1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:06,160 I played in the Australian Open. I think it was nineteen eighty nine at 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,599 Royal Melbourne and Greg Norman was leading the tournament by I don't know six shots. 3 00:00:10,599 --> 00:00:14,119 On Sunday, the wind blew so hard and the greens are so fast. 4 00:00:14,199 --> 00:00:17,079 It was blowing the balls off the greens. So Greg Norman comes as 5 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,039 a third hole, he hits a pot from below the hole. It goes 6 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,879 up this is the hole and then turns and comes back farther away than he 7 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,079 had originally putt it. And you know what he did. He picked the 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,160 ball up and he just walked off the course. He just quick he said, 9 00:00:31,199 --> 00:00:34,520 I'm not doing this. He's leading the Australian Open and he just picked 10 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:36,039 it up and he just left. He said, yeah, this is so 11 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,079 I'm not doing this. Hi Fred. This is Blaine quarter from Quarterlane, 12 00:00:40,119 --> 00:00:44,520 Idaho, and I played the Highland's Golf Course. This is Golf Smarter number 13 00:00:44,679 --> 00:00:50,039 nine oh four. We don't need to grow the game, just sustain it. 14 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:56,359 With former PGA Tour pro John Ericson, this is golf Smarter, sharing 15 00:00:56,479 --> 00:01:00,119 stories, tips and insights from great golf minds to if you lower your score 16 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:06,840 and raise your golf IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green. Welcome back 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,599 to the Golf s'mortar Podcast. John, Great to be back. Fred, 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,000 It's great to have you back. You're always a source of fun. Well, 19 00:01:15,799 --> 00:01:22,319 it's it's you. You fascinate me. You have such a phenomenally interesting 20 00:01:22,519 --> 00:01:26,400 perspective on golf and the way it should be played and on all levels, 21 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:32,560 especially on the professional level. And we'll we'll bounce into that. But you 22 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:38,519 you did get to play professionally with some success, correct, Yeah, Yeah, 23 00:01:38,719 --> 00:01:46,000 I won on the PGA to Canada nineteen ninety one. I shot seventeen 24 00:01:46,079 --> 00:01:51,400 under up at Windsor and broke No. Mo Norman's tournament record there. So 25 00:01:51,439 --> 00:01:57,000 that was probably the pinnacle of my professional accomplishments, i'd say. But yeah, 26 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,719 I played in four Australian Opens, played the Tours down there, you 27 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,280 know, one few other smaller events and that sort of thing. So you 28 00:02:04,319 --> 00:02:08,560 know a little bit of I guess talking about the Windsor golf course in northern 29 00:02:08,599 --> 00:02:15,840 California. No, no Canada, So Windsor, Canada. So yeah, 30 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,759 it was at roseland it was a Donald Ross course up there that they used 31 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,319 had It was a traditional stop on the Canadian Tour, so one of the 32 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,080 you know, nice tournaments up there. I always really look forward to that 33 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,199 week a lot. And you grew up around golf. Yeah, My dad 34 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:36,919 was a eight time club champion, um, you know, a great, 35 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:42,439 great amateur player and just had me. Apparently there were clubs in my crib 36 00:02:42,719 --> 00:02:46,240 when I was born. You know, it's not like I had a choice 37 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:50,240 really, just this is what you're gonna do. You know, some people 38 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,120 are going to be doctors or lawyers. It's like he's going to be a 39 00:02:53,159 --> 00:02:57,479 golfer. Yeah. I think it kind of kept kept me out of trouble 40 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,680 a little bit, probably in high school. You know, being on the 41 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,080 golf team, you know it sort of grounded you a little bit. Maybe. 42 00:03:04,479 --> 00:03:08,319 Yeah. Sports will do that, yeah, high school sports hopefully. 43 00:03:08,479 --> 00:03:15,000 Yeah. Yeah, because you got to play. You know, it's the 44 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,319 etiquette and the presentation and especially probably when you were in high school, it's 45 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:24,080 a lot different. You had to have a look in an attitude. Yeah. 46 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:29,879 I mean golf, you know when I was growing up in the nineteen 47 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:35,319 seventies in high school, um, you know, it was a different kind 48 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,159 of a sport, right, I mean, you know, the pros were 49 00:03:37,199 --> 00:03:40,159 wearing like checkered slacks and stuff or whatever. You know, it wasn't like 50 00:03:40,159 --> 00:03:46,280 you're putting on a baseball you know, it wasn't really you know, this 51 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:49,199 is long before Tiger, right, so it wasn't really a cool sport. 52 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,759 You know, you weren't cool. You didn't walk around high school with a 53 00:03:53,639 --> 00:03:54,680 I'm on the golf team. Yeah, you know, it was like, 54 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,919 you know, it was really like you kind of not want people to know. 55 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,680 Really really was you know, baseball, football, basketball, those are 56 00:04:03,759 --> 00:04:06,960 kind of the you know, the sports that would kind of get the girls 57 00:04:08,039 --> 00:04:10,159 or whatever. And nobody was like, oh, I'm gonna go follow the 58 00:04:10,199 --> 00:04:13,199 golf team, imagine or something. It wasn't like that, you know. 59 00:04:13,879 --> 00:04:18,639 So I don't know if they're doing it today either. Yeah. So why 60 00:04:18,639 --> 00:04:23,079 don't you, uh, what did you're feeling about the state of the game 61 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:30,399 today, on the on the on the pro level. We'll get to the 62 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,480 you know, the the amateur level later. Well, the state or the 63 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:41,079 game to me hasn't changed in my mind. Um, I still believe the 64 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:46,319 golf should be more of a game than a sport, if that makes sense. 65 00:04:46,639 --> 00:04:50,759 I think I think it's I think it's turned into I think golf's turned 66 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:57,120 into a sport. And if you look at the the golfers now, they 67 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,959 you know, they all look like linebackers or whatever, and they're super fit 68 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,639 and every I mean, when I was growing up, golf was more of 69 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:08,879 a game, so and to to to play the game. You if you 70 00:05:08,879 --> 00:05:13,879 could hit the ball two hundred and thirty five yards off the two you were, 71 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,160 you were in the game. You could now be in the game. 72 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:21,560 So you could look at the at the pro tour and you would have all 73 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:27,120 kinds of short hitters like you know, Chee Chee Rodriguez or you know, 74 00:05:27,199 --> 00:05:29,519 even Lee Trevino wasn't a real long hitter. You know, you had a 75 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,120 lot of guys that, uh, if you could if you could knock the 76 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,439 ball out there two hundred and thirty five yards, you're in the game. 77 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:40,160 The average tour player was hitting it two fifty, you know, and the 78 00:05:40,199 --> 00:05:44,240 longest hitters were hitting at two seventy. But with the high spinning ball, 79 00:05:44,519 --> 00:05:46,800 the high spinning rubber wound ball, it spuns so much more so the longer 80 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,360 you hit it, the more just went off line on a miss. So 81 00:05:50,399 --> 00:05:56,759 a guy that was hitting it to seventy was hitting it wild a few times 82 00:05:56,759 --> 00:06:00,600 around and causing him to you know, he he or she really women's two 83 00:06:00,639 --> 00:06:05,519 or two to have bogies very hard to hit it long and straight. So 84 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:11,480 it's almost better to be kind of in that mid mid range a guy that 85 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,680 hit a two forty two fifty off the tea. But now, you know, 86 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,199 I'm hearing things like college coaches they're saying they won't even recruit a kid 87 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:23,000 unless you can hit a three hundred. I mean, if unless he's hitting 88 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,040 at three hundred yards, it's not even won't even you know, get the 89 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,360 nod to get recruited. So so it's more of a I think the sport 90 00:06:30,439 --> 00:06:33,759 element. You know, people swinging it at you know, one hundred and 91 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,759 twenty one hundred, twenty five mile hour swing speeds and this sort of thing. 92 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:40,600 You know, it takes a certain amount of you know, athleticism to 93 00:06:40,639 --> 00:06:45,399 do that. Um. So I think I think I think of golf more 94 00:06:45,639 --> 00:06:49,800 as as a game and as as a great game, a really great game. 95 00:06:50,879 --> 00:06:56,199 Um. When growing up, you would see all types of body shapes, 96 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,839 right, you would have let's say a short and petite someone like chi 97 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,079 Rodriguez. I mean he was what five five maybe waited one hundred and twenty 98 00:07:04,079 --> 00:07:09,920 pounds, right, you know. And then you would have someone like George 99 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,560 Archer that was six six or something, and you know, I mean you 100 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,319 would have a guy like Bob Murphy who was just you know, had a 101 00:07:18,399 --> 00:07:21,800 big beer gut, you know, Roger Maltby, Bob Murphy. You know, 102 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,240 there were these kind of guys that you Craig Stadler, you know, 103 00:07:25,319 --> 00:07:27,600 just guys that didn't you know, they didn't look like they were in great 104 00:07:27,639 --> 00:07:30,480 shape. You know, they could get around a walk. You know, 105 00:07:30,519 --> 00:07:32,040 if you could walk around a golf course, you're in the game. You 106 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,519 could get it out there two hundred and thirty five yards, you're in the 107 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:43,040 game. From there, it was all about positioning angles. It playing the 108 00:07:43,079 --> 00:07:45,319 game of golf. You know, I'm gonna hit it down the left side, 109 00:07:45,319 --> 00:07:46,000 and we hit it down the right side. I'm gonna you know, 110 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:50,399 and all that sort of thing. So if you look at the golf courses 111 00:07:50,399 --> 00:07:56,199 that were made, most of the great classic tracks, there was a great 112 00:07:56,279 --> 00:07:59,480 run of courses made from the nineteen twenties into the forties. You know, 113 00:07:59,519 --> 00:08:05,120 I think to the great historic tracks in the United States would have been probably 114 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,439 Australia, as well. I mean in UK you've got the old courses over 115 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:13,959 there. But I think you know, just let's just take the Montery Peninsula 116 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:18,079 for instance, right, if you look at those courses, you could not 117 00:08:18,279 --> 00:08:24,639 do that now, I mean you could not. No, there's no way 118 00:08:24,879 --> 00:08:31,199 that in this age you'd be able to get the funding to buy the Montery 119 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:33,879 Peninsula and build all those courses on the ocean yet a loan, the environmental 120 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,200 hurdles and getting permits to build courses on the water and over the cliffs, 121 00:08:37,399 --> 00:08:43,879 which just just wouldn't happen. If you look at a city like Los Angeles, 122 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:48,480 okay, you know, one of the most dense metropolitan areas in the 123 00:08:48,519 --> 00:08:56,039 world, and you've got Riviera Country Club, Brentwood Country Club, Beller Country 124 00:08:56,039 --> 00:09:01,360 Club, Los Angeles Country Club North, the Los Angeles Country Club South, 125 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:07,919 Hillcrest will share Lakeside Rancho Park. I don't know if I'm forgetting something, 126 00:09:07,919 --> 00:09:13,919 but there's nine golf courses that are taking up what two hundred acres apiece? 