Hank Haney quality?

[Sai-Jin]

Just out of curiosity, what do most experienced people know of him and think of him?

I think he is a very decent and nice guy, but I don't see him giving out any tips or exciting contents.

I watched some of his youtube vids a while back and it was rather plain.

He never uploaded anymore until recently and even those are rather plain I thought.

[AmazingWhacker]

I don't know the guy, of course, but my opinion of him has been steadily dropping over the last couple of years.  For one thing I felt like The Hank Haney Project revealed that he is pretty much like any golf instructor - he was able to help 1 guy but not the other 2.  I also noticed how buddy-buddy he got with Rush . . .minus points in my book just because I don't like Rush.

Ever since parting with Tiger he seems to be trying hard to market products like the Hank Haney Stanceminder, the Swing Band, The Swing Plane Trainer, Grip strengthener, etc.  Not to mention I just saw him on the Golf Channel in a Medicus commercial.

In my opinion he's just looking for any product to slap his name on so he can make a few more bucks before everybody realizes he's a huge fraud.

[B of H]

he's far from 'a fraud' but IMO he's far too worried about swing plane on the backswing.  From what i've seen and read he really advocates a lot of forearm rotation on the backswing which to me runs the risk of losing connection between the left arm and the body.  All that matters in my mind is that you get the club on plane going down but that is just a personal belief and you can make an argument for his backswing belief quite easily.

Other than that I think he's a great teacher and instructor.

[glock35ipsc]

I don't think one gets to coach one of the greatest players ever for what, 7-8 years (with 31 wins and 6 majors), without being a somewhat decent instructor.

[newtogolf]

I've never tried any of his endorsed products so I can't speak to the quality of them but I don't begrudge the guy for trying to make some money using his name and reputation he's built up over his career.  Professional athletes endorse products all the time for financial gain, no reason why instructors can't do the same.

If he's smart he's made sure the products that he's put his name on are good products that actually do what they claim or he'll quickly find that they will lessen the value of having his name associated with products.

[1par2win]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I've never tried any of his endorsed products so I can't speak to the quality of them but I don't begrudge the guy for trying to make some money using his name and reputation he's built up over his career.  Professional athletes endorse products all the time for financial gain, no reason why instructors can't do the same.

If he's smart he's made sure the products that he's put his name on are good products that actually do what they claim or he'll quickly find that they will lessen the value of having his name associated with products.

Every time I see something like this I think of the Simpson's character "Krusty the Clown" and what he said after his rib sandwich fiasco (something about the animal that it was made from went extinct?!) "What a long, strange product roll out this has been."

[x129]

The question comes down to are these products that he uses in his teachings (assuming he still teaches any mid-high handicappers). If so no big deal. Otherwise he is just a shill.

As far as how good of coach he his, his list of students is long enough that you have to think he is doing something right. Will some people disagree with his approach? Sure but you are not going to find a single instructor that everyone agrees with.

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I've never tried any of his endorsed products so I can't speak to the quality of them but I don't begrudge the guy for trying to make some money using his name and reputation he's built up over his career.  Professional athletes endorse products all the time for financial gain, no reason why instructors can't do the same.

If he's smart he's made sure the products that he's put his name on are good products that actually do what they claim or he'll quickly find that they will lessen the value of having his name associated with products.

[Sai-Jin]

True. I guess each individual is unique and not everyone is compatible.

[WUTiger]

For the last four years, I have been going to a classic, Hogan-ish pro who seems to make sense. I have been able to play more recently so I'm seeing improvement in my swing.

As far as tips go, I avoid Haney, Ledbetter, etc., for comments on the full swing. For tactics on trouble shots, or static alignment issues, I may pay attention to them, but not for full swing motion.

Haney had a recent Golf Digest tip that was helpful: Mid to high HDCP golfers should tee their 460 cc. drivers with ball even with top of the driver crown, not a half-ball above as is recent advice on jumbo drivers. This lower teeing has led to more consistent and hotter drives - except when I go over the top.

Nothing  personal against him, but Ledbetter just seems odd. His basic swing approach conflicts with what I'm trying to do, so I avoid his comments. And his clothing line is overpriced.

[newtogolf]

I found your comments on Leadbetter interesting given your current swing approach is Hogan-ish as mine is and that Leadbetter appears to have use Hogan as a major influence to his instructions and even co-authored the book "The Fundamentals of Hogan" with Lorne Rubenstein.  I haven't read much from Leadbetter, but I  wrongly assumed he shared Hogans swing philosophy.

Originally Posted by WUTiger

For the last four years, I have been going to a classic, Hogan-ish pro who seems to make sense. I have been able to play more recently so I'm seeing improvement in my swing.

As far as tips go, I avoid Haney, Ledbetter, etc., for comments on the full swing. For tactics on trouble shots, or static alignment issues, I may pay attention to them, but not for full swing motion.

Haney had a recent Golf Digest tip that was helpful: Mid to high HDCP golfers should tee their 460 cc. drivers with ball even with top of the driver crown, not a half-ball above as is recent advice on jumbo drivers. This lower teeing has led to more consistent and hotter drives - except when I go over the top.

Nothing  personal against him, but Ledbetter just seems odd. His basic swing approach conflicts with what I'm trying to do, so I avoid his comments. And his clothing line is overpriced.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I found your comments on Leadbetter interesting given your current swing approach is Hogan-ish as mine is and that Leadbetter appears to have use Hogan as a major influence to his instructions and even co-authored the book "The Fundamentals of Hogan" with Lorne Rubenstein.  I haven't read much from Leadbetter, but I  wrongly assumed he shared Hogans swing philosophy.

