{"id":436440,"date":"2026-01-27T12:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436440\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:33:15","slug":"the-three-iconic-golf-holes-that-gareth-bale-has-replicated-in-his-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436440\/","title":{"rendered":"The three iconic golf holes that Gareth Bale has replicated in his backyard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gareth Bale\u2019s golfing fandom was a source of real controversy during his professional career. <\/p>\n<p>The former Real Madrid star was on the receiving end of anger from Madrid fans when it appeared that he was showing more commitment to his golfing game than he was to Los Blancos.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>That led Bale to hold a Welsh flag that read, \u201cWales. Golf. Madrid. In that order,\u201d while celebrating a win for his country.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you think about the football star\u2019s golfing habits, it can\u2019t be denied that they have done wonders for his game. He\u2019s a scratch golfer, has impressed at pro-ams frequently, and there are even some rumours about his ability to one day turn pro.<\/p>\n<p>His love for the sport is such that he\u2019s even built replicas of three of the world\u2019s most iconic golf holes in his backyard.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/035bf78b75b2fe62d127ea8e99b8c238.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The three golf holes that Gareth Bale has in his backyard<\/p>\n<p>Bale is so obsessed that he\u2019s built three of golf\u2019s most recognizable holes in his backyard to practice on all day long.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The first is the 12th at Augusta National, of course. The hole, called Golden Bell, is one of the most treacherous par threes in the world, as players at Augusta National are forced to play a shot over the water in Rae\u2019s Creek down the stretch at The Masters.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo by Andrew Redington\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7ce0353ac829193e097744a7e2cf8ed5.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Andrew Redington\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The second hole Bale has in his yard is the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, known as the \u2018Island Green\u2019. It might be the single most difficult par three on the planet, as players are forced to land their ball on the firm green, completely surrounded by water.<\/p>\n<p>Bale also has the Postage Stamp hole from Royal Troon in his yard. Known for the \u201cCoffin Bunker\u201d lining the left side of the green, this par three is renowned for its narrow green and deadly bunkers on every side.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>By picking these three holes, Bale is certainly testing his ability!<\/p>\n<p>What Gareth Bale said about golf when playing for Real Madrid<\/p>\n<p>Madrid fans weren\u2019t happy about Bale\u2019s golfing obsession, but he didn\u2019t seem to mind. He retired at 33 years old, in part because of his growing injury history and also to work on his golf game.<\/p>\n<p>When he was a Madrid player, he said the only thing he\u2019d thought about doing when he was retired was playing golf.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cI try to play as much golf as possible. In fact, I\u2019m obsessed with it. I\u2019ve not really thought about what I\u2019ll be doing in 20 years when I\u2019m retired from football, but, hopefully, I will be playing golf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now he\u2019s got his wish, and hopefully he\u2019s happier for it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gareth Bale\u2019s golfing fandom was a source of real controversy during his professional career. The former Real Madrid&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,181255,622,79685,564,82],"class_list":["post-436440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gareth-bale","tag-golf","tag-golfing","tag-real-madrid","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}