Of the four major championships this year, just one was secured by a previous major winner. Only Phil Mickelson was able to take advantage of world number one Tiger Woods' lack of form, with established champions such as Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera and Retief Goosen forced to watch on as a new generation of golfers came to the fore.

After Mickelson's triumph at the US Masters at Augusta in April, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell won the US Open at Pebble Beach in June, South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open at St Andrews in July and Germany's Martin Kaymer won last week's USPGA Championship at Whistling Straits. While the increasingly open fields are undoubtedly good for the players who go on to win, they also benefit golf club manufacturers.

For more than ten years, major championships have been dominated by Nike Golf player Woods, while Callaway user Mickelson has done his best to get in on the act in recent seasons. However, with major championships now more unpredictable than ever the likes of TaylorMade are getting more of a look-in. Indeed, TaylorMade golf equipment was extremely prominent at the USPGA Championship, with both winner Martin Kaymer and fifth-placed Dustin Johnson using TaylorMade drivers. That said, they opted for different models, offering proof that it pays to assess your options, even when it comes to choosing clubs created by the same manufacturer.

Kaymer plays with the TaylorMade R9 Supertri Driver, which offers players a higher launch angle and a higher spin rate than previous incarnations of the R9 thanks to its deeper clubface and centre of gravity. Meanwhile, Johnson prefers the TaylorMade R9 Driver. This model makes use of TaylorMade's Inverted Cone Technology, which works to expand the area of the clubface. Crucially, this provides higher ball speed on impact while also helping to minimise miss-hits.

Another notable aspect of the TaylorMade R9 Driver is its Ultra-Thin Wall Technology, which facilitates reduced club head wall thickness and improved weight distribution. However, these are not the only drivers produced by TaylorMade, with a number of new offerings being made available in the last year alone. Take the TaylorMade R9 Superdeep TP Driver, for instance. Pitched at strong players looking for a mid launch angle and low spin, it has an advanced centre of gravity to increase usability as well as an extra-low-torque Aldila RIP shaft.

Another option is the TaylorMade Burner Superfast TP Driver, which has a more open clubface alignment. This helps to promote a higher launch angle for the skilled player, and consequently increased length from the tee. The good news for TaylorMade is that regardless of which of its drivers a golfer goes for, the exploits of Martin Kaymer over recent days means that they will be choosing equipment endorsed by a major champion.

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TaylorMade Tour Preferred Irons