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History loves company, and we love Tiger Woods. Unless you spend the last few days under a rock, then you know that Tiger won his 82nd PGA Tour event last week in Japan. Number 82 ties him for the most wins all time with another legend in Sam Snead. Here are my takeaways from Tiger's historical week:
1) It's not how you start it's how you finish.
If you only watch Tiger's first three holes and then turned it off, your prediction of his week definitely did not include him winning the event by three shots. Tiger started his week bogey-bogey-bogey, which for many of us would lead to a solid round of 97. For Tiger, 97 was more like 64, thanks to 9 birdies in the opening round. Next time you get off to a poor start, hone your focus and channel your inner Tiger and don't let that round get away. You get 18 holes to score, not the first three.
2) Practice your putting man!
If you caught some highlights of that first round, what did you see? I'll tell you what you didn't see, 9 tap in birdies. Tiger made putts from everywhere during that first round! Being able to make putts (and control the ball on the greens in general) is so crucial to being a good player because it allows you to be more selective when approaching the green. Gone is the need to foolishly attach sucker pins; remaining is the opportunity to make birdie.
3) You don't have to burn yourself out to be successful.
Obviously Tiger doesn't play as much as he used to. Equally obvious is that he's still good at golf. Next time you get into a funk with your game, don't press and burn yourself out trying to snap out of that funk. Golf is a game of up and downs, so you're bound to hit a bump in the road now and again. Understanding that it's a minor bump and not a career-ending decline will make your ability to react and come back that much easier.