Brandel Chamblee Says Tiger Has "Done This to Himself"

[billchao]

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/tiger-woods-has-done-himself-says-chamblee

Quote:

Chamblee added that Woods has abandoned a swing that got him to be the top player in the world—several times—and that it’s “clearly caught up with him.”

He added another interesting nugget late in the conversation, saying that if Woods were to call former teachers Hank Haney or Butch Harmon that “within a month or two they would have him back playing some solid golf. I really do believe that.”

The most amazing part of the entire discussion is Brandel's assertion that a swing change should take a week, claiming the eight months with Chris Como is too long to take to see results, yet acknowledging that Tiger took two years under Haney before he saw success (I'm assuming he meant at the majors).

He also thinks the bulk is bad. Wonder how he feels about Rory?

[mvmac]

When it comes to leaving Haney, Tiger's swing was really bad the last year or so they were working together. With Butch, Chamblee may have a point. From what I know Butch was basically done with where he wanted Tiger's swing to be and Tiger wanted to keep tweaking.

Disagree Haney or Butch would have Tiger back within a month or whatever. You can't "go back" to a swing you used to have.

He also thinks the bulk is bad. Wonder how he feels about Rory?

It's all good until he starts playing bad. Just as Tiger was heralded for working out and being in great shape when he was winning, now he gets criticized for "bulking".

[RFKFREAK]

I really feel at this point Chamblee says things just for shock value.

[tiger19]

Chamblee will do anything to make TW look bad . That is why it's always interesting, when he is next to Notah in the studio and starts running his mouth. I'm waiting for the day Notah shuts him up . Thats what friends do.

[Pretzel]

I wonder when Brandel will think his personal vendetta has gone far enough?

[Mac62]

I really feel at this point Chamblee says things just for shock value.

It seems to me that Chamblee has really toned it down since he got crucified last year for being a "hater".  He may not be a fan, but he seems to be much more subtle with his digs than he used to be.  The problem (IMO) is that some of Woods' fans are so over the top that they start foaming at the mouth and bouncing off the walls anytime anybody says anything that could be construed as the least bit negative about him.

I don't think anybody would argue with saying that Woods has "done this to himself".  Nobody else did it to him.  Nobody forced him to choose the coaches he's chosen and nobody forced him to go through three or four swing changes.  It's a result of his incessant/obsessive tinkering with his swing and IMO, now the mental issues (i.e. lack of confidence) that have resulted from it.

[ETA:] I do think Chamblee is way off base with his claim that Haney or Harmon would have Woods right back in prime shape in a month or two, and/or that a swing change would merely take a week.  That's a kind of asinine statement and he should know better than that.  Despite the fact that he (Chamblee) was a perennial 'also-ran' during his brief career on the PGA Tour, he has played golf at the professional level and knows how difficult it is.

[RFKFREAK]

Chamblee will do anything to make TW look bad . That is why it's always interesting, when he is next to Notah in the studio and starts running his mouth. I'm waiting for the day Notah shuts him up . Thats what friends do.

This happened the other day. Chamblee was saying that only Butch or Hank could save Tiger and Notah was responded by saying the amount of time that Tiger and Como have been working together isn't a sufficient amount of time to make a judgement as to success or failure.

[ChrisP]

I don't know....I think people jump on Chamblee a little too much sometimes. Just because he's a critic isn't a reason to hate. I actually think he makes some valid points a lot of the times. I don't agree with all the points he makes, but there are some I do. But I think his main point is Tiger Woods once had the nicest swing in golf that was electrifying and dominant, and now he doesn't....but he could if he wanted to.

[Golfingdad]

I don't know....I think people jump on Chamblee a little too much sometimes. Just because he's a critic isn't a reason to hate. I actually think he makes some valid points a lot of the times. I don't agree with all the points he makes, but there are some I do. But I think his main point is Tiger Woods once had the nicest swing in golf that was electrifying and dominant, and now he doesn't....but he could if he wanted to.

Pretty much agree with this. I don't believe Chamblee has anything against Tiger other than perhaps the same anger that the rest of us feel wondering what the heck is going on. He has strong opinions, some maybe right, some maybe wrong, and he has an outlet to voice them. I think Chamblee genuinely wants Tiger to do well just like (most of) the rest of us.

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisP

I don't know....I think people jump on Chamblee a little too much sometimes. Just because he's a critic isn't a reason to hate. I actually think he makes some valid points a lot of the times. I don't agree with all the points he makes, but there are some I do. But I think his main point is Tiger Woods once had the nicest swing in golf that was electrifying and dominant, and now he doesn't....but he could if he wanted to.

Pretty much agree with this. I don't believe Chamblee has anything against Tiger other than perhaps the same anger that the rest of us feel wondering what the heck is going on. He has strong opinions, some maybe right, some maybe wrong, and he has an outlet to voice them.

I think Chamblee genuinely wants Tiger to do well just like (most of) the rest of us.

Disagree.  I think Chamblee does it for self promotion and to make himself look smarter in his own eyes.  He doesn't go after anyone else with such venom.

[Mr. Desmond]

Did it not take almost 2 years with Haney for that swing change before he went on a tear (and it was not with the driver)?

8 months? I'd give him until February and see what happens next.

As a society, we want instant results ... and life is not instant oatmeal. Let's remember that instant oatmeal is not as healthy as 30 minute steel cut oats. The good takes time.

Chamblee? Like the rest of the world, he's waited since 2010 for results, and overlooks the fact that Tiger had injuries, that Sean Foley was overmatched, and Tiger has family time now. I think Tiger has a head problem, too. He is now old enough to reflect on life and what he's done. Hope he is going to a shrink or golf shrink to deal with all that garbage that has built up over 6 years not to mention his childhood and parents.

