‘Sacrosanct’ Fridays And Brian Baumgartner’s One Big Rule For Golf

Rules are rules, and for comedic actor Brian Baumgartner, rules are to be followed, especially when it comes to golf. “I have a standing rule with my family that if I am in town, home on a Friday, I play golf.”

While he’s most recognizable as the lovable if dimwitted “Kevin Malone” from NBC’s The Office, Baumgartner is also a staple on the celebrity golf circuit. You’re almost as likely to see him on the links as you are on television, where now-classic sitcom runs in perpetuity nearly 24 hours a day.

Earlier this year, during our second meeting at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, Baumgartner shared that personal rule as one way to balance his busy schedule and the flow of life. When he is back in San Diego with his wife and daughter, Baumgartner makes a point to prioritize his time on the green.

“It’s sacrosanct that when I’m home—and I’m not home on Fridays a lot—but I hit the course,” he said.

Often referred to as the HGV, this tournament pairs elite entertainers, broadcasters, and stars from the NFL and NBA with the LPGA Tour’s premier talent. Traditionally held during the final weekend of January, the event serves as the official season opener for the LPGA and features players of the women’s game who won at least one LPGA event the previous year.

“When I’m here, I get to play four days in a row with great players and other athletes who love golf as much as I do.”

When not on the road for specialty golf events like the HGV, Baumgartner says he plays golf easily once a week, “probably more,” on average, and plays with a select group of other enthusiasts.

“For sure, I will play 50 times a year, probably more. And I play every Friday when I’m home—but I am not home a lot.”

“We have a group that plays together, down in San Diego. I play with Charley Hoffman; if he’s not playing on the PGA Tour that week, he plays with us. Plus, (USA soccer legend) Landon Donovan, and just a bunch of great, great guys.”

Like any avid golfer, Baumgartner has his go-tos and favorite courses. With the exception of one location, the 53-year-old actor seems to prefer golf courses in the western United States.

Related story: Timothy Simon proudly calls himself a ‘golf sicko’

“I’ve played (southern Utah’s) Pine Valley. My folks are in Hilton Head, so I play Harbour Town a lot. My favorite course in the world is Shadow Creek (in Las Vegas), where I’ve played a lot. There’s Edgewood in Lake Tahoe, and all the courses, really, in Southern California.”

But it wasn’t until he turned to acting right out of college that Baumgartner picked up golf. He said he got the bug for both when he was right out of college. Before he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s, Baumgartner was a member of the Hidden Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“When I became a (professional) actor, my parents were incredibly supportive—to my face,” Baumgartner said, joking somewhat.

“The first show I was doing in Minnesota, they came up to see me, and it was about -10 degrees, and there were 14 people in the audience. And they told me years later that they were in the cab on the way back to their hotel, asking each other, What is he doing?”

Baumgartner noted that his professional stage debut occurred roughly a year after he earned his theater degree from Southern Methodist University. In the early days of his acting career, he honed his golf game on a shoestring budget almost exclusively at public municipal courses.

“I took it up, and fell in love with golf right away. And then when I moved to Los Angeles, I played a lot. But I wasn’t a member of a club anywhere, so I would go down to San Diego a lot, and also out to Palm Springs,” Baumgartner said, in part because, “there’s not a lot of public courses in Los Angeles.”

That said, he let on that he enjoys the dryness of the desert of golf in Palm Springs. “And, San Diego is even a little more humid than L.A., but I like that too, in terms of playing and how it makes the ball fly.”

So what creative endeavors is TV Land’s favorite office drone up to—when he’s not playing golf?

“I’ll do whatever is there creatively,” Baumgartner said. “I had a blast this past year doing Suits LA.”

In the NBC legal drama and second Suits spin-off, Baumgartner appeared as himself across several episodes. He shared the screen with fellow actors and comedians Patton Oswalt and Enrico Colantoni, known for his roles in the sci-fi/comedy film Galaxy Quest and NBC’s Just Shoot Me!.

Baumgartner was also recently featured as the “world’s most famous accountant” in a fun national ad campaign during Super Bowl LX for financial technology company and spend management platform Ramp.

“I’ve done some stuff earlier this year for Ramp, they’re a big, new tech company,” he said of the campaign. “IT was a great time, and a lot of fun.”

When I asked Baumgartner about the enduring popularity of The Office—which remains a television fixture through syndication—he admitted that it is still a bit surreal to see his own face on screen so frequently.

VIDEO: Baumgartner hams it up for a Super Bowl ad

“I guess by now it’s normal. But it was weird at first. Especially when I am traveling, and I see The Office on a hotel TV. Or on Comedy Central, where it seems like it’s playing every minute. But it’s great that fans in general are pretty supportive.” Baumgartner lets on that his TV fame, in turn, makes it all the more fun to do golf events like the HGV.

Lastly, when asked who he likes to play golf with most, Baumgartner mentioned both some Hall of Fame-caliber athletes he’s swung clubs with, plus a few other famous faces.

“In this tournament and others I play throughout the year, I have gotten to play with and become friends with a lot of the regulars you see in golf. Like Roger Clemens—it’s always really fun to play with him. Plus, Brian Urlacher, Don Cheadle, and Dylan Dreyer from the Today Show.”

Baumgartner concluded, “It’s the diversity of the people that come out here,” that makes golf so enjoyable. “I am a huge sports fan too. So, getting to know and hanging out with those guys over golf makes it really fun for me.”

Read Frye’s golf chats with Veep’s Timothy Ryan and NBA great Ray Allen.

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