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Tiger Woods Driving The Ball

The comments on dropping Foley....has he burned the bridges that are Harmon and Haney? Does he really need to drop Foley? Or is this more psychological and less physical? Granted he's had injuries, which many people said were coming when he was dominating years ago, but like some of said, it just doesn't seem like that fire is burning as hot as it once was. And with that, he was criticized for being an a$$ for being Tiger. Not being open for the world to see. Now he's a little more available and not playing Tigerish. If he gets that fire stoked again, and goes back to shutting everything out, will he be criticized for that again.
 
Every time I think Tiger is 'back' he goes in the other direction. I don't think he can win a major unless he gets the driver figured out. He's not longer than everyone else anymore.
 
T2GRN18 said:
The comments on dropping Foley....has he burned the bridges that are Harmon and Haney? Does he really need to drop Foley? Or is this more psychological and less physical? Granted he's had injuries, which many people said were coming when he was dominating years ago, but like some of said, it just doesn't seem like that fire is burning as hot as it once was. And with that, he was criticized for being an a$$ for being Tiger. Not being open for the world to see. Now he's a little more available and not playing Tigerish. If he gets that fire stoked again, and goes back to shutting everything out, will he be criticized for that again.
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Probably, but to be fair, if this is "open" for an athlete (any athlete), I would hate to see what closed is.
 
T2GRN18 said:
The comments on dropping Foley....has he burned the bridges that are Harmon and Haney? Does he really need to drop Foley? Or is this more psychological and less physical? Granted he's had injuries, which many people said were coming when he was dominating years ago, but like some of said, it just doesn't seem like that fire is burning as hot as it once was. And with that, he was criticized for being an a$$ for being Tiger. Not being open for the world to see. Now he's a little more available and not playing Tigerish. If he gets that fire stoked again, and goes back to shutting everything out, will he be criticized for that again.
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He is Tiger he will be scrutinized regardless of what he does.

Play well and win 5 times but no major- scrutinized

Play terrible and miss cuts- scrutinized

Be closed off to fans and media about your personal life - scrutinized

Open up a little to fans and media- scrutinized because others are more open

If your a pro and one of the best in your sport you are scrutinized regardless of what you do. Why because everyone wants something to talk about you for so viewers will tune in.

No matter what he does he will be picked apart for it.
 
JB said:
Probably, but to be fair, if this is "open" for an athlete (any athlete), I would hate to see what closed is.
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It appears as open IMO for Tiger. I seem to remember early Tiger days when Earl was a big factor that he very very guarded. Not that he's Oprah open now, but given recent events (5-6 years) he's been forced to let some of those guards down.
 
I think he will be fine once he realizes that a straight 3W/2 Iron is better than a crooked driver, it's hard to accept that you cannot hit it as far or play as well as you once did. This will sound odd but i think the Ryder Cup could be good for him(if he is there), playing for your country having a partner who you don't want to let down, might make him realize that hitting a 6/7 iron from the fairway is better than a SW/PW from the trees or for your 3rd shot.
 
Again this is Haney talking in the book but it seems Tiger had some real ego issues with the driver. Haney tried to get him to hit a high spinner with a little fade that was easy to repeat and then later on even a stinger with the driver but Tiger would never put them into play. It was one thing to have a lot of guys hitting drivers past his 2-iron or 3-wood but having them out hit his driver appeared to be too much for his pride.

Tiger's big advantage with the driver pretty much ended with the Pro V1 and the new driver set-ups/technology that followed it. Other guys adapted and flourished while Tiger has struggled to take advantage.

The thing I see with the Foley swing is that Tiger hits his shorter irons some unbelievable distances and his distance control has really suffered at times. He got some things figured out in 2013 and was able to win again but that part of his game is still not what it used to be. Maybe it is more about the injuries than the swing and if that is the case not sure leaving Foley at this stage in his career is the correct choice.
 
The drive is a small part of it, he can't even hit a darn green from the middle of the fairway! he's got no distance control with wedges, his putting stroke is as effective as mine in the last round of the Morgan Cup, and he's so far out of the shot before he even makes contact it's not funny. He has a good swing but it's a good swing for a 50 year old Tiger not a young dynamic Tiger with a ton of athleticism still to be gamed. He needs a swing to win not a driver, for God's sake, he won a major with a 2 iron lol.
 
Trout Bum said:
The drive is a small part of it, he can't even hit a darn green from the middle of the fairway! he's got no distance control with wedges, his putting stroke is as effective as mine in the last round of the Morgan Cup, and he's so far out of the shot before he even makes contact it's not funny. He has a good swing but it's a good swing for a 50 year old Tiger not a young dynamic Tiger with a ton of athleticism still to be gamed. He needs a swing to win not a driver, for God's sake, he won a major with a 2 iron lol.
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problem with a 50 yr old swing? Lol
 
Lol, not at all buddy I'm right there with you :banana:
 
Let' hear it for the old guys....:act-up:

FWIW, and this may be totally off base, I think he's playing scared. Not sure how to explain it, but he just looks worried all of the time.

JM
 
Johnny mojo said:
Let' hear it for the old guys....:act-up:

FWIW, and this may be totally off base, I think he's playing scared. Not sure how to explain it, but he just looks worried all of the time.

