News
Tiger changes driver-weight settings, shoots even-par 70 at Honda Classic
After missing the cut by four strokes at the 2018 Genesis Open last week, Tiger Woods is back at it again this week at the Honda Classic; it’s the first time he’s played in back-to-back PGA Tour events since 2015.
Opting for something other than driver off the tee much of the day, Woods made one double bogey, one bogey, and three birdies en route to an even-par 70.
It’s no secret that Woods has been struggling off the tee of late, especially with the driver. He’s hitting just 35 percent of fairways on the year, and he has already made one driver shaft change (going from a Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70TX to a Matrix Ozik TP6HDe ahead of the Genesis Open). According to photos on Thursday, it appears Woods has also changed the weight settings in his TaylorMade M3 for a bit more forgiveness and fade-bias (as pictured above). At the Genesis Open and the Farmers Insurance Open, Woods had the M3 driver weights in the forward position, which moves CG (center of gravity) forward and tends to lower spin.
On Thursday, however, Woods hit a slew of long irons and fairway woods off the tee instead of drivers at the 7,100-yard par-70 PGA National… an approach that seemed to work. Well, he hit just 50 percent of the fairways on the day, but that means he’s trending upward.
One of the shots Woods hit with the driver was so far right it was literally laughable… but he managed to make par anyway.
Did it ever not look (or sound) like a par?! ????#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/3GrUK511IY
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 22, 2018
Actually, his double-bogey 7 on the par-5 third hole (his 12th of the day) came after hitting the fairway; he was fumbling on and around the green after hitting his third into a greenside bunker. That blunder aside, three birdies and an even-par round at the always-difficult PGA National leaves Woods currently in T19, obviously well inside the cutline.
Do you think Woods will make the cut? Do you think he can contend to win the tournament?
See the clubs Tiger Woods has in his bag this week at the 2018 Honda Classic.
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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.
After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.
Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.
According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.
“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…
“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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J Jackson
Mar 2, 2018 at 5:14 am
The total attraction to woods is unbelievable. The way that television coverage centers on this one individual is abhorrent.
Timmy Dearden DDS
Feb 24, 2018 at 7:50 am
Glad to see that Mud Shark Coal Burning anti American race traitor aka Lindsay Vonn crash and burn at the Olympics.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Feb 24, 2018 at 7:53 am
Listen what the man had to say about Mud Sharks like her https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2gLsR0WOhKQ
choo choo
Feb 25, 2018 at 12:36 am
Methinks Tiger has lost his coal driver mojo and his golf game went up in ashes.
cdj
Feb 24, 2018 at 6:40 am
180+ ball speed not laughable at all though…
JR
Feb 25, 2018 at 12:48 am
… but the spin axis is carrying the ball into bananaland. He should learn to hit square and straight otherwise his high speed swing will exaggerate any small mistake.
He should first learn to swing at a slower speed and control the ball before he launches bombs into the spectator gallery on his right side…. which is a danger zone if beaned by one of his errant efforts.
Chuckster
Feb 24, 2018 at 12:07 am
OMG! OMG! OMG! ELDRICK SHOOTS 70! HE’S BAAAAAACK! HE’S CAPTURED THE MAGIC FROM 1996-2000, THIS IS IT, THIS IS
IT, THE SECOND COMING! HE’S GONNA WIN THE 5 MAJORS NOW, OMG! WHAT DO WE DO NOW? HYSTERIA ABOUNDS!! THE
WORLD IS FLAT!! HAHAHAHA!! HOW DESPERATE ARE WE FOR THIS EXHAUSTING COVERAGE OF A PEDESTRIAN, HAS BEEN
GOLF’A?
Uhhh geez, gimme a break with all the forced hoopla already! You’da thought his group was the only one on the nmad course!!
Edith…..where’s my beer?
Robert Nadjiwan
Feb 23, 2018 at 12:52 pm
I like the fact that Tiger is willing to work with a few equipment tweaks to try and strengthen his game. The driver is not an easy club to hit because one has to hit it with authority to get the performance that it has to offer. As always Tiger brings something to the game that I admire and trust that he will be rewarded with favorable results. Success comes in small spurts and it’s all about time, patience and the willingness to overcome challenges.
george
Feb 23, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Gary Player says that Tiger told him that he became confused after 2000, since taking instruction from the ‘experts’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZkxmr2wMyU
Tiger more than any other pro has unlimited clubs and shafts to test and the time to check out all the adjustments.
He is still confused about the golf swing. Too bad, but for his well being and health he should retire before he does permanent injury.
JR
Feb 25, 2018 at 12:42 am
Gary Player is a blowhard. He isn’t giving a golf clinic. He is giving a lecture on how everyone needs to be just like himself.
