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Along with introducing non-golfers to the term “hit-and-giggle,” Tiger Woods this past week also gave a lesson about the demands of competitive golf at the highest levels.
The perception has been trimmed back quite a bit over the years, but in some quarters it still remains — “Must be nice, go play golf for four days and get paid big bucks to do it.”
As it is with all other big-league sports (and artistic entertainment, for that matter), we don’t see all the hours and effort it takes to be at that high of a level when the bell rings.
Why did Dustin Johnson make 91.4% of his 5-foot putts last season? Why did Justin Thomas convert 85.7% of his up-and-downs from greenside bunkers?
It’s not happenstance.
Hours upon hours of practice, day after day after day, is what it takes to know the 5-foot putt will drop under pressure, or the tee shot will split the fairway on the 72nd hole.
There’s a certain amount of physical ability and resilience needed to do that. No, not all pro golfers look like “athletes” in that sense, but like baseball — another game where hand-eye genius is honed through endless repetition — the physical demands are narrow enough to allow various body types.
Tiger Woods holds his first press conference since his Feb. 23 car crash in Los Angeles at the Hero World Challenge golf tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Doug Ferguson)
But the demands are necessary for success. Your buddy, the 3-handicap hotshot, might be able to step out of his Buick on Saturday morning and deliver a “hit-and-giggle” 75 with the guys, but it’s as far as he’s going as a once or twice-a-week golfer.
That’s what Woods was referencing when discussing his future — or lack thereof — in competitive golf. Will he reach a point where he can walk 18 holes without enough discomfort to wish he hadn’t? Let’s say he will. Do it again tomorrow, and two more days after that? Again, let’s go positive and assume so.
He did, of…
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Source : yahoo
