This week, when he makes his comeback to the PGA TOUR at his home event, the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas, all eyes will be on Tiger Woods.
Throughout the past ten years, Woods has shown a discernible softening. He is more amiable. He gives athletes injury advice and texts his teammates numerous times to wish them well when they win. The days of titanic staredowns or abrupt clashes between athletes and the media are long gone.
When you ask an experienced member of the media to compare a news conference from today with one from the middle of the 2000s, they will tell you that the speakers are entirely different. Changes from 2018 to the present are even discernible.
Perhaps Woods is changing, or perhaps the steady stream of injuries has something to do with it. In any case, more often than not, he is sharing his wisdom. And it’s advantageous to all parties concerned.
To add to the suspense surrounding Woods’ recovery from his ankle surgery in April, the 82-time winner of the PGA TOUR is scheduled to use a new TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver this week.
When Woods played in the Masters earlier this year, he was using TaylorMade’s original Stealth Plus driver, which was introduced in the first half of 2022. Woods now seems to have switched to the next Qi10 LS driver model.
Midway through November, TaylorMade’s new Qi10 LS driver was added to the USGA Conforming Clubs List. Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy, two other TaylorMade users, used the driver at the most recent DP World Tour Championship (Fleetwood placed T2, McIlroy finished 22nd).
It seems that Woods will give his driver a Graphite Design Tour AD-VF shaft to go along with the new Qi10 LS head, which would be another new weapon in Woods’ toolbox. Since Justin Thomas changed the shaft model during the Fortinet Championship earlier this autumn, equipment users may be familiar with the AD-VF shaft.
Photos clearly show that the driver uses “Carbon” materials in the face and has an adjustable weight system in the sole with a weight port in the back of the head, even though TaylorMade hasn’t yet commented on the new technology included in the new Qi10 LS prototype driver head.
Golf enthusiasts may see how Woods plays with the new driver at the Hero World Challenge while they wait for more details regarding the TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver design itself.
In addition to the driver and new shaft, Woods also seems to have switched to TaylorMade’s newest MG4 Raw wedges (56 and 60 degrees), which he has paired with a TaylorMade SIM Titanium 3-wood, a TaylorMade M3 5-wood, a TaylorMade P770 long iron (3-iron), TaylorMade P-7TW irons (4-PW), and his go-to Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter, which has had some lead tape added to the putter’s back cavity for added weighting.
