‘It’s the story of the year!’ Is this equipment change the secret to Rory McIlroy’s phenomenal 2025?
Published:
It’s been some year for Rory McIlroy – but what’s the reason for the change in fortune? One of his TaylorMade colleagues believes he has the answer…
“It’s the best year of my career. It’s the best year of my life.” That’s how Rory McIlroy described his 2025 in the aftermath of Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.
The Northern Irishman ended an 11-year wait for a fifth major at the Masters and, in the process, became just the sixth man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.
McIlroy also tasted victory at Pebble Beach, captured a second Players Championship title at TPC Sawgrass, and won the Irish Open in front of his home fans before putting three and a half points on the board at Bethpage.
A lot has been going on behind the scenes, though. Most notably with his equipment.
McIlroy, a TaylorMade staffer, has tinkered with his driver for much of the season. He started out with the brand’s new Qi35 before reverting back to his Qi10, and then the Qi35 went back in the bag. At one point it became such a talking point that, in his US Open press conference, he was asked what was in play at Oakmont. “A TaylorMade,” he quipped. Later in the year, in India, he took the “big dog” out altogether.
But there’s been another, less high-profile, switch that McIlroy’s made this season.
His golf ball.
McIlroy was “messing around at The Grove” – NBA legend Michael Jordan’s golf course in Florida – when he “just started to hit some chips with the TP5 instead of the TP5x”.
He added: “I really loved how it felt. I hadn’t really tested the 2024 TP5, and I loved how it was reacting around the greens. And then I started hitting some 60, 70-yard shots with it, and it was coming off [with] much lower launch, but spinnier.”
The TP5 went straight in the bag and Adrian Rietveld, TaylorMade’s fitter to the stars, believes it’s the secret to McIlroy’s ludicrously successful 2025.
Speaking on the ForePlay podcast, Rietveld said: “What you have essentially is a golf ball that spins a little more than the other, one that launches a little higher than the other, and every time in the past when Rory has tested both balls, he’s always wanted to play the TP5.
“[It helps] his little off-speed shots and he can launch his wedges a bit lower and it holds the spin on softer shots. But as you move into the driver and the top end of his bag, he would have to sacrifice or give up a little performance because the ultimate in driving is high launch, low spin and ball speed.
“What we’re trying to do is actually improve those parts of the golf ball. How do you make a TP5 better? You keep everything that it does in the short irons and the wedges and you try and improve what it does in the 5-wood, 3-wood, driver.
“And I think that’s what Rory found out. We tested at Pebble Beach and as he got into that 4-iron, 3-iron, 3-wood, driver, he was like, ‘I’m not giving up anything.’ When you talk about the story of the year when it comes to equipment and golf ball, the year he’s had has been phenomenal.”
McIlroy will now look to cap off his vintage season in the DP World Tour Playoffs. The 36-year-old is in pole position to win a fourth straight Race to Dubai title and seventh overall as he continues to close in on Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight.
-
Rory McIlroy changed his TaylorMade golf ball at the start of 2025.
