As The Open approached and Tiger completed one of his best performances in years shooting 7 under at the Greenbrier classic on the PGA tour, hope began to rise in everyone who experienced the era of Tiger Woods. St Andrews has always been a stomping ground for Tiger, a place that brings back fond memories and a course that suits his eye and his game. However as soon as Tiger’s second shot to the first hole finished in the Swilken burn short of the green, that hope and our hearts immediately sank.

Tiger was my idol growing up, and it is amazing to see just how far he has fallen in recent times. Constant swing changes now make him look like he is stuck in a web of technique that he just cannot get out of. Tiger’s body has changed immensely over the years between the gym and injuries, and with that so too has his swing. However those who are Tiger fans still live in hope that he can show us one last flurry or two of the form we had seen in his earlier years.

ADDRESS

One of the things I have always loved about Tiger is his set up position. It is pretty clear to see his body shape has significantly changed over the last number of years. Aside from the obvious differences of how his shoulders sit to me Tiger appears to have his hips aimed significantly to the left of target in his new set up, compared to his old where everything appears to be almost perfectly in line.

FIRST POSITION

As we look at Tiger’s old takeaway on the left I love the height he begins to get on the club very early in the swing compared to his newer swing on the right hand side. You will also notice that the club face on the left is significantly more open (or vertical) than the one on the right. To me this first position set’s Woods up for everything else that will happen in the swing. I really like his old position as it reduces the chance of the leftward miss which he tends to get quite often.

As we begin to get to the top of Tiger’s backswing we start to see some noticeable differences in the positioning of the club. On the left hand side we can see a nice shallow angle with the club pointing towards the golf ball. I love seeing this position with Woods as it means he has very little work to do on the way down which allows him to square the club up with ease. The right hand side you will notice the club is significantly more upright and points inside the ball. The risk with this position is that it increases the chances of woods producing a very steep approach to the golf ball, or else attempting to shallow the club by dropping it behind him.