Tiger Woods rarely changes his golf equipment, aside from occasionally swapping a 2-iron for his 5-wood on fast, firm courses. So, it was noteworthy to see that the 15-time major winner made not one but two changes to his set up last week at the Farmers Insurance Open. One was obvious, while the other was subtle.
The change that was easy to spot was his driver. Tiger played last season using a 9-degree TaylorMade M5 fitted with a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 60 TX shaft. He used that club to win his fifth Masters and to go 3-0-0 at the Presidents Cup in December, but at Torrey Pines, he opted for TaylorMade’s new SIM driver.
Tiger’s driver has 9 degrees of loft and the same Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 60 TX shaft. The SIM has a single moveable weight that allows golfers and fitters to create either a draw or a fade bias, but Woods had the weight in the center of the track system, in a neutral setting. That should make the club more forgiving.
For the week, Tiger hit 59 percent of the fairways (tied for 18th in the field), averaged 297 yards off the tee (26th) and had a strokes gained off the tee of 0.302 (26th). For reference, that represents a four percent improvement in accuracy off the tee over Woods’ performance last year at Torrey Pines. He averaged one yard less per tee shot in 2020, but his strokes gained off the tee was up about 0.1, so it’s fair to say that Tiger drove the ball better with the SIM driver this year at the Farmers Insurance Open than he did last year with the M5.
The equipment change that many people missed last week was Tiger played using a new golf ball. Bridgestone updated the Tour B series of balls for 2020, and while the balls will not be available to the public until Feb. 14, Tiger used the 2020 version of the Tour B XS last week.
The three-piece Tour B XS is for golfers with a driver swing over 105 mph, but who want a softer feel and more greenside spin than the standard Tour B X, which is played by both Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Kuchar. For 2020, Bridgestone made a modification to the urethane blend used in the cover and the company claims it helps the ball create more speed off the tee plus more spin with wedge shots.
Last week at Torrey Pines, using the new Bridgestone Tour B XS, Tiger had a strokes gained around the green average of 1.518 (21st), hit 70 percent of the greens in regulation (T-24) and a had a scrambling percentage of 76 percent (3rd).
