The last few times I've seen Tiger pull out his driver he has a new move incorporated in his swing. As soon as the follow through is done he immediately points either left or right (left being the most lately). It is so immediate it has almost become laughable. His first two days at the Memorial were driving accuracy in the 70s. I can only assume he was using his three wood on the measured holes. He seems to be getting worse instead of staying just mediocre. It certainly isn't the equipment's fault but I don't understand why he just doesn't quit using the driver except for 600 yard par 5s with a wide fairway.

At times he also seems to be trying to imitate Paula Creamer (or Byron Nelson) with a dip at the ball with his irons. I had a friend who was a many time state amateur champ with many other tournament wins who had knee surgery. For a couple of years after that he developed that trend also (he had an almost flawless swing pre the operation) of dipping at the ball. He said it didn't hurt as bad through the ball when he did it. I begin to wonder if Tiger is having knee problems again. I'm sure that Hank doesn't teach that move before all the Hank bashers weigh in.

These threads are pointless...Tiger is the number #1 golfer in the world...we have no business saying what he is doing right or wrong. I'm sure he and his coach must know something seeing as he has over 50 wins on tour...

No one can doubt he's having issues right now. Not so much with his swing (though the driver is a bit wonky), but his putter is ice cold. I remember anti-Phil guys saying the same thing this year too. These guys just need to work it out in their own way and time. Even the World's #1 needs to fix his issues from time to time.

well, it's a good time for guys with better swing mechanics to move in and take over the number 1 spot..wonder why they aren't better than a guy with swing problems..

I agree that people are blowing up it to be more than it really is as he is still easily the best player in the world but there is definitely an issue. For someone that has such control over their other 13 clubs (current putting blues aside), Tiger does seem to be having some unexplained issues with his driving. Whether it's trying to lash the ball too hard or something else, there seems to be something amiss.

There's something very odd about the practise swing that Tiger Woods takes. I know he's trying to feel his way through his intended shot trajectory but he overemphasizes certain things and I think that comes from Hank Haney.

By his own admission, Tiger's never really been that accurate a driver, going back to his youth even. It's easy to lapse into holding Tiger Woods to a standard of perfection, simply cuz no other golfer today remotely compares, when you're talking about Ws. And he wins at such a high percentage that its easy to focus on the non-victories and be like "Hey, what's going on with you Woods, you didn't win?!"

But the reality is that of course even the Tiger Woods' golf game is flawed, no matter how awesome he can make it look. He is awesome, but not quite bigger than the game. It's easy to sit back in your chair and find flaws, but to do that is really missing the point, because just to compare his winning % to Phil and Vijay's, the next winningest players, that says it all - Woods is kicking serious a**.

Sure, he may wrestle with his driver swing, but it's the nature of his game to swing hard off the tee and bomb it. There is always a tradeoff between distance and accuracy, and while Tiger misses a lot of fairways, he's obviously playing the percentages well, given his high GIRs and low scoring average, and uh, all those wins. Until he stops winning, let's all just enjoy history in the making.

Good post Tenementrock. I would also like to point out that at least 2 or 3 of his drives every round are just creeping through the fairway and going into the first cut. Now that's not to say that he doesn't miss big sometimes, but just about everyone on tour will have a couple bad driver swings that put them way off the fairway. But those 2 or 3 fairways that he does miss by just a foot or so can really skew the stats. I have followed him on the course many times and if u do watch him, even his big misses really aren't any different than when someone like Vijay misses a drive or Adam Scott.

Your reply is what is pointless. If you don't have anything to offer on the subject **ss off. Nobody said anything about his standing in the world as a golfer, just an observation that he is having a hard time with his driver right now. Check the stats they don't lie. And no he isn't just missing fairways by 2 inches which is ruining his stats.

We will see how those 2 or 3 fairways missed by a foot or so help him at the Open. Most of the tournaments (well over 80 now with Tiger in the field) I've been to when Tiger is just missing the fairway it is with his fairway wood or iron. Rarely is it his driver that is just into the rough.

Really, that's interesting because i counted 3 times in one round at Wachovia where he DID HIT DRIVER and DID MISS BY A FOOT because the ball ran through the fairway.

