Before Tiger Woods could swing a golf club, his father bought him a set. Father Woods could not have known his son would grow up to be a champ, or even that his son would not abandon golf for some other sport, but he placed his faith in this hope and diligently trained his son in the sport.
It would have been more practical to wait until Tiger could form his own preferences. Father Woods could have related stories of great golfers, explained the game—even brought along his son when he went out to the course—and waited anxiously for that day when Tiger would say, “Dad, I want to be a golfer, too.” That way, he would not have risked so much money on multiple sets of tiny custom clubs.
But although he was zealous for the sport, Father Woods was not so impractical as to buy golf clubs for everyone in town. Not even the mayor would dare hope that everyone would eventually turn out on the golf course! Both men stick to people and projects in their spheres of influence, though Father Woods might go so far as to buy a golf club for a player, recently deceased, who played the course faithfully for years without equipment. The old player would borrow clubs—even sticks found under trees—to hit the balls with, so Father Woods thought it very appropriate that he lay a shiny new iron on the coffin.
©2001 M Richter