Elite golfers ‘resort to mushrooms and psychedelics’ to dominate PGA Tour | Golf | sport
Some top golfers on the PGA Tour have admitted to using psychedelics and other substances to improve their game. Some of these substances are not on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list, meaning athletes will not be penalized for their use.
DJ Trahan, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, is among those who believe psychedelics can provide huge benefits on and off the golf course. The 43-year-old credited “plant medicine” with improving his mental health in an interview with Golf Digest last year.
“Herbal medicine has a bad reputation because people think of it as medicine,” he said. “They don’t appreciate it for what it is.”
Trahan also spoke about his experience with ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic used primarily for spiritual purposes by indigenous cultures in South America. The active chemical is dimethyltryptamine, more commonly known as DMT.
Taylor Massey, who helped a company called Medterra CBD build its golf division, introduced Trahan to ayahuasca in 2019. Massey is well-versed on the subject, having served as a “psychedelic consultant” to dozens of professional golfers.
He creates microdoses of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, mixed with several other legal ingredients. These include CBD, one of the psychoactive compounds found in cannabis, and lion’s mane, a mushroom that is said to have various health benefits.
“It’s a way to deal with the stress and rigor of golf without having to take Zoloft, Wellbutrin or other medications,” Massey explained. “It’s just a natural remedy in tiny doses.”
Psilocybin, which is illegal in the UK, is another popular choice among golfers looking to improve their game. An unnamed player who rode a winning streak on the PGA Tour last year credits the use of the substance for his resurgence.
He said: “Psilocybin allows me to take deep breaths on the course, something I haven’t been able to do in years.”
Christopher Smith, a golf instructor who has taught a number of PGA Tour winners, has organized retreats in Mexico that use plant medicine to help players. According to Golf Digest, they are touted as “traditional medications and therapies for your golf.”
Only time will tell if more PGA Tour golfers will experiment with microdosing psychedelics in the future. At the moment it remains a niche solution, but it seems that the movement is really underway and many are reportedly feeling the supposed benefits.
