Lead analyst Brandel Chamblee of the Golf Channel is not impressed by Tiger Woods or his Sean Foley-tuned swing. Despite Woods winning more tournaments this year than other players like Graham DeLaet and Henrik Stenson and Adam Scott combined, Chamblee still thinks his swing is the worst of the bunch.
Here's what he had to say to media reporter Ed Sherman (via
Geoff Shackleford).
While I’m critical of the changes he’s made, what I’m most critical is the toll and time it took to make those changes on his body. The greatest gift is time. He achieved this incredible success and consistency, only to tear it down and build it back up. To get where? To get back to the same exact spot where he was. To then tear that down and build it back up. Where was the goal? To get back where he was.
I get it. A friend of mine said this: He is like the pianist who has mastered every piece of music. The only problem is, in order to advance, he needs more music. Well, Beethoven is dead. So how does he come up with new music? He has to create it himself.
Tiger always was going somewhere with his golf game. Now he’s going somewhere with his golf swing. That’s where I’m critical of him. He was in the middle of this one, long flawless note and he stopped or he was interrupted, whichever one you want to choose. And he’s trying to recreate it again.
I’m also critical, because I stood next to him and I watched the greatest golf swing the game has ever seen. The greatest stretch of golf the world has ever seen. And he willfully dismantled it. That’s the craziest thing in the history of sports. Not golf. All of sports. There’s no equivalent to it, but if you’re a sports fan, it’s literally the ’27 Yankees starting with a new roster in 1928.
In summary, Chamblee thinks Woods could have won 25 majors had he just stuck with
his first Butch Harmon-built swing. And that's not the first time that Chamblee
has been critical of Woods. Earlier this month, he reportedly said:
"It's a very
complicated golf swing that he's trying to work on, that much fold,
shaft lean, the down and the up that he has, the excessive down, the
excessive up; you know, his driver might as well be a dead mackerel
wrapped in newspaper at the moment. It's just awful watching him hit
that golf club, just awful. It's really fun to watch guys like (Graham)
DeLaet and (Henrik) Stenson and Adam Scott drive the golf ball. So yes, I
definitely think Tiger Woods is over-coached."