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- Tiger Woods used to have 13-hour, marathon training days when he was younger, according to his former trainer Hank Haney.
- Haney said Woods would often do a morning workout, work on his swing, play 18 holes, work on his game some more, then do a second workout in the evening.
- Haney said such laborious training gave Woods a mental edge as he knew nobody would outwork him.
When Tiger Woods was at the height of his career, there may not have been anyone in golf that outworked him.
In a video with Golf Digest, Woods' former trainer Hank Haney said that Woods had a laborious training schedule and was often "chomping at the bit" to go out and keep working, even when he was taking time off.
According to Haney, 13-hour training days were not uncommon for Woods. He would have one of his two workouts at 6 a.m., then hit the range with Haney for a two-hour session on swings and short game. Afterward, they would play nine holes, have lunch, then play another nine holes. Afterward, they would continue working on other facets of his game until 6 p.m., when Tiger would do his second workout and then have dinner.
Woods has offered other variations on how he used to train. In February, Woods said he would often start the day with a four-mile run, followed by a lift, hours of working on his game, and then another four-mile run. Afterwards, if anyone was around, he would play basketball or tennis when he was done.
In either case, Woods' workouts were marathons. He said in February that he no longer trains like that.
Haney told Golf Digest that such workouts gave Woods a mental edge, knowing that when he got into a competition, nobody had out-worked him.
"He knew he was paying a price that not many people would pay, and that gives you an edge mentally," says Haney. "He walked to the first tee every week knowing he wasn't going to run across many players who had outworked him."