A Tiger Becomes a Phoenix?

The phoenix is a mythical and sacred firebird. According to mythology, the phoenix builds a nest near the end of its life that eventually ignites and engulfs the phoenix in flames. A new phoenix is reborn from the ashes and the life-cycle continues.

Like a phoenix, Tiger Woods arose from the ashes of his recent past at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club and Lodge with an emphatic win. We are all too familiar with Tiger's fall from grace starting with that fateful Thanksgiving Day car crash in 2009. It is arguably the biggest downfall in the history of professional sports.

Over that time, Tiger has had to deal with a number of obstacles both on and off the course. Chief among them was the self-inflicted pain and consequences of a sex scandal in the public eye. It ultimately led to an emotionally and financially costly divorce. Physically, Tiger continued to have trouble overcoming nagging knee and Achilles injuries. Hank Haney dropped him as his swing coach and he hired Sean Foley to overhaul his swing. Tiger released his longtime caddy, the fiery Steve Williams, in favor of Fred Couple's former looper, Joe LaCava.

But Tiger finally overcame all of those obstacles with his 72nd win on the PGA Tour. It took 923 days and 27 tour events, a long time to the casual observer. However, it's quite understandable if you consider everything that Tiger has had to overcome. Regardless, Tiger 2.0 is finally here and it will be interesting to see how far he soars.

2012: Year of the Tiger Dragon?

According to the Chinese calendar, 2012 is the year of the Dragon and begins on January 23. In the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the strongest sign. According to chinesezodiac.com, "Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion."

Does that sound like a certain feline golfer we all know? But Tiger's birthday is today and just missed being born in a dragon year by a month. Born on December 30, 1975, Tiger is technically a Wood Rabbit, a sign sandwiched between the Tiger and the Dragon.

Clearly, the Chinese calendar is slightly off. 2012 will be the Year of the Tiger for a number of reasons. First, Tiger will be well over 2 years removed from that fateful Thanksgiving car crash that sent his life spiraling out of control. Not having TMZ camped in front of your house will do wonders for your golf game, or so I'm told. Second, Tiger will start the year with a new looper on his bag, Joe LaCava. Dropped in mid-2011, the acerbic Stevie Williams has since proven to be a petty, bitter old man with the maturity of someone one-tenth of his age. This is hardly the kind of person who could be a positive influence for Tiger (good luck Adam!). Third, Tiger starts the year fully healthy. Extensive injuries to his knee and Achilles' tendon over the last several years made it virtually impossible for him to play anywhere close to his full potential.

But most importantly, Tiger's full swing is due to return to greatness. Historically, it takes Tiger around two years to fully incorporate a major swing change. Butch Harmon oversaw Tiger's first swing overhaul during the 1997 season that intended to sacrifice distance for accuracy. It took almost two years for Tiger to get comfortable with the changes that resulted in perhaps the greatest season in golf's history in the year 2000. Tiger started another major swing change in early 2004 under Hank Haney's tutelage. The intent of this change was to lessen the stress on Tiger's left knee. Again, it took almost two years for Tiger to adopt this change following a one-win 2004 with two major wins in 2005. However, Tiger never looked completely comfortable with Haney's single-plane concepts and began working with Sean Foley in the summer of 2010 on yet another swing revamp. If history repeats itself, Tiger's new swing transition will be complete by mid-2012.

In fact, Tiger's swing development may even be a little ahead of schedule. His swing over the tail-end of 2011 looked fantastic. More Butchie and less Haney, Tiger's swing is producing more power and more accuracy. As a result, Tiger was in contention more often and culminated with a win at the Chevron World Challenge.

So there looks to be a lot of positives in store for Tiger Woods next year. Go ahead and toss that inaccurate Chinese calendar in the trash. According to the Grouchy Golf calendar, 2012 is the Year of the Tiger. Happy birthday Tiger but you'll have to wait until next year to open your gifts. But the wait will be worth it because I think one of them might be an ugly green jacket!

Adam Scott Copies Tiger Woods Again!

