Lately, talk has centered around Tiger Woods potentially switching putters to the new Nike Method putter 001. Tiger’s current Scotty Cameron putter has been in his bag for over a decade, but in the latter part of the 2009 season his putting has been well below his “Tiger standards.” The controversy has started after Woods was given a Nike putter on the first tee at the pro-am for the Deutsche Bank Championship. He studied the putter for awhile, then gave it back to the Nike rep to make an adjustment with the grip.
With the Nike Method putter currently listed as his backup putter, my advice to Tiger is: ”DON”T DO IT!” Think of all the memories. 13 of your 14 majors (the 14th major was with a different Scotty Cameron putter). Nearly all of your 70 career wins.
I guess most tour pros don’t go an entire career with only one putter, but most tour pros don’t win 70 tournaments (and counting)! Does anyone find it odd, though, that Tiger’s backup putter is a Nike? Shouldn’t his backup putter be identical to his “first string” putter? I’m sure his backup 4-iron is the same make/model as his usual 4-iron. It almost seems as if he’s looking for an excuse to switch putters.
And let’s not forget that Scotty Cameron makes the best putters in the industry (not a paid endorsement, just an opinion…but seriously Titleist, can I get one of the new California series putters?). It should be noted, however, that this summer has been great for Nike, and they stand to gain a lot of market share after Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink both used the new Method putters to win majors.
Even the greatest golfer in the world will have rough stretches with the putter. So please, Tiger, let’s not do anything hasty!