The Great 2026 Equipment Shift Has Begun

Although many golf fans consider this time between September and January the "Silly Season", it's still all business for tour players and equipment manufacturers who are preparing their golf bags for the upcoming season. Not to mention us gear writers, who are equally as busy diving into all the updates to the equipment conforming lists to see what the equipment companies are up to. Which is exactly why we have a lot to talk about!

Ping G440 K

First, the new Ping G440 K showed up on the conforming list, and then it made its official debut in color in Abu Dhabi, UAE, at this week's HSBC Championship on the DP World Tour. We can once again thank the folks at SMS on Tour for snagging the first pictures and video of it in hand.

We don't have any confirmation that this new model made its way into anyone's bag this week, but what we do know is that, unlike the previous 10K G430 Max, the new 440 has adjustable weighting to help dial in ball flight, along with a carbon fiber sole to save weight.

Now speaking of Abu Dhabi and the HSBC Championship, we need to talk about what is likely the biggest news in gear this week...

The TaylorMade Qi4D

TaylorMade's newest Qi4D drivers went from the conforming list to players' bags quickly this week, and ended up both 2nd and 3rd on the leaderboard thanks to Tommy Fleetwood (who lost in a playoff to Aaron Rai) and Rory McIlroy, who tied for third.

The ironic thing is, the winner Aaron Rai stuck to his guns, like he has for years now, and won with a TaylorMade M6 - from 2019. For those curious, as per sources, Aaron rotates in heads that he buys used and gets them speced out to make sure they fit his spec and are conforming.

As for those Qi4D's the three models on the conforming list as of publication are the Qi4D (core) which has four moveable weights like the original R7 Quad, the Qi4D LS, with adjustable front and back weights, and then a Qi4D Max which also looks to have front and back adjustable weighting.

Last but not least, Wilson also snuck a new driver onto the conforming list with their DynaPWR Max Plus.

PGA Tour Updates

Down in Mexico this week, the biggest story was current 12th-ranked player in the world (as of publication), Ben Griffin, switching from a Scotty Cameron blade to a ... I'll give you one guess... come on, it's gonna be pretty obvious once I tell you.

Come on, I know you got this.

Give up?

Ben switched into a TaylorMade Spider Tour X with an S-Neck hosel, yep, another win with a Spider! He came from behind to win the World Wide Technology Championship at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico, to win for the 3rd time in 2025.

Another switch is Eric Cole playing PXG's new Lightning driver, which made its way onto the conforming list a couple of weeks ago. When it comes to improvements, it looks as if the Lightning features more carbon fiber to help with weight savings and forgiveness.

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