Testing Balls With Tiger Woods

The 15-time major-championship winner is as meticulous as you might think

- E. Michael Johnson

TIGER WOODS is one of the most exacting players on tour at testing golf equipment. That’s especially true for balls, where his process is lengthy, his feedback specific and his wants on performance clearly communicated. Woods will begin playing Bridgestone’s 2020 Tour B XS ball at the Hero World Challenge in December, and when he tees it up, it will mark the culmination of nearly two years of testing. I was fortunate enough to have exclusive access to one of the earliest sessions, in February 2019, at Woods’ home course at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. Having attended a similar testing session with Woods and Nike in 2003, I was eager to see if his approach had changed. As it turned out, it had remained pretty much intact, with an emphasis on short-game performance, flight windows and spin rates.

Five white boxes of prototype balls were presented to Woods. All of them without Bridgestone’s branding except for assorted Sharpie marks so Bridgestone’s staff , including Andrew Troutner, the company’s R&D test-site manager, could tell which ball was which. According to Elliot Mellow, Bridgestone’s marketing manager, each of the balls Woods was testing had a variation of the company’s urethane cover material, meaning there should be noticeable differences in feel and performance.