John Daly has never tried to fit into golf’s polished mold. And during his February 19, 2025, appearance on the Like A Farmer podcast, he explained exactly why the modern obsession with workouts was never for him.

Speaking of his time as a young golfer, Daly explained how the culture around pro golf was different. How tailored workout regimens weren't even a thing.

"I came out on tour, it was like... 'Let's go out and eat, have a few drinks, we play golf, practice a little bit, and we can start drinking.' That's the way golf was played when I came up," said John Daly.

That mindset started to shift when Tiger Woods arrived, and fitness became part of the job.

"The workout stuff started... Well, yeah, it's too late for me. What am I going to do? Bulk up and look like what? Mr Olympia? Hell no. I don’t want to do that," joked John Daly.

Instead, Daly believes the real problem today is the obsession with distance. Young players chase 350-yard drives. "That’s great, but can you chip and putt?" he asked. And believes that going at it too hard in the gym may even be counterproductive.

Why John Daly isn't a fan of golfers chasing power

“I think a lot of guys lose their flexibility and so many guys are mechanical, too,” Daly added during the podcast. “That means their body’s not equipped to taking the club back as far as I can… I think working out hurts a lot of these guys, I really do.”

Daly's priority was more on flexibility and natural movement rather than muscle. He also thought that being too obsessed with impeccable mechanics often made players lose their 'feel'. His most famous line summed that belief up perfectly: “You can pull a muscle, but you can’t pull fat.”

Even during his prime, Daly was never a fan of lifting weights or going too hard in the gym. “Mine was just practice wedges and chip and putt all day long. I could do that all day long. That’s all I did,” he said.

"If you’re not ready, you shouldn’t have to practice as much. You should just kind of go get warmed up,” he added. On some occasions, the warm-up hardly consisted of full swings at all. "A lot of times I won’t even hit a ball. I’ll just go to the putting green, hit a few chips, and go," Dally confessed.

So as golfers like Rory McIlroy prioritize off-court fitness and strength training to boost thier game, Daly's approach is a stark contrast.

Written by

Dolly Bhamrick

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi