Thought some of you might enjoy this..
Cooper
The Original Shock Rocker Sports a Four Handicap
By STEPHEN GROCER, The Wall Street Journal
Alice Cooper, the original shock rocker, was also one of the first rock stars to take to the links. He began golfing seriously almost 25 years ago as a way to cope with alcohol addiction, and has yet to put his clubs down.
"When I started playing, there were no rockers playing the game," Mr. Cooper says. "And when I got good at it, everyone said, 'You don't want everyone to know you play -- this is the establishment game.'"
Today, despite averaging more than 80 shows a year and recording four albums in the past six years, Mr. Cooper plays six days a week and carries a 4 handicap. He recently talked to The Wall Street Journal Online from Belgium, where he was touring, about how he got hooked on the game and some of his memorable moments on the links. (Questions and answers have been edited.)
WSJ: Why did you start playing golf and why are you so passionate about the game?
Mr. Cooper: Everyone I know who started playing golf in rock 'n' roll was addicted at some point. All of us who went through the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s, and survived, were addicted to something at some point. For me it was alcohol. An alcoholic's worst enemy is really having too much time on his hands.
My day usually was drinking beer, and drinking beer and drinking beer. So when I got out of the hospital, there was this huge hole. I said to myself "I have to waste this time. I will do something that takes four hours." I went out and told the pro that I had never played before. He handed me a seven iron and I hit it right down the middle. I was a natural.
WSJ: With your tour and recording schedule how do find time to play six days a week?
Mr. Cooper: It's all set up. I work with [golf-equipment maker] Callaway. Our tour cities are usually about 200 to 300 miles apart. We finish a show around 11 p.m.; do our aftershow; eat and then get on the bus. It's about six hours to the next stop. So we play some poker and then we sleep for a couple of hours. And by the time we wake up we are at the hotel and the Callaway guy is there. He picks us up and takes us to whatever course he wants and we are on the tee by 7:30 every morning. We play with the pro or a top client of Callaway. That night they go to the show. It is a really nice setup because it helps Callaway out and it helps me out.
WSJ: So you have other members of your band playing?
Mr. Cooper: I've got three of them playing now. My band used to laugh at me for getting up at 6 o'clock every morning, which was about the time they were coming in. Now I go down to the lobby and they are already there. They're absolutely addicted. They are putting in their rooms. They have been playing for a year and they're 14 or 15 handicappers.
WSJ: What have been some of the more memorable places that you have played golf while on tour?
Mr. Cooper: We played Iceland last year. We got into Reykjavik around midnight and it was [as light as] noon. So we said, 'What time do we tee off?' and the guy said 1:30. We went out and played at 1:30 in the morning. Same thing in Oulu, Finland, where we teed off at 2 o'clock in the morning.
I played the Moscow Country Club. Now this is when the party had just broken up and it was still pretty heavy, so I had two KGB goons with me. They take me to the golf course, and it is a pretty good little nine holes. And I was like, 'Wow, this is Moscow. I am playing just outside of Moscow.' I had to get everyone shirts. They made me an honorary member. I was No. 9. All their members were celebrities. So I go to the locker room and the locker 007 was Sean Connery's. They said that when they gave him his membership they said, 'Please, be a member of the Moscow Country Club, from Russia with love.' I have a higher kill number than he does, though.
WSJ: What have been some of your favorite moments on the golf course?
Mr. Cooper: The moments that you always remember are the first hole-in-ones. On a par three in Hawaii, I get up to the tee, and I just shank the ball. Of course, it hits the lava, goes straight up, lands on the green, takes two bounces and goes in the hole. I still have the ball and it has a big chunk missing.
WSJ: You play a lot of celebrity golf tournaments now. Was it difficult getting accustomed to playing in front of large crowds?
Mr. Cooper: At the Phoenix Open, there are 100,000 people there during the Silver Pro-Am. Now, you are either going to totally collapse or you are really going to play good. With me, I just saw an audience and turned it up. I always thought in situations like that you either get super focused or just fall apart.
Two years ago, I played with Pat Perez and shot a 71. I was on fire. Two days later I went out on that course and shot a 79 with no one watching.
If you play a lot of golf, just put your head down and pretend you're at the driving range, because we all hit 68 at the driving range.
WSJ: Tiger Woods once said that you are one of the better celebrity golfers. What did it feel like to get a compliment like that from Tiger?
