Tiger, Butch is at Augusta.

[Jim Kobylinski]

Dariusz, I'm not a cheerleader. Not every student who wins is because of the coach, that's in every sport. It's also plainly obvious you have never taught, real lessons, to a real talented player. Want to know why i know that? It's because if you did you would know that you can tell a really talented player to do almost anything you want and he'll be able to do it because they are that talented but that doesn't mean it's optimal for them.

 

[Dariusz J.]

Dariusz, I'm not a cheerleader. Not every student who wins is because of the coach, that's in every sport. It's also plainly obvious you have never taught, real lessons, to a real talented player. Want to know why i know that? It's because if you did you would know that you can tell a really talented player to do almost anything you want and he'll be able to do it because they are that talented but that doesn't mean it's optimal for them.

Naah...LOL. Jim, you know as much as pros know, which mean not much outside microscale. You may say whatever you want but the efficiency of a coach's teaching is being measured in successes of pupils; using this example -- Haney can sit comfortably waiting for Foley to clean his shoes. That's a fact.

Cheers

P.S. [..........] I am no teacher to compare myself to real teachers.

 

[Jared Willerson]

Lia, I am not going to deluge you with videos attempting to show my point, as i really dont care that much, kinda hope Phil tats that ass everytime they play.

We have a difference of opinion and I respect your opinion. I do not think Tiger was as good with the driver as he was with Butch. Haney had success with him, I certainly agree and Tiger has always been a phenomenal iron player.

I think Tiger is headed in the right direction with Foley, I like what they are working on and I believe we will see some great ball striking from him in the future. His "stats" aside from this week have been great this year.

 

[cwdlaw223]

Tiger's timing and confidence were incredible for 10+ years. He swung with different patterns and still won championships. Age, injury and a lack of confidence have caught up with him and now he can't time (some) ridiculous path/face angle relationships like he used to. Tiger is damaged, but still great. Foley has him on the right path and anybody that bets against the most dominant golfer since Jack is crazy.

An argument could be made that Tiger was better with Haney. I liked Tiger with Butch personally and am not sold on Haney.

Just my two cents.

 

[gailfcno]

Tiger just lacked some momentum this week, he could not get anything going. If the putter behaved it might have had an effect on the rest of his game as it usually does and give him some confidence. But it is bad taste for foley to still blame Haney for Tigers bad swings. Tigers comments understandably where just a little attempt to get a dig at haney after the recent book, and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[conkanen]

If the putter...

If I had a dime...please.

 

[magicmarker]

Tiger, Bubba is also at Augusta

I cannot understand why Foley has to be hovering over every practice swing, before and after the round, why not just put him on the bag too. I think that may be one of the things Haney did right. He gave Tiger his thoughts and opinions and then let Tiger figure it out on his own. Tiger knows how to play golf, I think he's capable of figuring it out on his own to some extent. His tempo on the course is dramatically different than on the range, if he can't drop down a gear on the course then start going after the ones on the range more. Practice how you play, right? I used to want to copy his swing but now it seems too tense, it doesn't flow as fluidly from start to finish. It looks short and quick with a high degree of effort and hard to repeat IMO. I'm pulling for him, I hope he's on the right track with Foley, I'm just not sure. I miss the TW that was happy to shape shots the way he visualized them, even if he had to go around and over trees after a bad drive to do so, this TW seems to be too much of a perfectionist to enjoy the game. Play more like Bubba and less like some hack who just got his first lesson.

 

[niblick1]

If he is going to play a hard cut with Foley off the tee, then Augusta may not be the best major for Tiger anymore.

Great point. Augusta demands righties hit draws off several key tees, all 4 par 5s. Hitting down and left for a safe fade shot works on many courses with Tiger's current go-to shot, not Augusta. Tiger on par 5s was terrible this week. Try hitting down and swinging left and hitting a push draw.

If tiger wants to win the Masters again, he'll have to have a way to hit a draw off the tee without screwing up the rest of his game if he wants to stick with this pattern. Maybe he'll have to learn to play golf again and quit playing swing theory.

Trevino never won the Masters and said he couldn't because of the hole shapes. Nicklaus worked on converting his soft fade to soft draw(see Brian Manzella on this) before every Masters.

Augusta is, of course, also a great left-hander fade course. See Bubba Watson.

Bay Hill has several key holes that are fade friendly off the tee, doesn't it?

 

[Kevin Shields]

Tiger hit several beautiful 3wood draws on holes that required them. It's just that his irons are so low and penetrating for Augusta...distance control problems again. Also, a two way miss can't be helping either.

 

[otto6457]

Tiger hit several beautiful 3wood draws on holes that required them. It's just that his irons are so low and penetrating for Augusta...distance control problems again. Also, a two way miss can't be helping either.

hey Kevin

Might be a dumb question. But, why is Tiger lowering his trajectory so much? The modern game seems to favor the high ball hitter unless it's windy or an Open Championship. I understand him loving the compression he feels with Foley (it is intoxicating when every shot feels like it's squeezed through a drinking straw) but playing a low trajectory makes life pretty tough when hitting into hard and fast greens.

 

[Kevin Shields]

You're right....good questions

 

[finncox]

You're right....good questions

Is it as simple as too much forward lean, and too steep an angle of attack? I recall seeing some slow motion video of him from the last few months, in one of the rounds where he played well. He was hitting an iron off the tee, and man did he have a lot of forward lean. Obviously, it's just one, non-conclusive example, and he could have been hitting a stinger or something. But, it certainly looked extreme.

 

[Virtuoso]

Tiger hit several beautiful 3wood draws on holes that required them. It's just that his irons are so low and penetrating for Augusta...distance control problems again. Also, a two way miss can't be helping either.

Kevin, if he can only play consistent draws with his 3wood and his flight is lower with his irons than in his prime, what does that tell us?

I believe it tells us that Foley's fascination with the myth of compression will destroy them both.

If you take a really talented player and teach him a bad path, he can still play around it and win occasionally with timing. But if you really want to cripple a guy, give him no loft at impact. It's like kryptonite to Superman.