“Golf is a mind game. There’s a monkey on your shoulders all the time”
The AC Milan legend and 1987 Ballon d’Or winner talks persimmon woods, hitting shots at Milanello, and why golf is harder than football
I had to visit a Milan club around Italy, somewhere close to Milan, with fans, and they gave me a bag of clubs. Jack Nicklaus MacGregor clubs, the most difficult ever. Persimmon woods. A leather bag as well. So that stayed there for a while.
Then I went on a holiday and there was a golf course close by. I went there and got a lesson from an English teacher. I met him later on in a pro-am in Holland for the senior tour. It was funny. I didn’t even recognise him anymore.
If you hit one shot with a persimmon driver and it went well, you were hooked forever. Oh, it was difficult. If you compare it with the Big Bertha that came later, which was a huge club in those days, and compare it with what you have now – not comparable anymore.
Oh yeah, we did. We always played. We had Thursdays. We always had a friendly match and it was always like 45 minutes or something like that instead of a training. And then before that, we always played nine holes. We loved it.
We even hit shots at Milanello (AC Milan’s training ground). The groundsman was not very happy with us. Not very happy.
Yes, of course, later on, but to get rid of bad things is the worst thing. I taught myself a little bit to get rid of flaws and that’s very difficult. I didn’t always have the time to go for lessons. So certain things I can’t get out of my system. You keep going back to that initial swing. All the time. That’s the worst thing.
Golf is a mind game. Much more than football. Of course, you need to be technical, but it’s a mind game. There’s a monkey on your shoulders all the time talking to you. And that makes it so hard.
I’ve played with so many pros, pro-ams, 500, 600. The tournament starts and all of a sudden – what happened? It’s in your head. So, I feel for them. I understand them.
If I see on television a player that is in difficulty, I can’t watch it. I put it off. I feel exactly what he feels. That’s horrible.
That is for us the summit, because you really play with a pro. I am always nervous when I stand on the first tee. There are some people standing there. And I’ve played for 100,000 people! And then my name is announced: ‘On the tee, Mr Gullit.’ And I’m standing there thinking: please, please, please – good shot. Please.
But once the first ball is played, the tension falls away. Then you just play a tournament.
I played the first time when Europe won the Ryder Cup and I played with Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke. Oh my God. So, I was already nervous. There were some people there standing there. And then they walked all with us. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to play with all these people around me.’
But they were so happy. They won the Ryder Cup. They had a blast, they enjoyed themselves. So that was intimidating with the crowd, but also very nice to have these players around you.
Sometimes you do, yes. Sometimes you feel that you are not in good shape. And the most difficult part is that we’re not used to playing three or four days in a row in a good way. You play once and then maybe the other day. But you don’t play four days in a row. You’re not used to it. And that is difficult to keep all your concentration.
That’s when you realise, you find respect for these guys. Consistency required. It’s mentally very, very difficult.
My wife didn’t even want to play because she was so tired. She stayed in the hotel. We had to go through Oman to get here. We couldn’t go straight.
But we loved it. It’s a great event. Raised a lot of money as well, so that was really good.
I’ve been here three times already watching the Race to Dubai, so I know the last four holes. The rest I didn’t know, so I was going to see it for the first time playing it.
Joost is great, I’ve known him for a long time, so it’s good to see him here. It’s my first time playing in the Pro-Am here. I’ve been here a lot of times watching the final day, but now to play it, it’s a totally different experience!
Are there enough bunkers here? My goodness! I played well, I really did. Too many pars, but I made a couple of birdies, so I’m happy with that.
You won Nearest the Pin on the 6th…
Yes! That was nice.
They asked me to come over to play this tournament and I thought Milan, of course, and to play this is lovely. It’s wonderful. Fantastic.
Milan has always stood for elegance and innovation, and you feel that same spirit in this collection. Golf today is culture as much as sport. Dubai is the perfect place to show how AC Milan connects both – a city that understands performance, lifestyle and global style. I’m looking forward to being back here and sharing the AC Milan story with our fans in the region.
The Dubai Fitness Challenge is a great initiative – they should do it everywhere around the world. You need to understand keeping active must be the same as brushing your teeth – it must be something you do regularly to keep your body fit. You only have one body for as long as you live, so you must take care of it.
It’s much easier to be lazy than active, but once you get active, you get a sort of dopamine in your body that makes you feel happy – you can only do that by exercising, so get out there and do it.
I am a Callaway man. I love the Callaways. I love the equipment that they have. I have the Elyte driver, the triple diamond Max. Very good. I like that.
The right shaft. What shaft do you need? That’s the most difficult part because you just take a shaft from the shelf and there can be irregularities. Even if it’s all regular or it’s all stiff, sometimes it’s not really stiff. There are irregularities.
That has always been a moment of searching to find something that suits me. Because even though I’m a big guy, I don’t hit that hard. It’s about speed. But then sometimes they give me shafts and I think to myself it’s too heavy, that’s too difficult for me. With Callaway they always find a way to get me the right shaft.
Fitting is very key, yes. But fitting is also a momentum thing. You have a moment when you are in good shape and a moment when you are not. So when is the right time to get fitted? As an amateur, it’s very difficult to pinpoint when you are in good shape in order to see what you can do.
Ernie’s course, The Els Club. Dubai Creek is nice.
The monkey never goes away. You just have to learn to live with him.
