Brandel Chamblee Says Tiger Has "Done This to Himself"

[Gunther]

  Golfingdad said:

Great insider info!!!! Where'd you get it??

Kultida.

[DCrotty22]

If Tiger could just get off the tee, he could play with anyone right now.  Jason Day said the same thing.  I guess he played a practice round with him and said his iron play and putting were terrific.

[tdiii]

  DCrotty22 said:

If Tiger could just get off the tee, he could play with anyone right now.  Jason Day said the same thing.  I guess he played a practice round with him and said his iron play and putting were terrific.

Except he hasn't driven the ball well since 2009, and hasn't been an exceptional driver of the ball since 2002 or possibly 2003.

He can't even keep his 3 wood in play.

He may have conquered the shortgame yips, but he's got the driver yips, he's had them for 6 years, and there is no sign of the situation abating.

Bums me out.

[DCrotty22]

  tdiii said:

Except he hasn't driven the ball well since 2009, and hasn't been an exceptional driver of the ball since 2002 or possibly 2003.

He can't even keep his 3 wood in play.

He may have conquered the shortgame yips, but he's got the driver yips, he's had them for 6 years, and there is no sign of the situation abating.

Bums me out.

It's a links course and with those dry conditions, it will be playing like one. Better have an idea about the ground game. May take Tiger's issues out of his hands. Last time a major was played on a course this firm was '06 Hoylake according to McDowell. Who won that event without hitting a driver all week? Hmmmm.....not saying Tiger will win but this course may allow him to avoid his driving issues.

[iacas]

  Mac62 said:

I find it a little hard to swallow that a seasoned pro would use a weekend round at a tournament as a practice round to work on their game and make a "baseline shift".  But hey, it's his story - he can tell it however he wants.

Why? Do you think he had to grind it out for the paycheck? I suspect he felt he had a prime chance to do it in a tournament round with a gallery, and without just being able to grab another ball like at his home course or whatever, and used it as a chance. I suspect he said Friday night "Look, I'm DFL, I'm just gonna try to do it tomorrow."

Plus, you know, the blisters couldn't have helped.

  Gunther said:

Agree but the truth is, Tiger doesn't know wtf is going on. He's searching. This baseline shift bs is just that but he's trying to convince himself of all these things, trying to just figure it out cuz he's baffled. I do hope he works through it but I think he's digging himself deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.

I'll just say to this that I think you're dead wrong, and I'm fairly confident in my take on that.

I'm not saying Tiger will GET it and DO it all properly, but he KNOWS what is going on, what Chris wants him to do, etc.

[oregongolfguy]

Honestly, I think that everyone is just having a hard time understanding that Tiger is probably not going to ever be the absolute, dominant player in the world again.

I think he is going to get better then he is now.  And he will probably return to being one of the better players out there.  But there is so many good players out there right now.  And their are players now that can do things that he can't do very well, instead of the other way around now....

[Gunther]

  iacas said:

Why? Do you think he had to grind it out for the paycheck? I suspect he felt he had a prime chance to do it in a tournament round with a gallery, and without just being able to grab another ball like at his home course or whatever, and used it as a chance. I suspect he said Friday night "Look, I'm DFL, I'm just gonna try to do it tomorrow." Plus, you know, the blisters couldn't have helped. I'll just say to this that I think you're dead wrong, and I'm fairly confident in my take on that. I'm not saying Tiger will GET it and DO it all properly, but he KNOWS what is going on, what Chris wants him to do, etc.

You have more cred on this topic than I but I stand by my opinion. Been working with Chris a long time now, too long to be trying to change things in the middle of a round, which indicates to me that he absolutely doesn't know what's happening. I'm sure he understands the words, I think he's baffled that he can't make his body do it.

[newtogolf]

  Gunther said:

You have more cred on this topic than I but I stand by my opinion. Been working with Chris a long time now, too long to be trying to change things in the middle of a round, which indicates to me that he absolutely doesn't know what's happening. I'm sure he understands the words, I think he's baffled that he can't make his body do it.

If it's any consolation, Haney and the Dennis Paulson also believe Tiger is lost with regards to his swing and is trying to find some consistency with it.  They also mentioned that Tiger more so than other pro's has a very different swing on the range as compared to the course.

[RickK]

  iacas said:

Plus, you know, the blisters couldn't have helped.

Yesterday on Live at the US Open on GC, they were showing Tiger on the driving range hitting driver after driver after driver with shot tracer on his shots.  When he stopped and walked back to get the towel to dry off his grips, he was looking at his bare hand and appeared to be looking at what I thought might have been a blister.  I was thinking...that is not good.

[mvmac]

  None said:

  Gunther said:

You have more cred on this topic than I but I stand by my opinion. Been working with Chris a long time now, too long to be trying to change things in the middle of a round, which indicates to me that he absolutely doesn't know what's happening. I'm sure he understands the words, I think he's baffled that he can't make his body do it.

In Como's "defense", it took Butch, Haney and Foley years for the changes to stick and Como had to deal with Tiger's dumb short game problems for a couple months.

