Mental game may be cure for Tiger’s putting woes
Tiger Woods’ putting stroke is ailing, and “The Putt Doctor” is in the house. As are a couple of other putting gurus ready to diagnose Woods’ problem.
“The biggest thing I’d say personally is that he spent so much time on his swing that other parts of his game suffer, and this is one of them,” Dr. Craig Farnsworth, a sports vision optometrist also known as “The Putt Doctor,” told USA TODAY. “I think that you have to keep working on your strengths, and sometimes people forget that and spend way too much time on the howto’s or mechanics and lose some of the athleticism and that can creep over into every aspect of the game.”
Not all golf gurus agree with Farnsworth, but no one disputes that Woods must correct his putting woes that manifested in the Wells Fargo Championship this past week if he has any hope of winning his first PGA Tour title since 2013, much less his first major since the 2008 U.S. Open.
Until last week, Woods this season has at times been stellar on the greens, ranking among the top 15 on the PGA Tour in four statistical putting categories — total putting (third), strokes gained (eighth), overall putting (tied for 11th) and birdie or better conversion percentage (14th). But in the Wells Fargo Championship he finished tied for 55th, largely because of his horrific putting that included a flock of missed birdies and six three-putts.
Three notable putting instructors diagnose Woods’ putting woes.
Craig Farnsworth
Farnsworth, author of See It and Sink It: Mastering Putting Through Peak Vi
sual Performance, has worked with Nick Faldo, Brad Faxon and, by his count, more than 150 players on on the PGA, LPGA and European tours.
Farnsworth has never worked with Woods, whose only trusted putting coach was his father, Earl Woods, but has watched him and his putter for more than two decades.
“His two biggest assets all along have been his mental game and his athleticism, and he kind of (forsake) that athleticism and the mental game when he jumped headfirst into mechanics,” Farnsworth said, referring to Woods’ extensive work on the swing he uses for iron play and driving. “And that’s what he’s been consumed with off and on. Overall, yes, he’s kind of lost his athleticism. I’m going to quote him from years ago. He said, ‘I know I can win on tour with a C-plus golf swing and an A-minus concentration.’ And I think he forgot what he said.”
Although Woods felt it necessary to adjust his mechanics, Farnsworth said he thinks the old swing served Woods well — especially coupled with Woods’ once-dominant putting. “He was wild, but he could pull off some incredible shots to get out of wherever he put himself off the tee. That’s why he won a lot of golf tournaments, athleticism and mental side of the game. So that’s what I think is costing the most, is he’s gotten away from dominating mentally and into mechanicals.”
James Sieckmann
Sieckmann, author of Your Putting Solution: A Tour-Proven Approach to Mastering the Greens, earned an endorsement from Vijay Singh, a threetime major winner, and has made the Golf Digest top 50 list for instructors.
Sieckmann said he thinks Woods’ struggles are a one-week aberration and speculated that the greens at Quail Hollow Golf Course fooled Woods because of insufficient preparation on the course. He said Woods prefers off-site practice so he can avoid distractions.
“Tiger said after Day 1 that the greens looked fast, they felt firm but they were slow,” Sieckmann said. “So his eyes were playing tricks on him in that he was sensing one thing and he was getting another. So now his line and speed are off a little and he starts missing. And what happens, and this is where the chain reaction comes in, it’s like a shock to the system, it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m way underperforming here.’ ”
“All of the sudden something that was intuitive or athletic becomes conscious and forced. And once that happens, forget rolling in 8-, 10-, 15-footers.”
Predicting Woods will be “amazing” this week at The Players Championship, Sieckmann said Woods will thrive in part because he’ll put in more preparation time on the greens. “He’s a great putter and he always will be, as long as he doesn’t start thinking too much,” Sieckmann said.
Todd Sones
Sones, author of Lights-Out Putting: A Mind, Body, and Soul Approach to Golf ’s Game Within the Game, has worked with Steve Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open winner, and Hillary Lunke, the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open champion.
He said Woods’ putting technique — using his hands more than most golfers do — creates less margin for error.
“When he’s on and feeling confident, not a problem,” Sones said. “But if he gets at all a little bit anxious, as we all do and under pressure, then he’s not going to perform as well.”
Sones said “confidence can override everything” but also noted that Woods is not the same clutch putter he was early in his career.
Woods is known to use a SAM PuttLab that provides detailed feedback on his putting, a facet of his game that was expected to buoy him during his comeback this year from multiple back surgeries. But the SAM PuttLab and any other equipment that offers extensive feedback is not necessarily the answer, according to Sones.
“Analysis without solution is confusion,” he said. “When a player knows what’s wrong but they don’t know the cause of it, they ultimately are tinkering with the effects of the problem, which is not a solution to the cause.
“Whenever you find a solution for the cause of a problem, you can fix it in a way that stands up to the pressure. At that point, the brain is committed and not confused.”