Hank Haney: Tiger's Overdoing The Gym Thing

I noted it in my upcoming Golf World column on Tiger, as did Robert Lusetich in his column from Torrey: Tiger had added muscle since the World Challenge. No big deal right? A little off-season lifting never hurt anyone?

Hank Haney, his former swing coach, talked about why it's a negative during his new SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show Sunday and the intrepidist of intrepid reporters, Golf Channel Digital happened to be listening when a caller asked about Tiger's buffed up look.

Mr. Digital writes, quoting Haney on why mass isn't going to lead to distance:

“My opinion is he did too much of that. He does a lot of the gym stuff. I know you need to do some for golf, no doubt about it. You need to be in shape, you need to avoid injury, but my opinion is he really overdoes that,” Haney said. “He looks like he’s gained more muscle mass. When he was thinner and younger he was actually faster then. The strength maybe helps you get out of the rough but I’d agree that he’s overdone it. But he loves to work out.”

He also commented on his putting, though I thought it looked pretty good. The wedge? Not so much.

“He had five three-putts in 54 holes at Torrey Pines and you’re not going to fix that in the gym. Now Tiger Woods is the best lag putter I’ve ever seen,” Haney said. “For him to go out and three-putt five times at Torrey Pines, I can’t even believe it. There’s just no way that he put in the time on the putting green and practicing. It’s impossible. He’s too good. His stroke is too consistent. He’s too great a putter.”