January 2010: Editors' Blog: Golf Digest

More (sympathetic) letters on Tiger

Thursday, January 21, 2010 Comments

Amid reports that Tiger Woods has entered a Mississippi rehab center, Jaime Diaz's report on Tiger in the February issue continues to draw praise for its insightfulness. At the same time your comments about the scandal continue to express empathy for Woods. The latest:

In 45 years of reading golf articles, this is the finest and most objective. Given Jaime's closeness to Tiger, he does an amazing job of telling both sides of the story, examining the yin and yang, and helping us to better understand this curious beast named Tiger Woods. Bravo, Jaime! Bob Hunnicutt

Like most of the people in the civilized world, I have read, heard and been inundated with opinions about what Tiger Woods should do now in his hour of embarrassment. Let me add my two cents. Like all athletes and other entertainers, Tiger owes us nothing in the way of explanation. There is no reason for him to confess further in any public forum to any “transgressions” that may have taken place. His only obligation is to his family. If his marriage remains intact or is torn apart on the rocks of infidelity, that is between him and his wife. We should hold him accountable only for his performance on the golf course. If he returns to competition stronger than ever, that should be considered a major personal accomplishment. If this is the beginning of a downward slide, no one would be surprised. As to his marketability, that is between him and his corporate partners and has to do only with the economic prediction, inexact as that may be, of the pros and cons of keeping Tiger as a corporate face for advertising. Tiger owes us nothing in the way of an explanation or apology, nor do we owe him a hero’s place on a pedestal. After all, he’s only human. James B. D. Mark, Stanford, CA

Well said, James, but I'd expect both insight and empathy from a Stanford man....

--Bob Carney

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Tiger tide turning? 3

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Comments

"Tiger may need new boundaries," says one of our letter writers today. "But so do the rest of us." That statement exemplifies the decidedly more compassionate tone of your comments toward Woods' over the past week. Many of the more empathetic letters and emails have come since--and in response to--Jaime Diaz's story in the February Golf Digest, which sought to explain Woods' behavior. Even Jesper Parnevik, who earlier criticized Woods, says he'll says no more, according to Dave Shedloski in our Local Knowledge blog. More reports place Woods in Arizona rehab. Whether that's true or not, one begins to see just how quickly all of this can change and how Woods' returning--and the tour returning to something approaching "normalcy"--is not as impossible as it seemed a few weeks ago. Thank you, Jaime Diaz, for your article on Tiger Woods entitled "What Happened?" It is very well written. Thought provoking and insightful. I don't condone his actions but I feel the man deserved a lot more respect than he got with all the jokes and ugly pictures. No one is perfect--he made a bad mistake but he did not deserve all the media and public ugliness. How does it go? "Ye without sin may cast the first stone." I just don't understand why the public thought it funny to destroy him that way. That's my side of the story. Sarah Brewster, Mariposa, CA

Jaime Diaz' analysis of Tiger Woods' mortification is insightful, even moving. Doesn't the public's rush to righteous anger and wicked glee also deserve a look? It seems as if imperfect knowledge, fantasy, gossip and hype nurture a sense of pseudo-intimacy with celebrities, an illusory familiarity whose flip side is contempt. Public personalities know this. Yet we want them grateful to us. When our illusion of someone like Mr. Woods is rudely interrupted, when our champions do something out of public character, we feel betrayed. But what do we know of them, really? All we see is their performance, the honed point of the pin. Superb performance is surpassing not because it comes from ubermensch but from otherwise frail, aging, conflicted humans, some charming, some appalling, most banal. It's easy to pronounce on Tiger Woods' transgressions. That way, he can make us feel good about ourselves even when he commits tragedy. Is our claim on him and others like him exploitive? Oh, no-- after all, we pay them, which makes it okay. Still, we don't own them. It's a game. Tiger may indeed need new boundaries. Another lesson: so do the rest of us. Jono Polansky, Fairfax, CA

The polls must be showing a similar shift in the public's views on Tiger, because the President chose this week to express his support. Be nice to think he was just doing it out of the goodness of his heart, but....

