For the large majority of golfers of a certain age, there was only one player they wanted to swing the club like, with everyone trying to work out just what it was which gave Tiger Woods the tools he needed to become one of the greatest to have ever played the game.
Tiger Woods was seemingly capable of doing things on the golf course which many of the world’s best were unable to do. His competitive spirit seemed to come to the fore down the stretch at almost every major while he was at the peak of his powers.
But he seemed to set a completely different standard from tee to green. Woods generated awesome power, while he was also a showman as a shotmaker.
Ultimately, Woods was head and shoulders above the rest for much of his career because seemingly no-one could swing the golf club quite like him – except, as it turns out, for one player.
Butch Harmon names the one golfer with a swing similar to Tiger Woods
Butch Harmon was Woods’ coach during the early stages of his professional career, but he has also worked with a number of other superstars over the last 30 years since Woods emerged onto the scene.
And in an interview with Fore Play Podcast Plus in 2021, Harmon suggested that he had only worked with one other golfer who had a swing reminiscent of Woods.
“One of the things I’ve always prided myself on, there’s probably only two players that I’ve ever taught whose swings look similar, and that would be Tiger and Adam Scott,” he said.
“When Adam Scott came right here, where you are right now, when he was a freshman at UNLV when he was 18, he showed up with that swing. His dad was a golf pro when he was a kid, and he copied Tiger Woods’ swing.”
The outstanding career of Adam Scott
When fans think of the best golf swings in the modern era, it is certainly not long before Scott gets a mention. The 2013 Masters champion has had an unbelievable career, and he has done it with one of the most aesthetically-pleasing swings.
The 44-year-old spent 11 weeks as world number one back in 2014, while he has also won the Players Championship and two WGC events. Meanwhile, only Phil Mickelson and Woods have won more points in the Presidents Cup than the Australian.
Perhaps some will feel that Scott should have won more, particularly given that he has not added a second major title. But he is unquestionably a legendary figure within this era – and his golf swing is going to be the inspiration for a lot of golfers for a long time to come yet.
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