Coaching Tiger

Tiger Woods is a longtime believer in coaching, keeping a team of top coaches on staff, including a swing coach and a fitness coach, and even Tiger’s top-flight caddy, Steve Williams, who provides minute-by-minute coaching on the golf course during critical competitions.

Tiger’s stellar reputation as golf superstar and family man has taken a tabloid-fueled shock to the system in recent days, since the moment Tiger crashed his Cadillac into a neighbor’s tree near his home near Orlando, Florida, Thanksgiving night.  With his car, career, and certainly his relationship rocked, could a new coach–a life or business coach, perhaps–help guide golf’s most famous face?

It’s exactly the kind of help that some sports figures believe Woods needs–and fast.  Speaking on ESPN, former New York Jets coach Herm Edwards said Tiger’s golf game…and his finances…aren’t the problem.  Woods, Edwards said, needs someone around him to bring perspective off the golf course.  ”This guy needs someone to help him with his life,” said Edwards.  ”Somebody right now needs to help Tiger Woods with his life.”

If Tiger agreed to get that help from a coach, what would that coaching relationship look like?

“The first thing a good coach does with a high profile client who has fallen from grace is establish rapport and trust strong enough to support the client where they are at this very moment, regardless of the media, fans and critics,” said Karen Keller, an executive coach who’s worked with just such clients, primarily politicians and top ranked Fortune 500 executives.  ”The essential task is to take the high profile client away and out of the spotlight minimizing the influence of the swirling crisis.”

Where would even the most experienced coach begin with a client like Tiger Woods?  ”The most vital question at this stage is, “What is really important to you?’” says Keller.  ”The answer to that one question will determine the direction of the coaching process and the success of the client’s goals.  He will need to forget about the cameras and the little white ball.”

Keller says laying out a coaching plan that involves building trust, answering tough questions, and challenging the client to go even deeper would ultimately be the path to progress.  And Keller warns–working with a client like a wounded Tiger may have moments of high stress.  The coach, she says, needs to “have the capacity to withstand backlash, criticism, projection, and severe releases of emotion.  When working with the high profile client, the successful coach is secure in who they are and not prone to waver or succumb to intimidation.  High profile people are known for this–especially when they are hurting.”

Many coaches have already studied Tiger Woods and found lessons in his life, though the lessons may need to be re-written.

Scott Eblin is an executive coach based in Washington, DC, and he’s an unabashed–but disappointed–fan of Tiger Woods.  ”I’ve regularly illustrated two of the most popular leadership tools I’ve shared with my audiences and clients with examples inspired by Tiger,” said Eblin. “So, in addition to being one of many disappointed fans, the whole Tiger mess that started on Thanksgiving night is going to compel me to retire some really good stories from my repertoire.”

Many have used the Tiger Woods success story (pre-Thanksgiving) as an argument in support of coaching.  

In August, Paul David Walker wrote Why Does Tiger Woods Need a Coach?, arguing that Woods has a swing coach because “even though he is the best golfer in the world, he cannot see his own swing.”  Walker wrote at the time that Woods’ success on the golf course came in part thanks to a lifelong commitment to sports coaching and mentoring.

As Herm Edwards asked on ESPN, who–aside from the swing coach and the fitness coach–who has been looking out for Tiger and challenging him?

Keller believes identifying the positive forces–obvious and hidden–in Woods’ life would be an essential part of coaching the star.  ”Tiger needs to identify resources that are available to him–most importantly the hidden ones,” Keller said.  ”We know he has the money, he has time, but what resources are needed that aren’t in his grasp, yet?  Does he have energy, spiritual and emotional support?  What about one person who has unconditional regard for him just for being him?  Who is it?  Does this person exist?  In the initial stages of coaching a high profile client, it often is the coach who fills this void.”

Steve Scott has also written about Tiger Woods and coaching, arguing that humility and a willingness to change are essential ingredients in any coaching relationship, whether it’s an elite athlete using a swing coach to take an honest look at the pro’s swing and tell it like they see it, or, a world-class athlete turned tabloid sensation using a coach to help plot a course out of the rough.

“A business life coach or small business coach with the right experience is great. But to have them coach success you must have a good connection where you are willing to be held accountable for your progress,” said Scott. “Think about it. Tiger Woods’ coaches are able to coach success because of their knowledge and more importantly, to communicate with Tiger in a way that motivates him to be held accountable to become better.”

The question is, is Tiger willing to be held accountable in the other areas of his life as well?

And what kind of coach could work with Tiger Woods without being sidetracked by, well, coaching Tiger Woods?

“The coach needs to be strong and unyielding in holding up the mirror to the client, particularly if the client has celebrity status,” said Keller.  ”It is critical to avoid the pitfalls of being star struck.”  And when needed, Keller says it’s just as important to know what part of the client’s life needs attention from someone else.  ”Tiger needs a coach that is experienced and/or trained to recognize the need for psychological intervention from other professions.  Coaching can c0-exist successfully with therapy.  Therapy looks back and asks ‘why?’ and coaching looks forward and asks, ‘what’s next?’”

So would you take the assignment?  Keller, for one, said it’s a no-brainer.  ”Of course I would take Tiger as a client!  I would coach him every step of the way.”