Gareth Bale, golf enthusiast: what is his handicap?

‘The Golfer’. Gareth Bale, who announced his retirement from football on Monday, earned that nickname during his time at Real Madrid and his obsession with golf has led to much ridicule, even from his own fans. As he struggled to find his best form at the Santiago Bernabéu and found himself benched, some blamed him for his love of the sport.

“A lot of people have problems with me because I play golf,” Bale told the “EAL” podcast. “I don’t know why because I’ve talked to the doctors and everyone is fine with me playing golf.”

“There’s a perception in the media that it’s not good for me. Steph Curry might be playing on the morning of a match day. But if I play two days before a game people ask ‘what is he doing?’”.

Bale, however, has taken the criticism with humor and even appeared with a banner with the slogan: ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.’ It was when Wales qualified for Euro 2020.

“I am a golfer. Haven’t you seen the pictures?” Bale said of his new nickname, which Thibaut Courtois gave him in 2019. He added: “I’m really happy with the nickname, to be honest. It is awesome”.

It is therefore clear that Bale’s love for golf is undisguised. But can he really play well? TARGET take a look at the handicap the Welsh legend has in the sport.

Gareth Bale, golf enthusiast: what is his handicap?

The handicap is the numerical indicator of an amateur player’s level of play. The numerical scale goes from 0 to 36 in adults and can be decimal. At the end of 2022, Bale played golf with a handicap of two.

Little by little he has been improving his game, having revealed a handicap of “three or four” in a conversation with Erik Anders Lang in 2020 when the two played a six-hole match at Golf Santander in Madrid.

A handicap of two means the Welsh star is an above average amateur golfer, close to zero (0), but still not as good as the pros.

In 2015, the Daily Express reported that the striker’s handicap was “a respectable six”, meaning his time in Madrid and places like California helped him improve.

He clearly plays enough to get better, but does he really play too much? It seems unlikely. He has even emphasized several times that it’s just a hobby that helps him relax.

“Football is my main sport. I get paid to do it and I always give my best. Golf is a hobby like any other would have it,” Bale explained in 2019. “There’s nothing wrong with playing a round. calmer off the pitch and gives me time away from football, which is good.” Now that he has officially retired from football, he can spend even more time perfecting his swing…

Does Gareth Bale have a golf course at home?

Bale has a three-hole course at his home in Wales, with par-3 holes inspired by a choice of three high-profile venues. It was built in 2018. The holes of Bale’s minicourse are: the 17th at Sawgrass, the Stamp at Royal Troon and the 12th at Augusta.

The dimensions of the holes in question are slightly smaller on Bale’s course and he plans to expand the course when he eventually returns to Cardiff.

“We based them on three holes that I really like,” Bale told the “EAL” podcast. “We had to call them ‘the replica of…’ because they are not exactly the same size.”[La réplica del 17 en Sawgrass] the green is slightly smaller which makes it more difficult. So when I started playing at Sawgrass, the green felt huge!”