I find it interesting the changes Tiger Woods is making with Sean Foley and that he doesn’t seem to understand that he will continue to pull shots, especially with the driver if he keeps going down this road. Tiger has a great release of the club that works perfectly with the square shoulders he’s had for a long time at impact. It is the very same release I advocate with RST. However, combine that release of the club with an upper torso that is rotating through impact to an open position, and guess what you get? It’s not rocket science. The two don’t mix.

Tiger can either set up closed to the target which is a band-aid fix or stop rotating his torso through impact which is WAY more preferable. The only thing your spine hates more than compression is rotation. And the amount of force Tiger is placing on his spine requires tremendous core strength to decelerate his fast rotating torso and protect his spine. His hip will also receive more stress as he is now trying to rotate faster on that joint rather than decelerate and stabilize his pelvis at impact.

The other option is that he alters his release to more of a “hold-on” through impact to prevent the club face shutting down. This will cost him a great deal of speed and efficiency in his swing, requiring him to rotate even faster with his upper torso to get reasonable club head speed, thus placing more load on his spine and hip. As you can, it’s a never ending spiral. The less he releases the club, the faster he has to rotate, and the faster he rotates the less he can release the club.

Out of these three options, none are desirable. He’s best off stopping the rotation of the torso through impact and allowing the club to release properly. Perhaps he will figure this out before he spends another season “in the wilderness”.

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For even more analysis of Tiger Woods’ swing changes with Sean Foley, check out this article (with associated free video!).