Hank Haney resigns as Tiger Woods' swing coach
The perfect world that was Tiger Woods pre-Thanksgiving '09 continues to crumble around him, as swing coach Hank Haney has resigned from his position.
Haney issued a statement on Monday night about his decision to move away from Team Tiger. The gist of it is below.
I have informed Tiger Woods this evening that I will no longer be his coach.
I would like to thank Tiger for the opportunity that I have had to work with him over the past 6 plus years. Tiger Woods has done the work to achieve a level of greatness that I believe the game of golf has never seen before and I will always appreciate the opportunity that I have had to contribute to his successes. I have also enjoyed the association that I have had with Tiger both on and off the golf course as I have had some incredible experiences. In coaching and teaching Tiger I have also learned a lot, not only about golf, but about people and life in general. It has been a great learning experience and along the way Tiger has elevated me in my own profession to a level that I never thought I would achieve before I had the opportunity to work with him. ...
Tiger Woods and I will always be friends, but I believe that there is a time and a place for everything and I feel at this time and at this place in my life I want to move forward in other areas.
Haney started working with Tiger in 2004, and they combined to win six major championships together. The relationship has been a bit strained as of late, with rumors flying around that Tiger has been working with swing coach Sean Foley (something Foley vehemently denied).
It also raises the thought that Haney might have seen the axe coming his way, as Tiger has been totally lost with his golf swing since returning to competitive golf.
While there isn't much comparing when talking Tiger and slumps, his play the last 18 months has been anything but spectacular. A missed cut in a major (only his second ever), and no wins since the 2008 U.S. Open raised a ton of questions about the state of Woods' game.
The other side of the coin might have been that Haney was sick of getting all the blame for Tiger's troubled play, and decided it was time to pull his name from the mud. Haney runs golf schools and has won numerous coaching awards, and to continually get smeared because one of your students isn't playing up to snuff might have been too much of a slap in the face for Haney to overcome.
No matter, this means that Tiger will have to find someone new to help him with his golf swing, and as anyone that has worked with a teacher knows, all teachers find something different with your swing that needs changing, so expect some tweaking to go on with Woods once again.
