Plox

Haha, God forbid...

3 stone difference? Great comparison.

Are you serious with this question, on a discussion board of all places? Next time you have an opinion on something, maybe you shouldn't give it just in case someone deems it not 'worthy'? I'd like to know how something as subjective as an opinion could be quantified, as well. Great logic, buddy. You disagree with me; fine. But I'm not speaking ignorantly; I've played the course, just like I've been lucky enough to play many other great links and St Andrews just doesn't come anywhere near. I honestly don't care what other professionals have to say about it, as it would be ridiculous for me to ignore my own views and feelings.

Out of curiosity, why?

Shorty, if you think I'm trying to be prevocative, you have completely the wrong end of the stick. My rant is because, in my opinion, it's not good enough to be an open course. So, please, spare me your ignorant comments about "poor golfers" etc; it's like saying you can't have an opinion on Mcdonalds because you're not a chef. Also, it's not that those other course have "different attributes", they're just much, much better courses all around imo.

Looks absolutely ridiculous. I sometimes wonder what goes through their minds; does he genuinely believe it's a long term fix for his putting 'problems'? Redundant.

I'll be completely honest here; I pretty much despise this course. Home of golf? I don't subscribe to all this sentimentality when it comes to St Andrews, as I genuinely think it's the most overrated course in existence. To actually play it? A field. Literally the worst links course I've played, and I'm lucky enough to live in the North west of England, so I've played Formby, Southport and Ainsdale, Birkdale, Hillside, Hesketh etc. Let's take Hillside, for example; to say it's superior in every way to St Andrews is a vast understatement. To watch it on TV? Again, pretty painful imo. I'm not exaggerating when I say it pretty much spoils to the Open as a television spectacle for me. I've spoken to a few other people who have also played the course and they pretty much agreed, so it didn't seem to be just me! Does anyone else feel the same?

Cornbread uses some of the most flawed logic I've had the misfortune to read on internet forms. Laughable, in fact.

Let's put things in to perspective, for all the naysayers and gossipers; he's played two majors since his 'comeback' and finished 4th in both. Sure, his swing has looked loose, but I'm positive that will come back with some time.

No, I was talking about last year, too. He was 33rd in driving distance, a far cry from earlier on his career when he hardly dropped out of the top 5. It's good to see him playing with a more penetrating flight, though; he's been 'balooning' it a bit too much in recent years, imo.

Ye see, one of the main reasons I'm a big fan of Tiger is because of his honesty on the course, not in spite of it. A lot of people here need to get off their high horse, as he owes you nothing. Do I want to see him walk around the course and media tent with a painted on smile? F no.

.../thread

^^ Exactly. In net terms, Tiger has fallen back in to the pack in terms of distance off the tee, and also his irons. I remember Tiger consistently launching it 30 yards past Davis Love III back in the 1997 major winners tournament. At most, 4 or 5 players were longer than Tiger; now, you're realistically looking at over 20. Phil is comfortably longer with the driver, and I'd say a good club longer with the irons. I think it's fair to say Tiger is currently 'short' and crooked off the tee. He's always had a fairly 'rigid' looking swing, but it looks too tight these days and mechanical.

I thought this deserved it's own thread rather than being tacked on to other ones. What are people's opinions on his current swing and where he should head post Haney? I've been looking closely at some of his 'peak' vids of around 2000 (Butch era) and not only was it more aesthetically pleasing, it yielded more distance and accuracy (e.g I think it was 2000 when he was top 5 in distance and top 20 accuracy). It's something that seems to have been overlooked slightly, but watching Tiger tee off these days is nowhere near the same 'event' it was in years gone by. This can partly be attributed to a general improvement of distance on tour, but he is getting comfortably outdriven these days by the likes of Phil Mick (I remember watching Tiger knock his 3 wood past him a good few times when he was paired with him at the Masters years ago). I'm no teacher, but there seems to be far too many moving parts in his swing now, which puts a lot of pressure on his hands compensating at impact. I'd love to see him simplify things, almost start from scratch and have one or two key swing thoughts during his round; honestly, these days he's like a modern day Faldo, obsessing about swing planes during his many practice swings. His scrambling is as good as anyone, but I'd love to see a return of his pure ball striking days of Harmon, where his posture and everything else just looked so fluid. An interesting take on tw's swing:

Off the top of my head, when, for example, a bunker needs to be carried around that distance: Phil Mick, Tiger (moreso Butch era), Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott (really, if he's on form he's very long), Bubba Watson, Angel Cabrera, J B Holmes, John Daly, Fred Couples (seriously, his driving was phenomenal at the masters), Anthony Kim, Paul Casey, Nick Watney, Brandt Jobe... All guys I'd fancy to, when required, carry the ball 290

Thanks, captain obvious. I'm sorry, but if a person like Corey Pavin carries the ball say 260 yards, then of course there would have to be players who carry it around 290 to compensate for that average. Off the top of my head, I can think of about 15-20 players who easily satisfy that criteria, and I'm sure there are many 'lesser' players on tour who hit it just as far. There isn't some fake driving distance conspiracy, a lot of the pros really do hit it that far, as displayed when bunkers are often taken out of play that measure around that distance from the tee. And who are "they", anyway?

TW ripped his iron off the tee on the closing hole, which made me think it was in the bag. If he would have scabbed his second shot short, it probably would have rolled up to about 20/25 feet away; instead, he ripped his second shot over the back. Like someone else said, I've been disappointed rooting for people in the past but this was gutting. Two perfectly struck iron shots on the last didn't deserve that. gahhhh.

Oh, and another thing; Phil Mick was consistently longer than Dustin Johnson last week, so I'm not sure why the commentators kept saying Dustin was the longest player on the course. As for watching the LPGA tour, I can't stand it. So few players have the ability to really crunch the ball, and so many shots are mishit compared to the men's tour. Just being totally honest, it's awful to watch.

Why is this even being discussed? Of course you won't hear it mentioned, because it's not worth noting; if a footballer makes a square pass, do the commentators rave over that? Same principle, i.e. Phil and those other guys are hitting extraordinary drives, so of course they will be concentrated on. I'm not sure if you're being selective as well though, because many a time I've heard commentators mention poor drives that were either mishit, or just highlight the fact that someone is short.

You mean like Ernie Els, who was recorded at least twice saying that after shots on Sunday? Get off your high horse. I've always found the first people to villify public figures who make mistakes are those who have plenty of skeletons in their closet. Some of the comments in this thread are the height of ignorance, especially the 'knee surgery' insinuation.

I often use this 'technique' with very good results. I never try to get bogged down in technical issues, but when I'm playing at my best, my hands always feel very 'loose' through the impact area, and I think that's what AJ is getting at; one thing you can't dispute is that Woods' has actually lost distance...and accuracy. It may not be text book but I've always found 'handsy' players hit it the longest, not the Nick Faldo clones.

Comparing Davis Love III to Tiger at this point in their careers? Desperate. It wasn't just the fact that he posted a good score, all facets of his game looked fluid from the 4th hole onwards, and like he said post round, he pieced together that round brilliantly. Yes, his putting was much better, but I'd argue that his driving was most improved; he hit something like 6 out of 27 fairways in the previous tournament, and no amount of good putting can save you from that.