{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
Another major, another Tiger Woods putter tweak.
In August at the PGA Championship, Woods opted to bench one of the most famous putters in golf history, the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS that helped him to 14 of his 15 major victories and a cool $94 million in earnings. He went for a slightly longer version of the same style putter, albeit with different weighting on the head. The experiment went poorly in the final three rounds and he subsequently switched back to original Scotty during the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Woods continued to sputter, however. Struggles on the green were a massive concern throughout last season as he ranked 183rd on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. That was far and away his worst putting performance since the stat has been tracked.
So Woods made another jarring putter switch ahead of the U.S. Open by replacing the instantly recognizable “Pingman” PP58 grip that has become almost as famous as the putter itself. He showed up at Winged Foot sporting a full-cord Lamkin grip featuring the company’s Deep-Etched pattern, a firm pistol-style grip that would feel slightly larger in his hands compared to the Pingman.
Astute gear followers might equate this to Michael Jordan showing up for the NBA Finals wearing No. 24. The Pingman grip is so fundamental to Woods’ equipment, a defining look for all of the classic moments throughout his career, that watching him with something else felt among the stranger golf moments of 2020 – and that is really saying something.
Woods didn’t comment on the grip switch, but context provides insight. He used a similar style grip all the way back in college, but that was a Golf Pride grip on an Odyssey Dual Force 660 putter. The Lamkin grip appears to be an older model, the same type that Steve Stricker uses. Stricker has been known to give Woods putting advice in recent years, nudging him toward trying a longer putter for the PGA Championship. Woods missed the cut for the eighth time in his last 15 majors.
Other players made equipment shifts big and small heading into play at Winged Foot. For the small category, consider Xander Schauffele who added a half-degree of loft to his Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero Triple Diamond driver, going from 7.2 degrees to 7.7 degrees in an effort to gain more control off the tee. Then there was Jordan Spieth, reverting back to the Under Armour Drive One shoes that he wore in 2016 during happier times for his game.
As to the larger moves, eventual runner-up Matthew Wolff switched to TaylorMade P7MC irons and Adam Hadwin broke in new Callaway Apex MB irons, both putting the sets in official play for the first time.