book preview
Golf instructor Hank Haney (right)
worked with Tiger Woods for six years
before the two parted ways.
and intimidation tactics) may also be what
make him so frustratingly flawed off them.
“It has some wild moments,” says Haney.
NEARLY A DECADE ago, Tiger Woods was
starting to feel like his game was in a decline,
so the world’s best golfer picked up the phone
and called Hank Haney. Haney’s the guy you
want next to you when you’re hitting balls on
the practice range: amiable but also a whiz at
troubleshooting and an excellent communicator who knows how to pump up players
who may be struggling.
The Big Miss tees off
During that tumultuous stretch, Haney
kept plenty of notes, which he has used to write
The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods,
out on March 27—a mere week before Woods
Under Haney, Woods
adjusted his swing and
regained his swagger, win-
ning six of his 14 major
championships. Included
was the victory at the 2005
“People want to
know what was it
like to work with
tees off at the 2012 Masters.
The book’s title is a golf term
for the type of wild shot that
can drop a player to the bottom of the leader board.
Tiger, and it’s a
complex picture.”
Craigh Barboza is the editor of
MyDVDinsider.com.
Masters, where Woods
holed what is regarded as
one of the greatest shots in golf history: a
heart-stopping birdie chip on the 16th that
climbed and curved before rolling to the cup,
stopping at the edge and falling in. Haney and
—Hank Haney
Work on your setup. You need good fundamentals. That in- cludes your grip. If you don’t start off right, you’re not going to have much of a chance at hitting the shot. Find your swing plane. You have an ideal plane where you should swing the club. It’s based on your personal build. Get your swing on that plane, or as close to it as you can. Time it. Move your body in sync with the golf club when you turn back and swing through. That allows you to time the swing cor- rectly.—CB Hank Haney’s keys to a great swing 56-year-old Costco mem- The Costco Connection The Big Miss is avail- able in most Costco warehouses. Item #654882
Woods had quite a run.
“It also refers to a missed
opportunity, like the one
But like many beautiful-looking drives
that take an erratic bounce, their partnership
eventually landed in a bunker. In 2009, Woods
became embroiled in a nasty scandal. Not long
after, Haney, who had spent as many as 110
days a year with Woods, guiding him back
to the top of the golf world, decided it was
time to part ways with his prized client, and
resigned via text message.
People want to know what was it like to work
with Tiger, and it’s a complex picture.”
In The Big Miss, Haney tries to balance
his respect for Woods with a flesh-and-blood
account of the man. He gives Woods props
Almost two years have
passed since their last con-
versation. Haney is not
surprised. “Working with
Tiger was an opportunity
of a lifetime,” says the
56-year-old Costco member. “It was an incredible
learning experience and an
for what he’s been able
to accomplish in golf,
under “insane expectations,” but also ponders the toll the sport
has taken on him. He
delivers analysis and
insight: The characteristics that make Woods
such a dominant force
on the greens (mainly
his superhuman focus,
fierce competitiveness
Fore!
Hank Haney scores
with The Bıg Miss
unbelievable challenge. But in the end, six
years was enough.”
Many irons in the fire
© 2007 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/LENNY IGNELZ
These days, Haney is fixing fewer and
fewer golf swings. Over the past 30 years, he’s
coached roughly 200 touring pros but is now
turning down offers. Instead, the majority of
his time is spent doing marketing and training instructors for his golf facilities. He owns
five in Texas, including one in Dallas, where
he lives, as well as two junior golf academies,
the most recent in China. He also currently
has his own hit show on the Golf Channel,
The Haney Project, as well as a new line of
shoes, Crocs Golf.
Haney doesn’t want to speculate on how
people might respond to the book, but he
attests that The Big Miss is fair, honest and 100
percent accurate. “I think this book is just
sharing my experience, but also it’s about
coaching—there’s some technical stuff in
there —and dealing with a high achiever like
Tiger,” he says.
Woods, he explains, was different, but in
some ways he was just like any other student:
He hits a golf ball, and a coach bases a diagnosis on what the ball does when it’s an incorrect
shot. “In the end, it’s still fixing the golf ball
and you have to work on certain fundamentals
to do that,” Haney says. “Those fundamentals
are consistent with every golfer who’s ever
played or who will ever play the game.” C
