Quick Chat: Sepp Straka
July 19, 2021 | Men's Golf, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Sepp Straka is headed to Tokyo, and the former Georgia golfer couldn't be more excited about it. Born in Vienna, Austria, Straka moved with his family to Valdosta, Ga., when he was 14. After a good Bulldog career, Straka has worked his way up and up in professional golf, earning his PGA Tour card (he has three top-10 finishes in 2021), and now he will represent his native nation in the Olympic Games later this month.
Straka, who now lives in the Birmingham area, came to Georgia with his fraternal twin brother Sam. It wasn't until around 2016, when Straka was a senior and golf was returning to the Olympic Games for the first time in decades, that he even thought much about one day being an Olympian. Now, he'll be arriving in Tokyo in about a week, then teeing it up in the first round on July 29, at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
During a recent Quick Chat via Zoom, Straka talked about coming to the U.S., being an Olympian, his favorite club in the bag, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Was competing in the Olympics something you'd ever thought much about before? When did this enter your mind as a possibility?
Straka: With golf not being in the Olympics when I was growing up, I never even thought about it, really, until the last Olympics, in Brazil. I wasn't very close to getting in that time but I knew that if I played well I had a good chance of being able to go and represent Austria this time. That's really when I started thinking about it.
Frierson: What was your reaction when you found out you made it?
Straka: It's just awesome, just really excited to be able to go represent Austria in the Olympics. I wish I could be the full Olympic experience, but we can do that in three years in Paris.
Frierson: What kind of culture shock was it when you moved from Vienna, one of the great and historic cities in the world, to Valdosta — no offense to Valdosta?
Straka: It's a pretty big difference. I was kind of used to it because I'd spend a lot of summers with my grandparents on my mom's side in south Georgia. We did that so I knew what I was getting into coming over here.
Frierson: Did Austria still play a big part in your life after you moved to the U.S.? Do you still feel a strong connection to your homeland?
Straka: I try to go back once a year. It's tough with golf, I travel a lot, but we were going to go for three weeks, the whole family, and then COVID nixed that. We're going to try again over Christmas this year.
I love going back. Vienna is the most beautiful city in the world, it's awesome, and I always feel at home when I go back. I try to go as much as I can.
Frierson: Going back to your early days in golf, when did you know you were good and had a future beyond the juniors? When did you know that you had a shot at a professional career?
Straka: Never, really [laughs]. My brother was always the better golfer when we were kids, and so I knew he was going to have a chance to go to Georgia and all that. I was kind of riding his coattails there for a minute, and in college I really improved my golf game and got better, and that's when I knew I could have a chance to play professional golf. I just stuck to it and everything's worked out great, and now I'm going to the Olympics.
Frierson: What was the leap that you made in college that allowed you to get to where you are right now, with several top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this year and headed to the Olympics?
Straka: A lot of it was mental. I've always been a good ball striker, but I didn't have a good short game in college. I really didn't have a great short game in all my years on the Web (Web.com Tour, now the Korn Ferry Tour), either. Just freeing up and firing at my target is the big thing, just realizing that all you can do is all you can do.
If you just try to do your best and leaving it all out on the table, then it's probably good enough.
Frierson: Sometimes I'll be watching a PGA event and see Bulldogs all over the leaderboard — actually, that happens a lot. What is it like to see so many guys that played at Georgia out on tour?
Straka: Oh, yeah, it's awesome. They're all doing well and they're all such good guys, too. We all hang out off the golf course and go to dinner. When you're playing golf it's more than just a job because you're out there every week for more than half the weeks of the year, so just knowing that you've got those guys to either stay in a house with or go to dinner with, it's just nice to have them around and having a good time off the course, too.
Frierson: How many times have you hit a hole-in-one, and what can you tell me about your first one?
Straka: I've had two. The first one, I was 11, I think, and I thinned a 4-iron. It landed about 20-30 yards short of the green and ran up and went in. That was really exciting. Then I had a long drought up until I think last March when I had my second one. That ended the drought and I'm hoping that now that the lid's off I'll get a couple more.
On that first one, I kind of one-handed the finish. I didn't really love the shot but then it just started getting better and better and better — and all of the sudden it went in [laughs].
Frierson: Do you have a favorite club in your bag?
Straka: I've got a 5-wood that I've had since college, my old Nike 5-wood. I didn't use it for a long time but when I got out on tour and I needed something higher than a 2-iron coming into the par-5s and stuff, I went back to the 5-wood, and I absolutely love it.
