“I started pushing him a little bit” - Tiger Woods on beating his father at age 11 and never losing again

While a large group of individuals is often responsible for an athlete's international success, there is always a starting point in their careers. In the case of legendary US golfer Tiger Woods, it was his father Earl who introduced him to golf.

Earl introduced his son to golf when he was just two years old, and by the time Woods was 11, he beat his father for the first time. Earl, who himself was a talented golfer, didn't make it easy for Woods to beat him. However, Tiger Woods emerged victorious after a tight match ending with a putt on the 18th hole that separated them. This prompted the legend's famous fist-pump celebration for the first time.

According to the Mirror, Tiger Woods said about the match:

"I started coming up, I started pushing him a little bit and he wasn't going to let this whipper snapper get him. The first time I beat my dad I was 11, I was one over through 15 and he was even. I birdied the 16th, we both pared 17 so we were both even par playing on the 18th."

He further added how the match ended:

"We got to the 18th which is a par five. I hit my ball to about 18 to 20 feet (from the hole), he's about 15 feet. I hoop it and he missed it. People think that I did the fist pump when I make my putt, when he missed his is when I did my first fist pump."

Woods also talked about the kind of "battles" he used to have with his father:

"I just ran off the green, that's the kind of battles my dad and I used to have when I was little."

After that first victory against his father, Tiger Woods never lost to him again.

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Tiger Woods uses his father Earl's special forces tactic to prepare his son Charlie

Tiger Woods with son Charlie Woods at the PNC Championship - Final Round (Image via Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Earl Woods was a US Army officer and a Vietnam War veteran. He trained his son Tiger Woods exclusively for his first five years in golf. He even published two books revealing the techniques he used to train Tiger Woods.

One of the techniques that Earl used to prepare him was a special forces tactic designed to test his son mentally and prepare him to handle the psychological pressure that comes with playing professional golf.

Tiger said about his father's training methods:

"My father was former special forces, so you have to understand that mentality. They have to be the best at everything that they do."

Now, Tiger uses this tactic to aid his son Charlie's progress. Charlie has shown tremendous potential and looks to be on his way to following in his father's footsteps.

Woods said at the Hero World Challenge event:

"It's trying to get him - if I can get into his head, that means someone else can get into his head. It's going to get to a point where I can't get into his head, and then no one else can get in there either. That's what my dad believed. You've got to be willing to take it."