Tiger

There have been two eras of golf since I started paying attention.

Before Tiger

The first I call the Before Tiger Era which ran up until April of 1997.

Before Tiger, golfers did not appear to make the connection between conditioning and performance.

This era is typified in my mind by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Nicklaus had a paunch and if he ate well or did any type of resistance training ever, it did not show.

Here’s a pic of a young Jack Nicklaus in the 1960s.

And here’s an iconic shot of Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan smoking at the 1966 Masters. 

Palmer did quit smoking in the early 70s and even went on to advocate quitting but these stylish scenes of him smoking on the course left an indelible mark on the game and those who played.

The Tiger Era

In April of 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest player to ever win the Masters. He did it by the greatest margin of victory ever and with the best score ever. He was also the first non-white player to ever win it. This was the beginning of The Tiger Era. 

This is where the golfers coming up begin to make the connection between conditioning and performance.

Tiger trained hard and he tapped into the physicality of golf. He was not only a golfer but a world class athlete.

People talked about how clutch he was on Sundays, but the thing was, he had more left in the tank than everybody else because he was better conditioned. He was still strong in the heat after playing 4 rounds in 4 days. 

More energy, more power, more focus.

Here’s a pic of Tiger winning his 4th Masters in 2005.

Beast.

Other golfers started coming up doing serious training, sporting the V back, nutritionists, yoga etc etc. 

Rory Mcilroy, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson. Even Phil Mickelson, who was always overweight, looks great these days after cutting sugar and processed foods.

This post is not only about golf.

Tending to our physical selves improves performance - strength, endurance, flexibility, energy, focus, mood, resilience -  the list goes on and on.

Here’s some links related to today’s post.

This is a great blog post about cigarettes and golf.

Here’s the full video of CBS’ broadcast of the final round of the 1997 Masters. It is insanely awesome.

Tiger and Rory beast workouts.

Phil stays bendy well into his 40s.