I'd call it little more than plagiarism, personally.  One of the commercials on TV a few years back had Leadbetter showing the swing in slow motion -- GROSSLY over the top!  Terrible!

As to Haney being Tiger's coach, I think Tiger would have had pretty much the same record with no coach at all.  I think Harmon is a great teacher, with a great understanding of the game, but he really didn't change Tiger's game that much.  Leadbetter's "helping" Nick Faldo is also a bit of a stretch.  Faldo may have believed it, but I don't.  Taking a world class player and then piggybacking their subsequent wins as part of your influence seems to be all the rage these days.  I think these world class players are like everybody else in many ways, and need psychological crutches, so to speak.  I doubt if Yoda even plays golf, but the effect would have been the same.

I watched the entire Charles Barkley fiasco.  Ridiculous.  I think I could have fixed him, actually.  To me, Haney's approach to Barkley's problem was simplistic and ineffective.  I'd have used the Davis Love, Jr. approach on him, building him up from 50 yard 5 iron shots and 100 yard drivers.  You can't teach a new swing going at full speed. Speaking as a classical guitarist and some things are just universally true -- if you can't do it slow, you can't do it fast either. Barkley was unable to fix his full swing making full swings and that holds true for anybody at that level, imo.  He needed to really start over and figure it all out baby steps at a time.  Haney has no imagination.  Encouragement is no substitute for mechanics, except at the Tiger Woods level.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

. ... I haven't read much from Leadbetter, but I  wrongly assumed he shared Hogans swing philosophy.

Haven't read L's book about Hogan, but I skimmed through his book "100% Golf" a few years ago. On full swing, he recommended doing things - if I recall - which had caused me to "spin out" in the past, rather than drop down and through. I said "No thanks," and have avoided DL ever since. Basically, I said "no" to DL before I bought Hogan's "5 Lessons" book.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I found your comments on Leadbetter interesting given your current swing approach is Hogan-ish as mine is and that Leadbetter appears to have use Hogan as a major influence to his instructions and even co-authored the book "The Fundamentals of Hogan" with Lorne Rubenstein.  I haven't read much from Leadbetter, but I  wrongly assumed he shared Hogans swing philosophy.

Ledbetter is very much a "set the wrist hinge, then lift the club up" backswing guy, which Hogan definitely was not. I skimmed through Ledbetter's book several years ago at an airport bookstore, so you know I didn't give it a thorough read, but from what I recall, his premise was that Hogan's fundamentals could be "improved" by implementing Ledbetter's changes to Hogan's ideas.  Needless to say, it didn't impress me much.

[uttexas]

Both Haney and Leadbetter fail the first test of what makes a good instructor. They don't understand the ball flight laws.

[iacas]

I think Hank is a poor instructor, and I think his TV shows showed this and were the opposite of "promotional." I think Rush's swing didn't change - he just played a lot more and practiced a lot more.

But there are a lot of poor instructors out there. Hank might be in the top 30 percent. That's the true travesty.

[x129]

I think judging anyone off a TV show is a pretty poor idea. They are edited for entertainment not education.

The part that is never mention is that a good teacher for you might be bad for me. Tiger needs a lot different advice than a 28 handicap. And if your learning method doesn't match the teaching method, you are going to struggle.

Rush's swing didn't change much. It was smoothed out and just a bid more consistant. Is that instructions. Partly. Practice? Definitely.

Originally Posted by iacas

I think Hank is a poor instructor, and I think his TV shows showed this and were the opposite of "promotional." I think Rush's swing didn't change - he just played a lot more and practiced a lot more.

But there are a lot of poor instructors out there. Hank might be in the top 30 percent. That's the true travesty.

[Gioguy21]

saw a gentleman at the range with his planefinder. the man was dressed head to toe in nike, from bag, shoes, hat, polo, pants, clubs, everything. was teaching his son and to be honest, look like he was corrupting him with horrible ideas and 'tips'. he then gets lined up in the plane finder, takes 5 shots, and is so far off kilter in one of his swings he hits the apparatus in one swift motion, breaking part of it.

haney's marketing gimmicks and sponsorships are loving the fact that he once coached tiger, even if what he's preaching is bs and can be heard readily by just about any other golf pro you get lessons from.

[KillaK]

In my eyes Haney is def. a fraud, a below average teacher and man of questionable character.  I say this because if you google it youll see that Haney could not hit his driver for 20 years! - he had driver yips and would not hit his driver in front of students even though he would teach the driver.  It seems relevant to me that pga pros should be able to practice what they preach to some extent and if this guy can't get his driver in the fairway 1 out of 20 times and hes doling out all of this advice I have a problem with that.

Additionally, I did not like the interview he did with Golf digest after Tiger crashed his car and Elin blasted him with his four iron or whatever happened that night.  Haney def. was washing his hands of tiger and almost talking bad about him in that interview.  I mean come on - without tiger Haney would not have all these crappy products on the market, shows on the golf channel failing to improve 2 out of 3 peoples games or a healthy stable of pga tour players.  Give the guy some respect and have some class and just keep your mouth shut.  These teachers get way too much credit for player performance - tiger has so much talent he would have accomplished the same things without this guy.