Tiger's Swing and What I'm Learning

[A.J.]

This post is about hitting the driver. Note that I am taking from Tiger's original swing, which was more upright and steep than today ("two-plane"). Also, many of you are going to know this stuff already, as did I but I still think you might find this post useful.

I just picked up How I Play Golf which I definetly recommend to anyone interested in good, straightforward instruction with lots of high quality photos. I've been carefully going over the pullout section of photos from the front, side, and top views of him hitting a driver (not so much the text but just studying the images). As I stand in my apartment practicing the positions and moves with a heavily weighted driver (see my post on this homemade swing trainer) I feel a tremendous sense of coil and stability. Here are the things I think I especially important from this:


1) Setup: Shoulders at about a 30* tilt. Eyes looking right down the nose at the back of the ball (head tilted with shoulders). Right leg in a reverse K--it looks like Tiger is braced against the inside of his right foot already (Daly talks about this in Grip it and Rip it).

2) Takeaway: at 9 o'clock back of left hand square to club face, completely facing away from body, club head completely open relative to the ball. At the top full shoulder turn, wrist and club completely, perfectly parallel. Left arm perfectly straight, spine angle retained. Head has moved slightly behind the ball but the right leg has not been forced of position by the turn.

The rest is academic I think. I think one big key to this swing is the right leg. It works like an anchor. If your like me, and this has been happening because of fatigue lately, you drift a bit sometimes. Its hard to press against the inside of that right foot constantly but you must avoid the natural temptations to let your weight settle on the outside of the right foot (i.e. an ever so slight power draining shift).

I'll right more later. Please comment on Tiger now or then or your own swing.

[A.J.]

After I posted I actually read some of the book (the book is mostly photos, which I love). Tiger says that a stationary right leg is a signature of his swing and something he's worked on since he was a kid. I went to the range this evening and focused just on that and I hit the ball better. What can I say, its a fundamental that I've sorta always known about but never understood. Its now a central issue in my practice.