Geoff Ogilvy - The Presidents Cup, Royal Melbourne, and the New Decade

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Egg Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Restriction. We have Jeff Ogilvie back on the pod to discuss a lot of things, but one of the main talking points is the President's Cup. So who better than Zero Restriction to be the sponsor of this podcast. They were the official outerwear provider for the President's Cup in December, so when you saw the US team wearing the rain gear early in the morning, that would have been on at night here in America. That was Zero Restrictions gear. So they make awesome layer stuff at layering stuff in terms of this time of year, it's ideal. Whether it's their quarters that pullovers, their jackets, or their vests. They've become a staple of my wardrobe. You can get Zero Restriction frieda egg gear at our pro shop on the fridagg dot com, or you can shop on their website zero restriction dot com and enjoy twenty percent off with the promo code on our website Ogilv Pod. It's just ogilv Pod and you'll get twenty five percent off your order, So go check it out there or go to zero Restriction dot com. If you hate the Fridagg logo. So we are back with Jeff Ogilvie. It's been a while since we talked. We're going to talk about a lot of different things. We're going to do President's Cup as well as some twenty twenty predictions and a bunch of stuff in between. I hope everybody had a safe holiday season. If you haven't been paying attention to the site, we got a couple big announcements. We launched our first two events for twenty twenty. If you haven't been to an event, I highly recommend it. It's an awesome time. It's just basically a bunch of people that love golf spending today golfing together. That's the best way I can describe it. We have two that are open for registration. One is the Boomerang at Seoul Park in Ohi, California, Ohi is a very amazing place to spend a weekend or spend some time on and off the golf course. Seoul Park is a gil hands course. It's a very very fun golf course. It's got a lot of really interesting stuff going on. And then we have the Steam Shovel. So the Boomerang going back to the Boomerang. That's March twenty eighth Saturday, March twenty eighth in Ohi, California. So if you're on the West coast, get down there. If you're in the Midwest or northeast. What's better than a California vacation at the very end of winter when you just had enough of the thirty degree gray days that you see every day. So end of March perfect time to be out there. It should be about seventy five and sunny in Ohi and a great weekend.

00:02:56
Speaker 2: And then we have on.

00:02:57
Speaker 1: May second our Steam Shovels, so second year of the Steam shovel Atlasonia. And then finally February fourth, if you want to mark your calendars, will be releasing the registration for the Dog Bowl at Yale, So that will be June twenty second, which is a Monday. I'm sorry it's not on a weekend, but I'm going to be working all weekend at Wingfoot for the US Open and it's just a short drive up from there. Sunday is you know, Father's Day anyways, So come out Monday, take the day off work, and enjoy one of the longest days of summer playing Yale. What better place so that event, you know, we're really excited for. We're excited for all of them, the Boomerang, the steam shovel, and the dog Bowl. You can sign up for these events on the Friday dot com. Just go to our pro shop. There's a link on the menu bar for the pro shop and you'll be able to find them there. There's a category and everything to search. So, without further ado, here is Jeff Ogilvie.

00:04:04
Speaker 2: I miss the green, for example, I'm already upset when I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.

00:04:09
Speaker 3: And when I find my ball in a bright egg Frida egg, the dreaded Frida egg Frida egg egg egg Frida egg brid egg Lie.

00:04:16
Speaker 1: I'm about ready to run off the golf course.

00:04:41
Speaker 2: How was how was doing the broadcast at the Skins game?

00:04:45
Speaker 3: It was fun? It was fun. It was I mean, it was a whirlwind. And they kind of messed up the two times. There was some obviously riots rule or some sort of ruling. They had to start at at one pm Japan on and it was getting dark five really dark, so they didn't have enough time and they had to hit it on the run. So I'm like running up the fairways with that little dude with that thing that's pointing it at the receiver attached to me the whole time, and we're sprinting from shot to shut to shot shot because I'm trying to be at driving distance and then at the green like always a shot in front, and there's ten thousand people, twenty thousand people like trying to fight through Japanese golf fans with their phones out taking photos. It was nuts, but it was fun. It was good fun. That Golf TV there are they're going to do some good stuff. I think, yeah, interesting, Yeah.

00:05:32
Speaker 1: I mean I think there are there are forward thinking in terms of you know, with the digital and everything. I think there's so many neat formats for golf outside of just your standard Thursday through Sunday telecasts.

00:05:47
Speaker 3: And it's such a normal like the pack, the normal TV package is so just brought up by CBS and NBC and everybody who like has their piece. But there's so much more room to put golf out there, golf content, and there they're gonna be a big part of that. I think it's interesting and that, I mean, Talker is a big part of it, and They've got seen to have some pretty impressive people there, and they got limitless money. I mean, would they paid two and a half billion for the rights or something?

00:06:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh, I mean I think they're they're bet non digital, which I think is a smart move. You know, I think that's a big part of this new rights package too. But uh, what with doing the I don't know, it's not color but encore stuff. What was there? Something that you now have a much greater appreciation for when you watch a telecast.

00:06:40
Speaker 3: How many balls are in the air at one time the producer really impresses me. And the producer is the guy obviously telling which picture to be on which screen, which graphic comes on which screen, which when we go to commercials, when we come out of commercials, did it and all that? And he is going, it's amazing how many balls in the air. The producer has to keep four or five guys like the talent organized that, the cameras organized, and the audio guys, and it's an amazing production. How many people behind the pictures is incredible. I mean I always knew that anyway, and I've been on the thing anyway, but this was the first time I've been on like the you know, the producers earpiece, So he's yelling at you while you're talking at talking, and you're trying to do something else, and he's saying, don't say this, say this in the middle of your sentence. He wasn't really doing that to me, but he does it to rich Lerner and stuff like that. It's it's an incredible skill these, especially the skill that the Tariko's nance Dan Hicks rich Learners. You know that the host the go does that is outrageous. How they can have so many things in the air at one time and have it come out or polished is incredible.

00:07:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like lack the ability to do two things at once. So if somebody's talking to me and I'm trying to say something else, it would be an utter disaster, completely lose my train of thought.

00:08:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, those guys, I mean, they they earn their money, those those kind of jack of all trades, multi sport kind of host guys who like have producers yelling at him and telling them what to do, and they're trying to they're getting the sponsor lip out there, like the little jingle out there, and they're cutting to this guy and they're making Nick Voldo look good next to her. Whatever it is, they're just they it's the producer and the main host. There are massive skills. They're incredible talent.

00:08:28
Speaker 1: And that was like the easiest golf you could have because all the players were on the same hole. It was essentially for once, golf was like a normal sport where there's one field where all the play's happening, as opposed to the regular telecast where you know, the guys and all different holes that are part of the ternam.

00:08:46
Speaker 2: It's kind of it's nuts.

00:08:47
Speaker 1: It's a golf coverage gets a tough you know, everybody complains about it, but it is by far the hardest sport of any sport to telecast.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: It was such a big playing field, right, and there's so many things going on. I mean most sports in football is one play happening at one time, you know, and maybe there's something weird on the sideline or something that the camera the eighteen shots getting played at any one time, like I mean, there's shots all over the place and other stuff. Yeah, it's incredible. Uh yeah, it's a cool world. I mean it's it's a cool world. It's there's way more behind the screen. Than people probably understand with golf.

00:09:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's what so big. I mean I didn't. I don't think anybody really expected to be like, essentially the event of the fourth quarter was the President's Cup, that it'd be pretty incredible to be a part of.

00:09:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was nuts. It was well, firstly in the lead up because I was an assistant captain and I think I was probably the only time this has ever happened that someone in that sort of role was on the ground in that city a whole year leading up to the event, so that the Australian media and the tour were kind of wearing me out a little bit on them. Can you come just do the talk to this guy, can you do this newspaper thing, We've got to take this photo here, you got to can you come do this speech at this thing? So it was quite a big build up for me too, because everyone in Melbourne was talking President Presidents Cup. Because when you're on tour and you're playing the Presence Cup, it's in your mind, but you're at east Lake, and then you're at Fries, and then you're at somewhere else, and then you're somewhere else, and then all of a sudden, Oh, the week before I'm going to Melbourne next week played President's Cup. It comes into your mind right at that week. But for me it had been in like it had been a big part of my life for the two or three months leading up to it, so it was quite a big build up. Yeah, and then when it happened. They put on such a good show, I mean the tour. Really they run an event. They know how to put an event together. I mean the infrastructure in the stands and just how everything was a level above a normal PGA to in, like the attention to detail and hatering and even the ropes are nicer, and yeah, it's just a big deal. Like the big cabins they build for us, because we don't stay in the clubhouse. We have cabins and they're all temporary buildings, so they build one for us and one for the US guys. And it's a big room with fifteen tables in enough for twelve players, twelve caddies, twelve wives, and however many other hangers on. You know, there's probably another ten or twelve hangers on with assistant captains and wives to a staff. Each one has that each one has its own locker room its own kind of private room, and we play music and have chefs and have food. And they were both right on the range. Your base there every day and at you go, I drive everyone around in my little cart and drop people off at the pud and Green and the chipp and Green.

00:11:47
Speaker 1: And is there ever any co mingling between the cabins.

00:11:52
Speaker 3: Not really, which is slightly disappointing. I think you could it if it could. It feels like a common area almost to keep the kind of you know, in the original days of the Rider Cup, when they finished, they all probably set around and had a beer, right, I would think, And then gradually over time it got more and more kind of like they're all sports. I think you feel like in the old days I did that. It would be kind of cool. If feels like a little common hangout spot that you don't have to go in there if you don't want, Yeah, let's just go kind of fraternize with the other team a little bit. But it kind of doesn't sit. Modern society wants us to be enemies that week, right, So no, you're just kind of wave. It's very friendly. Once you get out there. It's great fun between the players. Everyone's very very kind of friendly between golf, I would say, and then once the golf starts it gets a bit more tense.

00:12:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've obviously been part of a lot of President's Cups playing.

00:12:47
Speaker 2: Was this well, how I guess how was it?

