156 - Scotty Too Hotty…

So after a promising start with his new Nike Method 001 putter Tiger Woods ditched it for his final round at the British Open and went back to his “irreplaceable” Scott Cameron Newport 2. It looks like the Method isn’t the answer after all.

Woods used the Method 32 times on Thursday and 32 times on Friday. The figure rose to 35 on Saturday, which prompted the world number one to go back to the putter that has won him 14 majors and around $90m over the years although it didn’t quite work out this time.

Woods said: "The greens are a little bit faster than they were the first day, I just didn't feel comfortable with my speed, so I went back to my old putter."

Despite only playing 27 putting strokes on the final round with the Newport 2, the three time Open winner finished the day with an even par 72.

This left him at 3-under for the tournament, tied for 23rd, 13 strokes behind Louis Oosthuizen and he was under no illusion what part of his game let him down.

"I drove it great all week, hit my irons pretty good, and I did not putt well except for the first day," said Woods. "I believe I had nine three-putts for the week, so consequently, I'm pretty far down the board."

I guess that is the end for the Method then? The 001 was supposed to give him the edge on slower greens but it never appeared he was more effective with his Scotty Cameron.

I’m not sure what Nike will make of this decision, as they were no doubt hoping to sell thousands of putters to fanboys desperate to look like Woods on courses all over the world but with him ditching their flat stick they are going to lose an awful lot of potential revenue.

152 - Method From The Madness...

Massive news in the golf world; Tiger Woods has changed his putter! I know, I know, earth-shattering stuff! Ahem. Ok, so it isn’t the most serious thing in the world but with new sales estimated to be in excess of £28m because Woods has switched allegiances, it is definitely serious to the big manufacturers.

Woods has used a Scotty Cameron wand since 1999, describing it as being “irreplaceable”. In that time he won an amazing 72 titles but since returning to the game after his extra marital manoeuvres came to light he has really struggled on the green. Suddenly “irreplaceable” means “scapegoat”.

The world number one has a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike that has helped him become the first billionaire sportsman so it is no surprise that the putter he has gone for is the Nike Method 001. Actually, the move to the Method is down to the slower greens of St Andrews apparently.

Woods said: “I’ve always struggled on slower greens. This putter does come off faster with the new groove technology. It rolls the ball better, and rolls it faster.”

The putter (left) has wins under its belt already with Lucas Glover using it when he won in the US Open at the Black Course of Bethpage in 2009.

Stewart Cink stroked his way to victory with it too at Turnberry last year to win the British Open. The most successful player using the new blade is Paul Casey who has won three PGA Tour titles after switching and raves about the Method.

“I fell in love with this putter the first time I used it,” said Casey. “You can really feel the difference in how the ball comes off the face and see the difference in how it rolls. It has really helped my confidence.”

So will the 001 be the missing piece of the puzzle for Woods or is it the act of a desperate man trying to claw his way back to some sort of form? We will see this weekend when the putter makes its first appearance in Eldrick’s bag at St Andrews.

27 - Lucky And The Klingon Putter...

After our round at Bootle the other week Lucky decided his putter needed to go. Apparently the mallet that came with his set is too heavy meaning that it is his putter’s fault he hilariously hit the ball so hard on the green that he had to chip back on. It wasn’t his lack of talent, no way; it was all down to that evil putter.

Being Lucky he selected his next putter with care. He jotted down a wish list, decided on a budget, did thorough research including trying a variety of different makes and models at his local Pro Shop before committing to his next purchase. Who am I kidding? He did an online quiz and then hotfooted it to eBay to see how little he could pay for it!

He did the quiz on the Odyssey website which asked him all kinds of questions about what type of Odyssey putter he preferred then Odyssey used all their years of experience in the putter business to suggest what they thought would be best for him. Unsurprisingly they suggested an Odyssey. They reckoned an Odyssey Sabretooth (right) would suit him down to the ground…or an Odyssey White Hot XG…or an Odyssey Dual Force 2. Those guys are good.

In the end he settled on the Odyssey Sabretooth as it was their first suggestion. It had nothing to do with it looking like a Klingon Battlecruiser at all and any suggestions of the type would be wide of the mark. Lucky is not one to be swayed by cosmetic flippantly, he would never, for instance, buy a set of clubs because the woods that come with them “look like a Beluga whale”!

To be fair, it does get a lot of decent reviews in the mags and it does looks great (an important factor I’m sure all you serious players out there will agree). We are going to try and play a round again soon so I’ll have a few putts with it to see if it really makes that much difference. Actually I want a Titleist Scotty Cameron beast but it cost £200 fucking quid…for a putter! Not happening. Why is it that Titleist does so many objects of desire?