Speaker 1: Hello everyone.
Speaker 2: My name is Greg Clark from Leicester Shear, England, and
I play at Willesley Park Golf Club.
Speaker 3: Welcome.
Speaker 2: It's a golf SMARTA number nine hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 1: What's your all time favorite course? I mean, you've played
so many and you've flew this so many.
Speaker 3: This is creeping up there. Really, Well, the more you play,
the more I.
Speaker 2: Even just canyon, the more I'm on it, it's creek
coming up there. The best course I've ever played still though,
hands down, is shinnecoqu Hills.
Speaker 4: Really I got on there.
Speaker 2: I was working in Calfora, Palm Desert Tamras Country Club.
Speaker 4: We drove a member's.
Speaker 2: Car back from their Palm Desert to he He lived
in Connecticut, Danbury, Connecticut. So he loaded up his car
with dishes and stuff and me and another guy we
had a PGA. He had a PGA card, so we called.
He called the head said, hey, we're going to produce.
We're going to be giving complete course. I'm sure enough.
They did the reciprocal So we take his Mercedes all
the way across the country from Palm Desert straight and
didn't stop. Switch had taking terms straight to Shinnacak Hills
tee off first thing in the morning. It beats us up.
But it was something to behold. Why because it was
just grand. It was just you knew the history of it.
Speaker 4: And it was tough.
Speaker 2: It was very, very hard, and I was a decent player.
Speaker 3: Then was the two But I don't remember what you shot.
Speaker 2: I shot eighty eight.
Speaker 3: Wow, broke ninety. That's good. No, that was my goal
for today.
Speaker 1: Join me for the conversation with my caddie Sam over
the last five holes as we play Chambers Bay. This
is golf Smurder, sharing stories, tips and insights from great
golf minds to help you lower your score and raise
your golf IQ. Here's your host, Fred Green.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Golf Smart Podcast.
Speaker 2: Sam.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Chambers Bay. Fred, thank you so much. We
are on number fourteen.
Speaker 1: We've been having an incredible day here at Chambers Bay
in the state of Washington near Tacoma, Washington.
Speaker 3: Right University place, University place. How long have you been
looping here at Chambers Bay.
Speaker 2: This is my third season here, but I'm a lifer.
I've been caddying off and off for over forty years.
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 2: All around the country? Like where Bay Hill, Durrell, Robert
Trent Jones. But they used to have the President's Cup Congressional,
A bunch of country clubs in La Lakeside, LA country Club,
a couple of years on the nationwide tour, a couple
of laps around the country. Wow, with a bunch of
cut missers.
Speaker 1: Is that frustrating for a caddy when you're playing a
nationwide tour and you're like, this guy's got he's got
the potential to make it.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, they qualified, so they got there, So
they weren't good enough to get there. It's just you
have to make the money. You have to make cut, right,
And a lot of these guys four or five tournaments out,
missed the cut. Every time they're gone. Never heard of
them again.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, that's terrible.
Speaker 1: Tell me as much as you know about the history
of this course, Chambers Bay.
Speaker 2: Well, it was an old gravel pit. Yeah, okay, with
people who can't see it's about eight hundred feet missing landscape.
It was that high and went all the way to
the water that high.
Speaker 3: Like the elevation change in this course.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And it was building a walking course, yeah, walking only
traditional link style usually get a little breeze in the evenings.
Not today though.
Speaker 3: No, the weather's been unbelievable. It's overcast all day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but the temperature has probably been in the upper sixties,
maybe most seventies.
Speaker 3: Is kind of humid.
Speaker 4: That was perfect.
Speaker 3: No wind, no rain, just clouds. The sun hasn't been
too overbearing. It's been really a beautiful day, round blast
and it's fun playing with a caddy. It's it's not
something I.
Speaker 1: Get to do very much. No, no, and I've really
been enjoying it. You've been really helpful.
Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate it. Yeah, Like I said, I've been
This is all I do. I play golf.
Speaker 4: Argue.
Speaker 2: This moved up here four years ago with my dad
lost my mom, so I moved up here. And he's
a nine handicap eighty six years old.
Speaker 4: Is that right?
Speaker 2: He never shoots his age. We just we beat up
on the guys at our club. They just can't they
can't take him because he's too good.
Speaker 3: Did he get You started playing golf?
Speaker 4: Yeah, as a little kid.
Speaker 3: So you've been playing your whole life.
Speaker 2: I started. Yeah, I didn't play as a teenager, but
I first hand I got was at thirteen.
Speaker 4: I went to college and started playing.
Speaker 1: All right, we're on a par four here, number fourteen.
My drive came just short of a absolutely perfect, enormous
waste area. The flag looks like it's up front. I
got ninety four of my watch.
Speaker 2: What do you get to one to eight total?
Speaker 4: You want to hit our one ten? All right? One
fifteen shot.
Speaker 3: That's gonna be my pe club. He's my one ten.
That's my ninety.
Speaker 4: That sounds perfect.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's see what we got here.
Speaker 1: Let my kid, Mike and I are playing against each other,
and we were He won three. I won three on
the front nine, but on the back ninety he's won
the first four. I had a really I played pretty
well in the front nine. But oh look at this
go in the hole Michael, Wow, Oh wow, great shot, Mike. Yeah,
I played well on the front. It was five over
on the front with four holes. Here, I'm already six over.
