MY OTHER LOVE
HAPPY
hooker
This World Rugby Player of the Year and two-time Springbok World Cup-winner began playing golf just over a decade ago and it has morphed into a passion
BY GRANT SHUB
In his younger years, Malcolm Marx readily admits that he never really took a keen interest in chasing a little white ball around the course. However, when his wife, Kirstin, suggested that he take up the sport to expand his network in 2015, the double Rugby World Cup-winner took note.
Born in Germiston in Johannesburg, Marx was a gifted water polo player in the summer and a rugby player in the winter. At that stage, golf was never on his radar but since his time with the Springboks, following his début in 2016, it has gone from a flickering ember to a roaring flame.
'I think Kirstin now regrets telling me to start golf, because every opportunity I get I make my way to the golf course with my mates,' he says with a smile. 'I had the golf bug bite and have loved it ever since.'
With Marx plying his trade in Japan, first for NTT Shining Arcs and then Kubota Spears, since leaving the Lions in 2019, he says that it is not always possible to hit the Japanese fairways, but he tries to get on a course as often as he can and is currently playing off an 8.1 handicap index.
'I enjoy the game,' says Marx, co-captain of Bomb Squad. 'I think it's awesome and I have huge respect for golf pros because you don't realise how difficult it is but how easy they make it look.'
'I have huge respect for golf pros because you don't realise how difficult it is, but how easy they make it look'
LAST 10 COURSES PLAYED
Gary Player CC
83
Royal Jhb East
93
Blair Atholl
90
Eye Of Africa
91
Golf De La Boulie (Fr)
84
Buckinghamshire (Eng)
95
Royal Auckland (NZ)
89
St Francs Links
95
The River Club
(pen score)
Renaissance (Scot)
80
When it comes to rugby, he slots in between the two props in the front row in what is called the hooker position. The word is good in a rugby sense, not so much when it comes to golf, but Marx doesn't have that problem and he's very happy standing on the tee.
Former Springbok teammate and current business partner Steven Kitshoff, previously told this publication that Marx has the ability to hit the ball a mile, but the man himself is self-deprecating.
'Compared to some of the other boys I have played golf with, I feel like a little peashooter,' Marx says in an understated way. 'A guy like Franco Mostert hits a really long ball and it's impressive to watch. Franco is a brilliant golfer and he leads the charge in the Springbok side, with Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende, Vincent Koch and Faf de Klerk, having been our fourball partners.'
Before Kitshoff was forced to retire from the game owing to a neck injury after 83 Tests, he was Marx's regular golfing partner within the Springbok side. The pair have now turned their passion into a formal project by collaborating with BooYaa Golf under the guise of the Bomb Squad brand which has expanded into fashion. 'We have come out with some really cool funky designs and quality stuff,' says Marx of the label which lives by the tagline of: 'It's not just golf. It's a lifestyle.'
With the BooYaa collaboration, Marx says that at their most recent golf day around 150 golfers wore Bomb Squad and BooYaa attire. 'It's done really well and there are more designs coming.'
Gallery below
As far as the strengths and weaknesses of his golf game is concerned, the world's premier hooker says that he can be bang average all over the course. 'I have my days where things go right and days where it's completely all over the place,' he says. 'We have the automated carts here in Japan that stay on the cart path, so golf takes quite a while here and there isn't time for a braai.'
While Marx has a wide range of South African courses which he enjoys when back home, he admits that he doesn't remember the names of any of the Japanese courses he has played on because it's his teammates who will book the tee times and he just goes out and enjoys himself.
In terms of golf courses, Marx says that South Africans are spoiled for choice with the amount of breathtaking courses. The 31-year-old has played at Leopard Creek Country Club, which he says was a real treat. He has also enjoyed Serengeti Golf Course and Pearl Valley in the Western Cape.
Meanwhile, the Links at Fancourt is still on his bucket list, having only ever swung his clubs at the other two courses at Fancourt Country Club – Montagu and Outeniqua.
When it comes to golfing heroes, Marx admires legendary nonagenarian Gary Player. Two years ago, Marx attended the 2024 BMW Golf Day in Sun City for which Player is a dual ambassador.
The nine-time Major winner played a couple of holes with different four balls when he turned out at The Lost City and Marx says that it was an honour to share the course. 'To see Gary play golf is actually unreal,' he says. 'He is turning 91 this year and to see how he hits the ball is incredible.'
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