Guest: Claude Harmon III: His Coaching Philosophies, Coaching Cam Smith, Watching His Dad Coach Tiger and The Shark.

Well this is a bit exciting. Earlier this year Cameron Smith joined with Claude Harmon III to turn his performances around, and since doing so there have been some significant changes. Today, for Hostplus, we speak with Claude about his career, some of the great players he has worked with and been around his famous Dad working with, and how the relationship with Cam came about and what they're working on.

01:00Nick and Mark give a background to how Cam got to the point of deciding to look at a new coach.

02:00We welcome Claude and get his background, surprisingly he was never a golfer, however with his family pedigree he feels that he has been on tour since he was 2-weeks old!

03:00His approach to golf coaching given he was not a player.

04:00Claude talks about whether golf is a simple game (or not?)

06:00He chats about his family history and some of the huge golfing names that the family has worked with, and he has been around

08:00Claude tells us why his Dad was 'brutal' about Claude's early coaching sessions

09:00How he video'd his Dad working with Tiger and what he learned from it.

10:00Nick talks about what he witnessed when he saw Butch Harmon, Claude's Dad, working with players

11:30How Claude disconnects from golf and how he uses that in his coaching

12:30Claude explains his 'domino' theory.

13.30Does golf coaching have something in common with the TV Show The Bear....you'd be surprised. Claude explains.

15:00Why he focuses on 'quality of strike', the contact, and why he feels it is the main ingredient. Mark asks if that applies to all golfers Claude has worked with?

18:30Claude says that golf coaching is similar to training a dog.

20:00On working with Ernie Els, how it came about and what he said to Ernie when first asked for a critique of his swing

22:00The one thing for all golfers to focus on for the rest of the year.

After the Turn:

27:00He explains how it came about that Cam asked him for some swing thoughts.

29:00 Claude credits Cam's prior coach Grant Field with getting Cam to such a high level.speaking of cams old coach grant fields

30:00Mark shows some stills of Cams' swing and what he is seeing.

31:00Claude talks about Cams' driving.

31:00He says that all great players have a superpower

32:00Adam Scotts' putting

35:00His Dad working with Tiger and what he learned from that

37:00The one thing that he and Cam have worked on since mid April, and the drills they've been doing.

39:00Cam has a short window to take advantage of

40:00On watching his Dad work with The Shark

41:00The surprising thing that he and Cam used as a training aid in the rain in Korea

42:00The drill that his Dad would do with Tiger, and Claude's role in it, that he now gets Cam to do. (Tiger hated it)

43:30The 3 phases of the golf swing, and the 1 phase that he believes everyone ignores

46:00What he and Cam did prior to the PGA

47:00Nick on Cams' swing development, swing positions, and why giving advice in different ways helps

49:00The moment Claude says was a huge one for Cam in their relationship

51:00Numbers vs Feel, and how Claude uses data.

53:00Cams' short game is ridiculously good

56:00Why the ceiling is really high for Cam

58:00What's next for Claude, where does he see himself in a few years?

59:00Claude bumped into Nick's old caddy Wilbur recently!

A fantastic chat with Claude Harmon ||| for Hostplus, Claude certainly is a plus for golf, and we loved this conversation.

If you've not had a listen to Claude's podcast Son of a Butch, it's a ripper, you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify and Apple links here:

Listen to Son of a Butch on Spotify.

Listen to Son of a Butch on Apple.

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