Let's see what I can do with this. Take a
good swing here, Yep.
Speaker 3: That's going at it. We'll get enough.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 3: I just stopped right on the fringe.
Speaker 4: We're putting.
Speaker 3: We're putting. So you said you uh looped at Bayhill?
Speaker 4: Yep?
Speaker 3: Got any great stories about Bayhill.
Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know, great, but.
Speaker 3: I mean there's a very famous name associated with that golf. Yes.
Speaker 2: I did get to caddy for mister Palmer several times
over this course of six years. But you didn't do
much for Arnold. He just drove the cart, break the bunkers,
clean the.
Speaker 3: Ball in the clubs and he never asked no.
Speaker 2: I had him right after he turned seventy, so twenty
five years ago or something, and he shot seventy one
and we get done. I said, man, you could have
one more.
Speaker 4: You could have shot seventy for me.
Speaker 2: He says, well, like you had anything to do with it,
because I didn't.
Speaker 4: He didn't read it.
Speaker 2: I mean, you don't do What are you going to
tell him? He built the place right exactly. It was
pretty pretty cool, pretty cool comeback.
Speaker 3: And but overall was he fun to be on the course?
Speaker 2: We well, yeah, he just he was out there every day.
They had a shootout. They had a little skin type
of game and then draw crowd around the first t
and he'd meet everybody, go meet him, and they had
a it was a large so they'd meet him in
the dining area bar. So he come talk to everybody. Yeah,
he just he was proud of that place, which he
should have been. Outstanding golf course, is it? Yeah, one
of the best I've ever been on, really, especially tournament time.
When the tournament comes around, it just turns into a
US Open. I mean first it's a regular country club
resort course, and then all of a sudden, boom, the
rough goes up, the greens get fast.
Speaker 3: Huh, and we're walking up to the green. Now I
am on the green. Great shot, Mike, Yep, we're putting.
We are putting. I'm definitely on the green. Looks pretty strange.
What do you see?
Speaker 2: It's going right a little bit, fred much?
Speaker 3: Okay, it's not a lot.
Speaker 2: Let's take a look from the other side, like the
pros do it.
Speaker 3: Thirty three feet?
Speaker 4: Is this going left or right? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Speaker 3: Sam just conferred with the other caddy.
Speaker 4: Yep, there's no doubt about definitely.
Speaker 2: The first intuition is usually right played about a cup?
Speaker 3: About a cup to the left, Okay, a pill a pill?
Speaker 1: So thirty five feet all right, let's see what happens
using my lab golf.
Speaker 3: Do you have three point zero broomstick? Turn now, turn
out dead straight street, just a narrow good putt.
Speaker 4: We gamed.
Speaker 3: And I made it for park good part.
Speaker 2: Thank you take that every day on this whole.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Michael's putt, yes up and down? Nice, Mike zep for.
Speaker 2: Pretty good up and down though I want to last
shot good Yeah, one one, two touched that four. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh, I thought I'd finally beat you on a hole
in the back.
Speaker 4: Mic.
Speaker 2: I guess a tough beat right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's playing out of his mind right now. Mike's
went over after in the back nine the verse five.
Speaker 3: Not me, but I can do better. After the front nine, you.
Speaker 1: Were like, who do you mean You're an eleven handicap
in too many parts?
Speaker 3: I guess the back n have been looking like an
eleven handicap.
Speaker 4: Of course we'll do that to you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there were one whole number four just ate me alive.
So we were starting to talk about the history of
this course. Yeah, so can you tell me?
Speaker 3: So they built the specific for the US Open.
Speaker 2: There's a guy named John Lauderbaki comes out, takes different
caddies and tells the stories about building it with Robert
Trent Jones Stop doing and Mike Davis of the USGA.
Back then, So there was a lot of collaboration, a
lot of moving dirt. They moved a lot of dirt,
but they didn't you know, they didn't have to bring
anything in. It was just basically all here. It was
Blank's late really and he turned it into this. There's
a picture in the clubhouse. When you go back, you
might want to could take a look at it by
the restaurant. It's from you know, super High and it's
just white. There's just nothing here at all.
Speaker 1: But does it accommodate I guess it does accommodate fans
lining because there's.
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's pretty difficult for walking as you can
see these little hills and stuff on theist and ankles,
so it's a tough walk. It's a seven mile hike
in the middle of the fairway anyways.
Speaker 1: So this is a walking only course and it's seven
miles yep. Yeah, and you do have the elevation.
Speaker 4: Check up and down this hill four times.
Speaker 3: All right. Where we headed next And it's a signature
whole fifteen Part three.
Speaker 2: It's got our loane fur in the background and it's
it's on.
Speaker 1: All the logos because of the single tree a little Nazareth.
Speaker 3: Is this a hole you see a lot of holes
in one.
Speaker 4: I've seen one. I hear a story. There's one.
Speaker 2: Probably there's probably five to six a year, wouldn't you say, Tyler?
Speaker 3: Yeah, what was you saying? There's a with a back
left pin.
Speaker 2: We've got a backstop so you can hit the ball
past the hole and roll back and that's how they
make your hole in ones here.
Speaker 3: Oh, I see it sloped from back to front.
Speaker 2: On the left big time. Yeah, we can do it
with this flag. We lost this green two winters ago.
We had some pipes break up there on the left,
dug out the canyon four.