Charles Caleb Colton once wrote, "Imitation is the sincerest (form) of flattery." If that's true, Tiger Woods must feel like Adam Scott is absolutely in love with him. It is well known that Adam Scott was completely captivated by Tiger's golf swing and set out to copy it as best he could. He did a pretty darn good job and his swing looked like a carbon copy of Tiger's until Tiger started toying with it about a decade ago. But if you look at Adam's swing now, it's still the same old swing. He's like a human time capsule preserving Tiger's vintage swing circa 2000.

But the swing isn't the only thing that Adam copied from Tiger. Adam hired Tiger's former swing coach, Butch Harmon, to perfect and maintain the swing clone. Proof of Butch's influence can be found if you watch Adam's pre-shot routine where you can see him use Butch's golf grip method. On the equipment front, Adam signed an endorsement deal with Titleist, Tiger's former weapons dealer. Then, after Tiger dumped his caddy, the grouchy Steve Williams, who do you think was there to yank him off the unemployment line? Adam, of course. Most recently, Adam copied Tiger by winning the 2011 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club last weekend, a course that Tiger has won seven times before!

Now is there anything left for Adam to copy? An easy one would be to wear red on Sundays. A much harder one would be to win a major. But I'm most interested if Adam will try to date one of the Nordegren twins. If he ends up marrying one, he could start having affairs on her to be a true Tiger copycat!

Will Tiger Ever Win Another Major?

After many unTiger-like performances this year, the media has already written the guy off as a has-been. In fact, one writer has gone so far as to proclaim, "Tiger Woods will never win another major championship again." Any true followers of this maniacal game knows that this is ridiculously premature. Sure, Tiger has played badly this year. But isn't that entirely understandable? He's been the subject of one of the salacious scandals in sports history at a time when tabloid headlines rules the news. If that wasn't enough, he's had to go through a divorce proceeding that took away a major chunk of his massive change.

But to say that these major life-changing events somehow permanently erased Tiger's golf superpowers is just absurd. Tiger was still competitive in many of the tournaments that he played during the year. In my opinion, his swing looks great, maybe even better than before the infamous 2009 Thanksgiving Day crash. He just needs to get comfortable with new swing changes and return to form with the flat stick. It was obvious that this is the weak spot when Tiger switched putters for the first time in over a decade at the British Open. But Tiger has been one of the best putters in history and it's just a matter of time before his touch returns. Now that his divorce is finalized and the tabloids are moving on to the next flavor of the month, expect that time to come sooner than later. In fact, I confidently proclaim that Tiger Woods will win another major championship again!

Tiger Getting Mickelsonized?

Tiger finally returned to golf at the 2010 Masters. After a humiliating scandal, it was obvious Tiger had to change his ways in the public eye to win back certain golf fans. And that's what he did. Tiger walked without blinders on, acknowledged the crowd at every opportunity with that Cheshire Cat smile, accepted gifts from kids, and actually signed some autographs. In other words, he was acting like Phil Mickelson.

"Acting" is the key word. The whole world now knows that Tiger isn't such a great guy. But I never thought that he was to begin with. Now that he's suddenly become Mr. Nice Guy on the course, it strikes me as completely disingenuous. Are people really buying this crap?

But the vast majority of people are suckered into a public image. Phil Mickelson has made a career of it. I have a golf buddy who is a member of Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ. Mickelson happens to be a fellow member. According to my friend, the real Mickelson is 180 degrees from his carefully-crafted public persona. I've heard stories that will rock any Mickelson fanboy's world.

What I liked about the old Tiger was that his public persona was reflective of his true personality. The old Tiger was a cold, focused and ruthless competitor full of "I'm the best ever" confidence. In short, I prefer wolves without sheep's clothing. Phil is just covered in wool.

But how does this all translate into cold hard cash? Contrary to what many believe, Tiger raked in the mega sponsorship dollars because he won and won in unbelievable fashion, not because of some wholesome family-guy image. If that were the case, guys like Zach Johnson, Kenny Perry and Steve Stricker would be the faces of corporate America. The proof will be when Tiger goes back to his winning ways. I bet the sponsorship money will return en masse.

Tiger Woods Got Famous...

The Tiger Woods scandal has long overrun its course, IMHO. To me, it's just another story about a somewhat normal person who became corrupted by the trappings of fame and fortune. Irene Folstrom, his ex-college girlfriend describes the pre-famous Tiger as a normal college kid who was "so human and cared so much about other people and the world around him." Considering he attended Stanford, he was most certainly on the nerdy side of things as well.

