Research Indicates Tiger is Back!!!

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

2012 has been the year in golf so far for everyone to be asking if Tiger Woods is back. He tied for second in March at the Honda Classic finishing with a fourth round 62. In late March, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational looking as if he was ready for the Masters. He imploded at Augusta, finishing tied for 40th.

Woods followed that up by missing the cut at the Wells Fargo and tying for 40th again at the Players Championship. Then in his final tune up before the U.S. Open, he wins the Memorial and ties Jack Nicklaus for Tour wins.

So which is it? Are his new swing elements still too inconsistent to produce results? Or is everything in place and he is on the verge of running off on another streak of greatness in his attempt to pass Nicklaus in Majors wins?

Based on two interesting books regarding tour players and their swing tempos, Tour Tempo and Tour Tempo 2, it appears as if Tiger has locked down his new swing components and is ready to roar.

According to the book, and recent research on Woods' swing, he is mostly "sevens" and "two to one" on his putts, perfect numbers for him to achieve great things. Let me explain this crazy golf jargon.

The books explain that virtually all tour players, no matter how fast or slow their swings, have the same full-swing tempo -- their backswings take three times as long as their downswings. Consistency in tempo is the key and in 2000, Tiger Woods had the best tempo because it never varied. Recently, with new coaches, different swing techniques, injuries, and possibly personal issues, he has had one of the worst tempos in golf. His swing times have been all over the board and wildly erratic.

The measurements are based on video of each golfer's swing and the numbers come from the amount of frames of video for each section of the swing. Woods was a robotic 24/8 for his peak years which means the swing consumes 24 frames of video from takeaway to the top, and then 8 frames of video back down to striking the ball. The desired number for ultimate results is a 3 to 1 ratio for any tour player. Research shows Woods hitting wayward shots at the Masters this year with many swings of 24/6 and 20/8.

When Tiger pulls the ball over two fairways and sends balls into the rough, those are usually results of a fast downswing, a 6 on the video frame meter. He doesn’t seem to handle the faster downswing well. Yesterday, at the Open, he measured much better and much more consistently. Thursday he hit an iron approach to six feet on the fourth hole. That swing was measured at 22/7. His tee shots Friday, the ones that split the fairway, were 20/7. All those 7-frame downswings are a really good sign for Woods. Tiger needs to maintain the 3 to 1 ratio and slow the downswing slightly.

Now green side strokes and putts are desired to come in at a 2 to 1 ratio. So far, through two rounds, he has showed 14/7 and 16/8 on all his chips and putts. The great green side shot he made at the Memorial was measured at 21/10, almost perfect on the scale and absolutely perfect in the results!

Basically, these numbers suggest that Woods has practiced his new moves and achieved comfort with them. They have become second nature so he is, once again, able to make an athletic swing at the ball without thinking. Just a reflexive move that is allowing him to hit the ball straight, or curve it at will.

All these numbers make Tiger the favorite to win this weekend at Olympic, but as any golfer knows, there is a mental aspect to the game as well. So while he is the favorite to win his 15th Major, and a favorite to win anywhere he plays this year, keeping that consistency will determine if Tiger is back.

This analysis and application is interesting and telling, but a back nine on any given Sunday is always the true measurement.

All this because I know more about nothing...