Folks,

Fortunately here in Taiwan we have easy access to some Japanese golf magazines that are ridiculously professional - I always feel amazed that how those people could actually grab TW's clubs and take close-up pics. FYI the names of the magazines are "Golf Classic" and "Golf Style".

First let's take a look at 2000. Nothing special here - his 5 iron is all scratched up (indeed all of his clubs are scratched); note the putter face. Then we move to 2002, pics were taken at the Phoenix Open in Japan. Pay attention to the putter face in 2002 and 2008; I brazenly assume that Tiger has used the very identical putter from late 2001. I noticed two infinitesimal differences: look at the dents on the putter face in 2000, one was near the alignment dot whereas the other near the bottom; then look at the putter face in pics from 2002 and 2008, no dents. The spaces among R, O, N (from "Cameron") are wider in the ones from 2002 and 2008 but much narrower in 2000.

Nothing much in 2002 - only his bizarre driver. Look at the pics from 2005 and pay attention to the short irons particularly the PW - this told me the clubs we saw for auction earlier on yahoo japan were probably not authentic; look at the muscle backs on short irons - Tiger's are wider, if you know what i'm talking about.

Then bags comparison between 2007 and 2008 - he only switched his 5 wood to SQ2 and the 60 degree flatback to a rusty one. Tiger changes his lob wedge super frequently and mostly he likes it raw. Again take a look at the putter face in 2008 and you'll be surprised how worn out it has become. There is lead tape on the bottom of the putter in 2008 though.

All being said, as much as I was amazed by the TW putter shown on eBay (I actually saw and putted one here in Taiwan according to the buyer he bought that stuff from eBay for $20,000 and wanted to sell for $30,000+), I still doubt the authenticity. In brief, just compare the putter face. I don't even think Tiger has ever test-putted the ones sold on eBay because as fastidious as he is, I don't think he would select a putter w/ a different putter face as his back-up - as described by the seller of the putter

Anyway, these are just my observations and no offence was intended. Hope these pictures clarify a bit. Enjoy!

Excellent pics mate, thanks so much for sharing them. Some good observations in there as well.

One thing that surprises me is how shallow the muscle is on the first pic (looks like a 3 iron but I'm not 100%). His original Nike blades and the 681's have a very deep muscle throughout the set which I presumed was the way he had his clubs now. They're practically 'game improvement' for him!

just a reply to villa comment. the set tiger is current using today yes the muscle is not as deep as the 681. they are progressive. his shorter irons are equally as deep but with reasearch and modern day technology its progressive muscle there is less in the longer irons.

great picture btw

Thanks mate, I wasn't aware of that.

I guess even Tiger needs a bit of assistance every now and then.

I thought Tiger had a sight line on his newport two not a sight dot? Has he always used a sight dot?

Great post! Thanks.
Tiger has always had a dot on the SC NP2

Great find with the pics....

I know the guys who shoot the Golf Digest WITB pics and they don't get that kind of access to Tiger's bag.. When Tiger was playing editor at Golf Digest they had him for 1 day a year to shoot all the instructional pics for the entire year.... now they don't even get that, it all has to be done at tournaments during practise rounds...

Great pics, and very interesting.

Thanks for taking the time to post them.

As alluded to above, it's interesting to see the variation in muscle shape between the sets - particularly since the urban myth still exists that he's always used re-stamped Mizuno MPs.

Thanks guys. Will read the magazines again and see if there is any interesting stuff to share - basically if you guys can find "golf classic" July (every year in their july stuff they have detailed bags from the Masters participants) or "golf style" May, this year they have 221 bags from the tour players who are eligible this year. Same routines over the years so if you get the right month you won't miss a thing. (I've collected more than 20 of these magazines over the past 8 years

Also, take a look at www.cameron-museum.com and you'll be amazed how the Japanese have so much access to all this kind of thing...why on earth is a cameron museum located in japan? why could they actually grab pretty much every club they want and take a picture? even Tiger's? I don't know why but I'm happy for their capabilities since we all get to know more...

