Amazon.com
When golf phenom Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters with a tournament scoring record, he burst onto the national scene with what seemed like a storybook beginning to a great career. But what looked like an overnight success had actually begun years and years before, when as a toddler he was coached by his father. This video, appropriately subtitled Son, Hero, and Champion, prominently features Tiger's father, Earl Woods, a former Green Beret who essentially put his son through a psychological boot camp designed to make him a mentally tough player. One of the highpoints of this documentary is a detailed look at how Tiger Woods and his father developed strategies to win tournaments, focusing on a specific amateur championship where the Woods family brain trust had to quickly devise a way to come from behind to win the tournament in a playoff round. The role of race is also dealt with here, as well as Tiger's position as a role model for youngsters who may wish to play golf, perhaps as a career. Only time will tell whether Tiger Woods will take a place in golf history as one of the all-time greats, but this video does a very professional job of showing how he came to be considered one of the best players of the game today. --Robert J. McNamara
