“Puts Too Much Into Their Heads”: Tiger Woods’ Ex-Coach Slams Modern Golf Technology for Overcomplicating the Game

Tiger Woods’ former coach Butch Harmonhas a message for immediately’s golf instructors: do not rely too much on numbers. He believes fashionable golf instruction relies upon too closely on launch screens and other technology.

Harmon shared his views on Golf Digest’s The Real Deal podcast in an episode. He is not against technology. Butch Harmon believes coaches should use knowledge to support their judgment, not exchange it. Harmon also defined that not every golfer responds to knowledge in the same manner. He believes numbers help some gamers but can distract others from their natural really feel for the sport.

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“Players that are very analytical like it,”he said. “The players that are just natural feel players, I think it puts too much into their head that they don’t need to think about.”

His sharper criticism is aimed at lecturers. “I think the modern teacher has lost the ability to watch the ball,” Harmon said. “They rely everything on technology. They rely everything on TrackMan and numbers and this and that.”

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He desires coaches to give gamers an reply instead. “Well, tell the guy what he’s doing wrong,” he said. That is Harmon’s opinion from a long time of instructing, not a analysis discovering.

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To make his level, Harmon advised a story about his father. Claude Harmon Sr. won the 1948 Masters. Asked what his father would say about launch screens, Harmon said he could “paraphrase it pretty good.” What follows is Harmon’s imagined model of his father’s reply, not a recorded assertion.

A launch monitor is a gadget that tracks the membership and ball when a golfer hits a shot. It measures particulars such as clubhead pace, ball pace, and launch angle. It can also calculate how far the ball travels. Some systems observe the membership’s motion at affect, including its path toward the ball.

As Harmon defined, a coach might use this knowledge to say that a swing is “three degrees from the inside.” These numbers can help clarify what occurred during a shot. However, Harmon believes coaches should also use their eyes and expertise to perceive the downside and help the golfer repair it.

“It’s a math contest. It’s spitting out numbers,” he said. “That machine has no idea what’s going through your body on the back nine on Sunday with the adrenaline rushing.”

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The level is that a launch monitor can measure a swing but can’t really feel the nerves that come with a late event lead.

Harmon said he usually hears that he’s “old school” and against technology. He rejects that. “We use technology in all my golf schools, all over the world,” he said. Golf Digest reports that he makes use of launch screens and video in every faculty he runs.

He still values the numbers where they help, particularly when gamers change gear. “I use it a lot when my guys change equipment,” he said. “If they change drivers, change balls and stuff, we use that. So it has a great ability to help. But I don’t think that’s the only thing.”

That is constant with his historical past. In 2014, he selected Foresight Sports’ GC2 launch monitor for his faculties, calling it “far and away the best we’ve ever used.”

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Harmon’s views carry weight because of his résumé. He coached Woods from 1993 to 2004. In that span, Woods won eight majors and 34 PGA Tour titles.

Harmon credit his eyes for his outcomes. “I think one of the reasons I’ve had so much success, I’ve got a good eye,” he said. “I see things that other people don’t see.”

His document does not show that immediately’s coaches are fallacious. It does clarify why many golfers pay attention when he talks about instructing.

The argument is not knowledge versus no knowledge. It is about what comes first. Harmon says too many instructors look at a telephone before they look at the swing and the ball.

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He ended on a word that sums up his stance. “I like technology,” Harmon said. “Analytics have taken over every sport. There’s no doubt about that. It’s just a matter of time.”

The query for coaches now is whether the numbers will sharpen their eyes or exchange them fully.

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