The Big Miss

My Years Coaching Tiger Woods

By: Hank Haney

Narrated by: Hank Haney

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

The Big Miss is Hank Haney's candid and surprisingly insightful account of his tumultuous six-year journey with Tiger Woods, during which the supremely gifted golfer collected six major championships and rewrote golf history.

Hank was one of the very few people allowed behind the curtain. He was with Tiger 110 days a year, spoke to him over 200 days a year, and stayed at his home up to 30 days a year, observing him in nearly every circumstance: at tournaments; on the practice range; over meals, with his wife, Elin; and relaxing with friends.

The relationship between the two men began in March 2004, when Hank received a call from Tiger in which the golf champion asked him to be his coach. It was a call that would change both men's lives.

Tiger - only 28 at the time - was by then already an icon, judged by the sporting press as not only one of the best golfers ever, but possibly the best athlete ever. Already, he was among the world's highest paid celebrities. There was an air of mystery surrounding him, an aura of invincibility. Unique among athletes, Tiger seemed to be able to shrug off any level of pressure and find a way to win. But Tiger was always looking to improve, and he wanted Hank's help.

What Hank soon came to appreciate was that Tiger was one of the most complicated individuals he'd ever met, let alone coached. Although Hank had worked with hundreds of elite golfers and was not easily impressed, there were days watching Tiger on the range when Hank couldn't believe what he was witnessing. On those days, it was impossible to imagine another human playing golf so perfectly.

And yet Tiger is human - and Hank's expert eye was adept at spotting where Tiger's perfection ended and an opportunity for improvement existed. Always haunting Tiger was his fear of "the big miss" - the wildly inaccurate golf shot that can ruin an otherwise solid round - and it was because that type of blunder was sometimes part of Tiger's game that Hank carefully redesigned his swing mechanics.

Hank's most formidable coaching challenge, though, would be solving the riddle of Tiger's personality. Wary of the emotional distractions that might diminish his game and put him further from his goals, Tiger had developed a variety of tactics to keep people from getting too close, and not even Hank - or Tiger's family and friends, for that matter - was spared "the treatment".

Toward the end of Tiger's and Hank's time together, the champion's laser-like focus began to blur, and he became less willing to put in punishing hours practicing - a disappointment to Hank, who saw in Tiger's behavior signs that his pupil had developed a conflicted relationship with the game. Hints that Tiger hungered to reinvent himself were present in his bizarre infatuation with elite military training, and - in a development Hank didn't see coming - in the scandal that would make headlines in late 2009. It all added up to a big miss that Hank, try as he might, couldn't save Tiger from.

There's never been a book about Tiger Woods that is as intimate and revealing - or one so wise about what it takes to coach a superstar athlete.

©2012 Hank Haney (P)2012 Random House

verry intersting and allways wanted more

If you could sum up The Big Miss in three words, what would they be?

very interesting a side of Tiger that I did not know

What other book might you compare The Big Miss to and why?

na

What about Hank Haney’s performance did you like?

yes I did very good

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes i would off

Any additional comments?

na

Fascinating

Couldn't stop listening. Great story and insight about being a coach around a sportsman of that level.

Great Look Inside

In part, this book helped me call the return of woods to major championship winning. I just won a bunch of money and woods just ended an 11 year draught. Such a great book regardless and Tiger Woods is back on his mission. Thanks Hank.

INSIGHTFUL

If you could sum up The Big Miss in three words, what would they be?

MISUNDERSTOOD, SAD & CAREING

What did you like best about this story?

Hanks & Tigers true love of the game....

What about Hank Haney’s performance did you like?

Well read and truely inspirering....

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

none

Disappointing

Whiny is the only word that comes to mind. I don’t understand why Haney chose to sacrifice insight for self-posturing and complaining. It ultimately came off as a gossip piece to me.

Hank sounds

Hank sounds very genuine in this book and I'm impressed with his work ethic with Tiger

My Husband Made Me Read It! (But I'm Glad.)

It is so rare for him to want to read anything that I willingly obliged, plus I am fascinated by Tiger and Hank. This was remarkable insight into Tiger's character, even if only from a couple of peoples' perspectives. I would like to read the same story from his viewpoint, but know that is highly unlikely since Tiger is far from being an open book or the type of person to tell his (real) story. It's part of what makes him a champion, an addict, an icon. Even during the parts that were golf-technical, I remained interested and it produced good conversation.

Conflicted

The author’s willingness to disclose intimate details about a trusted relationship seem strangely at odds with his lack of candor about his own life during this time. For example, he mentions his own divorce in a single sentence, and doesn’t acknowledge how that may have played a role in his interactions with Tiger. While he shares some insights about coaching and golf, in the end this book felt like a gratuitous tell-all in defense of his coaching.

pretty good

I was very interested to hear Hanks side of the Tiger years. I'm interested in seeing how Tiger's autobiography differs in tone.

The Big Hit

If you could sum up The Big Miss in three words, what would they be?

Informative, Interesting, Surprising

What did you like best about this story?

Hank's candidness about the world that Tiger Wood's lives and operates in.

What does Hank Haney bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His tone and perspective

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Rise and Fall of a Lengend

Any additional comments?

For whatever reason, Hank Haney took sharp criticism for writing this book. Many of the personal items that came from this book were already known or suspected. Many believed that his experiences with Tiger Woods were Tiger's alone and that no one had the right to share those moments, but Hank is giving a first hand account of the inner workings and psychology of one of the top golfers in the history of the game. Much of the book focuses on the quiet courtship as a coach, tournament prep, in-tournament adjustments, and the decision to part ways. He filled in those gaps with stories (often times funny and kept Tiger in a positive light) and touched on some of the darker days for Tiger. This book, in my view, made Tiger a very sympathetic character even during his worst days. The book humanized a man that the world simply viewed as the world's greatest golfing machine. What the book left behind was a bit of a sour taste in that Hank ended the book on a sour note. He spent time at the end defending his record with Tiger as well as putting his record against Tiger's previous coach Butch Harmon. The book and record spoke for itself and was outlined brilliantly throughout the story. I came away feeling like Hank was expecting some push back and has always been compared negatively to Butch Harmon, thus he felt the need to defend himself against an invisible opponent. Hank Haney has professionally coached two tour players and between those two they have eight majors combined during his coaching period with them. Overall, this book is fantastic. I recommend it to anyone who loves the game of golf, or just simply enjoys an excellent story.