For musician Pat Monahan, good things have come in threes.
As the frontman for the pop-rock band Train, Monahan is a three-time Grammy winner. And as a longtime golf junkie, he has played Augusta National Golf Club three times.
In a recent episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast, Monahan swapped stories with co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz about what it’s like to walk those famous Georgia grounds, and how his expectations on that stage differ from those of his day job.
On tour with Train, expectations run sky-high. At Augusta, Monahan keeps them grounded.
His best score in three visits? A 79.
“Breaking 80 is my goal,” Monahan said. “You guys want to break par. I want to break 80.”
Stoltz wondered whether that milestone came comfortably or with late drama.
“What did you do on 17 and 18?” Stoltz asked. “Did you make double, double and barely do it or did you kinda cruise in?”
Monahan didn’t hesitate.
“I’m definitely a barely-do-it kind of guy,” he said. “If I have a round that looks like I’m going to come in at 75, it will be a 79.”
The exchange led to a familiar golfing truth: the mind can be a player’s toughest opponent. “It’s amazing how powerful that brain is,” Knost noted. Monahan agreed. It’s a lesson that was reinforced during his recent appearance at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where pressing too hard to perform alongside his pro only made things worse.
Deep down he knew that playing partners on a golf course are different than a concert crowd: nobody cares how you perform as long as you keep up the pace.
Monahan will soon get another chance to test that mindset. A fourth trip to Augusta is on his calendar this month, and he’s preparing the only way a self-aware golfer can: by taking a lesson to work on a few things.
“Like everything,” he said. You can check out the entire episode here.
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