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Butch vs Haney? Ex-caddie reveals the coach that Tiger had his best swing under

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During his illustrious professional career, Tiger Woods has worked under four different swing coaches (five, if you include himself).

For most golf fans, the coach most synonymous for working with Tiger would likely be Butch Harmon, who Woods worked with from 1996 to August 2002.

Under Harmon’s tutelage, Woods claimed a phenomenal 8 major championship wins along with 5 World Golf Championships and had a 26.8% win rate at regular PGA Tour events.

Following Tiger’s split with Harmon, the 15-time major champ went solo before hiring Hank Haney in 2004, who he worked with until May 2010.

The two enjoyed a very successful partnership together, with Tiger winning 6 majors, 9 WGCs and boasting a sensational 33.33% win percentage at regular tour stops (highest win % of any Tiger coach at regular tour events).

So between Harmon and Haney, which coach did Tiger Woods have his best swing under?

That was the question put to Tiger’s ex-caddie Steve Williams by journalist Evin Priest on the latest episode of ‘Chasing Majors’, with the Kiwi explaining his choice, saying:

“That’s a very difficult question because a couple of his very, very best tournaments, where I say he played the best he’s ever played, were under Butch. But I think consistently across the board I think his swing became more repetitive and more consistent under Hank.

You know, I think we’re talking very small margins here between Butch and Tiger, but like I said, my statistics would tell me that he drove the ball better with Hank, and I think because he probably confidently knew that he wasn’t going to hit the ball, that big left shot from time to time.”

Back in 2020, stats guru Lou Stagner did some number crunching that backs up Williams’ choice, with Stagner estimating Tiger’s handicap throughout his career by using course rating and slope for each course in his research to calculate a differential for each round.

The research showed that Woods was at his very best handicap wise in 2008, under Haney’s guidance, when he held a +9.4 index, with his average index being +6.7 throughout his career.

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

19th Hole

3-time PGA Tour winner calls for LIV to buy Champions Tour to fix ‘joke’ purses

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While speaking on the Subpar podcast, former PGA Tour winner and current PGA Tour Champions player Chris DiMarco said he hopes LIV buys the Champions Tour.

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” he said.

“Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25 million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”

In 2024, the Champions Tour had a total of $67 million in prize money over the course of 24 events.

DiMarco also defended LIV players for taking the money and said he would take it also.

“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money?”

DiMarco also offered insight on Graeme McDowell’s move to LIV.

“I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’ And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too.”

DiMarco was ranked as high as 6th in the world in 2006.

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19th Hole

‘It won’t win you golf tournaments’ – Golf analyst rips Charley Hull’s course management

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Charley Hull came just short of her third LPGA Tour victory over the weekend at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship when she played her last two holes at 3 over to slip all the way to 10th on the leaderboard.

After the round, Hull was blasted by Sky Sports commentator and former LPGA Tour player Trish Johnson for her lack of golf course management.

While speaking on the Sky Sports Golf podcast, Johnson spoke harshly of Hull.

“I’m probably her harshest critic, because I know how good she is. She doesn’t win anywhere near enough for her talent, and she doesn’t get involved enough, in all honestly.

“The thing with Charley is that you’re never going to change her. I read something the other day that said how much she loves the game and it’s her love of the game [that costs her]. She’s never going to change and she’s just going to go for every pin.

“In theory that’s great, but it won’t win you golf tournaments, it just won’t because she’s not that much better than anybody else. If you put Charley against Nelly Korda, then I’m picking Nelly every single day of the week.”

Johnson also made a fascinating comparison between Hull and a famous male golfer, John Daly.

“Golf-wise that’s the way she plays the game and it’s a little bit like watching John Daly I suppose.”

“There’s something that John Daly had that made him a major winner and a winner, but Charley is kind of lacking that. Her talent is not in question, but maybe her application is. Maybe it’s just the case of her never changing and that will cost her golf tournaments, there’s no two ways about it. You cannot go for every pin because that’s the way you play and it being fun, as other players are better than that and you have to have course management.”

Hull is still only 27, and therefore has plenty of time to work on her flaws to achieve the success her talent should allow.

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19th Hole

Former agent lifts lid on being fired by ‘zombie’ Tiger Woods

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Discussing his new book “Rainmaker” with the Daily Mail, Tiger Woods’ former agent, Hughes Norton, recounted the events leading up to and after his split with the 15-time major champion.

Norton was abruptly fired by Woods in 1998 after his 1997 Masters win and monster deal with Nike.

In the book, Norton talks about the way Tiger views his relationships, calling him a “zombie.”

The solace I can take, which doesn’t provide much, is this: He was an equal opportunity zombie with relationships, his swing coaches, his lawyer, the guy negotiated the IMG representation deal, with caddies, When it’s over, it’s over.”

Norton added:

“It is the way he terminates relationships with everyone. Whether it’s girlfriends, whether it’s his former golf coaches. It’s ironic, really. In a way he’s so good at confrontation on the golf course. If he’s playing you, he will beat your brains out every single time.

“But when it comes to confronting things like me and other people that are in his life, he has no social skills whatsoever. It’s maddening, actually.”

After he was fired by Woods, Norton was let go by IMG, which he believes was due to Woods’ influence.

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