Instruction
GolfWRX’s Swing Experts Weigh In on Tiger’s New Swing
Everyone has a take on Tiger Woods “new swing.” That is, the action he displayed in his “smooth iron shot” video last week and at his clinic at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Monday.
Would it be premature to draw any firm conclusions from what we’ve seen? Absolutely, but analysts — both armchair and professional — are going to analyze.
We’re lucky enough to have Tom Stickney and Dennis Clark among the experts who share their knowledge of the golf swing with the GolfWRX audience.
It only seemed natural to ask the pair of top teachers what they see in the 14-time major champion’s motion as he tries to make a return to competitive golf following his fourth back surgery.
Here’s the footage they were looking at. And we can’t thank Kevin Roman, Director of Instruction at MPCC, enough for bringing the items he tweeted to our attention.
Smooth iron shots pic.twitter.com/v9XLROZnfW
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 7, 2017
A huge thank you to @kevin_chappell for joining me on the range for a fun exhibition with #TWInvitational guests @tgrliveevents pic.twitter.com/QZiSDv7zPk
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 10, 2017
Great clinic by Tiger Woods and Kevin Chappel today . pic.twitter.com/sLIQIwzkL8
— Kevin Roman (@kevinromangolf) October 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/kevinromangolf/status/917913614375198720
Here's a new clip from the TW clinic. pic.twitter.com/iTZbynYGiV
— Kevin Roman (@kevinromangolf) October 12, 2017
Dennis Clark
“My thinking on Tiger remains the same. If he gets his body speed back he may compete at a high level again. He can’t turn through like he used to, so he can’t release the club as freely. His lower body stops, hands take over flip hook or block.
“From the little I can notice in this video it does appear like he’s been more aggressive coming to the golf ball.”
Tom Stickney
”Basically it’s a stock Tiger “range swing” where he’s relaxed and moving at a much slower pace than normal. Therefore, his extra head motion and linkage is not as out of whack as it is in full speed.
“But what can we expect from a guy who is just a few months out of back surgery? It does appear that he is not ‘staying with the shot’ as much as he normally does giving his shots the sound of being a touch thin, but who would at this point? I think he’s slowly moving forward and have confidence that Chris Como and he will address any physical contraindications that will come their way.”
So there you have it, a couple of professional opinions regarding Tiger’s “new” swing to reference when you’re playing the swing videos on your phone and breaking down TW’s action at the bar with your buddies this weekend.
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In this video, I show you how to consistently deliver the driver from the inside.
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I’m sure you’ve heard by now that a good grip is one of the cornerstones of a good swing. Clichés become clichés because they’re true, and putting your hands on the club is extremely important… for reasons you know, and for some reasons you probably haven’t heard before.
Let’s start with the big, obvious one you already know. Your grip establishes the default relationship between the clubface and the golf ball. If you set your grip in a way that promotes bringing the club back to impact open or closed, you’re going to have to do something else in your swing to compensate for that. In other words, a sound grip makes the job of squaring the club easier.
The less obvious reason that a good grip is important is speed. If you set the club in your hands correctly—so that the handle runs across the base of the fingers in your left hand and not across the palm—you’re giving your wrists much more freedom to move. This wrist “mobility” is what allows the final transfer of energy from the body to the club. A great swing thought is to envision that your wrist joints were just greased up. They should feel like they are unrestricted and “oily.”
Another less obvious problem caused by a bad grip is that it tends to perpetuate itself. If you have a bad grip and repeatedly make off-center contact on the clubface, the off-center hits will actually jar the face of the club more off-line, and you’ll hit it even more crooked. And the bad feeling those shots produce in your hands will cause you to continually adjust it. There’s no consistency or feel there. It’s like hitting a whole bunch of baseballs off the end of an aluminum bat on a 39-degree day. A recipe for pain.
To fix your grip, start with your left (top) hand. Set the handle along the first joints of your fingers, and hold it like you would carry a suitcase or briefcase by its handle.
When you get the grip in this position, you’re creating an angle (and a lever) between the club and your left arm, and you’re giving the wrist freedom to move. If you turned the handle so that it crossed your palm diagonally—like a putting grip—you’d immediately feel how your wrist would be much more restricted in how it could bend or turn. That’s why it’s great for putting—because it restricts how the face turns. But on a full swing, you want to take full advantage of the range of motion that comes from rotating from open to square. (this is what the club is designed to do!)
Get a firm grip on the handle with all of the fingers of your left hand and get as much of the thumbprint pushed onto the grip as you can. Now, place your right hand on the handle so that the underside of your right thumb covers the left thumb as much as possible, and get as much of the thumbprint on your right hand onto the top of the grip as possible.
Where you place your hand on the grip is more important than if you decide to interlock, overlap or play with all 10 fingers on the handle. I prefer the overlapping grip because it keeps the index finger of your left hand on the handle, and that extra finger can make a difference for many players.
If your grip isn’t great and you make these changes, it’ll definitely feel strange at first. But I’m betting that straighter and longer shots will make up for it.
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It is pretty much impossible to sway when swinging a sledgehammer. Take advantage of the feel you get from swinging a sledgehammer and see how easy it is to implant in your own golf swing. You were built for this move!
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steve long
Oct 28, 2017 at 11:25 am
unless the right elbow is bent at address, the right shoulder and the head must be lower at impact than at address, because the right elbow is bent at impact.
Jim
Oct 15, 2017 at 10:58 am
Dennis,
I suffer from exactly the same swing problem that Tiger has, just not on the same level. I have found that what works for me is keeping my right shoulder higher in the downswing. My contact is much better and I can get more to my left side and, most importantly for me, I can finish in a straight up and down position as opposed to the back-killing old reverse C. This has greatly helped take pressure off my lower back.
