We have seen an uptick in longer putters out on the professional tours with players gravitating toward either counterbalanced or broomstick styles. As a refresher, A “broomstick” putter is a long putter that is usually built to a length that goes up to your chest. If you have seen Adam Scott putt in a tournament recently, he uses what is classified as a broomstick putter.

Axis1 might not be the most common brand in the world of putters but they have been around a while, most notably in Justin Rose’s bag.

Axis1 is known for a putter that doesn’t look traditional but a design is used to get the center of gravity to the center of the club face, aligned with the shaft. This technology keeps the face aligned with the ball throughout the stroke. More traditional putters rotate around the shaft axis, which doesn’t align with the center of the putter, making it easier for the putter face to not be square to the target at impact.

This week at the Valero Texas Open, we spotted a prototype Axis1 putter in a long broomstick version. The head shape looks very similar to the current Axis1 Tour-HM putter that the company currently makes, which is a more squared-off mid-mallet. The prototype looks to have a similar multi-material head with a 304 stainless steel face mated to a composite back. Twin site lines run together, on the topline and on the flange, to create a longer line for aligning the putter. The steel face has a fairly shallow milling to it, and the flowing heel hosel connects to the aggressive shaft bend.

A matching black shaft is installed, and at the grip end is Super Stroke’s Zenergy Tour 1.0 two-piece in white and black. No word on if or when this will come to retail yet.

• Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Mint set of TaylorMade Qi 10 irons.

From the seller: (@ch1985): “Mint set of TaylorMade qi 10 irons 5-PW, AW (used 1 round and some range balls) with factory stiff steel shaft –  $925 shipped.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Mint set of TaylorMade Qi 10 irons

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

Update, 5:30 p.m.: Regarding his prototype iron, McIlroy offered this in his pre-tournament press conference:

“Yeah, I went out, spent a couple of days with the TaylorMade guys at the Kingdom. Yeah, they just produced these couple of proto, I guess like are they the MC replacements maybe…

“They performed really well. It’s just as fast as the 760 that I was using. Launch is a little higher actually, which was surprising, and it’s just sometimes I felt like when I hit my 5-iron in the blade and then the 4-iron in the 760 it was such a different feel. To go from a 5-iron now to that 4-iron, it feels a little closer to what I feel in the 5-iron. So just a little bit more responsive, but didn’t lose any performance from it, which is great. Yeah, it will be in the bag this week.”
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Now just what do we have here?

On Wednesday at the 2024 Valero Texas Open, GolfWRX.com spotted Rory McIlroy testing a new, mysterious TaylorMade “PROTO” 4-iron.

Clearly, the 4-iron is a prototype, but since it doesn’t say “Rors Proto” or “RM” on it, then maybe it’s a prototype for an upcoming iron release from TaylorMade. Or, maybe it’s an upgrade for a previous or existing iron model from the company.

For reference, the photo below shows what McIlroy’s previous P760 4-iron looks like…

If the new prototype was an upgrade on the former P760 design, that would certainly be a large design departure, aesthetically speaking. It’s not impossible, but the new proto definitely looks significantly different.

McIlroy’s new proto – aesthetically, at least – looks more similar to TaylorMade’s P7MC irons, a model that Collin Morikawa uses for his 5 and 6-irons, as pictured below.

The new proto is also reminiscent of TaylorMade’s old P750 and P770 irons:

So what could McIlroy’s new TaylorMade “Proto” be? Is it a one-off prototype for McIlroy? Is it a re-design of an older model? Is it a harbinger of a bigger release in the future?

What is it?!

Unfortunately, TaylorMade hasn’t yet commented publicly on the prototype iron, so for now, we wait. And enjoy the photos of McIlroy testing it on Wednesday in San Antonio.

Here’s what it looks like from address…

And here’s what McIlroy’s numbers looked like while testing it on the range…

Uhh, yeah. Those are pretty good 4-iron numbers.

Will McIlroy make the switch into the new prototype 4-iron this week? That remains to be seen, but it should be noted that it was the only 4-iron in his bag on Wednesday.

*We’ll update this post as further information becomes available

See what GolfWRX members are saying about the TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron here, plus more photos!