Winning the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan last month for his first stroke-play title of the year wasn’t the only thing that made Tiger Woods excited about the 2005 season.
He finally had an epiphany with his new swing.
Woods has spent nearly nine months retooling his golf swing under the direction of Hank Haney, and it all came together on the practice range in California before leaving for Japan.
”I was here at Big Canyon,” Woods said on Tuesday. ”I hit two shots that I felt that’s what Hank has been trying to get me to do this entire time. It was easy to replicate after that.”
Not every shot after that was perfect, but that didn’t matter to Woods.
”Once I know exactly what I need to feel, I’ll have it the rest of my life,” he said.
His tale was similar to the one told in 1999, after Woods had spent 18 months revamping his swing with Butch Harmon. He was on the range in Isleworth in May when he hit a shot where everything clicked. He called Harmon on his cell phone and said, ”Butchy, I got it.”
This time, Woods didn’t call Haney.
”It was like, ‘Ah, that’s what you were trying to get me to do,”’ he said.
Woods has made it clear in the last few months that Haney, indeed, is his swing coach. He has been coy about their relationship most of the year when the focus was on his split with Harmon.
But Woods said on Tuesday that Haney has been on the payroll this year, although he did not say when it started.
”He doesn’t like to refer to it as a coach,” Woods said. ”He says, ‘I’m your friend. I’m just trying to help you out with your game.’
When he worked with Mark (O’Meara) all these years, he never referred to himself as a coach. He’s not on the sidelines pacing back and forth and trying to call plays. That’s a coach.”
Does Woods consider him a coach?
”He’s a friend who is hired to help me,” Woods said.
Asked if he would ever change his swing again, Woods smiled and said, ”You never know.” – Sapa-AP