Tiger Woods Book: Rick Smith Justified in Blasting Hank Haney

There are certain things that, believe it or not, are worth more than money.

Dignity. Self-respect. The truth.

Hank Haney may not agree.

Tiger Woods' former golf coach recently wrote a book about his time coaching Woods entitled The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods. In it, he detailed aspects of the golfer's personal life, including an apparent infatuation with the Navy SEALS.

Rick Smith, who worked with Phil Mickelson, didn't care for it one bit and justifiably ripped into Haney. From Farrell Evans of ESPN:

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"I would rather be broke and not have a penny to my name before I violate the code of player-teacher confidentiality," Smith said. "In 27 years out here, I've never done that. I'm personally upset with Hank because he's broken and violated our code of ethics. If you have the opportunity and you're privileged to conversations, you will not and should not share anything from them with anyone. I don't care who it is.

"For all the guys who have committed their lives to teaching, this should be very upsetting and I know that I'm not the only one that feels this way. What Hank did is against the rules."

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I'm with Smith on this one. What Haney did feels very opportunistic, as though he knew his time to cash in on Woods' name and the recent scandal was now.

I think there is a time and place for something like this, and it is years after the player's career has ended, a "My Life With Famous Person X" retrospective that lends insight into who that person was, what made them tick, etc.

In that case, it's about history, about understanding a person of cultural significance.

Now, it just feels like a money grab on Haney's part and a breach on the trust Woods thought he had with his ex-coach.

Sometimes I think we all assume we own famous people, that they owe us something, that if we can make money off of them we have the right to do so.

They don't owe any of us anything. They have certain rights just like the rest of us. And while it may not be an inalienable right that Tiger's private life be kept private by the people he surrounded himself with, it's a privilege everyone deserves.

But hey, money talks. Or in this case, writes a book.

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