Rory 2020 WITB

Taylormade has updated their staff page with the 2020 line, with Rory playing

SIM Max Driver

SIM Max Fairway

and SIM Max Rescue

Rory put a pic on insta that looks like it reflects those three.

Has he ever played a hybrid before?

Don’t think he’s ever played a hybrid but on the most recent TXG YouTube video from the tour truck he basically stole it at the photo shoot day.

Him playing a hybrid is very interesting. I'm interested in his shaft choice with that hybrid.

Surprised he is using the max. Was always a M3 M5 guy

SIM seems to fit a different spin model. Standard is SLDR-ey and Max is NRML-ey.

He played both versions of the M2. The Max I think is going to be like the M2 and be the most played. it has the deeper face and higher MOI. Straight bombs for someone like Rory. Him playing the hybrid has me very interested. I am sure there are differences from the retail version. Just like the tour m6 heads in the fairways.

With DJ also bagging a hybrid, it’s either a legit club OR this is fantastic marketing.

Rory and DJ using the new hybrid? I gotta see it to believe it...

The Rory hybrid story is here at 12:10

Would gapping presumably be Driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, then his P740 4 iron?

2 Thoughts:

1) SIM is insanely low spinning it looks like. The MAX is more in a reasonable range and these players know where their numbers need to be so during a fitting the MAX just fit best.

2) The hybrid - My guess is that it has to be extremely anti left and maaaaybe it's launching a lot higher than past M hybrids. My M1 Tour issue head is extremely anti hook, and very hot... so don't know what could really set this MAX apart other than more launch.

Seems the hybrid would cover both 5W and driving iron for him. No more need to switch between clubs. Shaft would be Tensei Pro White 100TX I guess.

Is this the year of the hybrid and the move away from 5woods?

Also, I guarantee these guys all have melt in the head. Easier for them the bag the max and put some melt to get CoG to be where they need it....

I love that Rory was walking around calling himself Y.E. McIlroy with the hybrid obviously to piss Tiger off.

Suprised he is using the max? I'm not. Surprised he is using the rescue? Nah. After all, it's basically a 5 wood slimmed up some. Big fan of his bag setup.

DJ had a HZRDUS 105 black in his, rory has played the same in a driving iron so I'd assume that or Tensei White

Be interesting to see how different the head is compared to the retail stuff, and how much they actually bag it

Goodbye 5wood. Hello hybrid.

a bit odd I must admit.

Here's an interview with Rory on the SIM line and his changes.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngh8_BddGaU

Rory loves the SIM rescue. Can hit it high, low, etc, so yes, could be a great replacement to his 2I/5W and more versatile. Likely in the bag at Torrey in 2 weeks.

We built him one in his spec for our photoshoot in November (even though he's never played/tried one before) and was he bombing it 275-280 with a 15 feet dispersion. Amazing to watch. We have some content on that coming soon.

It's definitely different compared to our previous rescues...one to try when you can.

What changed?

Weight placement, direction bias, forgiveness, etc. More playable for better golfers.

Pardon my ignorance with this question, but does a company like Taylormade (and others) test a variety of shafts to see what performs best for a set of golfers, before selecting it as the "stock" shaft? I see a Ventus shaft as the stock offering here. I've always assumed companies did this, but have never actually had that confirmed.

You are 100% correct. We always look at the club as one and what performance characteristics we're trying to achieve. Of course, it's never going to suit everyone, but that's why we offer a variety of no-charge and up charge custom shafts too. We do extensive player testing (ams and pros), use the data we have gathered from thousands and thousands of custom fits and consider the learnings from previous models too.

The Lie Angle is way to Upright though :/ Can you please offer an option to Custom Order them bent flat?

I wish every company with fixed hosel hybrids would do this...right now only Callaway let’s you flatten the Apex hybrids.

How similar to rbz tour? I still game that hybrid...can do anything I want with it. Actually went back to it after trying about 4 different hybrids over a year period.

Thank You! I was interested in trying this hybrid out until I saw the lie angle on it. I am not a tall guy and a lie angle of 60* on a hybrid will have me hitting even further left than I already usually hit them, something 2-3* flatter would be ideal. Was also a little disappointed in not seeing something in the 17* range

Never thought I'd see the day where Rory would be using a hybrid.

Tell me Tiger isn't using a TM hybrid now??

Me being able to adjust the G410 hybrids to flat has enabled me to bag hybrids. I agree more OEMs should have a flat fixed hosel hybrid option.