00:12:51
Speaker 1: How much different was it being, you know, on the captain's side and obviously you're involved with Liberty National but two but like your home country? How much different was that versus playing when you play it in twenty eleven at Royal Lover It's different.

00:13:08
Speaker 3: It's in some ways it's well, look, I'm a golfer, so I want to play golf, and it's frustrating to not be playing and have it out of your control. You know, I understand like what parents feel and like wives feel and kids feel for their parents and all that. It's hard when you're out of control. It's much more nerve wracking watching someone else come down the stretch or do hit off the first team than it is to do it yourself. For some reason that that part is difficult, But it's probably more fun doing the captain thing because you don't have to worry about how you're playing, like when you play golf. At least I did anyway, every night it's like, do this tomorrow a little bit better. You're always thinking about your swing, or there's something your back's hurting, or all your attentions on the golf, so you kind of miss some of the other stuf. And when you're playing, you have your week. So it's Jeff Ogilvy's week at the President's Cup. So I'll play with kJ Toy the first day. I'll pay with Adam Scott the second day. So I go through. I don't know what Ernie Els has done that week. I haven't seen himhit a shot. You know, there's seven or eight guys on the team. You know you hardly may not even see him hit a shot. So you have your week. Whereas when you're a captain, you've got this overview and you see everybody's week. You know, you watch everybody play. You kind of you're on the radio, so you hear we're basically commentating the whole day, like everybody's keeping everyone up to date with what's happening. So Neieman's Bertie the first he's gone one up, all that sort of stuff, and you're hearing this all day. Louise louis flashing it again. He's going to win today, he's hold of fifteen foot for a half. How goods is and you kind of you get the whole experience when you're a captain, you know, and you still you feel you do feel a big part of the team too. It's not captain assistant captain, and you don't have to make any of the big team speeches like Ernie does. So it was Look, it's fantastic fun. It's an unbelievable event. I think obviously the Ratty Cup is the kind of pinnacle of team events, but the President's Cup is it's coming along. It seems to be against what some people seem to want it to not not seem to want it, but uh talk about it being like the little one, but it's becoming a pretty amazing event. I think.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: I think the key to it is like we're seeing this like continued growth of the game of Southeast Asia where there's more and more really good young players there coming out of there. And I think that's so important because I looked at it and it's just seemed to me like the depth of the US team just is the big hurdle for the internationals.

00:15:51
Speaker 3: It's surely if it was anything. We I think, without being like silly, we outplayed We won the team thing. First four days we won. We were in front ten eight. We could have been way more in front, but we seemed to be on top of every session, like and we I feel like we did the pairings better, like we were we knew what we were doing at the pairing little thing. What do you call that?

00:16:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are late at night for me, I was like watching it. They had to go to sleep after. That's the hardest thing going to sleep after those sessions. They're so exciting.

00:16:31
Speaker 3: It's like Ernie Els and Tiger was a playing battleships like East seven. Oh it's it's it's brilliant fun. But we did that really well. We knew what we went in with a plan. We knew what we were doing. We would went bang with our pairing and they would take their two minutes, and then they would take their two minutes again and we would just go bang straight on top of him. So I feel like we did that better. But in the end there their well ranked with average was twelve and ours was forty one or two or something. It's just at the end of the day, especially such a way.

00:17:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's such as so many matches, you know, it being along a bigger you know event hurts the internationals a little bit, you know what.

00:17:14
Speaker 3: Nick Price got rid of a few, a couple of matches. One of his theories when he was captain was the Ryder Cup format is four matches Friday, like four four four balls four forth some four four balls four for some and then twelve singles, whereas we always used to do six, yeah, six, six and then six on Thursdays, sixth on Friday, and then five and five on Saturday. So there was four five six more points available. So Price's theory was the top five or six on each team are very equal, and the like the depth. Where the depth starts really coming into play down the bottom, that's where the Internationals are exposed. So it would be a bit it would be a better tournament if we had less to play for. So he kind of got that done and we played for a few less points, and I think it's been closer since he's done that. And his theory was the Rder Cup would be less one sided if if it was the same, Yeah, it was. If the President's Cup format was in the Righter Cup, then the Europe would have harder time winning the tournament, and he thought the Internationals would just make a better tournament. So they've done that. But still even so we still have more than the righter Cup, so you do get exposed a little bit. But saying that we had, if we'd had some of the great teams that the international teams have put out there this time, I think we would have just rolled over the top on Sunday. We just didn't. You know, Jason wasn't playing, so we had like one of our best players not there, and it just was We're in that kind of transition where we've got all these kids in their early twenties who were great players, but it was all their first time. So if that was all their third time and they were Louis eas thousand now, West thousand now and Adam Scott now, then I think on Sunday we would have done a bit better.

00:18:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's it's the thing to when you shorten it, it's like the NCAA tournament the basketball. You get all the upsets because it's one game. You know, if if the fourteen seed is not going to beat the three seed, you know, four times out of seven, you know, like in the NBA where they do the seven game playoff every seven game series, it's like there's so many less upsets because of length, you know, over the course of seven games, like the better teams. But like, but I was curious about the pairings, Like I heard a lot about the data, Like how did that work? Was it based off of players like strokes gained their strengths and their game and matching different thing aspects?

00:19:43
Speaker 3: Well, to be completely honest, where kind of Uh, We've been requested not to delve too deep into how the details work, Okay, but basically it's using all the above dot all the data available to us to make better decisions to pick the team. Like there was constant kind of models, if you like, about who should get picked in the captain's picks. All yeah, even before anything was done, you know what I mean. And then during the week how our pairings would be, who would match with who really well? And how to just do that? It just uses all the it this uses more I mean traditionally you've done that with information. You've done all those two guys are good personality and they both use a titlest let them go play, right, You're using information available to you, this is just drawing from a bigger pool of information. Yeah, I don't really understand how they got to where they got, but that's that's basically what they do. And yes, stats are a part of that, and it's quite a lot. There's a lot into it. And look when we went without saying how we would like the secrets to the thing and nothing secrets, but we went into the pairing thing with each time there was a plan and that was the first time I'd ever been involved with that was like that.

00:21:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seemed like, yeah, I was. I was thinking about especially with alternate shot. There's so much that goes into that putting two guys together and the skill sets and everybody. It it's like, oh, I remember the Ryder Cup in was it Hazel team they put like DJ and Brooks together and it was like, oh, they're going to be great and then they lost. But it's like, well, it might be better to put somebody that's really good with wedges and putting with with DJ. Obviously Brooks and DJ are great at everything, but you put somebody that's got a little bit different skill set with them and that might help you know more so than you know putting two guys that are very similar together.

00:21:48
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, all that was going on was a very educated version of what exactly what you said, like who matches up? Who really does match up with who? And who do they match up against? Really well too, So it's all that's all it really is. But how they get to all that, I think is a lot of numbers and a lot of thought, a lot of thinking and a lot of different information than they get to where they get to. Pretty cool.

00:22:14
Speaker 2: So the star star, you know, was the golf course Royal Melbourne.

00:22:21
Speaker 1: Everybody in the US was just gone, ga, go for it that hadn't seen it in any sort of you know, kind of competitive and I think even more so than twenty eleven. I think part of it's that just the way the internet works now competitive then. But I'm curious, as somebody that's grown up playing there watching this event, was there something that stood out to you that you kind of were like wow, and you gained that, you gained an appreciation even though you knew it, knew the course so well going into.

00:22:50
Speaker 3: It, it never ceases. I mean I've known it since I was I could walk. Basically, I grew up right next door. I used to play the public course next door and then go and watch all the tournaments in the eighties, and then I was a caddy there so I could play there after four o'clock in summer, and Stuart, I mean, I've played there forever. It never ceases to amaze me how well it handles great golfers, you know, and what and the questions that asks them, and how much it confuses them. I mean, if we played that course set up like that every week, the standard of golf in the world. Professionals would be higher, people would be better because it was so evident when you watched. I mean, it was a platform for Tiger to show he was the best, and he was by so far and away the best player at that tournament. It was incredible. I mean, no one was getting close to him out there because he just knew how to play the course and you could see it. It lights him up. We play so many courses that just don't light you up. But you can pull your drop. You could say in breakfast room, you're going to hit fourteen drivers. You know. It just doesn't change every day. It's the same and there's nothing wrong with that. And the PCH two is great and the product is cool. But roll Melbourne. It makes you, It forces you into playing a better version of the game. I mean, you just have to.

00:24:10
Speaker 2: It was amazing.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: The first hole was like it right off the bat. It just showed it showed you that this place is gonna be different because all of a sudden guys are hitting it. I mean the first day when the pin was over on the right and guys were bashing drivers up up, and they would get on the right side, and it's just like, you can't keep this.

00:24:28
Speaker 2: You know, it's a beautiful thing.

00:24:29
Speaker 1: Whether you're in short grass twenty yards away and you're watching it and you're like, this guy has no chance to hit the south of the green if he hits it out of the.

00:24:38
Speaker 2: Flag, you know.

00:24:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a three hundred and fifty out hole, three hundred and sixty out hole, and half the guys are getting this thing. I just did. Drive at the green, right, just drive at the green. I'm like, well, I don't know. I played a few times first, and it's I mean, yeah, as you said, the first hole, there's probably better holes there, but as an opening hole that there was sixty yards wide. But it really matters where you are and it's not just a it's not just a left and right matter. It's a long and short matter too. Some days you want to hit driver and hit it deep and almost pin high and chip across, and other days you want to hit three iron up the left and like it's and that's all about moving the pin and stuff. We don't have that very often. I mean, we get it at the Masters, and you'll get it when you go to Shinnecock and stuff like that in Oakmont, but generally we don't have that sort of stuff. It's like the questions that Tenant riv asks you eighteen times in a row different versions. You know, it asked you to hit great shots. If you don't move the ball both ways, and you don't understand that under the whole is premium, you're going to have a hard time at Roll Melbourne. And that was it really was kind of interesting, and that the older the guy there, or the more golf the guy had played, the better he seemed to handle it, you know, the more the patience was there.

