bobsuruncle

pity about the weather ... i think it'll spoil probably one of the most eagerly anticipated Masters tourney for a number of years. if there's "lift, clean and place" and soft, slower (all relative, of course) greens ... it won't "feel" like a "normal" Masters. any bomb and gauge player can win. as Phil says, the advantage for the veterans is nullified. who's up for a different version of the Bob Hope Classic? meh ... thanks but no thanks !

thanks for sharing ... luv-ed it

Just my thoughts - there's no "perfect" swing since we all have different body shapes, sizes, range of motions, etc. I believe we should just find something that works for us, that we can consistently repeat and stick with it. Perfect example is Jim Furyk. Would he be a Major champion, FedEx Cup champ, etc with anything (classic, S&T;, Foley, Butch, Haney, etc) other than his own unique (loop-the-loop) swing? I doubt it. He'd have just buried his career before it even started, and be selling 2nd hand cars for a living today.

I'd go with a Super Game Improvement set without a driver. Drive with your 3W and add a Driver later. Set up would be 3W, 5W, 3H, 4H, 5-PW, GW (48-52 depending on what your PW loft is), SW (54-56), LW (58-60), putter. Get an older model for the set you like e.g if Adams the see if you can find a set of A3 / A3OS / A4R / A4R OS. Same with any other brand. You can get pretty good cheap wedge sets (2-3 pieces) on the net (e.g. Rock Bottom Golf) for less than $50? Good luck and happy hunting. That (new equipment) is part of the fun in this game too...

Tiger Woods -10 Philly Mack -8 Rors -8

As TW gets better (only 50% there now?) and wins more, that'll shut the naysayers up ...

Q: is Sean's teachings more akin to what may be termed the "right sided swing"? This is a teaching method out of Australia by Gary Edwin (website: http://www.garyedwingolf.com.au/), and popularized by players like Peter Senior, Rod Pampling, among others.

not sure why the ladies don't get the respect they deserve ... could be a MCP thing?

Ernie doesn't want to be invited (so he says), and so let's respect that. He has too much pride to be grovelling for an invite. Further, John Hawkins of TGC had an interesting comment about Augusta. He said the belly putters will not do well on Augusta's fast and slippery greens, and I can see his point of view. As such, why waste an invite on poor Ernie. His putting probably doesn't stand up to the Augusta greens test.

+1

Rich Beem

Great to see TW "back", and the scary part is he's not "all the way back" yet. Did Sean Foley say only 50%? Wowza ... let's see if TW gets to 19 majors by the time he turns 40. Look out Rory and Luke. Not sure why Lee is even mentioned as I think his best chances of winning a major have come and gone (much like Monty). Let's face it - 3 (?) runners up in the Majors in the span of a year plus - that could be a career for some of these guys. I think Rory will be the closest competitor for TW in this 2nd phase of his career, much like Els, Phil, and VJ were before. But unlike Phil, Rory is ahead of his (non-TW) peers, so a tally of 5-9 majors for Rors is a strong possibility.

My take: 1. Tiger hasn't been able to practice and play enough (he says "reps") to groove his new swing, so the jury is out on whether this new swing will work for him. He is injury free and can practice. His family routine is slowly but surely being properly scheduled, around school holidays and the like. Lets wait till the end of 2012 and review the situation. This isn't to say whether SnT in itself is a good or bad swing method. I believe TW can use most any method (wide with Butch, wipey with Hank and stack with Sean) and given the time to groove that method, he can win with it. 2. I like both Brandle and Frank Nobilo as analysts. I don't buy the idea that you have to be a good player to know the theories and mechanics of a swing. The best coaches in the world in most any sports you care to name (football, baseball, soccer, etc), were never the best players. Why should golf be different? Was Butch No. 1 in the world? and how about Hank? Even Stan Utley couldn't consistently stay on tour year after year. No one is slamming those guys as swing gurus. They not only "analyze / comment on" swings, they actually teach swings.

putter, 6 iron, gap wedge, 4 hybrid

swap the 5 iron for a 5 hybrid, easier to hit and much more forgiving ... wilson FY-brid aren't especially long and hence won't give you the distance gap problem when replacing an iron with a hybrid.

