Tiger Woods "seriously considered" quitting golf to become a Navy SEAL, according to his former swing coach Hank Haney.
In his upcoming book, Haney writes that he had to talk the former world number one out of a career in the military.
The 57-year-old says that Woods was obsessed with joining the SEALs, as his father had been a special forces operative during the Vietnam War.
Haney also reveals that the 36-year-old went on dozens of trips to naval bases across the country.
A passage from the book reads: "I thought 'Wow, here is Tiger Woods, the greatest athlete on the planet, maybe the greatest athlete ever, right in the middle of his prime, basically ready to leave it all behind for a military life'.
"To my knowledge, he did training in parachuting, self-defence, urban-warfare simulations and shooting. I never heard of Tiger doing any training in the water with the SEALs, but he was already a pretty accomplished diver.
"He talked all about the different guns and how to allow for wind and the flight of the bullet, almost as if he were describing a golf shot.
"When I later learned the full truth about the dangerous exercises that Tiger engaged in with the SEALs, it caused me to question whether the greatest golfer the game has ever seen severely hampered his chance at surpassing one of the most revered marks in all of sports - Jack Nicklaus's record - because of his fascination with the military."
The book, titled The Big Miss, is due to be published by Golf Digest on March 27, a week before The Masters at Augusta National.
Michael Penkman
