The Rotary Swing Book

by Chuck Quinton

Tiger Woods Golf Swing vs. Chuck Quinton
Looks Like Tiger - Doesn't Hit Like Tiger!

View Tiger Woods Swing Dynamics Video (WARNING! Video is 20 minutes long!)
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Tiger Woods' golf swing is a swing that is marveled by all. We all think to ourselves, "If my swing just looked like his, I'd be on the PGA Tour." Let me assure you, you wouldn't! How do I know? Let's take a look.

Over the past 6 months, I spent a great deal of time learning Hank Haney's swing methodology that he has taught Tiger Woods. I did this primarily to educate myself to become a better instructor, not to become a better player. During this time, my golf swing went through a significant metamorphisis that you can see below. From the face on view, my swing matches up incredibly well with Tiger's golf swing. The down the line view looks different now as I've been working on getting back to my old swing, but from face on, you'll see a lot of similarities.

The interesting thing to note is that while my swing looks a lot like Tiger's, it certainly doesn't hit like Tiger's. And that is the focus of this new video. The dynamics in the golf swing are what make teh difference between being the best in the world and a decent golfer. Sadly, most golf instruction these days is focused solely on learning positions that are actually achieved dynamically in the golf swing. In other words, trying to learn certain positions in the golf swing statically is a complete waste of time as they are very dynamic positions that occur in the blink of an eye and can only be achieved by doing the fundmantals in the swing correctly. Let's take a look.

1. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Address Position

From the address position, we're practically identical, so much so, that in the overlay on the left you can't even tell us apart. Heck, I'm even wearing a Nike hat. Looks like all systems are go for takeoff.

2. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Takeaway

Our takeaway and early backswing positions are once again, basically identical. The only difference that you are starting to be able to see is his left hip is sticking out just past mine as I have slightly more early hip turn.

3. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Backswing

Still matching up at this point, the only thing noticeable is my hips have turned slightly more as you can see slightly more of his left leg.

4. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Top of the Swing

At the top of the swing, Tiger is slightly shorter and has slightly less hip turn. He's insanely flexible and I'm not. It takes an incredible amount of core and hip flexibility and strength to achieve his position at the top and I don't have it. Hey, that's why he's the best!

5. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Downswing

On the downswing, we're once again, extremely close, but there are some differences that start to show up and these make all the difference in the world. Obviously, Tiger Woods' dynamics in his golf swing are amazing. No one uses their body as well as he does and as explosively and powerfully while maintaining incredible control and balance and you can see that demonstrated here. Tiger has a lot of lateral movement during the transition in his golf swing. You can also see this in my golf swing. We are both moving similar amounts, but he had a head start. If you remember during the backswing discussion, Tiger didn't rotate his hips back as much as I did and this gave him the jump on me here. The last thing of important note is that Tiger's shoulders are still slightly more closed to the target than mine. You can detect this by looking at his right shoulder. Note how you can see more of right shoulder and his is still behind his head, a very good thing for a two planer.

6. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Impact

Ahh, the moment of truth. Everything Tiger and I did in the golf swing was designed solely to bring us to this point and once again, the positions are very similar. The main difference is my frame is a split second after impact and Tiger's is a split second before. My camera is also set slightly lower, thus the different appearance of the ball position. You can still see amazing similarities between our two swings, but why on earth is he a tremendous ball striker and I'm not? Well, apart from just plain talent, strength and all the other obvious things, it's his dynamics. While our still frames look practically identical, it is how we transverse from frame to frame that makes our golf swings what they are. In the video, you can see how our dynamics differ that make the difference between being a champ and a chump and see how to improve your dynamics to make you a better ball striker. And you don't even have to swing like Tiger Woods to do it!

At the end of the day, it was a great learning process and I now have a very in depth understanding of Hank Haney's swing methodology to the point that I've been successful in helping students of mine develop their swings around Hank's model. There is no better way to learn something intimately than by doing it. I got to experience the struggles, frustrations, break-throughs and more while learning how to do it myself and I've just added this knowledge to my ever expanding golf "tool chest." But the important thing to note is that it's not terribly important what your golf swing "looks" like. It's the dynamics in the swing that make it work. Still photos are one thing for checking positions, but I'd rather have a golfer with great dynamics than great positions any day.

If you would like to look at Tiger Woods swing even more in depth, please visit my Tiger Woods New Swing with Hank Haney page.