cover image Training a Tiger: A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life

Training a Tiger: A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life

Earl Woods. HarperCollins Publishers, $18 (208pp) ISBN 978-0-06-270178-7

Thus far, the U.S. has not produced an African American golf superstar, although there have been athletes, such as Lee Elder, who have been very successful on the PGA tour. If any candidate is likely to break through, it's Tiger Woods, already a comer, though only 20. Tiger's success is partly the result of training by his father, who authored this instructional guide with Golf World editor McDaniel. Earl Woods was an unusually talented baseball player who did not venture onto the links until he was 42, but when he did, he was captivated. He began training Tiger when his son was an infant, and the youngster began to play at age two, winning his first under-10 tourney two years later. The author explains how he taught the fundamentals and mechanics and moved his pupil from putting to the short game to driving, always stressing that if play is not fun, there's no point to it. The crystal-clear, gently didactic text is supplemented by 200 photos, some of them baby (with golf club) pictures, and numerous line drawings. $65,000 ad/ promo; author tour. (Apr.)