The public passion of Justin Timberlake

I’ve always been oddly interested in celebrities’s hobbies that have nothing to do with what they are well known for doing. Case in point: Justin Timberlake and golf.

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images North America)

Timberlake once said the greatest achievement of his life was appearing on the cover of Golf Digest. Really. That, to me, is remarkable. The guy has achieved a lot. A LOT. So for him to be so passionate about something so far from what he is known for, you gotta respect that commitment.

And golf is hard. I’ve never been able to get the ball through the blades of the windmill, let alone have the dedication to achieve a 6 handicap in between recording sessions, multi-platnum albums, movie roles and the occassional Saturday Night Live appearances.

This past weekend a dream of JT’s was finally realized when he opened Mirimichi, an eco-friendly golf course outside Memphis. And this is not a case where a celebrity puts his name on something and has little to do with it.

JT has rumoredly spent millions of dollars himself to bring the course to fruition. And this is not the upper-class, private, members-only club. Its a public course whose fees are far below what they could be considering the beauty and quality of the course.

In addition to the course, Mirimich is “designed to be a community gathering spot, a beacon for environmental stewardship, an incubator for new golfers and even the headquarters for the singer’s enterprises,” according to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

Mirimichi is getting great reviews and attention – and not just from JT’s fans who have his name entered into Google alert and will post comments anywhere he’s mentioned, but from the old guard golf world. A tough world to break into. But the design of the greens, the signifigance of its launch at a time when more people are playing golf on a Wii than on a course and the detailed involvement of the man who dreamed the idea originally.

Hear from JT himself in this exclusive interview posted on his website.