Fist Pump Challenge

by Mulligan Stu on Jan 21, 2008 9:37 PM EST Comment 0 comments

Tiger Woods on the first time he beat his father at golf:

"I was 11 years old and we were playing at the Navy golf course at Long Beach," he recalled.

"At the time, my Dad was a one-handicapper, a pretty good player, and we were playing from the back tees. I birdied 16 to go even par for the day and my Dad was already at even par.

"We both parred 17 and 18 is a par-five. I hit a sand wedge up there to about 15 feet. My Dad at the time was a little bit shorter than me and he hit a little longer club in there to about 20 feet. He missed and I made.

"I shot 71 and I went crazy," the world number one said with a broad grin. "I punched the air, uppercutting the air and ran off the green. It was the greatest thing I had ever done in my life, beating my Dad.

"He didn't really know what had happened but must have thought I was a crazy fool. When he added up the scorecard, then he realized what happened and we celebrated pretty hard that night. It was fun."

Grape sodas for everyone!

That story is from a Reuters article on the Fist Pump Challenge, an endeavor of the Tiger Woods Foundation announced today by Woods.

"The Fist Pump Challenge allows kids to highlight the moments in their lives that brought them closer to reaching their goals. I believe that small steps can lead to big changes.

"There are kids around the country having these little moments in which they can celebrate with themselves or with friends. I would like to have them share that with all of us and be able to communicate their experiences with others.

"The Fist Pump Moment could be anything," added Woods. "It could be mentoring somebody, achieving an ultimate goal, improving your grades or getting the lead in the school play.

"It's going to inspire kids and I think that's where this program is going to be so influential.

"When they see kids doing great things, it's going to inspire other kids to follow suit and be somewhat competitive, and say: 'You know what, I can do things a little bit better.' That's how we can make an improvement on society as a whole."

Kids can submit their "Fist Pump Challenge" story in writing or on video at tigerwoodsfoundation.org. There will be prizes, but please, no wagering.

What would your Fist Pump Moment be? I can still remember every single sensation of the best shot I've ever hit on a golf course. But here's something odd: Even though I'm one of those guys with Nicklaus-like golf recall - I can describe every nook and cranny of a golf course I played once in 1985 and never again - I don't remember a thing about the first time I broke 80, or about my career-best round. Strange.

My Fist Pump Moment would be something else anyway. I recall sitting with friends in the clubhouse post-round. We'd each wolfed down a couple hot dogs that had been spinning on the clubhouse rotisserie for, I'm guessing, six months. I had moved onto a giant bag of Funyuns.

I was about halfway through the bag when I started feeling very queasy. I knew I shouldn't continue. I felt terrible, I was stuffed, and, let's face it, Funyuns will kill you.