USA TODAY International Edition
Swing coach Harmon helps players conquer TPC Sawgrass
During the week of the 2015 Players Championship, Rickie Fowler got an earful from his coach, Butch Harmon, about a Sports Illustrat
ed poll that showed Fowler and Ian Poulter had been voted the most overrated players in the game.
“You bet I talked to him every day. I kept telling him to go out and show those guys what you are made of,” Harmon said.
The language used by Harmon was much more colorful, but those words meant as much to Fowler as anything his coach said about his swing. With four birdies and an eagle in his last six holes of regulation and two birdies in four holes in the playoff, he showed what he was made of and hoisted the championship hardware.
It was the seventh time one of Harmon’s pupils had won The Players. The first was Steve Elkington in 1991. He was followed by Davis Love III in 1992, Greg Norman in 1994, Tiger Woods in 2001, Adam Scott in 2004, Phil Mickelson in 2007 and Fowler.
“Everyone has seen he is able to work with multiple styles of games and swings. We all have our own characteristics. And one of the big reasons he’s a great teacher is because he doesn’t teach just one philosophy or look,” Fowler said. “And he is a mental coach. He eases the nerves. He’s someone who is easy to talk to and gets you in a good frame of mind. He understands situations before and after rounds, and he gets people to believe. He’s a calming factor. He’s the best.”
He’s The Players whisperer, if you will, and at 73 the former Tour pro who won the 1971 Broome County Open hasn’t lost his touch. Players title No. 8 is within reach this weekend as he has world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Fowler, reigning PGA champ Jim- my Walker and Gary Woodland in his stable and in the field.
While Harmon can get indepth with anyone about the X’s and O’s of the golf swing — his golf studio at the back of the range at Rio Secco Golf Club in Las Vegas features the latest in high- tech equipment — he doesn’t talk just to talk. Less is more seems to be his philosophy. Keep things simple and keep your head in the game. He can detect a swing flaw and inspire with a fully loaded sentence that wouldn’t be suited for the family newspaper.
And nothing changes this week.
“It’s just a matter of keeping them positive this week,” he said. “Although the course is so difficult, you can be aggressive.”
That’s easier said than done, and Harmon knows that. But by reinforcing that thought over and over again, he gets the players to believe. While the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is a beast with sharp teeth and plenty of visible dangers, Harmon gets the players to narrow their focus.
“For me, I’ve always thought you had to drive the ball well on this golf course. If you look at all the guys that I’ve had that have won it, other than Phil, they were all pretty good drivers. And Phil drove the ball well that week,” Harmon said. “If you drive it in the fairway, you can be aggres- sive. If you don’t drive it well, you will be in trouble. I’ve always stressed that with the guys. It’s a difficult course, but it’s fair.”
Some players, however, don’t believe that. They see all the danger and wait for trouble. Those players aren’t in Harmon’s stable.
“When you’re playing well, you don’t see the trouble. When you are playing poorly, you see where you don’t want to go,” Harmon said. “If the 17th hole was surrounded by sand, you’d never miss it. But the water plays mind games with you. You just have to focus and realize that the course rewards good shots and penalizes bad shots.”
Simple enough.