Frierson: How often do you test or change clubs? With new stuff coming out all the time, are you constantly seeking the latest thing or do you stick with what you know works?
Straka: I'm not much of a changer. Everybody's different out there — some guys have new clubs every other week and some guys have the same stuff for years. I don't really change a whole lot, but the thing I change most is my driver, probably, just because over time, with the amount of time you hit it, it kind of gets worn and loses a bit of its bounce.
Frierson: What is the perfect food for when you're making the turn? And is there one place that stands out for having really good food on the course?
Straka: A hot dog and a Diet Coke is ideal. Maybe not in tournaments when you're walking, but generally a hot dog and a Diet Coke is always good. I think the best turn house food in the game, I think, is up at Mountaintop (Golf & Lake Club) in North Carolina. They've got an unbelievable turn house, with somebody up there grilling tacos or something every day. It's always special.
Frierson: How do you go about preparing for the course you're going to be playing at the Olympics?
Straka: I really don't know much about it. Everybody I've talked to has said it's a great golf course, great venue, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it. But I don't know much about it.
I won't be getting in until Tuesday (the 27th), so that afternoon I'll go out there and practice a little bit, and Wednesday I'll play my practice round and try to get ready to go.
Frierson: What do you look for when you're on a course for the first time? What are you trying to learn that maybe the average golfer like me isn't thinking about at all?
Straka: Usually on a course that I haven't been to, well, the yardage books are really good. They really help us out a lot. The most important things are the sightlines off the tee, just knowing where you want to hit your tee ball and where you want to leave it, distance-wise, which gives you the biggest fairway and the biggest possibility for making birdie going into the green.
Shots into the green, you just kind of walk around the green and see where you can miss it and where you can't. A lot of times it's pretty obvious, but sometimes there are, especially at courses like Augusta (National), where you just don't really know for sure until Thursday or Friday, when the pin's actually there, if it's a good spot or not.
I really just scope out the golf course and try to find the spots where you can hit it and where you can't hit it.
Frierson: What's it going to feel like to hear yourself described as an Olympian?
Straka: It's going to be weird. I never really thought it was a possibility. I'm looking forward to the experience, I'm really excited, and it'll be a little bit breathtaking, I'm sure.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Sepp Straka is headed to Tokyo, and the former Georgia golfer couldn't be more excited about it. Born in Vienna, Austria, Straka moved with his family to Valdosta, Ga., when he was 14. After a good Bulldog career, Straka has worked his way up and up in professional golf, earning his PGA Tour card (he has three top-10 finishes in 2021), and now he will represent his native nation in the Olympic Games later this month.
Straka, who now lives in the Birmingham area, came to Georgia with his fraternal twin brother Sam. It wasn't until around 2016, when Straka was a senior and golf was returning to the Olympic Games for the first time in decades, that he even thought much about one day being an Olympian. Now, he'll be arriving in Tokyo in about a week, then teeing it up in the first round on July 29, at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
During a recent Quick Chat via Zoom, Straka talked about coming to the U.S., being an Olympian, his favorite club in the bag, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Was competing in the Olympics something you'd ever thought much about before? When did this enter your mind as a possibility?
Straka: With golf not being in the Olympics when I was growing up, I never even thought about it, really, until the last Olympics, in Brazil. I wasn't very close to getting in that time but I knew that if I played well I had a good chance of being able to go and represent Austria this time. That's really when I started thinking about it.
Frierson: What was your reaction when you found out you made it?
Straka: It's just awesome, just really excited to be able to go represent Austria in the Olympics. I wish I could be the full Olympic experience, but we can do that in three years in Paris.
Frierson: What kind of culture shock was it when you moved from Vienna, one of the great and historic cities in the world, to Valdosta — no offense to Valdosta?
Straka: It's a pretty big difference. I was kind of used to it because I'd spend a lot of summers with my grandparents on my mom's side in south Georgia. We did that so I knew what I was getting into coming over here.
Frierson: Did Austria still play a big part in your life after you moved to the U.S.? Do you still feel a strong connection to your homeland?
Straka: I try to go back once a year. It's tough with golf, I travel a lot, but we were going to go for three weeks, the whole family, and then COVID nixed that. We're going to try again over Christmas this year.
I love going back. Vienna is the most beautiful city in the world, it's awesome, and I always feel at home when I go back. I try to go as much as I can.
