PGA Tour Pro Maverick McNealy Finds Time with Cirrus Aircraft

McNealy's love for golf began in his childhood, where he and his three brothers shared a room and spent most of their time playing the sport. However, he never thought he would turn it into a career.

Golf was where we spent most of our time together as a family. We'd play six of us in the same group and play really fast. We had a ton of fun and lots of great memories there.

McNealy's identity is not solely defined by his golf scores, but rather by the people around him. He credits his parents for introducing him to golf, his youngest brother Scout for caddying for him, and his wife for running the household that makes his travel schedule possible.

She is the quarterback of the most important things in my life, which is my family and our daughter. And I wouldn't be able to do both without her.

The arrival of his daughter reset his priorities in a way he didn't fully anticipate. Golf, which had occupied the No. 2 spot in his life behind family for as long as he could remember, suddenly had company.

It was a little bit scary to think that something I poured my entire life's work into was now going to be second to something else. But I will say that every parenting cliché I've ever heard has never rung more true. It's fun walking off the green whether I played well or whether I played poorly. My daughter really doesn't care what I shot that day, and that really grounds me.

McNealy carried an interest in aviation since childhood but pushed it aside for years as he pursued sports and his education. However, during the 3M Open in Minnesota in 2021, that interest suddenly resurfaced when a single-engine piston flew over McNealy's car on the way to the golf course.

I thought that looked pretty cool. That looks like a lot of fun.

He happened to be paired that day with a tour player who had flown himself to events for two decades, and the questions he asked during a rain delay stuck with him.

It was that day that I decided that I was going to sign up for my discovery flight when I got home.

What kept him in the airplane after that first flight was less the novelty and more the process, something he recognized immediately from golf.

I see so many similarities between the process of preparing to compete in golf and preparing to fly. I felt like flying was something that I could get good at.

The practical case for flying arrived early. A trip that once cost McNealy the better part of a day in the car became something else entirely once he had a set of wings.

The first time I flew down to Thermal [California] and turned a four-and-a-half-hour drive into a one-hour flight, I knew this was different.

## Choosing Cirrus

McNealy arrived at Cirrus on a recommendation he had no reason to question and never second-guessed afterward.

One of my dad's friends flies a Vision Jet, and when my dad heard that I was going to take flying lessons, he said, 'Call Earl.' He said, 'You have to fly out of All In Aviation [in Las Vegas], and you have to fly a Cirrus.' I blindly followed his directions, and it was the best advice I've ever gotten in my aviation career.

## Safety and the Parachute

Some people are hesitant before flying, but McNealy points them to statistics as much as his own comfort level in the aircraft.

Flying is safer than driving. It's statistically and anecdotally true. My airplane can land itself in the case of an emergency, which is really, really nice in single-pilot operations. And the more I've flown, the more I've gotten to appreciate having the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System backup for those few seconds that you may not have another option in the air.

## The Real Payoff

The return on flying isn't measured in hours logged or airports visited, McNealy said. It's measured in evenings at home with his wife and daughter, which otherwise wouldn't exist.

Every time I fly, I come home more energized than when I left out the door in the morning. Knowing that I can continue to get the best out of myself by competing and preparing for my job, do something that I absolutely love, and still be the present father and husband and family member that I want to be-that ticks every box that I could ever want in my life.

It's also the part of his story he hopes his daughter remembers, even after the golf scores fade.

I think when she looks back on how I am as a father, she'll know the lengths at which Maya and I have gone to spend that quality time with her. Because at the end of the day, the real currency is the amount of time we get to spend with her.