I wasn’t going to bite. I heard the news break along with the rest of the world over the weekend and my gut reaction was….no, no, no, not Tiger. Not Tiger Woods. He has everything, you know. He has fame, fortune, and a beautiful wife. He is after all, a world famous golfer…. Of course everything is speculative about what’s going on in his personal life, and I know I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but something doesn’t seem right, does it?
So, you’re probably asking, “Why does Tiger’s life warrant a Neve Black post?” Well, it may come as a shock to some of you, but I like to play a round of golf from time to time. Golf is a game I have a great deal of respect for, because after playing for a good many years now, it’s a damn tough game. It takes grit and concentration to play the game well, but it’s equally important to respect and honor the rules of the game too. For me, golf is a lot like life: It’s a game that you play against yourself.
I come from a golfing family. It started when I was a little girl and I would go to the driving range with my dad, just so I could hang out with him. And my grandmother on my mother’s side had the most beautiful swing of anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. What I really love about golf is the valuable lessons I learned while I being out there walking peacefully (I strap my golf bag on my back and walk the greens. No golf cart for me) in nature; thinking about life as I approach my ball and strategically decide which club I’ll use for my next shot. I learned about integrity, patience, perseverance and to simply let my mind work with my body and not against it. I suppose I found the Zen aspects of golf inspirational.
Yes, I do realize that some people cheat when playing golf: they don’t accurately count their golf strokes, or move the ball to a more advantageous position, but those people aren’t true golfers in my opinion. They’re cheating themselves out of what the game is really about. And let’s face it, when you cheat at golf, you’re really just cheating yourself. Thus, when someone like Tiger ends up on the front page of trouble, a fellow golfer can only surmise that’s he’s somehow lost sight of his game.
I hope all the best for Tiger and his family.
From one who loves the game -
Neve Black
I’m not much of a golfer myself, but I have played (badly) and I do respect the game. I respect what Tiger represents as such a skilled practitioner of the game; a true master.
I add my best wishes.
you might not be surprised that i like a round of golf from time to time..when i was a kid it was like ” a punishment” for me when my uncle or my stepdad took me out to play golf..but the older i grew the more i realiced the peace of the game…playing golf is almost like meditation..and so i m not a good player i still enjoy a game from time to time…
Hey Craig,
Yes, Tiger does have a deep respect for the game, which is why this scandalous news doesn’t seem fitting for him. You learn a lot about a person’s character when playing a round of golf. I suppose if I was spoon-fed golf since the age of two and then continued to chase after a white ball instead of making time for hot women as I got older, I might feel like I was missing out things (hot women) as I met my goal of becoming a billonaire. Hmmm…clearly, this is my speculative opinion. I don’t know Mr. Woods personally, but I do admire his game.
Thanks for your comment and good wishes.
Hi Danielle,
Yeah, the game of golf can be a real bitch. You have good days and you have some really, really bad days, or at least I do. I still enjoy the solitude and the strategy of the game. I like thinking about my shots and feeling really good when I hit the sweet spot and my ball lofts through the air, like a bird. I also enjoy giving kudos when my fellow golfers make a great shot, or at least that’s how I play. Like I said, it’s a game about life that you play against yourself. I think that’s poetry in motion, really.
Thanks for commenting.
I personally find celebrity (or any in general, actually) gossip so extremely distasteful that I do my best to avoid it and have in this case as well, but I just want to say I found this a really lovely post about golf. I have only played once in my life — it was my freshman year of high school, I believe, and I only remember hitting the ball once. Haha. But I found it interesting to learn that you play and your background with it and enjoyed your description of it as well. Thanks.
Hi Em,
I hear ya’ on the distaste of most of our societies bizarre fascination with celebritism. I suppose if Tiger is having marital issues, he should have the opportunity to deal with his personal life in private. The trouble is, we do live in a world where most people go gaga over other people’s lives and especially superstars. Celebrities, like Tiger know this too. It shouldn’t come as a shock to him that’s he’s being hounded by the media right now. What did he expect, privacy? Good luck with that dude.
For me personally, I get gaga over a fellow artist’s work and I don’t usually pay a lot of attention over who’s sleeping with who, unless of course it’s someone I happen to be sleeping with. And no, for the record, I’m not, nor have I ever, or would I ever be interested in sleeping with Mr. Woods. Hey, stranger things have happened though, you know?
I think the reason this scandal strikes a chord within me, is because golf is the one sport that really describes a person’s character. I really can’t think of any other sport that has such strong rules of respect for the game and other golfers. Like I mentioned in my post, you can really learn a lot about a person after you’ve walked 18 holes with them. So when Tiger crosses over the line in his personal life, a fellow golfer just finds that behavior to be very odd - very out of character.
Finally, in Tiger as well as other super-star athlete’s defense: First of all, I’m not a man. And I’m not a professional athlete that’s making gazillions of dollars. I cannot imagine what it might be like to have beautiful women constantly throwing themselves at me; literally spreading their legs and why, well, just because I am me.
Thanks Em, for listening.