Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood teed up with the newly released TaylorMade Qi4D Driver at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship held at Yas Links. The USGA’s conforming club list is the final hurdle before new golf clubs can make it into the hands of professionals and onto store shelves.
Both TaylorMade and PING had new drivers approved on Monday, November 3. TaylorMade debuted three iterations of the Qi4D: Core, LS, and Max, while PING introduced the G440K. Fleetwood and McIlroy have already implemented the new driver lineup in their bags, with Fleetwood opting for the LS (Low Spin) model and McIlroy choosing the Core. Additionally, McIlroy added the 3-wood and 5-wood to his setup this week.
“I felt like the driver was good,” McIlroy said after Round 1. “Obviously, a new driver in the bag this week. Felt like that worked well.”
In his first round at the HSBC Championship, McIlroy averaged 334 yards off the tee, hitting 78 percent of fairways. His longest drive of the day came at the 10th hole, where his 355-yard tee shot reached the par-4 green.
TaylorMade continues to feature its polarizing all-carbon face technology in the Qi4D driver, a technology it first implemented in 2022 and remains the only major manufacturer to consistently use. The new model shifts some weighting elements forward and introduces more subdued color schemes than its predecessors.
On the PING side, Joe Dean, Jon Perry, and Kristoffer Reitan put the new PING G440K driver into play in Abu Dhabi. In addition to the driver, PING also launched its new S259 wedge, which was used by nine players in the DP World Tour event.
The G440K joins three existing models in the G440 lineup: LST, FST, and Max. PING is known for producing stable and forgiving drivers, and in previous models, the “K” designation has referred to a club with the brand’s highest MOI (moment of inertia). While the earlier 10K driver was designed as a game-improvement model, the newly approved 7.5° loft on the G440K suggests this version may be built for stronger players.
In previous years, both companies have waited weeks or even months before releasing their newly conforming clubs to consumers. For golfers hoping to add these to their holiday wish lists, there are no guarantees just yet.
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