The Only Thing a Golfer Needs

I thoroughly enjoyed this article – Tiger Woods: Making putts and history – recently published within the Windsor Star. I’ve included the full text of the article below.

Two things jumped out at me, both in relation to Parmasters Kitchener-Waterloo.

First, as noted in the article, since becoming a professional Tiger Woods has twice completely rebuilt and retooled his golf swing. As the article points out, Woods has done this “so that he can ‘own’ it [his golf swing] in the same manner as Hogan and Canadian legend Moe Norman.”

Well, at Parmasters, as I’ve previously noted in this blog, we guarantee results with our golf training. We guarantee that we’ll reduce your handicap by 25%, or your money is refunded. Period. We do this by starting from the ground up, building you a brand new golf swing, much in the same way that the best golfer on the planet has twice built a new swing. Of course, we don’t expect those that take our lessons to work quite as hard at their game as Tiger does.

The second item that jumped out at me was the following quote from Ben Hogan.

“The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight.”

Come to Parmasters Kitchener-Waterloo. We provide “the only thing a golfer needs.” We provide more daylight!

Here’s the full article.

Tiger Woods
Making putts and history

Windsor Star
Thursday, March 20, 2008

You knew he would make it. Tiger Woods hadn't drained a putt longer than 20 feet through 71 holes during the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, but dramatically curled in a 25-foot downhill slider Sunday for birdie at the last and a one-shot victory -- his fifth in a row on the PGA Tour.

The dramatic putt was set up by a remarkable 5-iron from 175 yards Woods described as the best shot he hit all tournament -- four trying days where he fought an erratic swing but still eked out a win. Other golfers collapse when the tournament is on the line. Woods thrives. Other golfers find ways to lose tournaments. Woods finds ways to win. Rare is the moment Woods hasn't mastered.

Sometimes that involves, like it did on the final hole of the 2000 Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, launching a six-iron from a fairway bunker 218 yards over water to within 15 feet of the cup. And sometimes it involves miraculous chip-ins, like the improbable 30-footer on the 16th hole of the 2005 Masters. That ball hung on the edge for two full seconds that seemed like forever. If Woods hadn't chipped that ball, you suspect it wouldn't have dropped.

Woods has already surpassed Palmer in terms of career PGA Tour victories and is now chasing Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead. Sunday's victory, his 64th, ties him with the legendary Ben Hogan, widely regarded as the greatest ball striker of all time and a man with whom Woods has much in common.

It was said Hogan played one game and every other professional another and the same could be said of Woods. He has rebuilt his golf swing twice as a professional, defying the critics who said he shouldn't tinker with a winning formula, so that he can "own" it in the same manner as Hogan and Canadian legend Moe Norman.

Hogan was known for his fitness and gruelling practice sessions in an era when professionals were more likely to be found on bar stools than practice tees. Hogan strived every day to become a better player and so does Woods. He is a testament to the virtues of dedication and commitment. Woods' secret, quite simply, is that he works harder than anybody else. And, unlike Hogan, Woods' putting is otherworldly when the pressure is on.

Woods is undefeated in 2008 and commentators are beginning to speculate whether he can run the table, including the four major championships. Should he win the Grand Slam this year, Woods, just 32, would have 17 majors to his credit -- one shy of Nicklaus, who recorded his last major victory when he was 46.

Hogan, who dug his trademark swing out of the dirt by beating endless golf balls, once said "the only thing a golfer needs is more daylight." Sports fans can only hope the sun doesn't somehow set prematurely on Woods; that tragedy doesn't strike him the way a Greyhound bus smashed into Hogan at the height of his career.

Because the most frightening thing about Woods is that he hasn't reached his apex yet. He's still trying to own his swing. He's still trying to get better and he will get better as his experience rises to the level of his intimidating physical and mental prowess.

As he grows less flexible and weakens with age -- it is hard to imagine but time will wear on Woods the way it wears on all of us -- he'll compensate by drawing on his accumulated knowledge. He'll know, for example, Augusta's sloping, devilish greens more intimately than any man alive. Experience helped Nicklaus drain those bombs in that final, thrilling charge at The Masters in 1986 and there's no reason to suspect it won't help Woods bring home one final major a decade or even two from now.

Woods isn't just playing golf and making putts anymore. He's making history. If you haven't been paying attention, you should start this weekend. Athletes like him and stories like this come around once in a lifetime. If that. Enjoy. Magical Sundays can't last forever. Not even in Tiger's world.