Tiger Woods of the United States waves to the gallery on the 18th green during the final round of the 112th U.S. Open at The Olympic Club on June 17, 2012 in San Francisco, California.
(June 16, 2012 – Source: Andrew Redington/Getty Images North America)

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — BETHESDA, Md. – Tiger Woods said Tuesday that his new swing is pain-free — for his surgically repaired left knee.

As for his short game, that’s another matter.

“I finally have a swing that it doesn’t hurt, and I am still generating power, but it doesn’t hurt anymore,” said Woods, who overhauled his swing previously with Butch Harmon and Hank Haney and is now working with Sean Foley. “I would say certainly my short game has been something that has taken a hit, and it did the same thing when I was working with Butch and the same thing when I was working with Hank.

“During that period of time, my short game went down, and it’s because I was working on my full game. Eventually I get to a point where the full game becomes very natural and I can repeat it day after day, and I can dedicate most of my time to my short game again.”

Woods, speaking at a news conference for the AT&T National, which starts Thursday at Congressional Country Club, said he spent time with his two children last week and didn’t do much work on his game following the U.S. Open. In the second major championship of the year, his game left him during a lost weekend in San Francisco on the Lake Course at the Olympic Club, when he tumbled from a share of the lead after 36 holes into a tie for 21st with closing rounds of 75-73 that left him six shots behind winner Webb Simpson.

“I think that overall, the way I struck the golf ball, I was very pleased by that,” said Woods, ranked No. 4 in the world and a winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Memorial this season. “I didn’t particularly chip or putt well that week, something that I had done at Memorial. I just didn’t do that week, and obviously at the Open, that’s just one of the things you have to do, and I didn’t do that. I didn’t make anything from 15 or 20 feet. I made a bunch of putts from 8 to 10 feet and in, but I didn’t make any other putts.

“That week I played very conservative. My game plan worked for the first couple days. I was playing away from a lot of flags, lag putting, but I didn’t make anything. I need to hit the ball a little bit closer than I did that week.”