For a while now, I’ve been intrigued with the Stack and Tilt golf swing. I read about it in 2007 in the first Golf Digest article. I briefly tried it for myself. I wrote about it a number of times. I watched the instructional DVDs. Since all that happened, I have read tons of comments from readers about their success with the swing. I have received literally hundreds of comments and I think all but one were positive.
What I want to know is, how effective is the swing? Is it really better than a conventional swing or some of the other variations out there?
From all that I’ve read about the swing, I know of a handful of tour pros that use the Stack and Tilt swing. Some are featured in the ads for the DVDs. Aaron Baddeley was featured in the Golf Digest article. I read about Mike Weir adopting the swing.
I decided that I would set out to do an analysis of statistics for that handful of pros to see if I could find any evidence that the Stack and Tilt swing has transformed their games for the better. I went back as far as 2000 (or as far as I could) and looked for trends in several statistical categories for Aaron Baddeley, Will MacKenzie, Dean Wilson, Charlie Wi, Mike Weir, and Tommy Armour III.
Methodology
For each pro, I considered greens in regulation, driving accuracy, driving distance, scoring average, and money earned for a period from 2000 through 2008. I thought these things would be good indicators of whether a player’s swing was improved over that period.
For each player, I gathered stats as far back as I could for any year where that player played at least 20 competitive rounds. In a year where a player split time between more than one tour, I took stats from whichever tour a player spent the most time on. Overall, I preferred PGA Tour stats and PGA European Tour stats, over Nationwide Tour stats wherever possible.
Possible Problems
If you were under the impression that this was a formal scientific study, I hate to disappoint, but there are simply too many variables to make a definitive determination. I’m looking for trends that could point to player improvement attributable to the Stack and Tilt. At the same time, it’s not always possible to correlate improvement with the Stack and Tilt, because the player could have been putting in a lot of short game or putting work in the case of noticeable improvement, or could have been injured or mentally distracted in the case of a decline.
It’s also not possible for me to know exactly when each player began adopting the Stack and Tilt swing. However, I do have some references to go on. In The Scorecard Always Lies, by Chris Lewis, there is mention of Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett (architects of the Stack and Tilt) as well as when certain players began working with the two.
Here is what I can glean from Lewis’ inside information:
- Plummer and Bennett started working on Tour in 2004 and had their first success with Steve Elkington late in 2005
- They got their first victory with Aaron Baddeley in 2006. I’m presuming they began working with him in the 2005 off-season, but that’s a guess.
- They began working with Tommy Armour III, Dean Wilson, and Grant Waite by the end of 2005.
- By 2006, their appointment books were swelling.
In addition, according to a Golf Digest article, Mike Weir had adopted the swing by 2007.
The Data
All the stats were gathered from the PGA Tour and PGA European Tour homepages. If you’d like to look at the raw data I collected, you may view the spreadsheet here. The charts below were constructed directly from that data, using Microsoft Excel.
Without further ado, here are the findings for each player in the categories greens in regulation, driving accuracy, driving distance, scoring average, and money earned for a period from 2000 through 2008.
Analysis
I’m seeing some very interesting things in there. Let’s have a look at each category.
- Greens in Regulation – Clearly Aaron Baddeley has been trending upward since beginning work with Plummer and Bennett. After some solid years earlier, Mike Weir has regained some of this ground in the GIR category, but not nearly to the point where he was at the beginning of the decade. If you smooth the ups and downs, all the players except for Will MacKenzie have been trending mostly upward for the last few years.
- Driving Distance – This is probably the least meaningful of the stats I chose for this exercise, as driving distance is not generally an indicator of success without strength in the driving accuracy category. The results were mixed, with Baddeley, Armour III, and Weir trending upward the last few years (after drastic declines in the previous few years, I might add), while the rest were generally moving downward. It should be noted that Tommy Armour III turns 50 this year, which might explain the loss in distance from 2003-2006, but doesn’t explain why he added almost ten yards between 2006 and 2008.
