A while back, I was reading in Yahoo News about how Tiger Woods was obsessed with Navy SEAL training and how he was shot with a rubber bullet in a SEAL training exercise east of San Diego.
From Yahoo News
The 36-year-old professional golfer, who secretly yearned to join the military, was running around shooting targets in the mock urban combat zone when he was caught by a round.
“I screwed up. In a real mission I probably would have gotten some of my squad killed,” the Daily Mail quoted Woods as telling his former swing coach Hank Haney.
Haney claims that the incident showed the depth of Woods’ obsession with becoming a Navy SEAL…..
Tiger Woods squeezes off a few rounds during training at a range outside San Diego. SEAL instructors assigned to Naval Special Warfare Center at Coronado had recently taught him some basic marksmanship skills. US Navy photo by Chief Journalist Deborah Carson (RELEASED)
Navy SEALs Don’t Use Rubber Bullets
To clear things up, the training bullet was most likely a Simunition Round (we don’t use rubber bullets), and yes, it hurts like hell to get shot by one of those bad boys. It should hurt even more in my opinion, this would drive home the importance of NOT getting shot.
A while back, I was reading in Yahoo News about how Tiger Woods was obsessed with Navy SEAL training and how he was shot with a rubber bullet in a SEAL training exercise east of San Diego.
From Yahoo News
The 36-year-old professional golfer, who secretly yearned to join the military, was running around shooting targets in the mock urban combat zone when he was caught by a round.
“I screwed up. In a real mission I probably would have gotten some of my squad killed,” the Daily Mail quoted Woods as telling his former swing coach Hank Haney.
Haney claims that the incident showed the depth of Woods’ obsession with becoming a Navy SEAL…..
Tiger Woods squeezes off a few rounds during training at a range outside San Diego. SEAL instructors assigned to Naval Special Warfare Center at Coronado had recently taught him some basic marksmanship skills. US Navy photo by Chief Journalist Deborah Carson (RELEASED)
Navy SEALs Don’t Use Rubber Bullets
To clear things up, the training bullet was most likely a Simunition Round (we don’t use rubber bullets), and yes, it hurts like hell to get shot by one of those bad boys. It should hurt even more in my opinion, this would drive home the importance of NOT getting shot.
And I wouldn’t call it an “obsession;” I’d call it a bit of soul-searching. After all, Tiger lost his father, and his dad was cut from the cloth of Special Operations. Why wouldn’t he be curious about it? I’m sure his father used lessons learned as a Special Forces soldier and helped Tiger apply these very same lessons to his golf game.
Many have also cast doubt on Tiger’s appearances at various SEAL exercises, but rest assured, it happened. I’ve had many of my friends and teammates meet Tiger, and every one of them said he was a class act. He needs a little work on his marksmanship, but that’s to be expected—and that’s another story.
Golf is One of The Toughest Mental Games on The Planet
Golf is extremely difficult when it comes to mental management; I cover mental management in a past article on flow. You only have to look at any example of the game where pressure has crushed a would be champion. Tiger is a champion, he has proven this over and over again. His mental toughness, coupled with the fact that his father Earl Woods was a Special Forces Soldier, solidifies my belief that Tiger would have had no problem getting through SEAL selection. The game of golf is mind over matter and so is any Special Operations selection course. If you don’t mind then it doesn’t fucking matter.
SEAL selection or BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training) takes a person of average physical ability and the mental strength to make it through. Tiger Woods has both attributes and comes from good warrior stock.
If circumstances were different, Tiger could have been the SEAL that put three rounds in UBL’s head on the SEAL Team Six raid to take out Bin Laden.
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Brandon Webb former Navy SEAL, Bestselling Author and Editor-in-Chief
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