Golf tournaments, Adele concerts and skiing holidays have been on Gareth Bale’s agenda since his retirement from all forms of football in January.
Bale will return to Cardiff City Stadium tonight to receive a special send-off from Wales fans ahead of their Euro 2024 qualifier against Latvia. The 33-year-old will be part of a special pre-match presentation where he will address the crowd.
The superstar announced his retirement from football in January, bringing an end to a remarkable career that saw him become a titan of Welsh sport.
Nearly three months have passed since that seismic announcement; so, what has happened since?
The new golfing career?
While at Real Madrid, Bale publicly expressed his love for golf, and his first step after football was to announce his participation in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament.
He ended 2022 with a handicap of two, above the average for amateurs, but shy of the zero that professionals start with.
And he impressed in his tournament debut, where he and his partner Joseph Bramlett finished joint-16th before the event was curtailed due to adverse weather conditions.
The Welshman produced a moment of pure magic, hitting a delightful chip that landed him just yards away from the hole on the green.
You can watch his impressive shot in the tweet below
Discussing his shot afterwards, Bale said: "I am more worried about how I found myself [on the path] in the first place, but I guess a lot of amateurs find themselves in that position.
"It was a great shot and I just tried to play into the bank and hope for the best like most amateurs do.
"It was nice to see it roll up nice and close and he was pretty much in for par so I was like 'I will pick it up' and he made me putt it because he was like 'this is going to be the greatest up-and-down'.
"I finished off nicely and it was a great shot, I can't really say much more."
The former Wales captain recently made a similarly strong impression on world number three Jon Rahm, who spent some time playing with Bale before the event and was taken aback by the Welshman's talent.
"I told Gareth, 'you can't be so good at professional football and golf at the same time, it just doesn't seem fair'," he said.
"Can't be dedicated to one thing and have this much talent for golf, it's not fair in the slightest."
Bale has also posted golf content on his Airwayz channel, including a day with Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland and Rickie Fowler. He has not announced any further tournament entries.
Family time
Outside of the sporting world, Wales' all-time record men's goalscorer has spent quality time with his family.
He married childhood sweetheart Emma Rhys-Jones in 2019 on the tiny Spanish island of Tagomago, with just 60 guests attending the exclusive and private ceremony.
The couple currently have four children together. The first, Alba Violet, born in 2012, followed by Nava Valentina, born in 2016, Axel Charles, born in May 2018, and Xander Frank Bale, who they welcomed in July 2021.
He recently posted wonderful family pictures and video on his Instagram of a skiing trip to Big Bear Mountain Resort in California at the end of February.
Bale was also back at LAFC to collect his MLS Cup Champions ring, being pictured with owner Will Ferrell as well as helping present the trophy to fans.
And last weekend, he was spotted attending Adele’s final show of her Las Vegas residency. Bale was pictured with her guitarist, Peter Randall, after the show.
He will no doubt receive a hero’s welcome from the Red Wall tonight on his return to Cardiff.
Where does Gareth Bale live?
Bale is still spending much of his time in America but he does have a house back in Wales, which the family could settle in.
The £4million mansion in the Vale of Glamorgan was approved for expansion two years ago.
It currently features six bedrooms, a dressing room, study and a three-hole custom golf course in the garden.
The Welshman's love of golf is obviously well documented, and this mini-course features replicas of three of the most famous holes in the world - the 17th at Sawgrass , the 'postage stamp' 8th at Royal Troon and the 12th at the Augusta National.
"I had a lovely bit of land here and it was something that I really wanted to do and I decided that I would love to make a dream come true and build a mini-golf course in my house," Bale said at the time.
"I did my research online and I found Southwest Greens. I wanted to do a lot of low maintenance.
"We came up with a big concept of what I wanted to do. We loved the idea of it and went from a plain piece of land to building what we have now.
"It was a lot of hard work and a lot of craftsmanship. It's so much better than I ever thought it could be."
Read more:
Gareth Bale to say special goodbye to Wales fans at Tuesday's match
Aaron Ramsey's Arsenal observation of Mikel Arteta speaks volumes as new Wales skipper 'mixes it up'
Gareth Bale's golf handicap and scorecard at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am
