Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
Two words more likely to be found in a yoga studio. However, for certified yogini and now enthusiastic golfer, Katie Wee, who has also starred in hit TV shows like Modern Family and Hawaii-Five-0, they are two words she uses out on the golf course.
Katie Wee after shooting on set with Modern Family star Ty Burrell, who plays comedic suburban dad Phil Dunphy in the hit show.
“Your mindset on the course will affect how well you play just like how your mindset in yoga will affect how much you can work with yourself rather than against yourself,” Wee emphasizes. “I love that golf is essentially about slowing down, focusing and concentrating.”
A focused and positive mindset is something Wee would need after finding out she tested positive for the BRCA2 gene in 2019, which is a genetic mutation that elevated her lifetime risk of getting breast cancer from 13% for most American women to 70%, according to the American Cancer Society. The BRCA2 gene mutation also raised Wee’s risk of developing uterine cancer by the time she was 70 years old more than five times higher, from 2% for the average American woman, to 10-27%, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports.
To curb the potential risk factors, Wee decided to have a preventive double mastectomy and breast reconstruction later that very same year. She televised her journey on the E! Network show Dr. 90210 in part to help other women living with BRCA feel less isolated and to share information about the procedure and recovery process.
Katie Wee recovering from her preventive double mastectomy in 2019 after testing positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation which significantly elevates her risk of breast and uterine cancer.
Fully-healed now, Wee started golfing about a year and a half ago and identifies herself as a beginner. This lefty lays claim to having her 4-hybrid as her favorite club in her bag since it triggers a simple pleasure of contact when she connects right in the middle of the club’s face. In close second is her driver which actually holds a larger metaphorical meaning than most golfers may realize without a yoga background.
“I love the big moves,” the mid-thirties actress admits. “Sometimes in the details, I get a little bit like ‘that’s not important.’… But every stroke counts the same amount. If you hit a great drive but then it takes you five putts, you kind of throw away the hole.”
In between practicing yoga four or five times a week, Wee gets to harness this meaningful mindset that every shot counts equally by golfing multiple times a month. “It’s a good reminder for me of remembering that every little piece of the journey is important… the big, fun, exciting parts and the minutia.”
Before the Hawaii Five-O actress ever picked up a club, she was picking up mostly single episode appearances in TV shows like 2 Broke Girls, Home Economics, Shrill, and New Girl. Thanks to her centering mindset on… well, set… Wee has also cultivated a celebrity client list of private yoga students, which includes fellow golfer and actress Kristen Stewart, famous for her starring roles in films like Twilight and Charlie’s Angel. Wee also teaches model Stella Maxwell about best practices for breathing, core strengthening, and flexibility. Maxwell boasts an impressive portfolio of her own, appearing on the covers of Vogue in Japan, Germany, and Brazil, in addition to walking on runways for designers like Versace, Victoria Secret and Burberry.
“Kristen Stewart and Stella Maxwell are two of my favorite clients,” Wee shares. “It’s been such a pleasure to guide both of them through their journeys. They’re both incredible women who have been through a lot and have created a lot in their lives for themselves, a lot of incredible things. Watching them navigate their lives and enjoy those things that they’ve created has been an honest pleasure.”
As a yoga instructor earning her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification and her guided meditation framework certification, Wee reiterates it is “a pleasure helping [Stewart and Maxwell] experience more contact, more connection with themselves.”
Wee grew up in yoga studios owned by her parents in San Francisco. She began practicing yoga when she was eight-years-old. At first resistant to having to go to yoga with her parents, Wee says she’s grateful for the mindfulness principles that now help guide her life.
Those same childhood yoga skills would eventually evolve into a dancing career where she would train at Juilliard, Kirov Academy of Ballet and the Royal Ballet of London before dancing professionally. Wee’s commitment to artistic movement would land her a spot as the dance team captain at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where she met her self-proclaimed golf role model, Maiya Tanaka.
Tanaka was a competitive golfer at UCLA. During their undergraduate years in the late 2000s, the two athletes would eventually become friends. After graduation, Wee started cutting her teeth on the small screen in Los Angeles, while Tanaka took her talents to the LPGA developmental golf tour, the Epson Tour, which at the time was called the Symetra Tour. Wee says she is still very inspired by Tanaka thanks to her entertaining and engaging social media presence.
Tanaka’s videos, which focus on helping beginners and advanced golfers with their swings, always bring a smile to Wee’s face when she sees them on Instagram.
“I have always looked at her content over the years and gone, ‘I want to golf’ because she makes it look fun.” Wee highlights. “[Tanaka] has really cute outfits! I’ve tried to refer back to her page whenever I need a little tips session.”
While Wee isn’t anticipating trying her own hand at becoming a professional golfer, she does value the days out on the course to connect with her own body and swing.
“I absolutely love golf,” Wee shares. Especially because it gives her permission to slow down and take her time. Something in the chaotic world so many struggle with, which is why Wee is hosting her own yoga retreats this year to try and give people a reason to take a meditation focused vacation to places like Lake Tahoe and Sedona… cities where Wee has also been able to hit the links.
Hitting the links with family and friends, the lefty beginner Katie Wee uses her decades of yoga experience to help center her swing on the course.
So, what are Wee’s major takeaways from her yoga retreats and golf rounds?
“If you just allow the club head to fall, allow yourself to be in alignment, and then, let everything go… it’s the perfect metaphor for life.”
The best piece of advice Wee has for golfers and celebrity yoga clients alike, “If you align yourself, align yourself to your highest and best self, you can then just let it all flow. Everything will flow through you in the right way.”
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