Much has been made about Tiger Woods’ return to golf this week at his Hero World Challenge. Woods hadn’t played competitive golf in four months. Some would say with his game so rusty in the first three rounds at Isleworth Golf & Country (he is in last place) that he still hasn’t played a competitive round, but that would be a cheap shot.
But it is not that Woods isn’t trying. In fact he is trying, trying to find a swing that served him so well a decade and a half ago.
In his effort to go back to his old swing he has enlisted the services of a young and upcoming swing instructor, Chris Como. While Como may be called a swing coach, instructor, or teacher by his other clients Woods has designated him his “swing consultant”.
Woods has gone through three different “coaches” in his days but his reluctance to call Como an instructor signifies a different attitude and relationship towards Como. Or maybe Woods has an issue calling someone two years younger his coach. 
Woods has always been a student of his own golf swing but at the same time needed another set of eyes willing to give him input. Como is that new set but there will be no overhaul of down angles swing paths between the two.
According to Woods, Como will be a sounding board and counselor as Woods tries to find that old 1996 swing.
Como has a reputation so very different from Woods’ past coaches, if we can call him that. Butch Harmon has an oversized personality that rivaled Woods’ own celebrity. Hank Haney parlayed his years with Woods into a million dollar enterprise. And Sean Foley moved from a niche coach to one of the most visible coaches of the day as he spoke both TrackMan and existentialism.
Como appears less extroverted than those but seems to share some of the same philosophies of those past instructors.
Like Harmon he isn’t a proponent of one particular golf swing instead taking a golfer’s natural swing and working with it from there.
Like Foley he can talk “golf-speak” with the best of them and is fluent in the latest language heard across the practice range: TrackMan.
Como, 37, is different from any of the other swing instructors Woods has employed. He is not from golfing royalty like Butch Harmon, the son of a Masters champion who turned pro and won once on the PGA Tour. Como is not like Hank Haney, an all-conference college golfer. He is not like Sean Foley, who also played varsity golf in college.
Como is a seeker on a utopian quest for clues to unlock the mysteries of the golf swing. That search has consumed his 20s and 30s and led him all over the country to learn from the top instructors, including Foley. He has taught lessons by day and taken classes for his master’s degree in biomechanics by night, in an ascetic existence driven by curiosity.
Tiger has run the gamut of personalities with his past coaches and the fact Como appears unwilling to grab the spotlight will help him fit in with the ultra protective Woods.
Asked Wednesday to answer a few questions, Como demurred. Neither Zambri nor Immelman was surprised to hear that Como did not want to talk about himself. They emphasized his humility and intelligence.
“He’s the farthest thing from a show-off or a blowhard,” Zambri said.
Immelman said: “He’s very humble, but I wouldn’t let that lull anybody into believing that he’s not competitive. He wants to help players play to their full potential, and by that I mean he won’t quit working until he feels like he’s exhausted all options trying to help you.”
As far as their work together so far Como has utilized an outdated tool: the VHS Tape.
They have watched VHS tapes of Woods from his teenage years and his early years as a professional. His swing then was more upright, more fluid. Whether it is that his back finally is healthy, or that he has Como at his side, or a combination of both, Woods’s swing in the past week has been like the new old Tiger.
On the Golf Channel, Begay said of Como, “I felt like he was the right person at this particular point in Tiger’s career to be able to not provide solutions, but to have relevant discussions.”
So don’t call him an instructor or coach, he’s neither. He’s Tiger’s “discussion partner” and he’s hoping to have some very relevant discussion with the 14 time major champion. Relevant enough to make Woods himself relevant again.
Click here for Karen Crouse’s New York Times piece.
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