I'm a Tiger fan, and I follow the tour pretty closely, so even though I know Tiger won a tournament and hasn't been awful, it also seems like he hasn't been that good necessarily. But is that true? Here are some numbers and some analysis.
So, many of you know, though many would be surprised, that Tiger ranks #3 in adjusted scoring average on Tour. Based on the missed cut, the poor Masters and Players, you'd think it would be worse, right? But no, overall, his scoring average is good.
So I looked at total driving. I know that after his win earlier this year, he was leading in total driving, but after his last three tournaments, where it seemed like he kind of lost it, I figured he had plummeted. But not so. He stillranks #3 on tour in total driving.
So, when I looked at that, I thought to myself, well, putting is probably really hurting him, because all the talk is about how he just doesn't putt well anymore, etc... but anyway, he ranks 19th on Tour this year in strokes gained putting. Very good. In 8 foot putting, he's 54th. Not great, but not terrible. But just looking back to, say, 2009, he was 74th. In other years, he's been even worse. Not the automatic putter everyone thought. It just felt that way. So he's right in line with "Old Tiger" when it comes to putting.
I thought maybe scrambling had gotten worse for Tiger, but so far, he's doing ok. 34th this year, though again, he had several top 20 seasons in years past. He's #31 in sand saves this year. Again, pretty good.
So in looking for other areas where he's not up to his past standards, I did find a couple. In "birdie or better from the rough," Tiger is well off his old pace. He had several years in the 2000's where he was top 20 in that category, while this year, he's 84th. I included this one simply because I always felt like that was one of the huge advantages Tiger had over the field. He could go hit it a long way, and even if it was in thick rough, it seemed like no one could even approach his ability when it came to still being able to muscle the ball out of that rough and get it within birdie range. It seemed like that alone would usually get him a couple strokes per tournament over the field, and he isn't getting those right now.
In birdie % from 175-200 yards, Tiger is 40th. Not horrible, but he led the Tour in that one and was always top 20 in earlier years. In approaches from 175-200 and from 200+, he ranks pretty high, top 25 if I recall correctly. So he's still one of the best with his longer irons.
In approaches from the rough from 150-175, he's 114th this year whereas in years past, he had some very high finishes.
Driving distance is also down. The difference comes from using a 3 wood rather than driver, but still, he's only at 281 this year. He's been at 287-290 in many other years, and was even at 300+ in other years. He can still get it out there with the driver (he ranks 10th in "% of yardage covered on par 5 tee shots), but he's been dialing back off the tee to stay in the fairway.
Tiger is 19th in bogey avoidance. Again, that's actually really good, but he had a handful of seasons where he led the tour in the past.
Tiger is in the 90's this year on par 5 scoring. I figured that is really what's costing him, but I was surprised to see that he actually hasn't done as well at that as you would think in the past. He's only been top 10 once, and has had several years outside the top 40. Still, so far this year that has cost him some strokes.
Finally, in approach distance from inside 100 yards, Tiger is only 120th this year. That may be his biggest "issue," if you want to call it that. He led the tour in this category a couple times, and has never been worse than average, until this year. Not sure why. He also is doing very poorly from 100-125 yards, ranking like 140th this year, while he was in the top 7 every single year from 2003-2007.
So while he's still doing a lot of things well (some surprisingly well and much better than you'd think based on what people say about his game), the things that appear to be keeping him from being dominant like he used to be are that he isn't quite dominating the par 5s like he used to, he isn't quite as deadly on those approach shots from the rough as he used to be, and he isn't quite as accurate on those 50-125 yard approach shots as he used to be.
Showing posts with label Golf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golf. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Book review: "The Big Miss," by Hank Haney
I am a huge golf fan, a huge Tiger Woods fan, a big Hank Haney fan, and I know how to read (sort of), so when Haney wrote a book about Tiger Woods playing golf, that was right up my alley So here are my thoughts, for what they're worth:
-You have to give Haney some credibility, simply because of his time spent with Tiger. That said, you also still have to remember that his is just one view. I don't doubt for a second that Tiger's personality is just as Haney described- distant, aloof, selfish, etc.- but Haney seems like a very sensitive dude after reading the whole book, and it seems like maybe he wasn't the right personality type to "get" Tiger, or also to be really liked by Tiger.
