Sport

You only swing when you're winning

May 19 - 25, 2010
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It seems a week doesn't go by at the moment without Tiger Woods making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

I guess what goes around comes around; maybe he is paying the price for making headlines for all the right reasons for some 14 years or so!

This week the back pages have been dominated by the separation of Tiger Woods and his swing coach of six years, Hank Haney. If reports are 100 per cent accurate, this was Haney's decision.

My own opinion is that it's not before time. Woods has been a shadow of the golfer we knew just after the turn of the century and during the last two years his game has been in freefall; much of that you could argue has been down to his activities off the course.

When Hank joined forces with Woods in March of 2004, Tiger was quoted as saying he 'wanted to own his swing and have as little maintenance as possible'. That quite clearly has not transpired and his swing can only be classed as well below average.

It should be pointed out here that under Haney, Woods won 37 of his 71 PGA Tour wins, more than his former coach, Butch Harmon. Had he continued with Harmon's teachings you can only wonder how many titles Woods would have won. We will never know the answer to that. One question lingers here. Why did he split with Butch?

Haney is still a fine coach, but coaching someone of Tiger's talent and profile is a tough ask. Every change is analysed by the 'experts' and everyone has their own point of view. Whereas the record under Haney is impressive, the statistics are not.

Only once in six years of Haney has Woods finished inside the top 100 in driving accuracy - a lowly 86th position last year. It is generally accepted across the world that the golf Woods played in 2000 was the finest ever seen in the history of the sport; so what has changed in Woods's swing? Compared with 2000, it is night and day.

Haney is a disciple of Hogan who many down the years thought of as close to perfection. Without getting too deeply into that, Hogan was 5ft 9in, so his movements would be far removed from what Woods should have been striving for. So who will be the next Woods swing coach? The rumour mill is working overtime. One name that is being linked to the job is Sean Foley, who looks after the games of Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose.

Tiger Woods needs to find a life coach and get his world back on track. He needs to find a swing coach that rather than be interested in financial gain and fame is prepared to stay out of the limelight and is only interested in getting Tiger back playing well. He needs to identify people of that nature and trust them to be his friends.

I'm not being dramatic, but he really does need to find them, before it's too late. Tiger could do much worse than go back and work with Harmon once again. Many people in the game are of that opinion and it could prove to be a step forward for Woods.

This week the European Tour is back in England for its flagship event, the PGA Championship at the magnificent Wentworth Club in Surrey. World number four Lee Westwood will be playing, completing a powerful trio of Englishmen in the world's top ten who will be chasing victory.

Ian Poulter, the 2010 WGC - Accenture Match Play champion and world number six will also be there, along with world number eight, Paul Casey, as he returns to defend the title he won in dramatic fashion last May. Westwood, who celebrated his 37th birthday on Saturday, along with the rest of the European Tour's elite will be relishing seeing the extensive redevelopment to Wentworth Club's iconic West Course, which has undergone major work over the last year following a redesign of all 18 greens by three-time Major champion Ernie Els.

From the history, to the course, the clubhouse, the players... everyone playing on the European Tour wants to win at Wentworth.

Having been lucky enough to play there, I can tell you that you only have to stand in the middle of the first fairway and look back at the tee and that famous clubhouse and it makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.







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