Tiger's Pre-Tourney Video Q&A

[BallStriker]

Kudos to team Tiger in my opinion, as I think this is a very good idea.  I would much rather watch him answer questions from the fans than take 5 of the same questions asked about Hank Haney's book and/or his personal life that he won't answer anyway.

Bottom line is that with how far social media has come, the need for mainstream press to get a chance to interview top athletes is eroding.  And it is certainly the case that Tiger doesn't "owe" anything to the media via the interview front -- in fact, I would hope this becomes more of a staple for him and he begins to forego more pre-tournament press conferences.

I really think that the only people that are really in objection is the press -- too bad for them.

Can anyone give a legitimate reason why this isn't a great idea?

[jamo]

Here's a link, BTW: http://web.tigerwoods.com/video/20946851

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by BallStriker

Can anyone give a legitimate reason why this isn't a great idea?

No.

It's a fantastic thing.

And, perhaps not surprisingly, you feel as if you see more of the "real" Tiger in this short video compared to all of the "How did you feel when......" interviews we've had over the years added together. Or the ones where the interviewer is tongue tied and starstruck or treading on hot coals.

It's good PR and it gives him a chance to talk about things he'd prefer to talk about. Much more interesting than "death stares" and Dorothy Dix type questions.

[Zeph]

Way better than the dull, repetitive press interviews we get on pgatour.com Good questions and good replies from Tiger. I'd rather see him answer a few questions thoroughly than give the usual "It's coming along", "I'm here to win", "They are fast" replies. I like it.

[jamo]

And, perhaps not surprisingly, you feel as if you see more of the "real" Tiger in this short video compared to all of the "How did you feel when......" interviews we've had over the years added together. Or the ones where the interviewer is tongue tied and starstruck or treading on hot coals.

It's a matter of fans vs. media. Fans win every time. It's not like this is the first time he's done this though. He's made a few of these through Facebook, and he's fielded fan questions on Twitter a few times.

[MSDOGS1976]

He doesn't answer all the questions anyway, so the media thing is a waste. Maybe he should just make a pre-tournament statement on his website and let it go at that.

[Chas]

We're liking it, which is bad news for the media elite ....

[nevets88]

Surprised it took this long to do something like this.

On Reddit, they have AMA on the golf subreddit. AMA - Ask Me Anything. Sometimes someone on the Tour or one level removed participates. If they actually are who they say they are and to me, the answers seem accurate, usually it is an interesting read.

The internet is pretty much a threat to any kind of middleman.

Rathole: I was at Starbucks recently (NYC) and a couple of veteran sportswriters were sitting behind me, talking very candidly, doing some major name dropping. The way they talk about getting the scoop, the first to report on something, was crazy.

[brocks]

The internet is pretty much a threat to any kind of middleman.

Not just the internet. When TGC started televising the press conferences several years ago, I realized how useless sportswriters were. Most of their articles were just lines from the press conference, separated by paragraphs of the reporter's embellishment, speculation, or sarcasm. I rarely found one that added anything useful to what the player said.

[FHopper]

I enjoy Tiger when he is not in "protection" mode. I love the new commercial of him playing with some sponsor's client.

[jamo]

I think my favorite question was the 2-iron/5-wood one. Nice to hear that explained, especially since he had the 2-iron in the bag a few weeks ago.

[BallStriker]

Link to Ron Sirak's article about this.....he is JUST PLAIN WRONG

Sirak GD Article

I will add that the picture of Lindsay Vonn from Tiger Jam is JUST PLAIN RIGHT!!!!!!  Wow!

[brocks]

I'm watching it now. So far, there hasn't been a single question that wasn't more interesting than the same things the reporters ask him over and over and over.

[jamo]

Link to Ron Sirak's article about this.....he is JUST PLAIN WRONG [URL=http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2012-05/golf-tiger-woods-media-sirak]Sirak GD Article[/URL] I will add that the picture of Lindsay Vonn from Tiger Jam is JUST PLAIN RIGHT!!!!!!  Wow!

