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<\/a>News of Tiger\u2019s departure from his most recent coach, Chris Como, should come as no surprise to anyone.\u00a0 Tiger\u2019s growing list now includes the so-called world\u2019s best instructors:\u00a0 Butch Harmon, Hank Haney, Sean Foley and now Chris Como.\u00a0 It\u2019s also worth mentioning that Tiger has spoken to so many more and gotten their feedback over the years.\u00a0 After the \u201cinterviewing\u201d process, he chose not to hire many of them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve gotten to know many that Tiger has hired and interviewed over the years.\u00a0 They all share a common passion for teaching and genuinely wanted to help Tiger.\u00a0 But why would Tiger end up firing all of them?\u00a0 Why were they not able to provide for him what he needed?\u00a0 What is it that he needs?<\/p>\n
Watching Tiger go through this process brought back memories, and not good ones.\u00a0 After winning back-to-back Northern California Junior Points (Annual) totals, winning back-to-back Fred Haskins Trophies (Heisman Trophy of College Golf), being the #1 ranked Amateur in the world and having back-to-back years on the PGA Tour where I finished in the top 20 money winners, I got talked into trying some new coaches, as I was told that was the only way to become the #1 player in the world.\u00a0 Ben Doyle had been my coach for 10 years and I felt my game had reached a point where my game had plateaued.\u00a0 Never wanting to look back and regret that I didn\u2019t at least try a new coach, I went for it.\u00a0 Like Tiger, I would talk to my Tour friends whom I trusted and get their opinions on who were the best coaches.\u00a0 Of course, they all advocated the coach with whom they were working.\u00a0 That\u2019s part of the ethics of being on Tour and having a coach.\u00a0 As a player, you want their success too, just like they wants yours.\u00a0 Like Tiger, I dabbled with them for a while before I committed.\u00a0 Some I committed to longer than others, just like Tiger.<\/p>\n
Like Tiger, I got differing opinions from different coaches.\u00a0 The one thing they all had in common is that they wanted me to make some pretty significant style changes, some I just wasn\u2019t capable of doing.\u00a0 The changes were all different and some even conflicted with one another.\u00a0 One coach wanted my swing plane steeper in the backswing, the other wanted it flatter.\u00a0 One coach wanted a slight cupping of the left wrist at the top of the backswing, the other wanted the wrist to be flat.\u00a0 One coach wanted my hands low at address, the other, high.\u00a0 One coach wanted me to have a shorter backswing with a smaller hip turn, the other just wanted to change my setup posture, etc.\u00a0 Tiger has been experiencing the very same things that I did.<\/p>\n
Not once did I ask the one question I should have asked.\u00a0 This is probably my biggest regret I have of my 15+ years on the PGA Tour and could have changed the outcome of my career.\u00a0 Though the question is fair, I sincerely doubt any of the coaches could have given me a satisfactory answer.\u00a0 But I would have really enjoyed hearing the answer.\u00a0 So what is the question? \u00a0\u201cHow is this style change you want me to make going to affect my impact?\u201d<\/p>\n
Impact is the only thing that really matters in golf.\u00a0 It is 100% responsible for sending the ball where it goes.\u00a0 Where the ball goes is 100% due to the conditions created at impact.\u00a0 Like I used to joke with my caddie Cliff Robinson on the Champions Tour, \u201cThe ball goes where I hit it every time!\u201d\u00a0 Sure, things you alter in your swing can affect your impact, but the real key to understanding golf lies in answering the question \u201cHow\u201d?<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t mention my other coaches, because I don\u2019t believe in throwing them under the bus.\u00a0 They genuinely wanted to help me, were gracious with their time, but they were all looking in the wrong direction.\u00a0 I believe Tiger is experiencing the very same thing.\u00a0 Tiger was the #1 ranked player in the world with each of his three coaches and also was #1 without a coach.\u00a0 One of his coaches, who had been one of my new coaches for a while confided in me that he actually taught Tiger differently that he did me and others.\u00a0 He let Tiger determine the direction the coaching would go.\u00a0 I found that very interesting a certainly a departure from how he coached me.\u00a0 I think that was wise on his part and kept Tiger playing well.\u00a0 But did it improve him?\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t have left if he had kept improving.\u00a0 Tiger likes playing his best.<\/p>\n