I voted 7-8, and only because he won his first so early on. My thought process is as follows: 1) look at how many majors were won by individuals not named Eldrick and in the "modern era" (defined as having custom fitted clubs using launch monitors, computer designed club heads, modern materials for both clubs and balls, swing coaches, "head" gurus, etc) - and I believe that number comes out at around 3-4? So I'm using this as my base. 2) without TW some of these players could have doubled their tally. I'm thinking Ernie with 3 runner up finishes to TW, could have had 6 majors. So the base has moved up now. 3) Rory is good, very good, but he is no TW. He plays the game, he enjoys the game, etc but he doesn't have that burning desire to win everything in sight or "every time he tees up". TW HAD a winning percentage of 20%-30%? As good as Rory is, he doesn't have that kind of winning percentage. If you offered him a career as good as Ernie's or Phil's I'm guessing he'd gladly take that today and hang up his clubs. 4) Rory's had a really good stretch of major golf in the past 15 months. We've seen such streaks before e.g. David Duval and Vijay Singh to get to No. 1. Streaks don't last indefinitely. 5) Some have written that Rory will have 16 more years of good golf (fair call) and keep the same winning percentage (which may note be realistic). Like TW before him, Rory will get married, start a family, etc and face other distractions also. 6) There are many more good young players in the ranks now, and any one can peak on the right 4 days and take home a major. The other players don't fear Rory like they feared TW. They won't self-destruct when they see Rory's name on the leaderboard. Realistically, no one knows how many majors Rory will win, but we'll enjoy watching him try for sure.

the OP makes 1 valid point ... TW is not the same player and will not dominate (as he did before). the OP is way off the mark if he believes TW's B game won't put him in the Top 125 annually. an interesting question as pointed out earlier is - if TW will still be interested in playing golf if he's not dominant. But then again, what else does he do? He's not in it for the money. He loves the game!

I'm in the vote "no" camp for one simple reason - there must be a specific rule(s) governing viewer call-ins against players on TV. Yes, a rule was violated. Yes, there should have been a penalty. But that penalty must be properly governed by a rule(s) about viewers calling in. Further, I believe that any penalty should result only in the addition of penalty strokes and not a DQ for signing a wrong card, because the player has no chance whatsoever of correcting his erroneous card if the review of the call in happens (even if just minutes) after he has left the course. When the rules of golf were written, golf wasn't a televised event. So the rules (and I make the assumption here) applies to the player and his group (fellow competitors and caddies), and any "live" audiences. Notice how no one in the galleries ever spots any such infringements. It's always someone with the benefit of replays and slow motion.

I'm all for making the game easier...why make a hard game any harder for yourself...if single-digit h'cappers can play G15's and some PGA pros e.g. kenny perry / rocco mediate will play (non-tour and cavity-backed) irons and compete at majors, the real question is - why should a 12 h'capper be playing forged blades? If i were over 50-years old and had a single digit h'cap, i'd consider that as being "not broken" and so why "fix it"? Look what can happen to people (even the pros) who try to change their swing and/or equipment. Many have lived to regret the decision.

Congrats Tiger. Well deserved, very well deserved.

You can't go wrong with either of the 3 you suggested nor the Cally Big Bertha or Fusions, but the Ping G10s may well last you a lifetime. If you check the review section at golfwrx, even single digit h'cappers are playing the G10s.

was a fan (of his golf), am still a fan (of his golf) .... he had natural talent for sure, but he also had to work very hard to make the most of that God-given talent .... there were / are lots of so-called gifted players who never amounted to much (in terms of # of majors won) ....

Agreed... WAS, IS and WILL BE GOOD for golf, period. Come to think of it, I don't recall watching him do anything but play golf in the last 10+ years...were you guys tuned into a different channel?

perhaps they should do what azinger did for the ryder cup...go with the top 8, not top 10 and pick the 4 most in-form players leading up the cup competition. natalie qualified based on her 2008 performance, and did nothing for the whole of 2009. talk about an out-of-form player - she's it. totally lost her game in 2009.

he's quite something isn't he, great to watch for sure...with his length he should win a few tournaments...but if he wants to win a major, he'd better bring more than length to the course...