Butch Harmon has been Critical to Tigers SuccessEarl Woods Sent Tiger to Butch Harmon after his loss in the second round of the US Amateur in 1993. Tiger was hooking the ball badly and this was damaging his self confidence. His burning ambition was to win the US amateur championships and turn pro but he had to make improvements to his swing for this to happen. Firstly, Harmon helped Tiger keep his right foot longer on the ground in the down swing, it was lifting too early resulting in him spinning out of the shot. This fault is common with youngsters because they are so flexible. Harmon made more changes to Tigers stance, hip turn, takeaway, and back swing length, giving him more control over his swing. Armed with these changes Tiger went on to win 3 US Amateur titles in 1994/5/6. Butch Harmon’s biggest contribution to Tigers progress was with the mental part of his game. Armed with knowledge that he learned from his father Claude Harmon and Ben Hogan, Butch showed Tiger videos of past great players swings to get the mental picture of a good swing into Tiger’s mind. Once Tiger had seen his own swing on video, he was able to correct and improve his swing feeling and know what was correct or wrong. Butch Harmon learned a great deal of the mental side of golf from Ben Hogan and he passed this valuable knowledge onto Tiger. Some of these tips included the following. Planning his course strategy backwards, starting from the green instead of the tee. Controlling his tee shots better and playing a fade from the tee. Focus on hitting fairways and greens. Tiger sometimes still struggles in this area on his tee shots. When you’re under pressure, play your approach shot with less club, this allows to you to accommodate the adrenaline rush. Tiger was encouraged by Butch Harmon to use his own imagination around the greens. This is probably where he learned to chip with his 3 wood. Some Butch Harmon swing checks Butch would see Tiger in between his busy tour schedule and these lessons were very intensive and precise. Harmon knew that he had to have Tiger relaxed and confident after a lesson, and to do this would let Tiger only focus on the target while he was hitting balls. This is an excellent tip for all golfers to follow. Harmon believes that by only focusing on the target you give yourself a better chance of sending the ball to that target and swinging the club correctly. I agree one hundred percent with this philosophy. Harmon wanted Tiger to take a practice swing exactly like he intended on the actual shot. One great player who does this so well is Jose Maria Olazabal. His practice swing is identical of his actual swing. It takes great discipline to do this each time. Butch Harmon worked meticulously on the basic fundamentals with Tiger, getting him to address the ball with a square club face, and his body parallel to the target line and making sure the grip was perfect. Harmon got Tiger to swing much more freely and hit the ball longer and straighter. His distance control improved dramatically, and his short game became very sharp. The mark of a great teacher came through when Butch Harmon would give Tiger one key thought to focus on to solve any swing problems that he might have. This gave Tiger the ability to focus better and swing freely. Taking regular breaks also helped Tiger maintain a fresh and confident mind when he returned to competitive play. Harmon checked Tiger’s grip, his hand positions and his grip pressure. Tiger uses the interlock grip like Jack Nicklaus because his hands are small. Harmon wanted Tiger to keep his right wrist cocked as long as possible inot the hitting area on the down swing. This is a very powerful position and is a major clubhead speed generator. The problem with golfers of this calibre is they tend to swing the arms out of sink with the body turn which leads to stray shots. Harmon was always checking Tiger’s co ordination with the arms and body was “in sink”with each other.
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