Which Driver is Brooks using?

As Brooks Koepka quietly tiptoes his way up the leaderboard at the Open at Royal Portrush we take a look at the club he is using to boom those drives out there on this famous links course.

Brooks is not tied to any equipment manufacturer and so is free to pick and choose the clubs he puts in the bag. When it comes to the driver, last year he was using the TaylorMade M2 and M3 but for 2019 he has upgraded to the TaylorMade M5.

TaylorMade M5 & M6

It might sound painful but TaylorMade's new Injected Twist Face technology will have you hitting it longer and straighter than ever before.

Following the global success of the M1-M4 metal woods, TM announced the next generation of the M family, highlighted by the all-new M5 & M6 drivers, fairways and hybrids.

TaylorMade introduced Twist Face technology in 2018. To counteract the high-toe miss (a hook), the driver face was modified open (loft increased & face opened) on the high-toe to help straighten ball flight.

Similarly, to counteract the low-heel miss (a slice) the driver face was modified closed to de-loft and close the face in the low heel area.

In 2019, TaylorMade has taken Twist Face to the next level with the introduction of Injected Twist Face technology, exposing the false narrative that speed limits have been reached in a metalwood.

The techy bit…

The new TaylorMade M5 and M6 drivers are said to be faster than ever thanks to the new Speed Injected Twist Face which sail closer to the wind regarding the rules on spring-like effect.

For the last 15 years or so drivers have been limited to a Coefficient of Restitution (COR) of 0.83 which means no more than 83% of the energy generated may be transferred from the club to the ball.

As the COR proved difficult to measure accurately a further measure was introduced, the Characteristic Time (CT). This is a test of the spring-like effect of a clubface and is measured using a pendulum device that measures the time (in microseconds) a metal ball is in contact with the clubface when it is swung against it.

What TaylorMade do with their Speed Injected Twist Face is create non-conforming clubheads under the COR test. They then individually speed test each club and then inject sufficient ‘tuning resin’ to slow down the face. So all TaylorMade M5 and M6 drivers have been ‘speed tuned’ to sit just inside the COR limit.

Twist Face is a continuation from the M3 and M4, being more open and lofted in the high toe and more closed and less lofted in the low heel section to produce more consistent spin and a tighter dispersion on shots where golfers most commonly mishit the face.

The M5 and M6 also feature a more flexible Hammerhead 2.0 slot, which is said to increase the size of the sweet spot and preserve ball speed on off-center strikes. The crown on both has a 10 per cent larger carbon fibre piece, which also has a matte finish to reduce sun glare.