The Big Miss

Hank Haney has written a new book titled "The Big Miss" which details his six years coaching Tiger Woods.

"I get asked all the time about Tiger, what it was like to work with him," Haney said. "I felt like I had a front row seat to golf history. It just kind of chronicles a little bit of what I went through, what I dealt with, how I coached and the observations I made."

Woods will most likely not be happy about this but I'm sure it will be interesting for readers to learn exactly what was going on behind the scenes from Haney's perspective. 

"If he reads it, I don't think it will be a book that bothers him. It's hard to say," Haney said. "Anybody who reads it will think it's interesting, very fair and honest, and that's what I wanted to do. I was on that job for six years. There were 110 days a year I was with him. I stayed at his house for close to 30 days a year. You make a lot of observations."

The book is set to be released one week prior to this year's Masters for publicity purposes.

The Barkley Experiment

“I just like being out on the golf course. It's a place where I can enjoy some peace and quiet. When I go to the supermarket or the dry-cleaners, it's crazy, but when I'm out on the course on a beautiful day with the water and tall trees — I just enjoy it.” Charles Barkley

Fair enough. Barkley is a typical golfer in the fact that he enjoys getting out on the course to relax. The way he's different is the fact that he may possibly be the worst golfer in golf history.

We have all seen his swing over and over and know that he worked with Hank Haney to try and improve.

Unfortunately, nothing has worked as of yet so he's moved on to the next tactic.

Traditionally a right-hander, he hit his driver and fairway woods left-handed at the American Century Charity Tournament, hit most of his iron shots right-handed and hit a few iron shots using only his right hand.

Yes, you heard correctly. Some shots right handed, some left handed, and some one handed.

Maybe this experiment will work. And maybe I'll shoot 54 tomorrow.

Haney believes it may be possible though. He says he'll be working with Charles to become a permanent left handed player.

Either way, good luck Charles.

Great interview with Hank Haney on Tiger

In this Golf Digest interview, Hank Haney provides a lot of very interesting insight into Tiger Woods and his past, present, and future.

Here a few excerpts:

What do you recall about the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which Tiger won with a broken leg?

What I remember most was the doctor [Thomas Rosenberg] coming to Tiger's house before that U.S. Open and showing him the MRI images on a laptop computer, showing him the two stress fractures, and Tiger not paying very much attention. I asked Dr. Rosenberg [who later performed the surgery to repair Tiger's torn ACL] what the treatment regimen was. He said it meant three weeks on crutches, then inactive for three weeks, then Tiger could start rehab. I remember looking at the calendar and saying, "So he's basically done for the year, right?" At that point Tiger came alive. He said, "I'm playing in the U.S. Open, and I'm going to win." He bent over and started putting on his shoes. "Come on, Hank, we're going to practice." I looked at Dr. Rosenberg and said, "I guess we're going to go practice."

How knowledgeable is Tiger about the golf swing?

The most knowledgeable I've ever been around. I've taught 200 pros from tours around the world, and nobody came close to knowing what Tiger knows.

In 2000, before you began working with Tiger, we surveyed people in golf on how many professional majors they thought he would win. Your guess was 30. How many do you see him winning now, best-case scenario?

I'd say 25. He's got plenty of time left in his career. If he wins at the rate he's been winning, for the next 10 years, he'll get to 25. It's possible, because we haven't seen the best of Tiger. He has so much experience, so much knowledge of the courses they play majors on. I see no reason at all he can't keep getting better.

When we interviewed Butch in 2001, he said he once threatened a teacher "with bodily harm" when the guy approached Tiger about working with him. Did another teacher ever try to steal Tiger away?

Not that I was aware of, no. I tried to do the best job I could do and not worry about that stuff.

AP Photo / Charlie Riedel

Miller provides opinion on Tiger's swing and coach

Never short on words, NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller spoke out Wednesday and said Tiger Woods should change his swing and quit working with coach Hank Haney.

"It might be a little harsh, but I really believe he needs to, every night, watch the U.S. Open in the year 2000 at Pebble and just copy that swing and forget the Haney stuff," Miller said. "I mean, that was the best golf anybody has ever played in history."

"That's something he can copy, the tempo, the position at the top of the backswing, the follow-through position. "

"He needs a new, fresh, either teacher or just go back to what is natural to his game. What he is working on now, I believe is, no disrespect for Hank Haney, but it is not working. And sometimes when it is not working, sometimes you have to get off the fork in the road and get back to what brung you there and what won all these championships for him."

Miller does make a good point that Tiger did play the best golf in history when he won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15 strokes in 2000, when he was coached by Butch Harmon.

However, it's a little early to blame everything on Hank Haney and his teaching methods. Tiger has won six major championships while under the eye of Haney.

After missing the cut last year at the British Open, Woods went 1st, 1st, 2nd, T2nd, T11th, 1st, and 2nd in consecutive tournaments. He then went 5-0 during the Presidents Cup, finished 6th at HSBC in China, and won the Australian Masters.

He then went through the scandal, returned after 144 days, and finished fourth in the Masters.

Woods then misses one cut and Miller rants about him needing to get rid of Haney.

After hearing the comments made by Miller, Haney responded to the golf channel.

“The facts are what they are. I didn’t start in 2001. I started in 2004. In the last 2½ years, Tiger has won 44% of his tournaments and finished Top 3 in 61%. In the 2½ years before I started working with him, he won 24% and finished Top 3 in 43%.”

Woods got off to a decent start Thursday at The Players Championship, shooting an opening round 70, four shots off the lead.

It would be nice to see him win this week, and then dedicate the win to Johnny Miller in his post-round interview.

Woods photo - AP / Wilfredo Lee