Jerome Bettis spoke with Steelers Wire about what it was like being team captain to a group of young, talented golfers in the PXG College Golf Showcase.
Jerome Bettis knows football. Jerome Bettis knows bowling. Jerome Bettis also knows golf.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame running back is a celebrity captain, alongside comedian/actor Rob Riggle, in the PXG College Golf Showcase, airing tonight at 7 ET on the Golf Channel.
“We played three days at Scottsdale National Golf Course and competed head-to-head for $1 million in funds that will be donated to two charities — the Semper Fi & America’s Fund and the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy & Trauma Research at Mount Sinai,” Bettis told Steelers Wire. “Both of these charities are supporting our men and women in the armed services, so we were able to raise funds and awareness for a great cause.”
The showcase features men and women collegiate golfers from programs including Duke, Oklahoma, Washington and Arkansas.
“It was an amazing, awesome experience getting a chance of playing with some of the top collegiate golfers in the country,” Bettis said.
“To have an opportunity to walk 18 holes with these young people — incredible golfers, by the way — and to impart a little bit of wisdom in the auspice of a competition was incredible.”
Though golf and football couldn’t be more different from each other, Bettis said there are some parallels in preparation.
“The work ethic is transferable because if you want to be great, there’s no substitute for hard work,” said Bettis. “Golf is the one sport that’s much different than maybe football in that you can be a super talented football player, not really work so hard, so much in the offseason, still have great results during the season because you’re just such a great player.”
“Whereas in golf, that’s not the case. Now you got some natural golfers that maybe don’t have to work as hard; they have natural swings, but for the most part, there’s a direct correlation between what you put in it and what you get out of it.”
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As a team captain, Bettis preached winning and offered guidance for the budding golfers participating in the PXG College Showcase.
“I explained to them that the great ones in football, they’re all the workaholics. They’re working their butts off.”
“You have to look at the sport differently than most golfers look at it,” he said. “They’ve always looked at it as golf and told them to look at it as a competitive moment. And so just those things, just to get them out of their normal mindset to get them to see and think about things much differently.”
“I hope that some of what I was saying would resonate in those moments where they’re having to dig deep for some understanding when they’re going to try maybe win a tournament or in those pressure moments.”
A longtime golfer, Bettis has participated in several charity golf outings since retiring from the NFL in 2005. Designed to further players’ potential on the course, he plays with custom-fit PXG golf clubs, which have kicked his game up a notch.
Watch Bettis in the PXG College Showcase tonight at 7 p.m. ET on the Golf Channel.
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