Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Lance Christensen Jr. on College Golf, Heritage, and Professional Aspirations

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Lance Christensen Jr. on College Golf, Heritage, and Professional Aspirations · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:31
  Hey, everyone.
• 0:32
  Welcome to the Scratch Project.
• 0:34
  This is a special episode.
• 0:36
  We normally don't go until Sunday or Saturday, but I have with me division two outright second
• 0:44
  place winner at nationals, Lance Christensen junior.
• 0:50
  Man, I don't know what to say, so let's have the man say it himself.
• 0:54
  You know?
• 0:57
  Lance, welcome to the show, man.
• 0:59
  How's it going, man?
• 1:00
  It's going pretty good.
• 1:02
  Yeah.
• 1:03
  Yeah.
• 1:06
  Mate, you look like you're getting ready to go get a to go get a pump in, or did you already
• 1:10
  get a pump in?
• 1:11
  Yeah.
• 1:11
  Yeah.
• 1:11
  I just got done at the gym.
• 1:13
  I'm gonna sit outside of Panchero's, my favorite, and I'm gonna go get a quick burrito
• 1:18
  bowl.
• 1:18
  But for those of you that don't know me, my name is Lance Christensen Junior.
• 1:22
  I live in Kyle, South Dakota.
• 1:23
  I'm Oglala Lakota, Native American.
• 1:26
  It's a tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
• 1:29
  I live smack dab in the center of it, and that'll be important later on when we get into
• 1:33
  the story a little bit.
• 1:34
  But but, yeah, there you go.
• 1:36
  Alright.
• 1:37
  Alright.
• 1:38
  So for those of us, with and me included, who don't know you, what is I'd say, what are the
• 1:47
  three things that we should know about Lance Critchison junior?
• 1:52
  Yep.
• 1:53
  I'm sorry.
• 1:53
  I took a drink of water.
• 1:54
  Went down the wrong pipe earlier.
• 1:56
  But
• 1:57
  Been there, brother.
• 1:57
  Been there.
• 1:58
  Yeah.
• 1:58
  But, I guess three things you should know about me.
• 2:03
  One, I, well, let's talk about my golf career a little bit.
• 2:07
  I, my first four years of college, I went to New Mexico State University, division one
• 2:13
  school.
• 2:14
  And out of there, played some tournaments and stuff like that.
• 2:17
  And and, in that time, we were actually, like, a top 50 to a top 70 team in the nation my time
• 2:23
  my tenure at, New Mexico State.
• 2:25
  So I got to play some high level stuff against schools like Texas and and, Arizona and Arizona
• 2:30
  State and all the biggest schools in the nation, LSU, all of them, and, got to have some
• 2:35
  good experience there.
• 2:36
  But my last year, I just wasn't playing enough.
• 2:38
  And so, after that tenure there, I decided it was best for me to head out.
• 2:43
  And then, so I went in the portal, tore my hamstring, kinda lost the offers that I had
• 2:50
  initially in the portal to go division one again, and I was, like, thinking, thinking, and
• 2:53
  then Colorado Christian University hit me up.
• 2:57
  And then so we had a season with them, and it was great.
• 3:00
  Went to Hawaii.
• 3:01
  Went to Cancun, Mexico.
• 3:02
  We played all over the country, and then, I was like, alright.
• 3:09
  This is amazing getting to play every tournament every week, and that was an awesome
• 3:13
  thing.
• 3:13
  So well, I found that competitive spirit again, that competitive drive, and I found out how
• 3:19
  much I actually belong and how how good at golf I actually am, and then I went second thing you
• 3:23
  need to know about me is I finished outright second place at the at the NCAA championship.
• 3:29
  And at the time, for for about a hour and forty five minutes, I was the I tied the all time
• 3:35
  NCAA scoring record at minus 13, NCAA national championship, scoring record before the
• 3:43
  eventual eventual winner came in and and, set set an even another record.
