This past weekend I had the pleasure of watching one of the greatest golfers of all time compete at the AT&T Nationals tournament—Tiger. As an athlete, I find it thrilling to watch one of the best in the sport in person. I went to Congressional Country Club in DC with my friend Tyler who has played and taught golf almost his entire life. Even among the huge crowds, Tyler was able to direct me to Tiger’s locations, and I even had clear views of his shots.
I recently read about Tiger’s training regimen, which includes running and various cross-training exercise modalities. It’s clear that he is in phenomenal shape just by looking at the bulging veins in his forearms. However, as I walked the course, I couldn’t help but notice the many out-of-shape onlookers struggling to follow their favorite players. Watching a golf tournament requires a lot of walking—on uneven surfaces, up and down hills, and through crowds.
As I approached the driving range I overheard a young man say to his friend, “You want to go to the back 9? I can’t do the back 9.” This man was severely overweight. Unfortunately, despite the fact that his friend wanted to watch Tiger on the last 9 holes, he himself could not physically do it. It struck me that the majority of people in the US will never be as skilled as Tiger. However, each one of us has the ability to treat our bodies well enough to be in physical shape to watch Tiger in person—on all 18 holes.
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