Tiger Woods gave his first press conference in months, speaking to the media ahead of the Hero World Challenge.
The PGA Tour event, held in The Bahamas and hosted by Tiger Woods, features 20 of the world’s best players and is a highlight on the golf calendar just weeks before the new season gets underway.
The 49-year-old covered plenty of ground during his time with reporters, including his injury recovery, changes to the Tour schedule, and recent shifts within the professional game.
One observation he made was about how much has changed between now and two decades ago – and he pointed directly at YouTube as a major reason why.
Tiger Woods talks about how professional golf has changed
Woods pointed out the increase in successful young players on the PGA Tour, something he said was not as common when he first turned pro nearly 30 years ago.
“There’s a generational shift. The game has gotten younger, stronger, faster and bigger. It’s fun to see. There are more top players at a younger age than ever before,” he began by saying at the Hero World Challenge.
“A lot of them are now able to play and get themselves into the top 50, which then allows them to get into this event. Some have gotten in as high as the top 10.
“The game has gotten younger, it really has. When I first came out on Tour, you had to serve at least four to five years before you had the experience of playing golf courses enough times, then you had to pay your dues of losing a bunch, and then ultimately winning probably in your late 20s.
“That model doesn’t exist anymore. These kids come out of college ready to play or even sometimes skip college, and they’re ready to play even earlier. The age of the game of golf out here at the Tour level has become younger.”
Three prime examples of top players who emerged in their early to mid-20s are Ludvig Aberg, Collin Morikawa, and Viktor Hovland.
Tiger Woods points to YouTube as the reason for younger winners on the PGA Tour
Woods gave a thoughtful answer when asked why more players are finding early success on the PGA Tour these days.
The 15-time major winner thinks platforms like YouTube have played a role, giving younger players faster access to information that was not available in past generations.
“I think it has a lot to do with YouTube, seeing swings. Before, I had VHS tapes. I would tape a weekend round of golf and then watch it, hoping the tracking worked halfway decent, and try and get a swing. Sometimes the swings didn’t even look good; I didn’t even know who that was.
“Seeing so many different swings over and over again, and the instruction level has gotten better, the curve it took to understand how to play the game has gotten faster.
“You didn’t have to necessarily go out there and dig it out of the dirt; now you can watch it on your mobile phone and learn that way. It’s gotten faster and younger. Just like all kids, they’re sponges for information, and they can make changes on the fly,” he concluded.
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