“It takes hard work”. How many times has he said that? Does he think working in a factory is easy work?
He spends his whole life playing a game, getting rich doing it and then claims to know something about life. What a clod.?
HDTVMAN
Feb 23, 2018 at 11:35 am
Hit that driver at the PGA show. The M3 was OK, but preferred the Ping G400.
Mike Pollard
Feb 23, 2018 at 11:31 am
Oh Wait……Tiger changes his shoes!!!! and his golf towel……..oh, my what will he shoot today?? Frankly, I’m kinda sick of it……ijs 🙂
Mark McKenzie
Feb 23, 2018 at 12:40 pm
Tiger who…
He’s not worth the ink. Mac
Jim Bob
Feb 23, 2018 at 10:20 am
Who Cares! He’s guaranteed to hit every fairway with the new “Twist Face” Technology
Billy Turner DDS
Feb 22, 2018 at 11:48 pm
She’s a disgusting mud shark that will never marry and have off spring. It’s her fault, burn the coal, pay the toll.
Ogo
Feb 23, 2018 at 2:51 am
Blond Swedish women are inveterate coalburners… e.g. Elin
dat
Feb 22, 2018 at 9:37 pm
It is the indian, not the arrow. Adjusting a club might get you back .001 strokes per round. Fixing your swing faults will do tenfold or more better for your scores. Tiger took his medicine and generally used woods and irons. Playing it safe and making the cut is critical now for him. If he makes the weekend, by all means let the driver loose and see what happens.
Simms
Feb 22, 2018 at 10:22 pm
Love your comment it is the Indian not the Arrow..shows every amateur golfer out there that a $500 plus driver cannot even make one the greatest golfers of all time hit a fairway…and you think it is going to work for you………….
Ogo
Feb 23, 2018 at 2:11 am
But it’s so much fun tinkering with the weights to dial out your OTT banana slice…. and besides it makes yer golffing buddies green with envy as you pull out yer big black weapon to whack the lil’ whitey ball ….. 😉
~j~
Feb 23, 2018 at 11:58 am
True, but some absolutely perform better to dome than others. Spent a hard year with the 915 driver, going through multiple chefs and settings, and never found a good consistent flight with it . Finally traded it in for 2017 M2, and right off the shelf begin hammering fairways. Same Indian swingnit!
Tiger needs to ditch the M3, settings and Shafts won’t help much now that it’s in his head
TV
Feb 22, 2018 at 9:30 pm
This is why the Tour needs more OBs. Why they let these guys get away these slash swings without penalty is beyond dumb. Make them think about the trouble and force them to hit a 3w or hybrid or iron.
george
Feb 22, 2018 at 8:35 pm
give us a break, its not the arrow.
That swing sucks and it is continuing to damage his body, just as he has done since changing post 2000.
IMO he will continue to miss cuts until his body gives out, again.
gvogelsang
Feb 22, 2018 at 7:19 pm
The title of this article is surely incomplete, and perhaps totally wrong.
Tiger shot even par by hitting irons and 3-wood off the tee. The couple of times that he driver were a disaster.
Only on WRX. I would say fake news, but I hate the usage.
Your Mom
Feb 22, 2018 at 7:01 pm
Tiger isn’t hitting stuff off the toe and heel that bad! He’s a ball striker. He hits everything dead center of club face. All this twist face talk is pretty stupid
Ogo
Feb 22, 2018 at 6:21 pm
Tiger’s drive off the tee suffers from Peyronie’s disease… it jerks off to the left.
Dave Hast
Feb 22, 2018 at 6:09 pm
Here is my thought…. Twist face allows for of center hits too be playable… That being said you grooveing a swing because you are getting away with it…….. It’s only going to get worse. The club can only do so much. Put the M2 back in play and get on with it!! I’m sure they can find a way to make the M2 look like an M3. Just my two cents
George
Feb 23, 2018 at 7:08 am
Twist face is a joke. Quickly running out of ideas is what they should call it.
Ross
Feb 23, 2018 at 7:43 am
Twist face is relate to off centre hit when the path is true, If you throw it in to out it’s going right!
The dude
Feb 22, 2018 at 5:40 pm
Can’t work the Twist Face…..it’s a double edge sword
James
Feb 22, 2018 at 5:13 pm
Copy Stenson and use a strong 3 wood ? Set up a poll, should Tiger copy Stensons strong 3 wood approach to driving?
Kyle
Feb 22, 2018 at 4:51 pm
Don’t confuse correlation with causation. It wasn’t the driver that allowed him to shoot E. check out shot link on hole 12.
Martien Schwencke
Feb 22, 2018 at 4:25 pm
The best for Tiger is an Titleist 905 with a TT metal shaft (On ebay 30 dollar)