127 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,360 And of those nine that you mentioned, only one of them is public, 128 00:09:20,799 --> 00:09:26,320 right, that's right, that's right. Um, So you know, think 129 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:31,120 of the real estate, the valuation of that real estate you know, and 130 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,759 and how little they're paying in taxes. Yeah all, I mean, it 131 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,919 just couldn't. It just couldn't happen. It just couldn't happen, right, 132 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:43,320 So golf became. They started pushing these courses out to the rural, suburban 133 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,200 or rural areas and we'll build a course out in the desert. We'll bring 134 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:50,720 him a bunch of bulldozers and make some ski slopes down both sides of whatever 135 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,080 and call it a golf course. Maybe throw some houses around it. It's 136 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:58,120 just it's just really different, I think in my mind, golf. All 137 00:09:58,159 --> 00:10:03,919 right, let's let's think this way. Let's think about golf is a sticking 138 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,279 ball game, right, A stick in a ball Okay, Baseball, there's 139 00:10:07,279 --> 00:10:13,360 a stick in a ball game. Um, Cricket, Tennis? Really, 140 00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:16,320 um yeah, Polo. I mean we could, we could go on and 141 00:10:16,399 --> 00:10:20,279 on. There's there's a lot of stick and ball games. No sticking ball 142 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,519 game takes up as much real estate as golf, not even close, right, 143 00:10:24,919 --> 00:10:28,320 I mean not even I'm pretty sure that no stick and ball game other 144 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:33,799 than golf, the ball is moving on all the other sports. Yeah right, 145 00:10:33,919 --> 00:10:39,200 right. But my point is that do we really need to make the 146 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:45,759 courses bigger. I mean, we're already golf is already taking up I think 147 00:10:45,799 --> 00:10:48,919 it's a minimum one hundred and fifty acres to make a golf course, you 148 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,000 know, and that's that was a classic, you know, sixty six sixty 149 00:10:52,039 --> 00:10:56,960 eight hundred yard golf course. Do we really need these golf courses to be 150 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,679 seventy four hundred yards seventy six hundred yards to make them longer and bigger and 151 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:07,080 bigger. And we're already taking up so much space in this age of environmentalism 152 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:11,159 that people and we needed to do this right to think about things being more 153 00:11:13,039 --> 00:11:18,360 green and sustainable. I just don't see how golf fits into that by trying 154 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:20,200 to say, okay, now the ball is going fifteen percent farther, we 155 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,399 need to make the courses bigger. It just doesn't make sense. If you 156 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:28,200 looked at baseball, they're still using the wood bat, right, nobody's screaming 157 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:35,840 about that, you know, why aren't people upset about that? But they 158 00:11:35,879 --> 00:11:39,759 could have an aluminum or titanium bat. The bats to this big around. 159 00:11:39,759 --> 00:11:41,480 But what if they made the bat this bigger round, and they made it 160 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,840 out of titanium and they made it bigger, and then they changed the ball, 161 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:48,440 the baseball, and they made it out of rubber or whatever, and 162 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,720 then shortstops or hitting two hundred home runs a year and they're like, oh, 163 00:11:52,759 --> 00:11:54,200 that's not good. And you know, we have to make the stadiums 164 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:56,759 bigger. Now, I mean, that's what's happened with golf. It It 165 00:11:56,799 --> 00:12:01,000 just doesn't make any sense. I mean, you have to think, was 166 00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:09,000 there anything wrong with golf playing? You know, the classic great courses. 167 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,240 Let's just take you know, Pebble Beach, you know, sixty or sixteen 168 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:16,679 hundred yards, you know, on hosting US Open in seventy two or whatever. 169 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:22,000 Does it really need to be longer? And then you have to look 170 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,559 at the way that the course was designed, the bunkering, the shapes of 171 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:33,840 the greens. It's all based upon the trajectory of the shots, the angles 172 00:12:33,879 --> 00:12:37,279 into different pin placements where the bunkers are off the off the tees and this 173 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:39,159 sort of thing. To sit there and say, okay, well, now 174 00:12:39,159 --> 00:12:41,759 the ball is going to go fifty yards farther and everyone's just going to fly 175 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:46,039 it over these bunkers into some part of the course that would never would have 176 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,120 been designed for that. It doesn't make any sense from a design standpoint or 177 00:12:50,159 --> 00:12:56,399 from the standpoint of a game. But you know, I think this idea 178 00:12:56,519 --> 00:13:01,519 that that golf is very hard, and I feel like people are angry at 179 00:13:01,519 --> 00:13:03,200 it, like it's just, you know, anyway they can beat up this 180 00:13:03,279 --> 00:13:05,679 game or make you know, if we can figure out how to hit it 181 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,000 farther and take the spin off the ball, we can just beat up these 182 00:13:09,039 --> 00:13:13,399 courses and stuff. It's it's it's almost like I feel like there's some kind 183 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,000 of like a resentment or something of that the game is just hard, and 184 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,799 we're gonna do everything technology. We're just gonna If humans can't do it, 185 00:13:20,799 --> 00:13:22,480 we'll have technology do it. You know, we're gonna we're gonna beat up 186 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:26,799 this game somehow. And I think people are missing the point. I have 187 00:13:26,919 --> 00:13:31,480 the beauty of golf and the design. I just played. I don't. 188 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,240 I don't play that much anymore. I've only played two rounds this year. 189 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:39,120 I played Cyprus Point in January and this last weekend I just played Richmond Country 190 00:13:39,159 --> 00:13:46,480 Club. And I have a friend at Richmond, so I get to play 191 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,639 it. Okay, So you know the golf course a little bit, Yeah 192 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:54,120 I do, Yeah, I do. Okay, so it's I'm not a 193 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:56,480 huge fan, but well, I'm a huge fan of Richmond Country Club. 194 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:03,919 And I say this because of the positioning of the bunkering and the shapes of 195 00:14:03,919 --> 00:14:05,559 the greens. Let me give you an example, the seventeenth toll, the 196 00:14:05,759 --> 00:14:09,320 par four Okay, okay, okay. If there's a bunker on the left 197 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,519 off the tea and a bunker off the right off the tea, the bunker 198 00:14:13,519 --> 00:14:16,960 off the right is shorter and distance than the bunker on the left. Okay, 199 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,759 So that weak right fade goes into that bunker, and if you try 200 00:14:20,759 --> 00:14:24,639 and hit a hard draw, it goes into the left bunker, because the 201 00:14:24,679 --> 00:14:31,720 draws typically go farther than the fades right. So if let's say you're trying 202 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,399 to win your club championship and you got one shot lead, two holes to 203 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,240 play, you just parted the last two. You think you know. Let's 204 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,480 say, yeah, you have two shot lead, two shot lead with two 205 00:14:39,519 --> 00:14:43,679 holes to play, you just part in and you're gonna win. So what 206 00:14:43,679 --> 00:14:46,720 do you do when you come to seventeen? You could lay up short of 207 00:14:46,799 --> 00:14:50,879 those bunkers and hit a six iron into the green, Okay, Or I 208 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,240 could I could lay up, stay with a one iron or two iron short 209 00:14:54,279 --> 00:14:58,840 of the bunkers, or I could try and hit a driver through the bunkers. 210 00:14:58,879 --> 00:15:01,559 I'm gonna have to hit a good drive to keep it in between those 211 00:15:01,559 --> 00:15:03,240 bunkers, and then I can come in there with maybe an eight or nine 212 00:15:03,279 --> 00:15:07,360 iron. See you see the risk and reward there. It's just perfect, 213 00:15:07,919 --> 00:15:13,720 It's perfect, It's beautiful. I loved how the bunkers were staggered. I 214 00:15:13,799 --> 00:15:18,039 mean and and I love the risk and reward. Like I could just hit 215 00:15:18,159 --> 00:15:22,120 one iron off the two and take the bunkers completely out of play. I 216 00:15:22,159 --> 00:15:24,360 can't reach them, but I can still. I can still get it on 217 00:15:24,399 --> 00:15:26,960 the green easy enough. But I'm going to come in with a six iron, 218 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,399 not an eight iron or a nine iron, see what I'm saying. 219 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:37,879 Yeah, And to me, whole number three at Richmond is a part of 220 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,360 three uphill and is the hardest part of five I've ever played. Yeah, 221 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:46,960 right, it drives me. No this, We're gonna take a time out. 222 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:54,279 We'll be back right after this. Yeah. They're doing a lot of 223 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:58,480 work or Richmond right now, and they're doing great work. And but for 224 00:15:58,519 --> 00:16:02,600 me, it feels like so many of the holes have different types of grass 225 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,200 that it makes it harder to play. To me, it's a real thinker's 226 00:16:06,399 --> 00:16:11,559 course, you know. Eating Yeah, yeah, I can see I'm hitting 227 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,639 it. I'm hitting it. I'm playing per simmon, I'm hitting it, 228 00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:18,639 you know, two fifty two sixty off the tea. So I'm playing the 229 00:16:18,679 --> 00:16:23,200 course as it was designed originally. It feels fairly unmolested out there, m 230 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:30,240 hm, as compared with some of these courses where they've tried to redo them 231 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,320 and make it more modern and that sort of thing. Yeah. One thing 232 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,960 my friend noted, he's a pro from Georgia. He came out to visit 233 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,200 me and we played there. He said, every hole there's a there's a 234 00:16:41,279 --> 00:16:45,559 run up option on the whole m. There's no force carries, which I 235 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,960 think is great for member golf. And you know, remember golf is different, 236 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,559 right. You want to make it more challenging because this is the only 237 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,799 course these people are playing, so you gotta make it tougher. I would 238 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,759 think you can always there's always a way to run it onto the green. 239 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:03,720 Yeah, you know, you don't. A lot of these courses were just 240 00:17:03,799 --> 00:17:07,319 completely bunkered all the way around, and that sort of thing, and and 241 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,640 even if you have a bunker that sneaks in half the green or side, 242 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,000 but you can always kind of feather something in there. You know, you 243 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,720 could always run one up. And I think that's really that's a good thing. 