I am perturbed by the vast array of so-called \u201cexperts\u201d in the field (golf announcers), who give their opinion about how much they like or dislike the newest swing style changes of Tiger.\u00a0 Some are a little better than others about expressing thoughts on the air, but I\u2019ve just got to say that Brandel Chamblee drives me nuts!\u00a0 How I\u2019ve witnessed times that Brandel would argue with Frank Nobilo (who has a better understanding than most announcers) about why this new position looks good or not.\u00a0 How many times has Brandel had to back-peddle his way into having to admit he was simply wrong about Tiger.\u00a0 Brandel\u2019s confusion stems around his \u201cStyle-based\u201d philosophy.\u00a0 Brandel needs to learn that golf is not a game of styles of swing like he thinks it is.<\/p>\n
Style-based methods are changing as often as new religions, new ones seem to be born every day.\u00a0 You can have your smorgasbord of style-based methods, from:\u00a0 Stack and Tilt, Square to Square, The A Swing, The Connection Swing, The True Plane swing, One Plane Swing, The Two Plane Swing, The Gravity Golf Swing and so on.\u00a0 Then the biomechanic experts chime in about postures and rotations and how they improve your swing.\u00a0 All are subjective opinions without evidence that the styles they are advocating actually works to improve your game.\u00a0 The crazy thing is that the avid golfer is consumed with all this mumbo jumbo and is so easily sucked into the frenzy.\u00a0 My gosh, how many times have you seen instructors teaching during a television show and watched how they completely contradicted eachother and themselves in the same show.\u00a0 Never have golfers been so confused as they are today.\u00a0 No wonder 4 million quit every year.\u00a0 It\u2019s a style-based epidemic that has duped golfers into thinking change your style of swing to theirs and you\u2019ll be a better golfer. \u00a0Instead, they get no where, their games don\u2019t improve and they get frustrated.\u00a0 I hear way too much how they had lost hope<\/u>.<\/p>\n
What I think Tiger is beginning to discover is what I discovered many years ago that led to my creating \u201cImpact-Based\u201d Instruction.\u00a0 What else explains why Jim Furyk, Bubba Watson, Eamonn Darcy, Miller Barber, Corey Pavin, Bernhard Langer, Jim Thorpe, Fuzzy Zoeller, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and countless others have had such great careers with such unorthodox and even in some cases, ugly swings.\u00a0 It certainly isn\u2019t their swing style!\u00a0 The common ingredient of all these great champions is \u201cimpact\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tiger has proven this!\u00a0 He\u2019s been #1 in the world with countless different styles of swings.\u00a0 In my opinion, Tiger doesn\u2019t need a coach.\u00a0 He knows more than they do anyway.\u00a0 At least he doesn\u2019t need a coach that\u2019s going to try to improve his style of swing.\u00a0 Improving his golf, Tiger needs to stick with his style that he\u2019s comfortable and feels that he can repeat in competition.\u00a0 He then needs to fine tune his impact, consistency and cause\/affect understanding.\u00a0 If he can keep it simple, it will allow for the brilliant artist that exists to come out and paint the pallet of great shots.\u00a0 The world waits with anticipation.<\/p>\n
I developed the only teaching system that focuses on golf\u2019s moment of truth, impact.\u00a0 Understanding proper impact and how to achieve it is the most important element in improving one\u2019s game.\u00a0 Discover Impact-Based\u00ae Instruction for yourself.\u00a0 If this makes sense to you, then so will www.impactzonegolf.com<\/p>\n
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