I am a huge Tiger Woods fan, and I admire what he has done for the game and how he has impacted a new generation of golfers by making golf cool — but I have officially reached the end of my rope with him.

Like everyone else, I’m sick of hearing about his process, reps, release patterns and explosiveness right now, and I don’t know how much more I can take. I’m even more sick of watching the most dominant golfer of all time embarrass himself with three scores in the 80s in the past 15 rounds. That’s like watching an average golfer shoot 150 from the white tees.

Maybe better golf is right around the corner for Tiger Woods, but even as I write those words I’m shaking my head and thinking “It’s definitely not.” Tiger is so far off track, and that’s why he’d be better off to quit golf right now if he plans to carry on the way he has these past two years.

Before the Tiger fans come hunt me down and beat me up, let me explain my stance and why I feel the way I do. I have been a tournament player and a teacher for more than 22 years, and I have an understanding to some degree of what he is going through and the frustration he is feeling. His rapid decline is something that many professional golfers go through, and the ones who bounce back are those who can put their egos aside and accept that they are not working on the right things. They learn from the feedback golf always provides, tap back into their natural ability and almost always see their results improve.

But is Tiger Woods actually learning anything right now? His celebrity might eclipse more than the game of golf, but the golf gods have no sympathy for a golfer who won’t listen to what his scores are telling him.

Here are four things Tiger needs to do before he quits, and if he refuses to quit then it’s better that he quits the game right now.

Quit trying so hard and caring so much

There is a difference between trying “hard” and trying “too hard.” Few golfers have not worked themselves into a tizzy on the course. In this mode, golfers are trying so hard that they can’t even execute the simplest shots.

Think about putting: How many times have you practiced tirelessly on the putting green only to get on the course and let the pressure of a short putt cause you to miss most of them, if not all of them?

This is where Tiger is with his golf game right now, driver through putter.

At some point, golfers have to stop trying so hard and trust that the practice they’ve put in, along with their natural ability, will allow great shots to happen. Tiger has fallen into the trap of trying too hard and must allow himself some levity so he can enjoy the fruits of his labors again.

Quit being so hyper-focused on mechanics

Within the golf instruction world, we all know that Tiger is a hard player to teach, and it’s not a secret that he directs the teaching process where he wants it to go. All experienced teachers have gone through this with one or more players, but with Tiger it’s different.

How hard it must be to convince one of the greatest golfers of all time that working on his mechanics right now will only hinder his progress.

The type-A personality that Tiger possesses has served him well up to this point, but it’s clear that his focus is almost entirely on mechanical perfection, not winning golf tournaments.

Tiger’s previous coaches — Butch Harmon, Hank Haney, Sean Foley and now Chris Como — all know what they are doing, and I can say this because I know all of them personally. If asked, they would all say that Tiger needs to step back and remember that there has never been one perfect golf swing in golf history, and that all golfers possess idiosyncrasies that they have to work around.

Sure, golfers can always get better… but where would Jack Nicklaus have been if he’d have tried to “fix” his flying right elbow? Where would Lee Trevino and Fred Couples be if they tried to aim straight? What would have happened to Furyk if he refused to play with his non-conventional backswing? I guarantee that we would have never heard from them.

Tiger is in the wrong mode right now, trying to “fix” everything he sees and not letting Chris Como help him make his idiosyncrasies work for him.

Quit taking time off

Players of all levels know that there is a huge difference between working on your game on the range and on the course with your buddies and playing in tournaments where your score actually matters. There is no substitution for playing tournament golf, and even the best golfers in the world cannot exactly replicate the stress of a tournament. That’s why those who don’t play much tournament golf cannot improve their game as fast as those who do.

“Every bad tournament day you have is one day closer to you playing well again,” my father used to say. Sometimes time off is good for golfers, but Tiger has taken more time off for one reason or another than any of his peers since his last major victory, the 2008 U.S. Open. Clearly his current tournament schedule is not working. The last thing he needs to do is go back home to the range and worry about this and that with his body, setup and swing. He needs to get back into a tournament rhythm so he can start playing golf, not golf swing, for a change.

Quit forgetting that you have the best instincts on the PGA Tour

Tiger had (and probably still has) one of the best minds for the game of golf, and his instincts and feel for the shot at hand was in a league of its own. He has since lost that, allowing his mind to wander off on other tangents that have made things that used to come easy to him very difficult.

Let’s take Tiger’s chipping, for example. How can the the golfer who hit so many great flop shots under pressure on the final holes of major championships get the chipping yips? The only way a player loses the very best parts of his game is when they allow their instincts and feel to be compromised by something else, another more dominant thought. They starting thinking: “My club is out of position,” or “I need to do this or that on the way down” while they are playing.

Tiger has forgotten how to use his mind and experience to his advantage, and has morphed into a golfer who now hits cold tops from the fairway in major championships. The solution? Go back to hitting big hooks and slices, low shots and high shots, stingers and spinners in practice until you can begin to trust your talent again. When golfers vary their practice in this way, their mechanics almost always improve because they shift their focus from making a perfect swing to making a perfect shot.

As I said, I am a huge Tiger fan and think he’s great for our game, but if he does not quit what he is currently doing then he’s done as a threat to win major championships. No one can alter Tiger’s mindset and reverse the road he’s traveled except Tiger — not Butch Harmon, Hank Haney, Sean Foley or Chris Como.

Tiger’s problem is not his mechanics or the instruction he’s getting. It’s Tiger!