Tiger Woods previewed his newest set of TW-Phase1 irons at the Wells Fargo Championship in early May. Featuring a familiar shape similar to irons Tiger has played under previous manufacturers Nike and Titleist, these new TaylorMade irons are emblazoned with TW-Phase1—a sign that future Woods-specific models are likely on their way.
Woods’ new “Phase 1” irons are slightly different than the clubs he played earlier this year—a brandless club featuring only his foundation’s logo, TGR. During his Wells Fargo Wednesday press conference, Woods commented on the meticulous changes that needed to be made before putting the new TaylorMade clubs in the bag.
“The difficulty through this process was trying to go with the right metal,” he said. “I prefer a different metal than what TaylorMade was using and also a different groove configuration than what TaylorMade was using.”
TaylorMade released an official statement on the new clubs and their successful partnership with Woods.
“We have been working closely with Tiger on the development, creation and refinement of a set of TaylorMade irons that meet his precise standards and preferences,” a TaylorMade spokesperson said. “As we continue to develop future iterations of Tiger’s prototype irons, TW-Phase1 marks Tiger’s initial transition into a TaylorMade set. This set was built to his meticulous specifications. Based on the positive feedback and excitement expressed by Tiger regarding upcoming prototypes, we are encouraged by the ongoing creation process and look forward to what’s in store for the next phase of Tiger’s irons. As we work toward finalizing Tiger’s new irons, there will be a lot more info to come, including a release date for golfers everywhere.”
Woods’ various iron sets throughout his career have all had extremely similar features, likely modeled after the Mizuno MP-14 irons he used throughout his amateur days.
Here’s a look back at Tiger’s irons throughout his career.
Amateur career–1997: Mizuno MP-29 (2-4) and Mizuno MP-14 (5-PW) irons with Dynamic Gold X100 shafts. Woods used these irons for all three of his U.S. Amateur victories and his first Major triumph, the 1997 Masters.
1997–2002: Titleist Forged 681 (2-PW) irons with Dynamic Gold X100 shafts. Woods had arguably his greatest career achievement with these irons, capturing all four Majors and THE PLAYERS Championship in 2000–2001.
2002–2006: Nike Forged irons (3-PW) with Dynamic Gold X100 shafts. Woods initial foray into Nike equipment led him to two Masters victories, a U.S. Open Championship, two Open Championships, and a PGA Championship, along with eight PGA Tour victories in 2006.
2007–2014: Nike Victory Red and Victory Red Pro irons (3-PW) with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. The VR and VR Pro models were well advertised as Woods’ own creation, and helped him to two Major championships and 25 PGA Tour victories.
2015: Nike Vapor Pro irons (3-PW) with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. Woods played only eleven events with the Vapor Pros in the bag in an injury-shortened season.
2016: Nike Victory Red Pro irons (3-PW) with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. Woods competed in only one event in 2016, the Hero World Challenge, but had returned to the VR Pro irons.
2017–2018: TGR-stamped irons. Woods had these in the bag for the Hero World Challenge in late 2017 and into the early part of the 2018 season.
May 2018: TaylorMade TW-Phase1 irons (3-PW) with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. Woods’ first TaylorMade iron inclusion will hopefully see him find some of the same magic that he had with previous sets.