Golfer Paige Spiranac says her dates just used her for free lessons: 'I was desperate for guys to like me'
Former pro golfer Paige Spiranac recently opened up about how potential love interests used to exploit her to score free golf lessons and equipment from her.
Speaking on her podcast 'Playing A Round,' Spiranac revealed that every time she got hopeful about a guy and started to date him, she found herself turning into a golf mentor to the guy whose interest was focused on learning from her professional skills rather than getting to know her personally.
"I would always open up a conversation with, 'Hey I play golf' and anything along those lines and I thought that it would work. Unfortunately, guys were using me for golf lessons, golf equipment and golf balls. [They'd say] 'So Paige, let's go out on a golf date. I'll take you to this driving range and we can just hit golf balls' and I'd be like, 'Yeah, that sounds awesome'. It would turn into an hour lesson of me just helping the guy become a better golfer. That happened all the time, since I was desperate and I wanted guys to like me," she said.
She went on to recall the worst experience she had with a guy who already had a girlfriend and an ulterior motive behind forging a relationship with Spiranac.
"There was this other guy who did the same thing but he wanted golf lessons, and he would text me like 24/7, he was really cute and flirty with me. But the only time we would go on 'dates' - and I put that in air quotes - is because they were lessons, and so I would sit there and give him lessons, and he didn't tell me he had a girlfriend for six months. Six months and all of these lessons and nothing happened. He was like, 'I just want to take it slow, can you help me with my takeaway?'" she continued.
For those who are not familiar with the golf jargon, the takeaway refers to the manner in which one begins to swing the club during golf sessions. The bad luck with guys continued for Spiranac as she admitted she never learned her lesson and continued to entertain such guys in her life who were already in committed relationships and merely used her, literally, for sport.
"It happened all the time and I never learned my lesson because I thought, 'This is my way in, guys think I'm cool because I play golf'. Then it just turned into me giving them golf balls and getting them on courses for free. They were all in other relationships," she confessed.
Spiranac turned professional in 2015 but hasn’t competed since missing the cut in Dubai in 2016. She has since become a social media sensation, boasting of more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram. She is now happily engaged.
She also used her podcast to talk about a nude picture of her that was leaked and went viral on the internet. In an Instagram post promoting that particular episode of her podcast, she wrote, "It’s all about my nude picture that has been shared around and is on the internet. I decided to pick this picture because I think people see how I am online with this sexy, fun image that I portray and would assume a nude picture to me is nothing," alluding to the photo accompanying the post of her in a plunging top and a skirt, holding two golf balls in the center of her breasts.
She added: "But there’s a distinct difference, one picture I posted, the other I didn’t give consent to be shared. It was a huge invasion of my privacy and I’ve been harassed and black mailed over it for the past 4 years. I’m now owning the nude picture and I feel so much better to have talked about it!"