Mr. Cooper: I have had three or four compliments in my life that were my favorite. John Lennon thought that "Elected" was his favorite song; Groucho Marx said I was the last hope for Vaudeville; Salvador Dali said our shows were like one of his paintings come to life; Bob Dylan said I was one of his favorite lyricist; and then I'm reading this article and they are rating all the celebrity golfers and Tiger comes out and says he wouldn't give Alice Cooper two a side. That was a really nice compliment.
WSJ: Have you ever considered becoming a professional golfer?
Mr. Cooper: When I was playing really, really well and had a two handicap, a couple of guys on the Senior Tour told me that if I took a year off and worked with a [David] Leadbetter or a [Jim] McLean or a [Jim] Flick, I could probably come out to the senior tour and not embarrass myself. I might not win a tournament. But I would certainly not embarrass myself. I kept thinking about it. But there was never really a time when I could take a year off from music.
WSJ: Who are some of your favorite professional golfers or celebrities to play with?
Mr. Cooper: I don't think I have been with a pro I didn't like. I play with John Daly and Rocco Mediate a lot. And of course, I play with Phil [Mickelson] because he is an Arizona boy. I have been paired with Sergio [Garcia]. There are a lot of celebrities who are really good. Dennis Quaid is a great golfer. Kenny G and I have an ongoing battle.
WSJ: At the Bob Hope Classic this spring, you were paired for the second round with Chad Campbell. What did you think of his game heading into the U.S. Open?
Mr. Cooper: Chad Campbell is a quiet giant. He will hit this four iron that is low and mean and then when you get up there the ball is sitting on the green five feet away from the hole. And you wonder how he ever got it to stop. But he does. He's got some deal with that ball. He gets the ball near the hole all the time. And he's very quiet. You really don't know he is playing as well as he is.
WSJ: Who would be in your dream foursome?
Mr. Cooper: It would be a fivesome, but I have always said that in their prime, [Bob] Hope and [Bing] Crosby and [Dean] Martin and [Jerry] Lewis. Hope was 4 handicapper. I believe Crosby was a scratch player and Martin and Lewis were 4 or 5 handicappers. That's four pretty good golfers. Can you imagine the lines for that match? I mean, that would have been the funniest fivesome of all time.
Cooper
The Original Shock Rocker Sports a Four Handicap
By STEPHEN GROCER, The Wall Street Journal
Alice Cooper, the original shock rocker, was also one of the first rock stars to take to the links. He began golfing seriously almost 25 years ago as a way to cope with alcohol addiction, and has yet to put his clubs down.
"When I started playing, there were no rockers playing the game," Mr. Cooper says. "And when I got good at it, everyone said, 'You don't want everyone to know you play -- this is the establishment game.'"
Today, despite averaging more than 80 shows a year and recording four albums in the past six years, Mr. Cooper plays six days a week and carries a 4 handicap. He recently talked to The Wall Street Journal Online from Belgium, where he was touring, about how he got hooked on the game and some of his memorable moments on the links. (Questions and answers have been edited.)
WSJ: Why did you start playing golf and why are you so passionate about the game?
Mr. Cooper: Everyone I know who started playing golf in rock 'n' roll was addicted at some point. All of us who went through the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s, and survived, were addicted to something at some point. For me it was alcohol. An alcoholic's worst enemy is really having too much time on his hands.
My day usually was drinking beer, and drinking beer and drinking beer. So when I got out of the hospital, there was this huge hole. I said to myself "I have to waste this time. I will do something that takes four hours." I went out and told the pro that I had never played before. He handed me a seven iron and I hit it right down the middle. I was a natural.
WSJ: With your tour and recording schedule how do find time to play six days a week?
Mr. Cooper: It's all set up. I work with [golf-equipment maker] Callaway. Our tour cities are usually about 200 to 300 miles apart. We finish a show around 11 p.m.; do our aftershow; eat and then get on the bus. It's about six hours to the next stop. So we play some poker and then we sleep for a couple of hours. And by the time we wake up we are at the hotel and the Callaway guy is there. He picks us up and takes us to whatever course he wants and we are on the tee by 7:30 every morning. We play with the pro or a top client of Callaway. That night they go to the show. It is a really nice setup because it helps Callaway out and it helps me out.
WSJ: So you have other members of your band playing?
