Musicians – including the country chart’s finest – are drawn to golf and the Pro-Am.

IF THINGS GO AS CHARLES KELLEY EXPECTS, the Lady A frontman will be on board a plane back to Nashville when the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am wraps up on Sunday, Feb. 5.

“You can see how confident I am,” Kelley says with a chuckle, noting that he booked the return flight well in advance. “I’m a realist.”

The event plays out on three courses over four days, with only the players scoring below a certain mark advancing to Sunday’s final round. This will be the country music star’s sixth appearance at the Pro-Am. Although carrying a respectable 5 handicap, and showing enough of a game that Golf Digest ranked him among the top 20 country artists when it comes to hoisting a bag, Kelley has made the cut at Pebble Beach just once.

“That, for me, is a win – to make Sunday,” he says.

A year ago both Kelley and his professional playing partner Kevin Kisner struggled, falling 7 strokes afoul of the cut line as a team. According to Kelley, Kisner – perhaps ruefully, but still jokingly – reminded him that if a pro golfer fails to make the cut, he doesn’t get paid, while a musician can clang a few notes, garble a few lyrics and still pick up a check.

Yet there is an apparent affinity between golf and musicians, particularly those on the country charts. In addition to Kelley in this year’s Pro-Am field are the likes of Lukas Nelson, Eric Church and Jake Owen.

“There do seem to be a lot of country musicians,” Kelley observes. And despite the reputation for outsized belt buckles, extra gallons to the hat, beer cans and all, interest in the sport runs even into the outlaw ranks. Willie Nelson is an avid golfer who went so far as to purchase a course near Austin, Texas so he could play in between recording sessions (he installed a studio on-site).

“The crazy thing is, I didn’t realize Willie Nelson – and Glen Campbell – were such big golfers,” Kelley admits. “Jake Owen is probably the best of all of us.”

Owen routinely pairs up with Jordan Spieth at Pebble Beach. But when Golf Digest set out to rank country music’s best golfers, it was Vince Gill who earned the most praise. Colt Ford – a one-time course pro who has competed in the Pro-Am – came in at number two. Kip Moore is on the list, too. He played collegiate golf at Valdosta State University.

The attraction of musicians to the sport goes back decades, even to the foundation of the Pro-Am. Crooner Bing Crosby started the event in 1937 as a casual “clambake,” inviting friends such as radio orchestra leader Phil Harris – a notorious hard partier who once sank a long putt, turned to Crosby and said “that’s a helluva blow to clean living” – to compete at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego.

After a World War II hiatus, Crosby moved the tournament to the storied Pebble Beach location, where the connection between performance and play continued. Glenn Frey of the Eagles wound up in a three-way tie for the team title in 1999. Kenny G is a 2001 amateur champion. Among musicians on this year’s leaderboard will be rapper ScHoolboy Q, returning for his second go, and Illenium, a DJ making his first appearance.

A list of musicians addicted to golf reads like a Billboard chart, with names like Eddie Van Halen, Toby Keith, Bob Seger and Michael Bolton on the card. The rapper Macklemore, who will once again tee it up at the Pro-Am, launched his own line of golf clothing under the label Bogey Boys.

Before the 2022 edition, Macklemore told reporters gathered at Pebble Beach that there was value in the emotional highs and lows wrought by each round.

“The humility that the game brings, the swing of emotion, the mental fortitude that it takes, the patience, the spiritual practice of accepting whatever you just did and letting it go,” he explained. “I truly love everything about the sport.”

ScHoolboy Q’s introduction to golf reportedly came when he made a snide remark about the game’s stuffy monotony and a colleague in the recording studio challenged him – with a $10,000 ante – to make a birdie within three years. He won the bet handily and was hooked, later telling GQ magazine, “Golf taught me patience. You need that in the music industry, because this shit is evil.”

For many, the calm of the course is an oasis away from the commotion of the studio, stage and label executives. Golf is a pastime they can take part in while on tour. Courses beckon at almost every stop.

“It’s one of those places I’m not thinking of anything else,” Kelley says, joking that you may occasionally miss soundcheck while finishing a slow round, but that’s forgivable. “I’m addicted,” he adds.

Addiction comes up often when performers reference golf. It’s the word used prominently by Alice Cooper, who tries to play a round every day. He took up the game in 1982 following time in rehab and ended up writing a book on the matter, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock ’N’ Roller’s 12 Steps to Becoming A Golf Addict.

“When I came out of the hospital, I had to find another addiction that would not kill me,” he explained in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Every guy I know who is a former alcoholic or addict golfs at least five days a week.”

Kelley recently overcame a bout with alcohol. Kisner, his pro partner, has already given him a good-spirited nudge, questioning whether Kelley’s handicap will be hurt by sobriety (the two are prone to deal each other a little lip throughout a day). “I’m not going to be as exhausted,” Kelley observes, noting with a chuckle that hangovers will no longer affect his early round play, either.

That level of camaraderie is another feature that comes up when musicians discuss their affection for the game. Playing partners often bond, each recognizing the rigors of the other’s profession.

“It’s really fun to be inside the ropes, to feel like a pro for a week,” Kelley says. He admits the long days – the Pebble Beach Pro-Am is notorious for its slower pace of play compared to regular PGA Tour events – can be a grind, but they also open a greater appreciation of what the pros accomplish. “You see in person what separates them from the amateurs.”

In the process, participants also meet other celebrities, corporate executives, and those dedicated to golf.

“You start to build a fun network of people who love golf and who love music,” Kelley points out. “Every musician wants to be a pro athlete and every pro athlete wants to be a musician.”

Kelley has always been drawn to golf. He grew up near the hallowed fairways of Augusta National in Georgia in a family interested in both golf and music (his brother Josh is also a musician-golfer). He played junior leagues, but then lost interest in the game as the band then known as Lady Antebellum found success.

Ten years ago, Kelley was touring with Darius Rucker, an avid golfer and Pro-Am regular. He credits Rucker for dragging him back to the tee.

“I really got back into it,” Kelley says. “I really caught the bug.”

Since then he has ticked off bucket-list courses in the U.S., such as Pine Valley, Oakmont and, of course, the Pebble Beach Golf Links – which never seems to throw him off in competition.

“I always play Pebble Beach the best,” he observes. “For some reason, Monterey Peninsula [Country Club] gives me the most trouble. It’s eaten my lunch.”

Kelley’s goal for the Pro-Am is to help Kisner – to “show up” – on five or six holes each round. That means to birdie when the pro pars, to save par on a hole that vexes his partner, to do his bit to keep them hovering around the cut line.

“A lot of things have to go your way,” he admits. “But I made the cut one year.”

There’s a rhythm to the game. The opportunity to share it with others – particularly the PGA Tour’s best – is why so many musicians take part in the Pro-Am, Kelley says, even if they expect to be ousted early.

“That was my dream, to be a pro golfer,” he adds. “Music has given me this opportunity. 🏌

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