Musicians who golf

[Jack Watson]

I am a big reader ok?  Online I see many people who play an instrument who proclaim to play decent golf,  say 8 handi or below.  Often,  they talk about things like rhythm and tempo and that seems to me to be fundamental in music.

Any people here who play music feel free to chime in.

I have never played any instrument and was curious about musicians and golf.  If there are musicians here,  did you relate learning an instrument to learning golf?  Thread is open to any concepts relating timing and golf.

Imo I think there's something to relating timing and swinging a club but clearly,  you can see my handi so...Post on people,  please!

[awmgolfer]

This is near and dear to my heart as I am an instrumental music teacher and also our high school golf coach. I have played trumpet for a long time and play currently in a number of groups ranging from orchestral, band, commercial, and jazz. Most of the kids over the past 10 years I've had on the team have been current or former band students, though a lot of that is more related to having a good relationship with the kids. 

I can say being a musician in golf really helps because musicians can only count to 4 so it helps the scorecard, many songs are in 3 or even in two, but rarely in 6 :)

I find the process is very similar in becoming an accomplished musician to being a good golfer. The process of practice has always come very easy to me in golf because I already know the process from my years of practicing on trumpet. I have also failed many times in performances and used to being the only one on stage in front of a large audience so the nerves and pressure are nothing new and very transferrable. Within my own swing I am very tempo based to keep from making the transitions too quick. I started doing that before I read many golf coaches do that already, it came to me due to being a musician but I would have picked it up no matter what as that is a standard technique. 

So overall to me the process of becoming a better golfer completely relates and has been very easy for me. It has also helped a lot with the nerves and dealing with pressure. So yes, a lot of relation and definitely has helped me become a better golfer.

 

[b101]

9 hours ago, awmgolfer said:

I can say being a musician in golf really helps because musicians can only count to 4 so it helps the scorecard, many songs are in 3 or even in two, but rarely in 6 :)

Try listening to some progressive metal - 13/8 is not uncommon .

I play guitar (grade 8 - self-taught) and relate pretty well to those experiences. It's been the same process for me in improving my golf: lose yourself in practice and separate technical from creative. I've never had a problem with dedicating a lot of time to a repetitive task, so that probably helps. Additionally, I'm pretty sure both help with general hand-eye co-ordination. As a very random aside, my friends and I had an archery competition last weekend. None of us have ever done it before, so it's as level a playing field as you can get, meaning no real skill set beyond concentration and hand-eye co-ordination (no real strength required). Of the 12 arrows, I scored 111/120, next nearest being 103 - I'd put that entirely down to the co-ordination gained from both golf and practising a musical instrument.

Both hobbies have also taught me how useful a place the internet is, providing you can search correctly and take your time to assimilate the information. I can't stress it enough, you can learn pretty much anything online now and have access to better information than ever.

[amished]

I think that a valid point has been brought up by both @b101 and @awmgolfer, one thing dedicated musicians have learned is how to practice properly.  You don't play the right note if your fingering is off, so you have to play properly every time.  Doesn't matter how fast you play during practice, just that you play correctly.  That aligns very well with the 5 S's of practice that you see @iacas post about here: doing the proper moves properly.  

I think most people struggle with knowing the correct moves, and doing them slow enough.  I know when I was younger and not improving I just thought that it was a ball on the ground that didn't move, how hard could it be?  Just hit the darn thing as hard as you can!  Reforming how I viewed my swing and what I need to focus on has helped me train myself to become a better practice-er and a better golfer.  Last night my practice allowed me to beat my best score on my home course by one, with my new record of pars in a round for me.  

I feel that the "tempo" idea that many people think is the key to golf just allows them to swing slower and more within their own ability.

[nevets88]

Speaking of practice I remember a master class and the pianist, Earl Wild, was being asked some practice and technique questions he gave some useful tips and then someone asked how to go about this difficult Lizst passage and he paused and said, that's just hard, everyone laughed. Golf is hard. Anything worth doing is hard I guess.  

[Birdie84]

Can see that there are certain similarities. More so than in other sports, which are much more reactionary. I'm a bad bedroom guitarist and also play a bit of football (soccer), can not see the relationship between the music and football at all.

 

As others have said, the practice to get things perfect are the things that link the two. But then, I spent too long out on the course in my teens and not enough time practising guitar (or ironing the flaws in my swing to be honest, got to know my course like the back of my hand though). If I'd have known then, that girls would prefer a great guitarist...I'd still have been out on the course.

[Shindig]

I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but Kenny G was on his high school golf team (I think he wasn't in his high school band).

[jsgolfer]

I've started playing the piano when I was 5 and have played the bass guitar in lots of local bands over the years.  Never really thought about that helping my golf game, as I've played with many other musician's who were terrible at golf (more bad, then good).  I'd say I was the outlier. 

[jsgolfer]

13 hours ago, awmgolfer said:

This is near and dear to my heart as I am an instrumental music teacher and also our high school golf coach. I have played trumpet for a long time and play currently in a number of groups ranging from orchestral, band, commercial, and jazz. Most of the kids over the past 10 years I've had on the team have been current or former band students, though a lot of that is more related to having a good relationship with the kids. 

