page_title: Earl Woods
section_title: Teaching golf to his son
hierarchical_section_title: Earl Woods / Mid life / Teaching golf to his son
caption_attribution_description: Golfer Tiger Woods, left, answers questions about his week-long Army experience at Fort Bragg, during a press conference there April 16 after a youth golf clinic. Woods took part in a variety of training events, including a jump from an airplane. Beside Woods is his father, retired Army Lt. Col. Earl Woods, a former Green Beret who served at Fort Bragg.
context_page_description: Earl Dennison Woods was a US Army infantry officer who served two tours of duty in Vietnam and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a college-level baseball player, writer, and father of professional golfer Tiger Woods. Woods started his son in golf at a very early age and coached him exclusively for his first years in the sport.
context_section_description: In 1972, Woods was stationed at Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton, and learned to play golf, starting at age 42, at the Dyker Beach Golf Course in Dyker Heights. From his first experience with golf, Woods was captivated by it, and played a great deal for the remainder of his life. He eventually became a good standard amateur golfer, often scoring in the 70s for 18 holes. Woods claimed to be playing close to scratch handicap level when his son Tiger was born in late 1975. Coached by his father, Tiger Woods was introduced to golf in Orange County, California before age two, and became a child prodigy in golf, perhaps the most precocious young golfer in history. Tiger learned golf first on the U.S. military courses in southern California.
  Woods shared the techniques he used in coaching his son Tiger in two books: Training a Tiger: A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life, and Playing Through: Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams and Adventures with Tiger. Woods coached Tiger exclusively until age five, then sought professional assistance from Rudy Duran and John Anselmo, both well-regarded PGA club professionals in the area. Woods has been criticized by some for putting too much pressure on Tiger. In 1993, following Tiger's third straight title in the USGA Junior Amateur Championship, his father sought out superstar teacher Butch Harmon to develop Tiger's game further. Harmon, upon meeting Tiger for the first time in Houston in summer 1993, praised the coaching which his father, Duran, and Anselmo had undertaken to that point.
  Woods retired from his second career in 1988. He traveled to Tiger's events as often as possible for the rest of his life. Woods hired Connecticut attorney John Merchant in 1996 to help facilitate the path for Tiger to turn professional, and to secure lucrative sponsorship agreements when he did so. Merchant had been the first African American member of the United States Golf Association's Executive Committee. Tiger signed deals with Nike, Titleist, and the International Management Group, which made him a multi-millionaire as soon as he declared professional status in late August 1996. Tiger's deals broke by a wide margin all records for sponsorship money in golf. Soon after Tiger turned professional, Merchant was fired by Earl Woods.
caption: Tiger and Earl Woods during a 2004 press conference at Fort Bragg
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