We spend a lot of time talking about gear customization, but standing on the TaylorMade tour truck with Adrian Rietveld is always a reality check in what elite-level optimization actually looks like. Looking inside Collin Morikawa’s bag ahead of the U.S. Open reveals a setup where every component is synchronized. It is a masterclass in building a bag from the ball backward, ensuring every variable harmonizes to produce one specific, reliable result.
Morikawa’s entire setup is engineered around a single, predictable objective: managing a starting-left fade that holds its spin axis without over-curving or dropping out of the sky.
View this post on Instagram
Everything in Morikawa’s bag is reverse-engineered from the golf ball. The entire equipment strategy is designed to harmonize with the flight characteristics of the TP5x, giving his signature cut shot enough stability to hold its line against any turf or wind conditions. The club specifications are explicitly adjusted to ensure the ball reacts consistently across every single iron, providing identical visual feedback whether he is hitting a long iron or a short scoring club.
“His golf clubs are set up with this golf ball that this golf ball moves. It moves left to right. Rietveld said, “For him, it is very important that the ball does not hold its line. The way that the lofts are with his clubs, he can essentially put more cut onto the golf ball. The ball will never over-cut, but it will always move.”
TaylorMade 2026 TP5x Pix Golf Balls
Built on the success of the best Team TaylorMade athletes in the world, TP5x is designed to deliver unparalleled low spin and distance off the tee and world-class feel and control where you need it most around the green. Microcoating No two golf balls are the same, but the all-new TP5x sets out to solve an invisible problem through our revolutionary microcoating finish process. Uneven paint and excess pooling in the dimples can compromise distance and accuracy. Microcoating uses precision application technology to ensure uniform coverage across the ball’s entire surface. Click on the video for a deep dive. Thinner Than a Human Hair Microcoating is thinner than a human hair and delivers measurable performance advantages: more consistent ball flight, optimized distance, and tight left-to-right dispersion. Tour-Level Speed The reengineered Speed Wrapped Core in TP5x increases the coefficient of restitution (COR) for exceptional ball speed at the top end of your bag.View Product
The driver setup is where this strict harmony becomes obvious. Morikawa plays the low-spin Qi4D LS head set up in a flat lie configuration, but with the sliding weight pushed completely forward.
To ensure the forward-CG head perfectly matches the ball’s spin properties and his flat delivery, Rietveld built the driver to deliver a precise static loft of 9.75 degrees. This specific loft allows Morikawa’s bowed left wrist to compress the ball with a wide-open view of the face, keeping spin entirely stable.
“You think about weight low and forward to create low spin to hold spin — that’s as low as you can possibly make it. You have to have loft, otherwise the ball’s going to go left and not get up in the air,” Rietveld said, “He sees loft, the face is going the proper direction to realize that. Loft is your number one influence on spin.”
TaylorMade Qi4D LS Custom Driver
SHAPED FOR SPEED Traditional address shape based on feedback from world-class players helps create confidence on every shot. Qi4D LS is the lowest spinning option in the Qi4D lineup. FACE FOR DISTANCE Qi4D LS drivers feature a new and improved roll radius, yielding more consistent spin across vertical impact locations. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.View Product
In the fairway woods, Morikawa transitions to the iconic Sim and Qi4D Tour models (both low spin profiles), utilizing the adjustable track system to blend distance with his required landing angles. The movable weight in the Qi4D Tour — housing 25 grams of adjustable mass — gives the fitting team enough flexibility to match the delivery feel of his driver while ensuring his strong-lofted 3-wood and 5-wood maintain clear distance gapping.
“This is a great piece of equipment for when you talk about the spin characteristics of this titanium head,” Rietveld said, “You can get so much weight in here. This has got 24 plus that 25 grams of movable weight. That’s a lot.”
Morikawa relies on a specialized combo set to maintain his target flight as lofts decrease, using a P-DHY utility iron at the top end before transitioning into P7CB cavities for his 5, and 6-irons.
The cavities are bent strong to match his gaps, but the design of the P7CB allows him to maintain an optimal peak height and landing angle that traditional blades simply could not achieve at those lower lofts. Additionally, the lie angle on his DHY is set significantly more upright than the rest of his set to eliminate any potential right miss on long approach shots.
“When you get into the long irons, and specifically a 4- and a 3-iron, the drop-off for a mishit is really punishing,” Rietveld said. “You give something that’s a little hotter off-center, so your drop-off is not as much. Therefore your sweet spot’s a little bit bigger. He plays this for many reasons — obviously the launch, but the drop-off is so much less punishing.”
