Throughout the season, Canadian golf stars Adam Hadwin, David Hearn and Graham DeLaet will check in with Globalnews.ca to provide readers with candid insights as they compete on the PGA Tour.
Golf, like any individual sport, means a lot of travelling by yourself, with a lot of time on your hands to think about your round, good shots and bad ones. That was my life on tour in the years I was on the Web.com Tour. But as I made it to the PGA Tour, my girlfriend, Jessica, started travelling with me whenever she could. And she’ll be out with me a lot more—we recently got engaged.
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I’ve had Jess travelling with me for a while, and she’s been full-time with me on the circuit since March. That being said, having a full-time companion when touring is something that takes some adapting to. As a professional golfer you have to dedicate yourself to the game by practicing endlessly to remain competitive at the highest level.
Golf is one-sided, and can be close to all-encompassing. But thankfully I have someone who understands and respects what it takes to play out here. I spend a lot of time alone at the golf course, and as much as I’d like that to be seen as time alone to relax, it isn’t—it’s work. So even when I’m off the course I still need some time to unwind, to think about the state of my game, and have a few minutes to myself, which can be difficult when you have a relationship with someone. But we have fun, we spend a lot of time together, go out for dinners, talk about the week, the round, or whatever. It’s nice having someone there.
You also have to find someone who is pretty independent, who also has their own things going on, which Jess does—especially with some wedding planning to be done. It’s easy from Thursday to Sunday to keep busy and have fun; she likes to come out and watch and it’s exciting. But I think that the start of the week can be a challenge for the both of us. There’s always the travel time, getting settled, and then finding what to do in a new city and staying busy.
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One of the toughest parts of having someone on the road with you—and don’t get me wrong, the positives always outweigh the negatives—is when you’re not playing well or you’ve missed a cut. I remember making a bogey at Hilton Head, which I thought put me outside the cut, and she was waiting there after the round. I said to her that I needed some time to decompress, and she’s come to understand that. It can be tough, no doubt, but I’m learning, and there’s a big learning curve when you have someone who travels with you and lives what is without question an unusual life.
Golf is stressful, it’s individual, and it takes a lot of time. However, despite these obstacles, it’s been a great few months, and I look forward to the rest of the season, especially as the schedule starts to heat up.
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