The Haney Project - Tiger Woods

[Chip Putterman]

When I look at film of Tiger Woods from 1999-2000, I see poetry in motion. I saw a maestro with a wand in his hand, in full command of all his shots, senses, and emotions. What I saw today at the first few holes of The Masters, was a very athletic 5-handicapper muscling his way around a golf course. Thirty-yard hooks, bunker shots that failed to get out of the bunker, and 3-putts, were all things I never ever imagined I would see from Tiger.
But it's OK,Tiger has Hank Haney as his coach. He has done wonders for Charles Barkley and Ray Romano. Perhaps he can do the same for Tiger. Or perhaps he already has.

 

[spktho]

Tiger had so much on his plate with all the crap he did in the past and this week with interviews and such, didn't play competitive golf for 5 months, and ties for 4th in the Masters. Not too bad. I do agree that Haney is not helping him much though.

 

[vjsinger]

It's been said here many times before, BUT Toger is in BAD shape, it really looks bad right now, scary!! Two way misses and he has NO clue as to the cause and neither does his teacher..BAD, real bad.

 

[Ringer]

You'd think after 15 years of fixing "getting stuck", someone would teach him drive his right shoulder down plane.

 

[ej20]

We don't know a lot of things about Tiger and Haney.We are just assuming that Hank is forcing Tiger to do what he wants him to do.It could be the other way around.Tiger hired Hank because he wanted to flatten his swing like Hogan and Haney happens to teach it so they BOTH had the same goals.

To be fair,Tiger's iron play is just as good if not better than 2000.He very rarely has a poor miss with irons.As for the driver,it could be other factors causing his woes.He used steel shafts in 2000 and was the last player switching to graphite because he obviously hated them.He was forced to in the end because other players started hitting it past him.It could well be that if Tiger used the same driver he used in 2000 he might be just as accurate.We will never know as Tiger these days cannot afford to drop 20 yards.

We are all blaming Haney but it could well be the modern driver.Tiger has gone on record saying that if it were up to him,the tour would be playing persimmon drivers.That is a very telling statement.

Are there any other players on tour that have 125mph+ clubhead speed that hits every fairway?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

before haney took over i never saw tiger do the following on LIVE TV:

shank it
sky his driver
hit two fat 3 woods off the deck from the tee box in the same round

but he finished fouth, not a bad day right? wrong. i think i understand how tiger thinks now, when he doesnt win he is super pissed because he knows he played better than just about everyone but the stupid shots got him. with all that talent he is making it work to some degree, amazing

 

[btp]

I would say his swing was a bit rusty. I'm a little surprised that it can get that bad with the driver and 3 wood. Hook Haney?

 

[mb6606]

There is something to be said for being match tough. Tiger has probably played some great practice rounds in the last few weeks. To hold it together in a major for 4 straight rounds requires intense focus. Just shows how talented he truly is to hang in there despite some poor tee shots and sloppy play around the greens.

On the other hand watching Phil the last few weeks it appeared to me he was not focused and not really giving his best. Playing more like casual practice rounds than tour events. Phil and Butch obvisouly knew what they were doing. Must be eating Tiger alive.

 

[jeffgladchun]

It doesn't matter if Haney is "forcing" Tiger to swing whichever way.

Giving him bad information is enough.

I just want the old Tiger back. The Tiger who could execute under pressure. Tiger should just get on one of his 500 trackmen and never, ever watch a video of himself. Forget the parallel lines, Tiger!

 

[mgranato]

To paraphrase Rick Patino – 2K Tiger is not walk’n through that door.

For whatever reason you like, those days are long gone, and gone for good. He is so far physically and mentally removed from that swing that he couldn’t hit “rewind” if he wanted to.

The recent Tiger is the Tiger. Talented enough to be in it, but can’t win the big ones anymore without his best. The margins are slim and the dominant windows are narrow. He’s the best playing, but he still needs to find the “hot” streak to get the majors. His putting is closer to human, his driving is sad, his wedges are great, his mind is a trap, but his attitude is a wait-n-see.

This Tiger is here, settled, and aint going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[savydan]

Agree.

