How can I criticise that grip when the two greatest players of all time, Woods and Jack Nicklaus, have used it? Please bear with me...
The anticipation that preceded the return of Tiger Woods to competitive action in last month's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona was, to say the least, electric.
Furthermore, speculation as to how the eight-month lay-off caused by surgery to repair the World number one's left knee would affect his form was rampant. However, this was not the first time the afore-mentioned joint had been acquainted with the surgeon's scalpel.
Woods underwent surgery to remove fluid from the knee just over five years ago and, shortly afterwards when I was visiting the renowned coach, Claude 'Butch' Harmon, at his famous golf school at Rio Secco in Las Vegas, he turned up to practise and continue his rehabilitation.
Harmon and Woods, of course, enjoyed a fruitful relationship as coach and pupil, teaming up in 1993 when the golfer was just 17. Their time together saw Woods crowned US Amateur champion three times, become the World's number one and win eight Majors, the first at Augusta in 1997. I first studied Tiger's swing closely in the same year in the course of writing an article about it for Golf Monthly magazine.
Since then, I have often shared my thoughts on the reason for his knee problems at conferences and seminars across Europe and the United States. Two years ago I visited Harmon again and asked him if he felt my analysis was well founded. As ever, he was generous with his time and confirmed we shared the same viewpoint regarding Tiger's swing during and after their famous partnership.
What follows might seem trivial, too small a detail to warrant such attention. A tiny scratch on a rusty old pick-up truck might be of no importance, for example, but that same scratch on the bonnet of a brand new Ferrari would be significant.
I believe that Tiger's damage to his knee is the direct result of his interlocking grip. Yes I know, how can I criticise that grip when the two greatest players of all time, Woods and Jack Nicklaus, have used it? But please bear with me!
Correct forearm/shaft angle created by a shallow interlock, Vardon and baseball grip.
Nicklaus is on record (in print) as saying his only regret about his technique was that his hand size and shape did not allow him to use the Vardon or overlapping grip. Consequently, his left thumb would often slip at the top of his backswing and cause his hands to separate a little.
Incorrect forearm/shaft angle caused by deep interlock grip and long thumb.
I must emphasise that I believe the interlocking grip to be suitable for many golfers across the globe. But, at the highest level, there can sometimes be a downside, so let me explain the chain reaction that causes Tiger's left knee to break down...
- A shallow interlocking grip, Vardon grip and baseball grip naturally cause the club shaft to run downwards to the ball at the address. But, when a golfer uses a deep interlocking grip, it invariably creates a long left thumb. As a result, the shaft of the club is forced to depart from the line of the forearms to a point well above the ball. This is the reason why both Nicklaus and Woods waggle their clubheads many inches above the ball during their address routine. This then is the start, and absolute cause, of a damaging domino effect that occurs during the whole of Tiger's swing.
- As Tiger drops the clubhead to rest behind the ball at address, his wrists come under stress, leading to mild tension in his forearms.
- Consequently, the clubface gets stuck in a mildly closed attitude in the early takeaway. Remember Tiger's awesome swing at St Andrews in 2000? Under Harmon's tutelage, Tiger arrived at the top of the backswing in perfect plane, albeit with a slightly closed clubface. A 13 degree three-wood or 'stinger' two- iron, especially in the hands of a golfing genius such as Woods, can tolerate that loss of seven or eight degrees in a shut clubface. Not so with an eight-and-a-half degree driver - even Tiger struggles to launch a ball with only one degree or zero loft on the clubface!
- In order to keep loft on the clubface and get the ball airborne, Tiger must now re-route the club to the inside on the downswing. It also helps that the ball is teed up for a driver.
- Now, because he is trapped on the inside, his hips must clear so violently that the left knee snaps shut, like a slammed door. This means his left leg is forced into a rigid, braced attitude every time he launches the driver and one can only imagine the huge forces and stress born by the ligaments and cartilage in his knee - often hundreds of times a day.
So there it is, a chain reaction of five dominoes tumbling: interlocking grip, shut face takeaway, re-route, ultra-fast hip clearance and snapped left knee.
I urge you to enjoy him while he's here.
Some four years ago, however, Tiger did try to change his swing. He started to deal with his shut face takeaway by fanning the clubface open as he moved away from the ball. If he fanned the face by seven degrees it had to flatten his backswing by seven degrees! When we manipulate the face incorrectly within the golf swing, it is almost impossible to stay in one's original, intended plane. Now Woods' backswing had flattened, he got the club too far behind him, which led to huge, blocked shots with his driver. His first tee shot at the Ryder Cup in 2004 was a case in point. It missed the fairway by 70 yards. Such waywardness rarely happened while Tiger was coached by Harmon. Happily, though, Tiger rectified his game by returning to the more upright golf swing that had served him so well until 2004.
Five years on and Tiger Woods has received care from the most skilled surgeons in the world but I am concerned that, to ensure their efforts are not wasted, he will make changes to his swing to protect his knee without dealing with the subtle, underlying cause. I believe wholeheartedly that if he switches to either a shallow interlocking or Vardon grip the need to snap the left knee at impact would disappear. His knees could then retain their correct flex throughout the swing and, with suspension and the power of a Formula One Ferrari, he can continue to cruise along his record-breaking way and maintain his position as most famous sportsman on the planet.
Like many who have occupied that position before him, Woods shares many of their qualities. He has been blessed with the iron will of Ben Hogan, the strategic powers of Jack Nicklaus, the athleticism of Pele, the temperament of Bjorn Borg and the magnetism of Muhammad Ali. So let's hope he is able to marry those attributes to full fitness in the coming years, particularly his knees.
Personally, I wish him well in all things and I urge you, the reader, to enjoy him while he's here!
16 March, 2009 | By PGA Master Professional Luther Blacklock