The dude
Oct 15, 2017 at 6:22 am
Follow through…….stiff as a board
Harvey Weinstein
Oct 15, 2017 at 10:17 am
Hmmmmm. Age. But we can still dip
OB
Oct 13, 2017 at 4:58 pm
I’m impressed with his effortless kinetic chain power transfer from his lower body to his upper body. His legs and hips are decisive and the kinetic energy just ripples up his spinal column to torque his broad shoulder span. From there his arm and hands react to the power flow culminating in a sweet release of his clubhead. This golfer is destined for bigger and better things in the future because he has that winning ways mojo about him.
MB
Oct 13, 2017 at 5:39 pm
Until we stick a few cute blonde girls with big chests in front of him down the fairways and around the greens and he’ll lose his concentration
birdy
Oct 16, 2017 at 9:21 am
these predictable and tiring jokes are so stale
golfreality
Oct 13, 2017 at 8:27 pm
your delusional
Jer
Oct 14, 2017 at 3:27 am
No, Eldrick is
DJ
Oct 13, 2017 at 12:03 pm
Tiger has never dipped this much on the DS. I agree with other posts that he will struggle greatly if not corrected. The dip adds more pressure to the swing and under pressure the dip will be quicker and steeper. He looks the same. Wait till he starts little pitch shot a under pressure and see how well this holds up. Won’t happen.
OB
Oct 13, 2017 at 5:05 pm
The dipping and then the upward thrusting is where Tiger gets his “parametric acceleration” that juices his clubhead velocity by as much as 4% according to scientist Miura’s seminal research on the golfswing.
Here is the best analysis and explanation of PA according to “mandrin”:
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/moetown/mandrin/golf/parametric_acceleration.html
Enjoy …….
MB
Oct 13, 2017 at 5:37 pm
And thus breakage of his left leg, which we saw in 2008, and then his back in 2011
Mat
Nov 2, 2017 at 5:37 am
Wow… that’s some pseudo rubbish!
Tom
Oct 13, 2017 at 11:24 am
Title reads “Experts weigh in…” I was expecting insight from every user on the Instruction forum.
Dave
Oct 13, 2017 at 10:59 am
I immediately noted the “Tiger dip” when I first saw this clip. He looks good. Hope he can make a strong comeback.
Andrew
Oct 13, 2017 at 9:46 am
If Michelle Wie can play on the PGA Tour, Tiger can play on the LPGA Tour, right? Equal opportunity goes both ways, right?
The swing that Butch built is gone. Let’s see if Adam Scott’s swing can hold up another 10 years without back problems. If so, BIG MISTAKE Tiger. Huge. Greed ruins.
Skip
Oct 13, 2017 at 1:26 pm
let’s see if Adam can win 14 majors…yeah.
Shallowface
Oct 13, 2017 at 6:13 pm
If Scott would have had Tiger putting for him, he probably would have broken every record in the book.
I used to get a lot of eye rolls when I would tell people that if Woods ever lost his chipping and putting, he’d be just another guy named “Meat.”
After that last comeback attempt, I don’t get those looks any more.
It’s the biggest part of the game, but make no mistake. Tiger’s later record was built on chipping and putting, not ball striking. That’s going to need to come back if he has any chance. I think that’s unlikely.
If Tiger had kept the “Butch” swing, he would have broken every record in the book, and probably would still be breaking them.
But as I read recently, Butch said “Tiger likes to tinker.”
And there you have it.
Jer
Oct 13, 2017 at 7:22 pm
He would have won more with Haney’s swing than Butch’s. Butch actually didn’t to much to the actual swing, Butch is always more the mental game and game plan/course management type coach, but Haney definitely changed it up. And Eldrick won more with Hank than he did with anybody else. It’s his women-chasing that was his downfall, not the swing tinkering, let’s all be honest about that.
Terry (TMAC)
Oct 13, 2017 at 11:05 pm
He may have won more tournaments with Haney’s swing but he won more Majors under Butch.
Jer
Oct 14, 2017 at 3:28 am
But if he had carried on with Hank, imagine how many he could have won. But then then he got caught with the ladies, so that was that, as they say
golfreality
Oct 13, 2017 at 8:29 pm
please watch us open final round at pebble and talk 2 me about ballstriking
Steve S
Oct 14, 2017 at 4:24 pm
Read Mark Broadie’s book every shot counts. He debunks the myth that Tiger was a great putter. . He was a great ball striker. His approach shots were much closer than anyone else on the tour at his peak so he had more makeable putts for birdies(and eagles) than anyone else by far. He was a good short range putter which we saw on TV since he was always much closer to the hole than his competition. As far as his rank on the tour for putting he was rarely in the top 20.
MB
Oct 13, 2017 at 2:34 am
Dippity doo dah, dippity day
This way too much dipping will cost him his game
A great swinger he once was
Now can’t figure out anything but dippity too dah
and look like he’s copying Charles Barkley’s flaws
The dude
Oct 13, 2017 at 4:17 am
14 majors with Dippity do da ……how was your coma?
Scott
Oct 13, 2017 at 10:11 am
He never dipped like that when he was winning said 14 majors. I hate to use the words never or always, but in this case I am very confident that will never win again with that dip. That is an awful swing flaw that he needs to eliminate.
Groden
Oct 12, 2017 at 7:43 pm
first video shows a very nice swing…..the next few show his quick jerk of his body at impact, is he planning on tearing up another part of his body? Needs to look at his smooth swing and figure out how to play with that…gee he may have to move up a club or two and give up the 150 yard pitching wedges…
OB
Oct 13, 2017 at 5:09 pm
Yup…. that upward thrust prior to impact will again tear up his left knee ligaments because the addition of thrust to the high torque applied to the left knee is dangerous, particularly if you have already had surgery on his left knee.