| The August 14, 2000 issue of Time Magazine | | | | The article notes that Woods has become "...an |
| features an article about Tiger Woods titled "The | | | | obsessive student of the game who reviews |
| Game of Risk - How the Best Golfer in the World | | | | videotapes of old tournaments for clues about how |
| Got Even Better". Although I have no specific | | | | to play each hole." Alexander too was an obsessive |
| interest in the sport of golf, I do have a | | | | student of his performance and in the end his |
| long-standing fascination with the general theme of | | | | obsession paid off not only in providing a solution to |
| the article: how can someone learn to do something | | | | his voice problem, but later in the discovery of a |
| better? | | | | process that could be taught to others who wanted |
| That's precisely what the Alexander Technique is all | | | | to improve the quality of their physical functioning. |
| about. And while Tiger Woods has probably never | | | | "What is most remarkable about Woods," the article |
| heard of it, it's interesting that his quest for a better | | | | continues, "is his restless drive for what the Japanese |
| golf swing parallels in many ways the process F. | | | | call kaizen, or continuous improvement. Toyota |
| Matthias Alexander - the developer of the Alexander | | | | engineers will push a perfectly good assembly line |
| Technique - went through a century ago. | | | | until it breaks down. They'll find and fix the flaw and |
| Alexander was a Shakespearean reciter who ran up | | | | push the system again. That's kaizen. That's Tiger." |
| against limitations in his ability to perform well on | | | | And that's Alexander, too. Never content with the |
| stage. At that time there were no microphones and | | | | progress he had already made - first in solving his |
| speakers and so he had to fill an entire auditorium | | | | own voice problem and later in developing better |
| with just the power of his own voice. Like Woods he | | | | ways to teach others, and to train teachers in his |
| was very talented at his profession but he also knew | | | | Technique. |
| that there was room for improvement. In particular, | | | | Wood's first instructor, Rudy Duran, commented that |
| he found that his voice gave out during a longer | | | | he has "the ability to stay in the present during a |
| performance and that he had a tendency to gasp for | | | | tournament and focus on hitting one shot at a time." |
| breath on occasion. | | | | Alexander, too, discovered that in order to change |
| Neither his doctors nor his vocal coaches were able | | | | his way of speaking he had to learn to stay focused |
| to help and so he set off on his own, using a system | | | | on what he was thinking and doing in the present. |
| of mirrors to monitor his performance in order to see | | | | Much of what Alexander Technique teachers do to |
| precisely what was causing his difficulties. If he were | | | | help their students with today is teach them how to |
| living today, he would probably use videotapes of | | | | develop this skill for themselves. |
| himself to see what was going on. | | | | It's no wonder that so many leading performers in |
| That's what Tiger Woods did in order to improve his | | | | the fields of acting, music, and dance have studied |
| swing. "I knew I wasn't in the greatest positions in | | | | the Alexander Technique and have publicly endorsed |
| my swing at the Masters," Woods said. "But my | | | | it. It turns out that this ability is also very useful for |
| timing was great, so I got away with it. And I made | | | | people who don't consider themselves to be |
| almost every putt. You can have a wonderful week | | | | performers but whose "performance" of activities in |
| like that even when your swing isn't sound. But can | | | | their daily lives has put harmful stress on their bodies, |
| you still contend in tournaments with that swing | | | | often to the point of causing pain such as backache |
| when your timing isn't good? Will it hold up over a | | | | or stiff shoulders and necks. |
| long period of time? The answer to those questions, | | | | Learning how to monitor your thoughts and actions in |
| with the swing I had, was no. And I wanted to | | | | real time is a valuable skill for anyone to master. |
| change that." | | | | |