All great players guard their “secrets that cannot be revealed,” and Tiger Woods is no exception. Those secrets are things they have accumulated over their entire careers that only they possess.

During the PNC Championship week, Charlie Woods accidentally revealed the secret to his legendary father’s putting technique when he made a playful comment in response to a question from GOLF.com’s Claire Rogers:

“When Dad was a caddie, he always read the hook, and I don’t hit the hook as much as Dad. When I putt, I’m always right. So I always have to recalculate based on Dad’s advice.”

When we see Tiger Woods “putting,” we always assume that his shots are absolutely perfect. But that’s not the case. This is proven by data from the Sam Putt Lab, which has studied the Tiger’s technique in detail.

When it comes to putting, Tiger Woods tends to aim far to the right: exactly 2.5 degrees to the right of his intended ball path.

But then, by the time the putter face reaches impact, the putter face closes: It’s pointing 1 degree to the left of Tiger Woods’ intended line, or more than 3 degrees left of his intended target.

In simple terms, Tiger is aiming his putter to the right and then using a strong right-hand release to hook the ball. According to the data in the image below, Tiger Woods’ blade face tends to close about 5.5 degrees. That’s the “hook tendency” Charlie was talking about.

This is also why Tiger starts every practice putting session with only his right hand. Because Tiger is instinctively practicing releasing the putter with his right hand. If he doesn’t release his right hand so strongly, Tiger Woods will miss the putt to the right, as Charlie shared.

So Charlie said he needs to recalculate every time his dad reads the green: Because Charlie doesn’t tend to hook as much as Tiger.

What can we learn from this?

Notice Tiger’s “consistent” scores in the data visualizations above. They’re all above 91%. That’s where we get the gist.

While Tiger’s swing isn’t perfect on paper, that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Instead, consistency is the ultimate weapon. Tiger has mastered his unique motion and knows how to repeat his instinctive techniques.