Tiger Woods dominated the greens during his prime and has 82 PGA Tour and 15 majors to his name. When talking about his son, Charlie Woods it’s only natural for one to think of him as a celebrity child. However, Toby Harbeck, Woods Jr’s high school golf coach doesn’t see him as one but considers him a normal student instead.
It happened in March this year when the Benjamin school’s golf head coach Toby Harbeck talked about the State Championship. Tiger Woods attended the tournament as an audience. As it happened, Harbeck said “You know, we don’t call him Tiger. We call him Dad because he’s Dad,” saying that they don’t treat the 15-year-old as a celebrity golfer’s child but a normal student instead.
“And Charlie’s not Tiger Woods’ son, but he’s Charlie, and that’s the way they want it to be,” the head coach further added. Harbeck also talked about Woods and how he attends Charlie Woods’s golf matches saying “Tiger’s been there a lot — it’s great to have him watching. We were playing a match at home, 18 holes, and we finished shooting a course-record 15-under. Tiger’s sitting next to me and he goes, ‘What did we shoot, coach?’,” as revealed on the Palm Beach Post website.
After knowing the score the 15x major champion was happy and excitedly said, “Are you kidding me?” and later went to shake all of the players’ hands for their performances. During his time on the greens, Charlie Woods’s status causes him trouble sometimes.
However, it was worse in February when Woods Jr. was playing a PGA Tour qualifying event. The 15-year-old shot 16-over par 86. Following that fans harassed him as they walked alongside him on the fairways ignoring his personal space. When asked to give some space one fan yelled “Who are you? The fire marshal?”
Tiger Woods also appreciates the head coach as well. Initially, the golfer hugged the two teenage golfers who shot a 66 at the State Championship back in November last year. Following that when the team won the State Championship the golfer walked behind Harbeck and bear-hugged him offering this gesture as a thanks. As Woods Jr. faced difficulties on the PGA Tour qualifiers are things different for him on the high school greens?
A look into Charlie Woods’s situation in high school
Last year Golf.com interviewed Toby Harbeck and asked him how things are for Charlie Woods in high school. Harbeck who is also an English teacher was aware of everything. He shared a story from a random tournament from the 8th hole, a straight-away par-5 lined by condos down the right side in high school golf. “And I’m watching all these doors to the condos opening up and all these people come out because they knew he was there,” he said.
However, weather had disrupted the play and while all the players and coaches were seeking shelter Woods Jr. was still out on the greens signing autographs. Harbeck also talked about another tournament where the photographers tried to click photos without anyone noticing. While talking about it he said “Trust me, there are people in trees taking pictures. Microphones in his face.” As per some latest updates Woods Jr. isn’t part of the Golf Varsity Boys and Golf JV Boys teams.
Could it be that they are doing this as a precaution to avoid the harassment? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
