A Skateboarder’s Guide To Golf With Cody Riley
Photos by Cory Roberts.
Welcome back to ‘A Skateboarder’s Guide to’ – a series where I talk to a skateboarder about something that has nothing to do with skateboarding – today, we’re talking golf with Cody Riley.
For this instalment, we teamed up with Allpress Espresso to take Cody to the Australian Open to try out their Shots and Shanks putt-putt café.
With more and more skateboarders picking up golf clubs and going out on the green we thought there was no better time to get a skateboarders guide to the sport. Hopefully this gets you both educated and inspired before you inevitably go out on the golf course. Of course, there’s no better skateboarding golfer in Australia to give that guide than Cody. He has worked at a golf course, worked at a skate shop, he’s hit a hole-in-one, he can 360 flip, he is a sponsored skateboarder and he has filmed some incredible video parts. Especially his part in the Sunday Hardware video, filmed and edited by George Kousoulis.
Without further ado, here is A Skateboarders Guide to Golf with Cody Riley.
What is golf?
Golf is the hardest thing in the world but also the most rewarding thing in the world.
How did you get into playing golf?
My nan and my grandpa played a lot. They always gave me their old clubs when I was a kid, but I never thought anything of it. I used to live on the same street as a high school that had a huge oval so I would just take the driver up there, smash it and follow the balls around. That was when I was like twelve or thirteen. My nan always wanted me to play, she was always like come on Cody play golf. I was just too young and go skate at VertX the indoor skatepark up the street from me. She’d be like ‘you should be playing golf’ and my mum was like ‘let him go, he’s just skating’ (laughs). Then when I was eighteen one of my friends was like do you want to go play golf and I fully got hooked from there. I was playing four to five days a week and then one of my friends was like ‘you’re spending a lot, why don’t you become a member somewhere and you pay a hundred dollars a month and you can play the same course whenever you want’. Golf ranges from twenty to a hundred bucks and I was spending a hundred bucks a week on it, so I ended up becoming a member of the Bankstown Golf Club and I’ve been there ever since.
What are some do’s and don’ts of golf?
A big don’t is talking when people are swinging. Another one is a thing they call walking on people’s lines, so if someone is putting on the green and they’ve got a general direction to where they are going to putt the ball you aren’t allowed to stand on it, so you avoid it at all costs. Playing super slow when there are people around you too.
I have my own personal do’s and don’ts, like no black shoes and black socks if you have shorts on. My golf club is kind of strict on the dress code, you need to dress the part. Always have a belt and have your shirt tucked in. Always wear a belt and wear proper golf shorts, you aren’t allowed to wear cargo shorts or other shorts.
What are the best shoes to wear when playing golf?
Golf shoes. They have little studs in them, which helps a lot if you’re swinging quite hard your feet can slip especially if the grass is a little bit wet. If you are out there with some New Balance Numeric skate shoes, you will be slipping all over the place (laughs). I always tee off super early in the morning like six or seven am, so the grass is really dewy around that time, so you need the studs.
Are there any similarities between golf and skating?
Yes, definitely. Obviously with skating you use your legs, your thighs, hips, feet, and legs a lot and that comes over into golf which is why I think a lot of skaters get into golf. They have good movement; they can twist and rotate and are used to being in crazy positions. I think they benefit each other. Even when I am being more critical about thinking of how I do tricks on a skateboard, the golf side taught me that I need to calm down and take it a bit slower.
If you could pick five skaters to go golfing with, who would they be?
I would go with Paul Rodriguez; I’ve seen him play golf before and he seems like a chill dude who I have always liked his skating. Obviously, I need one of my mates there, so I would love to get Gabbers (Gabriel Summers) on the course, he would be a funny one to have out there. Kader [Sylla] plays golf, so we’d get him out there. Grant Taylor, he’s a legend and he’s always been so nice. He’s a good dude to be around and he’d bring some beers. A good person to always hang out with who you can’t go wrong with is Franky Villani.
That’s a great lineup, would be a fun game for sure. How about five golfers to go skating with?
Tiger Woods, probably wouldn’t be able to skate very well because he looks super frail, but we will take him for sure. John Rahm looks like a good dude. I’ve always wanted to meet Jason Day another Aussie golfer. We’ll take Min Woo Lee, he looks like a good character and I like his stuff. Joel Dahman looks like a good dude. He was on that Netflix series; he was being really funny and was super casual.
Have you ever got a hole-in-one?
Yeah. I hit one in a competition.
Woah! That’s awesome. What happens when you hit one in a competition?
Okay, so it isn’t as serious as it sounds. If you join a golf club you are a member there and every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday they have a competition so everyone books in and you play in a group with your four mates. If you win it's nothing crazy but it’s still a competition. There are two types of golf, there is social golf and comp golf. I would try to play a competition once a week. Those competitions are just relaxed games with your mates, but you are scoring properly.
When I got the hole-in-one, they got the ball I hit it with and framed it with a photo of the hole, the date and my name and gave it to me. It’s pretty cool, it’s hanging up in my house now.
Did you lose it when you got it in?
You know what, the green was just over my eye height, I think it was 185 metres so I couldn’t really see, and I thought it went just over the green. Someone was like ‘I think that went in’ and I wasn’t sure. Then I walked up and there it was in the hole. It is a good feeling, it’s a bit of an accomplishment. It’s like trying a trick for two years and getting it.
Man, it’s so lucky you got the hole-in-one when people were watching.
Yeah, I had two groups watching (laughs). It’s a bit of a thing right where it’s like if no one was watching did it really happen? It’s a funny thing that people always ask you, it’s like if you skate people always ask you if you can 360 flip but with golf it’s like have you got a hole-in-one?
Speaking of golf competitions, Allpress Espresso just took you to the Australian Open recently, what happened there?
I met up with Cory from Monster Children at around ten o’clock at The Australian Golf Club & The Lakes Golf Club. The course is so lush and green and was at one of the nicest clubs in Sydney. Then the first person I saw as we walked in was Leigh Bolton, he came down to the Allpress set-up they had then, Cory, Leigh and I got a coffee we hung out for a bit. They had a three-hole tricky putt putt course set up on the side, we took some photos having a little putt. Then Cory and I went out on the course and followed a few of the golfers around and shot some stuff out there. It was a really good day.
Were Allpress feeding you coffee the whole time?
Man, I had like three within an hour and a half, I am usually a one coffee man. So, I was buzzing by the end of the day. It would’ve been more than three, because they had these new iced coffees that are great, and we went out on the course, and I took two out there with me. I was so caffeinated.
What’s your go to coffee order?
Mate, I’m a classic cap with one sugar guy.
Allpress, Playfair and TaylorMade also had their 'Shots and Shanks' activation. What was that about? How did it work and what could you win?
Allpress collaborated with Playfair Golf which is an indoor golf simulator. It is cool - you hit the ball into the screen and the tracker knows where it’s going. They did a collab with Allpress, and they made a couple of t-shirts and some hats. They were giving away some TaylorMade putters and some reusable cups too. It was a pretty dope set-up, they had some cool shirts and hats. There were a lot of kids coming around and playing, I think they had a really good interaction with it overall.
What advice would you give a skater who wants to start playing golf?
Start now! Start as early as possible, you can’t skate forever. I’m sure everyone has someone in their family that plays golf. It is a good thing to have, you get to hang out with your friends for a few hours, drive around in a cart, and drink beers, the golf course is usually quite nice too. It’s just a good avenue to have to split up skating as well. Learn when you’re younger, you don’t want to be picking up golf clubs for the first time when you’re fifty. Get it while your body is flexy and then you can slow it down when you get to that age.
Nice - thanks Cody
