In August Tiger Woods withdrew his name from consideration for a spot on the US Ryder Cup team and then announced he would be taking a 1-2 month break from golf. Shortly thereafter he parted ways with his swing coach, Sean Foley, and has yet to replace him.
Woods and Foley ended their professional relationship on good terms back on August 25 and many have been speculating who Woods' next swing coach would be. Could Butch Harmon make a return to guide Woods? (Harmon coached Woods from 1993-2003 and perhaps had the best relationship with him compared to Hank Haney and Foley.) What about Davis Love III? Or Notah Begay III? Woods doesn't seem to be concerned as he continues to take his time with his recovery process as well as his journey back to the top of professional golf.
"As for my coaching situation, there is no hard-and-set rule on this," Woods wrote on his website. "I may just do it on my own. I'm keeping my options very, very open. I need to get healthy first before I start back and see how I feel. That's the No. 1 concern. And from there, then I can start deciding where I want to go with it."
And the fact of the matter is that Woods doesn't need to worry about it now. He hasn't swung a golf club in over five weeks (ever since he missed the cut at the PGA Championship) because he's working on strengthening his back and he has already mentioned (multiple times) that his return to professional golf will be on December 4 during his Hero World Challenge tournament in Florida. Woods has had three coaches and revamped his swing a number of times, so maybe he should be concentrating on his new venture by himself. After all, he has extensive PGA experience at 38 years old and is one of the greatest golfers of all time.
But Woods is now focused on getting his "explosiveness" back, which he says is the next phase of his rehabbing process. He's been working out ever since calling it a season following the PGA Championship and told reporters at a news conference earlier this week that his back strength has returned. After his back surgery on March 31, it was obvious Woods came back to the Tour prematurely and it eventually cost him when he suffered from back spasms later in the season.
Whatever the speculation may be, Woods is not returning to professional golf until December and will make his decision on a swing coach (or not) when he feels the time is right.
