Tiger Woods Short Game Woes

I don't know what's wrong with his swing, I don't know why his short game doesn't work. I don't know what's going on his his head, I don't know if it's not wholly physical. What I do know is that when he plays well, I get to see shots made that no one else would be able to show us, and that makes golf more fun to watch to me.
 
The topic of this thread is Tiger's short game and that made for some good (or awful) TV highlights...but IMO he needs to hit FW's and Greens. Simple stuff (haha). He hasn't been able to put the ball in the FW reliably in a very very long time. He seemed to be just trying to kill it on every tee shot this week and (almost) none of them found the FW. That will put strain on every other part of the game. He needs to find a swing/club he can put in play and go from there. Build some confidence, make some easy pars and the rest will start to fall in place. The short game stuff is just weird - confidence will fix that.

I also think he needs to figure out a way to make golf fun again...or find the fun...he's looked miserable on the course for a while. Even when he was kinda playing well a couple years ago he didn't look like he was having any fun.

For the record - I'm not a big Tiger fan....but it's hard to watch anyone suffer like that on the course.
 
I've always thought he would break jacks record but I really don't see him winning period.

In the past his impeccable short game could save his ______.

Without it he's screwed.

I changed your post slightly to a fill in the blank. Tiger could have a bad day off of the tee one day, or be a bit wild on approaches another day, or take a crazy penalty stroke or what have you. The point is the same though because that short game always bailed him out.

His body has too many other injuries and his other early advantage (his length) isn't there relative to the field any more. If the short game is gone, then he's done.

Forget about passing Jack. If that short game doesn't improve, he won't be winning anywhere with a legit field.

I've never been a Tiger fan due to his attitude, language, etc., but it is sad to see. It all unraveled rather quickly.
 
I wonder if he was on roids and it just made him really really sharp and if he came off them this is the effect? This is a phenomenon.
 
I wonder if he was on roids and it just made him really really sharp and if he came off them this is the effect? This is a phenomenon.
Let's pretend for a moment that it's a 'fact' he was on roids. He has had no upper body issues, all lower body. So coming off the juice wouldn't effect his short game.
This whole theory that the short game is a mini full swing is just silly. He has bought into this for some reason and it's killing him.
If he ever plans on competing at a high level, he needs to figure something out.
 
Let's pretend for a moment that it's a 'fact' he was on roids. He has had no upper body issues, all lower body. So coming off the juice wouldn't effect his short game.
This whole theory that the short game is a mini full swing is just silly. He has bought into this for some reason and it's killing him.
If he ever plans on competing at a high level, he needs to figure something out.

The crazy part of this whole thing, is that I think he will.
What I am unsure of (excpet on a few courses), is that will he be the best in the world for 4 straight days against far deeper fields than he has ever played against.
 
I was thinking mentally freddie
 
Has anyone posted a video of all his poor short game shots yet? That could be a good clip.

The duffed chip and bladed sand shot are in the TW thread. Sad
 
Tiger: You're the Canadian Mac O'Grady. Figure out why I'm shanking...I'm catching it on the hosel right? Moving my head? I'm laying it off?
Foley: That, too.
Tiger: I'm pronating.
Foley: When you're not supinating.
Tiger: I'm clearing too early, clearing too late. My God, my swing feels like an unfolding chair!
Foley: Alright, take all your change and put it in your left pocket. Go on, do it. Now, tie your left shoe in a double knot.
Tiger: Tie my left shoe?
Tiger: Right now, do it! Turn the hat backwards. Turn your hat around. Do it, Tiger! Now take this tee and stick it behind your left ear.
Tiger: I look like a fool!
Foley: What do you think you look like shooting chili peppers up Fowler's azz? Do it now or I'm going to quit. I swear to God I'll quit. Now take this ball and hit it up the damn fairway.

Tiger: You're fired!
 
OK, chipping aside. He's Tiger Woods ... this will come around.

He's clearly still of the mindset of what it used to be like when a young Tiger Woods was the longest hitter in golf. It was a tremendous advantage for him ... THEN.

Forward to now, he's clearly just swinging too hard. He needs to 100% focus on tempo, keeping it in play should be paramount. A 285 yd drive splitting the fairway is better than a 320 yard drive in somebody's yard. Once he has this down and firmly established, maybe he ramps it up and goes for more distance, but you can't go for ultimate distance with bad tempo - there's just too much that can go wrong when swinging at your absolute maximum swing speed if your mind isn't where it need to be. Try an 85% swing speed Tiger - you'll still be as long as the Spieths of the world & he's doing ok.

Maybe he's worried his fans wouldn't understand Tiger not being one of the longest hitters in golf - he needs to get the f over that right quick. Rather than reinventing his swing all the time, he needs to realize he's older and has to play SMARTER with the body he has left. The chipping will take care of itself once he regains confidence and starts getting his tee shots in order ...
 