00:25:50
Speaker 1: What it seemed to me that you guys had a huge advantage, especially the first two days with the course where your team, you know, Tiger kind of took a very lax approach and said, you know, these guys are pros.

00:26:04
Speaker 2: They'll figure it out.

00:26:05
Speaker 1: And it seemed like the international team was much more you know, we're gonna play it this way, in this way and this way. And the first two days it took the US team a little while to get acclimated to the speed and the firmness of the course and understanding that closer wasn't always better. But did you feel that way going into that you guys had this home course advantage in a way.

00:26:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought we had a chance. I mean, obviously, Tiger is Tiger, and he clearly understands how to play a course on that as well as anybody ever has. So we figured he would scool these guys up a bit. But I mean, I obviously know the course very well. Ernie's won there two or three times, he shot sixty there once, Scott he's played there a lot. So we figured we had a bit of a chance. And we kind of there's probably six or seven grains on that course that there's just a good spot. There's just certain places you can't miss it. In certain places you have to be like kind of wedges, like areas like you just got to be short right of any pin on this green, or you've got to be like somewhere left of this pin anywhere. And there's about six or seven holes that if you don't do that, you just got no chance. And so we thought we had an ability to kind of school them up on a few of those sort of things and just make sure they didn't because you can lose a match play hoole by just hitting it missing the green and the wrong bunker, you know, because then the other guy can hit it wherever he wants, because you can get up and down from thirty hours to the right of some pins, not from anywhere left of some pins. And it's just an interesting course like that. So yeah, I feel like we had an advantage to begin with. But when you're talking about kind of twelve of the top twenty guys in the world that you're playing against, they learn very quick. I mean, professional golfers are one of the skills of being a professional golfer is owning a golf course quickly. You know that we do that every week. You just turn up on Monday and look by Thursday. You got to know it, right. It's a skill that everybody polishes pretty regularly, so they were always going to catch up pretty fast, especially quality like Xander Patrick and JT. And I mean JT played so good. Yeah he did Dustin, I mean Dustin. They can people can talk about Dustin's maybe like lack of deep thinking ability, but I'll tell you why. He played that course so smart. And he played how Tong Lee on Sunday and he just thirty feet under the hole. He played such a smart round of golf that that guy knows how to get around a golf course as well as anybody. Very impressive.

00:28:41
Speaker 1: I heard this, and I don't know this is, you know, a complete rumor, unsubstantiated rumor, but I heard that Adidas did this testing of athletes. You know, they tested all their athletes from like Kobe Bryant and from like a athlete IQ standpoint, DJ was like off the chart, which I kind of I kind of like, you don't get to number one in the world if you don't have something right.

00:29:10
Speaker 3: And it was frustrated with me when the boys on tour kind of have that line of thinking, oh, he's just lucky because he doesn't know what he's doing, like so false, it's not even close. And what I saw at Role Melbourne just completely like put it home, is that this guy knows what he's doing. Like he played so smart. He recognized really quick that how Tong was a bit out of his comfort zone. He was a bit out of his comfort zone that week. It's it was a tough deal for him, but he's an unbelievable player and I'm sure he'll be back. But Dustin, he recognized really early what was going to win the match was playing really smart. He just hit thirty feet under that. He never hit it above the hole. He never let hit drivers, but he shouldn't. Like it was just a really really Jack Nicklas style golf. You know, I'm just gonna wait for this guy to beat himself a little bit. And it was like, Wow, this guy at Royal Melbourn, which is quite hard to do. It was really impressive. Yeah, Dustin is there's more there than meets the eye.

00:30:02
Speaker 1: I think he just doesn't do well in like interviews, which is you know, that's fine. You know, there are a lot of people in the history of sports that weren't great interviews that were great players, And.

00:30:13
Speaker 3: I think he has that innate knowledge. I mean, you and I like break stuff down into a million pieces, and like sometimes I don't think that's constructive to play golf. All you need to know is I just want to be over there, so I'm just going to hit it over there. Well, I think about how I hit it over there. Let's just hit it over there. And there's there's a level of intelligence in not going into it. Yes, you know what I mean, it's kind of because everybody knows when you go into the details of golf you just get stuck. He's on some level smart enough to not do that and to just say, you know, I know what I'm doing. Why I mess with it, I'm just going to do this. That's yeah, brilliant anyway. But that's what Royal Melbourne does. It exposes weakness and it shows and it exposes strength. You know, it does all It magnifies all of your golf bills and to land physical. That's why it's I mean, that's why great courses are important because it makes us better and it magnifies the things that you're good at and the things that you're bad at, so exposes your weaknesses and shows your strength. Great golf courses do that, Whereas I think sometimes when golf courses get a little bit kind of black and white and narrow and vanilla and a bit soft, and it's just purely a golf swing contest, and a punning contest is less of a raft, you know, and roll Melbourne's a craft to get it around, and guys like Dustin and Tiger just showed that in spades. It was so obvious that they had an advantage there because of their ability at their craft.

00:31:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and it.

00:31:35
Speaker 1: Was just like, okay, if you came, if you catch it on the toe, it's going over the green because of that just touch of hook spin. And then Tiger was like, oh well, I'm going to hit a little little fade into that pen so that it stops a little. It's just like that little difference, especially at the highest level, is everything really, you know, that's.

00:31:58
Speaker 3: Well depth, more depth to the challenges. Not just hit a great shot in that direction. It's hit a great shot, but it's going to have this spin, it's going to be at this flight and it's going to land right here. You know, there's this way more to it than just one dimension. Certain not that golf is one dimensional, but it just magnifies everything.

00:32:16
Speaker 1: Say, say there was like a say, say, uh, there was a sand Belt swing, you know on tour. What you mentioned, how the level of golf would be higher if they played, if you played week in week out, would you expect, you know, a different some different types of players to get up to the top ten. I mean we're starting to get to a point where the top ten players have very similar skill sets. Would you expect to see more variety or would it be the same ten players?

00:32:52
Speaker 3: I think it would give. It would give that well, I think in the future the kind of Zach Johnson, Kevin Kiszner's style golfer, not any against them. They're maximizing what they have. But that guy, he would have more of a chance on the sam Belt than he does at Bethpage Black or Tory Pine South or Firestone or something. But I still think the top ten, I mean, they all showed themselves pretty amazing. Length is still an advantage. Length is still an advantage, and strength still gives you an advantage in hitting different shots and stuff. So I still think it would be similar because they are pretty classy, that top ten, But it would give other guys a chance, you know, the Jim Fury could Jim Furix's career would have been better if we played and it's his career is one of the best careers of all time. His career would have been better if we played Roll Melbourne every week, certainly because it's it gives him a chance to kind of his guys like that, the Corey Pavens, the Jim Furix and Zach Johnson's the guys that really have had to know how to get around of course, because they didn't quite have the big weapon that other guys did. That that skill is for them is better they would be looked after. But look the top ten in the world. Now, that's so good these guys. I mean it's like Rory is like, oh my god, how got the players him? And then you're like, oh, well look at Brooks, Oh my god, I go to players him. And then Dustin is like seriously, like if Dustin's the third best goal from the worst, not even John Rahm, I mean, he's the third best go for Well, these guys are so good. It's incredible. Xander is incredibly good, you know, I mean, it's justin JT. You even talked about him. He probably played the best there outside target. I mean, it's a it's in a real sweet spot golf at the high end. They had good These guys are yeah, even impress us. You know, even two guys are impressed by these guys, and we're hard to impress.

00:34:41
Speaker 2: It's fun.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: I've been doing I've been looking at numbers, these strokes game numbers. I've I combined around the green and on the green, so putting strokes, game putting, and around the green into one stat for like the since shotlink came around, because then you can, you know, you're the aggregate of those two stats can be close to what you know, the leader in strokes gained, approach or driving is.

00:35:07
Speaker 3: You know.

00:35:09
Speaker 1: So there's only like five guys that have had a season where they they have their their average of their ranks across those statistics have been in single digits. And it's like Tiger, Speith, DJ Rory and then like JT's very very close, but nobody else has done like.

00:35:32
Speaker 2: Where they're there.

00:35:33
Speaker 1: If you average out their three ranks on tour, it's in the single digits. And it's kind of crazy because you talk about Tiger, it's like Tiger showed he's the best player in the world. It's like, well, he's literally great at every single thing in golf. Like, if you rank in the top ten in the in the on Tour in one strokes gained category, you're great at that skill, right, It's it's it's interesting.

00:35:56
Speaker 3: It's incredible, and that never used to happen that quite often. I mean historically golf the ball striking prowess. That guy couldn't put Van Hogen sam sneed like a lot of these guys Historically the color Montgomerys and the stripe shows, you know, that Adam Scott type thing. That the outrageous ball strikers have often been just average putters right at best, which has been enough. You know, Jack Nicholas was the freak who was the outlier. He was probably top in both but like generally, and Tiger's an outlier too. But now they're all like that. Great ball strikers are great putters and have great short games. Their games are so complete. These top ten or fifteen guys, they're actually there's a big separation, I feel like, not that anyone below them can't win, but that quality at the top is so good. At the moment when I was growing up, it was or when I just first got onto it as Tiger was and then daylight to second, you know, and there was Phil and Ernie and that that kind of Sergio and that sweet spot just below it. But it was day to Tiger. Now. I mean, Brooks has clearly probably been the best in the last two years, but Rory got played. Rory's just as good, you know, on his day. And JT's won twelve times in a few years and.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: Justin Justin Rose two is like sneaky great at everything, you know.

00:37:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's they're long, they're straight. The long hitters are actually the straighter hitters now, which is crazy too, right, long hit long hitters are straight. Their eyron's crazy and their short games are ridiculous. Like it's they're all complete golfers. Now. It's a great as I said, it's a great patch for golf. It's obviously getting taught really well golf. And the Tiger effect all these kids, these are, this is the effect of these kids what growing up watching Tiger win the Masters, watch winning fourteen Majors. These are the kids who were kids when it was happening, you know, and that effect is really powerful too.