From all I've seen, Haney's approach is mechanical/manipulative and that's what Tiger resorts to under the greatest pressure.

 

[ej20]

Haney's parallel plane swing does not work for everyone but Tiger can make it work because he simply has the most talent ever.

Bring back persimmons and balatas and Tiger will have Jack's record by 2012....doesn't matter what swing he uses.He can win using my swing and a broken leg.

 

[savydan]

Any swing method ever invented will work if the last sentence is: "And hit your D-plane numbers."

 

[ej20]

Hitting your D-plane numbers with biofeedback from Trackman on the perfectly level range is fine but how about the old saying...."the longest walk is from the practice tee to the first tee."

I hope you can repeat those numbers under a bit of pressure with a few distractions going on around you and no mulligans.

 

[jimmyt]

Does anyone out there think that Tiger's problems are mental not physical. Yes his swing has issues, none like I have ever seen yesterday and more importantly his inability to fix it under the gun.

This was the first competitive round for the new, I'm not going to show my anger Tiger. And even though there were a few outbursts, I don't think he has figured out yet how to vent his anger/frustration. At this time I think he is holding it all in and it forsure effects his concentration.

This comes from a comptetive Type A myself

 

[srgiles]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. FWIW, I think Tiger's problems can be traced back to the spring of 2001. I'd just had satellite TV installed at home, so that I could watch the PGA Tour. That first week, I distinctly recall watching him practicing at one of the early tour stops (Phoenix I think) working on a much flatter plane - the commentators stating he was working on the draw shape required for Augusta. Remember this is when he was going for the Tiger Slam.

Could he ever get his 'old' swing back, even if he wanted to? I doubt it -his body shape has changed a lot since then.

I'm no great fan of Woods, but I was a fan of his old swing (I actually preferred the slightly shorter backswing in the 1999 version). However watching him do those bizarre drills and then hitting those off the planet drives reminded me of Seve in decline. The more he 'worked' on his swing through the week, the worse he hit it.

There is a quote (don't remember who said it) that Nicklaus won his majors 'in spite' of his swing. The same can be argued of Woods in the last few years, who has relied on his short game, putting and course management.

 

[jeffgladchun]

To paraphrase Rick Patino – 2K Tiger is not walk’n through that door.

For whatever reason you like, those days are long gone, and gone for good. He is so far physically and mentally removed from that swing that he couldn’t hit “rewind” if he wanted to.

The recent Tiger is the Tiger. Talented enough to be in it, but can’t win the big ones anymore without his best. The margins are slim and the dominant windows are narrow. He’s the best playing, but he still needs to find the “hot” streak to get the majors. His putting is closer to human, his driving is sad, his wedges are great, his mind is a trap, but his attitude is a wait-n-see.

This Tiger is here, settled, and aint going anywhere anytime soon.

I feel this is an accurate evaluation.

It is so frustrating to watch this man play golf. I just want to yell out "PULL BACK RUN UP AND JUMP!!!!" every time he pulls out the driver.

Unfortunately for all golf fans (regardless of whether you like Tiger or not) he's not the man he once was. I hope he regains his former dominance soon. It is good for the game of golf.

Just play golf, Tiger. Don't worry about what your damn swing looks like.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiHCjZXgt00[/media]

I miss that.

 

[savydan]

Hitting your D-plane numbers with biofeedback from Trackman on the perfectly level range is fine but how about the old saying...."the longest walk is from the practice tee to the first tee."

I hope you can repeat those numbers under a bit of pressure with a few distractions going on around you and no mulligans.

Exactly. That's basically my first comment. The more complex you think your swing is, the harder it is, IMO.

 

[ej20]

Tiger is trying to swing it like Hogan.The parallel plane job worked for Hogan so you can't say the pattern is rubbish.It just doesn't work for everyone.

 

[jeffgladchun]

Tiger is trying to swing it like Hogan.The parallel plane job worked for Hogan so you can't say the pattern is rubbish.It just doesn't work for everyone.

The only thing that matters is controlling the D-Plane.

That's it and that's all.

If you can consistently control your D-Plane results and your swing happens to match up with some 2-D lines, fine.