244 00:17:17,519 --> 00:17:21,960 Alistair McKenzie was pretty good about that, always usually always having a run 245 00:17:22,039 --> 00:17:26,559 up option somewhere. Yeah. Well, during our break, we um I 246 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:33,279 got news. Okay, this is totally facetious. I got news that jame 247 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:40,079 Onahan, because of health issues and the board kind of revolting, he's gonna 248 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:45,680 step down from being commissioner of the PGA Tour and your name is on the 249 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:51,119 short list to take his job. Yeah. Right, So if now that 250 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:56,559 you're commissioner of the PGA Tour, what's the first thing you're going to change 251 00:17:56,319 --> 00:18:03,079 everything? Okay, you're hired. Now what's the first thing you're gonna do? 252 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,599 Where are you going to start? Just gonna fire everybody and just bring 253 00:18:07,599 --> 00:18:15,160 in people that I think would be good too. No, I mean I 254 00:18:15,559 --> 00:18:18,319 would. I would just try and get the game. I would. I 255 00:18:18,559 --> 00:18:22,519 think what I would do is, uh is, do everything I could to 256 00:18:22,599 --> 00:18:30,079 start a satellite tour of a classic classic game. I mean, how many 257 00:18:30,559 --> 00:18:37,160 how many different versions? Of football are there? Um, actually, there 258 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:45,960 are a couple Canadian Canadian rules, Yeah, XFL w our arena football, 259 00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:52,359 right yeah, right right, They all exist, right right. None of 260 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,440 them are going to be bigger than the NFL, which is fine, but 261 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,400 they exist. So I think that like a Percimonum Blade Tour would be great 262 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,839 to just exist, you know. I mean, if professional women's softball can 263 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,400 exist, I don't see any reason why. No, I mean, I'm 264 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:12,279 not putting that down. I'm just saying it exists. You know. I 265 00:19:12,319 --> 00:19:18,920 don't see any reason why you couldn't just have a tour that plays the game 266 00:19:19,039 --> 00:19:22,960 as it was relatively intended to be played. I mean, these courses were 267 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,440 designed for two hundred and fifty yard drives, and a lot of these courses 268 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,319 are great courses if you look at them from a two hundred fifty yard drive 269 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,039 standpoint. I mean, you could take a kid that hits it three hundred 270 00:19:33,039 --> 00:19:36,799 and fifty yards and I give him a set of persimonent blades and we go 271 00:19:36,799 --> 00:19:38,039 out and play. He might hit a little farther than I do, but 272 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:42,279 not not not as much as he thinks. And if they're having to play 273 00:19:42,559 --> 00:19:48,400 these courses place like Richmond Country Club. I don't think people are just going 274 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,440 to go out there and shoot sixty two or three out there. You know, 275 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,200 you're you're younger than I am, except you're an old timer, right, 276 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:02,160 And as far as golf was concerned, you're an old timer. You're 277 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:03,880 looking at it like it was great. The way we had it. It 278 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,240 was challenging, it was hard. We didn't need that much space. But 279 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,160 all these things that you've listed, are they going to grow the game? 280 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,519 Is there a need to grow the game to get more people interested in, 281 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,799 more people wanting to play than going this is too damn hard. I can't 282 00:20:19,839 --> 00:20:27,359 do this. I don't. I guess I don't really feel there's a need 283 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:33,200 to grow the game. Ah Okay, I guess. I guess that's maybe 284 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,359 the difference I grow the game. It's kind of like grow the economy, 285 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:38,960 you know, do we need to do? How about just it's sustainable? 286 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:41,400 Like how about I can just go down and buy a loaf of bread for 287 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,640 two bucks? I mean, you know, what does it have to everything 288 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,119 have to be growing all the time. I feel like growth is just unsustainable. 289 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,400 You know, the fishing industry, I'm a fisherman, you know, 290 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,480 so I brought in kayak fish, I catch salmon, hallibut in the bay 291 00:20:55,559 --> 00:20:57,720 or whatever. I mean, do we have to grow the fishing industry? 292 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,559 It just depletes the bay of all the fish. And you know, do 293 00:21:00,599 --> 00:21:04,160 we need more and more party boats, more commercial fishermen raping the oceans or 294 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:08,400 whatever? I don't I mean, is it is that the goal? Or 295 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,359 is it better just have it sustainable? Like why not? Hey, we've 296 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,559 got a lot of golf courses. I mean, growing the game to me 297 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:22,039 sounds like longer rounds of golf, more more beginners playing, more people hitting 298 00:21:22,079 --> 00:21:25,279 it all over the place, slower rounds, hard to get tea times, 299 00:21:25,319 --> 00:21:29,799 increasing the price of the rounds because you know, golf's getting more and more 300 00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:34,279 expensive because you know, you create more and more demand and there's less resources, 301 00:21:34,319 --> 00:21:37,000 which means that you just just economics, right, I mean, the 302 00:21:37,039 --> 00:21:41,359 prices just go up on stuff. I don't know. Growing the game does 303 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,279 it need to grow? Maybe people that are just interested in golf play golf, 304 00:21:45,279 --> 00:21:48,839 and people that aren't interested in golf don't play golf. I mean, 305 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,680 well, you know, as many times as I've had a chance to talk 306 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:59,559 to Barney Adams, he always reminds us that the PGA Tour is a television 307 00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:06,079 show, it's not golf, And they're there to get the advertisers to let 308 00:22:06,079 --> 00:22:11,480 them get their brand messages out there, to get the logos on the most 309 00:22:11,599 --> 00:22:15,519 famous players in the world so that they can, you know, increase their 310 00:22:15,559 --> 00:22:26,920 brand recognition. And you know that it seems like the USGA growing the game 311 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,240 for amateur golfers and getting more people to play the game, and then the 312 00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:37,920 PGA Tour to grow the TV show. Are those in conflict with one another? 313 00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:41,039 Do they can they both survive? Can they both be sustainable? The 314 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,960 word you use? And should they? I think? I just think golf 315 00:22:47,279 --> 00:22:52,279 is a game. So let's say that you and I go and play chess. 316 00:22:52,319 --> 00:22:56,039 We meet down at the coffeehouse and we're gonna play You know, I 317 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:57,839 used to do that at a guy. We'd play chess every week and we'd 318 00:22:57,839 --> 00:23:02,079 meet on Sunday afternoons at two o'clock and we play chess. I mean, 319 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,680 is it important to grow the game of chess? You know, it's like, 320 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,920 come on, everybody, what are you What are you guys doing out 321 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:08,880 there? Come out and play some chess with us. Come on here, 322 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,720 we got some extra boards it's really important that we make it. I mean, 323 00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:14,920 I don't know, it's just a game. I mean, do you 324 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,400 enjoy I mean, is it important we saw more monopoly boards or whatever, 325 00:23:18,759 --> 00:23:22,519 or part cheese or whatever games people grew up with. I don't know, 326 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:29,920 battleship or whatever. It's just a game in that sense. The USG, 327 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:36,799 the purpose of the USG is to protect the integrity of the game. They're 328 00:23:36,839 --> 00:23:40,279 supposed to be the stewarts of the game. That's what they're at. That's 329 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:45,039 that's their job. And if you look back at I've got some you know, 330 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:52,920 some old like ads from television and the seventies or eighties, there was 331 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,559 a big controversy about the ball going too far. But like in nineteen eighty 332 00:23:56,599 --> 00:23:59,200 three when the Titlist came out with a new ball, I don't know it 333 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,759 was the three eighty four or something that came out and they said, you 334 00:24:02,799 --> 00:24:07,240 know, and they they did studies and they said that this ball is going 335 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:14,079 two to three yards farther than the old ball. And it was a big 336 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,880 uproar about it, and they were saying, you don't stop this right now. 337 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:22,440 This is going to be very bad for the game. But now, 338 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:30,039 if you look in hindsight. So the longest hitter on the PGA Tour in 339 00:24:30,079 --> 00:24:33,880 the early eighties was a guy named John mccomis who was from Santa Maria, 340 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:41,200 and he averaged two hundred and seventy six yards two seventy six and he was 341 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,960 the longest hitter on the PGA Tour. And that statistic. Now, if 342 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,000 if you average two seventy six on the PJA Tour, you would be the 343 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:55,759 shortest hitter on the PGA Tour, the shortest hitter. So something has really 344 00:24:55,759 --> 00:25:00,440 really changed. And if the goal is to protect the integrity the game, 345 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,480 meaning that the game, the parameters of the game. Every game has parameters. 346 00:25:03,559 --> 00:25:07,440 Chess has parameters. The king gets to do the only can move one 347 00:25:07,599 --> 00:25:10,279 space, you know, the ponds can go out to and then one and 348 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:15,119 you know rooks and bishops go diagonal or whatever. You have these parameters that 349 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,559 that make the game. Just like basketball, you know, the court is 350 00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:22,160 so many feet by so many feet, and the hoop is so high and 351 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,559 it's so big or whatever, and that that's what makes it interesting, you 352 00:25:26,559 --> 00:25:32,440 know, it's it's the limitations that make a game interesting. I mean, 353 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,480 if if basketball, if the hoop was four times as big, and guys 354 00:25:36,559 --> 00:25:38,720 it was just anyone that would just shoot from half court and it's just you 355 00:25:38,759 --> 00:25:41,599 know or whatever. I mean, would it be that interesting? I mean, 356 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,480 that's that's could be making a four point line in the NBA or whatever 357 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:52,440 I mean farther and farther away, and maybe maybe that would be interesting to 358 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,440 make the hoop bigger, make it so, you know, maybe a guy 359 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,920 my height could dunk it if it was half as high and I could go 360 00:26:00,039 --> 00:26:02,359 up and duck. I don't know. Maybe there's a league for that. 361 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:03,720 Maybe there's a maybe there are leagues for that. I don't know, But 362 00:26:04,279 --> 00:26:07,039 I just think that golf is a game. I think that they had the 363 00:26:07,039 --> 00:26:14,400 parameters right if you think about baseball, right, I mean when they when 364 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:19,079 they invented baseball, at some some point they had to arbitrarily set where these 365 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,400 bases were going to be, right, I