Real Madrid forward, Bale, questions critics of golf hobby

Real Madrid forward, Gareth Bale, says he is still confused that his love for playing golf has caused a stir in Spain.

Bale also questioned why other elite sportsmen were not criticised for playing the game.

In spite of winning four Champions League titles with Real, and scoring crucial goals in three finals, Bale still divides opinion in Spain due to a perceived lack of commitment as well as poor injury record, which the Spanish media have often blamed on his passion for playing golf in his spare time.

Last year, he celebrated Wales’ qualifying for Euro 2020 by posing in front of a banner reading ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that Order’.

This caused a vicious backlash, leading to Real fans booing and whistling him in his first game back for the club.

“A lot of people have problems with me playing golf,” Bale told U.S golf podcast The Eric Anders Lang Show.

“I don’t know what their reason is, because I have spoken to doctors and everybody is fine with it.

“The media has this perception that it is not good for me, you should be resting, it can cause you injuries.

“(U.S. basketball player) Steph Curry plays maybe on the morning of a game. If I play two days before a game, it is like ‘what is he doing?’”

According to Bale, who has built a golf course in his back garden in Wales, he plays on a handicap between three and four and plays golf at least twice a day when the football season is over.