Earl Woods. The man Tiger Woods credits for giving him “psychological training” that you and I would call “tough love.” And our reaction makes sense. Think of this one training method Earl Woods used to teach his son. During Woods’s practice rounds, Earl would intentionally create pressure-filled scenarios by placing a dozen golf balls in front of Woods’s ball. His challenge to his son? To focus solely on the shot at hand. By age 2, Tiger wowed audiences on national TV, putting against Bob Hope.

Woods was 11 when Earl started swearing at him. One of his most-known words? “F-ck off, Tiger.” A decade after his father passed away in 2006, Woods said he didn’t mind it. In fact, he took it lightly by laughing at it. Earl did everything in his power to keep Tiger Woods‘s attention in the sport, whether it be jingling change while he stood over putts, or hurling projectiles in his line of sight. The G.O.A.T. that we have now was once a lamb under rigorous training.

Earl Woods never shied away from taking responsibility for his training methods, admitting “I never treated Tiger like a kid. I treated Tiger as an equal.” Under Earl’s mentorship, Tiger won six consecutive Junior World Championships. After all of this, we created a certain image of Earl, but his granddaughter, Cheyenne Woods, is here to defrost a bit of it.

Cheyenne was 9 years old then and remembered the day she spent with her grandfather while making breakfast. Earl used to work for IMG, recruiting potential star golfers. “He told me that when I was, like, four or five years old, he wrote an official report about me and he submitted it officially into IMG.” Excited, She asked him what he wrote, but Earl refused to comply. Instead, he said the day she turns pro, IMG will recruit her.

“So, I graduated, and I wanted to turn pro. IMG came and they brought the letter. And I got to read it for the first time.” And what did the letter say? “He wrote what he saw in me. He wrote that he could see me play on tours. The skills that he could see in me.” This happened in 1993. However, Earl passed away in 2006–six years before he could see Cheyenne turn pro in 2012. Cheyenne played in LPGA and made her maiden win in 2014.

Cheyenne used the clip and made a story of it with the following caption: “My grandfather, Earl Woods, meant everything to me. Thank you @tishaalyn for letting me share this memory of him ❤️.” Back in 2015, having received his report, she framed it and said she pushed through her career for his belief in her. Earl had looked at her swings and said, “the look in my eyes when I had the club in my hand.” But hold on! Earl Woods’s legacy and love isn’t the only recent talk of the Woods town.

Earl Woods had plenty of love to share with Tiger Woods

When Tiger Woods was still at his peak in 2002, Earl Woods sat down for an interview and shared a very important moment. What was it about? Their first drink together. Earl then revealed that his son had never consumed alcohol before attending Stanford. So, during Thanksgiving, when Tiger returned home, he asked his father, “What are you drinking, Pop?” Earl replied, “A Pepsi.” After that, Tiger Woods prepared a Jack Daniels and ginger for his father and said, “Come on, Pop, let’s have our first drink together.” Thinking about it, Earl said, that is “the one Jack Daniels and ginger I will always remember.”

Of course, from a young age, Tiger Woods was taught to keep his unhelpful feelings in check. Typical old-school father-son bond. Well, some of Earl’s dad-moves are still popular in the family.

So, remember that moment I mentioned about Earl Woods trying to distract Tiger Woods by placing a dozen balls in front of his shot ball? Sounded tough, but Tiger Woods believes in that method. Enough that he uses it on his son, Charlie Woods. Back in 2021, Bob Frier shared a video of the father-son duo at the year-ending event, the PNC Championship. Charlie Woods is preparing to take a long putt when Woods crosses him and rolls a ball in his line of sight. Just as his own father did. However, Charlie seemed to know this trick very well and was barely bothered.

Undoubtedly, Earl Woods’s greatest legacy is Tiger Woods himself. On that note, did this Cheyenne Woods‘s story change your opinions on the late Earl Woods?