He is the son of Ben English and Martha English. His father was a college athlete. He played basketball at Georgia. In 2013, during U.S. Open week, English spoke to CBS Sports about how his relationship with his father shaped who he is as a person and a golfer. He said:
“He always taught me to be competitive. I was really competitive in all sports growing up. Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, golf — I played everything. What he told me about golf was, “You gotta want it, you gotta want it more than anything.” He can’t want it for me. I have to put in the hours and put in the time and grind it out of the dirt.
“He said he saw it for me at a young age and that’s why he always pushed me a little bit. He knew I wanted it and he wanted me to have every opportunity I could have to make it on the PGA Tour. He knew it from when I was young. It was awesome, I couldn’t have made it out here without him.”