But when your hommies go from Screech and Urkel to Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, it's safe to say that your world is turned inside-out. Add in to that mix the universal praise and adoration for being the "best of all-time" and it's understandable how Tiger felt invincible. Yeah, Tiger messed up. But the failings of such self-righteous public figures as John Edwards, David Vitter and Eliot Spitzer are far worse. These guys were supposed to be our moral leaders and instead became the faces of hypocrisy.

Tiger has made his public apology, so it's time everyone moves on. No offense to the rest of the PGA Tour but it's been a real snoozefest without him.

Tiger Woods Rumors Lure the Tabloids to Golf...

The tabloid media has grown in prominence dramatically over the last several years. Gossip around the private lives of celebrities has overtaken actually substantive topics across America's water coolers. Nothing is more telling than the simultaneous explosive growth of TMZ and PerezHilton.com in contrast with the near bankruptcies being faced by legitimate news stalwarts such as the New York Times.

But golf has seemed to be immune to this tabloid pandemic. Unfortunately, Tiger Woods' enormous popularity placed him under its greasy microscope. All it took was something minutely unusual in the petri dish for them to pounce. That indeed occurred over Thanksgiving when Tiger drove his Caddy around like a carnival bumper car with his wife going all Nicholson on it (let's just hope it wasn't with his priceless Scotty Cameron putter!). Like a herd of great whites drawn to a drop of blood, the media descended upon Tiger's Isleworth sanctuary with dollar signs in their eyes. Could this be evidence of a domestic issue?!

So friggin' what? A couple of years ago on my Bandon Dunes golf vacation, a friend of mine told us he knew a person close to Tiger's entourage. According to him, Tiger was quite the Casanova who was not opposed to "stepping out" and playing much more than just 18-holes. He also emphasized that it was more about quantity rather than quality. I didn't entertain the discussion because I didn't really care. Lots of people step out and it's almost a given amongst pro athletes. Big deal.

It turns out that it is a big deal to many. The Chinese have gone so far as to create a CGI re-enactment of the whole incident. Not quite Pixar, but way too polished than it should be and just another sign that the end is near (I wonder if they actually mocapped Elin swinging that club!):



But why all this attention? My guess is that people somehow build up a fanciful notion that famous people lead perfect lives. When anything surfaces to dispel these fantasies, it devastates them. It's just absurd. In the case of Tiger Woods, why should we think that he is better than us commoners at anything outside of playing golf? As a society, we need to come to the realization that all people suffer from faults. No amount of fame can make them go away. If anything, fame does the opposite. It would be naive to think otherwise. Accept it and move on. There are many more important things in the world be concerned.

To those who still think that most famous people stay on the straight and narrow, just remember that a wise man, Chris Rock, once said, "A man is only as faithful as his options." Ponder that for a minute. It's probably safe to assume that virtually all famous people are cheating. Certainly that's a better assumption for us as a whole than to deitize them if we want to put an end to the tabloid fascination. Lastly, for the record, I'm an extremely faithful guy by choice, not due to a lack of options!

P.S. Check out some of my blog friends' posts on this topic:

Hooked on Golf Blog

Mike Pederson Golf

Sally Jenkins' Premature Prognostication

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine emailed me an article written by Sally Jenkins about Tiger Woods' post injury return to golf.

What shocked me most about this article was the writer's prematurely drawn conclusions about Tiger's golf game. Just read this passage:

But so far, Woods's comeback has been a relatively humdrum event...After an eight-month layoff to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, Woods missed dozens of putts and seemed frustrated by the slow pace of the whole affair. All of which was a reminder that the injury is a clear demarcation in his competitive life: He's now 33 years old and in the last third of his career, and while he surely has a lot of greatness left, the game may no longer come so easily.

At the time that the article was published, Tiger had been out of competitive golf for almost 9 months and had logged fewer than 6 competitive rounds, 2 of which were match-play shortened and didn't require putting out. That's right, the writer believes that this sample size is sufficient to derive meaningful conclusions. Anyone who plays golf regularly at any level knows about the fickleness of golf and how maddeningly long it can take to recover one's form after a sustained layoff. Just because Tiger is a little rusty, it certainly doesn't mean that he's lost his game. To make that kind of jump is just regoddamndiculous!

