"Greatest golfer in the world and we can't even hang his picture?"

The L.A. Times' Bill Plaschke on the Navy Golf Course in Cypress where Tiger Woods grew up playing:

This is where Woods learned about playing with noise — fighter planes from the adjacent Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos took off or landed during his backswing.

And this is where Woods, who considered this his home course until he left for college, learned about the world.

Shortly before enrolling in Stanford, Woods was hitting balls off the driving range when residents of the modest adjoining neighborhood complained about a "black" kid hitting golf balls into their backyards.

There's no way it could have been Woods, because to reach those houses, one would have to hook his shots like a hacker. There were also, at the time, a couple of strange kids who were spotted on the course.

Regardless, management reacted to the complaints by throwing Woods off the premises. This, even though he had just become the youngest player to win a U.S. Amateur championship.

Although he has never acknowledged any correlation, Woods hasn't been back much since.

Looking around the aging facility, it was as if he was never there at all.

On one pro shop wall, there is one series of photos of a top golfer. It is Jack Nicklaus.

On another wall, there is one autographed photo of a golfer. It is David Toms.

There are no Woods photos, trophies, signs, memorabilia, nothing.

This year the entire facility will move into a grand new building next door, but, as of yet, there are no plans to bring Woods memorabilia into the new house.

"Greatest golfer in the world and we can't even hang his picture?" one member asks.

Gregg Smith, public affairs officer, calls it an oversight.

"We're very proud of our association with Tiger Woods…. I've never been a part of any conversations where somebody said, 'Don't put this guy's photo up there,' " he says. "I'm sure it's just something that people wanted to do, and just haven't done."

Some wonder, however, if there remains serious yardage between Woods and his golf birthplace.