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 NEWS 04 / 10 / 05
 

Teaching Tiger...


Haney with Tiger

Hank Haney, the American who has stepped into Butch Harmon's shoes as coach to World No.1 Tiger Woods, revealed to a packed audience of PGA professionals and teachers the kind of pressure he's under.

He revealed at the PGA of Europe seminar in Munich this week, that Woods is very demanding in his determination to reach new peaks.

"His attitude to his golf is the same as his attitude to life, " said Texan Haney. "He wants to be just as good as he is absolutely capable of being."

"And that puts pressure on me, too," he added, explaining that his pupil isn't content to work on one thing in improving his swing. "At various times there's a whole bunch of things."

Added Haney: "When he hits a shot that is maybe a little bit right or left of where he wants it to be he'll ask me why it went there and what he has to do to put it right. Now!

"The pressure on me when his swing is travelling at about a 140mph is to spot the reason and explain to improve it. I'd better have the answer and it had better be right."

Haney added that Woods isn't one to take 100 balls to sort out a problem. He demands to get it right with his next shot.


Fanny with Faldo

Haney was also joined in the auditorium by three other leading coaches - Denis Pugh, Scott Cranfield and fellow American Randy Smith, but it was Swedish caddie Fanny Sunesson, who gripped the pros' attention with an insight of what it was like to carry the bag for arguably Britain's greatest ever golfer, Nick Faldo.

Using yardage charts and video clips she kept the 1,000 strong audience enthralled with anecdotes revealing that her boss never liked to hear negative responses when suggesting the correct club for a particularly shot.

She revealed she would never say 'No' if the six times major winner suggested a club selection with which she disagreed.

"I might agree to a 6-iron if I knew it should be a 5-iron," she said. "But I'd make sure he knew it 'was a bit cold' or 'a little wind' had got up. He'd usually respond, that it might be a 5-iron after all. And I'd say: 'yes, that's it, a 5-iron.'"

Sunesson, who has launched her own golf schools programme, is currently caddieing for Australian Mark Hensby and was on his bag when he won the Scandinavian Masters and during the recent President's Cup series.


Beverley Lewis

The PGA's first woman captain, Beverley Lewis also completed a fascinating presentation, advising teachers how to coach women golfers.

In her lecture, 'From the Red Tees', she explained how women with less physique, power and flexibility than men - demanded a different approach to being coached.

She explained, that women often had less desire to learn the full complications of the golf swing and coaches needed to deliver with more simplicity.


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