A triumphant return?
I was delighted to read the announcement about Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf after more than a year away, and I can’t wait to see him in action again. It will be fascinating to see how he’ll cope and if his body will hold up. If it doesn’t, I honestly think that will be it for his career. However, if it he manages to get six months of competitive action under his belt without suffering a recurrence, I genuinely think he has a good chance of winning another Major.
I know it will be extremely difficult with all the golfing talent on the professional tours at the moment, but my optimism stems from the fact he appeared to take a more disciplined approach to his rehabilitation this time around – perhaps recognition that this is last-chance saloon.
He desperately needs a long run of competitive golf and we shouldn’t expect good results in his first few events back, but I think he still has more to offer. Either way, it’s a great thing for the professional game, which is arguably as strong as it’s ever been. Just imagine how great it would be to watch Woods battling it out with Jason Day and Rory McIlroy at next year’s Masters. Unlikely, maybe, but nothing would surprise me given what Tiger has achieved. Phillip Downs, via email fairway, why should you be penalised? Common sense says you should be able to improve your lie without penalty.
Also, with regards speeding up play: we need more beginners’ nine-hole courses, floodlit to allow for evening golf; we should have seven-club competitions to limit club selection and we should increase the size of the hole slightly. Higher-handicap beginners would then be more prepared for the 18-hole experience. Peter Richards, London helpful, usually older gent come over and offer me his suggestion about what I was doing wrong. “You’re lifting your head,” they’d say, “hit through the ball.” “Those are the wrong clubs for you,” they’d claim. Then, after they walked off, I would stand there trying to apply the advice they gave.
Until recently, I always took what ‘more experienced’ players said as being pearls of wisdom from battlehardened veterans of the game. However, myself and others like me ought to be careful who we accept advice from. Obviously professionals are the golfing gurus we should trust and listen to, but it’s hard not to let the words of people, who are only trying to help, dent that fragile confidence we can all possess at times. Instead of listening to the ‘Just do this’, ‘Just do that’, ‘Just do the other’ people, we need to remember we can’t change our game in an instant in the middle of a