If a late-night infomercial promises to make you swing like Tiger Woods, fuhggedaboudit! It's like one of those e-mails that says you can lose 50 pounds, make a million dollars and marry a Brazilian supermodel. Simply put, you can't swing like Tiger Woods because no one can — not even the other guys on Tour. His physical gifts are beyond almost all of us. What you can copy from Tiger are his solid fundamentals.
Like almost everything else in his career, Tiger's swing changes have become the stuff of legend. But these changes are never fads or overnight fixes. Instead, his swing changes are grounded in the fundamentals of the game. When Tiger makes an adjustment, it's to fix a tendency he has that strays from those basics. This consistency has made Tiger the most dominant player of his generation, and it can help make you the most dominant player in your foursome. As for that Brazilian supermodel, you're on your own.
1. How to set up for power
The 2008 version of Tiger's swing is probably his most powerful and fundamentally sound one yet, which is bad news for the rest of the Tour. He starts it all from a solid foundation of correct posture and balance.
Before...
Since his junior golf days, Tiger's tendency has been to stand too far away from the ball, which forces him to bend over too much to reach the ball, as seen in this photo from 1995.
Now...
Tiger has moved closer to the ball. This makes his spine angle a bit more upright at address. It's a small change that dramatically improves his balance. Also, notice how he bends from his hips, not his shoulder blades. Make sure you make this same hip bend to keep your shoulders from becoming hunched over at address.
| How this can help you |
 D2 Productions Figure out you ideal distance, and then measure where the ball is using your club. Now you'll always know where you need to stand. |
