Tiger Woods Swing Coaches: Swing Improvement and Consistency
Every golfer can learn from the 2010 Tiger Woods swing coach search and relationship with his past coaches. First, we learn how to find the right coach. Second, we can learn how to utilize our coaches to make our golf swings as good as possible. For sure, Tiger’s 2010 season will be remembered for many things on and off of the golf course. One of those things is Tiger’s search for a new golf swing coach after Hank Haney parted ways with him in May of 2010.
Tiger Woods Swing Coaches: Swing Improvement and ConsistencyEveryone in the media seemed to be pushing for Tiger to make a quick decision about who his next coach would be. However, Tiger’s took his time interviewing and meeting with potential swing gurus past the end of all of the year’s major tournaments. Of course, the swing coach that got the most attention during the interviewing process was Sean Foley. He worked with Tiger during the year last major championship, the PGA Tournament. However, Sean was not named as Hank Haney’s successor by Tiger during the tournament. Instead, Tiger kept insisting that he was using Sean as an extra pair of eyes during the tournament and exchanging golfing philosophies with him. Was Tiger in the wrong for doing this? Absolutely not! In fact, I suggest that we average everyday weekend golfers take a golf tip from Tiger’s book. All golf swing coaches are not the same. Therefore, before establishing a long-term relationship with a golf coach you should know the long-term direction they will take your game in. This means you will likely have to take a lesson from a few different swing experts before you decide. The second golf tip that we all can learn from Tiger is to have a coach or golfing buddy you can work with on your common swing faults. During his 2010 period without an instructor, Tiger used his caddy Steve to help him practice a drill to minimize his excessive head movement (a common swing problem for Tiger). After receiving instruction for a long enough period of time, you will learn drills you can practice with another watchful eye, even when your golf coach is unavailable. For the last golf tip, we can all learn to stick with golf coaches for the long haul, especially if they have us improving or maintaining our game at a high level. Tiger was with Butch Harmon for 5 years and with Hank Haney for 6 years winning multiple majors and maintaining the number one ranking under both coaches. Sticking with swing instructors for the long haul worked for Tiger and it can work for all golfers.
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