More traits of Tiger
Photo by Carlos Amoedo/Golf Digest
In the new Golf Digest cover story, "The Year of Living Dangerously," writer Jamie Diaz reveals that Tiger Woods has been working on someone who could eventually replace him.
Maybe not tomorrow.
Woods has been mentoring 20-year-old aspiring pro Corey Carroll out of Rollins College, impressed enough by his worth ethic that Tiger introduced himself to Carroll, who was in a practice bunker three years ago.
"What are you trying to do with this bunker shot?" Woods asked him.
Carroll: "When I showed him, he said, 'That's interesting. Some guys have had success that way. Here's how I do it.' And for the next two hours we hit bunker shots and talked.
"About a year ago Tiger suggested I begin working with (swing coach) Hank (Haney), and since then Tiger and I get into a lot of discussions about the mechanical aspects of the game. We practice together and work out together, talk about the methods of different players, just anything golf."
It's kind of how Woods took to Mark O'Meara as his confidant and mentor on the PGA Tour when he first broke in. O'Meara became part of "Team Tiger," a circle of people Woods admired and kept close to him as he build a career on the PGA Tour rarely seen before.
In lesson three of the book "Tiger Traits: 9 Success Secrets You Can Discover from Tiger Woods to be a Business Champion," author and motivation speaker Nate Booth talks about the importance of idenfitying people in your life who can help you achieve your goals, and keeping them there for advice and as a check and balance when things aren't going so well.
To follow up on our Daily News column today on Booth and his book in the Daily News, we have more Q-and-A from Booth about why these nine traits of Woods work together in the business world, not just one or two that will bring some short-term satisfaction:
Q: When did you become a Tiger fan?
A: The short answer is probably the last 15 years. I was always a golfer and followed his career. When I saw him win the third of his three U.S. Amateur tournaments, which may be the toughest golf events to win, I saw this young kid doing stuff that no one had been doing before and I started putting stories I found on him into a file. The more I've seen him grow and develop, it's easier to form an appreciation for, when all is said and done, what he's done both on and off the course. You don't say that often about too many people. He's one of these characters who comes along once every 20 years and accomplishes great things.
Q: At what point did you decide it was time to do a book on him?
A: I had written nine books, and when you get done with one, you look around and see what seems right at the time. There's been tons of books written about him and his mental game, I understand that. But there wasn't a book on him that went into his characteristics and attributes that allowed him to be so successful on and off the course. What is it about the guy that's so attractive to many different people? His que score over the last 10 years has been in the top three in terms of likeability.
Q: There is a list of recommended books and newspaper stories in your book about Woods. Is this where you extracted most of the information about him as well?
A: I've read all the books about Tiger, and especially enjoyed this three DVD series where he talks about his family. There was a lot of great information and insights there. You really get a sense that, while maybe he has a lot of natural talent, he had a lot of other things going for him early on. Without the way his parents raised him, we may have never heard of him. You can see how he was very lucky to be in that family, because his parents devoted so much to his achievement.
Q: Is there one trait any more important than any other that you found, or do they all have to work together to bring success?
A: They really do all work together and are linked. You've got to have natural abilities. And once people achieve great things and have dreams, they connect with that natural talent. Sometimes people get excited about doing something but they don't have any natural talent. They read books and spend money and do stupid things and don’t achieve it. The importance of having a dream is utilizing those natural talents. Then you have a group that's going to support you and help you develop. Who are the heroes you can emulate? To me, it's all tied together. Maybe the first and the last traits, the bookeneds to this whole thing, are more important than everything in between. You definitely need the first to go anywhere and the last to keep things going.
Q: Is there any other sports person that you can compare Tiger to that might be worth using as a business role model?
A: If you look back on the history of sports, maybe the only one with a similar effect was Muhammad Ali. Michael Jordan, to some degree, but I don't think he transcended sports the same way. Maybe Pele in soccer as well.
Q: There is the footnote where you say you're donating a portion of the proceeds to his foundation. What went into that decision?
A: I was very interesting to get Tiger’s permission to do the book as something that was authorized but I couldn't get through his representatives. I had lawyers and the book distributors' lawyers look at where we stood if we did the book without his permission. We found we stood legally pretty solid because there was a case where Tiger sued someone who had painted his picture and ran off 2,000 prints of it and sold them, but the courts denied it, saying you can interpret someone's likeness. But even if we had something legally to stand on, I wanted to be morally and ethically right here, and thought donating to his foundation was a nice thing to do. I'm grateful for him.
Q: Has there been any reaction from Tiger or his "team" since the book came out in April?
A: No. I just know a personal friend did get him a copy of it, but I haven't heard anything.