Garbedian on Golf: D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Hank Haney has made the weeks of speculation official by telling Tiger Woods, "Hey, it's not you, it's me...", and "we're just going in different directions..." and finally, "I think we should see other people..."

Divorce is never a pretty thing and this one will most likely not be the last one for Tiger Woods in 2010, but it is a significant one as for the last six years Haney has been the go to guy when things were out of focus or off kilter. Now the big question is, who will be the guy at Tiger's beck and call in 2010 and beyond? More on that later.

The real crux of the matter is that Haney, a proud man who is one of the game's best instructors, has had enough of the second guessing and sometimes mindless criticism that comes along with being associated with the World's Number One player, especially when the World's Number One player can't seem to find a fairway, green or make a putt. The heat is magnified even more when said player brings a boatload of bad press on himself, takes months off and then returns, of all places, at the season's first major, followed by TOUR stops at Quail Hollow (MC) and TPC Sawgrass (WD).

There is no question that the sink hole Tiger Woods has dug for himself, also dragged down a number of others associated with him. People have been critical of serial enabler Mark Steinberg, Tiger's right hand man from IMG. There have been numerous others who have asked, begged and told Tiger to dump bagman Stevie Williams. Yet there are other factions that have just as loudly and boldly said that Hank Haney had to go.

Well, now Haney has disassociated himself from the Woods camp as part of the entourage and make no mistake, the two have been successful working together. In fact over the last two years, Woods has been more consistent and been in contention on a far more regular basis under Haney's watch than he had prior to when the 54-year old instructor came on board.

And for all the "we're not working together, but we're still friends" talk that has come out of both camps, I don't buy it. There is nothing casual about a working relationship at the TOUR level. There are expectations, there are long hours, there is the constant second guessing and sniping that comes with the territory. There are always the Monday morning quarterbacks who boldly proclaim that if they worked with Tiger they could "fix him".

At the TOUR level, instructors work with highly trained athletes and from my standpoint, so much more of it is mental rather than physical. There is no question that Woods has won Majors and TOUR events using different swings crafted and developed with the cooperation of others, but at the end of the day, it's all on Woods to make things happen and when it doesn't. it's back to the range, back to square one.

Jack Nicklaus, who will forever be linked with Woods as TW's boyhood hero and benchmark, worked with Jack Grout and every spring the two would start from ground zero (grip, stance, posture, alignment, etc...) in rebuilding Jack's fundamentals for the upcoming season.

In this day and age of technological advancement, in teaching methods, in equipment, in fitness and nutrition, in agronomy and of course, speculation and opinion, there will always be someone, somewhere, saying something about Woods and how they know better.

For Woods, the next instructor to come on board has been rumored to be Sean Foley. Foley works with Hunter Mahan and Sean O'Hair on TOUR and was seen walking the practice round at the Players with Mahan, O'Hair and Woods fueling speculation that Haney was indeed on his way out and while that grillroom door was closing the Foley one was opening.

I cannot imagine that Woods will be without an instructor for long, whomever that may be. It is time, in my opinion to make some changes and there have been times when the nuances that Haney has incorporated into what Tiger was doing with his swing have not worked. News flash, that is almost always the case, not everything works all the time. As with amateur and elite players of all levels, it's not what happens when you hit it good that matters, what matters is, do you know where it's going when you miss it and can you manage that miss? Right here, right now, Woods, under Haney can't seem to keep it on the planet and even though what Haney is telling T-Dub may be correct, especially for the World's Number One player, sometimes the same message needs to come from a different source.

So now for Woods and Haney, like so many other relationships, it's time to move on. Where they will be down the road will be one of the more interesting subplots in a 2010 season that has been dripping with subplots. Will it be better? Maybe, eventually. For now, the only thing it will be is different and that isn't always a bad thing in a breakup.