John Daly is a lot of things, but a fitness role model is not one of them.
He has said that he hates water (prefers Diet Coke instead), doesn’t work out, smokes all day, and is a sucker for fast food. He’s also shown up to his tee times on the PGA Tour still drunk from the night before and has lost a fortune at the casino too.
Who are we to judge though? The guy has won millions of dollars playing golf and has two more major trophies than me.
But there are some things we can learn from his insane lifestyle. Here are three of his worst habits to avoid.
Excessive Binge Drinking
John Daly is a lifelong drinker.
He has said multiple times that he’s been drinking beer since he was nine years old. And that he can easily put 20+ beers down in a single day. Not to mention, he even has a cocktail named after him as well.
While he doesn’t drink as much as he used too, his binge-drinking was out of control at one point. Although he was never a daily drinker, his binges were enough to keep a frat house drunk for a semester.
So much so that he legally died once but doctors were able to bring him back to life.
As he said, “I had passed out, they [doctors] said they had to pump my stomach and all this. They said that I was dead for over 9 seconds … they had to revive me. They said my blood-alcohol level was almost four, 3.7 or 3.6.”
Luckily, he doesn’t drink the hard stuff anymore.
In his peak drinking, he’s said he would drink one or two fifths per day of Jack Daniel’s. But he realized that this would eventually kill him and switched to beer instead.
Thankfully, he was able to kick some of his drinking habits.
18,000 Cigarettes Per Year
While JD has stopped drinking so much alcohol, one vice that he isn’t looking to give up is cigarettes. He started smoking them at 19 years old in college to lose weight and has been at it ever since.
JD is not a casual smoker who only lights up a few times per day either. Instead, he has two or more packs per day.
In an interview, he said that averaged about 18,000 cigarettes per year!
At this point though, he has no plans to stop. Even in his win at the 2021 PNC Championship, you can see him lighting up nearly every hole.
Anger Management Issues
Golf brings out the worst in all of us from time to time.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t punched the steering wheel of a cart, thrown a club in the water, or slammed a few clubs into the ground. The game is just as frustrating as it is rewarding.
I can only imagine these feelings are amplified when it’s your career and millions of dollars are on the line. JD’s roller coaster golf game has led to some blow up holes and epic freak-outs along the way.
As JD said, “Sometimes I’d beat my bus up, sometimes I’d beat my car up, sometimes I’d beat my hotel room up. The only thing I’ve ever done is hurt myself.”
This also included trying to punch through a TV after a bad third round. Yikes!
To make matters worse, the punch failed miserably and he broke his hand. Somehow, he was able to play the next day and in true JD fashion, won the event despite the injury.
Thankfully, he kept the damage to himself and a TV that got in his way. While his ex-wife Betty claimed that he hit her in one incident, there were several witnesses that vouched for John.
The question I always ask myself is, “Would he be better or worse if he had more healthy habits during his career?”
What do you think?
Make sure to let us know in the comments below!
Written by Michael Leonard
