Yeah happy b’day 2M, thanks for all that you do round here… 
Cheers, Arnie
Hey Paul - Yes, I think the 1999 version of Tiger had better mechanics than the 2010 version. Speaking from my experience, I don’t believe for a moment it is because of the weight lifting. He’s lost his way since he got rid of Butch Harmon and his father, Earl, died. Just look at what Hank Haney is teaching Barkley, Romano and Limbaugh! We’ve seen the videos posted of what Foley teaches and watching Tiger during his rounds trying to mimic that impact position is scary bad!
Tiger needs somebody like Bradley or Lag to get him to feel his swing again, root him to the ground and allow him to drop the technical checklist that he’s going through to hit a ball.
We are in complete agreement except for my assessment of the fitness stuff. Just my opinion though.
Cheers,
Captain Chaos
Shaken, not stirred. 
007
Happy Birthday, Bradley!
Thankyou all…trying to forget how many candles are on the cake
I had the good opportunity to play with 81 US Open and 79 PGA Champion winner David Graham a few times-- I think Lag played with him in Australia one year also
He was obviously a seasoned champion. Graham was one of the few players I played with in the persimmon era who could absolutely amp it up on a par 5 or a hole that needed something special and just rip out another 25 yards and blow it by everyone.
His swing was a very out to in looking action by the look of it but as we can note here with this picture he had his shoulders opening through impact and he didn’t release the club off to right field. Take note of the saved right arm at this point in the swing…
I believe he had some of the fastest hips and body rotation around through impact and beyond when he went for the extra distance- he had quite a deliberate slow backswing, around his body and short hand position at the top, setting himself up to approach impact from a flat path with speed. He created the speed with his body- NOT with his hands- even though he may have rolled his hands over post impact- the body controlled the work…18 greens in regulation in the final round to win the US Open at Merion in 1981 shows his method worked
Again- no stiff armed- stiff legged- steep shoulders whatsoever in this swing
I believe PaulC made mention of the ‘strange’ looking impact area picture of Westwood from an earlier page.
I am posting another pic here. Obviously the guy is No.1 in the world and regarded as a good ball striker with his chipping and pitching probably his weak point.
Like PaulC stated…this looks to be a very awkward position.
I see the clubface very rolled already maybe only 6 inches past impact and the steep shoulders again contribute to this happening. It has to happen because if your shoulders aren’t moving what’s going to keep the clubhead moving?..your hands…
I would suggest from this point on Westwood does have some really strong body turn through the shot which then sort of takes over and allows him to be the player that he is.
I wondered what people thought about the stress this must put on your body and back. I know people say the old reverse C style swings contributed to sore backs…but looking at this hip clearing and shoulder steepening into impact with stiff legs, it looks like there is a heck of a lot of pressure being imparted on his back at this point.
Remember all these guys today work out, but they are still young in golfing terms. I am of the opinion that down the road when they reach senior age there is going to be more bad backs from this type of action than from the reverse C brigade
Great point about the link with Trevino and Azinger. That old phrase saying ‘you can talk to a fade but a hook won’t listen’ I often think is too simplified. So many great strikers fought a hook, or at least had it to fight against. I’ve said before how I Hogan had the right side of the course eliminated, so he could then focus on eliminating the left. It’s a weird double twist, but I think it helps to start from the draw because it gives comfort in trying to get the club deep. Nothing worse or more futile than trying to get it from deep when you’re afraid of it going right. I’ve played some of my best golf knowing that I can go through the zone firing as hard as I want around, and it wont go right. It’s never been that pretty when the ‘rights’ have been on my mind.
If I’m not mistaken I remember reading that Lag does something early in the modules to create a draw/fade to work with? Not sure…
And, happy birthday, man. Thanks for all that you do and share. It’s pretty remarkable really. I know I appreciate it beyond words, as it seems does everyone else…
Maybe next birthday we can all call you Threemasters!.. can’t see why not.
Cheers,
BOM
Yep…that has quite a ring to it…“Threemasters”…“3M”
Happy Birthday TM!..and thanks for all you do. You are a big inspiration.
eagle
Yeah…Happy BD Two!
