O/T...An experts look at the knee

[Bob_Huntley]

We have all been aware of what one our previous contributor's views were on the severity
of Tiger Woods'recent surgery. How many of us realized he was dead on.

The link is on:

http://redanman.com/default.aspx

Bob

[Dave_Miller]

We have all been aware of what one our previous contributor's views were on the severity
of Tiger Woods'recent surgery. How many of us realized he was dead on.

The link is on:

http://redanman.com/default.aspx

Bob

Great job by Bill V on the analysis of Tiger's knee. 
Best
Dave

[TEPaul]

Maybe it is a great analysis by BillV but it's still all Greek to me and I'm a guy who had five knee operations on one knee but that was over forty years ago. It was about ten years ago and I was walking down Market Street in Philadelphia past one of those huge glass building and I noticed myself walking in the glass window and that I seemed to have a fairly noticeable limp. First time I ever realized it, though, which shows I guess I'm not the most observant cat on the street.

With Woods I always had this sinking feeling something crazy might happen like he might go down in a plane within five years of his meteoric beginning. At least he's way past that but something just feels like he's so good and potential that something odd will slow him down and take him out early, and maybe this is it---his left knee.

The strange thing about Woods and his swing as good as it is, at least early on he made a move I've rarely seen any good golfer make. He got his right heel so far off the ground on the way down it and before impact it was just shocking. I've only seen two really good players do that with regularity and get away with it over the long haul---Lanny Wadkins and Nancy Lopez, but Tiger's right heel was way more pronounced but even for someone as strong as he is he was obviously generating so much torque it must've been hard to stop that but he did that some years ago unless he really tries to rip it with the driver.

[Paul_Daley]

Hi TEP: There's seldom anything new in golf. In the 1960s Gary Player hit many 100,000s of shots by practising with his right heel almost completely off the ground. He got the tip, apparently, from an old Scot during one of his early trips to the UK. In his case, it was 100% aimed at being "anti-hook", which, as we know, plagued the little fella his whole career.   

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

A group of myself and some fellow Exercise Physiologists/Biomechanics nerds nelieve that we will be seeing quite alot of knee surgeries amongst golfers in the future based on the modern day mechanics.
The emphasis on "pure" rotation and coiling against both knees during the swing does indeed place tremendous stresses on the joint.
Back in the day...as they say...the relative stress placed on the kness was as much as 25% reduced from the modern increased swing speed swings...so we can expect more knee stresses and at younger ages...

[TEPaul]

PaulD:

In my opinion, Gary Player's "walk-through" move although it might seem like somewhat the same thing as Tiger Woods' early move of essentially being way up on his right toe at impact isn't even remotely the same swing problem, in my opinion---try both and you'll see.

When a golfer gets that far up on his right toe when his arms and hands are still coming down in the downswing, the right hip has gotten so far out and up there is really nowhere for the arms and hands to go but out and around the right hip and that can create shots that can go anywhere--right or left. But with a golfer as athletic as Woods is it generally creates a pull with irons and a push with a driver and that is exactly what he was doing back then and sometimes still is prone to at least with his driver these days. Look at his iron shots though---eg his right heel is generally still on the ground unlike what he used to do.