For you Chris Rock, fans, you'll get the subject heading. Anyway, I got some great footage of Tiger working at Hank Haney's place in Texas and have been studying it and wanted to share it with the Vault members. Here are some screen shots with some discussion.

So what exactly is Tiger doing with his swing these days? He's made big changes from his days with Butch.

Tiger's address position always looks good, the guy came out of the womb holding a 2 iron. So what things stick out? First, his spine angle. I measure him at a pretty healthy 40 degrees or so, so he's got a fair amount of tilt for what Hardy considers to be a two plane swing. His shoulders are out over his toes and his rear is to the "rear", somewhat sticking out. From down the line, it's a perfect one plane setup.

From face on, his spine is pretty near vertical, there's not much tilt at all away from the target and this puts his arms and club in a "Y" postion more so than the classic reverse "K" for a two planer. His right leg is angled in, much like how Hogan talked about in his book. Hands are a bit inside the left thigh more so than a lot of a two planers, more centered in front of chest than being in a straight line with his left arm.

Now for the takeaway:

There aren't too many top pros that let the club get inside their hands during the takeaway and Tiger is no different. His club works absolutely perfectly up the shaft angle from address and is perfectly inline with his hands. His left arm is more into his body than it used to be, but not as much as Hardy would like. I would consider this somewhat neutral between being close to your right thigh as Hardy advocates in a one plane swing and straight down the line in a two plane swing. From the face on view, he's stayed perfectly centered and rotated around his spine and his right arm is starting to fold rather than extend down the line like it used to.

Right past this point the club goes perfectly through his right forearm and is perfectly parallel to the shaft plane:

His arms are still working around behind him while he stays centered and rotates.

At 9 o'clock his hands are more in front of his chest than what Hardy would want. His club is almost perfectly parallel to the shaft plane.

At the top of his swing, admire this:

His left arm and the club are perfectly parallel to the shaft plane he started out with at address. This is why he has that laid off look at the top and a more flat, roundish look. His left arm happens to be fairly close to parallel with his shoulders, but Haney couldn't care less about that. He's really trying to create a geometrically efficient movement keeping everything what he considers on plane or parallel to that plane.

During his downswing, no secret here, he's got the club perfectly parallel to the shaft plane at this point in the swing. Note how much Tiger has gotten into his left side, he looks like Hogan in his lower body. He still has a lot of width with those arms working down and in front of his chest.

At this point in his downswing, he has the club back perfectly on plane. His shoulders are still very closed to the target to give his arms more time to get back in front of his chest, while his hips are open, a very dynamic position.

Probably not much of a surprise here, his club matches up identically with where it was at address, and his hands are in front of his chest with his right arm quite straight. This is a "push" release of the club and is great for controlling trajectory.

Very interesting stuff. Tiger keeps the club on plane throughout every possible place in the swing. Theoretically, it should be incredibly efficient but I'm not sure theory and biomechanics totally mesh up here. I always wonder what would have happened had Tiger just stuck with his 2nd swing he built with Butch. Tiger sounded frustrated this past weekend with his swing at the Players Championship and I wonder how long he's going to stick with this swing. Time will tell...

Ok Chuck,

What if Tiger is ready to make another switch and this time he calls you. Based on what you see on the above, what advice would you offer to make Tiger better? Just focus on the full swing. No putting. No mental stuff.  What is missing or offline, in your opinion?

Just an observation I have noticed about Tiger when he is swinging well and when he is spraying it all over the place.

When Tiger's flow is on meaning, when he does not appear to be lashing at the ball he seems like he never misses.  I remember watching him at the Funai this year during his warm up session on the range.  I swear his flow is the best I have every seen, it is better than Ernie's or Freddy's, it is simply the best!!!  But as soon as he got onto the course is flow and rhythm completely changed.  Just something I noticed and wanted to share with everyone.  Don't get me wrong I would LOVE to have his problems right now and be the #1 golfer on the planet by double digits.  It is something I noticed and probably the only thing I would suggest to Tiger do if for some odd reason he asked me. 

Ha! I don't see Tiger beating down my door anytime soon, but the answer would be obvious. Let me explain. I've seen Tiger countless times in person on the range, at the course, etc. He used to come and hit balls where I used to teach here in Windermere with O'Meara. Out of every shot I EVER saw him hit on the range, I NEVER ONCE saw him miss a shot. Never. Out on the course, I've seen him dump it in the water on 6 at Bay Hill last year, I've seen him snipe hook several drives, block fades, you name it. I wouldn't touch his swing. How do you improve on that? It's Nick Price without getting steep on the way back and with an added dose of power and Nick was one of the best iron players of all time.

When it comes down to it, I can't think of more than one shot I've ever seen a tour pro miss on the range. That was Sergio about 5 years ago at Castle Pines and hit a big hook when he was really struggling with his swing. Outside of that, they all look the same on the range, some slightly higher, some slightly lower, some fall off to the right, some fall off to the left, but watching them on the range you wonder how they don't all shoot 58 each round. So, what would I work on with Tiger? I'll give you one guess...

