Tiger Woods is largely credited for pioneering strength training among golfers. Over the last three decades his own dedication to the gym has inspired some of the best players in the world to build both power and robustness to handle the repetitive nature of the sport. But as the 15-time major winner’s injuries have racked up in recent years (he’s needed seven separate back surgeries in the last 10 years alone), his intense physical workouts have come under increasing scrutiny.
His latest setback came at the beginning of October, when he announced he had undergone ‘successful’ disc replacement surgery after experiencing pain and a lack of mobility in his back. The 49-year-old failed to provide a timeframe for his return, having missed the entirety of the 2025 season after surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon.
However, it’s another aspect of his fitness routine that he believed caused him more harm than good over the course of his esteemed career, as Dan Rapaport – from the podcast, Dan on Golf – revealed from a conversation he had with Woods:
‘I remember a conversation that I had with Tiger at one point where I was like, “When you look back on all your injuries, is there one thing that you would tell yourself not to do, one thing you regret?” And he said, “Yes, I shouldn’t have run so much”.’ ‘He used to run miles and miles a day and his knee took a beating. That’s another thing that’s a huge issue.’
Woods’ injury issues started in 1994 aged just 19, when he needed surgery to remove two benign tumours and scar tissue from his left knee. Since then, he’s had four more knee surgeries in addition to his back procedures, while also suffering from multiple neck and Achilles issues. A severe car crash in February 2021 then left him with multiple leg, ankle and foot fractures, limiting his ability to play consistently on the PGA Tour.
Rapaport, though, is sure it wasn’t just running that exacerbated his ailments. ‘Tiger gets a lot of credit for inspiring golfers to get in the gym, and he’s definitely a huge reason why,’ he says. ‘But if you talk to a modern strength and conditioning person, they would be like, “I don’t know what the hell he was doing, because no one gets injured like this!”‘
You Might Also Like
