Rory McIlroy changing irons after the best season of his life seems baffling. But once you dig into the numbers, the logic behind the move becomes clear.
When golfers make equipment changes, it’s usually because they’re searching for something.
Maybe it’s a new driver in the hunt for more distance. Sometimes it’s after a slump, when confidence has dipped and answers are needed fast. It might be after a brutal major miss or a stretch of poor ball-striking.
We’re used to seeing players overhaul bags when things aren’t working.
It’s rarely after a season a player describes as “the best year of my career” and “the best year of my life”.
But that’s exactly what Rory McIlroy is doing.
McIlroy’s 2025 season was extraordinary. He finally completed the career Grand Slam at Augusta, won on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tours, played a key role in a famous away Ryder Cup victory, lifted a seventh Race to Dubai title, and was named Sports Personality of the Year.
So when McIlroy began moving away from the irons he’d used to such success – and a model he’s stuck with for nine years – it raised a few eyebrows.
For years, McIlroy’s iron setup has been one of the most stable in elite golf. Since signing with TaylorMade in 2017, he has relied on the Rors Proto irons – a muscleback based on the P730 – only occasionally softening the top end of the bag with a more forgiving 4-iron, most recently the P760.
But for McIlroy’s last appearance of 2025, at the Australian Open, he switched to the TaylorMade P7 CB in his 4-, 5-, and 6-iron.
He finished T14 in Melbourne and clearly liked what he saw from the irons.
“I’m actually trying a new set of irons, which I’m very excited about at the minute,” he said more recently.
Two days ago, at a TGL match, the experiment had gone even further, with McIlroy rocking a full set of TaylorMade P7 CBs.
The P7 CB is a players’ cavity-back iron – still compact and workable, but offering more forgiveness than a traditional blade.
Why is Rory McIlroy is changing irons after the best year of his career?
So why is McIlroy looking to change irons after such a great season?
Because, despite all that success, 2025 was actually McIlroy’s worst season on record for ‘Strokes Gained: Approach’.
He ranked 68th on the PGA Tour, gaining 0.157 shots per round with his iron play. McIlroy’s biggest competitor on the PGA Tour, the dominant Scottie Scheffler, topped the pile, gaining 1.291 shots per round. Giving up more than a full shot per round against his biggest rival puts McIlroy at a severe disadvantage – something he hopes a change of irons can help fix.
Historically, McIlroy’s approach play has been far better than it was in 2025. He’s ranked as high as 2nd, 8th, and 12th in his best iron seasons. But even in down years, he’s usually much closer to the top than 68th.
What makes the downturn in iron play stand out is that McIlroy was elite with his driver and putter in 2025, ranking 4th in ‘SG: Off-the-Tee’ and 9th in ‘SG: Putting’.
It all came to a head at Bethpage Black on the final day of the Ryder Cup.
“I completely lost the feeling in my swing,” McIlroy revealed last week on the Stick to Football podcast. “I was trying to hit five-yard fades – I was trying to hit it left-to-right – and the ball was coming out and curving 15 yards right-to-left. It has never happened to me like that before.”
McIlroy dug in to take Scottie Scheffler down the last in their singles tussle, but the contrast was clear – both that day and across the season. Scheffler’s iron play was relentless. McIlroy’s, by his own standards, wasn’t.
Seen in that context, the timing of the change suddenly makes sense.
McIlroy isn’t reacting to failure, but nor is he sitting on his laurels after success. If he can make gains in iron play while keeping the other areas of his game firing, he may be in a position to truly take on Scheffler throughout 2026.
Will McIlroy stick with his new irons?
McIlroy’s 2026 season begins in less than two weeks at the Dubai Invitational, and all eyes will be on his golf bag. Will he commit to a full set of TaylorMade P7 CB? Will he blend them with the Rors Proto? Or does something else entirely emerge?
Either way, changing irons after the best season of his life might feel strange on the surface. But dig a little deeper, and it looks like exactly what the world’s best players do when they’re thinking about staying there.