Alice Cooper Converts His Baseball Skills to Golf

It's hardly a secret, but rocker Alice Cooper has a high profile on golf's pro-am circuit, bringing a 4 handicap to the links thanks to his background as a baseball player.

The owner and operator of "Cooperstown" -- a popular Cleveland restaurant that includes an impressive Indians motif -- Cooper credits baseball for providing a foundation for him to launch his golfing career, and help him escape his addiction to alcohol.

Cooper's newly released memoir -- "Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: a Rock and Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict" -- recalls that Cooper was an outstanding baseball player as a youth, but after devoting his life to music, found himself endangering his health by excessive drinking due to boredom while traveling with his band.

He already knew how to hit a ball, so by staying sober to play up to 36 holes for more than 10 hours a day, Cooper not only stopped drinking but became so skilled that he occasionally shot in the 60s, even outscoring pros. Cooper in shot a 1-under 71 in the FBR Open pro-am in February in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"Everything I do I do to extreme," the 59-year-old Cooper explained in a recent interview with Public Radio International.

When young fans complained that their fathers refused to allow them to attend Cooper's controversial concerts, Cooper would challenge them to a game of golf. If Cooper won, the father would have to buy a concert ticket.

"I would win 90 percent of the time," Cooper said.