NASCAR's Harvick enjoys the 'change of pace' of golf

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- On Sunday afternoon, Kevin Harvick drove the No. 4 Ford Fusion to his seventh victory of the season in the Consumer Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Less than 24 hours later, the NASCAR driver was at Sedgefield Country Club – some 700 miles away after a pit stop on Sunday night at his home in Charlotte -- to tee it up in the Kevin Harvick Foundation Pro-Am.

Harvick has hosted the pro-am since 2012. And once again, every spot was sold out on this steamy Monday afternoon at the Wyndham Championship.

“It's a change of pace for sure,” Harvick said as he prepared to tee off in the day’s marquee group with PGA TOUR veteran Billy Hurley. “I'll definitely sweat it out today with everybody else.

“But I think for me any day on the golf course is a good day -- and obviously winning makes it a lot more fun to be able to come out so you'll be in a good mood and having a good time.”

Harvick, who along with Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. form NASCAR’s Big Three this season, started playing golf several years ago when he lived in nearby Oak Ridge. He was looking for something to do when he wasn’t driving 200 mph around a racetrack and golf seemed like a 180-degree, rather than a left, turn.

“I wanted something totally different than what I was doing on the weekend,” Harvick says. “It’s quiet. What I do is loud. And it's just a lot slower pace.

“From there it's just kind of grown into something that I liked to be around. (I) love the etiquette of the sport and I've gotten my son involved in it, too.”

Kevin Harvick won the Consumer Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. (Getty Images)

Harvick, who used to be a member at Sedgefield before he and his family moved to Charlotte, says he can shoot anywhere from 85 to 105. He puts his handicap as “18ish.” He plays most of his golf in the spring and early summer – sometimes beating the heat at another favorite spot, Shooting Star Country Club in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, far from the garages and race shops back in North Carolina.

“Out there is usually where we wind up being able to play the most golf because we're kind of out of the way from everything that is going on at home,” Harvick says.

At home, though, he has a pretty special practice area – a three-quarter-sized replica of the famous 12th hole at Augusta National in his backyard. Harvick and his son Keelan – who ran out on the track and grabbed the checkered flag after his dad’s latest victory -- put the practice area to good use.

“He's into golf and he's into anything that requires physical activity,” Harvick says. “We spend a lot of time in the backyard, sometimes not even playing golf -- like he learned how to ride his bike out there.

“It turns into, we'll take the flagpoles out, it's all turf, synthetic turf. So we play football out there and work on grounders and it turns into the multipurpose piece of piece of turf.”

With NASCAR’s playoffs on the horizon – the first race in the Challenger Round is Sept. 16 in Las Vegas – Harvick doesn’t get to play too much right now. But he did manage to sneak in a round with Keelan last week before his latest victory, which was the 44th of his career.

“I had to be there on Thursday for an appearance and so my son and I played on Friday morning before practice at noon,” Harvick said.

“So it just depends on the type of weekend, but usually I play more golf on the road than I do when I'm at home.”

Harvick, who also has a sports management company that represents   TOUR winners Chesson Hadley, James Hahn and Jason Gore, says golf is a popular sport among NASCAR drivers. So who’s the best? Well, Harvick couldn’t pick just one.

“I know Elliot Sadler was always a really good golfer,” he says. “Every time I was around him when he played, he could hit it a long ways and just naturally gifted athlete. Denny Hamlin and (Ricky) Stenhouse (Jr.) and (Kyle) Larson and all those guys, they play all the time.”

Harvick admitted that Monday’s pro-am “crept up on us” this year. But that’s understandable given the pace at which he’s been taking the checkered flag and the intense three-man battle with Truex and Bush for NASCAR dominance this year.

“It's great for our foundation to be a part of it and the exposure and things that, that come with it for us are great,” Harvick said. “And I think as you, as you get into it, you realize how much fun it is and it's good to see everybody.”