don't know how how many feet 366 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,279 is it to the first base, do you know? Okay? Ninety feet? 367 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,519 All right? Where did they come up with that number? But but 368 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,279 the bottom line is when a guy hits a hits a hard line drive to 369 00:26:33,319 --> 00:26:37,720 the third baseman right any any grounds, it picks the ground er up and 370 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:42,599 just throws it to first base. I mean it's just a split second, 371 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,480 right, well, if he babbles the ball, if he babbles the ball 372 00:26:45,559 --> 00:26:51,640 one time, I mean, but between the foot hitting the bag the right 373 00:26:52,119 --> 00:27:00,759 right right out safe, right. So it's there's parameters that people figured out 374 00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:07,599 back then to be if the if it was ninety five feet, it would 375 00:27:07,599 --> 00:27:10,000 totally change, right, I mean, it would just be they'd never get 376 00:27:10,039 --> 00:27:11,839 them out, or they you know, or whatever. It's just I mean, 377 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,440 they've got these things just right. And I think that they had golf 378 00:27:15,559 --> 00:27:22,960 just right with two hundred and fifty yard drives and all the angles and all 379 00:27:22,039 --> 00:27:26,480 right. Take let's take a Gusta for instance, because people people are familiar 380 00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:33,240 with that. The tenth and the eleventh hole, the greens are are narrow, 381 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:40,279 but they're deep, okay, so they're meant to accept a low trajectory 382 00:27:40,319 --> 00:27:45,079 shot that would skip into those greens. But if you take thirteen and fifteen, 383 00:27:45,079 --> 00:27:48,519 which are part fives, which are almost the same length, really those 384 00:27:48,559 --> 00:27:52,640 holes, okay, they're protected in the front. The greens are wide, 385 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,240 but they're shallow, so it's very risky to come in with a low trajectory 386 00:27:56,279 --> 00:28:02,000 shot over water to a green that isn't that deep, but it's why. 387 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:06,880 So the shapes of the greens are designed for the trajectory of the shots coming 388 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:11,279 in or you have a great risk and reward element when you have protected in 389 00:28:11,319 --> 00:28:14,880 a shallow green. Am I going to go for it? I mean I 390 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,440 would get kind of almost a nervous feeling. I remember watching like Sevy, 391 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,119 you know, back there hitting a one iron, you know, into fifteen, 392 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:22,880 you know, and he's got a one ear. He's going to come 393 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,720 in with this low trajectory shot. He's got to hit that thing absolutely perfect 394 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:33,400 right to get that thing up in the air and have it come into where 395 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,799 it doesn't too hot, where it's skipping over the green and that sort of 396 00:28:36,799 --> 00:28:38,759 thing. But on the tenth and eleventh holes that you come in, guys 397 00:28:38,759 --> 00:28:44,839 are coming in with long iron, sometimes even a forward coming in a low 398 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,319 trajectory shot. But the green is meant to accept that shot. There's plenty 399 00:28:48,359 --> 00:28:52,240 of depth to it to come in with a low trajectory. So right, 400 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,720 I don't hear announcers talking about this stuff. They should, but maybe they're 401 00:28:56,759 --> 00:29:00,519 told not to. I don't know, but that would be just an example 402 00:29:00,559 --> 00:29:03,440 that I think people should be able to relate to just the design element, 403 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,880 the parameters of the game, so that the player has to, you know, 404 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,440 make decisions about things and are they going to go far it? Are 405 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,039 they not? What are they risking the rewards? Or But if a guy's 406 00:29:14,119 --> 00:29:18,759 hit chipping an eight iron into thirteen or fifteen, I mean, it's not 407 00:29:18,799 --> 00:29:22,559 really that exciting. I mean they're coming in with a with a short iron 408 00:29:22,559 --> 00:29:26,880 and a high shot. It's like, who cares? I does? It 409 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,319 just does nothing for me to watch that. But if I see a guy 410 00:29:30,359 --> 00:29:33,519 with a two iron back there and he's got sweat coming up as brown, 411 00:29:33,559 --> 00:29:36,920 he's trying to win a major championship, that's quite exciting, you know, 412 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:45,759 it's really quite Yeah, we're gonna take another time out. Do you like 413 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,759 watching golf on television? I don't watch golf on television. No, you 414 00:29:49,799 --> 00:29:55,720 can't do it? Well, I mean even the majors. I No, 415 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,279 I don't. I can't watch the Masters anymore. I can't watch it. 416 00:30:00,279 --> 00:30:04,960 Why it just does nothing for me. I mean I when I when I 417 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,880 look at the way those holes are designed and how they're supposed to be played 418 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,559 and this sort of thing, it just doesn't create the tension. When I 419 00:30:11,559 --> 00:30:15,000 see guys hitting, like I just said, short irons into thirteen and fifteen, 420 00:30:15,039 --> 00:30:18,759 It's like, what do is it really? I mean, how is 421 00:30:18,799 --> 00:30:26,240 that? Or I'll give you another example. Um, let's take the sixteen 422 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,880 that Augusta right, that that Sunday pin on the back left right. Okay, 423 00:30:32,559 --> 00:30:37,799 So the Greens in the old days weren't that fast. I don't know 424 00:30:37,799 --> 00:30:42,079 if you've ever watched any of the old vintage footage of the Masters. Okay, 425 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:48,759 but the Greens used to put like t boxes now. Okay, So 426 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,480 think of that back left pin on sixteen. What do we what do we 427 00:30:52,519 --> 00:30:56,200 see nowadays? Well, if they hit it up to the right, it 428 00:30:56,279 --> 00:31:00,079 hits the slope and it rolls down and ends up, you know, six 429 00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:04,039 feet from the hole right. I mean, that's common. But where's the 430 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,279 risk and reward there? In the old days, when that slope was slow, 431 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:15,039 the ball would not roll down the slope, okay. So in other 432 00:31:15,079 --> 00:31:17,400 words, if you wanted to get it close, you had to shoot it 433 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:22,480 at the pin with the water right there, and if you bailed out to 434 00:31:22,519 --> 00:31:27,039 the right, you had a tough downhill pot from up there. It did 435 00:31:27,039 --> 00:31:30,200 the ball didn't just funnel down to the hole that That to me just makes 436 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,559 no sense. It takes the risk and reward out of it. I want 437 00:31:33,559 --> 00:31:37,880 to see the guy have to shoot at the pin, not aimed to the 438 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,920 right, and have it come down. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. But 439 00:31:41,359 --> 00:31:44,160 I don't. I don't think it's a matter of me being a purist or 440 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,880 some kind of old time or whatever. It's just common sense. It's much 441 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:49,720 more exciting if you forced the issue. You want to get it close. 442 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,119 You got to go at that pin. If you're going to bail out to 443 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,799 the right, you're gonna have a tricky downhill pot coming down that hill? 444 00:31:56,119 --> 00:32:01,480 Makes sense? Would you slow the greens? Of course? Yeah, okay, 445 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:06,279 these old well I just played Richmond Countrical again. The greens were like 446 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:07,759 us open fast out there the other day. I mean it was they were 447 00:32:07,839 --> 00:32:14,200 so fast it was absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, And as sloping as those greens 448 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:20,359 are, they never had any designs on greens ever being that fast green. 449 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,480 This whole idea of super super fast greens is I think just really kind of 450 00:32:24,519 --> 00:32:30,480 against the design of these courses. They would never be but with everybody hitting, 451 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:37,319 everybody hitting farther and getting farther where where the challenge is your short game 452 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:42,000 and the putting that's gonna that's where you're gonna be losing strokes if the ball 453 00:32:42,039 --> 00:32:47,400 and the equipment's going to let you go farther and be more accurate than the 454 00:32:47,599 --> 00:32:52,119 risk reward is going to come in your short game getting it close or putting 455 00:32:52,119 --> 00:32:57,960 on these very hard greens, difficult greens. If the greens, if you 456 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,640 were to design greens and you knew that they were going to be super super 457 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:06,400 fast, and I think the design of the greens would be different. They 458 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,960 wouldn't be you wouldn't have these big severe undulations or whatever. You'd keep more 459 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:15,079 flat type services with little, you know, subtle undulations and that sort of 460 00:33:15,079 --> 00:33:17,880 thing. But these old classic courses, the reason that they had these big 461 00:33:19,079 --> 00:33:22,079 undulations because the greens weren't that fast. So if you hit it up here 462 00:33:22,119 --> 00:33:28,079 on a shelf, it was a downhill put coming down. This whole idea 463 00:33:28,119 --> 00:33:30,960 of just putting terror into people on a five foot put or something, and 464 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:37,119 you know, if I missed this put. There was a one of the 465 00:33:37,119 --> 00:33:40,599 holes at Richmond, I think it was it was the eighth the eighth hole 466 00:33:42,039 --> 00:33:46,480 at Richmond Country Club where the first half of the green was unusable. The 467 00:33:46,519 --> 00:33:50,680 ball would literally just roll up and they just roll back off the green. 468 00:33:50,799 --> 00:33:57,279 It would literally my friend chip the ball up to the hole and it didn't 469 00:33:57,319 --> 00:33:59,200 get to the hole, and it came all the way back and went off 470 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,920 the green. I mean, what's the point of that? Yeah? Why 471 00:34:02,519 --> 00:34:07,960 And we've seen that a lot this year in Majors and whatnot, where the 472 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:15,400 ball just yeah, it falls right back off and rolls forty yards away. 473 00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:19,079 You know, I played, I played in the Australian Open. I'm thinking 474 00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:22,719 I'm just gonna I think it was nineteen eighty nine at Royal Melbourne and Greg 475 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:28,840 Norman was leading the tournament by I don't know six shots on Sunday and the 476 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,519 wind blew so hard it was it was, and the greens are so fast, 477 00:34:31,519 --> 00:34:36,079 it was blowing the balls off the greens. Oh, it's just get 478 00:34:36,079 --> 00:34:38,159 blown up. So Greg Norman comes to the third hole, he hits a 479 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:43,519 put from below the hole. It goes, it goes up, miss is 480 00:34:43,559 --> 00:34:49,360 the hole and then turns and comes back farther away than he had originally putted. 481 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,199 And you know what he did, No, he picked the ball up 482 00:34:53,519 --> 00:34:58,719 and he just walked off the course. Off the course. You just quit. 483 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:00,360 You just said, I'm I'm not there in this. He was leading, 484 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:04,599 he's leading the Australian Open, and he just picked it up and he 485 00:35:04,639 --> 00:35:06,519 just left. He said, this is just so I'm not doing this. 486 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:09,159 And what did they do? They said, Greg, what are you doing? 