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Measuring Greatness of Tiger Woods, by Numbers

By Bill Felber

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 20: Tiger Woods of the United States hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the PNC Championship at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club on December 20, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 20: Tiger Woods of the United States hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the PNC Championship at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club on December 20, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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The Tuesday morning automobile crash that sent Tiger Woods to a Los Angeles hospital also focused renewed attention on Woods’ greatness, his place in the game’s history.

In many aspects, Woods has been a transformative figure in the game’s development. He has obviously widened interest in the game, both as a spectator and playing sport. That broadening of interest has also had cultural ramifications.

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Woods, through both the First Tee program — which he helped establish — and through his Foundation — has very deliberately pursued that broadening of interest.

But transformational power can and should be measured in many ways, not all of them quantifiable.

For that reason, Woods’ transformational impact, while a valid question, is an impossible one to answer objectively.

Woods’ statistical greatness – his position or rank among the game’s best players – is another and more quantifiable topic. And by that measure alone, whether he plays another round of competitive golf, he plainly stands among the elite.

The basic challenges when ranking the greatness of players in any game across eras are two-fold. The first is to determine what we mean when we use the term ‘greatness’. The second is to develop a methodology for accounting for all the various changes to the game’s structure, equipment and performance over time that would otherwise unfairly skew such a rating.

Without first sorting through and agreeing on answers to those two essential questions, any effort to discuss greatness is destined to collapse in a morass of definitional detours.

In my 2020 book, “The Hole Truth;  Determining the Greatest Players in Golf Using Sabermetrics,” I sort through these obstacles. For those wishing to see the long methodology, I have provided a link to the book’s Amazon page here.

http://The Hole Truth: Determining the Greatest Players in Golf Using Sabermetrics: Felber, Bill: 9781496206541: Amazon.com: Books

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