I know this isn't what you're talking about Chuck but I'm surprised you wouldn't want to get his hands lagging a bit more to get rid of some of the timing that could go wrong when his "mental' game isn't on...

-Bob

Bob,

His swing is so grooved and pure, why change what works? And man, does it work -- on the range, anyway...

Ok Chuck,

I get it Mushin again. But man you really need to work on your magic widget or swing shell game if you want the big bucks to compete with the "Top 10" instructors. They all keep their pros on the merry go round of golf "let's try this today" You are going the wrong way Chuck to simplification instead of TGM complexity. Ha, Ha. Maybe that scalabilty factor does up a bunch CQ with Mushin.

I just viewed the video....hmmm...its very different when he's actually playing...this seems to be a very controlled shot...body was "quiet".

This video , for what purpose if i may ask? (dont think he went to golf store trying out clubs and they took a video )

Yeah, this was Tiger at Golfsmith trying out some Callaway Lady Gems. Just kidding. This is at Hank Haney's golf ranch in Texas working on his swing with Hank.

Mechanics are important, work them on the range, but even there you have to let go and hit some "trusting" shots where your mind is clear. Tiger's mechanics are already flawless. There are many, many ways to swing a club, far more than what Hardy has laid out in his book. This is a mechanically perfect golf swing that simply falls more into a two plane model, but doesn't fit perfectly into that. As far as what Hank Haney teaches, it's dead on and it works. But, as you can see, it relies on good tempo and timing to get the club to work perfectly along that plane. He has great hands and can pull it off. The problem is Tiger on the range who is smooth, silky and effortless is not the same Tiger on the course. If it was, I can't imagine him ever missing a green or fairway.

Admittedly, my "business plan" here is not real sound. I don't want some stupid gimmick just to try and attract a pro. No dumb training aid or complex swing theories. I'm all about application of theory, whether it be my own or someone else's. What works in the real world? That's probably more my motto and I use myself as a "test dummy". My goal is not to be a top 10 instructor, my goal is to truly help a lot of golfers get more enjoyment out of the game. I realize that's a hard sell for a business, but I just can't STAND the so called "top 10". These guys on TV each week drive me crazy because they're so full of %*&! Not a one can play good golf, but they're all so willing to throw out how they're theory is right and everyone else is wrong, even though they can't prove it. The truth is there are a million ways to swing the club and no golf instructor with a clue should ever hang their hat on "one right way" to swing the club, although almost all that I know do. Hardy atleast through out two, but his theory has more exceptions than rules. What about Tiger's swing? It obviously works when Tiger is in sync and swinging under control but it's not a pure one or two plane swing. Trying to categorize just by that makes it just look like a hybrid mess. But, draw a couple plane lines and you realize just how incredibly precise a plane the club is being swung on and that alone warrants yet another valid swing theory model that is not fair to be called a two plane swing. I guess, in the end, I'm more of a golf "anti-instructor". I don't even like to be called an instructor, I've just known too many. Perhaps I should turn my title into a symbol, from now on I shall be known as  ~`|/~, the anti-instructor

I completely agree.  A nice smooth unhurried rhythm can hide a multitude of sins that, from my experience, only rear their ugly heads when the pressure is on.

CQ's approach, to me, is one of reducing these faults by reducing the amount of manipulation required during the swing and finding a way to reduce that 'pressure' on the course.  Maybe that should be the other way around eh?

I see this as a path that I could find my way down alone (eventually), but any guidance (as opposed to instruction) I can take from people who are in the same boat is going to speed up the process. 

PS.  Nice one.  Like 'the instructor formally known as Chuck'?  That's the wrong way round as well isn't it?

PPS.  I thought 'Ladies' Gems' was a euphemism for... well... you work it out.

CQ-

I am vaguley aware of the level of training it takes to be a PGA Pro. And I am not doubting your business model, but do you lose "clients" b/c you are not a PGA Pro?

If not, then so what, if so then why not?

Matt,

LOL, umm, sort of! But then you'd have to be thinking about the girl in the lingerie...

Chuck

It looks to my "all knowing, professional, PGA instructor" eye, that in your last frame of Woods' swing his LEFT shoulder is moving in more of an "upright, to the sky, down the line ,2P direction," as opposed to a "turn or rotate behind the body" 1P move.

And if you'll draw your magic colored lines over his spine angle comparing address with the last frame, I think you'll find that his spine angle has tilted back not just a little at impact, but significantly, thus a posible slide.

Your thoughts?

dw 

doug,

Tiger works to get his arms in front of his body at impact and to keep the club always on plane, he couldn't care less about any of Hardy's ideas. I would say he keeps his spine angle beautifully, but works to keep his shoulders square at impact rather than open, but the club definitely works left and on the exact same plane as the downswing. If you look at the top his followthrough, his right arm is on the exact same plane his left arm was on the backswing. Incredibly symmetrical.

Ace,

I agree with you about the driver. Tiger could give up some distance for the sake of accuracy and he would probably win every time he teed it up.  He is so deadly accurate with his irons, and we all know about his short game and putting.  Lord help the rest of the tour if he gets his driver under control.....