‘Golf nut’ Michael Phelps attends Olympic golf as fan, seeks clues to improve game

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – He may not be in the pool this go-around, but 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps is taking in the Paris Games with exuberance, and that includes visiting Le Golf National on Thursday for the opening round of the men’s Olympic golf competition.

“You can feel the energy, you can feel the electricity,” Phelps told NBC Sports during a brief stop into the broadcast booth. “The Olympics is about bringing people together, and that's what we're feeling out here.”

Before joining the broadcast, Phelps started his day at Le Golf National on the first tee, taking in the action with his wife Nicole and youngest child, 7-month-old Nico. That included seeing the overwhelming welcome for Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, who was greeted with fans waving the tricolore and serenading him with a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise," France’s national anthem.

“When Pavon came up to the tee and the whole entire audience just started belting out (the national anthem), it was absolutely incredible,” said Phelps. “I mean, the hair on my arms was sticking straight up, and I think it really shows what the Olympics is. The Olympics is about bringing so many countries together in one city to compete.”

Dressed in the red, white and blue of Team USA and playing the part of “Captain America,” as he called himself, the swimmer-turned-self-professed “golf nut” said he was particularly excited to take in the intricacies of the world’s best golfers in their element.

“For me, I was pumped to watch Ludvig (Åberg) – somebody who's really kind of made a name for himself over the last year or so on TOUR and for me,” Phelps explained. “I love his approach to the game. Some of his drills that he does, I've tried to do them, though not as well. Obviously, Rahmbo (Jon Rahm) is a good friend of mine, and Wyndham (Clark) for Team USA. For me, it's just seeing these guys up close. I'm a golf nut, so being able to just pick up on ball position, grip, length of backswing, whatever it might be. … I'm a super technical person. That's how I had to be in my sport, so (golf) is kind of nice that way. I gravitated towards this (sport) and here we are. I'm a psycho in the game and I love it.”

To that end, Phelps said he recorded videos on his phone Thursday of at least 20 different tee shots, several chips and other feature shots that he plans to study.

“I will go back and look at those videos, break 'em down frame by frame, just to see where they are in certain spots, where their hips turn, where their shoulder is, all that stuff,” he said. “And hopefully it translates to helping me become a better golfer. I'm a 6 (handicap) right now. I want to get to a scratch, but I know I’ve got to put a lot of work in.”

But one of his favorite parts of the day was being able to walk the course with Nico, his youngest of four children, and Nicole, who also has taken up the game.

“I know she likes watching swimming with me just because of how my mind thinks, and she does have the golf bug as well,” he noted. “She's obsessed with the game, too. But it's kind of the running joke that every time she gets good, we have another kid, so we're finished at four (kids) and hopefully she can get back on the course and we can get out to playing some more.”

Until then, Phelps has a message for not just golf fans, but also for fans of sport around the globe: “This is the Olympic energy, the Olympic spirit that we need,” Phelps concluded. “And something that I've missed, and I'm happy everybody gets to enjoy it. Whoever's over here, enjoy it. Whoever's not, put it on your calendar for 2028 in LA.”