Tiger-Hank Breakup Clippings, Vol. 1

Mike Walker reveals the method Hank Haney used to quit on Tiger Woods...

"I texted him last night [that I was leaving], and he texted me back," Haney told the station. "We went back and forth for a while, but he had his kids last night and couldn't talk. We are going to talk later today."

In a text message to GOLF.com, Haney stressed that he was not fired.

"This was my decision, and he [Woods] won't spin it any other way," Haney said. "There comes a time and a place for everything to move on. Now was the time for me to step aside. Simple as that.

"There is nothing to be sorry about."

Bob Harig offers this from Haney who is not letting his statement speak for itself.

"I've dealt with that for six years," Haney said Tuesday during a telephone interview. "That wasn't something that all of a sudden got to me. It's part of the job. If you have no critics, you have no successes. I've had plenty of success in my career, and I'm going to have some critics."

Doug Ferguson says "stepping aside was a gracious move by Haney." Who knew quitting could ever be confused with grace?

While the timing looks bad - Woods is at his lowest personally and professionally - Haney did not walk out on him. What he did was spare Woods from having to spin tales about their relationship for the next however many months. He also spared the media and the public from having to listen to it and speculate about it.

He spared him from having to lie. There's also that other option Tiger could try: telling the truth!

Steve Elling praises the decision, but for different reasons.

Given that nobody at the moment is pulling punches as it relates to expressing harsh opinions about anything relating to Woods' personal or professional life, it quite possibly was only going to get worse for the Texas-based coach. A gamble or not, Haney made the right decision.

Brandel Chamblee says Tiger should hire a Harmon to replace Haney, nominating brother Billy for the thankless job.

GolfDigest.com features a writer roundtable analyzing where Tiger goes from here with this swing, starting with this from Jaime Diaz:

I think the big change in the shape of Tiger's swing under Hank is that it emphasizes the arms staying more in front of the body on the downswing. The result is a slightly steeper angle into the ball, which has helped Tiger become a much better iron player, probably the best in the game. On the other hand, Tiger has for the most part lost the wider, sweeping action that characterized his swing pre-Hank. In those days, Tiger was a longer and overall better driver of the ball relative to his peers. Ultimately, I think Tiger's frustration with not being a better driver after several years of very hard work started to erode his relationship with Hank.

Peter Morrice, senior editor of instruction, Golf Digest: It seems unfair to judge Hank's contributions based on this year. Since they started working together, no doubt Tiger's learned to control the ball better on iron shots, and has added many more shots to his bag. But his driving is certainly not at the same level. And if you look back through history, you'll find great drivers and great iron players, but rarely a player who is both. Maybe the work he's done recently has focused too much on becoming a great iron player and not enough on hitting the driver in play.