Dear Tiger

tiger-woodsDear 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.

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7 Comments

  • Tony Lucas

    Reply Reply June 7, 2015

    paralysis by analysis
    Cheers Lukey

  • JD Williams

    Reply Reply June 8, 2015

    One of your best blogs, Cameron, and you’re exactly right. Been there, suffered that. Had the same miserable experience as Tiger about 25 years ago, chasing the perfect swing. Went from being a decent club golfer with a homemade swing, who occasionally shot a round in the 70s, to an awkward hack who sometimes couldn’t break 100.
    It took a serious medical crisis to steer me back in the right direction. Recovering from major surgery forced me to forget all my mechanical calculations and focus entirely on making comfortable swings. Which in turn forced me to concentrate on the proper goal—figuring out how to score with the swing I had. Lo, and behold! My game slowly started to improve. Took a long time playing infrequently, but when I got back to playing regularly a couple of times a week, my scores eventually dropped into the low 80s again, with a mid-to-high 70s round now and then. That’s still my general scoring pattern, except that now it’s from the senior tees. However, there are a lot of younger golfers who would love to score that well from there, so I’m content with the status quo.
    I’m afraid it’s unlikely that Tiger will read your blog, and probably wouldn’t follow your advice if he did—but you’ve told him the solution to his problem. Maybe if one of his girlfriends whacks him with another 3-iron and he has to start swinging comfortably again while he’s recuperating, he’ll return to the Tiger of old. But the clock is ticking, as you said. He better listen soon.

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply June 9, 2015

      Thanks JD. It’s quite a common story. I have heard it all 100 times and even the great TW is not immune to poor play if we mess with Mother Nature.

      Nothing like getting some perspective to get your game back on track. Hope you keep giving it to those younger golfers.

      Great work.

      Cameron

  • Michael murphy

    Reply Reply June 8, 2015

    Good one cam, email it too him, won’t hurt!

    • Cameron

      Reply Reply June 9, 2015

      I don’t have his email address MM. LOL it would be good to send it.

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