Tiger Woods said on Tuesday he’s hitting “whatever shot you want” right now, which is good news. The bad news, however, is that he’s unable to play the Hero World Challenge this week because he can’t walk to hit the next one.

On Monday, Woods withdrew from the event which he hosts alongside his foundation, and on Tuesday, he gave an update on the plantar fasciitis that will keep him sidelined for the four-day tournament in the Bahamas.

“Well, it was a tough decision just because I want to play. I like playing, I like competing, but unfortunately, I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, I just can’t walk,” said Woods. “And so I’ve had a few setbacks during the year that I still was able to somehow play through, but this one I just can’t. … only time can heal this one and stay off my feet and get a lot of treatment done.

“As I was ramping up and had to walk more, the worse it got. So when you get plantar fasciitis … the worst thing you can do is walk, and I was walking more and more and more, trying to get my legs ready for this event, and I just kept making it worse.”

That has been a theme throughout the year. When he’s played, Woods has actually hit the ball fairly well given how little he’s competed over the last two years. The issues have more surrounded endurance and physical stamina than the golf swing.

Though he demurred on any long-term issues, he did concede that the foot injury — which is on the same right leg that was mangled in a car crash nearly two years ago — was related to all of his other leg injuries. However, he still plans to play The Match on Dec. 10 and the PNC Championship on Dec. 17-18. He’ll be able to ride in a cart at both events. 

“I can hit golf balls. It’s the walking that just hurts. So … when you’ve got plantar fasciitis, the only thing you can do is rest and try and stretch that out as best as possible, but it’s rest. How do you rest when you’re hosting a tournament? You know, it’s hard. So this will be a tough week. The [PNC Championship] will be a very easy week, Charlie will just hit all the shots and I’ll just get the putts out of the hole, so pretty easy there. But other than that, in the match we’re playing in, we’re flying in carts.”

When asked, Woods adamantly noted that he would never consider applying to ride in a cart for a sanctioned PGA Tour event. So what does this setback mean for 2023? Probably nothing. Woods was only planning on playing 4-6 events anyway (the four majors and “one or two more”), which he still believes he’ll be able to do, cart or not.

“It’s going to take probably, you know, a month or two of rest,” said Woods of his foot injury. “But also it was the ramping up process that did it. It’s a balancing act, right? How hard do you push it to make progress while not pushing it too hard to go off the edge and you set yourself back two, three days, and that’s been the balancing act the whole year. And trying to do that, get ready for this event, I did a lot of beach walks trying to simulate the sand out here and my foot just did not like that very much.”

“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more,” he added. “Physically, that’s all I can do. … I don’t have much left in this leg, so gear up for the biggest ones and hopefully, you know, lightning catches in a bottle and I’m up there in contention with a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do that. But again, giving myself a chance to get out there again.”

Woods insisted that he was shooting up to 7 under at home “like it was nothing”, so it wasn’t an issue of skill but rather of pain tolerance and stamina. Given his historical threshold for pain, this platar fasciitis problem is undoubtedly devilish.

As has been true all year with Woods, there will be stops and starts. Some days, weeks and months, he will likely feel great. Other days, weeks and months, he almost certainly will not. Is it likely that he plays in and finishes six events next year? Based on how this year went (and is ending), probably not. Although it was good to hear that this particular injury only needs rest and is not a long-term problem.

There will be other issues, though. Curiously, Woods also disclosed that he had two surgeries earlier in the year but did not elaborate about when they took place or what part of his body was operated on. That is emblematic of where he’s at in his career. And while his leg and foot could improve, other parts of his body will certainly deterioriate.

The silver lining in all of this is that Tiger played more in 2022 than he expected. He said he was ahead of schedule given that this time a year ago he thought he would only play in the Open. He also noted that he had seen progress in his leg since the Open Championship, in which he played the eighth and ninth rounds of his 2022 year (all nine of which came at major championships). It was only recently that he experienced this right foot setback.

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The other day I got an email from a reader asking where to focus their eyes when hitting a golf ball. I thought about it for a while because I focus my attention on the impact zone at address. I go into autopilot, and follow my pre-shot routine, then induce my golf swing.

The reality is that your eyes should follow your clubhead from impact through to the top of your upswing. That helps you get your body in a position that launches the ball high along your target line.

In this post, I will explain where you can focus to maximize your power, distance, and accuracy.

Does Eye Focus Impact Your Shot?

Where you focus your attention does not necessarily determine the outcome of your shot. Of course, that is prompted by the position of your clubface relative to the target line through impact. However, it does help you focus on achieving the desired shot shape and flight.

