the big lady it is a record of the time one of golf’s greatest coaches spent training one of the greatest golf athletes of our generation, Tiger Woods.
Hank Haney gives his readers a great insight into Tiger’s complex personality with no frills.
While there’s plenty of praise for Tiger’s abilities, there’s also no shying away from trainers’ honest assessment of those elements that keep even the greatest from reaching their full potential.
An unbiased assessment of Hank Haney’s track record attests that he is one of the best golf coaches of our day. His detailed account of the time he spent coaching one of golf’s greatest is not without a bit of selfish bragging. However, it must be recognized that, in this writer’s opinion, he does not take undeserved license or ‘exaggerate’ in his personal references.
It was surprising to me to learn that Mr. Haney’s assessment of Tiger’s short game was “lackluster.” He attributed it more to Tiger’s course management than his innate ability. Under Haney’s tutelage, Woods improved to become one of the top ten short players on the tour.
There are the big lady a good dose of human interest. Haney’s tenure was during some of the darkest moments in Tiger’s personal life, from his career suspending his broken leg to his addiction/treatment to the destruction of his family life.
To Haney’s credit, he doesn’t take cheap shots of judgment and even records some of his unintentional faux paux that annoyed Woods during this difficult time in his career.
Another surprising revelation in the big lady it is the nature of the rivalry between Phil Mickelson and Tiger. It is to be expected that there will be a professional rivalry between these two main competitors.
However, what was not so evident in the public persona that Tiger presented, Haney’s depiction of the relationship between these icons suggests that Tiger has a somewhat dismissive attitude toward Mickelson.
Haney believed that the difference in the way they handled the public seemed to be a sore point for Tiger. Phil’s engaging personality and his relationship with his fan base is very different compared to Tiger’s aloof style.
Although Haney didn’t go too far into the reasons for the disdain, she didn’t think it was so much a matter of jealousy as a matter of style that Tiger simply found irritating.
Coach Haney takes the time to defend himself against criticism of his coaching style. He self-identifies as having many of the same personality traits as Tiger, forcing them both to search for valid measures of improvement.
Haney clearly admires Tiger Wood’s skills and considers his time with one of the greatest golfers of all time the best moment of his coaching career.
In general, I found the big lady a fascinating insight into the world of two of golf’s greatest personalities who have done much in their respective roles to elevate the game of golf.