• 3:48
  But any other year, I would've won or tied.
• 3:50
  So that was a pretty awesome feeling, to be able to do.
• 3:54
  Yeah.
• 3:55
  And I guess the third thing you need to know, Bobby, before we get into all that other stuff
• 3:59
  is I grew up in Kyle, South Dakota on the Pioneer Indian Reservation, and I didn't have a
• 4:04
  golf course within 45 miles of me.
• 4:05
  The nearest golf course for me was 45 miles.
• 4:07
  So I grew up on the reservation.
• 4:09
  There was no golf courses.
• 4:10
  There was no opportunity for golf, but I really really enjoyed it.
• 4:14
  I really found out at a young age that I had a talent for it, and so I really worked my butt
• 4:19
  off, and I drove all the time.
• 4:20
  There's a documentary on YouTube called driven by or, about Lance Christensen junior by Midco
• 4:26
  Sports.
• 4:26
  You can go check it out if you want to, but there you go.
• 4:29
  Those are things you need to know about me.
• 4:32
  And great plug right there.
• 4:33
  That's amazing.
• 4:35
  That's just natural.
• 4:37
  So you grew up on the reservation.
• 4:41
  How did you get your practice in?
• 4:44
  Like, how did you improve your skills on your days in the reservation?
• 4:49
  Yeah.
• 4:50
  So funny enough, I actually made a driving range in my backyard.
• 4:54
  So, like, I flattened out a low spot right in my backyard to make a perfect driving range.
• 4:59
  I got the right type of seat.
• 5:00
  I did it every year.
• 5:01
  I did this on my own.
• 5:02
  When I was 15 years old, I was making my own driving range.
• 5:04
  I put tires out at 50 yards, and across the creek, I had a tire out at one thirty, one
• 5:09
  forty, one fifty, and then so on and so forth.
• 5:13
  One seventy, 200 even if I had it.
• 5:15
  And then we'd go out there and mow, and then I get donations from this place out in Chicago.
• 5:22
  I don't I'm not too sure where the golf balls came from, but we get the golf balls.
• 5:26
  They bring them in.
• 5:27
  They bring us in about anywhere from a thousand to 10,000 golf balls a year, and I would hit
• 5:31
  them up every single year.
• 5:33
  So I I was averaging that much golf balls just in the summer.
• 5:35
  So even though I didn't have a golf course, I was still practicing and hitting the ball more
• 5:41
  than my competitors were.
• 5:43
  You know?
• 5:43
  So my ball striking was on another level compared to the rest of the people or whatever.
• 5:47
  So, like, everyone kinda is like, how in the hell did you do it?
• 5:51
  You know?
• 5:51
  Are you just that talented?
• 5:52
  Are you, like or maybe you're not even that good.
• 5:54
  You're just saying you're good because you you've had it in the backyard or whatever.
• 5:57
  You know?
• 5:58
  Maybe it's just a, like, a puff piece or something.
• 6:00
  You know?
• 6:00
  But but I really just put in that much effort and that put in that much golf balls.
• 6:06
  Like, by the by the beginning of the year, it was a perfect flat surface on the my backyard
• 6:10
  with the grass.
• 6:11
  And then by the end of the year, it was just torn up and torn to pieces, and there was no
• 6:16
  grass left.
• 6:16
  So that's how much it that's what it took.
• 6:18
  So what you're telling me is by the beginning of the year, it looked like a great driving
• 6:22
  range, and by the end of the year, you could plant crops.
• 6:25
  Yep.
• 6:25
  Exactly.
• 6:26
  There was and there was no, there was no one really else helping me on that too, so it was
• 6:31
  on me.
• 6:32
  Okay.
• 6:32
  So I guess I'm gonna compound on this a little bit then.
• 6:36
  So Mhmm.
• 6:36
  Your ball striking came from the driving range that you set up every year for yourself.
• 6:41
  Mhmm.
• 6:41
  So how did you work on your short game then?
