Equipment

Tony Finau’s old Nike driving iron sells for ABSURD money on eBay

Published

2 years ago

Jun 24, 2022

While on-site at the 2022 Travelers Championship, I took photos of Tony Finau’s full WITB setup. My biggest takeaway was that he plays ridiculously large grips (Lamkin mid-size, with loads of wraps underneath; check them out here).

I also noticed he had two different putters in the bag; both are PLD Anser 2D models. According to Ping putter rep Dylan Goodwin, one of the models has about 5 grams of lead tape on the sole to help Finau with face awareness, and the other is his gamer, which features sharpie lines on the hosel section to help him with alignment and setup.

But those weren’t the most interesting points of note in Finau’s bag, or the reason I’m writing this story.

While going through Finau’s clubs, I noticed he’s still using an old Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron, equipped with a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 105x Hybrid shaft and loads of lead tape on the back cavity.

The Vapor Fly Pro irons first hit the market in 2016, but PGA Tour players such as Finau and Brooks Koepka continue to use the long irons as a driving iron years later.

Speaking to Finau on Tuesday at the 2022 Travelers Championship, he said that he got 6 years of use out of the original head he put in the bag in 2016 before it finally caved. The driving iron he has in the bag now is a replacement, and he says he has only one backup now.

“I got about 6 years of use out of the first one, and I’m hoping to get about 6-7 years out of this one,” Finau told GolfWRX at the Travelers. “I only have one backup, but I’m hoping I’ll get 6-7 years out of that one, too.”

Obviously, Finau has no plans of using a driving iron that’s not a Nike Vapor Fly Pro anytime in the near future. And if he acquires another backup, he’ll probably be able to play one until he’s 50 years old.

While discussing the old Nike driving iron on our latest Two Guys Talking Golf podcast episode, my co-host Brian Knudson was curious about how much they’re selling for on eBay.

That’s when we realized how ridiculously expensive (and sneaky hard to find) the Nike Vapor Fly Pro long irons are.

Check out how much they’re currently listed for on eBay!

OK, so those are listed prices, but what are they actually selling for? Here’s a look at a few recently sold versions:

Those are new driver type prices! Wow.

I guess when you consider that the iron is still being played on Tour six years after they released, and given the fact that Nike doesn’t make golf clubs anymore, and there’s a limited supply, it does make sense. Still, though, $400+ for a driving iron is a tough pill to swallow.

That being said, I absolutely need to get my hands on one to test and see what the hype is all about. Maybe I’ll start a GoFundMe page so I have some extra cash to make a competitive eBay bid.

(Check out the video version of our latest podcast below!)

Check out Finau’s full WITB from the Travelers here.

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Andrew Tursky

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

5 Comments

Nike Staffer 2012

Jun 25, 2022 at 12:55 pm

95% of the clubs and balls Nike made were garbage. But… the 5% that weren’t were fantastic and the long irons from this set were a part of the 5%. It’s no wonder that Rory struggled so much during his Nike days and it’s pretty well known that Tiger’s stuff was a FAR cry from anything sold retail. The RZN balls might as well have been rebranded top flites.

Reply Report comment
- Nike good
  
  Jun 25, 2022 at 2:31 pm
  
  This is such a bs take.
  
  Ps. Rory has more majors in his 3 years with Nike than his 5 years with Taylormade.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Edward
  
  Jun 25, 2022 at 2:46 pm
  
  I’ve drained many long putts with my Method 001 putter. It feels better than a Scotty Cameron.
  
  Reply Report comment
Edward

Jun 25, 2022 at 8:19 am

Covert Forged 2.0 irons are also beastly.

Reply Report comment
- Rooney
  
  Jun 25, 2022 at 7:41 pm
  
  Edward speaks the truth
  
  Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Rory McIlroy spotted testing a new TaylorMade “PROTO” 4-iron at the 2024 Valero Texas Open

Published

16 hours ago

Apr 3, 2024

Andrew Tursky

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.”
————————————————————————-
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!

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