- Driving Accuracy – I’m surprised that these results are so mixed, since consistency is supposed to be the bread and butter of the Stack and Tilt. Weir and MacKenzie have been pretty much on a plateau for quite a while. Baddeley looks like he made a huge improvement right around the time be began adopting the Stack and Tilt. Tommy Armour III had a nice upward movement since 2004 with the exception of 2008. Overall, with the exception of Weir and MacKenzie, the other guys were showing improvement, but Armour III and Wi had what might be considered one unusually good and one unusually bad year since 2004.
- Scoring Average – To me, this is the most telling of the stats. Every single one of the players has been trending downward since 2005, with the lone exception of MacKenzie in 2008. That can probably be chalked up to a bad year given that he saw drops in just about all the categories in 2008. Without a doubt, though, scores have been dropping steadily in the last few years.
- Earnings – Again, another telling stat. All of the players saw generally increased earnings between 2005 and 2008.
Conclusions
As I said at the top, this study is fairly unscientific and, in fairness, I don’t know that I can make any absolutely definitive conclusions. However, with these five players, it seems clear to me that each has decreased his average score and increased his earnings since Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett hung out their shingle on Tour and started working with these guys.
There could be other factors involved. For instance, there could have been new or renewed efforts to work on the short game, putting, fitness, or the mental game. There could have been improvements in equipment. There are many possible explanations.
In some cases, like with Mike Weir, there were big drops in performance from earlier successes. In his case, he had a big year in 2003 which included a Masters win. His rebound from his subsequent slump could have been a natural one. Also interesting is that he still hasn’t regained his pre-2003 strength in any of the categories.
At the same time, I think there is too much correlation to say that the Stack and Tilt isn’t at least partly responsible for increased success for these five players. The fact that all five showed a generally upward trend in both scoring and earnings tells me that they all started doing something that worked for them and the one thing that I know they have in common is adoption of the Stack and Tilt golf swing.
I think that speaks volumes to those of you out there who have been working on switching to the Stack and Tilt. If the swing can show this kind of improvement at players at that level, then it stands to reason that average players will benefit from its simplicity and consistency. From the massively positive reaction I’ve heard from players around the world, I’d say that hypothesis has already been proven.
For those of you who haven’t given it a shot, you might want to consider it. At worst, you won’t improve and can go back to whatever you’re doing now. At best, you might start shaving strokes like we’ve seen from the PGA Tour all the way down to the weekend hacker.
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Further Reading
Stack and Tilt Instructional DVD Set (Life in the Rough)
Golf Digest Revisits the Stack and Tilt (Life in the Rough)
More Stack and Tilt Analysis (Life in the Rough)
Stack and Tilt: A Follow Up (Life in the Rough)
The New Tour Swing (Golf Digest, June 2007)
Stack and Tilt Part 2 (Golf Digest, September 2007)
Stack and Tilt Critics Speak Out (Golf Digest, September 2007)
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I’m a 40-something “bogie golfer” who unfortunately plays a lot less than I used to when I was younger. Two seasons ago I adopted the Stack and Tilt, and last summer I shot a 1-over 37 from the ‘green’ tees on the back 9 at Bandon Dunes. During the course of six rounds over the summer, I dropped my handicap four strokes. My opinion is that the Stack and Tilt may be best for golfers that struggle with consistency. It eliminates subtle variations in the swing, creating a repeatable movement. Regardless of level, Stack and Tilt may simply give the golfer a consistent approach – a “baseline” if you will, that eliminates blow-up holes and bad rounds more than it really improves top-end ability.
A most impressive piece of analysis, my congratulations on your painstaking thoroughness. I’m not sure how many real conclusions can be drawn however, since there are just too many variables involved – not least that elusive concept “form ” which comes and goes even for the best without obvious explanation. I do however take comfort from the fact that professional athletes who play golf for a living are prepared to put their faith in this methodology. These guys are not daft or driven by hype – if they didn’t think it was working for them they’d have no hesitation in ditching it in a heartbeat.
For myself, as a fully committed S+T’r, I think it can have a lot to offer many people, though no one size fits all. Last year I converted one of my playing companions and his handicap dropped from 18 in March to 11 in December – he’s like a dog with 2 tails. Unfortunately I don’t win any money from him any more but it’s a small price to pay !
