Woods has a never-before-seen TaylorMade driving iron in the bag at The Open Championship

Ahead of the The Open Championship at Royal Portrush on Monday, Tiger Woods was spotted testing a brand new TaylorMade P-790 UDI (“Ultimate Driving Iron”) prototype 2-iron.

During most PGA TOUR events and majors, Woods bounces back and forth between a driving iron and a 5 wood, depending on the course setup. Since Open Championship setups and wind conditions favor a lower, more piercing ball flight to control the ball, Woods typically opts for a driving iron instead of a higher-flying 5 wood. Driving irons allow Woods to increase the ball speed on his famous stinger compared to a standard long iron, giving him greater control and distance.

At last year’s Open Championship, Woods used a newly unveiled GAPR-LO driving iron, but he’s since opted for an older TaylorMade Tour Preferred UDI version when he does have a driving iron in the bag.

During Monday’s practice round at Royal Portrush, however, Woods was spotted with an all-new TaylorMade P-790 UDI 2-iron prototype, equipped with a Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White shaft. According to an Instagram post from @golfnation_, Woods isn’t the only to have access to the new prototype, though. Based on the post from Royal Portrush, the P-790 UDI prototypes are available to all competitors to test and use.

While the differences between the new prototype and the previously launched P-790 UDI are difficult to spot, this does suggest that TaylorMade has a new retail driving iron on the way. If you look closely, only TaylorMade’s logo is stamped on the toe, rather than the entire company name. Also, the screw in the toe (as seen in the second photo in the Instagram post above) is black instead of silver. Again, subtle but different.

The original P-790 UDI driving irons were constructed with 8620 carbon steel bodies, high-strength 4140 carbon steel faces, and their hollow cavities were injected with SpeedFoam. It remains to be seen whether the new prototype versions have the same construction, but we’ll keep you informed should TaylorMade provide further details in the coming days, weeks or months.

As for Woods, it’s likely that he’ll use the new driving iron this week. As he told PGATOUR.COM recently, he does most of his tinkering away from the course, so when he gets to the tournament, he “doesn’t tinker anymore.”