Hank Haney > Quotes

“I know Tiger believed in the idea of the Package. It went along with the sense of destiny his father had passed to him- that he was put on this earth to do something extraordinary with his special qualities, to "let the legend grow" But those qualities, foremost among them an extraordinary ability to focus and stay calm under stress, also included selfishness, obsessiveness, stubbornness, coldness, ruthlessness, pettiness, and cheapness." (132)”
― Hank Haney

“On Sunday at St St. Andrews in 2005, Tiger woke up with a two-stroke lead, and his warm-up on the practice range was freakishly good. He’d comment later that it was one of the best of his life. He hit the 50-yard sign four times in a row, the 100-yard sign three times in a row, and the 150-yard sign on his first shot. I jokingly told Steve that on shots around 100 yards he should remind Tiger to aim right or left of the pin. Sure enough, on the third hole Tiger’s wedge hit the pin and bounced off the green.”
― Hank Haney, The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods

“What I’ve learned at close quarters is that excellence, year after year, is exhausting.”
― Hank Haney, The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods

“How much any of those factors is present in your swing is entirely dependent on the length of your backswing. Indeed, if you are like most people, you will be short of horizontal—and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you are on plane. There is no rule that says you have to get the club all the way back to horizontal. Besides, the length of your arc is not how long your backswing is relative to horizontal; it is measured by the distance that the clubhead travels throughout the swing, so you can still have a big arc without getting all the way back to horizontal.”
― Hank Haney, Hank Haney's Essentials of the Swing: A 7-Point Plan for Building a Better Swing and Shaping Your Shots

“On Sunday at St. Andrews in 2005, Tiger woke up with a two-stroke lead, and his warm-up on the practice range was freakishly good. He'd comment later that it was one of the best of his life. He hit the 50-yard sign four times in a row, the 100-yard sign three times in a row, and the 150-yard sign on his first shot. I jokingly told Steve that on shots around 100 yards he should remind Tiger to aim right or left of the pin. Sure enough, on the third hole Tiger’s wedge hit the pin and bounced off the green.”
― Hank Haney, The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods

“Though he never articulated it, I know Tiger believed in the idea of the Package. It went along with the sense of destiny his father had passed to him - that he was put on this earth to do something extraordinary with his special qualities, to "let the legend grow."
But those qualities, foremost among them an extraordinary ability to focus and stay calm under pressure, also included selfishness, obsessiveness, stubbornness, coldness, ruthlessness, pettiness, and cheapness.
When they were all at work in the competitive arena, they helped him win. And winning gave him permission to remain a flawed and in some ways immature person.”
― Hank Haney, The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods