“It’s not the equipment” – Fans react to Rory McIlroy trying out a ‘past’ persimmon driver during his practice round at Scottish Open 2023

Rory McIlroy is all set to compete at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open. It will tee off for the first round on Thursday, July 13, and will run through the weekend to wrap up with the final round on Sunday, July 16.

McIlroy joined the golfers for a practice round on Wednesday, July 12. The Northern Irish golfer played a few shots with an old persimmon driver.

The PGA Tour shared a video of Rory McIlroy taking shots ahead of the Scottish Open on its Twitter account with a caption, saying:

"Past vs. Present @McIlroyRory tried out a persimmon driver during his practice round @ScottishOpen."

Past vs. Present 👀

@McIlroyRory tried out a persimmon driver during his practice round @ScottishOpen. https://t.co/WdFb0uKPNs

Fans flocked into the comments section to say:

"It’s not the equipment…."

@PGATOUR @McIlroyRory @ScottishOpen It’s not the equipment….

@PGATOUR @McIlroyRory @ScottishOpen Tough look for the “it’s not the equipment, the athletes are just better” crowd.

@PGATOUR @McIlroyRory @ScottishOpen Would be fun to watch if @PGATOUR required the persimmon driver in an actual tournament next year.

It is important to note that Persimmon drivers are made of wood but have been replaced by metal drivers in modern days.

Tiger Woods once commented in an interview with Golf TV regarding the difference between a wood and a metal driver.

"The gear effect is incredible," he said. "You hit the ball off the heel, it starts so far left. You hit the ball off the toe, it starts so far right. But it always comes back. Our drivers don’t come back anymore. They don’t have that gear effect.”

What's in Rory McIlroy's bag?

Rory McIlroy's bag has the TaylorMade equipment. He uses their Stealth Plus driver and fairway woods. He plays with MG3 54- and 60 degrees wedges from Taylor Wood and its TP5x ball in his tournaments.

Here is a complete list of all the equipment of Rory McIlroy:

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (9°, Fujikura Ventus Black 6-X shaft)
Fairway woods: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°, Mitsubishi Kai'li White 80 TX shaft) TaylorMade Stealth Plus (19°, Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X shaft)
Irons: TaylorMade P730 Rors Proto (3-9, Project X 7.0 shafts)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG3 54- and 60-degree wedges
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Hydro Blast
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x golf ball
Clothing: Nike

When will Rory McIlroy start his game at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open?

Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Justin Thomas will tee off on the 10th hole at 2:59 a.m. ET for the first round.

The following are the tee times for the first round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open:

10th hole

2:15 a.m. – Andrew Putnam, Ludvig Aberg, Nicolas Colsaerts
2:26 a.m. – Lucas Herbert, Thomas Detry, Richie Ramsay
2:37 a.m. – Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald, Aaron Rai
2:48 a.m. – Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Adrian Meronk
2:59 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas
3:10 a.m. – Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre
3:21 a.m. – Sam Burns, Seamus Power, Min Woo Lee
3:32 a.m. – Nick Taylor, Edoardo Molinari, Pablo Larrazabal
3:43 a.m. – Sungjae Im, Thriston Lawrence, Ewen Ferguson
3:54 a.m. – Brian Harman, Sahith Theegala, Marcel Siem
4:05 a.m. – Michael Kim, Dylan Wu, Oliver Bekker
4:16 a.m. – Ben Martin, Alex Smalley, Bio Kim
4:27 a.m. – Byeong Hun An, Robby Shelton, Tapio Pulkkanen
7:30 a.m. – Ben Taylor, Gavin Green, Matthieu Pavon
7:41 a.m. – Brandon Wu, Romain Langasque, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen
7:52 a.m. – Lee Hodges, Jordan Smith, Antoine Rozner
8:03 a.m. – Luke List, Harry Hall, Adri Arnaus
8:14 a.m. – Austin Eckroat, Jamie Donaldson, Haotong Li
8:25 a.m. – Erik van Rooyen, Ross Fisher, Calum Hill
8:36 a.m. – Scott Stallings, Alex Noren, Alexander Björk
8:47 a.m. – Jimmy Walker, Patrick Rodgers, Connor Syme
8:58 a.m. – Troy Merritt, Richard Mansell, Dan Bradbury
9:09 a.m. – Joseph Bramlett, Justin Walters, Yeongsu Kim
9:20 a.m. – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Doug Ghim, Sami Valimaki
9:31 a.m. – Sam Ryder, Eddie Pepperell, Sebastian Soderberg
9:42 a.m. – Zac Blair, Fabrizio Zanotti, Chase Hanna