Watching PGA and European Tour players, I do think I detect a gentle trend towards the one plane style of which S+T is one model – look at the most impressive young German Martin Kaymer for instance. I’m still so glad I found it !
I agree, David, that no definitive conclusions can be drawn. However, I do think that some apparent correlation might exist and it might warrant some further study by someone more research-capable than me.
I know that if I was a tour pro, I’d definitely have to give the swing some thought and based on what I read in The Scorecard Always Lies, there was some serious curiosity from other pros on the driving ranges on Tour from 2005 and on.
I have been doing the stack and tilt for 2 years…..my handicap went from 18 to now 12 and trending down. I shot a 2 over 9 hole on saturday at our club….that was nice. I hit all but 2 fairways and both par 3 greens. I am really focusing on short game this year. I learned the initial moves from a guy who had his son taking lessons when Mike Bennet was in NJ. I bought the DVD’s last year and found a teaching pro to assist me in some fine tuning…..IT WORKS!
Jim, your story is very typical. I’m surprised, however, that both Baddely and Weir have recently gone back to their previous swings. I’ve heard from dozens, if not hundreds, of individuals that have found success.
If all this technique does is improve my consistency then I’ll consider it a win. I’m currently a 110-plus golfer and a huge percentage of my shot count comes from duffed “fat” shots that only travel a couple of yards. I consider it a “good” hole if out of all the shots taken I hit one clean one.
Yesterday, well into yet another mediocre round, I decided to see what would happen if I kept my weight on the forward foot and treated that leg like a pivot–the idea being to keep my swaying and bobbing minimized. Well, there were only like four holes left in the round but my ball striking became almost instantly better, especially with irons which I normally dread having to get out of the bag. I topped a couple, but no fat duffs, and the toppers rolled farther than a duff would have so it was fair dinkum.
I described what I was trying to my golf partner, and he said it sounded like I was doing the “Stack & Tilt.” Not having a clue what that was I Googled it this morning and, lo and behold, there was a pile of information describing almost exactly what I had tried out of frustration!
This technique might not magically lift me from double-bogey-plus-dom into bogey-or-better overnight, but it almost has to result in better, more consistent ball-striking (and hence lower scores) in the zone between driving and chipping. I’m anxious for my next round to explore this further!
I started doing stack and tilt in 2007. It has improved my game tremendously. I was a chronic slicer, now I tend to pull the club but this is easier to adjust. I just a little right of the fairway. I no longer hit fat shots. I did have problem with my driver at the start but I have already adjusted. Bennett and Plummer as I understood from their video do not promise the sun and the moon. Simply it improves your ball striking. To score low the rest still up to you. It is the simplest (shortest time) to learn how to strike the ball like the great golfers do. Of course the short game, mental attitude, etc. which they did not cover much in their video are still needed to win in the pros. To be a good golfer (not to win in the PGA) you have to strike the ball consistently,strike it hard enough to play the game in a reasonable amount of time and that you should be able to direct the flight of your ball. This is all Mike and Andy promise you.
Raul, I agree totally with that. I don’t think Plummer and Bennett have ever promised much more than consistent ball striking. And from what I hear from people, they’ve given them that.
Okay, time to weigh in on my opinion of this technique in a serious way. I just finished 18 holes using it on a course that is pretty tough by my standards. I’m talking elevated greens where you miss a little bit, the ball bounces way wide, and you stick a perfect return chip…the green is so slanted the ball just rolls all the way off the other side. You stick an approach shot, and the slope just kills you. This course is made to make you weep tears of frustration.
I scored one of my best rounds ever. I broke 110 for the first time since well into last year. I scored better than I usually do on an easy course with greens that resemble a pool table. I would have done even better but, well, I imbibed quite a bit along the way. I was there to have fun, okay?
I “saved” easily a score of strokes by hitting the ball cleanly and getting close to the green in 2/3 shots for your average par 4. I lost almost nothing in the zone between the drive and chipping, the realm that usually kills me. Stack & Tilt has made those shots almost routine.
Driving? Dude, I was hitting 240, easy. That’s bombing it for me. And off the tee I was straight enough to make you weep. Even when I got too carried away and over-swung I had a fade rather than a slice, and never did I end up wide and in trouble.
