Tiger needs to restore Harmon-y to his game

If Tiger Woods wants to get back to the very top, he needs to call upon an old friend.

There have been some good signs at Augusta regarding his short game and his demeanour, but his long game remains a mess.

The only way that will be remedied is if he hooks up again with his first coach, Butch Harmon.

Listening to Butch talk about Tiger while commentating on television, you can sense that he is desperate to help his former pupil. He just needs to be asked.

Together, Tiger won eight of his 14 Majors, completed the career Grand Slam, and put fear into his opponents.

They didn’t seem to fall out when they stopped their partnership. They just went their separate ways.

Yet since then Woods has tinkered with his swing, looking for something else, and now his driving and iron play is way behind the rest.

Take the shot he hit into Rae’s Creek at the 12th on Thursday when he came up short right with an eight-iron. That was the mistake of a handicap golfer.

Butch is one of the best teachers in the world. Look at what he has done with Jimmy Walker, who has won five tournaments in 18 months.

Right now, Tiger needs a bit of experience to help him, because he has to clear all the nonsense and swing theories out of his head.

No golfer has ever played well when his mind is cluttered with technical jargon while standing over the ball.

Butch is old fashioned. He’ll stand and watch and talk about club position and grip fundamentals of golf.

I’m a great believer that your first coach knows your swing the best. In golf, you always revert back to the same faults in your swing with your long game it’s like a default bad shot.

Butch would be perfect because he knows Tiger inside out. Just having his old mentor talking to him on the range would be great for Woods’ confidence.

Some technical work needs to be done, but at least this week, we’ve seen signs that he has worked on his short game which was so poor earlier in the year.

And it was a welcome change to watch him play in the Par-3 on Wednesday with his children and girlfriend Lindsey Vonn in tow.

Tiger needs the public onside and to give a little bit back for their support for him over the years.