Scottie Scheffler is famously reluctant to change clubs. His TaylorMade Qi10 driver has been with him for the better part of the last three seasons. The same goes for his putter (TaylorMade Spider Tour X #1), irons, and wedges. Yet, only one week before the 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs, he swapped his trustworthy Qi10 driver for the newer TaylorMade Qi4D. The result was obviously outstanding as he won the St. Jude Championship 2026 by eight shots. But why did he go against his reputation and make that driver change at this crucial time of the year?
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Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, the 21-time PGA Tour winner explained the rare move bluntly.
“I’m never going to switch unless I actually feel like the club is better,” Scottie Scheffler said when asked how he decides that it’s time for an equipment change. “So, two weeks ago when I was at home, I just did my best trying to go out and play. And my backup driver to the Qi10 was the Qi4D. And so I felt like my Qi10 was getting close to where it was either going to fail the driver testing or become illegal.
“So I needed to really work on my backup, and I put it in play at home a few times and really liked kind of what I saw. And going into Memphis last week, it just felt like it was a good week to kind of test it out, and the results were pretty good. So definitely going to keep it in the bag going forward.”
Scheffler’s Qi4D change was both performance- and timing-driven: he found it marginally faster with more consistent spin, while his long-used Qi10 was approaching a potential conformity-testing issue.
It wasn’t the first time, though. He did use the TaylorMade Qi4D at the 2025 Hero World Challenge and the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational. However, he reverted to the Qi10 on both occasions the following week. This time, though, since he is planning to change drivers before the TaylorMade Qi10 becomes illegal, he went all in on the new driver.
The World No. 1 admitted that the new driver produced better, more consistent spin. The ball was moving a little faster, too. Scheffler’s Qi4D driver is a little different from the standard design. He has reduced the loft from 8° to around 7.8° with custom weights and a gloss crown. He is using a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft for the driver.
While Scottie Scheffler noted that the result was good, the numbers say otherwise. For instance, his SG: Off the Tee throughout the season is 0.655, and he ranks fourth on the PGA Tour in this stat. But during the four rounds of the St. Jude Championship, it was 2.251, and he ranked eleventh in the field. Driving accuracy also dropped from 64.52% to 50%. What was better was the driving distance. While it has averaged 311.3 yards this season, it was 314.90 yards last week.
It’s just a small difference, which is natural when changing drivers. What was impressive last week was the World No. 1’s putting. Thanks to that, he fetched his second win of the season. Along with the win at the American Express and the consistency he displayed in 2026, the St. Jude Championship victory increased his chances of winning the Player of the Year Award significantly.
Rory McIlroy has already backed Scheffler for the award. But will he actually win it, tying the five-consecutive-wins record with Tiger Woods? His performance over the next two weeks should tell.