On average, PGA TOUR pros spend 25-30 weeks on the road each season. With a schedule like that, it can be a challenge for a player to remain “present” as a family man.
After all, as much effort as consistently playing great golf requires, it takes even more to maintain a healthy partnership, and to parent from afar.
We caught up with a few pros at the AT&T Byron Nelson to find out how they make it work.
Freddie Jacobson, a 13-year PGA TOUR veteran, who is originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, but now resides in Florida, has a wife and three children ranging in age from nine to 13 to keep up with.
His youngest, Max, had open heart surgery two years ago to correct a defect in the right coronary artery. That scary time put everything into perspective for Jacobson.
Feb 7, 2015; La Jolla, CA, USA; Jhonattan Vegas reacts to his putt on the 18th green in the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course – South Course. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
“I make sure to have at least two stretches every year in the summer where I go to Sweden for a month, not play any golf, and just hang out,” he said. “We have a place there in the summer where we can bring the kids when the kids are out of school. Then we go in the winter for Christmas and New Year’s. For us, that’s been key. Not a lot of players do that — take out a month or six weeks in the middle of the season. But for me, it’s important…The other thing I’ve done is I never really go more than two weeks without going home.”
Greg Chalmers, the 43-year-old Australian left-hander and Dallas resident, is on the same “family first” page as Jacobson. Chalmers has a wife and two sons, his eldest being 13-year-old, Max, who has autism.
“With my kids becoming teenagers, I’ve learned that the same-sex parent is one of the strongest role models, and I’m not there 25 weeks a year,” Chalmers said. “That’s hard, but when I am around, I’m fully ‘there,’ and I can do whatever they want. I can drop the kids off at school, help them with their homework, go to their sporting events, whatever they need. When they’re at school, I’ve got all day to practice golf. But when they’re home, I know I need to be available.”
As for 32-year-old Venezuelan pro Jhonattan Vegas, who has a one-year-old daughter and a wife by his side, he says it’s all about finding a good life partner.
“I have a young family, so I can travel with them quite often,” Vegas said. “I think the biggest key is finding a wife who totally understands what you’re doing, and sticks through that process with you, because it’s hard.”
When the Vegas Family does have to split up, they turn to technology and healthy communication patterns.
“We Facetime a lot,” Vegas said of his wife. “It’s about talking frequently face-to-face and checking in to make sure both of us are happy with where we’re at. I think the fun part is when we get together, it almost refreshes the relationship, and there’s always this new appreciation for what we have. We have to work hard to make things work at times, but the payoff is better than anything I can imagine.”
Family first, golf second. That’s the philosophy these pros tee up.