00:37:49
Speaker 1: I think, what what were guys shooting like on their own ball out there would you have guessed.

00:37:58
Speaker 3: You wonder was pretty good? Awesome's anything under was good? Altnate shot altnut shot is obviously a really hard format anyone who's ever played it. It's that format of guilt, you know, you always feel bad for, like hitting your partner in a bunker or missing a part, or you're carrying the weight of your partner the whole way around, so it's hard to be free. Bowsome's a couple of under would have won pretty much every match. I think best balls usually a bit lower, but they weren't going nuts like a good round. Anything under par. In a stroke play event, it would have been anything under par. Low double digits might have won, but see ten or eleven out of one, and then eight would have been second, and then five would have been third. You know, we would have been one of those score separating courses. It made plenty of birdies, but there are plenty of bogies too.

00:38:43
Speaker 1: It was amazing to be sitting, you know, from a coverage standpoint, it was the least talked about par was for like I can't even remember, and it's because of the match play effect, but it was so refreshing that like you know there were the all these driveable par fours and nobody was talking about Well, I was playing three point two for the day. It's like, no, it's just like an unbelievably fun hole to watch somebody play.

00:39:08
Speaker 3: You know, it's nice to get par out of the talk and it like just yeah, you can hit driver and get it near the green if you want to, you can it, or it doesn't matter what score you have. But it's just a fun hold to watch and a funnel to play. Yeah, it's nice to have par less talked about.

00:39:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's what Who was a player that like stood out to you that you didn't didn't know was as good as as they were.

00:39:37
Speaker 3: Jim is going to be is the most outrageously good player I've ever seen. And I had even mentioned him in that top ten guy, but he's inevitably going to be there really soon. He it's he doesn't miss a shot, and he was learning. He's he's never seen a golf course like that, really, I don't think playing like that at least. And he would just follow instructions, hit it, hit it at that right there, five yards drive of the bank er over there, and he would just hit it five yards drive the bank ra of there, all right, hit driver over the edge of that bunk, and he would driver over the edge of that bunker. Like hit wedge to twelve feet over there, and wedge twelve feet all right. This put breaks from a foot left right, and he would just go bang in like he doesn't miss a shot at all. It's a long His short game's great. He's got a great attitude. He's always smiling and happy. Like sung Jim and our whole team, Ernie Ellis is shaking his head. Our whole team is shaking their head. All the Americans are coming over and going, oh my god, how good is this? Sung to him. I never really even gave him that credit. Like he is the real deal, Like he is the best player, the best Like as far as the package, he's the best package I've seen come out of career, easily incredible.

00:40:45
Speaker 1: He plays every single week too. I heard he doesn't even have a house in America yet.

00:40:51
Speaker 3: Thirty five weeks. Yeah, he doesn't have a house. So why are you playing golf this week? Oh I'm going to be at a hotel. Will be a yeah. And he played He played thirty eight tournaments. He played thirty one of those, he played Monday Pro ams. He plays Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays plays seven days. Awak, it's a seventh day week for him. You know, it's uh.

00:41:11
Speaker 2: To be twenty years old, you know.

00:41:13
Speaker 3: Right, and to love golf that much. Like, No, he's an incredible player. That's a Namon obviously on outtake. Nam is the real deal. He's uh, he's got that Latin flare and smashes it. He had some great shots for all moment. I'm gonna miss guys, but yeah, Sung Jay he's a standout.

00:41:32
Speaker 1: Even seems to me like a guy that could be really really great too, because it's like he when you look at his stats, it's like, okay, he's got the ball striking and it's just a matter of learning, learning how to play around the greens, you know.

00:41:47
Speaker 3: Yeah he's and he's only twenty two, right, I think he's twenty, so I mean twenty as well. Sorry, yeah, yeah he's twenty.

00:41:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, because he says twenty two.

00:42:00
Speaker 3: It's uh, yeah, he's good. I mean they're good. They're just good younger. They've just got more belief, I think. And yeahmans, he's got that Latin that kind of flare. You know, Sungjay is more of like a machine. You know, Niman is going to give you some mistakes, but he's going to give you some really cool stuff too, you know, And that's somewhat sometimes more interesting to watching a go and never misses a shot. But as far as like being impressed by golfers across the board, our team and most of the US team and anyone who watched them up close, Sung Jay is very good.

00:42:34
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00:43:22
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00:43:23
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00:43:40
Speaker 2: What uh so?

00:43:42
Speaker 1: Ernie talked a little bit afterwards about like the the autonomous nature of the Ryder Cup, how the European team and the US team operate, you know, separately of the PGA putting on the event, and how he hopes that the international team could operate that way from the PGA Tour who puts on the event?

00:44:06
Speaker 2: What did he is?

00:44:08
Speaker 3: Do you?

00:44:09
Speaker 2: I guess?

00:44:10
Speaker 1: Like what behind that? Like what constricts you with the PGA tour running the event as as a team.

00:44:18
Speaker 3: Well as far as the restrictions, I mean, Ernie would I would probably be able to You'll have to get him on here and talk about like the actual like that roadblocks he ran into it. But basically the when the the Ryder Cup is, it's a kind of a team event between like a team up between the PGA of America and the European Tour, right. I think when it's in Europe, Europe kind of grabs the ball and the Europeans kind of organize their own stuff, and it's in America, the US guys get to do it. But the President's Cup is basically a PGA Tour event, just like Charlotte and like La and like you know, Colonial and I mean, it's a PGA events. So the whole thing is run under that umbrella and basically all the kind of rules and the way it's going to go down is under the PGA to a umbrella. So you kind of have to play inside that. You have to drive inside that lane. Like the Lacoste deal, it's a brilliant deal, but both teams were Lacoste. No, that was just decided at pont A Vedra Beach all of a sudden, President's Cut. This is your clothes, and this is what you're doing, and this is where you're staying, and this is you just kind of get dictated down the road and it's look, it's they don't do it poorly. They do it really nicely. As I said, it's one of the most incredible like kind of tension to detail events there is. But you kind of get told what to do the whole time, you know, and it's still and that might be okay for the US team because it's a US company, the PGA Tour running it, But for the national team, I think sometimes I think it's been felt that it's a bit biased again the US team just because of the rules against the international team, because of the rules that sits under now. Ernie would tell you about specific roadblocks maybe he ran into I'm not sure. And it's happened with every captain I've had. It's just you kind of just get told what to do and when to show up and how it's going to be, and that's how it's going to be. You know, you have just less control over a few decisions that I think might be there in the rider cap.

00:46:23
Speaker 2: Did you guys get to set up the course?

00:46:26
Speaker 3: No, no, stuff like that. We don't guess out the course. We don't get to talk about pimp positions or any of that sort of stuff. Really you don't. Yeah, you don't get choice on where you stay, how like, how anything is really and look, as I said, at the start. It's a great event and it's done really well. But I think down the road for the international team to maybe get a bit more of an identity and be more because it is twelve guys from however many different countries, it's harder to be a team. And I think if the structure of the event just it's of individuals turning up and trying to form a team that week as opposed to being a team. You know, whereas the Europeans, the European Ryder Cup players that they're part of the team when they're a year out of the Ryder Cup, you know, I mean, it just feels that way a little bit. So, yeah, there's stuff behind the scene, but it's a PJA Tour event and that's how it's going to be. And it would be a control issue from Poto Bedri and you know, they obviously like having control of that event. So we'll see down the road if we can, if the international team can get a little bit more independence, you know, make a few more of the decisions to help out the team, we'll see.

00:47:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'd be cool if you got to set up Royal Melburn the way you want to do.

00:47:47
Speaker 2: That would have been probably a lot of fun.

00:47:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I wouldn't It would have been fun to be involved. I wouldn't have done it much different than Richard did it. I mean there's a couple of pins maybe that would have been fun too, maybe trying to get out there. And there's some real kind of sneaky local knowledge ones that you don't that no one would have known about, which would have been kind of fun. But uh no, look it's it's it's a nuts event. I mean anyone, I don't know as a spectator, like when you're there those team events, Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup. If you love atmosphere, they're brilliant. But if you love seeing golf shots, I don't know. Because there's only three or four holes that the whole, the whole ornaments on three or four holes, and there's forty thousand people on three or four holes. I mean, it doesn't bode well for you seeing every shot and there's fifty people inside the ropes in every group too.

00:48:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's able to the Medina Ryder Cup.

00:48:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's just as a spectator, and it was like the word I sat on that drive of ale par four fifteen all day.

00:48:48
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah, you know, we're we had a great spot.

00:48:51
Speaker 1: But then everybody laid up both sessions of the day and it was just like just like, man, we just watched like basically, you know, twelve lad shots.

00:49:02
Speaker 3: That's well yeah. I mean so as far as watching golf shots, I don't think it's what you do it for. But for the atmosphere, the atmosphere it creates. I mean, we don't see the Australians. Everyone I've seen since they're like, what was that all about? We've never seid golf was like that. I'd go there every week because it's so amazing, the feeling in the air and the first tee and like when someone starts, when that wind up, the day builds and it builds and it builds, and all of a sudden, when it's the result of the day is coming down and there's three matches left and they're all one of them is one up, and one of those one down and one of them square, and they're all come at the end and guys are holding big puts and just pumps and stuff. I mean, there's nothing like it in golf at all. It's like watching the last hole of a golf tournament. Twenty times, and you get that in twenty times in a day, you know, because you get all this pressure and fist pumps and excitement and disappointment and you get it all in one spot. So atmosphere wise, they're outrageous those tournaments, and on TV, I think they're really great too. Yeah, they're incredible event. I mean, for some reason, it makes me like pine for bit more team golf. Maybe it didn't even have to be international, but like the New Orleans thing, like the the kind of partnership thing, or maybe teams are four. I think there's rooming golf for more team stuff because I think people would get the atmosphere gets better when there's when you're not just rooting for an individual, you're doing it for multiple you know.

