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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 quite the 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 has ever been and credited his health for being where it is today.
“The game is in its best place. The goal is you always want to be able to 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 PK Press Club 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 where I’m 59 where I’m confident in some things I can do because I’m more physically capable with two new hips and a few procedures done. I’m at a point where I know if I can continue to improve a little bit around the green, I’m going to play the kind of golf I want to play.”
Smoltz will compete in this year’s American Century Championship, which takes place July 10-12 at Edgewood Golf Course in Lake Tahoe. The Atlanta Braves legend almost won, finishing in second place last year behind NHL great Joe Pavelski, but never won.
The American Century Championship uses a modified Stableford scoring system rather than traditional stroke play, meaning that instead of counting stroke totals, players are awarded points based on their score for 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 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, NY on July 27, 2025. (Gregory Fisher/Imagn Images)
Smoltz said he didn’t start fast enough in the first round, forcing him to play catch-up.
“I start off slow. Every tournament I get to the second and third rounds with the hole too big. I make a ton of pars. It’s so frustrating to say I make a ton of pars. Normally that would be fine, 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 stressed 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 down Pavelski, but I’m wondering, where was that? Where are those birdies in the first round?” » said Smoltz.
“So I definitely need to get off to a better start. I’m a little too conservative in the first round of a three-round tournament, which still puts me in the mix, but doesn’t give me the best chance of maximizing 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 legendary late manager Bobby Cox to go play.
“I got a taste of it when I was playing. I had Tommy John surgery. I had the best manager in the world in Bobby Cox. He let me play because I was out all year and that was back when it was Stroke Play, when Michael Jordan and all these top athletes were playing Stroke Play. I did well. I hung mine up,” Smoltz said.
The World Series champion called the event something you mark on your calendar and said it was a great event.
“American Century is amazing. They’ve done a great job putting this event on all these years. It’s a mark on your calendar and a nothing-too-gets-in-your-way type event. But I think the biggest thing about the golf course and all of this is that I’m so excited to play and I want to win so much that I have to temper all that when I get there,” Smoltz said.
The tournament 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 a tournament fundraiser each year to generate direct donations to Stowers.
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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, June 11, 2021. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
The tournament will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
The eight-time All-Star spent 21 seasons in the big leagues, including 20 with the Braves. He spent his final season with the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.
Smoltz has a career record of 213-155, a 3.33 ERA and 154 saves, as he converted to a reliever for a few seasons after his Tommy John surgery.
