Gareth Bale has famously played a lot of golf during his time at Real Madrid, which has been used as a stick to beat him with.
Said to have a handicap of five, Bale has angered his critics by playing golf at times when he was unavailable to appear for Real Madrid. The Spanish press saw this as a sign that he was uncommitted to the club, which resulted in Bale hitting back by displaying a flag when on international duty, bearing the now legendary quote, “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.”
With Bale’s time at Madrid now set to come to an end and the player close to a return to London, we’ve come up with some alternative options for him to spend his time.
Actually playing football
Bale is not the crippled veteran that many make him out to be. Much of the time he has spent on the sidelines has been down to his poor relationship with Zinedine Zidane, who Bale was unlucky enough to see appointed as Real Madrid manager twice during his time at the club.
At Spurs, Bale will be playing all the time. With plenty of far-flung trips to Eastern Europe in the Europa League, Bale’s golfing hours will much reduced.
Media work
Another thing that Bale has been criticised for in Madrid is the fact that he was not always confident in his ability to speak Spanish.
That will be one less thing for him to worry about, if and when he returns to England. Back in the land of his mother tongue, Bale might be able to resume more media duties. He was once a BT Sport ambassador and recently appeared in a commercial for the channel, which mocked his time spent on the golf course.
London
We’re not going to pretend that there isn’t a lot to do in Madrid, but in London there really is a LOT to do.
It’s hard for any city to compete culturally with London and its wealth of art galleries, theatres, cinemas and concert venues. Gareth is teetotal, but there’s still plenty to keep him occupied with London’t nightlife. The city boasts some of the world’s finest restaurants and if Bale likes a gamble, he should check out this guide to the casinos of London from Daniel Sahlin.
Lockdown
It’s a possibility that Gareth may have to experience lockdown again this winter but made the best use of it by playing skee ball. It is a fun arcade game where players roll balls up a ramp and aim for various-sized holes, each worth different points. The objective is to score as high as possible by getting the balls into the higher-point holes. Skee ball is enjoyed by both children and adults and can be found in many arcades and family entertainment centers. Playing this game helped Gareth to relax mentally and prepare for his upcoming games.
As long as he’s able to make it back to his home in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, it’s unlikely to bother him. Back in 2018 he unveiled a mini-golf course in the grounds of that house, which recreated such famous holes as the 17th at Sawgrass, the ‘postage stamp’ 8th at Royal Troon and the fabled 12th at Augusta National.
OK, you can play some golf
It’s not like golf is a bad way for a footballer to spend their spare time. What else are they going to do? At best they will be sitting on a sofa all day playing FIFA.
Perhaps Bale has taken a look at the location of the new Tottenham training ground. It’s right next to Whitewebbs golf course and with Harry Kane also being a keen golfer, he won’t be short of someone to play with.
