Tiger Woods News: Golfer Had Navy SEAL Dreams, Agent Slams Hank Haney

Tiger Woods was thinking about leaving the world of golf to become a Navy SEAL, according to his former swing coach.

Hank Haney, who worked with Woods from 2004 to 2010, is publishing a book about his time coaching the famous golfer.

The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods hits bookstores on March 27.

Excerpts have been published by Golf Digest, and one snippet reveals that Woods apparently wanted to leave the sport and become a military man: Tiger was seriously considering becoming a Navy SEAL. I didn't know how he'd go about it, but when he talked about it, it was clear he had a plan....I thought, Wow, here is Tiger Woods, greatest athlete on the planet, maybe the greatest athlete ever, right in the middle of his prime, basically ready to leave it all behind for a military life.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, slammed Haney for the Navy SEAL statement and the book.

His armchair psychology about Tiger, on matters he admits they didn't even discuss, is ridiculous, Steinberg said in a statement, The Associated Press reported. Because of his father, it's no secret that Tiger has always had high respect for the military, so for Haney to twist that admiration into something negative is disrespectful.

As for Haney, he's sticking to his guns.

He tweeted the following recently: knew there would be different opinions on my writing The book but the memories of the 6 yrs I coached Tiger aren't his exclusively.

As for Woods, he stated back in January that he wouldn't read the book.

I think it's unprofessional and very disappointing, especially because it's someone I worked with and trusted as a friend, Woods told ESPN.com. There have been other one-sided books about me, and I think people understand that this book is about money. I'm not going to waste my time reading it.

Haney told The Associated Press in January that people always ask him about his time working with Woods.

I felt like I had a front row seat to golf history, Haney told The AP. It just kind of chronicles a little bit of what I went through, what I dealt with, how I coached and the observations I made.