Putters

Every single putter Tiger Woods has used throughout his golf career

Tiger Woods reads a putt.

Tiger Woods’ equipment is the most closely observed and critiqued in the game of golf. Any time Woods makes a switch, especially with the putter, it’s major news.

As such, most golf fans know about the Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3 putter he used to win the 1997 Masters. They also know about the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype that Woods currently has in the bag and has used for 14-of-15 majors.

Those aren’t the only two putters Woods has used throughout his career, however. He’s used other Scotty Cameron models, as well as Ping, Odyssey, Nike and TaylorMade putters. He’s also experimented with mallet options and different hosels, not just the Newport/Anser-style models golf fans are used to seeing.

Below, we highlight all of the putters that Woods has used in competition during his career.

Ping Anser 2 Stainless Steel (1994 and 1995 U.S. Amateur)

Tiger Woods in 1991 (left) and in 1994 (right).
Tiger Woods in 1991 (left) and in 1994 (right).
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Throughout most of Woods’ amateur days as a junior and collegiate golfer, he used a Ping putter. In his younger days — around 1990 and 1991 — Woods used a bronze Ping Anser model. Then until about 1996, he used a silver Ping Anser 2 Stainless Steel model; the one with the Pingman on the toe portion of the face and “Ping” stamped on the heel of the face. He used this Ping Anser 2 model to win the 1994 and 1995 U.S. Amateur championships.

Woods also revisited the Ping Anser 2 model in 1998, but we’ll get to that further down this list.

An Odyssey for the 1996 NCAA Championship

Mandatory Credit: Patrick Murphy-Racey/Allsport

During his victory at the 1996 NCAA Division I Men’s Individual Championships, Woods used an Odyssey Dual Force 660 putter. It had an Anser-style head shape, a black insert on the face, and a cord-style Golf Pride grip. Certainly, due to the face insert, the putter offered a softer feel off the face than what he was using previously. By the time he played in the U.S. Amateur later that year, though, the putter was out of his bag.

Scotty Cameron Newport with Pro Platinum finish (1996 U.S. Amateur)

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Sometime after his 1996 NCAA victory, Woods started using a new Scotty Cameron Newport putter with a Pro Platinum finish and no face insert. Like the Odyssey putter he used prior, the putter had a cord grip on it, and it also didn’t last too long in his bag. Woods did, however, have that Scotty Cameron putter in play during his professional debut at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open.

The controversial Scotty Cameron Scottydale

Tiger Woods during his first professional win at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational at TPC Summerlin Golf Course.
J.D. Cuban/Allsport/Getty Images

During his first two wins on Tour — the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational and the 1996 Disney World Oldsmobile Classic — Woods used a controversial Scotty Cameron Scottydale putter, as reported by the Sun Sentinel. According to the rules of golf, the neck of the putter cannot exceed 5 inches, and officials were skeptical that Woods’ putter broke this rule. Woods, however, apparently switched into a slightly different model before the Tour Championship, where the putter was measured and deemed conforming.

Regardless, the rules of golf say that if the golfer unknowingly used nonconforming equipment, he/she is not subject to retroactive penalty.

By 1997, Woods switched into a putter where there was no question the neck measured less than five inches, and the conforming Scottydale popped up again only briefly later that year.

The famous Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3

TigerWoods1997Masters
Augusta National/Getty Images

During his 1997 Masters victory, Woods used a Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3 putter that had a Teryllium face insert, and five rows of sound-dampening white dots in the back cavity. The putter didn’t stay in his bag for very long, but it caught the attention of the masses, including a young Webb Simpson.

Replicas, limited-edition releases and remakes of the putter remain extremely popular today. In fact, Brooks Koepka is currently using a Scotty Cameron T22 Teryllium putter, which is based on Woods’ original.

Going with the flow

Matthew Stockman/Allsport

For a very brief moment in time, Woods used a Scotty Cameron putter with a flow neck, which Titleist confirmed was a Laguna model. Woods had the Laguna in his bag for the 1997 Buick Open at Warwick Hills Country Club in Michigan, but it looks as though it never made it back into the starting 14-club roster after that.

A flow-neck-style putter returned briefly in 2018, but we’ll get to that later.

Back to the Anser

Tiger Woods watches Mark O'Meara putt ahead of the 1998 PGA Championship.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

In 1998, Woods switched back into a Ping Anser 2 putter, which was actually one of Mark O’Meara’s backup putters. Woods nearly beat out O’Meara using the backup to win the 1998 Open Championship, where O’Meara emerged victorious.

After the event, O’Meara famously quipped: “That’s my backup putter. I finished first, he finished one shot off. That’s why it’s the backup.”

Classic.

THE Scotty Cameron

Andrew Tursky

In 1999, Woods started using the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS (German Stainless Steel) prototype putter that he currently uses today. It’s quite possibly the most famous putter in golf, and it would surely go for at least 8 figures if it were to have ever hit an auction table.

It famously has a “cherry bomb” red dot on the heel portion of the face, “Tiger Woods” stamped in red on the back bumpers, a single red dot on the topline for alignment, another “cherry bomb” in the back cavity, and it’s equipped with a Ping PP58 grip. After two decades using the putter, he’s worn a spot on the face directly in the sweet spot.

Woods has used the putter in 14-of-his-15 major championship victories, and it consistently stayed in the bag from 1999 until 2010, before reemerging in recent years.

The Nike Method era begins

Tiger Woods in 2011 using the Nike Method 003 mid-mallet (left) and Woods in 2013 using the Nike Method 001.
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In 2010 and 2011, Woods began using Nike Method putters. He bounced back-and-forth during this time between a 001, which was a classic Anser/Newport-style putter, and a 003, which was a mid-mallet. The latter option, of course, was shocking because Woods never used anything before in competition that even resembled a mallet putter.

Woods used the 001 style putter in the 2010 U.S. Open, but he opted for the mallet in late 2010, and then he finished T4 in the 2011 Masters using the 003 mallet.

He didn’t play in the 2011 U.S. Open or Open Championship, but he used the 001 putter in the 2011 PGA Championship. By 2012, and until Nike exited the hard goods industry in 2016, Woods used the Nike Method 001 putter. This time period includes his five-win 2013 season, but Woods never won a major in the six-year stretch that he used Nike putters.

TaylorMade Ardmore 3 mallet

Montana Pritchard/PGA of America via Getty Images

For Woods, 2018 was a year of putter experimentation. While he started the year using his famous Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS proto putter, he began trying different putters during the season.

By the 2018 PGA Championship, Woods had committed to a mallet putter, which was a TaylorMade TP Ardmore 3 with a black copper finish and a flow neck. The switch nearly worked out, too. He almost won the event with a Sunday 64, finishing runner-up to Brooks Koepka by two shots.

The Ardmore 3 lasted a total of five events in 2018 before he went back to a more familiar style head.

The TaylorMade Juno

Tiger Woods lines up a putt at the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston.
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For a brief period, Woods opted for a TaylorMade TP Black Copper Juno putter, which was the same style head as his Newport 2. He used the flat stick during the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship, where he finished T24.

By the time he teed it up at the 2018 Tour Championship, though, the Juno was benched.

Of course, Woods went onto to win the Tour Championship, and then the 2019 Masters, using his famous Newport 2 GSS prototype. The popular putter remains in the bag today, and unless something happens to it (knock on wood) or he hits a nasty dry spell on the greens, it’s likely the putter has the starting job for the foreseeable future.

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