Gary Woodland struggling with his swing despite having legendary Butch Harmon as the coach
While Butch Harmon may have proved elementary for many players on PGA, his coaching tactics are surely not working for his latest pupil Gary Woodland.
The 27-year-old Woodland won his last professional event on the PGA, The Transition Championship on March, 20 last year and has remained winless since then.
He decided to approach Harmon for a necessary swing shift, hoping that the swing wizard will help him turn the tide of fate in his favour. So far, the struggling Woodland hasn’t seen a ray of hope.
In his five starts this season, Woodland has not been able to manage a finish any better than top-25 and was seen struggling with the accuracy in his shots off the tee.
But the sturdy Woodland is far from dejected. He is anticipating a turnaround any moment now, helping him land a title ahead of the first major event of the year, the Masters at Augusta National.
He said, “I showed up in San Diego this year and I didn’t know how I was going to play. The big deal for me is I’m not making changes at home, I’m making changes on the golf course.”
Harmon is considered by far the best swing coach in the sport. He guided several top players land major titles with his wizardry including the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Harmon coached both players to land four Green Jackets at the coveted Masters. So it wasn’t a bad idea on Woodland’s part to hire Harmon’s services in view of his incomparable achievements.
He added, “He obviously knows the advantage, he’s won a million majors there with Tiger and Phil. He knows the ins and outs and which shots you need to compete there”.
What Woodland is not ready to realise, however, is the simple fact that Harmon can only tell him what would go best with his style of game. Woodland will have to regain his mental composure if he wants to win this season, let alone contemplating a victory ahead of Masters.
The University of Kansas graduate is fully aware of the intricacies involved in returning to top form. Being a former Baseball and Basketball player in the college days, Woodland knows how to manoeuvre his way to the top.
He said, “I think the biggest thing I learned with that, in baseball and basketball you have to learn to win when you’re not playing well”.
For the moment, Woodland insists that his hard work will pay off in the first major event of the year and there is also a strong chance that he might land a title ahead of the celebrated showdown.
He is ranked 165th in the driving accuracy, a figure which does not go down well with the sports critics who may consider him prospective winner in the coveted Masters.
Woodland has three professional titles in his career. His highest finish in a major event came in the PGA Championship last year where he finished for a strong joint 12th.
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