WSJ On Tour Wives: "They are, as a rule, uncommonly pretty, but mostly under the radar."

John Paul Newport hangs out with tour wives and provides a nice picture of the behind-the-scenes life.

He also tells us about a few wives who are multi-talented and play a role in their husbands' job.

Like many of the wives I talked to, Diane Donald can't believe she's married to a sports star, much less that she doesn't have a career of her own. She grew up in Chicago, the daughter of a working mother. "I was in day care from 3 months old, that's how much of a career woman my mom was," she said. She got a journalism degree at Northwestern (where she met Luke). After graduating she started in a job that paid $25,000. "That was for an entire year," she said. "That's less than Luke was making in a bad week." Especially once the kids came, it made no sense for her to continue.

Unlike athletes in team sports, pro golfers are independent contractors, so wives are key parts of the family business. A handful are involved directly with the golf side of things. Patrick Reed's wife, Nicki, was on the bag last month when he won his first Tour event, at the Wyndham.

Billy Horschel's wife, Brittany, serves as a kind a traveling coach. She played golf at the University of Florida (as did Billy) but had to abandon her own pro dreams after a series of wrist surgeries. She sits in on Billy's lessons with instructor Todd Anderson and helps during tournaments to keep Billy on plan. She has a sports-management degree from Florida.

"All the wives help manage their husbands in one way or another," she told me.