Yet the writer has seen enough to proclaim, "For the first time in a decade, Woods will enter the Masters at Augusta National as something less than the clear-cut favorite." Oh brother!

But it doesn't stop there. The writer later suggests that Tiger may never recover his putting touch:

Oddly, the thing that seems most affected by the long layoff is not his swing...but his putting...But his trouble was perhaps a glimpse of what to expect when he gets older: Other greats who were nervy, aggressive putters, such as Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, saw their touch desert them in their mid-30s, and struggled to ever make short putts again.

All golfers know that putting is one of those things that is highly variable over the short term. The fact that Tiger's putting game was off for 6 rounds is hardly surprising. The writer seems to have forgotten that Mickelson's putting blew all year until he won at Riviera. Tiger is arguably the greatest clutch putter of all-time and I'm sure that he'll regain his putting sooner rather than later. Oh, and don't believe the writer. Tiger is the clear-cut favorite at Augusta.

SwingVision - Tiger Woods Driver

To commemorate Tiger Woods' return to the tour this week at the Accenture World Match Play Championship, I dug up a SwingVision video from a couple of years ago showing him hitting driver off the tee. As you can see, Tiger tees the ball low for greater control. If he teed it higher, like Vijay, he'd be able to raise his angle of attack with the driver and drive it much further. But if there's one thing Tiger doesn't lack, it's distance! Boy, I sure do miss those SwingVision close ups of ball impact, don't you?

SwingVision - Where Are the Close-ups?

The always witty David Feherty recently proclaimed CBS' SwingVision a "weapon of mass instruction." A brilliant pun, it is a great summary of the slow motion technology. It has been an invaluable tool in my never-ending quest to understand this perpetually perplexing game!

Over the years, SwingVision has evolved with advances in technology. It added color to the close-up camera, upgraded the resolution to high definition (HD) and added a mobile camera to evaluate live swings. However, I think that SwingVision has taken two steps forward and one step back. For some reason they have abandoned the close-up camera from their arsenal. Once featured every time, it is now only utilized once in a blue moon. This is highly unfortunate because it was my favorite feature. There's so much that you can learn by seeing a close-up of club-to-ball impact at 12,500 frames per second!

Here's an old SwingVision of Tiger hitting iron off the tee that shows you what I mean:



C'mon CBS, please bring back the SwingVision close-up cam!

Tigers are Tough, Especially the Human Kind

A couple of years ago, ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski wrote an article that included a seemingly absurd proclamation that "Tiger Woods is the greatest individual athlete of our time. OK, of all time." After Tiger's unhuman-like performance at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, Wojciechowski's statement might be right on the money. Winning the most difficult tournament against the world's best with a torn ACL and a double stress fracture is nothing short of miraculous. Unfortunately, recovering from that injury will cost Woods the rest of the season. It seems that Wojciechowski might be the Carnac the Magnificent of golf with his prescient statement: "Only injury stands between Woods and any record worth owning."

But there are always haters out there who will try to bring you down. Surprisingly, the sharpest barb came from the usually docile Retief Goosen, himself a two-time US Open champion. When asked whether he believed that Woods was faking the extent of his pain, he said: “I think so. It just seemed that when he hit a bad shot his knee was in pain and on his good shots he wasn’t in pain. You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and was shouting, ‘Yeah’, his knee wasn’t sore. Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured, he would not have played.” Retief later tried to downplay his jealous-tinged remarks saying, “I was being light-hearted. No one but Tiger himself knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn, wouldn’t he?”

Well Retief, maybe your wuss ass would have withdrawn, but Tiger is tough as nails. In addition, you just gave Tiger the extra motivation to crush you every time you set foot on the same course that he does. Get better soon Tiger, and when you get back it will be open season for Goose hunting. He may or may not be the greatest athlete, but Tiger Woods is the greatest competitor!

Adam Scott: Tiger's Top Challenger?

Butch Harmon believes that one of his current pupils is best poised to take down his former star student, Tiger Woods. Who would that be, you ask? Phil Mickelson would have been a good guess. However, it's not the Joker, but the White Tiger, Adam Scott. According to ESPN, Harmon said, "He (Scott) is the only one who can challenge Tiger Woods in the next four or five years. He's the only one I see of the young players with all the things it takes to get close to Tiger Woods."

