What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

[greghutton]

This is very interesting...

The cam is attached to Tiger's cap, so we can all see what he sees when hitting a driver

YouTube - Eye of the Tiger Woods - Driver=

[Rackster]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Great shot of the correct move on the takeaway. You can see perfectly how the club face rotates in tune with his body turn.

[oldwease]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Also, isn't the path of the clubhead through the ball interesting - how the arc moves back inside after impact. Really shows how the clubhead moves in an arc around the body when so many talk about trying to extend down the target line.

[Started2k3]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Also, isn't the path of the clubhead through the ball interesting - how the arc moves back inside after impact. Really shows how the clubhead moves in an arc around the body when so many talk about trying to extend down the target line.

I was looking at that as well. On youtube you can also find tiger hitting a 4 iron. It is amazing how almost all the divots appear to be pointing to the left of the target. I have noticed that my absolute best shots (dead straight, at the target and very clean contact) also have the divot pointing slightly left of the target line. Hummmmm.

[oldwease]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Same here with divots.... best shots result from divots heading slightly left, for longer shots anyway. Makes sense given the arc of the club.

[bulldog2k]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

First thing I noticed was his head movement during the backswing - interesting stuff!

[ubizmo]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

First thing I noticed was his head movement during the backswing - interesting stuff!

Wow, yes. We don't know what he's doing with his eyes, of course, but his face is following the club head back for the first part of the takeaway, so the ball is shifted to left peripheral vision.

[Started2k3]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Wow, yes. We don't know what he's doing with his eyes, of course, but his face is following the club head back for the first part of the takeaway, so the ball is shifted to left peripheral vision.

Since the camera is on the brim of his hat the caption should be:

"Forehead" of the Tiger

Because his eyes are probably still pointed at the ball.

[oldwease]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

The other thing about the head is that it moves up until the point just before contact, then he holds it still momentarily. That suggests to me that he is actually looking at the ball at impact.

If you look at stills of many other players at impact, their eyes are not looking directly at the ball. I know I'm not looking at the ball at contact - my eyes are already starting to look ahead, so probably my head's rotating through as well.

With the Wimbledon tennis tournament just over, I saw many shots of the different players at the point of impact. Of those shown, only Federer was clearly watching the ball right onto the racket. The others were all looking some way ahead of the point of impact.

Could this be one reason why Tiger & Federer are ahead of the pack?

[GoNavy]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Anybody know how to download any of the videos from you-tube, was wanting to look at them with the V1 software.

[Neil18]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

Personally the best part of this video for me is the start of his downswing.

You can clearly see how to stop coming OTT by swinging the arms well down before he turns his trunk through the shot.

With his upper body in the correct position the clubhead has to come inside after impact because he's holding it! It just feels like extending down the target line.

It's an arm and hand game people!

[Martin Levac]

Re: What Tiger sees when hitting a driver...

The other thing about the head is that it moves up until the point just before contact, then he holds it still momentarily. That suggests to me that he is actually looking at the ball at impact.

If you look at stills of many other players at impact, their eyes are not looking directly at the ball. I know I'm not looking at the ball at contact - my eyes are already starting to look ahead, so probably my head's rotating through as well.

With the Wimbledon tennis tournament just over, I saw many shots of the different players at the point of impact. Of those shown, only Federer was clearly watching the ball right onto the racket. The others were all looking some way ahead of the point of impact.

Could this be one reason why Tiger & Federer are ahead of the pack?

I think it is a significant reason they are better than other players. It can be seen anywhere one must aim an object at another object. For golf, although some think we aim a ball at a target far away, we actually aim a club at a ball. In football, we aim a foot at a ball. In tennis, we aim a racket at a ball. And so forth. The quality of the interaction between the two objects determine our success or failure. And the quality of our aim determines in part the quality of this interaction. The other part being the execution. Aiming directly for the object we must strike as opposed to aiming for an area around the object appears to be more successful than otherwise.

Perhaps this is due to the greater precision and detail of our central area of focus compared to our peripheral vision.

I frequently read an advice to aim ahead of the ball. I think it serves a purpose as in a drill to teach to strike down on the ball or something along those lines. But when playing or practicing normally, I think it's best to aim directly at the ball or even at a dimple on the ball for best results. Advising to aim ahead of the ball would be akin to advising to use one's peripheral vision to aim at the ball. It would make striking the ball properly that much more difficult.