One of the keys to excelling at golf is excelling at escaping it. Consider Paul Casey. Last year, just after the US Open, Casey [above] embarked on a seven-day bicycle trip through the Dolomites in Italy.
He jokingly calls cycling the new golf. “You can wear silly clothes,” Casey says. “You can spend copious amounts of money on equipment that doesn’t make you better. You can talk while you’re doing it.”
The Englishman, 40, owns a dozen bicycles and loves to ride for its fitness benefits and the thrill of it. “We went only about 350 miles, but it was 3,600 feet of climbing,” he says of his Italian road trip. “It was a lot of climbing. And wine drinking.”
Well, anything to get away. He’s not alone. A few examples:
Tiffany Joh: Surfing
Like Adam Scott, a renowned surfing enthusiast, Joh enjoys the exhilaration of catching waves. “It’s better than shooting a low score,” says the LPGA veteran, who has been playing golf since age 12 but has begun to surf only during the past few years. Joh, 30, is so enamoured with surfing that in September, instead of going straight from the Evian Championship in France to the New Zealand Women’s Open, she stopped over at her home in San Diego. “I wanted to sneak in two days on the board,” she says.
Dustin Johnson: Spearfishing
Sure, he can dunk a basketball in his bare feet. He also can hold his breath for more than two minutes free diving. The South Carolina native might be more at home on sea than on land. He escapes to his boat at every opportunity, and his favourite water sport is quite primal. “Most of the time when I’m in the water, I’m spearfishing,” Johnson, 33, says. “I’m generally going for dogfish, snapper or anything you see that you want to eat. If I don’t eat it, I don’t keep it.”
Morgan Hoffmann: Piloting his plane
Hoffmann admits that he’s an adrenaline junkie, which makes the slow-going golf a challenge at times. The late Arnold Palmer was a breakout figure, piloting a plane for decades. After chatting with the King during the 2009 Arnold Palmer Cup, Hoffmann, 28, decided to get his pilot’s licence. He can cruise in his Piper Lance at 320 kilometres per hour, and he flies himself to about half of his tour events.
Billy Hurley III: Hiking
He makes his living walking golf courses – and when he gets some time off, he keeps putting one foot in front of the other. Hiking “gets the kids out of the house, it’s good for me, and it’s something we can do together as a family,” says Hurley, 35. “It’s also just an all-around calming experience.” They keep a brisk pace, but not so fast they can’t enjoy nature watching. Hurley adds that he has completed five “14ers” in Colorado. Those are challenging hikes on peaks of 14,000 feet or more.
Kenny Perry: Car racing
Perry loves muscle cars, particularly Chevys, and the 1968 Camaro is his favourite. The reigning US Senior Open champion doesn’t just let them sit in his garage, though. He’s a drag-racing enthusiast. “My dream, if I didn’t play golf, would be to compete in Pro Stock racing,” says Perry, 57, who adds, driving old cars is “my therapy”.
