Tiger More Surgery

[Bill Weber]

As reported in the Wahington Post Tiger will undergo reconstructive surgery and miss the remainder of the season.

[Kyle Henderson]

http://www.tigerwoods.com/news/printstory.asp?inewsid=6612023

[Bob_Huntley]

Bill Vostinack was right on this some years ago.

I wonder how many people would have had a flutter on Tiger knowing that he also had a stress fracture on the limb? Ignorance is bliss.

Bob

[Tom Zeni]

From Golf World....

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3450453

[BCrosby]

I'm shocked.

I assume Tiger knew when he teed off last Thursday that the US Open was to be his last event this year.

Incredible.

[Doug Ralston]

I almost wish Tiger had lost that final day, so his detractors here could have heard his post-tourney interview. NOTHING would he have attributed to his injury, absolutely nothing. I even heard them saying he was exaggerating to gain 'a little more attention'. Talk about crass.

Tiger is not responsible for the media's enchantment with him. He does what he does, and they make the choice to focus on that.

Doug

[Frank Pasquale]

Four wins, one major, second in the other major = player of the year, unless someone else happens to win two majors.

I thought that his swing changes with Haney were supposed to alleviate the knee pressure caused by the Harmon swing.

[David Lott]

Four wins, one major, second in the other major = player of the year, unless someone else happens to win two majors.

I thought that his swing changes with Haney were supposed to alleviate the knee pressure caused by the Harmon swing.

The swing of course has an impact on the knee. You could see that Tiger was lifting and rotating his left foot on all hard swings to avoid having to brace against the left side at a 90 degree angle. He does that somewhat when healthy but it was much more pronounced.

However, I doubt that the swing is what caused the knee problems. Tiger had become a manic runner--seven miles a day and at speed higher than necessary to train for golf. He would run on all kinds of surfaces. That much is known for sure, from his own mouth. There are also rumors that he would run with weight belts of up to 20 pounds.

The running takes a toll, and as you enter your 30's you are more susceptible to injury. It's a risk of training, and a higher risk with super competitive types like Tiger. I could never push as hard as Tiger at anything, I'm sure, but as a very fit early 30's type I used to run 7-10 miles 4-5 days a week. I got hurt as will many who train like this.

He will probably come back from this an play great golf again, but the injury will always be with him now.

[Lou_Duran]

I thought that his swing changes with Haney were supposed to alleviate the knee pressure caused by the Harmon swing.

Frank P,

Can you substantiate or at least explain your claim?  What is a "Harmon swing" and what knee pressure did it cause that is unlike that of the swing Tiger displayed at the U.S. Open?

[Frank Pasquale]

"That Woods would depart the Harmon camp in favor of Haney made little sense, except when one takes into account the physical toll the swing was taking on arguably the game’s most fit athlete, a toll manifested in a ailing left knee that required surgery in late 2002. Childhood skateboard and bicycling accidents had already compromised the health of the knee, but Woods put inordinate strain on it when he went for an extra 10-20 yards by snapping the knee into hyperextension. By ’02, the compensations he was making for an increasingly achy joint initiated a laundry list of bad habits deleterious to his consistency. Such circumstances also threatened his longevity, a necessity if he is to reach his goal of passing Jack Nicklaus’s record 18 professional major titles. "

It was obvious this past weekend that he is still snapping his knee.

Here is the entire article I just found...

http://www.pgatour.com/story/9623833/

[Lou_Duran]

Frank P,

Thanks for the link.

I suspect that Harmon has a different take on the separation and the notion that the swing mechanics he espouses result in injury to the crucial knee joints.

On the former, I have heard from sources I deem reliable that the breakup occured not because of differences in swing philosophy, but because Butch was too much in the limelight and  leveraged the relationship to an extent greater than Tiger could tolerate.

In regards to the Haney's method, did Tiger's swing ever vary from a single plane?  I know that he has always fought crouching as he goes back and the compesating move of raising on his forward swing, but he still seems to be doing some of that now.

I would think a flatter swing would put more pressure and tension on his knees as he is rotating (and torquing) his upper body more around his lower body, then releasing it faster to get back to the ball.  Typically, a more upright swing has been linked with back problems (the reverse C follow through).

In any regard, if Haney's method is indeed easier on the knees, you would think that after five years of Hank's personal instruction, Tiger would not be popping his left knee as he clearly does at least with his driver.  Maybe Tiger is just not a good student.