The tee shot that made Tiger Woods crazy

Only a week has passed since “The Match”, won by Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth against Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, and another super event awaits us: the PNC Championship.

Since Tiger made his first appearance in 2019, he has transformed this tournament from a quiet fixture on the Champions Tour to a highly anticipated heart-pounding event.

You basically play father and son in two highly anticipated days, even by non-enthusiasts.

We will therefore see Tiger again with his Charlie, who since last year seems to have been watered like a plant: now he is taller, stronger and longer-lasting. Long enough to always be in front of dad with the tee-shot.

That tee shot that gave Tiger little trouble as a boy until he figured out a way to fix it.

In October, Tiger had a Q&A session with a group of kids at the TGR Jr. Invitational in Pebble Beach. The presenting sponsor of the TGR Jr. Invitational tweeted Woods’ response to a question about his warmup routine.

Tiger Woods, statements

“I suffered a lot the first tee shot as a junior, I missed the fairway every time. So I came up with this pre-race routine. If you pay attention, I still do it today”.

Woods always had a focused and mindful warm-up routine, which he went on to detail.

“I use the whole bag during the warm-up,” he said. “Still the same: sand wedge, 8 iron, 4 iron. Now I don’t hit the 2 iron anymore, because I can’t, but 5 wood, 3 wood, driver, back to the 8 iron, sand wedge at 60 degrees, and then the stick with which I will play the first tee shot”.

Woods reiterated that making the final stage of his practice as similar to the first tee experience as possible is an important key to the warm-up routine.

“I go to the bag, choose the stick and imagine the blow,” he said. “I know the wind, the shape of the fairway, I know where the flag is. And I take the shot. And if I throw it wrong, I put the stick back in the bag, I dry my hands, I take the stick back, I do it again. When I get to the first tee, I tell myself, it’s just like the driving range. It’s the same thing. Same shot. And I started having a lot more successes. I started winning more junior tournaments that way, gaining more and more confidence.”

Said like this it seems easy, but even any diet will never be successful without constancy.