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A lot of things have combined to make Rory McIlroy the world's top-ranked golfer right now. He recently supplanted Scottie Scheffler after a 30-week run, and there are many reasons why. This is true for all golfers as there are a lot of facets of themselves and their games that make them who they are, for better or worse.
Talent is key, but so is the surrounding help. Jordan Spieth is often helped tremendously by his caddie. Dedication and hard work also play a huge role in becoming a top golfer.
Additionally, there is one more aspect of the game that often gets overlooked: equipment. Equipment can be key, though it cannot alone make a good golfer. It can, however, supplement them so well that they play to the best of their ability.
Drivers are often the face of it, since it is one club many golfers use more than others. It also sets them up as they drive the ball first. A good driver can start the hole off right, but which one does McIlroy use?
The driver Rory McIlroy uses and how good it is
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, from Golf Week, factors in a lot of different things and reveals how much of an advantage a player has over the field by strokes. Driving is a key aspect of that.
McIlroy uses a TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ (9 degrees) with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft. This resulted in him getting a Strokes Gained number of .771. This was good for third place on the entire PGA Tour for the 2021-2022 season.
It's difficult to determine whether or not a driver, or any other aspect of a golfer's equipment, is the best because it's all subjective to the golfer.
Clearly, that's the driver he likes to use, but it's not the one that others like to use. Many golfers prefer other drivers and do well with them.
McIlroy and his driver weren't even number one on the list, so it's difficult to say which driver is the best, but the one he uses is certainly a stellar piece of equipment.
Full list of top 10 drivers in golf with Rory McIlroy's, Corey Conners' and more
The full top 10 has a few surprising names on it. Here's how it looks:
- John Rahm- 1.025, Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond LS (10.5 degrees), with Aldila Tour Green 75 TX shaft
- Cameron Young- .914, Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro White 70 TX shaft
- McIlroy- .771
- Keith Mitchell- .761, Mizuno STZ 220 driver (9.5 degrees), with Project X HZRDUS T1100 Green shaft
- Corey Conners- .700, Ping G400 LST (8.5 degrees), with UST Mamiya Elements Gold 6 X shaft
- Brendan Steele- .694, Ping G425 LST (10.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana DF 70 TX shaft
- Luke List- .677, TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ (9 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana DF 80 TX shaft
- Sungjae Im- .651, Titleist TSi2 (8 degrees), with Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7 X shaft
- Cameron Champ- .637, Ping G430 (9 degrees), with Project X GEN4 HZRDUS Black 60 TX shaft
- Matt Fitzpatrick- .636, Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 TX shaft
Clearly, there is a wide variety of good drivers used here.