-On that same note, one thing you definitely pick up on throughout the book is a surprising level of insecurity on Haney's part. There are myriad mentions, in different forms, of how bothered he was by criticisms and comparisons and such. You would think a guy as successful as Haney, and Haney was VERY successful, both before Tiger and with Tiger, would be a little more thick skinned. Haney tried several times to claim that he and Tiger have similar outlooks and both have the same mental makeup in certain ways, but in my opinion, that was more a case of Haney trying to convince himself it was true, trying to keep up with Tiger. Fact is, Tiger is a unique personality and casts a huge shadow, and despite the fact that Haney dealt with it for 6 years and in many ways handled it well, I get the sense that Haney was just desperate for Tiger's approval the whole time and since he never got the public validation from Tiger, he wrote the book to try get validation from everyone else. He even has a whole chapter devoted to convincing people that Tiger was just as good under Haney as he was under Harmon. He put waaaay too much effort into comparing himself to Harmon. Like I said, I was surprised at how insecure Haney seems to be.
-The chapter about the US Open at Torrey Pines (the one Tiger won despite playing with a torn ACL and two stress fractures in his leg) is awesome. Very cool to hear the details about the injury, the weeks leading up to it, and everything that went into that amazing performance. My favorite part of the book, by far.
-Overall, it was also a very good look into such a unique guy like Tiger Woods. In my lifetime (I'm 32), I basically feel like there are two guys who are wired differently than the rest of humanity, but who are wired the same as each other. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. I've read a ton about MJ, and love seeing how that type of person goes about becoming the best of all time. Very interesting to hear about all of Tiger's flaws, which Haney fairly points out are also part of the reason he's such a great golfer. There are also plenty of cool "here's how good Tiger Woods is" stories, which I love. I love following greatness and I love hearing about just how great the greatest are.
-Even if you take everything Hank says as gospel, and it may be, you can't honestly say you're surprised at what you hear. OF COURSE Tiger is a messed up dude. He's been famous since adolescence, and fame like that can be a curse. That said, I have no idea (and honestly kind of doubt) if Tiger is quite as jerky as Hank sometimes makes him out to be. I think it was more a case of Haney being a different personality type than Tiger, but obviously I am just guessing here.
-Hank does a good job of still, even while criticizing Tiger, pointing out that he believes Tiger is the greatest of all time. It was also interesting to hear of Tiger's struggles. Struggles on the range, struggles on the course, struggles with trusting certain parts of his game, etc. While it's cool to admire greatness, it's also cool to hear that the great ones have struggles to overcome.
-All told, I liked both Tiger and Haney before all this, and I still like them both fine now. I never had any illusions that Tiger was a normal, friendly guy. I always actually like the fact that he doesn't "play the game" and isn't afraid to admit that he only wants to win- period. So I still respect Tiger as a golfer like I always have, and still have the "fan" part of me that would love to hang out with him, but also still have the rational part of me that knows that he's probably pretty much a selfish jerk. I'm mature enough to separate those out and still be as big a Tiger fan as there is when he's playing. As for Hank, I like him more in some ways after reading the book, and in some ways I think he's whiny and insecure. But no matter. I like him. I still love watching the Haney Project. I'm a loyal guy, and once I like someone, I pretty much like them forever. And these days, I'm so obsessed with golf, that I like everyone associated with it.
If you're a golf fan, you should read this book.
-You have to give Haney some credibility, simply because of his time spent with Tiger. That said, you also still have to remember that his is just one view. I don't doubt for a second that Tiger's personality is just as Haney described- distant, aloof, selfish, etc.- but Haney seems like a very sensitive dude after reading the whole book, and it seems like maybe he wasn't the right personality type to "get" Tiger, or also to be really liked by Tiger.
-On that same note, one thing you definitely pick up on throughout the book is a surprising level of insecurity on Haney's part. There are myriad mentions, in different forms, of how bothered he was by criticisms and comparisons and such. You would think a guy as successful as Haney, and Haney was VERY successful, both before Tiger and with Tiger, would be a little more thick skinned. Haney tried several times to claim that he and Tiger have similar outlooks and both have the same mental makeup in certain ways, but in my opinion, that was more a case of Haney trying to convince himself it was true, trying to keep up with Tiger. Fact is, Tiger is a unique personality and casts a huge shadow, and despite the fact that Haney dealt with it for 6 years and in many ways handled it well, I get the sense that Haney was just desperate for Tiger's approval the whole time and since he never got the public validation from Tiger, he wrote the book to try get validation from everyone else. He even has a whole chapter devoted to convincing people that Tiger was just as good under Haney as he was under Harmon. He put waaaay too much effort into comparing himself to Harmon. Like I said, I was surprised at how insecure Haney seems to be.
-The chapter about the US Open at Torrey Pines (the one Tiger won despite playing with a torn ACL and two stress fractures in his leg) is awesome. Very cool to hear the details about the injury, the weeks leading up to it, and everything that went into that amazing performance. My favorite part of the book, by far.
