If you watch the Golf Channel pre-, or post-round shows during major tournaments you've seen lead analyst Brandel Chamblee unloading on Tiger Woods and his Sean Foley-tuned swing.
For instance, earlier this month he said, "It's a very complicated golf swing that he's trying to work on, that much fold, shaft lean, the down and the up that he has, the excessive down, the excessive up; you know, his driver might as well be a dead mackerel wrapped in newspaper at the moment. It's just awful watching him hit that golf club, just awful. It's really fun to watch guys like (Graham) DeLaet and (Henrik) Stenson and Adam Scott drive the golf ball. So yes, I definitely think Tiger Woods is overcoached."
Tiger has won more tournaments this year than Scott, Stenson and DeLaet combined. Yet, somehow, Woods swing is the worst of the bunch.
Why is Chamblee so angry about Woods swing? He gave a fuller explanation to media reporter Ed Sherman (via Geoff Shackleford).
In short, he thinks Woods could have won 25 majors if he stuck with his first Butch Harmon-built swing. The fact that he took it apart for no apparent reason drives Chamblee nuts:
While I’m critical of the changes he’s made, what I’m most critical is the toll and time it took to make those changes on his body. The greatest gift is time. He achieved this incredible success and consistency, only to tear it down and build it back up. To get where? To get back to the same exact spot where he was. To then tear that down and build it back up. Where was the goal? To get back where he was.
I get it. A friend of mine said this: He is like the pianist who has mastered every piece of music. The only problem is, in order to advance, he needs more music. Well, Beethoven is dead. So how does he come up with new music? He has to create it himself.
Tiger always was going somewhere with his golf game. Now he’s going somewhere with his golf swing. That’s where I’m critical of him. He was in the middle of this one, long flawless note and he stopped or he was interrupted, whichever one you want to choose. And he’s trying to recreate it again.
I’m also critical, because I stood next to him and I watched the greatest golf swing the game has ever seen. The greatest stretch of golf the world has ever seen. And he willfully dismantled it. That’s the craziest thing in the history of sports. Not golf. All of sports. There’s no equivalent to it, but if you’re a sports fan, it’s literally the ’27 Yankees starting with a new roster in 1928.
Read the full rant at Ed Sherman's site >
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