Big KAT Bombs
NBA superstar Karl-Anthony Towns’ next big move might be in golf
At the 2021 Masters, Bryson DeChambeau talked about the potential for a seven-foot golfer with a 145-mph swing speed and lamented, “That’s when I’m going to become obsolete.” The eventual two-time U.S. Open champ and future World Long Drive runner-up was envisioning a new breed of golfer coming, but his prediction already described Karl-Anthony Towns, the star basketball player also capable of hitting 400-yard drives.
DeChambeau doesn’t have to worry about Towns taking his day job anytime soon, but the physically imposing NBA center can launch a golf ball like few people on the planet. Even more remarkable? Unlike Bryson, Towns has never taken an actual golf lesson.
“I learned a lot by trial and error,” says Towns, who was recently part of a blockbuster trade that sent him from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the New York Knicks, the team he rooted for growing up in New Jersey. “I was just picking up tips, reading Golf Digest, watching YouTube, getting VHS tapes in the library and just watching people swing.”
Towns, 28, remembers getting his first set of clubs—a mixed bag from his mom’s coworker—when he was in fourth grade. He would practice by swatting dandelions around his family’s Piscataway, N.J., home and by hitting golf balls at a local driving range where his raw power caught the eye of older golfers as he connected with his John Daly Grip it and Rip it driver.
Fast forward a couple of decades to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and Towns turned heads again with his prodigious pop. Wearing his basketball uniform at the event’s media day, the seven-footer ripped a 7-iron that carried a ridiculous 225 yards on a simulator. “The funny part is the one before wasn’t recorded,” Towns says with a smile, “and it went farther and straighter.”
Towns has taken most of his swings during recent basketball seasons in his own simulator, one he’s proud to say was modeled after the one used by Tiger Woods, his all-time sports idol and the reason he got into golf. “My agent found the people who actually did the one in his house, so I wanted them to come and do it the same way,” the man known as KAT says of Tiger’s indoor practice setup. “I did everything in my power to make sure I got that simulator.”
However, Towns is no stranger to golf-related purchases. Upon being drafted No. 1 out of Kentucky in 2015, Towns treated himself to a Scotty Cameron putter that he still uses. “It reminds me of how far I’ve come,” he says.
Golf became an even more important part of his life after his mom, Jacqueline, tragically died from complications of COVID-19 in 2020. “To be able to be on the golf course with people and play, it was a good outlet for me just to clear my mind or at least give me some space away from being in that house, dealing with phone calls with doctors and stuff,” Towns says. “I just leaned into playing more.”
Towns estimates his Handicap Index to be around 13, but he has a career-best round of 73. He usually opts for hitting irons off the tee, although occasionally he will turn one loose, as he did when he played with Timberwolves TV analyst Jim Petersen in 2021 at the now-defunct Hillcrest Golf Club in St. Paul.
“I told him I could hit 400-yard drives, and I don’t think he believed it,” says Towns, who lists former teammates Mike Conley and D’Angelo Russell as two of his favorite playing partners. “On the 18th hole, I decided to go for the green with driver. I think it was 390 away, and I hit it over the green.”
Last season was the first time in Towns’ career that he experienced a deep playoff run with the Timberwolves advancing to the Western Conference Finals. Although he savored the experience of contending for a championship, the extended postseason cut into Towns’ golf time. However, he did play a few times during the playoffs, once driving an hour and fifteen minutes after practice to play a Minnesota muny as a single.
“The golf itch is a real thing,” says Towns, who will certainly have more great courses to play in New York, although he’ll still have to deal with a long winter. “When you’re a real golfer, that itch is unbearable.”
MORE: Karl-Anthony Towns is a future long drive champ if these incredible simulator numbers are real
The big man also goes places without his golf clubs. “Instagram is not lying; I’m always trying to travel,” says Towns, who took trips to Europe and Japan last summer with longtime girlfriend Jordyn Woods. “I want to be a better person, and I feel the best way to do that is to learn about people and where they're from, so I love traveling. I’ve got a great girl who's always down to just get on a plane and go somewhere and experience something new.”
Fans watching Towns can’t help but feel like they’re experiencing something new as well. People that tall aren’t supposed to shoot a basketball that accurately—or swing a golf club that smoothly—but Towns is one of the best long-range shooters in NBA history. He’s the only center to win the All-Star Weekend’s Three-Point Contest, and he boasts a career mark of 40 percent from behind the arc. Towns knocked down 10 threes during a franchise-record 62-point game last January and scored 50 points the following month in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.
Towns has also stood tall off the court. He was named the NBA’s 2023-2024 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion for his work and advocacy in expanding voting rights in Minnesota for those previously incarcerated or on parole. Towns was also the executive producer of a short film titled “Forgiving Johnny,” which focuses on how digital transformation has aided change in the criminal justice system.
From his passion for social justice to his desire to travel the world, not to mention his golf addiction, Towns is clearly a man of many interests. He also might have the talent to someday be the longest driver on the planet. Would he ever consider giving the long-drive circuit a serious go?
“I’ll do it. I’ll take a try at it,” Towns said of entering long-drive competitions in the future. “I don’t know what driver head I would pick, but obviously Bryson DeChambeau has found one he likes, so maybe I’ll ask him about that.”
Watch out, Bryson. This big KAT might be coming for you after all.
