An SI.com and CNN Network Site
An SI.com and CNN Network Site. Visit SI.com An SI.com and CNN Network Site. Visit CNN.com Subscribe to Sports Illustrated Golf Plus Subscribe to Golf Magazine
Skip to main content
SI GOLFNation

Join the Nation!

Keep up with your scores, stats and golf buddies with our new game-tracking and social-networking tool.

Shooting Star: Alice Cooper

Godfather of shock rock Alice Cooper, 59, on his golf book, beating booze, and how Debby Boone is killing his handicap


Published: June 01, 2007

  • Share
  • E-mail
  • Print
  • Sign up for free newsletter
In your new book Alice Cooper, Golf Monster, you write about trading booze for golf.
I'm from Detroit, where we have three sports: baseball, football and grand theft auto. We would beat up guys who played golf. But when I quit drinking in the early '80s, golf became my addiction. I'd play 36 a day, then go hit 600 balls! I went from a 36 handicap to a 9.

So Betty Ford should offer lessons?
Actually, that would be smart. I know a lot of guys who've traded alcohol for golf.

You ever play with John Daly?
A lot. I've told him, "Your problem isn't drinking — it's that every time you get drunk, you get married." (Laughs.) He says, " You're right! I have a commitment problem. I get too committed."

What was your drink of choice?
It used to be a couple shots of VO, a case of Bud, and a halfbottle of Seagram's. But now? Just a Diet Coke with tons of ice.

You sang Welcome to My Nightmare. What's your golf nightmare?
It's not the shank — it's the shot after the shank. I got crazy with it for four days once and almost went insane. Also, I have a dream where I'm trying to hit a ball in a confined area, but I can't get a full backswing. Horrifying.

The man who brought electric chairs and boa constrictors to rock dreams about his backswing?
Wait, you know what's scarier? When you get a song you hate stuck in your head. I'll be 1-under with three to play, ready to hit, and I hear, " You, you light up my life! You give me hope, to carry on..." Where did that come from? Gruesome!