After a one-year hiatus that included a horrific car accident (seen by millions, including this one, across the country) and some well-documented back problems, golf superstar Tiger Woods posted on his website Monday that he has resumed practicing on the driving range and that he has been hitting hundreds of shots a day for the past few weeks.
Woods, 39, who is planning to play in the Farmers Insurance Open beginning next week in San Diego, hasn’t posted a video of himself practicing on YouTube. Instead, Woods explains in the short blog post that he has been using a “small percentage” of clubhead speed (from previous or regular practice) to build back up to the course.
“My golf swing has been a little bit of an old man’s game so far this year,” Woods wrote. “I’ve been working on a few things lately that have been going well so hopefully that will translate into a more fluid swing and better performance.
“It’s good to get back on the range and get back to testing out different stuff.”
Woods, the No. 1 player in the world on the PGA Tour for an incredible 14 straight years from 1998 to 2009 and a 14-time major champion, has plummeted to 156th in the world since the beginning of the year. He’s played 13 tournaments, including last week in the Safeway Open, and finished 19th, 15th and 44th, respectively.
That wasn’t very good, and Woods said last month that he would need “a really good holiday and start of the new year to get my confidence back.” But after three successive months without playing, Woods appears to be making progress, particularly with the occasional video.
This might not mean much to casual golf fans, but Woods’ ability to physically move well is the kind of secret that makes the golfing world go round. Whether it translates into Tiger Woods playing a full schedule next year, then a full schedule after that, that’s anyone’s guess.
I’m thinking in the next 10 years Tiger Woods will probably be some sort of legendary figure in sports history. Find out why (cont’d). More from Pro Golf Buzz »