• 6:43
  Like, how did you work on your chipping, your putting?
• 6:46
  So to, yeah, to compound.
• 6:51
  I I've had put tires up from 50 yards on in, out out on my little driving range right there.
• 6:57
  And it's funny enough.
• 7:00
  You did it only once or twice a year would we actually drive around the creek with our side
• 7:04
  by side and go pick up three to 5,000 golf balls, whatever.
• 7:08
  But that would get pretty annoying to do.
• 7:10
  So we would just hit all the time from 50 yards, 30 yards, 20 yards, just down to those
• 7:14
  tires.
• 7:15
  And then eventually goes to the golf course, and that shot's just kinda natural.
• 7:19
  So that's where my my pitching and short game kinda came from.
• 7:22
  And then so I would drive that 45 miles every day in the summer.
• 7:25
  So, like, when growing up, a day, it looked like for me to wake up at 5AM, go on a run, go
• 7:30
  to the gym, go to work until noon.
• 7:32
  Noon, I'd drive straight to the golf course after I get some lunch, and I would stay there
• 7:36
  until about 10:00 at night, until they about kicked me off the golf course, basically.
• 7:42
  And, eventually, they just start giving me a key.
• 7:44
  But, but it it was pretty cool.
• 7:46
  It was, it was definitely an experience to, like, to work that hard at something at a young
• 7:53
  age, and I didn't realize I was getting much better.
• 7:55
  I would just, you know, spend three hours on the practice screen before I would go play.
• 7:59
  That was a rule.
• 8:00
  I would, when I was on the when I was on the course, I would take my practice serious, and I
• 8:05
  would play different games to make sure I was still locked into my game and stuff like that.
• 8:09
  So it's just kinda crazy.
• 8:10
  You get better without knowing it when you're working that hard.
• 8:13
  Yeah.
• 8:14
  I would say with the I think driven is the right, word for that little piece they did on
• 8:19
  you, to be honest.
• 8:21
  That's incredible.
• 8:22
  But I've also noticed, and I say this jokingly to a lot of my friends, that all of us who
• 8:27
  enjoy the game of golf and those of us who love the game of golf, we're all a little psycho.
• 8:33
  Just just just a little bit, you know, to love the game that, can be so fickle to us and be so
• 8:40
  cruel to us.
• 8:41
  But then we get that one shot, that one series, and you're just like, oh, yeah.
• 8:45
  This is this is it.
• 8:47
  So I gotta ask then.
• 8:51
  We've gone through the training portion.
• 8:53
  When you actually played golf for the first time or, you know, when what was it that drew
• 9:00
  you to the game of golf?
• 9:01
  Like, what was it a shot?
• 9:03
  Was it an experience you had?
• 9:07
  Well, I mean, my first and foremost, I always give credit to my dad and my family and my mom.
• 9:12
  Like, my mom, she on her side of the family, she had family that was out of El Paso, Texas,
• 9:18
  the Mendozas.
• 9:19
  They moved up here later on in life, but they had a batch of golfers that were all just
• 9:23
  really into it, really good, high level semi pro golf a couple of them were semi pro
• 9:28
  golfers.
• 9:28
  And so growing up, I wanted to be like that.
• 9:31
  You know?
• 9:31
  I was like, being a professional golfer wasn't, unimaginable.
• 9:36
  It wasn't something that was like, oh,
• 9:37
  don't know.
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  Because you had people in your circle that were at that level.
• 9:41
  At that level.
• 9:42
  None of them reached the PGA Tour, but I just they I heard that they have been PGA or, like,
• 9:46
  they had been semi pros, and they've been really good at golf.
• 9:48
  So, like, shooting shooting under par at at 10 years old for me wasn't, like, a big deal.
• 9:54
  You know?
• 9:55
  Like, it was like, oh, I know people who do that.
• 9:57
  You know?
• 9:57
  So then I was lucky to have that.
• 9:59
  But two, my dad, he is he was a really good golfer in high school.
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  He turned he turned his college offers down to go play or to go run college track.
• 10:09
  And then I once he got done with track and everything, we had me and then all that, he got
• 10:15
  really back into golf, and he started a program at our high school.
• 10:19
  And same situation as me, he he ended up having 21 state qualifiers out of the out of Little
• 10:25
  Wound High School in Kyle, South Dakota, believe it or not.
• 10:28
  I don't know anyone that has 21 state qualifiers with no golf course.
• 10:31
  You know?
• 10:32
  And then and throughout his life and then his coaching career, I should say.
• 10:37
  And so he just taught me everything that he knows.
• 10:39
  He he his his knowledge of the game is is that of somebody who has been a PGA professional for
• 10:45
  for multiple, multiple years.
• 10:47
  So he taught me the game.
• 10:49
  And then from there, I was just like, from from an early age, once I knew learned about the
• 10:55
  game from these people and I believed I could do it, once I got out there in the competition,
• 11:00
  sure, I didn't have the same resources, sir.
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  There was people who were training in the nicer clubs than me and the nicer pushcarts and all
• 11:06
  this stuff and whatever.
• 11:08
  But internally, I always just realized that I was able and capable to do more things with the
• 11:16
  golf ball and with the golf club in my hands than people that have with more opportunities
• 11:21
  were able to do.
• 11:23
  I just kept realizing that, and I was just like, I don't know.
• 11:26
  Why would I stop if I'm able to beat these guys that practice are able to practice twice as
• 11:31
  much as me on a golf course?
• 11:33
  And I was just like, what if what if one day I get to practice on a golf course every day? Or
• 11:38
  Or what if one day I get the opportunities that these guys get?
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  Then what will happen?
• 11:42
  Well
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  Then it's over.
• 11:43
  Yeah.
• 11:44
  Then you know?
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  And then look at me now.
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  You know?
• 11:47
  Yeah.
• 11:47
  I was right.
• 11:48
  Yeah.
• 11:49
  You were right, man.
• 11:50
  And I have a I have a little thing I wanna add to what you just said there because it's
• 11:55
  actually really critical.
• 11:58
  It doesn't like, I'm going to get my, I'm going to get new golf clubs, right, just because mine
• 12:03
  are too tall for me, so I'm going to get shorter ones.
• 12:07
  But I can tell you right now, if I had if I go and get older clubs or if I go and get newer
• 12:12
  clubs, I'm not going to Golf Galaxy with the intention of getting the brand new stuff.
• 12:16
  I'm looking for what works best for me.
• 12:19
  But I know people who think just because they have new clubs that automatically like, that's
• 12:24
  gonna improve their game.
• 12:25
  It's not true.
• 12:27
  Because there's a guy that I play with, and he's still playing, you know, Cobra f rads from
• 12:33
  2016.
• 12:35
  And I'm sure you, you know, I know you guys have the sponsorship stuff and you get your
• 12:40
  clubs, but I'm sure you have your old reliables, your favorites where you're just
• 12:44
  like, oh, yeah.
• 12:46
  That's that's go to.
• 12:47
  That's I I I could swing this club a thousand times and hit my spot a thousand times.
• 12:54
  Oh, well, it's it's like tuning a guitar or or or, I don't know, do you write a pair of
• 13:00
  basketball shoes on the basketball court?
• 13:02
  It's not the end of the world.
• 13:03
  Like, you could the the cords are still the same, and the the the basketball court still
• 13:08
  plays the same.
• 13:09
  You know?
• 13:10
  But at the end of the day, getting fitted for your golf clubs is very, very important.
• 13:16
  You know?
• 13:17
  And if you wanna play at the highest level that you can play at, that your skill is capable of
• 13:22
  playing at, you have to have the golf clubs that are fit to you.
• 13:25
  Right?
• 13:25
  Like, the golf tar is fit to you or, like, the shoe is fit to you.
• 13:28
  You know?
• 13:31
  That just makes it easier.
• 13:32
  Now does that discredit the the fact that you have to practice to get to a certain level?
• 13:37
  No.
• 13:37
  Absolutely not.
• 13:38
  Fitting is a part of it.
• 13:38
  It's just giving you the tools.
• 13:40
  It's giving you the tools to be able to do it.
• 13:43
  You know?
• 13:43
  If you're holding a golf club, and it comes down even to the grip.
• 13:46
  Like, you're holding a golf club, and I have big hands.
• 13:48
  Right?
• 13:49
  If you're holding a golf club that's too small in your hands, then you're not ever gonna be
• 13:52
  able to to to hold the club off.
• 13:54
  Right?
• 13:54
  It's always just gonna release too much.
• 13:56
  You know?
• 13:56
  Those are things like that that are important.
• 13:58
  You know?
• 13:59
  If the golf club if you're if you're a a 20 handicap and you're trying to swing the new t p
• 14:04
  you know, or sorry.
• 14:05
  The new t one hundreds, that's not gonna work either.
• 14:07
  You're not that's just you're never gonna be able to hit those type of that little tiny
• 14:11
  head.
• 14:11
  You know?
• 14:11
  So there's things that or if you don't have the swing speed, you need to have more of a cavity
• 14:17
  back so you can hit it farther.
• 14:19
  You know?
• 14:19
  And there's there's a guy you can go to your nearest Golf Galaxy, and he'll tell you all
• 14:22
  what I just told you, but those things matter.
• 14:25
  But you gotta practice, though.
• 14:26
  You gotta practice more so than anything.
• 14:27
  You gotta find it in the dirt too, not in the pro shop.
• 14:31
  Yeah.
• 14:32
  Actually, one of my favorite, things that I found is, it's a Kingtech 50 degree.
• 14:39
  It's a Cobra Kingtech 50 degree, and my friend just had it in the back of his car.
• 14:43
  And I got it for, like, $20 from him, and it's nice.
• 14:46
  But the, the clubs that I'm looking at going and getting are cavity back.
• 14:50
  I'm looking to going and getting, shorter irons, the King Tech irons, which are the Cobra
• 14:56
  irons, and they have that cavity back, which I have a little bit of trouble getting the ball
• 15:00
  in the air.
• 15:01
  I'm a 21 handicap right now.
• 15:03
  I was 35 handicap last year.
• 15:06
  So I've gotten some of the basics down, but I still have a really bad right leakage, so I
• 15:10
  need help with that.
• 15:11
  And you were talking about grip.
• 15:13
  Right?
• 15:14
  Mhmm.
• 15:15
  What put your hands up for the, for the crowd to see real quick.
• 15:19
  How big of the hands do you have?
• 15:21
  I don't know.
• 15:22
  I think it's, like, seven and half inches from here to there.
• 15:25
  Right?
• 15:25
  But I have long skinny fingers.
• 15:27
  So what is your grips?
• 15:28
  Do you go midsize or jumbo, or do you go,
• 15:30
  like, midsize and then wraps?
• 15:32
  Little bit of a it's a little bit of a science.
• 15:34
  It's like a I go I go a midsize plus four golf ply grips
• 15:39
  Right.
• 15:39
  On my irons and my wedges, and that has three tapes on it.
• 15:43
  So, basically, it's a jumbo, but the jumbo grips are fat from start to finish.
• 15:47
  You see?
• 15:48
  Mhmm.
• 15:48
  There's there's no feel in your fingertips.
• 15:50
  I don't like that feeling because, like, when I when I choke down on the club this might be,
• 15:55
  like, Chinese.
• 15:56
  But when I choke down on the club, I like to feel a little bit more release in my
• 15:59
  fingertips.
• 16:00
  Right?
• 16:00
  I don't want the fat end of the grip to be fat.
• 16:03
  You know?
