Brandel Chamblee Is the Biggest Tiger Hater

[iacas]

[Divot Tool]

I just caught the tail end of todays broadcast from the Players on The Golf Channel after coming home from work.

Unfortunately I had to endure Brandel Chamblee's diatribe about the current state of Tigers game, how he went from having arguably the best short game to having no short game, while TGC shows footage of him chunking his wedges prior to his WD.

Hey Brandel, we get it, Tiger's hurt at the moment, we get it.  His current game sucks compared to his body of work. . . we get it.

I wanted to turn the channel as he opened his mouth, but I refrained as I needed some entertainment.

Chamblee first insinuated that Woods' lifestyle: running and lifting weights were detrimental to his game, to which he has no empirical data supporting such a claim.

What was most appalling was that he went on to allege that Tiger blamed his damaged knee on Butch Harmon. I was like WHoA! . . .You did not just say that.  I'd love to see a reference to such an allegation, because this is a serious basis for a defamation lawsuit.

When Woods was asked in an interview during Masters week of this year, Would he want to swing like he did in 2000?, he responded "First of all, I can’t swing that way.  It took a pretty good pounding on me knee doing it that way.  As you know I tore cartilage and my ACL over the years, so I don’t want to swing that way. It’s too much pain."

I don't recall Tiger ever accusing Butch Harmon for being responsible for his knee woes.  Now that is excessive.

Lastly, Brandel gave his post round analysis about Nick Watney's swing, in which he adored the position of the club at the top of Watney's swing, claiming that the given the position Nick could choose to hit either a draw, a fade or straight shot on cue.  Now that is just horse piss. It goes to illustrate that he has very little understanding
of the ball flight laws and thus no credibility as a golf analyst.  Thinking back, it's essentially the same analysis that he gave regarding Hunter Mahan's swing earlier this spring which became the catalyst of the war of words between he and Sean Foley.


Chamblee comes of as a pompous and arrogant analyst, who shows no sensitivity to players whatsoever.  Since when were golf analysts given licenses to run their mouths? . .this guy needs a muzzle.

[the19thhole]

Liked the post so much had to google the footage. Man he talks horse piss.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Divot Tool

Chamblee comes of as a pompous and arrogant analyst, who shows no sensitivity to players whatsoever. Since when were golf analysts given licenses to run their mouths? This guy needs a muzzle.

If you feel that strongly about it, you should send him a PM . That link goes to his post (from him) earlier in this thread.

[B of H]

I gotta agree with this post, chamblee has turned into a sour old-man regarding tiger for some reason.  He needs an intervention or something, he's borderline crazy at times when the tiger topic comes up IMO.  I don't get it.  I really think a lot of foley's ideas/theories are really sound and technically accurate but then again i'm not as 'smart/educated' as chamblee I guess?

this is how I see it (i'm sure some will disagree/tell me i'm wrong):

- develops more compact swing with butch but that swing makes drawing the ball more difficult as he's kinda shut at the top holding on through impact or whatever to hit a fade.  the closed face may or may not have required more lower body through the ball which may or may not have put more stress on his left leg.

- tiger wants to work the ball both ways and decides to develop a swing that is more on-plane and square hoping for the ability to work it both ways, gain distance and accuracy.  Decides to get haney to help.  It kinda works for a while but his bad shots are farther off line than with the butch swing and his misses don't follow a specific pattern as much.

- in order to get the club on plane he starts getting the club out away from his body and his swing gets longer, he loses some distance and accuracy but plays well despite it at times.  still his misses are way off line compared to the butch swing.  His accuracy and distance get worse the more he gets he club 'on plane' (ie out away from his body) with a weaker grip, the weaker grip relying on the timing of his hands more then the butch swing.

- he is forced to take time off for the knee surgery, loses some of his confidence/timing...whatever.  Then the drama happens.

- he decides to go with foley who gets him to re-connect the club to his body and use his legs and torso more with less arms and hands.

did I miss something?

what precisely is chamblee's issue with how tiger is using his lower body again?  I don't get it.

[henniebogan1966]

Originally Posted by B of H

I gotta agree with this post, chamblee has turned into a sour old-man regarding tiger for some reason.  He needs an intervention or something, he's borderline crazy at times when the tiger topic comes up IMO.  I don't get it.  I really think a lot of foley's ideas/theories are really sound and technically accurate but then again i'm not as 'smart/educated' as chamblee I guess?

this is how I see it (i'm sure some will disagree/tell me i'm wrong):

- develops more compact swing with butch but that swing makes drawing the ball more difficult as he's kinda shut at the top holding on through impact or whatever to hit a fade.  the closed face may or may not have required more lower body through the ball which may or may not have put more stress on his left leg.

- tiger wants to work the ball both ways and decides to develop a swing that is more on-plane and square hoping for the ability to work it both ways, gain distance and accuracy.  Decides to get haney to help.  It kinda works for a while but his bad shots are farther off line than with the butch swing and his misses don't follow a specific pattern as much.

