Tiger Woods’ arrival on the professional golf scene modified the way in which lots of people thought about the golf swing, world-famous instructors included.
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You’ve heard almost all of the Tiger Woods tales earlier than. Especially about young Tiger Woods. About how he got here in and adjusted the sport. But have you ever ever heard the story about how he modified the notion of pace and power by way of…his shoelaces?
This was a brand new one to us, courtesy of Sam Reeves, a retired cotton service provider who has lived a prolonged life within the recreation . Reeves is 88, however nonetheless performs often. His dwelling golf equipment are Seminole, on the East Coast, and Cypress Point, on the West Coast. And he occurs to be finest buddies with Butch Harmon, one of many biggest coaches of all time.
On a recent episode of the Any Given Monday podcast, Reeves and Harmon turned again the clock — with host Ryan French (@ACaseOfTheGolf1) and longtime golf author Michael Bamberger — to the mid-Nineties when woods arrived on the scene. What greater than something did Woods deliver to the sport? A dedication to swing pace. That’s what Reeves recollects of the Woods who began working with Harmon at the moment.
“I was there at Lochinvar when Tiger came,” Reeves mentioned of the Houston-area membership the place Harmon labored. “See, nobody had ever seen pace like that earlier than. The mantra was ‘Slow it down and hit it easier, blah blah blah. Keep your head down.’ No one had ever seen Tiger pace.
“Butch was the first one that saw this speed. Butch knows, and I was there, he was so powerful with his feet, he popped the shoelaces in his shoes one time, hitting from the ground.”
Wait, what? Woods’ swing pushed a lot pressure into the area between his physique and the bottom that he tore proper by his laced-up shoestrings?! That’s some Hulk-grade stuff.
“Remember that, Butch?” Reeves continued. “He had broken the shoelaces on his shoes. Now, Michael. The force of doing that. The kinetic force, that’s unheard of. So now you’ve got a man that’s trying to take that. Butch ain’t gonna say this. I really think when Tiger left Butch, I think the mistake he made was going to a teacher that did not know how to teach speed. That’s a layman’s feeling. It’s hard to teach speed. Particularly in the area which you’re saying, Michael. Where people say, ‘Don’t swing it hard. Swing within yourself. Blah blah blah.’ How about these kids swinging now?”
Reeves is on to one thing. The trendy participant is taught to swing hard. To use each nook of his or her swing for pace. To strengthen numerous muscle groups that professionals of the 80s and 90s by no means thought about. To achieve an edge that didn’t exist till Woods first proved there was an edge to achieve. Harmon simply occurred to be among the many first academics to see that an edge might exist, and as an alternative of shackling it with governors, he helped encourage Woods into sustaining it.
“When I first saw him, he had the fastest unwind of a body I’d ever seen since Ben Hogan,” Harmon mentioned on the podcast. “The cause Ben Hogan’s physique might unwind so quick was as a result of he had a reasonably flat swing and he had to get the membership again in entrance of him. His physique rotation was unbelievable.
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“Then I saw this young, 16-, 17-year-old kid that whipped that body. An interesting thing of what Sam is saying. I said to [Tiger] one time, during the course of the first day. I spent two days with him way back then. August 23 and 24 of 1993…”
Let’s pause on that distinction for only a second. Harmon has coached a number of the biggest golfers of all-time, of which Woods is definitely one. Maybe one in all one. He was there for Peak Woods in 2000. He was there for the 1997 Masters. But his reminiscence of the beginning is so indelible that he remembers the precise dates. August 23 and 24, 1993.
“I mentioned, Tiger, you’re beginner participant. You’ve gained junior beginner championships and stuff. And you hit the ball a good distance. Do you might have a shot coming down the stretch while you completely have to drive the ball within the fairway? Because all nice gamers have it.’
“He goes, ‘No, I just tee it up, hit it as far as I can and I go find it.’ I’m thinking to myself, ‘Well there is an arrogant, S.O.B.’ But the more I got to know him, that was the way he played. I wasn’t going to take that away from him. My dad taught us all how to teach. He said, ‘Never take away what a person does naturally, just make it better. Look at the one thing in the swing that can cause bad shots and fix that one thing. Four or five other things just fall in place.’ I wasn’t about to take his speed away from him because I’ve never seen anything like it. I wish he could have given me some.”
He wasn’t the one one. Woods didn’t hit sufficient tee pictures throughout his 1996 season to register within the season-long stats race, however by the point 1997 was full, Woods (294.8 yards) trailed solely John Daly (302) within the driving distance rating, and was a full seven yards away from third place.
The Tiger discuss continues in depth on that episode of the Any Given Monday podcast. Listen along by clicking through here.
