Paige Spiranac Opens Up About ‘Traumatic’ Golf Shot That Left Her With ‘PTSD’

You’d think golf influencers have it made on the course. After all, they’ve built careers around making the game look effortless and fun. However, even the most successful content creators battle serious mental challenges that their perfectly curated feeds rarely reveal. Meanwhile, social media often presents a highlight reel that masks the genuine struggles these personalities face daily. Paige Spiranac recently shattered that illusion during a candid moment on her YouTube channel.

“I had a really traumatic experience on the golf course recently, which actually stemmed this entire video idea,” Spiranac revealed in her recent video. She described hitting her drive beautifully on the first hole. Then everything went sideways. “Shanked my pitching wedge. Then made bogey,” she shared about a recent round at Highlands Ranch that left her genuinely shaken. Paige retired from professional golf in 2016 after failing to make it on the LPGA Tour. Since then, she has been trying to mend her relationship with golf.

Her nightmare continued on the next hole. “Shanked my driver, OB. Shanked another driver, hit an okay 3-wood. Then I shanked another shot.” What made it worse was the confusion. She thought she was hitting shots off the hosel. Actually, she was making contact so far on the toe that the entire golf ball sat outside her club head.

“I still have a little bit of like PTSD from hitting that shot, especially with my wedges,” she admitted. The fear lingers every time she stands over a wedge shot now. “I just didn’t feel comfortable there because I still have that memory really ingrained in my body.” Spiranac made sure to acknowledge her privilege while explaining the genuine terror. “It’s scary when you hit a shot like that and you’re on the golf course and you don’t know why.”

This latest revelation connects to a much deeper pattern of competitive golf trauma. Spiranac has been remarkably open about how her brief professional career created lasting psychological damage. The pressure from tournament golf fundamentally changed her relationship with the sport.

Paige Spiranac has a history of golf-related mental health struggles

“I was in a really weird headspace where if someone whipped out a scorecard and started to write down my score, I would have a panic attack,” she shared on her podcast in 2023. The mental toll from her 2016 professional season, which earned just $8,010 in winnings, left deep scars. “PTSD when it came to playing golf and keeping score. I played competitively in junior golf and college golf and one year professionally. And it was a grind mentally and physically.”

Earlier struggles with the “yips” also continue affecting her current game. “When I was playing professionally, I had the yips, and mine was always this big left shot. I have almost like PTSD when it comes to seeing that shot shape,” she revealed in 2022. These mental battles ultimately shaped her career transition away from competition.

She now describes herself as having a love-hate relationship with the sport. Spiranac acknowledges finding her true calling in content creation. “I am, you know, number one with what I’m doing, especially like on Instagram,” she explained.

Her willingness to share these vulnerable moments creates a genuine connection with fans. Mental health affects golfers at every level, proving that even influencers with millions of followers still fight the same demons that plague weekend warriors everywhere.