How a round with Tiger Woods convinced Scottie Scheffler to change irons
Like many of his peers, Scottie Scheffler grew up watching Tiger Woods dominate on the course. So when he had the opportunity to play with one of his childhood heroes during the final round of the 2020 Masters, the 25-year-old soaked up the moment and tried to glean whatever insights he could from how Woods worked his way around Augusta National.
Scheffler would go on to best Woods by five, but he left Georgia enamored with an aspect of the 15-time major winner’s game — precision iron play.
“[Tiger] hits the ball so stinkin’ solid and just shapes it so well,” Scheffler told GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast. “I watched him hit the ball [at Augusta] and I was like, I’ve got to at least try these.”
The “these” Scheffler referenced is a set of Woods-designed TaylorMade P7TW irons that were released in 2018. As you’d imagine, Woods’ irons are incredibly unique. Housed inside the traditional muscleback profile are tungsten slugs designed to to produce a specific combination of flight, feel and control he’s come to rely on over the years.
Winner’s bag: Scottie Scheffler’s equipment at the 2022 Masters
Up until that point, Scheffler had been playing TaylorMade’s P730 blades. But if the P7TW was good enough for Woods, Scheffler — who also happens to be a Nike staffer and wears shoes from the Tiger Woods collection — believed there might be something there for him as well.
“I always had the connection with Tiger through all the Nike equipment,” said Scheffler. “And so when he switched over to TaylorMade, I figured this should be a pretty easy transition. I’m used to playing clubs that he had a lot of factor in the design.”
It didn’t take Scheffler long to realize his intuition was leading him down the right path. The P7TW irons were not only better for his game during testing but provided him with a new level of Tiger-esque playability.
“What I noticed when I hit them at home was I was able to hit different windows, so when I flighted it down, I could pitch it lower than I could the P730,” he said. “And when I wanted to hit it up, I could hit at higher. And so I saw more variability in the shots and then the distance control was basically the exact same. I saw the benefits of being able to flight it down and keep it flatter and not have that overspin with a little bit more variety.”
Scheffler hasn’t looked back since the change. With four wins this season, including the Masters, it’s safe to assume he isn’t making a change anytime soon.
Thanks to Tiger, he’s found an iron that can do it all on the course.
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