TaylorMade team goes to great lengths to meet Tiger Woods request

TaylorMade's European Tour truck staff were forced to create an in-house assembly line to facilitate Tiger Woods' specific equipment needs.

Johnny Percival

06 Oct 2023

When it comes to equipment, few players are quite as particular as Tiger Woods. So, when he made a specific request ahead of The Open, TaylorMade's staff had to work around the clock in order to make sure he had what he needed.

If you've had the pleasure of seeing the inside of a Tour truck that follows the players around the world, from tournament to tournament, you will know that they are fully stocked with everything a player might need.

From balls to driver heads, everything is packed away in neat and tidy cupboards, ready for any replacements or club alterations that players might require.

On one occasion, however, the staff on TaylorMade's European Tour truck were almost caught short when Woods entered the truck and asked for some of his short tees.

Revealing the story to Barstool Sports, TaylorMade's tour truck staff only had four tees left that they used to show people, so in a last-minute effort to facilitate Woods' request they were forced to create an in-house production line to shorten 100 tees to Woods' desired length.

One tour truck member recounted the story in amusing detail, revealing that it was all hands on deck to get the 15-time major champion an adequate number of his favoured tees.

He said:

"Why does Tiger Woods need his own tees? Because he refuses to use a long tee. His tee has to be a certain size. We were at The Open once and this Tour truck is different to the one we have in Europe, so he (Woods) comes on the truck and says 'Can I get some tees?' He then goes back to the range and I'm like 'Guys, we don't have any of Tiger's tees.'

"We literally had four tees which we kept in his locker to show people who came on the truck. We had a production line and one guy was cutting the tee, the other guy was on the grinder, sharpening them, and then we would do the next tee."

Not wanting to disappoint one of their star players, the TaylorMade team worked tirelessly to get the tees ready, and when one staff member asked why they didn't just tell him to push his tees deeper into the ground, he was given two choices.

The staff member recounting the story added:

"I told him you've got two choices. You can go and tell him, or you can get in this production line. He's straight into the production line. He's helping out."

It's fair to say that when it comes to requests, none carry more weight than those of Woods. Thankfully, the inventive team at TaylorMade were able to jump into action and spare themselves embarrassment on this particular occasion.

Watch the full interview below

Fun fact: Tiger Woods only uses the old-school short tees… But what happens when he runs out?
Just an all-time Tiger story from the guys on the @TaylorMadeGolf Tour Truck. pic.twitter.com/pM7s8eed7u
— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) June 25, 2023

Woods hasn't played competitive golf since he was forced to withdraw from The Masters in April, but his new league, the TGL is set to kick off in January of 2024, so fans will be waiting with bated breath to see if he makes a long-awaited comeback in the new year.

The TGL has recently added Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Tyrell Hatton to its roster, as well as one of the brightest young stars on the PGA Tour, Tom Kim.

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