Above: Former F1 champion Damon Hill competed in the inaugural Motor Racing Golf and Gala Dinner 2008 at Sentosa Golf Club last week.

Sporting history was made last weekend when Singapore staged the first Formula One night Grand Prix at Marina Bay. As 20 drivers hurled their high-tech cars around the 5km track, skill, strategy - and more than a little bit of luck - ensured that Spaniard Fernando Alonso and his Renault crossed the finish line first.

Many factors are involved in driving at this level - among them, fitness, concentration and mental resilience. But as with other professional sports, 'spare time' also comes into play. And that brings us to golf.

It's a popular past-time for professional athletes, be they tennis players, basketballers, footballers - or F1 drivers. For instance, GP championship leader Lewis Hamilton squeezed in a round at the Marina Bay course a couple of days before taking to the track.

As BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld explains: 'It's not that I need a break from driving, I just enjoy playing golf. Nature, the landscape and the weather come into it too.' The German ace, who finished sixth in last weekend's F1 race, was introduced to golf at 15 and played a lot in his early years. 'I think that in those days a handicap of nine would have been possible to achieve,' he says.

Nowadays, Heidfeld plays off a handicap of 20, as his various F1 commitments make it difficult to get on the course. 'F1 is a time-consuming sport and I'm travelling a lot,' he says. 'In between, I like to spend as much time as possible with my girlfriend Patricia and our two children. So I only get to play golf once or twice a year in charity tournaments.'

Other drivers who enjoy a round include Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard and Heikki Kovalainen.

But according to former F1 champion (1996) Damon Hill, the older generation was more inclined to play than today's crop. 'A lot of racing drivers used to play golf to relax, but the world has changed,' says Hill. 'Now they spend most of their time in the gym.'

Hill, son of the late double F1 world champion Graham Hill, was in Singapore last week to compete in the inaugural Motor Racing Golf and Gala Dinner 2008 at Sentosa Golf Club, a benefit event for Down Syndrome Association (Singapore). It was the first game here for 14-handicapper Damon, who won 22 GPs out of 122 starts during his racing career and retired from the sport at the end of the 1999 season.

'Nigel Mansell is a scratch golfer and Alain Prost used to play, as well as the guys who were driving before me,' he says. 'I didn't really play that much when I was competing, but I used to go to the driving range a lot. Golf is kind of obsessive. You always come back hoping to do better.

'There's always one shot that keeps you coming back, There's always room for improvement. I think that if you can get better at something as you get older, that's something to look forward to.'

For Hill, golf also fires up the competitive juices - something that F1 drivers, retired or not, tend to have plenty of. 'I'm very competitive and golf is a singular thing,' he says. 'It's about you and yourself. I find that part of it fascinating. Apart from anything else, the game clearly shows up your mental state. You have to find equilibrium. You can't play if you're angry or frustrated. It's a tough sport.'

Another professional athlete to have had a long-running affair with golf is Ivan Lendl, a former world number one tennis ace. After he retired from tennis in December 1994, he shifted his competitive interest to golf, where he was a winner on the Celebrity Tour.

The scratch golfer organised a charity competition in 2004 called the Ivan Lendl Celebrity Golf Tournament. And while he is still competitive at mini-tour level, he now devotes much of his time helping to develop his daughters' golfing ability. Three of them play golf at US Girls Juniors level.

Australian Scott Draper reached a career high ranking of 42 in singles tennis back in 1998 and was ranked number five in the junior doubles after winning the Wimbledon Junior Doubles title in 1992. While Draper did not play competitive golf as a junior, he joined a golf club at 18 and held a four handicap while playing competitive tennis.

He successfully combined the two sports at top level after qualifying for the Australasian PGA Tour in December 2004. And in January 2005, he combined late-night tennis matches at the Australian Open - winning the mixed doubles title with fellow Australian Samantha Stosur - with early morning tee-offs at the Victorian Open and Heineken Classic golf tournaments.

The hard work paid off. In February 2007, Draper won the New South Wales PGA Championship on the Von Nida Tour, giving him his first professional golf title.

NBA legend Michael Jordan is perhaps the most high-profile former professional athlete with a passion for golf. The single handicapper has been playing for many years and organises his own tournament each year, attracting a number of sporting and entertainment celebrities to raise money for charitable organisations.

This article was first published in The Business Times on Oct 4, 2008.