Tiger Woods Putter of Choice
We take a look at Tiger Woods’ putter, one of the most recognised golf tools in the game.
Tiger Woods’ Putter of Choice
Tiger Woods has been very constant in terms of the model he employs, while sometimes dabbling in numerous different models at various phases of his lengthy career. In fact, he has used the same model to win 14 of his 15 Major Championships…
TIGER WOODS MAKES USE OF WHAT PUTTER?
Tiger’s putter setup, despite a few changes throughout the years, typically returns to the same model – a Scotty Cameron GSS Newport 2. His prior Newport 2 GSS putter, with which he won all but one of his 15 Majors, is one of the world’s most renowned putters – an old backup he had created by Scotty Cameron in 2001 sold at auction for $44,000. It’s a bladed, Anser-style putter with a red dot and ‘Tiger Woods’ branded onto the rear.
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We have not reviewed the putter, as you would imagine considering how tough it is to get, but we have been strong supporters of Scotty Cameron for a long time because of the mix of feel, appearance, and overall performance. Despite sometimes placing other models in the suitcase, Tiger obviously feels the same way. He has previously used Ping, Odyssey, and TaylorMade models, including the Ardmore 3 and Juno. Other Scotty Cameron putters include the Newport TeI3, Newport with a Pro Platinum finish, and the controversial Scottydale, which featured a lengthy neck that many believed violated the restriction that the putter’s neck must exceed 5 inches. This was just mentioned briefly.
Tiger Woods has used every single putter in his golf career.
Tiger Woods’ golf equipment is the most scrutinised and scrutinised in the game. It’s big news whenever Woods makes a change, particularly with the putter.
As a result, most golf fans are familiar with Scotty Cameron’s Newport TeI3 putter, which he used to win the 1997 Masters. They are also aware of Woods’ current Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype, which he has used in 14 of 15 majors.
However, they aren’t the only two putters Woods has used in his career. Other Scotty Cameron putters he’s tried include Ping, Odyssey, Nike, and TaylorMade. He’s also experimented with numerous mallet alternatives and hosels, not only the Newport/Anser-style ones that golf fans are used to seeing.
We’ve highlighted all of the putters that Woods has used in competition during his career below.
Stainless Steel Ping Anser 2 (1994 and 1995 U.S. Amateur)
Woods utilised a Ping putter for the majority of his amateur career as a junior and college golfer. Woods wore a bronze Ping Anser type when he was younger, circa 1990 and 1991. He then used a silver Ping Anser 2 Stainless Steel model till about 1996, the one with the Pingman on the toe section of the face and “Ping” imprinted on the heel of the face. He won the US Amateur Championships in 1994 and 1995 with this Ping Anser 2 model.
In 1998, Woods reintroduced the Ping Anser 2 model, but we’ll get to it later in this list.
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An Odyssey for the NCAA Championship in 1996
Woods utilised an Odyssey Dual Force 660 putter to win the NCAA Division I Men’s Individual Championships in 1996. It had an Anser-style head shape, a black inlay on the face, and a Golf Pride cord grip. Certainly, the face insert gave the putter a gentler feel off the face than his prior putter. However, by the time he competed in the US Amateur later that year, the putter had fallen out of his bag.
Scotty Cameron Newport in Pro Platinum (1996 U.S. Amateur)
Woods began using a new Scotty Cameron Newport putter with a Pro Platinum finish and no face insert shortly after his NCAA triumph in 1996. The putter, like the Odyssey putter he used before, featured a string grip and didn’t survive long in his bag. Woods did, however, use the Scotty Cameron putter in his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1996.
Scotty, the contentious character Scottydale, Cameron
According to the Sun Sentinel, Woods utilised a controversial Scotty Cameron Scottydale putter during his first two Tour victories, the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational and the 1996 Disney World Oldsmobile Classic. The neck of the putter cannot exceed 5 inches in length, according to golf regulations, and authorities were suspicious that Woods’ putter violated this restriction. Woods, on the other hand, seems to have switched to a slightly different model before the Tour Championship, when the putter was tested and found to be compliant.
