Cigarette-smoking Charley Hull has brutal workout regime and gets bored playing golf due to ADHD
Charley Hull is perhaps more famous for her unique personality than her generational golf ability.
This year, the Englishwoman has garnered mainstream attention, to the point where fans actually started flirting with her.
Hull will be among the favourites when golf’s top women tackle the famous Old Course this week
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Hull will be among the favourites when golf’s top women tackle the famous Old Course this weekCredit: Getty
Much of that was down to her unusual habit of smoking cigarettes during high-profile golf tournaments, but none of it was a result of her winning.
Hull arrives at The Women’s Open at St Andrews looking for her first-ever major triumphs.
The 28-year-old has multiple top-ten finishes at the five most important events, most notably finishing second at The Women’s Open last year.
However, six professional wins in 11 years does not begin to match the expectations set for a prodigy who burst onto the scene as a teenager.
After turning pro at 16, Hull quickly became the youngest-ever golfer to compete in the Solheim Cup in 2014, aged 17.
Writing in 2015, the Daily Mail said: “She positively exudes the ‘wow’ factor Rory McIlroy had at the same age.”
Similarly to McIlroy, Hull’s bubbly, eccentric personality made her massively popular with fans.
The Kettering girl has more than 600,000 followers on Instagram, demonstrating the interest she generates both on and off the course.
Two-time major winner and Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko, by comparison, has less than half that number.
Hull’s smoking habit would seem peculiar to any of her followers, who would get exhausted just reading the brutal workout regime she shared earlier this year.
Hull was beating adults in competitions when she was a child
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Hull was beating adults in competitions when she was a childCredit: Getty
Waking in the early hours of the morning, Hull kicked off with a 3km row before four rounds of Bulgarian split squats and hip thrusts, working at high-intensity intervals, structured every three minutes for 18 minutes straight.
She then did four rounds of 15 V sits and 30 Russian twists, followed by five rounds of step-ups onto a bench (eight reps per leg), and then eight squat jumps with double dumbbells.
Rick Shiels and Charley Hull take on the AIG Womens Open golf course for a Break 65 scramble
Hull capped the session off with a 5km run, with double dumbbell snatches and burpees either side.
She is a self-confessed gym freak and her love for the finer things in life is also on full display on social media, adding to her wild popularity.
But Hull’s style of golf is also part of the draw – and it is best described by what she said when contending at the US Open at Pebble Beach in July 2023.
Stuck behind a tree on the 72nd hole and needing eagle to have any chance of winning, Hull demanded a 3-wood and told her caddie: “Shy kids don’t get the sweets.”
Hull keeps her followers regularly updated on her fitness regime
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Hull keeps her followers regularly updated on her fitness regimeCredit: @charley.hull on Instagram
Hull is all or nothing – and she hits the golf ball with more venom than anyone on the LPGA Tour.
While many at the top level are obsessed with swing thoughts and statistics, Hull hits every shot based on feel.
A teenage Hull once said, ‘I’m not going to die if I hit a bad shot’, and she has never lost that cavalier approach to the game.
Her recent interview in The Telegraph tells us that much. She said: “If you miss a par, you miss a par, you’re good enough to go and hole the next one. I say to my caddie now, ‘We are going to go for it rather than playing so conservative’. I get bored on the golf course if I’m making pars.
“So, if I make a bogey, I then use it as a challenge then to make a birdie. So, it’s just like tricking my mind. And I think it was (English golfer) Trish Johnson that criticised my golf game like the other month or something, and she’s allowed her opinion, whatever she wants. It doesn’t bother me.
“I like Trish and I think she said I play a bit too aggressive sometimes. But that’s my personality, like in life, if someone says something nasty to me, I’ll tell ’em straight back. I won’t let it slide.”
It makes her box office to watch – but some believe a lack of pragmatism has resulted in unfulfilled potential.
A recent revelation about her mental health perhaps offers a better explanation for her lack of major success.
Hull has no interest in being conservative on the golf course
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Hull has no interest in being conservative on the golf courseCredit: Getty
The world no.10 took four weeks off in 2023 due to problems with her mental health.
After her tied-second finish at the US Open that year, Hull told BBC East: “I know my triggers now because I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, quite severely.
“I can understand now why sometimes I get bored on the golf course. I feel a lot better now.”
Hull is now better-equipped to deal with the challenges that ADHD presents and capitalises on short bursts of hyper-focus.
Divulging on these techniques, Hull recently said: “This is going to sound really silly. I’d probably have to regroup, and I know I need to stop smoking, but I’ll have a cigarette.
“But what I’ve also noticed, and this is going to sound so random, I’ve always needed a wee more than anyone I know.
“A doctor told me I’m self-medicating by drinking water because drinking helps people with ADHD. So, it is why I drink so much water because when I feel anxious, I drink some and I feel better.”
Golf is a test of the mind’s endurance – and Hull’s mental struggle to remain focused makes her talent even more impressive.
Hull’s habit of smoking on the course has attracted much attention
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Hull’s habit of smoking on the course has attracted much attentionCredit: Getty
Methods such as ‘grounding’ can be useful for anyone who has trouble staying in the moment – and that’s not the only way Hull inspires the masses.
With her approach to golf and life, she makes no apologies for being herself.
It is why she would be a very popular winner at St Andrews on Sunday.
