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There is no golf course or cocktail lounge and the nurses are strictly off-limits. But for Tiger Woods, the Pine Grove sex addiction centre in Mississippi is the place he will have to call home as he attempts to get his life and career back on track.
After avoiding the paparazzi for nearly two months, the world’s No 1 golfer was snared by a photographer for The National Enquirer at the rehabilitation clinic in Hattiesburg, which is reputed to be one of America’s leading treatment centres for psychiatric and addictive diseases.
The facility offers therapy programmes for people with sex, drug and alcohol addictions and for “professionals struggling with interpersonal difficulties”.
“Spend a little time in this living temple and you’re sure to emerge a different person,” it promises, adding: “We’re committed to being a leader in healing and changing lives. . . . For one life with many seasons, Pine Grove is one place with many solutions.”
The whereabouts of Woods had been unknown since he crashed his car outside his home in Orlando, Florida, on November 27, during a row with his wife over his infidelities. The scandal intensified as more affairs were revealed.
He issued two statements later admitting that he had been unfaithful to his wife, Elin Nordegren, 30, and announcing that he would take a break from professional golf while he worked on saving his marriage.
“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves.
“I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behaviour and personal failings behind closed doors with my family,” he said last month.
His retreat from the public eye made him a target for photographers, with the first pictures likely to earn a seven-figure sum.
Dressed as if he had spent a session in the rehabilitation centre’s gymnasium, Woods was snapped as he roamed Pine Grove’s 22-acre campus. The clinic offers a range of programmes, courses and workshops for patients as well as individually tailored care plans.
The facility is headed by Dr Patrick Carnes, a world-renowned speaker and author of several books on sexual addiction. He is considered a leading figure in his field and is the primary architect of Pine Grove’s Gentle Path programme for sex addicts, which starts with a one to two-day assessment followed by a six-week stay.
Patients undergo personal and group therapy sessions, psychological testing, and can take lessons in coping skills and stress management. Other activities include yoga, art therapy, taekwondo and swimming. A full course of in-patient treatment at Pine Grove is reported to cost about $40,000 (£25,000).
As with all patients Woods, alleged by one of his mistresses to have indulged in sex while on the sleeping drug Ambien, will also be kept under the watchful eye of Sam, Pine Grove’s resident drug-sniffing dog.
There could also be opportunities at the clinic for the golfer’s wife, should she be inclined. “Mending a shattered heart” is a four-day workshop for the spouses of addicts, which offers “tools to guide them through the myriad of feelings and decisions they are confronting”.
Previous celebrities who have been treated for sex addiction include Russell Brand and David Duchovny.
Woods has not indicated if he will return to golf. But his presence at the clinic and a new article posted on his website last week, which reminds readers of his sporting accomplishments and celebrates him as the dominant golfer of the past decade, might be considered an indication that he and his managers are finally taking his crisis in hand and are seeking to restore his public image.
Geoff Ogilvy, a former US Open champion, suggested that Woods should speak publicly about his problems before any return to the sport.
Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Championship, he said: “I think he should come out away from the golf course.
I think that would be the best thing for him and for every other player and for the tournament. I don’t believe a lot of tournaments want all the tabloid media floating around.”
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