Tiger Woods Equipment Update: Amid Bridgestone Deal, TaylorMade, Nike Still In Golfer's Bag

Tiger Woods is back, which means — despite proclamations from diehard observers that golf, replete with young stars, was fine without the Big Cat — the golf world has turned its collective attention to every little detail concerning perhaps the greatest player ever.

The golf world loves to analyze the whims of equipment selection among even the most average professional players. That's why it was major news when Bridgestone Golf announced Thursday that Woods had officially signed a multi-year deal with the company, committing to playing its golf balls. Woods was long the poster-boy for Nike Golf — he was Nike Golf, lending the brand legitimacy since he signed on at the beginning of his career in 1996.

But after Nike announced it was shuttering its golf equipment business in August, the most famous name in the game was primed to make a comeback with any brand of sticks or balls he chose. This month Woods used Bridgestone's Tour B330S ball during his first tournament back after a more than 400-day layoff. It was a relatively successful comeback, and Woods is apparently comfortable enough with the company, which sits third in market share behind Callaway and Titleist, to officially sign on as an endorser.

That's the first domino to fall for Woods, who said in a news release the ball allows him to feel like he has "total control to hit all shots accurately."

It remains to be seen which direction Woods heads with the rest of his equipment. He's notoriously picky and has a savant-level ability to assess a club's performance — Golf Digest detailed that Woods could tell the difference in the thickness of two clubs' faces by the sounds they made when brushed against grass.

Woods has shown he's willing to experiment with clubs, but so far he has stuck with Nike irons. He used Nike VR pro irons and forged wedges at his comeback tournament, the World Hero Challenge in the Bahamas, this month. That'll ultimately have to change, with Nike no longer making new clubs and rumors abound about what he'll ultimately choose. Everything from Mizuno to upstart PXG have been floated as options.

Woods' old Nike drivers and woods, meanwhile, have already been tossed aside, at least for the time being. He switched to TaylorMade for his driver, 3-wood and 5-wood at the World Hero Challenge. He hasn't signed any official deal with the brand, as he has for Bridgestone, Monster energy drinks or Nike, the latter of which is still making golf apparel that Woods will continue to wear.

For his putter, Woods has returned to an old favorite. He's ditched Nike for a Scotty Cameron Newport model putter, which Woods used to win 13 of his 14 majors.

For the first time in a long time, Woods has been able to test out new clubs in a real competition. It's exciting for the golf diehards to see where he settles. Some of those same fans will likely end up buying equipment just because Woods switched to it.

For now, the legendary golfer seems set on playing the field after years as a Nike loyalist.

"I am still testing, I'm still trying to figure things out," Woods said after the World Hero Challenge, where he finished 15th. "I'm still in that process of — I just settled in on a couple things this week. For instance, the 3-wood I found, I found it in the back of a shed here early in the week. It's still new to me here, OK, so let’s just take a little time."