TM building Tiger a MB

[Hacker James]

10 minutes ago, MuniGrit said:

I said when he was about 16. 

any idea what event that photo is from? It is obviously a competitive event judging from the crowd size.

[MuniGrit]

9 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

any idea what event that photo is from? It is obviously a competitive event judging from the crowd size.

LA open. First pro tournament he ever played in 25 years ago.

[1badbadger]

On 2/8/2017 at 11:30 PM, Pretzel said:

The only question about the irons, I would think, is whether it's a Taylormade design or if they just bought the Nike patent.

If it's just a one-off set for Tiger, they won't worry about that.  They can grind him a set that looks identical to his Nikes (if that's what he wants) and not have to pay them for the design.

When Fred Couples moved from TaylorMade to Bridgestone he had been playing the Taylor 300 irons, so for several years B-Stone built him "prototype" irons which were virtually the Taylor 300 with Bridgestone stampings.

[Hacker James]

26 minutes ago, MuniGrit said:

LA open. First pro tournament he ever played in 25 years ago.

good deal - point made 

[iacas]

55 minutes ago, MuniGrit said:

I said when he was about 16. 

Yeah, I know. My point is I don't think he's going to go back to that design…

[mvmac]

Ok so basically off topic but thought it'd be fun to post with the talk about his clubs before he was a pro.

This is from '91, Eye 2's.

From '92 LA Open with Eye 2 irons. I think he was using Callaway woods.

This is what was in his bag when he won his first two US Amateurs 

TaylorMade Burner 
TaylorMade Tour Spoon 
Mizuno MP 29 2 & 3 irons
Mizuno MP 14 4-PW
Cleveland 588 Chrome 56°, 60°
PING Anser 2

Then in '96 he changed a few things

Cobra 9° Deepface 
Titleist Pro Trajectory 15°
Mizuno MP 29 2 & 3 irons
Mizuno MP 14 4-PW
Cleveland 56° and 60° 588 wedges were RTG
Scotty Cameron Newport

To keep it on topic, I agree he probably won't depart to the look he's been used to the past 20+ years.

[Zeph]

I wonder if he will be getting senior flex.

[1badbadger]

10 hours ago, mvmac said:

Ok so basically off topic but thought it'd be fun to post with the talk about his clubs before he was a pro.

This is from '91, Eye 2's.

From '92 LA Open with Eye 2 irons. I think he was using Callaway woods.

This is what was in his bag when he won his first two US Amateurs 

TaylorMade Burner 
TaylorMade Tour Spoon 
Mizuno MP 29 2 & 3 irons
Mizuno MP 14 4-PW
Cleveland 588 Chrome 56°, 60°
PING Anser 2

Then in '96 he changed a few things

Cobra 9° Deepface 
Titleist Pro Trajectory 15°
Mizuno MP 29 2 & 3 irons
Mizuno MP 14 4-PW
Cleveland 56° and 60° 588 wedges were RTG
Scotty Cameron Newport

To keep it on topic, I agree he probably won't depart to the look he's been used to the past 20+ years.

Good post. One slight correction is the split in his MP 29 & 14 was between the 4 and 5 iron rather than between the 3 and 4. An interesting side note...his Cobra driver was 43.625" and his 5 iron was 37.75" which used to be pretty standard at the time, but is short compared to most modern specs.

[StefanUrkel]

Isn't that illegal for tiger to not play Nike last few years

[mvmac]

8 minutes ago, StefanUrkel said:

Isn't that illegal for tiger to not play Nike last few years

Nike doesn't make equipment anymore.

[1badbadger]

1 hour ago, StefanUrkel said:

Isn't that illegal for tiger to not play Nike last few years

He played Nike gear right up until they announced they were getting out of the golf equipment business.  The other equipment mentioned was from when he was an amateur and when he turned pro before Nike made clubs. His first equipment deal was with Titleist, but there was some lag time between turning pro until Titleist made him clubs to play.

[Pretzel]

3 hours ago, StefanUrkel said:

Isn't that illegal for tiger to not play Nike last few years

Even if his equipment contract with Nike was still valid (which it isn't because of Nike's withdrawal from the equipment business), it still wouldn't be illegal. He'd just have to either have Nike work some magic and put the swoosh on the gear he wanted (it was rumored for a long time that Bridgestone actually made the balls for Nike tour pros) or pay some sort of fine specified in the contract. That said, Nike definitely wouldn't be happy if he broke the terms of the contract, but he is safe to play whatever equipment he chooses so long as it's TM now, since he chose to sign with them after Nike stopped producing equipment.

I wonder what the terms of the contracts looked like and whether Nike had to buy out the remaining equipment contracts for their tour professionals like Rory and Tiger.

[1badbadger]

56 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

Even if his equipment contract with Nike was still valid (which it isn't because of Nike's withdrawal from the equipment business), it still wouldn't be illegal. He'd just have to either have Nike work some magic and put the swoosh on the gear he wanted (it was rumored for a long time that Bridgestone actually made the balls for Nike tour pros) or pay some sort of fine specified in the contract. That said, Nike definitely wouldn't be happy if he broke the terms of the contract, but he is safe to play whatever equipment he chooses so long as it's TM now, since he chose to sign with them after Nike stopped producing equipment.

I wonder what the terms of the contracts looked like and whether Nike had to buy out the remaining equipment contracts for their tour professionals like Rory and Tiger.

For the first few years, Bridgestone actually made all of Nike's balls.  However, they were not Bridgestone models stamped with a Nike logo...Nike designed the balls, Bridgestone simply manufactured them. Eventually, Nike started using other manufacturers overseas to produce their golf balls.

Many people don't realize that Nike doesn't make anything...they don't make athletic shoes, clothing, or sports equipment.  They design the items, but all the production is farmed out.  When Nike initially ramped up it's golf division they hired Rock Ishii away from Bridgestone to lead their design team.  Rock was recently hired by Callaway as Senior Director of Advanced Golf Ball Research.

 

[boogielicious]

20 hours ago, Zeph said:

I wonder if he will be getting senior flex.