Brooks Koepka Benches Decade-Old 4-Wood for Mini Driver

Brooks Koepka has pulled one of the longest-tenured clubs in his bag, swapping his TaylorMade M2 Tour fairway wood for a TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini driver at the DP World Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Why is Koepka making the change now?

Koepka said in January at Torrey Pines that he rarely alters his setup. "I'm not a tinkerer. If something works, something works," he said at the time, adding that he understood the misses in his bag well enough to leave it alone. The M2 Tour 4-wood had been with him for every one of his five major titles, alongside a Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron from 2016 that remains one of the last Nike clubs still in professional golf.

Equipment trackers at Inside Tour Golf, which first reported the swap, also counted 49 mini drivers in play at the Dunhill Links this week, 29 percent of the field and a reported record for the DP World Tour. Players typically hit fewer full drivers on firm, bouncing links turf, where tee shots run out further and pot bunkers punish an overclub. A mini driver's larger head offers more forgiveness than a fairway wood in those tee shot situations, which has made it a popular substitute at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns this week.

The swap may be a links-specific move rather than a permanent change.

It is the first time Koepka has been seen without the M2 Tour in his bag, but equipment trackers note the switch could be tied specifically to this week's firm, bouncy conditions rather than a permanent change. Koepka's Nike 3-iron is staying put, and he is back playing a Scotty Cameron T22 Newport 2 blade putter after cycling through several putter options earlier this season.