This is a funny forum. You've got some that feel they need to defend Tiger's place in golf. I really don't think Tiger needs any of our defense. He's quite a secure individual and a seriously good golfer and honestly, his driving puts more pressure on the competition. He can make par from most places on the course and always comes up clutch when he needs to which frustrate those other golfers that can be unerved by a few wayward drives. His driving doesn't seem to affect his GIR(He's in the top ten) which along with putting is far and away more important. I mean, has there ever been less of a correlation of driving accuracy and winning than now? Other than Jim Furyk, most of the biggest names are wild off the Tee. Singh, Mickelson, Scott, Stensen...ect. As for the Open, Jeff Ogilvy isn't exactly the model of accuracy off the tee and He fared pretty well. The funny thing about the open is that while accuracy is suppose to be a premium, the lack of available space on the fairway ends up pushing everyone in the rough instead of the wayward drivers. Those who are already familiar with hitting from the rough are not shaken by this. The short straight players are much more affected. The longer players get to hit from the rough with shorter clubs and they are stronger which gives them a distinct advantage. Ultimately its gonna be a putting contest this year so Tiger is gonna have to find some serious magic for that flat stick to come back.

Yes but when has Tiger EVER had good driving accuracy stats in his career??? He always has had a tough time finding fairways...when you hit it 300+ it's going to be difficult.

That's the beauty of golf. Even the greatest players in the world struggle from time to time. No one has ever mastered this great game and no one ever will.

what is your point? that tiger can't win when his current approach to driving the ball?

isn't he #1 in the FexEx cup...hasn't he won 3 tournaments this year, with a T2 at the Masters? two majors last year?

isn't he the guy to beat every time he is playing???

who else is challenging stats like this??? Ben Hogan??? Palmer??? Nicholas??? Old Tom Morris???

what exactly is your point...that his bad driver will keep him from winning???

oh...wait...comment on how the ball/clubs/course is all built for tiger...thats the only reason he is winning...


give me a break...he could drive with is putter and still beat the majority of the jabronies out there

TW can hit a 3 W about 300 yards. So why does he even bother to hit the big dog??

I can't stay away from this thread because it is pretty funny. It cracks me up every time I see a Tiger mannerism make its way to the daily fee golfer. My favorite is the miss the putt then take your hand and make a sideways wave motion to simulate how you thought the break was going to go as you watch your ball completely defy all of your thoughts.

So we go from Tiger fist pump after you roll in the 40 footer ...
to the Tiger whipback to show how strong you are...
to the Tiger cussing move....
to the Tiger eyes rolling...
to the Tiger missed putt wave....
and now the Tiger point left or right after tee shot. I love it. I can't wait to start seeing this pop up all over the place. I know I am going to start doing it more to help the trend along. But I am afraid I won't be of much help because I don't spray them as bad as TW (that's why he's #1 and I am a nobody at golf)

BTW, why do the Tiger fans get so upset when the observations come out. Let's be honest here. We all know he's #1. We all know he wins a lot. We all know he arguably has the best short game/grind game/par save game/mental game in history. That is how he wins. But we also know he is looking quite funky off the tee.

Come on, which is the swing of beauty off the tee and from the fairways with the longer clubs. Tiger 2000 or Tiger 2007?

Yes, the guy is awesome, best golfer in the modern era and on the road to surpassing Jack as best ever, but he still has one messed up looking swing off the tee. Nobody's perfect....except Tiger in 2000.

Now that was the funniest most sarcastic and wittiest post I've ever read on this forum. Thanks
Adressing Tiger:
The reason Tiger does not just hit three wood or 2 iron off the tee and still beats everyone on tour is because he needs his driver to play to his strenghts. If you look at his stats at pgatour.com you will surely understand that if Tiger hit more three woods or five woods off the tee he would score worse as what he does best is hitting approach shots from over 200 yards which he needs to do on par fives. He consistently gets within 30 yards which is the distance within which no one scrambles better than Tiger. What Tiger also does well is hitting approach shots from the rough and from within 125 yards. If he would hit shorter clubs off the tee he would leave himself distances from which he sucks. Hence Tiger must hit driver or he will lose. Yes, I know how he won the British Open last year but he did so from the distances that he is comfortbale with and he got them without driver.

Tiger has yardages he can't hit huh? That's news to me, because as far as I'm concerned he is one of the best when it comes to distance control throughout the bag.