Capelle On Golf

Tiger Woods is known for making the big putts under pressure, and none was bigger than his 12-footer that sent the 2008 US Open into overtime. Woods is also known for following his routine, but what exactly is it? I decided to find out so I tracked and timed his every movement leading to moment when his birdie putt hit the bottom of the cup.

I picked up the action just after Lee Westwood’s bid to tie Rocco Mediate pulled up short and right of the cup. It may help to visualize an oval that surrounds the putt and the hole. Tiger starts at the top of the oval, moves to the right, then to the left and ends up at the left edge of the oval. Then he goes into the execution phase of his putting routine.

0.00—Lee Westwood picks his second putt out of the cup and Tiger begins to line up his putt on the high side of the cup.
0:25—Tiger completes his study from the high side and walks to next view.
0:37—He crouches and studies the putt from the opposite side of the cup. You can see the intensity in his eyes.
0:53—He rises up from his crouch and circles the low side of the cup, studying the lay of the land all the way from 5-10” away from the line the ball will be traveling.
1:13—Tiger crouches behind the ball in line with the ball and the cup and begins his read from the fourth and last angle.
1:24—Tiger gets up and moves to a standing position behind the putt. He is likely fine tuning his line and/or confirming his read of the putt.
1:35—He moves from the standing position to his pre-putt position and gets set.
1:43—Tiger takes two continuous practice strokes. He is following his routine perfectly.
1:52—Tiger steps up to the ball, shuffles his feet and body into position.
1:57—His back stroke takes 15/30 of a second and the forward stroke to contact takes only 6/30 of a second. No deceleration for Tiger. The ball leaves hit putter face.
2:01—The ball enters the far right side of the cup and begins its descent before it and disappears from sight. Once the ball entered the cup, it was descending the whole way. The ball takes a quarter second to drop from when it reaches the lip to when it disappears from view.

Here are the vital stats:
Tiger took 1:35 seconds to survey the putt from four angles.
His preshot routine consumed 22 seconds.
The 12 foot putt took a little less than four seconds from the start of his backstroke till the time the ball dropped in the bottom of the cup.

Four Replays
A – The side view shows a real time look from the high side of the cup (Tiger’s back is to the right).
B – The worms eye view from behind Tiger’s back and to the side and is in 1/3 slow motion. I counted about 35 little hops, or an average of about one every four inches. On some hops you could clearly see daylight, and on the highest jump the ball was about .15” inches off the green (yes, I measured it to scale). That was one bumpy section of the green.
C – This view from the opposite side of the cup looking down shows that the ball was breaking away from the cup – that it entered on the far right side – and that if the ball had been a tiny fraction further to the right, it would have definitely missed.
D – The side view (from the low side) facing Tiger’s chest shows Tiger and then Steve’s reaction up close and personal.

The Reaction and Some Notable Quotes
The fans everywhere went crazy after the putt dropped and Tiger unveiled a semi squatting double fist pump. The announcers then let fly with some gems. Bravo to Johnny Miller and Dan Hicks.
“Expect anything different?” said NBC’s Dan Hicks a second after the ball went in.
“That ball went in by 1/100 of an inch. It could have just as easily lipped out as in,” said Johnny Miller
“But when you’re Tiger Woods they don’t dare lip out,” countered Hicks

“Unbelievable. I knew he’d make it.” Rocco Mediate
“You can’t ever expect him to miss.” Rocco Mediate