Tiger Woods reveals the swing changes he makes to compensate for ‘stiff’ back

Tiger Woods doesn’t have the same set of tools that he possessed in his younger years, but that’s OK. Tiger didn’t win the 2019 Masters because he beat father time. He just negotiated with him. Woods accepted his new limitations, and made them work for him.

Speaking with GOLFTV’s Henni Zuel, after his final-round 67 at the Memorial, Tiger revealed some fascinating insight into how he makes his swing work.

Watch the video below, it’s full of great stuff.

Tiger's thoughts heading to Pebble pic.twitter.com/25wPiGoW8i

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) June 2, 2019

Load The Right Hip

His first key, as he explains, his really turning into his right hip on his backswing. To make a big turn and “load” more. The more he does it, the more pressure it takes off his back during the rest of his swing.

Turn Into The Left Hip

When he loads onto that right hip, Tiger says his next thought is to turn as much as he can into his opposing left hip. That keeps the club out in front of him, and helps him hit the fades that he used to such great success at the Masters. When he doesn’t load properly, he springs up and out of his posture, the club gets too far behind him, and it adds pressure on his back.

You can see him working on it here…

Looks like Tiger's working on releasing the club more left/around his body here. Helps him hit the fade that worked *pretty* well for him at the Masters.

When hands move too far out right, clubhead turns over, that's where his dreaded blocks and hooks come from. pic.twitter.com/YoV3qfMsah

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) June 1, 2019

It’s great move for him, but it’s not always easy. The more he does it, the more pressure it takes off his back during the rest of his swing. But it’s a catch-22, because when his lower back is stiff, it makes loading that back him more difficult, as he explains:

“A lot of time when I’m getting tight [in my back], I struggle to get deep enough into that back hip. I stand up in my downswing], and that puts a lot of stress on my back. But if I don’t feel like I can turn I can’t get back into my hip, so it’s all about how I train, how I feel, getting everything switched on…when I do it. I do what I did in April [at the Masters].