Tiger Woods' Golf Swing

It’s frikken obvious that all Tiger has to do is make his gear flatter and his swing will change for the better on its own(given good fundamentals).
HE DOESN’T NEED A COACH.
Imagine what Hogan would’ve thought of these “swing gurus” or “swing experts” who can’t hit the ball purely themselves preaching to other people.
He’s trying to purposely swing left with upright gear which was not built to swing left. His swing will look thoretically and aesthetically correct but will not produce the theoretic results. Tiger will win again because of his short game as usual.
Where Hogan’s swing was a product of good fundamenatals, correct equipment and endless hours of practice attempting to hit the ball a certain way, Tiger’s swing will be a product of swing theory and manipulation, with his practice revolving around attempting to swing a certain way and produce certain trackman numbers.
He would naturally begin to swing left if his clubs were flatter.
I see slight fundamental issues aswell under Foley which contradict swinging left. His knees are hardly bent at address and he is too bent over or horizontal. A more vertical spine angle promotes rotation (swinging left).
Foley clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. He gives Tiger correct biomechanical information but is not helping his swing. I mean common, he changed his whole theory of handpath after he bought his own trackman. And the thing that creeps me out the most is I saw in an interview him saying how he was watching Faldo or some other legend hit balls at a big tournament when he was a youngster and immediately thought " I want to be a coach when I grow up". Common what bullshit.
Tiger needs flatter gear.png

He is certainly making the ball striking part harder than it needs to be…but maybe he enjoys the challenge of that.

These Woods swings were from Abu Dhabi this year.
Tiger vs Hogan set up.png

Guys please don’t hold back I would love to hear your opinions.

Ok, first, in past year+ under foley Tiger has changed his complete swing philosophy. He has given Sean so much free reign that Sean has even gotten Tiger to touch a mostly sacred area to even the likes of Harmon and Haney; his putting stroke. This shows how open is has become and how much he believes in Sean knowing his stuff. Tiger has also willing changed his trusty Scotty Cameron putter to a Nike. Now at Abu he has even changed his putters grip of a lifetime of the Pingman style, which was the last holdout from Tigers pre scandal career. My point is he is a tinkerer and trusts advice he gets from those in his campso much he changes a putter he has won 14 majors with. So do you seriously think Sean hasn’t advised and Tiger tried some lie angle changes (especially flatter knowing Sean is a hogan fan)?? Come on.

Second, Tiger standing up through impact is actually one of the things they are working on. I’ve seen it in drills and have heard it it commentary. Tiger still takes inch deep divots but Sean wants his torso to come up through impact to get his Trackman numbers more optimized.

Yes, tiger has entered the world of “science”, Nesbit type modeling, computer radar guidance, hitting positions to look good on video and all mixed with a method largely based on Plummer and bennett, and one mans belief of what were the best parts of what hogan did. He has looked immensely better in striking the ball now for past four events he has played. So he his work ethic and ability are paying off. How much of it is because all of the above and how much is just his natural talent we will never know. But should be interesting going forward what being bred for golf since age 2 tiger does going forward.

I actually just bet a good sum he wins under 2.5 events in 2012. The fields are just so rich now of young athletic talent.

One of the things i noticed about Tiger’s driver swing especially is that he seems to have much more right arm straightening, and clubface roll through impact than the most consistent ballstrikers. But it seems that alot of guys on tour are doing that now.

That’s because Tour players don’t care if they have to hit a wedge out of the rough

First of all hello everyone, a lurker turning into a first time poster here.

When Tiger’s on there’s arguably no better striker on tour, especially with irons. However, I’m under the impression that the main reason Hogan did things the way he did and why Lag is talking about setting the gear up the way he suggests is CONSISTENCY and building a swing that survives the heat of the battle when your nerves don’t. For us amateurs here this translates into building a swing that is not so dependent on your feel of the day. All the guys on tour can look impressive (to hackers at least) when they are “in sync” or whatever while beating balls in front of trackman. That device how brilliant it may be does not tell you how pressure-proof your motion is. Anyone who saw Tiger’s Sunday performance in Abu Dhabi will testify that there was absolutely no consistency whatsoever in his ballstriking when it mattered the most. It was crap all the way from the get-go to the 18th green. His short game kept him anywhere close to Robert Rock that day (whose swing btw Foley adores).

Also to anyone suggesting that Tiger should finally start swinging a bit easier and hit more 3 wood of the tee because he would still have the distance to compete etc: Tiger wants to be the greatest golfer of all times. He has been that way for a long time. In order to become that he needs to break Jack’s record so no one can say he hasn’t proven it in numbers. Also he has to strike the ball as well as Hogan and Moe did. He’s said so himself. And because Hogan didn’t hold back anything, neither can Tiger, otherwise there would be a valid argument against his ballstriking supremacy.

Then an analogy that may borderline false, but gives the conversation a nordic breeze. There’s a javelin thrower here in Finland who has been coached by a guy who didn’t do that well as an athlete himself, but has done pretty well since then (coach of the year 3 times). He’s an innovative guy and many have considered him to really possess the most up-to-date knowledge of how to throw that stick far. Long story short, expectations have been sky high for this guy for almost ten years now, because of his massive potential and out of the roof test results that have been steadily rising throughout the years. However he always chokes in the most important competitions such as Olympics and the past few years his technique has been so poor that he has trouble breaking 85m once in a summer. This year he finally chose to contact the living legend of the sport (a Czech) who had an amazing career, including the current world record that nobody can even come close to. My point: the Finnish coach may have known plenty enough to make everything look great in training sessions (otherwise he would have left earlier I suppose), but knew nothing about building a technique that works under pressure. I see a similarity here…

Clearly there are different ways of handling pressure. But basically you can do it by controlling the mind… breathing correctly, concentration drills, meditation and so forth. The other is to design your swing in a way that it simply embraces the effects of getting nervous, rather than having to fight those effects.

