So Tiger is on the way back from that 'indefinite break from golf', with the speculation growing that the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill looking like the likely event billed for his return.
Its was reported that he has been participating in a routine of golf and fitness, the latter I'm sure being just a bit more than a jog to warm up and a few weights. I would imagine that his routine in the gym is probably a very intense routine based around cardio and weight loss. Far to late into the winter to be lifting heavy weights though.
The other part of his routine naturally is hitting balls and working on shape and feel. Feel, the small and very significant part to a very good golfers ability to get his way around the golf course. Feel is not the easiest sense to explain but we all have it, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned campaigner, feel is there in abundance. You have to learn feel through hours and hours of practice. Sometimes it feels great, like hitting the ball with a soft marshmellow, other times it feels like a hammer hitting concrete with a definite shaking up the club. You know that feeling!
One of the first things that Tiger might be struggling with is the timing of his feel too, Tiger has though got great hands, educated hands in fact.
But what can we learn from Tigers effort to get his game back into shape to compete?
Ask yourself this, how long has it been since I last hit a ball? For some its probably the best part of the winter. Similar to Tiger in fact. The difference is most of us will be on the range trying to scream the ball over that 200 yard board instead of starting a little slow and concentrating on the 50 to 100 yard part of the game, the feel part of the game. By all means though hit the whole bag get your head into the game and think of that feeling it took to hit the beauty that went arrow straight. But let me remind you, driving is for show, putting is for dough.
Get onto that putting green and start working on that 2 foot putt you missed last summer, learn the feel and learn to trust it. Who knows you might just spot a Tiger on the putting green.
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