TaylorMade P7CB Custom Irons
BEST-IN CLASS FEEL Using Tour feedback and modal analysis we’ve strategically designed mass placement for best in class feel. Crafted using Compact Grain Forging and 2000 tons of pressure to deliver the purest feeling 1025 soft carbon steel possible. PRECISE CONTROL Precise milled face and grooves combined with a constant CG the P•7CB is designed to deliver an optimal launch and spin combination for the ultimate control and precision. CONSISTENCY Created to maximize accuracy and consistency. The P•7CB optimized perimeter weighting and co-forged tungsten designed to deliver a beautiful blend of stability and workability. COMPACT TOUR SHAPING Every aspect of shaping in this iron was intended to meet the needs of discerning ball strikers. A compact blade length and thin topline create a confident, clean look in the playing position while the sole camber and progressive bounce profile provide consistent turf interaction.View Product
From the 7-iron down to the pitching wedge, Morikawa transitions into the older P730 blades. These scoring clubs are built around a traditional 37-degree 7-iron blueprint, progressing down to a 45.5-degree pitching wedge.
Unlike many tour players who prefer to keep their lie angles consistent from their short irons through their wedges, Morikawa’s set slopes progressively flatter as the clubs get shorter, accommodating his low hands at impact.
“We’ve done that testing and this is truly where his game changes — from a seven to a six,” Rietveld said. “As his game has developed and he’s grown within golf, you do see how he’s really benefited from this combo set. But when it comes to his scoring clubs and the shots that he hits, very seldomly does he use the other shots.”
Morikawa’s wedge setup features Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts, but the build of his 60-degree wedge is highly unusual. Rather than utilizing a standard wedge shaft, it is built using a soft-stepped 6-iron shaft. This creates a softer, more responsive feel at the bottom of the swing, allowing him to feel the heavy head move through the turf on delicate touch shots.
In terms of geometry, he recently transitioned into the MG5 SC (Standard Bounce C-Grind) after years of playing a custom version of the old Tiger Woods grind. The switch provides more trailing edge and heel relief, allowing him to open the face without the leading edge digging into grainy or tight turf.
“A 6-iron shaft is a lot softer and whippy at the bottom than a pitching wedge shaft. What he gets out of this is he’s getting feel in the head. It was an experiment that worked and he’s not looked back,” Rietveld added. “I always talk about a 60 for me as being the same as a putter. It’s a club that is very unique and very specific to the player.”
TaylorMade Milled Grind 5 Custom Wedge
FORGED FEEL Incredible feel is a must for having a great wedge game. MG5 has been forged from soft carbon steel and designed with geometry to provide excellent feel with great feedback. MAXIMUM SPIN MG5 uses all-new, more aggressive grooves designed to maximize spin. Saw-milled grooves produce tighter tolerances allowing engineers to design steeper walls and sharper radii intended to maximize spin in both dry and damp conditions. PERFORMANCE IN ALL CONDITIONS RAW face with Spin Tread technology channels away moisture to help retain spin. The same way that tire treads help your car stay connected to the road, laser-etched channels redirect water at impact and creates more friction between the club face and golf ball to maintain spin in wet conditions. CRAFTSMANSHIP MEETS CONSISTENCY Crafted by hand and then milled to perfection. Each wedge and sole grind are precision-milled to eliminate the natural human error that comes with hand polishing. Our grinds deliver unmatched consistency and craftsmanship that players can count on every time. CHARCOAL FINISH MG5 debuts a sleek, sophisticated charcoal finish that reduces glare and enhances its aesthetic appeal in the bag.View Product
Morikawa’s putter is a direct adaptation of a mallet originally built for Kurt Kitayama. To accommodate Morikawa’s sensitivity to face angle, the TaylorMade team avoided physically bending the hosel to alter the loft, as bending a putter strong naturally opens the face angle at address. Instead, they CNC-milled his required 4 degrees of loft directly into the face insert itself, preserving the exact visual alignment he prefers while optimizing the roll.
“When you bend something stronger, the face angle opens. And when you bend something weaker, the face angle closes in a putter. When you’re working with such a high-quality athlete who is very sensitive to face angle, you get the face angle he likes and then you work it out through roll. You mill the correct loft onto the face without bending.”
TaylorMade 2026 Spider Tour X Small Slant Custom Putter
TORCHED PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish. THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. CG LOCATION PROGRESSION Each Spider Torched model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting. HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation.View Product
The overall feel and balance of the bag follows a highly specific weight profile that is unusually light for a player of Morikawa’s caliber. From the driver all the way down through his 50-degree wedge, the entire bag is built to a uniform D1 swing weight. From there, the profile shifts to a heavier D3 feel for his 56-degree wedge, before settling back into a standalone D2 specification for the custom-built 60-degree wedge. It is a highly customized breakdown that demonstrates exactly how particular elite players are about the interaction between total weight and head feel at the scoring end of the bag.
“He likes it light. Rietveld said, “He would be D1 all the way down to the 50-degree wedge. Then it gets heavier — it’s D1, and then D3, D3, and then the 60-degree is D2. Like I said, that 60 is on an island by itself. That’s the feel that he likes.”
The post Colin Morikawa is contending at the Open. Here’s an inside look at all his gear appeared first on Golf.
