Bob Toskiturns 100 on Friday, Sept. 18. The legendary golf teacher and pro has an opinion on pretty much anything related to the sport.
Here are his thoughts on:
Tiger Woods: When I watched Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson drive the golf ball, they were almost always in the fairway. Tiger would drive the ball offline consistently. I watched him do that and said, Byron didn’t do that, Hogan didn’t do that. He either had a misunderstanding of the golf swing or he couldn’t execute it like I thought he could. But he found a way to dominate. Once he found that confidence within himself it really turned him on.
LIV Tour: It won’t last. The format is terrible. You don’t have three-day events and then have team competitions. None of the events on the PGA Tour are
that way. I don’t even know how Greg Normaneven allowed that. To play the way they play isn’t the game invented by the Scots.
Brooks Koepka: When I was golf director at Sherbrooke, I’d go watch him hit on the range. There were a couple things I would have changed but he didn’t ask me. But I saw he was so strong, how far he could drive the golf ball. I told his father, your son will win majors. He’s that good. Now he’s made too much money to win another major. When you get that much money, you get so secure that competitive edge is gone. You don’t need it. If I told him when he was going to college, "Do you realize someday you’re going to be worth $100 million," he’d look at me and say, "What have you been drinking?" But he has an arrogance about him.
Scottie Scheffler: Why is the guy dominant? How many fairways does he hit every week? How many greens does he hit every week? The guy knows how to make a number. But he’s not flamboyant like Tiger was so he won’t be a favorite of the masses.
Players today vs. yesterday: When I played the average height was 5-foot-10, the average weight 160, 165. Now the average is 6 foot and weight about 200. We drove it 260, they drive it over 300. The ability of these guys, getting up and down from the bunker, the fairway, their touch is immaculate. When we played, there weren’t that many players who could do that. But the money now makes them work harder.
The future of the game: I’m concerned about the poor player. The makers of the clubs tell you the new clubs will lower your score, your swing will get better, you’ll hit the ball further, which is a marketing ploy to dupe you into buying that equipment. The new equipment has helped the Tour player because they’re sensitive to all this, but the average player, it’s not happening.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Bob Toski on Tiger Woods, LIV, Brooks Koepka and other things golf
