I think it's 50/50. Tiger was swinging the best when he was dominate (and healthy) and with Butch Harmon. Since then he has gone through numerous swing changes and a couple new swing coaches. Partially for physical reasons and partially for "more consistency". For some reason it seems like Tiger has never felt total comfort with his tempo with his driver (for a long time). His leg action, hip movement and plane are totally different now. The common denominator (and even more prevelant now) is the "stuck position". He's battled it for a LONG time now. He is prone to two mistakes when his tempo is out of whack. He's either going to get the club so far behind him and his body ahead that he is going to be so late the ball is going to start right and go further right (hole #9 this week). Flaw number 2 is hole #15 (and partially where the mental comes in). Being aware that just occured a few holes ago he is going to be cautious of that. Now he's going to slow down, get the club out in front of him (to avoid the block) and smother a left to left pull hook. Bottom line is everything is out of sync. The key to consistency is duplicating all the moving parts on every swing. Making downswing adjustments every other hole will lead to a lot of approach shots from the rough and a lot of marshalls watching you drop the ball from hospitality tents and fences. He can't go back to his young swing for physical reasons and he can't quite get everyting where it needs to be with his new swing off the tee. I would like to see him shallow his angle on the downswing and get back to attacking from the inside with an aggressive release at impact (the old days). The mental side? It's in his head bigtime now. Tiger has been playing golf swing instead of golf for a number of years now. Just go back to playing golf instead of playing golf swing (big difference). He also needs to develop a go to shot off the tee when things arent' going well. Doesn't matter how good you're swinging there will be times where it just isn't going good. You need a shot where you can aim on one side or the other of the fairway and KNOW the ball will move a certain way and not the other way. Essentially taking half the course out of play (ala Jack Nicklaus). Tiger doesn't have that because he at times doesn't know if it's going to go left or right. Not a good way to be missing. YOu can survive if you know where your miss is going to be. Could be miserable on the tee if you don't know how to make it miss one way or the other.
I think he just swings too damn hard at times. When he swings hard he starts to get out of sync. What he is better at now than he was during his best is the short irons. He used to have them blow over the green all the time. His putting of old is missed. It used to be if he needed one... he'd make it. Inside 10 feet used to almost be a given.
I Actually I'd like to see him try to hit the cover off the ball at times. Sometimes it seems to me like he's over thinking the swing and trying to steer it. That's when it will break down. Go back to his younger days when he had one swing thought.... hit the thing as far as he could. Worked pretty well! When I get out of sync with my swing (especially off the tee). I tend to be too concious of technical aspects and positions. You lose your tempo and timing. I'll take a shag bag and beat the snot out of balls increasing my swing speed and just letting the clubhead release. It's amazing how all the parts start falling into place. Think about all the "ranger ricks" you see out there striping the ball on the driving range. Free flowing swings without a worry in the world. Put that same person on a golf course with a fairway, rough, hazards, OB, pressure etc... and the body doesn't move the same and the results are different. Same concept at a different level.