[Gunther]

  mvmac said:

In Como's "defense", it took Butch and Haney years for the changes to stick and Como had to deal with Tiger's dumb short game problems for a couple months.

I hear you and I'm sure he's communicating well with Tiger. I really think Tiger just can't do what he wants to anymore and that's what has him spinning. I went through it (on a much, much lower scale) last year and I was beside myself. I've found it again and I'm older than Tiger but I'm happy with a 5 or 6 or 7 index. Tiger won't be happy until he dominates again and I believe that ability has passed him by and he doesn't quite get why yet.

[iacas]

  Gunther said:

You have more cred on this topic than I but I stand by my opinion. Been working with Chris a long time now, too long to be trying to change things in the middle of a round, which indicates to me that he absolutely doesn't know what's happening. I'm sure he understands the words, I think he's baffled that he can't make his body do it.

He's been working with Chris on his full swing for about 4-5 months. It took Harmon and Haney about a year and a half. True too for Foley.

  Gunther said:

I hear you and I'm sure he's communicating well with Tiger. I really think Tiger just can't do what he wants to anymore and that's what has him spinning. I went through it (on a much, much lower scale) last year and I was beside myself. I've found it again and I'm older than Tiger but I'm happy with a 5 or 6 or 7 index. Tiger won't be happy until he dominates again and I believe that ability has passed him by and he doesn't quite get why yet.

You didn't go through it. You cannot compare your own 9.2 index to a PGA Tour player. You just can't.

[tdiii]

  mvmac said:

In Como's "defense", it took Butch and Haney years for the changes to stick and Como had to deal with Tiger's dumb short game problems for a couple months.

And this is the essence of Chamblee's point that started all this.  That Tiger has lost "years" (Chamblee said 4) with these various swing changes.

[iacas]

  tdiii said:

And this is the essence of Chamblee's point that started all this.  That Tiger has lost "years" (Chamblee said 4) with these various swing changes.

I agree, but at the same time, none of us know how many majors Tiger would have. The number is likely somewhere between 1 and 20.

[RFKFREAK]

  Phil McGleno said:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/woods-says-memorial-travesty-was-base-line-shift/

When I heard Tiger say this I immediately thought of your post, haha.

[Mac62]

  iacas said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac62

I find it a little hard to swallow that a seasoned pro would use a weekend round at a tournament as a practice round to work on their game and make a "baseline shift".  But hey, it's his story - he can tell it however he wants.

Why? Do you think he had to grind it out for the paycheck? I suspect he felt he had a prime chance to do it in a tournament round with a gallery, and without just being able to grab another ball like at his home course or whatever, and used it as a chance. I suspect he said Friday night "Look, I'm DFL, I'm just gonna try to do it tomorrow."...

Erik - quite honestly, my opinion is that his ego would never allow him to purposely go out and screw the pooch in a weekend tournament round, DFL or not.  I just don't think the greats in any sport are wired that way and even though I'm not a Woods fan, there's no denying that he's one of the greats.  I think the "baseline shift" story is a way to ease the sting to his pride/ego.  Just my opinion.

For the paycheck?  LOL.  I doubt he'll ever in his life have to worry about a paycheck.  No, I don't think money had anything whatsoever to do with it.  Whatever money he could have made by moving up a few spots in the tournament standings would be chump change to somebody of his means.  It would be somewhat akin to one of us average working stiffs sweating over picking up an extra 25-cent skin in our Saturday morning club round.

[mvmac]

  Mac62 said:

Erik - quite honestly, my opinion is that his ego would never allow him to purposely go out and screw the pooch in a weekend tournament round, DFL or not.  I just don't think the greats in any sport are wired that way and even though I'm not a Woods fan, there's no denying that he's one of the greats.  I think the "baseline shift" story is a way to ease the sting to his pride/ego.  Just my opinion.

Yeah I don't think he purposely set out to shoot 85. Rather than grind out another 71/72 he took the 3rd round as a chance to fully commit to a new piece (or whatever he was working on). He got more out of it and "gambled" his 3rd round score by doing it in competition than during a practice round or at home. Sometimes a players does it and they shoot a low number. You'll hear about it a few times a year when a player sneaks in a top 10 or top 20 finish with a good round on Sunday and they talk about how they changed a swing thought or adjusted their grip, etc.

That would be my take from his comments and I agree that a small part of it is his way of keeping things positive. Kind of like how Jack Nicklaus said he never hit a shank.

[iacas]

  mvmac said:

Yeah I don't think he purposely set out to shoot 85. Rather than grind out another 71/72 he took the 3rd round as a chance to fully commit to a new piece (or whatever he was working on). He got more out of it and "gambled" his 3rd round score by doing it in competition than during a practice round or at home. Sometimes a players does it and they shoot a low number. You'll hear about it a few times a year when a player sneaks in a top 10 or top 20 finish with a good round on Sunday and they talk about how they changed a swing thought or adjusted their grip, etc.

That would be my take from his comments and I agree that a small part of it is his way of keeping things positive. Kind of like how Jack Nicklaus said he never hit a shank.

I concur.