Orlando, Fla. -- Despite what Tiger Woods may believe, Hank Haney said his upcoming book “The Big Miss” will present a “fair and honest” look at the six years he spent coaching the former ace.
“I know that [Woods] has said it’s unprofessional but I don’t really know how you can make a comment like that when you haven’t read the book,” Haney told us Thursday from the floor of the PGA Merchandise Show after finishing a demonstration for TaylorMade. “I had the opportunity to write an unprofessional book but I didn’t do that. I feel it’s a fair and honest book.”
Woods has made it clear he’s no fan of Haney sharing his remembrances of a relationship between coach and student that began in 2004 and ended with Haney’s resignation in May 2010.
"I think it's unprofessional and very disappointing, especially because it's someone I worked with and trusted as a friend,” Woods told ESPN.com earlier this month. “There have been other one-sided books about me, and I think people understand that this book is about money. I'm not going to waste my time reading it."
Haney responded that Woods owned no copyright on their shared intimacies.
“The No. 1 thing that I’m asked all the time is ‘what was it like to help Tiger Woods, what was Tiger Woods like, what about this experience, what about that experience?’” said Haney. “Those are my experiences as well as Tiger’s and I certainly didn’t feel like he had an exclusive on those experiences.
“Those are my experiences, too, and I wanted to talk about it and I wanted to share it with people,” said the man who mentored Woods during six major championship in his stint as Woods’ swing guru,
In some ways, Haney sounded as if it were his duty to offer people a glimpse of golf history. “Any time you have the opportunity to observe greatness,” he said, “you like to share it, you want to talk about it.”
While Woods has criticized Haney for the timing of the book’s release -- “The Big Miss” is scheduled to hit bookstores about a week before the Masters in April -- the author said he had nothing to do with the publication date. He also said he had no intention of writing a tell-all.
“The truth is the truth,” Haney stated. “I’ve said all along this wasn’t going to be like a take-down book and I think people that know me know that that’s just not what I would do.”
Haney also doubted that his written words would have any effect on Woods’ play in the first major of the 2012 season.
“Tiger Woods has never been easily distracted,” he said. “He finished [tied for fourth] in the Masters after coming back from the scandal [in 2010] so I can’t imagine that a book coming out is going to be a big distraction.”
Haney, who offers tips and answers questions via Twitter, acknowledged that his 50,000 followers played a role in his decision to go public about his years with Woods.
“I do get asked all the time no matter where I go, whether it’s Twitter personal experiences,” he said. “I could say I’m going to go and talk about golf on the PGA Tour and all people want to talk about is Tiger Woods -- and now probably more than ever.”
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