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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
On his way to capturing five green jackets across a span of 22 years, Tiger Woods has gone through all sorts of equipment changes.
His first Masters victory in 1997 saw him use a wildly mixed bag, highlighted by a 9-degree King Cobra driver, Mizuno MP-14 irons and Cleveland 588 RTG wedges. His golf ball that year, the Titleist Professional 90, dates him to the pre-ProV1 era.
By the time Woods won for the second time at Augusta National, just four years later, nearly every club in his bag was drastically different. He used a full Titleist setup, including a 975D driver, 681 Forged irons and Vokey wedges (58 and 60 degrees). The only non-Titleist part of his gear came with his golf ball – the Nike Tour Accuracy TW.
A year later, he used the same bag to repeat except for a driver swap. The 9.5-degree Nike Forged Ti became the third driver Woods used to win the Masters. That club had two more degrees of loft compared to the 7.5-degree Titleist 975D from a year earlier.
By the time of his 2005 victory, Woods was employing a full Nike setup. The 8.5-degree Ignite driver and Forged Blades irons led the charge. His Nike One Platinum TW golf ball was one of four different balls he has used to win a Masters.
And then there was last year’s storybook victory, for which Woods took a full TaylorMade bag to the finish line. He used the brand’s M5 driver, P7TW irons and Milled Grind wedges. His ball had switched once again, this time being the Bridgestone Tour B XS.
Woods is well known for his Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport 2 Tiger putter, but even that famous club didn’t help him win all five green jackets. The 1997 win came with a Scotty Cameron Newport Tel3 with a Teryllium face insert, a similar model to what Brooks Koepka currently uses. That putter helped deliver to him only one of his majors while the other 14 were with the Newport 2 Tiger.
Another fascinating part of Woods' equipment through the years is that he won all five Masters using only three wedges in his bag. For the 2001 and 2002 triumphs, he had a 12-degree gap between his pitching wedge and sand wedge while only having a 2-degree gap between his sand wedge and lob wedge. That would be sacrilegious in today’s era where carrying four wedges is a near certainty.
Of course it’s not just the brands and lofts of the clubs that tell the story. Woods used a 2-iron for the first four Masters wins, and one would be hard pressed to find many players willing to put that low an iron into their bag today. This includes Woods, who won last year’s event with a 19-degree TaylorMade M5 5-wood and, as might be predictable, no 2-iron.
Sean Fairholm