Jun 12, 2026 · 30 min · 19 segments
Adam Thielen is a former NFL wide receiver for the Vikings, Steelers and Panthers. Recently retired, Adam is pursuing his passion for golf now playing in 'The Pro League' for retired athletes.
Adam ThielenGuestJordanHostWell, so it's interesting now that you talk about you're going to have time to put a lot more, you know, effort and your craft into professional golf and like the pro league.
I talked with Tyler Clipper last week.
Obviously, I know Rick Helling, who's been playing in all the tournaments as well as kind of how we got connected.
But like, what are you looking forward to now that you're going to have time and you're playing in a, you know, actual professional league with other guys who are going to have this just crazy competitive mindset? And I imagine you think you can go out there and, you know, compete with all of them.
what's it going to look like for you? Like obviously your dad as well, and you probably want a little bit more time, but you know, like, is it going to be a pretty serious practice deal that you're going to go after? Or how are you going to approach the golf game?
Yeah, it's kind of funny because, you know, I talk about high school and, and, you know, kind of how I wasn't really focused on golf.
Well, when I started playing like competitive golf as a, when I was in the NFL and had a little time in the off seasons to play a little bit, And I really fell in love with competitive golf, you know, playing in Tahoe at the American century championship.
Like it's, it's such an amazing tournament that feels like you're in a PGA event that just really made me fall in love with that, that competition side of golf.
And now ever since then, I was like kind of just waiting for retirement to be able to actually be able to compete and to pour some time into it.
Like, My football season for golf, really, I put the clubs away for six, seven months because I was either too tired or didn't have the time, right? Like have three kids.
Like it's hard to have one off day during the season and say, all right, peace out.
And then again, I had to do that again and during OTAs in June and well, May and June, where I didn't really touch the club much then either.
So it was really challenging, as you know, like if you don't pick up the clubs for a month, even like when you come back, you just feel like you've never swung a club before.
I've taken a couple lessons and really been able to focus on the things that I'm being taught, which I've never really done before again.
Uh, next week, uh, I have a couple of pro-ams after that, and then American century championship in Tahoe, uh, after that.
So I got a lot of, uh, competitive golf coming up that I'm really excited about.
Well, so it's interesting now that you talk about you're going to have time to put a lot more, you know, effort and your craft into professional golf and like the pro league.
I talked with Tyler Clipper last week.
Obviously, I know Rick Helling, who's been playing in all the tournaments as well as kind of how we got connected.
But like, what are you looking forward to now that you're going to have time and you're playing in a, you know, actual professional league with other guys who are going to have this just crazy competitive mindset? And I imagine you think you can go out there and, you know, compete with all of them.
what's it going to look like for you? Like obviously your dad as well, and you probably want a little bit more time, but you know, like, is it going to be a pretty serious practice deal that you're going to go after? Or how are you going to approach the golf game?
Yeah, it's kind of funny because, you know, I talk about high school and, and, you know, kind of how I wasn't really focused on golf.
Well, when I started playing like competitive golf as a, when I was in the NFL and had a little time in the off seasons to play a little bit, And I really fell in love with competitive golf, you know, playing in Tahoe at the American century championship.
Like it's, it's such an amazing tournament that feels like you're in a PGA event that just really made me fall in love with that, that competition side of golf.
And now ever since then, I was like kind of just waiting for retirement to be able to actually be able to compete and to pour some time into it.
Like, My football season for golf, really, I put the clubs away for six, seven months because I was either too tired or didn't have the time, right? Like have three kids.
Like it's hard to have one off day during the season and say, all right, peace out.
And then again, I had to do that again and during OTAs in June and well, May and June, where I didn't really touch the club much then either.
So it was really challenging, as you know, like if you don't pick up the clubs for a month, even like when you come back, you just feel like you've never swung a club before.
I've taken a couple lessons and really been able to focus on the things that I'm being taught, which I've never really done before again.
Uh, next week, uh, I have a couple of pro-ams after that, and then American century championship in Tahoe, uh, after that.
So I got a lot of, uh, competitive golf coming up that I'm really excited about.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.