Hank Haney's Book "The Big Miss" about his time teaching Tiger

[RichF 7]

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If you worked at one of those gold for cash places, I would request your service every single time.

Nice one from jamo for once...

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My take on the book itself is that it will be interesting.

Two parts about Tiger are fascinating to me.  First, how did he become so freaking amazingly talented.  What about his genetic makeup, work ethic, swing mechanics, mental toughness, etc. is so much different that he could so thoroughly dominate for so long.  Whatever Hank can tell us about that, I'm all ears.

Second, though, is how quickly he lost it all.  Why would he throw away the perfect family life for strippers and waitresses?  Why would he risk his golf career and everything else for Navy SEAL training (or whatever was going on)?  Clearly there were more things going on in Tiger's life than range work and putting drills.  The extent to which his life took detours--whatever those detours might be--must have affected his game.  If it was the physical training wrecking his body, or the scandal wrecking his mind, it all contributed to derailing one of the greatest champions of all time.  To that regard, it's all relevant.

HH might not be in the best position to talk about some of these things, but for now he's the only source of information on any of this stuff.  He might be drawing conclusions from bits of information, he might be interpreting what he saw through other bits of information and drawing conclusions from a totality of circumstances.  He might just be making shit up.  We'll have to see, I guess, when the full book is released.  I didn't see anything in the four-page excerpt that looked like pure speculation and guesswork.

Bottom line for me is I think there is a story to be told here about Tiger's life--all of it--as it affected his game.  Tiger is a public figure, like it or not.  His life is news, and for right now HH has an exclusive.  For that reason, I'm going to read Haney's book.

(Whether he's a douche, or violated an NDA, or man code, or whatever isn't really my concern.  That's between Hank and Tiger.  I don't think it makes the story any less interesting.)

Good post.
Haney will need security for a couple of years because everyone is going to be out to get him. But like I said, years from now this book will probably be the bench-mark for discussing Woods' behavior off the course and analyzing his career and personality. Eventually, when looking back, folks will lolok at this book in a better light.

The problem is, when you idolize someone (and as we see, even grown men), deep down, you don't want to know that they make mistakes. You don't want to know that the hero-poster on your wall is of a guy who might rather undergo root canal then say 'Hi to you.

'The Big Miss' (snippets):

Haney also tells of a woman who approached him during an outing in Minnesota last year. Her husband was a Navy SEAL in California and told her Woods came in for training in 2007 at a Kill House – an urban-warfare simulator – and 'got kicked pretty hard in the leg' , and I think he hurt his knee pretty bad.” Haney said that matched a story from Corey Carroll, one of Woods' closest friends at Isleworth who said Woods revealed to him that the complete tear of his left knee ligaments really happened in a 'Kill House' when he had lost his balance and been kicked in the knee

Woods so badly wanted to be considered a real athlete that he saw injuries as a 'badge of honor'

He said their second lesson was his first test as a coach. Woods had finished 10 shots behind at Bay Hill, and Haney met him on the range at Isleworth. He said Woods ignored him. The message Tiger wanted to send was clear: "when I play bad and don;t win - it's your fault ". He was reminding me that his expectations were going to be incredibly high

Woods would finish his dinner at a restaurant — even when he was with his wife, Elin — he'd get up, leave without a word and expect everyone to follow, even if they were still eating. "When he was done — and he habitually ate fast — you were done," Haney recalls .

But anyway, don't put me in that group - "I just enjoy the way he plays golf, I don't care about who he is off the field."

[newtogolf 960]

I don't know Tiger personally, but have known a number of highly driven type A personalities in my life.   Tiger is one of those guys that's been taught that nothing is ever good enough.  He doesn't celebrate wins because he expects to win.  He likely tried to pick up strippers and hot girls because it was a challenge and he was always about challenging himself, thus the Navy SEALS fascination as well.  People like Tiger become bored in life once they achieve some level of success and need to move on to something else.  It's sad because people like that take very little time to appreciate what they do have.  I'd guess this obsession to challenge himself was part of the cause of switching from Harmon to Haney to Foley, to prove no one person was responsible for his success.

Originally Posted by k-troop

My take on the book itself is that it will be interesting.