My number one problem today (see the evil greens comment above) was popping approaches past the green because the old standards for what club to use went out the window. Now I have to go to the local par 3 and re-calibrate my whole bag.
I think I’m as excited about my game as the day I dumped my garage sale clubs for a custom set. This is a Big Deal(tm) for me.
And it’s only going to get better…I can tell.
Just want to emphasize, bear in mind I went into this round with 4 holes of “practice” not knowing what I was trying. That was followed by some reading on the topic from Google searches. No range time, no formal practice; I dove right in and started playing cold. Imagine how I might have done had I spent some time actually practicing this stroke!
Did my previous post get eaten? Sigh. I won’t re-type the whole stinking thing. In summary: I played 18 today on a very demanding course using the S&T swing, and did very well. Amazingly well. I can’t get over what a difference it has made in my ball striking.
Never fear, Spinny, nothing is ever truly gone. For some reason, the spam filter got it, but I don’t know why.
Stack & Tilt… I was in a small slump and i could not figure out what i was doing wrong. My ball striking was in consistent and i would often times hit it fat or thin or even just scoop the ball. It was getting very frustrating. One day i was at the range and was experimenting with my swing. I started hitting shots very well at frist i thought my timing was right. Then myt friend pointed out that my swing was looking like a stack and tilt swing. I had no idea what it was. He told me that he would explain to me later because it would just get in my head. He said i was striking the ball exceptionally well and I should jus keep practicing. After one of the best practice sessions i’d eve had he explained to me the concept of stack and tilt. Although i probably didn’t incorporate all of stack and tilt he said the main differences were there. Funny how messing around with ur golf swing can lead to huge improvements without even knowing what you were doing.
I posted my first comment here in May 2009. I sticked to the SnT method and I am happy with it. I bought the video and I watch it over and over. Although I cannot incorporate all of what the video is saying I try to learn it in portions. I video tape my swing every 2 weeks and start to learn a new segment after the previous one is acceptable. Although my scores have not lowered much, I started to lose fewer balls per round now. One or two compared to six to 10 previously. Each succeeding video tape of my swing is getting better and better. I can say I have improved in the long game. I still have to learn a good short game.
I recently switched to the Stack and Tilt and it has worked wonders for my game. I have played for eight years, taken lessons, and played hundreds of rounds. I always struggled to break 100 and 90 after eight years. I played alot of very good shots, but i would still hit alot of fat shots, my iron play was inconsistant. I used to joke that I was consistently inconsistent. After adopting the stack and tilt swing, i began to make better contact with the ball and improved my game by 7to10 strokes per round. My fat shots and duffs have vanished.
My irons are crisper and 5 to 10 yards longer and hitting it much straigher with spin to hold greens. Results with my Driver are not as good. Hitting it well, but really did not gain or loose distence over my original traditional golf swing.
The best thing about the swing is that I learned it in just two trips to the range, played today in the cold and shot a 89. If a had made a couple of lip out putts it could have been 85. For me that is a great round. The S&T is a easy swing to learn and for me it really worked. If you struggle with your game like I have, do yourself a favor and at least give it a try.
Looking for 80 using the Stack and Tilt.
The “inside scoop” on Mike Weir leaving Mike and Andy had to do with his wanting to use parts of the S&T model and Andy insisted that he had to make a total commitment to the process…..even though he is back with his old coach, you still see elements of the S&T in his swing
i found with driver to play the ball forward in my stance.still keeping weight forward but head centered behind the ball worked well for me.i hit several drives of roughly 320yds my last round ball striking was a little inconsistent but with a little practice i think the stack and tilt method will be alot more consistent.im trying it based on the claims of consistency because i hit the ball fairly long anyway hope i have the same results as everyone else.my last round was the first time i had actually hit any golf balls with the method and shot an 84 if i could have made some putts it could have possibly been my first ever round in the 70′s.