487 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,599 He said, this is ridiculous and there and then they're like, oh, 488 00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:15,639 yeah, I guess you're right. It is ridiculous. So then they 489 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:20,440 canceled around and everybody played again on Monday. Oh and what do they do 490 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:22,559 with the greens? What did they do with the people? Probably watered him, 491 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,480 you know, trying to slow them down a little bit, but a 492 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,679 lot of it was the wind. But the fact is it just became ridiculous. 493 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,360 I don't think golf needs to be ridiculous, you know, especially if 494 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:36,880 you're you know, you hit a good iron shot into a green, if 495 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:38,559 you're back there with a fore iron or something, you hit a shot into 496 00:35:38,559 --> 00:35:42,519 the back of the green and you're you know, you hit a ten feet 497 00:35:42,519 --> 00:35:45,079 from the hole, but you know, if you don't make this put, 498 00:35:45,119 --> 00:35:47,760 this thing's just going to roll twenty feet past the whole. I just think 499 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:52,719 stuff like that's just ridiculous. Nobody's that good that they're going to sit there 500 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,760 from two hundred yards out with a fore iron and say, I've got to 501 00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:00,639 position this thing ten and a half feet short right of the hole. I 502 00:36:00,679 --> 00:36:04,320 mean, you know, if you hit it a little past the hole from 503 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,119 two hundred yards or whatever, you shouldn't be looking at some death trap put 504 00:36:07,159 --> 00:36:10,039 that you know you're gonna just five put or something. You know, you 505 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:14,920 hit the green, you know what I mean, you shouldn't. You might 506 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,119 have a difficult put. Yes, it's a downhill left or right put, 507 00:36:17,159 --> 00:36:21,159 it's gonna be tough to make it, but you shouldn't have to worry about 508 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:24,719 walking off with a bogie or a double. I think that kind of thing 509 00:36:25,159 --> 00:36:28,880 has so that would be one of the things I would change. I'd get 510 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,039 rid of all the nonsense out of golf, stuff like that. Just get 511 00:36:31,159 --> 00:36:37,280 rid of it. Tighten tighten up the ferrways, make driving more. You 512 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:37,960 know, have to hit it in the ferry, or if you don't hit 513 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:43,800 in the ferway, you're you know. I mean, I played in three 514 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,960 US Amateurs, made the quarterfinals, and it was nineteen eighty three Chicago. 515 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,679 But I remember the grass was like this deep. You know you hit it 516 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:55,440 in there. Yeah, it was like a foot deep. I mean you 517 00:36:55,519 --> 00:37:00,159 hit it in the grass. If you could, you know this, the 518 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:02,320 spotter would find the ball down there, put the flag down, you get 519 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:06,840 there. I mean, you just the first thing i'd you know, look 520 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:09,079 my catt am, I hitting one am I hitting wedge out of here sandwich. 521 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,239 You know, maybe a nine iron, I don't know. I mean 522 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:15,920 I wasn't like pulling out a six iron, think I'm gonna get it on 523 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:22,400 the green or anything. You know. Accuracy, I think it's harder to 524 00:37:22,599 --> 00:37:25,559 have to hit the ball straight. So I don't understand why they're putting so 525 00:37:25,679 --> 00:37:30,159 much emphasis on hitting the ball far and not having a penalty for arrant t 526 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,960 shots. I think you should have to drive the ball straight in a major, 527 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,800 major tournament. In a major tournament, yes, but not in recreational, 528 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:43,079 not an amateur golf because there are no spotters, right. You can't 529 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:46,599 have you can't have tall grass and then complain about pace of play. If 530 00:37:46,599 --> 00:37:52,719 there's nobody going, here's your ball, Marshalls drive me nuts. So you've 531 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:58,599 played obviously, you played you know, amateur golf, you played college golf. 532 00:37:58,639 --> 00:38:04,159 You did well and then you made it to the tour PGA Tour. 533 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:14,519 I'm curious, what did you learn playing on the professional level that you didn't 534 00:38:14,519 --> 00:38:17,840 know before you got there playing in all those amateur levels successfully in the other 535 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:22,280 amateur levels. Well, the first thing I learned was there were guys that 536 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:27,440 I'd never heard of that could just go out and shoot sixty four on a 537 00:38:27,559 --> 00:38:31,719 course that was impossible. I mean, I couldn't believe the guys coming out 538 00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:37,400 of the woodwork. You know, you had when I turned pro. This 539 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:45,360 would have been nineteen eighty seven, so all the top players from my class. 540 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,519 You know, we're turning pro coming out of college, so you had. 541 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:52,599 I still had to beat those guys that I was playing against in college, 542 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,679 right, But now I've got to beat some guy who's been out there 543 00:38:55,719 --> 00:39:00,400 for twenty years, who's played this golf course. You know, if I'm 544 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:06,840 playing in the BC Open in Canada and it's my first year looking at Point 545 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,000 Gray country Club or whatever, trying to figure out how I'm gonna play this 546 00:39:09,039 --> 00:39:14,039 course, and here's a guy who's been playing this same tournament for twenty years, 547 00:39:14,679 --> 00:39:19,920 tis played at five times. You know, he's playing the five rounds 548 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:22,840 on that golf course every year, right. I mean, so this guy's 549 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:29,159 played this course, you know, over a hundred times, and I've and 550 00:39:29,199 --> 00:39:32,519 it's like his home course right right, and I'm looking at it for the 551 00:39:32,559 --> 00:39:38,039 first time. I couldn't believe how good players were that I'd never heard of. 552 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,960 Wow. So you know, there was an old saying that if you're 553 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,079 gonna be a pro golfer, you have to be the best player within two 554 00:39:46,159 --> 00:39:52,880 hundred miles of where you live for sure. Okay, so you learned a 555 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,800 lot about the competition when you got up to that level. You learn about 556 00:39:55,920 --> 00:40:02,480 your game. I wasn't good enough, you know. So you know that's 557 00:40:02,519 --> 00:40:06,920 when. And then in my big moment, you know, I know we 558 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,719 don't we talk more golf here, you know, on my site and stuff, 559 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:13,760 I'm talking more swing theory and all that stuff. And you know how 560 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:19,199 I knew that I was playing Australian Open. I'm on the driving range at 561 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:22,199 Royal Melbourne. This would have been, you know, in nineteen eighties seven. 562 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:30,039 I think I'm hitting balls between Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle. Sandy Lyle 563 00:40:30,079 --> 00:40:34,719 had just won either won the Masters of the British Open or whatever. Greg 564 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:38,920 Norman was number one in the world. And it sounded like gunfire going off, 565 00:40:39,079 --> 00:40:42,400 you know, I mean the way they were striking the ball. I 566 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,480 mean, it had a different sound to it. I mean they were these 567 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,639 guys were really accelerating the club and compressing the ball in a way that I 568 00:40:49,679 --> 00:40:53,039 had. I didn't know anything about that. So when I came back home 569 00:40:53,079 --> 00:40:55,639 and worked with my teacher, I just kind of thought, you know, 570 00:40:57,159 --> 00:41:01,559 this isn't working. I'm gonna have to change my technique here and become more 571 00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:05,440 of a hitter, you know, than a swinger. I was kind of 572 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:07,760 more of a dainty sort of you know, swinging the club really relaxed and 573 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:12,079 sort of you know, had a real pretty, pretty flowing swing, and 574 00:41:12,119 --> 00:41:17,039 that no good. That wasn't gonna work. So I had to change and 575 00:41:17,079 --> 00:41:20,119 then I did, you know, So I committed to doing that. I 576 00:41:20,119 --> 00:41:23,519 worked my butt off and then worked out, got stronger, you know, 577 00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:27,199 just committed to it, and then I became a much better player. So 578 00:41:27,559 --> 00:41:31,079 I think professional golf it made me better because I realized I had to be 579 00:41:31,079 --> 00:41:35,400 better, and I realized the competition was better. And it's the best thing 580 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,000 you could possibly do for your golf if you want to become as good as 581 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:42,159 you can possibly be, and if you have the fortune to get out on 582 00:41:42,159 --> 00:41:45,559 the pro tour and see how good those other players are and then commit to, 583 00:41:46,119 --> 00:41:50,280 you know, trying to raise the bar for yourself. And I think 584 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,320 that's, you know, why I became as good as I did, and 585 00:41:53,760 --> 00:42:00,719 why I'm even someone like he's even interested in talking to me. When you 586 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:07,079 said a moment ago, you talked about how accelerating the club. Now explain 587 00:42:07,199 --> 00:42:14,119 the difference between accelerating the club through impact versus swinging hard. Okay, So 588 00:42:14,159 --> 00:42:16,599 there's there's there's two ways to hit a golf ball, either what I would 589 00:42:16,599 --> 00:42:22,079 call swinging or hitting Okay, okay, from a physics stamp, I just 590 00:42:22,159 --> 00:42:30,039 make it as simple as possible. You would have there's a difference between a 591 00:42:30,159 --> 00:42:37,280 momentum strike and a force strike. Okay, So one you would have a 592 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,159 momentum would be, all right, let's say that you're going to be hitting 593 00:42:39,199 --> 00:42:44,320 the ball at one hundred and ten miles an hour clubs. Okay, So 594 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,559 here's the ball, here's the club, Okay, momentum would be I'm already 595 00:42:46,599 --> 00:42:52,440 at one hundred and ten miles an hour right here, okay. In other 596 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,760 words, I'm gliding the thing in. I've reached maximum acceleration on the way 597 00:42:55,760 --> 00:43:00,360 down. I went from zero to twenty thirty, forty fifty sixty, seventy 598 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,800 eighty nine, I get I get to one hundred hundred and ten hundred, 599 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:07,679 ten hundred, ten hundred and ten. Okay, So you were for these 600 00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:13,000 people who are just listening when you you're talking about that, you're about twelve 601 00:43:13,079 --> 00:43:16,880 thirteen inches behind the ball and you've already reached your maximum clubhead speed. Yeah. 602 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:22,000 Most people reach maximum clubhead speed, you know, somewhere on the down 603 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,159 swing. You know, they reach their maximum speed and then they're gliding the 604 00:43:25,199 --> 00:43:31,639 club in to the strife. Okay. So that's basically what what those people 605 00:43:31,639 --> 00:43:36,000 are doing. You're gonna you're gonna flex the shaft at the top of the 606 00:43:36,039 --> 00:43:38,559 swing. You're gonna flex it, okay, and then and then that shaft 607 00:43:38,679 --> 00:43:44,679 is going to unflex into the ball. Okay. In other words, you 608 00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:47,320 load the shaft and then that shaft is gonna kick and it's gonna flex into 609 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:52,960 