Woods: Trump can hit long ball

Donald Trump hits it long. That was one piece of information Tiger Woods wrote about Thursday in a lengthy post on his website that touched on the past and looked forward to 2017.

“What most impressed me was how far he hits the ball at 70 years old. He takes a pretty good lash,” Woods wrote about the president-elect.

The two were paired for a round Dec. 23 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. “Our discussion topics were wide-ranging; it was fun. We both enjoyed the bantering, bickering and needling. ... We didn’t have a match and played for fun. I was testing drivers and fairway woods and changed some settings. I think he enjoyed seeing the difference in shots when you experiment.”

Woods, who has also played golf with Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, says he is working hard to “sharpen” his game for 2017.

He will make his debut Jan. 26 in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. He’ll play the following week in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in the Middle East, take a week off and then play in back-to-back weeks in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club north of Los Angeles and the Honda Classic at PGA National in Florida.

“My goal is simple: to win,” Woods wrote.

Woods is still testing the new golf ball he will be using, a Bridgestone B330S. Woods put the ball into play for the first time when he played his first competitive round in more than 15 months in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December. He finished 15th of 18 but co-led the field with 24 birdies.

“I thought what I did at the Hero World Challenge was a positive step,” he wrote. “I just need to keep building off that and eliminate the simple mistakes I made. Being away from the game that long, I made some really dumb errors I don’t normally make, and it cost me. ... My good stuff was really good, which is a great sign.”