[Photo: Rich Storry/TGL]
Music on the golf course may be a polarising subject, but music around the golf course is an almost universal experience. Whether playing in the car on the way to club (the country club, that is) or bumping in the earbuds while you change into your spikes, golfers everywhere use their favourite songs to set the tone for the round to come. That goes for 20-handicappers and PGA Tour pros alike.
Take Min Woo Lee, for instance. This week we sat down with the Aussie star to get the find out what he listens to on and off the course. On the verge of his sophomore TGL season with The Bay Golf Club, we asked Lee to name the 10 songs he has on repeat as he preps for the SoFi Center’s bright lights and big needle drops. In typical Min Woo fashion, he delivered a list of pure party bangers. Check it out.
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Describing his musical taste, Lee says he generally likes what’s popular at the moment. “It can go from rap to pop,” he says, but recently he’s been branching out.
“I’ve been listening to a little bit of country, which I didn’t love before, but I got to meet a couple guys and made me interested in the genre.”
Asked if he uses different kinds of music for different golf scenarios – such as practice versus pre-match for instance – he says he doesn’t “try to integrate” music into his play so much as use it for “background and good vibes”.
That, of course, brings us to a teensy, weensy little elephant in the room: when playing with his friends, away from the hustle and bustle of the PGA Tour, Lee is a music-on-the-course guy.
“We like to listen to music, but I think it depends on where you play,” he explains. “If you’re playing at a pretty prestigious place, you’re obviously not going to blast out music, but if it’s more of a laid-back situation, I definitely like playing with music in the back and just having fun. It’s very serious when you’re out there on tour, so you just want to have a little more fun and be a bit more free.”
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During the first season of TGL, Lee’s team – The Bay GC, which also includes Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg and Wyndham Clark – were one of the top seeds but lost to eventual champions Atlanta Drive GC in the semi-finals. Lee chalks that up to TGL being a “playoff sport” where the season inevitably boils down to two hours of win-or-go-home golf, so don’t expect too many changes to his routine, especially musically. Last season, he used Post Malone for his music before each shot, and the multi-platinum songwriter remains one of Lee’s favourites heading into season two.
Malone’s hit singles “Rockstar” and “Congratulations” specifically make the cut for his playlist, with “Congratulations” holding a special place for him.
“’Congratulations’ means a lot to me because when you win, that’s the song,” Lee says. “I’ve seen post Malone I think three times live now, and it just hits everything. He’s one of my favourite artists.”
The Bay GC president Eric Kwait says fan engagement is a big emphasis for the squad heading into their second season, which may open up avenues of collaboration with artists such as Malone.
“I can’t let it all out here, but we’ll hopefully be doing some fun stuff. I think that will get folks connected again, and as I said, in a way that is unique and different that we could stand out,” Kwait says. “That could be influencers, it could be with our investor group who’s very connected, and they have a lot of fun things I think as we get into rolling this season that will come forward for sure.”
Keep your ear to the ground for more, but if you’re looking to get hyped for the new season of TGL, we can’t think of better soundtrack than Woozy’s.
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