Tiger Woods’ one-time guru helping a new pro. And the results? ‘Really nice’

Harry Hall says he looked at the wall, and the display floored him. There were 20 to 25 flags, he thinks. All represented major-championship wins earned under his eye. 

Of course, Butch Harmon’s Las Vegas swing lab also awed him, he said last year on a podcast, when he remembered the player who once swung where he was now swinging. 

Tiger Woods. 

Harmon can certainly wow a player, though his appeal is justified, as the wall and Woods can attest. Which is seemingly a reason why Hall, a 27-year-old pro from England who said he’d previously had just bits and pieces of instruction, dialed up one of the game’s greatest swing whisperers and a GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher hall of famer. Couldn’t hurt. Harmon took him in. And from there? This is impressive, too. Since last June, when he said he visited for the first time, Hall has:

— Won for the first time on the PGA Tour, in mid-July at the ISCO Championship 

— Missed just one cut in 11 starts 

— Posted seven top 25s, including last week at the season-opening Sentry event 

“I started working with him,” Hall said, “and since then I’ve played really nice.”

Thursday, the nice continued, as he fired a six-under 64 to grab a share of the round-one lead at the Sony Open. Afterward, he’d noted his tee balls — “drove it exactly where I was looking today” — and reporters wondered whether that effort was common. “No,” Hall said, with a laugh. He explained that a new driver helped. 

Harmon, too. Hall, who played college golf at Nevada-Las Vegas, said he’d been shown to get more width on his swing, along with sticking with just a draw shot shape. There’s more to Harmon’s genius, though. He’s personable, he told Matt Chivers last year on an episode of the “NCG Golf Podcast” (which you can listen to in full by clicking here.)

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“It’s amazing,” Hall said on the podcast. “He lives in Vegas. Got his own school out there. Just hitting in the same bay as Tiger Woods and you’ve got, you look behind, how many majors are on the wall from his players. He might have 20 or 25 flags. Hopefully, I can put a few more up there.

“It’s just the stories that he’s got. A lot of the lesson is swing work, and a lot of it is him telling funny jokes and stories that can’t be repeated. So it’s good. There’s definitely something about him that’s calming and he probably has a lot of success when he sees players once or twice. He’s just a good guy to be around.”

The results show it. The stats, too. Below is a look at Hall’s non-putting strokes gained numbers from the 2022-’23 Tour season (his first full Tour season), followed by his numbers from last year: 

— Strokes gained: total: 94th in 2022-’23 to 37th in 2024

— Strokes gained: tee to green: 166th to 60th 

— Strokes gained off the tee: 173rd to 139th 

— Strokes gained approach the green: 163rd to 77th

— Strokes gained around the green: 53rd to sixth

“I never really had a coach before,” Hall said, speaking of connecting with Harmon. “… I had a few growing up, but not in the last probably 10 years.

“I felt like that’s what I needed to do to get to the next level.”