Two parts about Tiger are fascinating to me.  First, how did he become so freaking amazingly talented.  What about his genetic makeup, work ethic, swing mechanics, mental toughness, etc. is so much different that he could so thoroughly dominate for so long.  Whatever Hank can tell us about that, I'm all ears.

Second, though, is how quickly he lost it all.  Why would he throw away the perfect family life for strippers and waitresses?  Why would he risk his golf career and everything else for Navy SEAL training (or whatever was going on)?  Clearly there were more things going on in Tiger's life than range work and putting drills.  The extent to which his life took detours--whatever those detours might be--must have affected his game.  If it was the physical training wrecking his body, or the scandal wrecking his mind, it all contributed to derailing one of the greatest champions of all time.  To that regard, it's all relevant.

HH might not be in the best position to talk about some of these things, but for now he's the only source of information on any of this stuff.

[brocks 323]

20 years from now, this book is going to be the reference-point for all things 'Tiger'.

If so, it makes even more ridiculous Haney's claim that the book is fair. Look at Tiger's comment about Ben Curtis. They played a practice round together (one of Tiger's first since the scandal broke), Curtis blithely told the international press that Tiger looked nervous and rusty, and on hearing about it, Tiger muttered something about never playing with the guy again. Now I ask you, how many times have you ever muttered something negative about your wife, or a good friend, in a split second of frustration, and then forgotten about it? But thanks to Haney, Tiger's mutterings are preserved for all time, and may be 100% of what we know about some of his relations with other players. Ian Poulter got to read that Tiger didn't like him, and then play on his team in the Tavistock Cup the next day. Haney is just poisoning the water for Tiger. Nobody will be comfortable around him now. And why, because he isn't some Forrest Gump smiling idiot who likes everybody he meets or works with? Heck, even Jesus called Peter, his #1 disciple, "Satan," and the people around him a brood of vipers, and went berserk and trashed the Temple, and spitefully killed a fig tree because he wanted a fig and it didn't have any, even though it was the wrong season for figs. The Gospel of Haney would have made him look like a real jerk. "Hey, but I think he's a great winemaker!" And no, I'm not comparing Tiger with Jesus. But I may be comparing Haney with Judas.

[k-troop 230]

Originally Posted by brocks

If so, it makes even more ridiculous Haney's claim that the book is fair.

Look at Tiger's comment about Ben Curtis. They played a practice round together (one of Tiger's first since the scandal broke), Curtis blithely told the international press that Tiger looked nervous and rusty, and on hearing about it, Tiger muttered something about never playing with the guy again.

Now I ask you, how many times have you ever muttered something negative about your wife, or a good friend, in a split second of frustration, and then forgotten about it? But thanks to Haney, Tiger's mutterings are preserved for all time, and may be 100% of what we know about some of his relations with other players. Ian Poulter got to read that Tiger didn't like him, and then play on his team in the Tavistock Cup the next day.

Haney is just poisoning the water for Tiger. Nobody will be comfortable around him now. And why, because he isn't some Forrest Gump smiling idiot who likes everybody he meets or works with? Heck, even Jesus called Peter, his #1 disciple, "Satan," and the people around him a brood of vipers, and went berserk and trashed the Temple, and spitefully killed a fig tree because he wanted a fig and it didn't have any, even though it was the wrong season for figs. The Gospel of Haney would have made him look like a real jerk. "Hey, but I think he's a great winemaker!"

And no, I'm not comparing Tiger with Jesus. But I may be comparing Haney with Judas.

Overreact much?

If the vague reference in the blog entry is true, and not taken out of context, at most it appears to say this:  Tiger came back after a layoff, Ben commented that he looked rusty, and Haney "observed" in his book that Tiger pouted.  So Haney has now "poisoned the water", and "nobody will be comfortable around [Tiger] now" because of this astounding revelation?

Seems to me that if folks were going to feel uncomfortable around or animous towards Tiger, this would be pretty low on the list of reasons.

Do you really think that Ian Poulter needed Haney's "revelation" in this book to know that Tiger doesn't like him?  It's not exactly a secret that they don't like each other.

And the Judas and Satan references?  He's a golf instructor, who wrote a book, which revealed that Tiger might not like someone, whom we all knew already that he didn't like.

[Mr. Desmond 430]

"The Big Miss" is about this book.

Hank swung and ...

Not really.