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OK, chipping aside. He's Tiger Woods ... this will come around.

He's clearly still of the mindset of what it used to be like when a young Tiger Woods was the longest hitter in golf. It was a tremendous advantage for him ... THEN.

Forward to now, he's clearly just swinging too hard. He needs to 100% focus on tempo, keeping it in play should be paramount. A 285 yd drive splitting the fairway is better than a 320 yard drive in somebody's yard. Once he has this down and firmly established, maybe he ramps it up and goes for more distance, but you can't go for ultimate distance with bad tempo - there's just too much that can go wrong when swinging at your absolute maximum swing speed if your mind isn't where it need to be. Try an 85% swing speed Tiger - you'll still be as long as the Spieths of the world & he's doing ok.

Maybe he's worried his fans wouldn't understand Tiger not being one of the longest hitters in golf - he needs to get the f over that right quick. Rather than reinventing his swing all the time, he needs to realize he's older and has to play SMARTER with the body he has left. The chipping will take care of itself once he regains confidence and starts getting his tee shots in order ...

curious if anyone else agrees that he's simply swinging too hard and needs to focus more on hitting fairways and getting off the tee reliably.
 
Oh wow I thought my chipping was bad today. Its sad to see him like that though.
 
curious if anyone else agrees that he's simply swinging too hard and needs to focus more on hitting fairways and getting off the tee reliably.

I mean hitting more fairways would help obviously but that really has no relation to how terribly his short game has been so obviously "swinging too hard" isn't his only issue
 
We kept making cracks today about our short games being inspired by Tiger Woods. :alien:
 
And that's the discussion to be had. Why is Tiger so polarizing.

Forget the small talk about his chipping and pitching.
But isn't that the whole point of this thread? Check out the thread title.
 
curious if anyone else agrees that he's simply swinging too hard and needs to focus more on hitting fairways and getting off the tee reliably.
I think that's a different problem entirely.
 
Tiger Woods Short Game Woes

If I were him, I would go out and buy new clubs. That's it! New clubs will help.
 
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Chris Dimarco made a great comment regarding Tiger/chipping: swing mechanics don't play a part in chipping. It's just feel. See the little shot, feel it, hit it. Tiger skulling a shot then working on his arm/body/hands motion after is just a sign that he's thinking mechanics and not using feel anymore. Tiger even talked, years ago, about seeing his putts/chips/pitches in his mind as though it were on video, or seeing a picture. Apparently all the swing changes and technical thoughts have broken his mind's eye/camera.
 
No idea what is going on in his head for him to have a short game that produces shots like that.

I've been suffering from the chipping/short game yips since mid 90s......it's a miserable thing - I have been able to get the hcp to a 9, but so many rounds of golf have been destroyed just because of the yips - full blow - even whiffed at the ball - pretty embarrassing.....but never had issues w/ the putter....I feel for anyone who has this.....and to say that you don't know technique, I beg to differ. It becomes a mental issue after awhile ----good luck TW with finding a cure.
 
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Chris Dimarco made a great comment regarding Tiger/chipping: swing mechanics don't play a part in chipping. It's just feel. See the little shot, feel it, hit it. Tiger skulling a shot then working on his arm/body/hands motion after is just a sign that he's thinking mechanics and not using feel anymore. Tiger even talked, years ago, about seeing his putts/chips/pitches in his mind as though it were on video, or seeing a picture. Apparently all the swing changes and technical thoughts have broken his mind's eye/camera.

most of the time when I found success in fighting the yips, I would focus on a landing spot and try not to think mechanics - and I found I was able to go for periods of times without issues - but the yips show up when you least expect them -
 
"Watching him play recently with his short game troubles actually makes me feel better about how bad mine is."
That's my father-in-laws thought lol
 
Those are painful videos to watch. He's completely lost his mojo. But Tiger will turn things around. Too talented. The golf world would love to see one more epic Tiger run. And there is a 90% chance it will happen imo.
 
"Watching him play recently with his short game troubles actually makes me feel better about how bad mine is."
That's my father-in-laws thought lol

I hear you. If he can shoot that badly, maybe there is some magic in my game? Just need to stay positive and work!
 
Was Geoff Ogilvy referring to Tiger Woods in his Golf Digest article from a couple of months ago?

"There's a very good player on tour, whom I don't care to identify, who has as bad a case of the pitching yips as I've ever seen. He's in a very dark place mentally and has become a master of disguising this weakness. He'll hit his ball to some extraordinarily difficult places to avoid hitting the 30-yard pitch from a tight lie. He's making a very good living, but sooner or later he'll face a 30-yard shot over a bunker on national TV when it really counts. He'll lay the sod over it three times in a row. And then you'll know who it is I'm talking about."
 
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