Does Tiger's putter now have T.W. stamped on the toe of the face like this example at Fairway Golf !?

http://www.fairwaygolfusa.com/

no, and it never did

Those pictures of the irons from 2000 I can get close up pics and specs of becuase my Director of Golf has a set from Tiger from 2000, they are the titleist forged with the T on the back and they all have s400 Dynamic Golds with Tour velvet cords. I can get good pics later today

Tiger's putter is made from GSS right?

It is indeed.

GSS?

Thanks

'German Stainless Steel'

Depending upon your viewpoint, a subtly-superior composition of stainless steel that results in a tangible improvement in feel over more common variants of stainless steel - or a masterful con trick to justify crazy prices for certain Scotty Cameron putters that are made of the stuff.

GSS = German Stainless Steel. You'll see a lot of Scotty's tour putters made from GSS. What its benefits are over other steels I'm not too positive, but I think it has alot to do with the feel and feedback that one is able to get from it.

LOL sounds a like a lot of marketing hype, but you never know...

thx for the answer.

Could be, but who knows? Scotty has gotten so good at marketing that he should be a college professor for it.

What the hell is that? I am assuming it is some sort of pre-Ignite proto? Don't remember him playing this. looks similar to his old Titleist 975 driver,

That was the idea..

Pretty much.

I think this was a driver he played around 2001/2 along with an early 275cc job whilst transitioning to Nike in terms of the driver and ball he was playing.

Do they say 681 T on them? Or Titleist Forged with a T stamp? If it's the latter why on earth would you reshaft a set of irons from Tiger?

not sure if you guys remember he actually went back to his 975D in late 2002 for a few weeks (yes, used in a few rounds on tour) after the failure of the quoted prototype driver, at that period Tiger barely drove fairways off the tee and was about to part with Butch...

then came the Ignite prototype driver 350 c.c. (loft 8.5) with that prototype DG shaft (with more rings on the shaft than usual); then came the 410 cc with Graffaloy Blue X Tiger Spec, then 460 cc with Diamana BB prototype (torque 1.8), then the existing Diamana BB 83X, then SQ square tour issue 8.5 with Diamana BB 83X, then he reshafted with Graffaloy black bi-matrix prototype for a few months in early 2006, then SQ tour (tour only) 8.5 with Diamana 83X all the way till he reshafted with Diamana White board some time ago...

that's about his driver change...call it Tigermania guys, I never lost track of any of the trivia change in his bags

Sounds about right...

If you can tell me what graphite shaft he used at Birkdale in '98 in his 975D, you win a prize...

IIRC, it was a prototype manufactured by Composite Dynamics. Tiger version of one of their HP/M shafts.

I'll take your word for it..

All I know is, it was grey.

You forgot one from about '03 or so. It was only used in one tournament to my knowledge.

he actually tried a grafalloy epic tour in early 06. pictures in a magazine where he did a spread show it.

Nobody wants to wager a guess? It was graphite shafted.

Never used a square in competition if I remember correctly. He also used a tm 510 tour for one round in a European event and then went to his 975d...it was at this point that people kinda stopped blaming Nike for his driving problems as he wasn't hitting fairways with anything...

Supposedly he only tried that 510DF (which was shafted with a Pro 95), because it was sweeping the tour at the time and Tiger was a big proponent of testing COR. He felt that some of the DF's were over the COR limit. That was the word at the time anyway.

search me. I started playing golf in late 2000 hahaha

During '03 I remember he used a 300cc Nike prototype (8.5 loft) shafted in a black Fujikura prototype, not sure if this was what you were talking about...he went with that for a few rounds then went back to steel shaft

I still had the swing analysis featuring that fujikura shaft but I really need to dig out the magazine from the piles...

BTW, via personal contact at that time I did have that 300cc prototype head for a while - it was a lame head actually; or I was too lame to barely really launch the ball with a steel shaft

I answered the question a couple posts above. It was a 510DF.

im pretty sure he also played around with the grafalloy axis shaft. somewhere in and around the 06 rider cup

Yeah I seem to recall that as well. I don't know if he ever put it into play, but I think he tested it if my memory serves.