the ball. Does that make sense. M Okay, that's swinger. Now 610 00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:57,119 they hit her would be saying, Okay, I'm gonna load the shaft, 611 00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:00,079 but I'm gonna keep accelerating, keep accelerating, and I'm going to be holding 612 00:44:00,119 --> 00:44:05,039 that shaft flex into all the way to the strikes. In other words, 613 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:07,719 you're gonna be picking up speed. So at one hundred and ten, that 614 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:15,719 same golfer would be one hundred and six seven, eight, nine, ten 615 00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:22,079 to one hundred and ten at contact right trot striving for one hundred and eleven 616 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:27,920 twelve right. The ball is going to obviously the forces of impact is going 617 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,239 to slow the club down a little bit, but the intention of the golfer 618 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:37,119 is to continue to accelerate that club beyond the strike, which which you could 619 00:44:37,159 --> 00:44:39,239 do if you didn't have a ball there, if you just took a swing 620 00:44:39,239 --> 00:44:43,079 and you didn't hit the ground like like, I can swing the club to 621 00:44:43,119 --> 00:44:49,000 where the club is moving actually faster after the low point. So in other 622 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,199 words, I'm holding So when I when I flex the shaft, I come 623 00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:55,920 down and I'm holding the flex of the shaft all the way to the strike, 624 00:44:57,599 --> 00:45:01,239 if not beyond now. So you would say, well, why why 625 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,800 does that matter? A lot of people would say, if you're hitting the 626 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:07,519 ball at one hundred and ten miles an hour, who cares whether you're accelerating 627 00:45:07,639 --> 00:45:09,639 or not because it's say the club's hitting it at one hundred and ten. 628 00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:14,920 But here, here's where where people where people are missing the point. Let 629 00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:21,039 me grab a pen here, okay please, So the audio audience use your 630 00:45:21,039 --> 00:45:23,119 words, yeah, because I'm watching you, but no one else is. 631 00:45:23,519 --> 00:45:30,840 Yeah, yeah, okay. So if I'm if I'm accelerating the club in 632 00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,719 other words, there's a resistance in the head. You've got the head on 633 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,320 one end and you have your hands on the other at the shaft. Right, 634 00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:39,119 So I got the club the club head is on one end of the 635 00:45:39,119 --> 00:45:44,559 shaft and my hands are on the other. Okay. If i am pressuring 636 00:45:44,599 --> 00:45:46,639 the shaft through the use of my hands and my body and everything, and 637 00:45:46,679 --> 00:45:52,880 I'm pressuring that shaft and I'm holding the flex of the shaft back, what 638 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:57,840 that does is that puts feel and pressure in my hands. Here I can 639 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:02,440 feel the shaft in a tangential way. In other words, a tangential way. 640 00:46:02,599 --> 00:46:07,559 I'm pressuring the grip and I feel it in my hands. That allows 641 00:46:07,559 --> 00:46:09,159 me to feel where the club faces at. I had now have control of 642 00:46:09,199 --> 00:46:12,880 the club face. I can feel where it is. As soon as I 643 00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,480 lose that pressure, I lose shafflex, then I've lost the pressure in my 644 00:46:16,519 --> 00:46:20,039 hands and I can't really tell. I don't have the accuracy to be able 645 00:46:20,039 --> 00:46:23,320 to tell where the club face is at h That's a secret to golf. 646 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:28,239 That's it. That's it secret. Now that we have the secret, let's 647 00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:31,960 take another time out, all right. This week on Golf Smarter, Mulligan's 648 00:46:32,079 --> 00:46:37,239 is part two of our conversation with John Novicel of Tour Tempo from twenty eleven. 649 00:46:37,639 --> 00:46:42,679 These are a great pair of episodes to hear back to back because this 650 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:47,280 information can really have an impact on your performance. As we learned in the 651 00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:53,119 last episode, Yale University researchers confirmed what John had been teaching for years, 652 00:46:53,559 --> 00:46:59,320 and that's a consistent rhythmic swing. The guy had two bunker shots during the 653 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:04,519 round after you worked with our stuff, and he hit them both six within 654 00:47:04,639 --> 00:47:07,000 six feet of the pen and they just, you know, nice soft landing 655 00:47:07,039 --> 00:47:12,159 and everything. And he says is playing partners remark on how pro like the 656 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:16,440 swing looked. And so that's the other thing that we found out for the 657 00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:22,679 long game, that amateurs don't swing tempo wise as fast as the pros. 658 00:47:22,199 --> 00:47:25,840 And then on the shore game. They swing too fast compared to the pros. 659 00:47:27,119 --> 00:47:31,159 That's Golf Smarter Mulligan's episode two hundred and twenty featuring John Novicel of Tour 660 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:37,039 Tempo in an episode we called when was the last time someone said to you? 661 00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:42,679 Nice swing? Please subscribe for free to both of our golf podcasts, 662 00:47:42,679 --> 00:47:46,199 Golf Smarter, published every Tuesday since two thousand and five, and our sister 663 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:52,199 podcast that revisits the best of the Golf Smarter podcast called Golf Smarter Mulligans, 664 00:47:52,239 --> 00:48:00,880 being released every Friday from wherever you're listening right now. So with that last 665 00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:06,280 description, is that where your nickname lag came from? Yeah, Lag Lag 666 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:12,000 Ericsson. Is it you're putting or is it you're the swing? Yeah? 667 00:48:12,039 --> 00:48:17,360 Pressure, lag pressure is my email address, lag Pressure at GMx dot com. 668 00:48:17,599 --> 00:48:22,679 Anyone wants to email, Okay, thank you, we will. Yeah. 669 00:48:22,679 --> 00:48:27,920 So, but lag pressure is a pressure on the shaft. So in 670 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:30,440 other words, just think of it if you're, you know, in a 671 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:35,440 fast car, I mean, and somebody hits the gas and you feel pinned 672 00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:37,599 to the back of your seat, right, Yeah, that's what you want 673 00:48:37,599 --> 00:48:39,880 to feel in your hands. You want to be able to be because if 674 00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:44,239 you're if your hand is pinned on the back of the club because you're accelerating, 675 00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:51,239 you can feel the club okay, if you're the whole idea of weightlessness 676 00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:55,280 is that you can't feel anything. You jump up a diving board, you're 677 00:48:55,280 --> 00:49:00,000 free falling, you don't feel anything until you hit the water right right. 678 00:49:00,519 --> 00:49:02,960 But if you're accelerating in a car, you know you're pin to the back 679 00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:07,440 of your seat, you know you feel everything. So you want to be 680 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:10,079 able to feel because golf is a game of feel. You have to be 681 00:49:10,079 --> 00:49:15,719 able to feel where the club face is in relation to space and time. 682 00:49:15,519 --> 00:49:21,360 And if you if you accelerate too soon, you lose the pressure in the 683 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:24,280 right hand and you lose a sensation of where the club face is, and 684 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:28,920 that's why people hit the ball all over the place. This is a problem 685 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:31,599 with the PGA tour players on tour. Why they're you know, how can 686 00:49:31,639 --> 00:49:36,599 these guys that are out there, you know, playing every day and they're 687 00:49:36,599 --> 00:49:37,760 pros and the best in the world. How can they be hitting a driver 688 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:43,559 fifty yards offline? How can that happen? And it's very simple because they 689 00:49:43,599 --> 00:49:47,039 have reached acceleration too early on the downcing because the clubs are too long and 690 00:49:47,079 --> 00:49:51,960 they're too light, and they and they lose pressure on the shap and when 691 00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:53,320 they get down to impact, they can't feel where the club face is and 692 00:49:53,119 --> 00:49:59,639 the ball just goes, you know, fifty yards offline where in the in 693 00:49:59,679 --> 00:50:05,280 the old game, when the heads were heavier. Then if something is heavier, 694 00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:07,760 it's harder to accelerate it quickly, right, I mean, something's heavy, 695 00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:13,199 you know. It's just like if I were held a bowling ball and 696 00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:15,039 I had it against my chest and I was going to toss it over to 697 00:50:15,039 --> 00:50:17,119 you, I've got to kind of push on that thing. Push, push, 698 00:50:17,159 --> 00:50:22,119 push, and it's a slower acceleration, right, But if I had 699 00:50:22,119 --> 00:50:23,159 a beach ball, I could just tap it with my other hand and it 700 00:50:23,199 --> 00:50:27,800 would quickly accelerate over to you, just right, excelry, very quickly. 701 00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:32,960 So the idea of the heavier clubs was to help players feel the club and 702 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:38,039 create pressure on the shaft and acceleration. Slow the acceleration rate so that you 703 00:50:38,039 --> 00:50:40,599 can bring it down to impact. You can actually feel or the club hit 704 00:50:40,599 --> 00:50:44,760 as an impact. That's why the old time game guys used to hit it 705 00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:50,199 straighter than they do now. But that doesn't work. A two and or 706 00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:52,239 fifty yard drive doesn't work on a seventy five hundred yard golf course, right, 707 00:50:52,519 --> 00:50:57,519 So the young players are doing the correct thing by hitting it three hundred 708 00:50:57,519 --> 00:50:59,960 and fifty yards because that's what you have to do in the courses of the 709 00:51:00,199 --> 00:51:01,960 long and they've cut down a lot of the trees on the courses and the 710 00:51:02,039 --> 00:51:06,679 rough's not that high, and they're not really penalized for hitting it fifty yards 711 00:51:06,679 --> 00:51:08,000 offline. Didn't we just watch us when the guy who was gonna get in 712 00:51:08,039 --> 00:51:10,880 the other fairway or whatever. It's no big, no problem, right, 713 00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:15,360 yeah, right in the middle of the trees. So it's just a different 714 00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:19,280 it's a different game. And you know, I'm an advocate for the old 715 00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:22,079 game because I think it's it's a better game. It's more more articulations, 716 00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:27,039 it's a little more of an intellectual game, I think, and it's it's 717 00:51:27,039 --> 00:51:32,199 a more equal opportunity game because if you're five five and you weigh one hundred 718 00:51:32,199 --> 00:51:36,800 and thirty pounds, you can play against somebody six six the way it's two 719 00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,800 hundred and fifty pounds or turned seventy five pounds, and you could everyone's in 720 00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:45,519 the game. Short people, tall people, fat people. Everybody's included, 721 00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:55,320 even ugly people, even ugly people. Good, I'm glad. All right. 722 00:51:55,400 --> 00:52:00,159 Let me ask you this as a golfer, not a golf instruct but 723 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:07,400 as a golfer, which what is your superpower? What's my strength as a 724 00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:12,920 golfer? Yeah, accuracy, hitting the ball, hitting the ball straight, 725 00:52:15,119 --> 00:52:20,880 and shape you can you shape your shots as you need or you're always just 726 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:25,360 straight? No? I never rarely ever hit a straight shot. I'm always 727 00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:28,800 working at one way or the other, left or right, right to left. 728 00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:34,639 Um, my strength is it. I have very very very good technique 729 00:52:34,679 --> 00:52:38,079 that I've worked very very very hard to master, technique which allows me to 730 00:52:38,159 --> 00:52:43,280 hit the ball straight, accurate, move the ball left or right, right 731 00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:50,519 to left, keep the ball in play. I played Cyprus Point in January 732 00:52:50,559 --> 00:52:53,440 of this year and I hadn't It was only the second round i'd played in 733 00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:58,320 two years. And I went out and in twenty mile an hour wind, 734 00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:01,920 I hit fourteen greens out there, Gee's and the and the four greens that 735 00:53:01,960 --> 00:53:07,000 I missed, I could have easily have hit all those four greens. One 736 00:53:07,039 --> 00:53:08,199 of them I actually hit the green, spun the ball off the green. 