The gear crew at GOLF.com spends a lot of time at Tour events snapping photographs of the tools used by the best players in the world. Posting club images online without context sometimes works, but it doesn’t help the weekend golfer understand the why behind a pro’s setup.
In this GOLF.com series, equipment editors Jonathan Wall and Ryan Barath answer those questions by highlighting interesting clubs in players’ bags, unique weighting, loft sleeve settings and more. Welcome to “Bay Spy.”
Battle scars
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve written about Tiger’s Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter. Just when you think every angle has been covered, another materializes. It’s the equipment gift that keeps on giving.
At this point, there isn’t anything left to be said. So instead of recycling the same stories on the putter, it’s easier to let the photos do the talking. The image above was photographed during the Genesis Invitational and highlights the extreme wear on the face of Woods’ gamer. The putter has won 14 major championships, so you’d expect it to have dings and marks. But this is on another level.
The wear mark is directly below the sight dot and confirms something we’ve known for years: Woods rarely misses. Some gashes are from regular wear and tear, while others are from moments when he punished his wand for a missed putt. It only adds to the character of the flatstick. Hang this photo on the wall as a reminder of what it takes to be exceptionally good at your craft.
Made for the G.O.A.T.
Woods remains the only TaylorMade staffer with a custom grind in the retail wedge lineup. The “TW grind” is used by more than just Woods and features a “dual sole” with heavy heel relief in the 56-degree. The 60-degree has an extremely high bounce on the leading edge with a heel that’s been shaved back to allow it to be played from a myriad of different positions.
“My bounce generally has been towards the leading edge,” Woods told me in 2017. “I have a relief right next to the leading edge so I’m able to hit it on hard‑packed ground, able to get the leading edge down. But I also have enough relief on the back so I can slide it underneath on the heel side.
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“But you know, traditionally my soles have been pretty much standard in width, a little more rounded than some guys, just because I like to use different parts of the bounce, depending on what shot I’m going to use. But it really hasn’t changed that much in like 15 years or so. It’s been pretty much the same.”
Woods’ wedges are another reminder that nothing he plays is “standard.” Luckily for recreational golfers, this is one of those special grinds that anyone can use.
Equipment constant
For someone who’s hyper-sensitive about the gear in their bag and how it feels in the hands, it should come as no surprise that Woods has relied on Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord grips for decades. It’s without question the oldest piece of gear in his setup. Tour Velvet remains the usage leader on Tour, but not everyone wants a solid rubber grip.
In Woods’ case, the cotton cord infused in the rubber serves an important purpose, wicking away moisture to keep the surface tacky throughout the round. Cord also gives the grip a decidedly firmer feel at address, something Woods prefers in the handle.
From a build standpoint, Woods’ grips aren’t complicated with one additional tape wrap added to the upper hand and lower hand underneath the rubber. Woods doesn’t need a larger grip to quiet the hands; he wants to be able to feel the connection between them and clubhead throughout the shot. A smaller, more traditional grip will always engage the hands and allow you to work the ball.
Worn out
You’d expect the second-oldest club in Woods’ bag to have an impressive wear pattern. Thankfully, his TaylorMade M3 5-wood doesn’t disappoint. It’s assumed pros never miss, but as you can see from the above photo, Woods’ pattern extends from geometric center to the upper quadrant.
“My 5-wood is different,” Woods said. “It’s old, a little beat up, but it still works.”
The lower portion of the face shows definite signs of wear from club impacting the turf — not balls impacting face. It’s also interesting to note Woods’ preferred impact location is ever-so-slightly toeward with the 5-wood.
Something new
Look back at the shafts Woods has used over the years and the one that tends to stand out is Graphite Design’s Tour AD DI shaft. Maybe it’s the orange color but Woods undoubtedly has a connection to Graphite Design. Earlier this year, Woods returned to a Graphite Design product when he added a Tour AD VF 6X (driver) and 7X (3-wood) to the bag.
According to Woods, the shaft helped promote a shot shape he was trying to achieve, specifically with the 3-wood.
“I feel very comfortable with the 3-wood,” Woods said in February. “I had to find the right shaft for it and decided to switch the shafts and go with what I have on my driver. … I wanted to find something I could draw a little bit better and this one is definitely that.”
Going to school
Speaking of 3-woods, you might assume this note is going to be able the TaylorMade Qi10 Tour in Woods’ bag. But nope, I’d prefer to take this one in a different direction. The adjustable hosel found on his driver, 3-wood and 5-wood are nothing special. The hosel allows loft to be altered with the turn of a wrench. Simple stuff.
For me, the hosel is a reminder that Woods didn’t fully embrace adjustable woods until 2016 when M2 was released. To be clear, That’s more than a decade after the technology was first introduced. Woods thoroughly vets anything that makes the bag, even if it’s something as simple as an adjustable hosel.
And if the G.O.A.T. is willing to learn and “go to school,” weekend golfers should embrace the same mindset and ask questions before adopting new technology, too.
“I found it frustrating at the beginning, but also I’ve found it pretty awesome in the sense that because I was hurt at the time trying to do all these testings, I couldn’t afford to hit a bunch of different clubs, and so I decided to tweak with this head, the shaft, this weight on more heel bias, more toe bias, just trying to figure it all out. It became a lot easier on my body, so that part was nice,” Woods told me in 2018. “And then because of that, I gravitated towards that, and that made me think that, you know what, hey, I’ve got to learn all this stuff. There’s like over a thousand different settings. OK, so I’ve got to go to school, so teach me what is all this stuff, and teach me the physics, teach me the geometry. Once I started to understand what was going on, I could assert myself more in a conversation about what I needed from a club, and I think that really helped me be able to put together my set because I finally understood it.”
Blade man
In a gear landscape where hollow-cavity player’s distance irons are taking over, Woods continues to beat back the technological advances with a set of traditional muscleback blades. Not only are the blades traditional, but the lofts as well.
While there could be someone on Tour with weaker lofts — I highly doubt it — almost no one is playing a 50-degree pitching wedge these days.
“I’m stock spec from say the 60s,” he said in 2018. “[M]y pitching wedge is 50 degrees, my 9‑iron is 45 and a half. I see some of these guys with pitching wedges that are 45 or 44.”
Woods has always subscribed to the belief that “spin is your friend,” particularly when you want to work the ball both directions. He’s more than willing to sacrifice distance for consistent, reliable spin rates and carry yardages.
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