Roundup: Tiger & Sean We Hardly Knew Ye

Just to get the most out of this post, may I propose you right click here for a little Barbra to set the appropriate mood during this upsetting, utterly-first world time in golf history as Tiger Woods and instructor Sean Foley have split.

Anyway, I spoke to Hank Haney briefly today. The former Tiger teacher sounded sympathetic to the plight of Foley, even though Foley was never particularly complimentary of the former instructor's efforts.

"There’s tons of hall of fame coaches that have been fired," Haney said from Philadelphia where he was working. "Working for Tiger is not as easy as it looks."

That seems to be the general takeaway on Sean Foley and Tiger's breakup: the pupil is a once-in-a-lifetime talent not at his peak and it just didn't work out for a teacher with proven results elsewhere.

Doug Ferguson's AP story recounts some of Tiger's instructor past, which is extensive.

Woods began working with Butch Harmon as a teenager, and they changed his swing twice. The biggest overhaul was after Woods won the Masters by 12 shots. Many believe the new swing produced Woods' most dominant golf, though he also was in his early 20s and had not had serious issues with his knee. Woods won eight majors while with Harmon, including seven in 11 attempts and an unprecedented sweep of them in 2000-01. They parted in 2003.

Woods went to Hank Haney and produced another memorable stretch with an entirely different swing. In a two-year period covering 34 tournaments, Woods won 18 times (including four majors) and was runner-up six times. That ended with the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, right before his fourth and most invasive knee surgery.

That was his 14th major, and Woods has not won another since.

Jaime Diaz explores the ups and downs of their four years together and comes away feeling like life comes down to timing. And "Foley's timing was bad."

As science based as Foley's teaching is, he soon enough learned that his biggest challenge would be fixing not the physical, but the mental. Which was actually a challenge and opportunity Foley welcomed. Naturally open and gregarious, a self-described searcher who enjoys sharing his own life lessons, Foley had openly looked forward to getting to know Woods well as a person, and helping him through what he knew was a difficult period. He saw that dynamic as part and parcel of a successful coach/student partnership.

"I want to be a teacher who teaches his guys more about life and themselves than just about the game," Foley said. "By helping them become better people, they're going to become better at their sport by having less conflict."

But based on reliable observers, what Foley had hoped for didn't happen.Though their working relationship never showed any public strain, it remained more clinical than close.

The ambulance chasers are littering the streets of Jupiter hoping Tiger will stumble upon their card, so Paul Azinger has something to sell Tiger. But he's not quite saying what it is. Randall Mell reports.

“There are only three things great players have done the same with their swing, the three fundamentals,” Azinger said. “That’s physically. There’s a mental side. Of the three physical things, Tiger has lost track of one, and he’s got to fix it. It’s a very easy fix.”

What is it?

Azinger says he isn’t sharing that publicly, but he would tell Tiger Woods.

Bob Harig says the two "sensed it" according to Foley, and the parting was on good terms. So we'll get fist bumps on the range at Augusta, which is comforting. Harig also says Woods gets all the blame for messing things up.

While Foley might have offered advice, who said Woods always took it? He is his own man, with his own thoughts, and many players use bits and pieces of what they are offered.

A coach can only do so much. He can't give advice between the ropes. He can't necessarily control how much a player practices or even works on his short game. It is an individual sport, and the blame almost fully rests with the guy hitting the shots.

It is true that Woods' inability to figure out the driver and how to get it in play consistently has been a vexing problem. And yet, how much better was it five years ago when Woods won seven times worldwide?

In 2009, Woods ranked 86th in driving accuracy, hitting just over 64 percent of the fairways. Last year, he was 69th although his percentage was just 62.5 percent.

Jason Sobel asked Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose about Foley's work just before the parting, and the idea that Foley was somehow to blame.

“It's comical,” Mahan stated flatly. “It frustrates me and kind of angers me a little bit. But you know, that's the world we live in and that's just kind of the way things are, and Foley is better for it because he can handle a guy like Tiger – a lot comes with that and I think he's done a pretty good job of containing himself and not letting it bother him. He just does his job every day and does it better than anyone.”

Rose was more diplomatic, but no less adamant in his view that Foley has shouldered too much of the blame over the past half-decade.

“It’s difficult to hear,” he said, “because I put a lot of trust in him with my game and I believe in his abilities to help me with my game.”

With over 500 votes, a clear majority of you would recommend Tiger to your golf instructor friends.

Tiger's swings through the years can be seen in this GIF posted by Luke Kerr-Dineen at The Loop.