There might be a greater misnomer in world sport; if so, I can’t think of it. Since Tiger Woods’ dominance of golf began a decade or so ago, tournament organizers, officials and course designers have set about “Tiger-proofing’’ their layouts, that is, making them longer and more difficult to try and blunt Woods” edge.

The only problem is it’s had exactly the opposite effect. Tiger is winning more tournaments than ever, making a complete mockery of those misguided, cockeyed attempts at levelling golf’s playing field. Only Woods has been good enough, and strong enough, to slay these 21st century Godzilla layouts. Everyone else flails about behind him, trying hard to keep up.

In 1997, the year Woods stormed to a 12-shot win at Augusta National, to become (at 21) the youngest Masters winner, the course measured 6925 yards, a relative midget. But the way he treated it as little more than a pitch-and-putt course forced the Augusta National committee into action. So, they have beefed it up by more than 500 yards to 7445 yards. The seventh hole, once a quaint little par four, has been stretched from 360 yards to 450; the 11th from 455 yards to 505. The course once opened with a welcoming par four of 400 yards. Not any more; it now comes in at a testing 455 yards.

The 2008 US Masters begins tonight (AEST), with Woods installed as almost an even-money favourite, the shortest price any golfer has attracted going into a major. In fact, the bookmakers have offered the skinny odds of 8/1 on the American winning all four major championships this year – the Grand Slam – something no-one has ever done before. Such is his dominance of the sport.

There is no doubt Woods is the best player in world golf by some distance but his efforts in beating Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors have been helped by these absurdly long golf courses which effectively kill off the chances of a great number of his rivals, who simply don’t have his power.

In 2002, some bright spark had the idea to run the US Open at public course called Bethpage outside New York. For a par 70, it was monstrously long – about 7300 yards. It was hoped Woods would be humbled by the course; it would be his kryptonite. Yet some players such as Australia’s Wayne Grady had a hard time actually reaching the fairway on some holes, let alone setting up a birdie chance. The result was entirely predictable: Woods walked away with yet another major.

Yet the course builders and renovators should put away their bulldozers for a while, and instead bring out the bags of fertilizer. They should keep their courses to a length which gives everyone a chance – including the shorter hitters such as Nick O’Hern, Corey Pavin and Justin Leonard – grow the rough long, perhaps trick up the greens a bit and watch the best shot-makers go at it. Then there might be 70 guys with a decent crack at winning, rather than 10 or a dozen.

It is instructive to note that there is only one part of the golf-playing world in which Woods has not yet won, and it is Australasia. Admittedly, he has only played three events here, plus a President’s Cup at Royal Melbourne, but he could not manage to lift the trophy at either the Australian Masters at Huntingdale, the Australian Open at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney, nor the New Zealand Open at Paraparaumu.

None of those three courses are especially long – they certainly hadn’t been “Tiger-proofed” – but they are cleverly bunkered and have subtly sloping greens. In short, they give everyone a chance. As Peter Lonard, Greg Norman and Craig Parry, the respective Tiger-slayers in those tournaments, will happily tell you.