During England’s World Cup camp in West Palm Beach, Harry Kane organised a round of golf with five-time major champion Brooks Koepka. Jordan Pickford, John Stones, goalkeeper Jason Steele and midfielder Elliot Anderson joined them at Dutchman’s Pipe, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at the Belgrove Resort & Spa.

“Harry sorted it, he must know him. It was mint. He was so good, and he put me to shame. I was nervous on the tee box but I did alright.”

Anderson told The Athletic.

The round underlined a trend inside England camps: Thomas Tuchel’s squad contains a cluster of committed, low-handicap golfers, with Kane at the top.

Kane: England’s Leading Golfer

Kane started playing golf in his late teens and told Golf Monthly he got down to scratch a couple of years before that 2024 interview. National Club Golfer’s 2025 profile reported him playing off a 3 handicap, a member at Beaverbrook and Queenwood, with Wentworth’s West Course among his favourites.

The specifics of his game back up the number. He carries TaylorMade P790s in his 3 and 4 irons for their cavity-back forgiveness off the tee, switches to TaylorMade P7MCs through the rest of the bag for control, and favours a 3-iron over his 3 wood when keeping the driver in the bag. His reported stock driver distance is 301 yards. Kane has said he believes he could have a chance of becoming a professional golfer if he stopped football and worked at the game every day.

Since joining Bayern Munich in 2023, he has played “as much as possible” in Germany, where his regular partner has been Thomas Müller, who Kane says also plays to about a 3 handicap.

The Rest of the Handicap Ladder

Kane has offered the clearest guide to who plays off what inside the England camp. In his Golf Monthly interview, he mapped out the field.

Harry Maguire is the closest challenger. Kane estimated him at about a six handicap. The Daily Mail has reported Maguire as low as four, while other outlets have placed him at six. Maguire has played in a LIV Golf pro-am in Andalucía, pushed for a golf simulator at England’s Euro 2024 training base, and once mocked Bukayo Saka’s attempts on the St George’s Park simulator with the caption: “Golf definitely isn’t for you.”

Jordan Pickford has shown the most obvious improvement. In 2018, he said he had a 15 handicap “on a good day.” Kane estimated him at about eight in 2024, and Sky Sports listed him at 9.9 for the BMW PGA Championship celebrity pro-am at Wentworth that September. His presence on the Koepka round in Florida suggests he remains keen.

James Maddison was described by Kane as someone who “hits a really nice ball,” though the captain did not know his exact handicap. Maddison has since said he is “about 9.5” and that a couple of good rounds recently knocked it down. He also runs The Maddison Invitational, an annual charity golf day at Centurion Golf Club that raised £75,000 in 2024.

Kyle Walker was named by Kane among the good players in camp, though no confirmed handicap has been published.

Where do the England Squad Play Golf

The squad’s regular course on home duty is JCB Golf and Country Club, near St George’s Park in Staffordshire. Kane has said they play there “quite a lot” during England camps, but with one persistent frustration: they do not bring their own clubs on international duty and have to use hire sets.

“It’s never the same!”

Kane said.

That habit dates back years. Kane’s golf group at Tottenham included Eric Dier and Matt Doherty, both about eight handicaps, and the trio played after training regularly enough that Kane described them as “a bit obsessed with it.” In camp, the culture has grown. Kane said England have “a large group of golfers” and “loads keen on it and just starting to take it up.”

Golf as Downtime Under Tuchel

Tuchel, who took charge on 1 January 2025 after spells with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, has given players structured downtime during the Florida camp as part of careful load management in American heat. The Koepka round sat within that framework, offering competition without the strain of another training session.

Anderson’s account of being nervous on the tee box, then settling in, showed how it works. England’s golfers are serious enough to hold their own alongside a five-time major winner, and numerous enough to fill a tee sheet. Kane can arrange the round, Pickford and Stones can play without embarrassment, and the rest of the squad knows where the pecking order stands.

For a camp built around World Cup preparation, that internal ladder offers another outlet for the squad’s competitiveness.