This year marks the 30th anniversary of Tiger Woods’ PGA TOUR debut at Riviera Country Club. The 16-year-old needed permission from his school principal to play, and he called it a “life-changing moment for me” after shooting 72-75 to miss the cut. Little did we know what the next three decades would hold. Woods went on to amass a record-tying 82 TOUR wins, including 15 majors. He’s back at Riviera this week as the host of the tournament now known as The Genesis Invitational. Much has changed in the world of golf, as well. Most notably for our Equipment Report, there have been huge advancements in club technology since 1992. To celebrate Woods’ 30-year anniversary of his PGA TOUR debut, we wanted to take a closer look at the driver the 16-year-old Woods used that week (Want to read more on Tiger’s historic gear? Click here for more on Tiger’s famed Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter). As a TaylorMade representative has confirmed, young Woods used a TaylorMade Tour Preferred Burner Plus driver equipped with a “Tour Gold From TaylorMade” shaft. Woods averaged 263.3 yards off the tee in his two rounds at Riviera, slightly below the field average (263.9 yards) for those two days and 25 yards between the leader in that category (Joey Sindelar, 288.0 yards). Fred Couples, who went on to win that week, averaged 282.5 yards in the first two rounds, while Davis Love III, the 36-hole leader who eventually fell in a playoff to Couples, averaged 283.8. Woods ranked 77th in the 144-player field in that statistic. TaylorMade was a pioneer in the metalwood space, releasing the first metal driver, the Pittsburgh Persimmon, in 1979. The Burner Plus model that Woods used in 1992 was part of a series of TaylorMade drivers that were available in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to a TaylorMade catalog from 1989, the Tour Preferred drivers were made with stronger-than-usual lofts, but the designs utilized “tri-dimensional weighting” to move the center of gravity lower and farther back in the heads. The combination of strong lofts and rearward weighting allowed TaylorMade to enhance both distance and accuracy. The drivers also were designed with thinner hosels to reduce drag throughout the swing, and the reduction in weight allowed TaylorMade to increase perimeter weighting in the clubheads for increased forgiveness. If you read up about new golf club technology in the year 2022, golf club companies are still trying to achieve similar engineering improvements. The typical goal is to reposition weight in a head to enhance forgiveness and increase speed. Woods’ Burner Plus was made of stainless steel, which was a common material that drivers used in the era between persimmon and the introduction of titanium in the early 90s. As you’ll notice, Woods’ driver had in 1992 a significantly smaller head than the drivers of today. Drivers have gotten significantly bigger as materials have gotten lighter, and companies have gotten smarter through the years. In his most recent appearance, at the 2021 PNC Championship, Woods used a TaylorMade Stealth Plus driver that debuted TaylorMade’s new carbonwood technology. The club’s black-and-red face is made of 60 layers of carbon, has sole-weight and hosel adjustability, and a crown made of carbon. The Stealth Plus is a far technological cry from the driver Woods used in his PGA TOUR debut 30 years ago. Just for kicks, if you’re interested in owning a Tour Preferred Burner Plus for yourself (if you don’t have one in the garage already), they’re readily available on third-party websites for less than $20. Pick one up and give it a try: Our guess is you won’t hit it nearly as far or as straight as a 16-year-old Woods!
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