I can say being a musician in golf really helps because musicians can only count to 4 so it helps the scorecard, many songs are in 3 or even in two, but rarely in 6 :)

I find the process is very similar in becoming an accomplished musician to being a good golfer. The process of practice has always come very easy to me in golf because I already know the process from my years of practicing on trumpet. I have also failed many times in performances and used to being the only one on stage in front of a large audience so the nerves and pressure are nothing new and very transferrable. Within my own swing I am very tempo based to keep from making the transitions too quick. I started doing that before I read many golf coaches do that already, it came to me due to being a musician but I would have picked it up no matter what as that is a standard technique. 

So overall to me the process of becoming a better golfer completely relates and has been very easy for me. It has also helped a lot with the nerves and dealing with pressure. So yes, a lot of relation and definitely has helped me become a better golfer.

 

Never noticed until today that your avatar picture is from the Mars Hill CC.  

[iacas]

In my experience teaching people with musical backgrounds, the rhythm and tempo and that sort of stuff is a small, small part of it.

What is a much bigger part is that they understand how difficult something can be to master and thus they understand how to practice far better than most.

[CarlSpackler]

50 minutes ago, iacas said:

In my experience teaching people with musical backgrounds, the rhythm and tempo and that sort of stuff is a small, small part of it.

What is a much bigger part is that they understand how difficult something can be to master and thus they understand how to practice far better than most.

^^^^^ This. 

[No Mulligans]

With music and golf I have had lot of practice time where I'm alone by myself.  I consider golf practice and music practice to be introverted activities.  

Haven't practiced music for a while though. Lately, I spend most of my music time playing songs or learning songs from recordings.  There becomes a point of diminishing returns coupled with age (turning 60 soon) that can change ones desire to practice.  I'm definitely not at that stage with golf though.

 

I do use musical figures with my golf swing.  

Putting, chipping and pitching I use a triplet which I'm hearing in my head.  I start the motion on the 1 of the first triplet and contact the ball on the 1 of the second triplet.  1 2 3 1 2 3

For full swings I use a sixteenth note figure which for me creates more speed/acceleration through impact than a triplet would.  1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Edited August 22, 2017 by No Mulligans

[nevets88]

Musicians or anyone who has been at it for a length of time better understand they're not one tip away from being scratch. Oh, if you do this one secret tip for which I'll charge you of course, you can be a professional studio musician. 

[awmgolfer]

On 8/22/2017 at 11:32 AM, jsgolfer said:

Never noticed until today that your avatar picture is from the Mars Hill CC.  

It's a special course that I'm glad to have ended up in the town that it sits, and even better I only live about a mile and a half from the course 

[Jack Watson]

All I know is this.  I am approaching learning to play music the OPPOSITE of what I did in golf.

Start right and work on 1 plus 1 before attempting calculus you know?

A neophyte is gonna mess themselves up more than anything trying to self teach concepts they don't even know.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Jack Watson

[MrDC]

I'm a musician, I have a gig tonight, and I'm just OK at golf.

I don't think it helps at all, because golf is so much more than good tempo or rhythm.

But I would think dancers can make for great golfers, more so than a musician.

Edited August 24, 2017 by MrDC

[Groucho Valentine]

I played drums in my younger days. Still tool around with it every now and then. I never felt a connection from music to golf, though. 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 8/21/2017 at 9:41 PM, awmgolfer said:

This is near and dear to my heart as I am an instrumental music teacher and also our high school golf coach. I have played trumpet for a long time and play currently in a number of groups ranging from orchestral, band, commercial, and jazz. Most of the kids over the past 10 years I've had on the team have been current or former band students, though a lot of that is more related to having a good relationship with the kids. 

I can say being a musician in golf really helps because musicians can only count to 4 so it helps the scorecard, many songs are in 3 or even in two, but rarely in 6 :)

I find the process is very similar in becoming an accomplished musician to being a good golfer. The process of practice has always come very easy to me in golf because I already know the process from my years of practicing on trumpet. I have also failed many times in performances and used to being the only one on stage in front of a large audience so the nerves and pressure are nothing new and very transferrable. Within my own swing I am very tempo based to keep from making the transitions too quick. I started doing that before I read many golf coaches do that already, it came to me due to being a musician but I would have picked it up no matter what as that is a standard technique. 

So overall to me the process of becoming a better golfer completely relates and has been very easy for me. It has also helped a lot with the nerves and dealing with pressure. So yes, a lot of relation and definitely has helped me become a better golfer.

 

Interesting! And this thread is not at all what I expected from reading the title. I was all prepared with "Alice Cooper" as a nominee!

I studied piano from second grade until I was a Junior in high school. After a lesson my teacher announced that she had taught me everything she could, and wanted to set up an audition for me with some professors at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University! I hated performing in front of people, so this announcement scared the crap out of me! I immediately dropped the piano and never touched it again. I know, my loss! In my limited view of the world at the time, the only way to make money in music was by performing. How wrong I was!

I'm also a big fan of Leo Kottke, acoustic guitarist. He once commented on a live album he produced. He said it was risky to criticize such a successful album, but he said it "rushed" way too much. He was back home in Minneapolis, at the Guthrie Theater. The crowd was amped and so was he. He just rips balls to the wall through every song. In his comments he said that part of presenting a piece of music properly to an audience must include the proper tempo!

You can say that part of presenting a golf shot properly to a course is tempo. I recently went out and had my best ball striking round of the year. My primary thoughts were to make a complete backswing and don't jump from the top! Yes, I'm a "jumper". Through the whole round, I only cut off my backswing and jumped once. Of course that shot was a disaster! But I shot my best round of the year, a 76, which is well below what my handicap says it should be.

Neat post!