Okay, Chamblee says he wants Tiger to do well -- has said it over and over. I think a vocal minority of the public does not want to hear that Tiger has screwed himself ( I mean we all do to some extent), and they blame the messenger. I think Chamblee tells it like it is and/or how he sees it - they are not the same. Chamblee has a point, Tiger is not playing like ... Tiger (Thx, Captain Obvious) and Tiger shot an 85 so he had to say something  critical and reactionary ...

[WUTiger]

... I don't believe Chamblee has anything against Tiger other than perhaps the same anger that the rest of us feel wondering what the heck is going on. He has strong opinions, some maybe right, some maybe wrong, and he has an outlet to voice them.

I think Chamblee genuinely wants Tiger to do well just like (most of) the rest of us.

Chamblee does have several years of PGA tour experience behind him. He played a scattering of PGA tour events from 1983 to 1989, did two years on the Web.com tour (including a win).

He then moved to the PGA tour as a regular player from 1991 to 2003:

• He won most of his PGA career $4 million prize money in this stretch.
• Won the 1998 Greater Vancouver Open.
• Had four 2nd places.
• Finished in Top Ten 25 times.

Thus, I think Chamblee has some understanding of what it's like to struggle with one's swing.

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.

For those interested, here's some background comments from me in the 221-reply BC...Tiger hater thread of 2011:

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

[Gunther]

I like that BC is getting some positive feedback here. Sure, he can be a windbag and redundant but he is not, nor has he ever been, a Tiger-hater. He's been critical of Tiger and laudatory. Of late, there hasn't been much to laud. On the topic of how long it takes to incorporate a new swing: I've always believed it would be a long process. But, I remember when Romano did the Haney Experiment and he was whining about how long it was taking him to see results from Haney's changes, Haney emphatically stated results should be immediate, you do it the right way and you should see results. That stayed with me because it was so contrary to what I'd always believed and, I didn't realize this, but also doesn't fit with his own experience with Tiger as has been cited here that Tiger took 8 months with Haney to finally see results.

[newtogolf]

I usually can't stand Chamblee because his career appears to have been reduced to taking cheap shots at Tiger to remain relevant.  That said, I do think there's some truth to what he was quoted as saying.  Imagine if Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, or Mickey Mantle at the pinnacle of their careers decided to completely change their swing for no apparent reason.

We're not talking minor tweaks, Tiger has attempted to make a major swing overhaul four times (Butch, Haney, Foley, now Como).  I understand that the swing he used with Butch placed too much stress on his left knee and that it was breaking down so he had to change.  He did have a significant amount of success with Haney's swing and it was less stressful on his knees.  No one knows why Tiger left Haney for Foley other than Foley's Zen approach to golf and life might have appealed to Tiger's mindset after all the problems he had in his personal life.  As for Como, I don't know much about him beyond what I've read here and while he may be a good swing coach, Tiger may be too old a dog to learn a new swing.

In looking back, it seems the swing coach change is usually preceded by a period of time where Tiger goes it alone.  He seems to have a habit of avoiding communications with his swing coaches when they fall out of favor and it's during that time he screws up his swing.  Haney talked about how Tiger spent a lot of time testing the water with him before he officially dumped Butch and committed to Haney and he did the same thing to Haney with Foley.  It appears it's during that time Tiger attempts to fix his own swing and does more damage than good and the next coach he takes on has to undo all the damage.

Tiger had time on his side in his 20's at this point he can't afford a year or two to make major overhauls to his swing.   His aging body and past injuries will slowly take their toll on his distance which will only make it harder for him to win, especially majors.

[MrDC]

I agree with him, it takes time for such upper body strength to take it's toll, but it did, it did to Tiger, and it will to Rory.

I also agree he was nuts messing with his swing, but I kind of wonder just how much that's a factor, if he never injured himself would he be better now? probably.

The time off really hurt his game, and he seems to be getting back into it so slowly that I question his interest in the game, can't be casual in golf.

[dkolo]

Tiger did this to himself in the sense that no one snuck into his room at night and changed his swing while Tiger wasn't paying attention. Unless Brandel secretly thinks Haney did that and is holding Tiger's swing for ransom. That would be the hottest of takes.

[ChrisP]

Disagree.  I think Chamblee does it for self promotion and to make himself look smarter in his own eyes.  He doesn't go after anyone else with such venom.

Isn't that what all analysts do? haha. But people hear what they want to hear. He actually praises Tiger a lot, too. When he was chipping well at Augusta, he gave him all the praise in the world and actually ate crow on tv. And he continually says he wants to see Tiger return to the form he was at. He's just frustrated like all of us that he's falling as far as he is and he's offering his opinion on it. I just think he gets the negativity he does by some here because he goes he is tough on the one and only, Tiger Woods. Like I said, some of it I agree, some of it I don't.

I also think some of it is TGC. I think they encourage him to be open with his opinion and be critical. Why? Because it gets people talking, like us here. If he's getting people to make threads about it and people are having conversations about it outside of here, then he's doing his job and will get people to tune in more frequently, whether you like it or not. Why do you think Simon Cowell made American Idol?

[phan52]

Chamblee will do anything to make TW look bad . That is why it's always interesting, when he is next to Notah in the studio and starts running his mouth. I'm waiting for the day Notah shuts him up . Thats what friends do.

No, that is what apologists do. If you watch the exchange, it was Chamblee who shut Notah up. All Notah had was, "give it time".

Seriously, Tiger Woods should not be this bad at this stage of a swing change. No PGA Tour player should, let alone a guy who ruled the golf world for a decade. Something is seriously wrong and I don't think it is his body. It's his head, and that is what Chamblee (and others like Azinger and Nicklaus) is saying.