Nike’s exit from the Golf industry back in August prompted all of its star players to start looking out for new equipment. Rory McIlroy has taken to this freedom and has tried a variety of different equipment. He tried the TaylorMade M2 woods in China at the WGC-HSBC Champions and carried on using them throughout the playoffs of the 2016 FedEx Cup.
He went on a 10 day equipment testing camp in Dubai after the Ryder Cup late last year and although, he made it clear that his intentions were not to sign a new equipment deal anytime soon, it looks like he may have zeroed in on the equipment that he finds comfortable. He will show up with new weapons in his bag when he makes is first start of 2017 at the BMW South African Open on Jan 12th .
According to a NoLayingUp.com report, McIlroy will use Callaway woods (the new GBB Epic Sub Zero) and irons (Apex MB), an Odyssey putter and Titleist ball (Pro V1x) and wedges (Titleist Vokey).
"I want to play the new ProV1x ball, and I know the Callaway driver works the best with it," McIlroy told No Laying Up. "I also know my Nike irons don't work as well with the Titleist ball because of the groove format. Too spinny, and a loss of distance."
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The equipment change does not come has a huge surprise as McIlroy is testing “what’s out there” and could be yet another temporary switch. While the move to Callaway was long speculated, his switch to the Titleist ProV1x ball is the biggest talking point as Rory was extremey comfortable with the Nike RZN Tour Platinum ball.
"No reason to start changing just because I can. I'm comfortable with everything," McIlroy said at Bethpage Black during the first leg of the 2016 FedEx Cup playoffs. "I've got them to save me three years' worth of golf balls, so at least I've got a golf ball that I like and that I know that I can play well with."
He had long talked about the golf ball playing an instrumental role in a player’s comfort levels on the golf course while also saying that it didn’t take long to recalibrate after changing to a new ball.
Rory had been heavily involved in the R&D process with Nike during the product design phase of the RZN ball and his emphasis on suggesting that his Nike irons were removed from the bag because they did not show very good results with the ProV1x ball is a clear indication that a change of golf ball was high on his priorities.
Nike also centred its efforts on incorporating Rory’s requirements in the ball which is why this transition to the ProV1x so soon is all the more intriguing.
Two weeks ago, Tiger Woods became the fist Nike staffer to part ways with the company after he signed a multi-year ball deal with Bridgestone Golf.
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