Tiger Woods had a secret formula for winning tournaments – and Will Zalatoris has a version of it which can be applied to all 12 handicap golfers.
The Californian man knows all about building foundations that allow a golfer to improve himself.
After turning professional in 2018, Zalatoris failed to earn a Korn Ferry Tour card at Q School but he doubled down on Monday qualifying and earned his card that way.
A year later he was a winner on the second tier; a year after that he was playing on the PGA Tour.
At every stage he added to his game and got better.
He’s now finished top 10 seven times in the major championships and was a winner of the 2022 FedEx St Jude Championship.
In this Instagram video he explains how an amateur golfer can also make solid progress to become a better golfer.
“How do you get from a 12 to an 8?” he asks. “Make less doubles.
“How do you get from an 8 to a 5? That’s when we need to get a little bit better with the short game, whether that’s better with chipping or less three putts.
“How do you get from 5 to 0? Now all of a sudden, that’s hard. Going from 10 to 5 versus 5 to 0 is, like, light years difference.”
If becoming a scratch golfer might be beyond most golfer, Zalatoris still insists three rules will help you get better.
“My three big things I always tell people are get on the greens as fast as you can, take more club, and just eliminate doubles.”
Then he reveals that Tiger Woods had his own magic rules.
“Tiger had this thing that he did where it was no three putts, no doubles or bogeys on par-5s, no missed up-and-downs, and no penalty shots.
“And if he did one of those things he won like 90% of the time – that’s one over the length of a tournament.”
Zalatoris laughs and says: “It’s hard, but essentially what I’m saying is, ‘Here is your 12 handicap version and here’s Tiger’s version which is insane but that just gives you the perspective.’”
Ultimately he concludes with a really simple message: “It makes you realise that good golf is not super sexy.”