That's a pretty bold statement. IMHO, Scott just doesn't possess the short game or putting skills to put him anywhere close to Tiger. On top of that, he hasn't exhibited that "I'm gonna rip your throat out" killer instinct that is a prerequisite for all great athletes. Tiger simply owns the best mental game in golf and no one will be able to beat him on a consistent basis as long as his body holds up.

However, the current #5 player in the world does many things that rival and may even exceed that of the world's #1. In particular, Adam Scott's full swing is a thing of beauty. In fact, it's almost an exact copy of Tiger's swing, circa 2000. I think it's one of the best golf swings of all-time and I was sorry to see Tiger abandon it due to stress on his left knee. But it's really amazing to see how well Adam has copied Tiger's old swing. A while ago, I posted a video comparing the swings of Adam Scott and Tiger Woods side by side. It is one of my personal favorites and remains one of the most viewed videos on this site. Recently, I've uncovered another swing comparison video for your viewing pleasure:



It is quite apparent that Adam has copied Tiger's swing to the "tee". However, it is Tiger Wood's innate ability, intangibles and insane work ethic that will keep him well ahead of the pack over the foreseeable future. Does anyone really think otherwise?

Driver on a Par-3? Sacrilege!

Back in April, Tiger Woods played Oakmont Country Club, site of this week's U.S. Open, for the first time. Based on his experience, it sounds like we're in for a doozie! According to the world's #1, "Overall, I'd say it's a lot harder than Augusta National...The greens were running about 10 ½ on the Stimpmeter, and they were plugged last week. I don't think they were designed for that kind of speed, so it should be interesting."

But what I found the most interesting was reading about the par-3 8th hole. From the tips, it plays to 288 yards! It will be the longest par-3 in major championship history. Are we going to be seeing players hit driver on this hole? Most of the field will let the big dog eat, but not Tiger Woods! During his practice round, he hit 3-wood and managed to reach the middle of the green.

"I refuse to hit driver," Woods said, smiling. "It's against my religion."

If that's the case, forgive me Father, for I have sinned! I have hit driver on par-3s several times, but all on one course. Ironically, it is the site of next year's U.S. Open, Torrey Pines South Course. On the back nine, there are two monster par-3s: the 221-yd. 11th and the 227-yd. 16th. While not as daunting yardage-wise compared to Oakmont's 8th, both of the tee shots on these holes face directly towards the ocean. As most of us know, ocean breezes can have a adverse affect on golf balls. The first time that I played Torrey Pines, a storm played with me. The blustery conditions forced me to hit driver on both of these hellish par-3s but it still wasn't enough! The gale force winds spade and neutered my normally 250-ish yd. drives to mere hacker-like 200 yd. drives. I guess it was the Golf Gods' punishment for my sins!

It Must be Great to be the Skipper

Pro-Ams are a cool way for hackers to tee it up with the best golfers in the world. Being able to play with the pros is one reason why golf is so special. While pro-ams can be a bore to watch, it must be a tremendous thrill for those amateurs lucky enough to participate.

I would die to play in a PGA pro-am. Having the opportunity to compare my game directly to a real PGA tour pro would be just mind-blowing. The amount that I would learn from such an experience would be priceless. Just having a gallery to keep my ball in play would be great!

From what I’ve read, most pro-ams have a "pairings party" with a drawing to determine the pros that the amateurs get to spend 5+ hours of quality time together. So, if you are especially fortunate enough to play in a pro-am that Tiger Woods is also playing, there's a possibility of playing a round with him! To anyone who considers himself a golfer, scoring a tee time with Tiger is like winning the lottery.

In that case, Skipper Beck must feel like he just won the Powerball. You see, not only is Skipper playing with Tiger in today's Wachovia Pro-Am, but the third person of their threesome is Michael "Air" Jordan! Yeah, you read that right: the Michael Jordan of golf and the Tiger Woods of basketball. Can you imagine spending most of your day playing golf with arguably the two greatest athletes of our generation? To say that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is an understatement.

