Former MLB player talks switch to pro golf — and crazy power he produces

In an 11-year Major League Baseball career, Aaron Hicks flashed more than warning-track power. The former outfielder launched 109 home runs, most of them during his tenure with the New York York Yankees.

These days, though, it’s on the golf course where he really lets it fly.

Since stepping away from baseball after the 2024 season, Hicks, 36, has returned to the game he excelled at as a kid, and the results have been impressive. He is already a multiple winner on the Pro Tour, a circuit for current and former professional athletes from other sports. His prodigious length — he can drive it more than 400 yards — has become a calling card.

Appearing this week on GOLF’s Subpar podcast with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, Hicks revealed that he routinely produces ball speeds north of 200 mph, with a personal best of 207 mph. For perspective, the average PGA Tour player hovers around 175 mph. Hicks’ numbers are north of those of Rory McIlroy, closer to the neighborhood of Bryson DeChambeau.

Power has never been his problem. Neither, it seems, has golf.

Growing up in Southern California, Hicks was a standout junior player. He learned the game from his father, Joe, a former minor leaguer and avid golfer, and competed on many of the same courses where Tiger Woods honed his skills. (These days, Hicks has another connection to the Woods family: He’s married to former LPGA player Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece.)

Why did he not stick to golf as a kid?

On Subpar, Hicks shared the story of the moment he abandoned the game for baseball.

His father had promised him a new set of clubs if he won a junior tournament. Hicks did exactly that. But when it came time to collect, Joe Hicks had changed his mind.

“Clubs don’t make the player,” his father told him. “The player makes the clubs.”

His dad may have been right, but the lesson was lost on his young son.

“‘You ain’t kept your promise,’” Hicks recalled thinking. “‘I’m going to play baseball.’”

That decision worked out pretty well for him. But after hearing the kind of speed Hicks now generates with a driver, it’s hard not to wonder what might have happened had he stuck with golf all along. You can listen to the entire episode here. You can watch the entire video below.

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