Tiger Woods explains why modern tour pros can’t putt like he does in latest viral lesson

These days, tust seeing Tiger Woods on a golf course with a club in his hand is enough to stop the scroll of most golf fans. However, when Woods is dishing knowledge, like he was at the Hero World Challenge on Wednesday, it’s not enough to simply rubberneck. You pull up a chair, sit down and listen.

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That was the scene in Albany on Wednesday as Woods offered a brief putting symposium. In the clip, Woods, who was recently cleared by doctors to begin chipping and putting following his latest back surgery, explains how he uses the mass of the golf ball to naturally control his putter speed and shorten his follow through.

“I’m just putting all the energy into the ball, and the ball ends up slowing the putter head down,” Woods explains. “You see some players have a follow through like that [demonstrates an elongated follow-through]. I don’t understand that. If you see a guy hit a punch shot, his swing’s gonna be shorter on the follow through versus a guy hitting up on it … it’s the same kind of concept. You have the weight of the ball stopping the putter head and the momentum is going to be slower on the front side.”

Woods explains that while it may look like he’s punching or pushing his putts because of that, that is an illusion created by a heavier object in motion—the putter—naturally slowing as it comes into contact with a lighter object at rest—the ball. In other words, Woods is letting his equipment do the work, maximizing the energy transference between his putter head and the ball. This is where it gets interesting.

If you feel like you don’t see that kind of putting motion on tour these days, Woods says there’s a reason for that.

“My overall mass of a putter is much lighter. And because it’s much lighter, it’s much more affected by the weight of the golf ball than these newer putters. Putters with bigger grips, bigger heads, more mass, it’s going to go through more than my putter does. Ben Crenshaw’s little 8802? It stops right away. There’s no mass to it.”

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It’s a fascinating distinction that shows how equipment advances and trends don’t just impact performance, but the way the game of golf is actually played. Though Woods is no longer a regular player, as a personality and executive he continues to impact professional golf at almost every turn. That combined with his rampant success, makes Woods feel current despite his age and experience, but as a player, he is very much part of a bygone age—one where technique and nuance always bested bomb and gouge.

It’s hard to argue with the success of modern players like Scottie Scheffler, who became the dominant golf force on earth after transitioning to TaylorMade’s Spider Tour model in the spring of 2024, and J.J. Spaun, who the won the 2025 U.S. Open with a cutting-edge LAB putter in his bag, but as Woods demonstrates, the old ways still have a place in golf for those brave enough to embrace them.

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