The Journey: Ian Foulke

I was extremely active as a child. I was very kinetic. Some would throw the word “hyper” in front of “active” to describe me. Luckily, I had a unique upbringing: I was homeschooled until junior high, and my mom had us outdoors a lot. My earliest memories are of waking up and my dad coming home from having already been surfing. We would have our school day and then we would spend the afternoons at the beach, boogie boarding or surfing or playing in the water. My passion was surfing, and I really wanted to be a professional surfer.

I grew up vegetarian, but as soon as I had a driver’s license, a job and my own money, I discovered junk food. It was like, “How hard can I hit the drive-through? How many ice creams can I get? How much soda can I drink?” I really experimented with high-fructose corn syrup. It took me about a year and a half to realize that that kind of food made me feel terrible and affected the way that I performed in the water. I realized that eating the way that my parents had us eat was really the best way for me, so I reverted back to a much healthier lifestyle.

Surfers are like jockeys. They tend to be quite short and compact, and professionals have a very specific body type. I’m 6’4” and about 200 pounds. I realized pretty early that on a talent level, and considering my size, professional surfing probably wasn’t going to happen for me. I also realized at some point that I wasn’t going to get any better. Many of my closest friends ended up becoming professional surfers, and got paid and went on tour and traveled the world and all that stuff. So that was a hard one. You’re obviously very happy for them, but if it’s somewhere you’ve wanted to be your whole life and you don’t get there, or even close to getting there… It wasn’t like I had any remote chance of doing it, because I didn’t. But in terms of passion, I was right there.

I’ve had a lot of injuries from surfing that have affected me later in life. I broke my right leg really badly while surfing in 2010, and the bummer is that I also exploded my ankle, so all my tendons and everything had to sit in a boot before they could even start to be worked on. I’ve hurt both ankles multiple times. In 2008, in Tahiti, I stepped on a giant sea urchin, and it put about 75 spines in my foot. It took me out for a long time. I still have a few spines in there. In 2021, I tore my MCL in my right knee.

Still, I did what I could to stay close to the world of surfing, which was to work in the surf industry, and that's how I started my career, but eventually I started evolving away from it. You can surf only so much, and the waves aren’t good all the time. We require different storm patterns and swell activity for waves to be driven to the coast for us to surf. So, being a very kinetic person, I was like, “Oh, I should go to the gym.” And then going to the gym a couple of days a week turned into every day, and then every day turned into “Well, if I’m going to drive to the gym, I should ride my bike.” So then I would ride my bike to the gym, 13 miles each way. And then from there it was like, “Well, if I’m going to ride my bike, I might as well just run.” Then I started running to the gym. And then next thing you know, I started signing up for triathlons.

Around the same time, I was discovering golf. It fed that “wind-in-your-hair” feeling that I had doing all the other things I like to do. When I found golf, a light bulb went on in my head, like: Every time I went out and played, I was learning, and I was getting better, and I’m very, very driven by that. I’m very competitive with myself. I don’t like to play golf competitively against people, but I like to see myself win against my own goals. It’s an incredibly difficult sport. Even when I didn’t play well in the beginning, or even when I don’t play well now, I take something away from it. Mentally, that’s really rewarding for me. I love that mental aspect.

I’ve played with gentlemen in their 70s and 80s, and they’re still out there doing it and still trying to figure it out. So I can see that same kind of mental spark for them, when, every time they hit a shot, they feel like, “Oh, maybe that was it.” There’s a decent amount of, I don’t know whether you want to call it false optimism, or misplaced optimism, with golf, but it gives you the sense that you’re right around the corner from figuring it all out.

I’m lucky to live here in San Clemente, California. We live right by the beach. My life right now is being a father and husband. I have an almost-4-year-old little boy who’s full of life and doesn’t like sleeping, so every day is a beautiful battle. It’s equally exhausting and rewarding, and I love every minute of it. My wife is a former professional surfer herself. We spend most of our time outside. I still surf with my boy and my wife a little bit, but if you gave me the choice of playing golf or surfing, I’m going to choose golf 99 out of 100 times. My passion for golf led me to work in the golf industry, also. I am very lucky to have found a home at The Golfer's Journal, and I love that my work mixes so perfectly with my passion for the game.

I started using AG1 about two years ago. My own experience is that I didn’t feel the benefit until I stopped taking it — and then the benefit was very noticeable. I’ve been taking it every single morning for two years straight. I travel with the travel packs. My wife takes it every single day as well. I feel like it puts some goodness into my body each morning. I’ve stopped drinking coffee in the afternoons; I don't feel like I need it anymore.

I don’t have a lot of free time, but when my family goes to bed at night, I putt in the living room. I swing in front of the mirror. I use the grocery aisle, when my wife isn’t looking, to practice my golf swing. I never turn it off, for better or worse, and that works for me. Some people play better when they don’t really think about it, but I like to be very technical, so I’m constantly taking videos of myself. I’m on a constant mission to get better. I think people say that they want to improve but then they don’t put in the work. I’ve been around enough pro golfers to see the work ethic that they have and what they do to get to the level they’re at. This game isn’t going to give you anything for free. You have to go out and earn it. And even when you put in the hard work, it still doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed anything.

I think golf will always be more than a sport for me. It’s a lifestyle. It’s what I think about; it’s what I want to talk about. I don’t anticipate ever being bored with it or tiring of it, because there’s always that opportunity to potentially play the best golf you’ve ever played, even much later in life. And some of the gentlemen playing on the Champions Tour, which is the 50-plus PGA Tour, are playing incredible golf, and I love watching them. It gives me a lot of inspiration to stay healthy and make sure that I take care of my body so I can continue playing golf at that age.

I have friends who play golf with their dads, and it’s just the coolest thing. They’re best friends. I really want that for me and my son. I want to play golf together, and I want to go on golf trips and show him some of the places that I’ve been able to see and been lucky enough to go to. If we can do that somewhere surfing’s involved, even better. Really, my goal with the game is to be able to play long enough to take some memorable trips with him. And whether I’m a good player or a bad player at that point, I think it’s more about the memories with him and showing him everything that golf can bring in life.