Tiger Woods’ successor is just 11 years-old

Columnist

By Spiro Zavos, 9 Oct 2008 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: coaching, Josh Martin, Tiger Woods

The Wall Street Journal has called Josh Martin, an eleven year-old with a “butter-smooth swing” that he can repeat exactly every stroke, “the best golfer in the world at his age.”

This summer young Martiin, a fair-haired, skinny kid, is averaging 69.9 strokes every round he plays at the tough Pinehurst course, which is 5,614 yards long.

Professional courses are 7000/7500 long.

His lowest round is 62. And in the past four years, Martin has won nearly every major junior golf tournament he has entered.

This statistic reveals the real story behind the Josh Martin story.

His father, Bowie Martin, is determined to ensure that his sons (older brother Zach 13 is also an excellent golfer) have the chance to become golf greats. So both boys have been subjected to an intense coaching, tutoring and playing regime that is intended to make them champion players.

Josh has responded better than Zach to the seemingly brutal golf regime regime imposed by their father. Zach has already dropped out twice. But he is apparently back on the golf treadmill.

I’ve seen clips of Tiger Woods on the Bob Hope show beating the star at a putting competition. Tiger was about four years old at the time the TV show was filmed. He is a case of a prodigy, coached and mentored relentlessly by his father, who has achieved greatness.

There are few other cases in golf where this sort of success has followed a single-minded determination by a parent to force a child into sporting stardom.

And when the occasional force-fed athlete actually makes it into the big-time, they often have very short careers. The example of a number of young female tennis stars come to mind.

In about ten years time we’ll know if Josh Martin is going to fulfill his father’s ambitions.

Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.

The Crowd Says (7) | Page 1 of Comments

Brett McKay said | October 9th 2008 @ 8:52am | Report comment

Interesting Spiro that the once-common temptation to force Zach to play right-handed rather than left has been ignored. Refreshing even, given the context of child prodigies and their (parents) pursuit of excellence.

Still want to knee-cap the little so-and-so’s though!! I’d be happy to hit 69 ONCE, let alone average it, at whatever age..

Reply
Greg Russell said | October 9th 2008 @ 12:29pm | Report comment

Spiro writes “There are few other cases in golf where this sort of success has followed a single-minded determination by a parent to force a child into sporting stardom.”

The phenomenon under discussion here – that of relentless training as a child – is not a golf-specific issue but a sporting one in general. I am not sure that Spiro is correct.

Personally I find the stories about the the Martin boys and the young Tiger remarkably similar to those of Bradman the boy, spending hour after hour hitting a golf ball with a cricket stump against a tank. The only difference here would seem to be that Bradman was self-motivated even as a boy. I don’t know when it started, but one of Tiger’s distinguishing features as an adult is his incredible level of self-motivation and focus (again, both recall Bradman to an uncanny extent). It is not unreasonable to liken the record of Tiger to that of Bradman.

Apparently there are videos of Andre Agassi playing tennis rallies as a three-year old, something that can only have been the result of relentless parental training as well as massive natural talent (as the father of a 4 year old who has just started tennis lessons, I can say this with great confidence about the young Agassi).

And I think most of us are aware that Maradona could juggle a football for hours on end as a boy.

Or we have read about the number of hours of training that gymnasts and divers did to get to the pinnacle of their sport.

Reply
Phil Coorey said | October 9th 2008 @ 7:34pm | Report comment

Dad sounds like a real great guy – those boys are blessed

Reply
Roman said | July 8th 2009 @ 9:44am | Report comment

I hope for the kids’ sake that they absolutely positively love playing golf.. if otherwise then it would be a miserable existence for them should they grow up achieving their fathers goals instead of their own…

Reply
Kristjan Sigurjonsson said | August 18th 2009 @ 5:12am | Report comment

As a golf fan I look forward to see how these brothers are going to process in the future.

Reply
Michael said | May 25th 2010 @ 10:50pm | Report comment

I am a professional golfer and I am glad I took the high road of having a ‘normal’ upbringing whereby I went to school, partied , traveled and then did a PGA traineeship.
the kids must have a normal lifestyle and let them choose what to do for fun. Imagine somebody choosing you to do the same thing for “fun’ day in day out, as a growing kid.
Naturly the kids will want to expand there horizons as with school friends do
Goodluck with that

Reply
Beau said | January 1st 2012 @ 9:39am | Report comment

When the Martin boys lived in Wilson, NC, my son witnessed Bowie’s mother (the boy’s Grandmother) spanking the boys when she found them goofing around instead of practicing. Once the boys get away from Dad and start to experience things other than golf, LOOK OUT.
I hope this doesn’t end badly.

Reply