Tiger Woods’ dominating performance (and here is a video of the swing that he used) in winning this year’s British Open gives us hackers something to think about next time we tee it up on our home course.
Woods averaged 291 yards off the tee at Royal Liverpool, which stretches over 7,200 yards. He led the field by hitting 48 of 56 fairways while making three eagles, 19 birdies, 43 pars and seven bogeys. And nothing worse than that.
By the way, Woods accomplished this mostly by not using his driver, which he used precisely once during the entire tournament. His club of choice off most par 4’s and 5’s was his steady 2-iron.
Now, links golf is different from American golf in that the ball rolls farther and the need for forced carries is not as great on links courses. However, count the number of fairways you are hitting with your driver the next time you play. If it’s less than 75%, then try a round without using it at all. My bet is that your score will not be much different and, if it is, it will probably be lower.
By the way, I wonder if Phil Mickelson noticed what Tiger was hitting off the tee?
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
Watching Tiger dissect Royal Liverpool was like observing a masterful artist in full-blown creative mode – no wasted motion whatsoever.
And when DiMarco crept up only one shot behind, he threw his game into another gear that only the immortals seem to have, and ran off birdies on 14, 15, and 16 to close him and the rest of the field out.
I certainly have not been a Tiger apologist in the past – I have always thought he needed to take Arnold Palmer’s advice closer to heart: As the story goes, El Tigre was sitting in the champions’ locker room at August, complaining that he couldn’t have a life like a normal 25 year old. Arnie reminded Tiger that normal 25 year olds don’t have $50 million in the bank, and then suggested that he either give the money back, or shut up and deal with his celebrity.
Still, it was impressive to watch the performance he put out there on Sunday. And how he collapsed into Stevie Williams’ arms and sobbed was able to soften even my hard heart.
Great stuff, that (as Johnny Miller would have said if the Open had been on NBC).
The only loser for the weekend was Nike. Tiger hits driver only once in 4 rounds. So how many $400 Sasquach drivers do you think that Nike will sell in the next few weeks? At least the marketing guys there had the foresight to have Tiger wear a Nike cap that had the Nike One golf ball logo on the side, in place of the usual SSQ.
I think I’m going to go hit a large bucket…..