kivo --
I will give you a concise direct answer to your questions and then
share my search strategy with you. This should help you to focus your
own further research if you want to dig a little deeper into this
subject. I hope this will maximize the value of this answer to you.
Butch Harmon "is the only coach Woods has employed as a professional,
a relationship that began when Woods was 17."
Augusta Chronicle: Golf: August 21, 2002 (Google-cached document)
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:b2mZVlWx2tYJ:www.augustachronicle.com/stories/082102/gol_124-3917.shtml+tiger+woods+%22his+swing%22+%22harmon%22+%22only+coach%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
After the August 2002 PGA championship, Woods said to a UK publication
that he will be calling on Harmon less for the time being:
"Tiger Woods has indicated he won't be calling on master coach Butch
Harmon as much as in the past because he feels he has become good
enough and understands the current faults in his game.
"As you get a little bit better and you understand your own mechanics
and your game you don't rely on a teacher quite as often," Woods said.
"That's what has transpired with me. I still need Butch, but not as
much as I used to because I've a better understanding of the faults
that I have and how to fix them."
Golf Today: "Tiger Wood to Take Break from Coach"
http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/news02/woods35.html
Woods's relationship with Harmon is the subject of this 1999 article
in an earlier issue of Golf Today. You should read the whole article
to get the flavor of that relationship, but Woods's learning style is
summed up in this Harmon quote:
"He does a lot on his own. A lot of his practice is in seclusion, so
no one really knows how much he puts into his game. He's just an
incredibly dedicated young man. He has an inward desire to be the best
player the planet has ever seen."
Golf Today: "Harmon & Wood - A Great Team"
http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/news99/woods26.html
The focus of Harmon's work with Woods has been rebuilding and
fine-tuning Woods's swing. Much has been written about the problems
Woods was having with his swing and the process and results of that
rebuilding. Here is a link to the best and most complete discussion
that I have found of that process and Harmon's role in it:
TIME Pacific: "Tiger's Biggest Gambler: How the Best Golfer in the
World Got Even Better": August 14, 2000
http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/20000814/tiger1.html
Here are a few quotes from the three-page article, which you should
definitely read in its entirety to get a complete picture of this
critical time in their relationship and its effect on Woods's game:
"Woods had joined the pro tour only seven months earlier, at age 20,
and captivated the game and its fans as no rookie ever had . . . .
"And now, incredibly, Woods was going to risk it all by overhauling
the swing that had brought him to this summit. He told his coach he
wanted to make serious changes in the way he struck the ball . . . .
"[Woods] and Harmon went to work in a kaizen sequence of 1) pounding
hundreds of practice balls, 2) reviewing tapes of the swing, and 3)
repeating both the above . . . .
"The new swing is so efficient that Woods can hit the ball as far as
before--when he needs to. But one goal of the makeover was to help him
control the ball better, even when he dialed down the power."
Additional site:
Here is more on Butch Harmon:
Travelgolf: Butch Harmon's School of Golf
http://www.travelgolf.com/departments/golfinstruction/butch-harmon-school.htm
Search strategy:
The challenge here was caused by the fact that a Google search for
"Tiger Woods" produces nearly two million "hits." I used several
more focused searches that designed to gradually zero in efficiently
on the information of particular relevance to your questions. These
included:
"tiger woods" coach
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22tiger+woods%22+%22coach%22&btnG=Google+Search
This led to mention of the Woods/Harmon relationship, which generated
the following searches, in increasing order of specificity:
tiger woods butch harmon
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=tiger+woods+++butch+harmon&btnG=Google+Search
"tiger woods" "help with" "his swing"
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=tiger+woods++++%22help+with%22%22his+swing%22
"tiger woods" "his swing" harmon
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=tiger+woods+%22his+swing%22+%22harmon%22
"tiger woods" "his swing" "only coach"
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=tiger+woods+%22his+swing%22+%22harmon%22+%22only+coach%22
I am confident that this is the information you are seeking, and I
hope that the links provided will lead to other material that
interests you. If any of the above is unclear, please ask for
clarification before rating this answer.
markj-ga |
