04/25/24
May 11, 2010
Tiger woods loses his swing coach: Tiger Woods' troubled career took another blow Monday, when one of his coaches said he would no longer be working with golf's No. 1 player
Strange development. Having defended Woods' claim on Friday that he was 100% fit even though his comments after his Sunday injury suggested otherwise, I can't help but notice that he also recently said the rumours that he was going to be parting company with Haney were "100% wrong". Perhaps, as a sportsman who gives 110%, that 100% thing leaves 10% wiggle room the rest of us don't get.
From a technical point of view, I think this is a good move for Tiger's golf. If he wasn't so proud (or hadn't been quite so prickly about splitting up Butch Harmon in the first place) he could do a lot worse than going back to Butch. Bob Torrance has an expression (which I'm sure he's stolen from somewhere) that you should never "weaken the strong to strengthen the weak" [some video of him discussing it here, if your Scottish is up to it]. For my money, that's more or less what Haney did with Woods.
I think the "Future for Tiger" situation was well summed up by Ogilvy a month or two ago: "He can never have what he had before - he can never get that back. The scary thing for the rest of us is what he might come back with instead; what Tiger 2.0 is going to look like. He could be even better."
[bonus link: a pal of mine impersonating Torrance (who used to come and coach us at university every so often) during a lightning delay at a tournament in Holland a few years ago]
posted by JJ at 08:50 AM on May 11, 2010
Possible reasons why Haney would quit Tiger:
a) doesn't beleive he can help his swing
b) Believes Tiger is self destructing and doesn't want to be a part of it
c) has too much money and doesn't need any more
d) Tiger takes out frustration on Haney and Haney simply doesn't want to deal with it anymore.
e) Has a better offer from another elite golfer
f) other
I'm going with b and d.
posted by mayerkyl at 09:36 AM on May 11, 2010
on the list above: Having stopped at the local HH golf school recently to inquire about lessons, I can attest that based on what they are charging "C" can't be the reason.
I'd go with b and d as well. Tiger is still the number ranked golfer in the world, and helping him regain his old form would bolster any coach's resume.
posted by dviking at 10:48 AM on May 11, 2010
g) Tiger won't shag him
posted by JJ at 11:55 AM on May 11, 2010
g) Tiger won't shag him
Correction. Haney's wife wouldn't shag Tiger.
posted by NerfballPro at 12:30 PM on May 11, 2010
Correction. Haney's wife wouldn't shag Tiger.
That or she did.
But more likely, as rcade suggests, the decision was mutual. After all, now would be a good time for Tiger to go back to the drawing board and retool his mechanics so coming back stronger than ever is indeed an option.
posted by MW12 at 02:09 PM on May 11, 2010
f) other (Haney's wife shagged Tiger)
We have a mayor in San Francisco who shagged his best friend (and campaign manager) wife which was only made public a while after the campaign manager suddenly quit without giving a reason.
posted by irunfromclones at 04:11 PM on May 11, 2010
Hank's wife is certainly Tiger's type (i.e., she has two feet and a heart beat).
posted by JJ at 04:52 AM on May 12, 2010
The timing of this move is strange, because it suggests Tigers Woods' recent woes on the golf course aren't just injury related. Although Haney is claiming to have quit, would he have made that move without it being mutual?
This is the most wheels-off time in Woods' career. I'm not sure he'll ever get back to dominating the tour.
He's definitely lost some of his mojo. He had the largest gallery at The Players when I attended over the weekend, but a lot of those fans were watching without cheering him on. Phil Mickelson, on the other hand, was trailed by an adoring mob.