July 19, 2009

I want to say one thing about Tom's play this week, it was fun and exciting to watch!

When they replay the video of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus playing against each other back in 1977, I remember watching that while it was happening and I can remember, I was glued to the TV.

It was a real duel in the Sun and golf doesn't have that many exciting duels like that anymore.

To watch Tom get up to the ball and look once at the target and then pull the trigger, makes me wonder whether that is the better way to play.  It seems to me, the more you stand over the ball, waggling and trying to make sure you are all lined up correctly and trying to remember all the techniques about take away and don't move your head, and this and that, it just promotes a bad result.

Tom Watson is one of the greatest players ever and to perform like he did this week at the age of 59, is freakin' awesome!

And what about Tiger?

I do miss seeing Tiger on the weekend, but I have to say, I know exactly why he's playing the way he is. 

He's being over taught!

There I said it.  I know most people watching golf want to see him in the hunt if not leading it.  They love to watch him because he's exciting to watch.  There are so many PGA players who have as much personality as a banana.  Granted they're all great players, but they could use a little charisma.  Smile damn it!  It's not so bad.

I know why Tiger's playing poorly.

Tiger is playing poorly because he's trying too hard to attain that perfect swing.  He already has about as perfect a swing as is possible.  The only thing left to sharpen is his mental game, which is also off the charts.

But ever since his knee surgery, his game hasn't been the same.  Sure he's won a few tournaments, but he's also been really streaky.

I've watched and studied his swing since he came on tour and watched him change his swing over the years and for the most part it's been getting better.  But in the last year, I don't think the swing changes are better.  I think they are worse.

Let me list some of the reasons I see that he's not playing as we all think he should:

• He's standing too upright - he's never been this upright in his career.  And the fact that he's getting worse off the tee with his driver, especially some wayward pop ups in the Open Championship, tells me I'm right.  When he's standing so tall, he gets off balance on the backswingg just enough to start down inside and his path is a severe inside-out path that leads to nothing but fescue.
• Too many waggles - In the last few tournaments of this year I've seen him waggle way too much.  It's ruining his timing, so he's already off before he takes the club back.  I really wonder where that came from.
• Too upgright on putts - the same thing with his putting.  He's standing too upright and it can prevent you from seeing the line properly.  The announcers on TV even commented about it in one tournament early this year.
• Too uptight - when Tiger has played his best and his most exciting, is when you can tell he's having fun playing.  He's trying things and executing cools shots and we love it and he loves it.  Lately, he seems really robot-like and he seems to have lost his mojo.  I'd like to see him smile more and loosen up.  I'd bet anything that he would play better by loosening up.
• Stop being taught - Tiger's won everything on the planet.  He's just going for more records now, which is fine.  But IMHO, trying to attain the perfect golf swing is just getting in his way.  He doesn't have to be taught!  He can't learn anything new!  All he has to do is work out the kinks, and he's done that before, he'll do it again. Go back to what felt good and solid.  Stop trying to find the NEW perfect swing.

Granted, he's a father and a husband now, and that can take a lot of time and energy out of a person, especially with infants.  But I know golf is still at the top of his list of priorities.  What he needs to do when he tees it up is, go out there and enjoy it.  Enjoy life!  Don't go out there with the thought of winning every tournament. 

I think as you get older, having thoughts of winning everything when you start a round can backfire when you aren't playing your best.  It's harder to recover from a bad hole or even a bad first round.

I'd like to see how he would play if for one round he tried to summon up the attitude he had when he was a teenager and thought it would be fun to pummel the competition.  "Fun" being the operative word here.  At that age you have a recklessness, but combined with talent like his becomes a potent combination.

Also, at that age there is a broad spectrum of top notch players, where on tour, there is a tighter spectrum of top notch players.  The fact that he's won as many tournaments as he has, is just phenomenal.  There are more younger players coming out on tour that are really Really good, like Anthony Kim, Rory McElroy, and others.

To me his stance at address doesn't look as athletic as it used to be, in part because he's standing so upright.  He needs to relax, get in to a nice comfortable power stance and just let it right.  He seems to let every bad shot get him down.  You can see the extreme frustration he gets after he hits an errant shot.  I know what that's like.

I tried for year when I was in my 20's to be good enough to get on tour.  That was all I thought about and I really had no plan for what I would do if I didn't make it.  I would play practice rounds and I would have one good round in the low 70's or high 60's and then follow it up with a round in the mid to high 70's.  You don't win golf tournaments like that.

I would get real frustrated with the game and myself.  And after several years of trying, I had to resign myself to the fact that I was just not good enough to get on tour.  Sure if they had tournaments that were one round, sometimes I would have a chance if I shot that good single round.  But I rarely strung a few good rounds together.

Tiger has always been able to come back from a bad shot or round.  But it seems like he's having more and more of a problem bouncing back as he gets older.

Tiger, you're not old!  Just summon up some of that mojo you had in college or even back in 2000 and have fun!

Missed the cut at the Open Championship

Need I remind you what happened the last time Tiger missed a cut?  I think it was back in 2006.  When he finally teed it up again, he won seven (7) tournaments in a row!

To Tiger and Tom, I'm glad to have been around to watch you play.  You both are a joy to watch.