Look at it as a golfer’s meditation. You clear your mind of every thought and envision the shot you intend to play. This eliminates negative thoughts of poor shot execution and landing in the drink or bunker. Instead, it offers clear vision and puts you into the zone.

My vision work focuses directly behind the equator of the golf ball. This aligns my eyes with the impact zone, precisely where I wish to see the sweet spot of the clubface before contact. From there, I follow the clubhead to the top of my upswing. This motion produces optimal launch, and I find it is easier to clear my hips through impact.

Should I Keep My Head Down?

My late father always preached to keep my head down and follow-through, which confused me. When I kept my head down and followed through I consistently hooked the ball. That is because it felt awkward clearing my hips through impact.

As I gained more experience, I realized it helped to keep my head still on my backswing and downswing. However, when the clubhead reached the impact zone, I turned my high visual acuity to the clubhead. I would watch the clubface strike the ball and follow it in the air. This requires optimal timing of your body movement to keep every element synchronized.

Not only did this improve my consistency, but it also made it easier to find my ball. Especially when I generated a slice into the left-hand rough.

Therefore, I suggest keeping your head down until your clubhead reaches the impact zone. Then follow the clubhead through to the top of your upswing.

Where to Focus Your Eyes For a Draw

If you want to learn how to hit a draw, you should follow our step-by-step guide. This tip is to help you get into the zone before hitting a right to left shape if you are a right-hand golfer.

Golf coach Clay Ballard suggests employing eye dominance to the back right side of the golf ball. This is to help you envision swinging along an inside-out line with a closed clubface. Swinging your club along this line will start the ball to the right and curve it left towards your target:

Where to Focus Your Eyes For a Fade

You should set your eyes on the back left side of the golf ball to compose yourself to strike a fade. Opposite to a draw. You must swing the club from outside to inside and connect the ball with an open clubface.

Turning your attention to this part of the ball makes it easier to visualize bringing the club in from the outside inwards. Your swing path and the angle of the clubface at contact start the ball left and fade it right towards the flag.

Where to Focus Your Eyes For a Straight Shot

You watch the left side of the ball to induce a draw and the right for a fade. That leaves the center of the golf ball. This is where Ballard suggests focusing your attention on producing straight shots.

Focusing on this spot encourages you to deliver a square path and clubface through impact, leading to straighter shots and more time on the fairway.

Where to Focus Your Eyes For a Bunker Shot

When I am in the bunker, my focus shifts slightly. Instead of paying attention to an area of the ball, I focus on the sand. The aim in that scenario is to strike the sand before my ball. That helps me get under it and impart spin on the dimples. A common fault by amateurs is not committing to your bunker shot and being afraid to take sand.

If you strike your golf ball cleanly out of the sand trap, you lose control and generally fly the ball well past the cup. The quantity of sand that you take before your ball depends on the type of shot you wish to play and how far you are from your target.

When there is limited green to work with, you want to take at least 2-inches of sand. Conversely, on longer bunker shots, an inch or less is sufficient to generate sufficient ball speed for the given distance.

Where to Focus Your Eyes When Putting

The difference between a good player and a high handicap golfer is their putting skills. Superior golfers roll more putts in and possess a killer up and down record. Besides their ability to read greens and produce magical touches with a wedge and putter, they visualize each shot.

Golf Coach Todd Kolb recommends that his students always start their putting setup with their lead eye on the back center of the golf ball. In other words, if you are left-handed, that would be your right eye:

I recommend this tip is to set your eyes up for a straighter stroke with limited face twisting. As a result, it helps you strike the ball with a square putter face at impact to start your golf ball on its intended line.

That is not to say other techniques do not work. I, for one, prefer looking directly down onto my golf ball. I find that this position keeps everything aligned. However, you may find that focusing inside or outside the line works.

I suggest following Kolb’s advice for starters and seeing how you get on. If that doesn’t work, you can try the other setups to identify the most comfortable option.

Once you have determined the ideal eye position, I recommend marking the relevant points on an alignment stick to help you consistently practice this setup.

What Do The Pros Do

Focus On The Whole Ball – Jack Nicklaus

The player with more major titles than any other in history explained that he didn’t waste time with a part of the ball. Word is that he was interested in seeing the entire thing. That was enough to visualize his shot, execute, and lift trophy after trophy.

This is different from Clay Ballard’s advice for amateurs, who need to scale down their target for improved results.