There was a door-to-door kid selling magazine subscriptions the other day. I didn’t need any magazines, but I did tell him if he goes South he may sell more than he can ever imagine! 
Not trying to turn this into a Tiger thread but I have always thought this video comparison of Tiger with a driver and Tiger with an iron very explanatory… I have made a lot of mention about the space/gap between the butt end of the grip and the body
Tiger does it extremely well with an iron most of the time but goes off the chart different with his woods…hence his trouble driving and misses in both directions. I believe we can contribute some of this to longer, lighter ,more upright angled clubs as the years have progressed and in my opinion he started getting steeper coming down and had nowhere to go but throw out. That’s how he got stuck…NOT from swinging too far from the inside like everyone tries to suggest
Will post a few more as we go along to show these points.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4pKago0O-A[/youtube]
Here is another view. If you don’t think the shoulders and the straightening V saved right arm and keeping the butt of the club close and in unison with your body turn affects the club face and it’s path and direction then these two pics will show the difference.
Here’s Tiger earlier this week in Dubai talking about his laundry list of swing changes…His mantra has always been if you’re not getting better, you’re standing still. There’s a saying: don’t confuse activity for progress. I think Tiger has done that. Foley wants to get him back to his swing of old. If Tiger had just refined what got him there, would he be better off today? Remember when he started gaming the 5-wood, his so-called ‘senior’ club? Don’t remember when that was, but what made him think he needed it over a 2-iron? Ironically, his power off the tee when he came on the Tour did him in. Courses started getting longer and bulking up against him and he had to find a way to get a lot longer and higher with his shots. His own ‘Tiger Effect’ has done him in.
Yeah, Two, he’s a fascinating study for sure. I really think you guys should set up a Tiger thread- there’s lots to say about him…
Here’s some photos showing why he doesn’t carry a 2 iron anymore- he can’t hit the stinger doing what he’s been doing, so it’s a useless club in the bag. Hitting it high has never been a problem for him.
The first sequence is from the Open in 2000. The second one is from the Presidents Cup in 2009.
We have talked about this many times before- but there is a huge difference in what players are being taught today compared to what players were either taught in the past or worked out on their own accord-- upright light clubs certainly add to the flip roll affect.
Players today use their hands to increase the speed of the feather in their hands- whereas the older golfers used their body to rotate the club through… keeping it on plane through the hitting area and beyond.
the swing is NOT over at impact- post impact has a huge bearing on the ball- hence the fact we see quite awful driving stats from today’s players
SHADOW BOXING . . . .
This is a freakin’ awesome video . . . . if you freeze it at this point you can look at the shaft running up Hogan’s right forearm (right forearm flying wedge . . . ala Homer Kelley) and the shadow of the shaft running up his left arm (left arm flying wedge) . . . beautiful stuff . . . vapor trails of physics as y’all say . . . physics creating model alignments . . . love it!
I don’t know but these certainly look like very steep shoulders to me from our ABS God…
Trevino_Impact
How do you mean steep shoulders? They don’t look really steep to me.
But what matters more (I think) is that the shoulders turn on a level plane. That’s hard to see from 1 picture. Do you have the vid?
Budman,
That picture is Trevino hitting a wedge…it corresponds with a shorter length club having a slighter more upright lie angle than your mid irons or long irons or woods.
Look at the two pictures below…one is a mid iron just post impact- shoulders are rotating with the body
The other is a driver- longer shaft- flatter lie angle- more rotation at impact…that’s why Trevino and Hogan could stripe fairways all day long and most of your recent players can’t
It’s not just the impact that is important…it’s what happens post impact-- that’s the important part in the big scheme of things and we see players today quitting their shoulders thru impact and raising their hands thru impact to get the upright lie angles to square at with the turf and flipping their hands over and off to the right independently of their body turn
The continuing frames of that Trevino swing that Budman posted show great shoulder alignments working in unison with his club shaft into and through impact and beyond… textbook…shoulders working level and around bringing the club along with them
