Why are NHL players so obsessed with — and good at — golf?

Jon Stabler scoffed at the question.

How much of a mind game is golf?

“Golf is the very hardest sport mentally by far,” Stabler said after a lengthy pause. “I’ll argue that with anybody.”

Stabler is the co-founder of GolfPsych, a company rooted in sports psychology that helps athletes improve their mental golf game. He coaches on the matter with data from 36 years of PGA and LPGA tour research.

The sport — while less demanding physically than some — builds cognitive strength with a healthy dose of competition. It is part of the reason why so many Utah Hockey Club players, and NHLers in general, gravitate toward golf in the offseason.

Utah forward Nick Schmaltz — who, according to his teammates, is one of the best golfers in the room — started when he was around 9, he said. Schmaltz used to take the summers off from hockey during his childhood and instead played baseball, tennis and golf with his brother, sister and dad. That is when he got hooked.

Hockey players seem to have an easier time getting the golf swing down because of the similarities with the one-ice slapshot and the mobility of their hips. The biggest thing Schmaltz has taken from the game, though, is mental fortitude.

“It shows how good those pro guys are. It’s definitely frustrating and it’s easy to get in your own head. You keep making mistake after mistake if you don’t kind of turn the page,” Schmaltz said. “I think that’s good to kind of translate to hockey — if you have a bad game or a bad shift, having the ability to put that in the past and move on.”

There is a lot to balance in an NHL game. A player has five other teammates (including the goaltender) on the ice with him and five skating opponents coming at them the other way. Success is only found as a group. The opposite is true of golf. Any achievement or mistake is traced back to the individual.

“The ball just sits there,” Stabler said. “And every time you touch the ball, it counts. That’s not true in hockey.”

Lawson Crouse enjoys that about golf. The Utah veteran said he would be on the course a good amount this summer, too.

“The thing I love about it is hockey is such a team game, team sport — you go to battle with your best friends day in and day out,” Crouse said. “When you go to the golf course, it’s kind of just you and the golf ball. I find that a fun challenge to switch over from the team aspect and focus on your own individual game.”

Stabler and GolfPsych have done studies on tour players — LPGA, PGA and senior PGA — to see if there is a difference in personality between the frequent winners and the other participants. The studies discovered that the eight personality traits of the frequent winners clearly stood out from the other players — they are called A-Champion personality traits. And one of them is self-sufficiency.

That’s something that is not emphasized in a team game like hockey. But developing that on the golf course might help a player on the ice, too.

Before the offseason training kicks in, Utah Hockey Cub’s Alex Kerfoot is sure to take a golf trip with his brothers and dad. It is something they do every year. Last summer, the group went to Pebble Beach in California. Next up is French Lick, Indiana.

“We’ve planned one out every summer,” Kerfoot said. “Just trying to try different places out. It’s a lot of fun. We look forward to that every year.”

Kerfoot’s availability will look a little different now — he and his wife Marissa had their daughter Carrera last July.

“Even when we’re at home, I try to golf as much as I can. It’s a little bit different now with the baby and my wife,” Kerfoot said. “Definitely not golfing too much, but try to get out once a week or on the weekends.”

Logan Cooley — who is only 20 years old — does not have to worry about any of that. The Pittsburgh native said he golfs at least three times a week with his friends at home. He is trying to get teammate Michael Kesselring to come out to Pennsylvania, too, so they can compete on the green.

“It’s nice to get away from the rink a little bit and relax, be out in the sun,” Cooley said.

Kesselring will spend his summer between his native New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The defenseman is looking to become a member at Nashua Country Club — some of his closest friends play there. There is a waitlist and you have to put money down. Kesselring may finally bite the bullet.

“They let me play there anyway, even though it’s private — I just have to pay. But they want me to be a member so I kind of have to do it or they’re going to stop letting me play there,” Kesselring said. “I love golf. It’s probably my second favorite thing to do. It is hard to play during the year so I’m excited to get into my golf game. It sucks the first few rounds back — you’re always not very good.”

Despite the initial rust, NHLers — no matter when they pick the sport up — seem to be better at golf than the average person. Why? A lot of it has to do with the motions used both on the ice and on the course.

“It’s a pretty similar movement with hand-eye coordination, the hips and shooting. It’s a little bit different but a lot of hockey guys are good at golf and I think it’s just the hand-eye and the same sort of path of swinging a club,” Schmaltz said.

There is a pure athleticism that helps as well.

“Hitting a hockey puck with a flat stick and making it do stuff like those guys can do — it’s very similar to what you can do with a golf club,” Stabler said.

Dominic Moore — who is a Utah Hockey Club analyst for SEG Media and also played 13 seasons in the NHL — is more into tennis than golf. Nonetheless, he’s had an up-close view of why hockey players, both active and retired, commit themselves so deeply to a game that is not their job.

“There’s also the level of professional athletes who like to get better at things,” Moore said. “So there’s a lot of it where they really like the improvement aspect of having something other than their main sport that they can try to get better at.”

That is a driving force for many golfers. The incremental advancements in one’s game keep them addicted and coming back for more. Plus, it is a good way to keep busy until the 2025-26 NHL season rolls around in October.

“Some say, ‘Goodness, if it’s that hard mentally, why are people playing it?’ Well, there’s this magical aspect that when you swing and you make a good swing and you connect with the ball, the ball compresses and then the ball takes off and it goes a long, long way,” Stabler said.

“Sometimes — depending on how good you are — it goes exactly where you intended. Because it doesn’t happen every time, because it’s actually really hard to do, it’s very rewarding. It is fun.”

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