--Bob Carney

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Tiger tide turning? 2

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Comments

To continue with yesterday's theme, we're seeing a kindler, gentler letter writer in the past couple of weeks, at least in regards to the Tiger Woods affair. There remain those of you who will not forgive--especially female readers--but even the anti-Tiger mail has taken on a slightly more understanding tone. And some of you remain solidly in Tiger's camp--this first letter writer, for example. Leave the guy alone. Don't all of you people have things to do in your lives. You are all a bunch of sorry losers. The bunch of you. Jesus said to the people that want to stone the harlot, "if none of you have sinned let you be the first one to stone her" and noone did. He also said before you point th finger in a persons eye check the log in your eye first. This is madness on an unprecedented scale. Get a life! How can so many of your columns be devoted to the negative side of Woods' story. The guy who made me discover Golf Digest and millions of others alot of whom have taken out subscriptions and possibly bought equipment on your web site. Have you no shame for the guy that pitched your GD so well. Shame on you. I can assure you I do not even anymore read articles on your site. I only go there to confirm the extent of the trash you write and keep about TW on your site. I will never recommend to any of my partners, associates or playing partners around the world to have anything to do with your company. We are 100% behind Tiger. He has apologized. What more do you want him to do? Please take those sorry columns down. Frankly, I am disgusted. Nigel Sharpe, Lusaka, Zambia

I wanted you to know that I for one appreciate the limited coverage of Tiger Woods in your latest issue, including the exclusion of "Tiger's Lesson Tee" and "Ask Tiger" articles. I realize that there is a need to protect your own interest, but that you are also protecting Tiger during a time when his face needs to be seen as scarcely as possible. The recent uproar from the "major media" companies (aka those who never cared about TW when he was winning majors and breaking records) makes me ill. I just wanted to say 'thank you' for not seeing dollar signs during this debacle, and I hope that you are waiting, with open arms, to welcome Tiger when he returns. Mike McCullough, Maryville, TN

Tiger Woods is a spoiled, arrogant man. I have seen him brush handicapped children aside as they try to get an autograph. Please don't ask me to feel sorry for him. He wanted all the trappings of fame and fortune but none of the responsibilities. He may come back and surpass Jack's 18 majors. Jack Nicklaus is a man to be admired as a brilliant player, husband and father. Tiger Woods will never be Jack Nicklaus. Lynn Hunt

Some members of the media are suggesting today that Mark McGwire's delayed confession to steroid transgressions yesterday is a "model" for how Tiger ought to come back: an admission of wrongdoing in sympathetic venues, with limited questions, and with a finite number of hours devoted to it. Perhaps. But there is, in Tiger's case, the question of what happens to his marriage. We'll see....

--Bob Carney

(Photo by Dom Furore)

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Is the Tiger tide turning?

Monday, January 11, 2010 Comments

It's apparent to me that as time goes on your reactions to the Tiger scandal are getting more thoughtful and less judgmental. Jaime Diaz's piece in Golf Digest and Ron Sirak's interviews with crisis management experts seemed to foster more understanding and less condemnation. Time plays a role, too--something on which Tiger and his advisors are banking, I think. These letters reflect a different set of reactions, for sure. Everyone has a opinion about tiger and what he should do and not do. that is none of their business. he has to live with what he has done and he will have to sort these thing out himself.the only thing i would like to know is where is john hawkins at these days he had no trouble trashing john daly out about 3 or 4 times a year for all of his troubles. thanks for a great publication in Golf World. Vernon Smith

The article written by Jaime Diaz regarding Tiger Woods may be the best article I have ever read. This is saying a lot because I read constantly! This article wasn't an "expose", it wasn't "sensationalism", it was written in a manner to suggest that we are all human and we should all think before condemning someone. It wasn't slanted, it stated the facts as Jaime Diaz saw them...the mark of a true journalist. My sincere thanks for allowing me to share in this knowledge of a person who has given me many hours of entertainment while watching him (Tiger) perform great feats. My heart goes out to Tiger, not that I am condoning him, but that I can understand how hard it must be to exist in the vacuum that is his life. My biggest concern and gripe is that today, thanks to the internet, anyone can go on and on about any subject and be considered an "expert." They can write the truth or they can tell lies, it doesn't matter. I wish there was a way to have Jaime Diaz's article go around the world on the internet the way the trash keeps getting repeated and repeated.

