The Great Tiger Woods: a Biography

Eldrick Tiger Woods was born on December 30, 1975. He was named for a soldier (Tiger Phong) that had been his father's friend. According to David Owen in The Chosen One, Tiger Woods is the youngest Player to have won all four of the major tournaments, the Masters, the United States Open, The British Open and the PGA Championship. He is the only player ever to have won them all one after the other.

When Tiger Woods was just a baby he used to play with his father's golf clubs. He also putted with Bob Hope when he was just a toddler. By the age of thirteen Tiger Woods had already set personal goals with the intention of surpassing Jack Nicklaus's major statistical records. Tiger Woods' father Earl Woods always told Tiger that he had a great special gift. Earl made sure that Tiger had the right teachers at the right times. Both of Tiger's parents sacrificed for Tiger to attain his greatness. Whenever Tiger was practicing, Earl would ask, "What is your target?" This was to impress upon Tiger to be goal oriented in golf and in life. Tiger's father did not criticize but made positive statements while initially training Tiger. He also performed various acts to attempt to break Tiger's concentration purposely. This was for the ultimate purpose of helping Tiger improve his mental focus. By the time Woods was twenty one he became the youngest player ever to be ranked as the very best worldwide.

Woods has stated that he does get nervous when golfing. He has also remarked that the best way to handle this tension is to ensure that at that moment in time the shot he is making is the most important thing in his life. Woods has paid attention to golfing greats who came before him- people like Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods became great by studying and learning from the golfing strokes of the greats who came before him, ever improving on them and on himself.

Owens, D. The Chosen One. (2001) New York, NY Simon and Schuster
Woods, E. A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life