00:50:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it's because like people pick sides like and I know there are like I know there are a lot of American golf fans that were rooting for the international team for various reasons, you know, like the underdog story was one, but like I just generally, like personally felt the international team was more likable on many you know, a lot of the I like a lot of the players on the international team more than I like the American players and for whatever reason, so I was rooting for the Internationals and it was like it was just a fun event because you pick a side and you're you're a fan. You know. It's like it's really hard to be a fan of one PGA Tour player. Like nobody who's like going out and buying, Like, you know, I go buy Justin Thomas polo outfit so I can look like JT on the course. Like I know, kids do it a little bit with Ricky, but like that doesn't happen with adults.

00:51:11
Speaker 2: Like in football, like.

00:51:13
Speaker 1: People where there bears Bears uniforms around town on game it because they're fans of the team. You know, it's really hard to get behind one individual.

00:51:21
Speaker 3: Right, Oh yeah, one hundred percent. I mean I think there's room for it. I mean, it's so amazing when you have tame stuff. It's just the atmosphere and the camaraderie and everything. It's better for the player. I think it's it's bit's it's better for the player, it's better for the fan. Sometimes I think they should consider more teams style golf because I think it's right. I think it's brilliant.

00:51:45
Speaker 1: What about the I think the thing that the President President's Cup hit for the Americans was like the time it was on that when it was on, like you know, it was like the perfect time of year.

00:51:58
Speaker 2: Everybody's holed up inside and it came on at night.

00:52:02
Speaker 1: It's like a great event series would be like a sand Belt team like a month where you had like one day events, team events where you had teams of four and they played you know, you know JT's teams playing Rory's team at Kingston Heath today.

00:52:21
Speaker 3: You know, can you imagine that? Fantastic? And yeah, the Australie times are and that West times I worked for America and when you go West, they'll be like the Hawaii is always great in Australia. Yeah, it's yeah, I don't know what to say. It's just it just feels better when you're at these team events. It's just wow. It just elevates. It just elevates the competition or something, and it makes guys play better. The standard goes up, the emotion goes up in the atmosphere and it's a we're individuals. We all chose golf because we liked being on our own, right. I mean I remember really enjoying the that I could go play golf by myself if I couldn't find a friend. You need a friend to throw a ball, you know, or kick a ball or play I mean you can shoot basketball a little bit by yourself, but at some point it kind of gets a bit boring. Right the golf, you can do it by yourself. You can do it with two people, four people, you can have twelve friends down the right, you can you can do it in any number of people. But we're all individuals and that's why I think we do it. But the team things, everyone across the board, well, most guys that you ever talk to and get involved with in these events, that's their favorite weeks of their career. Are these ones? Yeah?

00:53:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean in the the ratings have to prove it out. I mean, like the Ryder Cup, people are really interesting, and I think that's part of like the Skins game. In the match, there's a little bit more casual interest in that stuff than necessarily the you know, the FedEx Saint Jude like it. There's you know, people like my casual buddies were like who won the match? I remember right after the match because I went out to metam ata Bar. You know, these guys know noting about golf. They aren't asking me who won the fat accinct Jude.

00:54:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's just the market's been a little bit flooded on seventy two hole stroke play. You know, I just think there's a lot of it. There's forty five weeks a year where on the weekend or something there's European in the morning and the US of the afternoon. You know, it's like it's just seventy two ol stroke plays, seven two ol stroke plays strike play, and it's great. But if it's on every week, you don't need to watch it all the time. You know, the rider CAP's only on every two years, you have to watch it. You know, the Masters is once a year, you have to watch it. Like, I think, varying formats like the match or like a little team thing on your leane, or just just a bit of an expansion on just the seventy two old stroke play thing might create more things to more can't miss tournaments, you know.

00:54:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it's I agree.

00:54:49
Speaker 1: So, Hey, I wanted to ask you about this. You played the Lynxoul Wishbone bra with Percimins.

00:54:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I mean.

00:55:00
Speaker 2: He had a whole one to end it, which was unbelievable.

00:55:05
Speaker 3: But it was an unbelievable thing. I mean, like like everything that John Ashworth gets involved with, it was just cool. You know. The guy's certainly got the spirit of golf, you know in him and someone like me. It's just he's just a brilliant guy to ever hang out with when it comes to golf. But so the Goat Hill thing, I'm sure most of your listeners know the Goat Hole story. But he basically saved Ocean, started municipal from being developed into something condos or warehouses or something, got the community and got them together, saved Goat Hill, which is it's affectionately known because it's on the side of a hill. And he's had a couple of events the last couple of years and the Wishbone. He only doesn't Thanksgiving, that's the wishbone because of the Turkey thing. It's it's to raise money for you and your golf. And so the last couple it's like a real casual kind of almost barefoot or flip flops shirt out. The Simon would kind of deal with four tour guys or four too current and ex guys and So the last couple of years it's been Hoffman and Dean Wilson, and Mike Weir has played and Shofflet's played Chris Riley. But this year it was me and Riley versus Dean Wilson and Xander Shoffley, and it's just an eighteen whole kind of exhibition. He kind of somewhat serious, semi serious, me and Riley against those two, and we play out in holes and we played really fast, and we'd come down and Ryles and I were in front all day. I mean, Chris Riley is still the best part of I know, and he hasn't been on to it for a few years, but he makes everything. It's incredible.

00:56:46
Speaker 2: He's college coach now, right he.

00:56:49
Speaker 3: Is, yeah in San Diego, Yeah, and loving it. It's a perfect I mean, if you're a kid or you were a parent, either way and Chris Riley was your coach, you're happy, Like what a legend of a guy, you know. He's it's just like one of the kids, you know. It's just it'd be so fun to hang out with all the time. But anyway, we were in front, we were one up going down the last and Dean Wilson makes a good birdie to get us to go to extra holes. Ties it up. So we got to nine, which is a one hundred and thirty yard path three down into this kind of big amphitheater. You've been there, right go to.

00:57:19
Speaker 2: I haven't been yet.

00:57:22
Speaker 3: It's down this massive amphitheater. It's like naturally place where no one's ever there, but if you were going to have big tournaments, a crowd would gather there because it's just a great place to sit. And so there's I don't know a thousand people, fifteen hundred people, I don't know two thousand people. There's a ton of people around the last green and we all go there and Dean hits it about fifteen feet behind the whole ten feet a pretty good shot. Xander hits a great shot but lands next to hone spins it off the green like down the front, and so he's not in a very good spot. And then I just co worship it just flies straight in the hull and so it was like a walk off only one. And it was like one of those surreal kind of really that just happened? Did that actually go in and at the green? And it was one of those slam dunks that made that big noise, you know, like it just goes into the hole, this massive crack, and you heard it from the teeth. And at the green there was this two seconds of like nothing and then they just go ballistic.

00:58:17
Speaker 4: Right.

00:58:18
Speaker 3: It was like rod a cup a Brookline. They're all on the green and like they're dancing and jumping around and screaming, and they went on for fifteen minutes. It didn't stop. It was like my version of Tiger at Phoenix in ninety seven. It was just it's got an amazing situation.

00:58:35
Speaker 1: Gotta be like in the obviously you've had like an incredible career of accomplishments and goth but it's got to be one of the more memorable gotha.

00:58:45
Speaker 3: Probably it's probably the coolest thing, you know. I mean there's been some amazing things obviously in great moments, but it was so cool how happy everyone was. And of those, however many people were behind the eighteenth Green, one hundred and fifty of them were kids. You know. I remember when I was a kid, when I first saw my first hole in one, I just went nuts and I just saw like an old guy had one, like bump a five one along the ground agoing, and I thought it was the best thing I'd ever said. This was like to a guy holding it slammed dunk with a big crowd that went nut. I mean the kids. It was just the best scene. It was just an incredible, an incredible kind of situation. And everyone there just loves Goat Hill and loves what Ash and links I all have done there and just kind of it's just a really good vibe and then it just it just made it a really special day. Yeah, so the memories there, I'm never going to forget that one. That was. It was my first home one for like six or seven years too, so that was pretty exciting.

00:59:44
Speaker 1: That's the whole one has like is it's whenever you're around one, it's just the most incredible feeling, even if it's not yours, Like it's just crazy, like you said, oh guy, I got one though, it's like you go nuts. It's just the natural. It's just such a crazy shout.

01:00:01
Speaker 3: And it was one of my only it was one of my only probably my only little viral situation because like there was fifty people there and they all got videos from a different perspective, right, because everyone films everything now so there was all those little instagrams that popped up everywhere, and like I had people like messaging me from all over the place about it like it was crazy. It's good, but no one you don't. So there's it's that kind of The footage probably shows you what it was like to be there. It's not like that footage you see on the TV with the perfectly framed golfer on the tee and like the ball getting followed all the way and it going in. This is just like people were like sticking a phone between two other people's heads at the green and you hear the noise and everyone's dancing around their cameras. That mean, just the footage was so it makes you feel like you're there a little bit. It was just a crazy situation. It was really fun, amazing, Yeah, yeah it was.

01:00:51
Speaker 1: It was fun to watchay uh, it was it was neat. What was it like playing the match with the person driver.

01:01:01
Speaker 3: It's fun. It's it's it's appropriate for goa toll because go to is a very short like I don't know when it's five thousand yards or something. It's mostly pat threes and short part fours. There's one part five, but and it's like there's some funky little dog legs, corners to head over and stuff. So it's I mean at first you're like, you hit your first couple. I mean I hit them somewhat regularly, but if it always takes you by surprise how small they are and how unforgiving they are. Hit one out in the toe and it just shrimps off to the left, or you hit one out of the heel and it goes absolutely nowhere and cuts out to the right. They're quite heavy, and you've got to swing them a bit sort of slower and wait for them a little bit. It's a different style of driving. Becomes more like you're just trying to fit it in there. You know, you're trying to kind of almost bunt it around a little bit, just to manage the driver. It's and then the fairway woods are so much fun, great fun. It's I like my modern driver because it's fun to smash it. But it's when you get on the right course with those percimens, they're just as much fun because it's just a different style test and when your driver would go too far, like it would go to hill for us, it's just it's just that perfect little antidote, right, because you can hit them a long way like Xander a couple and he popped at miles. You can hit him a long way when you hit them. But the risk you take in actually smashing at it is hitting it sideways, you know, or hitting it nowhere. It's just a it's a for a place like that, for guys like us, it's really it just makes it just a little bit more fun. I think it was brilliant. It was great. I'd think I would certainly on the right course, especially for people who like kind of know how to hit it, like and they can hit driver and all that, and they wanted something different. If they went to a place like that to just try it one day, you can buy them a FEBA for nothing. I just hit it. It's it's good fun, good fun. Yeah.

