Tiger must get swing mechanics right

It was a date with destiny for the game’s greatest talent and competitor yesterday.

After a solid round of 69 on Thursday, Tiger Woods, the 14 times Major champion (but winless since the US Open of 2008) would have wanted to build on his good start in the hope of adding to that championship tally. Yet again, it was not to be.

Yesterday we once again witnessed a painful exhibition of wayward tee shots, almost always left, poorly controlled iron shots and missed putts. It was a battle from the outset. To be fair to him, Woods the competitor never stopped fighting and grinding, but the great man’s patience must surely be running out.

In his prime Tiger used his achievements as an intimidatory tool, but no longer. Over the past six years his opponents have grown confident, almost greedy and now it is Tiger who is enviously looking in as others bask in Major championship glory.

Something has to change and fast!

As hard as it is to criticise Woods, given his level of achievement, it seems that most of his recent travails are self-inflicted. For many that may sound as an odd statement, but, much like our own Pádraig Harrington, the pursuit of near perfection is golf’s holy grail. It’s a dangerous zone capable of destroying a player’s competitiveness.

To understand Tiger Woods fully, we must realise that we are dealing with an intelligent and relentless perfectionist whose ambition has always been to have a swing that would allow him simply to point and click at a target and not have to sweat on where the ball finishes.

Beyond his Majors, his fame and his billion dollars, his confidence and his game have always been built around superior ball-striking and it is this quest for perfection that has led him to change his swing and the way he hits the golf ball not once but four times throughout his career.

In 2010, Tiger Woods moved over to the Sean Foley camp, which was not overly surprising given that in the past swing changes have worked for Woods. For example, when he went from Butch Harmon to Hank Haney his winning percentages per tournament entered went from 20% to 45%. With Foley, there was no reason for him to think differently, but it simply hasn’t worked out.

Under Foley’s tutelage, Tiger is much more on his toes, concentrating on staying over the ball. That has allowed him to put back a little more torque on his lower body. A still head has also meant his body is now much quieter, with a lot less lateral movement. His body is also working in unison with his arms which means his hands are less likely to fall too far behind and therefore there should be a lot less stress on his body overall.

Sounds great, you say, but there are also noticeable faults, the most serious being the steep angle of attack Woods has into the ball at impact. This produces huge inconsistencies with both accuracy and distance control and therefore overall confidence.

Incredibly, Woods is ranked 115th on the PGA Tour from 125-150 yards. When you have no control from these distances, you cannot be competitive!

From everything we know about his focus and dedication, if Woods were working on the right thing in the right way, he would have fixed it by now. Woods has always been a player who likes and needs to release the club, extending it past his body to the target.

For Woods to dominate again, he needs to let the club get behind him on a shallower angle of attack earlier in the downswing so he can release it fully through impact. It will also allow him to hit his natural shot-shape from right to left and give him back his stinger, a shot that he seems to have abandoned in recent years

To change, it would mean Tiger replacing Foley with someone who can give him the swing mechanics to be competitive again. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Tiger knows what he needs to do.

Expect changes in the Tiger camp in the near future!