I don’t think anyone would claim that football, basketball, and baseball players don’t have intense practice regimens. The same cannot be said for golfers.

In fact, most people probably assume that golfers have it the easiest of the athletes.

They get to laze around at the country club, hit the links every now and again, right?

Wrong.

Having talked to the Cal men’s golf team, I can assure you that their practice schedule is just as hard as any other athlete’s. The guys are up at 6 a.m. every morning to work out with the athletic trainers in the RSF. They do 40 minutes of cardio and another 30 of core training. That leaves them with a little bit of time to shower and go to 8:00 class. The team’s booked with classes until noon, when they head off to Metropolitan Links in Oakland for practice. Practice runs till five or six, unless they’re at a qualifying round. In that case, the guys are on the course until the sun goes down. After practice, they find time to grab dinner, do homework like every other Cal student, and sleep.

On a week like this one (with an upcoming tournament in Arizona), the team might also hit the short practice facility here in town. There are also team meetings and travel days. Lots of travel days. Few teams are on the road like the golf team. They leave two days before the start of the tournament to allow for a practice round on the tournament course and spend from two to three days competing. During April, the guys will be on the road or competing for nearly half the month. Now that is intense.

On that note, I’ve been asked multiple times since I started covering the men’s golf team if I consider golf a sport or merely a hobby. My reply is always the same: golf is most definitely a sport. Anyone can sit down and play Candy Land. It takes a trained athlete to pick up some clubs and golf.

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