Speaker 4: Feet deep, four feet wide all the way through the green.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: So it was a seventeen whole course for about six
months because there's no place to put a temp.
Speaker 1: Well, I think this would be a good place as
any Yep, this is nice to take a picture.
Speaker 3: Together, Absolutely perfect, and let.
Speaker 1: Me get a shot of you. Gotta have the tree
in the background. Absolutely nice, got it? So what story
of this this tree that we're looking at here all by?
Speaker 3: It's lonesome. The last one.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there was many, Like I said,
it was blank, But there is a story here.
Speaker 4: One of the stories.
Speaker 3: There's several stories. The one I hear, no.
Speaker 2: Not yet, but uh one that I One of the
stories I hear is discrimbled employee tried to chop it down. Ooh,
and they brought an arborist out to try to see
if they could save it. And he said, a good
thing I came because the tree was actually dying at
the time. So they saved it and put a little
fence around it. Now I don't know if that's true,
and I don't know how they found out it was
a discriunbled employee. He must have been telling the wrong
people or on.
Speaker 3: The employee with a twelve case of beer right on
the beach side.
Speaker 1: Oh and a guy found the employee drag a bunch.
Speaker 3: He cut the tree down. Okay, well that's how we
can do it with an axe of like power sided. Yeah.
He was there probably for forty five minutes with an
action and got tired.
Speaker 1: Yeah, forty five minutes out there with an axe, got tired.
Speaker 3: He was drunk.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: I like that story.
Speaker 2: I'm that part too. It I didn't have it before.
You see, the more you come out here, the more
you learn, all.
Speaker 1: Right, So from these tea's this looks like I got
one twenty on my watch. It's twenty five to the
pin when twenty factual it's way downhill.
Speaker 4: Usually against the wind. We can't feel it.
Speaker 2: The water's clear. I mean it looks like glass. There
is a little there's a wind. Very we're going to
play the number twenty five? Yeah, because you can't be short.
Speaker 1: Okay, no, no, because it's just nothing but waste stereo
between here and there.
Speaker 3: Although we are elevated by how much I.
Speaker 2: Think it's if it was the scope, it's twelve yards down,
so it's eighteen feet or something like that. We're like
thirty feet yeah, six yeah, thirty feet. So but like
I said, if we don't play it much and here's
our one.
Speaker 1: Of the beautiful things is that we've seen on this
chorus is we're right up against the water.
Speaker 3: What water is this? This is a south sound, Puget sound.
This is a south sound.
Speaker 1: And one of the sounds we're gonna hear in just
about a minute is train's been going.
Speaker 3: By all day long.
Speaker 1: They're just they're long trains too, right, sixty a day,
sixty trains.
Speaker 3: A day, yes, and they're they're not like commuter trains,
although that will come by. There is an abtract now
I see it. But yeah, it's freight and it's they're big,
and there's a port.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: This one's short this okay, so it could.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it might just be engines.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna play a nine iron here.
Speaker 4: I like it.
Speaker 3: Oh wait, there's more behind it. Ah, oh, here we go.
Speaker 1: There's some flat cars behind it. So one, two, three, four, Yeah, engines,
a lot of flat cars coming.
Speaker 3: I love it. All right, I'll go.
Speaker 2: So we're aiming right at the logo tree there the
left of the flag.
Speaker 1: Left of the flag at the tree. Okay, got it.
It's been so much fun having a caddy going Yeah,
just a little bit.
Speaker 3: Don't go right at the flag. I love that.
Speaker 1: It's going right to the flag, but it's coming back
a little bit. Distance is good.
Speaker 3: Oh no. So I went past the flag.
Speaker 1: To the back edge of the green and it looks
like it's sitting on the lip to the bunker.
Speaker 3: Shoot.
Speaker 4: That went a long way.
Speaker 3: That went a long way.
Speaker 4: Hmm.
Speaker 3: One of the things that I love too.
Speaker 1: I really enjoy talking to caddies on the shows because
caddies always have great stories and challenge has been set.
Speaker 3: What do you got for me? You know, it's like
on this course, what's the craziest thing you see?
Speaker 2: I have a gentleman from New York Upper West Side.
Speaker 4: He had about one hundred and fifty balls in his bag.
Speaker 2: It was my second loop of the day, so I
was just a smidge in late, so I didn't get
a chance to see the bag and check it out,
so they just put it on a cart. He hit
two or three T shirts on every hole. There were
three someome two guys in him, paired up ninety degrees outside,
no hat, no sunglasses, no sunscreen, nothing. He hit the
ball into the waste area, which we have a lot
of here. Yeah, and I will you know, I'm not
going down there if we HiT's your third ball? So
he would go down there and he would actually start.
Speaker 3: Hunting for balls, and he already had one hundred in
his bag.
Speaker 2: Oh and needless to say, it was a long day.
Speaker 4: I should have because it.
Speaker 2: Turned out to be one of those you know, I
don't have any cash, sir, Sonny, here's your here's your feet,
no tip, and like, okay, oh that was it was
a rough one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's my roughest one out here.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I had a lot of good ones out here though,
because it's such a grand place. It's just gorgeous and
people are real happy to play it.
Speaker 4: You know. It's a US open course.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's only so many of those out there, right.
Speaker 4: That you can just come out and play.
Speaker 3: Oh boy, did I get lucky? Yes, we did look
at this.
Speaker 4: We might put that.
Speaker 3: Oh man, it just it's just inches.
