Claude Harmon III is a golf instructor with a difference - he doesn't play the game. He learned the tricks of the trade by watching his dad, one of the world's top coaches, and was recently in Dubai to oversee the development of a new golf academy.
Given his pedigree, it would have been a shame had Claude Harmon III chosen any other career.
His father, Claude 'Butch' Harmon Jr, is one of the world's best known golf instructors, having coached Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Davis Love III among others.
His grandfather, Claude Harmon Sr, is a 1948 Masters champion. His uncles - Craig, Dick and Bill - are all top golf coaches who have made it to Golf Digest's Top 50 list of golf instructors. Indeed, the Harmons are the first family of golf coaching.
Yet Claude Harmon III never played golf when he was growing up and does not see himself as a golf player at all. Harmon is first and foremost a coach. He started off helping his dad run the Butch Harmon School of Golf at the Rio Secco Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada in the US, before deciding that he wanted people to "hear his music''.
Harmon plied his trade and learnt his craft around the world including residency in Scotland, Portugal and various locations across the US.
Committing himself to the European Tour between 2002 and 2006, he worked successfully with players such as Trevor Immelman, Darren Clarke, Adam Scott, Bradley Dredge and Graeme McDowell.
Golf academies have played a major role in Harmon's career. He has been involved in the design and development of golf schools in Las Vegas, Portugal, the Bahamas and Scotland.
The 38-year-old was recently in Dubai for a site visit to oversee the development of The Butch Harmon School of Golf in Dubai - the first such facility outside the US, based in Dubai Sports City.
I
The first time I realised our family was something special was in 1987. I had accompanied my grandfather to the Augusta Masters, where they have something known as the champions' room, where all the champions have their lockers and meals.
My grandfather invited me to every meal: one day, we would have breakfast with Seve Ballesteros, another day we had lunch with Gary Player. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead would come up and say hello, and my grandfather would introduce me to them.
That was the time I realised how much the Harmons are a part of golfing lore. I think about that a lot, about carrying on the legacy of my father, his brothers and my grandfather. I want to write the next chapter in our family's history and put my own spin on it.
I look, talk and act just like my mother, Lillian. My dad and I have very little in common. My father would certainly tell you I am identical to my mother. She is certainly one of my best friends. Like a lot of people who go into business with their dad, I certainly have a much better relationship with my mum.
Golf for the average player is difficult. I struggle with it as well. I certainly don't think I would be where I am in the golf industry, given my non-playing background, if I hadn't grown up in the Harmon family.
I have had access to the best players. Tiger Woods lived at our house when he was 16. I spent 10 years around him.
I used to have to buy him food, pick him up from the airport, wake him up in the morning … so that kind of access offsets my non-playing credentials. However, good players struggle to teach.
It is very rare to find a good player who is a good instructor. I have seen Tiger give golf lessons to people. But what Tiger tells people he does, versus what Tiger is actually thinking and doing on the course, are two completely different things.
ME
Me and my childhood:
I was born in Palm Springs, California. When I was 2, my family moved to Rabat, Morocco where we lived until I was 5. Then my family moved back to the US and we would stay in Morocco about two to three months every year, until I was 13.
My childhood playmate was Prince Mohammad, now Mohammad VI, the King of Morocco. My father taught golf to (his father) the King of Morocco.
I have spent most of my growing years in Houston, Texas, where I completed my high school and college. I don't remember much about the years we stayed in Morocco, but I do remember the holidays we spent later.
It was an interesting place to grow up. I was lucky to wake up to the sound of the azaan and grow up visiting mosques. I did not miss America much. Growing up in a foreign culture had a major impact on my character - ever since, I have always enjoyed being the 'stranger in a strange land'.
In 1993 I moved to Scotland for the summer. Later I moved to Portugal then did some short stints in the US and Scotland. I returned to the US in 1997 when dad set up his academy in Las Vegas. In 1999 we opened a golf school in Portugal. In 2002 I moved to Scotland then back again to the US three years later.
I never played golf growing up - my sports of choice were tennis and American football as well as being a track and field athlete. When I was about 16, I started helping my dad set up the driving range.
It was about the time video cameras were being introduced in golf instruction and I would film the players. It was also about the same time that dad started working with good players - Steve Elkington, Davis Love, Greg Norman and the rest of them.
Unlike a lot of golf instructors, my entry to the world of golf was not through playing but by watching my dad and his brothers teach.
Me and my father:
Anytime you follow in someone's footsteps it is difficult. And my dad had to follow his father who was a Masters champion.
My grandfather was pretty hard on my father and his brothers. But the positives of following in your father's footsteps in the golf industry far outweigh the negatives.
My father is the Giorgio Armani, the Elton John of our business. He teaches the best players of our time and is around the best. To watch them and talk to them, to have that kind of access, is very special.