Frierson: Going back to your early days in golf, when did you know you were good and had a future beyond the juniors? When did you know that you had a shot at a professional career?
Straka: Never, really [laughs]. My brother was always the better golfer when we were kids, and so I knew he was going to have a chance to go to Georgia and all that. I was kind of riding his coattails there for a minute, and in college I really improved my golf game and got better, and that's when I knew I could have a chance to play professional golf. I just stuck to it and everything's worked out great, and now I'm going to the Olympics.
Frierson: What was the leap that you made in college that allowed you to get to where you are right now, with several top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this year and headed to the Olympics?
Straka: A lot of it was mental. I've always been a good ball striker, but I didn't have a good short game in college. I really didn't have a great short game in all my years on the Web (Web.com Tour, now the Korn Ferry Tour), either. Just freeing up and firing at my target is the big thing, just realizing that all you can do is all you can do.
If you just try to do your best and leaving it all out on the table, then it's probably good enough.
Frierson: Sometimes I'll be watching a PGA event and see Bulldogs all over the leaderboard — actually, that happens a lot. What is it like to see so many guys that played at Georgia out on tour?
Straka: Oh, yeah, it's awesome. They're all doing well and they're all such good guys, too. We all hang out off the golf course and go to dinner. When you're playing golf it's more than just a job because you're out there every week for more than half the weeks of the year, so just knowing that you've got those guys to either stay in a house with or go to dinner with, it's just nice to have them around and having a good time off the course, too.
Frierson: How many times have you hit a hole-in-one, and what can you tell me about your first one?
Straka: I've had two. The first one, I was 11, I think, and I thinned a 4-iron. It landed about 20-30 yards short of the green and ran up and went in. That was really exciting. Then I had a long drought up until I think last March when I had my second one. That ended the drought and I'm hoping that now that the lid's off I'll get a couple more.
On that first one, I kind of one-handed the finish. I didn't really love the shot but then it just started getting better and better and better — and all of the sudden it went in [laughs].
Frierson: Do you have a favorite club in your bag?
Straka: I've got a 5-wood that I've had since college, my old Nike 5-wood. I didn't use it for a long time but when I got out on tour and I needed something higher than a 2-iron coming into the par-5s and stuff, I went back to the 5-wood, and I absolutely love it.
Frierson: How often do you test or change clubs? With new stuff coming out all the time, are you constantly seeking the latest thing or do you stick with what you know works?
Straka: I'm not much of a changer. Everybody's different out there — some guys have new clubs every other week and some guys have the same stuff for years. I don't really change a whole lot, but the thing I change most is my driver, probably, just because over time, with the amount of time you hit it, it kind of gets worn and loses a bit of its bounce.
Frierson: What is the perfect food for when you're making the turn? And is there one place that stands out for having really good food on the course?
Straka: A hot dog and a Diet Coke is ideal. Maybe not in tournaments when you're walking, but generally a hot dog and a Diet Coke is always good. I think the best turn house food in the game, I think, is up at Mountaintop (Golf & Lake Club) in North Carolina. They've got an unbelievable turn house, with somebody up there grilling tacos or something every day. It's always special.
Frierson: How do you go about preparing for the course you're going to be playing at the Olympics?
Straka: I really don't know much about it. Everybody I've talked to has said it's a great golf course, great venue, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it. But I don't know much about it.
I won't be getting in until Tuesday (the 27th), so that afternoon I'll go out there and practice a little bit, and Wednesday I'll play my practice round and try to get ready to go.
Frierson: What do you look for when you're on a course for the first time? What are you trying to learn that maybe the average golfer like me isn't thinking about at all?
Straka: Usually on a course that I haven't been to, well, the yardage books are really good. They really help us out a lot. The most important things are the sightlines off the tee, just knowing where you want to hit your tee ball and where you want to leave it, distance-wise, which gives you the biggest fairway and the biggest possibility for making birdie going into the green.
Shots into the green, you just kind of walk around the green and see where you can miss it and where you can't. A lot of times it's pretty obvious, but sometimes there are, especially at courses like Augusta (National), where you just don't really know for sure until Thursday or Friday, when the pin's actually there, if it's a good spot or not.
I really just scope out the golf course and try to find the spots where you can hit it and where you can't hit it.
Frierson: What's it going to feel like to hear yourself described as an Olympian?
Straka: It's going to be weird. I never really thought it was a possibility. I'm looking forward to the experience, I'm really excited, and it'll be a little bit breathtaking, I'm sure.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
