A Book Review of The Big Miss by Hank Haney

It turns out this is actually a compelling look at both Woods and Haney. Haney shows himself to be the kind of man who thought he could measure the relevance of his career by his association with one whom he believed embodied true greatness. If this definition includes the ability to sell swing aids on the Golf Channel, he may be proven right.

Haney confirms everything anyone who doesn't like Tiger Woods has always suspected. Earl Woods may have hoped Tiger was a better person than he was a golfer, but that was nothing but a father's fantasy. Haney's portrait of Woods is of an unhappy, endlessly insensitive and emotionally stunted person.

Haney comes across best when he speaks of his indefatigable pursuit of a plan for his students. I'd like to find a coach who would do that for my game. Haney also seems genuine in his unrequited desire to get to know Woods as a person. Haney comes across worse when he describes his work with Tiger Woods as a noble pursuit. The Big Miss is clearly the writing of a man still working on himself if Haney sees anything associated with teaching golf in such a light. Teaching the skills of a game may be entertaining, it may even be satisfying, but seeing it as noble is the worst and most self-aggrandizing kind of stretch.

It's the same kind of stretch that Tiger Woods applied to his life's singular goal. In striving so hard to become the perfect golfer he made himself into one of the most unpleasant and self-centered people imaginable.

Beyond this, two things I've not read much about elsewhere jumped out at me:

The first was TW's response to Haney's mention of the importance of breaking Jack's record.

Haney: "Don't you care about that?"

Haney quotes TW as saying, "No, i'm satisfied with what I've done in my career."

Tiger Woods, satisfied?

Haney's contention that Woods' long-stated raison d'être had become meaningless was the biggest swipe I could see at the Woods' legend.

If I were TW, that's the quote I would say was false if, in fact, it was.

The other item was a seemingly minor mention that Woods' now-infamous SEAL exercises were noted on his calendar, "but everyone knew not to talk about them to anyone." A lot has been made of whether Haney broke the so-called coach's code in writing his book. This is a rather naive complaint. The very best biographies of living people are done by writers with no permission or authorization. If you want to know the truth about someone, read books written by someone who knows the person and who doesn't mind making the subject mad.

In the case of Tiger Woods, that would be Hank Haney.

It's easy to ask why Haney was so willing to write a book like this about Woods, someone who he described as a friend. Only Haney can answer that question. It is interesting to note that early in the book Haney states his certainty that Woods would be the last pro he would ever work with.

I can't say if that's true or not. I also don't know if the proceeds (financial and otherwise) will prove to be worth it for Haney. It is clear Hank Haney's time coaching Tiger Woods truly changed his life. There's no denying The Big Miss is an entertaining account of that experience.

I can only hope both experiences are worthwhile for Hank Haney.

How Bubba Watson Dreams & Sergio Garcia Feels

After Louis Oosthuizen made his double eagle on the par-five second hole, Bubba Watson's face went all Green Beret. He didn't need to dream, he needed to keep playing his game no matter what happened around him.

Watson is your standard-issue, late-blooming tour player. He played golf at a community college and has never taken a lesson. Like other players with unconventional swings Watson must have been easy to write off when he was coming up. Maybe he even wrote himself off. So, when it was finally time for him to slip on the green jacket he said he had never dreamed that big.

For Bubba Watson, his success has surpassed his dreams.

Sergio Garcia is a year younger than Bubba Watson. Garcia has 7 PGA Tour wins to Watson's 4. Most of Garcia's wins came smack in the middle of Tiger Woods glory years while most of Watson's wins have come after Woods' decline. Still, Garcia has stopped dreaming big. He has decided he's simply not good enough to win a major.

Maybe he's right.

On the other hand, it may be Garcia's simply gotten too comfortable telling us how he feels. It started at the British Open a few years back when he told us he felt as though he had to compete against something more than the rest of the field and reached its low point when he said, "I'm not good enough, and today I know it,"

Garcia was good enough to win the British Amateur when he was 18 and good enough to finish tied for second in the 1999 PGA when he was 19. Now, 13 years and 22 professional wins later all he can feel is that he's not good enough.

What Garcia doesn't get is that no one is good enough, regardless of how they feel, until they have gone out and done whatever they've set out to do.

Sergio Garcia should learn from Bubba Watson, forget about his dreams, and stop telling the world how he feels. If he wants to continue to play golf for a living all he has to do is tee it up on Thursday and count 'em up on Sunday.

The only place he's not good enough is in the interview room.