Is #Golf Becoming Too Tough for Tiger Woods?

In a recent CNN article, the caption below a photo of Tiger Woods at The Memorial Golf Tournament read, "Tiger Woods Hits New Low". Woods struggled with irons, driver and putter during round three of the Tournament, carded an 85 and called the sport "tough" and "lonely".

If golf was an easy game, Tiger, everyone would score in the 70's!

Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Arnold Palmer have all carded several rounds in the 80's and, although they were down, they were not counted out - neither should Tiger Woods be thought of as being at the end of his career.

Then you have the critics who feel the need to play devil's advocate for their readers and viewers, such as Brandel Chamblee, who believes that tweaking his swing and changing swing coaches too many times has turned Tiger Woods from greatness to mediocrity.

"He’s traded his genius for the ideas of others, said Chamblee. "He’s changed his body in the gym for bulk. Everything that we see here is the result of what he’s done over the last four, five, six, seven, eight years."

We all know that golf is not easy nor is it longer considered by many to be a "game". The mental and physical image set long ago by players who smoked cigars and let bellies bulge from loud, un-matching apparel has been swapped by many younger players for hours in the gym and a conversion of golf from game into sport.

For the pros (and for many confident amateurs), this sport comes down to how hard they want to push and how focused their confidence is on the shots they want to make so yes, it could be considered "tough".

When it comes to the "loneliness" factor, if you are playing for personal improvement, golf is a lonely sport.

If you are playing for fun and recreation (cigars, beer hanging out wtih your buddies) then golf most certainly isn't a lonely sport - so it depends on how you want to approach the game!

As for Tiger Woods, his opinion and persona still greatly matter to golf. What he says and how he reacts either motivates or dissuades fans and new players who want and need inspiration.


Do you think golf is tough and a solitary sport? Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and on this golf blog.

photo: eurweb.com

After Nicklaus tie, is Tiger Woods ready for major comeback?

With putts rolling into the cup and memorable fist pumps showing shades of the "old"  Tiger Woods, watching the back nine on Sunday at Muirfield Village was like reveling in the return of an old golf buddy.

 

There was an electric current flowing through the air with fans anxiously holding their collective breath waiting for Woods to fumble, waiting for Woods to miss another putt...but none of that happened. Instead, a focused Tiger pounced on his shots and gave fans a show worthy of the 2012 season highlights reel.

 

 

Television cameras aimed their focus on Jack Nicklaus on several occasions and spectators could see an anxious golf hero of old waiting impatiently to officially greet his successor.

 

"If he's going to do it, which he was obviously going to,” Nicklaus said, “I'd like to see it happen here,"   ...and it did.

When Tiger Woods finally met with Jack Nicklaus at the edge of the 18th green, handshakes and congenialities were exchanged and voices of the past exclaiming that Woods had no shot at Nicklaus' records were quieted.

 

And now questions of breaking Nicklaus' major records are being raised. Can Woods do it? Six months ago this same question would have been met with questions; Is his achilles healed...how is his swing...is his head in the game?

 

From ESPN which conjectures that "Tiger is on track heading to U.S. Open" to Golf Channel which put the question up to the fans for discussion, opinions are mixed at best. ESPN "experts" place Tiger's chances on or about twenty-five percent (except for Collins who raised the stakes to seventy-five percent) stating that Woods' game needs work, from his driver to bunker shots to putting. Fans on Golf Channel like Tiger's chances with a big "but"..."you never know what a guy's going to do week-to-week."

 

One thing fans can be sure of is that Woods will be "riding the momentum to San Francisco" in two weeks.

 

Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and friend us on Facebook.

 

Photo credit: yahoo.com

Posted via email from stacysolomon's posterous

Is Nicklaus ready to skin Woods before the Memorial?

When Jack Nicklaus instituted the first nine-hole skins game before the 2009 Memorial Tournament, he chose Tiger Woods as one of this group. Fans got an eyeful watching the two greatest golfers in the world play side-by-side with Woods chipping in at eighteen to seal the deal.

Last year, Nicklaus said, "They had me paired in the other group, and I said, uh-uh. I said, 'I haven't played with him for nine years. I'd like to play with Tiger.' So they said OK. I'm really looking forward to it."

This year tells quite a different story as Nicklaus has extricated himself from Woods' group instead pairing himself with Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Sean O'Hair and Kenny Perry, all perceived by the public to be stand-up guys.

Not that Steve Stricker (one of my favorite golfers besides Mickelson), Zack Johnson or Jim Furyk won't add a bit of pizazz to Woods' foursome (Rory McIlroy has possibilities as you can watch the girls swooning all around him) but what was the method to Nicklaus' decision?

Bleacher Report asks, "Couldn't Jack have played with both of them?"

A Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson pairing would have left all of the other great PGA Tour golfers struggling for television time. The only way you could get the cameras rolling on Team "B" would be if there was a hole-in-one or if one of the guys started cussing about something (microphones will be in use by the players.)

It's also good to switch up the golfers from one year to the next. Kenny Perry played in the 2009 Woods/Nicklaus group and he isn't in the Golden Bear's 2010 "fivesome".

Maybe Jack just doesn't want to hustle too much. In 2009 Nicklaus "made fun of himself for playing several of the par-4s like par-5s and suggested he needed to play from the forward tees." Tiger may be a tad too competitive for Nicklaus. Mickelson, just cut from the Colonial last week, may be more to his pace.

This feels a bit like Ryder Cup whimsy, doesn't it?


Free admission for kids tomorrow and, for those fans nowhere near Dublin, Ohio, you can catch the action on the Golf Channel from 1:00p.m. to 3:30 p.m.