Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim presented a fascinating contrast of styles.
One of the main reasons why golf audiences have always been so curious about Tiger Woods is because there is so much we don’t know. What does it do when it is not in the public eye? What do you think of things? Basically, what is it like to be Tiger Woods?
There is only one golfer in modern memory for whom those curiosities are magnified: Anthony Kim. Tiger Woods is very mysterious, but Kim? When he disappeared from the world of golf, he literally disappeared.
We have kept many fond memories of Kim’s years on tour. Stories of Michael Jordan. Shenanigans Ryder Cup. Affirmative wins. Rumors about wild nightlife. But digging through the archives again, the two made a particularly revealing public appearance – and they made it together. There were no discos or scandals involved, only a quiet and relaxed private clinic with the cameras of the Golf Channel moving. In the process, they revealed many things about their golf games and also about their personalities.
Tiger Woods YouTube project, Chapter 25: Tiger and AK teach
Chapter 24: Tiger Woods and The Tackle
Long New York Times golf writer Bill Pennington was there that day, October 22, 2008, for a special event: Tee It Up With Tiger. Nike had distributed a pair of thousands of platinum-colored golf balls in Nike One boxes in retail stores across the country and eventually reduced the winners to around two dozen.
Woods was not playing; he was still recovering from knee surgery after his victory at the US Open in early summer. But he got into the tenth box of the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles as the groups arrived, putting pressure and talking about good-natured trash.
After the round, Pennington recalls in his book, Au Pair, that Anthony Kim has arrived – by helicopter. This is when the cameras started shooting and where we join the process in the video below. Having a watch (only the first 20 minutes; after which it repeats itself for no clear reason) and reading below, where I recorded my 10 funniest takeaways.
1. Anthony Kim didn’t have a warm-up routine.
“It just depends on how I feel,” Kim tells Woods in the video. “I’m not one of those people who start with a lob wedge or a sand wedge. Sometimes I hit 7 irons and hit two riders and go for fun – I don’t really have a routine. “
This is an incredible start for this treasure trove of a video for two reasons. One, Kim is talking to someone who does exactly what he is contemptuous of; Tiger Woods has a notoriously regulated warm-up routine. Second, Kim’s line is followed by her bag that falls to the ground next to Woods, illustrating her point on attention to detail.
“I’m a little more regimented in my warm-up,” says Woods a minute later, and Kim chuckles. It’s a fantastic moment.
2. Tiger Woods had a great way to talk about the position of the ball.
A spectator asks if Woods believes in the idea of moving his golf ball to his position for several clubs, and Woods has the perfect illustration: line up three golf balls to illustrate that his driver will be slightly higher in his position. (the majority of golf balls) while the sand wedge will be further back (the rear ball) while a medium iron would be somewhere in the middle.
Tiger Woods illustrating the position of the ball.
As for Kim?
“I was hoping nobody would ask me,” he says. “It is different every day. Really. It’s not a joke. Sometimes, if the ball is going too low, it goes higher in my position. If it is going too high, go back to my position. And obviously in this way [Tiger’s way] – it’s not a bad By the way, you hear it from a guy who has won more than 10 majors. “
This is where we really have an idea of how much Kim sounds to hear. It is not that there is no method for his madness. It seems that he has difficulty explaining it and has never thought about it in a way that is translatable by other people.
“Obviously I was taught by my dad, my dad got a lot of inspiration from Tiger’s dad to learn to play the right way and learn the basics first,” says Kim. “But I feel as if, if I stick to one thing, it’s difficult for me when I’m not playing well to get out of that funk. So I just try to mix it up every day, I have a little fun, I try to make a little cut today, and as long as the ball won’t go away for me, I really don’t care what the ball is doing. “
So going back to that ball position?
“For me, a launch wedge could one day be on the right tip or it could be on the left tip. So I think you could listen to Tiger about that. “
Anthony Kim illustrated the randomness of his ball position.
3. Tiger explains how he learned “traj” at the age of 3.
Woods remembers his father Earl trying to explain to him how to control his trajectory at the age of 3. And honestly, we should all pay attention to this part.
“He always said: ‘Do the same backswing, and then end up on the ribs, on the shoulder or over the head.’ And that would determine the height of my golf shot, “recalls Woods.” So if I had to hit a nice bass, I would have a rib. You hit something pretty normal, you probably end up around my shoulders. If you wanted to hit a high ball, I’d end up over my head. That’s how I learned.