Speaker 1: We should have this inch and a half from falling
into the waste area.
Speaker 3: I guess I should put this.
Speaker 4: No, maybe your little hybrid or something.
Speaker 3: You know what I like doing. Give me my eight iron.
Speaker 4: Okay, there you go. Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: No, And I'm gonna just, you know, I go toe
up and do a putting motion on it, just to
get it off the ground.
Speaker 3: A little bit.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I see it's going to a downhill. But
is it gonna go left to right?
Speaker 4: You gotta go left.
Speaker 3: It's gonna go left.
Speaker 2: It's got to Yeah, it's going left. Not a lot,
but it's going left, and it's downhill.
Speaker 3: Everything's going see that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, all went that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Michael's going from the bunker as well. Oh and
he didn't make it.
Speaker 4: Any he was plugged.
Speaker 3: I don't want to hit this very hard. I just
want to get.
Speaker 4: It I started. You're hitting at about five feet.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't want to hurt myself either.
Speaker 4: That's really good place. Stay there.
Speaker 3: Oh boy, Oh it's okay.
Speaker 4: We were off the green. We're legal. Yep, right there,
perfect boy.
Speaker 1: All right, So I've got myself six feet left.
Speaker 3: For par.
Speaker 2: What do you see pretty darn straight? Okay, we're gonna
go right center of the flag stick. You're still gonna
hit the stick with the plot because you're uphill, Okay, firm.
Speaker 3: I came up short, bogy.
Speaker 1: Up hill puss as slow, Yes they are, and I've
been burned by it more than once today.
Speaker 3: Okay. So I did beat Michael in that hall. Okay,
So finally I get one. I get one on this side.
Speaker 2: So I got an uphill puts are slow story for you, okay.
So I came off the nationwide tour. I had one
of those high top fans. I was living in it,
so it wasn't too bad on tour. I could ford,
you know, I was just living in my van. So
I got to La Hollywood, went to work at Lakeside
Country Club. Joe Pesci, Jack Nicholson, all those guys. I
get Joe Pesci and the number guests one day, and
I was living in the van.
Speaker 4: I was living in the bar. Afterwards.
Speaker 2: It was hammered, you know, Caddy Life coming to the
course that morning. I'm still hammered from the last night.
Speaker 3: You know. First hold of the guests says, we'll stand
home of these greens.
Speaker 2: I said, well, the uphill puts are slow and the
downhill pets are fast.
Speaker 3: Joe Pesti goes, oh that's great, cammy, and.
Speaker 2: My buddy jumps in. He's he was with me all night.
He jumps and oh no, mister Pesci, mister petty.
Speaker 4: He just came off to it. He knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2: And Joe Pesci to this day will never let me
forget that. Well, that's great, camming every time you see me.
Speaker 4: This is twenty years ago. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2: With his little voice, it was pretty good, all right.
Speaker 1: Number sixteen going along the water here along the train
tracks with a tug boat pulling out.
Speaker 3: A barge and the water is like glass. I mean
there's no movement in the well were we were just
scoping out towards the water.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we got some porpoise out there. There
you go, there's something right there. Yeah, there there's something going.
Oh oh yeah, oh yeah, we've got.
Speaker 4: Action out here.
Speaker 2: We have wildlife.
Speaker 3: The dolphins are porpoise, Tyler. Oh there's one.
Speaker 4: Dolphins are poor pie. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a bunch of them out there, pilot, pilot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, water starts bubbling. Yeah, just saw one pop.
Speaker 2: Like a bottle of those dolphin.
Speaker 3: But it's a little bit.
Speaker 4: Taking the cool water. Something just jumped over here big time.
Speaker 3: What are you seeing over there?
Speaker 2: Another one, something came way out of the water over there.
So there must be a bunch of Yeah, there's I've
just seen numerous. There's a bunch of the one. It
was set hillard whales once in a while out here,
really yep. This summer we had the actual whale humpback.
I believe it was lost obviously because there's nothing that way,
the oceans that way and u north northwest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, on their way to Alaska.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and a lot of fishing out there. Got a
lot of salmon coming right through seven run.
Speaker 1: Oh well, and that's probably why you're seeing yeah, larger
fish right feeding ground.
Speaker 4: Yep. There's another one.
Speaker 3: Okay, we're number sixteen. Now what do we got here?
Speaker 2: It's a little shorty three twenty today from here. Okay,
but we're still I mean we can still hit driver.
You hit the drivers straight enough as you can tell.
We just can't be right.
Speaker 3: Well, you have more confidence in me than I do.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've got to be left to that guy.
Speaker 3: Think I'm just going over the mound here. I don't
want to mess with.
Speaker 4: You going away left.
Speaker 1: But you're saying, go driver here. Yeah, it's too ninety
to go through. Okay in that line, and I can't read.
There's another sign over here. Twenty ten US Amateur was
decided at the sixteenth Green, where Peter u Line defeated
David Chung by margin at four to two.
Speaker 3: Twenty US Amateur.
Speaker 2: See gotta just trust it.
Speaker 4: Trust that club.
Speaker 2: That's the best club in your bag.
Speaker 3: It really is. Thank you, p X. She thank you man.
Go have another train coming.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Hendricks here, Myra hear it?
Speaker 3: Come on, come on, trading guy, come on, miss your engineer.
He's looking at me like, what are you doing? Idiot? Oh,
this one's going to be around for a while this
is a long train.