-Overall, it was also a very good look into such a unique guy like Tiger Woods. In my lifetime (I'm 32), I basically feel like there are two guys who are wired differently than the rest of humanity, but who are wired the same as each other. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. I've read a ton about MJ, and love seeing how that type of person goes about becoming the best of all time. Very interesting to hear about all of Tiger's flaws, which Haney fairly points out are also part of the reason he's such a great golfer. There are also plenty of cool "here's how good Tiger Woods is" stories, which I love. I love following greatness and I love hearing about just how great the greatest are.
-Even if you take everything Hank says as gospel, and it may be, you can't honestly say you're surprised at what you hear. OF COURSE Tiger is a messed up dude. He's been famous since adolescence, and fame like that can be a curse. That said, I have no idea (and honestly kind of doubt) if Tiger is quite as jerky as Hank sometimes makes him out to be. I think it was more a case of Haney being a different personality type than Tiger, but obviously I am just guessing here.
-Hank does a good job of still, even while criticizing Tiger, pointing out that he believes Tiger is the greatest of all time. It was also interesting to hear of Tiger's struggles. Struggles on the range, struggles on the course, struggles with trusting certain parts of his game, etc. While it's cool to admire greatness, it's also cool to hear that the great ones have struggles to overcome.
-All told, I liked both Tiger and Haney before all this, and I still like them both fine now. I never had any illusions that Tiger was a normal, friendly guy. I always actually like the fact that he doesn't "play the game" and isn't afraid to admit that he only wants to win- period. So I still respect Tiger as a golfer like I always have, and still have the "fan" part of me that would love to hang out with him, but also still have the rational part of me that knows that he's probably pretty much a selfish jerk. I'm mature enough to separate those out and still be as big a Tiger fan as there is when he's playing. As for Hank, I like him more in some ways after reading the book, and in some ways I think he's whiny and insecure. But no matter. I like him. I still love watching the Haney Project. I'm a loyal guy, and once I like someone, I pretty much like them forever. And these days, I'm so obsessed with golf, that I like everyone associated with it.
If you're a golf fan, you should read this book.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Golf talk: British Open
Ahh, the British Open. My 3rd favorite golf tournament. It's always fun to watch these guys play a different style of golf, especially when you throw in the crazy weather over there. I didn't get to see much of the first 3 rounds, but did watch the majority of the Sunday action. And on the front nine, there was a LOT of action.
Mickelson made quite a run, getting to 6 under par at one point. That was the point that I and many other golf fans said to ourselves, "well, now he'll probably make nothing but bogeys and miss a bunch of makeable putts the rest of the way." Which, of course, is exactly what he did.
Dustin Johnson had a chance, but after shanking a basic iron shot out of bounds when he was merely trying to lay up, his chances dwindled.
So that left Clarke. The other players all sort of faded away and after it looked on the front nine like we would have a heck of a battle, the last four holes featured a comfortable, drama-free stroll for the winner, allowing the announcers to get us all up to speed on why exactly we should like Darren Clarke.
And for the record, he is indeed likeable. Seems like a great guy, and I have to say, his winner's speech was really, really good. Something about it struck me as very humble. His wife died a few years ago and he's now engaged, and rather than have a big "look at all I've gone through" moment, he was able to mention it without seeming like he needed the attention. Here's the speech.
Mickelson made quite a run, getting to 6 under par at one point. That was the point that I and many other golf fans said to ourselves, "well, now he'll probably make nothing but bogeys and miss a bunch of makeable putts the rest of the way." Which, of course, is exactly what he did.
Dustin Johnson had a chance, but after shanking a basic iron shot out of bounds when he was merely trying to lay up, his chances dwindled.
So that left Clarke. The other players all sort of faded away and after it looked on the front nine like we would have a heck of a battle, the last four holes featured a comfortable, drama-free stroll for the winner, allowing the announcers to get us all up to speed on why exactly we should like Darren Clarke.
And for the record, he is indeed likeable. Seems like a great guy, and I have to say, his winner's speech was really, really good. Something about it struck me as very humble. His wife died a few years ago and he's now engaged, and rather than have a big "look at all I've gone through" moment, he was able to mention it without seeming like he needed the attention. Here's the speech.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
A couple pictures from Port Aransas
Spent a weekend with the family down at Port Aransas. I love that place. I think the big draw for me is simply the nostalgia of it, since that's the beach town we've always gone to as a family. Lots of fishing trips and vacations, both to Port A and to the old beach house an hour away that my grandparents built a long time ago (since sold).