In response to Ron Sirak's piece from the PR pros angle, crisis management requires proactive strategy. Now Tiger has to do two things: 1) Go on national television with golf, sports, news and entertainment media asking questions for an hour. The questioners must be legit. He has to stand in there and be open and honest with no soft-ball set-ups. His actions were egregious in the eyes of reasonable people and he has to take the heat. Tiger's honesty will go a long way toward closure, reparation with his fans and any remnant of hope with remaining and potential sponsors. 2) He has to rid himself of the enablers that stood by, watched his global freak show and did nothing to guide Tiger. They bear some responsibility for what occurred because they were afraid of being ostracized by the boss. Sandy Caligiore (a PR pro myself), Lake Placid, NY

My wife was going through some famous quotes in one of her calendars shortly after Tiger was chased down the driveway. It was a quote from Ben Franklin and seems to be most appropriate for this Tiger scenario. The Franklin quote stereotypes the more famous people in our history and knocks them down a notch: "There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous." It sure does fit many of our "great" men and their sins. Could there have been a golfer in his time that was truly great and fits this observation? Although the bashing now wants to be minimized at this time, this little tidbit was amusing. Maybe Ben got his penance/punishment when that lightning bolt came down the kite string? Jim Lucey, Williamsburg, MA
Since you've brought Ben Franklin into this, Jim, let me add two other icons. The January 4 New Yorker has two interesting pieces on Grace Kelly and Vincent Van Gogh, dealing with the issue, in very different ways, of the private and public personas of the artists we admire. I recommend both pieces, but will quote from the conclusion of the one on Van Gogh, by Adam Gopnik: "We rely on [the artists] to make up for our own timidity, on their courage to dignify our caution. We are spectators in the casino, placing bests; that's the nature of the collaboration that brings us together, and we can sometimes convince ourselves that having looked is the same as having made, and that the stakes are the same for the ironic spectator as the would-be saint. But they're not. We all make our wagers, and the cumulative lottery builds museums and lecture halls and revisionist biographies. But the artist does more. He bets his life."

--Bob Carney

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Tough and not-so-tough words for Tiger

Friday, January 8, 2010 Comments

For some of your Jaime Diaz's thoughtful piece in the February Golf Digest, of the dismay you've felt watching Tiger's public stoning, has led you to forgive No. 1. (Diaz's story suggested that the pressure Tiger feels has led to his behavior). Other readers reacted differently to the piece: You went searching for stones. From the unarmed to the armed among you...

Thank you for the great article on Tiger Woods in the current Golf Digest. Being a Tiger fan for many years it put his current situation into prespective. Patricia Fetner, Ocala, FL.

I can't believe all of the two-faced people who read this magazine who think that Tiger has a "character flaw." I get they couldn't even handle one-hundredth of the pressure he endures. Furthermore, I would be interested in knowing how many of the "Morally correct" readers have a good impression of J.F.K., even though he WAS an adulterer.I seems to me that we, as a nation, love to build up celebrities, only to tear them down. I can guarantee you that all those readers who are
offering Tiger advice, were they in his shoes, would do the same and act the same if they were in his position. Especially all the men readers who condemn Tiger with one hand, and stroke their mistresses leg with the other should check and make sure that their glass walls are intact. Jonathan Booth

