When Rory McIlroy first made the move into the TaylorMade Qi10 driver he went with the LS (low spin version).
He had it in the bag as he sealed the 2023 Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the Race to Dubai for the fifth time but this year he had a different model of the driver in the bag.
At the Dubai Desert Classic in January, McIlroy would claim his 17th win on the DP World Tour with the potent mix of the new Qi10 driver and 2024 TP5x ball.
He would lead the driving distance stats, averaging 330 yards and he would say afterwards that he preferred the look and feel of the larger head.
The Qi10 launches higher than the LS while the new TP5x ball has a lower peak height. McIlroy would also add in the 3 and 5 Qi10 fairway woods.
At the end of April he would also capture the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry and, two weeks later, a fourth victory at Quail Hollow.
In testing he was finding the middle of the clubface more, thanks to more forgiveness in the Qi10 versus the Qi10 LS. He then moved back to a longer driver shaft, 45 inches from 44, to add a few extra yards on top of the new forgiveness.
“I played a 45-inch driver shaft for most of my career so I just felt like there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to hit a drive that’s 45 inches and control it and do what I want to do with it,” said McIlroy.
“The one thing that has made me comfortable going back to a slightly longer shaft is the profile of this Qi10 head. I just think that the slightly larger profile of the Qi10 with the longer shaft in it looks good to me and I can find the middle of it easier.”
McIlroy was first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (6.1) and in Driving Distance at 337 yards. He would hit six drives over 350 yards and 32 drives over 325 yards.
At the following week’s PGA Championship McIlroy would go so far as saying that the Qi10 was the best driver he had ever hit.
“Honestly it’s probably the best driver I’ve had in the last few years. I’ve really gotten comfortable with the driver, and I think some of the technical things in my swing are just a little bit better – the good drives are still very good but the bad drives aren’t as bad so the misses aren’t as wild.”
McIlroy has the driver set at 8.25˚ and has a Ventus Black 6X shaft.
The goal with the Qi10 family is to make each driver as forgiving as possible, using advanced multi-material constructions to increase inertia, and to offer a balanced blend of distance and forgiveness.
It’s advances from its predecessor include a lower centre of gravity and more forgiveness and the Infinity Carbon Crown covers 97 per cent of the total crown area, which helps to redistribute the mass and, again, enhance forgiveness.
McIlroy would close out the 2024 PGA Tour season in second place on the Driving Distance stats and fourth in Total Driving which measures both distance and accuracy.
READ MORE: 5 reasons to try the Qi10 Max – TaylorMade’s most forgiving driver
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