Speaker 1: Had there ever been a time in your life you're going, Okay,
I've done this, or maybe you started out doing something
else and.
Speaker 3: That No, no, I gotta go back to the golf course.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, I've had I've had just enough straight
jobs to always get my Social Security this year at
sixty two.
Speaker 1: Okay, So like, what kind of jobs did you have?
Speaker 4: My last job?
Speaker 3: Well, my last job was Uber. I was an Uber driver, okay,
right at the pandemic.
Speaker 2: But before that, did some real estate my brother Southern
California for six years. Okay, did some house flipping, reconstructions,
all that good stuff.
Speaker 3: But it was like, get me back to the well.
Speaker 2: I just yeah, just I played golf obviously, but I
knew I could play better, and with less on my mind,
I played better. I'm playing the best golf of my
life at sixty two years old, right.
Speaker 4: Now, with that right as we speak.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, a lot of it is out here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my life is, and it's not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not an easy course, and I'm very impressed
that it's sixty two years old.
Speaker 3: You're carrying it. You took my bag.
Speaker 1: I mean when I went to Banded Dunes they took
everything out of.
Speaker 3: My bag and carried their own. But you're cherry in mind. Well,
it's just light enough to carry.
Speaker 4: It's just right on the borderline.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's just one bag.
Speaker 4: I don't have to worry about anybody else.
Speaker 3: Right, if there was two.
Speaker 4: Like that, we'd never do it.
Speaker 1: I'd never do it, right, all right, Well, Michael made
it out of a junk, but he may did about
ten yards past.
Speaker 3: This train is still don't go man, Sixty trains a day. Amazing.
Speaker 1: So tomorrow we're gonna be playing uh up at Willow's Run.
There's two courses that we're gonna play. The Eagles talent
you know that course I've played them.
Speaker 2: I don't remember if they didn't stick out to me.
And that's except the play slow.
Speaker 4: Pace of play was a little slow.
Speaker 3: Well, today has not been quick. Nope, I mean.
Speaker 4: You'll be used to that.
Speaker 3: So here it's six o'clock. Now we're on five sixteen
five hours.
Speaker 2: We got three to two and a half to go,
two and a half to go.
Speaker 3: Old boy, am I going to get in trouble.
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to meet my wife for dinner at six thirty.
I'm gonna be late. Oh well, is this me? Or
this could be this looks close to the edge of
falling off.
Speaker 3: Nope, not me, Nope.
Speaker 4: You know I'm going position.
Speaker 2: A and the flag is on the right edge all
the way back. This is Sunday pin. This is the
stuff as it gets on this hole.
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: This is me. This is my shot. Scope says ninety
seven to the center, one twenty one.
Speaker 4: To the back, one eighteen ten.
Speaker 1: It's not I want to probably go sure to that,
So the one ten shot, yep, pitching bunch and go
for the center of the green.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 3: I was recently told that, of course, had around where
they just pulled all the flags and.
Speaker 1: Just hit to the middle, just hit to the middle,
and mare golfers hit greens in regulation and usual.
Speaker 4: That's a great statistic. Yeah, that is great to hear.
Speaker 1: Get up, come on, come on, that's right, stay there, Okay,
I'm on the green right, yep, we're putting. We're putting
another green in regulation, another one in green and regulation
and fairway.
Speaker 2: If I R and a g I R here, let's
get to make try to.
Speaker 3: Make some putts. What's your all time favorite course?
Speaker 1: I mean, you've played so many and you flew this.
Speaker 4: This is creeping up there.
Speaker 3: Really. Well, the more you play, the.
Speaker 2: More I even just carrying it, the more I'm on it,
It's creaking up there. The best course I've ever played,
still though, hands down is Shinnecock Hills.
Speaker 4: Really I got on there.
Speaker 2: I was working in Calforia, Palm Desert, Tameris Country Club.
We drove a member's car back from there Palm Desert
to he he lived in uh, Connecticut, Jambury, Connecticut. So
he loaded up his car with dishes and stuff and
me and another guy we had a PGA. He had
a PGA card, so we called. He called the head said, hey,
we're gonna prooce. We're going to be Can we come
play your course? I'm sure enough. They did the reciprocal
So we take his Mercedes all the way across the
country from Palm Desert straight driving, didn't stop. Switch had
taking terms straight to Shinnecock Hills. T off first thing
in the morning. It beats us up, but it was
something to behold why because it's it was just grand.
It was just you knew the history of it. And
it was tough. It was very very hard, and I
was I was a decent player. Then I was a two, but.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't remember what you shot.
Speaker 4: I shot eighty eight.
Speaker 2: Wow, But I did get out of the car driving
across the country.
Speaker 4: But still I broke ninety.
Speaker 3: That's good.
Speaker 1: Well, that was my goal for today to try to
break ninety. Okay, because I knew this course was not
going to be easy, and this putt is not going.
Speaker 2: To be easy because it's not the one we wanted.
Speaker 3: No, no, I'm too far over.
Speaker 4: It's almost chippable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you had that, well, and I can't go
too far left because it's going to.
Speaker 3: Go left and then down a hill with a bunker.
Speaker 1: There's a bunker there I can't go, and then there's
a it looks like a sprinkler head.
Speaker 2: We're really going to just be happy with fifteen feet here?
Speaker 4: Oh boy?
