Toronto Maple Leafs: Top Fore! Hockey Players Turned Golfers

Everybody loves to joke that Toronto Maple Leafs players are great golfers because they typically have the longest summers.

Although that joke upsets many Toronto Maple Leafs fans, it’s actually kind of true.

Even though you can only play golf for half the year in Toronto, they’ve had a number of players that are really good golfers.

2020 has been a weird year as everyone already knows, but the one pastime that has stayed similar is golf. With hundreds of acres of land and the ability to social distance very easily, golf has been one of the few escapes for people who have been stuck in their homes for the past four months.

Even the Toronto Maple Leafs G.M., Kyle Dubas has gotten into the spirit of golf facing off with Gerry Dee against TSN’s James Duthie and Jeff O’Neil last month.

For many people in Canada, you play/watch hockey in the winter and play/watch golf in the summer. That’s just always been the routine for us up north because both sports intersect very nicely.

Hockey players love golf because if you can take a slap shot, you can crush a golf ball, and golfers love hockey because it’s our Canadian pastime. I mean if Happy Gilmore taught us anything, it’s that there’s no better combination than hockey and golf.

And like all Foreeeee (!) players on this list, they’re all “Hockey players playing golf today.”

Here’s the list of the best Toronto Maple Leafs players (past and present) at golf.

#4. Jake Muzzin

Although I don’t know for sure if Muzzin is the best player on the current roster, by all accounts it sounds like he is.

Based on people I’ve spoken with and the rumors I’ve heard about his golf game, the Woodstock, Ontario native has a ton of game. I mean, just look at his slap shot from the point with the Leafs. You know that Muzzin can hit bombs like Phil Mickelson.

Earlier this season, Muzzin had the opportunity to golf at the most exclusive place in the world and the one golf course that every single person in the world would kill to play.

Augusta National. The home of The Masters. 

If you surveyed 100 golfers, all 100 of them would say that Augusta is their number-one bucket list golf course to play. It’s so iconic and thanks to William Nylander, he was able to live out that dream earlier this year.

According to a Sportsnet article detailing the day, Muzzin shot the best round of all four Maple Leafs who played, so you know he’s got some game.

I’m sure the time off helped him improve his swing, but for Maple Leafs fans, we all hope he won’t have any time to play golf until October.

#3. Jeff O’Neill

If you listen to TSN’s Overdrive, you know that the O-Dog is a great golfer.

During many broadcasts, O’Neill has been named the best golfer at TSN and many former NHLers have admitted that he’s one of the better former hockey players at golf.

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As mentioned earlier, O-Dog was the reason why Team Duthie had a chance at winning the match against Gerry Dee and Kyle Dubas because he was single-handily carrying the team.

According to his Golf Canada handicap, O’Neill is currently a 0.9 handicap, which essentially means that on any given day he should shoot around even par on the day.

It’s impressive how good of an athlete that O-Dog actually is, because not only can he shoot under par on the golf course, but he scored 40 goals in a season in the NHL. If I have a chance to pick any former NHLer to tee it up with, he’s on a short list of people to choose from.

#2. John-Michael Liles

According to a Sportsnet article a few years ago, John-Michael Liles’ handicap is a +1.6.

If you’re not a regular golf fan, what that means is that Liles’ average golf round is 1.6 strokes below par. So if the course is Par 72, he’s most likely going to shoot 71 or 70 on that given day.

The typical golfer can barely break 100, so the fact that Liles is going out shooting under-par on the average is insane.

A lot of people are known to start playing golf later in life, because it can be expensive and time consuming, but Liles was fortunate to start golf early. Even while he was playing hockey a high-level and making strides towards the NHL, Liles was also on the golf team and excelled at it in high school.

Liles’ career went very poorly with the Maple Leafs and maybe it was because there wasn’t enough golf to play in Toronto during the season.

Maybe if Toronto’s winters weren’t so bad and he was able to play golf during the hockey season, it would have helped his hockey ability, but either way Liles is one of the best hockey players turned golfers not only who played with Toronto, but in the entire NHL.