Why Leona Maguire's Three Fairway Woods Could Power Her To Solheim Cup Glory

Leona Maguire has quickly established herself as one of Europe's most reliable and impactful players in Solheim Cup history and as one of the biggest stars in the women's game.

In 2021, she had a record-breaking performance as a rookie at the 2021 Solheim Cup, going undefeated and collecting four and a half points to help Europe claim the trophy. She quickly followed this up in 2022 to become the first Irishwoman to win on the LPGA Tour at the Drive on Championship.

Known for her clutch play and unmatched competitiveness, she once again made a significant contribution to Europe's success at the 2023 Solheim Cup, which included securing a critical singles win against Rose Zhang. 

So what's in Leona Maguire's bag? We spoke to Jack Ulrich, PING's LPGA Development Manager to find out what clubs she uses and why.

Is there anything special to note about Leona's driver? 

Leona plays the G430 LST driver, which traditionally is going to be a little bit faster than other PING models, so gaining a couple of miles an hour of ball speed. Leona is not typically one of the longer hitters, but she has gained a little bit of speed this year. 

Earlier this season, she used to play a softer flex shaft, but in July at the CPKC Women's Open in Canada, she switched to a very similar profile shaft with a stiff flex instead of a regular flex and it has been performing very, very well for her over the course of the season. 

Leona is a big fan of fairway woods, what is the makeup and why do they work so well for her? 

Interestingly, Leona carries three fairway woods. She plays a G430 Max 3-wood set at 14.6 degrees, which has performed very well for her. The PING G430 fairway wood has been phenomenal for us, especially the 3-wood as it gets up in the air, it turns over easy and spins very stable. 

She has a G425 5-wood set at 17.5 degrees, and then she'll sometimes rotate between her G425 6-hybrid set at 30 degrees or her G430 9-wood set at 23.5 degrees, depending on the course and what it dictates. She knows she can rely on the height that she gets out of those clubs relative to, say, a 6-iron or a similarly lofted hybrid. 

The 9-wood is going to go a little bit higher, carry a little further, but land more softly on the green, so it just gives her another weapon that she wears out, especially in match play events. It might get under some other players' skins that hit it a little further than Leona, but she hits a lot of great shot with those high-lofted fairway woods and hybrid.

Tell us about the weight and feel of Leona's irons

Leona plays the i210 irons, from 7-iron down to pitching wedge, all with KBS TGI 80 stiff shafts. It is perhaps a little uncommon starting at a 7-iron, she plays her 6-hybrid, although she does have a 6-iron that comes in and out of the bag. 

She has a special grind on her irons, a 4-degree bounce grind to help with turf interaction, creating some height and spin as well - this is the goal for her. 

Each iron has a slightly different feel. Generally speaking, when we build a set of irons, whatever the swing weight is, starting at the longest iron, we keep that the same through to the 9-iron. Then we go half swing weight heavier to the 9-iron, then full swing weight from the 8-iron to the pitching wedge, so a little bit heavier as you move down. As the club gets shorter, you want to add some headweight down there so you can feel it better. 

Leona is renowned as being a great putter, so what's the secret weapon?

Leona uses the Vault 2.0 Ketsch putter, which is a slightly older model but one of PING's most popular, with still several in play on tours globally. This is a putter that Leona loves. She's tried some different, more current versions of it, but this putter has been in her bag for a long time and she's holed a lot of really important putts with it. The putter is one of those things that if you find one you like and you can rely on it - putting is one of the strengths of Leona's game.