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After his engine failed early at the Sonoma Raceway, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin opened up about how hitting the links with his Golf Guys Tour helps him chill out from the racetrack stress. Hamlin’s all about NASCAR, but he makes sure to live out his golf dreams too.
Interstate Batteries recently put up a post on Instagram where they caught up with Hamlin to chat about the Golf Guys tour. Hamlin said:
"You know the golf guy's tour is pretty much 22 guys. They're in the NASCAR world that just like to play golf. We go golf on Saturdays. Sometimes before the race on Sunday. We just like to golf." [0:24-0:43]
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It was Denny Hamlin and Ricky Stenhouse Jr who came up with the idea of the Golf Guys Tour. They even spiced it up by having a points system that’s a nod to both the PGA Tour and NASCAR, so that they could take their minds off the racetrack stress.
Hamlin himself spilled the beans a few years back, saying that golf is his go-to way to shake off the stress. He said (via nascar.com):
"Golf has always been a great way for me to decompress and get away from the work aspect of racing and being a race car driver just for a few hours."
Since the Golf Guys Tour kicked off, Denny Hamlin has shown he’s no slouch on the green, winning the title three times. But he’s not the only one swinging clubs. A host of other drivers, including one from Hendrick Motorsports, have also walked away as winners before.
Past champs of the Golf Guys Tour have seen quite a lineup other than Denny Hamlin
The 2024 season is still getting its wheels turning, but last year, Denny Hamlin clinched the GGT trophy. The year before, in 2022, it was Kale—nicknamed "Lawnchair"—who took home the win. Bubba Wallace, driving for Denny's 23XI Racing, won the title at the 2021 event held at River Run Country Club in Davidson, North Carolina, marking the tour’s comeback.
They skipped 2020 because of COVID-19, but in 2019, it was Denny Hamlin who topped the leaderboard. Kyle Larson, his rival on the track, bagged the championship in 2018.
Rewinding to 2017, the very first Golf Guys Tour saw Denny Hamlin as the victor. Besides being his go-to when he needs to unwind, the golf field holds a special place for Hamlin—it’s where he cooked up the idea to start a NASCAR team- 23XI Racing- with Michael Jordan.
