Blake Griffin is a six-time NBA all-star, but lately he’s become obsessed with a different sport: golf.
The 35-year-old has quickly become a mainstay on the celebrity tournament circuit, notching his first-ever victory at the 8AM Invitational earlier this year, despite the fact that he only took up golf about three years ago.
“I was kinda coming to the end of my career, and I was like, dude, I need a competitive outlet, or I could become a psychopath,” Griffin told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar.
Griffin said he probably shot around 120 in his first-ever round, and was determined to get better. Fast forward to the present day, and Griffin is a 13 handicap — not too shabby!
Perhaps his quick progress on the course comes down to his belief in the power of hard work — something he says he learned early on in his basketball career.
“Between my freshman and sophomore year [at the University of Oklahoma], I went and trained with this guy for like two-and-a-half months,” he said. “I had no money in college. It was literally, we trained six days a week, morning, night, two a day, really three-a-days some days.
“And I will say, that set me up for my sophomore year coming back. Like, I got back to campus and we were still doing scrimmages, team pick up. And I was like, ‘Oh.’ I really saw the power of hard work. And that kind of set me up for the rest of my career, because I kind of always knew, if I put the work in, like, it eases your mind just in general.
“If you feel prepared going into a season or a situation, a game, whatever it is, then it puts your mind at ease and then you just let your training take over.”
During Griffin’s sophomore year at Oklahoma, Griffin posted 30 double-doubles — one shy of the all-time record set by David Robinson — and won all six Player of the Year awards. Oklahoma ultimately lost to North Carolina in the 2009 NCAA South Regional Final. After Griffin’s sophomore season, he declared for the 2009 NBA draft and was the first overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers. He announced his retirement from professional basketball in April.
“That sophomore year [in college] was kind of like a dream sequence,” he said. “I felt like every game you go into it just like, try to do something better, try to do something new. And, and we had a good run, but we ran into North Carolina who was loaded that year.”
Fortunately for Griffin, his prospects on golf’s pro-am circuit look bright indeed. For more from Griffin, including how he got into golf and the Tour players he likes to hang out with, check out the full episode of Subpar below.
As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Issue, which debuted in February 2018. Her original interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.
