Golf Owes Tiger an Apology

Golf Owes Tiger an Apology

Okay, Tiger read a script in an effort to salvage Tiger Inc. and the cash cow. Good luck with that (or, who really cares about that?).

But Tiger is not really the problem. The main problem WE have concerns the game of golf. Is golf unique as a sport of honor and integrity, or not? Does anyone not notice that "golf" is in crisis?

Golf at the present means ET-style celebrities, private Gulfstream GV jets, gi-normous mega-yachts (Tiger's is 155 feet long, Greg Norman's is 228 feet), $4,000-a-day sex rehab clinics, gold-plated helicopters toting golf toadies of Wall-Street marquee frauds, bagmen and pimps and wingmen masquerading as sports agents, secret cell phones and hook-up hotels, tabloid paparazzi following trophy wives on "Shop Therapy" junkets, lying on television, police investigations, prostitutes and whores and gigolos and threesomes, $10,000-a-hand blackjack and Jack Daniels and $2 tips, ...

So whose fault is that? Tim Finchem's, that's who! And oh yes, me. And you too.

Tiger Woods is golf's crack cocaine. He's that good. Which is too bad for golf. Golf has an addiction, and golf is stealing grandma's egg money to support it.

The cure probably won't take.

Golf enabled Tiger Woods. He was given $50,000 country club memberships at the age of 14, for heaven sakes (send us your name, please, so we can talk about you guys who did this.) IMG hired his dad under the table and off the books as a "consultant" while Tiger played junior golf, ostensibly paying Earl to keep IMG informed about the great prospects he saw competing alongside his little boy. Stanford cashed in as well. Good grief -- the Lasik surgery business that performed Tiger's laser eye surgery PAID Tiger Inc. $1 million to be allowed to do it and has since paid an additional $3 million yearly to be allowed by Tiger Inc. to mention this fact in ads. CBS paid $850 million to the PGA Tour for the first 4-year television rights cycle. Nike's Knight stroked the check for $40 million that persuaded Tiger to quit college and become a celebrity "hero" for kids who might like a cool pair of sneakers to wear when they also quit school.

So, how's it going, golf?

An apology from golf to Tiger goes something like this: "We generate $75 billion each year in consumer spending and support an entire sector of the real estate and resort industry with a capital value many times greater. Each year the lowest paid professional Tour players take home nearly $1 million each for having served as cannon fodder for Tiger, with the also-rans near the top of the heap getting $4-$5 million out of the kitty. Fans who couldn't care less about golf as a game watch the sport and buy the beer in droves only if Tiger plays. So, "we're sorry already", okay?? Now, will you please start playing again?"

Puff puff.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist

The best putting instruction book in golf history is now available for purchaseas an ebook download: Optimal Putting: Brain Science, Instincts, and the Four Skills of Putting (2008, 282-pages)

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Where's Phil's Improved Putting?

Where's Phil's Improved Putting?

I realize it's early days yet to be relying upon the stats, but Phil Mickleson's much-touted improved putting is really nowhere to be seen.

Early 2010 putting stats:

Putts per GIR: 1.818 143rd

Putts per round: 29.58 105th

Total putting: 81st

Avg distance putts made: 171st

3-putt avoidance: 63rd

Results in first 3 events of 2010:

Farmers Ins.: 19th with 1.780 putts per GIR; per round:

33 / 1.929, 27 / 1.615, 25 / 1.600, 32 / 1.923 putts (29.3 / 1.780)

Northern Trust: T45th with 1.844 putts per GIR; per round:

32 / 2.000, 26 / 1.500, 31 / 1.917, 31 / 2.000 putts (30.0 / 1.844)

Pebble Beach: T8th with 1.830 putts per GIR; per round:

33 / 1.938, 30 / 1.733, 25 / 1.889, 30 / 1.769 (29.5 / 1.830)

Of the 12 rounds so far, Phil has 4 good putting rounds, 1 fair round, and 7 pretty stink-o rounds averaging over 1.900 putts per GIR.

At Torrey Pines (Farmers Ins.), Phil's childhood and junior home course, he wasted two rounds with 33 and 32 putts and lost by 5 strokes. At Pacific Palisades (Northern Trust), he finished 14 shots out despite T26 in GIRs. At Pebble Beach he finished only 5 shots back with three bad putting days.

Not a good sign of great things to come!

In 2009 Phil won 3 times, but only when his putting was "on song" (Northern Trust 1.667, WGC-CA 1.587, and Tour Championship 1.617). He was also T2 in the US Open (1.660). But other than this, he had only two other good-putting events (under 1.750), and had 7 "bad putting" (over 1.800) events, the worst being the PGA (1.913). Altogether, not a fabulous year putting, but not terrible either. he ended the year 35th in putts per GIR (1.753), 69th in putts per round (28.92), and 134th in total putting.

