If not for the popularity of Tiger, golf becoming more popular, televised and deemed "cool", I might not have given it a shot. I'll be honest, if not for Tiger, there is good chance I may have never taken up the game.

I'm sort of interested to also hear opinions on how much revenue courses, club manufacters (all, not just Nike), teaching pro's and driving ranges have gained due to his influence.

For anyone who started after tiger got big, the answer has to be at least "he partially influenced me". How can you watch him play golf and not want to be him? He does amazing things and makes it look so easy.

Everyone here wishes they could make a shot that would make David Feherty go "ITS NOT POSSIBLE! HE DID NOT JUST DO THAT"

I know he was a big influence on me.

Tiger had no influence on me playing, because we are only about 4 months apart in age and I played in two Junior World tournaments against him. I would have played no matter what. I was rather amazed at all of the attention he was getting at the age of 16, but when you have talent, everybody wants to put you in the magazines.

I started playing in 1992. So I had no idea who he was then. I was a big time Couples and Love III fan back then.

He had zero influence on me playing and actually has had a negative impact on golf from my perspective. After Tiger, all the golf courses and equipment manufacturers jacked the prices through the roof! My favorite player growing up was Faldo! I always thought he was a dead ringer for Harrison Ford from day 1! I also liked his totally robotic and unemotional way of going about his business; which Tiger does a great job of doing today.

Voted: "No, I would have played without him."

Could have voted the last one but I'm just about his age anyway.
Picked up golf because of my uncle's influence and Jack Nicklaus (his favorite player) and it's a sport close to nature.

Although I do admire and follow TW on his quest.

I answered no. I had always thought golf was one of the most boring things on tv. I had no desire to play until the place I work decided to pay for everyone to golf 9 holes about 2 years ago. I hit 2 good shots the whole day and that did it, I was hooked.

Since then I have learned to appreciate Tiger. He is my favorite player. The things he does with a golf ball are amazing. I think more kids (including mine) are interested in golf because of him. Everyone in the world knows who Tiger Woods is.

I would say no he had no influence on me playing golf which probably seems odd seeing that I'm 15. But I was listening to a couple of my friends talk about it and though it would be fun...so I tried it and I was hooked. Before then I couldn't stand to watch golf on TV.

But now that I have learned who tiger is and how good he plays he has been my favorite player since a little while after I started playing golf.(I liked weir because when I started playing he won the masters the same week and he was left handed) And I am amazed how good Tiger is.

he may not have had an influence on all of you starting but hi is why we are all on this website even deiscussing it. you all need to be honest with yourselves. we all strive to be better because of him.....period!

i never felt the need to be better because of tiger. i love golf period. tiger has had a big influence on the changes that golf has seen over the past decade or so, but my drive to play, improve, have fun, has nothing to do with him. if it wasn't tiger, it would've been someone else anyways to revolutionize the game.

Started playing before he was even born, so no influence there. I'm one of those strange types that is influenced by those in direct contact with myself, i.e, family, friends...etc, as opposed to worshipping someone I'll never know. My grandfather was my influence, and taught me to love & respect the game of golf, as well as many other sports.

However, Tiger does indeed have a profound impact on my game & life.

Courses are MUCH more expensive, I am seeing more and more people on tough tracks that have no business being there, & etiquette has appeared to have gone south.

Oh....and I must put up with hearing his name mentioned every 5 mins....EVEN when I'm watching the telecast of the 2007 US Amateur!!!

P.S....the earlier poster who believes that people gravitate towards this site because of TW needs to cease living in FantasyLand. Just because YOU happen to breathe in & out in unison with him, doesn't mean that everyone shares your affliction. "We all strive to be better as a result of him??????" I'll be laughing at that one for years to come.

I started playing before I knew who Tiger was. I was like 14 and started playing around 1996 or so . I only played for a few months and didn't take the game back up until recently. At that time, I viewed golf as largely a recreational activity. Competitive and tournament golf never crossed my mind. Now in large part due to TW I appreciate tournament golf as a competitive sport.

This part of your statement couldn't be any more wrong concerning myself. I try to better myself, because of my local competition. I am trying to beat them, so that is the reason why I try to better myself.

Are you serious? I think equipment has stayed remarkably steady in price over the years. I just got back into golf after about 8 years off. I bought a set of Lynx Parallax for $450 and a Big Bertha for $300 in '94. I just bought a new combo set of MP60/32 for $1000 (but that was 4 - PW plus Gap, Lob and Sand) and a G5 for $300. That is pretty similar and the difference in the irons probably has more to do with inflation then anything else. If anything, I think Tiger has kept the price of clubs DOWN as he has caused more companies to get into golf which means competition and price reductions.

On the other hand, he is pretty much solely responsible for the increase in prize money though!

Oh, and he didnt have an effect on me starting as I started before I heard of him (I am 6 months older then him and started in high school). Although as soon as I did start I heard of him a lot as I played in a lot of junior tournaments growing up in So Cal.

