Lost in the noisy discussion of swing planes is the most critical missing ingredient in the remaking of Tiger Woods.
If, at almost 39, Woods is to resurrect himself as a force in golf and challenge Rory McIlroy, it won't be entirely because of his golf swing. He has already shown he can win multiple times on the PGA Tour with swings that would send many of his peers to early retirement.
That's not to say it won't be easier with a better move through the ball than he's had, but it's not so much about Chris Como or Sean Foley or stack and tilt or loading into the right leg — though he does look much better when he shifts his weight.
What ails Woods lurks between his ears.
Jason Day played with Woods earlier in the week and walked away impressed. "He was flushing it," the young Australian said.
But that was practice.
Then the bell rang. And that's where his troubles started — and, in truth, that's where they have started for a long time, dating back to Hank Haney's days. That's where the apprehension — the stage fright — takes over.
The galleries at Isleworth were clapping when Woods hit his 3-wood off the first tee at the Hero World Challenge.
While they applauded a high draw, he was already reaching for another ball. The hole is a dog-leg right. It called for a fade. His shot almost ended up in an old neighbor's pool.
With his second ball, he salvaged bogey, hitting a wedge to a foot.
But it didn't get any better from there.
Yes, the ball-striking was better, especially on the back nine where he hit every fairway and missed only two greens. But the score wasn't.
And this is really where Woods is a different player.
He used to be able to score better than anyone who ever played this game. At the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, I watched him shoot even par even though he hit only four greens. The rough that week in Rochester was so brutal Adam Scott didn't get up-and-down once. Woods, however, was mercurial back then with a wedge and a putter.
"A lot of guys out here turn 72s into 69s, but only one guy turns 69s into 65s," Steve Williams once told me.
Now Woods turns 72s into 77.
Why? He can't chip and he can't putt.
Chips into the grain are virtually guaranteed chunks. Woods hit four fat chips on Thursday, and not the PGA Tour-caliber chunks. These were like the handiwork of 20-handicapper Sunday hackers, laying-the-sod over chips that went a few feet and rolled back to his feet.
They were embarrassing.
Many will say that he's rusty — and he is. But Steve Stricker also last played at the PGA Championship, and he shot 5 under.
Rust doesn't cause that kind of a short game disaster. Especially not for a man with a state-of-the-art short game practice area in his backyard.
Woods chose to remake his short game in 2010, shortly after he started working with Foley. He wanted his chipping stroke to mirror his full swing. And, boy, did he succeed: They both became too steep.
His once-stellar short game has been deteriorating for five years. On Thursday, it just became obvious to everyone.
This can't be good for his confidence, which is what Woods needs now more than anything.
After he finished last (by four shots) in the 18-man field, I asked Woods if it was the worst score he's shot in his 500-plus rounds at Isleworth.
"I shot 80 a bunch of times here actually," he said, craning his neck to look for the sunny side of the street. "Usually when it's a cold north wind and it's about 30 out, but not like this. Today was weird."
Weird.
Haney tweeted that he couldn't remember Woods ever shooting over par at Isleworth, which is one of the toughest tracks in America.
When Woods was good — really good — some of the members calculated his handicap would have been plus-10.
Now, think about that for a moment: He averaged 62.
But that was back when he could hit the ball cleanly, and chip and putt better than anyone in the world.
John Cook, a friend and confidante of Woods' since he turned pro, wasn't ringing alarm bells after Thursday's round.
"The golf will come back — that's pretty much rust," Cook said. "But he's got step one right, he's swinging the golf club nicely and freely.
"Now he's got to get to step two, and that's getting it to the first tee."
He's not at step two, we can safely say.
At one point during Thursday's round, Woods faced a testing six-footer.
"This is the tell-tale sign if we're going to see a Tiger Woods comeback: the putting," Cook said.
Woods didn't even touch the hole.
