The next several postings will be based on a lengthy (9 page) article on Tiger Woods taken from the February 1998 issue of Australian Golf Digest and written by the great golfer himself with Pete McDaniel.

This is part 1 which is an introduction to Tiger’s game. He has tried to be more of a swinger than a hitter of the ball, although during the early stages of his development, he was more concerned with power than style. He wasn’t very strong so he had to let the weight of the club do most of the work for him. As he grew stronger, he was able to control the club better and became more consistent.

The most distinguishing factor of Tiger’s swing he states has always been the speed of his hips, which he says that its natural speed that he was born with. He has also been blessed with very quick hands, which sometimes has allowed him to save a shot in midswing. He provides an incident when he was playing in the Orange Bowl International Junior as a kid. The 18th hole was a good par 4 and Tiger was just trying to hit an iron an play and win the tournament. However he made a terrible swing, and only by making a last second correction with his hands was he able to keep the ball on the planet. In fact, he hit the best looking 1-iron one has ever seen. He then looked over to his dad who was just shaking his head.

Not only has Tiger always had a very fast hip turn, but also a fairly big hip turn as well. His coach at the time Butch Harmon has worked hard with Tiger to tighten it up. At that point, they were also trying to get the clubface more square at the top of Tiger’s backswing instead of closed. From a more square position, he is more likely to make a solid downswing allowing his lower body to unwind naturally, eliminating the tendency to get flippy with his hands. The result is consistently solid ball striking. Consistency, control, power and accuracy are a winning combination. The following posts will provide more insight into Tiger’s objectives at each stage of the swing with some pointers from Butch.

So stay tuned …