A Sizzling Start to the 2022 Golf Season

A Sizzling Start to the 2022 Golf Season

by Bradley Turner Keiser University College of Golf and Director of Online Golf Instruction – MBA, PGA

The PGA Tour was back in Hawaii for the Tournament of Champions this month, and it is evident that there was plenty of practice happening during the holiday break. Jon Rahm finishing second place with a 72-hole score of 33 under par seems a bit ridiculous, but that is how good PGA Tour players are getting. Cameron Smith edged out Rahm by one stroke and set the all-time PGA Tour record relative to par at 34 under. He was only two strokes off the average of making a birdie every other hole! Those numbers are just mind-boggling and a precursor of more amazing feats we will see on the PGA Tour in 2022.

The Best Are Getting Younger

A few decades ago, the best players in the world had to hone their skills early in their career before ascending the World Golf Rankings. The general belief was that a golfer’s best days occurred after the age of 30. The brightest young players still needed to learn to play all the different golf courses, continue to fine-tune their strengths, and shore up their weaknesses. It took years of work to get to the point of winning tournaments, especially major championships. In the eighties and nineties, golfers did not come out of college and dominate on the PGA Tour.

In reviewing the World Golf Rankings from 1995, the ages of the players in the top 10 validates the belief that a golfer’s best years were in their 30’s. At the age of 40, Greg Norman was the best player in the world, with an average age of 35.3 for the top 10 players. Ernie Els was the only player in his twenties.  Today, the top players have become younger with an average of 28.5, with only Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy over the age of 30.

Why Are Young Players Getting So Good?

The advancement in training and coaching techniques over the past decade has provided young players a great foundation to build strong, athletic, and repeatable golf swings. Through the use of video, launch monitors, and ground force technology, a golf coach has all the tools necessary to guide a dedicated golfer down the path to great golf. For young golfers striving to become great players, the work necessary has not changed since the days of Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. All the great players in the history of the game have put in an enormous amount of effort to ascend to the top of the game. The advantage young golfers have today is that golf coaches understand the science of the golf swing. It is much easier to avoid miss-steps along the way. The golf swing is science in motion, and with a clear understanding of the club mechanics and supporting body mechanics, young golfers are getting the best coaching available, resulting in jaw-dropping performances like Cameron Smith’s record score.

Charlie Woods at the PNC

There is no better illustration of young players becoming so good at the game than the recent PNC Championship in December. Ticket availability was extremely limited, but I was fortunate to get a ticket to the event and looked forward to watching Tiger play a few holes. What I didn’t expect is to see his son Charlie at the age of 12 overshadow the greatest golfer to ever play the game. Tiger may have been the big draw for the tournament, but Charlie became the star of the show.

There were three moments during that Sunday round that stood out as simply exceptional. The first was on the par three 12^th hole, with the Wood’s team on a five-hole birdie streak. The hole location was back right with water fronting and to the right of the green. The wind was coming from the right, so the only way to get the ball close to the hole was to either start the ball on the water’s edge or play a fade shot to keep the ball from curving away from the target. Tiger hit a nice shot, but the ball bounded over the green. I turned to my friend and said, “the birdie streak is over.” I just didn’t think a 12-year-old could play such a difficult shot to that hole location. Charlie stepped up and hit to about 8 feet right of the flag.  I was stunned by the quality of the strike, and when Tiger buried the birdie putt, the crowd was clearly rooting for Charlie.

The next moment was the best of the day for me. It occurred when Charlie walked from the 12^th green to the 13^th tee. With the fans cheering the Wood’s team on, I watched Charlie purposefully walk to the next shot with blinders on. He looked like his dad at a major championship, almost in a trance as he focused on the shot at hand. It was amazing to see his demeanor in this competitive environment. He certainly has a great role model to guide him with the mental challenges of the game.

The final stunning moment was on the 17^th hole with a front left hole location with water directly left of the green and the wind coming from the left. This shot was the complete opposite to the one on the 12^th hole. Once again, Charlie hit it close to keep the team birdie streak at 11 in a row. The shot was mentally very difficult for any golfer to execute properly, and he was able to play the shot perfectly.

At the age of 12, Charlie Woods is certainly an accomplished junior golfer. There are many years of hard work ahead for him before he makes it on the PGA Tour. With the advantage of great coaching, technology, and a strong work ethic, there will be many more young golfers like Charlie Woods ascending to the PGA Tour at an early age. It will be interesting to see what Charlie’s game is like at age 22. I sense that we will be seeing him on the big stage soon enough.