Tiger @ 50: Cutting-edge technology reveals key metrics in Tiger’s golf swing

A conversation about Tiger Woods’ golf swing and, in fact, his career, and how it is closely related to knee health.

A desire to avoid knee injuries was the motivation behind his decision to leave legendary instructor Butch Harmon and recalibrate his dominant 2000-era golf swing.

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Winning the US Open in 2008 despite a broken leg was one of the most iconic moments of his career and the beginning of a drought that lasted more than a decade.

And because all the muscles in the human body work together as a system, they often work like an avalanche when something goes wrong. When one component fails, another step compensates for it before it itself fails under excessive stress. Could Tiger’s continued back injuries in his later years be caused by knee problems in his youth?

In any case, Tiger’s golf swing has changed a lot over the years, but in some ways his lower body movement is the best story and holds lessons for the rest of us.

This can be measured with an app called SportsBox AI. SportsBox uses AI technology to measure different parts of your body during your golf swing. I connected a lot of Tiger’s old swings, SportsBox Pelvic Shake Metricsyou can see how the engine of Tiger’s swing evolved.

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Early Advantage: Huge side-to-side power

Tiger’s early dominance, winning three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateurs, then three consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships, and soon winning the 1997 Masters was due to perhaps the most powerful pound-for-pound swing of all time.

Tiger’s young swing featured large side-to-side movements.

• Sports box to measure pelvis Move more than 1.5 inches away from the target during the backswing.

• By the top of the backswing, his pelvis had retreated toward the target in front of him, but was still at a nearly right angle.n inches further from the target than the starting positiona subtle movement known as recentering.

• The impact caused Tiger’s pelvis to shift. Closer than 6 inches to target.

• Pelvis shifted due to follow-through Almost 9 inches towards the target. With this massive pelvic slide, you can notice hints of his inverted C finish.

This side-to-side movement is a product of the time, and many players from the Persimmon era generated power by sliding their hips wide towards the target. This was also necessary for Tiger, as his strong grip and closed clubface required an aggressive slide to prevent the clubface from closing further.

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The Butch Era: Sophisticated Power

The swing that propelled Tiger to a career Grand Slam and became one of the most dominant stretches in golf history was a refinement of his younger moves, which makes sense since Butch Harmon oversaw both swings.

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Tiger’s goal after winning the 1997 Masters was to gain more stability in exchange for a little more power. He accomplished this by putting the club and clubface in a more neutral position at the top of the backswing, keeping them from crossing the line, and reducing the large hip slide toward the target.

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• Interestingly, with this repetition of Tiger’s swing, his pelvis slipped even more. move away from the target on the backswing More than before: more than 2 inches, as measured by SportsBox.

Dom Flore

• But the impact caused Tiger’s pelvis to move. Less than 5 inches to targetThis is pretty standard among tour players and is almost 1.5 inches smaller than before.

Most amateurs will have a hard time returning to sliding the lead leg far away from the target on the backswing. Butch and Tiger’s genius recognized that Tiger could handle it. A big shift in the backswing gave him power, and his explosive and athletic lower body ability allowed him to return to his ideal position at impact without fear of oversliding.

In this Golf Digest swing sequence filmed at the time, Tiger can be seen working on preventing overslides. Notice that your right foot is firmly planted on the ground. This is to prevent your lower body from sliding too far forward.

Dom Flore

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Haney era: stay centered

Despite the overwhelming success of his new, refined swing, Tiger began to fear that side-to-side thrusts would put stress on his knees in the long run. As he began adjusting his swing under Hank Haney, the pair made major changes to arm, wrist, and grip position, but one of the most notable changes was in lower body movement, especially during the backswing.

• Under Haney’s guidance, Tiger has largely eliminated the pelvic rocking during his backswing and has solidified his lower body. You should never be more than an inch away from your target on your backswing.

• By the top of the backswing, the sports box measures Tiger’s pelvis was within 0.2 inches of the starting position during setup.

• As a result, the movement of using the hips to lunge toward the target at impact is less dramatic. Impact moves 4 inches from starting position and By the end of my release, it was 5.5 inches.

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It is unclear whether this had the intended effect of protecting his knee in the long term. What’s undeniable is that Tiger created a golf swing with less side-to-side movement than before, and achieved great success with it.

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In pursuit of compression: a new swing

After parting ways with Haney, Tiger once again reinvented his swing, this time focusing on new metrics brought about by the rise of NRE technology, specifically improved compression on iron shots.

This change was again reflected in his pelvic rock values.

• SportsBox measured his pelvic movements Not more than 0.2 inches away from the target At any point during the backswing, 1 inch shift towards target By the top of the backswing.

• The impact caused Tiger’s pelvis to shift significantly. 8 inches towards the targetfar above touring standards than when he was younger.

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In this swing, Tiger’s head was down and the shaft was tilted quite a bit. Although this swing was controversial and often criticized, Tiger achieved impressive results with it after an initial adjustment period, winning five games in 2013 and just missing out on winning the Masters.

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Modern hybrids: a part of everything

In recent years, Tiger has taken a hybrid approach to his swing, combining elements of his work with Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. His grip, arms, and club position are similar to those from his Harmon days, but his body movement and structure are more reminiscent of his Haney-era swings.

Now, Tiger’s pelvis is moving around. 2 inches away from the ball mid-backswingthen center back to approx. He was half an inch away from the top of his backswing.

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To accommodate his limited back mobility, his head moves slightly backwards, and the impact moves his pelvis about 6.5 inches toward the target. This is considered the upper end of the optimal range for professionals.

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Lessons for amateur golfers

The evolution of Tiger’s swing highlights the importance of pelvic movement for golfers of all skill levels. For amateur golfers, side-to-side movement is important for generating power, but not moving enough towards the target can cause a variety of problems. Pros typically move their hips 6 inches toward the target, while amateurs often struggle to move more than 2 inches, resulting in less consistent strikes and less distance.

Throughout his career, Tiger has focused on optimizing pelvic movement, highlighting its importance in achieving a powerful, consistent, and efficient golf swing. By studying the changes in Tiger’s technique over the years, amateur golfers can gain valuable insight into the role of lower body movement in the golf swing and incorporate those lessons into their own games.