Review of Hank Haney's "The Big Miss"

[Mark Johnson]

Just finished the book

A few thoughts

-  surprisingly my opinion of Tiger has actually improved after reading the book;   his dedication, practice and focus are something that anyone in any field should look at.

- The analysis of Tiger's swing is outstanding.   I actually fixed a swing flaw of mine by reading the book.   The 2nd half of chapter 3 was one of the best analyses of Tiger's golf swing I have ever read.

- The best part of the book was the chapter on the 2008 Open, where you saw what went on to prepare Tiger for arguably his greatest win

- Steve Williams was portrayed in a very positive light.  Haney clearly had a lot of respect for him and Keith, Tiger's trainer

[jeffwarne]

Hank has said he is comfortable with his decision to write this book.
Many players have commented they are not fans to varying degrees of a coach doing this.
I worked with Dr David Wright and David LEadbetter during my playing days.
They are not only teachers that I highly respect and learned from, but were great people.
Many coaches in some way are able to "cash in" on their work with high profile students.
Hank has said he decided on writing a book some time ago.  In my opinion, I just think
it is in poor taste.
Personally, I struggled with anxiety and panic disorder when I played on tour.  Air travel was difficult,
being by myself in hotel rooms created anxiety that left me with many sleepless nights.
If a confidant of mine put that in a book like this I would be furious.  Tiger is over-the-top concerned
with privacy, and to have a team member do this has to be infuriating.

+1
Great post from someone who's been there.

I worked with David Leadbetter in the late 80's and he was pure class.
Can't imagine him writing such a book.
But then i can't imagine any teacher writing such a book.
But then I can't imagine any self respecting person to be afraid to ask for a popsicle (or care that badly about it)

[Craig Van Egmond]

Opens at #1 on the bestseller list...

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2012/04/the-big-miss-a-big-hit-no-1-bestseller.html

[John Mayhugh]

I remember following Tiger for an entire round at the 1995 Open while he was still an amateur.  I was a big fan of Tiger Woods, but over the years my support waned due to media obsession, Tiger's demeanor, and Steve Williams. I don't have any real interest in gossip about Tiger, but after reading some comments about the insight that the book offered, I thought I would give it a try. 

The book accomplished one thing.  Somehow, it managed to lower my opinions of Tiger, Haney, and Stevie.  I would never have thought that possible.

I didn't actually buy the book, but used my Audible subscription for it.  I often listen to audio books while walking the dog, and in the case of The Big Miss my picking up dog crap seemed an apt metaphor. 

Haney pretty much whines throughout the entire book.  Tiger didn't listen to him. Tiger didn't appreciate him.  Tiger wouldn't give him enough credit.  The media wouldn't give him enough credit.  And so on.  The whining nature of this wasn't helped by having to listen to Haney read the book.  A few of Hank's observations:
Tiger wasn't as good as he looked under Butch
Tiger's 2000 Masters performance was helped by a tip that Haney gave to Tiger (this was before he was his teacher)
The driver yips are likely Tiger's big problem. Interestingly, Hank figured this out because he had the same problem himself.
2010 would have been the year Tiger returned to dominance if not for.....
Haney often did not give Tiger feedback due to fears of making him mad and hurting communication.
Tiger wasn't willing to work hard enough in the later years of Hank's tenure.
Tiger wouldn't congratulate Stevie & Hank after a win, so those two had to congratulate each other.   

It seems that those two had a bizarre relationship.  From the first time they started working together, Hank stayed at Tiger's house. But if one believes what Hank writes, they also barely managed to communicate.  It's really not clear what sort of relationship they were supposed to have, but Hank sounds like he wanted to be Tiger's mental coach & BFF at the same time, while Tiger could barely even be bothered to share popsicles with him.

Haney's worst offense is quoting conversations that he had with other people about Tiger.  It's arguable whether or not he has the right to talk about something Tiger told him, but quoting people like Corey Carroll (a friend of Tiger's from Isleworth) seems really out of line. Yeah, Tiger may have acted like a jerk to most everyone he knew, but isn't that for them to complain about?

The Big Miss is a good title for this book, but mainly because that's what the book is. 

[PCCraig]

I finished the book last week. I don't think Hank was very classy in writing the book, but at the same time I found it to be a very revealing look into a man's life which is usually very protected and guarded to the masses. A friend of mine refuses to read the book because he thinks what Haney did was so wrong, I responded that I didn't disagree but I was just too curious not to see what he had to say. So by that token I'm glad I read it.

[George Pazin]

...Tiger's 2000 Masters performance was helped by a tip that Haney gave to Tiger (this was before he was his teacher)...

This is almost believable. After all, Tiger won every major from the 99 PGA to the 2001 Masters - EXCEPT the 2000 Masters! Hank's tip explains the anomaly...

[Jim_Coleman]

My favorite little fact in the book - Tiger wears a medium shirt.

[Greg Beaulieu]

My favorite little fact in the book - Tiger wears a medium shirt.

I remember reading a few years ago that he actually takes a size large and used to wear that size - you may recall him in his early years wearing shirts that were quite generously-cut - but decided at some point to wear mediums because they made him look more muscular.

[MikeJones]

I guess I'm late to the party on this one but I only just read the book as although I avoided it for a long time, my curiosity finally got the better of me.

Having now read the book and not just posting here based on my assumptions of what the book contains, I see no reason for Haney to lie, it's not like he portrays himself as a perfect human being either as he comes across as slightly weak and not without a huge ego himself.

Mostly the book was interesting to me for golfing reasons, the swing, the mindset, the stubbornness, the work ethic. I have a new respect for what it takes to perform at the top of the game for well over a decade and If I had been able to read this before I embarked upon my own career I'm sure I would have worked a lot harder on my game.


There is no doubt in my mind that Haney is a great teacher, you don't get to work with guys like Mark O Meara or Tiger Woods for as long as he did if you're not, but I'm amazed that he still feels the need to justify his record the way he did in the final chapter. Maybe this was the ghost writers push to try and add some credibility to Haney. It wasn't needed.

[Dan Kelly]

Finally got around to it. Hadn't intended to, ever, but it beckoned me (free!) at the library the other day.

Just finished it. Really enjoyed it. Learned a lot about coaching.

Would love to see a Personality Analysis of Tiger -- who, away from golf, seemed both uninteresting and uninterested. I had thoughts of Asperger's as I read it, though I obviously don't know enough about that to have an educated thought.

Pretty ironic, I thought, though, that after a book in which one of the recurrent themes was how little Tiger showed that he appreciated him and his work, Haney's last Acknowledgment (which I presume he did write) was to "my collaborator," Jaime Diaz -- a person theretofore unacknowledged in any way.

[John Kavanaugh]

Our old friend Quassi aka Cary Lichtenstein getting some love of the front page of Yahoo News. When he said he was gonna sell houses he really meant it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/elin-nordegren-florida-mansion-continues-grow-230252569--golf.html

[Patrick_Mucci]

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