- in order to get the club on plane he starts getting the club out away from his body and his swing gets longer, he loses some distance and accuracy but plays well despite it at times.  still his misses are way off line compared to the butch swing.  His accuracy and distance get worse the more he gets he club 'on plane' (ie out away from his body) with a weaker grip, the weaker grip relying on the timing of his hands more then the butch swing.

- he is forced to take time off for the knee surgery, loses some of his confidence/timing...whatever.  Then the drama happens.

- he decides to go with foley who gets him to re-connect the club to his body and use his legs and torso more with less arms and hands.

did I miss something?

what precisely is chamblee's issue with how tiger is using his lower body again?  I don't get it.

I watched most of the telecast yesterday so I heard the comments from Chamblee in the morning and last night as well. It seems Mr. Chamblee has heard our complaints as last night he was VERY complimentary of the career of one Mr. Tiger Woods. So hopefully he's going to move on now to the golf that is being played and leave this alone until we see or hear from Tiger again. But in his defense, it appears that he's either been reading the boards, or reading his emails/pm's or whatever. But I give him credit. He was much more tactful in his comments last night.

[PiustheDrGolf]

"Brandel Chamblee is the biggest Tiger hater."

only if you don't count me.

[tmf9]

I mean I dont think Tiger is going to break Jack's Record anymore, but good lord I don't think I've heard him say one postive thing about Tiger recently, give the guy a break he's had hardly any practice and he's coming off a 4 month layoff...geez

[hongman]

I dunno... I was somewhat taken aback by Brandel Chamblee's rantings both yesterday and today on the Golf Channel Post Round wrapup show.  Like many TW Bashers on the golf blogosphere, Brandel ranted about how Sean Foley is leading Tiger down the wrong swingpath (sic). and implied Tiger's human flaws will somehow never allow him to measure up to Jack even if Tiger equals or surpasses 19 majors.  Jack Nicklaus was one of my 1st childhood sports hero's, and he will always hold a special place in my memories and golfing life.  That being said, I would be thrilled to see Tiger regain his magical ability to hit amazing golf shots in the heat of major competition, and break Jack's record.  Tiger showed brief glimmers that the timing and magic are returning, but unfortunately, interspersed with stretches of some truly bad shots that show he's human after all.  Tiger said in his post round press conference that he believes Sean and he are on the right path, as he's seeing increased ball velocity and distance on his shots, but less sidespin and lateral movement on his shaped shots, and these 2 factors are contributing to the less than stellar results we've seen so far.  But hey, he's been off for 3 months, after briefly leading the Masters in the final round before his putter went cold, and his leg/knee got injured.  I totally agree with you.... we and the Media should cut Tiger some slack, and let's see how he does in the Australian Open and President's Cup, or perhaps more realistically, next April at the Masters before Tiger's game is declared DOA.  Tiger's only 35 years old, and if he can maintain his health and regain even 90% of his former abilities, lookout recordbooks!!  Jack didn't win his 15th major until the age of 38, so Tiger's aurguably still got time to realistically chase the all time record. Here's what I think of Brandel's contention that Tiger's wrong to believe that a swing change is a "process" and that results on the range can be deceiving.... Tiger = 2 major swing changes (3rd in process) = 14 majors and 79 tour wins. Brandel Chamblee = 1 PGA Tour win + 1 Nationwide Tour Win + best T18 at 1999 Masters = Golf Channel Ranting Broadcaster

[Tomboys]

I have to admit, I too was a little surprised by his comments.  The one that really got me was (paraphrasing), "...go back to Hank (or), go back to Butch, (just) dump Foley because he's not the answer".  Guess he doesn't have too much faith in Foley's ability / teachings.

[ThominOH]

So if we don't praise the ground that Tiger walks on, it makes people a hater?  Not sure what is worse tho.. a hater or a fanbois..  In my opinion both are equally dangerous, because they are both biased blind..  I see nothing wrong with someone being critical and questioning ones skills or actions.. Shouldn't all news people or talks heads give you both ends of an argument?

[tmf9]

Originally Posted by ThominOH

So if we don't praise the ground that Tiger walks on, it makes people a hater?  Not sure what is worse tho.. a hater or a fanbois..  In my opinion both are equally dangerous, because they are both biased blind..  I see nothing wrong with someone being critical and questioning ones skills or actions.. Shouldn't all news people or talks heads give you both ends of an argument?

You dont have to worship the ground he works on, but you would think Tiger ia a shot golfer listening to him.  Im no Tiger "fanbois" but if he were ANY other golfer on tour we would be saying oh he's rusty he just needs time but since he's Tiger people say he may never come back...pretty rediculous imo.  Brandal is definitely a Tiger hater, I don't care what anyone says.

[newtogolf]

Foley's a student and instructor of S&T; principles which some people don't consider a swing approach that should be used by the pro's.  Foley's also made a few enemies himself with his own comments, so those two combined make him an easy target.  I don't understand S&T; enough to condemn it or defend it, but what I do know is that Tigers swing with Harmon and Haney tore his left knee up to the point it is today so I don't see either of them as Tigers answer.  I'm pretty sure Harmon doesn't wany anything to do with Tiger now and Haney at one time might have been a great swing coach, but seeing his show on the golf channel has caused me to lose some respect for him.

