Tiger Woods Talks Irons and Driver Loft at Bethpage
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- At the Memorial, Tiger Woods hit 14 of 14 fairways on Sunday after changing to a Nike SQ Dymo 380 driver with 10.5° of loft (the effective playing loft was 10°). That adjustment got a lot of press, including in this blog.
Another equipment tweak, which didn't get as much attention, was his iron switch at Muirfield Village. Tiger had been playing a set of Nike Victory Red forged blades this season, but he switched to a set that appeared to be the Nike forged blades he'd played with in previous seasons.
In his press conference today at Bethpage, Woods didn't go into much detail about his irons, but he did give some more insights into his driver. Here is his complete answer:
"I went back to an old set that I had played before and had some success with, so I went back to that.
"As far as my driver is concerned, as we all know, loft is your friend. The reason why you hit a 3-wood straighter is because it has more loft, and that helps. My release has changed over the years, and I just need a little bit more loft now. It's working out and I'm driving the ball more efficiently. I still have the same power, but I just need the loft now.
"When I first came out here on Tour, I used a 6.5° driver, and now I'm up to 10.5°. Jeez, I'd hate to see what I'm going to hit when I turn 40. I wonder how that's going to be. Maybe a 46" driver, with about 15° of loft.
"But you know, it is what it is and technology has changed and the ball doesn't spin as much as it used to, and you have to have a little bit more loft than you used to play."
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(Photo by Fred Vuich/SI)
Posted by: Neal Thorbjornsen | Sep 23, 2009 3:02:13 PM
Everyone here is talking about distance with the 6 and 7 irons or whatever. The question is are you hitting greens in regulation and are you posting good scores. Tiger is not the longest on tour and he no doubt has it when he needs it. If you have to get a 7 iron up and another 15% to make the green thats fine. But a normal 6 iron swing will suffice. Your situation on course will dictate your tempo from normal swing to that 115% swing. I'm 50 and I love whipping those testosterone boys up out there! Hitting last and laughing all the way to the 19th hole. Actually I'm almost never last because I swing in control and not out of my shoes and the harder they swing,the longer time a round takes looking for your 3.50 golf ball.
Posted by: Nick | Aug 11, 2009 6:12:22 PM
I happen to love the new split cavity irons. At forst I thought that with 20 hcp I had no business using a forged club. I bought them even without trying them purely for the aesthetics(and the 90 day return policy). In two months I've reduced my handicap to 17 and it's all because , visually, the top line of the club doesn't distract me from focusing on the ball. I tried the cavity clubs that I was suposed to use and they flet and looked like well.... a club in the caveman sense of the word. I've been shocked frankly because I hit the mizunos, Titleist, and these are the only ones that didn't feel like a blade. Anyway I'm happy. As for the workability? Who cares. I'm just playing two years but I quickly realized that the only club that is important to be able to work is the driver. It's the only one that can gain you a 60-100 yard advantage if you draw or fade it. There's only one group of players that I've seen take advantage of the small yardage gains in working irons. Those are players with hcps
Posted by: CS | Jul 1, 2009 1:35:27 PM
May be a stupid comment, but many new club manufacturers are making clubs with different lofts to make people think they are hitting longer too. This also leaves you with a gap between your old 9 Iron and Wedges. Ive even seen some sets with a 10 iron because of this. It would make sense that you are hitting consistently, say 10-15 yards longer per club if the lofts are a few degrees off. Take a look, and you may find thats what it is!
Posted by: Joe | Jun 29, 2009 12:23:58 PM
the new VR split cavity irons have significantly helped my game get better. I was playing the R7 tp's and now ith the VR i am a 3.6 index vs a 5.0- they are a little hot but geeze guys how doesnt like hitting a PW 130 occasionally or a 4 iron 220? i have increased my distance about 10 yard on all irons. not to crazy about the wedge line but we are weekend players not tour caliber guys who wear the cover off the ball daily. Tiger could win with any club manufacturer. he actually used to play Mizunos with a nike stamp on them when he first started out with Nike. I heard he bought the rights to a certain line of mizuno irons and thats how nike crafted there lines.
Posted by: DSmith | Jun 19, 2009 2:49:38 AM
also one last tidbit......could be delofting the club at impact turning a 6 or 7i into a long iron
Posted by: DSmith | Jun 19, 2009 2:47:35 AM
How m uch you weigh and your height have "almost" nothing to do with ow far you hit the ball. Ya if your taller you will generate more club head speed cause of your longer arms great. But my 7i carry almost as far as my 4i. Nike Pro Combos i love these clubs and will never trade in. 7i carry normal is 175 if i jump on it easy 200. 4i carry is about 200 maybe 205 but will get the extra 5-10 roll. I know exactly what johnston is talking about. All the irns coming out now have a sprinboard effect. they are thinner lighter, half cavity full cavity. Its all about distance these days. I used to think going big was the best thing but the longer i played i just wanted lower scores so i pulled back a little and look out. dropped from a 10.3 index down to a 7.4. Thats a big jump at least for me. Driver: nike sumo tour 45" shaft 75 gram 280 carry easy. i swing hard off the tee but tone it down in the fairways and it works out. But like stated before even with the procombos i will get that one shot a round that leaves me scratching "it wasnt suppose to go that far" when you pure it and it goes an extra 15 yards then expected something is up.
