My Backswing Hurts and So Does My Pride

I, along with far too many bloggers, have commented or written stories regarding Tiger Woods this past week. If you turned your computer, cell phone, or electronic messaging device off at anytime this week, you missed Tiger crashing his whip into a fire hydrant and tree.

Rumor has it his wife found out about him smashing another breezy and she confronted him about it. Well, confronted as in scratched his face up and chased him out of his own crib with a seven iron—my club of choice if I’m trying to work it left to right and crash the back of the green.

Of course this is all speculation as Tiger and his goons have yet to confirm or deny any of the allegations being tossed around. Did his wife make him bounce his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a tree or did he simply nod off after a long night of playing the newly released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2?

Either way Tiger may be in a little trouble, though not legally, as the Florida Highway Patrol announced yesterday that Tiger will not be charged with any crime and he would only be issued a citation for a moving violation, resulting in a $164 dollar fine.

That is the least of Tiger’s worries.

The always private Woods is having a tornado of drama swirl through his life like never before. Tiger lives behind the walls and gates of the uber-exclusive Isleworth community in Windermere, Florida, just outside of Orlando. The going rate for a pad in Isleworth starts at about $4 million chips, so Tiger enjoys being restricted.

Now that the scratches on his face are the taste of the town, Tiger’s once private existence is being shattered. Media outlets such as TMZ, CNN, ESPN, and the Golf Channel have all set up shop outside of his community; standing guard by the gates hoping to grab a glimpse of Tiger’s split lip or his wife Elin’s backswing.

As an avid golf fan and professional hack, I could care less about Tiger's personal life as long as he’s Happy Gilmoring it down the fairway and draining 90-foot puts.

Don’t get me wrong, if there was domestic violence involved then the situation should be handled by authorities. But if not, then we should allow Tiger and his wife to handle their business privately as we would all want.

I would also prefer that Tiger go into the Buick Open next month at Torrey Pines healthy and with his body in classic Tiger condition, not marred with knife wounds and bloodied clubs.

If his backswing is off just a smidge or his iron play suffers, I’m guessing it won’t be because of flashbacks of him being hit across the head with a Nike fairway wood but because of inconsistent play—which Tiger can fix.

Tiger’s pride is probably a little damaged and he’s going to carry around the embarrassment of affairs with other women and the fact that he was clumsy enough to bang up his ride…by himself. 

Nevertheless, let’s not forget why we love Tiger and his backswing. It is not because of tabloid stories and gossips. It’s because of golf.

Simply golf.

He knows how to golf and he’s one the planet's most disciplined sportsmen. We don’t follow Woods around from fairway to fairway and stand nine deep on the 18th green to see him sink putts because of the women he dates or the cars he drives.

We stand in awe of his greatness and want to live vicariously through his backswing and putting stroke.

Don’t front on Tiger now because he may have slipped in his personal life or yell at him at the first chance you get at the driving range. Just continue to stalk him as usual like he stares down balls in Augusta.