Tiger Woods speaks on testing new TaylorMade SIM driver, picking up speed

January 21, 2020

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Prior to his first start of 2020, Tiger Woods came to the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Tuesday with a new TaylorMade SIM driver and a TaylorMade SIM Max fairway wood in the bag. Judging by his Tuesday press conference, though, it seems he’s still unsure whether the new clubs will go in play for competition this week.

According to Woods, he took some time off after the Presidents Cup because he was “a little bit fried” physically, mentally and emotionally. He played once on his birthday – December 30 – with his son, but he didn’t start grinding again until “the 3rd or the 4th” of January. That’s when Woods says he started working his way through the bag and conducting testing on new clubs to “hit the ball farther and straighter.”

With just over two weeks time of grind-time on his game and equipment, it seems as though Woods may need more time getting dialed into new clubs, despite picking up speed with a TaylorMade SIM driver.

“I have seen some improvements in the new SIM,” Woods said. “I’m a little bit faster, but still need to do a little more testing out here. I think we’re going to add a little bit of weight to it, feels a little bit light to me right now…I have picked up a little bit of speed, which is nice.”

Andrew Tursky

For Woods, however, speed isn’t the only determining factor in switching to new technology. He also wants to feel comfortable working the ball off the tee for greater control.

“I know what my (M5) driver can do,” Woods explained. “I know my current driver’s not maxed out; it’s not supposed to be. It’s a driver where I can hit a draw anytime I want, and then when I do hit a cut, it doesn’t really go very far, but I know I can turn it at any given time. That’s what I want with the SIM driver. I want to be able to draw it and then hit my little slap cut up there, kind of shortening the fairway. Trying to find both, meanwhile giving me more distance with both shots, would be ideal.”

On Tuesday, Woods had a new SIM driver (9 degrees) and his old TaylorMade M5 driver, each equipped with a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 60TX shaft. He also had three fairway woods in the bag: a TaylorMade SIM Max Rocket 3-wood (14 degrees), a TaylorMade M5 3-wood (15 degrees), and a TaylorMade M3 5-wood (19 degrees).

Woods also had the new Bridgestone Tour B XS 2020 golf ball in his bag. You can read more about that golf ball and Tiger’s input here.

.@bridgestonegolf's new Tour B XS golf ball is in Tiger Woods' bag at Torrey. pic.twitter.com/FTUNdbv67j
— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) January 21, 2020