Most people… their heart rate goes up… they tighten up their muscles, palms sweat. Things generally speed up. One tends to get a bit stronger.

Now popular opinion would lead us to believe that we need to learn to control these changes in the body. But I prefer to accept the condition and embrace it… and possible even take advantage of it.

If your golf swing is built upon swinging with tight or firm muscular contraction… and also swinging a club with a faster heart rate as ABS students know all too well from drilling high numbers of reps… and learn to grip the club firmly from address to finish so that tightening up of the grip simply feels comfortable, you are really embracing the flight of fight human response.
I also like cord grips a lot to aid in the connection to the club.

Learning to swing compact and quick also helps because the tendency to shorten up the swing typically offsets the extra adrenal effect of being under the gun so you aren’t flying the ball over the greens.

I like the idea of knowing that what you have to do is something firm and powerful, yet short and concise. This really embraces the hit impulse.

What you do have to be aware of of how your own adrenal rush affects distance control. I like to pick a spot well short of my landing target… then think of hitting a firm shot to that and letting the adrenal effect fly the ball a bit farther into where I actually want the ball to land. I don’t like to back off a shot… or feel like I am going to try to slow down my swing or tempo. The more you get into these situations, the more you know how to handle them…

So getting back to Tiger, this is where he really has an advantage, because when he gets in the hunt, he has a better understanding of how his body reacts and what type of ball flight he is going to default to… than all the other guys. There is something to knowing how to win, and getting the subconscious mind and the conscious mind to be on the same team and not fighting one another. That’s an entirely different topic.

I’m willing to bet the change in putter is a money deal and not a technical deal influenced by his ‘camp’. It looks like the same model as the old Scotty.
I highly doubt they have talked about lie angle changes. If they have given flatter lies a trial we would’ve seen and heard about them. I’ve read that Tiger says what he loves about Sean is if he asks him a question about the swing or wants a reason to why he hit a certain shot the way he did, Sean has a scientific explanation. Foley would probably lose Tiger’s attention with a simple plan like " OK, Tiger, for now let’s just focus on changing your lie angles."

[quote=“Budman”]
Second, Tiger standing up through impact is actually one of the things they are working on. I’ve seen it in drills and have heard it it commentary. Tiger still takes inch deep divots but Sean wants his torso to come up through impact to get his Trackman numbers more optimized.

[quote]
I have no idea what you mean. Please explain.
I don’t see how coming up through impact can ever be consistent and especially don’t know how thats supposed to cure his block.

I have no idea what you mean. Please explain.
I don’t see how coming up through impact can ever be consistent and especially don’t know how that’s supposed to cure his block.

What do you guys think of the Foley extremely narrow stance?
Supposed to be to take strain off the left leg? I don’t get it.
It may appear I am a Tiger basher. I am absolutely not. I am a coach basher. I just can’t understand the things he’s doing with Foley and the things he did with Harmon and Haney in the past.
With his superior athletic build, dedication and drive, natural talent and feel for the game and unparalleled mental strength I think he should be lapping the field in ballstriking and his GIR % and fairways hit % should easily be in the 80s. His ball striking stats are just not that impressive. I know he’s won GIR % a good few times but you would expect to see ballstriking stats as staggering to golf as Bradman’s batting average was to cricket :smiley:
Tiger narrow stance.png

Ok now I’m just playing spot the difference from a semi-face-on view :smiley:
Picture 1.
I don’t like how high the toe of Tiger’s driver is off the ground. It is also quite bad with his irons. We all know that great ball strikers return to the exact address position but with this upright gear set up with the toe off the ground he has to increase shaft angle and raise his hands to get square contact. More variables=less consistency.
Picture 2.
Upright gear = steeper shoulder turn.
I also think what Butch instilled in him to keep his right knee in the same flex prohibits hit hip turn on the way back too much and that’s why his hips outrace his upper body on the downswing and he complains about the block all the time. You can’t see it so well from this view but is obvious with a down the line view. HELLO! A way to get your so called “super fast hips” to slow down and not outrace your upper body so you block it is to not give them such an unnatural headstart!
Picture 3
Upright gear= steep shoulder turn yet they are trying to manipulate the club to go hard left post impact.

Obviously there is a lot of good going on but these things seem to be obvious disadvantages to me.
Tiger Hogan.png

I think this is important.
SOT.jpg

Interesting post, Bom - amazing how much more knee flex he had in his early days.

Yeah, he used to hit it like a martial artist, now he’s all overdeveloped westernized shoulders, no balance- but he looks tough :unamused: In my opinion, he makes both intentions clear at set up. Greg Norman was the same with his feeling of ‘rump down’ at set up and through the ball- very like the ‘whore’s dance’… RR? :smiley: . The second picture in that sequence is from a hole in one from his first tournament as a pro, and it was as pure a golf swing as has ever been made- up there with Snead’s driver off the deck in the Shell’s match with Hogan.

Yeah, he’s changed where the weight is dramatically…might as well take the heels off his shoes. What’s he doing with the irons, is going more upright. Kind of looks like it if they are the same clubs. :slight_smile:

Here are some swings from the 1997 Masters. The lie angle on his woods looks flatter than what he uses today. :wink:
youtube.com/watch?v=51CRJ8o3 … re=related

What do you guys think of the Foley extremely narrow stance[*]

I think Foley wants him to rotate more with body to take strain off knee… maybe going more into a bent right knee compared to a knee that locks with force.