Tiger Woods counts it a success that he’s playing golf again

Woods has not played a competitive round of golf for 15 months. Woods selected one of the concepts to move forward with.

Woods grew up playing with steel irons and glued hosels (driver heads).

However, there’s no question that many people are tired of the “When is Tiger going to return” story. The great part about this game?

“I love chipping”, Woods said. “I care about what I do out there”.

“I call it Phase 2 because I can’t play this game forever at a competitive, high level”, he said. Everywhere I go. Everybody I meet. “Everything is adjustable. That’s a very different concept to me”. We can not quit Tiger Woods. Of course. I care.

This week is as much about feeling his way back than looking to win. “I’m used to using rat glue to adjust spin”. That T17 he posted at Augusta after struggling all spring with his health and short game was honestly one of the more impressive feats I’ve ever seen him accomplish. “Two, it hurt me by not being able to practice for a week”. Woods hit shots on a simulator and was intrigued by the duo’s strapping system concept – created to help keep him secure through his swing and a full day of golf. While Jeter, Kobe, Federer and other athletes of the same generation are either retired or nearing that point, Woods is a golfer. On top of that, most of my career I’ve played steel. “I’ve had a lot of friends help me”.

You won’t believe how much Tiger Woods can move up in the World Rankings this week (read here): now sitting at 898th in the world, just by completing this week’s tournament Tiger would move up nearly 150 places in the rankings, while win would see him make a jump all the way back up towards the top-125. I haven’t played in a while. That was it. There was no testing.

“I’m just trying to find myself again on the greens where I’m comfortable from 15, 20, 25 feet and seeing the ball go in the hole”, he said. So they played with the same equipment for close to two, three, four different decades. “Now, everything changes in six to nine months”.

Woods appeared on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive on Tuesday morning and deflected host Damon Hack’s question about his goals for 2017 with some sly humor. Consider Bryson Dechambeau, who studied physics at SMU and developed customized clubs that complement his single-plane swing.

There is satisfaction that his “game is not as vulnerable as last year”, but the leaner look isn’t what he’s strived for. “When you’re dealing with a spine, when you’re dealing with nerves, it’s a totally different deal”.

Els, perhaps more than any other player, has a deep golfing connection with Woods.

Really? Woods finished 10th in his last appearance in the Wyndham Championship, an effort that had been set up by an opening 64. For once in your life, you’re doing something meaningful, but you don’t have to keep score the same way you did in golf.

“Even though he’s older and spent a couple of years in the minors, we both came up in ’96”, Woods said. “I haven’t had adrenaline in my system in a while and having that surge of adrenaline through my system, how much further is this ball going to be going?”

“I also was discussing that today with “Rosey” (Justin Rose) and he also says he needs to spend upwards of an hour and a half in the gym before he tees-up each day of a tournament given he’s now 36 years of age”, Wood said.