Tiger's Swing

[Titleist Man]

Not critisizing it or anything(best looking swing i have ever seen) but does anyone notice that he has a pretty big head dip? Am i ging crazy because i have heard that that is bad and i have always heard that Tiger is completely textbook?

[shankapotamus]

Where did you hear Tiger is "completely" text book? Every swing has different styles due to a bunch of different factors.

[uttexas]

there are many different ideal swing theories. some advocate a more upright path with early wrist cock. Others, a flatter plane and a one piece takeaway. What matters is the impact zone and repeatability.

As far as head position, many advocate a still spine/head position, while others want the spine/head to move backward and down at impact (relative to set up position)

Tiger does drop his head (via squatting on the forward swing) more than most, but less than he used to.

[iacas]

there are many different ideal swing theories. some advocate a more upright path with early wrist cock. Others, a flatter plane and a one piece takeaway. What matters is the impact zone and repeatability.

Right. Agreed with almost all of that 100%. Tiger's hips go so far forward his head has to dip. His left shoulder is also a lot higher at impact (relative to the rest of his body), so he has to get his upper body down to compensate.

It's not quite as simple as I've said it, but it's a compensating move that a lot of powerful players have. It's also different than that "chase move" like Paula Creamer that Johnny Miller loves to talk about.

[Zeph]

Ben Hogan got some of the same stuff, but his movement is more a lateral one than squatting. Both got that forward bump with the hips, pulling the head a bit down and forward, then firing through and creating massive power.

[PEZGolf]

In my opinion, one critical factor in any golfer's swing is overlooked in analysis, including Tiger's swing. That factor is rhythm, or total timing. A golfer can appear to have the club in all the right positions, but if he or she is slightly off in timing the release, then the shot can go to the right (if the club trails the lower body), or to the left (if the upper body overtakes the lower body)----both statements are referring to a right handed golfer.

The truly consistent golfers have excellent timing, and hit fairways and greens, which are the two stats that indicate a repeating swing. In Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament this year, Tiger was outstanding in hitting fairways, as we all know. He was pretty accurate at the US Open, which is an absolute necessity. However, keep this in mind---he was 100% correct in saying that his putting "did him in". He never adjusted to Bethpage's greens, by his own admission, and that is why he lost the tournament. Here is what he said, in his own words:

"Much like two weeks ago at the Memorial Tournament, Woods was sensational off the tee, hitting two-thirds of the ultra-tight fairways at Bethpage Black.

“I striped it this week,” Woods said, following his sixth career U.S. Open top 10. “I hit it just like I did at Memorial, and unfortunately I didn't make anything. I hit so many putts that my good ones weren’t going in, and then my bad ones weren’t even close.

“It was a little bit slow and bumpy but you have to be committed to hitting it that hard, and I left a lot of putts short,” he added. “And then when I tried to hit it harder, I gunned it past the hole. But I didn't make the adjustment the right way.”

[RC]

Timing? Tiger's swing is built to minimize timing requirements, but timing is more a part of his current swing than his dominant early period. I am biased and think he had less timing issues back with Butch Harmon than he does now. With Butch, his natural tempo seemed to dominate his swing style. Today, his modified swing does seem to require some extra moves or thought that brings timing requirements into the equation. (disclosure: I consider Butch a friend and am probably biased.)

Tiger's head used to move a lot on the backswing, way behind the ball. But this was his key, from there his body dictated the rest of his swing. Now I see him moving his arms around more and appearing to take some input from the motion of the arms. He's not to the O'Hair stage of repeated arm movements, but watch him. It used to be more about body pivots.

Call me crazy or seeing things that are not there... I watched his old swing a lot, up close. His swing change may be more flawless, but I think it is not his natural tendancies so when he wants to bash it... he might hit it anywhere.

He struck the ball well enough to win at Bethpage, but great putters typically have issues on slow greens, and these were slower than optimal for guys like Tiger Woods. He is a forthright guy to admit all he did up front, and not make excuses.

[AmenCorner]

I might be mistaken, but I thought I read or heard Tiger say somewhere that dipping his head is a tendancy of his that he tries to avoid. I will try to verify that.

[MiniMoe]

The head drop is one reason Tiger gets "stuck" in his swing. The head drop also promotes snapping the left leg straight at impact (that's been real good for his knee). When Tiger swings his best, he is more level headed so his left leg does not snap straight so violently... all this keeps his right foot on the ground longer..... which means he is more balanced. So if Tiger wants to swing his best, he needs to stay balanced, swing more level, and keep his right foot on the ground as long as possible.

[shortstop20]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree. You can almost always tell when he hits a good shot without even looking at where the ball is going just by watching his rhythm, footwork, etc.

That's true for all players I know but it seems like when Tiger smooths out his swing everything works much better together.

[laconic517]

i though the head dip was part of the source of his swing speed.

Kind of like in tennis where you dip down and jump up on forehand to really smash it.

[flanagan]

It's been referenced before that the head movement, down, is something he really has to watch, and becomes an issue from time to time, even though it looks like he always has it to some degree.

[shortstop20]

It's been referenced before that the head movement, down, is something he really has to watch, and becomes an issue from time to time, even though it looks like he always has it to some degree.

It seems to me that whenever his head moves way down, his spine angle rises alot more, which doesn't help consistency.