Tiger Woods | Swing Theory | Driver, iron, wedge

A lot has to do with tempo. Just committing to the shot. I'm a big feel guy. Turn your body and club through together. Tiger Woods. Arguably the greatest to ever play the game. A trendsetting champion who transcended his sports. His magnetic charisma only outweighed by the otherworldly skill and his mental acumen. In what is around the fifth iteration of the Tiger Woods swing, his move, albeit impacted by a plethora of injuries, is still efficient, powerful, and beautiful. That is a, Nick, you said a burnt rope. I think that's a frozen rope. Not much curve, was there? Wow. That was bombed. Yeah. There is so much you can learn from the big cats. Start with good fundamentals. He and his dad, Earl, always used to focus on those. A good grip. Good posture. Good alignments. Good ball position. Tiger never misses on those things. But as I look at him at address here, there's one thing that stands out to me some, and perhaps it might just be the function of that right leg injury. I'm going to draw this over here. He's got a bit more of a seated look about him, with these hips looking a bit more back. It's like he's resting on a bar stool, the edge thereof. And the great Ben Hogan said with the driver, he always tried to be in that position. And so I see Woods with that rear end a bit more behind him, like he's sitting. Now I have seen that he likes to try and keep his hips back and behind him, because that gives him space through impact, and space to hit whatever shot he wants. So you see that line over right there, that line behind his rear end. Bear this in mind as we watch him start away. There's the good grip. There's the quiet forearms. And he just turns away from the golf ball with full extension of the arms. Something to look for over here. See the forearms look like a triangle in front of his body. You see the club face right there in front of the hands. The elbows are in front of the body, and this allows him just to rotate to the top of the swing. Now as he does so and the chest turns and the arms swing up, you'll start to watch him sit into this trail hip a little bit more. Up to the top, really seeming gauging those leg muscles over there. And at the top of the swing, that face is beautifully parallel with his forearm, which means that things are very square. Now when he was younger and he came out, that lead arm was a little higher, and the face was a little bit more across the line. When he worked with Hank Haney, he had the shaft a little more laid off, with a face a little bit more open or dangling to the ground a bit more. When he worked with Sean Foley, he had this lead wrist a little bit more bowed or flexed. That got the face a bit more closed. But here's Tiger Woods 5.0. He has his arms across his body. He looks very natural. He's fully rotated. He's seated into his right hip, and the face is matching his forearm. And I feel like he is in position to really go and know that the face is with him. When he was young, he'd generate up to 120 miles an hour plus of club head speed. Now he's cruising at about 115, but the ball is hit squarely every single time. On the way down, watch for the movement. Watch how the hips unwind. Watch how the arms fall down the body. Right there, still very much in that seated look with his rear end behind him. And what that does is it gives him space. Space for his arms to swing back in front of him and essentially hit any shot he wants. As he continues to go, you'll see the lower body continue to clear. You'll see the chest square up. Eyeline very level. And look at the full extension of the arms. He has hit that ball right in the heart of the club face. Now as we take him just a few frames further, you'll see a very quiet right foot. Not a lot of leg drive like he used to have because now Tiger Woods is a whole lot more upper body driven. Big strength up there as he continues to wind around into the full flowing follow through with the arms out in front and he pushes up into that free flowing somewhat restricted follow through. But make no bones about it. Tiger Woods is still a flush ball striker. He still hits it hard. He still hits it square. It might look a little different, but it's Tiger Woods playing with what Tiger Woods has. And there is a lesson for all of us. A little left to right and this is fumbled. This is beautiful. Aggressive but long. This should be perfect. Tiger Woods has driver in his hand at the short par 4-7. 