01:03:01
Speaker 1: I played uh Zach Blair and I did this trip and we played Northwood, which is like this old Mackenzie nine holeer. It's in the Redwoods up north of San Francisco. I mean, these redwoods are insane how big they are, but it's only like twenty nine hundred yards so and we were playing on this cool morning and we played with a hickory off the tee and we played modern everywhere else. But I mean, but it just like we're hitting it like two twenty. I mean because it was because it was so cold and damp, and then the hickory was not you know, it's the ball. This wasn't going anywhere, but it made the course because like you wouldn't be able to play that golf course with a modern driver because you'd be hitting it into the trees all the time. And it was like, God, this makes so much more sense to play with this because it's it's actually it makes it more in a way, it makes it more fun.

01:03:53
Speaker 3: You know. Well, I think variety is this possed a lot of rot. I mean, it's just good to have different. I wouldn't have get them out if I went to play Best Page or Tory South like that, it would be it would be no fun at all. It would be completely miserable to play with the wood. But then you go somewhere kind of short and kind of funky, and I think some of that, some of those like a North Barrick or something one of those lynxy kind of places that are short a lot to run. Those sort of places would be brilliant for it, you know, because they seem to suit. I mean that was the clubs when some of these places were built, you know, like McKenzie Courses and some of these places. It's there's room for both. You know, maybe at the high end of the game, and like everybody wants to play their serious you can have your serious golf. But every now and then it's it's it's like an electric guitarist playing a playing acoustic every now and then, but ukulele do something different and it is fun. You know, it's just different, Like just there's more to golf than just the one lane that sometimes we sit in and I I forget it too, and every every now and then I jump outside and just do something like that. I'm like, you know, that's I don't want to do that every day, but that's great fun. Like I really like that.

01:04:57
Speaker 2: That was a I did.

01:04:58
Speaker 1: I had another I played. I played National Golf Links with like three guys that were like they're like ten to fifteen handicaps. But you know when you played National, you hit a lot of wedges because of the just the nature of the game with the driver. And I played the member tees and I had the Yale golf coach had given me a bunch of ballatas, brand new out of the box ballattas, and I played like Hickory Driver with ballattas at National. But the most amazing thing about it was that, you know, usually if I played the same teas as these guys, we I'd be eighty yards ahead of them, you know, and getting ready for shots when they were like hitting their shots, and we were all hitting from the exact same spot, and I couldn't believe how much I wore out my long irons. It was like I was like, Wow, this gobble is really really hard, and it's usually a hole that I would hit a wedge into.

01:05:55
Speaker 3: That's fine, So you say a different you say that whole a little bit like out of people say that all exactly I can normally hit, and you maybe get a litt appreciation for like a little bit of area and golf you hadn't had before. Like it's just a it's not just about the sim but different stuff. You get the old ballader out or try Hickory golf. I mean there's a whole Hickory tour there. Like kind of kind of nutcases at this point, you know, they're like Vinyl record people, but like they travel around the world and they play little hickory tournaments and stuff. I mean they all play normal golf too. They play normal golf too, or like modern golf. But it's just another driving a stick shift car. You know, it's like driving a vintage car. I mean it's nowhere near as good as a new car, but it's something about it. You know. It's kind of and every driver is different, you know, and you get we were all there and Link Soul has done a good collaboration with Simon Louisville, right with Louisville. Yeah, so they've got some really nice ones, and there's a couple of different ones that all the four of us had and like kind of we're comparing the grain on the wood and I had the light ones and Zander might have had the dark ones, and we're comparing the grips and oh, this shaft feels pretty, and every club feels completely different, and you've got to learn each one. And there's something it's so nice that we have them all so perfect. Now, you know, you just a titlist on it a new one of these and it comes and it's perfect right every time, Like that's really good for what we do. But there's something really cool about everything being a little bit different. You know, you got the good one, look at the little grain on that one, and look at the paint job, and like you find yourself kind of rubbing it and cleaning it after every shot and making you really gingerly put your head came wrong because you don't want to like scuff it and stuff. It's like it's something there's certainly a side to it that's like like a bit more organic and natural. And that was great fun. And they sound so different, like it's a surprise at impact, like it's almans to get taken aback by, like the sound difference when you're so used to this, like bang, you gotta having ranged these days in NOI years, like titanium hitting hard balls right, and this is just like this kind of plank of wood. It's just such a different noise. And then when like someone like Xander actually cracked one, it like makes that noise.

01:08:11
Speaker 1: You know, it's like and the feel when you when you like because like what you were saying, when you're like you kind of try and bunt them around a little bit, and then like when you feel when you're feeling good and you you go at one and you hit it really good. That feeling is just because there's there's something there's risk there, there's like something more than just hitting a smashing one with a big head. There's like there's an element of like, I got to hit this really good, and I'm I feel I'm feeling good about my swing, so I'm gonna go at it.

01:08:42
Speaker 2: You know.

01:08:43
Speaker 3: It's like the stars have to line up to hit a good one. Yeah, it's incredible. I mean it's it must be similar to like baseballers when they go from aluminum they go to the majors and they use wooden bats, and like, when you really flush one with a wooden bat, it must feel really special, way better than one off the end or in the head and the Simmons of the time, like if you don't, you go along your first twenty and you don't hit and you're just kind of like this, what's wrong with this? And then you actually hit one one properly and you're like, oh, I get it now, now I get it. I want to do that again. You know it takes another twenty to do it again, you know. Yeah, it's it's good.

01:09:18
Speaker 1: Fun yeah, so, hey, new decade, a new decade.

01:09:25
Speaker 3: My father would argue that the decade starts at the one, but we'll call it the decade the twenties.

01:09:32
Speaker 2: It's an interesting take. I don't know if I agree with it.

01:09:36
Speaker 3: Well, one's the beginning, Yeah, it's ten the end or the start?

01:09:41
Speaker 1: Well, technically this would be the first day. Wouldn't ten be the very end?

01:09:48
Speaker 3: Right?

01:09:49
Speaker 2: Right? Is?

01:09:49
Speaker 1: Definitely it's what which player wins the most majors this decade.

01:10:00
Speaker 3: Wins the most majors?

01:10:03
Speaker 2: Jam Sun Jam?

01:10:08
Speaker 3: Well, would you?

01:10:11
Speaker 2: I don't know it could it could be a player? Player? Does it player? We aren't. We don't know if it could be the answer.

01:10:17
Speaker 3: It's probably most likely to be a player. We don't know it, right, because Brooks is going to be in his forties in this decade, I think any so he'll.

01:10:23
Speaker 1: Be brook I think he's twenty nine, so he'll be thirty nine.

01:10:27
Speaker 3: Okay, so he's in his sweet ten years too, So is Rory.

01:10:30
Speaker 2: JT's right in his sweet ten.

01:10:33
Speaker 3: JT could win a bunch. It's probably not going to be Brooks or Rory win the most, but it could be. It could be, right, Well, I could easily be rhy me, right, Rams, what's he twenty seven or something?

01:10:50
Speaker 2: And I think he's twenty five, twenty five.

01:10:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a machine. Yeah, let's say rhyme. That's a good call.

01:10:55
Speaker 1: Actually, as he's I got him. I've been hoping him for the mass. I think he's gonna win the Masters this year. All Right, who spends most time at world number one?

01:11:12
Speaker 3: Rom? No, we got someone different, Rory. I think Rory will spend I think stillin Rory's got he'll play well five of the next ten years. And when he plays well, he's brought of it.

01:11:25
Speaker 1: It seems like he has recaptured interests, like I feel like he but you know, I think this is reasonable thing that could happen, and you probably you can speak more to this, but like when you playing professional golf, you can lose interest for a little while. And you know, when you're at Rory's level, that's the difference between being the best and being fifth best. But where you know, like any job, like I have it with this job, like sometimes I write, I'm a writing machine. Sometimes I just can't do it, you know, And I feel like Rory's like a little bit REJUVENI like he got he's like, you know, he's past like the honeymoon phase of his marriage and he's really dedicated, like this is his life.

01:12:13
Speaker 3: You know. I think he's well, there's that the way he came out. I meant it was Tiger like in a way. How rapidly he became, like right up there he was winning straight away. He struggled to win that first year, and once he started winning, he started winning everything, and he won majors by miles and everybody on the range knew he was the best, you know, outside of Tiger when he was playing. I mean, Rory was the guy, right. I mean, he's just you watch him hit balls and you just know after one shot that guy's the best year because he just hits it so well. And I think he seemed to gain a lot of perspective last year, you know. I mean it's probably not easy to go from a normal person's amount of money to one hundred million in five years. You know, that's that's a rapid thing. I mean, his Nike deal was massive. I mean, he's he's piled up a lot, and I think goals and stuff can change at that point, you know, because now money is never an object for the rest of your life, So it was part of your motivation to go out there and be great. Was it to make money? Because if it was, then that's going to go away because you don't need to make money anymore, you know what I mean. As an example, I think this year he's well last year, I should say, he seemed to for the last couple of years gain that perspective. And he seems to be playing golf because he just loves playing golf. It doesn't seem to need it anymore. And I think when you don't need it and you just like it, you do it better. Yeah, you know, I think when those guys really need it. When Tiger looked like he needed it, that's when he really looked tense and struggling on the course. He was young. He didn't need it, he just wanted it. I think there's a difference between need and want, and I think Rory's in that kind of I want to play really well and I love doing this, but I don't need it anymore, and I think that frees you up to play better. He's in a good spot Rory plus. At the end of the day, however, but anybody goes about it. Talent is a really big part of this equation. You just can't beat Alan at the end of the day. If you look at those top ten guys in the world, they're obviously all very gifted physically. And that hasn't always been true, you know, of top ten, some did it on their brains, some did it on hard work, some did another. But now it's it really is. You're not beating Dustin Brooks or Rory if you're not or Justin or Raham if you're not like supremely gifted, you know, and Rory is, from the evidence that I've seen, the most gifted. He has the most tools, he has the most shots, he has the he has a like a feeling and a flair for golf that's a rare.

