tiger in 2012 played xx inch driver . really?

Tiger's driver mystery

If you're wondering what's behind Tiger Woods' early season success in 2012, look no further than his body of work from the tee box.

The world No. 18 is currently first in total driving on the PGA Tour, a calculation combining length off the tee with fairways hit. Specifically, Woods is 18th in driving distance averaging 299.4 yards and seventh in driving accuracy having hit 106 out of a possible 153 fairways. For math challenged individuals like me that's 69.28 per cent. When you combine the two numbers together it slots him number one.

Though never his strongest attribute, the premium Woods and his swing coach Sean Foley have placed on driving the golf ball better this year is filtering throughout his entire game. Not only is he first in total driving he's the PGA Tour's statistical leader in the all-around category heading into the Transitions Championship this week. (Granted he's only played 13 rounds over four tournaments this year.) Driving distance, driving accuracy, greens in regulation, strokes gained putting, eagles, birdie average, scoring average, sand save percentage and total driving all factor into the all-around rank.

While the work Woods and Foley have put into his swing is showing promise heading towards the Masters in three weeks, an interesting question has come up relative to a key piece of Woods equipment arsenal.

Is something going on with Tiger's driver? More specifically, has he shortened it?

Hosts Brian Taylor and Bob Casper said Woods had "gone to a 43-inch Nike driver" on the PGA Tour Network's Real Golf Radio show Saturday morning. He uses an 8.5 degree Nike VR Tour driver with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 shaft. For most of his best years on tour, Woods relied on a 43-and-a-half-inch driver but it's believed he's been using one at 44-and-three-quarter inches for quite some time.

This surprising shorter driver revelation went straight out on my Twitter account.

It got a quick response. Steve Elling of CBS Sports sent me the following direct message (DM) on Twitter.

"Probably onto something there," Elling tweeted. "Was not aware he had cut it down in length. Hear that on TV?"

After letting Elling know the source he responded again.

"Hmmm. I need to check into that. Interesting," he posted.

Elling, like me, probably could not help but notice Tiger's stats and how much better he's been driving the ball of late. Kevin Haime of Ottawa's Team 1200 radio and one of this country's best swing instructors chimed in.

"Is it really only 43?" he wrote. "He started on tour with a 43-and-a-half-inch Titleist."

I sent a note back telling him exactly what was said. Haime came back with this nugget: "Light and long not great for tons of players," he tweeted. "Tiger's secret."

A couple minutes later Elling posted the following:

"Just asking a PR person at Nike to verify," he wrote.

The verdict?

"Yep," he confirmed.

Three hours later Elling sent me another DM, this one only deepened the mystery.

"Tiger's club rep says via email … club length is incorrect information. Not a 43-inch club. Would not say what exact length is."

Though any amount of added or subtracted length will alter the swing weight and total weight of a driver, it's safe to say Nike can accommodate any set of specs Woods requests. That being said Haime's point is a compelling one.

Is this then Tiger's little secret for hitting more fairways this season? An even bigger question: is a shorter Nike VR Tour driver going to allow him to more easily work the ball both ways to set up his approach shots at Augusta National?

In three weeks time, we'll see.

Tiger's game is like my game..   

If driver cannot work the whole game lousy.. If driver long n on fairways.. then got a chance..

He's a different breed of homosapien.. He defies the argument that longer drivers give longer distance.. Thus, like me, the length of his driver doesn't matter, not even the length of his drives... But more importantly, keeping the ball on the fairway...       TGIF

No wonder his name is tiger Woods and not lion Irons. Wonder if they counter weight it as he becomes more beefy with all the king's jerky they consume.

A good (and long ~ 220m) drive gives me the possibility to play a par game on a par 4.

Any mis-hit on the driver, and my goal for the hole is a bogey.

Hence whether I am aiming for par or bogey on any given hole is defined by the quality of my drive.

If I mis-hit my drive (short or too left or too right), I will not aim for a 170-180m for a 2 on. However, if my drive is solid, then I will cheong the green for a less than 150m 2 on.

If 160m left to the green, then it really depends on the angle of approach and course layout and my form for that day.