Wedding band drummer by night, pro golfer by day

For a drummer, it has to be second nature to keep one foot constantly pounding the pedal of the bass drum while his hands are flying and making sound in every direction.

The same could be said for a golfer, whose swing motion must feel natural and free-flowing, without any over-thinking.

Mark Purrington has learned both lessons well. The 28-year-old Dartmouth native is an accomplished drummer who attended Berklee College of Music and has played in several jam bands around the Greater Boston area while also pursuing a career on the road as a professional golfer.

Muscle memory is needed for all those movements, and one skill set most definitely helps out the other, in Purrington’s opinion.

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"Just having a good rhythm to the round of golf and not getting too far ahead of yourself," he said. "In each thing, you kind of have to be in the moment and not try at the same time."

It’s an odd mix to have two hobbies that really need countless hours of practice to turn into careers, but Purrington still is trying to make it work because he wants to pursue two passions in one lifetime.

Take this past weekend. Purrington was in Maine playing the drums in a Boston-based wedding band called Ripcord. After he loaded the drums into his car, he quickly drove to Vermont to ready himself for the Vermont Open at Lake Morey Resort. Purrington shot 66 and 73 in the first two rounds to make the cut.

In a way, life on the road as a professional golfer is like life as a musician. Before you have an established career, you play the small-time tournaments and spend most of your time figuring out where the next gig is going to be.

Purrington is trying to master the art of finding adequate time for both crafts.

"Obviously, one gets (more) of your time than the other, but it’s a fine line. I haven’t been playing the drums as much as I have been playing golf (lately)," he said. "But I’ve played drums for so long that I’ve developed a knack for it. I can kind of get the tunes a week ahead and play them."

Purrington’s love of golf and drums both started when he was five. His father, Fred Purrington, had a drum set in the basement and on the weekends would take Mark to New Bedford Country Club.

Purrington eventually got proficient with the drums and played in local bands like the Chicken Slacks, a group well-known in Cambridge. He spent a considerable amount of time away from the game of golf.

But he always got the itch when playing in the summers, and at the urging of his close friends and family, he tried some amateur tournaments and realized he loved the game. He now spends his winters in Jupiter, Fla., working at golf courses and picking up loops as a caddie when he can, all while fine-tuning his game.

"You are constantly trying to make improvement, and sometimes you go the other way," Purrington said of the pressures of playing tournament golf. "You are always trying to figure out ways to shoot better."

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