My guess is that Hank had an opportunity to write about Tiger in a way that no one else had ... his view was unique. And if he could bring Tiger's character to life, he had a winner.

[Beachcomber 204]

Originally Posted by k-troop

I guess that it refers to a hook.  Tiger was apparently not very confident with his driver, always afraid of hitting a big hook.  Sounds like many of the things Hank helped him with were designed to eliminate the hook.  But it was also measures Tiger took to eliminate the hook (rapid clearing of the hips and snapping his left leg straight) which might have ended his career, so it's kinda ironic.

I only read the four-page excerpt from the GD website, but that's my take.

It's also a clever play-on-words, since everything that was going on in the background (if you believe HH) seemed to be taking over his life:  SEAL training, sexaholism, etc.  It all remained hidden from the public (and even some of it from his family), which was a "big miss".  I guess.

Agreed.  This is my interpretation of the title of the book as well - based on the GDig excerpts.

[Beachcomber 204]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Between $400 - $500 per hour is what I've read.  His rate before Tiger was $400, his rate currently is $500.  Harmon now charges $600/hr.  According to Haney he spent 110 days a year with Tiger for six years.  At $400 / hr he made $352,000 a year.  At $500 / hr it works out to $440,000 a year.

According to the recent articles / updates on the book:

" He was paid $50,000 a year, plus a $25,000 bonus for Woods winning a major."

This figure is much lower than I would have thought.  I am quite surprised at how low his wages are... I would hope that all travel expenses were included as well?

[k-troop 230]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

According to the recent articles / updates on the book:

"He was paid $50,000 a year, plus a $25,000 bonus for Woods winning a major."

This figure is much lower than I would have thought.  I am quite surprised at how low his wages are... I would hope that all travel expenses were included as well?

Not really that surprising, actually.  It's the ultimate contingency fee contract:  you will get paid if and only if you make me the greatest golfer in the world.  If you do, then everyone who knows anything about golf will know that you were Tiger Woods' instructor.  You will be able do do anything you want in golf, to include a prime-time show trying to teach Ray Romano how to hit a 50-yard wedge shot.  If you don't, then you're getting a reasonable hourly rate for a golf instructor.

It's hard for HH not to make a killing off of that deal.  And, as has been commented on many, many times in this thread, he apparently is cashing in on the "contingency" portion of his contract.

[Beachcomber 204]

Originally Posted by k-troop

Not really that surprising, actually.  It's the ultimate contingency fee contract:  you will get paid if and only if you make me the greatest golfer in the world.  If you do, then everyone who knows anything about golf will know that you were Tiger Woods' instructor.  You will be able do do anything you want in golf, to include a prime-time show trying to teach Ray Romano how to hit a 50-yard wedge shot.  If you don't, then you're getting a reasonable hourly rate for a golf instructor.

It's hard for HH not to make a killing off of that deal.  And, as has been commented on many, many times in this thread, he apparently is cashing in on the "contingency" portion of his contract.

Butch Harmon in his interview with Feherty stated that when Earl Woods approached him about being Tigers swing coach back in '97... That he had an agreement that he would teach him for free - until he made money on the tour, then would revisit the subject.

I'm just surprised is all... I mean it is the ultimate opportunity cost... But dang.  I'm in sales and I never give anyone a 'free lunch'.  If you want my services, they aren't free.  And surprised to hear these instructors aren't making more bank.  I thought Hank would've been making 6 figures on the low side.  Amazed that he made less.

[newtogolf 960]

It also doesn't specify the number of hours.  Based on the exerpts there were days and weeks that Haney wasn't around Tiger so $50,000 plus $25,000 per major isn't bad money for part time work.  According to Haney, Tiger arranged for travel and Haney stayed at Tigers house when he visited.   That also doesn't include any extra bonuses or gifts Tiger may have given him though I don't have any references to say Tiger did.

Originally Posted by k-troop

Not really that surprising, actually.  It's the ultimate contingency fee contract:  you will get paid if and only if you make me the greatest golfer in the world.  If you do, then everyone who knows anything about golf will know that you were Tiger Woods' instructor.  You will be able do do anything you want in golf, to include a prime-time show trying to teach Ray Romano how to hit a 50-yard wedge shot.  If you don't, then you're getting a reasonable hourly rate for a golf instructor.

