Tiger Woods fix for player struggling with long irons? It featured feet
Tiger Woods last month during the PNC Championship.
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The from-the-knees tee shot? Yeah, that was sweet.
And a short, Tiger Woods-led dialogue on how to improve long-iron play through setup, which was complete with an explanation of how setup influences the clubface?
That was OK, too.
To start here, this week, the gang from Barstool Sports’ Fore Play podcast released a video filmed recently with Woods where the 15-time major winner tried to fix some shortcomings. One moment included a trick shot. One podcast member, Sam “Riggs” Bozoian, said he’d been struggling with his driver, Woods advised — then Woods outdrove Bozoian from his knees. Good stuff, and you can watch the entire video here.
Another sequence featured a bugaboo of many players.
Trent Ryan, another podcast member, said he struggles with longer irons. Little distance. Weak fall-offs to the right. Woods had him hit. A ball went out to the right. Woods had him hit again. Off to the right again.
After that hit, Woods said this:
“Easy fix.”
Easy fix, Ryan asked.
“Easy fix.”
It’s here where we’ll note that what Woods said to Ryan may not work for you, but it’s maybe worth a check. It is actually easy to do so.
Woods was looking downward, at where Ryan stood in relation to the ball. Woods had him move the ball forward in his stance; Ryan needed to take a step to his right. Woods also suggested that Ryan needed to feel his right (trail) leg as being “loaded” at the top of his swing and to turn into it. (For more on that, click here and here.)
And after four hits, Ryan hit one solidly. You can watch the exchange below, beginning at about the 4:50 mark.
As to why he was better after the alignment adjustment? We’ll let Woods tell it. He was prompted by this question from Frankie Borrelli, another member of the podcast:
“So Tiger, what’s the thing that you’re seeing most? What’s the mistake that you’re seeing?”
“Well, one, the ball is so far back in his stance that no matter what he does the face is going to be open,” Woods said on the video. “OK. So the further the ball back — so the swing’s on an arc, right? Always imagine it’s on an arc. The further back you play it, the more open it’s going to be. So if you want to start closing the face up, just move it up a little bit in your stance.”
Asked Borrelli: “Just swing it the same way?”
Said Woods: “He needs to — for him right now, just stay where he’s at and just move that ball further forward and move his hands slightly more forward as well. That’s it. For right now.”
Asked Ryan: “For right now?”
Said Woods: “There are other things we progress to, but as of right now, that’s it. The ball is so far back, no matter what you do, you’re going to be late and you’re pulling across it so hard to get it back online and then hanging back at the same time.”
Said Ryan: “That’s right. OK, something to work on.”
Editor’s note: To watch the entire video with Woods, please click here.
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