Golf-Tiger Woods Swing Sequence

Since Tiger Woods knee reconstruction, there seems to be a few adjustments he has had to make to his swing sequence, which is understandable, he needed to develop a swing that would help to relieve some of that stress on his left knee. In the following Tiger Woods images, you can probably see those changes, and after his recent PGA tour events, and the British Open, have these changes added to Tiger's woes.

Have those adjustments made his swing better or worse, more consistent or not, more dependable or less so?

In these photos, you can see that Tiger has made a small change to his stance and swing action all the way through to the impact zone.

The width of Tiger's stance has narrowed a little when he hits his iron shots, which helps to lessen the stress load on his left reconstructed knee. By keeping his feet closer together, makes it easier for him to get his body weight more directly over his left side at impact. He also slightly flares out his left foot as well, which enables him to take some of the strain off the injured knee as he rotates through the downswing to the finish of the swing.

This is the time where Tiger gets his power from, his immense shoulder turn and the coil of his body. The supply of his mighty power is provided by a wide arc and a sweeping takeaway, where he rotates his upper torso against the resistance of the legs. He doesn't set the wrists at all just yet, Tiger lets the mass of the golfclub complete the hinging sequence.
As Tiger gets closer to the top of his backswing, at the very last instant, just before he engages any weight on his reconditioned knee, his hands, arms as well as his shoulders finish the backswing as one, which keeps his golfswing more compact as well as under more control.

Also, here is where Tiger starts with a small lateral, sideways movement onto his left side. He then drives his left shoulder downwards towards his left foot. This can often place a lot more stresses on the injured knee, however, he adopts a narrower stance at address, this, along with a more stable hip movement, provides a fairly solid base.
This is sometimes commonly referred to as a stacked left side. His left foot, knee, hip and shoulder are in a somewhat straighter line, which is perpendicular to the ground. This point is crucial because it then allows his full weight to be more evenly spread across the base of his left side. The left shoulder is critical to being stacked, it stays in a more lower position than the right shoulder is late into the downswing, keeping the weight moving onto his left side.

Tiger's left knee remains further flexed later into the golfswing than was featured before. His left leg constantly snapped straight all through impact, more along with his driver than his irons, but this small knee bend is a new adjustment. Regardless of whether this is a cognizant shift or a self-protective method, it does take pressure off the knee joint.

The upper body moves through in the direction of the target with easiness. His left knee is still to some extent flexed, a clear differentiation from past years. Also a slight flaring of his left foot at address, allows for his ankle and knee to rotate with much greater ease. Tiger can match the delayed 'set' of the wrists during the back swing with tremendous extension on the follow through.

He is still able to maintain brilliant balance, and his golfswing sequence is noticeably more controlled and smooth, an accepted outcome after returning from injuries. The slight move of his left foot in the finish would be worse if he hadn't flared the foot in the address position. His golf swing continues to change and undoubtedly improve, which would be an intimidating contemplation for other tour pros, taking into consideration he is closing in on what might be the best period of his hopefully, long and decorated career in golf.

Apparently for Tiger it's easier for him to hit an iron shot than it is to hit a drive, which makes sense I guess. His driving isn't his strongest point I don't think. But his position at impact is pretty well perfect. He is able to have a flatter left wrist than most amateur golf players, which then leads the golf club into the impact position with his upper body covering the golfball. His lower body action is a bit different with his iron swing than it is with his driver swing. The narrower stance allows both feet to remain on the ground at impact, with the hips much less open to the target line.

Tiger's swing is almost poetry in motion, if only we could all emulate his strong mental ability, his focus, dedication and of course his powerful swing. We each have a unique golf swing within us, and while we may not all achieve his supremacy in golf, we each still endeavour to make the most of our God given ability and desire to improve our own game and reach our full potential.