There was a significant period of time where Tiger Woods was the most dominant golfer in the world.
From 1999-2008, Tiger managed to win the PGA Championship four times, the U.S. Open three times, the British Open three times, and the Masters three times.
For any young player that was paired with Woods, you can all but guarantee there was a sense of intimidation of playing alongside the best golfer in the world at that time.
It didn’t matter who it was really, whether young or old, Woods would constantly separate himself from the other two golfers in his group and would generally be near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday. At Tiger’s annual Tiger Jam charity clinic, Woods spoke to a group of golfers on one of the many reasons why he was so successful during his peak years: he didn’t care whatsoever what other golfers around him thought of him. Tiger passed that piece of wisdom on to his audience, so they too could take that logic and apply it to their own game.
Warning: the following clip is NSFW.
“I can’t control you. The only thing I can control is me. Now, if I do this more efficiently than you, if you get intimidated that’s your own (expletive) issue.”
Wise words, Tiger, wise words. Golf is such mental game, and intimdation can certainly play a role dpending how competitive you play, but we think we can all agree that the most severe emotion we feel is frustration that is all self-inflicted.
(h/t For the Win via Twitter/DonaldRemington)