From that article: [QUOTE]And if you're thinking that fans might get more out of Woods than the media does, guess again. In the 14-minute video posted on Woods' website of him answering questions from fans, the golfer said little of substance. He touched a bit on his swing faults at the Masters, talked about his all-time favorite putt, and said he's made an albatross twice in his life. So now you know.[/QUOTE] Yeah, now I do know. Remember when Tiger was asked post-Masters in an interview what the specific faults in his swing were that were holding him back? He said, vaguely, that he was reverting back to Haney stuff. Remove the media from the room, and he gives us "posture." That's a step forward, albeit a small one. [QUOTE]This isolation creates a situation where Tiger is more likely to get cheap shots from the less ethical in the profession.[/QUOTE] Because the media's attitude towards Tiger is all roses and daisies, right? C'mon. [QUOTE]Without disparaging bloggers squirreled away in Brooklyn basement apartments, it serves no one if the coverage of golf is reduced to bloggers squirreled away in Brooklyn basement apartments. But why even bother going to tournaments if we have no access to the players? The more access the media has, the fairer the coverage will be. Everyone gains from that -- the player, the fans and the sport. And that's why the tour needs to take a stand on this matter.[/QUOTE] I'm sure the Tour telling Tiger, "No more videos from your living room where you interact with the people that attend the events that pay your winnings, and you have to keeping sitting in a room with a microphone in front of dozens of people who are looking to jump on the slightest misstep" would go over real well. [QUOTE]One of the highest forms of accountability to which I am held -- in addition to having my work vetted by an editor -- is when I write something critical of a player or official, can I look them in the eye and feel I was fair the next time I meet them? If we create an atmosphere in which the players do not have direct contact with reporters, that accountability is gone. No one benefits from that. [/QUOTE] Next time you're at the range and see Tiger Woods, bring John Feinstein or Alex Miceli along. I'm sure that will be fun. [QUOTE]One of the difficult parts of being an athlete is talking after a bad day at the office, but it has to be done.[/QUOTE] We have to do this because... it has to be done. Got it. [QUOTE]We are trying to sort out what happened to that once marvelous game and we can't do that without Tiger's help.[/QUOTE] It's been about two and a half years since Thanksgiving 2009. If the traditional media hasn't figured it out, maybe they should pass the torch. [QUOTE]He can no longer set the agenda for how he is covered.[/QUOTE] And yet he seems to be doing just that. [QUOTE]When the slop hit the fan for Woods late in 2009, we realized how little we knew Tiger.[/QUOTE] And whose fault might that be? [QUOTE]We learn a lot about a person in a very short period of time -- how they handle success and failure, their ethics, their humor and anger and more. That magic is gone if we allow athletes to hide from us.[/QUOTE] The dude made a video from his living room. That's a rather dumb hiding place if you ask me.

[brocks]

The dude made a video from his living room. That's a rather dumb hiding place if you ask me.

Didn't work for Osama Bin Laden, that's for sure. But none of what Sirak said about hiding from the press made much sense in light of the fact that Tiger will continue to meet the press after his rounds this week. And IMO I got more new stuff out of the video than every previous press conference this year, because reporters either ask the same old questions every time, or "hard-hitting" questions that any idiot knows he's not going to answer.

[Beachcomber]

In the video, Tiger states that his address was off at the Masters, which effected his takeaway, and in turn effected his ball striking at the tournament.

Has anyone examined what changed between his address / takeaway at Bay Hill versus the Masters?  Would be interesting to see what went wrong at the Masters.

[wolfsburg2]

I find this stuff fascinating and I'll take candid access to players over reworded opinion pieces 99 times out of 100. The 1 time is for John Feinstein, who I think is the best golf writer on the planet.

After watching the video I like it even more. I think you do get true tiger insight here which is tough to get out of puff pieces or even most "hard-hitting" articles.

[colin007]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

In the video, Tiger states that his address was off at the Masters, which effected his takeaway, and in turn effected his ball striking at the tournament.

Has anyone examined what changed between his address / takeaway at Bay Hill versus the Masters?  Would be interesting to see what went wrong at the Masters.

excellent question.  i dont have the means or brains to do this but i too would like to know.