The commentators on The Golf Channel said it perfectly, “Tiger Woods
did not forget how to play great golf.” I agree with that totally.
Tiger Woods will be a force in golf again and very soon. He may never
get to the level of dominance he once was because, let’s face it, the
competition will not allow it. With the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory
Mcilroy and others, it would be too difficult.
In this article I will show you what hindered Tiger Woods over the
past five years, why he was hurt so often, and how he is trying to copy
what worked for him when he was dominant.
Let’s start with swings from 2000 vs. 2011.
Remember Tiger Woods in 2000? The Tiger Slam? He won the US Open by
10 shots and The British Open by 8 in route to winning all four Majors
in a row. That is pretty impressive to say the least.
2011 was not quite as good. The greatest ever missed a few cuts.
Tiger being Tiger, he still won two smaller tournaments. However, Tiger
only had three Top 25’s. For most people that would be a successful year
but we are spoiled with Tiger and tend to hold him to a higher
standard.
Tigerstood much taller at setup and his arms hung outward slightly (pictured left) in 2000 vs 2011.
So let’s explore the difference between his great years vs. the last
few years. One of the most noticeable differences is the setup. He stood
much taller at setup and the arms hung outward slightly (left). The
last few years he was much too tilted forward from the hips which makes
the arms actually hang too inward.
Now, Tiger has always had a problem getting the club flat on the
downswing and getting “stuck.” The theory behind the tilted posture and
arms in was to make sure the club work more vertically. Read on to learn
why this was good in theory but didn’t work that well for Tiger.
The
starting position is so important in golf, I could write an entire book
on it. You want to be tilted slightly forward from the hips with knee
bend to support it. You also want enough knee bend and pressure in the
ground so you can leverage the ground. Think of a basketball player
shooting a jump shot, very similar. Being too upright is an issue as
well. You do not want to be sitting back.
The taller posture on the left allowed Tiger to turn through the ball
and get to a finish much easier. From this position his body and arms
could move through the ball together which allowed him to control the
face very easily and made him crazy accurate. In 2000 he was #1 in
Greens in Regulation, because of that birdies, eagles, and about
everything else. His putting stats were incredibly better because he hit
a lot of greens and hit it close to the hole. In 2011 he was unranked
in a lot of categories. 2013 he was 24th in GIR and because the
proximity (how close to the hole he hit) wasn’t that good for him — he
was ranked one of the worst putters on tour.
So why did the starting position hurt him? The more tilted you are in
setup, the steeper the shoulder turn and swing plane. This was the
theory for him the past few years to help him keep the club more in
front of his body. It did get the club working more vertical. However,
there is a lot more to the swing. The club has to be able to move on a
arc all the way to the finish and your body has to move in a way to
allow that. When your torso is so far over the toes, the legs can’t
support it and he overuses muscles in his back. It is very stressful on
your back to be in this position and especially when you start making
forceful moves from here. Look at this…
Tiger Woods has always had a drop in his swing as well. This is not a
bad thing as it’s how he loads a lot of power and pushes off the ground
to unload that power. He creates tremendous force like this. Again this
is a power move he has used his whole career. I am a firm believer that
you can’t change your dominant power source. You just have to match it
up with your body and have enough space to deliver that action. This
means he needs to be taller in his swing so he has the space to extend
his arms and swing to the target.
Hank Haney stated that he worked a lot on keeping Tiger taller
through the swing. He had incredible stats in their run together as
well. He won a lot.
Another issue with him being tilted forward as much and turning his
shoulders as steep as he did; when he dropped, he had to arch his back
away from the target. He had to create the space I was discussing
earlier. This is not only extremely stressful on the body, he also
couldn’t ever create the space to extend his arms out at the target,
which is why he said he couldn’t get through the ball.
Look at the picture on the left and the amount of back angle away
from the target. If you bend forward in posture then lean back to
simulate this position, you will immediately feel what I am talking
about. Now, this affects the swing greatly as well. When you have to
create that space for your swing and back up like he is doing on the
left you will send shots out to the right or hit big hooks.
In an interview after his last tournament before the break, Tiger
said “I can’t get through the ball.” When you are that steep with your
body, you cannot swing through, you will just lean backward and your
arms swing out right of your target too much. Big Misses!
The good news is that the people are going to get what they have been
begging for. Tiger and his new coach sat down and looked at the swings
of old and are going back to his successful swinging days.
In his first tournament back, The Hero World Challenge, he looked
good. People have been criticizing me for saying that but the truth is
he did look good. He has a lot of short game work to do but he is going
to be a threat again very soon. Remember, I am by no means claiming he
will be dominant or break the major record (which I hope he makes a run
at), I am simply stating I believe he is going to be a threat. Something
he really has not been past few years.
Here is a look at the new Tiger:
The new setup and swing plane looks much like it did back in 2000. Taller and arms out slightly:
You can see on the left that his spine is a lot straighter and more
in balance here. His shoulders are lined up with hips which make it easy
for him to keep the club moving on a good path and not too much to the
right. You can see on the right how far down the right shoulder is and
past his toe line. The torso can’t keep turning from here and this will
cause him to spray the ball.
It is my opinion but I believe Tiger will be back in the winner’s
circle very soon. It’s a good start when you see him smiling because he
can play golf pain free. If Tiger Woods can get back to where he can
swing, he can start playing golf again. Then, we are in for…
Tiger Woods has many great years in him. It is coming very soon…
