As by now we are all aware Tiger Woods has for the 3rd time in his career, undergone a swing change. The most recent with instructor Sean Foley. Although it has been a struggle for Tiger he seems to be feeling more and more comfortable with the swing changes, and is playing much better golf. Let's take a look at some of the changes:
Set-Up:
Tiger's set-up has always been fundamentally sound. His body is pretty centered with his weight evenly distributed. When Tiger was with Hank Haney he was changed to a really weak grip that almost had the grip of the club riding up the lifeline of the palm in the left hand. Tiger has never liked to see the ball miss to the left. Consequently, Tiger was all over the place especially with the driver. Tiger has now gone to a stronger grip to help him get the ball started more on line. You can also see his left foot flared open a little more just to help him clear his hips easier and not put any extra stress on his left knee.
Takeaway:
Tiger has always been a component of the one-piece takeaway which is something Ben Hogan wrote extensively about in "Five Lessons". Everything is working in one-piece. Hands, arms, and shoulders moving together, nothing independent of the other. In the clip on the right, you can see his body begin to shift over to his right side in preparation for him loading up and bracing over that right leg (also another Ben Hogan move). On the other hand, in the clip to the left, he has remained pretty centered over the ball. This is going to be the theme in viewing Tiger's back swing changes. His shoulder turn has also become a little steeper. Evidence of this is already in display here as you can see his left shoulder start to drop and his right shoulder start to rise up towards the sky.
Halfway Back:
Here is just a continuation of the previous slide we looked at of the takeaway. Tiger has always had great width in his back swing You can really start to see here the difference in his weight shift. On the slide to the right, you can see a good separation from his hip line at address and his left knee coming in towards the ball. His shoulders are also at a much steeper angle. Tiger here is much more centered over the ball.
Tiger 3/4 back swing ("L" position):
With the club now in the "L" position, Tiger's head has stayed very centered over the ball (or inside the box). He has already almost maximized his shoulder turn while keeping his lower body very quite (Jim McLean termed this as the X-Factor). Again, his lower body is not shifting over to the right leg if anything he might even have it a little on his left leg at this point. Because of his steeper shoulder turn, his club on the back swing (although difficult to see from this angle) is on a steeper plane as well. What you can see, is how his right arm has maintained above his left arm at this position.
Top of the back swing:
Here is where the change in the mechanics of his swing are fully evident. This is where a lot of the controversy with Sean Foley comes in. Is he a "stack and tilt" enthusiast? It is clear to see here that Tiger's weight is on his left side. You can see spacing between his right hip and the line we drew at address. His head has maintained more on top of the golf ball (or inside the box). In addition, his shoulder turn, although complete, does not turn behind the golf ball.
The transition:
It is amazing at how much Tiger's body compresses. This is a great power move that has been used for years (the Snead Squat). You can see how Tiger's hips are now parallel to the target line and how the left hip has moved over and passed the left foot. The shoulders have not yet returned parallel to the target as the upper body is still unwinding. A great power generator is from the "X-factor" position at the top of your back swing creating even more separation between your upper and lower body. Some of the longest hitters on tour achieve this remarkably. Jim McLean termed this the "X-factor stretch". Bubba Watson achieves this almost better than anyone on tour does. The hips leading, followed by the shoulders, then the arms, and then the hands. This is the proper sequence of the downswing. Because of this Tiger is able to return the club back on plane beautifully. On the slide to the right, Tiger has shifted his body and his weight and is now on his left side and has once again centered. On the slide to the left, since Tiger's weight was already on the left side at the top of his back swing you can see how much further over to his left he already is. His body center is out in front of the golf ball. From here, Tiger can just continue to turn his hips as hard and as fast as he wants. The flared open foot at address will help him with this hip turn. Doing this will also help him fight the hook. By setting his body out in front of the ball and clearing, his hips the club can travel back to the inside post impact.
Impact:
If there is a position that anyone should model after a tour player, it is the impact position. Achieving a great impact position will help you become such a great ball striker. Weight over the left leg, hands out in front of the ball delofting the club, hips slightly open to the target, shoulders parallel to the target, right knee kicked in towards the ball, and a flat, or bowed, left wrist at impact. You can see how far forward Tiger's hands are in both of these slides. However they are slightly more forward on the left side due to more compression of the body and weight shift to the left. This is one of the reasons why Tiger struggled at first controlling his distance with his wedges, he was delofting the club more than before and had to adjust to new distances and feel.
Post impact release:
One of the things that Tiger is working on with Sean Foley is getting the club to swing more to the left post impact (again trying to fight hooking the ball). Comparing both clips, Tiger's hips on the left are almost completely cleared allowing the club to travel back to the left. You can see his right knee much more closer to his left. His belt buckle looking more towards the target. Everything else is pretty much similar The extension of the arms, the rotation of the hands, that has not changed and has been consistent for his entire career and all swing changes he's made in the past. Very athletic move!
Finish:
Tiger has always had great balance in his swing even when swinging the club of speeds over 120 mph. The shots we just analyzed are both 3/4 knockdown shots. A shot that when Tiger is on top of his game you see him hit a lot. At this point all the weight is over Tiger's left foot, he can hold this position all day. From here, he could pick up his right foot off the ground without loosing any balance because there is no weight falling back onto that foot. One interesting thing to point out here is how much lower his hands are at the finish, again evidence of him swinging the club more to his left.
I for one like some of the changes that Tiger has made with his swing. The swing that he and Sean Foley have created is a hook proof golf swing. This is something Ben Hogan did as well. The swing changes seem to be feeling more and more comfortable with Tiger as we are again seeing him play well on a more consistent basis. He once again lead the PGA Tour in scoring average and piled together a pretty good season in 2012. Hopefully his play as of late can carry over to 2013 and he gets back on track to beating Jack Nicklaus record of 18 majors.
-Javier Gonzalez
