USA Today
Thursday, May 20, 1999

"TV's 'Hercules' knows how to wield (golf) club"

Kevin Sorbo, star of the TV show Hercules, was a golfer before he had any ambition of being an actor. In high school, Sorbo played for his Mound, Minn., team as a 4-handicapper. He spent most of his free time at a public course his father managed.

Sorbo and his actress/model wife, Sam, took time off from filming in New Zealand to play Shinnecock (Southampton, N.Y.) and Maidstone (Easthampton, N.Y.), with Ann Liguori.

Q: Do you get a chance to play while filming Hercules?
A: I've actually been playing the best I've played in a long time, not as good as I played in high school. Now I'm an 8 handicap, but for only playing once a week, the game is slowly coming around. Sometimes, though, I still find my way to those 86s.

Q: Where do you play 'Down Under'?
A: I'm a member of a club called Titirangi. It reminds me of the course I grew up playing in the Midwest with nice rolling hills, not long, but tough. Titirangi is a McKenzie design and rated fifth-best in New Zealand.

Last month, we golfed at Royal Melbourne where they played the Presidents Cup. I shot a 4-over 76. Then we went over to The Capital Golf Club. I shot a 6 over and was very flattered when they asked me to sign the same golf bag that the prose signed. I signed next to Tom Watson. I'm a big fan of Tom Watson.

Q: How was the course?
A: Beautiful stuff for a coffee table book. In fact, they have one. Challenging, though. My wife lost three balls. I was 3 over going into the 18th, feeling pretty cocky. Then I hooked my tee shot and it went out of bounds, so I'm hitting three from the tee, my fourth shot lands in a bunker, I'm on the green in five, and two-putted for a seven. I finished 6 over.

Q: I know you've taken some lessons from Butch Harmon's son, Claude. What's been your biggest breakthrough?
A: I'm very critical when I see myself on film. I always see my flaws. Don't ask me why, I'm an actor! I was bringing the club too close into my body on my backswing. He told me bring the club straighter back, pretend it's the ball going back into the catcher's mitt, into the strike zone. But my biggest improvement has been from 150 yards in, because we spent 80% of the time working on my short game.

Q: How do you handle expectations from fans when you play celebrity tournaments?
A: They're always yelling, "Come on Hercules, let me see you hit one!" It is a lot of fun when you crunch a drive in front of a crowd, but then again, the opposite is also true.

I remember Samuel L. Jackson answering that question when he played the Bob Hope tournament and he said, "most of these guys are worse than me. Why should I worry?" You have to just have fun with the game and say, the heck with it.