Scottie Scheffler might be the best golfer in the world right now but that doesn’t make him exempt from a certain Tiger Woods leaving him speechless.
Scheffler is the best iron player in golf right now and when he wins, it’s usually because his ball striking and everything else that goes with it is so exceptional.
Of course, prior to the Scottie Scheffler’s and Rory McIlroy’s of this world coming about, Tiger Woods was very much seen as the best iron player of his generation and possibly ever.
Nobody could hit it quite like Tiger and when it came to scrambling to get up and down, Woods was also criminally underrated.
Interestingly for Woods though, one of his big practice routines was to actually go against the usual coaching methods and NOT take a divot.
And upon seeing this first hand, Scottie Scheffler has previously revealed just why it shocked him so much.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesWhy Tiger Woods shocked Scottie Scheffler by not taking divots
Being part of team TaylorMade means Scheffler and others often get to spend time with Tiger Woods that others simply don’t.
In those time periods, Woods is normally a gold mine of information but according to Scheffler, there was one time where Woods simply uttered a few words and left the world number one hanging.
Explaining how he saw Tiger hitting balls without actually taking a divot, Scheffler explained just why it was so bizarre.
‘Yeah so that was really early in the morning and it was literally my first TaylorMade shoot and we had literally just gone from singing Christmas Carols to go out and hit balls and I’d got in late the night before from a tournament and I’m looking around for what I’m doing,” Scheffler said.
“And I look around and Tiger’s not making divots and I’m like ‘what are you even doing’? Usually he gives me an answer but this time, I was pretty confused and he usually gives me some pretty good answers but this time he was like ‘why do I need to make a divot’ and I was like ‘I’m asking you man, tell me why…’!
How Tiger Woods eventually explained not taking divots
At the end of the day, if it’s good enough for one of the best to ever do it, then it’s good enough for anyone.
However, as ever with a top golfer, there is method to the madness and Woods explained his theory from this very interaction not long after.
“It was actually hard for me to take a divot when I was hitting it really well,” Woods said at the time. “At that time, early 2000s, mid-2000s, even late 90s, my natural shot was a draw. So obviously, with the draw, you’re not going to be swinging that left, you’re not going to be that steep.”
“Yes, I didn’t take a lot of divots. I would stand there for an entire day and you couldn’t really see where I was hitting golf balls at. Especially with long irons and anything up. Just because I was hitting draws.”
“It would’ve been totally different if I was hitting punch cuts,” Woods added. “But my natural shot was a draw.”
Certainly, looking back, it doesn’t seem too many pros follow this mode but years down the line, it will be interesting to see if we do get another player just like Tiger with this.