Tiger Woods makes big reveal on equipment change

Tiger Woods was using TaylorMade metal woods when he returned to competitive golf in December at the Hero World Challenge.

Soon he’ll have a lot more TaylorMade clubs in his bag.

“After several months of testing and all brand to choose from, the choice is clearly @TaylorMadeGolf. Proud to join the family! – TW,” Woods tweeted.

In joining TaylorMade in a multi-year deal (no financial information was disclosed), Woods will play the company’s metal woods, irons and wedges. Woods will work with the company’s club engineers and have a role in designing and developing a new iron model.

Woods, who returns to the PGA Tour after a 17-month absence on Thursday in the Farmers Insurance Open, still has Nike irons and wedges in his bag. He switched to a Bridgestone golf ball and uses a Scott Cameron putter. Woods started looking into changing his equipment when Nike decided to stop making it.

There is no set date when he will put TaylorMade irons and wedges into play.

“(TaylorMade) is allowing me to take my time, and we’re going to develop my irons and make the irons and the blades that I want and that will fit my game and what I like to look at in. Not only the playing position, but also feel and obviously what shot window I want to hit it through,” Woods said after playing in the Farmers pro-am. “So we’re in a process of building that and it’s going to take a little time. We’re going to take our time and build up an iron that I like not only in the playing position, but how it feels and how it performs.”

Over the past few months, Woods said, he has tested every brand of equipment sent to him. He zeroed in on TaylorMade when he started seeing what the clubs were producing – in the air and on TrackMan, a launch monitor that tracks ball speed, spin, distance, etc.

“I tested with a variety of different companies and I found that TaylorMade and their setup worked the best with my golf ball and allowed me to hit numbers that I hadn’t seen before,” Woods said.

“So it was kind of no-brainer. … I’ll be playing my current Nike irons and the blades I’ve been using for years for right now until TaylorMade builds me the irons that I want. Even then, I still have to go out there and I’ve still got to do the testing at home and do the testing on the numbers but also do testing at Medalist (Golf Club) and hit shots and see how it feels and how it performs through the dirt. That’s going to take a little bit of time as well.”

Source: usatoday.com