In contrast, his start in 2010 appears significantly under-par for him. Last year at PB, Phil had 1.703 putts per GIR and won the Northern Trust with 1.667.

Perhaps 2010 will be a good year for Phil with the flatstick, but thus far the stats aren't glowing.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum

Putting Coach and Theorist

Optimal Putting: Brain Science, the Instincts, and the Four Skills of Putting (2008, 282-pages in full-cover) -- "The best putting instruction book in golf history." -- Bob Toski -- available as an ebook download.

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Adam Scott Needs to Fix More than His Swing

Adam Scott missed 10 of 19 cuts in 2009 including 6 in a row and in a recent interview blames his swing. This year so far he missed the cut in LA and finshed T52 at PB. He was ranked 3rd in the world in the summer of 2008, but has imploded since. "I got away from swinging like me, somehow," he said. [Mick Elliott, "Adam Scott Hoping Worst is Behind Him," Golf Industry Central, 11 Feb 2010.] What is he smoking? His MAIN problem has always been his poor putting. Add to that a poor swing, and that does not equal: "If I just get my swing back, then all's sunshine and roses."

Here are some rude facts, since pro golfers play in public:

2010: 181st in putts per GIR, 173rd in putts per round. MC in LA with 1.950 putts per GIR, and T52 at PB with 1.852 putts per GIR.

0 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

2 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 2 starts.

2009: 177th in putts per GIR, 176th in putts per round. Only one good finish, T2 in Hawaii, with 1.667 putts per GIR. All other events had terrible putting, with nine events between 1.850 and 2.000 putts per GIR, and the remaining not too hot either.

3 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

12 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 18 starts.

2008: 116th in putts per GIR, 153rd in putts per round.3 weeks of good putting early in the year (1.660, 1.714, and 1.696 in late April, winning the Byron Nelson), followed by bad putting the rest of the year, averaging close to 1.800).

3 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

6 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 14 starts.

2007: 21st in putts per GIR, 104th in putts per round.

7 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 balancing

8 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 19 starts.

2006: 64th in putts per GIR, 113th in putts per round. His career's best year, with

9 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 balancing

6 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 18 starts.

2005: 132nd in putts per GIR, 133rd in putts per round.

4 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

8 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 18 starts.

2004: 45th in putts per GIR, 79th in putts per round.

5 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

4 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 10 starts.

2003: 153rd in putts per GIR,103rd in putts per round.

3 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

7 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 13 starts.

2002: 181st in putts per GIR, 123rd in putts per round.

1 week of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

6 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 8 starts.

2001: 123rd in putts per GIR, 1st in putts per round.

1 week of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

2 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 5 starts.

2000: 175th in putts per GIR, 181st in putts per round.

1 week of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

3 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 4 starts.

Total:

37 weeks of top-50 putting under 1.750 against

65 weeks of bad putting over 1.800 in 129 starts.

That means Adam Scott has top-50 putting about 1 in 4 starts (29%), but has bad putting in 50% of his events. Overall, Adam's lifetime average over ten years 2000-2009 PGA Tour ranking for putts per GIR is 112th of 185; his career ranking for putts per round is 105th. There were only two years in ten when his putting didn't hurt him (2006-2007). His putting has been on a serious decline since 2007.

So how's his ball striking (GIR rank)? 10-year average ranking of 109th of 185 players -- not great. His best year was 2006 at 12th, but recently he had been going rapidly downhill: 2007: 72nd; 2008: 128th; 2009: 162nd.

Adam Scott can get his swing back to 2006 if he likes, but his putting is his real problem explaining his chronic underachievement.

What's odd is that he says he has analyzed his game and the problem is his swing. He doesn't even mention his putting, which has been very poor lo these many years.

"I learned a lot about what I need to do with my golf game for it to be world-class," he said. "I feel like if I can work my game and my confidence back up to the level to where I was two or three years ago, I think I can be better than then -- just with some maturity and experience. ... I got away from swinging like me, somehow," he said.

Right-o, mate. And then there's that OTHER problem in your game.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum

Putting Coach and Theorist

The best putting instruction book in golf history is now available for purchaseas an ebook download: Optimal Putting: Brain Science, Instincts, and the Four Skills of Putting (2008, 282-pages)

Geoff Mangum's

PuttingZone

PuttingZone Clinics

Flatstick Forum

PuttingZone Channel on YouTube

PuttingZone Picasweb Image Gallery

Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction -- you're either in the PuttingZone, or not. Over 3.1 million visits -- 200,000 monthly from 50+ countries -- and growing strong.ountries -- and growing strong.