diff --git a/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter.go b/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter.go
index 36d999b411..bd45cddecb 100644
--- a/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter.go
+++ b/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter.go
@@ -473,8 +473,12 @@ func (b *Writer) terminateCell(htab bool) int {
 	return len(*line)
 }
 
-func handlePanic(err *error, op string) {
+func (b *Writer) handlePanic(err *error, op string) {
 	if e := recover(); e != nil {
+		if op == "Flush" {
+			// If Flush ran into a panic, we still need to reset.
+			b.reset()
+		}
 		if nerr, ok := e.(osError); ok {
 			*err = nerr.err
 			return
@@ -491,10 +495,17 @@ func (b *Writer) Flush() error {
 	return b.flush()
 }
 
+// flush is the internal version of Flush, with a named return value which we
+// don't want to expose.
 func (b *Writer) flush() (err error) {
-	defer b.reset() // even in the presence of errors
-	defer handlePanic(&err, "Flush")
+	defer b.handlePanic(&err, "Flush")
+	return b.flushNoDefers()
+}
 
+// flushNoDefers is like flush, but without a deferred handlePanic call. This
+// can be called from other methods which already have their own deferred
+// handlePanic calls, such as Write, and avoid the extra defer work.
+func (b *Writer) flushNoDefers() (err error) {
 	// add current cell if not empty
 	if b.cell.size > 0 {
 		if b.endChar != 0 {
@@ -506,6 +517,7 @@ func (b *Writer) flush() (err error) {
 
 	// format contents of buffer
 	b.format(0, 0, len(b.lines))
+	b.reset()
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -516,7 +528,7 @@ var hbar = []byte("---\n")
 // while writing to the underlying output stream.
 //
 func (b *Writer) Write(buf []byte) (n int, err error) {
-	defer handlePanic(&err, "Write")
+	defer b.handlePanic(&err, "Write")
 
 	// split text into cells
 	n = 0
@@ -539,7 +551,7 @@ func (b *Writer) Write(buf []byte) (n int, err error) {
 						// the formatting of the following lines (the last cell per
 						// line is ignored by format()), thus we can flush the
 						// Writer contents.
-						if err = b.Flush(); err != nil {
+						if err = b.flushNoDefers(); err != nil {
 							return
 						}
 						if ch == '\f' && b.flags&Debug != 0 {
diff --git a/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter_test.go b/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter_test.go
index 07bae0ca0b..6a97d4c427 100644
--- a/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter_test.go
+++ b/src/text/tabwriter/tabwriter_test.go
@@ -729,3 +729,27 @@ func BenchmarkRagged(b *testing.B) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+const codeSnippet = `
+some command
+
+foo	# aligned
+barbaz	# comments
+
+but
+mostly
+single
+cell
+lines
+`
+
+func BenchmarkCode(b *testing.B) {
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		w := NewWriter(ioutil.Discard, 4, 4, 1, ' ', 0) // no particular reason for these settings
+		// The code is small, so it's reasonable for the tabwriter user
+		// to write it all at once, or buffer the writes.
+		w.Write([]byte(codeSnippet))
+		w.Flush()
+	}
+}