How far does Women’s World No.1 Nelly Korda hit her TaylorMade Qi10 Max driver?

Equipment
Qi10 Max TaylorMade driver

Nelly Korda has enjoyed her best season in 2024 and she has done it with a driver that is designed for maximum forgiveness.

At the start of the year the American had won eight times on the LPGA Tour; she now has 14 wins as well as a gold medal after some stunning performances.

The women’s World No.1 excels in all parts of her game; her approach play has moved from good to outstanding, she was the best player around the greens during her hot spell at the start of the year and her driving remains another of her key strengths.

From 2018 onwards she has never finished outside the top 10 in the Total Driving rankings.

This term Korda was second in the category that measures a player’s ranking for both distance and accuracy – the 26-year-old was 22nd for distance and 51st for accuracy, hitting nearly 74 per cent of fairways.

Off the tee Korda measures an average of 269.31 yards. The American carries the ball around 252 yards which would give her around 17 yards of run.

This ties in nicely with her 3-wood that she can flight 232 yards and follows a similar trend of her driving distances in recent years.

Korda’s driver set-up

Measured loft: 10˚
Loft sleeve: Standard
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana GT 60 S
Length: 45 3/16
Swing weight: D1.5
Grip: Tour Velvet 58 RD (one wrap)

Korda signed with TaylorMade at the start of 2023 and she was using a Stealth 2 driver before switching into the new TaylorMade Qi10 Max. And a big feature was the way that the new driver looked.

“The reason why I picked the Qi10 Max driver is the look of it compared to the other models,” Korda said.

“When I put it down and look at it I feel like I can hit any shot I want with the subtle blue face and silver topline.

“When I look down at it I feel like I can aim it really well and I know where the centre of the clubface is too.

“For a golfer, if you don’t like the look of the club, you’re never going to be able to it hit. Once I put the Qi10 Max down and teed it up, I feel like I could hit any shot I wanted to.”

Nelly Korda hits from the 14th tee

Korda works with TaylorMade’s Ryan Ressa on the make-up of her bag and the ability to work the ball slightly from right to left was key.

“As we look to create new shapes in our driver heads, we found something with the shape of the Qi10 Max that was a little deeper front to back and a slightly more heelward centre of gravity,” said Ressa.

“She instantly set that club down and loved the way it looked.

“Nelly was able to start the ball on her intended line and loved seeing the ball fall left and be able to move it how she wanted in addition to hitting different flights and windows.

“She also notices on mishits that the spin stays really consistent. The window it takes off on is great and the shot shape is very repeatable for her.”

To go with the new driver this year Korda has also swapped from the TP5 to the TP5x ball.

“Nelly was looking to bring the spin down, especially on her driver, so we did some testing in September,” explained Ressa.

“We saw the benefits of TP5x in her driver and irons bringing the spin down a couple hundred RPMs.

“Then, around the greens, her launch on chips was a little bit lower and she generated more spin around the greens with TP5x than TP5. She produced a lot more check in a preferred trajectory coming off of the TP5x versus the TP5.

“She’s been happy with the ball ever since.”

READ MORE: Rory McIlroy and why he plays the TaylorMade Qi10 driver

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