Tiger's New Poker Face

By the time most of you read this, we'll know who won the Abu Dhabi tournament. In all likelihood, it'll be either Tiger or Rory. And then the debates will begin anew...

Is Tiger "back"? Has Rory "made a statement"?

It's pretty silly, of course. It's just one tournament after a brief layoff. If you've paid much attention, nobody's been particularly sharp. But nobody's been questioning Rory's ability to contend, so I'm going to focus on Tiger today and just make a few observations.

First, let's put that "is he back?" question to rest. I agree with Frank Nobilo -- no, Tiger's not "back" but he's definitely getting things together. You can see that Tiger is reasonably happy with his progress after he finishes a round. During the round, he's clearly not hitting shots exactly the way he wants.

That's probably as it should be. During the round he's "in the moment," just thinking about the shot at hand. After the round, he looks at the totality of the round and assesses his overall performance. I think that indicates that he's mentally "back in the game." All the questions raised in the media about his mental toughness were little more than ways to fill airtime. Let's not mince words here -- yes, he was mentally screwed over for quite a while; that was to be expected after his frustration over the mess he made of his life got magnified by his continued poor health.

Personally, I think the lack of focus vanished once he played the Frys.com and could still walk after four rounds. And I suspect his confidence started coming back after that final round at the Presidents Cup. That was where he was under the most pressure -- not only about his own game, but because he didn't want Freddie to look bad for picking him. The win at Chevron can be attributed to that performance as much as anything, because that's when he knew it was all starting to gel.

And I have to thank Tiger for making me look like I know what I'm talking about. In case you don't remember, all the way back in March 2011, I wrote that:

"...in the 'Foley' swing, he [Tiger] really is closer to his original swing than with either the 'Butch' or 'Haney' swing. This swing is very similar to his original swing except his weight is more on the left side than the right."

And then in December I wrote:

"It's no secret that I think Tiger and Sean have been trying to go back to his teenage swing -- minus that big move off the ball that Tiger eliminated under Butch Harmon's care."

In his media presser after Saturday's round Tiger confirmed that he and Sean had done exactly that, and that Sean had actually pulled out old video footage of Tiger's teenage swing to help him see where they were going. As far as I know, I'm the only person who made the connection and put it in writing, so I'm feeling pretty smug right now. (And I'm enjoying it, as I don't get to feel smug very often.)

One more observation: I don't know how many of you have heard of Doyle Brunson, but he's a legend in poker circles. He quite literally wrote the book on poker... twice. After winning so much that he became a legend, Brunson wrote a book called Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker. It's MASSIVE and it's considered THE textbook on the game. Many people expected him to retire. After all, how could he continue to win after divulging all his secrets?

It's simple -- he just figured out a new way to do it. And after he beat people that way for a while, he published a second book called Doyle Brunson's Super System 2: A Course in Power Poker.

Ironically, although he doesn't win as much as he used to -- internet poker has changed the playing field, tournaments that used to have 600 entrants now have 6000+, and Doyle himself is nearly 80 years old -- he still holds his own. Apparently he's continuing to find new ways to win.

Hank Haney was on Morning Drive last week and I thought he sounded somewhat disappointed in Tiger's new game -- not the swing, but the way he's approaching the game. Tiger used to shape every shot differently, now he seems to be focusing on that little stinger cut of his. The implication seems to be that Tiger's settling for a less impressive game.

Tim Rosaforte has noted that Tiger seems to be "more comfortable with himself" and is relating better to other players like Rory. Other commentators have noticed it as well. Everyone has commented that the new kids have learned from what Tiger did, so you might say the one or two guys who could compete has multiplied into dozens. The old intimidation is gone and, although it goes unsaid, I think most of them believe Tiger has just acquiesced to the fact that he'll never be the player he was.

It would appear that Tiger Woods's Super System: A Course in Power Golf has been a bestseller.

When I wrote about Phil's problems yesterday I said he would probably need to make some changes to his pre-shot routine to get his new mental approach to work. I think we're seeing some of the same thing with Tiger, except he's changing his playing strategy just like Brunson had to do. Tiger rewrote the book on how golfers prepare to play, so now everybody's training in the gym, improving their short games, etc.

Tiger's not "back" yet, folks... but books take time to write. We're only seeing the intro and part of the first chapter right now. Don't be surprised if this one turns into a bestseller too.

No Phil for the Game

At least, not this weekend. After shooting 77-68, Phil Mickelson tossed his bags in the trunk and headed on home. His +1 score missed the cut by 3 shots.

The irony here is that Phil says he feels pretty good about his game. He said Thursday's round was "pathetic" and he can only blame it on lack of focus. Friday he put it this way:

"I don't feel like there's any one area that I feel bad about my game. It's just that I'm not bringing it from the practice session on to the golf course yet. I'm not sure why that is, but the good news is in my practice sessions it's been great in every area, except that I'm not carrying it to the course and scoring and playing smart and putting the ball in the right spot and what have you. So that's probably the area that I'll be working on here this weekend now that I have it off."

