Why is Tiger no longer dominating like he used to?

[alf174]

1. When Tiger's dad was around, his world was different. Dad was a great stabilizing force in his life.

And now he's a father of two. There is definitely some of his day-to-day energy (physical and mental) that he is diverting from golf to his family just like his father did with him.

The family factor may start a period where the frequency of his wins will decrease. There is no doubt that the younger hot players will not be resting.

[Elsfan]

God forbid anyone questions the great TW. He has made a reputation and a great one at that, but that does not make him immune from criticism. He is one of the greatest players of all time and longevity has nothing to do with determining his place among the greats. His game today, and since his operation has not been aligned with what we expect from him, and because of the standards he set, he will be judged according to those also. He needs to find a new coach first I believe and take golf more seriously, on a week to week basis. He can't play 4 majors and 3 tournaments a year and expect to maintain his place. He is a golfer and maybe he has gotten a little away from that.

[bradleygator]

I am a huge fan of Tiger's and respect immensely his game, focus and competitiveness, but I really think he has been winning in spite of his new swing.

I'm not sure what he gained out of the changes. With the upright Harmon swing he seemed much more accurate and longer.

Now, he's far more erratic off the tee and with his irons and he's nowhere near as long in comparison to the rest of the field. I know he was coming off injury at the Masters, but Mickelson was bombing it past him. Additionally, I think it's at least debatable whether the more rounded swing is harder on his knee, since his most serious problems occurred post-change.

I remember Johnny Miller opining when Tiger went to the more rounded approach that the more rounded swing would create more sideways misses, which seems to be spot on.

Obviously Tiger is one of the great competitors in history of any sport, but here I think his ego really worked against him. It seems he got too caught up with the credit Harmon was getting and wanted to show everyone that he "owns his swing." I think the more criticism he gets the more stubborn he becomes. If he were to go back to Harmon's swing now, he'd be admitting he made a mistake. Again like Miller says "great golfers tend to think they know the name of the unknown soldier," and don't like to admit when they're wrong.

Obviously Tiger is still the best golfer, but his success post-Harmon is really a tribute to his otherworldly focus and determination. Between the ears he has it all over the field. If he ditches the Haney swing, he'll return to his early form no doubt.

[RC]

I was not dissing the swing changes he has made, and by no means suggesting anything at all about Haney... obviously one of the best teachers of all time. But I remember Harmon working with Tiger and the good thing about that period was that he allowed Tiger to retain his natural tendencies and only refined those with more or less minor changes, and improved his "hold off iron shots." The natural depth of his swing and the wider take-away flowed very naturally into his amazing body turn through the ball, and he could bomb it or hold off with much the same lower body move and backswing. I think this allowed Tiger to focus on the result and visualize with confidence that he would hit it pretty much as he thought. Watching him practice with Harmon was magical every single time. One has to remember, it was not his golf swing that injured his knee -- it was something else that he did earlier in life. I happen to think his swing was not very stressful on his body, but only hampered because of the earlier injury.

They each knew what they were doing, why, and how to produce the trajectory and shape desired. It was a long time ago (late 90's,) but I distinctly remember thinking, ball striking accuracy will never be an issue, only his putting and short game -- but we all know Tiger has improved greatly in the short game areas.

Obsession with distance was a factor at the time, and he even would quiz people about whether he was longer than Jack, or others, if they had the same equipment. Being a bomber was clearly a part of his psyche. And he did not like hearing about others who might be just as long if they had a more modern ball and equipment. I know one other major champion told him Jack was maybe longer, relatively, and he was not convinced.

Who knows? In a year we may all be saying the new Tiger is even better than the young Tiger -- no one can predict the future and how strong his mental will to continue raising the bar will be. I do think he will become the greatest golfer ever to play the game, and may already be so.

[iacas]

The family factor may start a period where the frequency of his wins will decrease. There is no doubt that the younger hot players will not be resting.

To say that is to ignore the fact that his winning percentage is higher now - as is his average finish - than it was before he got married. It's not like, poof, he just got a family Thursday morning and now he's missed the cut at a major.

He needs to find a new coach first I believe and take golf more seriously, on a week to week basis. He can't play 4 majors and 3 tournaments a year and expect to maintain his place. He is a golfer and maybe he has gotten a little away from that.

Four majors and three tournaments? The exaggeration doesn't help you, nor does the fact that Nicklaus played an extremely limited schedule like Tiger, too, partway through his career. Tiger probably works harder at the game than anyone else with the possible exception of Vijay Singh (and that's not even a given), and you're telling us he needs to take the game more seriously? Wow.

[Elsfan]

To say that is to ignore the fact that his winning percentage is higher now - as is his average finish - than it was before he got married. It's not like, poof, he just got a family Thursday morning and now he's missed the cut at a major.

