Els Dumps Leadbetter for Harmon

by Mulligan Stu on Apr 8, 2008 4:21 PM EDT

Another of the world's best golfers is leaving his longtime coach in favor of Butch Harmon.

Ernie Els has been with David Leadbetter longer than Phil Mickelson was with Rick Smith. But like Mickelson, Els has decided that Harmon is the instructor he needs to be working with.

Mickelson's work with Harmon can't yet be called a success. He's not winning any more often with Harmon than he did with Smith, and he's still susceptible to loose drives and lost strokes.

But Harmon is the man in the world of golf instruction, and Els obviously feels a change will do him good. But, to ease the hurt for Leadbetter, Els has given Lead a ticket to The Masters:

"We have been friends for 20 years and will always be friends," Els said of Leadbetter. "I'm giving him a ticket here for this week. This is purely a professional thing." ...

Yet the coaching change came as a surprise, given how long he and Leadbetter have been allies, not to mention former neighbors at an upscale Orlando, Fla., club. Els began working with Harmon three weeks ago on the range in Miami and has been sending the Las Vegas-based swing guru video via computer for the past couple of weeks.

"The wonders of technology," Els said.

Els made a point of emphasizing that he and Leadbetter parted company under the best of circumstances.

"I don't want anybody thinking badly about Lead," Els said. "This is basically a new set of eyes. It's a change of, how do you say, lingo. He says probably the same things, but just a little bit differently."

Now if Michelle Wie would just leave Leadbetter for Harmon ...

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it makes sense...

...at some point, even the best teaching needs a change of pace. Tiger left Harmon for a "different set of eyes", as Els said.

In Harmon's book, "The Pro", he says (more than once) that his father taught him never to begrudge his students from seeking knowledge from anywhere and everywhere they can to improve their game.

I think Els will grow more with Harmon than Mickelson. Phil has always been a first class "goofball" (in the best possible sense) - with so much talent and so many shots to choose from - combined with huge confidence...and ego... that he thinks he knows better than anyone how to do things even if he asks for their help.

Els seems like he is more coachable and less of an ego problem than Mickelson. I'll look for more noticable improvement with Ernie than Phil.

(Michelle Wie may not be ready for Harmon - How about Sorenstam's coaches in Phoenix, Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson ? Besides - they have ASU close by with more really tall basketball type guys !) :-D

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 8, 2008 5:11 PM EDT reply actions