Speaker 3: Am I going to go just inside the sprinkler head?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I don't mind you going up.
Speaker 3: There, because it's going to come back around.
Speaker 4: It's going to be holland though.
Speaker 2: You know, for you to get it to the top,
it's going to be it's going to be moving pretty fast,
and it's downhill and away.
Speaker 4: We might want to.
Speaker 2: Hit three quarters of the way there and aim right
at it and just be happy with over here and
not in the bunker long because there's a bunker behind here.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: I've seen a lot of putts go in the bunker
from here, a lot of shots.
Speaker 3: So I just want to get it over that mound.
Speaker 2: Yep, barely and just let it trickle out. But you
gotta give it to that dark spot just right at
the sprinkler head. We're still going to that dark spot
right right.
Speaker 3: Oh boy, this is treacherous, to say the least. This
is ugly.
Speaker 1: So I want to get it up over that and
that's about thirty feet and then it's going to drop
down onto the green and then don't want to have
too much speed.
Speaker 3: Uh oh, that's not good at all. I was way
right of the mark and.
Speaker 4: It just turns to the thing is you just can't
put it.
Speaker 3: I'm still in the green.
Speaker 1: Probably a two put it's pretty straight going right at
the end.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right at his ball and is it downhill?
Speaker 4: Yeah, not a lot.
Speaker 3: Get in another bogie Michael six.
Speaker 1: Okay, so there's two with two to go, we were
tied three three at the front. This is a lot
of pressure here. What is the story with those structures
that used to be.
Speaker 4: So this was you know, rock Quarry.
Speaker 2: So those are the separation bins where they separate the
rocks by size, and there's a track going underneath, the
railroad track going underneath connected to these tracks and also
connected to the barges.
Speaker 4: And it would send the rock out that way.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: So they left it.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of it was demoed, but they
left all this kind of give it that stick.
Speaker 4: Look.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a pretty compelling look.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Some guy climbed up there during the US Open. Oh
and of course you can go up but coming down
inside the story. So look, you know, fire department was
already here, so they had to go get him.
Speaker 3: God, all right, tell me about this hole.
Speaker 4: This is a great hole.
Speaker 2: We got an easy pin today though, But there's a
back right pin where it's a small tabletop pull pull
table size. Landing area goes off to the right, ball
goes out to the bunkers, just like here if we
if you hit that put too hard, you could have
gotten down in the bunker.
Speaker 3: Right. So so but here you got a front pin placement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's gonna be just a little shorty today.
It's gonna be one o three total playing one o
three or probably the only playing about ninety five, okay,
and we'd kind of like to fly it between the
lady putting and the hole split.
Speaker 4: The difference that we don't want to aim.
Speaker 2: If you hit this hill on the left is going
to bounce it way off to the right.
Speaker 4: We don't want that.
Speaker 2: What we've got a I like it, and maybe just
go right out the flag and hopefully it'll be on
the right side when it gets there.
Speaker 1: I've been watching my game today. Help me, what do
you see? Where do I need my work?
Speaker 3: But that's besides the point. No, that was just you
got caught.
Speaker 4: We get caught.
Speaker 2: People get caught over there all the time. I brought
my dad out here last year. He was eighty five.
He shot his age here, Chambers Bay. I got over there.
I made an eight on that whole plane with him.
He beat me on the front nine out here. So
you know, you just get in trouble over there here.
Speaker 4: We just we just need.
Speaker 2: It's chipping and putting and more confidence with your irons.
I think, I mean, you hit that driver, great, that's
your best clove in your bag, and now you make
this one the best and these two tie in and
then you get the.
Speaker 4: Rest and move the rest.
Speaker 2: You know, this guy, you got to own these two guys,
these three guys, and the approach. You've got to own
those shops.
Speaker 3: My only hole in one is with these guys. And
we didn't see it in two.
Speaker 1: Thousand and nine, and we learned a very important lesson
that day, and that is on par three, if you
have to pee, you wait till everyone hits. And if
you're going to you don't pee with your back to
the ball. Because he missed the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I didn't miss it. You thought I went over the green.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you thought it went off the back my rented clubs. Wow,
because Southwest Airlines lost my clubs.
Speaker 2: You went left anyway?
Speaker 3: Left? Uh oh check it?
Speaker 2: Check or go in anyways? Okay, that's right where we
want to end up.
Speaker 4: Anyways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good shot, Thank you.
Speaker 4: Perfect with the putter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh I need.
Speaker 1: To make this put No, no, no, I would like
to make this putt.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to put a need on.
Speaker 1: It that it ever helps, right, No, No, too much pressure.
You get tense and you tighten up. It's like nice
and easy nice.
Speaker 2: That's what the long putter's for right. Take your hands
out of it.
Speaker 4: Let's them.
Speaker 3: It's the whole idea. Yep.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is makable.
Speaker 1: You were surprised to see that. They say that close
to the flag it hit the left side.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you had had some spin on it because it
was it wanted to go, but it checked the second hop,
the two hop stopper, we call that.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's about ten feet it's gonna go right to left.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: So when Sam sees the putt, he goes and stands over.
Speaker 3: It like he's putting, and that's how he sees the line,
which is really interesting.
Speaker 1: Okay, Michael h right on the sprinkler head and stop.
Speaker 4: Okay, he's going to give us a read.
Speaker 3: Three, he's going to give us the read. Not a
lot of moves. Interesting.