After reading Jaime Diaz' spread on Tiger I couldn't help but scratch my head at the question posed "What Happened"? I guess I find it astonishing that so many people are upset and feel entitled to proclaim betrayal.Tiger Woods failed not one of us! Tiger Woods failed his wife and more importantly his two children but Tiger had no strings attached with us. Why is it shocking to see an almost immortal god-like role model fail? It should come to no surprise to any sportswriter, sports fan, tabloid guru, etc. that a man whom clearly stood for nothing was so immoral in his private life. We have seen it all before with one Michael Jordan. And yet we as a society continue to look for idols or role models in the sports industry when the reality is these individuals are just imperfect humans playing a game they love and accel at for a living wage. On the other hand there are athletes out there in our society whom have all but begged to be role models and do in fact stand for something and yet we don't give them the time or publicity. Case in point: one Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman, a devote christian, husband, and father but in today's society that would be too controversial to endorse I guess? Dustin White Republic MO

The article on Tiger Woods by Jamie Diaz sounds more like a guy wanting to keep his role as "Tiger's main interviewer" than presenting an insightful look into his actions. It was pitiful: Tiger lost his daddy...boo-hoo. How many people lose a parent, or grow up without one (or both) at all, and still turn out right? It sounds more like Mr. Diaz is making excuses for his actions.There isn't any secret about golfwriters taking sides on the issue(just read a few golf blogs). There are the ones that write with integrity, and the ones that write to keep their "privileges." I thought Mr. Diaz was better than the latter. Seems like I was wrong. Justin Blair Three Rivers, MI

As a golf fan, fortunate enough to attend the last 31 Masters, I will always look forward to standing 5 feet behind the 9th tee and watch Tiger smoke a driver.He deserves every penny of the approximate $10 million he usually makes in prize money but from this day forward, in my opinion, not a nickel of sponsorship money.

Any sponsor that continues to line his pockets with obscene money to be associated with him is a business that won't see a dime from me. Let's due some fun math here, $10 million less 35% in taxes, I bet we will see Tiger in Terminal A in Chicago Ohare with the rest of his PGA Tour bretheren moving on down the road.
Len Biddell, Thornhill, Ontario

--Bob Carney

(Photo: Dom Furore)

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Your Hot List questions

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Comments

I'll say one thing, you read carefully and have lots of questions, especially when the Hot List issue lands. ("Tiger? Who's Tiger?") Let's answer a few of those questions, with the help of equipment gurus Mike Johnson of Golf World and Mike Stachura of Golf Digest.

Would you know when the Hot List issue will be available in stores? Thank you. Matt Novak, Nazareth, PA

Mike Stachura: We considered all products that, according to each manufacturer when we surveyed them in September, were expected to be part of a company's main line for the first half of 2010. Some companies chose not to make their drivers and other products available to us for our Hot List evaluations, due to their particular manufacturing schedules. As to the in-store availability dates, that is somewhat out of our control (and more in the control of manufacturer vendors), but we would urge readers to contact manufacturers through their websites and customer service numbers, regarding when a product is likely to make it to market.

Just got the new 2010 "Hot List" edition. In the iron section, how on earth could you not have tested the new Wilson Ci9 irons? The only reason I can possibly fathom was they were not available when you tested. Believe me, I am no Wilson big fan or whatnot, but for the past several years Wilson has put our very highly rated game improvement irons, specifically the CI6 and Ci7. The new CI9's are supposed to be even better. Please explain the omission of these clubs.
Peter Hamalian

Mike Johnson: The Wilson Ci9 irons were considered for the Hot List, but did not score highly enough in the uber-competitive game-improvement iron category to earn a medal. The Wilson D-FY won Gold in the Super Game-Improvement category this year and the Wilson FG Tour Forged won Silver in the Players category. The Di9 won a Silver in last year's Super Game-Improvement category.

