"Making the swing I want him to make isn't that difficult for him, it's just that there's always going to be traces of every shot he's ever hit."

Brian Wacker talks to Sean Foley about working with Tiger and it's refreshing on many levels, most noticeably in the honesty department. If only Tiger surrounded himself with more people like Foley...

Anyway, there only one trace of doublespeak and it's fun.

What's been the hardest thing Tiger's had to adjust to?

The pattern of movement is much different than what he's done. He's always moved off the ball, except in junior golf, and then his arms were always out in front of him rather than working in on the arc. But when you have residual motor patterns, they always come back in. Making the swing I want him to make isn't that difficult for him, it's just that there's always going to be traces of every shot he's ever hit.

Is that a nice way of saying even Tiger has swing thought demons like the rest of us?

Comments

[chico]

Ah -so Tiger is human!
This happens with every single golfer that has ever attempted a swing change.The old movements can have a very long,slow death sometimes.

[Jim S]

I've always wondered if the decline of a golfer's career is not really a physical one, but that they build up so many memories of past failures (or successes) that they end up reacting to those memories instead of the course in front of them. Mostly I wonder if that's true on putts--if the half-inch misses of this year are the result of trying to recreate a made putt or avoid a miss they remember from a few years ago.

[DL]

Foley seems like a really thoughtful nice guy. Good Luck mate !!!!

[kenoneputt]

I'm thinking Bobby Jones nailed it:

"One reason golf is such an exasperating game is that a thing we learned is so easily forgotten,
and we find ourselves struggling year after year with faults we had discovered and corrected
time and again." -- Bobby Jones

Sadly, we are who always were.

K

[Frank]

Tough challenge, because Tiger's still got to be going to the Elin Thanksgiving movies.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Takes a long time to change the water molecules in your brain, eh Foley? :-P