A fun day at Torrey Pines with the pros. Tour players swings. Tiger Woods on video.

This week I decided to head down to Torrey Pines with my pro Billy McKinney.  There are many advantages to being at a PGA event with a pro.  Billy is now a teaching pro at Marbella CC and he also played on tour.  He qualified for the AT&T.  I think he is the best teacher in southern california and he received the SCPGA teacher of the year award for 2012.  I could go on about him but the point I am trying to make is that we were allowed to go places that were off limits to the general public.  At Torrey they have an upper and a lower range.  The upper range is where all the club manufacturers are tweaking equipment.  I spent about 4 hours at the upper range.  When I first arrived Tiger was hitting and I stood about 15 feet from him and took some video.  If you have seen Tiger hit on the range you know that it is an amazing display.  He hits nearly every shot perfect.  As he claims, he is a "Ranger Rick", hitting every shot perfect on the range and then not taking it to the course.  I imagine the high amount of stress he feels in every aspect of his life has something to do with that.  However, this week is different so far.  On Thursday he hit a ton of excellent shots.  His swing looks very much in control.

Here are some videos:

Kyle Stanley

This guy is pure.  I really like his swing.  Very balanced with a nice bump towards the target and the hips stop moving before impact which creates the whip of the club and lots of power.  He had this tournament in his hands last year.  I watched the replay of the 2012 Farmers and the announcers put the trophy in his car before he finished the 15th.  I can't believe he won the very next week at the Waste Management...That's what we call "heart".

Cameron Tringale

Cameron is a pretty nice kid.  I played with his brother a year ago and when I told him that he talked to me for a couple of minutes.  You can notice he has 2 balls teed up here and he is hitting the first one.  This drill looks like he is trying to hit a cut and swing the club more left around his body.  Torrey is designed for cuts of the tee.

Seung-Yul Noh

Nice smooth swing here.  I think he was having trouble with the new nike equipment.  He hit a couple of shots out of the range to the right.  High slice.  I was told that nike does not manufacture anything.  It is all made from outside contractors  AKA "sweat shops in china.  They are just a big marketing company.

Aaron Baddeley

An exceptional putter and an average ball striker.  There are many ways to get it done.

Tiger

John Senden

This guy is known as the best ball striker on tour.

Eric Engelbert

I saved the best for last.  You might not have made it this far.  I probably would have stopped reading when I saw Troy Matteson.  The club face looks much better at the top.  I made that change over the last month.  In this video I noticed I was taking the club inside a little which may have caused a slight crossing of the target line at the top.  I fixed that immediately.  I am always trying to keep the club in front of me and that begins with the take away.  If I get handsy in the first couple of feet then the club gets behind me.  I try to start the swing with my body.  Letting the arms go along for the ride.


While I was at the upper range I saw JB Holmes hitting driver.  That was fun to watch.  His teacher Matt Killen was there with a TracMan.  A couple of guys were lined up to use the machine.  It is great to get that immediate feedback.  The staff asked JB to stop hitting driver because he was landing it next to the guys on the lower range.  I still think he is the longest hitter on tour.  No one said anything to Garrigus, Dustin Johnson, Jason Kokrak or Tiger.