336 to the hole today. Oh, how about that? Man, he asked for it to do something good. Great. Look at that shot. He'll have that for Eagle. What a tee shot that was. Tiger Woods 2018. First off, look at how much smaller the upper body is compared to where Tiger Woods is now. He's certainly strong, but he's nothing like the Tiger Woods of 2022 and beyond. Now as I look at this picture, it screams fundamentals. Let's start from the ground up. Trail foot opened up just slightly. That's to allow a little more right side wind up. Lead foot turned out slightly. That's to allow certainly some forward side unwind. Here cruising into the handle on the golf club. That gripped well. I would take a look at that folks and see how square it is. How neutral the hands are. That V that's formed by thumb and forefinger right over there. How both of those V's are so neutral. They are looking right toward that trail shoulder. That is a beautiful spot to play from. Look at how the chest is big. It's like his collarbones are popped out and the arms are right back in front of the body here. Yet behind the golf ball because he has a driver in hand. And then there's the eyeline trained right in here behind the golf ball. Naturally so. No tension across the neck. He is primed to absolutely launch the thing. As we start him back. The hallmark of Tiger Woods golf swing to me was how disciplined he was off the start of the swing. Unhurried. You can see the stretching of the arms. It almost pulls the eyeline off to the right hand side a little bit. Because that body is winding so much as it's following the extension of the arms. As he continues to wind up. You'll see there's no shifting of that right leg over to the right. There's just a big wind up through the core. Look at those shoulders there. Those shoulders are turned well beyond 90 degrees. Yet he's keeping his arms out to the side of him. That is just the power package of notes. Now here's Woods back then where without the leg injury. There was a whole lot more driving in the lower body. And I feel like at times because the lower body was so aggressive. He would get himself a little trapped. A little stuck. The arms would be behind him a bit too much. And you will see that in this swing. How he had to recover with his arms and save what was a right shot. So driving down. There's the unwind to drive forward in the hips. And stopping right there. You can see how the left arm is in front of the body. But that right arm is getting a little on the narrow side. And look at all this hinging here across the wrists. His hands only have to go basically to this line. So not a lot of room to travel. But he's got to try and get that club head all the way down. So now he's driving. He's pushing up. He's unwinding. Look at how the pelvis is pushing up. See how that right elbow is stuck underneath him though. And the shoulders are just a hair tilted. It's powerful. Don't get me wrong. Look at this left arm and club down here. That is in front of him. It's very square. It's very strong. But this right shoulder here. It's just a little stuck. That elbow there is just a little stuck. And that would force the path a hair to the right. And so as you watch him now. Three quarters of the way into the follow through. That right hand is rolled over the left in a big way. That's got the face of the club pointing quite a long way to the ground. A little too closed. Now a lot of you if you slice the golf ball. Could look at this and copy this. Because the great Jackie Burke said. The crossing over in the forearms. That area right there. Well that puts the power in the golf shot. So look at Woods there. Eyes behind the golf ball. Body straightening up. Arms crossed over. If you struggle with slices. Try that. But for Woods. He was just a little late with this one. Very dynamic. And if you watch him all the way into the follow through now. You'll see the arms look a little late. Big roll over there. The arms. Now the right shoulder and the hip are firing. He's a little late. You see how the club looks drooped over in the follow through there. And that ball was down the right center. Perhaps the right rough line. But that didn't make any difference. Tiger Woods still would make birdie more than likely. And still content to win the tournament. Tiger Woods ability to hit the ball into the ionosphere. That's superb. Really hard to hit it any closer than that. Basically a high forehand right at it. I mean right at it. Golf shot ladies and gentlemen. 167 yards. This one appears to be on the line. I think. Oh no. You can't. You can't do that. That can't happen. Iron player. One of the hallmarks of Tiger Woods game. And he does so many things well with an iron club in his hand. And so many things we can learn from him. First off build a powerful golf swing out of the ground. You can see here in contrast to the driver. That trailing foot is squared up a bit more. That is going to basically minimize and stabilize the trail hip and the trail leg. See the forward foot. It's turned out just a little bit. That's going to allow him to move forward and rotate forward. So setting up in a disciplined fashion is going to help you to success. Now hitting the ball the right distance is very much a function of compressing the golf ball. And here's a lesson I learned from Hall of Famer Gary Player. Who learned it from Ben Hogan. There's a line up Tiger Woods trailing leg. And I want to add one more circle here. And that's just around the core. Now great iron players do not disturb this red line