The US Open and Tiger Woods
One MGSS fan texted, “hey I was looking forward to your comments on the US Open, as I enjoyed your remarks after the Seniors’ Championship so much”
So, my friend Tom, my response is, “Tiger did not win”, why would I care about the rest of the field.
I’d predicted in a facebook forum of the National Golf Academy of India (and, to an extent, hoped) a month ago, that when the going got tough, Tiger would not do well. Why would anyone be mean enough to ‘hope’ such a thing? For purely selfish reasons.
I have dedicated myself to being worthy of being Tiger’s next coach – or at least getting the opportunity to explain to him my study and research of over 18 years. What does ‘worthy’ mean? It means acquiring knowledge well beyond what even the leading golfer of the world might need to succeed – my Masters in Sports Science and Nutrition has given me information on anatomy, biomechanics, orthopedic assessment, exercise physiology, exercise testing and prescription, fitness, nutrition, sports psychology, research methods. A 21st Century golf coach has to have at least primary-physician qualifications, cannot simply say, “My student can go to so-and-so for fitness or someone else for a chiropractic adjustment”. BECAUSE those people do not understand golf enough to tell what might cause the ball-striking or injury problem!
(See the section ‘Walking the Talk’ in this blog for my orthopedic physical assessment class project – 10 pages include how golf and tennis elbow injury can be cause in golf. Coming soon how knee injury such as Tiger Woods’ and Fred Funk’s are exacerbated by a poor-mechanics golf swing).
Well, when I first ‘came out of the box’ and started telling people that is was the ambition of my life to be Tiger’s next coach they laughed. Not so much any more, they respect my understanding and knowledge of the golf swing (sadly no PGA of the world tells a teacher WHAT to teach – wannabe teachers are given ONLY Gary Wiren’s LAWS, PRINCIPLES and PREFERENCES and then have to GO FIGURE. Many peripherally useful topics, but NOTHING on WHAT to teach. How do I know? I’m a member of four teaching associations!).
In fact many say, forget Tiger, he’s finished, find someone else. NO Tiger is NOT FINISHED. He is the world’s most supreme athlete, has the mental and physical skills and the work ethic to be the best, at the highest level, again. When he plays badly it is not about him, it is about someone-up-there saying “I’m the one controlling you humans, don’t think it’s YOUR great skill or talent that’s making this happen”.
Tiger is, however, running out of time. He cannot afford any more injury and no-one in his coterie even realizes that it’s exacerbated by his golf swing. Coterie, from now on, be aware that if Tiger has more injury or cannot play at the highest level, it is because YOU, his TEAM, do not allow any information from people like me to be filtered down to him. Sure you get lots of such information from lots of people, can you not tell based on credentials or years in the business?
How DARE all his previous coaches mess him up so badly as to tell him to reduce his distance in order to gain consistency (which they have not been able to give him yet), or get him to a stage where he cannot use his driver, AND use effectively enough to be a weapon of mass destruction. One told him to move his left knee out of the way and straighten it quickly. I’d have sued that coach for future ACL injury, but the poor man does not have any background in human movement!
The next coach told him if he gets across the line to try to be laid off. BOTH ugly positions, NOT correct in science (most obviously because both make the club shaft parallel to the ground, a position which does not put the club in it’s position of maximum gravitational potential energy, but which of those pros understood basic physics?)
He needs a swing method which can help him deliver his club correctly (from the inside and at maximum speed) while positioning his body more appropriately based on what human joints are and are not capable of doing.
The Minimalist Golf Swing System works for all strokes not just the full swing, and Tiger neither gets 18 fairways and 18 greens nor is his putting always reliable. So, there’s a Minimalist solution to that too.
Many have asked, “If your method is so good, how come the pros do not use it?” Reply, “The method have taken 18 years to evolve, based on my increased knowledge and experience”. There are 2 pros using it, and winning with it already, even though they have not had more opportunity to work with me on it. Many amateurs are posting things about it on various forums.
Other nay-sayers say, “OK you think you have a method, there are tons of those around!” My answer: GOLF PROS have the ability to connect the dots from having taught so many people but have no background in human movement science. GOLF SWING RESEARCHERS have little background in golf – either playing it competitively or teaching it to see mistake-patterns. Very few in the world have both backgrounds. Only one has both 24 years experience teaching golf, an educational background in anatomy, biomechanics and physics, years of conducting research on various aspects of the golf swing, a personal need to try to hit the ball better, plus the ability to think outside the box enough to wish to reverse-engineer the golf swing. Reverse engineer meaning start with an understanding of how the club should be positioned for best impact then work backwards to figuring out how the body can be positioned to deliver the club correctly, based on what the body’s joints are capable of doing. The result – better ball-striking and less scope for injury.
Isn’t it funny how we mere mortals are told by the ‘pros’ to swing like so and so, when that Tour Player themselves has mechanical faults? It is presumed, in all sports, that a top-level player is making the best action, when that is not at all true. ONLY reverse-engineering can give the best picture for what movement is ideal for any sport.
Now, if Tiger doesn’t hear of the Minimalist Golf Swing System soon, he can waive his useful career goodbye.
