7. Samuel L. Jackson
6.9-Handicap
Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Samuel L. Jackson didn’t have the urge to hit the links. He had friends who caddied and refused to be someone who carried another person’s bag.
Eight years after picking up the game, Jackson was already a 6-handicap and has gotten it down to a 4.9 when he was at his best. He picked up the game after his move to Los Angeles from New York and he finally decided to join his friends at the driving range.
"“They kept on nagging at me,” he recalls. “And I kept on saying ‘no’, until one day they tricked me by saying we were going somewhere else and taking me to play golf. Of course, I was hooked by the game immediately. I played as much as I could, at my local public courses: with old ladies, with little kids, I just paid my 15 bucks and went out there to hit balls. I didn’t care. I started playing in pro-am tournaments pretty early on, and didn’t give a damn that I wasn’t up to it. I wasn’t embarrassed. By playing with the good guys your game improves much quicker.”"
He’s played with everyone from Bernie Mac to Tiger Woods. Samuel L. played with Tiger at St. Andrews and shot a 78 playing alongside the former number one in the world. Woods even gave some advice before the two teed off, “Stay out of the bunkers.”
Jackson uses golf to help him when getting ready for a role in a movie saying, “I pretend to be a professional golfer. I get into character and go out there and play the part.”
Next: No. 6 - The Deflator