Equipment
That one time Tiger switched driver shafts and NOBODY noticed
It seems like pretty much everyone on the planet has an idea of what clubs Tiger has in play at any given moment. Especially now in the age of social media. However, his bag was still analyzed and tracked immensely from the beginning of his arrival on the golf scene. Point is, when the guy switches anything out, the world will know.
But did you know that, during the 2002 and into the 2003 season, he switched driver shafts? It was a pretty substantial switch too, but it fell completely under the radar. As a Tiger junkie myself, I noticed it, but in those days 1) The internet wasn’t what it is today and 2) I was bartending in Newport Beach and didn’t have access to info like I do today. So, it went in my Tiger vault…until now.
Always known to have a True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shaft in his driver, Tiger and the Nike team wanted something a bit lighter, all while maintaining the stiffness profile of his X100.
We now introduce you to the 118-gram DGSLX100 Tiger Proto (a stock Dynamic Gold X100 shaft is 130 grams).
UNITED STATES – OCTOBER 28: Tiger Woods (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA)
A complete one-off made specifically for Tiger Woods. If you look at the pictures you will see an unfamiliar step pattern that starts off a bit wide towards the handle but gets progressively closer down towards the tip section. Basically, the step pattern (diameters) dropped lower to keep stiffness across the board.
“That’s the shaft we used to get him out of Titleist 975D and into Nike Blue 275cc driver in 2002.” – Anonymous Nike source
In theory, this was Tiger accepting the fact that he was going to have to get used to the feeling of a lighter shaft to begin the inevitable transition into graphite, which ultimately happened for good in 2004.
With the mystery of his bag completely gone these days with minute-to-minute reporting, I thought it kind of nice to still have a couple of nuggets to discover.
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.
“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.
From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms
Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105
Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ronaldleacy
Feb 20, 2020 at 7:42 pm
i recommend to visit new service for download instagram stories- https://dis.im
Dill Pickelson
Feb 18, 2020 at 7:31 am
I changed shafts last Thursday. I’ll check back in 2038 for you all to recollect.
dixiedoc
Feb 17, 2020 at 10:00 am
So much for the promoted fallacy that the public can play the same equipment as the pros.
Benny
Feb 16, 2020 at 4:59 pm
Great indo JW. Thanks for sharing and awesome comments fellas. Crazy!
MCoz
Feb 16, 2020 at 2:49 am
I noticed this back then. I reported it on another older golf site back then.
I was in LV at Butch Harman’s place at Rio Secco with he and Adam Scott. Butch told me about it and showed it to me. He had a duplicate set of TW’s clubs in his office. The stepdowns were closer together very similar to the old Rocket shafts of the 60’s/70’s. Butch wanted one for Adam Scott’s Titleist driver. True Temper insisted that TW give his okay for Scott to use one. At that time most had gone to graphite, but TW and AS continued to prefer steel, at least this shaft. Interestingly Scott seemed to hit a lot of drivers that drifted quite a bit to the right when I was with them.
MCoz
Feb 16, 2020 at 1:58 am
I can confirm this shaft. Butch Harmon told me about it and showed it to me. To everyone else it was just pushed off as an X-100 Dynamic. But in reality the stepdowns were more similar to the old Rocket shafts of the 60’s/70’s. I reported it on another old golf site about 15 yrs ago. Butch introduced me to Adam Scott in LV at that time. it was just the three of us and Adam was hitting his Titleist driver with that same “tiger” driver shaft. Butch told me that True Temper insisted that TW gave the okay for them to get that shaft for Adam Scott to use.
Mike Honcho
Feb 17, 2020 at 5:32 am
True story MCoz. I remember like it was yesterday! Tiger asked me if he should let Adam use it. I said to Tiger “who cares bro?” but we all know Tiger, ever the competitor, lol. Who really knows what the golf world would be like if it wasnt for me convincing Tiger to let Adam put it in play. So, Tiger threw me his phone and called True Temper to give the ok. Tiger and I still laugh about it to this day.
Ahh the good ol’ days..
Mike Honcho
Feb 17, 2020 at 6:00 am
True story MCoz. I remember it like it was yesterday. Tiger was asking me if he should let Adam try the shaft out and I said “sure, why not” so Tiger threw me his phone and I called True Temper and told them it was ok. Tiger and I laugh about that to this day. I can’t remember what we did after that. We may have went car shopping or something. Those were the good ol’ days!
TacklingDummy
Feb 16, 2020 at 1:00 am
Tiger has switch driver shafts many times the last few years. He was using a Graphite Design Tour AD DI, Tensi shaft, and probably several others. However, he keeps going back to the Diamana Whiteboard.
Christopher
Feb 15, 2020 at 7:47 pm
I think a lot of WRXers remember this, but I can’t remember if this one was linked to MacGregor, wasn’t there a steel shaft pulled or designed for one of their clubs?
Bruce
Feb 15, 2020 at 4:58 pm
One has to wonder if True Temper went ahead and marketed the DG 118g, or even a 105g steel. But then, I guess the writing on the wall with graphite.
Jo
Feb 15, 2020 at 3:15 pm
A lot of people noticed this.
Ty Webb
Feb 15, 2020 at 11:52 am
Other Nike staffers had that shaft in play to mostly in fairway woods. I personally built a Sonartec 3 wood for a staffer with that shaft.
Jbone
Feb 15, 2020 at 10:52 am
USGA and R&A clowns should reduce the head size and not mess with the ball. The 975J or D would be a good size to revert back to
Bacon Pants
Feb 15, 2020 at 6:22 pm
Not disputing your idea but these guys can still hit strong lofted 3 woods over 300 yards so IMO it wouldn’t do a whole lot just shrinking driver head size
Jbone
Feb 16, 2020 at 8:47 am
Maybe the elite distance guys get it out there 300 but not many. Crank the loft down and that size head gets a lot less forgiving.