Butch Harmon is one of the most famous golf coaches of all time and has helped the likes of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler become some of the best players in the world. He spoke to his son Claude Harmon on UAE golf coach Jamie McConnell’s YouTube channel about a number of golf topics including the current top five ranked golfers. Here are his thoughts on how they’ve become so successful.
Rory McIlroy
“Rory has matured and getting married has helped him by having something in his life other than golf. He’s learned how to control his emotions. He’s always been a great driver but putts more consistently now. He’s done a great job of understanding his own game and turning his weaknesses into strengths. That’s what makes him so good.”
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Jon Rahm
“He’s a different cat! He is so consistent and has a beautiful motion through the ball. He’s aggressive and takes a lot of flak because he wears his emotions on his sleeve but that’s just his character. Rahm has convinced himself that he’s one of the best players in the world and you can see that from the confidence he plays with. I really like his game.”
Brooks Koepka
“He shows up ready to play in the Majors. Brooks hasn’t got the credit he deserves for the four Majors he’s won but I think that works in his favour. He plays with tremendous swagger and won four out of six Majors at one point which is amazing.”
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Justin Thomas
“JT is something special. His father was a PGA pro and has been his coach for his whole life. He was an all-systems go player – everything was all out. He didn’t have a three-quarter shot. He then hired Jimmy Johnson to be his caddy who used to caddy for Nick Price and he worked with JT to hit three-quarter shots. If you watch his swing in slow motion, both his feet are off the ground at impact so he really goes at it. Also, he’s got a big heart and you can’t teach that.
Dustin Johnson
“DJ is the best player in the world at all times. His talent level is amazing, he has no fear at all when he plays and has the ability like Jack Niklaus and Tiger Woods where the last shot never happened. That’s an asset for him because he doesn’t worry about what happened. I love DJ’s game and love the fact I had a lot of time to work with him and have seen him mature from where he was to what he is now. It took a while to convince him to fade it but once he started fading it, it made him special. He is special. He reminds me of Lee Trevino. He plays well all the time tee to green but when his putting gets good, he wins.”
