Should Tiger Fire Haney

[iacas]

How can a course not suit a player, except if the player is someone like Kenny Perry with a stock hook in his shots and the course is a dogleg left to right?

Lots of ways. Most of the tee shots bend the wrong way. Or the approaches do. Or the trouble is all at your carry yardages, but the fairways widen out just short or just past them. The list goes on...

[rudygu]

I think it's pretty obvious that Tiger should ditch Haney. Comparing pre-Haney to post-Haney bears this out, imo. But, even if his stats were identical I would think he should fire him... How long do you need to keep trying the same swing while spraying drives all over the course? There have been no signs that his driving is getting better. It's clearly holding him back. Why not try to find someone that can help fix it?

[Three Putt]

If he had a long iron, 3 wood, or driver swing today he would be in the lead by 2 strokes. I think he finally hit a fairway (by about a yard) on the 6th hole. He's so laid off at the top the clubhead points at the ground at the transition at the top.

I see no good in the way he swings on full shots...it's laughable. Only good shots are his feel shots when he has to pull them out of his ass....he could have been 3 or 4 over real easy on the first 5 holes.

Haney teaches that laid off crap at the top......later Hank..... WOW!!!

[ControlJunkie]

If he had a long iron, 3 wood, or driver swing today he would be in the lead by 2 strokes. I think he finally hit a fairway (by about a yard) on the 6th hole. He's so laid off at the top the clubhead points at the ground at the transition at the top.

Hit his first fairway at the 5th. He hit either 9 or 10 fairways today. Not throwing it out there for argument's sake/for or against Haney, just sayin...

[shortstop20]

What about that fat shot off the tee today, holy crap!

[PuttPutt]

I stumbled upon this article regarding Tiger wood's decision to fire Butch Harmon and work with Hank Haney.
Just a retrospect.



http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3...ting-him-today

[Three Putt]

It was in the fairway though.

[RC]

The second swing in the first list of videos is a pure Tiger swing that I remember. It was as natural for him as could be. Butch wanted his arc to be large. Notice a little later down the list a shot where some would say he was reaching for the ball. No, not at all. This was the natural swing he grew up with as polished by Harmon. The reasons people have for why he changed are varied and many. I know my own thoughts about why he changed, and I think they are spot on. Personally, I think he would be passed Jack in majors right now if he had not changed his swing.

[senorchipotle]

The second swing in the first list of videos is a pure Tiger swing that I remember. It was as natural for him as could be. Butch wanted his arc to be large. Notice a little later down the list a shot where some would say he was reaching for the ball. No, not at all. This was the natural swing he grew up with as polished by Harmon. The reasons people have for why he changed are varied and many. I know my own thoughts about why he changed, and I think they are spot on. Personally, I think he would be passed Jack in majors right now if he had not changed his swing.

he'd probably be at 30 majors now had he not changed.

[Tiger Spuds]

he'd probably be at 30 majors now had he not changed.

That, or he could be in retirement with a shot knee.

[RC]

The thing about his old swing that was so good for Tiger is if he decided he wanted to really crush one, he had the club well enough in position that he could lash at the ball without too much contortion and without his current "come over" move. His left to right power shots still had great positions, and he could draw the ball with more reliable control. Today, when he tries to smash it, he has so much more manulipulation going on and hence his lower smash factor number as reported here in another topic. One could argue (unconviencingly with me) which swing type is better for a Tiger Wood type athlete (a rather elite and small number,) but the factors that come into play as one tries to tame a swing are going to be working against you when you turn up the power factor. The free wheeling swing at least gives the player with the ablity to do it the opportunity to hit attacking shots that are juiced more than the tightly controlled swing methods. Watching Tiger last week, almost anyone could see that when he wanted to launch one, he was going to not hit a square shot... he was in no position to do it.

I'm unconvienced a driver of the golf ball who used Tiger's current approach (including Hank himself) ever hit the kind of attacking drives and long irons Tiger Woods could hit in his prime. It is like a kitten teaching a lion how to hunt. I am saying nothing about other golfers and whether or not the methods Tiger has adopted might be useful. I'm just saying what he is doing is not optimized for the kind of game I think Tiger wants to play at time. Then again, I could be totally wrong and I don't disparage anyone's approach. I do question fitting the wrong shoe on the wrong foot. I've known other great power players who lost their level of play when a well meaning teacher tried to force an otherwise workable swing onto them. And some of those players are bitter about having gone that route.

[IcemanYVR]

I think Tiger's swing in 2000 was as pure a swing as there ever was. I feel that Tiger needs to go back to that swing, and just run with it.

I don't know why he thought the need to change it, but for once (probably the only time in my life) I agree with Johnny Miller, and think that he should just watch the 2000 US Open, and copy that swing.

Obviously no swing can compensate for off-course distractions and he needs to deal with that before he can move forward.

[Awsi Dooger]

I like the words the author chose for Tiger's current swing -- robotic, mechanical and forced. I've used them for years on forums like this.

The 1997 swing was like an unleashed cobra, with breathtaking coil and explosive power. At the time I remember thinking it was fitting he used a Cobra driver. I didn't understand the 1998 need to change until I looked at it a bit closer and there were some stab tendencies which could impact distance control. By 2000-2001 it was a gorgeous flowing swing, seemingly destined to remain virtually unchanged for the remainder of his career.

[Titleist_ProV1x]

I stumbled upon this article regarding Tiger wood's decision to fire Butch Harmon and work with Hank Haney.

Thanks for the read PuttPutt, I would put money on the fact that if Tiger hadn't left Butch Harmon he would have surpassed Jack Nicklaus' record by now and then some

[halcon]

I selected no, but in reality I believe is irrelevant who is his coach; TW is a mature and smart player, capable of deciding what is good for his game and whats not. Haney can tell Ray Romano to shut up and listen, but I doubt his approach with TW is the same. I believe TW has more influence in his own swing than his coach, whoever he is.

[Awsi Dooger]

Tiger didn't improve as much as I expected at Sawgrass.

He should fire Haney, for entertainment purposes. Otherwise, Tiger is playing so poorly right now it's boring.