I like the consistency of this swing. I have always had problems with inconsistent iron contact. My swing was a bit too shallow and sweeping. That worked well on the driver and fairway woods but not so great on iron approach shots. I switched to stack and tilt last year and I broke 80 for the first time ever, I shot 78 on a VERY tight course with small greens. That was 5 shots better than I ever shot on that course, I also only lost 1 ball where I was losing 4-5 before. This swing will help eliminate the fat, embarassing iron shots and make you more consistent. The bottom line is it works! I had a friend try it who hits it a mile already and his irons were like night and day different with one trip to the range! Give it a try and watch those scores drop!
Am a fifty-ish female who has struggled with swing consistency despite lessons, practice, and a general love of golf. Picked up S&T book at library, and just from reading the S&T summary in the beginning was able to duplicate it at practice. Could consistently make very good ball striking contact immediately. Unfortunately, I took it to the course too soon. Forgot the pronounced left knee bend and swing fell apart. But immediately went to driving range again and figured out problem. Ball striking immediately improved. Also, must say that hip thrust and butt tuck are very important. Can’t wait to get out on the course, again. Luvvvv stack & tilt so far!
I play weekly in a golf league and have had consistency problems recently.
I also know in order to improve, you must play or hit balls a couple of times a week which I don’t do much anymore. I’d find myself lately getting in trouble off the tee. I’m playing with custom shafts built by a proffesional clubmaker so I contacted him and told him my problem. I’d thought maybe something in my swing had changed to cause me the need to have the tork and kick adjusted or have a new shaft installed.
He said to swing by and we’ll have a look see at what’s going on. Now, the story..
He has me hitting balls on the laser analysis tool he uses to dictate clubhead speeds, open/closed clubfaces, trajectory, ball speed/flight ect.
(I’d really like to have one of these at home!) He says, does this look like what you’re doing? Yep, pretty much not hitting it where I aim. So after making a few changes here and there on my address he tells me to put 80% of my weight on the left side and keep it there and hit me three more balls. “I’m making a long story short here.” I hit three more balls and he says now look at this. I walk around to the computer screen and see one line indicating the balls direction. I said, well that’s great! Straight down the middle! But I hit three balls, where are the other two? He pulled up the trajectory screen and I saw that I’d hit those three balls all on the same line but I couldn’t see them till he pulled up the trajectory of the three I hit. I’ve been taught the “Stack and Tilt” without knowing it until I started doing some research on golf swings. Now according to his computer, I’ve increased my drives from 260yds to 290yds with the longest being 292yds. and to top it off, they’re straight! I’m 53yrs old and have had a 10-14 hdcp. The last round I played I shot a 78 on a Par 72 course.
If this is the results of Stack and Tilt, I’ll take it!!!
The Stack and Tilt is particularly made for the amateur. It is no surprise that the founders of the technique may want to use the traditional approach, which allows for more power to be focused on the ball and swing. The problem is that the traditional swing is very difficult, witness the few people who ever master the swing compared to those who try. The Stack and Tilt is an easier approach that is helpful to amateurs like me who do not have a lot of time to practice, and a lot of money to spend on professional coaches to continually improve the swing. The Stack and Tilt does not depend so much on a significant weight shift from right to left. It does not depend so much upon switching between two fulcrums for the swing, from right hip to left hip. The swing starts out with the fundamental of all great swings: weight in front of the ball and making the bottom of the swing in front of the ball. The Stack and Tilt would be easier to teach to newcomers to golf and would more quickly get people out there swinging! And since Golf has been declining in recent years, this may be one solution amoung many.
Hey that is a great explanation specifically not shifting the fulcrum. I might have to give it another try. The driver didn’t work for me.
Steve Elkington, Mike Weir, Tommy Armour III, etc. have all left Stack and Tilt. The reasons they give are different but they don’t think they played well with the technique. Maybe it is a better way to hit the ball for an average golfer?
I do think it is a much better swing to teach to beginners. It does not depend upon shifting from right to left. It starts out with the fundamental of all great swings: weight in front of ball and hitting down on the ball, with a divot in front. I do not think that stack and tilt is the way for pros. There is less weight shift going forward, less opportunity to create a large arc of the swing. Stack and Tilt allows me to be more consistent. Also, to better hit on the sweet spot of the face of the club. That counts for a lot of swing speed. I could understand why one would play one method one year, and switch to another. Hopefully, the end result is a better swing.