NASSAU, Bahamas – When Tiger Woods was a kid, his parents instilled a core principle in his life: to make an impact in one person’s life every day.
“At TGR Foundation, we are doing just that, making a meaningful impact on the lives of youth one day at a time,” Woods said.
Founded in 1996 by Tiger, TGR Foundation’s mission is to empower students to pursue their passions through education. Its signature programs serve students from under-resourced communities, providing access to education and opportunities to prepare for their futures. But to continue to make a positive impact in the lives of youth and meet the demands of evermore young people in this day and age requires a hefty budget and that’s where events such as the Hero World Challenge become critical.
The Hero World Challenge was founded by Tiger and his father Earl in January 2000 and has been played annually with Tiger as host. The Foundation and World Challenge have enjoyed paralleled success over the past 25 years.
“Without having tournaments and special events and players play, we wouldn’t be able to serve as many kids and have as big an impact as we’ve had over the years,” said Tiger, reflecting on the 25th playing of the Hero World Challenge, TGR Foundation’s longest running event to raise funds, and what has grown out of it. “These are all events that have allowed us as a foundation to have an impact not just in Southern California but in the areas where we played those events.”
As the Hero World Challenge has grown in prestige, TGR Foundation has expanded its impact. In 2001, Tiger made the important decision to focus his work on providing access to education and to create a “safe space where kids can learn, grow and chase after their dreams.” From that direction came the TGR Learning Lab in Anaheim, CA along with the Earl Woods Scholar Program, both launching in 2006. [There are 329 first-generation college students who have participated in the program, achieving a 98 percent graduation rate, among the highest scholarship graduation rates in the country, and the flagship TGR Learning Lab has supported more than 195,000 students from Southern California.]
The flagship TGR Learning Center in Anaheim opened in 2006. (Courtesy TGR Foundation)
Event revenue for non-profits is incredibly important because they tend to be unrestricted dollars. TGR Foundation also hosts the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational and other golf-related events such as the TGR Junior Invitational in partnership with Pebble Beach Resort and the Nexus Cup.
“We net over $10 million a year in our event revenue that helps us build the infrastructure to go into communities and build these learning labs in partnership with communities,” said TGR Foundation CEO Cyndi Court, who assumed her role in Summer 2023. “If you think about it this way, Tiger isn’t just building a family foundation that gives away money; he’s really building a non-profit.”
She compared what Tiger’s foundation has the potential to become to established powerhouses known to all such as St. Jude’s and Special Olympics.
“Tiger is developing a vision that really could be huge and so we’re beginning to look at other markets and alongside other partners that our passionate about their cities and want to make a difference,” she said. “We’ve been beginning to talk about how we can ask people to come alongside us and ‘join the roar’ and create a movement for what we can do together. It’s really important that the events fund the infrastructure to allow us to grow.”
As such, Tiger and TGR Foundation are committed to expanding its TGR Learning Labs to more communities in need. It is opening TGR Learning Lab in Philadelphia at Cobbs Creek in Spring 2025, where TGR Design is also renovating Cobbs Creek Golf Course, followed by one in Los Angeles at Lulu’s Place.
“Every city in America needs a learning lab,” Court said. “There’s 10 million kids in America that still live in poverty. So there’s a big opportunity gap. We believe if we can fill the opportunity gap, the education gap will be solved.”
TGR Foundation already has a staff of eight that’s been on the ground in West Philadelphia and serving over 2,000 young people ahead of the opening of the new learning center there next April.
“That speaks to the flexibility of our programming as well,” Court said. “I really believe that you don’t take something into any of these communities without really understanding the community and making sure that we’re asking parents, kids and educators what they want.”
A rendering of the TGR Learning Center at Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia, which is scheduled to open in Spring 2025. (Courtesy TGR Foundation)
In listening to the needs of students, TGR Foundation added programs and offerings to maximize its reach and impact, supporting teens with college and career readiness, providing free after-school courses centered science, technology, engineering, art, math (STEAM) subjects, incorporating holistic learning and support to our students and offering access to golf. Tiger’s commitment to serve and reach more kids in more markets may best be summed up when he says, “At the end of the day, 20 years from now, the global impact we’re going to have is going to be more far-reaching than anything I’ve ever done in the game of golf.”