"Tiger Woods Swing"

by Chuck Quinton

by Chuck Quinton, August 2007

Updated August, 2009

View Tiger Woods Swing Dynamics Video

Tiger Woods' golf swing is a swing that is marveled by all. We all think to ourselves, "If my swing just looked like his, I'd be on the PGA Tour." Let me assure you, you wouldn't! How do I know? Let's take a look.

Over the past 6 months, I spent a great deal of time learning Hank Haney's swing methodology that he has taught Tiger Woods. I did this primarily to educate myself to become a better instructor, not to become a better player. During this time, my golf swing went through a significant metamorphisis that you can see below. From the face on view below, my swing matches up quite well with Tiger's golf swing.

The interesting thing to note is that while my swing looks a lot like Tiger's, it certainly doesn't hit like Tiger's. Not that I'm a horrible golfer, I'm a plus 3 handicap at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado as the Teaching Professional there.. But the focus in this video is to demonstrate that static positions are useless without properly performing the movments of the body that create these dynamics. The dynamics in the golf swing are what make the difference between being the best in the world and a decent golfer. Sadly, most golf instruction these days is focused solely on learning positions that can only be achieved by using the correct muscles in the correct sequence. In other words, trying to learn certain positions in the golf swing statically is a complete waste of time as they can only be achieved when you understand how to move your body correctly, which is exactly what the Rotary Swing Tour Learning System is all about.

1. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Address Position

From the address position, we're practically identical, so much so, that in the overlay on the left you can't even tell us apart. Heck, I'm even wearing a Nike hat. Looks like all systems are go for takeoff. The main difference you can note is that my left shoulder is "hiked up", out of the box in Rotary Swing terms. This is not a good position to be in and will come into play later on.

2. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Takeaway

Our takeaway and early backswing positions are once again, basically identical. The only difference that you are starting to be able to see is his left hip is sticking out just past mine as I have slightly more early hip turn. My right arm is also sitting higher than Tiger's, you can note the space between my two forearms. This stems from my setup position of being "out of the box" as that typically indicates that a golfer is going to "push" the club back with the left side rather than pull with the right (watch the Push vs. Pull video for more info).

3. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Backswing

Still matching up at this point, the only thing noticeable is my hips have turned slightly more as you can see slightly more of his left leg. Creating a stable base is critical in the golf swing, and posture is vital for this. Learn how to setup properly to the golf ball by watching our "Biomechanically Correct Posture" video.

4. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Top of the Swing

At the top of the swing, Tiger is slightly shorter and has slightly less hip turn. Because I pushed from the left side off the ball and didn't have a proper setup, my left side has collapsed here a bit which will make harder to get to my left side in the downswing.

5. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Downswing

On the downswing, we're once again, extremely close, but there are some differences that start to show up and these make all the difference in the world. Obviously, Tiger Woods' dynamics in his golf swing are amazing. No one uses their body as well as he does and as explosively and powerfully while maintaining incredible control and balance and you can see that demonstrated here. Tiger has a lot of lateral movement during the transition in his golf swing, making an assertive and necessary move to the left side. You can also see this in my golf swing. We are both moving similar amounts, but he had a head start. If you remember during the backswing discussion, Tiger didn't rotate his hips back as much as I did and this gave him the jump on me here. The last thing of important note is that Tiger's shoulders are still slightly more closed to the target than mine. You can detect this by looking at his right shoulder. Note how you can see more of right shoulder and his is still behind his head. The is indicative of my pushing from the right side while Tiger is pulling the club back down with his left side.

6. Tiger Woods - Chuck Quinton Impact

Ahh, the moment of truth. Everything Tiger and I did in the golf swing was designed solely to bring us to this point and once again, the positions are very similar. The main difference is my frame is a split second after impact and Tiger's is a split second before. My camera is also set slightly lower, thus the different appearance of the ball position. While our still frames look practically identical, it is how we transverse from frame to frame that makes our golf swings what they are. In the video, you can see how our dynamics differ that make the difference between being a champion like Tiger Woods and a good player like myself and see how to improve your dynamics to make you a better ball striker.

If you would like to look at Tiger Woods swing even more in depth, please visit my Tiger Woods New Swing with Hank Haney page.