Oh – Make That Oy – Tiger! Part 2

Tiger’s in Big T, no doubt about it. In the roughest rough imaginable. Losing strokes left and right and paying enormous prices for swinging so out of control.

Questions questions questions. How could he …? Why in the world would he …? Didn’t he think …? When did he … ? Wasn’t he still a newlywed, with his beautiful bride but bad knee, then doing surgery and rehab and busy with new babies and getting back to top tour form???

Amidst all of that, that Tiger somehow managed to see multiple mistresses, keep it all covered up, and keep on winning golf tournaments seems yet another stupendous feat. Of sorts anyways. Looking back over this past year, Tiger more than once failed to pull off his famous finales or seal the deal on a Sunday or when it mattered most in the majors. He was more “only human” out there than ever before. Commentators and spectators alike all noticed, without ever suspecting the real reasons why.

Pro golfers don’t need to be monks or saints. But they are role models in a game of singular character and integrity. Perhaps Tiger’s godlike status was bound to stumble and crumble. Now that the nature and extent of his distractions are becoming known, perhaps the real wonder is how he managed to play as well as he did. He sure has compiled records…

Inner turmoil and outer turmoil just don’t add up to peak performance. Like golf, life is a constant challenge and practice to keep ourselves in the fair way, shooting straight down the center and in position to make scores we truly can be proud of.

Oh – Make That Oy – Tiger! Part 1

I’ve always been a huge Tiger Woods fan, even called him “the ultimate KiAi Golfer,” because his level of excellence and self-mastery as a player is just so staggeringly right-on and huge. He has been, to me, one of the greatest examples of realizing one’s potential on the planet that we’ve perhaps ever seen. So I, like so many people right now, am feeling badly shocked and shook up by his car crash and “transgressions.” Who ever expected we’d be so staggered by just how hugely human this almost godlike golf icon has been revealed to be?

I can’t help but be struck by his offense: of all things - cheating. He’s the world’s best golfer, perhaps ever – doesn’t he know the rules?? Cheating is instant DQ. The blackest smudge. The worst of offenses with the worst of penalties. Insta-plunge from fame to infamy. Now we have this ultimate shocker, “squeaky-clean” Tiger messing around and messing up beyond comprehension.

I’m having brain freeze every time I think or hear more about what Tiger’s been up to off the golf course. I know how I’m feeling as one of his deepest admirers. I can hardly bear to think how his wife feels, or what this will mean for his two tiny kids. It’s just so sickening and sad and maddening.

I also hate to imagine what Tiger must be feeling as he beholds his family and the mess he’s made (especially during these holiday and birthday times); when he’s made himself tabloid fodder; when he thinks of his father and his mother; when he looks at Phil, Ernie, Annika and other fellow players; and how he’ll feel when the days come to go out to golf again with all the world looking at him, in front of millions who he’s turned into former fans.

From the highest heights to the very bottom … can the once invincible Tiger restore balance to his world ... much less to the golf world, and to ours??

Jack & Tiger on “The Mental Game”

Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, the world’s all-time greatest golfers, are known for their exceptional mental power and control. Mastery is not of the game but of the self. Here are two thoughts from these two legendary masters that are so choice that I think everyone should memorize them. They speak for themselves:

Jack: “I’m not good enough to get mad.”

Tiger: “I developed my mental game early. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of you developing yours now.”

Whoa! That ought to stop of us all in our tracks. The mental game is a matter of self-mastery, of your thoughts and your feelings, all along the way. Be determined, like Jack and Tiger, to gain more and more mastery of your mental game. Find out how to stop your mind and emotions from ambushing your golf (or life!). No one can do it for you but you – and you’ve got the power!