Quote:
Originally Posted by Your Boss
TW's response would be that the Harmon swing was the major contributor to his knee trouble. That the abrupt straightening of the lead knee was unsustainable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UCBananaboy
especially when he used to snap his left leg at impact.
Another thing that I am sure NXT or golfdoc could explain better than me, but it REALLY pisses me off when the announcers say Tiger “snaps his leg back at impact.” There is nothing wrong with UCBanana or YourBoss saying Tiger snaps his leg back as they are regurgitating what they hear and see, and I say that with nothing but respect as UCbanana and YourBoss don’t study the game for a living (and yes I love UC and YB and they love golf, but they aren’t instructors). Tiger is NOT snapping his leg backwards, he is jumping up off the ground and thus using the ground for leverage to create more speed, just like Bubba does, only Tiger is still staying on the ground which is why Bubba hits it farther.
I feel like golf commentators have people on driving ranges all over the world who are actively trying to snap the leg backwards when what is really happening is you are jumping up and turning the lower body which makes it LOOK like you are snapping the leg backwards when it is in fact simply straightening as you create side bend in your upper body (don’t try this at home, this falls under the “natural ability” category that people think doesn’t exist). Think and feel the difference between snapping a leg backwards or jumping up and turning your hips. The look of the knee is the same at impact, but one results in surgery and the other results in power. Yes when you do it to the extreme of Tiger or Bubba is looks bat**** crazy as Tiger looks like he is snapping his leg off and Bubba is literally off the ground at impact.
The always talked about “drop” in Tiger’s head from the top of the downswing is a problem yes, but that drop is also where he gets his power from. He loads it to the top and then drops only to create more room to jump at impact creating more leverage and speed. If you jumped without dropping your head or creating sufficient side bend from the down the line view you would whiff the ball as you have jumped up (LDO). To create speed you need as much leg and hips as you can muster so you must jump for power and therefore you must also drop your upper body to offset it and make solid contact. It is simple physics much like a figure skater bringing their arms and hands to their body to create speed when spinning. Where Tiger gets in trouble with his driver is because he still has the drop from the top and then due to injury or whatever doesn’t have the speed and strength to jump up and maintain the proper distance from the golf ball at impact with the same timing from shot to shot. I really can’t believe that Peter Kostis or somebody has never delved into that much. Either it is too much to get out in a reasonable timeframe on TV or they don’t understand it. Tiger saying it was the major contributor to his knee trouble shows that even he didn’t understand it AT THE TIME (I assume he does now). In all honesty, nobody really did until the use of high speed cameras and better technology came along and even now not very many people truly “get” what is going on to create power and efficiency in the golf swing. Think about it, if Tiger had a more active lower body like he did when he was a kid the current massive drop in the head would be offset at the same time by a rising lower body and you wouldn’t be able to see the drop in the head.
So the problem is really not that his head is dropping, it is that his lower body isn't rising like it used to and offsetting it. I can only assume that thought blows about 99% of you away and there will be several who may or may not post it but think that is wrong, it's not. Had he not moved away from Harmon that slowing of his lower body with age would have probably more easily morphed into his mature swing rather than constantly changing directions.
In all honesty, I think I have made plenty of good contributions to the forum over the years, mostly with regards to stories, Q School sweats, and psychology. But I really do think this is my best post ever with regards to the swing. I doubt very many of you have ever heard of this. I may not have worded it very well, but if you guys really sit down and think about what I said here you might get a much deeper understanding of the golf swing.
Ground force reaction, Google that when you Google “Tiger Woods in Shorts”.