As the frontman of a band that has sold more than 10 million albums, Pat Monahan has performed on stages all around the world. But as a golfer, a few smaller gigs stand out. The Train lead singer didn’t buy a set of clubs until he was in his 40s and just dabbled in the game when he booked a private event in San Francisco 11 years ago that wound up changing his life.
“It was for two of my very dear friends now that I didn’t even know at the time, but they found out through my agent that I played golf, and so they invited me to San Francisco Golf Club,” Monahan recalls. “When I got there, I met the people I was gonna play with and many other people, and I was like, ‘These are my people.’ Because of how positive that experience was, I was like, ‘Now I have to really learn how to play the game.’ ”
A few years later, now fully into his golf obsession, Monahan was given the chance to perform at another event with a golf angle, Tiger Jam. Monahan had performed at Tiger Woods’ annual Vegas fundraiser before and initially declined when another band backed out at the last minute—before he received a unique offer from the golf legend.
“I had just come back from Europe and Australia, and I was like, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ and my agent said, ‘Tiger will give you an hour-long golf lesson if you do it,’ ” Monahan says. Monahan quickly changed his mind: “I’ll be there in 15 minutes,” he replied. Woods helped Monahan with some swing tips on the range before taking a look at his putting stroke. “I just loved it. We had some lunch, and then he’s like, ‘See you tonight.’ It was really cool,” Monahan recalls.
The 57-year-old Monahan, who lives in the Seattle area, has taken many more golf lessons since, most recently with two-time PGA Tour winner Rick Fehr after a disappointing performance in his seventh appearance playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “It was so frustrating that I didn’t understand it,” says Monahan, who has a 7 handicap at Aldarra Golf Club in Washington. He discovered a new appreciation for practicing his game that he picked up from playing with Jake Knapp.
“I’m into it now,” Monahan says. “Instead of playing nine holes, I’ll just go work on my game for 90 minutes because it’s the only chance of me ever getting from a six to a three.” He has been ingraining a narrower stance that has allowed him to get the club back farther and finish his swing better.
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Jed Jacobsohn
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There’s not a ton of time for golf with a busy summer on tap. Train has a new studio album, “Mad Dog in the Fog,” coming out in August and a 39-city tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their iconic “Drops of Jupiter,” which resulted in the band’s first two Grammy Awards. Monahan, who is also the co-writer of a new musical, “Begin Again,” set to debut in the fall, will bring his clubs on the road as always. The band will also travel with a semi-trailer with equipment for workouts on show days.
“I’m not in really good shape right now, but I will be by the third week of July,” Monahan says. “Golf’s my fun time.” Just as golf is a lifelong sport, Monahan views his music career in the same light.
“I’m a long-distance runner more than a sprinter, and we’ve never been the biggest band in the world,” says Monahan of the group that formed in 1993 in San Francisco and of which he’s the only remaining original member. “But I was like, ‘We’re gonna outlast all of them.’ That was always the goal.”
Monahan says that scrappy attitude carries over to the course as well, and he appreciates the game’s ability to keep him hungry and humble. “You can have a great drive, nobody cares. What are you gonna do with it? That’s a thing in music as well,” Monahan says. “Nobody cares about, Hey, that’s the guy who wrote ‘Drops of Jupiter.’ It’s like, What about now? What do you got? I try to stay competitive in that.”
His competitive side comes out when he plays in celebrity tournaments or in club events at Aldarra. When asked for a golf highlight, he points to a Presidents Cup match a few years back when he hit two great shots on the par-5 seventh hole and then converted a clutch eagle putt from six feet after the opposing two-ball team chipped in for birdie.
“Beating those two guys on that hole was one of the best things I’ve ever done,” Monahan says with a grin. “If you met these guys, you’d be like, ‘I’m so glad you won.’ ”
Most of his rounds are much more friendly. A few years ago, Monahan was jealous of the camaraderie he saw at San Francisco Golf Club when a friend challenged him to do something about it at his home club.
“So I went there, and I was determined to meet as many people as possible, so they know me and I know them,” Monahan says. “I try to mix it up as much as I can. I just think it makes me better as a person and player.”
The game certainly hasn’t hurt him as a musician. Monahan famously penned “Drops of Jupiter” in 15 minutes a quarter century ago after waking from a dream about his recently deceased mother returning from a spiritual journey through the galaxy. When he suddenly gets a burst of inspiration while on the course, he’ll sneak off and sing something into his phone to record it for later.
If there was a Venn diagram of people who have both written a song and performed with Taylor Swift as well as taken a golf lesson from Tiger Woods, we’re pretty sure Pat’s name would be the only one on there. While he hasn’t gotten to “sail across the sun or make it to the Milky Way,” some golfers may argue that playing places like Pebble, Pine Valley and Augusta National qualify as similar experiences.
“I’m living a pretty cool existence,” Monahan says.
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