Charlie Woods hits a tee shot on Saturday as his dad, Tiger Woods, looks on.
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The putting? Hmm. We’ll let Charlie Woods narrate that.
Just five words were needed.
“We just suck at putting.”
His dad, the 15-time major winner standing next to him, cracked a smile.
“That sums it up right there,” Tiger Woods said.
As for the driving? Yeahhhh. We’ll allow Charlie to tackle that one, too.
He required just three words.
Saturday, nine days before Christmas, at a soggy Ritz-Carlton Golf Club miles from Disney World, they gathered again for the PNC Championship, a major winner-and-relative affair — that doubles as a sort of fun biology lesson. Ooooh, see the similarities between Vijay Singh and his son, Qass! John Daly II can really send it like John Daly I!
Loooook at Tiger and Charlie.
The duo entered in 2020, and it was a hoot. Charlie was 11 then. His mannerisms are like his pop’s, all the way down to the Sunday red shirt and black pants! They returned in 2021. They nearly won the thing! They came back last year. Charlie talked in a press conference! This year, Team Woods committed to play again, and you maybe wondered what a half-year of high school would do to the now-14-year-old. We all remember — or blissfully forget — those days, right? Some angst. Some rebellion. Lots of cologne and perfume. You don’t mean to pry with Charlie, either, but you can’t help but be curious. After all, we’re talking about the GOAT’s baby goat. Dad, of course, gets that more than anyone — Tiger and the spotlight are nearly cousins — so he’s been mostly guarded.
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But he’s proud, too. Charlie and his high school team won a state title recently. Then, on Friday, Tiger dropped these nuggets:
The kid’s speed has “dramatically” gone up.
The kid’s hitting it past him — so yeah, even though Charlie was moving back a tee this year due to his age, they still had “an advantage.”
“He’s still growing,” Tiger said. “You can see how much he’s grown from last year. It’s amazing how much he has grown, has changed, and it’s a moving target with him, right. He’s grown somewhere near four inches this year, so his swing has changed, it’s evolved, clubs have evolved.
“And we kept trying to adjust things, and it’s been a lot of fun. But it’s also challenging for him because each and every couple weeks, things change. He just has — he’s growing so fast.”
Really?
Interesting!
Let’s see!
How about at the 5th, a 536-yard par-5? The gang was all there. Team Woods was playing with Team Thomas — pro Justin Thomas and his dad and teacher, Mike, both of whom double as close Woods friends. A third Woods, Sam, Tiger’s 16-year daughter, was dad’s caddie. Golf Channel cameras were rolling. PGA Tour social media ones were recording. Charlie swung. On the follow-through, he snapped his driver forward. He took two steps forward.
The kid waved.
The kid waved!
Goodbye.
Goodbye!
Behind him, Justin Thomas laughed.
“Did you see that?” Peter Jacobsen, a longtime pro, said on the Golf Channel broadcast.
“Oh yeah,” announcer Dan Hicks said. “He’s got all the moves.”
How about the 550-yard, par-5 14th? More of that driver whip-forward recoil. Full send. Dad used to do that.
“Oh, how about that?” announcer Steve Sands said on Golf Channel.
“Certainly didn’t leave anything in the tank there,” said analyst Notah Begay, another Woods family friend. “That is a perfect drive for this hole.”
“The Woods recoil,” Hicks said.
Oh, how about that!
Golf Channel replayed the swing.
“There is a lot of speed to this 14-year-old’s swing,” Hicks said.
“That recoil is faster than my driver swing,” Jacobsen said. “That is incredible.”
“Yeah, he’s grown up a little bit at this tournament,” Hicks said. “Dad says he’s grown four inches alone from last year. We’ve seen that newfound power of Charlie Woods on display.”
But let’s back up a hole, to the dogleg-left 321-yard, par-4 13th. You’re gonna see or hear about this one. You can fly the trees on the left and cut the corner on this hole.
So, yeah, Charlie flew the trees on the left and cut the corner on the hole. His ball dropped about pin high to the right, and it rolled slightly off the green.
“Charlie!” Sands said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “That doesn’t stay on the green, but that was some kind of tee shot.”
“Pounded,” Jacobsen said.
Pounded!
Golf Channel replayed that swing, too.
“Take a look at this again, Peter,” Sands said. “What do you like about this swing?”
“Everything,” Jacobsen said. “I love where he puts the club right in this position. Watch how he releases that clubhead all the way through. You talk about dead hands with wedges. You do not want dead hands with a driver. You want as much speed with your right hand to be able to release it like that.”
There was more.
Did you hear the nearby fan after the drive? This was good.
“Watch out, Dad,” they said. “He’s coming for ya!”
And did you hear Charlie’s response? This was something.
“I’m already here!”
“I’m already here!!!”
Three words.
A tee-shot summation.
Bold.
Declarative.
Hello, world! Just like dad, all those years ago! But with better distance!
Yeah, probably not.
Then again, you never know.
But the kid was most assuredly having fun. With his drives. With his wave. With his words.
And we’ll leave it there at our fourth Charlie get-together. With him.
His dad says he is too. For his part, Tiger says he’s letting Charlie be Charlie.
“I let him go,” he said Friday. “And you know, I provide guardrails for him and things that I would like to see him learn and address, but also, then again, I’m trying to provide as much space as I can for him. Because there’s so much of the noise in our lives that people are always trying to get stuff out of us, and my job as a parent is to protect him from a lot of that stuff.
“Also, then again, as a teenager, I want him to try and become his own man at the same time. So it’s a challenge as a parent and to provide that — that atmosphere for him, to learn, to grow, and have that freedom, meanwhile understanding that there’s so much noise looking into our lives at the same time.”
And don’t forget amidst all of the hoopla:
Charlie said he sucks at putting.
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