How Tiger Woods Got His Grooves Back - V Grooves, That Is

by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 24, 2009 3:03 PM EDT

Steve Pike is reporting that Tiger Woods may already be playing irons that are compliant with the 2010 grooves regulation that PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has said will go in place as scheduled.

This news is from the Examiner. Pike's source? Greg Norman.

"He's obviously trying to get a jump on it,'' Norman said at this week's Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale in England. "Smart move. But you would expect that. If I was in Tiger's shoes, or if I was one of the leading players, I would be doing that now, too. So depends on who is willing to accept it and make the adjustments fast enough to do it. Every great player has that ability. It's just a matter of getting on it straightaway.''

Seeing as though a great number of players on Tour haven't even bothered to test irons with the new grooves out of fear and laziness, it makes sense for Woods to try to get the head start. Being the astute student of the game that he is, it adds up that Woods would want to test out the clubs in competition - in the heat of battle.

I just hope that this revelation - if true - is not an opportunity for Tiger apologists to try to explain his play at the Open Championship.

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Comments

there’s no “may” about it – Tiger has played with the V grooves for a long time. He would have to play on concrete greens to need square grooves. His problem has always been controling the spin, not putting more on.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 24, 2009 3:23 PM EDT reply actions

It seems silly to me...

…that there could be a tour player on earth that hasn’t been at least experimenting with V grooves, even if just at the range or during practice rounds. If Tiger has been using V-grooves, good on him. Anyone with common sense should have been doing the same as soon as it looked like there was a good shot of the changes happening in 2010.

As far as the Tiger apologists go, I can’t even see where they’d make the connection with V-grooves and spraying the ball all over the place. He didn’t miss the cut running approaches through the greens for lack of spin. Though, I guess reality doesn’t always figure in with some people.

by Double Eagle on Jul 24, 2009 4:47 PM EDT reply actions

Here's a question...

…why is Pike wasting time on Tiger’s equipment ? Woods has been old school his entire career where his irons are concerned. He has never had a need to chase the latest game improvement technology other than his ball, and updating the driver/woods and wood shafts to graphite from steel.

Why isn’t Pike chasing down Mickelnuts since he is the KING of fiddling and experimenting with the latest and greatest technology ?

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 24, 2009 11:22 PM EDT reply actions