Roethlisberger's "Extreme" Off-Season Workout To Include Links Golf 12 Times In 10 Days, Visit To Five-Star K-Club

During all of the Masters hype I missed this hilarious Martin Rogers exclusive where Ben Roethlisberger confirmed he would prepare himself for the next NFL season by embarking upon what most of us would call your basic rich-guy buddies trip to Ireland and Scotland. But not so for the Steelers quarterback.

"It is going to be pretty hardcore," Roethlisberger told Yahoo! Sports. "I will be playing something like 12 courses in 10 days and they are some of the very best ones that you can find. I'm going to the K Club, St Andrews, and a bunch of others."

The K Club, just outside the Irish capital of Dublin, hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup, and St Andrews is renowned worldwide as the spiritual home of golf.

It's also where...oh not to worry Ben, you can't get distracted by the in-room movies.

"Golf is such a mental challenge, and as frustrating as it can be sometimes, it can definitely make you stronger," said Roethlisberger, who passed for 4,077 yards last season. "Playing some great courses in a setting like Ireland and Scotland will be pretty awesome, but it is also a great way to keep your mind sharp.

"You really have to think your way around and get the grips with the course and the difficulties it offers you. I am a pretty cerebral guy, so it is perfect to have that kind of activity in the offseason that keeps your brain ticking."

Lee Andrew Henderson of Yahoo wasn't buying it.

In all seriousness though, I'm glad that Roethlisberger's extreme new workout involves a sport that both out-of-shape fat guys and past-their-prime old men seem to have no problem playing. When I first heard that Roethlisberger would be undertaking a radical, extreme offseason workout I immediately had flashbacks to the motorcycle incident of 2006 and pictured Roethlisberger vaulting over sharks on his motorcycle like The Fonz on "Happy Days".

Will the workout work? Why not. The most important thing is that Roethlisberger comes back to the Steelers healthy so I'm all for a low risk golfing trip, extreme tour or not.