Tiger Wood’s Practice Style Can’t Compete – Get On The Course
I believe in practice – who among us doesn’t. (Allen Iverson doesn’t get a vote) But sometimes practice, alone, doesn’t get the job done. Whether that’s in your daily sales grind, Week 4 in the NBA “Bubble,” or Day 3 of the PGA Championship. If you’re passing on moments to compete at a high level, you will struggle to find—and maintain your championship stride. Just ask Tiger Woods.
Woods’ name is still the headliner at any pro golf tournament he chooses to attend. But the Tiger Woods of 2020 is falling victim to the Tiger Woods of 1999. Two decades ago, Woods would show up on the tee box each week and make a beeline up the leaderboard as the rest of his top-class competitors fell by the side. He loved to compete—and in doing so, became more and more dominant with each fist-pump inducing birdie putt. But the Tiger of today has only played two out of the 10 PGA Tour-sanctioned events this year, finishing no higher than a tie for 37th place in either tournament.
While it’s good to see him back on the course after multiple back surgeries, knee injuries, and off-the-course dalliances, it’s also apparent that what made Tiger so great was far more than the red polo and piercing stare. It was that he consistently showed himself in competitive environments. Even though he didn’t play every week, he didn’t disappear for long stretches then “just show up,” as one broadcaster referred to his appearance last week. In his prime, he loved adding to his tournament win total, sending a statement to the rest of the field. They knew they must show up each week and work harder if they were to compete with Tiger. Nowadays, getting Tiger to show up seems to be the hard work. Sure, there could be a whole series of circumstances behind the scenes to justify the “Tiger void,” but by only competing in two of 10 tournaments since the PGA returned, it appears Tiger isn’t showing a willingness to do the things that he must do to continue to play at the top. The TV cameras still followed him around the California course for golf’s first Major of the coronavirus-altered schedule as if he were in contention, but he struggled to display the consistency needed to reunite him with a tournament title.
There’s a lesson for each of us in that—we must continue to do our very best in the development of ourselves. We must consistently look for competitive opportunities, understanding that resting on yesterday’s success won’t produce tomorrow’s wins.
Supporters of Tiger shared that he’s been practicing harder than ever despite not participating in the weekly competition against the rest of the field. You’d be hard-pressed to find gains with that strategy in the sales world—your competitors are also practicing, but they’re also competing. So too, has the rest of the PGA Tour. Tiger 1.0 forced the competition to practice harder. It made him the benchmark for what’s required to win consistently. But the Tiger of 2020 is facing 23-year-old unphased, golf machines like this year’s PGA Championship winner Colin Morikawa, who learned golf on the Tiger Woods model.
While practice is important, competition brings out a different level of serotonin. It creates a level of focus, fight, and precision that can’t be replicated in isolation. It also gives you a better gauge of the stamina and endurance needed to win. So when you have a chance to compete, do so. Take every opportunity. Even in defeat, the competition is where you’ll get better. Practicing can’t replace opportunities to sharpen your saw. In the business world, if you have a chance to enhance your skills or test out what you’ve been practicing on a smaller scale, attack it with the same drive as your most critical deal. The immediate results—when properly evaluated, will ultimately improve your overall results.
The competitive road ahead for Tiger involves the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and a stretch that will require him to play 3 events in 5 weeks to have any meaningful tournament play before golf’s second Major of the season, the US Open at Winged Foot. If he chooses to practice rather than compete during that time, the results will most surely reflect the inconsistencies of an amazingly gifted golfer who is stuck on version 1.0 while others have upgraded to the 4.0 model.