ESPN Sports Science: The Torque on Tiger

In the post marital shenanigans era, Tiger Woods has been nothing like his former self on the golf course.  Sure, he's regained the number one spot in the PGA, and he's still the highest earning golfer around.  But without a major since 2008, there is increasing doubt that he will ever break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 wins.  His oeuvre is arrested at 14 wins.  Moreover, he has suffered assorted injuries in this span, including a serious back injury, for which he had surgery in March and which recurred when he returned to play over the summer, clearly too soon for his own good.

In terms of physics, John Brenkus gives us the lowdown on the amount of stress Woods has subjected his body to, simply by playing the dominant game he's played over several years.  Like many athletes, he is evidently reluctant to acknowledge the impact of this stress and to do what he needs to do to recover from his injury: namely, take more time to rest and heal, ease back into the game, and probably most difficult of all adjust his game accordingly. 

In a related vein, Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose has had two season-ending injuries to one knee, then the other knee, and really hasn't play much basketball over the last three seasons.  The season before he tore his ACL, in particular, he suffered various injuries and missed about a third of the games.  There is every indication, then, that at such a young age, just in his mid-20s, his body is wearing down.  Talk from him, his teammates, the Bulls front office, the media and fans is to see if he can recover the old Derrick Rose.

But as a Google+ friend said of Woods, I think Rose also harbors a suspect psyche.  There is no athlete who is invincible or omnipotent.  They're stronger, more agile, and more flexible than the average person, but they are still very much human.  If they don't adapt their game to their aging bodies, then Father Time will inevitably win over their bodies sooner than later.  Woods and his handlers may or may not have seen this Brenkus episode of Sports Science, but if I were he, I'd take serious note and work diligently at adjusting the force and mechanics of his swing.

As for Rose, let's see how he weathers a new NBA season and what adjustments (if any) he makes to his game.

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.

Tiger Woods Not Going Gracefully

Tiger Woods

After we learned in March that his back injury was too serious for him to keep playing, and that it needed surgery, many analysts were not sure when he'd return to the links.  Maybe sometime in the summer, I thought.  It was a bit of a surprise to hear him announce a week before that he'd play at the Quicken Loans National this past weekend.

Apparently he was pleased enough with his play, even though it was terrible: He bogeyed seven holes in Round 1, and bogeyed five holes, plus double-bogeyed one, in Round 2.  The main reason he returned, as many thought, was because this tournament benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation.  But he didn't seem to have been close to ready, and he must've been embarrassed to have missed the cut at +4.

Woods has an awesome 14 Majors in his resume, but he hasn't won one in six years now, the US Open being the last.  At 38 I'd say he has plenty of time to win more, although it's unlikely that he'll reach Jack Niklaus' 18 Majors.  He's a determined competitor, no doubt, but I wonder how patiently and wisely he's approaching his training, preparations and play at this point.  I wonder, too, about the mind game, after a disaster of a marriage and an accumulating set of injuries.

He seemed positively invincible in the run-up to 14 Majors, but he has been grossly flawed since.  So again more wins to add to his resume?  My money is on him.  But he's in the waning stages of his career, and he doesn't seem to have the mind or the body to go gracefully into that night.

Tiger Woods Battles Injury and Record

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Reference:  Tiger has back surgery.

Now we know how serious those back spasms were...

Reference:  Disappointing News for Tiger, Golf Fans.

How much will Tiger's absence impact viewership for the upcoming Master's and the business of golf?

It won't impact my viewership. I'm tired of the constant focus on Woods.

Well, so far, it's been a really interesting Masters! From birdie-birdie-birdie, right to bogey-bogey. Plus, Lefty playing ping-pong with himself, between bunkers. Augusta is a beast!

Nicklaus' 18-majors record is such an accomplishment, that even a healthy Tiger has a tough time breaking. http://t.co/iQnQjR6srD @espngolf
— sportsPond53 (@sportsPond53) April 2, 2014

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD

A Question of Major Wins for Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

One corporate algorithm I created is targeT², and it's meant to help top leaders hit tough targets.  targeT² does a complete sweep of factors, that are necessary to hit those tough targets, and one of them has to do with personal relationships.  It is hush-hush for a CEO, for instance, if he or she were having an extramarital affair.  I respect the CEO's right to decide and choose, this right being a fundamental value of a democratic society.  But if he or she saw the value of engaging me as a management consultant, then we'd have to explore anything and everything that bears upon those tough targets.

Look at Tiger Woods.  

He worked his ass off, and clawed back to Number One ranking in the golf world.  This, though, after his extramarital affairs exploded onto the media, leaving his marriage is disarray, and drastically pulled down his performance.  He won five PGA tours last year, but he's going on six years now without a Major win.  He's stuck at still a phenomenal 14 wins, but the very idea of breaking Jack Nicklaus' record 18 grows ever fainter each passing year.

"I know that I don't have 20 years in my prime," Woods said earlier this week. "I'm 38, I don't see being 58 and being in my prime. Most guys don't jump from the foul line at age 58, so it's a little different, but the outlook is still the same. I still prepare the same, I still work my tail off to be ready to compete at this level and beat everyone that I'm playing against." 

Would he still be happy with his career if he won "only" 14 majors? 

"All I know is that I'm still in I feel my peak years," he said. "I'm still playing well. There have been a number of guys who have gone on even in their early 40s to win major championships. Mark [O'Meara] did it -- he's the oldest one to do it, to win multiples in the same year. Jack won in his 40s, Hogan won multiples in his 40s, actually 38 and above. I feel like I've got a number of years ahead of me and I'm really looking forward to that."

Reference: Even if he does win the Farmers, Tiger Woods can't win this week.

That fact that Woods started to win in bunches again last year is obviously in his favor, and there is a good likelihood that he will win at least one more Major, before he stashes his clubs in the closet for good.  I'd love to do formal analytics of his chances at winning one, two, three, four, five Majors, and so on.  But I'd say those chances are on a downward trajectory.  

As a management consultant, with targeT² on hand, I can help Woods position himself in an even better position to break Nicklaus' record.  He definitely has reason to be hopeful, especially as he noted in that last paragraph, above.  He's on the doorstep to 40 years old, and O'Meara, Nicklaus and Hogan wait for him with wins inside the aged, hallowed house.  

But the question is, Will Tiger actually be one of them?

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD