Tour stars on lockdown: Whisky, Joe Wicks and Stranger Things

Away from the usual social media facade, we asked a collection of tour pros to try to put a smile on our faces with a breakdown of how they’re spending their time during the coronavirus lockdown. So what are they reading, watching and what new skills have they added to their usual golfing ones?

• Related: How the main tours have been affected

Paul McGinley, 2014 Ryder Cup captain

“I’m trying to make the best of a really bad situation and I’ve a million things to be doing in the house, that’s for sure. I’m reading a lot of books; golf, mental and autobiographies. I’ve just trimmed it from about three thousand down to 500.

“What can you do? I haven’t left anywhere for over a week but that’s OK, all the kids are home and they’re doing online classes so we’re all good.”

Catriona Matthew, Solheim Cup captain

“Here is my daily routine. It starts with a Joe Wicks workout with the kids.

“Then home schooling a 10 and 13-year-old – some maths, Shakespeare, World War Two,
chemistry.

“Lots of baking – bread, scones, cinnamon buns, biscuits.

“Daily family dog walk.

“Lots of gardening and making a vegetable patch.

“I’m not sure how the school holidays are going to work.”

Robert Rock, European Tour

“Thankfully, there’s been no hitting into a net that I made for Instagram. I’ve got one that I occasionally use that’s always been there.

“So far I’ve been playing football and doing homework with my son, mowing my green, gardening, doing lights, sorting the shed, cleaning the car and watching TV.

“I’ve been wanting a break for a good while without worrying about missing tournaments. I’m not expecting much golf this year, maybe in September.”

Paul Waring, European Tour 

“I’ve been locked away in my garage building a laundry room and redoing my studio/gym. Three weeks might not be long enough for me. I’ve been working 9-6 on it since Monday, so I’ve been sleeping like a baby after that.”

Working on shallowing the club and speed training.
You can see the hands raise from photo 1 to 2.
The shaft then shallows as it becomes loaded photo 2 to 3.
Photo 4 shows the body opening towards the target and the shaft perfectly in plane with where I want to impact.
Poetry pic.twitter.com/XHAEE4h2Tb

— Paul Waring (@PaulWaringGolf) March 20, 2020

• Related: Stay in shape with our home workouts

Mark James, 1999 Ryder Cup captain

“I have been working out plenty, gardening plenty, sitting in the sun, fetching my wife Jane gin and tonics, cleaning out water features, watching The People v O.J. Simpson and trying to order food online. My spirits are always up when I’m not wearing spikes.”

Eddie Pepperell, European Tour 

“I’m not really reading anything, just the the occasional online article –whatever takes my fancy. I’m waiting for the next series of Stranger Things to come out in April, which is awesome, and the whisky is keeping my spirits up at night.

“I watched The Matrix last night for the 23rd time.”

• Related: Looking after your mental health

Richard McEvoy, European Tour

“I’ve never been a massive fitness fanatic but I always do my bit, so 9am starts joining in with my kids and the Joe Wicks fitness stream to get the heart rate going. I’ve been given the job of being the in-house PE teacher and I’m learning to be more patient with the kids.

“Apart from the garden, I haven’t been out of the house for five days now and it’s amazing how many jobs you get done that I would normally try my hardest to ignore.

“I’m lucky to have had a putting green laid a couple of years ago in the garden and I have a net and mat to practise full swings, so I have a nice set-up. With my chipping, I will try fun games like the crossbar challenge and lob shots into a basketball net, which keeps it interesting.

Amazing how you can use the kids garden activities to work on different shots #lobshots #basketball #lowbounce @TitleistEurope @EuropeanTour @jenahura_ta #stayhomestaysafe pic.twitter.com/7cogxmFzyU

— Richard McEvoy (@RichardMcEvoy79) March 23, 2020

“Away from everything, it’s been a good learning curve and really makes you appreciate what the outside world gives you each and every day.”

Meghan MacLaren, Ladies European Tour 

“I’ve been doing strength/power/HIIT (high intensity interval training) routines. I bought a few dumbbells, so that’s pretty much my main focus at the moment. I try to do that in the morning so I don’t stay in bed all day and quite a bit of reading, writing and lots of putting inside with the gate and PuttOUT.

Clearly the writing prowess was a thing right from the beginning.. shame I didn’t stick with the drawing too #isolationfinds pic.twitter.com/O0VPnwdnov

— Meghan MacLaren (@meg_maclaren) March 19, 2020

“I’ve bought some 1,000-piece jigsaws, so that’s way more intense than I ever realised and I’m trying to take the time to eat really well as I can cook everything, but not eating chocolate all day is hard.

“Doing exercise is a great one. Also, just taking it a day at a time. It seems a lot more manageable if you break it into chunks because we have no idea how long it will be. And listening to podcasts – it’s comforting to still feel in that golf community.

“I’ve ordered so many books. I’m currently reading A Good Walk Spoiled, The Cost Of These Dreams and Physical Intelligence. I’ve just watched Inside Job, which is about the economic crash.

“I also seem to be the only golfer on the planet without a net in my back garden but I’ve got one on the way!

Romain Langasque, European Tour

“We watched the TV series Vikings. It is brilliant.

“At the moment the weather has been OK so we have been outside in the garden, doing stuff in the garage – all the things you can’t do when you are home but have to work.

Jour 3 🤷‍♂️✅ pic.twitter.com/aWHabNKsCl

— Romain Langasque (@Lancaisse) March 19, 2020

“We have the PlayStation but we haven’t used it yet. It will come soon I think.

“I have done a lot of Instagam Live with friends; all these kind of things you don’t really do usually.”

• Related: The best golf video games of all time

Andrew Coltart, Sky Sports analyst

“I’ve not been that exciting. My daily routine is wake up, make sure the kids are logged into school work, feed them, an hour’s fitness and 30 seconds making fun of Nick Dougherty.

“I’ll read Twitter and the papers, have lunch, maybe watch a movie, make dinner and probably watch something on Sky Crime.

“My new discoveries are that vinegar helps clean windows, my vacuum runs out of battery after 30 minutes, the country isn’t as divided as I thought and I wish I was Joe Wicks.

“I’ve not yet started a box set or a book but there’s plenty of time.”

• Related: The 10 best golf films ever made

Gary Wolstenholme, Staysure Tour 

“Nothing too original; putting indoors, bits of chipping, looking at the latest kit, checking situations on events, sorting office/garage/bedroom/clothing etc and trying to make sure my mum is OK.

“Watching the news is a daily routine. The whole thing is surreal and like a bad dream which will mean the world will never be the same again.

Andrew Wilson, Challenge Tour

“I think I’ve got the shanks with my chipping but I’ve decided to just free ball for the foreseeable future and not use a net.

“I’m mainly reading and watching Gotham on Netflix. I’ve done a bit of DIY in the bathroom and garage, gardening with my mum, with the odd bottle of Ballantine’s whisky.

What have you been up to during the lockdown? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us.

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