Was reading a couple of interesting articles in US Golf World magazine last night. One was about this journo’s relationship with Tiger Woods…what sort of bloke Woods was behind the scenes etc. etc. The other was about the lost art of shot making and reference within to Woods and Geoff Ogilvy.
The latter article referred to how modern equipment and course design and set up has made shot making dormant and that for all intents and purposes a player nowadays just simply has to aim straight at a target and swing and doesn’t have to alter their ball flight much anymore like they used to back in the early 90’s and earlier e.g. move the ball in the air left to right or vice-versa …hit high and low etc.
But the article was saying that when the majors come around the course set up is usually a lot different to a regular event and the players are forced back into shot making mode. The fairways and greens are harder and faster, the course is longer and narrower so position comes into play, and pins are tucked away much more. However, most of them bar Woods are incapable of making the change back because they’ve lost the art through improvement to equipment – especially the low spin balls – and have become lazy.
Apparently, according to Ogilvy, leading up to majors, Tiger Woods changes his ball to one with the highest spin rate possible and spends hours on the range practicing all manner of weird and high bending shots and stingers and stuff. He then actually employs these shots in events leading up to the majors so that he’s absolutely tuned in to be able to move the ball around in the air any way that he wants to.
This often leads to a completely different strategy as to how he may attack a hole in a major (or the whole course for that matter) compared to his competitors. Apparently his competitors and his competitors caddies often get bewildered by what he’s doing. He’ll hit shorter or longer clubs than is necessary…hit to spots on fairways that nobody else is aiming for then radically shape the next one from there to get as close to the pin as possible. All sorts of stuff. Ogilvy reckons it is amazing to watch.
The latter article referred to how modern equipment and course design and set up has made shot making dormant and that for all intents and purposes a player nowadays just simply has to aim straight at a target and swing and doesn’t have to alter their ball flight much anymore like they used to back in the early 90’s and earlier e.g. move the ball in the air left to right or vice-versa …hit high and low etc.
But the article was saying that when the majors come around the course set up is usually a lot different to a regular event and the players are forced back into shot making mode. The fairways and greens are harder and faster, the course is longer and narrower so position comes into play, and pins are tucked away much more. However, most of them bar Woods are incapable of making the change back because they’ve lost the art through improvement to equipment – especially the low spin balls – and have become lazy.
Apparently, according to Ogilvy, leading up to majors, Tiger Woods changes his ball to one with the highest spin rate possible and spends hours on the range practicing all manner of weird and high bending shots and stingers and stuff. He then actually employs these shots in events leading up to the majors so that he’s absolutely tuned in to be able to move the ball around in the air any way that he wants to.
This often leads to a completely different strategy as to how he may attack a hole in a major (or the whole course for that matter) compared to his competitors. Apparently his competitors and his competitors caddies often get bewildered by what he’s doing. He’ll hit shorter or longer clubs than is necessary…hit to spots on fairways that nobody else is aiming for then radically shape the next one from there to get as close to the pin as possible. All sorts of stuff. Ogilvy reckons it is amazing to watch.
