Check out the Golf Digest Tips Plus section of the website where there is an analysis of the swing changes that Mike Weir is making. Basically, Weir is becoming a 2PS guy.

Gotta love that. If a 2PS is good enough for a Masters champion it's good enough for me.

For now he is. Weir has changed his swing more times than his underwear.

Posted By tgreenwood11 on 02-05-2010 08:50 AM
For now he is. Weir has changed his swing more times than his underwear.

That was a fairly ignorant statement to make. Weir made one change to S and T but came back to his old swing. A recent tweak to one's swing does not equate to changing it. You want to lump Tiger in with this too?

Actually it is a change. Going from stack and tilt to a 2PS isn't a tweak. It's an overhaul. And that's the Plane Truth of it.

It would be interesting to see Mike Weir doing a 2-plane swing. To me, Weir's swing has always look more of a 1-plane swing since 2003.

Tim C.

Posted By gdp on 02-06-2010 03:01 PM
Actually it is a change. Going from stack and tilt to a 2PS isn't a tweak. It's an overhaul. And that's the Plane Truth of it.

Just so we are clear here, he went from S and T back to his old swing a year or so ago and now appears to be swinging  more upright.

Weir have always appeared to have a one plane swing since I paid attention to him during the Masters tournament. gdp, can you provide the link to the website? I think I found it, but it was a video of an instructor demonstrating a takeaway move.

Posted By rdougw on 02-05-2010 12:19 PM

Posted By tgreenwood11 on 02-05-2010 08:50 AM
For now he is. Weir has changed his swing more times than his underwear.

That was a fairly ignorant statement to make. Weir made one change to S and T but came back to his old swing. A recent tweak to one's swing does not equate to changing it. You want to lump Tiger in with this too?

Not at all.  Check out Weir's stats over the years.  If he couldn't putt he'd be eeking out a living selling sweaters in the pro shop.   With his new swing he hangs back and under pressure, fore right.

Here is the link: http://www.golfdigest.com/video

I assume this is coming out in the next Golf Digest. I haven't received the March 2010 issue yet. This sounds like a classic 2PS to me.

If you pause the video and look at the swing sequence pictures that will be in the magazine, it looks like the same one-plane Mike Weir. Weir has always fought the move the GD editor is talking about (clubhead getting behind the hands too soon) and, if I recall correctly, used to rehearse his takeaway before every shot, keeping the clubhead outside of the hands, a one-plane takeaway staple. The move the GD editor is demonstrating is much more outside and steep than what Weir does in the swing sequence.

Pretty much the same conclusion I reached, jeffy. I searched for a video of Mike Weir's swing as far back to the 2003 Masters and his old swing looked very one-plane to me.

If you pay attention to the 1:13 and 2:26 mark at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZd5fnbq7Lo , his takeaway shows his arms very close to the body -- evidence that the old swing responsible for the Masters win wasn't two-plane at all. However, I haven't seen Mike Weir's swing this season and I'm still interested in seeing what changes, if any, were made.

Tim C.

I haven't looked at Weir's swing changes - either past or present.  However, the ball flight data says his swing has changed.  How do you know?  Check this out:

My favorite Shot Link stats are Left/Right Tendency and Left/Right Rough tendency.   

The first stat was new for 2009.  The second has been around for a few years.  Now granted, the data for 2010 is still incomplete.  However, look at Weir's stats over 2008-2009 and compare that to 2010 so far....

LRT = Left Rough Tendency rank off the tee
RRT = Right Rough Tendency rank off the tee
LT = Left Tendency rank on approach shots
RT = Right Tendency rank on approach shots

2008:
LRT - 50th
RRT - 143rd
(means he was missing right)

2009:
LRT - 63
LT - 28
RRT - 148
RT - 156
(means he was missing right)

2010:
LRT - 139
LT - 157
RRT - 19
RT - 31
(means he is missing LEFT)

Now 2010 is nowhere near complete, but with a half-dozen tournaments in the book, these stats are dead flipped from the past few years.  Assuming this trend continues, it is safe to say that something has changed pretty significantly.

So, he went from being a hooker to a pusher...so sad.

I witnessed Mike hooking the ball off the world at a tournament. He hit maybe 3 fairways and 8 greens and shot 69. With those stats I would have shot 85.