Grouchy Golf Blog

Monday, July 19, 2004 at 9:38 AM

Tiger Woods Swing Changes Missing the Fairway

Tiger Woods only hit half of the fairways during the last round of the British. It continues a long trend and it cost him another tournament. Now I've heard countless opinions why Tiger can't seem to find the fairways. However, I've read the most ridiculous one recently in an article from that sports powerhouse, ESPN. In a nutshell, the writer places most of the blame on Tiger's equipment. That's fine, but incredulously, he manages to pen over 1,000 words explaining the reasons behind Tiger's golf woes without even mentioning Tiger's dramatic swing changes. Can you believe that? How can anyone miss something so obvious and important? Well, someone who doesn't know what they're writing about, that's who.

While I agree that equipment is a big factor in golf performance, I think that it is relatively minor in Tiger's case. Here are some reasons:

• Tiger is still missing fairways with a Titleist PT 3-wood that he has used for more than 6 years.
• Tiger rarely hits his 2-iron "stinger" off the tee anymore, a shot that always hit the fairway. Now, when he does hit it, a fairway isn't guaranteed.
• Tiger went back to the Titleist 975D driver last year at the Battle of The Bridges, only to miss even more fairways.
• Tiger has an exit clause in his Nike equipment contract that allows him to play any equipment that he wants. So why would he play with any equipment that wasn't best suited for him? Tiger was seen using drivers from other manufacturers (Taylormade, Titleist, etc.) during the "silly"-season last year, so he clearly utilizes this exit clause.

Conclusion from this golf blog: It's the swing, stupid.

My favorite channel recently confirmed Tiger's dramatic swing changes. They compared Tiger's God-like swing of 2001 vs. his current swing. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so check out the next 3,000+ words:



If Tiger was missing fairways with the swing that he had before, then, maybe, his equipment would be to blame. But, as these pictures clearly illustrate, his swing is not the same.

The most dramatic change is Tiger's position at the top. What do you think?

Labels: Tiger Woods

 Jat said...

the middle picture tells it all. look at how flat his swing plane is at the top? but I'm sure if that was the only problem it would be fixed by now...  

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 AmbiDextri said...

Wow.

It is true, as Tiger has said, that it's difficult to see the differences from one image of one swing, but there is a marked difference here. There are things to bear in mind though, for one he might be trying to play a different type of shot, for another the photos from 2004 appear to be with a shorter iron.
But, being someone who firmly believes that a swing is built from the stance, there is a huge difference there. And that 'crouched' stance will lead to a flatter backswing, hence will lead to Tiger's favourite bad shots, either the push or the hook.

But it is hard to reach a conclusion even though it's interesting. Will Tiger ever repeat perfection? Probably sporadically. But Els and Mickelson are the best golfers at the moment.  

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 Wes said...

Excellent post here. I've read blogs that have scapegoated Tiger's swing as well as his sticks, and I would think that both are partially to blame...but only an ignorant sportswriter wouldn't know about Tiger's dramatically degraded swing.  

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 Mae said...

I haven't been following the games, just following comments I've heard on the game. The latest I heard this weekend about Tiger sucking put blame on his girlfriend. Seems to be a popular theory in sports. Jeter wasn't performing his optimal when he was with stupid Mariah. But what do I know.  

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 Anonymous said...

are you guys kidding me? His swing plane is not flatter in that middle picture, look at his arms in relationship to his shoulders. His arms are at about the exact same position on both photos, it is his hands that have let the club drop down a little. His wrists are different also. but that is only one picture so who knows if it holds weight  

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 Anonymous said...

crazy  

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 Tom G. said...

In terms of swing versus equipment being his problem, it could be both. If his equipment is a bit off, his bad swing habits could be coming from trying to overcome the equipment. Of course, I would kill to have Tiger's bad swing habits  

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 Anonymous said...

In the first frame it looks like he doesnt quite have the same amount of extension. His hands are carried a bit lower. The second frame you can notice that hes just a bit layed off. The third frame, you can see his left arm more, so hes a bit under the plane on the down swing, but you never know what shot he was tryin to hit, maybe a big high sweeping draw. I think its tough for him to keep his swing so tight like he did before cause he doesnt have the second eye like butch harmon to make small tune ups  

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 Dann said...

You all sound like fools now, did you not trust Tiger to know what he was doing. Who do you think you are to criticise arguably the greatest golfer ever on his own swing changes.
As for the person who made the comment about Tiger's swing being "Degraded," clearly you were mis informed.  

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