Pro Golfers with Interesting Hobbies
It’s a busy life being a professional golfer. There are tournaments throughout the year and all over the world. Everybody needs some time off, so what hobbies do professional golfers have? The range of subjects goes from cooking to farming and from painting to poker.
Luke Donald
Luke Donald has had a hugely successful golfing career. His life hasn’t all been about trying to get birdies and escaping from bunkers. The English golfer took a golf sponsorship at Northwestern University in Illinois, but he didn’t just improve his game.
Donald studied art theory and practice and also met his future wife. His love for painting has continued, and in 2002, he had one of his oil paintings auctioned off by the PGA Tour, with the money going to charity.
Sergio Garcia
With much time on their hands, it’s not surprising that some golfers love poker. The list of enthusiasts includes Sergio Garcia. After enjoying card games when he was young, Garcia was keen to learn the rules of Texas Hold’em and improve his poker skills.
He hasn’t just been playing fellow professional golfers. Garcia improved his poker skills so much that he competed in professional tournaments. One saw him win $35,000 after finishing just outside the top 50. That’s nowhere near the millions he has won playing golf. Perhaps he’ll play more tournaments once his golfing career ends.
Paul Casey
When you play sports, your worst enemy is injury. Taking up another sport as a hobby is a bit of a risk. That’s particularly the case with England’s Paul Casey, who loves going snowboarding.
His love for heading to the slopes nearly ended in disaster for him ten years ago. He was going down a steep run in Colorado, and his board hit a rock. He ended up with a shoulder injury, and that’s never good news for a golfer. It only took him two months to get back on the fairways, but it took a bit longer to get back into good form.
Peter Hanson
Perhaps Casey should have taken up a slightly safer sport like table tennis. If he had, a match could have been arranged with Swedish player Peter Hanson. Casey would have had the chance if he’d made the team for the 2012 Ryder Cup. Sergio Garcia did, and he told of how Hanson thrashed everyone who took him on at table tennis. Phil Mickelson is also said to be good at table tennis, but it’s unknown if he’s ever faced Hanson.
Tiger Woods
There are a few hobbies we know Tiger Woods adores. He’s also been known to go free-diving and also enjoys spearfishing. Catching lobsters and yellowfin tuna gave him almost as much pleasure as winning yet another Major.
He’s never cheated at golf, but that’s not been the case when spearfishing. Woods has admitted to using scuba rather than free-diving. That’s despite his ability to hold his breath for four minutes. After his severe injury, those days are probably over now. Instead, he can indulge in his other hobby of playing video games, especially Call of Duty.
Stewart Cink
Cooking is something that can take your mind off a sporting career. For the 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink, it’s also a hobby that has seen him win competitions. He hasn’t been on Celebrity Masterchef, but with friend Chad Parker, Cink did win a rib-grilling competition held at the Atlanta BBQ festival in 2013.
Louis Oosthuizen
Here’s another former Open champion, but what does he love to spend his winnings on? The South African bought a farm, and he doesn’t just sit back and wait for the profits to come in. He loves operating heavy machinery, looking after his livestock, and ploughing the fields.
Tim Clark
Another dangerous hobby is flying aeroplanes. Thankfully for Tim Clark, he’s not small enough to get in the cockpit of his favourite planes. You see, he loves model aeroplanes, so there’s no chance of the South African golfer having a nasty accident. He still has to win tournaments to ensure he can afford all the fares flying from tournament to tournament.
Adam Scott
Being an Australian, a big surprise is not coming. Adam Scott loves surfing – the waves, of course, not the internet to check the latest golf results. A bit of a strange life, really, for the Australian. He wants to avoid water when playing golf but can’t wait to ride the waves away from the golf course.
