Aussie golf star becomes Rebels bikie rescued by coach in jail wins tournament Ryan Peake Cam Smith
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Australian golfer Ryan Peake changed his life from an outlaw biker serving time for assault to a tournament-winning rising star — and he couldn’t have done it without a great letter reaching him in prison.
The 29-year-old started swinging a golf club when he was 10, immediately showing a lot of natural talent and winning many trophies by the time he was a teenager.
No one could have predicted that at the age of 21 he would be a fully patched member of the Rebels outlaws motorcycle club, hugely out of shape and serving a five-year prison sentence for assault.
Now Peake has sensationally opened up about the life journey that saw him win a golf tournament while on the day of his release from prison.
Ryan Peake became a fully recovered member of the Rebels at age 21. Shortly after, he was sentenced to five years in prison for assault
In 2019, his life-changing turnaround was in full swing when he won a golf tournament while on day free from prison (pictured)
At the age of 16, he finished runner-up at both the South Australian Junior Masters and the Tamar Valley Junior Cup in Tasmania in 2009.
He then won the Tasmanian Junior Open Championship and was the Srixon Junior Champion and the Western Australian Junior Champion that year.
The following year, he teamed up with reigning British Open champion Cam Smith to win the Trans-Tasman series in New Zealand.
‘He used to stay at my house when there were events in Perth because he lived in Queensland,’ said Peake The Western Australian.
“From what you see on TV now, he’s exactly like he was when we were growing up. He hasn’t changed, except he now has a mullet and $200 million.’
Peake competed in the Australian Open at the age of 17, along with players such as Fred Couples, Greg Norman and Adam Scott.
Peake raced as a youngster with reigning British Open champion Cam Smith – and even competed in the Australian Open
The West Aussie decided to turn pro at the age of 19 and it didn’t work out. Peake felt he couldn’t make it at the highest level and decided to give up.
He started drinking heavily and his weight increased from 95 kg to 130 kg.
‘I didn’t know what I was going to do. I felt like I had let everyone down,” Peake admitted.
Peake knew a few Rebels bikes and started hanging out with them more after he stopped playing golf. He enjoyed spending time with the club and became a fully recovered member at the age of 21.
“There is nothing else in the world like that feeling. I can’t describe how proud I felt wearing the colors and knowing that I deserved the right to be there,” he said.
Peake had faced the law several times, but the most serious came in 2014 when he and other rebel members attacked a man they believed had threatened to shoot them.
Peake first picked up a golf club at the age of 10 when his father started working as a greenskeeper. He immediately showed incredible talent and soon had success on the track
“I was in the driveway when the garage door started to lift,” Peake said.
“This man is running out and he has his shirt up and I saw that brown thing. I didn’t know what it was, but I dropped it.’
Peake was arrested and sent to Hakea Prison in southeast Perth, where he began serving a five-year sentence, just four years after being named WA Golfer of the Year.
‘I didn’t see my mother the entire first year at Hakea. She wanted to come, but I didn’t want her to see me like this,” he recalled.
While in prison (pictured right), Peake received a note from legendary golf coach Ritchie Smith, once again persuading him to return to the sport.
“I was a mess, but I started running. At first I couldn’t do more than a quarter of the round before I had to walk.’
A short time later, he received a note and phone number from noted golf coach Ritchie Smith, who had learned about Peake’s predicament.
“I called Ritchie and he told me he’d heard what had happened and asked me what I was going to do. I said I was thinking of an electrical engineering degree.
‘He went quiet. Then he said, “What about golf?”.
“I had two years left on my sentence and I decided I was going to do it. When I saw tournaments on TV, I started to feel a real competitive streak.
Peake quit the Rebels motorcycle club and started training again – winning a day-release club competition
‘I knew I had to stop’ [the Rebels bikie club]. I was housed with other guys in the club and I let the idea run past them.
“As soon as I told them, they told me to go for it. That’s why I will never turn my back on these guys. They really wanted what was best for me.’
Peake served the last year of his sentence on the farm of Wooroloo Prison, where he was given home visits every two weeks and 12 hours of freedom.
He remembers the first time he was allowed back on a driving range on his release – after not holding a golf club for seven years.
“My swing felt terrible and it came off the club like a brick,” he laughed.
Incredibly, Peake won the Lakelands club competition on his third day of release from prison.
Peake (pictured at Narembeen Golf Club) has won Western Australia’s 2019 Aglime of Australia Sand Greens Championship
“I stood there giving my speech and ended up saying, ‘I hope you enjoy your night, but I’m going back to jail.'”
Peake was released in May 2019 and now has a fly-in, fly-out job that gives him time to work on his game.
He knows his chances of reaching the top are slim, but he’s doing his best.
“I look at the guys who are playing right now and I know I can beat them if I just had more time with the clubs. I don’t go out that easily. This time it’s for me.’
Peake (pictured at the Narembeen Golf Club in 2019) knows his chances of getting back to the top are slim but he’s doing his best
Coach Smith admires the courage the former cyclist has shown as he gets his life back on track.
‘This man was very good. When I say very good, I mean good at the Cameron Smith level,” Smith said.