Gold Jacket Spotlight: Marshall Faulk’s transition from turf to tee

When MARSHALL FAULK'S gaze wasn’t fixed on his job at hand as a member of the Indianapolis Colts, it was trained on a golf ball – one he couldn’t hit well off the tee initially.

“I wasn’t embarrassed; I was humbled,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I was a well-rounded athlete. I felt like I could do anything. But there was this golf ball there, idle, and I couldn’t hit it.”

Marshall’s elusiveness and intelligence on the field put him on a path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but it’s his golf swing placing him in this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.

From an early age, Marshall showed his athleticism as a standout in football, basketball, baseball and track. While he was rushing for thousands of yards and scoring dozens of touchdowns, he never thought of picking up a golf club until he reached the Colts.

He first hit the links in his early 20s while participating in fellow future Hall of Famer ERIC DICKERSON’s pro-am. The man who wowed teammates and coaches with his athletic ability soon understood that golf was much harder than he had expected.

Despite his rough introduction to the game, Marshall was unfazed by golf and its challenges.

“When you know why, you know more,” he said. “That knowledge relaxes me.”

Marshall took lessons and played in his spare time for years after that first encounter. He said those efforts influenced his life positively.

“A lot of young players get into trouble,” he recounted in an interview. “I found golf. And it was just a great, great thing for me. When I was done working out, it was something positive to do.”

Growing up in the massive Desire Housing Project in New Orleans, young Marshall was no stranger to life’s obstacles. He found sports and a path to a successful future rather than falling into such vices as drugs and alcohol. He doesn’t feel his childhood situation led to his success in life directly, but rather it was his decision-making that made the difference.

“There are people who grow up in rough environments, and you just don’t hear about it,” he told the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. “You keep your head on straight, and you make the right decisions in life.”

Well after his days as a football player, Marshall’s competitive drive and his passion for golf have provided him with opportunities to play sports in the public eye again. In 2013, he appeared in a series of commercials with legendary golfer Arnold Palmer as a promotional campaign for EA Sports’ “PGA Tour ’14” video game.

“He [Palmer] walked out on the range, and it was so nerve-wracking,” Marshall told ESPN. “If you understand what that man has done for the game of golf and what he means to the game of golf, then you understand that there’s no comparison to anything I’ve ever done for football.”

Make no mistake, however, Marshall now can swing a club with some of the best of that sport. He and Tiger Woods have played several rounds together, and Marshall regularly participates in charitable golf events.

One doesn’t wake up and hang with the greats of the game without hard work, dedication and a Hall of Fame mentality.

“I approach it like a pro would – my expectations and understanding of how things are going to work,” he told an interviewer. “To play well on a consistent basis requires discipline, and that’s my approach.”