Dear Tiger,
I woke this morning and saw you shot 85. What’s happening mate?
Don’t expect you to listen to what I’ve got to say because you’re no doubt too busy trying to fix your swing, reprogram your swing or find something that can get you back to where you KNOW you should be.
For what it’s worth, here’s my advice.
Stop fucking around with your golf swing. Can you remember back to 2000 when you won those 3 majors and nearly everything else you teed it up in? You might not have been a fan of your golf swing back then, but boy could you play. Or perhaps you can think back to when you were a young Tiger and simply went out and played the game. You didn’t get bogged down in all the nitty gritty of swing mechanics (at least I wouldn’t think you did – kids rarely do) but instead, you looked where you wanted the ball to go and you hit it. Much easier and fun way to play eh?
I’d get rid of all the swing Gurus and I challenge you to play the way YOU want. Seems that many of these instructors are in it for themselves. Nobody can actually agree on what is the best swing anyway, so why bother with it all? But I bet if we went down to the range and I asked you to hit a power fade off the tall pine, you’d no doubt be able to accomplish it. And I’m sure you could hit any shot that was asked of you…
… so why don’t you take this kind of amazing ball striking ability to the golf course? Why can’t you just hit that fucking ball in a way that suits you?
And please don’t think I’m naive to all this golf science stuff. Been there and done that. Here’s something you might be interested in…
… I’ve been lucky enough to rub shoulders with some of the smartest biomechanics on the planet and for the most part they drummed into me that golf mechanics are only a very small part of the golf learning puzzle. They told me that it’s not possible to load in swing theory and technical advice and expect a better swing to pop out. Nope, it’s just not that simple. If the sports scientists (the real ones) wouldn’t have you get all technical, why are you listening to all these quasi-gurus?
You probably know all this but you’re stuck. And you think that if you keep tweaking and stuffing about that maybe you’ll find a way out. But I’d be careful. You’ve been playing poorly for a few years now and despite all the talent and all the victories and all the God-given ability, if you keep fucking around with it you’ll lose it.
No human alive is good enough to over-ride their learning system. Not even Tiger Woods. But I’m sure if you got back to hitting the ball to the target in a way that felt good to you then something really good would happen.
Your golf swing would find you. And YOUR golf swing is going to be far better than anything these instructors are trying to beat into you. From here anything could happen. Yep, you might win again but I don’t reckon that wouldn’t be the best part. You might just start to enjoy golf again and get a deeper satisfaction because you’re playing golf near your potential. And that’s really any golfer can hope for.
I’d love to see you back playing your best. Golf needs you because it’s just a tad boring when you’re missing cuts and shooting these poor scores. Anyway, I hope you’re able to find whatever it is you’re looking for.
Good luck with your projects.
Regards,
Cameron Strachan
P.S. I also think if you stopped trying to force your body into positions it doesn’t really want to go you’d have less injuries. Nothing like working with yourself, rather than against, to get the forces of nature on your side.