Tiger Woods Learned 'Great' Swing Technique From A Legendary Golfer

Tiger Woods once got an important lesson from legendary golfer Jackie Burke during his amateur years.

Just like any other sports superstar, Woods learned from some of the greats who competed before him. In his recent column for Golf.com, Michael Bamberger, who was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated for two decades, revealed that Woods was taught one swing technique by golf Hall of Famer Burke back in the day.

The 15-time major champion said that during the 1993 U.S. Amateur at Champions, Burke walked up to him and told him to “keep the ball down” when he swings.

“One of the great lessons I ever got was from Jackie Burke,” Woods said. “I was playing the U.S. Amateur and he sees me hitting golf balls on the range. I know who Jackie is — he won the Masters, this is his club — and I’m just hitting it everywhere. He walks up to me and says, ‘You better keep that ball down, kid.’”

When Woods asked why, the legend responded, “Well, the longer the ball’s in the air, the longer it has more time to go crooked. So trust me, you need to keep that ball down.’”

Burke’s swinging technique may have worked well for Woods in the Amateurs. He went on to win the next year’s competition, then a second in 1995 and a third in 1996.

Aside from Burke, another golf legend Woods looked up to was the late Arnold Palmer, whom he met during a 1991 summer visit to Orlando, Florida. At the time, Woods was already motivated by Palmer and swore to become an all-time great just like him. Sadly, Palmer passed away in 2016.

In September last year, on what would have been Palmer’s 90th birthday, Woods said that golf became the sport it is today because of the late legend. He also pointed out that it was Palmer who got everybody “hooked” to watching the sport via TV.

“Arnold meant everything to golf. Are you kidding me?” Woods told Steve DiMeglio of USA Today last year. “I mean, without his charisma, without his personality in conjunction with TV, it was just the perfect symbiotic growth. You finally had someone who had this charisma and they’re capturing it on TV for the very first time.”