I started to play a little over a year ago. Tiger didn't influence the decision to start playing but he keeps me interested in watching the PGA on TV. When he is in a tournament, I enjoy watching but I am now watching without him there (IE the Barclays). I have other favorites like Phil, Ernie, Charlie III, Davis Love, etc and enjoy watching them play. I enjoy watching John Daly play too. He seems like more of the common man in my opinion. Not all of us play with the same intensity as Tiger but I can relate to some of the things that John does. Sometimes we tend to take ourselves and the game a little too serious. It was refreshing (to me) to hear John's comments when he was near the top of the PGA leaderboard. That was priceless stuff to me.

Tiger increased the number of people wanting to play who had no business being out on the course as their first time picking up a golf club; higher number of corporate tourneys; thus courses jacked the $$$ up considerably due to increased demand.
And you are going to have to go back 11 years to escape his influence.

I started playing because of a couple of co-workers and became addicted because of the game itself. I would definately say that Tiger has made the game cool though and am enjoying him make history.

I didn't say anything about the price of a round of golf but I don't really think that has increased considerably over the years either, at least as compared to inflation. Actually, I have heard from a couple of reports that the number of rounds of golf played per year has been slowly decereasing in the past 8 to 10 years which certainly doesn't make the demand more.

Hell yeah, he(tiger) did influence me to play golf. Before Tiger the only golfers I knew were Fred Couples and Payne Stewart. I didn't even watch golf on tv before Tiger. Tiger is not even my favorite golfer, but he is the reason why I started playing.

Actually, Tiger really had no effect for me taking up the game. It was all Camilo Villegas' fault.

Woods did not influence my decision to play but he did help me find a way to hit the ball well.
I decided to teach myself with a goal of being ten handicap within 12 months of starting. I watched him swing on TV and copied his elbow, forearm and wrist positions and angles which gave me a massive head start. Thanks, Tiger.
Also tried to copy his putting stroke, with somewhat less success!
Putting is where it's at.

I can't say that he influenced me playing directly, but I'm sure that without him I probably wouldn't be playing, cos I feel like it is a snow ball affect. My friends played because of their fathers, and I had always had an interest in golf but never gotten around to really playing. We went out for a bash when none of us weren't real good players about 2 years ago. 6 months down the track I really started playing and now 18 months after that my game is lightyears apart from when I started. I think it has a lot to do with the growing popularity of golf today because of TW, and that is why I think he has had an influence on me playing, even though it isn't directly.






I also attribute it to my OCD

He never influenced my play. That was my grandfather's fault. He did influence my putting routine however. I saw a film he made in Atlanta, and part of it was him talking about what he thinks about when he putts. It made total sense and I lost my fear of putts over 4 feet.

The numbers don't really back that up. According to the National Golf Foundation the peak for play was in 1988, that is when courses around the country had more play than any other single year. It has been going down the last several years with last year being the lowest year since they've been collecting data.

In reality courses aren't raising prices because of increased demand, they are raising prices so they can stay open. The market was flooded(which also began before Tiger), and there were too many courses and not enough golfers. In order to stay in business, they had to raise the prices. But it isn't working, last year was the first time in 60 years that more courses closed in this country than opened.

For all of the people that Tiger may be bringing to the game, the game itself isn't growing.

Not at first. I started playing cuz it was fun and something i could do with my grandfather.

Great post.

He had zero influence on me playing the game and it wouldn't bother me a bit if he never swung a club again.

Tiger had no influence on me either. His "game" doesn't really interest me unless it's on my PS2.

It's funny to se how many people say their grandfathers had something to do with their golf. That's who I got started with also.

I have had a club since i was 3 and i was on a course at age 10, 1982. So i was playing way before he was on tour!

Tiger really influenced myself and my dad to play golf. Seeing a minority like us out there just gives you something to relate to. It doesn't hurt that hes the best.

I thank Tiger because I love this game.

He has zero influence on me. I don't buy a product becasue he endorses it. I don't own any Nike products. I don't try to copy his swing. I am built differently. He may be the greatest golfer ever. I am glad that I get to watch him but that is about as far as it goes with his influence.

I started playing long before Tiger was around. And I can honestly say that even if I had been born more recently he would have very little, if any influence. He and the other Tour pros play a game very different than even very acomplished amateurs.

Jack, Arnold, Gary, were influences but only in how they behaved on the golf course. Even though my handicap has been as low as a +2 I've always known that there was no way I could consider playing on the Tour.

I've played off and on since the mid 70's (and I still suck!). Tiger's influence on me is I won't buy Nike clubs, I won't buy Nike clothes, I've played Nike balls that were given to me but haven't bought any, and I almost bought a pair of SP-II's but just couldn't do it. I get really sick of everything golf being "Tiger this" and "Tiger that" to the point that I just can't buy Nike products.

I agree Tiger is one of the greatest golfers of all time, the best of his time, and generally a good guy. I am fascinated by some of the shots he pulls off. But frankly, the biggest influence he has on me is on any given Sunday afternoon that he's leading I turn off the tournament and find something else to do.

I look forward to someone (anyone) stepping up and taking World #1 away from him. Unfortunately, it'll be a while.