Gareth Bale may have been a world-class footballer, but he is also well-known to be an avid golfer. Now, the former Spurs man has revealed how taking up the sport helped him become a better player at Tottenham.
Joining Spurs as a young left-back from Southampton, no one could have ever predicted just how far Gareth Bale would ultimately go as a footballer.
Between 2007 and 2013, the Welshman evolved into an electric winger and at times, an out-and-out forward for Spurs, and became one of the greatest players to ever grace the Premier League.
He would go on to clock up 237 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring 72 goals and registering 54 assists (Transfermarkt), before moving on to Real Madrid and adding plenty of silverware to his trophy cabinet.
How golf helped Gareth Bale’s football career
Now retired, Bale has more time to improve his golf swing, and he’s been speaking to Sky Sports about how the other passion in his life actually helped his mentality and approach to football.
He said: “Obviously golf is one of the most frustrating sports mentally, but for me, because there’s so much pressure in football and people are constantly on top of you, there’s scrutiny and media and stuff… I always used it as: You have four and a half hours, whether you’re with friends or on your own, just to get away from life and all the pressures of football and just have this battle with the golf course and golf ball.
“It was that sort of freedom that I guess really kept me mentally sane during my career, and it helped me a lot to overcome those pressures. I used golf as a tool to help my career to be honest. It definitely gave me that calmness and time I needed on my own to reset every time after big games or training or a lot of stuff happening at once.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Golf is an incredibly challenging yet rewarding sport, and I totally see where Bale is coming from in terms of the introspective nature of it and how that can help in other aspects of life. It’s largely about you just improving rather than competing against other people, and that’s a valuable approach to have as a diversion from the tension of football.
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