The equipment tweak Tiger Woods always makes for the British Open

Tiger Woods adding lead tape to the back cavity of his famed Scotty Cameron putter is hardly news. In fact, given his history of employing the practice at the British Open, it brings to mind the Garcia y Vega cigar ad from the 1970s where they say, “He’s doing it again."

With the greens at Royal Troon not exactly running at the speed of Pinehurst, Valhalla or, heaven forbid, Augusta National, Woods tends to opt for a little more heft to his putter in an effort to get the ball rolling faster off the face on the slower surfaces.

“Virtually every single Open I’ve played in, I would put lead tape on my putters to try and get it a little bit heavier and get the ball rolling,” Woods said at the Open at Royal Portrush in 2019. Although the lead tape adds just a few grams of weight (a one-inch strip weighs approximately two grams), it can produce a noticeable change in feel and slight change in speed off the face.

Which is what Woods is seeking and has for many Opens. In fact, in 2010 Woods famously benched his trusted Scotty Cameron blade at St. Andrews for a Nike Method 001 blade, citing a need for the ball to come off faster on the slow greens.

“I've switched to the Nike putter for this week," he said at the time. "It comes off faster, which on these greens is something that I've always struggled with on slower greens. I haven't had to make that much of an adjustment [now] because the ball is coming off a little bit quicker.”

And at Royal Troon, he’s doing it again.

Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.