A game that taught Tiger how to break par

Even when he was just learning to play golf, Tiger Woods never had any trouble breaking par. He owes that to his father making sure the bar was never set too high. Earl Woods used to determine how many perfect shots his son needed to reach the green, then added two for the putts. As he got older and could hit the ball farther, par was reduced until it became regulation.

Even when he was just learning to play golf, Tiger Woods never had any trouble breaking par. He owes that to his father making sure the bar was never set too high.

Earl Woods used to determine how many perfect shots his son needed to reach the green, then added two for the putts. As he got older and could hit the ball farther, par was reduced until it became regulation.

“The biggest argument Tiger and I have ever been involved with was changing his par,” Earl Woods said in a 2000 interview. “I changed the par from 8 to 7 and he would complain, ’No, no, no.’ And then he would shoot sub-par. He never developed a comfort zone.”

Woods recalled those days during his press conference on Tuesday, especially when his father lowered par. “Say it was a par 4 and it took me four to get there, the first time I got there in three, par automatically went down,” Woods said.

“Sometimes, he didn’t know that I would lay up a couple times, not get the ball to the green, so I wouldn’t have to drop par. And then he started catching on and he’d drop par anyway. It was his way of being creative enough where it taught me never to be afraid to go low.

“If I had a hot day, run with it.”

Strangely, though, Woods doesn’t prefer to play tournaments where he has to shoot 65 just to keep in contention.
Woods’ career-best is a 61, and he has won 28 times on the US PGA Tour when his score was 270 or lower. He goes into this week’s AT&T National having finished at par or better at every tournament over the last two years.