Tiger Woods Book:

Editorial Review:
The Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, the PGA Championship.

The Career Grand Slam.

At age 24.

He could very well be the greatest golfer to ever play the game.

Raising the Bar is the story of how Tiger Woods changed his life, his game, and the way America views golf. There have been many biographies written about Tiger's life and early days with the PGA, but each ends with his triumphant victory in the 1997 Masters Championship. In the last three years Tiger has endured a lifetime of experiences. Critically acclaimed golf writer and commentator Tim Rosaforte has watched Tiger since he burst onto the golfing scene and been an up-close observer of the Tiger's life both on and off the course. In Raising the Bar, we learn about:

Growing Pains
After the Masters, Woods won the GTE Byron Nelson Classic and the Motorola Western Open, but he also lost the Colonial and never factored in the three remaining major championships of the year because of his impatience and distance control problems. It was still a landmark year, but Tiger knew he had a long way to go to seriously challenge the legacy of Jack Nicklaus. That was proven at the Ryder Cup, where he airmailed greens, went 1-3-1, and lost in his singles match to Italy's Costantino Rocca.
The Slump
The 1998 season did not measure up to Tiger's standards. He won once overseas, beating Ernie Els with a final-round comeback (eight shots over Ernie Els) in the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic, and only once in America, the BellSouth Classic. Woods kept telling everyone he was playing much better than his four-victory debut, but nobody would believe him. In his mind, 1998 was a transition between the old Tiger Woods and the new Tiger Woods, a Tiger Woods that was being rebuilt to stand the test of time.
The Reinvention
How Tiger changed agents, caddies, and his image.
A new beginning - and a new swing
The scene begins with Tiger on the driving range at Isleworth, just before the GTE Byron Nelson Classic in 1999. The swing change that he's been working on with Butch Harmon takes hold, and he has an epiphany. He goes on to win three tournaments and then triumphs at the PGA Championship. Tiger's definitely back, and with a roar.
The Streak
Starting at Walt Disney World in October 1999, and ending at San Diego in 2000, Tiger was virtually unbeatable. He won six straight times on the PGA Tour and was close to winning a seventh until the back nine on Sunday at Torrey Pines. It all started with the Ryder Cup in September, where Tiger led his team to a thrilling Sunday comeback against the Europeans.
The Career Grand Slam
Without question his greatest accomplishment to date. Rosaforte gives everyone a seat inside the ropes as he chronicles Tiger's triumphant run through the last U.S. Open and British Open. We also watch as Tiger defends his PGA Championship in what many are calling the one of the greatest rounds of golf - ever.

Raising the Bar will last as a fitting tribute to Tiger's remarkable assault on the record books.

Description of Raising the Bar: The Championship Years of Tiger Woods:
Since storming onto the PGA Tour in 1996 and winning the Masters in 1997, Tiger Woods has topped golf's leader boards in most of the important categories, including ink. No golfer--indeed, no athlete, except maybe Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali--has been the subject of so many words in such a short time. In Raising the Bar, Tim Rosaforte adds to the flow, focusing on how Woods rebuilt himself and his game after the 1997 Masters and the slump of 1998. What's happened since, of course, is history.

And Rosaforte is there for every part of it. The conquests. The struggles. The endorsements, the contracts, the commercials. Tigermania. The horrible performance in the 1997 Ryder Cup matches. The doubts. The questions. The reassessment and reformulation of his game under the guidance of Butch Harmon. The weightlifting and fitness routine. The streak. The majors. The Grand Slam. It's a riveting triumph of will and focus, hard work and raw talent.

If Woods's game raises the bar--and there's no doubt that it has--Rosaforte's chronicle can't quite match the standards set by his subject. Yes, the book is well reported and certainly readable, but it seems rushed, a recapitulation churned out to be timely, rather than an analysis of a phenomenon that might be timeless in itself. Perhaps it's just too soon to expect that in a book, but if Tiger can raise the bar on the course, there's no reason the scribes who have him in their sights can't raise it some, as well. --Jeff Silverman

Raising the Bar: The Championship Years of Tiger Woods Reviews:
Tiger Woods
2003-01-08 - Rising The Bar is a book about a famous golfer named Tiger Woods by Tom Rosaforte. This book follows Tiger as he makes his professional golf career. Tiger was 2 when he started picking up the game of golf. He would watch his father when he would go golfing. When Tiger was 12 he won his first state golf tournament and by the time he was 19 he was in the Junior PGA (professional golf association). By the time Tiger reached the age of 23 he won his first professional golf title.

This book is a very easy book to read, even though it's a big book. Tim uses very easy words to understand. This book follows Tiger through every championship starting from his first one.

I would recommend this book to people who like sports and seeing people do well even though they weren't expected too. I'm the kind of person that likes books that shows how good people do coming from a not so good background. I give this book *** because if follows every detail of Tiger starting when he was a kid.

SHALLOW STUFF HERE
2002-08-23 - I enjoyed the book simply because I enjoy reading just about anything about Tiger. That said, I must say I was rather disapointed in this particular read. Not much original thought or insight to be found here. I was rather amused at the author's efforts to use every arcane and obscure golf term he could think of. He was a bit like a "name dropper" but in this case, he used "golf jargon" rather than celebrities. I also found I extremely difficult to follow the sequence of events. The chronology did not always work out. (I do wonder why publishers do not use editors anymore???? If I had one I certainly would not be misspelling so many words). Often times I found one event or one bit of information referred to differently, even in the same paragraph. All in all, I have read better.

Raising The Bar
2001-04-12 - Boring. Boring. Boring.

I almost gave up on the book after about 30 pages, but it was given to me as a gift and I like to finish that which I start.

If this book had to be written (?) then it should have been written by someone who could at least hold your attention, if not excite.

Tim Rosaforte shows little writing talent and one wonders what he is doing to raise his own bar. His readers and Tiger deserve better.

Having read John Feinstein and having grown up with the writings of Jim Murray perhaps my bar is set too high.

To anyone who wants to take a chance on this book I recommend the public library.

Even Tiger Junkies Will Be Disappointed
2001-04-06 - I have seen Tim Rosaforte on the Golf Channel and read an excerpt in Golf Digest so I was looking forward to this book. There were so many errors and typos--misspellings, wrong words, one whole section out of place--that it was hard to concentrate on the text. Many of the quotes were simply taken from Golf Channel interviews and shows. There was little evidence of research. It was clear that this book was designed to make money by capitalizing on Tiger's celebrity and was rushed to print while we were still talking about the 2000 season. Do publishers have editors and proofreaders any more? Save your money.

Wait till they lower the price or hire a proofreader.....
2001-02-13 - I was genuinely distracted from the content as I found myself reading every page "looking for more typos, inaccurate facts, etc". Many are noted in previous reviews....Butch Harmon is referred to as Bruce....David Duval is later called Davis....etc. I do not know the publishing process but I would think an author should have a vested interested in proofing his product....as well as many others. It is obviously an effort to cash in (the book itself had interesting facts, if you can trust themmmmm)......but also seemed disjointed and like it was slapped together without connection between chapters....bottom line - an inferior quality product given it is a 24 dollar hardcopy new book......wait for the next revision......