Axehole

Smooth jazzer Kenny G, with a plus-0.6 Handicap Index, is the No. 1 musician in Golf Digest’s list of the Top 100 Golfers in Music, beating out Alice Cooper, the Gaitlin brothers, Darius “Hootie” Rucker, and Justin Timberlake, who’s been busy getting his sexy back.

During high school in Seattle, Kenny G. made the golf team but not the jazz band when he first tried out. When his career as a saxophonist took off, he left the game for nearly 20 years but has since returned with a newfound passion.

“With the sax, I learned technique well enough so that it feels like part of my body, and I just express myself. That’s where I want to get in golf,” he told Golf Digest.

A club champion at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, CA, “G” plays a lot of his golf with actor Craig T. Nelson.

The connection between golf and music is no surprise to many artists. According to Vince Gill (No. 2), “musicians and golfers understand each other. We know what it takes to have to perform. We know there is a lot of alone time.”

Several musicians in the ranking credit golf with helping them kick drug and alcohol addictions. Shock rocker Alice Cooper (T-11) said, “I traded one addiction for another. But golf is the crack of sports. Once I took it seriously I loved it. It absolutely saved my life.” Robby Krieger ((No. 22), guitarist for The Doors agrees, “Golf is definitely an addiction, but it’s one of the few good addictions. It’s probably the only reason I’m still alive.”

No Doubt drummer Adrian Young (No. 5) largely attributes the game’s popularity among musicians to Tiger Woods. “Tiger is huge as far as attracting musicians to golf,” he says. “I want him to win every week. Mostly it’s just watching greatness. Musicians are suckers for a virtuoso.”

Top 25 Musician Golfers

RANK MUSICIAN HANDICAP

1. Kenny G. +0.6
2. Vince Gill 0
3. Marty Roe 0.8
4. Steve Azar 0.9
5. Adrian Young 1.3
6. Rudy Gatlin 2.4
7. Larry Gatlin 3.8
8. Steve Gatlin 3.9
9. Josh Kelley 4
10. Paul Brown 5
T-11. Lloyd Cole 5.3
T-11. Alice Cooper 5.3
T-11 Dan Tyminski 5.3
14. Alan White 5.6
T-15. Darius Rucker 6
T-15. Jason Scheff 6
T-15. Justin Timberlake 6
T-18. Mac Davis 6.2
T-18. Huey Lewis 6.2
20. Dweezil Zappa 6.3
21. Glen Campbell 6.5
22. Robby Krieger 6.8
T-23. Engelbert Humperdinck 8.1
T-23. Will Pugh 8.1
25. George Strait 8.4