Tiger and tape

[umpiremark]

Anyone hazard a guess as to why Tiger tapes his lower fingers? Just curious ....

[chad1043]

Maybe he gets blisters or it adds to his grip. Good Luck?

[youngskip40]

I've heard everything from he does it to protect his fingers from callouses, to he does it so it provides a mark to align his grip consistently, to it serves as a reminder to whatever specific swing thought he had been working on.

My guess is that the first of those is the most likely. Anyone who has ever played full cord grips can tell you how quickly callouses can form on the first two fingers of your glove-less hand. That said, I don't really know. Why doesn't he always wear tape? Why is it sometimes on one, two or as many as three fingers? Why isn't it always on the same finger?

I don't know. Heck, maybe Tiger just thinks it looks cool. Okay, maybe not.

[whip_it_out]

He has said it protects a nasty callous that flares during warm weather. I have one there too, it can be pretty painful.

[iacas]

He has said it protects a nasty callous that flares during warm weather. I have one there too, it can be pretty painful.

He's also said that he doesn't really get those anymore, but he does it now as a sort of habit or superstition.

[RCF]

For a while he was wearing a string bracelet on his wrist.

[allin]

I have to tape one of my finger tips. It is oddly shaped from being broken by a baseball. If I don't tape it I get a big callous. When you hit a lot of balls the callous sometimes dry out and crack or tear. Maybe something similar for him. Maybe just got comfortable with it taped and it feels right also.

[hawk45]

I have also read it is from callouses.. but it would also help in grip alignment for different shots.

[iacas]

Maybe just got comfortable with it taped and it feels right also.

I've heard him say something to that effect as well, yeah. Habit/superstition... with a bit more leaning on habit since I don't think Tiger's terribly superstitious.

[ninetwothree]

When he had the club across the line early on, he felt a bunch of pressure on that finger on the way down and it was all about the callouses. Since he went to Haney and has it on the opposite side of the line, it holds pressure rather than throws it. superstitious sounds about right...