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Most people know Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz for his prowess on the mound, but the 59-year-old has also become a great golfer.
Smoltz qualified for the US Senior Open in 2018 and hopes to do so again this year. He said his game is in the best place it’s ever been and credited his health for where he is today.
“The game is in its best place. The goal is you always wish you could play tomorrow when the game is in its best place, but that’s the beauty of golf. You know, you have to have it when it counts,” Smoltz told Pak Gazette Digital in a recent interview.
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John Smoltz watches his shot from the eighth tee during the first round of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida, on January 29, 2026. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
“The game is at a point now, at 59, where I’m confident in some of the things I can do because I’m physically more capable with two new hips and some procedures done. I’m at a point where I know if I can continue to improve a little bit on the green, I’m going to play the type of golf I want to play.”
Smoltz will compete in this year’s American Century Championship, which will be held July 10-12 at Edgewood Golf Course in Lake Tahoe. The Atlanta Braves legend came close to winning, finishing second last year behind NHL great Joe Pavelski, but he never won.
The American Century Championship uses a modified Stableford scoring system instead of traditional stroke play, meaning that instead of counting total strokes, players receive points based on their score on each hole.
An albatross is worth 10 points, a hole-in-one is worth eight points, an eagle is worth six points, a birdie is worth three points, a par is worth one point, a bogey is worth nothing and anything two over par or worse is worth minus two points.
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Hall of Famer John Smoltz is introduced during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York, on July 27, 2025. (Gregory Fisher/Image Images)
Smoltz said he didn’t start fast enough in the first round, forcing him to play catch-up.
“I get off to a slow start. Every tournament, I rally in the second and third rounds with a hole that’s too big. I make a lot of pars. It’s very frustrating to say I make a lot of pars. That would normally be good, but it’s not in this tournament. I think at one point I made 29 pars in a row in a tournament and it was nauseating. It was like I’d rather bite the head off my putter because you only get one point for a par.” Smoltz said.
Smoltz attributed his slower starts to a conservative mindset and emphasized the importance of making birdie putts.
“You get three times the value of a birdie. So, like last year, I think I made seven or eight birdies in the last round to finish second. I couldn’t chase Pavelski, but I wonder, where was that? Where are those birdies in the first round?” Smoltz said.
“So I definitely have to start better. I’m too conservative in the first round of a three-round tournament, which always puts me in the mix, but doesn’t give me the best fighting chance to maximize a round when I’m hitting the ball pretty well.”
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John Smoltz tees off during the Capital One MLB Open at Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 14, 2025. (Lucas Peltier/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Smoltz played in the American Century Championship in 2000, when he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the entire season, and got permission from his late legendary manager Bobby Cox to go play.
“I had a preview of this when I was playing. I had Tommy John surgery. I had the best coach in the world in Bobby Cox. He let me play because I was out all year and that was when it was stroke play back in the day, when Michael Jordan and all those high-level athletes were playing stroke play. I did well. I hung my game,” Smoltz said.
The World Series champion called the event something he marks on his calendar and said it is a great event.
“American Century is amazing. They do a great job putting the event on all these years. It’s a highlight on the calendar and a nothing-better-gets-in-the-way kind of event. But I think the most important thing about the golf course and the whole thing is that I get so excited to play and I want to win so much that I have to temper all of that when I get there,” Smoltz said.
The tournament has raised more than $8 million for regional and national charities. American Century Investments donates 40% of its profits to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and activates tournament fundraising to drive direct donations to Stowers each year.
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John Smoltz watches his tee shot on the second hole during the first round of the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 11, 2021. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
The tournament will air on NBC and Peacock.
The eight-time All-Star spent 21 seasons in the Major Leagues, 20 of them with the Braves. He spent his final season with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.
Smoltz has a career record of 213-155, a 3.33 ERA and 154 saves as he became a reliever for a few seasons after his Tommy John surgery.
