Butch Harmon says he’s never seen Charlie Woods play golf. But he’s seen his dad.
And the legendary instructor knows what he’d give Tiger Woods if he brought in his son to visit with him.
Along with what he’d get back.
All of that made for a fun exchange during a recent appearance by Harmon on SiriusXM’s “Katrek & Maginnes On Tap.” Woods turned 50 on Dec. 30, and few understand him better than the GOLF Top 100 Teacher hall of famer, who guided Woods for eight of his 15 major championship wins.
But Harmon admitted he hadn’t yet watched Woods’ 16-year-old son up close. Understandably, he’s intrigued, though.
“I don’t know if I’d take it on as a full-time. I’d sure — my curiosity would make me damn sure do it one time just so I could see the kid,” Harmon said on the show. “I’ve never seen him play. And he’s got the right last name and I’d want to take a look at it, that’s for sure.
“I mean, obviously if he asked me to do it, I’d be more than happy to do it.”
Harmon had a wish, too, should the meetup ever happen.
He’d want the elder Woods to be there.
And why?
“Because we could have some fun with that,” Harmon said on the show. “Because I’d like to needle Tiger and say, you know, when you were that young, you couldn’t do it like he’s doing it.
And how would Woods respond to that?
“I can’t say it on the phone,” Harmon cracked.
Should you want to listen to the interview, SiriusXM’s social media team shared the audio of the Charlie Woods’ here, along with three other parts (which you can listen to here, hereand here.) Interestingly among those was a story of Harmon’s first meeting with the elder Woods.
It came in 1993 at the Lochinvar Club in Houston, where Harmon was working as the director of golf.
“He just lost, I think it was his third-round match at Champions in the Amateur,” Harmon said. “And his dad brought him over, and he’s hitting balls, and so I said to him like I do a lot of young guys, I said, ‘So when you’re playing in tournaments, and you absolutely have to hit one in play, what’s your shape? Do you like to draw it or fade it?’ I’m just trying to get a little peek into what he’s thinking. He goes, ‘Oh, heck, I just hit it as hard as I can and go find it and hit it again.’
“And I’m like, this is kind of a cocky SOB. But the more I got to know him, that was how he played when he was a kid. And he was fearless. He was fearless. And you know, one thing — we all know this, that he won six national titles in a row: three juniors, three Amateurs — you know, Bobby Jones didn’t do that, Jack [Nicklaus] didn’t do that. But what you don’t know is, in every one of those six finals, the match went to the last hole, and he won every single of them. This kid at a young age had the heart and soul to figure out I’m going to win. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it.
