Vince Gill Gives the Lowdown

The latest issue of GolfWeek magazine features Vince Gill in its Local Knowledge section, where Vince shares his tips on golfing in and around Nashville.

Vince describes his three favorite courses and best 19th hole, as well as offering advice on hotels and restaurants. Vince says he' been swapping concert tickets for green fees for 30 years. "Free golf — that’s the motive" — and when he’s not teeing up with his buddies, he’s often playing in celebrity events, which he admits can be nerve-racking. "I’ve been a scratch player almost all of my life, but on the first tee, everybody’s saying, ‘OK, Mr. Coulda-Gone-Pro, let’s see your action.’ It’s always a struggle."

In 1993 he established an annual tournament, The Vinny, which has raised more than $3 million for junior golf. Recently he has been nurturing his own junior golfer, 6-year-old daughter Corrina, though he admits that "a day on the golf course with her usually consists of looking for worms and bugs and snakes and building sand castles in the bunkers."


Local knowledge: Nashville, Tennessee

Recording star ince Gill’s professional scorecard includes 18 Grammys, sales of more than 22 million CDs, four Country Music Association songs of the year and two entertainer of the year awards. But one of his proudest achievements was the little 62 he dropped on GreyStone Golf Club a few years ago to set the course record. Gill grew up in Oklahoma playing golf with his father, a federal judge, and has been nursing his golf habit ever since. He has been swapping concert tickets for green fees for 30 years – “Free golf – that’s the motive” – and when he’s not teeing it up with his buddies, he’s often playing in celebrity events, which he admits can be nerve-racking. “I’ve been a scratch player almost all of my life, but on the first tee, everybody’s saying, ‘OK, Mr. Coulda-Gone-Pro, let’s see your action.’ It’s always a struggle.”

In 1993 he established an annual tournament, The Vinny, which has raised more than $3 million for junior golf. Recently he has been nurturing his own junior golfer, 6-year-old daughter Corinna, though he admits that “a day on the golf course with her usually consists of looking for worms and bugs and snakes and building sand castles in the bunkers.” In 2003 he received the PGA of America’s Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest honor. And he and his family recently taped public-service announcements that will run in July to promote PGA Family Golf Month.

Three favorite courses:
) The Golf Club of Tennessee, where I play mostly, is a Tom Fazio course that’s off-the-charts great.
2) Belle Meade Country Club, which is an old Donald Ross course. You gotta work the ball like a traditional golf course. It got a redesign by Rees Jones a couple of years ago that made it harder and better.
3) GreyStone, a Mark McCumber course about 40 minutes from Nashville, just because it’s the lowest round (62) I ever shot and I hold the course record.

Best 19th hole: Hillwood Country Club is kind of fun. It’s a not a real high-brow country club. Everybody plays cards and they watch TV and a lot of tales get spun and there’s good food.

Three favorite restaurants:
1) Pancake Pantry for breakfast.
2) Sportsman’s Grill for lunch. It’s a great combination of great burgers, steaks, catfish, and there’s nothing fancy. Kind of has a bar vibe.
3) Brown’s Diner. It’s a hole in the wall.

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