01:14:46
Speaker 1: He's got a swagger too, you know, he's got that he gets going in that walk you know where he's he just is he like like you said, you watch him hit one shot on the range, but you could also walk out and you could see him walking down the faraway and everybody else walking down the fairway and be like that guy's probably one of the best players in the world.

01:15:08
Speaker 3: Just by the way he walks. YEA, because I think there's two one he knows he's great, not in a in a humble way too, Like there are some guys carry confidence. Well, he carries confidence better than anyone I've ever met, you know. He just like Jack Nicholas confidence. You know, he doesn't have to tell you how good he is because he just knows it. So it's almost humble in a way, you know. And he just looks like he's having so much fun, you know, like is there a golfer when they're playing great, looking like they're having more fun than him? It just I want to play like I want to be like that. He just how fun is it to smash driver as hard as you can and go way under par and just just playing the way he plays and looking the way he looks when he plays. It just looks like he can do it for a really long time because it looks fun and stress free.

01:15:55
Speaker 1: I always feel like I always say, like I wish I could could just feel, you know, Lebron feels going up for a dunk one time, Rory's that way with the driver, like when he gets that driver going and like it wouldn't matter if the fairway is ten yards wide, He's gonna just thread it. It's like that has that is just watch watching Rory close up hit the drivers.

01:16:20
Speaker 2: Truly amazing.

01:16:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think for any real true like golf juggie fan, they need to while he's still where he's out, need to go watch Rory hit the long shots, just to hear the sound and just see how free he is. And I said to it, as I said before to it, players are hard to impress. Were kind of we pretend like we're not impressed by a lot of stuff, and we've seen a lot, so it takes. And there's good golfers everywhere, but every now and then there's someone comes along who's around the greens or whether they long game or whatever it is, or their mental game that really like impresses us across the board one hundred percent everyone and two if you pull them, who's one of your favorites to hit balls? And Rory pretty much at the top of everyone's list or watch play or play with or whatever, because he's just he's just that guy. You know, he's just Jimmy Hendrix. Hea, he's just better than everyone else.

01:17:13
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you, how how big is Bryson look in person?

01:17:19
Speaker 3: Massive? Like what happened there? Like what's he doing It's like he was already big. I don't remember it was like three it was like three years ago. I think we were in that year we played the Wells Fargo down in Charleston or somewhere or wherever it was down in the beach that other course. I don't if you remember, but I was in Chipotle after.

01:17:40
Speaker 1: Oh, you've played at Wilmington the Fassio course, Yeah.

01:17:48
Speaker 3: That one anyway, And I just I was coming home and Chippota Chippot is a popular spot on two, and you have a late tea time and you're getting home at seven thirty and he's in the line behind and he's telling me about all I've put all this mass and my my lower half of my thing, and I haven't increased my speed yet yet, but he like, and he's always he was always talking about bigger, stronger and more speed. And this was three or four years ago. And then he seemed to calm down on it a little bit and got more into other stuff, and he played really really well theft him a bud, And then this year it's like, what was he coming out with? Just before Vegas tol him and he was coming out So I'm gonna put thirty pounds on in the off season. It's all going to be this and that and the other. And it's like, mate, you're already like two ten, like he looks like a linebacker. Like he looks it's he's going to hurt himself, I think, because look, you know when people have that look like they've just got too much on their frame, that's it.

01:18:40
Speaker 4: That's when I was watching his swing that week, I was like, it doesn't look as good as it used to look like there's it, like it doesn't have the fluidity.

01:18:52
Speaker 3: I was always unique, but I mean as the last sort of the first half of my career, I didn't care about golf wing at all. I just wanted to hit it, and I just other people saw the technique. I just played the reason the last five or six or ten years, I've been more into technique and I actually really like or just interested in looking at other people's golf things and how they do it. I always liked his swing, even though it was really unique, and he's crazy upright clubs and all the same length and when you talk to him about the golfs, but he really knew what he was talking about. And I really liked that he had his method and he knew it worked and he stuck to it. But he doesn't seem to be able to stick to it at the moment. You know, he's just can't stop. He can't stop, as I said, like cutting it up into small pieces, and at some point you counted under so many small pieces you just get paralyzed with all the information. Right, his swing isn't as smooth as it was before, but look, he's hyper talented. There's got to be a hint of vanity in putting that much weight on, doesn't it like a little bit like because you're already hitting it. You're swinging it at one thirty and you're hitting at three thirty or something like, I mean, how much what do you need? You know?

01:20:03
Speaker 2: I don't know.

01:20:04
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of things that it kind of goes against the one thing you said to me. I think it was off era once was about the body tapes of of the guy, the longevity guys, with the way their bodies were, and I ever since you said it, I can't stop thinking about it. And it seems like it's the opposite direction of that, where like the big.

01:20:25
Speaker 3: Wings, Yeah, historically the best swings and the best the longevity players ever. I mean, you go all the way back and this is pre Jim, but if you just take any kind of an over like high perspective on it and just see Bobby Jones was big in the middle, you know, kind of not big massive shoulders and arms. He was big in the middle, like big length between the knees and the rib cage, you know, Jack Nicholas, Lee Trevino, like these guys who pretty much went in there, Sam Sneak, Ben Hogan, they were small up top, big in the middle, like because the swing is kind of driven by the middle of the body, and I think this big arms, big shoulders, big thing is it seems to be fraught with danger injury wise and swing wise. Really, I think the best swings ever kind of John Rahm is an atypical body for this historically. I mean it might not like we all want to look like Adam scottle brooks Kepta, right, but Rory McElroy. But the longevity guys and the ones without real bad backs, and the ones who have hit the ball well for a really long period of time, we'll end up with bodies kind of like John Rahm. You know, big and strong in the middle. You know, like they're athletes obviously, but they're not putting big cut muscles on themselves.

01:21:39
Speaker 1: It seems like Rory went down that road and then came back away from like you remember when he really bulked up, And I don't think he is as bulky now as he.

01:21:49
Speaker 2: Used to be.

01:21:51
Speaker 3: He seems to look he seems to be under controlled. I't think he lifts that much anymore, actually, And his racing was always that it was good for his back, right, because he was getting a bad back. And then he did it, his back got better, but then I feel like he was getting hurt again. Like the guys who really really, regardless of what it does for your golfs, think the gym junkies have traditionally been the ones in the physio room more often, you know, the guys who lift the most and who are the most obsessed with fitness seem to be the ones who were hurt the most. Now, maybe that's like a like a footballer or a like one hundred meter runner, right, they have to like kind of push their body to the edge of injury to get that fast. Anyway, I mean, there's maybe an element of that but golf isn't that sport. It's not a one tournament every four year sport. It's a you're gonna play every week. You're going to play every day, you know. So I think the training for it should be different. And I think training to make yourself big and strong and massive for like a one week thing is the wrong model. I think that kind of back Nicholas, Well.

01:22:55
Speaker 2: That's that's the other thing.

01:22:57
Speaker 1: It's like, it's not a like it's such a long season, you know, the golf over you know, and you start to look at like twenty five years career, your career, you know, thirty weeks a year.

01:23:12
Speaker 2: It's a long season.

01:23:14
Speaker 3: You know. That's a lot of golf swings you've got to make. And the mental fatigue that can come in, which I obviously kind of can contribute to physical fatigue, you know, mental fatigue, and then you're putting big gym sessions in on that and you're kind of stressing your body a little bit. Obviously, everyone wants to be in good shape and you want to be healthy, and we know a lot about the stretching and core strength and all that sort of stuff. We know all that now, and that's all good, and you probably have to do that. But the trying to like out and out change your natural body type extremely in the gym doesn't seem to end in good results very often. But we'll see. Bryson's a smart guy. He'll work it out. He'll be skinny in two years because that'll be the new thing, right, he'll be a vegan or something, cook Bubba, it'll be a pescatarian and he'll be doing yoga every day and tell everyone that yoga is the secret to golf, right. I mean, that's the ancients, they had it right. That's fine, that's his thing. That's golf for Bryson is always trying to find the edge, right, and that part of that's cool. I mean it's like Harrington those last out of ten years, like on the range, always trying to do something weird to kind of find the edge, you know. But for him, that's what golf is, and that's fine.

01:24:33
Speaker 2: Like I feel like Scott's like that with the putter.

01:24:37
Speaker 3: I think I'm convinced searching with a Yeah.

01:24:39
Speaker 2: He just convinces himself.

01:24:41
Speaker 1: He figures it out and then like it goes bad one round and he switches so that he thinks he figured it out again.

01:24:49
Speaker 3: It's funny. I feel bad for Scotty because he's such a good putterer, like when we were young and well it goes on twenty something tournaments around the world and eighteen of them or something with a short pudder like he was a good putter. He was a good and part of how he hit it. But yeah, every time he comes into the media so that they say, oh, what about your pudding, what about your part, you just have to hear it all the times, almost like he got talked into it by other people that he wasn't a good puduct.

01:25:10
Speaker 1: One of my favorite moments of twenty eighteen was that he was he was uh. He was at the second to last group I think on Saturday or Sunday at Augusta and he was messing around with like tabletop putting on the pudding green before ste you're almost in the last grip yere you know you got a chance to when the aster and you're messing around with the pudding stroke.

