Learn To Relax Like Tiger
Learn to relax like Tiger
If there is one period in Woods’ career that shows his true dominance, it has to start with his victory at the Memorial Tournament in June 1999 when Woods went on to record one of the greatest sustained periods of excellence in men’s golf history as he went on to capture 17 PGA Tour titles in the two calendar years that followed. Overall, he won 32 PGA championships in the next five calendar years, an amazing feet that has not been in professional golf in decades.
Tiger Woods turned up the heat on the back nine yesterday to build a commanding lead of four strokes going into the weekend of the US PGA Championship at Hazeltine – the year’s final major. At seven under par, we haven’t seen him this relaxed, in control and so full of confidence for some time. His game looks better than ever.
We have seen over the career of Woods that his game can be so complete that he can win events, even majors, when he is not playing well. This was the case just three weeks ago when he won the Buick Invitational and last week he looked vulnerable off the tee until the weekend. Two 65s on Saturday and Sunday, another win, and a dominating first two rounds this week and his game looks back in tip top shape.
We all know that a just small change in our swings, can feel like a massive upheaval, even though it may not be noticeable to the untrained eye. However, I would suggest that Tiger’s swing has changed enough in two weeks that anyone could see the difference.
If you’ve watched him closely, as I have over the years, you will have seen him get out of position and hit the ball incredibly wide with a driver, both left and right. And you must have seen him finish his swing with only one hand on the club and spinning on his feet? But his game over the last two days has been measured and controlled. This is something that he searches for all the time and you may wonder how it can come and go so quickly for even the best player in the world?
The difference for him can be something as small as the ball position being one-quarter of an inch too far forward or back in his stance or his hands just a tad ahead or behind the ball at impact.
Mistakes like these will have a knock on effect and cause a player to have to ‘work the club’ through impact with their hands to compensate. As a result the timing can get out of sync and inconsistency becomes the result.
So far this week Tiger Woods has been swinging fantastically. The overall look to his swing is the same but over the weekend watch two things from which you can learn and perhaps introduce into your own game.
*Notice the pace of his take-away from the ball and his transition from backswing to downswing.
*Another indication is the ease of the finish of his swing. His arms and body just arrive at the end together and look controlled.
Once a player feels that his game is where he wants it, it’s known on the circuit as ‘ in the slot,’ and real confidence will follow and for a Tour pro that allows him to relax and execute his swing with predictable and reliable results. Grip pressure and tension in the hands is no longer there and a player can control distance, trajectory and spin because he’s relaxed. That relaxed grip pressure even increases the distance we can the ball.
To test this, try this little experiment from the tee this weekend. Throw two balls as far down the fairway as you can – hold one tightly and one softly and see which one goes further! It’s the same when hammering in a nail. See how well the action performs when you hold the golf club lightly as opposed to tightly. This is how effortless power and speed is created.
Tiger is in balance, relaxed and confident and I don’t expect him to release his grip on the trophy, however firmly he’s got one hand on it. But with the quality of field behind him, including Harrington, Fisher, Glover and Singh – we know that golf’s a funny old game and confidence can leave as quickly as it arrives.
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