5 Reasons Why Torrey Pines Is the Perfect Course to Cure Tiger Woods' Woe

If you were alarmed by Tiger Woods' embarrassing performance at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in general and his career-worst 82 in particular last week, fear not.

The 79-time PGA Tour winner is heading to his personal playground for this week's Farmers Insurance Open. And when he tees it up at Torrey Pines, TW will be competing in the tournament he's won more than any other in his career at the course where he's racked up more wins than any other. 

Torrey Pines is the perfect course to cure what ails Tiger Woods. 

Why? Click through for the answers. 

An Extra 2 Days of Practice

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A few extra days to work on your short game can't hurt, right? That's exactly what Tiger Woods will have as he heads to the Farmers Insurance Open.  

While Tiger Woods was spotted at the women's super-G portion of the 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, watching girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, we can assume he's been spending the majority of his time working on his short game since missing the cut at TPC Scottsdale last Friday.

If there's any merit to TW's contention, via BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter, that he needs more "reps" with an altered pitching motion, he should have plenty of time to get those in prior to Thursday's first round.

He also has two rounds of play under his belt now, which he can dissect and improve his areas of deficiency. 

He Owns the Course(s)

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

Maybe you're a big believer in "horses for courses," and maybe you aren't. Regardless, in his career, Tiger Woods has played Torrey Pines better than any other golfer has played any other golf course. 

The California native's record at Torrey Pines is staggering. As The Associated Press wrote following Tiger's 2013 triumph at Torrey (via ESPN): "Torrey Pines is a public course that he has turned into his private domain."

Woods has won the Farmers Insurance Open seven times, and he also famously won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on a mess of a left leg.

In a sense, then, there's no place Tiger is more likely to right the ship than Torrey Pines.  

It's Difficult

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

Tiger Woods has historically played very difficult courses very well.

Torrey Pines South Course (those who make the cut will play three rounds on it) is a very difficult course. As Rob Bolton of PGATour.com wrote, "It was the third-hardest par 72 on the PGA Tour last season (right behind Augusta National and Trump National Doral) with a scoring average of 73.79."

And while Woods' game isn't in the best shape currently, the difficulty of the track (and his mastery of it) should work to his advantage. Other players in the field who aren't as adept on tough tracks and don't have a fraction of the victories Woods does at Torrey Pines won't be at an advantage.

Less Yip-Inducing Conditions Around the Greens

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

According to one of the more respected voices in golf, Geoff Shackelford, the consensus is that Tiger Woods has the chipping and pitching yips. That's to say, his errors have less to do with "mechanics" or "where he's bottoming out the club" and more to do with what's going on between his ears. 

Returning to a comfortable track that he's thoroughly dominated in the past should inspire a bit of confidence in the once-never-lacking-for-confidence Woods.

Also, he'll exchange the tight, tricky, baked out lies around greens at TPC Scottsdale for longer, damper, plusher lies at Torrey Pines.

This should help.

And if we believe Tiger's story, via B/R's Kathy Bissell, about being stuck between two swings, the extra reps from Saturday through Thursday should help or at the very least leave him with no excuses if he duffs and skulls his ball around the greens in La Jolla. 

He's Bombing It

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

At 7,698 yards, Torrey Pines South Course is the longest track on the PGA Tour. 

It's no secret that Woods' driving distance has declined in recent years. 

Problem? No. Here's why. 

In 2013, the last time Tiger Woods was swinging the club remotely well, he averaged 118.3 mph with his driver. For the sake of comparison, Bubba Watson, who led the tour in swing speed last year, averaged 123.7 mph of club-head speed last season.

Per a tweet by Brandel Chamblee, Tiger Woods' swing was clocked at 124.3 mph at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

So, not only is Tiger Woods hitting the ball as hard and far as he has in recent memory; at 39, he's swinging as hard as anyone on tour. 

Distance covers a multitude of sins on the PGA Tour, and it looks like Tiger will be bombing it this year. 

In two rounds at last week's Waste Management Phoenix Open, Woods averaged 323.2 yards off the tee. To put that in perspective, the leader for the week, Tony Finau, averaged 312.6 yards off the tee. 

Tiger Woods is hitting it a long way, and this is critical at Torrey Pines.