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Jerry Ferrara
 

When people think about Jerry Ferrara and golf, they probably think about Turtle heckling Tom Brady in "Entourage." But it turns out there's more to Ferrara's golf game. The 38-year-old, who currently stars in "Power," is an avid golfer who makes it a habit of playing the most famous courses in the world. Oh, and good news for "Entourage" fans: One of his most common playing partners is Kevin Dillon, a.k.a. Johnny Drama, who introduced Ferrara to the sport. Ferrara spoke to ThePostGame by phone from the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills last Friday.

ThePostGame: How big of a golfer are you? 
JERRY FERRARA: I mean, I'm a pretty big golfer. Don't confuse that with a good golfer. Right now, especially because I'm on break from shooting for Power, I'm probably playing two times a week. I shot as low as a 12 handicap and now, I'm probably hovering around a 16, so I need to bring that down.

TPG: When did you pick up golf?
FERRARA: I had an uncle who used to beg me to play golf. He'd tell me, "Stop playing basketball, you're not playing in the NBA. Pick up golf, you can play golf until you're 100," and I didn't listen. I wish I did. It really wasn't until I started working on Entourage back in the day and we had some of the best product placement ever. We had some of the golf simulators. Full Swing Golf, I believe. And Kevin Dillon is actually a huge golfer. He belongs to Winged Foot and he's a single-digit golfer. Pretty much in between takes, we'd start playing on this golf simulator and I'd slowly progress and Kevin would take me out on a par 3. He really was the first person who taught me how to swing a club and from there on out, I got the bug. I did take a two-year break because I got really frustrated with the game, as most golfers can get. I've now rediscovered it in a way that is more about fun and the people I'm with and the course. I'm no longer trying to shoot at 78 every time I play. The first event I ever watched was a Ryder Cup, which is a really great way to watch golf to really rope me right in.

TPG: Talking Entourage, there's obviously the iconic scene with you and Tom Brady on the golf course. Did you get to take some hacks with Tom Brady or was it just that one scene?
FERRARA: If memory serves me correct and it was a long time ago, it was right before the start of the season that he was coming off of the knee injury. He hadn't played for a while, no one had seen him for a while and he was getting ready to tackle the NFL again. I want to say that we started shooting at 5 in the morning, which is an awful time to start doing anything. I think we started messing around at the hole we were shooting at. I want to say on his first shot, he hit it like 285 right down the middle, so I'm like, "You're a great quarterback, you're great at golf," and then we started doing some of the scene work and I was like, "Oh, you're actually not a bad actor too. I need to find what you're bad at and I need to play you in that." I still haven't found anything. I saw some clips of him playing hoops, but even that looks a little scary. We played a few holes and he's got game. Brady can play.

TPG: So when Kevin [Johnny Drama] hits the shank and breaks his club, he actually had to try to hit a shank? He's better than that?
FERRARA: Kevin will probably tell the story like, "I couldn't even shank it if I tried." I believe he was trying to put his worst swing on his ball and even his worst swing had a pretty little draw and started down the right side and drifted naturally into the fairway. Kevin really is a terrific player. I think his dad's been playing forever. He'd claim that some of his best acting is hitting a bad golf shot. That's probably what he would say.

TPG: Have you ever gone out in just an Entourage cast foursome?
FERRARA: Not really. Adrian Grenier, who does play now, we used to try to get him to play and he really just wasn't interested. The closest we got, we had the opportunity, and this is going to sound like a humble brag, but we were all freaking out at this chance. We got invited to play a round with Wayne Gretzky at his club, which I believe was Sherwood at the time -- I don't know if it still is -- and it was me, Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly and the show creator Doug Ellin, so we did have an "Entourage" foursome at the time. Gretzky was bouncing around -- there were a few other foursomes around.

All I remember is being super nervous while The Great One's staring at you hitting a golf club. And I'll give him a shoutout, Kevin Connolly, I want to say it was maybe 98 yards, but we maybe bumped it up to 99, with Gretzky standing up near the green ready for his next chip, holed out from 99 yards away. I saw it with my own eyes. I couldn't have been more jealous. Gretzky was just amazed. He even thought it was a great shot. I want to say he even wrote 99 on the ball and signed it for Kevin. It's a fuzzy memory, but that's what I remember most from that game.

TPG: I'm sure he could sense it was 99 yards.
FERRARA: I'm giving you some good stuff! Maybe it was 96 yards, but it just makes a better story. It was 99 yards.

TPG: Who's your dream foursome?
FERRARA: On the golf side, I'd love to play with Tiger. I didn't play with him, but I saw him mess around when we did an episode with Phil Mickelson. So I saw him play a hole. He hit like a 280-yard drive that I didn't think was more than like 15 yards in height. To hit that low and that far is insane. So obviously TIger. I wish some of the old-school guys who are no longer with us, you heard so many golf stories with like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope and that whole golf circuit of the Rat Pack Era. I might need three weeks to answer that question. MJ, of course.

You give me like Tiger, MJ, Jeter and myself, that's a good start.

TPG: What's your favorite course to play?
FERRARA: I guess my favorite is Kapalua out in Maui, which was just a great experience to golf at. You know what, I'm gonna give some love, it's probably unknown to the rest of the world, but where I'm from in Brooklyn, it's big time. Dyker Beach is in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. It's a public course that gets played a lot and it's a lot of fun to play and the guys who play that course regularly are all awesome guys. Gotta give some love to the local public course.

TPG: You're at the American Express Card Member Club at the U.S. Open. What are you doing there?
FERRARA: I really am getting the ultimate fan experience. I'm lucky enough to be an American Express brand ambassador. They've got an unbelievable setup. They've got the card members club where you can see some cool golf. They've got a putting green, where you can take some putts. It's just the ultimate fan experience. I'm sitting here staring at the tenth green right now while I talk to you. It's not a bad day to be an American Express ambassador and card member.

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