13 July 2010 11:37 GMT

Tiger Woods has changed the putter that has won him 13 major championships in preparation for his bid to win The Open three times in succession at St Andrews. For the first time since 1999 he has rolled out a new weapon in practice to combat the slower than expected Old Course greens.

Wet weather in the build-up to the Championship has kept the green at around 10 on the stimpmeter rather than the figure of 14 that is more normal and Woods confessed: “I’ve always struggled on slower greens and putted well on faster greens. With the new groove technology the ball comes off the new putter faster and rolls better. I’ve experimented with other putters throughout the years, but I’ve never put one in play until now. The new putter means that I have not had to make that much of an adjustment in how hard I’m hitting it compared to if I was using my old putter.”

The importance of putting at the Home of Golf was stressed by the man who lifted the Claret Jug here in both 2000 and 2005. “You’re going to have some real long putts here no matter how well you play and you just have to get down in two. You can hit 18 greens and shoot a high number because you’re just so far away from the hole. If the wind blows, hitting a wedge 30, 40, 50 feet happens a lot.”

He doesn’t feel that his length gives him an advantage at St Andrews. “A lot of guys can hit the ball as far as I do. But this golf course requires placement. Just because it’s wide off the tee doesn’t mean you can blow it all over the place. You have to hit the ball in the correct spots. And the two years that I’ve played well here, I’ve done that. I’ve managed my game really well, and more importantly, I’ve lag putted beautifully.

“In order to win an Open you have to control your trajectory more so than in the other three major championships we play. Here you’re bringing the ball down, creativity is coming out because obviously you’re trying to judge the bounce, how much it’s going to roll on the ground. You’re playing so many more different shots here, and I think that’s one of the reasons why some of The Open champions in the past have been wonderful ball strikers. Most of The Open champions have been very creative players that can really control their trajectory.”

The brilliance of the Old Course design, created more by nature than by man, appeals to Woods. “It’s still able to withstand the test of time. Players have gotten longer, equipment has changed, but this golf course is still relevant and it can still be very difficult. I think that’s down to the angles and the wind. On a calm day you can shoot 65 every round. On a windy day like Sunday the leader might be 80. It’s amazing what wind can do. There’s so much movement out there on the fairways and the greens that, boy, you’ve really got to hit the ball and lag putt well.”