Originally Posted by Tomboys

I have to admit, I too was a little surprised by his comments.  The one that really got me was (paraphrasing), "...go back to Hank (or), go back to Butch, (just) dump Foley because he's not the answer".  Guess he doesn't have too much faith in Foley's ability / teachings.

[WUTiger]

A bigger Tiger hater than Brandel Chamblee? I think several fellow Sand Trappers have outdone Chamblee in the past.

Chamblee knows something about a golf swing - he was among the top 100 money winners for six years running on the PGA tour. But, I'm not sure his analysis is worth that much more - or less - than any other announcer's.

And, I find the philosophical debate about whether Stack-N-Tilt deserves its own phylum in golf's swing kingdom to be tiresome. Quite a few teaching pros use Stack-N-Tilt, and it works quite well for some golfers - I sense SnT may work best for people with a certain learning style. We'll know for sure in a few years when kids raised on SnT start playing in college and on the pro tour, and whether they win or not.

A look at Chamblee's history shows he had a son die as a child, lost his PGA tour card in 2003, and cited credible family concerns for walking away from the tour. His Golf Channel gig, as he pointed out, requires him to be on the road 60 days a year, as opposed to 180 days as a tour pro. And, Tiger's family troubles and infidelity may be a psychological rub point for a family guy like BC.

Remember that the Golf Channel has problems of peaks and valleys in its programming quality, thus BC likely has a general tasking from his bosses to "be interesting." So, discussion of TW is a way to stir up controversy, so why not do it.

Links on Chamblee:

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandel_Chamblee
• BC's rather thoughtful "Farewell to PGA" column: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/web/COM1001442/index.htm

[sean_miller]

He's not the only one who think's Foley is the wrong answer. Whether he's a fraud poser or just not the right fit for Tiger is debatable, but I do think Foley has a rather limited understanding of golf and the golf swing. Based on recent results from his stable of players, his method might be past its expiration date. It's not a knock against Tiger specifically to suggest any or all of them should consider moving on.

Originally Posted by Tomboys

I have to admit, I too was a little surprised by his comments.  The one that really got me was (paraphrasing), "...go back to Hank (or), go back to Butch, (just) dump Foley because he's not the answer".  Guess he doesn't have too much faith in Foley's ability / teachings.

[turtleback]

I just wonder what makes Chamblee think he is all that as an authority on the golf swing.  It can't be his relatively mediocre record as a player.  It can't be his coaching or his work as a swing instructor, since I've never heard of him working with touring pros.

I like Frank Nobilo much better.  And he was a much better player, besides.

[bobsuruncle]

My take:

1. Tiger hasn't been able to practice and play enough (he says "reps") to groove his new swing, so the jury is out on whether this new swing will work for him.  He is injury free and can practice.  His family routine is slowly but surely being properly scheduled, around school holidays and the like.  Lets wait till the end of 2012 and review the situation.  This isn't to say whether SnT in itself is a good or bad swing method.  I believe TW can use most any method (wide with Butch, wipey with Hank and stack with Sean) and given the time to groove that method, he can win with it.

2. I like both Brandle and Frank Nobilo as analysts.  I don't buy the idea that you have to be a good player to know the theories and mechanics of a swing.  The best coaches in the world in most any sports you care to name (football, baseball, soccer, etc), were never the best players.  Why should golf be different?  Was Butch No. 1 in the world? and how about Hank?  Even Stan Utley couldn't consistently stay on tour year after year.  No one is slamming those guys as swing gurus.  They not only "analyze / comment on" swings, they actually teach swings.

[Chas]

Interesting question to raise.  There are multiple possible "answers" any one of which may be true.  Only Chamblee will really know.

But it's an important question now that Tiger is valiantly struggling to regain his former glory.  People like me have been called "Tiger haters" by some here on the forum.  I understand why that is, I don't think it's true in my case, I'm not proposing to reargue the toss here (the personal stuff re: floosies ....).  But there is a real danger IMO that on the contrary, some of those who were formerly, shall we say, big Tiger supporters/fans etc etc, some of these people may turn against him now out of disappointment, a sense of loss/failed expectations/betrayal even.  No idea if this applies to Chamblee but it will apply to many.

This is of course profoundly unfair to TW.  He doesn't deserve it, having gived to the game of golf what he has and not being responsible for how others perceive him.  One thing we do know is that he is trying his darndest to get back to where he was.  It can be difficult to watch at times.  He may or may not be doing it as we think he should, which is irrelevant to him and let's face it none of us can really begin to judge that accurately.  We don't know enough about what his real issues are, deep down. Let's not kid ourselves, we aint got the data.

Honest criticism of Tiger is still fair game, he's a professional golfer after all and is in the mix.  But IMO it's a time to err on the generous side.  Give the guy a frikkin break is what I'm saying.  Shoot, those blasted commentators who were overly effusive/gushing/fawning in the past, let's not have them compound the error now by being overly critical of the guy in whose shadow they should hardly walk.  How stupid would that be ........ [rhet.]