Eight Biggest Superstitions in Professional Golf

Whether it’s the lucky penny used as a ball marker or even an unwashed pair of socks (hopefully not), as golfers we all tend to get a little superstitious in an effort to tip luck into our favor.  After all, this game is arguably the hardest sport to master and any leg up we can get, is certainly worth try.

Perhaps it’s for this reason that we see superstitions even including golf’s most elite players.  That’s right, even “masters” of the game are not exempt from a little superstitious quirkiness.

That said, here is a list of some of the most well known—and perhaps strangest—superstitions in professional golf.

Tiger Red on Sundays

Probably the most well publicized superstition in golf is the red shirt donned by Tiger Woods during his final round of any given event.  With 80 events won, including 14 majors and well over $1 billion in earnings over his career, it’s safe to say that this superstition has worked for the 39 year old superstar.  Let’s be honest, we have all tried wearing red one time or another with the idea of channeling some of that Tiger energy in the back of our mind—too bad the outcome is never quite the same.  Tiger has been quoted saying that he has worn red since his junior and college days and it worked so well, he simply kept on with it.

Tiger is not the only one with a color based superstition.  Paula Creamer (#9 on our list of the hottest women in golf) always wears pink in her final round and has even gone as far as using pink balls and tees.  Additionally, Rickie Fowler is no stranger to a Sunday color preference, as the young gun is always seen rocking orange from hat to shoes on the final day of his events.

Trevino Says NO to Yellow Tees

Lee Trevino is one of the most comical, and beloved guys to ever play the game.  “The Merry Mex” has long been known for his on course antics, jokes, and appearances in golf related movies.

Trevino was once quoted saying that he will never use yellow tees when teeing off because yellow is the color of cowardice.  He actually went as far as saying that he’d hit a 3 wood off the deck before ever using a yellow tee.  With 29 PGA TOUR victories and a total of 89 professional wins on all Tours, it’s probably not worth arguing with Trevino’s logic.

It’s worth noting that many golfers of all levels have stated their aversion to red tees because most feel that red is a dangerous color.  Honestly, we’ll use just about any tee (broken or whole) we find out there.

Jack Nicklaus and Loose Change

Many fans are not aware that possibly the greatest player to ever walk the links has a superstition of his own.  Jack Nicklaus will never play a round of golf without three coins in his pocket—and it must be exactly three, no more, no less.  The denominations don’t matter to the Golden Bear, and as long as three coins are jingling in his pocket, he can step out to the first tee.

Nicklaus has won the most majors in PGA TOUR history with a total of 18—a stat that really only Tiger Woods has a chance to beat at this point.  Some claim Rory McIlroy could find himself in contention, but who knows.

Chi Chi Rodriquez, like Nicklaus, also always carried three coins on him but his approach was a little different.  He would mark his birdie putts with a quarter, his eagle putts with a buffalo nickel, and if things weren’t going his way, he’d switch to a gold coin. Now that’s some serious accounting!

Davis Love III: 1960s?

The 2012 Ryder Cup Team USA Captain has a golf superstition unlike any other player out there, and it might be a little too cumbersome even for the most superstitious.  While most TOUR players use ball markers and not currency, DL III believes that all coins minted after 1970 are deemed to be bad luck.  This is why he prefers pennies minted in the 1960s—although he certainly doesn’t mind paychecks with current dates!

Ernie Els’ Birdie Balls

Here’s a superstition that will blow your mind: South African hall of famer, Ernie Els, will purposely throw his ball away immediately after making a birdie, claiming that all of the good luck has been sucked out of it.

Els sunk close to 260 birdies on TOUR in 2013, which basically means he tossed about $1000 worth of balls out of his bag.  Good thing he doesn’t pay for them, and we’re sure he’s given plenty to the gallery over his career.

Keegan Bradley’s Quirkiness

Keegan Bradley might be the most superstitious professional athlete in the entire sports world.  From marking his ball heads up only, to taking his hat off to scratch his head after every missed put, it’s obvious on TV that his habits get quirkier every event.  Recently, it was reported that Keegan has still not unpacked his suitcase from the epic Ryder Cup Collapse at Medina in 2012.  He was quoted during an interview with golf.com saying “It’s still packed up…It’s such a bummer, because I had all these plans.”  You can tell the loss really eats him up.

About the Ryder Cup loss Keegan went on to say, “I had a bottle of Champagne that was left over from Chicago.  I had a bunch of things I wanted to do with the guys, but we’ve got such a great group of guys that we’re going to be tough for years to come.”

Ben Crenshaw Keep’s them Low

You may know that golf great Ben Crenshaw has 19 PGA TOUR wins on his resume along with two green jackets, but did you know that “Gentle Ben” has been known to only use golf balls with numbers 1 through 4 on them because he claims that anything higher may result in scores that equal the same.

So maybe we should get rid of all of our Titleist 8s.  Yeah, that must be the reason…

ZJ’s Homemade Ball Marker

A lot of professionals have special ball markers that they keep with them years, many of which were often given to them as gifts by loved ones.  That list includes Zach Johnson, who has a very special ball marker that his wife Kim made for him, and it’s with him through every round he plays.

The custom ball marker holds biblical phrases and verses that Zach repeatedly recites throughout the round.  It has seem to work well of the veteran as he constantly finds himself in the running for the FedExCup, Ryder Cup, and many other special events on TOUR every year.

Share Your Own Golf Superstitions

Do you have any golf superstitions of your own?  We’d love to hear about them, so leave your stories of own odd-ball habits in the comments below.

(Cover Photo Credit)