The golf world was abuzz after Tiger Woods made the drastic switch to a mallet putter last week for the Quicken Loans National. Seriously. It’s not particularly rare for Tiger to make equipment changes, and he’s even benched his trusty Scotty Cameron in the past, but this change seemed different.
Tiger has struggled with the flat stick of late, having noticeable struggles in the four events leading up to the Quicken Loans National. He currently ranks 46th on Tour in putting average, and 126th in the crucial “inside 10 feet” range.
The New Putter: Ardmore 3
Tiger switched to Taylormade’s Ardmore 3 (in copper), a smaller mallet option with 12 degrees of toe-hang. The majority of mallet putters are traditionally face-balanced, but Tiger’s Ardmore features lighter weights than the standard model, likely making the shift from his blade putter a little easier. Tiger stayed with his usual black Ping PP58 grip, which he has used on his putters since his days as a junior.
The switch seemed to work well for Tiger, who finished T4 in the event. He had a strokes gained putting average of 1.194, which is almost a full stroke better than his season average. After his round Sunday, Tiger commented that he was happy with the switch.
“I’m starting the ball on my lines again and I’ve got the speed,” he said. “I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in, which is fine. As long as I’m hitting good putts and seeing my lines.”
The confidence boost looks promising as Tiger heads into the Open Championship at Carnoustie in a couple weeks. His ball striking has been solid so far this season, and if he can get a few putts to drop, he will definitely be a threat to hoist the Claret Jug for a fourth time.
Tiger’s Past Putters
Tiger has used the same putter for the majority of his career—a custom Newport 2 GSS. He used it to capture 13 of his 14 major championships; Tiger used a different Scotty Cameron to win his first major, the 1997 Masters. The classic blade-style putter served as Tiger’s most reliable weapon throughout his career, and despite some switches, he has always returned to the trusty club.
In 2010, Tiger played without a Scotty Cameron in his hand for the first time, switching to Nike’s Method putter. After switching back and forth for a few weeks, Tiger committed to the Nike model for the better part of six seasons (though he was injured multiple times during that frame). When he returned to golf at the 2016 Hero World Challenge, Tiger had used his old Cameron putter.