This was Golf Digest's worst Hot List ever for left-handed players! For instance, under the Scratch 8620 wedge, Golf Digest says "HOT: Just about every wedge company offers choices, but few do a better job of matching a sole grind to a swing type." Really, how does a company that does not make left-handed clubs even come close to matching my left-handed swing type? That's a big NOT in my book! You could have at least put the pertinent information for left-handers online. Looks to me like this year Golf Digest just wrote off all us lefties. Was that an executive decision to piss-off approximately 12% of your readership? William Burke, Williamsburg, VA

Mike Johnson: I'm not really sure what the beef is. The vast majority of the equipment on the Hot List is available for both righties and lefties, so your "worst Hot List ever for left-handed players" charge falls a little flat. I also question the statement about Scratch not having lefty offerings. According to a Scratch representative, the 1018 model and custom clubs come in left-handed options. The 8620, which made the Hot List, will be available in lefty this spring.

Hybrids on the Hot List

Monday, January 4, 2010 Comments

Not all of our correspondents are obsessed with the Tiger Woods scandal, our January 2010 Woods/Obama cover, our "political leanings" or our misuse of hyphens. A few have their obsessions on straight. Hey, Golf Digest, how do I play better? This Oklahoma reader chooses the perfect time to ask about new equipment.

I am trying to purchase a couple new hybrids, but need more info. I am a long hitter (for an amateur). My current hybrids are a couple years old. They are a 22degree TaylorMade Rescue that I hit 200 yards, plus or minus 15 depending on how struck. The other is a 19-degree Exotics that I hit 230 plus or minus 15. I would like a 2-hybrid. I tested a couple and was pleasently surprised to see 260+ yards with the new Exotics. It seems like there are always driver comparisons with distance outputs etc... Could I get a hybrid comparison for 2010
--Blake Roeder, Edmond, OK

Timing is everything, dear reader. The 2010 Hot List-in the February issue--landed on my desk today. It will be in your mailbox shortly. It's also up on Golfdigest.com today. The Hybrids list contains six Gold medal winners, five Silvers. You're home.

--Bob Carney

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Analyzing Tiger

Sunday, January 3, 2010 Comments

It's been a month now and your letters about Tiger still dominate the mail of both Golf Digest and Golf World. The tone of your messages, however, has changed: less outrage, more analysis, some of it even empathetic. (See Jaime Diaz's Golf Digest story for a very good job trying to explain Tiger's behavior and Geoff Russell's column in Golf World on what the public's attitude might eventually be). Here are excerpts from a few of your latest. I like this first one because it echoes a dozen conversations I've had about Woods during the holidays. The gist of it is, "Tiger, you're going to have to make up your mind...."

I am a huge Tiger the golfer fan. I was also a fan of Tiger the person up to and including the time he told the off-color joke which he thought was off the record ... I personally think Tiger got lucky. The real Tiger was outed. In fact, it looks as if he subconsciously set the whole thing up. Tiger, ask yourself a serious question. Is it really possible for you to be monogamous? Skip all this contrition nonsense that people are recommending. It just looks like so much posturing to the PC crowd. Don't forget that you have it all. You are rich, good looking, famous, accomplished and from what I hear fun when you let your hair down. This all adds up to the fact that there is a lot more where all the others came from.
-- Frank Soracco, Venice, CA

The best thing that could happen to the game of golf would be for Tiger Woods to return not just a champion, and not just repentant for his off-course behavior, but with a new humility that extends to his on-course demeanor. Tiger's club-slamming, cursing, and overly aggressive victory celebrations are all contrary to the spirit of the game. In a society where being "number one" has become overvalued, it would do a world of good if one of sports' all-time greats learned to be a true gentleman not only off the field of competition, but on it.
-- Tim Robert, New York, NY

I resent all the negative attitudes that have been thrown Tiger’s way. Did he screw up, yes! Does he deserve all the hostilities, no! The average golf fan does not understand the amount of women that are thrown at the “average player’s” feet, let alone the top player’s. I have witnessed this first hand, and I would have a problem with saying no to some of these women, and I am a happily married man of 18 years! Back off of Tiger, he has enough on his plate. We do not need to add to it. My message to Tiger, hang in there and take care of your kids, they are the most important part of your life, not golf!
-- Keith Agel

-- Bob Carney

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