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Regardless, the rules of golf provide that if the player employed nonconforming equipment inadvertently, he or she is not liable to a retroactive penalty.
By 1997, Woods had switched to a putter with a neck that measured little more than five inches, and the conforming Scottydale reappeared only briefly later that year.
The well-known Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3
Woods won the 1997 Masters using a Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3 putter with a Teryllium face insert and five rows of sound-dampening white dots in the rear cavity. The putter didn’t last long in his bag, but it drew the attention of the crowd, including a teenage Webb Simpson.
Putter replicas, limited-edition releases, and remakes are still quite popular today. Brooks Koepka, for example, is presently utilising a Scotty Cameron T22 Teryllium putter that is modelled on Woods’ original.
Going with the flow
Woods utilised a Scotty Cameron putter with a flow neck, which Titleist verified was a Laguna model, for a limited period of time. The Laguna was in Woods’ bag for the 1997 Buick Open at Warwick Hills Country Club in Michigan, but it seems that it was never included to the starting 14-club list after that.
A flow-neck-style putter made a short appearance in 2018, but we’ll get to it later.
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Returning to the Anser
Woods returned to a Ping Anser 2 putter in 1998, which was really one of Mark O’Meara’s backup putters. Woods came close to defeating O’Meara in the 1998 Open Championship, but O’Meara prevailed.
Following the tournament, O’Meara famously said, “That’s my backup putter.” I finished first, and he ended one shot behind me. That is why it is a backup.”
Classic.
THE SCOTTY CAMPBELL
Woods began utilising the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS (German Stainless Steel) prototype putter that he still uses today in 1999. It’s very likely the most renowned putter in golf, and it would almost certainly fetch at least eight figures if it ever came up for sale.
It’s known for having a “cherry bomb” red dot on the heel of the face, “Tiger Woods” inscribed in red on the rear bumpers, a single red dot on the topline for alignment, another “cherry bomb” in the back cavity, and a Ping PP58 grip. He’s worn a spot on the face right in the sweet spot after two decades of using the putter.
Woods has used the putter in 14 of his 15 major championship wins, and it was a staple in his bag from 1999 until 2010, before reappearing in recent years.
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The age of the Nike Method starts.
Woods started using Nike Method putters in 2010 and 2011. During this period, he alternated between a 001, which was a typical Anser/Newport-style putter, and a 003, which was a mid-mallet. The last choice, of course, was stunning since Woods had never used anything like a mallet putter in competition before.
Woods used the 001 type putter in the 2010 US Open, but switched to the mallet in late 2010, and finished T4 in the 2011 Masters using the 003 mallet.
He did not compete in the 2011 U.S. Open or Open Championship, although he did utilise the 001 putter in the PGA Championship. Woods began using the Nike Method 001 putter in 2012 and continued to use it until Nike quit the hard goods sector in 2016. This includes his five-win season in 2013, although Woods never won a major during the six-year era when he utilised Nike putters.
Ardmore 3 mallet by TaylorMade
2018 was a year of putter experimentation for Woods. While he began the year with his famed Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS proto putter, he began experimenting with alternative putters during the season.
Woods has committed to a mallet putter by the 2018 PGA Championship, which was a TaylorMade TP Ardmore 3 with a black copper finish and a flow neck. The swap almost worked as well. With a Sunday 64, he came in second place, two strokes behind Brooks Koepka.
In 2018, he used the Ardmore 3 for five tournaments before switching back to a more familiar type head.
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TaylorMade’s Juno
Woods used a TaylorMade TP Black Copper Juno putter with the same type head as his Newport 2 for a short time. He utilised the flat stick to finish T24 in the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship.
But by the time he teed it up at the 2018 Tour Championship, the Juno had been demoted.
Using his renowned Newport 2 GSS prototype, Woods went on to win the Tour Championship and then the 2019 Masters. The popular putter is still in the bag, and unless anything happens to it (knock on wood) or he goes through a dry period on the greens, it’s probable that the putter will be the starter for the foreseeable future.
