Cole Swindell picked up golf at nine or 10 years old and hasn’t stopped gambling in view that—besides for a brief stretch in college while a person stole his golf equipment, and he couldn’t have enough money to update them. That wouldn’t be an issue these days. Winner of the Academy of Country Music’s Best New Artist award in 2015, he has 8 No. 1 singles, along with “Chillin’ It” and “You Should Be Here.” His tune “Break Up in the End,” which appears on his 1/3 album, “All of It,” changed into nominated for a Grammy.
He’s additionally written No. 1 single for several different USA artists, consisting of Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, and Florida Georgia Line. Swindell, 35, squeezes as a good deal golfing into his agenda as he can. Drummer Chris Marquart and guitarist Joel Hutsell play, and from time to time, men in bands they excursion with doing, too. “Golf is my principal factor on the road,” Swindell says. “People suppose it is glamorous. However, it gets lonely. I’m simply sitting there with an identical view on a bus until I get outside and locate something to do.”
A West Coast tour remaining year delivered him to a trifecta of unique courses: Pebble Beach, Spyglass, and Cypress Point. But his favorite golfing revel in remains Augusta National, which he describes as “what I imagine heaven looks like,” after some rounds there. We stuck up with Swindell, who consists of an 8. Three Handicap Index, in January at the LPGA’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions outdoor of Orlando. He competed in 4 rounds with Danielle Kang, Ariya Jutanugarn, Shanshan Feng, and Moriya Jutanugarn, posting decent ratings in the 80s every day and finishing with a birdie on the hard par-three 18th. He came away especially impressed with the LPGA players. “I’m satisfied I’m a pro at something else,” he says with fun. “They’re excellent.” It turned into Swindell’s past due father, Keith, who inspired him to take in golf.
As a kid in tiny Bronwood, Ga., “I performed a whole lot of sports activities, but I don’t forget him telling me after I was growing up, ‘You usually higher play golfing.’ What a terrific game. I’m fortunate to have found out it at a young age,” Swindell says. In addition to playing the game, Swindell’s a massive fan of the pro tours. “When I get home, I’m so worn-out on Sunday, all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch the golfing match,” he says. Of his favorites to watch, Tiger is up there, in addition to Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, and Justin Thomas.
“It’d be a laugh to go hang around those guys, play a few golfing, have a few beverages, inform stories,” Swindell says. “They’re fun to watch. I’m pulling for them.” As for his aspirations, Swindell is happy to be playing and checking off publications on his bucket listing. “I’d love to be loads higher at golfing,” he says. “I’m aggressive. I don’t like gambling any longer properly. But I get to do what I love for a living, and golfing is just something I experience. When I get on that stage at night time, I recognize that is what I turned into born to be doing.”