| Tiger Woods is absolutely the very best golfer on | | | | best player in the world?" |
| the planet week in and week out. You would be hard | | | | Tiger Woods is a world-class athlete. Most average |
| pressed to find anyone who would argue that point | | | | players are not. Most people period, are not. |
| with you. He seems to be able to focus and produce | | | | Tiger Woods has incredible hand-eye coordination as |
| fantastic scores even when he's obviously not at his | | | | is referenced by his ability to square the club at |
| best. | | | | impact and by his uncanny short game. If you're |
| His drives fly so far that they really should serve | | | | average score is 97 +, you're ability to square the |
| food on them or at the very least, drinks. His iron | | | | club needs some work. Let's be realistic. |
| shots somehow manage to finish around the hole | | | | Tiger plays and practices daily. In contrast, we know |
| from even the worst of situations. From 50 yards | | | | the average player plays less than 1 round per week |
| and in, he is unbelievable. He manufactures chips and | | | | and the list of reasons why you shouldn't emulate |
| pitches from all sorts of lies and hazards that defy | | | | Tiger goes on and on. Now, that's not to say that |
| logic and if I had to wager my life on someone | | | | Tiger doesn't have a golf swing worth emulating, |
| dropping a side-hill ten footer, you can bet that | | | | because he absolutely does. What I'm trying to |
| someone would be Tiger Woods. | | | | convey to you is that if you fall into the average |
| So what's not to like? Why shouldn't golf instructors | | | | category, you are probably not physically capable of |
| teach you to swing like Tiger? Why shouldn't the | | | | emulating Tiger and even if you are one of the very |
| average player attempt to emulate the moves and | | | | few of us who are capable physically, you don't have |
| mechanics of best player in the world? | | | | the time necessary to hone and repeat the motion. |
| Before we answer that question, I'd like to answer a | | | | Instead of trying to teach people to play like Tiger, |
| different question. | | | | what I think teachers should be doing is teaching Joe |
| What is an average golfer? | | | | Average to simply play like Joe Average. Every |
| The National Golf Foundation ( breaks golfers into | | | | player has his or own set of assets and also |
| two separate categories. These categories are core | | | | limitations and should play within those limitations. |
| golfers, defined as those who play at least 8 times | | | | If you want to improve your game, you should learn, |
| per year, and occasional golfers who play 7 or less | | | | within the framework of your own limitations and |
| rounds yearly. In the United States, there are 15.7 | | | | assets, how to square the club to the target line at |
| million core golfers and another 14.6 occasional golfers | | | | impact. This is what golf is all about. You should learn |
| for a total of 30.3 million golfers. | | | | how to relax so that you can maximize your own |
| Of these players, the average score for men in the | | | | swing speed and hit the ball farther. You should |
| core group is 97 and 106 is the average for women | | | | absolutely develop a good grip and set-up so that |
| in the same group. We won't even talk about the | | | | when you do square the club, the ball will fly toward |
| average score of the occasional group. | | | | the target building confidence in your swing and also |
| Percentage wise, the scoring numbers break out like | | | | developing your feel for the swing. |
| this: | | | | Forget the right forearm, and the left hip. Forget |
| SCORE / PERCENTAGE OF PLAYERS WHO SHOOT | | | | pushing, pulling, and rotating. Make your game as |
| IT | | | | simple and repeatable as possible. Focus solely on |
| Under 80 / 8% | | | | doing what is necessary for you to square the club |
| 80 - 89 / 20% | | | | to the target line at impact. After all, you only play 3 |
| 90 - 99 / 31% | | | | times per month. Why should you make your golf |
| 100 - 119 / 30% | | | | swing more complicated than it has to be? |
| 120 and Up / 11% | | | | Structure your practice programs around a solid |
| Additionally, the average player in the core group | | | | fundamental set-up and then work steadfastly on |
| plays 37 times per year. That's about 3 times a | | | | learning the feel for squaring the face of the club to |
| month or less than once per week. | | | | the target line. Once you've developed this feel for |
| To summarize, an average player is defined as a man | | | | "square impact," now it's time to go to work on your |
| who plays about 3 times monthly and averages a | | | | short game but that's an article for another day. |
| score of 97. For women the number of rounds is | | | | If you take this information to heart, in a short |
| consistent with their male counterparts but their | | | | period of time you will be playing more like Tiger...not |
| average score rises to 106. | | | | necessarily in form but as a result of lower scores. |
| Now that we've defined what an average player is, | | | | You will improve your swing and the lower you |
| we can answer the initial question which was... "Why | | | | score, the more you're playing like Tiger. |
| shouldn't the average player attempt to emulate the | | | | |