You make an excellent point. I think Butch might have helped tame his swing with the driver. I am struck by how different the Nike video swing looks from the one he actually plays. The swing portrait is smooth as silk and under control, but any time I see him on the course it's like he's trying to make sure he's 50 yards past everyone else.
There is one thing though which troubles me. When Tiger came on tour with that steel shafted driver HE WAS DRIVING FURTHER than everyone else. Everyone else was hitting graphite.
Oh yeah, and didn't he win THE BRITISH OPEN with only 2 driver shots in 4 days of competition?
Sorry, that dog just doesn't hunt.
IMO, Butch really didn't tame down his driver swing. I saw plenty of times, even when it didn't work, when Tiger let the shaft out of it with the driver when he was working with Butch.
I think Tiger came to Butch with a really good swing, Butch more or less turned the swing into something where Tiger could use his athleticism more and then Tiger developed that great short game.
I think Haney came in and did so many things that took away a lot of the advantage that Tiger had when it came to ballstriking. But, Tiger is a great athlete and also greatly improved his putting under Haney, so that's why he was able to win majors, but not in the dominating fashion he did under Harmon. I'll give some credit to the rest of the field raising their level of play, but to me it was more of the Haney effect on making Tiger a lesser ballstriker.
All I know is that Tiger still has the same clubhead speed, but doesn't hit it as far vs. the rest of the field...even before he started skying shots. Why? Hit attack angle is -3* with the driver. The PGA Tour average with the driver is -1*. And yes, that 2 degrees can make a big difference.
That rotates the path out to the right, but Tiger swings well out to the right with the driver as well. So the path is now even further to the right.
Which is fine if you like to set up to hit a sizeable draw. But with Tiger gripping the club in his palm in the left hand, something Haney taught him, the face doesn't square up on time and sometimes the face gets wide open and thus the dead block right happens. Try the palm grip in your left hand sometime, it's no small wonder Tiger hits the dead block.
I just don't see it as an equipment problem. I think if he had steel shaft in his driver or a different company's driver, he would still struggle with the same shots. Impact is objective and things like attack angle and a palm grip in the left hand making it difficult to square the face consistently have little to do with equipment or shaft you are using.
3JACK
