Golf has always been a sport that celebrities have loved.

When the PGA Tour – and with it professional golf – exploded in the early 1960s there were three key factors.

The first was the emergence of Arnold Palmer as a superstar. The second was colour television (because golf looked great on it). The third was that celebrities loved getting involved in the game.

None was bigger than Bob Hope, who put his name to an early season Pro-Am and many other celebrities, including country singer Glenn Campbell, followed suit.

But what of today? Celebrities still love the game, but who are the best?

Rather than go with an overall top 10, here are 10 celebrity categories and the best golfers within them.

1. Best popstar golfer

Justin Timberlake has good claims in this category. He’s a good golfer and he has also sponsored an event on the PGA Tour, played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and owned a course in Memphis, Tennessee.

But the winner is ex-One Direction star Niall Horan who is pals with Rory McIlroy, plays a mean game himself, has run a tournament on both the LPGA and the DP World Tour, and his Modest! Golf Management company looks after, among others, Tyrrell Hatton.

2. Best heavy metal golfer

In the early 1980s Def Leppard and Judas Priest were part of the British heavy metal invasion of the United States and both bands had members who loved to relax on the golf course the morning after gigs.

But the King of Heavy Metal Golf is Alice Cooper. With his long hair, wild clothes and make-up he might not be a classic country club member, but he says golf helped him deal with alcoholism and he once had a handicap of 5.

3. Best male golfer in acting

Mark Wahlberg loves the game and will play a round before hitting a film set. When Entourage, the TV series based on his life, was created, his love of golf was included. He plays to about 9. Other possibilities are husband and wife combo Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, Hugh Grant and regular BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am entry Tom Holland.

But we want a winner. And what about a double winner? Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan twice partnered Tyrrell Hatton when the Englishman won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews. 50 Shades of the Auld Grey Toun?!?

4. Best golfer from the world of tennis

Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal spent most of their time on the tennis court tussling for supremacy and it has been much the same on the golf course.

Federer is comfortably the more elegant golfer, but Nadal wins because he takes it more seriously. He’s an industrial golfer but a determined one and plays off +0.3.

5. Best golfer from the NFL

Tom Brady plays off 8 and appeared on Entourage swinging his clubs, Peyton Manning played off 4, and Aaron Rodgers was once 5.3.

But Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, is an exceptional golfer who has competed in PGA Tour events, come close to making the cut in professional tournaments, and once carded an 84 from the tips ahead of Torrey Pines hosting the 2008 US Open.

6. Best golfer from the NBA

Michael Jordan adores his golf and has driven his handicap down to 1. He also created his club Grove XXIII, which caters for elite and exclusive golfers. Charles Barkley is also avid, but is mostly famous for an appalling, if comic, swing.

Steph Curry wins, however. The four-time NBA winner with Golden State Warriors has loved golf since he first started playing aged 10 and he runs the Underated Tour which helps open up golf in diverse communities.

7. Best comedian golfer

English stand-up Dominic Holland (dad of Tom) loves golf so much he wrote a novel about it that won a commendation at this year’s Sports Book of the Year Awards (it’s called ‘Open Links’). Bill Murray loves a Pro-Am (perhaps more than fans like watching him love a Pro-Am).

But Larry David has to win this category because so many episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm feature the sport. From stealing his 5-wood back from a coffin, to raging at a weatherman whose forecasts leave the course empty for his enjoyment, to failing to shout fore, there are plenty of genuine golfing laughs from fictional Larry.

8. Best female golfer in acting

Zeta Jones is a good call, Jessica Alba loves her golf, too, and Nicole Kidman played a pro-am in China.

But Kathryn Newton is an easy winner and might even be the best of everyone mentioned in this entire article. The actress is absolutely mad keen on golf and is a regular at the Open and the Evian Championship where she mixes with the players and sometimes out-scores them in pro-ams.

9. Best golfer in football

Andriy Shevchenko loved his golf and played in the Sunningdale Foursomes. Julian Dicks gave pro golf a go. So has Jimmy Bullard. Carlos Tevez once caddied at the Open (albeit in practice). The best player was probably Stephen Grant, a little known Celtic and Sunderland fringe player who was briefly on the Challenge Tour. And Harry Kane has bought a house on the Wentworth estate.

But if you combine football star quality and golfing potential, Gareth Bale wins. He has also played the Sunningdale Foursomes, he drove through the green at the 330-yard par-4 second hole, and he has a replica of the island green at Sawgrass in his back garden.

10. Best golfer from surfing

The easiest of the lot. The great Kelly Slater is a 2 handicap who plays his golf in Hawaii (when he’s not playing at Pebble Beach or St Andrews in Pro-Ams).

Read next: Will Gareth Bale ever turn pro? His incredible handicap boost revealed