Look Ahead Of The Ball – Annika Sorenstam

Annika does not tell others how to swing a golf club, but maybe we should listen to her. The highest-earning LPGA Tour player clearly knows how to operate. She found that looking ahead of the ball through impact produced the most consistent results.

Focusing a few inches ahead of your golf ball encourages you to take a divot after impact. This promotes a cleaner striker for consistent distance and accuracy.

Look At The Logo Of The Ball – Tiger Woods

Golf Magazine explains that Tiger fixates on the logo of his golf ball to ensure maximum concentration. They note that when the big cat is on the driving range, he alters the setup of the golf ball to reflect the logo in varying positions. This enables him to zero in on the spot where he wants to connect the golf ball.

The idea behind this method is to reduce the size of the target. This helps you to reduce the severity of your misses. That is why it helps to pick a spot, focus on it, and visualize executing the ideal strike.

Matt Stevens

Matt Callcott-Stevens started playing golf at the age of 4 when Rory Sabattini’s father put a 7-iron and putter in his hand. He has experienced all the highs and lows the game can throw at you and has now settled down as a professional golf writer. He holds a Postgraduate in Sports Marketing and has played golf for 28 years.

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The third round of the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship is in the books, and one man has separated himself from the pack as he tries to secure what would be his first PGA Tour win in just the second event of the 2022-23 season.

Mark Hubbard shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday to run out to a one-stroke lead over Mackenzie Hughes and three (or more) on the rest of a really interesting top of this leaderboard. That sets the stage for what should be an intriguing Sunday at the Country Club of Jackson as Hubbard tries to close out a life-changing 18 holes, while a host of other players attempt to upend his bid to do so.

Let’s take a look at what happened in Round 3 of the Sanderson and look ahead to the final day.

The leader

1. Mark Hubbard (-15)

The fall was made for players like Hubbard. The 188th-ranked player in the world is trying to work his way into the majors, along with the big-time events next spring and summer. A win this week would go a long way to making next August’s Tour Championship, too. Hubbard has been terrific this week — first from tee to green and first in approach shots — and he’s trying to improve on a best-ever finish at the 2019 Houston Open, where he T2 behind Lanto Griffin.

Hubbard is one of the fascinating characters on Tour — his dream foursome is E. Harvie Ward, Walter Hagen and Yohann Benson, and his favorite book is “Ready Player One” — and he’s certainly going to be a fan (and probably Twitter) favorite come Sunday’s final round.

Incredibly, Hubbard might be more surprised than anyone about his position. 

“I had last week off,” he said. “My daughter got my sick, and then accidentally knocked off a kitchen knife off the counter and stabbed me in the foot, so I had a hole in my foot this whole week, and I didn’t get to practice at all last week, so I was just kind of coming here trying to get ready for Vegas to be honest.

“I think that probably has a lot to do with expectations being low. That being said, I felt incredible about my game for the last six, seven months, so I’m just kind of trying to go with it and keep those expectations low and just try and hit good golf shots.”

Other contenders

2. Mackenzie Hughes (-14)
T3. Garrick Higgo, Scott Stallings, Sepp Straka (-12)
T6. Nick Hardy, Keegan Bradley (-11)
T8. S.H. Kim, Dean Burmester, Emiliano Grillo (-10)

Hughes is interesting because he was among the best players on the PGA Tour last season who didn’t win a golf tournament. He’s playing solid golf again this week and is second in the field from tee to green behind Hubbard. Hughes has won before and won’t be afraid of the moment (if it comes). He’s probably the player, along with Hardy, I’m most interested in following on Sunday as Hubbard tries to pull away.

Sunday scaries?

The top of this board is not the most accomplished on the PGA Tour when it comes to winning; Bradley leads the way with four PGA Tour victories. There are likely going to be some shaky hands and a few gasps for air when things get tight late. That will make the golf even more compelling than it would be on a Sunday, and it should provide the Sanderson with a great finish between a lot of intriguing players.

2022 Sanderson Farms Championship updated odds and picks

• Mark Hubbard: +210
• Mackenzie Hughes: 3-1
• Scott Stallings: 7-1
• Sepp Straka: 17/2
• Garrick Higgo: 12-1
• Keegan Bradley: 14-1
• Nick Hardy: 18-1

Hardy is striking the hell out of it, but he has done nothing on and round the greens this week. He’s only two back of second (and four of the lead). Heis my pick to shoot something silly on Sunday and overtake a group above him with a lot more experience, but perhaps not as much talent as Hardy possesses.

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