Rory McIlroy has made his long-awaited sponsor choice and it is the TaylorMade M2 range that he has and put his trust in to take him back to the top of the world golf rankings.
Left with a big decision to make after Nike—who signed him to replace Tiger Woods as the face of the brand—took the decision to end production of their golf equipment, McIlroy has settled on what he believes to be a game-enhancing commitment.
TaylorMade M2: So what is in the bag of the four-time major winner?
After trialing a whole variety of possible replacements, it was the new 2017 TaylorMade M2 drivers, fairway woods and irons that provided McIlroy with all the answers to his needs. This is in addition to the brand new TaylorMade TP5x ball which he is now using.
The TaylorMade M2 driver—which has a MCG Kuro Kage Silver 70 XTS shaft—that McIlroy will use was chosen over Callaway’s Big Bertha and it is easy to see why. The gains in distance from the 9.5 degree driver are not exactly going to be game changing. When would they be for a professional in the top echelon of the game who has won the US Open, The Open Championship and the USPGA Championship twice?
What it does, however, is add marginal gains and confidence in the driver—as well as an extra dimension to McIlroy’s already impressive game. He’s hoping, once again, to find that confidence and reliability in his equipment that drove him to those four major victories.
It is the versatility and adjustability of the TaylorMade M2 driver that attracted McIlroy most. It will be accompanied in his bag by TaylorMade M2 fairway woods with his 3-wood and 5-wood set to 13.5 and 19 degrees respectively. He also used 15 and 18-degree woods during his period trialling the products on tour.
The numbers released after announcing his choice of driver are quite staggering: 338 yards distance with a 315-yard carry.
Launch Monitor Facts (averages):
- Club Speed: 121mph
- Ball Speed: 181mph
- Launch Angle: 12.3 degrees
- Spin Rate: 2119rpm
- Carry: 315.8 yards
- Height: 124.1 feet
- Land Angle: 40.1 degrees
- Total Distance: 338.5 yards
It is the irons that are the most significant choice. They’re no off-the-shelf number (well, the 5-9 irons aren’t anyway). They are prototypes designed with McIlroy’s game in mind. Featuring a unique “muscleback design”, the irons are shorter in blade length, feature less offset and have been designed to suit McIlroy’s eyes when playing a shot—yes, you read that correctly. No wonder they were called the “Rors Proto” P700 Tour after the Northern Irishman worked closely with the designers himself.
The 3 and 4 irons in his bag are from the P750 Tour range used by 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia, while the wedges also come from the TaylorMade stable with McIlroy using Milled Grind (48, 54 and 60 degrees). The putter remains an Odyssey Works Prototype for the time being, but in time he plans to switch to the TaylorMade Spider Tour Red, which has been made specifically for him.
McIlroy penned a 10-year endorsement and equipment deal with TaylorMade “to try and improve, try and win more, try to get back to world number one, try to win more majors”.
The early signs point to a worthwhile decision.
See also: Under Armour Spieth One Golf Shoe Review