Golf Q&A: NFL Quarterback Kirk Cousins
With Tom Lang
The NFL draft is coming to Detroit this month.
Last month, Michigander Kirk Cousins signed a new free agency contract with the Atlanta Falcons after his successful time as quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
Cousins, a 12 handicap at age 35, spent a half hour on the phone with me to discuss his other passion: GOLF.
Question:
The Masters is coming; can I assume you follow the action?
Answer:
“I remember being 7 years old when Nick Faldo came back to beat Greg Norman and understanding even at 7 years old this had some intensity to it.
“It was always the first rite of spring growing up in the Midwest when you would turn on the TV and see the flowers at Augusta National and the green grass, and it just signaled spring. The turning of as page if you will to all of us in the Midwest as we watched; the start of the golf season in so many ways.
“When I got to college, my roommate Joel Kuntzman (MSU football team manager) explained to me more of the mystique not only of the Masters but of Augusta National and all that goes with it. That really piqued my interest. (MSU golfer) Jack Newman played in the Masters (2009) when I was in college and that was a big deal around campus. My interest in the Masters has just snowballed over the years and I’ve been able to attend the tournament a couple of times, and really enjoyed it.”
Q: What might be some similarities between golf and football?
A: “I think you can have as many similarities as you choose to have, but for me, I get enough of football on the football field, so I’m comfortable with golf being very different from football.
“It’s a sport that’s played at a different pace, which is good. I appreciate the followship of it and I don’t need to go play competitively to try to win. I think I get plenty of that in other areas of life. So, it’s more about the camaraderie and not being in a hurry. I prefer to not use a golf cart but prefer to walk with a caddie or walk and carry. For me it’s more about the differences between the two.
“I think when I’m done playing football I would see golf being that competitive outlet where the way I approach golf would probably change. I would turn it into trying to ‘grind on my game’ – going to the range and really work on getting better and use that as a great outlet to continue a lot of the habits I’ve had with football the last 20 years, and see how good I could get at golf and try to compete and try to win. But as long as football is going for me, golf is more of a laid-back social experience where I’m in no hurry and enjoying the process and take it one shot at a time.”
Q: Have you made a hole in one?
A: “Never had one. The closest I ever got was at a golf camp in fifth grade, one summer in Wisconsin. On a par 3 as an 11-year-old I hit the ball way off to the right into some woods. The ball bounced around in some trees and then kicked out towards the green and then rolled to like 6 inches from the cup. I was able to tap in for birdie and that taught me a thing or two about how sometimes the ball bounces your way in golf and sometimes it doesn’t,” he said with a chuckle.
Q: If you were asked to captain a Ryder Cup team, what tactics or motivation would you use?
A: “I think I’d try to put a chip on people’s shoulders. I think I’d make it clear that we as a group were being overlooked and under-estimated. I would talk about how great moments come from great opportunities, and that this opportunity is great, and as a result we have a chance to experience a great moment if we execute.”
Q: Do you have a golf bucket list?
A: “Yes, I do. My desire is to play as many courses as I can. I’ve been fortunate enough to play many, but I would like to go to Scotland and Ireland. When I retire, I’d love to go to New Zealand and play some of the courses there. Even now, moving to Atlanta, there’s a lot of courses in the Southeast that I’d love to play that I haven’t been to.
“But if you were to tell me that I could play just the courses in west Michigan alone, that would be tremendous when you think about all the great golf courses, from New Buffalo all the way up to Harbor Springs. There’s a lot of great golf and I don’t have the time, but I do the best I can to chip away at the list.
“And it’s not just about chipping away from the list, but doing that with people. Going with my sons (now ages 5 and 6), going with my brother, with my dad and my college roommates, and being able to experience those courses with them; I think that’s what it’s all about. And meeting new people you meet at the courses, the caddies. I just think it’s fun to go with people you know and build those relationships, but then also meet people on those trips.”
“But I’ve got a few more football games to play and that kind of dominates the schedule right now, and golf tends to be on the back burner for the time being.”
Q: About a year ago you purchased your hometown Clearbrook Golf Course in Saugatuck. What motivation was there?
A: “I became a member at The Dunes Club in New Buffalo and it was an hour drive there. The rounds of golf I was playing there were my favorite time I spent all summer. But I felt the hour drive to get there wasn’t very sustainable in the long term, so I started looking at options that were closer to home.
“I saw that Clearbrook had a lot of similar traits to the Dunes Club as far as being a self-contained course, it wasn’t a neighborhood course which so many courses are. It has great history (nearing 100 years old) and a beautiful creek running through it. There’s some elevation change, there’s mature trees and it’s close to the heart of town on a great piece of property.
“I knew Jim Jeltema (still owner of the clubhouse restaurant) was getting to a stage in life he was looking to sell and I had a feeling that if someone were to buy it they would turn the land into condos… so to help Jim, and to keep the land a golf course for the next generations I thought we could step up and purchase it. That would give me a little bit of oversight on the home-town golf course in the years ahead when I’m done playing football and I can be there more and get to play golf more.
“I would love for any Michigan golfer who reads this Journal to come out to Clearbrook and visit and say hello, and don’t be surprised if they see me out on the range or the golf course grinding on my game, because I fully intend to be spending a lot of time there in my retirement from football.”
