Okay swim fans, have you been wondering what Michael
Phelps has been up to lately?
The most-decorated Olympic champion of all time has traded in
his cap and goggles for clubs and golf balls and is working with
esteemed golf coach Hank Haney for the next series of The Haney Project. The series debuts Monday on
the Golf Channel at 6 p.m.
Here’s a great story by Will Graves of the Associated Press, who
caught up with Phelps in Sarasota, Fla., during spring training for
the Baltimore Orioles.
SARASOTA, Fla. — Michael Phelps still hops in the pool
occasionally, but only so the most decorated Olympian of all-time
can get a little peace and quiet.
“Whenever I’m in the pool I don’t have to answer questions, I
don’t have to say ‘Hi!'” Phelps said. “It’s my time. That’s
something that I don’t get often. It’s a good little getaway for
me.”
And that’s it.
Six months into retirement, the man with more gold medals than
any Olympic athlete insists he’s content with the direction of his
life. Sure he still finds himself keeping track of what’s going on
in the swimming world, but there are zero urges to call coach Bob
Bowman and tell him it’s time to dust off his stopwatch.
Asked if there’s any scenario where he envisions himself giving
it one more shot, Phelps says “no” three times and shakes his head.
He’s getting used to the question. He just hopes people will start
getting used to the answer.
“A lot of great athletes have come out of retirement,” he said.
“I just don’t see myself doing it.”
Besides, he’s too busy living out the normal life — well, normal
life for a guy with 22 Olympic medals stashed away somewhere — to
have time to think about the 2016 Games.
Phelps is finishing up filming of the Golf Channel reality
series “The Haney Project.” Phelps and golf coach Hank Haney have
spent the last few months trying to tune up the 27-year-old’s
game.
The eight-part series will debut next week, and Haney — who
counts Tiger Woods among his former students — has come away
impressed with how his new pupil has been able to reign in his
competitive fire.
Of course Phelps wants to walk out there and shoot 68. He just
understands it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
“One of the things he always says is ‘just baby steps, baby
steps. Nothing wrong with taking baby steps,'” Haney said. “He’s
big on having a plan. He’s big on just making progress even if it’s
just little bitty things.”
In that way Phelps considers golf and swimming alike.
“I want to be a good golfer but it’s not going to happen
overnight,” Phelps said. “Swimming didn’t happen overnight. I had
to put years and years and years into it. Obviously I didn’t think
it would be this hard.”
How hard? Before filming started Haney and Phelps played six
rounds to get a gauge for what they were getting into. Phelps’
scores were typically in the three-figure range.
Neither will say where Phelps is at with his game now — that’d
kind of ruin the journey of the show — but he acknowledged he had
the “round of his life” while playing a Gary Player-designed course
in Sarasota on Wednesday.
Phelps says there wasn’t much culture shock going from Bowman to
Haney as a coach, though there is one slight difference.
Haney makes it a habit to say “good shot” after every shot,
regardless of its outcome. Bowman wasn’t quite so forgiving when a
workout didn’t quite go as planned.
“They both share the same passion and love of their sport and
they want to be the best,” Phelps said.
So does Phelps, who typically plays from the black tees
depending on the course.
“I can hit it far, I just don’t know where it’s going to go
sometimes,” he said.
Turns out, that’s a pretty good way to describe Phelps’
performance in the batting cage. He and Haney spent 30 minutes
taking some swings at Ed Smith Stadium on Thursday, the spring
training home of the Baltimore Orioles, Phelps’ hometown team.
Wearing a jersey with the No. 18 on it to match his gold-medal
haul, the 6-foot-4 Phelps looked pretty comfortable with a bat in
his hands for the first time since he played Little League as a
kid.
Well, most of the time anyway. At one point Orioles third-base
coach Bobby Dickerson worked Phelps inside. Phelps jerked out of
the way and couldn’t help but laugh as a handful of players and
Baltimore manager Buck Showalter struggled to suppress a
giggle.
Still, there were signs of the old competitiveness that made
Phelps so unbeatable for so long. During his final turn he dug in
and sent a steady stream of well-struck balls into the
outfield.
Not bad for a retiree. A permanent one at that.
“I’m enjoying myself,” Phelps said. “I get to travel the world.
I get to play a different golf course pretty much almost every day.
It’s been a pretty cool retirement.”
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