What Putter Does Tiger Woods Use? (Analysis)
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Jake was a competitive golfer for over a decade dating back to the days of being the Captain of his high school golf team. He has played more than 200 courses across 32 different states in the US. Now semi-retired, Jake continues to golf 3-4 days a week with a current 2 handicap, gives golf lessons to his friends and family, and provides a wealth of knowledge to Golf Circuit from his competitive playing days. Jake combines practical expertise with technical knowledge to create golfing strategies and training techniques for both beginners and scratch golfers.
Let’s look at his journey to answer your question: what putter does Tiger Woods use?
Even if you know nothing about golf, Tiger Woods is a name you couldn’t have escaped unless you were living in a cave.
He’s not just the most popular name in golf but also considered one of the greatest sportsmen of his era.
A good golf set are a critical part of a golfer’s game, and Tiger Woods has experimented with a few putters in his time.
The most popular is the Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3 putter that won him his first 1997 Masters Tournament. But the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS has been his choice for 14 out of the 15 majors he’s played.
Throughout his career, Wood has also used TaylorMade, Nike, Odyssey, and Ping putters, not to mention the experiments with putter hosel types and mallets. Here’s a brief summary of that story. As brief as it can be anyway.
Finding His Groove: 1994 to 1996
He started off with the bronze model from Ping. When he became a junior golfer, he graduated to the Ping Anser 2 Stainless Steel putter.
If you find pictures from the time, you will see the stamp “Ping” on it. And this is the one that won him two US Amateur championships in 94 and 95.
A year later, in 1996, when gearing up for the NCAA Championship, Woods made the switch to Odyssey.
Specifically, he used the Odyssey Dual Force 660, which has a head shape similar to his Anser putter.
A black insert was on its face, which gave it a better and softer grip. And even though Woods won the championship, he hung on to this putter for only a year.
For the 1996 amateur championship, he picked the Scotty Cameron Newport, which has a Pro Platinum finish.
It did not have a face insert but came with a cord grip similar to the Odyssey.
In the same year, he also faced some controversy as officials suspected his putter was longer than 5 inches which is against the rule.
He was cleared of all accusations when they measured the putter and declared that it was just fine.
Woods’ Watershed Moment in 1997
The Scotty Cameron Newport TeI3 became popular after Woods used it to win the Masters Championship in 1997.
Thanks to his victory, a limited edition putter of this model was released. This putter had a face insert, and the back cavity had 5 rows of white dots. It is quite popular to this day.
For the Buick Open held in Michigan in the same year, Woods switched to the Scotty Cameron Laguna model, which had a flow neck.
But he didn’t use this model again until about 20 years later, in 2018.
Return to Scotty Cameron: 1999 to 2010
For the 1998 Open Championship, Tiger Woods used a backup putter by Mark O’Meara, one of his opponents.
He returned to Ping with the Anser 2 and almost beat O’Meara too.
And the latter took a swing at him saying, that was the reason he used it as a backup. Just, almost.
A year later, he returned to the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype. It has a four-way sole balancing and is made with multiple materials.
It is the most popular putter because, well, it’s what the best golfer uses even today.
But the best player uses it because it lives up to the hype of being one of the best in the business.
The heel of the putter’s face has a red dot, and the back bumpers have “Tiger Woods” engraved on them.
The back cavity also has a red dot, and it has the PP58 grip from Ping.
This one stayed at the back for a little over a decade and saw him through many victories. So, walk into a good store, and you will find copies of this one with similar specs.
But note that they are made of 303 stainless steel instead of Woods’ German Stainless Steel.
Just Doing the Nike: 2011 to 2016
After all those years, Wood made a switch, and this time he chose the Nike Method 001 that was similar to his Anser/Newport putters.
In 2011, he sometimes used the 003, a mid-mallet which was his first time choosing a mallet.
Though the switch was a shock to everyone, Woods finished the Masters in 2011 with the 003.
Interestingly, he did not win any big tournament for the six long years when he played with Nike putters.
In the same year, for the PGA Championship, he came back to the 001 putter. He stayed with Nike till 2016, when the company left the industry.
Moving on in 2018
In 2018, there were a lot of changes in the putters used by Tiger Woods. He started off with his famous and favorite Scotty Cameron putter, the one with the German Stainless Steel.
Still, quickly, he made a change for the PGA Championship.
Now that he had already shocked everyone with a mallet, he picked the TaylorMade TP Ardmore 3. It has a flow neck, and the finish was black copper.
It almost got him to the finish line, and Ardmore stayed in the bag for another four events that year.
During the same year, for the Dell Technologies Championship, he moved on to a different putter from the same brand.
This time, he picked up the TaylorMade TP Black Copper Juno, which had a head like the Newport 2 putter he had, and he ended T24 in this championship.
However, he dropped the Juno by the 2018 Tour Championship, even though he won the championship.
For the Master’s tournament the next year, he returned to his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype putter.
Which is another popular choice for Woods and is in his bag even today. And it looks like that’s where it will stay unless there is a dramatic shift in his trend of victories.
Putter Grip
Tiger Woods’ first big win came with the Scotty Cameron putter, which had the clean golf grip from the same brand.
But otherwise, he has always used the Ping PP58. It has the logo and a cartoon of sorts of Mr. Ping, who is also holding a putter.
This grip from Ping was designed by the company’s founder Karsten Solheim.
It is a mix of synthetic and natural rubber, and it is made by Golf Pride. And the cartoon was designed by John Solheim, his son.
Unlike the classic overlapping style, Woods interlocks his fingers on the grip.
This is good for arc-like putting and protects the golfer’s wrist during some shots.
The position of the grip also changed over the years, going from a neutral grip to a strong one.
Tiger Woods Putter Length
The length of Woods’ putter has been the subject of some debate considering there was at least one controversy.
But that’s not all. Everything he does is heavily scrutinized, considering his legacy.
Still, length is critical because he has had some injuries and surgeries during his illustrious career.
In fact, because of Woods’ back problems, he shifted from a shaft of 35 ¼ inches to 35 ½ inches.
This stops him from bending too much and helps his back. The same is the case for the putting drills in his sand wedge.
Woods’ Putter Weight
And finally, there is the weight of the putter to consider. Woods’ putters are comparatively lighter.
His Scotty Newport is exactly 326 grams. Add to that his regular Ping grip, which is 58 grams, brings the total to 384 grams.
Typically, other putters are anywhere from 340 to 350 grams, and the grips range from 75 to 85 grams.
The Bottom Line
While he has taken some time to find his favorite putter, Woods largely stuck to the Scotty Newport. It is made with great finesse. So no wonder that it helped him win many championships.