01:25:38
Speaker 3: I mean, because he's just as I said, I think there's nothing. He's a decent part. He's a he's a decent puttern. Always it. He was a very, very good putter, I would say early, and he's always been a decent putter. And I feel like he's just his search. Everybody. Look, that's I mean, that's goal for some people, right, Some people like the search. That's part of it, you know, And he comes out one day it might click for Reimni or but like Senika for six months and he'll win everything, you know what I mean. Some guys they chase equipment, some guys chase their body, some guys chase technique, but that's what gets them out of bed in.

01:26:11
Speaker 2: The morning, you know, Yeah, you chase something.

01:26:14
Speaker 3: My dad, my dad must have had fifty sets of golf clubs in my childhood. Like every three months he's trading them in to get something else, or he's swapping to get these. And we had everything from like mire Field blades, the Nicholas things, the Pingsing two's and everything right all the way through. But for him walking through golf shops and finding that the secret on the equipment racks, that was golf for him, you know, that was part of If he didn't have that, golf wouldn't have been as fun for him. You know. It's like people who shopped for cars or like it's just that's his thing. And for some people this technique and for some people that's traveling around and like playing all crazy weird golf courses stuff. But everybody has their little niche and golf. And for Bryson it's it's that sort of things.

01:27:02
Speaker 2: That's a that's a great way to put it.

01:27:03
Speaker 1: It's, uh, you know, this year Adam Scott had the best statistical.

01:27:08
Speaker 2: Year of his career.

01:27:11
Speaker 3: Really doesn't know what time.

01:27:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is with my combined metro. He was thirteenth around the greens, on and around the greens. Isn't that crazy?

01:27:25
Speaker 3: That is crazy? I would have said he would have nearly could not win the FedEx Cup if he was that high. He must where did he finish the end? He must have? He was he made he made to a championship, bro, I think.

01:27:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, he did. He was.

01:27:36
Speaker 1: He was forty third off the t fourth approach, thirteenth around on and around the greens.

01:27:42
Speaker 2: Pretty crazy that is. And he didn't win.

01:27:45
Speaker 1: That's the crazy thing until like the last week or two weeks a couple of weeks ago and.

01:27:51
Speaker 3: At Austritry and page Yeah, yeah, so yeah, it's an It's that's why it's such a great game. Ron, It's uh, I mean you think, I mean Adam Scott as good as he is. I mean he's right twenty seventh in the world or something at the moment, right twenty fifth or something.

01:28:08
Speaker 2: Thirteen.

01:28:09
Speaker 3: He he thirty, he came up, he came out from like twenty five to thirteen.

01:28:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was twenty seventh at the Masters. But he he had a awesome I mean the stats bear it out. I mean he had just a ton of top five this year.

01:28:24
Speaker 3: As good a players. He's as good as he played as a ton of top five and he saw him all year. He's still only thirteenth, twelve players better than him. That's pretty amazing.

01:28:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's nuts.

01:28:33
Speaker 1: I mean it's like it's like Tony Fenhow's finished what seven runner ups in three years or eight runner ups in three years. It's like it's it's really hard to win.

01:28:44
Speaker 3: It is hard to win. So he's won twelve. Yeah, already, that's pretty amazing.

01:28:52
Speaker 2: He's good, really good.

01:28:54
Speaker 1: Uh. What what's the winning score at wing foot?

01:28:59
Speaker 3: Well, depending on setup, I think a lot of there's been a lot of water under the bridge to see thousand and six, right with setup staff and Shinokok a couple of years ago was a little bit of A and Phil doing what Phil did. I think at Shinnacock they had emergency meetings about that. I really do think they're they're going to go for slightly more sensible setups going forward. I would think slightly so saying that I'm around even Par, I mean that's not really going out on a limit. It won't be as hard as when we played it. I don't think it's been redone. I think the greens when we were there. This is not a shot on the wing for greens, but the way the USGA set them up, they were so ropey on Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon with the two full fields in the afternoon because they were so on the edge, they were almost unputtable on the Thursday afternoon Friday afternoon situation with the after the cart and the smaller field. They are a little bit better on the weekend. They'll be better than that, I think, because I won't stress some quite as much so that the padding might be a little bit better. Potting was probably the hardest thing at Wings with last time. Even Par what a place. I'm quite motivated to try to get in because I'm not exacted anymore, so I have to try to qualify. So I'm going to obviously try to qualify. It's a pretty special spot.

01:30:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's cool. I went there twice.

01:30:20
Speaker 3: This uh, this fall, this needs fat, the us it shaving? Have they started have they kind of well I wouldn't. They don't do that until I guess snow melts, right, But like the where the fairlies are going to be? Did you say whether, Oh.

01:30:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, they narrowed it up a little.

01:30:34
Speaker 1: I got I'll send you all the all the drone stuff with great golf courses, like especially great greens. If somebody, if I get called up and Andy, you're going and play Chicago goth You want to come play Chicago off?

01:30:47
Speaker 2: I like, Mike, Yeah.

01:30:48
Speaker 1: And then immediately, like I immediately start thinking about the fourth green there, you know, the part five.

01:30:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, just it's like terrifies. I'm scared shitless like it.

01:31:00
Speaker 1: Whenever I think about play there, That's what I immediately think of is the fourth Green.

01:31:05
Speaker 2: And I think it's so unique.

01:31:08
Speaker 1: Wing Foot has just these amazing greens, but the first green to be is like absolutely terrified.

01:31:20
Speaker 3: How could you build you couldn't build that green now, right, it's so crazy, and it's the first hole. It's a relatively docile hole, right, but you've got this green. It's just it's unbelievable. It's incredible because you just want to leave it on the front edge. But that's your fund isn't over there. No, it's brilliant. You're right. The first hole, the first green is probably the scariest there, do you think.

01:31:42
Speaker 2: I think so. It's just like welcome to Wingfoot.

01:31:46
Speaker 3: Yeah right, it's what a place. I mean, it's such a great course. The greens are crazy everywhere, and not great good crazy like crazy good. But it's generally a front edge course. But there's five or six in there that like eighteen. You can't obviously hid on the frontage of eighteen. You know. That's brilliant. Yeah, the first that's the scariest first green that it's like the first green in Augusta. It's like the untalked about thing at the Masters is like the first green might be the hardest ground in the whole place. Welcome to the Masters kind of thing. And the first to win flds exactly same, So welcome to Wingfoot.

01:32:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's it's just hard if you don't drive it well out there, you're dad.

01:32:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean my short game. The reason I won that that year, I think was my short game was just outrageous, and it was in that kind of It was Mike Davis's first year, but it was still the kind of the same era before of twenty two yard wide fairways. So they were so narrow that everybody missed them, right, So nobody's hitting lots of greene and regulation. So I guess the point of narrow fairways is to say, well, the straightest hid are the best ball striker is going to have the advantage. It's so narrow that no one had the advantage, so everyone was wedging it out. So everybody's trying to get it up and down for par and so the guy who got it up and down best for par probably one. So who's I mean me? I was great at that at that stage, and Phil Alter was great at that. The guys who were up there, Jim Furick Harrington, they were great guys with a wedge. So it was quite interesting that the setup to find the best ball striker ironically found the best wedge games.

01:33:20
Speaker 2: You know, who's the counterintuitiveness of golf.

01:33:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's an interesting thing.

01:33:27
Speaker 1: But wingfoot there's so little space that nobody could do it.

01:33:32
Speaker 3: It's so small that no one can hit it right. Whereas when you go to the Masters and it's really wide, well, everybody can hit the fairway, but only the best guys can work out where on the fairway and stuff like that, Roll Melbourn stuff with. Yeah, but wingfoot is a It's tough off the tee, but it's tough into the greens because every swing is with a little bit of fear. You know, it's hard to be really confident because there's so many bad places can hit it around the greens that you always end up in. That's short I always found.

01:33:59
Speaker 2: Anyway, Web Simpson, that could be a winner.

01:34:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, Web Simpson. I know they've put a bit of length on it, but Web doesn't seem to Even though he's not that long, he doesn't seem to. He still seems to play well on long courses.

01:34:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he's so good with irons and short game.

01:34:19
Speaker 3: You know, Web could be the guy. I mean, it's the hard to look past the stallions too, right, I mean, if Brooks, if Brooks and Dustin and Rory and Xander and JT if they get going. I mean Brooks, it's hard to look past him in the USA. But was he going to win win second? Yeah?

01:34:38
Speaker 2: I mean that start to pebble is insane.

01:34:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, just nuts, right, So it's and it's right down his street because he can smash that too iron off the tea and a long way down there. One of those guys who could do that maybe has an advantage. So a guy can hit those two ldren and three or two irons and stuff, Yeah, would be an advantage. So like who knows, I mean, he'd be your starting favorite, maybe a Ram, you know, because his short game Rams short game might be the best of those three or four guys at the top. And last time Wingfoot was certainly a short game contest. So good. What a venue? I mean, New York can get the best crowd, especially north of you, so it's a yeah, what a place. It's they've had golf professional golf in Western County for like one hundred years, right because we used to play Westchester and wing Foot and they understand the game. Yeah, it's a brilliant.

01:35:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's cool.

01:35:40
Speaker 3: It was my favorite years, haven't venue? Obviously.

01:35:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, we're going to wrap it here. We're but thanks for coming on. What do you got coming up? You got anything coming up?

01:35:54
Speaker 3: Nothing? I'm playing in the VIC Open here. That the tournament where we play men's and women's can currently that's a good time. I believe it's two million Australian both sides. I think it's the first LPGA event of the year, like legit, so it gets a really good women's field and guys field. It's European Tour event, so you get a pretty decent field really considering where it is and the time it's at. So play that and I'm going to play the New Zealand Open a couple of weeks later in Queenstown, one of the maybe the prettiest places in the world to play golf tournament, and then I don't know, we'll see head and over. We're going to play a for you this year and bounce around and keep keep track with Shady. Shady's coming along. Our work at Shady's are probably halfway through on the big course and that's come along really really well. That's been fun and