Tiger Woods has had one of the best careers in sport but just like anyone, he has used the early tuition from his parents to succeed.
Woods has had countless coaches, advisors and caddies over the years and all have played a big part in his success.
The likes of Butch Harmon and Steve Williams will take particular credit, while others in the background will know they’ve contributed along the way as well.
However, when it comes to Woods and his biggest believers, he will always swing back to his family and notably, his father, Earl.
Indeed, looking back at an old clip of Tiger explaining the ‘clock system, he admits it’s something that Earl would drill into him, albeit not always successfully.
Tiger Woods explains why he ignored his father on the ‘clock system’
It’s always fascinating to listen to Tiger Woods and learn just what he learnt growing up.
Someone so talented often doesn’t seem to need to improve or even learn but like everyone, Tiger is human and along the way, he’s needed help.
However, when it comes to coaching from his father, even Woods himself admitted previously he didn’t always listen immediately.
‘My dad was a big believer in the clock system. And what I mean is this is six o’clock, behind my head is 12 o’clock. But my dad was always a big believer in taking it back to where you felt it was, I guess 9 o’clock. And I never liked it on wedge shots and I was always like ‘Yeah ok, I’ll go nine, whatever pop’,” Woods admitted.
“Later in life, what do you think I’m doing now? I’m going right back to where I think it’s 9 o’clock and go ahead and hit the shot. What I found is I went ahead and stepped off my yardages. When I hit a shot with what I feel is 9 o’clock, with a wedge, it goes a certain distance.
“Same thing with the sand wedge, nine, 10, 11 o’clock and so forth so now when I go out on the course and I feel the shot, I just go ahead and hit it.”
How Earl Woods taught Tiger Woods to be mentally strong on the golf course
Earl and Tiger’s relationship is one of the greatest stories in golf and it’s so sad we don’t get to see them anymore as a duo.
Over the years, Earl has had a massive impact on Tiger and we only have to look at what he’d do to build up Tiger’s mental strength at an early age.
Speaking about his father’s odd techniques, Earl has previously explained how he used to intentionally distract his son.
“Just as he’s beginning to swing, I drop my whole bag of clubs. And he would stop and look at me, teeth gritting and he’d start again and I’d throw a dozen golf balls in front of his ball,” Earl said.
“He’d stop again, I’d say ‘hey look, are you through showboating, the marshal says we have to complete this round in four hours and you’re taking up more than your share of time so either hit or get off the course. And then he would stripe it. Hit it perfect and turn around and look at me, not say a word but the look would say ‘take that’ and then walk down the fairway.”
Tiger, of course, respected his father enormously and commented himself on the technique.
“He’d always push me but never too far. Eventually it would take more, and then more, and then more until finally it got to a point where it didn’t bother me no more,” Tiger says in the clip.
As usual, this is brilliant insight from one of the greatest ever and looking at his relationship with his father, it’s little wonder he was so successful.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
