The Tiger thing is such a huge phenomenon that it’s impossible to ignore. Having grown up in the Seve era and Tiger not playing his A-game when I was doing my challenge (Vijay Singh was world number one during that year) it has taken a while for me to fully grasp the whole “Tiger” concept.
But boy do I “get” it now. You simply cannot fail to be impressed by so many aspects of his game and development but here is an example from the Ryder Cup last year when I went down with my father (on a horrible old coach but I fear that is of no interest to you)
We watched the morning rounds, predominantly following the European guys, and then nipped off to the range to get some footage of the guys properly in action. If you’ve asked for my first secret then you’ll know just what a swing watching fetishist I am (if not then go here now and fill out the box) I expected to see them all out there bashing away (so to speak) but no.
There was just one golfer out there.
One of the lowly ranked Americans maybe? Nope.
One of the European rookies trying to groove a swing in to cope with the pressure? Nope again.
One of the guys that we go “errr – who is he again?” Nope-diddly-ope-dope-nope.
Indeed not – why would they need to practice? They were Ryder Cup golfers after all. The cream of the crop.
The one wee fella (all alone except for about a million spectators) was Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods – world number one. Tiger Woods – the fella whose father had recently died and could maybe be excused for taking it a bit easy. Tiger Woods – The guy who apparently doesn’t “get” or really care about the Ryder Cup.
The irony of this I found to be absolutely amazing. Gobsmacking – we can all try and attribute Tiger’s success to a supernatural talent, exceptional physical ability, incredible exposure to mind gurus during his teens or even the astonishing mentoring process from his father but ultimately it’s hard to argue against the fact that actually just seems to work far harder than anyone else.
Not that I can compare my challenge and one under par round with Tiger but this example does remind me of a conversation I had when I’d finished it. An ex-work colleague who hadn’t seen me for a couple of years watched the sports program I was featured on and called me in amazement about the whole thing. “I just don’t believe it. How the hell did you do it? I’ve been playing for nearly forty years and have yet to break 80! And you come along and break par in a year” I asked him how often he practiced or worked on his game other than playing. The answer was “never”. You may not need to hit 35,000 balls in a year but it’s pretty impossible to get better if you do nothing!
I have a load more video from the day on my youtube channel and I’ll be putting a lot more up again soon. I have some footage of him with the driver and also some great practice stuff around the green. Bear with me and I’ll get it up as soon as I can.
And don’t forget – if you want the first three chapters of “From Scratch to Scratch – the challenge to break par” then just email me at scratchtoscratch@hotmail.co.uk
Not only do you have good material for a book with all you achieved, but your a darn good writer too… Enjoying your blog entries! How cool that “you were there” for the Ryder Cup! Some day, I’m gonna get my butt over to Ireland and Scotland
… Don’t forget, we have a golf date if you get make it California on your book tour!!
Brilliant stuff – very entertaining indeed. It’s a fantastic story too. I’m amazed that he was the only one out there!
I read your first three chapters and greatly enjoyed them. I’m now stuck waiting for the rest of the book! Is it actually finished yet?
If it is why don’t you just sell it as an ebook before it is printed properly. I’ll paypal you the money TODAY for the rest of it. How that for an offer.
Scratch to Scratch
First off, a huge congrats to having the guts to even take on such a challenge, and then even more congrats for actually pulling it off. I would take a 100 to 90 (but that’s just me) personally, but your progress is mind numbing. As for the book, that will definitely be on my list when it comes out. Your story is so interesting that I am sorry I just heard about it. Once again, congratulations.
Interesting stuff.
It is the level of focus and the sheer single mindedness of people like Tiger Woods that impresses me. Michael Schumacher seems very similar to Tiger in this respect. Their will to win comes before everything else around them including money, public image and even their fans. I think this is what makes them come across as cold and distant when they appear on the telly and in interviews. I don’t think this is deliberate, it’s just that they would rather be doing what they need to do to secure their next win and all the PR stuff is just getting in the way.