long irons (4-6) when he played in the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne in early December.
For his TGL opener at the SoFi Center on Jan. 3 with Boston Common, McIlroy broke out a full set (4-9) of the P-7CB irons. The more forgiving cavity-back P-7CB are a big departure from the muscle-back Rors Protos and mark the first time the career Grand Slam winner hasn’t used blade-style irons.
The switch – as he set out with the new irons as well as the new 2026 TaylorMade TP5 ball in his 2026 debut last week, finishing tied for third at the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour – was prompted by a desire to get more consistent distance control with his irons after what added up to his worst statistical season in strokes gained approach. His approach game ranked 68th in 2025 on the PGA Tour after ranking eighth in that same category just two years before and a career-best second back in 2012. For comparison, his closest rival Scottie Scheffler led the tour in strokes gained approach last season, gaining more that a full stroke per round into the greens on McIlroy (1.291 to 0.157),
"If there’s help to be had, I’ll definitely take it,” McIlroy said last week after jumping out to the first-round lead in Dubai. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it for a while. And even in Dubai at the end of last year, I hit a couple of 5-irons that I mis-struck slightly, and instead of it maybe coming up 5 or 7 yards short, it was coming up more like 10 to 15 yards short.
“So I asked the guys at TaylorMade to build me up a set. And I actually went down to Australia with them, and with that firm turf down there, I felt like those irons were going through the turf better than the blades. And I practiced with them at home since.”
McIlroy didn’t originally make the switch with his short irons in Melbourne because they were reportedly launching a little too high for his taste and needed more adjustment time while the higher launch and forgiveness in the longer irons suited him well.
Meanwhile, the new TaylorMade Qi4D driver and fairway woods that McIlroy broke out during the Race to Dubai finish last season appear to have found a home in his bag.
Dubai Invitational winner Nacho Elvira put the brand new Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Max driver into play and the switch paid off with his biggest career victory.
“I feel like off the tee I hit it really well. That’s something I struggled with in the past, and we made a couple changes and I think it’s paying off,” Elvira said.
Elvira has played a number of Odyssey prototype putters through the years, but he gamed a unique Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Mini ½ Ball at Dubai Creek, with a black sight line and white half-circle to aid alignment.
Scott Michaux