28. Here is a strong message for younger players coming into the game. You must decide and set the level you want to play to. Poor goals give poor results. When you set a goal, do not be afraid of asking “How high is high”

On tour, a good player shooting 65 would tell you they hit something in the region of 5 or 6 really good shots in the round. The remainders are what they would call “good misses”. How many perfect shots would you say Tiger Woods hits in a sub par round? Would it be 10, or 20 maybe?

Tiger Woods, in his book “How I play golf”, gave us the answer to the question. In his record- breaking season of 2000 he claims he hit only one shot that was perfect! (Just in case you thought I got that wrong, yes, I did say season) This was the season when he won 12 tournaments, (3 of them majors) averaged 67.79 strokes per round and amassed $10,000,000 in prize money and he says he hit just one shot absolutely pure, exactly as he saw it in his mind. This “divine blessed” moment occurred on the 14 th hole of the 3rd round at St. Andrews during the “Open Championship” He hit a 3 wood off a tight lie with a touch of draw into a left to right wind and carried it 260 yards. “Moments like that stay fresh in your mind”; he went on to say.

What are we to deduce from the above comparisons? Does it imply that the rest of the tour players, past and present, are better ball strikers than Woods as they can hit 5 in a round? Is he saying it with “tongue in cheek” and simply trying to tease us a bit.

I think the answer is quite simple. Woods sets higher standards than any other player who has ever walked on a golf course. Because he asks for higher attainment from himself, then it stands to reason that his experience of a perfect shot is beyond the comprehension of someone who settles for a lesser level.

The “Six” great shots of the regular tour players are, I would imagine, just a regular occurrence for Tiger. Their great shots are his “good misses”. This is not meant to detract from the rest of the tour players; it is simply the reality which I am sure they would agree with. Here is a strong message for younger players coming into the game. You must decide and set the level you want to play to. Poor goals give poor results. When you set a goal, do not be afraid of asking “How high is high”. Tiger Woods wasn’t.