Hank Haney Speaks On Hitting the Fairway, Called Media “Idiots”
Hank Haney took to his podcast an unpopular opinion on the significance of distance in the game of golf. Tiger Wood’s coach called golf media who have doubted his then student Wood and his judgment in Wood’s accuracy during their time together as media “idiots.”
According to the 65-year-old professional coach, “if you can’t hit the long ball, the game has passed you.”
Hanson was not afraid to drop names and made Henrik Stenson an example.
“In 2020, he (Stenson) was 5th in accuracy off the tee, but yet he was 163rd in strokes gained off the tee. The advantage you get from driving comes from distance. This is why Rory is up there at the top, DJ is up there at the top and DeChambeau was number one last year.
This whole hit the fairway thing is a bunch of baloney, and it always has been.”
If you can't hit the long ball, the game has passed you by! It's ALL ABOUT THE LONG BALL! pic.twitter.com/vWZBGDu7uT
— Hank Haney (@HankHaney) October 28, 2020
Haney shared his recollection during his era of coaching Tiger Woods, pointing at those who at the time opposed Tiger’s driving – with some scathing remarks aimed at some in the media.
“I remember when I was coaching Tiger, from 2004 to 2010, and those absolute idiots that follow golf that are the media. This is like the ‘fake news’.
The golf media idiots who don’t know anything about the game and they used to ask me all the time about Tiger’s driving accuracy, and I’m like ‘it doesn’t matter, it’s a meaningless statistic’. As long as you keep it in play and miss it in the right spot and hit a few key fairways, that’s all you have to do.”
Then Haney summed up his reflection on what the target should be when driving the ball:
“You want distance and you want to be able to find your ball. If you can do that, you’re going to do good.”