“I know it sounds so simple, but when you are under pressure this is what you refer to, that what you always come back to, you go back to things that are easy, natural or innate things. For us, we have different ways of seeing it, but still very simple … we all learned it in mathematics: KISS. ‘Keep it simple, stupid.’ “
Obviously it’s not as simple as Woods makes it look. But it is aspirational simplicity, at least.
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4. Anthony Kim explains why a fade hits.
The only thing Kim is constantly sure of is that he doesn’t want to hit a hook. He reiterates this point a handful of times in the 20-minute clip: his enemy is a ball that goes to the left. Woods says that when he plays his best, he hits a tie. Kim?
“If I make a tie, I tend to hit the hooks. And just to stay away, I try to play a fade. And if he cuts 20 yards at least he will sit and turn and stay in that area. But if I make a tie it could go far beyond the limits. “
Quite right. All of your slicers can take comfort in the fact that AK is on your side.
5. Tiger explains what he was taught to swing as a child.
Perhaps in the Bryson era we will quickly learn that speed is literally the only thing young people should chase. However, it can’t hurt to think about how the greatest modern golfer was brought up, so here’s what Earl Woods told Tiger to swing hard:
“Swing as hard as you can or as hard as you want, but as long as you can follow it, go back and keep your goal, hold this position, you can swing as hard as you want.”
You can see that position below; it should look familiar, as it’s a position that Woods has ended up from time to time over the years.
Tiger Woods illustrates where he should be able to keep his goal with an appropriately balanced swing.
“As soon as I swung as hard as I could, I would have been out of balance, well, it’s too difficult,” recalls Woods. But all up to that point? It was a fair game.
6. Kim had no idea how many majors Woods had won.
Recall that this was the autumn of 2008; Woods had just finished his 14th major one-legged championship at Torrey Pines in an incredibly high profile way. But that’s the beauty of Anthony Kim, who was clearly out of his world all the time. First he guessed that Woods had won eight, a number he later changed to “more than 10.”
“Ten majors? Come on! “Woods laughs at one point.
A year later, Kim reminded Jason Sobel of the lawsuit, then with ESPN:
Sobel: What was Tiger’s response that day you said eight?
Kim: I wasn’t paying attention, because I was trying to guess how many majors he had won. I wasn’t sure if I was close or not. Then I saw everyone start laughing and I realized that I probably wasn’t even close. I think he was 12 then.
Sobel: No, he was 14. It was October; he hasn’t won since.
Kim: Oh, it’s fine. Wow. He had much more than I thought.
7. Anthony Kim has the best range philosophy you’ve ever heard.
It is clear that Kim does not have a pre-established warm-up routine and one of the positive aspects of this approach is that she never demoralizes herself if her autonomy session goes wrong. It is clear from a nod that gives Woods that he is used to bad distance sessions followed by a good play. Its line?
“Whatever the ball does, it does. I’m not worried about this, I’m just trying to get a rhythm here and make sure I’m free for the rest of the day. “
8. Anthony Kim doesn’t know his driver’s attic.
Look, many golfers don’t know the exact specifications of their equipment. But you would imagine that a true professional would literally know the most basic number associated with his driver.
“What’s the loft of that thing?” Woods asks Kim after seeing a driver crawl him.
Kim pauses, then checks. “Eight-five.”
Tiger laughs in disbelief. “Seriously, you didn’t have to read it, did you?”
Kim shrugs. “I didn’t mean to lie to you guys!”
Woods – and the crowd – were clearly fascinated by the enigmatic Kim.
9. Tiger Woods is very much the oldest statesman.
This is more of an impression than a specific moment, but it is noteworthy to note that my impression of Woods – generally perceived as the coolest golfer – comes out square and bookish when emphasized by Kim. Woods is the one with the exact construction sites. It is the one with the prescribed routines. He can hit the ball low and knows why it stays low. Kim, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to know or worry much about it. It does and does not know why. Which brings us to …
10. Anthony Kim’s line on the wedges is the highlight of the whole affair.
The question comes from the crowd: “On your wedges, especially on your sand wedge, how far do you hit it when it’s a swing?”
The answers perfectly illustrate the contrast in the styles.
Woods: “Mine hit 118 yards.”
Kim: “My answers are terrible if you are trying to learn something. I just grew up as someone moving around the golf course. Tiger hits his 118 sand wedge. I don’t – sometimes he goes 100 yards when I hit him full and sometimes he goes 125.
“Alone – it just depends on the day, I try to understand it just before going out on the golf course. Sometimes when I go back three quarters, it goes further than when I go back. For me it’s all a great guess game. “
The legend continues.
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