Speaker 2: We got a little different angle, but it's not going
to break any more than that. It's maybe one ball
on the right.
Speaker 3: So you're saying one ball outside of the right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, at the very most, that's your line.
Speaker 3: No turn. It all ended up two inches to the
right of the hole for par good thought.
Speaker 2: You hit it right what we said, Yeah, I did
another par yep.
Speaker 1: As far as match play, we're going into the eighteenth
and you're up by one.
Speaker 3: Wow, these things are outrageous. This it's like.
Speaker 1: Stonehenge Chambers, Henge Chambers, Hinge. We've got a par five
fishing a hole and there's a lot going on in
this hole.
Speaker 3: Pretty straight away.
Speaker 2: But we've got way steria right left center.
Speaker 3: We've got a lot of things going on here. Yeah,
and this whole has a story as well.
Speaker 2: Tell me, look, there's a huge bunker up here in
the one hundred yard range one hundred and twenty yard
range that Mike Davis wanted Robert Trent Jones to put in,
and Robert Trent Jones says, no, I'm not doing that.
The stupidest thing I've ever seen. So he built the
course and left. Mike Davis came back with the back
home and dug this hole out and wait till you
see it's it's the most incredible thing.
Speaker 4: You've ever seen on the golf course.
Speaker 3: Since it has no business being here. No one was
in it during the US Open except Tiger, and you
were saying it was Robert tren Jones was right.
Speaker 2: Of course, he was, okay, yeah, because of course it
doesn't have Mike Davis wanted it there because he thought
it would be more attractive to laying up farther back.
Who knows it was, just if they call it Mike
Davis's mistake around there.
Speaker 3: Yes, so where what is my target line here?
Speaker 4: Buddy?
Speaker 2: Your target line is going to be the right edge
of the bunker on the left that we can see. Okay,
see the guy walking right now?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's okay, the second bunker on the left side,
the right edge of it.
Speaker 2: There's a shuttle on top of the hill. The shuttle
halfway up. That's your target. There's boom to the right,
even though it doesn't look like it. Ok Yeah, Part
five here, good hole, good golf hole. This is where
it all happened for Jordan Speed. Okay, he says, go
after the line all the way back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it goes back.
Speaker 3: One last drive. Let's make it a good one.
Speaker 2: And me right next to Jordan Speed's plaque where he
hit it on Sunday.
Speaker 4: At the US Open.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, you know, he and I you're very similar.
Speaker 2: We hang together and your games are very similar.
Speaker 1: And he probably teed off about one hundred and twenty
yards behind me here.
Speaker 2: He had a Chambers bake, caddie, you have a Chambers
bake Cattie very similar.
Speaker 3: And my caddie knows how to find my teas. Thank you.
I didn't reach that right. I mean like I really
shouldn't be it, should you did? I will be very
upset with you.
Speaker 2: Well, we we want to be a little named a
little right of it. So it did bounce left on you.
You hit it perfectly where we said. Okay, we just
got a bad bounce. Welcome to golf.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: No, you hit it on the line exactly what we wanted.
Speaker 2: It just bounces left and said right, it should still
be right next to the George it was.
Speaker 3: It's good drive for the eighteenth pole.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a three shotthold no matter what. Anyways, after
that bunker I'm telling you about, it's just right in
the way for the average player from the tour players
hadn't didn't belong there.
Speaker 1: There's some sort of party going on with these mad
Max characters like doom Buggies.
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't see.
Speaker 4: Me hit it two feet too far?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: No, did I hit go too far?
Speaker 1: Is that a ball in the edge right in the
front there, We're off it. Sam's giving me a thumbs
up by an inch.
Speaker 3: It's like that. I really may go. Well, I have
a stance.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is not the first time this has happened to
us today that I'm just like just.
Speaker 3: On the edge.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So here's the Jordan speeds black.
Speaker 3: Oh, let's take a picture.
Speaker 1: It says here June twenty first, twenty fifteen US Open
Final around Jordan Speed three wood.
Speaker 3: Oh I had driver. Oh look like that.
Speaker 4: He hit three wood from there onto the green.
Speaker 3: Oh, three wood to the green. Oh. Boy, it's on
a downslope.
Speaker 2: But we're laying up anyways. It's you know, we're hitting
like a nine or eight iron. Anyways. I can't be
in that bunker I'm telling you about. You can just
see it now. We cannot be in that. So we're
gonna do like nine eight iron. You're going to have
a tough stance. So we're just punching eight iron or something. Yeah,
we just got to stay out of that bunker. I
just don't like your stance here.
Speaker 3: Oh, I think Mike just went in it.
Speaker 4: Mike may have just went in it.
Speaker 2: So that means we doublely don't want to go in
definitely don't want to go in it. Yes, with your
bad stance, We're just gonna hit whatever we can get
going that direction.
Speaker 3: So how far is it to the bunker?
Speaker 2: It'd be one sixty to get in it from here?
Speaker 3: Wait, I see two. But the one that he just
went in is the Mike Davis. Yes, okay, that's one sixty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's one fifty.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, one fifty.
Speaker 3: So just you're saying eight iron, eight or nine.
Speaker 2: Iron, we're just get it right right at the shack,
right at the guy in the cart there, okay, and
just downhill once we get over this bunker.
Speaker 4: It's downhill. It's gonna roll all the way out.
