Tiger Should have Stayed the Same.

The stats show that Tiger was incredible under Coach Harmon and great under Coach Haney -- under both coaches Tiger was feared by his fellow competitors. He set the record for the highest Points Average on June 3, 2001, when he ended the week with an average of 32.44. Woods also achieved the largest ever lead of 19.40 average points in the rankings on May 20, 2001. Woods held the number one rank for a record 623 weeks. To give you a sense of proportion the worlds’ current number one ranked golfer, Martin Kaymer, has been the world No. 1 for eight weeks and as of this writing has 7.65 points.

But after completely dominating world golf, Tiger changed his Butch Harmon golf swing. And still he was feared until in 2010 he changed his swing again, but this time with a critical difference -- he changed his short game as well as his full swing.

It’s no wonder that neither Butch Harmon nor Hank Haney tried to change Tigers’ short game which would be like painting a grin on the Mona Lisa. But his new teacher, Sean Foley in a burst of hubris didn’t hesitate to change it, introducing a new release in Tigers chipping, pitching and yes -- even changing his putting. That would be like a bakers apprentice telling Michael Angelo how to hold the brush.

Who would you choose to putt the ball if your life depended on it, Nicklaus, Tiger-Harmon, Tiger-Haney or the new Tiger, Tiger-2011? Before you choose think back to this years Masters where on Sunday after shooting 31 on the front Tiger had muscled his way back into the tournament – then he three putted #12 and took three to get up/down from the fringe at the 15th after hitting a horrendous chip that forced him to settle for a momentum busting par.

Stripped of his greatest weapon – his short game – Tiger no longer strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents. He used to be able to beat them with his C game, now he can’t beat them with his A game. Here is Kaymer’s evaluation of

Tiger-2011:

"You could see it a couple of weeks ago at the Masters. Tiger was playing fantastic the first nine on Sunday but there wasn't really somebody who was scared of him any more. In the last round they were playing fantastic golf - Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel and Jason Day - so the fear has gone. Obviously you still have a lot of respect for him but you're not scared any more."

As Hank Haney use to say "The mind-set of a great player is that you're either getting better or you are getting worse. There's no such thing as staying the same.” This ‘coach’ talk sounds like wisdom but it isn’t.

Tiger --- you should have stayed the same.