Read by Tiger Woods
What books does Tiger Woods recommend?
Family and strategy run through Tiger Woods's book recommendations in equal measure. The 15-time major champion, with 82 PGA Tour wins and founder of the TGR Foundation, has pointed to four titles through book forewords and a Golf Digest interview, drawn toward self-improvement, psychology, and biography. Three of them come from his late father, Earl Woods — Start Something, Training a Tiger, and Playing Through — books Woods introduced or was shaped by, with Start Something carrying Earl's challenge to readers: "I challenge you to make a difference in the world... I challenge you to start something." The fourth reaches further back to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, a gift he traces to his mother: "She's the one who gave me my first copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War."
Last updated February 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
byEarl Woods
2000144 Pages“I challenge you to make a difference in the world, to reach higher and farther than you ever imagined. I challenge you to start something.”
— Tiger Woods
Source: Book Foreword
Read by Tiger Woods
Training a Tiger
A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life
byEarl Woods, Pete McDaniel
1997208 PagesSource: Book Foreword
Read by Tiger Woods
Playing Through
Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams, and Adventures with Tiger
byEarl Woods, Fred Mitchell
1998269 PagesSource: Book Foreword
Read by Marc Benioff, Phil Knight, Larry Ellison and 7 others
The Art of War
The Essential Translation of the Classic Book of Life
bySun Tzu
2009384 Pages“My mom, she’s a big fan of it, she’s the one who gave me my first copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.”
— Tiger Woods
Source: Golf Digest Interview
Also recommends books in
Frequently asked questions
What books does Tiger Woods recommend?
Tiger Woods's four recommendations are Earl Woods's Start Something, Training a Tiger, and Playing Through, along with Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
What is Tiger Woods's top book pick?
Start Something: You Can Make a Difference by his father Earl Woods, which carries the charge, "I challenge you to make a difference in the world, to reach higher and farther than you ever imagined. I challenge you to start something."
Where do Tiger Woods's book recommendations come from?
Three come through book forewords tied to his father Earl Woods's titles, and his recommendation of The Art of War comes from a Golf Digest interview, where he recalled his mother giving him his first copy.
Why does Tiger Woods recommend The Art of War?
It was a gift from his mother. As he told Golf Digest, "She's a big fan of it, she's the one who gave me my first copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War" — a strategic text with personal significance.
Has Tiger Woods written a book?
Yes. He wrote The 1997 Masters: My Story (2017), a first-person account of his landmark first major victory at Augusta National.