Tiger Woods golf course design debut is a head-scratcher

 While Tiger Woods set out to make a big splash and, without question, an enormous paycheck with his debut course design, it’s hard not to feel slightly disappointed.

Woods is the man who has been tapped to do more for society than Ghandi, so his late father, Earl, often said. This is the first and only African American to win the Masters. This is the man who, alone, reshaped the game for the 21^st century, making golf astronomically lucrative to his fellow pros and cool to iPod-toting teenagers. This is also the man who created The Tiger Woods Foundation from scratch—which, in addition to donating to numerous other charities, assists children who could use extra guidance. Kids with little money and less hope.

Now, I could be completely wrong about Woods’s motives for his first design project. It’s possible, for example, that the TW Foundation is receiving a massive slice of the Dubai design profits, and Woods has simply decided not to tell us about it. A rep for his foundation who asked not to be identified did confirm that each year Tiger is his charity’s No. 1 donor. It’s also possible that he will make his new course accessible to kids. There are plans for a golf academy—we just don’t yet know who it’s for.  

It’s also worth emphasizing that Woods has been extraordinarily generous with his time and fortune, especially toward kids. Last year he opened the $25 million Tiger Woods Learning Center, a state-of-the-art, 35,000-foot center for children. His foundation has helped countless citizens. It would be a shame if his new company veers entirely away from that vision.

As long as Woods is in the United Arab Emirates raking in the profits, there’s one other little thing he could do: Push for improved humanitarian conditions in the country.  While Dubai offers a desert paradise for tourists, citizens must cope with numerous atrocities. Children have been—and are widely still believed to be—enslaved. Reports of young boys starved to become jockeys in dangerous camel races are common. Rumblings abound of severe mistreatment of migrant and visiting workers, especially in the construction industry. Then there’s the country’s purported ties to 9/11 and the reports chronicling the United Arab Emirates as an outpost for Middle Eastern women working in the sex-trade industry.  

Now, Woods has the chance to accomplish something in this scuffling nation that reaches far beyond the construction of a swanky golf resort. The first step would involve taking a stand, publicly. So far, Woods has often seemed reluctant to rock the boat. It’s not too late to start. -JR