JM
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I will say it's more playing timid/not confident in his game.

We all know what it's like to play defensive golf(his game now it appears) vs playing confident(like he did most of last yr)

If you have the shot in the bag and believe you can make it the odds are in your favor you will or that your miss will be small, if you play like you are unsure of what will happen when swing the club the odds say it will be bad
 
Supersport said:
I am reading Haneys book right now and EVERY thing that they are pointing out on tv right now is exactly what Haney brings up as his biggest issues.

Getting stuck
moving down
moving head back
straight rear leg at impact vs bent.

It it almost spooky to hear what Haneys concerns are and then see breakdown of his swing.

I should also point out that I do to mean to be critical. I would take all of tigers bad swings per round and welcome them to my game.
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I have yet to see tiger with a straight back leg. He maintains the flex as good as any body

And maybe, just maybe these guys all read the book as well and are just repeating what they have in their heads.
 
Johnny mojo said:
Let' hear it for the old guys....:act-up:

FWIW, and this may be totally off base, I think he's playing scared. Not sure how to explain it, but he just looks worried all of the time.

JM
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That can happen when you don't really know where your ball is going.
 
Does anyone know the real truth behind his break up with Butch?
 
Tadashi70 said:
I have yet to see tiger with a straight back leg. He maintains the flex as good as any body

And maybe, just maybe these guys all read the book as well and are just repeating what they have in their heads.
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What about the head movement, Freddie? Rory has a bunch of it too, so it can work...maybe it's part of a power move??? Is that a move that isn't worth worrying about for players at that level or is it one of those things that means they need perfect timing, etc?
 
Tadashi70 said:
I have yet to see tiger with a straight back leg. He maintains the flex as good as any body.
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Agree with this a ton, would really like to see him swing with shorts on so people can really see how well he holds that flex. The pant style(straight legged) really hide a lot of this as the back of the pants is pretty straight.
 
golfinFF said:
Agree with this a ton, would really like to see him swing with shorts on so people can really see how well he holds that flex. The pant style(straight legged) really hide a lot of this as the back of the pants is pretty straight.
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The straight right leg is noted as being at impact. Not going back up to the top.
 
Agent Jay said:
The driver always seemed like Tiger's only real weak point in his game over the years. As long as he is, if he backed off to even 80 or 90%, he'd STILL be as long as the normal driving average I bet. Still, coming off back surgery can't be easy for anyone, even Tiger. I just don't see Foley working out, he hasn't seemed to work from what I can tell...at least for Tiger.
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Jman said:
Agreed entirely. Just keep the thing in play, if that means a shorter club and slight loss of distance, so be it, dude can recover with the irons. Just my take though.
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Agree with these thoughts. I'm certainly no teacher, but it seems he struggles most with the driver in trying to go after it hard.

If he were to throttle back on it or even go with the stinger 3 wood more often, I think he'd himself in better position off the tee a lot more often.
 
tequila4kapp said:
What about the head movement, Freddie? Rory has a bunch of it too, so it can work...maybe it's part of a power move??? Is that a move that isn't worth worrying about for players at that level or is it one of those things that means they need perfect timing, etc?
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Watch Foley's other students, their heads don't move. Tiger's head drops because he loads with the lower legs and snaps through the zone.....or he did. He is combining two great swings with Foley's theories. But his rear legs remains flexed
 
blugold said:
The straight right leg is noted as being at impact. Not going back up to the top.
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Tiger used to snap his left leg straight and now it's slightly flexed. Many have been critical of this new leg position. The right leg is fine.
 
Just saw Tiger hit two of the worst iron shots I have ever seen him hit. Tried to hit a fade over water, chunked it short into the lake. Followed that with a tee shot on a par 3, fat 20-30 yards short of the green. Both were attempts at a fade. Reminds me of a lesson I had recently. I was hitting the ball well, and even able to alternated draw versus fade. The problems mostly happened when I setup for a fade I would hit it fat. My instructor said I was not finishing my backswing on those shots and getting out of sync. When I made sure to finish my backswing I was able to sync up and hit good shots. So looks to me like the shortened backswing is at least part of his problem. Seems his driver issues started when he started making a concerted effort to do that. Now maybe the back forcing the issue somewhat it is also beginning to affect his irons.

Anyone know if the course the PGA is on would setup better for a fade? Looks like he is trying to force that shot today even when it is not necessary, so may be trying to work on that shot.
 
Tadashi70 said:
I have yet to see tiger with a straight back leg. He maintains the flex as good as any body

And maybe, just maybe these guys all read the book as well and are just repeating what they have in their heads.
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I am sure they all read the book, no doubt that is where they probably got a lot of it. Did not mean to imply that they did or did not.

Yesterday, I forget which hole, they showed a slow motion view of his swing, comparing his iron swing to his current driver swing. Back leg was completely locked out, and they pointed it out (driver I believe)

I honestly know nothing about golf swings and can not pick up what he is doing or not doing so I am sure that you are correct. I just thought it was in interesting book, I liked Haney from the Haney project. I just really noticed when they were talking about and showing the straight back leg on TV yesterday and remembered it form the book.
 
Uh oh, back flaired up again. He is some major pain right now, explains those wayward shots.
 
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