So this trip included golf at Newport Dunes, which has become a new tradition for me. That course is incredible, by the way. One publication named it the #2 best public course in Texas. It's right on the beach, basically, and is a links style course designed by Arnold Palmer, or as they refer to him around the pro shop, The King.
The trip also included the requisite seafood eating, some body surfing in the gulf, a trip to the aquarium in Corpus, and intermittent opportunities for me to keep playing with my new hobby, photography.
So this trip included golf at Newport Dunes, which has become a new tradition for me. That course is incredible, by the way. One publication named it the #2 best public course in Texas. It's right on the beach, basically, and is a links style course designed by Arnold Palmer, or as they refer to him around the pro shop, The King.
The trip also included the requisite seafood eating, some body surfing in the gulf, a trip to the aquarium in Corpus, and intermittent opportunities for me to keep playing with my new hobby, photography.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Literally!
One reason I finally buckled down and started a blog again was so that I'd have a quick, easy place to catalog a few things that I always intend to write down but never do.
I enjoy the English language and all the ways to butcher it, both intentionally and not-tentially (there should be a word for that), and one of my favorites is when people use the word "literally" wrong. And it happens a LOT. So, I plan on noting them in the blog from now on, starting with this one that I heard Saturday.
During the U.S. Open golf tournament, a player hit his ball into a bunker and faced a difficult shot. The announcer said something like this:
"Difficult shot coming up here, but So-and-so is a magician around the greens. And he's going to literally have to pull a rabbit out of a hat on this shot."
I never did see the rabbit.
I enjoy the English language and all the ways to butcher it, both intentionally and not-tentially (there should be a word for that), and one of my favorites is when people use the word "literally" wrong. And it happens a LOT. So, I plan on noting them in the blog from now on, starting with this one that I heard Saturday.
During the U.S. Open golf tournament, a player hit his ball into a bunker and faced a difficult shot. The announcer said something like this:
"Difficult shot coming up here, but So-and-so is a magician around the greens. And he's going to literally have to pull a rabbit out of a hat on this shot."
I never did see the rabbit.
Um... hi?
Howdy, internet. I'm back. Deal with it!
Ok, I had done some blogging a few years ago, mostly for the reasons listed on the side of this blog, but at some point stopped keeping up with it, possibly because most of the time, it was read by literally one person. And that one person was literally me. Not that that should matter if I look at this as more of a journal to look back on when I'm older, but you know how it goes. If your blog isn't making you wealthy and famous beyond your wildest dreams and getting you preferred seating at Chili's, is it even worth it?
Anyway, welcome to my new blog. I'd like to think I will keep up with this.
So, let's talk golf. Yesterday concluded a historic (or "an" historic, if you're snooty) week of golf for Rory McIlroy, a week in which he set or tied 12 U.S. Open records and officially became the guy who the media will swear is the next Tiger Woods, at least until that 18-year-old Italian kid (Matteo Manassero) wins a PGA event next year.
Personally, I don't think this quite compares to Tiger's 15 shot victory in 2000, for a few reasons. One, this U.S. Open course played very easy compared to most. A lot of rain during the week and a lot of heat the week prior left the rough manageable and the greens soft. 20-odd players finished under par this week, which is as many as the last ten years of U.S. Opens combined. The course was very tame, which means that really what Rory accomplished was that he played the best, most consistent golf (by far), whereas when Tiger won, he was way under par (12, to be exact) on a week when second best was three over. So not only is Tiger's 15 shot margin obviously superior to McIlroy's eight, the fact that Tiger not only subdued but dominated a course that no one else broke par on is far more impressive than winning by several strokes on an uncharacteristically easy course. People went low every day this year at Congressional. At Pebble in 2000, Tiger shot the lowest round on the course all four days. That is an insane stat that may never be equaled.
