Butch Harmon
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Claude "Butch" Harmon, Jr. (born August 28, 1943) is one of the world's best known golf instructors. He is the son of 1948 Masters champion Claude Harmon, Sr. and has been in the golf industry since 1965. Harmon was a PGA Tour player from 1969 to 1971, with one win to his name on the Tour, the 1971 Broome County Open.
Harmon is best known for having been Tiger Woods' golf coach early in the great champion's career, though they have since gone their separate ways. He has also worked with other major champions such as Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Justin Leonard, and with younger stars such as Adam Scott and Natalie Gulbis. In 2003 he was ranked the top golf teacher in the United States in a poll of his peers organized by Golf Digest. He runs the Butch Harmon School of Golf at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada in the U.S. He also gives golf clinics around the world and appears regularly in the media, including work for Britain's Sky Sports.
Butch Harmon was raised in a house on Stratton Road in New Rochelle, New York when his father was the head pro at Winged Foot Golf Club in nearby Mamaroneck. He graduated from Iona Grammar School and then New Rochelle High School. He excelled in all sports and was a star halfback on the 1961 New Rochelle High School football team that compiled a 5-2-1 record.
Harmon's brothers Craig and Bill are both top golf coaches who have made Golf Digest's Top 50 teachers list. His other brother Dick, who was also a top golf coach, died in February, 2006, at age 58.
