Six months after fusion surgery on his lower back kept him from swinging a golf club until recently, Tiger Woods has been cleared to resume full golf activity with no restrictions.
Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent, said Monday that the 14-time major champion met with the doctor who performed the surgery on April 19 for a checkup late last week.
"He got a nice report and is allowed to proceed," Steinberg said. "He can do as much as he needs to do. Tiger is going to take this very, very slowly. This is good, but he plans to do it the right way."
Starting on Oct. 7, Woods has posted video of himself swinging a golf club three times. Previously he had been limited to 60-yard pitch shots, and he said three weeks ago at the Presidents Cup that he was restricted on the amount of twisting he could do.
But the videos show full shots, and Woods clearly felt good enough about his progress to post them. The driver is significant because it is the longest club that requires the most torque.
Steinberg said Woods has not reported any pain associated with golf swings, but he could not offer any ideas on a competitive return, including for the Hero World Challenge in December, where Woods returned after a long layoff a year ago.
"We have not even talked about it," Steinberg said. "We will see what each day brings, what each week brings."
Woods, 41, has not played since withdrawing from a February tournament in Dubai. It was just his third tournament start after more than a year away following his third back surgery in 2015. Woods has missed all of the major championships the past two years.
For Tiger's sake, I hope he has learned how to swing a golf club with OUT all the jerky motions in his swing, as he has had for the last 15 years that I have seen him play. It would be smart for him to learn to swing a club morm like Ernie Els, who has a much smoother swing with out all the jerkyness. Same thing can be said for Fredie Couple. Smooth and easy swing that still hits the ball a long way.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
I did see a video of him swinging his driver, it is pretty apparent he is still favoring his back, which is understandable.
It's not how...it's how many
Mayebe he should talk to Els or Freddy couples...smooth easy swings
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All pun intended, it might not hurt to talk to Els and Couples to see if he can learn to swing easy and NOT hurt his old body all the time.
I think it's pretty clear that what he has been doing for the last few years is NOT working to keep his bocy together.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
Being smooth and easy doesn't guarantee anything. Fred Couples has always had back issues. You can play at golf with a bad back, but i don't see anyone being competitive other than fleetingly with a bad back in the current competitive environment.
I'm not sure what it is that did Tiger in, but there will be volumes written about it!
While it is true that Coulples has had back issues for a long time, I'd be willing to wager that his smooth easy swing is a main reason he has been able to play as well and as long as he has with his bad back. And while an easy smooth swing may not prevent a back problem, a Hard jerky swing is going to lead to back and other pain issues before long. I can not imagine how bad Couple's back would be if he swung as hard and jerky as Tiger does.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
I saw something aobut Tiger annoucning his return to the Tour comng up soon. Don't remember the name of the event or the date but it's pretty soon. It will be interesting to see IF he actually plays the event and if he plays the whole event or if he has to baile out due to an injury of some kind. For his sake, I hope it goes well. If not he might as well hang it up for good.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
He starts Thursday I think Don. The Hero World Challenge, this weekend. I agree, I hope he does well. What I've heard suggested that several people have seen him play and he's got length off the tee (out driving Fowler) and pain free. Guess we'll see how it holds up.
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GolfGearReview.com Administrator
I just got an email saying that Tiger will be playing the new Tour B XS ball by Bridgestone at the event. Now that Nike is out of the equipment business, I guess this is the ball he decided to go with on tour. I also heard somewhere that Tiger is saying the golf balls used on tour need to be dialed back distance wise. He claimed that he is hitting the ball farther now than he was 10 or 15 years ago. so maybe this ball is exactly what he needs to keep up the the tour leaders.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
Yes, he switched to the Bridgestone. I was a little surprised he didn't got with the TM TP ball, that's a great ball, but that must mean he thinks the Bridgestone is a competitive ball. I sort of had them like #3 behind the others but maybe not. I'm going to try and catch some of him playing Thursday. Be nice to see him back having fun playing golf.
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GolfGearReview.com Administrator
I'm not sure that there is a lot of difference in any of the top tour balls today. Some may suite you better than the next, but quality wise or distance wise I doubt many golfer could tell any difference. It's just a matter of picking a ball that FEELS good to you, and has the spin you perfer around the greens for the way you play your short game shots. I have a sleeve of the new Tour B XS balls so I have to get out and try them on the chipping green to see how they perform for me.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
Tiger did OK his first day back at competitive golf . 3 under par. I saw him make some really big swings, so the back seems OK. he went after a 2i reaching a par 5 in 2 from 268 yards out. But he struggled not surprisingly with chips. Chunked a few of them..bermuda grass growing into him and he hit a couple just a little heavy. But he putted very well. So Good for him.
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GolfGearReview.com Administrator
It's been a few months since we had golf on TV so I might have to watch a little of this event if it's on TV this weekend. I have some work I need to do this weekend to get ready for winter snow season, so that will have to come first.
I think he most likely got a goof bit of roll out on that 2 iron shot, so getting there from 268 yards out is not that out of line for the tour guys these days. Main thing for Tiger is to play and NOT get hurt again from his hard swings. I hope he has learned to swing a lot easier since his last health problems kept him off the tour.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.
I got a chance to watch some of the golf coverage of the HERO evnet this weekend. Just from watching Tiger swinging a club, it looks like he is still swinging it pretty hard. NOT a nice and easy looking swing from my point of view at home. He has been saying that he feels great with NO issue health wise. I hope this is true and his body holds up okay. but I would NOT bet on it looking at the way he's swinging the clubs at present. Best of luck to you Tiger, I think you might just need some luck with that swing.
Don
Putting is easy if you have the Right Putter.