CKNW Editorial
for August 11, 2000

I must confess to an adult reversion to child hero worship when it comes to Tiger Woods. He has not only revived my interest in golf he has kindled a curiousity as to what makes a person able to revolutionize that which he does for a living. And there is no question that Tiger has done that. He will have ups and downs in his career - all the great ones do - but what he has accomplished so far is amazing. Indeed, he has his opponents snake bit - something no one since the days of Nicklaus and Hogan before him have been able to do.

But what has prompted this editorial is an article about Tiger Woods in the August 14 issue of Time magazine which features Tiger on the cover and in the cover story. What is so impressive is that Woods, after his sensational 12 shot victory in the 1997 Masters, declared to his coach, Butch Harmon, that his swing was fundamentally flawed and he wanted to rebuild it from the bottom up. He recognized that while he could thump the ball a long way that his iron play was spotty and that he tended to pull these shots. Though this is not in the article, he recognized also that he tended to fly his short irons over the green and that he needed a "knock down" shot.

Now Woods didn't need to do this. Left alone, his swing would have guaranteed him many more wins and lots of money. But Tiger wanted to be the best - not only the best there is but the best there ever was. The gamble was enormous. Many others have tried to rebuild their swings and have been left with a swing that doesn't work so that all confidence – a vital element of golf - is lost. Tiger knew that - and took the risk. I started to wonder how that lesson might be a more universal one. Tiger succeeded such that he is presently the holder of three major titles and is the youngest ever to have won all four majors. But what lessons are there here for life in general? We live in exciting yet terrifying times. Nothing is certain. One is almost sure to hold several jobs in a lifetime but most importantly, job losses may well occur in middle life when you're not ready to retire but unable to find equivalent work.

What I'm on about is not keeping honed one's work skills - if one doesn't do that then they have no complaint if they become redundant. But how many of us, from time to time, look at what we are as Tiger Woods looked at his meal-ticket. How many of us decide that we could remodel ourselves and make ourselves more competitive? Is there not a lesson here?

Not many of us have the wherewithal to be the Tiger Woods of our professions but don't we all have the opportunity to stop, look at ourselves, and re-assess our skills? Then improve them, at least in part, from the bottom up?

Perhaps, after a rigorous self examination it is no more than re-directing some of our leisure time into making more complete persons of ourselves. Perhaps we try to learn something about art ... or history ... or music. In my case, amongst other things, to read some fiction, old and new.

I think there is something here. I don't think the message of Tiger Woods is just for golfers or even athletes. He has learned what value physical fitness plays, how mental attitude is so important, and how he must swing the club. But all of these things interplay. I think, when all's said and done, the real lesson of Tiger Woods is that no matter how skilled we are there is always room for plenty of improvement ... and that sometimes we have to have the courage to take part of what we are and rebuild it from the bottom up.