Parts of Their Game That PGA Tour Stars Should Improve Upon for 2015 Season
Since no one has ever played the perfect round of golf, there's always room for improvement, right?
And that applies to the best players in the game as well as the 16-handicappers who play twice a week.
But the shortcomings of the guys on the PGA Tour are much more open and are subject to public scrutiny.
So, being in a helpful mood, it seemed like a good idea to put together a list of some of the top players and the parts of the game they need to improve in 2015.
Tiger Woods needs to rediscover his game. Phil Mickelson needs to increase his focus. Adam Scott needs to hole more putts.
Check out the following list and see if you agree.
Tiger Woods
1 of 7
Tiger Woods' 2014 season was so bad that he didn't have a sizable body of work to build on for 2015.
Twenty-one events, two missed cuts and a withdrawal.
A bad back that eventually required surgery virtually ended his season, but his game wasn't good before the surgery, either. Woods posted only six rounds in the 60s all year.
In many ways, Woods will be starting over from scratch.
At the base of everything will be how his back responds to therapy and rehab. What kind of swing will emerge in 2015? Is the surgically repaired back going to allow Woods to return to his 2013 level of play?
Lots of questions, not many answers.
Brandt Snedeker
2 of 7
Through the years, Brandt Snedeker has built a reputation as being one of the game's best putters. With a great putting stroke and the ability to make putts under pressure, he was a threat every time he teed it up it seemed.
He's become a regular fixture in the top 10 of the strokes gained putting category before falling to 27th in 2014.
Snedeker was 133rd from inside five feet and 102nd from five to 10 feet last year. Those are all very un-Snedker numbers. He hit 68 percent of his greens, 52nd-best on tour.
He only had three top-10 finishes in 2014 and made over $1.6 million, which means he played OK, but with some better putting, he could have had a much different year.
Paul Casey
3 of 7
Paul Casey has endured the struggles of a comeback from a dislocated shoulder, the result of Casey's love for snowboarding in 2011. This is a guy who was ranked as high as No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking not long before taking the tumble on the slopes.
He made 12 of 16 cuts on the PGA Tour, but did not record a top-10 finish in any of those. He didn't crack the $1 million earnings mark for the year, and won't until he learns to close the deal.
Casey, who has won 12 times worldwide, needs to regain that feeling of making the key shots in crunch.
In seven of those 16 starts, he posted a final-round score in the 70s.
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Phil Mickelson
4 of 7
Over the course of his career, Phil Mickelson has had to deal with off-course issues like every other player has.
But because he's one of the most popular players to have played the game, his issues have always been front-page news. He's had to deal with breast cancer issues involving his wife and mother, accusations of insider trading and his own battle with psoriatic arthritis.
Those as well as day-to-day issues have tested his focus, and he's not always fared that well on the test.
How else could you explain the fact that he didn't record a single top-10 finish in 2014 until the PGA Championship in August? His statistics were not great in 2014, but they were good enough for him to earn over $2 million.
But he certainly didn't play up to Phil Mickelson standards.
Adam Scott
5 of 7
Adam Scott finished in the top 20 in each of his last 10 PGA Tour starts. He won once and earned over $4 million.
The former Masters champion obviously did a lot of things well in 2014, but there's no doubt he'll be looking to improve his putting in 2015.
And the interesting part of that is this will be the last year he'll be able to use his anchored stroke. On Jan. 1, 2016, anchored strokes will be prohibited.
But regardless of what putter or putting style he uses, Scott has no doubt seen the statistics and knows he didn't make nearly enough putts in 2014.
Bubba Watson
6 of 7
Bubba Watson had a very good season in 2014.
Wins in the Northern Trust Open and the Masters, eight top 10s and over $6 million in earnings made it a season to remember.
He would, of course, like to forget his performances in the majors and his woeful results in the Ryder Cup.
For Watson to become known as a great player—not just a left-hander who uses a pink driver and can work the ball better than anyone on tour—he's going to need to show at, and maybe even win, a major somewhere other than Augusta National.
It's a simple matter of getting things squared away between the ears for Watson.
Rickie Fowler
7 of 7
Rickie Fowler finished his 2014 PGA Tour season with nine top-25 finishes, seven of those being top 10s.
He seemed to be in contention just about every week and was nipping at the heels of Rory McIlroy, who was on an unworldly tear in the second half of the season.
It doesn't take a really long look at Fowler's statistics to get an idea of where he needs to improve. He was 108th in driving accuracy and 100th in greens in regulation.
Cut the young man a bit of slack, however, as 2014 was his first year with the golf swing taught by Butch Harmon. The results were remarkable, but the numbers speak for themselves. He needs to hit more birdies and greens.
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