We may as well start this week’s Equipment Debrief with an update on World No.1 Scottie Scheffler who, as we reported last Wednesday, appears to be the latest player to convert to the TaylorMade Qi4D driver.
Scheffler is not someone to make too many changes to his bag over the course of a season, so it’s interesting to see that he has finally put his trusted TaylorMade Qi10 driver to one side.
It means the top three players in the world - Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood - have all made the switch to the new model, one that we expect to be hitting the shelves in early 2026.
The World No.1 was making his first competitive appearance since the Ryder Cup at the weekend, and he came close to making a winning return at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Although Scheffler finished two shots off the pace at Albany Golf Club, his long game looked as reliable as ever - and we got some lovely shots (below) of his new driver, one that was responsible for seeing him end the week topping driving accuracy at over 90%.
The four-time Major winner has gone for a bright blue face on the Qi4D, which looks similar to his previous gamer.
Earlier this year, we spoke to TaylorMade Tour Senior Manager, Adrian Rietveld, who shed a little bit of light on Scheffler’s driver preferences.
“You could say it's about the brightness of the face, but he doesn't have a topline on the driver, which is different to all of our drivers,” he said.
“When talking about the face, he likes to see as much of it as he can and that helps him at that low loft.
“It's set between 7.5° to 7.75° and you can head-sort to get that within the tolerance, so he can have that exact loft that he's always played and looked at.”
Scheffler, just like McIlroy, has also added the TaylorMade Qi4D fairway wood to his set-up, which takes the place of the Qi10.
What can we take away from this? Judging by the stats from the Bahamas, where Scheffler ranked second in SG: Off The Tee, expect more consistent long game excellence in 2026.
A Quantum Leap?
With ‘new driver season’ fast approaching, a number of other new models were spotted in action over the weekend.
Starting with Callaway, new drivers for 2026 appear to come in the form of the Quantum Triple Diamond, Triple Diamond Max, Triple Diamond Tour Draw, and the Max D.
After Callaway dropped its Quantum range on the USGA Conforming List last week, these models were seen being tested across the professional circuits.
Callaway staffer Sam Burns, who was playing at the Hero World Challenge, had the Triple Diamond Max in the bag, as did LIV golfer, Tom McKibbin, who was in action at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.
Burns also appears to have become the latest adopter of Callaway’s Apex MB ‘26 irons.
Meanwhile, Si Woo Kim was spotted playing the Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond at the Australian Open, where the South Korean finished just two shots behind winner Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.
We’re sure to learn a bit more about Cobra's OPTM LS, Max-D, Max-K, and the K in the coming weeks, with these four models also appearing on the Conforming List.
Dear Santa
“Dear Santa. First on my Christmas list is to make more putts. This is the (new) putter I’m currently gaming. Whether it’s in the form of a putter, no 3 putts or some lucky breaks on the greens, truthfully, I’ll take any. More to come on the wishlist…”
This was the message former Open champion Collin Morikawa posted on social media recently, along of course with music from Mariah Carey (you know the one).
Morikawa has treated himself to an early Christmas present - an all-black TaylorMade Spider 5K-ZT.
The American has tried several putters over the last year-and-a-half in an effort, to rediscover his best form on the greens.
Time will tell whether one of the best zero torque putters - a model that features a new sole camber to help the head sit flush on the green - will deliver the goods for the two-time Major winner.
And Finally…
We’ll finish this week’s Equipment Debrief with some golf shoes news.
Back Down Under, where Min Woo Lee was spotted wearing what appears to be a yet-to-be-released pair of Payntr golf shoes.
The brand has enjoyed something of a breakout year in 2025, with the Eighty Seven SC shoe picking up the best golf shoe award.
Our shoe expert, Dan Parker, will have more on the new release in the coming weeks and months.
And we will of course be heading to the PGA Show in Orlando in January, when we'll be able to bring you right up to speed with all the latest equipment launches.