Sound familiar? Some of you may think that's a cop-out, but I think Phil may be right.

I wouldn't call it a lack of focus though. Rather, I think it's a confusion of focus.

You may remember a post I did a week ago about Phil's debut at the Hope. One of the articles I referenced from Golf.com included this statement:

"Butch Harmon raved to Golf World recently about Mickelson’s improved outlook under mental coach Julie Elion and said Mickelson is making more putts."

And indeed, Phil did make more putts on Friday. But the rest of his game seemed a bit off.

An article in USAToday from last August had more detail on Julie Elion. It included this quote from Tim Rosaforte, which came from this Golf Digest post:

"Mickelson doesn't want to go into detail on what they work on, but inside the camp Elion is credited, in part, with Phil's enthusiastic attitude during tough links conditions that resulted in his T-2 at the British Open. Elion works with 10 players on the PGA Tour, including J.B.Holmes."

You may remember that Phil seemed to lose focus on the back nine at the Open as well. He missed the cut at the Greenbrier Classic and his best finish the rest of the year was a 10th at the Tour Championship.

We have heard some about what Phil is working on. Butch Harmon told GC that Phil was trying to freewheel it a bit more, which I guess means he's trying not to over-analyze his game so much on the course. My point here isn't that he's doing anything wrong but that, much like swing changes, mental changes can take a while to fully incorporate into your game.

To use the swing thought from yesterday's post as an example, when you try to focus on your target rather than your mechanics -- but you're used to thinking mechanics -- sometimes your brain sends mixed messages to your muscles. It can take a while to develop a new thought pattern, especially if you're still trying to figure out exactly what thoughts should be changed.

If you make changes to your mental game, you may find yourself with the same problem as Phil. Mental adjustments could be the hardest part of improving.

That's what I think is happening to Phil. He's so used to dissecting shots with Bones before he even addresses the ball that his brain ends up with extra time when he steps up to the ball... then his mind just slips into neutral for a few moments, so to speak, and he loses his train of thought. Being a creature of habit, I suspect he needs to make some changes to his pre-shot routine to eliminate that "dead spot" in his thinking. You may need to do the same thing when you take a new approach to your game.

But don't worry about Phil, folks -- he'll get it figured out. He figured out how to win the Masters, didn't he?

That Sneaky Lead Elbow!

Here's an image to help you make better contact and stay on plane throughout your swing.

If you've looked at the posts in the "basic principles of the game" category, you'll see that I have a real hang-up about twisting your forearms during your swing. Twisting your forearms (often called "releasing the clubface") is one of those things that most instructors casually assume you need to do during a good swing. Let me make this perfectly clear: You don't and you shouldn't.

Let me repeat that. You don't need to twist your forearms during your swing and you shouldn't. No less an authority than Ben Hogan backs me up on this. In his book Five Lessons, which is a bible for many instructors, Hogan writes:

"The action of the arms is motivated by the movements of the body, and the hands consciously do nothing but maintain a firm grip on the club."

That's on page 82 of my copy, and Hogan felt so strongly about it that he put the whole thing in capital letters. If you try to use your hands, you automatically twist your forearms.

Why is that such a big deal? There are several reasons, but I'll focus on just one today. If you start trying to twist your forearms during your swing, most of you will end up with a "chicken wing followthrough." And among other things, "winging it" will produce slices and topped shots.

When you twist your forearms, you point your hands and club shaft away from the ball and pull through the shot with your elbow leading the way. If you do that, your hands can't "catch up" and square up the club face, hence you slice. Then that bent elbow pulls the clubhead into a shorter arc and you hit higher on the ball, hence you top it.

I talk a lot about connection -- that is, keeping your triceps resting lightly against your chest as much as you can throughout your swing -- and you can keep your lead tricep resting against your chest all the way from address until you swing your club over your lead shoulder when you pose at the finish. Your lead shoulder is your left shoulder if you play right-handed, and it's your right shoulder if you play left-handed. This connected position keeps your lead elbow fairly close to your chest.

That's important because a connected lead elbow is pointed toward the ground all the way through your swing.

And if your lead elbow stays close to your side and points to the ground all the way through your swing, your hands and the club tend to stay in front of you. When that happens, the back of your lead hand tends to return to its address position and you square up the club. Your arm doesn't shorten its arc. You get a nice solid hit on the ball.

Best of all, no one accuses you of being Col. Sanders's next victim.

One of the best ways to get a feel for this move is to imagine you're throwing a Frisbee™ or hitting a tennis backhand. Most people naturally make the correct movement if they do that, plus they make the proper lower body move without sliding their hips too far forward during the downswing.

So pay some attention to that sneaky lead elbow and its tendency to move too far away from your side and lead your downswing. The only good chicken wing is an edible one!

An Abu Dubious Start

I stayed up late tonight (Wednesday) to watch some of the Abu Dhabi HSBC.

