Caitlin Clark’s Golf Handicap (Plus 5 Other Things We Learned About Her)

Caitlin Clark has a goal for this week’s LPGA pro-am the appearance.

“I don’t want to hit anybody with a golf ball. This is my priority no. 1”, she said.

The WNBA’s biggest star touched down on Florida’s west coast Tuesday ahead of her highly anticipated appearance at The Annika’s Wednesday pro-am, where she’ll play nine holes with tournament host Annika Sorenstam and nine more with No. 1 to the world, Nelly Korda. But unlike most of her competitors, Clark received a pre-pro-am press conference. Two of them, actually. Clark talked sports, leadership and yes, a little golf alongside Sorenstam.

Here’s what we learned:

Clark is a 16-year-old handicap

“I have tried to practice as much as I can. I mean, you know, I’m an average golfer. I’ll hit some good ones, I’ll hit some bad ones. It is what it is,” Clark said. She has been working with Martha Foyer-Faulconer, the Crooked Stick pro in Carmel, Ind., and she’s clearly talented — but still improving on her shots.

“My handicap is like 16,” she said. “Stroke-a-hole, average golfer.”

Clark got a little more specific: Her best rounds are in the mid-80s, she said.

“But usually I’m praying to break 100.”

Clark played ‘literally everything’ growing up

It’s always fascinating to hear professional players talk about what other sports they played growing up. It was fascinating to hear a non-golfer explain where golf and other sports fit together.

“I grew up playing literally everything and I was super competitive,” she said. “My parents just threw me out there and wanted me to get my energy out. Whether it was soccer, softball, golf, track, I really did it all. When I entered high school, I knew basketball was in my future. I liked it and wanted to practice it.”

That was an understatement. It turns out that Clark wanted to practice basketball so much that she actually annoyed her teammates in other sports.

“That was probably what set (basketball) apart from all the other sports I played,” she said. “They were like having fun with my friends. I was really competitive, but I didn’t take extra time out of my day to work on my game and be better than everyone else.

“I think it helped me understand the path I wanted to take. I remember playing football in high school and being in varsity and I loved it. But my teammates would get mad because I would go and practice and practice and do basketball before we had our football games. They like it, they couldn’t believe I was doing this. I had to give up football even though I loved it.”

Sitting next to her, Sorenstam could relate.

“I used to play soccer too,” she said. “You said tennis, that was really my love. Growing up in Sweden there was Bjorn Borg, the national hero, and I tried everything he did, but it didn’t work.”

Clark plans her offseason weeks

Do you want to organize your life better? Follow Clark’s Sunday routine.

“Gosh, now that I’m off-season, I try to plan my week before I start the week, like every Sunday,” she said. “I think that helps me know exactly what I need to do, when I’m going to do my workouts. I’m someone who needs to know when I’m going to work out, whether it’s basketball, weightlifting, this or that.”

Planning, Clark said, helps her stay accountable. And yes, she is senior in her organization:

“I sit down and use pen and paper and write them down. I don’t even write my notes. That’s just how I do things. I feel good and I know exactly what I need to do.

“Once you accomplish those things, you feel like you’re in a good place.”

There is one area Clark prefers golf to basketball

“What’s so nice about golf is, I think being outside, I like that,” she said. “That’s the only bad thing about the WNBA. It is in spring and summer, autumn. I miss a lot of opportunities to play golf. Now that the season is over, I try to play as much as I can.”

It’s getting cold in Indianapolis, Clark said, where she was spending her time. But she has a family trip to Arizona coming up; she will bring her clubs.

“It’s something fun to do,” she said. “I make it competitive. Getting out there with your friends and having as much fun as you can and doing something outside of basketball is really what I enjoy.”

Clark watched Rory McIlroy growing up

Clark is not part of the post-Covid golf boom – she was eager to watch and play from a young age.

“Honestly, I tried to watch as much as I could,” she said, looking for her golf origin story. “Rory was probably one of my favorite players growing up. I would have the TV watching it. I had this cute pink golf set growing up that I got for one of my birthdays. I would beg my dad to take me out and go golfing.

“I remember when I had a weekend without playing football or basketball, whatever it was, I begged my dad to take me. Obviously it wasn’t great, but I just loved being outside and trying something new and the challenge of golf. Obviously very different from the basketball and team aspect. It is much more individual. So that’s another challenge that I like as well.”

Two things distinguish it

OK, maybe more than two things. But when Clark was asked what drives her, she knew exactly what to say.

The first?

“The desire to be the best. Like, I don’t want anyone to be better than me at anything. I just want to be better than everyone else,” she said.

The second?

“I think I’m also very true to myself. I know when maybe I haven’t done my best at something, I’ll be the first person to look in the mirror and know what I need to improve on.

“These two things help me be the best. I can be very honest and real with myself. Of course the younger generation is struggling with this. They always want to point the finger.”

Has Clark realized the magnitude of her rise to stardom? Based on what she says, it seems she has. It’s just that she seems so humbled by the whole thing that she almost forgets how out of this world it all has been.

“For me, it’s really interesting to see how things have changed,” she said. “When I first started in college, it was Covid, so not many people in the stands, maybe no one, then 300 people, just friends and family.

“By the time I was in my senior year, you couldn’t get a ticket unless you paid a lot of money. It’s so nice to see how everything has changed.

“I’ve tried to stay the same person I was as a little girl growing up with boys. I feel like it’s just me and that’s when people want and can relate to it. Just stay in the way that keeps it fun and what I love about it.”

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