Hank Haney quits as Tiger Woods’ swing coach after 6 years
Wow. This is a bit surprising, at least after all that has transpired. Hank Haney says he has resigned as Tiger Woods’ swing coach. This comes a week after NBC analyst Johnny Miller said Tiger should ditch Haney and go back to his old swing under Butch Harmon. Haney issued a defensive email in response and gave no suggestion he’d be stepping down. (The Golf Blog’s statistical analysis did confirm that Tiger Woods’ major victories and driving accuracy were better under Butch Harmon. And, if the reason Tiger went to Hank was to fix his wayward driver, then, by that standard, Haney didn’t succeed in 6 years as the driver didn’t get any better.)
Here’s a part of Haney’s explanation posted on his website:
“I would like to thank Tiger for the opportunity that I have had to work with him over the past 6 plus years. Tiger Woods has done the work to achieve a level of greatness that I believe the game of golf has never seen before and I will always appreciate the opportunity that I have had to contribute to his successes. I have also enjoyed the association that I have had with Tiger both on and off the golf course as I have had some incredible experiences. In coaching and teaching Tiger I have also learned a lot, not only about golf, but about people and life in general. It has been a great learning experience and along the way Tiger has elevated me in my own profession to a level that I never thought I would achieve before I had the opportunity to work with him.
“In many ways because of all of the time that I have spent with Tiger, I may have learned more from him than he has ever learned from me. So I believe at this time that it is in both of our best interests for me to step aside as Tiger’s coach.
“I will always look back upon our past half dozen years together as my best days in professional golf. It would be a dream of any coach to have a student like Tiger Woods and for me it was a dream come true. Just so there is no confusion I would like to make it clear that this is my decision. Tiger Woods and I will always be friends, but I believe that there is a time and place for everything and I feel at this time and at this place in my life I want to move forward in other areas.”
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