Butch Harmon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Claude "Butch" Harmon, Jr. (born August 28, 1943) is one of the world's best known golf instructors. He is the son of 1948 Masters Tournament champion Claude Harmon, Sr. and has been in the golf industry since 1965.
Harmon briefly attended the University of Houston, and served in the U.S. Army for three years, seeing duty in the Vietnam War (The Pro, by Butch Harmon, 2006). Harmon was a PGA Tour player from 1969 to 1971, with one win to his name on the Tour, the 1971 Broome County Open. He lived in Morocco for several years in the 1970s, serving as the personal instructor to King Hassan II (The Pro, by Butch Harmon, 2006).
Harmon is best known for having been Tiger Woods' golf coach early in the great champion's career, though they have since gone their separate ways. In April of 2007, it was announced that Harmon would start working with Phil Mickelson. He has also worked with other major champions such as Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Justin Leonard, and with younger stars such as Adam Scott and Natalie Gulbis. In 2003 he was ranked the top golf teacher in the United States in a poll of his peers organized by Golf Digest magazine, and has repeated as winner of this honour each year since. He runs the Butch Harmon School of Golf at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada in the U.S. He also gives golf clinics around the world and appears regularly in the media, including work for Britain's Sky Sports. Commentating for Sky sports at the 1997 Ryder cup Harmon was asked about the negative press Nick Faldo was receiving from the media in the build up to the event "How can you not like Nick Faldo? He's one of the greatest golfers of all time and he's also one hell of a nice guy".
Butch Harmon was raised in a house on Stratton Road in New Rochelle, New York when his father was the head pro at Winged Foot Golf Club in nearby Mamaroneck. During his childhood, he also lived in south Florida, when his father worked as the winter professional at the Seminole Golf Club. He graduated from Iona Grammar School and then New Rochelle High School. He excelled in all sports and was a star halfback on the 1961 New Rochelle High School football team that compiled a 5-2-1 record.
Harmon's brothers Craig and Bill are both top golf coaches who have made Golf Digest's Top 50 teachers list. His other brother Dick, who was also a top golf coach, died February 10, 2006, at age 58. Butch Harmon wrote the 2006 book The Pro, describing his life in golf with his father, brothers, friends, and the top players he has coached.
Harmon was recently working with John Daly, but is no longer due to Daly's drinking. Harmon stated that Daly would need to prioritize his golf game over his desire to get drunk.
On April 8, 2008, Ernie Els officially announced that he was switching swing coaches from David Leadbetter (whom Els had worked with since 1990) to Butch Harmon. During Els 2008 Masters press conference Els said the change is in an effort to tighten his swing, shorten his swing, and get a fresh perspective.
Harmon has written golf instructional books under the titles Four Cornerstones of Winning Golf and Butch Harmon's Playing Lessons. He also worked with Greg Norman on his Greg Norman's Better Golf learning system (three videos, a book, skill guide cards, and an audio tape) as well as Greg Norman's book Advanced Golf.