Mr. Cooper: I've got three of them playing now. My band used to laugh at me for getting up at 6 o'clock every morning, which was about the time they were coming in. Now I go down to the lobby and they are already there. They're absolutely addicted. They are putting in their rooms. They have been playing for a year and they're 14 or 15 handicappers.
WSJ: What have been some of the more memorable places that you have played golf while on tour?
Mr. Cooper: We played Iceland last year. We got into Reykjavik around midnight and it was [as light as] noon. So we said, 'What time do we tee off?' and the guy said 1:30. We went out and played at 1:30 in the morning. Same thing in Oulu, Finland, where we teed off at 2 o'clock in the morning.
I played the Moscow Country Club. Now this is when the party had just broken up and it was still pretty heavy, so I had two KGB goons with me. They take me to the golf course, and it is a pretty good little nine holes. And I was like, 'Wow, this is Moscow. I am playing just outside of Moscow.' I had to get everyone shirts. They made me an honorary member. I was No. 9. All their members were celebrities. So I go to the locker room and the locker 007 was Sean Connery's. They said that when they gave him his membership they said, 'Please, be a member of the Moscow Country Club, from Russia with love.' I have a higher kill number than he does, though.
WSJ: What have been some of your favorite moments on the golf course?
Mr. Cooper: The moments that you always remember are the first hole-in-ones. On a par three in Hawaii, I get up to the tee, and I just shank the ball. Of course, it hits the lava, goes straight up, lands on the green, takes two bounces and goes in the hole. I still have the ball and it has a big chunk missing.
WSJ: You play a lot of celebrity golf tournaments now. Was it difficult getting accustomed to playing in front of large crowds?
Mr. Cooper: At the Phoenix Open, there are 100,000 people there during the Silver Pro-Am. Now, you are either going to totally collapse or you are really going to play good. With me, I just saw an audience and turned it up. I always thought in situations like that you either get super focused or just fall apart.
Two years ago, I played with Pat Perez and shot a 71. I was on fire. Two days later I went out on that course and shot a 79 with no one watching.
If you play a lot of golf, just put your head down and pretend you're at the driving range, because we all hit 68 at the driving range.
WSJ: Tiger Woods once said that you are one of the better celebrity golfers. What did it feel like to get a compliment like that from Tiger?
Mr. Cooper: I have had three or four compliments in my life that were my favorite. John Lennon thought that "Elected" was his favorite song; Groucho Marx said I was the last hope for Vaudeville; Salvador Dali said our shows were like one of his paintings come to life; Bob Dylan said I was one of his favorite lyricist; and then I'm reading this article and they are rating all the celebrity golfers and Tiger comes out and says he wouldn't give Alice Cooper two a side. That was a really nice compliment.
WSJ: Have you ever considered becoming a professional golfer?
Mr. Cooper: When I was playing really, really well and had a two handicap, a couple of guys on the Senior Tour told me that if I took a year off and worked with a [David] Leadbetter or a [Jim] McLean or a [Jim] Flick, I could probably come out to the senior tour and not embarrass myself. I might not win a tournament. But I would certainly not embarrass myself. I kept thinking about it. But there was never really a time when I could take a year off from music.
WSJ: Who are some of your favorite professional golfers or celebrities to play with?
Mr. Cooper: I don't think I have been with a pro I didn't like. I play with John Daly and Rocco Mediate a lot. And of course, I play with Phil [Mickelson] because he is an Arizona boy. I have been paired with Sergio [Garcia]. There are a lot of celebrities who are really good. Dennis Quaid is a great golfer. Kenny G and I have an ongoing battle.
WSJ: At the Bob Hope Classic this spring, you were paired for the second round with Chad Campbell. What did you think of his game heading into the U.S. Open?
Mr. Cooper: Chad Campbell is a quiet giant. He will hit this four iron that is low and mean and then when you get up there the ball is sitting on the green five feet away from the hole. And you wonder how he ever got it to stop. But he does. He's got some deal with that ball. He gets the ball near the hole all the time. And he's very quiet. You really don't know he is playing as well as he is.
WSJ: Who would be in your dream foursome?
Mr. Cooper: It would be a fivesome, but I have always said that in their prime, [Bob] Hope and [Bing] Crosby and [Dean] Martin and [Jerry] Lewis. Hope was 4 handicapper. I believe Crosby was a scratch player and Martin and Lewis were 4 or 5 handicappers. That's four pretty good golfers. Can you imagine the lines for that match? I mean, that would have been the funniest fivesome of all time.