737 00:53:08,639 --> 00:53:12,360 Oh, well, another one, I was drawing the ball in from the 738 00:53:12,440 --> 00:53:15,599 right side and it hit just right to the green and it hit a soft 739 00:53:15,639 --> 00:53:17,400 spot and stuck. If it just bounces at all, it kicked, it 740 00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:21,280 would have kicked down perfect to a back left hand placements. It wasn't a 741 00:53:21,280 --> 00:53:22,079 bad shot. Could have that one, could. You know. There's a 742 00:53:22,119 --> 00:53:25,679 lot of wood as shitos in golf, but I'm just giving the yeah. 743 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:31,280 But these were these weren't like I really hit bad shots. Um I missed 744 00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:36,159 the green on a part five because my my right foot slipped off the tee 745 00:53:36,639 --> 00:53:39,320 because I wasn't able to wear steel spikes, which you know is another topic, 746 00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:45,079 but um my ball went into one of those bunkers off the in the 747 00:53:45,079 --> 00:53:47,000 faraway that you know. I had to wedge out and hit sideways, which 748 00:53:47,079 --> 00:53:52,119 so I usually don't miss the greens on par five's usually yeah, but I 749 00:53:52,159 --> 00:53:54,480 did in that case. And then the only other green I missed was on 750 00:53:54,559 --> 00:54:00,079 the eighteenth. I hit it about four yards through the faraway and I'm down 751 00:54:00,079 --> 00:54:04,360 in the little swale down They're trying to hit a shot up and over the 752 00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:07,079 cypress tree to the green. I hit a nice shot over the tree right 753 00:54:07,119 --> 00:54:09,360 at the green, and the wind was blowing so hard off the coast, 754 00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:13,320 I couldn't feel it from down where I was at. I just miscalculated. 755 00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:15,840 And the Cypress trees are kind of stiff, you know, they don't really 756 00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:17,719 move a lot, so I didn't really see couldn't really see the branches moving 757 00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:21,880 and realize there was that much winded. The ball just took it right to 758 00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:23,800 the green. So those are the four greens I missed. And you know, 759 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:27,000 I walked off thinking, well, I mean, I don't even play 760 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:30,039 golf much anymore, but yet I could go out to Cypress Point and hit 761 00:54:30,079 --> 00:54:32,760 the ball this well, you know wind, And I mean the eleventh hole, 762 00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:36,760 I had driver one iron into the green onto the green. Next hole, 763 00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:38,760 driver two iron on the green, next all driver four iron on the 764 00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:43,079 green. When you come straight into the teeth of the wind at Cypress, 765 00:54:43,119 --> 00:54:45,440 you'd turn the tenth hole, he come eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, 766 00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:51,360 fifteen, sixteen, you're just dead into the wind on the famous sixteenth 767 00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:53,800 too, wood boom right over the right over the bay, you know, 768 00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:58,320 the water put on the left side of the green. So I hit the 769 00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:00,159 ball beautifully out there, but it's that's a strength in my game is just 770 00:55:00,239 --> 00:55:04,719 good technique. Now I need to talk about equipment for just a second. 771 00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:07,079 Here, becausetta O the questions I wanted to ask, but you said a 772 00:55:07,119 --> 00:55:09,239 couple of things that made me want to ask. What's in your back? 773 00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:13,280 What clubs do you carry in your back? And Mike? Right now I'm 774 00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:20,239 hitting nineteen fifty one Tommy Armor, Silver Scott Irons for irons. The reason 775 00:55:20,440 --> 00:55:22,440 one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight 776 00:55:22,559 --> 00:55:25,480 nine. Yes, one carry a hybrid? No, no, no, 777 00:55:25,559 --> 00:55:30,840 no no. I care fairway woods, fairway nettles, a driver. I 778 00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:36,960 carry a driver. I carry a two wood and a forwood and these are 779 00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:43,199 Percimmon wood. So my driver is a nineteen fifty six Folding Model twenty eight. 780 00:55:44,519 --> 00:55:50,719 My two wood is a McGregor Attorney M eighty five, and my forward 781 00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:57,079 as a superiomatic. I know, I'm sorry McGregor velocitized for seven forwards. 782 00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:00,880 How many wedges do you carry? Just just a wedge in a sand pitching 783 00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:06,199 wedge in a sandwich? Wow? Incredible. Okay, Now the other question 784 00:56:06,199 --> 00:56:09,920 about your equipment is you mentioned that you slip because you weren't wearing spikes. 785 00:56:10,519 --> 00:56:15,880 You don't wear spike lest shoes, do you, well, no, I 786 00:56:15,119 --> 00:56:19,840 have the removable spike. Yeah. Just the plastic spikes are no good. 787 00:56:20,079 --> 00:56:22,960 I mean not for a proper golf They don't give enough traction. I mean 788 00:56:23,079 --> 00:56:27,000 they get some, but not not as much. I mean, if you're 789 00:56:27,039 --> 00:56:29,960 on something a little bit of a sandy kind of teen area or something like 790 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:34,519 that, my right foot can slip out. With the steel spikes, for 791 00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:37,920 you know, long steel spikes that really just grip into the ground. It 792 00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:44,079 allows you to swing more in a rotational way. The golf swings have evolved 793 00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:49,679 a lot based upon the golf shoes. And as the golf shoes were steel 794 00:56:49,719 --> 00:56:52,480 spikes and people were really rooted in the ground, you saw a lot more 795 00:56:52,559 --> 00:56:58,760 rotary kind of golf swings, moving more more level as spikes became plastic and 796 00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:00,840 not as good traction, and the golf swings have got more up and down, 797 00:57:01,079 --> 00:57:05,960 more upright because with the rotational swings, it's it's harder to grip into 798 00:57:05,960 --> 00:57:10,440 the ground. I think those shoes are something that I think about it this 799 00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:15,639 way. It's very strange because steel spikes are legal with the us GA. 800 00:57:16,119 --> 00:57:21,639 They're not illegal, they're legal, okay, okay, but I can some 801 00:57:21,719 --> 00:57:23,679 courses are now asking you not to wear them. Well, I mean for 802 00:57:23,719 --> 00:57:28,199 the last thirty years. I mean, you can't show up with steel spikes, 803 00:57:28,679 --> 00:57:31,800 right, So that's that's to me, the same as if I went 804 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:36,960 to the bowling alley and I bring my bowling shoes and they say you can't 805 00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:39,880 really wear bowling shoes here. You got to go new socks, you know. 806 00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:43,239 But it's like, hey, but these are bowling shoes. They're legal 807 00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:47,039 with the United States Bowling Association. Yeah, but we don't really allow those 808 00:57:47,079 --> 00:57:52,159 here on our on our lanes because yeah, you know, they just don't 809 00:57:52,199 --> 00:57:54,119 you know, they kind of they put they scuff up the lanes and stuff. 810 00:57:55,480 --> 00:57:59,079 I mean, that's how that's how ridiculous it is to me that I 811 00:57:59,119 --> 00:58:04,639 can't go out play around to golf with with steel spikes and my golf shoes 812 00:58:05,239 --> 00:58:09,480 because because they're legal not did the USG make them illegal? No, So 813 00:58:09,639 --> 00:58:13,920 why can't I use them because some local world every course has a local rule 814 00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:20,239 that says you can't use them, I mean their rugs. It doesn't it 815 00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:23,320 doesn't really make much sense. I mean that you okay, the footing in 816 00:58:23,440 --> 00:58:29,079 any sport is important, you know, whether it's basketball, football, So 817 00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:34,360 you need traction, and especially now because they allow the players to tap down 818 00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:37,440 the spike marks. So what's the problem now, See that was the original 819 00:58:37,519 --> 00:58:40,400 argument against steel spikes. Oh they make spike marks. Oh okay, we 820 00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:44,360 don't want that. But now you can tap down the spike marks. But 821 00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:46,119 they're still so yeah. I don't I don't think real highly. It's a 822 00:58:46,159 --> 00:58:50,800 lot of these organizations that are in charge of stuff. All right, let 823 00:58:50,880 --> 00:58:54,119 me go back to this this line of questioning as an instructor, what is 824 00:58:54,159 --> 00:59:00,400 your superpower? I think my ability to take very call implicated concepts and just 825 00:59:00,440 --> 00:59:06,440 make them simple for people. I don't. I don't believe much in these 826 00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:10,280 swing monitors and launch things and all that stuff. And I think the ball 827 00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:15,800 tells you everything hit A golf ball goes over here, goes over there. 828 00:59:15,119 --> 00:59:16,760 You know, I hit it? Fat I hit it. Then I don't 829 00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:20,840 know what is the machine going to say, oh, the club face was 830 00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:23,159 open? Was the ball told you the club face was open? I mean, 831 00:59:23,199 --> 00:59:27,480 well, it just makes no sense to me that I would need track 832 00:59:27,559 --> 00:59:30,559 man or any of these sort of things to tell me what's happening in the 833 00:59:30,559 --> 00:59:31,800 golf ball. So I just get rid of all that stuff. Let's just 834 00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:37,880 look at you know, what's happening with your shot and what we need to 835 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:39,480 do with your golf sing to fix things. So I just try and keep 836 00:59:39,519 --> 00:59:44,679 things as simple as possible. And I don't trying. I never want to 837 00:59:44,719 --> 00:59:47,400 talk over people or through people. You know. I don't say, oh, 838 00:59:47,480 --> 00:59:53,119 you need to you know, contract this thoratic muscle or you know what 839 00:59:53,119 --> 00:59:57,000 are people? People don't want to be talking like they're in the doctor's office 840 00:59:57,079 --> 01:00:00,559 or whatever. You know it says I talk, you know, knee hip, 841 01:00:00,639 --> 01:00:04,480 shoulders, had should you know, arms risting. I just just common 842 01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:07,440 everyday language of people. I mean, I know a lot of that stuff, 843 01:00:07,480 --> 01:00:10,760 but the technical things, but people don't want to hear that. Okay, 844 01:00:12,880 --> 01:00:17,000 um as a competitor, as somebody who's won on the PGA Tour. 845 01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:22,559 As a competitor, what is your superpower? My ability to win when when 846 01:00:22,599 --> 01:00:28,480 I'm playing good. I was always very confident that I could win because I'm 847 01:00:28,480 --> 01:00:31,119 playing good. I was never really much of a choker. I just thought, 848 01:00:31,119 --> 01:00:37,239 hey, I'm then I'm playing good. My problem was I didn't play 849 01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:44,440 good often enough m so I would get more I would get more teeing off 850 01:00:44,519 --> 01:00:47,599 knowing that I wasn't playing well, then I would if I if I was 851 01:00:47,639 --> 01:00:50,559 playing well, it's like, well, I'm hitting it good. I'm not 852 01:00:50,599 --> 01:00:53,079 worried about hitting this fairway or the screen. I was. I was nervous 853 01:00:53,079 --> 01:00:59,519 when I wasn't playing well. Yeah, that's because you know what am I? 854 01:00:59,559 --> 01:01:01,039 How am I to? You know, pay my caddy in my hotel 855 01:01:01,119 --> 01:01:08,159 room and get to the next tournament? All right? Last one of these 856 01:01:08,199 --> 01:01:16,679 prepared questions. Um, when other instructors are in a conversation and your name 857 01:01:16,719 --> 01:01:22,960 comes up between them, what is it they're talking about? What is it 858 01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:27,119 they're talking about? Yeah, they're talking about you. All of a sudden, 859 01:01:27,159 --> 01:01:29,199 you're not part of the conversation, but it's like, oh yeah, 860 01:01:29,239 --> 01:01:35,000 John Ericson, Oh yeah, he's what are they talking about? I don't 861 01:01:35,079 --> 01:01:37,119 know. I'm you know, I just did. I was just on the 862 01:01:37,119 --> 01:01:42,920 PGA Tour podcast a couple of weeks ago with Mark Engelman. You know what, 863 01:01:43,679 --> 01:01:47,480 Yeah, I don't have the exclusive to John Ericson. I thought you 864 01:01:47,559 --> 01:01:52,360 did. I thought that I thought I did too. I thought you negotiated 865 01:01:52,400 --> 01:02:00,639 this, didn't you? But I was surprised and even knew who I was 866 01:02:00,760 --> 01:02:04,360 or whatever I mean, but he said he listens to my podcast. Probably 867 01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:09,840 he said he'd been following Advanced ball Striking, our website stuff going back to 868 01:02:09,920 --> 01:02:14,079 like, you know, two thousand and ten or something like he was. 869 01:02:14,159 --> 01:02:17,480 He was, we were really inquisitive about all these things a long, long 870 01:02:17,519 --> 01:02:21,599 time ago. So you just never know really who's listening or what they're saying. 