Tiger Woods hosts junior golf clinic
By NATALIE GOTT Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) - As the sun beat down on 11-year-old Kortland
Ware, he looked up at his instructor with pleading eyes.
"Do I just keep hitting?" he asked, as he wiped his
sweaty hands off on his shorts.
The instructor from the Tiger Woods Foundation smiled and nodded
his head. Ware continued on, driving the golf ball well past the
100-yard marker.
His weariness quickly shifted to enthusiasm when Tiger Woods,
the 1997 Masters champion, walked over to give him a quick lesson
Monday.
"He just told me to open my stance, it'll give me more
power," the young golfer said after the lesson with one of
his heroes. "That's all I needed."
Ware and two dozen others were the lucky ones. In conjunction
with the Tiger Woods Foundation, Woods was in St. Louis to personally
give each of them about a 5-minute golf lesson.
"If Tiger Woods teaches you, you know it has to be right,"
Ware said.
St. Louis was the first stop of the year for the Tiger Woods
Foundation Junior Golf Clinic, which aims to teach inner city
kids about golf.
The average age of the beginning golfer right now is 29 and
less than 2 percent of children ages 12-17 are introduced to golf
each year, according to the National Golf Foundation.
In the under-17 category, 15 percent are from families earning
less than $30,000 a year. And, in an issue dramatized by the success
of 22-year-old Woods, only 3 percent of golfers in the United
States are black and only 2 percent are Hispanic.
Woods said that when he was growing up, he was denied the chance
to play on some golf courses.
"That is absolutely ludicrous," Woods said. "We
want to rectify that."
The day-long clinic means more than just golf lessons for Woods
and his father, Earl Woods. It is also about lessons in life.
"Golf is a microcosm of life," Earl Woods said. "We're
giving kids the opportunity to dream."
Woods and his father started the foundation in 1996 with the
goal of recognizing "the family as the most important unit
in society." The foundation also encourages and promotes
"parental responsibility and involvement in children's lives."
During afternoon sessions, Earl Woods spoke to parents and
children about their responsibilities to each other.
"I try on a personal level to make a difference in a person's
life each day in my life," Earl Woods said. "The rewards
are instant and gratifying and they're awesome in scope."
Woods and his father ended the day with a golf exhibition,
where Earl Woods coached and his son drove the ball, sometimes
more than 300 yards.
"We are showing the world how we are - we care,"
Woods said.
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