Tiger Woods' Secrets Revealed

MIT mathmetician types and Phil Mickelson's swing coach have respectively revealed the professional skills and jedi mind tricks that helped Tiger Woods become the most dominant golfer since Jack Nicklaus.

Slate Senior Editor Michael Agger explores the new frontier of golf statistics in his fascinating series "Moneygolf" which you can read in full by clicking here.

Agger's piece focuses on the "richest data set in sports" and how very erudite individuals are using these numbers to get a better understanding of what separates elite profesional golfers from also rans who annually compete to keep their Tour cards.

The statistical reasoning behind Woods' dominance was parsed out in the process.

Professor at Columbia's School of Business Mark Broadie was the first to reveal what makes, or made if you believe he's washed up, Tiger such a supernatural talent.

Broadie developed a concept called "shot value" that focuses on distance and length. First, every position on the course is plotted. Then his metric determines how many strokes it takes a scratch golfer on average to hole out from that point.

In 2008 Tiger Woods was crazy good. He even won the U.S. Open with a broken leg. Broadie analyzed Woods' performance at that year's Bay Hill Invitational with his 'shot value' system and concluded that long approach shots (150-250 yards) and mid-range putting (7-21 feet) separated Tiger from his closest competitiors.

Golf Channel and ESPN feel compelled to begin discussions on Tiger's 2010 season by using the caveat "If he doesn't play in a Fall Series event." If he plays at the Frys.com Open, I'll be teeing it up at Augusta next April. So we're left with a jarring fact - Woods will be winless on the PGA Tour for the first time since he was a teenager. 

Despite his struggles in 2010, one of the strengths in Tiger's game identified by Broadie during the "height of his powers" was a strength this year. He did come back to earth in terms of mid-range putting.

According to PGATour.com, Woods ranked No. 1 in distance left to the pin on approaches from 175-200 yards, 200-225 yards and 250-275 yards. His average distance to the hole from 175-200 was 26'3". His GIR (Greens in Regulation) percentage from 175-200 yards was 62.67, which was good enough for 11th on Tour.

If you watched Tiger in person, you know that his putting didn't pass the eye test. The statistics reveal a golfer who struggled mightily on the greens in 2010 compared to past performance. Woods ranked 178th on putts from 15-20'. He made only 12.28 percent of those putts. When putting from 5-15 feet, he converted only 47.41 percent of his putts. He ranked 34th in that category (still a decent showing). And finally, on putts from 15-25', Woods made less than 9 percent and ranked 189th on Tour. 

The second group of statistical pioneers to analyze the PGA Tour's rich data set were MIT mathematicians Douglas Fearing and Jason Acimovic. They developed a putts-gained-per-round model that accounted for distance and difficulty. Of their discovery on Tiger Woods, Agger writes:

"The MIT Study also confirms a fact that, until this year, was a given in golf statistics: the ridiculous dominance of Tiger Woods. From 2003 to 2008, he ranked first in both putting average and putts gained, bettering the field by seven-tenths of a stroke per round with his putting alone.

It's then possible to conclude that Woods' struggles in 2010 can be attributed to a slump on the greens.

Let's move to the mental dexterity employed by Woods during his decade or so of dominance - the tactics he used just to rub his peers noses in the dirt. 

CBSSports.com Senior Write Steve Elling filed a story on the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods rivalry after their recent Sunday pairing at the BMW Championship.

Elling notes that Mickelson has pulled even with Woods (11-11-4) head-to-head. Turns out, former Woods swing guru Butch Harmon shared a few of Tiger's subtle tricks with Lefty to help him compete with the master.

Here they are: 

1. Before large galleries, when on the green, Woods will often putt out first. That means the crowd moves to the next tee while the other player is still finishing the hole, creating an annoying distraction.

2. Woods likes to lag back and get to the tee box second, so that the crowd screams loudest, and last, for him.

3. Harmon said Woods intentionally walks quickly when playing with slow players and slowly when playing with fast competitors. Most people would never notice.

4. Harmon said Woods sometimes hits 3-wood off the tee on driver holes, just to make the other player have to stand around for a few minutes. "You have your momentum and adrenaline going, and he slows down and makes you wait," the coach said.

Long irons, mid-range putts and generally being a douche to his playing partners...this is how Tiger Woods became the first billionaire athlete and an all-time great.

Unfortunately for Woods, these weren't the only secrets we became privy to in 2010.