stack & tilt

the latest evidence of tiger woods’ transcendent reach involves the seemingly innocuous world of golf instruction. this was already apparent given the breathless coverage of woods’ growing relationship with instructor sean foley, but the story turned juicier last week thanks to charlie wi (right). a brief summary: wi is a student and friend of andy plummer and mike bennett, founders of the “stack & tilt” method. both foley and woods have acknowledged foley’s teachings share some core principles with stack & tilt. yet to hear wi at the bmw championship, foley has been riding plummer and bennett’s coattails and getting all the credit in the process. while foley’s fixes for woods have resembled some stack & tilt fundamentals—both are opposed to movement off the ball during the backswing, and both believe in leveraging the ground for power during the downswing—there are also differences. not to be forgotten, as well, is that foley has already carved out a niche on tour working with sean o’hair, hunter mahan and Justin rose—all of whom have distinct swing mechanics. either way, wi and his teachers shouldn’t be too upset about foley’s rise to prominence. if stack & tilt wasn’t something you had been hearing much about in recent months, foley and woods have helped bring it back into the conversation.