Why did Tiger Woods leave Butch Harmon? Exploring star golfer's major life decision to change coach
In the early days of Tiger Woods' incredible golfing career, he and coach Butch Harmon were nearly inseparable. The pair were about as dynamic a duo as onw can be.
Harmon is perhaps one of the most iconic coaches of all time, having coached a plethora of stars. They include Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Stewart Cink, Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Justin Leonard, Nick Watney, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland
Woods' split from Harmon is well documented and is one of the more questionable decisions the golfer has made (and there are quite a few of them). Here's why thr split happened:
Why Tiger Woods left one of the greatest golf coaches of all time
The pair came together in 1993, when Tiger Woods was just 17 and beginning his career. The coach and the star golfer officially broke up at the end of 2002. However, that was not before Woods won eight of his 24 major starts. He also won 34 official Tour events with a 27% success rate and was named the 'Tour Player of the Year' five times.
Woods was seemingly on the way to becoming the best golfer ever. Why did he want to change coaches?
According to Bleacher Report, it's because Harmon didn't want to change Woods' swing. The golfer wanted total control and didn't want anyone, even his coach, stopping him from doing whatever he wanted to do. That mindset may have gotten Woods in trouble at other times too.
Although his knees, which were considerably more fresh at the time, may have been in rough shape, it's highly unlikely Harmon wouldn't have helped adjust for that if and when the time came.
According to Woods, Harmon didn't pay much attention to the golfer:
"Obviously, he doesn't really know what I'm working on, and he's never asked me, and I've never talked to him about it and no one knows," said Woods.
Tiger Woods also had a problem after the two split, with Harmon talking down on the golfer:
"I mean, friends say that face to face. If you and I were like that, and you would say something like that to the rest of the media, we would have a problem with that. If you go say something like that, you go right up to my face and say it. And that's what we used to do. And I think that's the way it should have been handled."
Tiger Woods went on to have an incredible career and is known as one of the most accomplished golfers ever. Is he the greatest? Maybe not, but had he stuck with Harmon, he probably would have been.