All that said, yes, Rory is undoubtedly the closest thing we have to the "next" Tiger. However, much like there really is no "next" Michael Jordan, there is no "next" Tiger. MJ and Tiger both transformed the games they play(ed) and in my humble opinion, even if more talented players emerge, no one will ever be able to impact the games the way those did. The media needs to stop trying to give these "next" titles. How many "next" Michael Jordans have we had? And none of them have even come close to what he did! The closest thing we've had, and I can't believe people argue this, is Kobe Bryant. He has had an amazing, unbelievable career, yet try this on for size:
Michael Jordan's career scoring average (playoffs): 33.4
Kobe Bryant's career scoring average (playoffs): 25.0
And there are plenty of other stats that are just as telling. Point being, he's not MJ. And Rory isn't Tiger. He certainly has a chance to be the face of the new generation of golfers though. I think he is bar none the most talented golfer, tee to green, in the game right now. His short game probably isn't like Tiger's and Phil's, but in all honesty, he didn't even need a short game this week. It's easy to look at the stats (he led the field in putting) and say that he won because his putter was hot. But that wasn't the case. He led the field in putting because he had far and away the best ball-striking week of anyone out there. For the most part, it was fairway, green, putt. And his approaches were often very close, which is what helped his putting. Not to say he didn't hole out a few impressive par-saving putts, but my point is that he won this tournament with ball striking. And he certainly slammed the door shut on any lingering memories of his Masters collapse. I think he's ready to start dominating and after seeing what he's done now at 3 different majors (let's not forget his 63 in the British Open last year, the lowest round ever shot in a major), I'd be pretty shocked if he doesn't end up winning 5-10 majors, and you'd have to say he has a shot at even more.
It was fun to watch. Thanks to Al Gore's glorious internet, I was able to watch every shot while I worked on Thursday and Friday and then watch almost every shot on the weekend. It really was something else. A truly historic performance.
Ok, I had done some blogging a few years ago, mostly for the reasons listed on the side of this blog, but at some point stopped keeping up with it, possibly because most of the time, it was read by literally one person. And that one person was literally me. Not that that should matter if I look at this as more of a journal to look back on when I'm older, but you know how it goes. If your blog isn't making you wealthy and famous beyond your wildest dreams and getting you preferred seating at Chili's, is it even worth it?
Anyway, welcome to my new blog. I'd like to think I will keep up with this.
So, let's talk golf. Yesterday concluded a historic (or "an" historic, if you're snooty) week of golf for Rory McIlroy, a week in which he set or tied 12 U.S. Open records and officially became the guy who the media will swear is the next Tiger Woods, at least until that 18-year-old Italian kid (Matteo Manassero) wins a PGA event next year.
Personally, I don't think this quite compares to Tiger's 15 shot victory in 2000, for a few reasons. One, this U.S. Open course played very easy compared to most. A lot of rain during the week and a lot of heat the week prior left the rough manageable and the greens soft. 20-odd players finished under par this week, which is as many as the last ten years of U.S. Opens combined. The course was very tame, which means that really what Rory accomplished was that he played the best, most consistent golf (by far), whereas when Tiger won, he was way under par (12, to be exact) on a week when second best was three over. So not only is Tiger's 15 shot margin obviously superior to McIlroy's eight, the fact that Tiger not only subdued but dominated a course that no one else broke par on is far more impressive than winning by several strokes on an uncharacteristically easy course. People went low every day this year at Congressional. At Pebble in 2000, Tiger shot the lowest round on the course all four days. That is an insane stat that may never be equaled.
All that said, yes, Rory is undoubtedly the closest thing we have to the "next" Tiger. However, much like there really is no "next" Michael Jordan, there is no "next" Tiger. MJ and Tiger both transformed the games they play(ed) and in my humble opinion, even if more talented players emerge, no one will ever be able to impact the games the way those did. The media needs to stop trying to give these "next" titles. How many "next" Michael Jordans have we had? And none of them have even come close to what he did! The closest thing we've had, and I can't believe people argue this, is Kobe Bryant. He has had an amazing, unbelievable career, yet try this on for size:
Michael Jordan's career scoring average (playoffs): 33.4
Kobe Bryant's career scoring average (playoffs): 25.0
And there are plenty of other stats that are just as telling. Point being, he's not MJ. And Rory isn't Tiger. He certainly has a chance to be the face of the new generation of golfers though. I think he is bar none the most talented golfer, tee to green, in the game right now. His short game probably isn't like Tiger's and Phil's, but in all honesty, he didn't even need a short game this week. It's easy to look at the stats (he led the field in putting) and say that he won because his putter was hot. But that wasn't the case. He led the field in putting because he had far and away the best ball-striking week of anyone out there. For the most part, it was fairway, green, putt. And his approaches were often very close, which is what helped his putting. Not to say he didn't hole out a few impressive par-saving putts, but my point is that he won this tournament with ball striking. And he certainly slammed the door shut on any lingering memories of his Masters collapse. I think he's ready to start dominating and after seeing what he's done now at 3 different majors (let's not forget his 63 in the British Open last year, the lowest round ever shot in a major), I'd be pretty shocked if he doesn't end up winning 5-10 majors, and you'd have to say he has a shot at even more.
It was fun to watch. Thanks to Al Gore's glorious internet, I was able to watch every shot while I worked on Thursday and Friday and then watch almost every shot on the weekend. It really was something else. A truly historic performance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)