Meditations on Tiger Woods

On August 4th I posted the following articles and notes on Google+, and they generated a bit of a discussion among friends:

Tiger Woods

I cannot help but think that Tiger came back too early from his back injury and surgery.

Tiger should of shut it down for the remainder of the year.

Maybe for good. Hate to see him struggle when he used to be the best ever.

His agent is apparently not ruling him out for Valhalla this week. I'm, like, are you kidding me?  In his heyday, Tiger was simply enthralling. I don't know if he seeks out the counsel of the old masters of the game - Jack, Arnold et al. - but he probably has a lot to learn and adopt. I don't think he should hang it all up, because he still has a lot of years left to play. 

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This time I don't agree with SportsNation: Still fairly young, Tiger should be confident about winning his 15th.

I'm with you. Tiger will win a few Majors before he walks away from the game. Time is on his side and his game is far from gone. I believe he'll figure all this out.

Tiger is so determined and competitive that he may be his own worst enemy, as far as dealing with injuries is concerned.  But I agree with you: He's shown an ability to evolve his game, so he can figure out how to play competitive golf at this stage in his career.   

What's next for Tiger Woods?

Rory may now have a better chance of breaking 18 majors than Tiger: What do you think?

Rors is in beast mode and he's hard to take off the top of the leaderboard when he's playing this well, however golf is a game of cycles and just as quickly has he's made things go right, things can go wrong for him at this will open the door for many players.

Well said, Robert. One writer likens Rory's game more to that of Phil, than Tiger, because it's unpredictable. So we'll see how the young man keeps playing.

It is way too early to compare these two players! Rory is great, but only time will tell whether he can sustain that over his career. Give the kid a break - he is a nice young man who has a refreshing attitude about him. Maybe he should strive to be more like Phil than Tiger. At least Phil has his priorities straight. Tiger has lost his soul in the process of his narcissistic pursuit! 

The car wreck that was his personal and marital life may have been worse than he can admit, because it seems to be a tipping point of sorts. I've contended that there are psychological roadblocks en route to his next major. But I think you're absolutely right: He's in a spiritual crisis as well. 

If we just want to talk about Tiger's golfing and not his character, there are a few things he needs to do if he is going to have any chance at breaking Jack's major record. He needs to learn to hit the ball in the fairway with his driver. If he is going to come into the green with a mid iron while Rory is using a wedge or other short iron, he will never be able to compete. He needs to learn to swing easier so there is less stress on his back. He can still hit the ball a long way without trying to kill it. He needs to have some fun playing the game - perhaps adopt a Trevino attitude. I play golf, and the more relaxed I am the better I play. Golf is too important to him. I believe if it were less important, he would do better because he would be more relaxed - and maybe hit the odd ball in the fairway. Just my thoughts. 

I agree with many of Ian's assessments of Tiger changes and will add, if TW is unable to match Rors, Bubba and others in length of the tee, he needs to recapture the magic he once owned with his putter. When Tiger dominated golf he ruled by virtue of his putter.

I agree with you entirely Robert. This guy was the best pressure putter the game has ever seen.

Tiger's game is in such shambles right now, I'm not even sure where he ought to begin. A large part of his success in the past was the intimidation factor: Other golfers knew that, come Sunday, Tiger would be roaring up the leaderboard, if he were down. That knowledge in and of itself paved the way for Tiger. Now, it seems only the media, and we fans, that pay attention to him, and with a less than healthy Tiger, his game isn't going anywhere fast!

The two people that know Tigers game and swing best are his father and Butch. Tiger can't turn to daddy but Butch is obtainable.  I don't think Tiger is enjoying the game in recent years if he could only drop much of the life and death consequence of winning he might just find himself on top of the final leaderboard on Sundays.