Rory McIlroy credits this key gear change for 2025 success

Rory McIlroy has had a dream start to 2025, winning three times, including completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters, and he says much of his elite form is tied to a pre-season golf ball change.

Before McIlroy’s PGA Tour season debut at Pebble Beach in February, he switched from TaylorMade’s TP5x golf ball to the TP5, which launches slightly lower and spins more. McIlroy won that week at Pebble.

On Wednesday at Quail Hollow, ahead of this week’s PGA Championship, McIlroy told Golf Channel’s Johnson Wagner he swapped balls because he liked how the TP5 feels around the greens. In addition to spinning more, the TP5 is softer than the TP5x.

“A byproduct of that was with the wedges that actually spun more than the ball that I used,” McIlroy said. “So what it forced me to do is to hit more of these half and three-quarter shots.”

McIlroy explained that if he were to hit more full shots with wedges, the TP5 would spin off the green. So instead he had to gear down and hit more three-quarter wedge shots, and he quickly realized he was able to do the same thing with his short and mid-irons, too.

The three-quarter 9-iron hit on the 17th hole at the Monday playoff at the Players ultimately won him his second Players title. That shot, he said, has become a weapon for him.

“That three-quarter shot that I use, I can go down to a 6-iron with that,” he said. “And that’s something that I’ve just developed from using this golf ball.”

This is a perfect example of why players often look to add spin to the bag, rather than mitigate it. It’s much easier to take away spin by hitting a three-quarter shot than trying to add it.

Spin also is helpful when you need stopping power, which McIlroy put on full display at the Masters with some of his towering approach shots.

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On Sunday, McIlroy hit one of the greatest shots of his career when he hooked a 7-iron from behind a tree on 15 to reach the green. His ball bent right-to-left around the pines and carried to the front of the green before releasing out to 6 feet from the hole.

“I’m able to curve it more,” McIlroy said. “So 15 at Augusta on Sunday is a prime example. I’m hitting this hard drawing 7-iron, but I don’t feel like it’s getting away from me. You know there’s enough spin on it for it to land still somewhat soft. Because if I had to hit that with my old golf ball, that thing would have landed and went through the green.”

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