Former NFL All-Pro Patrick Peterson Tells Brice Butler How He Started Playing Golf

Former NFL wide receiver Brice Butler discusses golf with fellow athletes in his new Sports Illustrated series “Back 9 with Brice Butler.”

Patrick Peterson explained how he got into golf with Brice Butler during a round at TPC Sugarloaf. / Sports Illustrated

Arizona has great weather and some of the best golf courses in the world.

So when Patrick Peterson got drafted by the Arizona Cardinals, he excelled on the links, in addition to the gridiron. 

The former All-Pro never played golf growing up, but was drafted in 2011, when the NFL was in a lockout. With a little more time on his hands, Peterson asked his agent, “What's this thing about golf?”

“My agent was like, ‘man, if you really want to network and be around people that can really move the needle or push buttons, you want to get into the game of golf,’” Peterson said in SI’s new series, “Back 9 with Brice Butler.” “That's how I got into the game of golf.”

Peterson’s head coach with the Cardinals was Bruce Arians, who is an avid golfer. Peterson and his teammates never golf played with Arians, but the coach was pleased that some of his players picked up the sport. 

“(Arians) allowed us to play early on in his head coaching career because he knew we was guys that was gonna handle our business, not really do nothing crazy,” Peterson said, “and it was good for us to kind of get warmed up for the game.”

And maybe golf was pivotal to Peterson becoming a member of the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team.

Watch the entire episode with Butler and Peterson here: