Ilove the PNC Championship, because it’s not just a bunch of professional golfers playing a tournament. It’s a family affair. We get to watch junior and amateur golfers play alongside their parents, and see how their games subtly change year after year.
There’s no family more high-profile family in the field this week than Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie. This is the third year the pair have teed it up together. Each year we see him come back looking taller, stronger, and better at golf than the year before.
“He’s always loved and been obsessed with the game, but now he’s really starting to develop those skills,” Justin Thomas said on Friday.
JT went on to say that Charlie is hitting the ball incredibly far these days, and when you look at his golf swing, you can see why.
This fast, flexible lower body rotation that Charlie demonstrates is common among junior golfers, as Golf Digest Best in State Teacher Jonathan Yarwood explained back in 2020 during Charlie’s first year playing.
The combination of lots of youthful flexibility with an undeveloped upper body means it’s the lower body that becomes the powerhouse of lots of junior golfers’ swings. And Tiger’s message for Charlie was simple: That’s just fine.
“He uses his lower body way better than I ever did,” Tiger told Golf Digest, which you can watch in the video below. “I stress to him over and over again: You can hit it as hard as you want. All you have to do is two simple things: hit it in the middle of the face every single time, and have a nice finish.”
As he’s gotten older, Charlie’s upper body started filling out, and his swing changed slightly with it. He used to counteract that fast body rotation with a closed clubface, which has gotten slightly less closed over the years. Golf Digest Best in State Travis Fulton says this
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But his ability to swing aggressively remains, thanks to that early advice from Tiger.
“He’s very motivated…I’ve watched him hit so many golf balls over the past year because I’ve been home. I haven’t been able to play, so I’ve been able to help him, watch him play high school golf, junior golf,” Tiger says. “I didn’t have the speed that he has at that age.”