Mudvayne Frontman Is Obsessed With Golf

What does a band like Mudvayne do for fun while on tour? This is a very relevant question, as they've been on the road all summer long as part of the inaugural Pedal to the Metal Tour with Black Label Society, Suicide Silence, Bury Your Dead and more. Well, Chad Gray can't speak for the rest of the band, but tells us he's been killing time on the links.

"It's not metal as it sounds, but for me, literally, when I was home last time, me and a couple of friends just got an idea: 'Hey, let's go play some golf,'" Gray reveals. "I used to play once every few months but never took it seriously at all."

All it took was a few rounds and some time at the driving range -- and Gray became obsessed with golf. He started upgrading the cheap clubs he bought at Wal Mart for $100, picking up irons and woods piece by piece over time. Now, he's an every-day player, and he's not afraid to admit it.

"I'm completely obsessed," he says. "[Slipknot percussionist] Chris Fehn is a killer golfer, and he plays every day like me. A long time ago, I remember seeing Chris walking out to the bus with his clubs, and he put 'em under the bus. He's full-blown. I don't know if he has a tour card, but he is what you would call a pro. He plays pro-am tournaments and s---. I started doing it, and it's insane how obsessed I am with it. It's so fun, and I think in other sports, there's always this competitive streak in men. But with golf, at the end of the day, I don't even care who I'm playing with ... it's me against the game, and the game is kicking my ass."

While Gray has yet to shoot par, he says that hasn't soured him to the game. He wants to improve, and that can only happen with experience. "It's been cool, because on this tour, I've played a lot of golf," he says. His favorite was Lochmere Golf & Country Club in Tilton, N.H. "I've been calling ahead and making tee times, and sometimes you can barter for tickets. The one thing I didn't want to do this time is come out and sit around the bus all day. It is so boring. You find yourself in bed all the time, trying to sleep ... the days of me staying up all night partying, and then sleeping all day and waking up feeling like s--- ... I'm just not the kind of dude anymore."

To anyone who thinks golf is lame, Gray says this: "If you're 16, 18 and thinking golf isn't metal, pick up a club and go out and start playing now. Maybe by the time you're 30, you'll know how to play the game. I have been playing for four months, every day, and it's a hard-ass game. It took me forever before I broke 100. It's challenging, it's frustrating, and it's a fulfilling game. A whole lot of s--- happens at one time. It takes a lot out of you, too. It's amazing what playing with a little stick will do to you."