Just who is this Skipper Beck? From what I can gather, he's a high-roller who inherited a Benzo dealership, married a blond bombshell, and hobnobs with Charlotte's upper crust. In short, this guy's life doesn't suck. The fact that he is playing in every sports fan's dream threesome on top of all this makes me wonder whether he sold his soul to the devil. One thing is clear: just like it was in the Sixties, it's much better to be the Skipper than Gilligan.

Tiger Woods Juggling Act, Part Deux?

Remember that cool Nike golf commercial where Tiger is bouncing a Platinum One up and down with his wedge without any of that special effects mumbo jumbo?

Well, EA Sports has an interesting take on that concept with Nintendo's virtual reality machine called the Wii. Check out the video:



It's clever, but I enjoy watching Tiger playing himself on the Wii a little bit more. Kudos to EA Sports!

The Tiger-Proofed Masters

This seems to be the consensus opinion on the 2007 Masters:

1. “Tiger-proofing” has made Augusta National too difficult
2. As a result, birdies and eagles were rare, taking the excitement out of the event
3. Bottom Line: It was a borefest

I must be in the minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed the 71st Masters. Maybe the setup was too difficult for a traditional Masters, but when it comes to tournament golf, I prefer attrition warfare over shootouts. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that a course can be too difficult. The 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock was a prime example of the silliness that can arise from a sadist greenskeeper gone wild. But as long as a golf course is fair, I think that it’s fine. After all, everyone plays on the same course.

The difficult conditions left a wide-open Masters for the final round. On Sunday, Stuart Appleby, Rory Sabbatini, Retief Goosen, Zach Johnson and Tiger Woods all owned a piece of the lead at some point. Call me crazy, but I find such a “neck and neck” competition much more interesting than someone trouncing the field by 5 strokes the entire day.

Unfortunately, there was one key ingredient missing from this year’s Masters that would have made it magical: a classic Tiger charge. We all expected it, but it never came. Uncharacteristically, Tiger lost a final-round lead! However, don’t blame the course for that, Tiger clearly didn’t have his A, B or even C game. But take nothing away from Zach Johnson. He did not fold under the pressure and instead played brilliant golf. Unlike many winners this year, Zach won this tournament.

But imagine if Tiger was his usual self and forced Zach Johnson into a playoff ala Bob May in the PGA Championship circa 2000. Wouldn’t that have been exciting? All of a sudden, this Masters goes down in the history books as one of the best ever. Oh well, I guess Tiger is indeed human. It's either that or the Masters has truly been "Tiger-Proofed." Regardless, I'm just glad that I watched it all unfold on CBS in 100% high def, unlike that NBC "HD-lite" treatment.

I am Tiger Woods (on the Wii)

Technology moves at a quick pace. Video games has been a major beneficiary with the introduction this year of the "next-gen" gaming consoles the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PS3 to do battle with Microsoft's Xbox 360. Probably the coolest innovation is the Wii's motion-controlled controller, the Wii Remote. Instead of simply moving a joystick and mashing buttons, you control the action by motioning the controller itself.

This technology greatly expands the possibilities for video gaming. Take golf games, for example. Now it's possible to play a golf video game by actually "swinging" the controller. Can you say, "a golf simulator in your living room for around $300?

Check out this video of EA Sports' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 in action on the Wii in the hands of the great Tiger Woods himself. It's well worth a couple of viewings:



If anyone has played this game, please let us know your thoughts.

Real Tiger Woods Putter on eBay?

A little over a year ago, I visited a local golf store and came across an authentic backup to Tiger Woods' Scotty Cameron putter. I really wanted this putter, but I wasn't ready to give my life's savings for it!

As with any high-priced items, there are scumbags out there that make cheap knock-offs to scam unsuspecting consumers. One such scoundrel had the nerve to link his fake Tiger Woods' putter eBay listing to this site as some sort of mark of legitimacy! I tried to foil his plot by telling people who visited that link to have any rare Cameron authenticated prior to purchase. Unfortunately, some poor bastard still shelled out over $300 for this POS. Oh well, buyer beware.

Recently a reader emailed me about another eBay auction for a Tiger Woods' Scotty Cameron putter. With such auctions, it is better to assume guilty (fake) until proven innocent rather than vice versa. But upon closer inspection, it appears that this auction may indeed be legit. First, there is a photo of the putter in front of a Certificate of Authenticity. Second, I ran the registry number from the certificate at the Scotty Cameron Registry and it shows up as registered. The only thing that looks suspicious is the "Letter of Authenticity" signed by Scotty Cameron. You would expect such a letter to be written on more official looking company letterhead and written in the first-person. However, the signature looks like Scotty's.

