The Canadian golfer Mike Weir, who won the 2003 Masters and is one of the 50 or so best players in the world, was in Los Angeles recently, playing a round at Riviera Country Club with Tiger Woods. On the first hole, he hit a spectator with his drive—"Sent him right down," Weir said later—and on the second hole he made a quadruple bogey. On the third, he hit a weak drive, and Woods said, not quite under his breath, "Snipe!" When Weir reached the ninth tee, he was eleven over par, a dreadful performance. Woods said, "You see your score there, Weirsy—42 for eight holes? Guys who are pros at this game shoot that for eighteen."

The game wasn't golf, exactly. Weir was playing "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006," a video game. He had never tried it before, even though it includes a Mike Weir character, so he was being coached by Woods and several other veteran gamers. They were standing near a television monitor on a soundstage at Sony Pictures Studios, in Culver City, where they had come to shoot motion-capture footage for next year's edition.

Weir held out the controller and said, "Let's see you do it." Woods, playing as Weir, hit a crisp iron shot, then said, "Get up! Get up!" The real Weir was impressed: "You can tell it's going to be short, huh?" Woods knew Weir's electronic swing almost as well as he knows his own real one: The ball did, indeed, land short of the green. Weir said, "Tiger doesn't have any kids, so he has time to play these games." Woods misread the green, made a bogey, and said, "It's all right. I'm not like Weirsy, over there. I'll take my five and get out of here."

In real life, Weir has a distinctive waggle, or practice semi-swing, and his video-game avatar does a decent imitation. Woods said, "Look, they've got Weirsy's setup, too—doing the thing with his shirt." Woods made a couple of quick adjustments to his shirtfront, and everyone laughed. He has always been a close observer of his rivals, any one of whom might suddenly step between him and destiny on a Sunday afternoon. He also has an acute awareness of, and control over, his own body, an elevated physical aptitude, which not only helps him play golf better than anyone else but also makes him a skillful mimic. In fact, Woods has always learned by imitation: He took his first swing after observing his father from his high chair, and his golf game today is a sort of Norton Anthology of the defining capabilities of the best players in history. When he learned to ski, a little over a year ago, he did it not by taking lessons but by studying his wife, Elin—who is from Sweden and grew up on skis—and various friends from high school and college. He followed them down increasingly difficult slopes, turned when they turned, and observed them from behind until he could feel the rhythm for himself.