With a respectable showing in December at the Hero (-4) it appeared that this time around might be the charm. In talking with people in the industry as well as fans alike, it seems there are two schools of thought. Some believe Tiger is done and just hasn't accepted it yet while others believe this latest set back is an unfortunate delay on his path at making one last run. Whatever your thoughts are, the fact that TW's has not been competitive in quite some time does make you wonder how someone of such caliber drops so far so fast.
There is no lack of opinions when bringing up the fall of Tiger and certainly we'll never know for sure, but we do know he's not the first great golfer to travel this path and he won't be the last.
As a golf professional I have spent many hours studying, analyzing, and breaking down most of the golf swings you see when watching golf on Saturday's and Sunday's. Although I don't know Tiger personally, I do know golfers, golf swings, learning styles and the psyche of golfers in general, yet my take on the situation is not a technical one at all, rather the opposite. Anyone who has given this issues more than 5 minutes of thought could easily come to the same conclusions.
Tiger had such a free flowing swing throughout college and well into his professional career. At times it appeared he was on auto pilot winning tournaments by big margins. By most observers accounts it was a matter of time before he would break Jack;s records and all other other record in golf that mattered.
Now let's travel back in time a bit. TW played some of his best professional golf under Butch Harmon yet there came a point in time when Tiger felt he needed something more. Enter Hank Haney another world class instructor and again Tiger's success again was pretty substantial and yet again the need for something more arose. Enter Sean Foley (with a bio mechanics focus approach) and the success dropped off noticeably. The need to change directions again came in the form of Chris Como, his latest swing coach. Throw in there the wife incident and the death of his driving force (his father) and well, here we are.
From a swing stand point I believe the bio mechanics focus (which still seems to be part of his current coaches philosophy) in my opinion, doesn't blend well with TW's over analytical personality. As a coach I tend to believe Tiger would be better served by a "thinking less not more" approach. Swinging freely like earlier in his career rather than being bogged down with thoughts of what each muscle does at any particular point in his swing. Most noticeably his current swing has him coming more up and out of his posture upon impact which is opposite of what he's done throughout most of his career. The reason for this is to take pressure off his back which seems reasonable. However, there are others ways to achieve that same goal which I believe would be more in line with what his muscle memory is already conditioned to do, but we'll save that for another article.
So what's next? That's the sixty four thousand dollar question. His current regiment, whatever that may consist of, isn't cutting it and if he stays this current course, then I believe his competitive days are numbered.
On the other hand, a fresh new direction with a focus on simpler and less strenuous movements could be just what the doctor ordered and a return could indeed be a reality. But if Tiger keeps trying to put square pegs in round holes, well....we all know how that usually works out.
Blog written by Vince Fratercangelo-Director of
Instruction at VJF Golf Academy