Speaker 3: Okay, So let's go take a stance with the nine.
Speaker 4: And yeah, it's a good stance. We can go with
the eight. But I just came.
Speaker 3: You got to I've got one. I've got no stands,
got no stan you got chucked way up on the bunker.
Speaker 2: Just punch it out so.
Speaker 3: Well, but I got to get it in the air.
Oh boy, oh boy, this is not good.
Speaker 4: Oh man, this is gonna be You want to wedge?
Speaker 1: Do I what's the advantage if I have a wedge here?
Speaker 2: Shorter club because the bowls are so far above your
feet or maybe even yeah, I mean, alls we want
to do is get over this bunker.
Speaker 4: We can't can't be in it.
Speaker 1: But I'm really got to choke down. Oh boy, Okay,
I think we're good. I think we can do it
with this.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Oh you killed it, absolutely crushed it, beautiful perfect.
Speaker 3: Oh he liked it.
Speaker 4: Glad we went back to that wedge.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: And you really that's that was pretty good show. It
might be the best shot of today difficulty.
Speaker 3: Wise, Well, what a time to do it.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 2: Now we can get there in three and have ourselves
a birdie pot.
Speaker 3: So how far do you think I'm left out?
Speaker 2: Probably be about one fifty? Okay, middle pin today.
Speaker 3: Definitely a light change going on here, darker.
Speaker 4: We don't need our sunglasses anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, but I we'll be able to see so
right my other one not here flag in the back right,
it's middle right.
Speaker 2: There's a little plateau there, another little small dining table
size area where they put these pins.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, we'll be left it right on top of
this plateau, didn't we But I'm not going at the flag.
Speaker 4: Nope, We're going right in the middle, right in the middle.
Speaker 2: Right in between the a get in the blue, and
the guy in the blues are tired.
Speaker 3: I got one sixty six to the middle from here, it's.
Speaker 2: One seventy two, so we get a one seventy.
Speaker 3: Shot five iron.
Speaker 2: We haven't hit this today, No, we have not. No,
it's a good course when you hit every club in
your bag. Yeah, yeah, that's why judge golf course. Yeah,
right at that golf bag. Not even the guy of
the blue even left to him.
Speaker 3: Okay is it? No? No? Oh no, I.
Speaker 1: Did oh I did not not want to be in
that and I am man now.
Speaker 3: Went from the best shot of the day to the worst.
Speaker 2: That's golf.
Speaker 3: That's golf.
Speaker 2: That should be you, Sandwidge.
Speaker 1: Where is the flag? Where am I going? Just the
right of that rake, to the right of the rake. Yep,
right out of the rake, going over the stairs. No,
the rake, and you're sixty yards. It's a sixty five
yard shot. That's pretty good.
Speaker 3: Oh good, you liked it.
Speaker 4: Oh you had some backspin.
Speaker 3: Oh I had some back spin.
Speaker 4: I like it.
Speaker 3: On L four and he's handing me my potter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, got a chance at par here?
Speaker 3: Is that me way over there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, just missed by a couple of feet. See how
small that area is though. I believe that was a
Sunday pin. This is for five.
Speaker 3: It's a long way away.
Speaker 1: It's sixty three feet, but then it goes and play.
It's uphill, so it's going and then if it goes
past the hole, then it's gone.
Speaker 2: So you can't get it past the little obviously right.
Sixty three yeah, sixty five feet, be fine. It's gonna
go left, but not till the end.
Speaker 3: Okay, So where do I want to get it too?
Speaker 2: We're gonna start one foot on the right, and you've
got you know, you've got to see you you saw
what happens.
Speaker 4: You've got to hit this. You got it. We've had
this length before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I stin't go past the flag. Okay, I didn't
hurt myself. We've got fifteen feet left.
Speaker 3: And one cup right, Yeah, come and left.
Speaker 1: The distance or short bet up the hill a little bit,
just a tad uphill, oh, a little bit up.
Speaker 2: Yes, you still don't look like it. You are waters behind.
Speaker 1: Us to hit it.
Speaker 3: Sam. Thanks, Fred, I really enjoyed for moping for me.
You had a great job.
Speaker 2: It was a lot of fun with shit you coming
out to Chambers Bay.
Speaker 1: So I've only used a caddy a handful of times,
and Sam was actually one of the best at knowing
the course, reading the greens, and keeping the conversation interesting
and moving throughout the entire round. And it was really
impressed that he was able to carry my bag as
opposed to switching all my clubs into his lightweight bag,
which is what happened to when I was abandoned Dunes
and our caddy was caring for two players each and
I couldn't bring all the stuff that I generally go
to during a round because it created too much weight.
Speaker 3: So this worked out well.
Speaker 1: And my friend Michael had never used a caddy before
and when I told him that it was a possibility,
he was a big con but it.
Speaker 3: All worked out.
Speaker 1: This week's Golf Smarter Ambassador was Greg Clark of Leicestershire, England,
and he did a beautiful job of recording his show
opening on his phone and sending me the file.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 1: It's that easy to get a free gift and show
your support of Golf Smarter. Either record it on your
phone like Greg did, or leave it as a voicemail
on our toll.
Speaker 3: Free listener line.
Speaker 1: Please I'd like to invite you to be a golf
Smarter Ambassador as well, and choose from one of three
great gifts. When you participate, Just write to golf Smarter
Podcast at gmail dot com and I'll get back to
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