Posted by: moweejim | Jun 18, 2009 4:52:49 PM
Amateurs and mostly recreational golfers should take note of Tiger's comment that loft is a golfer's friend. 90% of the average golfers should be hitting 10.5, 11.5 or even higher to control tee shots. I'm a scratch senior golfer and have enjoyed moderate success in local senior amateur events and use a 12 degree driver, 46 gram shaft, 46" long. Accurate with great distance.
Posted by: Bill Burton | Jun 17, 2009 10:46:38 PM
Enjoy this site.
Posted by: Joe | Jun 17, 2009 9:02:24 PM
I should also note that I play at altitude. Hometown over 6000 ft.
Posted by: Joe | Jun 17, 2009 8:59:18 PM
Actually, 6'2" and about 230. I found it hard to believe as well. All i can tell you is that I got the original Nike blades the year they came out (maybe 2001 or so?). Playing a Pro V1x, my six iron difference was almost always 180 to 190. My 7 iron with the old blades was around 170. With the new blades it was around 185. I do not know why, but I found the largest relative distance gain was in the mid and short irons, and I unfortunately did not gain the ability to smash 265 yard 4 irons. In my experience with the VR's, the problem was consistency of distance - not the distance gain. The occasional exploding mid and short irons made me go back to the old blades. I made the change some time after watching Tiger at the Masters air mail the 18th green three days in a row, with the chamera panning to his face each time when he had a look on his face that said, "Do you believe this?"
Posted by: Johnston | Jun 17, 2009 8:36:09 PM
Joe, what are you? 6'6" 250? I'm not doubting your skills but with everything being equal, I just find 35 yards jump in irons hard to believe as far as you hit it already. You're a 1.4 and you must be very tuned in and maxed out according to the law of physics, unless you're hitting a ti face irons, I just don't see where 35 yards comes from.
Posted by: Joe | Jun 17, 2009 6:44:09 PM
I'm a 1.4 handicap who played the old Nike blades until this year when the VR's came out. The biggest difference is that Nike somehow made the faces of the VR's much hotter than the original blades. In the original blades, my 6-iron distance was 185. With the VR's it jumped to around 210. Also, in my opinion the VR's have a tendency to hit exploders every once in a while. Every once in a while I'll hit a random 220 yard 7 iron. When I saw Tiger struggle with distance control all week at the Masters I had no doubt that he was fighting the VR's.
Posted by: Justin | Jun 17, 2009 3:05:53 PM
Sorry Ernie, but Ian Poulter already whined about it in an earlier Shop Blog post. Out of curiosity, why would you score the grooves on a driver? They have no affect on the clubface (not in the last 5+ years, anyway). I asked my local clubfitter about that, and that's the info he gave me... same with an article in Golf Magazine awhile back. At any rate, the pros and top amateurs better get ready for '10, cause things will definitely be different. Well, that includes the weekend hacker, as well... thanks Grandfather Rule.
Posted by: Ernie | Jun 17, 2009 10:29:17 AM
The reason why Tiger went back to his old irons was his old irons have square groves the new ones have V groves he couldn't spin the ball with his new irons because of the V groves. This is a good example for the rest of pro's if Tiger can't spin the ball with V grooves how are the pro's going to spin the ball from the rough and back it up 10 feet this is not going to happen any more the advantage now goes to the golf course. Alot of the touring pro's irons are just with in the tolerence level for them to be able to spin the ball like they do. They is a trick that can be done to the driver's scoring all you would have to do is take a hack saw and deepen the scoring and this will virtually take all the spin off the ball just an inside tip. I will tell you now when the pro's have to go to V grooves you are going to hear alot of whining and crying because they will not be able to spin the ball from the rough, mark my word you heard it hear first.
Posted by: Mark | Jun 17, 2009 9:27:56 AM
I'll tell you, I bet Nike is cringing at this report. If Tiger quits playing them, then the world will soon follow. I truly don't get why the new blades already have v-grooves.
Posted by: Damon | Jun 16, 2009 4:09:05 PM
New VR has the conforming v grooves, the old forged blade has square grooves. Like Dub said, he needs help spinning the ball to shape his shots. I can guarantee no one on this board can tell the performance difference between these two blades; otherwise, you wouldn't be on this board.
Posted by: DJ | Jun 16, 2009 1:35:08 PM
The new Nike irons are junk. That's basically what he said.