To some golfers, their can’t-miss vacation spot is right at home
Some prefer to strap on combat boots, push their bodies to the physical limit and engage in paramilitary training designed for Navy SEALs.
Well, that’s just one guy, Tiger Woods.
Still, other PGA Tour brethrens might decide on Baker’s Bay in the Bahamas for spring break yachting, barefoot and bare-chested golfing and those millennial exploits best captured on Snapchat. Life can be so nice.
Frat-boy fun in the sun might not be the ideal getaway for all pro golfers needing time to decompress.
Touring is more often than not an exhaustive enterprise awash in mental fatigue.
So getaways don’t always turn into an episode of Entourage starring Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and friends.
When you’re done playing a series of three or four tournaments in a row, you want to go home. You want to get in your own bed. Our vacations are simply going home.
PGA Tour pro Martin Pillar
“Our job is playing golf and we travel a lot, so our vacation is going home,” said Martin Piller, a PGA Tour pro and Fort Worth resident. “It’s as simple as that.”
Unlike many married men on the tour, Piller doesn’t always have the luxury of bringing his wife along.
Gerina Piller is on the LPGA Tour, so golf is both business and pleasure in their household. And since the Pillers make a living on the links — each had top-four finishes on their respective tours in the same weekend last month — time apart is the norm.
“We get to play maybe one tournament a year where you get to stay in your bed, if that,” Martin Piller said. “When you’re done playing a series of three or four tournaments in a row, you want to go home. You want to get in your own bed. Our vacations are simply going home.”
When the Pillers are together, they want to maximize normalcy.
“Coming back home to see friends and family is the getaway, because it’s not normal for us to be around home,” said Martin, a Texas A&M graduate who turned pro in 2008. “In a whole year, you’re gone more than you’re home.”
I want only a carry-on. Anywhere that I can go with a carry-on is a vacation because I’m not dragging two 50- or 60-pound bags behind me.
LPGA Tour pro Angela Stanford
Angela Stanford also relates with being home. The Boswell High School and TCU grad with five career LPGA Tour wins in a 16-year career is ready to get back to Saginaw when her schedule allows.
But if she’s going on vacation, the marching orders are simple.
“I want only a carry-on,” Stanford said. “Anywhere that I can go with a carry-on is a vacation because I’m not dragging two 50- or 60-pound bags behind me.”
Piller and Stanford are self-professed avid fans of Dallas-Fort Worth’s four big league teams, along with their alma maters.
“If I can go see the Frogs or the Rangers or the Mavs or Cowboys, it kind of a mini-vacation,” Stanford said.
Piller does admit to a favorite.
Whenever I go to Rudy’s, I feel like everything is going to be all right.
Barbecue lover Martin Piller
“I keep up with all the Dallas teams — Rangers, Stars, Mavs, Cowboys — pretty hard,” he said. “Right now it’s hockey and baseball. I grew up here. I’ve lived in the Metroplex my whole life, so it’s in my DNA.
“But if I had to pick any of the four to win a championship, I’d probably say the Cowboys.”
Piller is making his debut at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational with a sponsor’s exemption.
Usually when he comes home from a tournament, a favorite barbecue joint is on his must-do list.
“Whenever I go to Rudy’s, I feel like everything is going to be all right,” Piller said.
Brisket, Colonial plus his own bed is a pretty nice trifecta.
This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 9:22 PM with the headline "To some golfers, their can’t-miss vacation spot is right at home."