Tiger Woods' Strange Furniture Habit

You may have heard that Tiger Woods is a control freak, but you probably don't realize the extent of Woods' obsession with regulating every aspect of his life.

In a recent column, ESPN's Rick Reilly mentions a bizarre habit of Woods' that will probably come as a shock to many people:

"[Woods is] a detail demon down to the tips of his shoelaces. If he rents your house for a tournament, he allegedly has all of your furniture taken out and duplicates of his own brought in, so he feels at home."

With the amount of traveling Woods does, this can't be cheap. Or practical. But this is who Woods is.

Woods' desire to regulate every aspect of his life has likely ruined some of his closest relationships. He is so focused on winning that sometimes he is naive to other parts of his life.

Is Woods' unusual tunnel vision worth it? A new Nike ad seems to make that claim. The ad is a photo of Woods with the slogan, "Winning takes care of everything."

But it is practices like this, taking the time to insert replicas of his furniture into temporary homes, that make one question the extent of Woods' drive.

I bet when he just started out on the PGA tour, he didnt have this weird habit. Money makes some people do funny funny things.. (Too much money, too little place to spend)

Money allows excessive customization mah

His money, his choice. Who are we to say?

If spending money can give him a frame of mind to win then so be it.

Diff ppl got diff quirks. Last time when I am taking exam, I will wear only a certain shirt and use only certain pen and eat only certain food so that I will be comfortable, know that my pen will perform and know that I wont have to shit in the middle of the paper. These things give me comfort to put my mind on the main thing - answer the questions and score.

Tiger is winning so these things give him peace of mind. When his life was in shatters, he has no peace of mind when he knows he has no home to go back to. But now that he has a GF, he has a love to rest his heart when he finishes his game and now he is playing well again.

Winning to some may not be everything but at least Tiger takes winning to a level we all can awe at and provides lots of inspiration and motivation to golfers like us. How many times have we watched his swing videos. And to those that fell, if Tiger can climb back, we can also climb back. That is the motivation sports celebrities give to mortals like us.

As time progresses, winning becomes more and more difficult. Last time only need to run eg 10 secs to win 100m. now need to run 8.xxx. Same for golf.

Just ranting before I start work.

Joshua wrote:

You may have heard that Tiger Woods is a control freak, but you probably don't realize the extent of Woods' obsession with regulating every aspect of his life.

In a recent column, ESPN's Rick Reilly mentions a bizarre habit of Woods' that will probably come as a shock to many people:

"[Woods is] a detail demon down to the tips of his shoelaces. If he rents your house for a tournament, he allegedly has all of your furniture taken out and duplicates of his own brought in, so he feels at home."

With the amount of traveling Woods does, this can't be cheap. Or practical. But this is who Woods is.

Seeing how the article is written very close to Apr 1, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. But lets assume 'alleged' is true.

Ever brush a leaf or a speck of dirt off one's shoes as we tee up or line up a putt? Most of us can relate to that. Something that is in our subconscious bothers us and we remove it.

Ever have trouble sleeping before a golf game, esp if say buddies are flying in for the game and there'll be a ton of ego on in line, or it's an upcoming tournament, or you are sleeping in a strange hotel? Lack of sleep wreaks havoc as we know.

So, with tournament money, world golf ranking, sponsorship etc all on the line, to the tune of USD10m in prize money, USD100m including sponsorships, I'd guess it pays for moving A LOT of furniture around. Probably tax deductible as well. Tiger Woods is a corporation, with corporation-sized revenue, taxes and budgets. When we think of the numbers as such, instead of the numbers we are used to as individuals, we'll see a different picture.

Joshua wrote:

...
Is Woods' unusual tunnel vision worth it? A new Nike ad seems to make that claim. The ad is a photo of Woods with the slogan, "Winning takes care of everything."

Well, it's worth maintaining an income circa USD100m on an asset that is depreciating with time - his aging body, accumulated injuries, not to mention new swing AGAIN, a personal life that publicly exploded in an expensive divorce, the public and some of his fans up in an uproar, mega sponsors dropping him like a hot potato. That was just 2-3 years ago. Understandably, A LOT of golf pundits and experts have written him off. Now, look at where he is. So, I guess the unusual tunnel vision helped. It was probably a key component in fact.

Joshua wrote:

But it is practices like this, taking the time to insert replicas of his furniture into temporary homes, that make one question the extent of Woods' drive.

I'd say, actually, it confirms the extent of his drive rather than question it. And the results (most wins in the PGA Tour this year, back in the top in Fedex Cup points - another USD10m pop coming up there, and back at world #1, against a field of younger competitors such as Rory) speak for themselves. So early in the season too. One could say he's back with a roar.

Purely looking at the result of his performance as a golfer, one might say, whatever he's doing, keep it up, seems to be working.

Just sharing my thoughts, no offence intended.

Gray wrote:

His money, his choice. Who are we to say?

If spending money can give him a frame of mind to win then so be it.

Diff ppl got diff quirks. Last time when I am taking exam, I will wear only a certain shirt and use only certain pen and eat only certain food so that I will be comfortable, know that my pen will perform and know that I wont have to shit in the middle of the paper. These things give me comfort to put my mind on the main thing - answer the questions and score.

Tiger is winning so these things give him peace of mind. When his life was in shatters, he has no peace of mind when he knows he has no home to go back to. But now that he has a GF, he has a love to rest his heart when he finishes his game and now he is playing well again.

Winning to some may not be everything but at least Tiger takes winning to a level we all can awe at and provides lots of inspiration and motivation to golfers like us. How many times have we watched his swing videos. And to those that fell, if Tiger can climb back, we can also climb back. That is the motivation sports celebrities give to mortals like us.

As time progresses, winning becomes more and more difficult. Last time only need to run eg 10 secs to win 100m. now need to run 8.xxx. Same for golf.

Just ranting before I start work.

+10..... i do what i like and i like what i do...

When one is so rich n famous, i suppose he can do almost whatever he wants.....

i guess most people dont realize how common this habit actually is among the mega rich

i know for a fact that the sultan of brunei and his brother do this all the time

and a fair number of the house of saud also practice this, going so far as to have replicas of

their furniture left in their private jets for use wherever they may go

i have heard of cases whereby that particular prince would book a hotel room insisting it to be

empty and have his staff come 1 to 2 days earlier to ensure that everything is as it was back

home

We all want things to make us feel comfortable whenever we travel. For some, it's a photo, for others, it's a teddy bear, but for the super-rich, it's anything they want.

I guess with the furniture from home and arranged in the way TW is used to, he can perform with whomever the way he wants... he's had sufficient practise at home with the same props