Fifty years later, Tiger Woods has already given golf lovers a lifetime of unforgettable moments. from eternal advice that still shape our games into iconic performances etched forever in golf history, his effect is undeniable.
With so many Tigers stories floating around clubhouses and practice areas, some inevitably slip through the cracks. One of them found its way to me recently during a styling lesson, and it was too good to pass up.
Tiger key for distance control: “Place on a picture”
If you’ve ever struggled with controlling your distance to the green, you’re not alone. Three shots i have a way of screwing up my rounds no matter how much time i spend on the practice green. In search of a durable solution that would sharpen my feel and help me land closer to my first shots, I turned to Keith Bennettan instructor at McCormick Ranch Golf Club. During our lesson, he shared some of the best advice I had heard in a while. The advice he gave was a simple concept first shared by—you guessed it—Tiger Woods.
In an old clip where Woods shares his approach to putting, he reveals a tip he got from his father when he was just 3 years old and first learning the game.
At such a young age, the concept of distance control was completely foreign to Woods, but his father found a way to get him to stick. He told her to take a picture.
“What he did was, every look he takes off the ball is a ‘snap,'” Woods says.
By keeping that picture in his mind, Woods is able to focus on controlling distance using feel. To lock in that mental image, he takes a lot of “pictures” during his pre-shoot routine.
In the clip mentioned earlier, he explains that he takes three “pictures” during his practice routine: one before he takes his first practice shot, one during his second and one last shot just before he pulls the trigger.
“And then all I do is think about taking the picture,” he says, “and that really helps free your mind.”
It’s such a simple method that I almost didn’t believe it could work. But another lesson I learned during my placement session was to never doubt the goat. By taking a look, my mindset shifted away from an obsession with mechanics and toward a freer, more instinctive stroke. With less focus on technical aspects, my stroke felt smooth and my distance control no longer felt forced. I was able to adjust to different lies more easily and my stroke felt more fluid.
How it helps with pressure
Surprisingly, shifting my focus away from what I thought was most important turned out to be the key to making better shots, especially under pressure—a lesson that clearly resonated with Woods as well.
“When I’m down on the tour, when I’m really nervous — it might not look like it, but I’ll tell you, I get really nervous out there — I’ll go back to that and say, ‘OK Tiger, I’m just finessing the picture, like Pop used to say.’
