Saturday, June 20, 2009

June 20, 2009

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6
When Tiger Woods steps on the first tee this morning for his second round of the U. S. Open, I'm sure he will have some fond memories of his father, Earl, who died two years ago.
I know it is a huge leap to switch from thoughts about Noah to Earl Woods, who never gave any indication of having a faith. But, he did raise a champion, so there may be some things we can learn about raising champions for God.
Earl guided and motivated Tiger in his rise to the top of the golf world and has been the driving force behind the Tour's exponential growth and popularity. At Kansas State in the early 1950s he was the first black baseball player in what was then the Big Seven Conference, and he was a Green Beret who served two tours in Vietnam.

"I'm overwhelmed when I think of all the great things he accomplished," Woods said on his website. "He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him."
In the summer of 1993, Earl Woods brought his son to Butch Harmon, another Vietnam vet, to see if Harmon could help make Tiger Woods a better golfer.

"Earl Woods was a great dad," Harmon says. "He always had his son's best interest at heart. He did everything he could do to see that his son got the best help he could get."

Harmon said he and the elder Woods came to an agreement shortly after the first meeting at Lochinvar Golf Club in Houston, where Harmon was the pro. Earl brought Tiger to Harmon after Tiger had been eliminated in the U.S. Amateur at Champions in Houston.

"I told Earl this wouldn't work if I told Tiger one thing and he told him another," Harmon recalls. "He said, 'I'll make you a deal. I won't tell you how to teach Tiger golf if you won't tell me how to be Tiger's dad.' "

A year later Tiger won the first of three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. In his career, he has displayed mental and physical skills seldom seen in any golfer. He has 67 career wins, including 14 majors as a pro.

In an excerpt published in USA WEEKEND, Earl said he had Tiger hearing jazz music when he was 5 days old. As Tiger lay in the crib, Earl would say, "Daddy loves you. I am here for you." By the time Tiger was 2, Earl was drilling him on mental toughness, "an outgrowth of my upbringing and my years as a Green Beret."

"I pulled every nasty, dirty, obnoxious trick on him," Earl wrote. He tossed balls in front of Tiger while he putted. He dropped bags of clubs behind Tiger when he hit tee shots. He'd cough during the backswing.

"I played with his mind," Earl wrote.
Earl cautioned that his approach wasn't for every father and every son but it worked because he and Tiger had a special bond, built from the beginning.

"The best thing about those practices was that my father always kept it fun," Tiger wrote. "It's amazing how much you learn when you truly enjoy doing something."
Harmon says when Earl brought Tiger to him he learned two things pretty quickly: Earl's son was very talented, and they didn't have much money.

"I made an agreement with Earl that I'd work with Tiger for nothing until he became a pro," Harmon says. "Then they'd have to pay me."

Here's the point, Earl decided from the beginning that his son would be a champion and he raised him to be one. He ingrained that expectation within Tiger's soul and gave him the tools and the tutelage to make it happen.

Not every child will have the skills and talent of Tiger, but every dad can have the goal and determination of Earl.

To summarize, here's how Earl "trained up Tiger in the way he should go":

1) He started immediately and bonded with his son

2) He connected him early with expectations and dreams

3) He taught, trained and toughened Tiger as far as he could

4) He put Tiger in the hands of an expert so he could refine his talents

5) He kept it fun and enjoyable - Earl took the dream seriously but kept the learning fun

What are you doing to raise champions for Christ? Maybe there's something you can learn from a champion dad!