Tiger Woods' News Conference
My book, “Golf’s Higher Plane” was finished and already reviewed, and my DVD and audio CD were going through final edits when the news of Tiger Woods’ infidelity “transgressions” erupted. While the public really doesn’t know exactly what occurred, the Tiger Woods household has been in a state of emotional turmoil since Mrs. Woods discovered her husband has been intimate with multiple women since they married. I quickly got several calls, “Bob, you referred to Tiger Woods quite frequently in your book, will you have to re-write it?’
My answer is “No.” I included Tiger Woods because his approach to golf better typifies the Law of Attraction than any other current golfer, or perhaps athlete for that matter. Either by instinct or overt action, he has skillfully leveraged the Law of Attraction principles to become one of golf’s greatest players. It is “the secret” that has produced his mental toughness, focus, and other qualities we admire – his competitive edge. We all want to improve our golf experience, so why not copy these principles and Tiger’s positive actions?
The qualities expressed in leveraging the Law of Attraction that made Tiger Woods a great golfer hold true no matter what he does outside the golf arena. However, the little that we actually do know about what happened involving Woods as I write this, in fact, demonstrate and offer us several important learning points.
The first is that the Law of Attraction is not about whether or not you are a good person. It is a matter of physics. What you focus upon you attract. Being pure of spirit and charitable has nothing to do with the Law of Attraction anymore than the Law of Gravity won’t exempt “good” people from falling. We simply learned that Woods is more selfish and less authentic than we might have hoped – neither the cause of nor the effect of the Law of Attraction.
Secondly, the Law of Attraction is working all the time for everyone whether for intended or unintended results. It is not my place to discuss why Tiger Woods behaved the way he did. Suffice it to say, some of our idols have feet of clay.
Many of us are so quick to judge others as well as what happens in life as right or wrong, good or bad, attractive or ugly, etc. Yes, I, too, briefly got caught up judging Tiger Woods, a man I really don’t know well (very few really do). Even if I knew Tiger better, judging him is not healthy or productive for me.
Judging others and feeling righteous are two low-level energies in the same family as fear, scarcity, jealously, anger, and the like. When we judge others, and especially when we proclaim our judgments, we take ourselves out of alignment with our “higher selves.” We sabotage the good points of the Law of Attraction and attract similar low energy experiences. The real opportunity associated with the Law of Attraction is the realization that we can choose to grow in exciting ways – judgment is not one of them.
The dynamics of Tiger and Elin Woods’ Family really do not affect me, my happiness, health, nor ability to earn a living; so I’ve reminded myself to focus upon something better.
Woods' Family Portrait
Did Tiger disappoint me? Absolutely! What’s more, I feel empathy for his family, and his loss of role credibility for all the children in The Tiger Woods Foundation really hurts. I would not have previously predicted that he would also become the object of jokes and truly humbled as he has.
Money alone cannot change the damage he’s already inflicted; his heretofore-clean image has forever been tarnished. As for his ability to influence others as a mega-marketer, with more humility, one or two more tournament wins, and his trademark smile, I believe that enough people will forgive him and that he will remain golf’s icon, though with a smaller, less enthusiastic constituency.
How our children view this presents yet another learning opportunity. Tiger Woods’s transgressions offer us a wonderful opportunity to communicate with our children provided they are aware of the situation, and many are. Depending upon their age, simply telling them that Mr. Woods did not act nice to Mrs. Woods, or that he dated other women when he shouldn’t have which is not appropriate for a good partner, may impart a lesson to them about what is acceptable in our society, and signal for them that everyone has the responsibility to treat others with the respect and honesty they deserve.
The last lesson is not a new one, but an old reminder that just because someone is very good at something doesn’t mean they are good in other areas of their lives. Tiger wasn’t the first or the worst to err among famous golfers in this area, and won’t be the last. In the meantime, Tiger remains the greatest golfer of his generation and only time will tell how he develops as a human being. For us, we can still elect to emulate the best of Tiger Woods (his golf) and leave him to wrestle with the rest.
Maybe we should all be more forgiving, but less enamored of prominent people. What the Woods Family needs now are more friends and fewer critics. And don’t we all?