going back. And they keep their core inside of that circle as they go back and come down to contact. So as Tiger sweeps the club away. You're going to see the arms passive. The arms following the wind up of the pivot. You see he bumps right and he just basically slightly goes and disturbs that red line over there. And the arms are extended from him. Even though he's turning centered. He's allowing his arms to swing away from there. You'll see the body continue to wind up and you'll see a little movement to the right. But notice how his trail leg that right leg is still inside of that red line. That line that's set up from the ankle all the way to the hip. You can see how there's just the gentlest of forward looks over here. That's crucial to compressing the golf ball. Now something else to consider. If Tiger Woods was standing inside of a doorway. You would see him with an iron club always get his hands up into the top right hand corner of the doorway. That allows him to keep the arms in front of his pivots. And if you do that, you can get the arms down. Get the club face down and get a strike more consistently onto the back of the golf ball. So now you'll see there'll be some forward and downward. For the longest time he was critiqued for that downward. But the truth is the golf swing isn't just about rotation. There is some down and up movement too. And you can see how he compresses down into the legs. And that's going to allow him to push back off that forward side into the follow through. So right there he is primed to compress the golf ball. Now it's just a function of keeping the eyes behind the ball. Unwinding the body. Swinging the arms back in front. Bam! Now from here you'll see the upward. He'll push off that forward leg. The upper body will start to rotate up and around a whole lot more stronger. Less work in this right leg. All on the forward leg. So he's pushing off that leg as he's raising back up into a balanced follow through. After yet another solidly struck iron shot. Oh yeah baby! That'll get them excited up there. What a fine shot from Tiger Woods. Green wants to pitch to the hole location. Lower flat and with some draw would be ideal. Spin now. Tiger Woods! Woods with a big hole out! Boys says it all. Here's Tiger Woods short iron in hand off a tight lie. Now sometimes as you well know those tight lies can get a little hair raising. Well not if you do something that the big cat does. And let's illustrate that. I'm going to draw just a reference right across the top of his head. Kind of the button of the cap on his hat. And address the ball slightly back in the stance. The front foot is flared so he can get through it. And a lot of things remain the same. But there certainly will be an upward and a downward aspect to this thing. Something that's been proved by pressure mapping. And that is important to really pinching balls off tight lies. So as we start him away nothing changes. As we pointed out he will rotate slightly to his right. But then remain very very centered. Arms off to his right hand side. No manipulation. Just allowing them to swing away as he is turning around the centered pivot. Now as he begins to get to the top of the swing. You'll see the body wind. He's making that full pivot. And can you see how in as much as what the arms are stretched upward. The upper body has worked a little downward. And now you will begin to see how there will be a little more downward even. As he transitions into the forward swing. So we start him down. The structure in the arms. The wrists. Nothing gives up there. Look at how he's lowered. You can see how that head's lowering. There's really pressure down into this forward foot. He's beautifully centered here. In fact you can see if I drew a line up from the instep of his foot. You see his front side is right up to that. Now as he goes and attacks the golf ball. The head will continue to lower just a touch. The arms reach that forward side. And that is a picturesque shot of how you should strike the golf ball. Pressure downward. Left arm down that left side. Quiet hands. And now the upward aspect of the golf swing starts to happen. You'll see as that leg straightens. The hip pushes up. The right shoulder pushes up. The arms swing up and around the shoulder. And there's Woods. Gazing way up at another ball that's hoisted off the turf. So much so you can see the eye line here of his pro-am partners. Just looking straight up into the air. Because that thing has been hoisted. And he hasn't tried to do so. He's used the upward and downward aspect of the swing well. And he's put pressure on the ground. Yeah. A heck of a shot right there. That seems to be a really good start. Just another low cut. Look at that thing run. He got 50, 60 yards out of that. Extra long. That's what he's done. It's fading over towards the flag. How good is this? Huh? How good? New location. 14 yards over the front bunker. Nice. Okay. Watch out. Possible double eagle. Oh! That was a flashback. That was unbelievable.