Tiger Woods Switches to Nike Method Putter for Slow Open Greens

Tiger Woods' press conference this morning was a dichotomous twenty minute session.  Woods was peppered by the European press about questions concerning his personal life.  For American reports - more professional and weary of non-answers through Woods' entire career about his off-course behavior - the session had some revelations about how Woods will handle St. Andrews.

For one thing, Woods has changed putters for this week.  He has abandoned the Scotty Cameron putter that he has used for 13 of his fourteen major wins in lieu of the Nike Method 001 putter.  The putter, which is in my bag, has a polymer-infused face whose major design goal is to get the ball rolling with topspin faster after impact. The polymer leaves the face with sections of metal that "grab" the ball and get it going more quickly to the target.

Woods feels that this putter will help him get the ball moving more quickly on the Open greens which are not even running at 10 on the Stimpmeter just days before the Open.  With rain in the forecast for tournament week, St. Andrews' massive greens may not play much faster than your local muni - which, to locals, the Old Course is.

"I've always been tempted to change my putter on slower greens, and as I said earlier to Steve, I've always struggled when greens are really slow," Woods said to reporters.

"I've always experimented with other putters throughout the years, but I've never put one in play until now."

The putter switch was actually first rumored at the Masters, when speculation was abundant that Woods would switch to the Method in his first event of the year.  Woods did not make the switch then, clearly still confident rolling it with the Cameron on Augusta National's speedy greens. 

Actually, the whispers of the shift began prior to the season - at least within the Nike Golf camp.  Reps from the company were hopeful, but not quite expectant, that Woods would make the switch to the Method.  Two primary reasons they gave for the switch were the success of Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover in winning '09 majors with the stick before it hit the marketplace, and slo-mo video shown to me of Woods putting with his Cameron and the Method at the Nike Golf facility in Ft. Worth, Texas.  The Nike putter was drastically "hotter" than the Cameron, which comes most into play on slow to mid-pace surfaces.

This week at St. Andrews is the perfect opportunity for Woods to experiment with a switch.