Jul 19

Tiger Woods proves Butch Harmon the one riding his coattails

Guess that Tiger Woods needing Butch Harmon talk can go away now, huh?

That ridiculous notion that Woods would never be dominant again without Butch evaporated into Scottish fog faster than even Retief Goosen.

No one’s saying that Harmon isn’t a great teacher. I’m sure he could even eliminate seven strokes off my game with a few lessons (which is the ultimate compliment considering the state of utter confusion in my swing).

But arguing that Harmon made Tiger Woods, as more than a few sports writers who should know better did in the last few years, is as ridiculous as saying Keanu Reeves made Al Pacino’s career. One’s one of the greatest of all time (in Tiger’s case, the greatest). One’s a bit actor who stumbled into some blockbuster roles through little skill of his own (The Matrix trilogy for Keanu, Woods’ coach for Harmon).

Let’s keep things in perspective. Tiger makes Tiger. Everyone else is just coming along for the ride. No matter how many stories Harmon fueled and self-promoting TV appearances he made “analyzing” the problems Tiger had because … well, because he stopped using Butch.

Let’s not start mythicizing Hank Haney now either. Oh wait, too late. It’s already begun on a sports page near you.

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8 comments

Comment from: Ron Mon [Member]

Butch Harmon, Rudy Duran, John Anselmo, and Don Crosby made Tiger Woods' golf swing, just as surely as Kultida and Earl made Tiger. Tiger would not be where he is without that progression. Hank Haney is now a part of the pantheon. I agree that Butch could probably take seven strokes off Chris' game, but I think that the real genius for the rest of us is in the book by his high school coach, Don Crosby. TIGER WOODS MADE ME LOOK LIKE A GENIUS is a twelve-step program to better golfing that follows a logical progression, provides tangible and calculable results, and requires no swing changes.

2005-07-20 @ 08:09

Comment from: Josh Points [Visitor]

Chris,

The question is why did Tiger make the change? He went a long time without winnning a major and unlike Ali he was not banned from his sport. Why in your prime make the change? Is he better today than 2000?

Finally, Tiger made these changes to take ownership of his swing. Right now, Haney is receiving a lot of credit for Tiger's swing. Is this Tiger's swing or Haney's creation?

Chris, you have a great opportunity to write something worthwile. Please, try doing so.

2005-07-20 @ 08:53

Comment from: Larry [Visitor]

I think Tiger's swing was already developed at an early age. He won 3 amateurs without Butch Harmon. He (Butch) may have helped Tiger fine tune his swing, but that's all.

2005-07-20 @ 13:33

Comment from: FYI [Visitor]

Just for your personal edification: Keanu Reeves cut his salary so Pacino could do Devil's Advocate; Reeves made 250 million last year. I didn't realize that "bit" players made that much.

Your salary was how much again?

As far as Harmon goes, he did, at least, help change Tiger's swing and Tiger is winning again. I guess he might be entitled to take just a little credit.

2005-07-20 @ 17:43

Comment from: Bill [Visitor]

Tiger Woods father sought out Butch Harmon to help Tiger with his swing. Butch never picked up the phone and called Tiger. Could Tiger have won 8 majors without Butch helping him with his game? I don't know, and we will never know because he didn't. Tiger has always had help, and teachers. The fact that Butch became famous in the golf world is because of writers like you. When the media could not get to Tiger, they were more than happy to listen and get info from Butch. If anyone is entitled to an opion about Tigers game, it is surely someone who worked with him since the age of 16. Did Butch do will by Tiger, yes. but Tiger did ok too.

2005-07-22 @ 08:15

Comment from: Alexk [Visitor]

I bought one of Butch harmon tape. i watched once and found it awful. He is not even the 1/2 the teacher as Jim Mclean. Johnny miller is the best of all in terms of understanding golf swing. Watch his tape.

Butch is a phony , he got lucky Tiger fell on his lap. Tiger can win MAJOR with any coach actually. He needs a coach to fine tune the SWING as he grows older.

Media hypes people and drop it when ever they feel like it.

Tiger is great because not because of his swing , it is because, he is a GREATEST PUTTER. He put the ball in the hole just like MJ does. That is only thing differentiate VIJAY and TIGER in GOLF.

Leave BUTCH alone , he is a below average teacher who got lucky and got rich.

2005-08-02 @ 23:31

Comment from: Nnaemeka [Visitor]

I think TIGER and BUTCH are two men who are quite good at what they do.They happened to come together and produce an excellent period /time in golf of which both of them should take credit for.
I think TIGER would eventually excel with any body he works with,he's that good.
I also agree with swing changes if the current swing is not delivering the goods you want.TIGER made his swing changes in April 04 ,2 years after his last major.It takes a great player to assess his game ,look to the future and try to adapt to it.

2005-08-10 @ 22:29

Comment from: Duanne Harvey [Visitor]

Butch Harmon is more overated than
Michele Wie.

2006-08-16 @ 09:34

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