Woods unconcerned by power surge
08/02/2006 - 17:24:29Tiger Woods said today that nothing can stop golf balls being hit further and further by the game’s top players.
“Even if you don’t do anything with balls or clubs guys are still going to get longer,” said Woods, who has begun 2006 with victories in his first two tournaments.
“Don’t forget, guys are going to be bigger, stronger, more athletic. That’s never going to end.
“It doesn’t concern me. I think that’s the nature of all sports. You’re going to have advances in technology, but also in the human body.
“Golf is progressing more towards an athletic sport. Guys are in shape or trying to get in shape; they are more fit, more flexible and have more speed. That’s attributed to some of the distance numbers you’ve seen.”
Woods will try for his fifth Masters win in 10 years in April as he defends the title he captured after a play-off with Chris DiMarco.
Six of the 18 holes at Augusta National have been lengthened, the changes coming at the first, fourth, seventh, 11th, 15th and 17th.
In total they add 155 yards and make the overall test 7,445 yards – over 500 yards longer than it was when Woods triumphed for the first time in 1997.
“The sheer length of the holes is the biggest change I’ve seen,” added the world number one.
“With that as well as the rough – sorry, first cut (club officials do not refer to the longer grass as rough) – it’s certainly been eye-opening for all of us.
“Now the premium is on tee shots as well as second shots and I think it’s been a positive change.”
Not everybody agrees with that. Generally only long hitters benefit from making courses longer, and with the par three fourth now stretched to 240 yards and the 11th to a 505-yard par four, many see it as playing even more into the hands of a select few.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” stated Woods, not surprisingly. “It’s the Masters, so how can you not look forward to it?
“It’s something every kid dreams of playing in, so to have won four is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Asked about his expectations for the coming decade now that he has turned 30, he answered: “Hopefully it can be better. That’s my intention.
“I’m going to work hard and be diligent and try to get better every year. It’s always a challenge, but hopefully I can do that.”
On the issue of length, Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Club, said last month that “if there is one issue that does concern us it’s the disconnection between success and driving accuracy.”
The top three earners on the US Tour in 2005 – Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson – finished 188th, 147th and 161st in driving accuracy, proof that what matters most in the modern game is power.
Woods insists, however, that “the guys who are hitting it further are going to have to be more accurate” because there is less margin of error.
“A 290-yard shot, which was a good drive five or 10 years ago, now goes 330 yards and on the same line it goes into the trees rather than the fairway. That’s a big difference.”
Not big enough it seems, however, to stop them being the most successful players at the moment.
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