Memorial Lessons From Tiger
Article by Charlie G Wallace
What a stunning performance from Tiger Woods at the Memorial event in Ohio on Sunday. Four strokes off the lead at the start of the final day, Tiger blazed his way to the top of the leaderboard and then held off challenges from both Jim Furyk and Jonathon Byrd to win his fourth Memorial title.
I watched the closing holes from about the 14th and saw Tiger taking out the opposition with a birdie on the 18th hole after a brilliant approach shot. He is definitely a man for the big occasion and big events and he instinctively knows when, and how to apply pressure on his opponents.
I know there are some who don’t like Tiger, but I am a big fan. We are lucky enough to be witnessing one of the best golfers ever in Tiger and one just has to admire the way he plays the game.
What can we learn from Tiger’s performance that could be useful to our games as golf beginners or seasoned players?
There are three things that stand out for me about Tiger on Sunday;
1. His desire to win2. His ability to get the job done, and3. His phenomenal success rate off the tee in the final round.
Just focussing on the third of these, Tiger hit the fairways on every occasion he was required to. 100% fairways in regulation and the TV commentators (which included Nick Faldo) rated his final round as one of his best ever.
If you’re anything like me, consistency off the tee is more of an aspiration than a reality. I do sometimes get it right and sometimes my drives are OK, but I’ve a tendency to hook and slice and I usually have some of each in the course of my rounds.
I always have a smile when I see the pros spraying their drives left or right. It reassures me that even the best can do it, and of course, Tiger is no stranger to these errors. In recent times he has been guilty of them quite often.
Some pundits reckon that he attempts to hit the driver a lot harder in tour events than he does in practice. He doesn’t take his practice drives to the course when he plays in competitions. By all accounts, he did on Sunday. He wasn’t thrashing the drives and consequently he ended up on the fairway every time he needed to.
This tells us two things;
1. That it is important to identify and recognise important elements of our games that need correcting;driving, approach shots, pitching, chipping or putting and doing something about them, and
2. That controlled drives off the tee landing on the fairway will (should) produce a better round of golf and lower scores. [The corollary of this, of course, is that the controlled shots practiced on the range are the ones we should use on the course. There is no point in learning and practicing to do something and then doing something else when you take your game public.]
After my game at the weekend I know that my putting let me down, and if I had landed on the fairway more frequently, I could have shaved 5 to 7 shots off my score. Something to look forward to next time, hey? There’s always something that keeps us coming back.
About the Author
Charlie Wallace is a former college lecturer and trainer who is passionate about golf. His website contains some simple instruction for golf beginners – young and old, men and women. For a great place to start your golf journey and to return to for golf tips and hints – www.start2playgolf.com