Peter Crouch on golf, greenkeepers and perfect pitches
The Premier League star and England international turned podcast host loves nothing more than a round of golf. We asked him to share his appreciation of the professionals who tend to the playing surfaces.
Peter Crouch’s football career took him to Liverpool, Aston Villa, Southampton, Spurs and Stoke – and he won 42 caps for England, scoring 22 goals.
Since retiring in 2019 at the age of 38, his That Peter Crouch Podcast has become a huge hit and he is a regular summariser and pundit on TV and radio.
Throughout his life, Crouch has always been a keen golfer, and now he has the time to play more than ever before. He is a member at Oundle, near Peterborough, and has a keen appreciation of the work done by sports turf professionals to help him enjoy his sport to the maximum.
“There are two sports that I really, really love,” he said. “Football, growing up, was my life, and now I absolutely love golf.
“Without the greenkeepers and the groundsmen, certainly at grassroots level, we wouldn’t have anything to play on. I absolutely love going out there, especially with golf now – the greens are absolutely immaculate. You think about the amount of balls that are hit into them day in and day out – not from me, but from good golfers! – and they are always immaculate. It’s a great job they do and they make it incredibly enjoyable for the rest of us.”
Crouch understands that when preparing to strike a half-volley on the football pitch or to hole a crucial putt on the golf course, the player is at the mercy of the pitch or green. That is why he is so appreciative of the quality of the surfaces that we get to play on these days.
“You think about the pitches now, and they’re unbelievable,” he said. “Football pitches when I was playing were good, but before that they obviously weren’t up to the level they are now. You think about the footballers playing in the 1970s and 80s, and through the winter they could just be playing on bogs.
“Obviously, they got to a much better standard when I played in the 1990s and 2000s, and they were generally very, very good. But I look at them now, they are just like billiard tables. So the standard of work that grounds people and greens staff are producing in sport has just gone up tenfold. The pitches and surfaces are immaculate now – perfect.”
As ever with Crouch, a self-deprecating anecdote is always close at hand. Such as the time when he found himself under real pressure after an errant approach shot at The Grove, near Watford, in full view of the club’s greenkeeping team.
“Once I was playing at The Grove. I always remember I hit a shot and I absolutely creamed it. I ended up on a little roundabout in front of the clubhouse. All the greenkeepers were lined up and they said, ‘you’ve got to play it’. So I played it off the roundabout and on to the green in front of everyone. It was one of the most embarrassing moments I’ve ever had. But the shot was OK. I landed it on the green, but it just rolled off, so it was fine really in the end.”
One of things that makes Crouch, now 44, so relatable to the public is his appreciation of what is happening around him. It is typical that the work greenkeepers do does not go unnoticed by him.
“I would like to give a shout out to all the greenkeepers. When we play golf, the fairways and greens are immaculate. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. Thanks very much,” he said. ✤
Peter Crouch greenkeeping quiz
Could the former footballer have a future career in agronomy? You decide based on his responses to these questions
- What is aeration? Aeration is where you let the grass breathe.
- What is top dressing? Top dressing is where you’ve already put the seeds in, but you just top dress…
- How do you change a golf hole? Well, I’m not sure how you fill it in, but I know you do something where you put it in, twist it and pull it out.
- What is fusarium? Fusarium is a type of pasta. Sorry, I have no idea!
- What would you do with a grinder? I’d grind stuff.
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