Revealed: Why Rory McIlroy has changed 12 clubs in Masters-winning bag

Mark Townsend 19 Jan 2026

Rory McIlroy arrives at the inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter — Rory McIlroy: What's inside his bag for 2026?

After the season that Rory McIlroy enjoyed in 2025 you might be forgiven for thinking that he would at least begin the new one with the same, if not similar, set of clubs.

But, from the clubs that helped McIlroy slip into the Green Jacket, only the TaylorMade P760 4-iron and Spider Tour X putter remain.

So 12 clubs have made way for new ones which, even in the never-ending carousel of new gear and multi-million deals, is a significant change.

The big news is that he has removed the TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9) irons for something more forgiving, which is a ridiculous generalisation for one of the best ball-strikers of his generation. He had had the Proto irons in the bag since 2017 so this is fairly seismic news.

In have come the P7CB irons. The 4 to 6 were the first entries down at the Australian Open and then the 7-9 joined them for the weekend. And, judging by his quotes, these things seem to come to all of us in time.

“If there’s help to be had, I’ll definitely take it,” the 36-year-old said.

“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 practised with them at home since.”

Whether the P7CBs stay in the bag is open to debate but he has commented that “they even held the line a little bit better” and it’s quite a move – and it could be huge for TaylorMade that one of the best two players on the planet is using a set of irons that many of us will enjoy.

For the record the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood are still users of blades.

This past week, McIlroy finished in a tie for third at the Dubai Invitational and will now head to The Emirates for the Dubai Desert Classic, an event that he has won four times.

At Dubai Creek, McIlroy admitted that he hit a lot of drivers, as much for practice as for the purpose of the shot and his new driver, which he first employed is the Qi4D which has taken the place of the Qi10 Dot.

The new driver performed brilliantly in testing and he experimented with the Qi4D and Qi4D LS models and TaylorMade’s Senior Tour Manager, Adrian Rietveld, revealed that it was the best display of driving he had ever seen in his life during a testing session.

McIlroy gained 2mph ball speed, maxing out at 190mph, his carry distances were up to 330–340 yards and he produced a 117 RPM spin deviation which is ridiculously tight. The 3 and 5-wood have also joined the bag.

The other big news is that he has the 2026 ball in the bag, news of which will soon emerge when that launches.

A big part of McIlroy’s move to new levels was when he went with the TP5 instead of the TP5x and then came the iconic wins at Pebble Beach, Sawgrass and Augusta.

The wedges were also switched ahead of the Irish Open at the K Club in September with the release of the MG5 which moved things on from the MG4. McIlroy uses 46, 50, 54 and 61˚ wedges.