It's hard for HH not to make a killing off of that deal.  And, as has been commented on many, many times in this thread, he apparently is cashing in on the "contingency" portion of his contract.

[k-troop 230]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Butch Harmon in his interview with Feherty stated that when Earl Woods approached him about being Tigers swing coach back in '97... That he had an agreement that he would teach him for free - until he made money on the tour, then would revisit the subject.

I'm just surprised is all... I mean it is the ultimate opportunity cost... But dang.  I'm in sales and I never give anyone a 'free lunch'.  If you want my services, they aren't free.  And surprised to hear these instructors aren't making more bank.  I thought Hank would've been making 6 figures on the low side.  Amazed that he made less.

I don't know you, but let's just say that you're a real estate agent.  And you have a chance to list the White House.  This is going to be the most talked about listing in the history of real estate transactions.  Anyone who wants info on the listing is going to click on your MLS, which is linked to your website.

Your commission is paid for in publicity, and the assumption among potential clients that if you're listing the White House, you must be the greatest listing agent in the business.  And the best part:  this thing is going to sell itself.

If Tiger insisted Hank work for free, Hank would have been stupid not to take the job.

[brocks 323]

Tiger arranged for travel and Haney stayed at Tigers house when he visited.   That also doesn't include any extra bonuses or gifts Tiger may have given him though I don't have any references to say Tiger did.

According to Haney, he once got a free popsicle.

[RC 11]

I do not find it surprising Butch would coach Tiger, taking him on at his own risk. My surprise is that Tiger left Butch.

[soon_tourpro 0]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I don't know Tiger personally, but have known a number of highly driven type A personalities in my life.   Tiger is one of those guys that's been taught that nothing is ever good enough.  He doesn't celebrate wins because he expects to win.  He likely tried to pick up strippers and hot girls because it was a challenge and he was always about challenging himself, thus the Navy SEALS fascination as well.  People like Tiger become bored in life once they achieve some level of success and need to move on to something else.  It's sad because people like that take very little time to appreciate what they do have.  I'd guess this obsession to challenge himself was part of the cause of switching from Harmon to Haney to Foley, to prove no one person was responsible for his success.

He tried to get better, he turned to guys who know little of that and they basically ruined him.

He seems to have changed after 2005 or so if it did happen before his first kid is hard to say.

He treated Haney badly, no wonder a book is coming.

[The_Pharaoh 49]

Originally Posted by RC

I do not find it surprising Butch would coach Tiger, taking him on at his own risk. My surprise is that Tiger left Butch.

Yeah, it was a massive risk. After all, Tiger hadn't done anything as an amateur and looked nervous playing tour events as a pro.

[mvmac 2,625]

Wow, check out what Rick Smith said about Haney

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"I would rather be broke and not have a penny to my name before I violate the code of player-teacher confidentiality," Smith said. "In 27 years out here, I've never done that. I'm personally upset with Hank because he's broken and violated our code of ethics. If you have the opportunity and you're privileged to conversations, you will not and should not share anything from them with anyone. I don't care who it is.

"For all the guys who have committed their lives to teaching, this should be very upsetting and I know that I'm not the only one that feels this way. What Hank did is against the rules."

[Mr. Desmond 430]

I'm certain Hank has several motives for writing this book - I'm sure he can justify it. It could be that he felt Tiger did not compensate him well, or maybe for another reason -- somehow, he wasn't treated fairly by Tiger in his eyes. Or maybe it's a money grab. But lets' face it -- most people are  self-interested and motivated in ways that serve themselves. Hank may be one of those who interests are clearly motivated by money, either making it or saving it ... he will put his name on any gadget, any show, he will use others for his own ends, he will show himself as an instructor with an inability to fix swing issues on TV for a greenback - he will stomp on anyone as long as he profits. That's not necessarily a bad trait ... but one can go beyond a certain point and people will say that's too much. Hank appears to have reached that point and gone beyond it.

[turtleback 734]

Originally Posted by soon_tourpro

He tried to get better, he turned to guys who know little of that and they basically ruined him.

He seems to have changed after 2005 or so if it did happen before his first kid is hard to say.

He treated Haney badly, no wonder a book is coming.

Yeah he treated Haney badly.  Just made him a fortune.  Would Haney have a TV show?  Would he have golf schools?

Rick Smith's quote says it all.  Haney is essentially scum.  Unethical scum at that.