Tiger Woods has always kept a 5-wood in his bag ahead of his tournaments. But Woods’s bag has undergone a massive change as he is about to tee off at the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 this Thursday. What are the pieces of equipment that Woods trusts more than his usual 5-wood this season’s third major that he got an exemption to play in, courtesy of USGA?

According to Golf WRX, Woods’ Monster Energy golf bag was seen to have a new piece of 2-iron and no 5-wood. Unlike his previous set of mixed irons, the 2023 TaylorMade P770 3-iron and the TaylorMade P7TW blades (4-PW), the golfer chose to add a 2021 version of TaylorMade’s P770 for the 124th US Open. This new addition is shafted with the True Temper Dynamic Gold MID X100 shaft, designed to be lighter for higher shots. This 2-iron setup is the same as what he used at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

Woods has also put two new ‘proto’ wedges with varying grinds on their soles. He used 56-degree TW 12 and 60-degree TW 11 wedges throughout 2024. However, the new course change at Pinehurst and its demanding short game have made the 15-major championship winner shift to two new TaylorMade MG4 Proto wedges. Compared to the last ones, these ‘proto wedges’ appear to be more squared off, which conceals their usual camber.

Although no new information has been received as to why Tiger Woods has given up on his 5-wood, he is still using TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees at 13.5) as his 3-wood. It is shafted with a Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7X. For his driver too, Woods has trusted something similar.

He has kept his belief in the TaylorMade Qi10 LS (10.5 degrees at 9.75) with a Graphite Design Tour AD VF 6X shaft. His putter, on the other hand, continues to be a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype with a Ping PP58 Blackout grip.

The changes that he has made for his game this Monday have not been finalized to secure a permanent place at the US Open. Yet, keeping in mind the elevated difficulty at the Pinehurst No. 2 Golf Course, did Tiger Wood incorporate these new changes?

The raised difficulty at Pinehurst No. 2

Donald Ross’s best of the best golf courses was entitled “Golf Mecca’, by Ben Hogan. According to CBS Sports, “The greens at Pinehurst are Augusta National-like in that they are big visually but small when it comes to where one can hit the ball to score on them.”

This golf course implements a more links-style setup than seen in other courses. Moreover, the bunkers have been placed in such a way near and around the landing areas off the tee that they pose quite a bit of a challenge on the golfer’s end. Ross has also implemented some greenside chipping areas, which makes it a short game.

To increase the complexity of the short game, two mown mounds were added. CBS Sports reported, “On the first hole, for instance, there are two closely mown mounds just below the ledge on the right side of the green. When players miss right, their ball will not only kick right but also potentially end up in a fiddly lie on the side of one of the hummocks.”

Additionally, the runoffs at the edges of the greens can be expected to have much more severity to add to the US Open’s difficulty level. Do you think Tiger Woods’ latest edition in the bag will prove to be fruitful, especially after he failed to make the cut at Valhalla? Let us know in the comments below.