My dad is pretty old school. He believes in hard work and one of his theories is that one should never be praised for doing one's job. He was certainly tough to work for. When I worked with him, he was fond of saying that he wasn't going to thank me for doing what I was hired to do. He pays alright, though.
The golf industry is one of the worst when it comes to the effect it has on families and the toll it takes on relationships. Golf professionals are never home, especially on the weekends.
When my older sister and I were growing up, my dad was never around. We were raised by my mother (after my parents divorced), and she did a great job.
I saw a lot more of my dad when I went to work for him in the late 1990s. Then I spent more time with him than I ever did when I was growing up. My sister and mother do not play golf at all - they are the smart ones in the family.
Me and my career:
Had I been an actor, I would describe (South African pro golfer) Trevor Immelman as my lucky break. I met him in Dubai, on the Sunday after the Dubai Desert Classic in 2001. He was struggling to find his form. Everyone else had gone off to party and both of us met at the gym and ended up having dinner together.
Three weeks later, Trevor asked me for help. That was really my opportunity to take everything I had learned and apply it.
Trevor was a great player, one of the top 15, but he was struggling and I was able to transform his game. The two years I spent with Trevor really shaped me into the instructor I have become now.
The 'aha!' moment of my career followed. To work with talent is not as easy as you think. You are dealing with people's livelihood. If you mess up, there are consequences.
When Trevor won in South Africa in 2003 in a play-off, I felt like I belonged. I felt like I was right in doing what I was doing. It was my first win and Trevor's too.
When there were things I tried with Trevor that failed, it was hard not to get on the phone to my dad and ask for advice. You have to fail to succeed. You learn more from your mistakes. One of the reasons I left Las Vegas to work on my own was that I wasn't making any mistakes. I was always getting bailed out.
In 2000 I thought I knew everything. I was making a lot of money, the best golf players in the world were coming to the golf school, we were the hottest thing in golf.
Looking back, I realise that I knew nothing. Of course, I knew a lot of what my dad taught. It was all too easy for me to say what he said, without a true understanding of the meaning behind the words.
I did not have any of my own ideas. When I became independent, I made a conscious effort not to say what he said. I may have had the same idea, but I was careful in saying it differently. At the end of every year, I ask myself if I am better than I was the previous year.
And I do think I have grown and learned over the past seven years. My dad has forgotten more about golf than I will ever learn. Yet he is constantly trying to get better. As is Tiger Woods.
MYSELF
What are some of the things you have learned as a coach?
I have learned more from my students than they have learned from me. Learning is a great part of life. And if you don't have access to information, you are never going to get ahead. In that sense, I have been extremely lucky.
The biggest task in my job is cheerleading. You have to constantly stay upbeat and positive. While giving a golf lesson, you have a 10-minute window in which to get your point across. I play a game with myself and try to see how fast I can get a student hooked. The fun part for me is when the light bulb goes on in (his) head.
My dad says that you can't guess, you have to know. Students know if you're guessing. You have to diagnose the problem and treat it quickly.
My dad prides himself, as I do, that the people we give golf lessons become better players. If I don't get my students feeling better about their game in five swings, I feel I'm not doing a good job.
All the greats constantly want to get better, they never think they have made it to the top. I don't think you ever get there, but the journey is the destination.
And the converse is true too - a lot of people fail because they think they are at the top and they are not even close. The average person has absolutely no idea of the sacrifices needed to get ahead.
The sacrifices that great athletes and players like Tiger have to make are hidden under all the glamour. There's a tremendous amount of hard work and one doesn't really get to enjoy the money and privileges earned. You're always working harder than everybody else.
Who are some of your high-profile students?
In 2001 I got to coach Lance Armstrong. His attitude was unbelievable. Lance is the definition of a Type A personality.
A few years ago, I spent some time coaching Bruce Willis. He invited me to his place in New York for the weekend. That world doesn't seem as crazy when you actually spend time with the people in it. But after you spend time with them, you wonder why they are not in trouble more often!
A lot of people who are extremely good at what they do take up golf as a challenge. When they realise they are not good at golf, they get extremely frustrated and angry.
Last year when I asked Lance how his golf was coming along, he said he won't play it any more, it was too hard and it would take him too long to get good at it.
Why did you follow in your dad's footsteps?
When I worked with my dad, I liked to think of him as The Rolling Stones and I was the opening act. People liked his music and only thought I was any good because I played before him. I felt it was important for me to go out and find out if people liked my music.
When your dad is the best in the world at what he does, you are guilty by association. People think you
have the answer because you are around him.
It was important for me that the people who came to take golf lessons from me were coming for me and not because of dad. It was selfish on my part, but important for my development as a golf instructor.
As with most fathers and sons, we have had a tough relationship. We both have divergent views on the way we lead our lives. For a long time, one of the only things we had in common was golf. But over the last few years, we have gotten to know each other much better.
