Hank Haney Teaching Seminar

As I wrote last week, I attended the annual Hank Haney teaching seminar this past weekend. This was an incredible experience to say the least. In my view, Hank Haney is the best teacher on the planet, and it is no wonder that Tiger Woods has such faith in his abilities as a teacher. Unfortunately, very other people have access to Haney himself due to his demanding schedule. However, there are a number of Haney facilities in Texas, not to mention those of us that will be listed on the website who attended the workshop this weekend.

For me, the weekend began Saturday shortly after I landed in Dallas. After checking into my hotel, I rushed out to the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in Lewisville for a lesson with instructor Doug Alexander. Doug has been a Haney instructor for ten years, and his passion for teaching was evident from the start. I spent over an hour with Doug, and he didn't charge me a dime.

On Sunday, we began with Hank discussing his ball flight philosophy and how to diagnose swing issues. Later in the morning, he gave 5, 20 minute lessons to students who were picked from a group of 200 that auditioned two weeks prior. This was to demonstrate how he diagnoses a problem and corrects the problem in the golfers swing. We broke for lunch, and then returned in the afternoon to watch Hank work with five more of these students. We then had a question and answer period before breaking for the day. Most of us went out to the range to hit some balls, and Doug Alexander worked with me some more. The owner of the JC Video golf swing software was out filming our swings as well.

On Monday, Hank spent a couple more hours answering questions, and of course talking about his work with Tiger Woods, as well as Charles Barkley. And then, the big moment for me arrived. Of the 50 or so teachers in attendance at the seminar, Hank chose me, Scott Cole, to give a swing lesson to. Basically, he was looking for a swing that was a bit different than the rest, and I guess mine fit that definition. So, for about 30 minutes, Hank worked on my swing using his typical hands on approach and video analysis. This was the thrill of a lifetime. One of my colleagues in attendance took some photos, which may be seen below. We then broke for lunch, and I had a chance to have lunch with Hank and a few of the other senior instructors, including Doug Alexander, Steve Johnson and Brian Mahon. While at lunch, Hank received a text message from Tiger Woods announcing the birth of his son, Charlie Axel! Very cool stuff indeed!

After lunch, we had another question and answer session with Hank, and then we worked on our own games for the day. I had the chance to work with Brian Mahon who kept me focused on what I had worked on with Hank and Doug previously.

Overall, it was an excellent trip, and I will be attending this event annually. I should also mention that I thought it was incredible that Martin Hall, 2008 PGA Teacher of the Year was also in attendance. He has been teaching for 31 years. It just goes to show that you can never stop learning!

Scott Cole