871 01:02:21,639 --> 01:02:25,239 I don't know. I don't know if people people think I'm kind of 872 01:02:25,280 --> 01:02:28,880 crazy or not. I don't know. A lot of a lot of instructors 873 01:02:29,239 --> 01:02:32,239 are curious about, um, what I'm doing. I see a lot of 874 01:02:32,239 --> 01:02:37,840 the ideas that I've had are out on the PGA tour. Like you see 875 01:02:37,880 --> 01:02:40,960 these boards people are putting between their feet and that sort of thing when they're 876 01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:45,199 out there on the range that that I started that I'm the one to start 877 01:02:45,239 --> 01:02:47,239 that right on my deck out in the back, this kind a piece of 878 01:02:47,239 --> 01:02:50,880 shelf board, and I was teaching, you know, the internal leg pressures 879 01:02:50,880 --> 01:02:53,000 and stuff. And you know, now people are doing that out on the 880 01:02:53,000 --> 01:02:57,039 tour. So you know, Brad Hughes, you know who I worked for 881 01:02:57,079 --> 01:03:00,119 three years, and he was bringing that out to the tour with some the 882 01:03:00,119 --> 01:03:01,679 guys. Now they're they're on the lp J to where they're using that thing 883 01:03:01,679 --> 01:03:07,920 too, so so I mean I do see some of my teaching methodology is 884 01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:13,960 being influencing the modern game as well. So I guess that's good, you 885 01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:16,519 know. I mean obviously picking up on some of these things, but it's 886 01:03:16,559 --> 01:03:21,599 just all common sense to me. I don't I don't think I've really invented 887 01:03:21,639 --> 01:03:24,519 anything. I'm just basically like, who invented Ben Hogan's golf swing? For 888 01:03:24,519 --> 01:03:30,840 instance, Ben Hogan did, right. If I'm trying to teach what he's 889 01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:32,920 doing, it's not that I invented it. I'm just trying to interpret it 890 01:03:32,960 --> 01:03:37,480 in a way. And that's what I've been actually working on. In the 891 01:03:37,519 --> 01:03:42,119 next few months, I'll be releasing a course that'll teach like what I believe 892 01:03:42,280 --> 01:03:45,440 was Ben Hogan's methodology and how he went about swinging the golf club. So 893 01:03:45,440 --> 01:03:51,559 it's quite fascinating, very very difficult to quite a responsibility too to try and 894 01:03:51,800 --> 01:03:52,800 do that. But I just the reason I did it is I just feel 895 01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:59,320 like the other instructors aren't doing it interesting. I can't tell you how many 896 01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:03,039 times I've had instructors on the show that said I've figured out Ben Hogan's secret 897 01:04:03,639 --> 01:04:10,639 and different interpretation. Oh yeah, and I'm and as I've said, because 898 01:04:10,679 --> 01:04:15,480 I'm not a PGA professional, I'm in no position to dispute what they're saying. 899 01:04:15,840 --> 01:04:18,880 So I let him go and if the audience doesn't agree, then I 900 01:04:18,960 --> 01:04:23,760 advise you to stick around because next week you can have a completely different interpretation. 901 01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:27,119 Well, there can't be a secret. There would have to be at 902 01:04:27,199 --> 01:04:30,880 least two secrets, because any if you do one thing, it affects something 903 01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:33,679 else, right, So it can't just be one thing. If you were 904 01:04:33,719 --> 01:04:36,119 to say, well, Ben Hogan's secret is the way that he flattened the 905 01:04:36,159 --> 01:04:41,559 shaft a transition, It's like, okay, he did that, but what 906 01:04:41,639 --> 01:04:44,880 does that do. Well, then that opens a club face and shallows out 907 01:04:44,880 --> 01:04:47,559 the shaft, which means you're going to have to then turn more level and 908 01:04:47,599 --> 01:04:50,840 accelerate going through the strike to get the bike to then close the club face 909 01:04:50,960 --> 01:04:54,679 up so that you can be able to hit the ball. So it has 910 01:04:54,719 --> 01:04:59,159 to be at least two things. Yeah, Well, there's a there's a 911 01:04:59,239 --> 01:05:03,719 video that's going around on social media these days from a number of years ago 912 01:05:03,760 --> 01:05:09,519 where Gary Player talks about when he was a young man, Ben Hogan told 913 01:05:09,559 --> 01:05:14,239 him something that he says that he never really understood until he turned seventy, 914 01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:20,000 and that was about keeping the left bicep attached to your chest on your swing, 915 01:05:20,400 --> 01:05:25,840 not to have your left arm out too far. And Tony Manzoni, 916 01:05:25,920 --> 01:05:30,400 who we had on for years, he professed that as well. Oh, 917 01:05:30,440 --> 01:05:33,000 I would agree with that. I teach that too. Yeah, keep especially, 918 01:05:33,000 --> 01:05:35,239 you know, working through this tricky you got to keep all that stuff 919 01:05:35,239 --> 01:05:39,440 connected. But then it's got to move all the way around and then and 920 01:05:39,480 --> 01:05:43,440 then move up to you're trying to keep pressure on the shaft all the way 921 01:05:43,719 --> 01:05:45,440 it really you feel like you're trying to pressure it all the way into your 922 01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:48,480 finish. So I think that's what Gary Player would be talking about. But 923 01:05:48,639 --> 01:05:53,920 Gary Player had a great goal saying very much like Ben Hogan, very similar, 924 01:05:55,119 --> 01:06:01,800 So I would say that he would know Gary would Advanced ball Striking dot 925 01:06:01,800 --> 01:06:09,360 com and Advanced ball Striking is social media to track you down, and uh 926 01:06:09,639 --> 01:06:15,800 yeah, so I'm John other ways, John Ericson on YouTube. That's We've 927 01:06:15,800 --> 01:06:19,199 got a pretty good channel, hundreds of videos on there, interesting things and 928 01:06:19,280 --> 01:06:25,119 conversations, and then we have an Instagram Advanced ball Striking on Instagram, there's 929 01:06:25,159 --> 01:06:30,239 things there. It all kind of revolves around the Advanced Ball Striking website. 930 01:06:30,280 --> 01:06:33,559 There's a great forum on there with you know, I don't know, hundreds 931 01:06:33,599 --> 01:06:39,559 of thousands of posts. It's just a forever interesting, fascinating dive to go 932 01:06:39,679 --> 01:06:46,480 there. That would be forum dot Advanced ball Striking dot com. And that's 933 01:06:46,480 --> 01:06:53,559 pretty much it's ask for the social media. Yeah, well, Johnny, 934 01:06:53,599 --> 01:06:58,360 it's great to have you back on. I love our conversations because we don't 935 01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:01,760 know where they're gonna go or they're going to end up right next to the 936 01:07:01,800 --> 01:07:06,000 flag. I like it all right, but we'll talk you again soon. 937 01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:14,199 Thank you, Fred for having me on. So here's a crazy yet typical 938 01:07:14,280 --> 01:07:17,159 story that happened to me on the course last week. On the fourth hole 939 01:07:17,199 --> 01:07:21,239 of one of our favorite courses, Rooster Run with our regular group, Bill 940 01:07:21,320 --> 01:07:26,039 said to me, you know, Fred, you've always hit the ball longer 941 01:07:26,079 --> 01:07:30,639 off the tee than any of us, but lately you've also been hitting the 942 01:07:30,679 --> 01:07:35,079 ball really straight. Well. After saying thank you, I also reminded him 943 01:07:35,119 --> 01:07:40,760 that you never mentioned having lost a ball before the end of the round, 944 01:07:40,880 --> 01:07:46,000 or that looking at your scorecard too soon could mean trouble. And you never 945 01:07:46,159 --> 01:07:50,599 mentioned the no hitter before the end of the game. Well, sure enough 946 01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:56,800 it got into my head because through the next thirty two holes, yes that's 947 01:07:56,840 --> 01:08:00,840 the rest of that round, and over the next one I hit a total 948 01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:06,920 of six fairways and shot eighty six on both rounds. Now eighty six is 949 01:08:06,960 --> 01:08:12,239 nothing to complain about, I know, but when you're shooting below eighty five 950 01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:15,439 on a regular basis, there's a couple of holes there that you know could 951 01:08:15,439 --> 01:08:20,720 be frustrating. But I was able to focus on my tempo and an external 952 01:08:20,840 --> 01:08:27,199 target. And this past Sunday I hit five of seven fairways on the front 953 01:08:27,279 --> 01:08:30,399 nine and four of seven on the back and even the t shots that missed 954 01:08:30,399 --> 01:08:36,479 the fairway didn't really miss by much. So beware, don't let good compliments 955 01:08:38,520 --> 01:08:44,319 scare you away. Just say thank you and move on. This week's Golf 956 01:08:44,359 --> 01:08:48,960 Smarter Ambassador blamed porter from court Aline, Idaho. Wow, that's two episodes 957 01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:55,159 in a row with ambassadors from Idaho. Thanks guys. Anyway, chose to 958 01:08:55,159 --> 01:09:00,119 receive Tony Manzoni's video of the Lost Fundamental because he opened the show. Now, 959 01:09:00,199 --> 01:09:02,920 for more than a year and a half, we've had golfers from all 960 01:09:02,960 --> 01:09:09,359 over the United States and around the world, introduce each episode by sharing where 961 01:09:09,399 --> 01:09:13,640 they're from and where they play, and each of them have received a gift 962 01:09:13,640 --> 01:09:17,119 for their effort, and you can too, because there's two ways to choose 963 01:09:17,159 --> 01:09:21,439 one of three gifts that we have to offer. First, you can write 964 01:09:21,479 --> 01:09:28,479 a review of our podcast from wherever you subscribe, or introduce an upcoming episode, 965 01:09:28,840 --> 01:09:32,159 just like Blaine did. Blaine had already received Tony Manzoni's video of the 966 01:09:32,239 --> 01:09:36,720 Lost Fundamental. But you can also choose to receive a box of oden X 967 01:09:36,760 --> 01:09:41,960 one balls with a Golf Smarter logo. And your third choice is to receive 968 01:09:42,000 --> 01:09:46,000 a glove and glove storage compartment from Red Rooster golf dot com. Let me 969 01:09:46,039 --> 01:09:49,880 say something about my Red Rooster subscription. You know, we don't get a 970 01:09:49,880 --> 01:09:55,399 lot of humidity here in California, so I don't go through gloves that fast. 971 01:09:55,479 --> 01:09:59,840 But wow, I played around this week and it was ninety six degrees 972 01:10:00,319 --> 01:10:03,359 and we did have humidity, and I was walking and I went through a 973 01:10:03,399 --> 01:10:06,800 glove like I've never seen before. I was sweating a lot. So I'm 974 01:10:06,880 --> 01:10:12,079 so glad that my next round I got a fresh glove ready to go because 975 01:10:12,079 --> 01:10:15,920 of my subscription from Red Rooster golf dot com. Now I'm going to leave 976 01:10:15,960 --> 01:10:18,920 a link in the show notes and today's blog posts so you can learn more 977 01:10:19,000 --> 01:10:25,359 about these two fabulous partners. And if you're interested and one something from us 978 01:10:25,359 --> 01:10:28,479 for free, send me an email and I'll get back to you with some 979 01:10:28,520 --> 01:10:31,359 instructions of what to do and what to say. Just write to golf Smarter 980 01:10:31,520 --> 01:10:36,159 podcast at gmail dot com, or when you visit golfsmarter dot com, click 981 01:10:36,199 --> 01:10:43,239 on the Hey Fred button and please follow at golf Smarter on YouTube, TikTok, 982 01:10:43,359 --> 01:10:48,199 Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter to see our new ongoing posts 983 01:10:48,199 --> 01:10:55,159 of videos and articles. We're now putting up new content five times a week 984 01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:00,199 and I'm really excited about what kind of response been getting, so thank you. 985 01:11:00,600 --> 01:11:04,560 If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for upcoming episodes, 986 01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:10,479 please click on that Hey Fred button when you visit golfsmarter dot com