The tournament is getting off to a slow start. I really expected some fireworks, given all the firepower in the field and the simple fact that this is desert golf with near perfect weather.

Instead, with a number of the big names already halfway through their rounds -- Kaymer and Westwood haven't teed off yet -- Gareth Maybin (who?), Michael Hoey (2-time winner last year), Anders Hansen, and Rory McIlroy lead at -3, with a group tied at -2. K.J. Choi and Luke Donald are in that group. Tiger and Jason Day are in another group at -1.

I understand that the course groundskeepers tried to toughen up the course this year because the scoring has been so low in the past. Thus far it looks like they've succeeded.

Given that no one is blistering the course, Tiger's -1 is obviously good. He looks a bit frustrated to me -- not quite happy with his execution -- although the same could be said of Rory. (I don't know if Luke ever looks rusty, even though he hasn't played for 5 weeks. That swing of his always looks the same, even when it isn't working well... and that's not a problem for him so far.) Overall, Tiger looks to be hitting the ball pretty well.

All of these players look a bit rusty to me. Of course, for most of the big names, this is their first competitive round in a few weeks, so I probably shouldn't be surprised. Still, last year's play (and, surprisingly, the first three weeks this year) have me expecting better golf from the top players.

How ironic. Tiger and Phil were basically "off" during 2011, and the other players convinced me I should expect more than I did before. Despite what I would call a lackluster round, I guess 2012 is off to a good start after all.

Ben's New Video

Well, the video didn't show up where I thought it would. At YouTube it has a message above it that says "This video is unlisted. Only those with the link can see it." Instead, you had to go to bencranegolf.com (at least there was a link at the YouTube channel) to see it there.

But now it's been released, and here it is:



Just one question remains: I wonder if all slow boars need crash helmets?

Will Ben Release It Today?

Today's post is very short for a simple reason...

Ben Crane's new video is due out and it didn't show up in time for me to post it!

All I know is it has something to do with being a gymnast. (!!!)

Here's the link to Ben's YouTube channel. When it comes out, it ought to show up there. At the time I posted this, the Golf Boys video was the featured video and the last video he posted (in the list beneath it) came out last November.

I can't believe this. Ben speeds up his play, only to slow down his video releases. Oh, the irony of it all!

Is It Just About the Money?

Tiger starts his year at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship this week. Of course, there's no question why he's playing there instead of Torrey Pines. Word on the street is that he's getting paid seven figures -- $2-3 million. That's a lot of good reasons to show up, especially since Tiger almost certainly has money concerns like alimony payments and those new digs down in Florida.

But are we sure that's the only reason?

Some have suggested that he's also bypassing Dubai since it's sponsored by Omega -- a move that might not set well with his new sponsor Rolex.

But is that all?

I'm sure both of those play a part in Tiger's decision to play Abu Dhabi this week. But I'm not so sure they're the only reasons.

Back in December I questioned how much the world rankings were really worth. I won't rehash all of that, but I can't help but wonder if Tiger hasn't chosen Abu Dhabi in part because he could make a huge move in the world rankings this week.

Look at it this way. According to this week's OWGR rankings, #1 Luke Donald has 9.89 points and #10 Jason Day has 4.93 points -- a difference of 4.96 points. But from Jason all the way down to #1001 Shamim Khan, at 0.06 points, there's only a difference of 4.87 points. There's more distance between #1 and #10 than between #10 and #1001!

Tiger is currently #25. He has 3.44 points. He's only 1.49 points out of the Top 10.

Now let's look at the fields. At Torrey Pines, Dustin Johnson -- #9 in the OWGR -- is the only Top 10 player scheduled to play. (And let's not ignore the fact that he had to withdraw with back problems last week. That could happen again this week, depending on how far out of shape he is.) Make it the Top 15 and you can add #12 Nick Watney and #15 Phil Mickelson.

How about Abu Dhabi? Well, I see Luke Donald (1), Lee Westwood (2), Rory McIlroy (3), Martin Kaymer (4), Charl Schwartzel (8), and Jason Day (10). That's 6 of the Top 10... and please note that 5 of these players are all ranked above DJ. You can add Graeme McDowell (13) and K.J. Choi (14) to that list if you go down to the Top 15.

I don't know exactly how the points for a win are assigned but I'm pretty sure that, with so many highly-ranked players in the field, a win at Abu Dhabi just might kick Tiger all the way back into the Top 10 in the world. A win at the Farmers Insurance Open probably wouldn't.

The list of events Tiger has committed to (listed at his website) only has two events so far -- Abu Dhabi and Pebble Beach. I don't know what the field at Pebble will look like, but the WGC-Accenture Match Play is only 3 weeks after Pebble. The major season gets started in earnest after that.

So maybe it's not just about the money after all. If I was Tiger and wanted to make a serious run at #1 in the world again, I'd play Abu Dhabi too.

But then, $3 million wouldn't hurt either.