Many people in the game of golf would consider Tiger Woods to have been one of the most influential players in the history of the game.
Woods has drawn many new golfers to the game, made huge contributions to golf as a whole and created a legacy that will never be forgotten.
Couple this with the insane achievement of winning the 2019 Masters and there is little to dislike about the guy.
There is one aspect of Woods meteoric rise to fame that I personally feel has led to a deterioration in the game.
When Woods came to the forefront of the sport, it was his big-hitting that stole the headlines. The enormous distances he achieved with all clubs, his incredible stinger 2-iron and his strength to turn most par 5´s into par 4´s.
For the spectator this was awe-inspiring, for me as a golf coach this was a disaster.
I have long believed that the emergence of the new-era power game has destroyed one of the greatest aspects of golf; shot making.
It has also had an effect on the area of the game more amateurs should focus on; accuracy
Accuracy seems to play second fiddle to distance in modern day golf, and the driving statistics and green in regulation stats would second that notion.
As a golf coach this demand for distance has turned amateur golfers into distance thirsty monsters.
They arrive to lessons with one thing on their mind, hit it further.
Now I am not going to dismiss the fact that if you can hit the ball further you are likely to see lower scores, but that will only happen to an extent.
Your desire to hit longer shots will result in more missed fairways, more irons played from the rough and a better recovery game.
Instead I insist that my students work on their accuracy.
My philosophy to golf is that if you keep the ball out of trouble you will shoot lower scores.
You may be the talk of the clubhouse for the incredible distance you hit the ball, but if the talk in the clubhouse is similar to the following:
“You should have seen how far Bob hit his drive down 15, he was only a 9-iron from the green, but he was in the rough, which made his second a lot tougher”
Personally I would prefer the following statement:
“You should have seen how far Bob hit his drive down 15, he was smack in the middle of the fairway, he only needed an 8-iron to get to the green. He knocked it stiff and made birdie. I wish I could hit it that far”
If you think about it, improvement is a progression, one you have developed a swing that hits the ball where you want it to go, you can strive to increase your distance but not at the expense of accuracy. Learn to control the ball, move it to best adapt to the hole, and then learn to hit it further, it is the right way to play the game.
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