I decided to do a little more research. I emailed the Scotty Cameron Shop and they replied, "If the putter has a COA then its authentic. As for being made for Tiger that is not stated on the COA nor the number made. Thanks." I checked the forums at the Cameron Collector and found a thread dedicated to this auction. The experts there seemed to think that the auction was legit.

Regardless, bidders of this auction clearly think that it's legit. There's still 4 days remaining in this auction and the bid price has already exceeded $30K. That's a lot of moolah for a single golf club. For the winning bidder's sake, I hope that the putter is real...

Is Tiger Bad for Golf? Ask Greg Norman

Golf has been an interest of mine since childhood. My grandfather was a golf nut and he passed the bug onto me. However, I wasn't completely bitten. I enjoyed whacking balls at the range once in a while, but that was about the extent of my golf passion. The simple truth was that chicks dug guys who played other sports, so golf naturally took a back seat.

Then in 1996, I was channel surfing on a lazy weekend and caught the final match of the U.S. Amateur Championship at Pumpkin Ridge G.C. I had heard of this golf phenom named Tiger before, and this was my first opportunity to see what all the hoopla was about.

I was instantly mesmerized by Tiger's perfectly textbook swing. I was in awe as he routinely drove the ball over 300 yards, an amazing feat at the time. However, his opponent Steve Scott finished five up after the morning 18 holes. With another 18 to play, it didn't look good for Tiger. But Tiger came roaring back with some truly incredible putting. It was one of the most exciting sports moments that I had ever seen. I was so inspired by Tiger's masterful and passioned performance that I dusted off my hand-me-down Hogan blades and persimmon woods and headed to the range.

10 years later I'm a certified golf nut. I play golf or watch it on TV whenever I get a chance. I subscribe to Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, and Golf World. As a self-taught golfer, I study golf instruction material like a PhD student. I research and experiment with golf equipment to eek out every possible performance gain. I write a freakin' golf blog for chissake! I can trace all this mania back to that one magical day in 1996 at Pumpkin Ridge.

Not only is Tiger Woods the reason that I developed a passion for golf, he was the main catalyst for golf's resurgence over the last 10 years. However, it seems that golf has been stuck in neutral lately. Greg Norman recently voiced his opinions on the subject. Surprisingly, he hints that Tiger is to blame! Is this just another case of a bitter old fart longing for the "good old days"? As a whole, I don't think that you can argue that Tiger hasn't been anything less than a boon to golf. People always prefer tigers over sharks anyway.

Fake Tiger Woods Putter?

Anytime someone takes the time and effort to link to this site, I'm extremely appreciative. Well, at least that's what I used to think.

Recently, I came across an eBay listing that linked to the Tiger Woods Scotty Cameron Putter post. To my astonishment, it appears that Grouchy Golf is being used to help sell a fake Tiger Woods Scotty Cameron Putter!

See it for yourself, if it's still available. It's an eBay auction entitled "Scotty Cameron Tiger Woods Red Circle Newport 2 Pro T."

From what I can tell, it's just a dinged-up Scotty Cameron Newport Two Pro Platinum not worth more than a C-note that's been doctored up to look like Tiger's Newport 2 303 GSS. The putter face and the bottom of the putter are the dead giveaways. While this technically may not be a counterfeit Scotty Cameron, it is grossly misleading at best with the seller claiming that "This club is the same club that Tiger Woods used on tour." To those in the know, it is obviously not the Cameron putter model that is in the hands of the world's #1.

It is such a blatant fake that it is laugh-out-loud, rolling-on-the-floor hilarious. It kinda reminds me of those cheesecocks who modified their Pontiac Fieros with cheap-looking fiberglass body panels to make them look like Ferrari Testarossas. Who are these people kidding?! If you're going to copy a Ferrari, at least get the color right. To my knowledge, Ferrari has never produced a car in Puke beige. Can you imagine if this guy tried to pawn this POS off as a bona fide Testarossa? I hope that no one would be fooled into buying it, just like I hope that no one would be fooled into buying that fake Tiger Woods putter.