Rory McIlroy has made major changes to his bag and is now playing a new set of irons. He shares the reasons behind his switch.
Rory McIlroy surprised the golf world at the start of the year at the TGL by playing with a completely new set of irons, changing clubs for the first time since 2017. After making some changes to his bag already in autumn 2025, only his putter and 4-iron from his Augusta triumph remain. At the start of the season in Dubai, he now spoke about the reasons and thoughts behind his switch.
\”If There’s Help, I’ll Definitely Take It\”
The Northern Irishman’s shots usually land nearly perfectly, and even when Rory McIlroy mishits a ball, these would still be the best shots of most players’ lives. But at the pro level, centimeters decide birdie or par, victory or defeat, and these tiny differences have led McIlroy to change clubs.
\”If there’s help to be had, I’ll definitely take it. I’ve been thinking about it for a while,\” McIlroy said Thursday after his 66-round at the Dubai Invitational. \”And even in Dubai at the end of last year, I hit some 5-irons slightly off, and instead of being five or seven yards short, they were 10 to 15 yards short.\”
TaylorMade Crafts Custom Clubs for Rory McIlroy
TaylorMade made him a custom set of P7CB irons with a similar leading edge to his P760 long irons – in addition to his regular 4-iron, he also has P760 2- and 3-irons in utility versions. The 4-, 5-, and 6-irons of this set were used in the opening rounds of the Australian Open last month, and he liked them so much that over the weekend he also used the 7-, 8-, and 9-irons. \”On the firm grass down there, I felt these irons went through the turf better than the blades,\” he said. \”And since then, I’ve been practicing with them at home.\”
McIlroy also played with a new, unreleased 2026 TaylorMade TP Proto golf ball. He debuted the new setup last week, kept his P760 4-iron, and officially played with the irons in Dubai this week.
The Trend Toward More Forgiving Irons
The switch to more forgiving P7CB irons continues a trend more frequently seen at the highest level of golf. More and more pros are moving away from blades in favor of more forgiving cavity backs. Also due to new technologies that, despite their forgiving design, do not sacrifice distance and do not lose much spin on imperfect strikes. These new clubs may not necessarily gain McIlroy more shots, but they lead to better misses, which can ultimately be the decisive difference