He has played 9 this year and has 3 more listed. Not to much an exaggeration. People like you refuse to see ahead. He has got himself in a situation that is not bringing him to the level he and people who truly believe how good he is, like I, think he should be at. Keep living in the past and marvel at his previous accomplishments like you are and fail to realize he has problems in his camp. You know nothing about his work schedule except what you have heard. Don't tell me about a practice routine you only know about from people that are to enamored to see the truth.

[Zeph]

He came back from 9 months absence this year and still managed to win 3 of 10 starts. He's still ranked no.1 and currently leading the money list on the PGA Tour.

You don't know anything about his schedule either, so why even discuss it? From all the interviews, documentaries and comments by Tiger, I'd say he is probably working harder than ever at this point since he's not happy with his game. He enter a tournament to win it, if he doesn't think he can win it, he won't enter.

[TheNatural]

Tiger was knocked down a peg now wasnt he? Whats most interesting is the recovery.

If he doesnt finish a top 10 in his next tourney, then I would have to say, he is in a slump.

[iacas]

He has played 9 this year and has 3 more listed.

It's July. He didn't even play before, what, March? And he's still already two higher than your goofy total.

People like you refuse to see ahead.

What's to see ahead? He's played about 16 or 17 tournaments a year for quite awhile. He's not going to routinely drop below 15 - he'd be in violation of PGA Tour rules.

He has got himself in a situation that is not bringing him to the level he and people who truly believe how good he is, like I, think he should be at.

Pardon me. I forgot that you know more about Tiger's game and preparation than he does.

Keep living in the past and marvel at his previous accomplishments like you are and fail to realize he has problems in his camp.

He missed a cut. He hasn't won a major in... three majors. Oh noes! The sky is falling!

Clearly he has problems. But the past tells us he'll fix them and come back just fine.

You know nothing about his work schedule except what you have heard. Don't tell me about a practice routine you only know about from people that are to enamored to see the truth.

Enamored? I've covered tournaments he's played in. I saw how many balls he hit this year at Muirfield Village. You know what they say about assuming... and you're guilty here.

[BASHERBAKER69]

I really think that Tiger is on the decline. Let's face it, he played poorly in round 2 at Turnberry and round 1 he was lucky to shoot 71.

Tiger does not seem happy generally so maybe there is something happening in his life that we don't know about. Also, there is so much head movement in his swing its no wonder he can't make a consistent swing. Like others have mentioned, I think he needs to play in more tournaments and cut his teeth a bit more. As we all know, it's one thing practising and shooting good scores, its quite another do it while there is a card in the back pocket.

To play as infrequently as Tiger does and expect to win major tournaments is bordering on arrogance. Tiger needs to tough it out and get back to basics and maybe do a Rocky in Rocky 4 (lol)- get away from all the luxuries that have softened and made him less of a competitor and get back to what made him a consistent and feared player- hard practice and play and maybe 15 tournaments a year- Butch Harmon would give him a kick up the ass and tell him what he needs to do.....maybe Hank blows too much wind up him?

[Dr. Manhattan]

I really think that Tiger is on the decline. Let's face it, he played poorly in round 2 at Turnberry and round 1 he was lucky to shoot 71.

The speculation on his personal life is ludicrous. He is very happy with his wife and kids.

[iacas]

I'll skip the majority of the stupid stuff you've said, and simply point this out to you:

To play as infrequently as Tiger does and expect to win major tournaments is bordering on arrogance.

He's played roughly the same schedule for pretty much a decade now. And he didn't play from the Masters to the U.S. Open in 2008 and, well, that worked out pretty well for him.

[BASHERBAKER69]

How do we know he's happy?..the speculation is not ludicrous, it's just a thought. Something somewhere is a miss.

[alf174]

Whatever happened at this Open missing the cut, he'll be working as hard as he can to fix it.

[Dr. Manhattan]

How do we know he's happy?..the speculation is not ludicrous, it's just a thought. Something somewhere is a miss.

We know he's happy because of how he acts off the golf course and based on the way he talks about his personal life. It always puts a smile on his face when the media asks him about his family.

[Elsfan]

We know he's happy because of how he acts off the golf course and based on the way he talks about his personal life. It always puts a smile on his face when the media asks him about his family.

This is the type of naivety that drive me crazy. Tiger Woods is an actor/entertainer. He is trained to cliche you to death and make all you believers know the sun will shine again tomorrow.

[shankapotamus]

This is the type of naivety that drive me crazy.

That's news to me, I always thought he was a golfer!

[iacas]

That's news to me, I always thought he was a golfer!

And I thought he was just

a person who plays golf .