• 16:03
  Or the the closer to the club, I don't want it to be fat.
• 16:06
  So that's why I do that.
• 16:07
  And then on my on my woods, I go plus four plus four midsize grip in the in the Golf Pride,
• 16:18
  like, cord one.
• 16:19
  Like, the cord mid I can't remember the name
• 16:21
  of the cord or something like that.
• 16:23
  Yeah.
• 16:24
  Something like that.
• 16:24
  Yeah.
• 16:24
  And then I do that in that same type of concept.
• 16:27
  Just because I I have like I said, I have skinny fingers, so, like, long skinny fingers,
• 16:32
  so that's why I kinda like it.
• 16:33
  I like to fill in my fingers about a lot of room.
• 16:36
  I have mid sized grips, MCC aligns, but I've got the opposite problem as you.
• 16:42
  You've got long skinny fingers.
• 16:43
  I got little sausages.
• 16:45
  Mhmm.
• 16:46
  So Like, it's just it's all preference.
• 16:49
  Like, it it it does not matter what somebody else told you to do.
• 16:54
  It only mattered what feels comfortable in your hand.
• 16:57
  That's literally it.
• 16:58
  You know?
• 16:58
  Because at the end of the day, we're trying not to we're trying to get the golf club to a point
• 17:03
  where when you get to the top of your swing, the club's not moving.
• 17:06
  When you get down here, it feels comfortable.
• 17:08
  We're just trying to get back to square.
• 17:10
  Right?
• 17:10
  That's all I
• 17:11
  do.
• 17:11
  Yeah.
• 17:12
  And that's why I was considering for myself since I've got fatter fingers.
• 17:16
  I was thinking about going to jumbo grips just a little bit.
• 17:19
  Not like the crazy jumbo grips, but just, like, the actual jumbo grips.
• 17:23
  The plus four midsize the plus four midsize is a good one to try out for sure.
• 17:30
  Yeah.
• 17:30
  Because it's just like I have the problem, especially, like, with my long irons and
• 17:34
  sometimes my woods is that, I'll hit the ball.
• 17:37
  But then as after I hit the ball, the club will start to turn over in my hand, and it just
• 17:43
  turns into a dead
• 17:44
  shot.
• 17:45
  Yep.
• 17:45
  Most definitely.
• 17:47
  So alright.
• 17:48
  Let's go with you.
• 17:50
  We got a we got a little bit left here.
• 17:52
  I wanna know what makes Lance Christiansen tick, though.
• 17:55
  Like, when you're out there, you know, it's one thing for you've been practicing your whole
• 18:00
  life.
• 18:01
  You do it to compete.
• 18:02
  But, like, when you are out there competing, it's you against the course.
• 18:07
  Right?
• 18:08
  Mhmm.
• 18:09
  What is your mindset?
• 18:10
  Like, what do you have going on, or what do you not have going on in your head that gets you
• 18:16
  into that zone where you can compete at your highest possible level?
• 18:21
  Yeah.
• 18:24
  Sometimes it starts like, some like, sometimes you have to like, you're in a terminal over
• 18:29
  here, the next thing, you're a terminal over here.
• 18:30
  Sometimes it starts the day off.
• 18:32
  Right?
• 18:32
  But I'm a firm believer that your mindset is twenty four seven.
• 18:40
  Like, your competitive mindset is all the time, whether that's meditation, stretching, weight
• 18:46
  room, doing things that are hard, waking up early, going on runs, doing things that are
• 18:51
  just harder, breath work, whatever that may be for you, doing things in your life that will
• 18:57
  prepare you to be in the competitive chaotic mind.
• 18:59
  Right?
• 19:00
  So here's here's one thing that always, like, that always kinda carried that chip on my
• 19:04
  shoulder is, like, 99 of the time I'm in a golf tournament, I'm the only Native American.
• 19:10
  At a time, I was the only Native American division one golfer in the entire country, and
• 19:16
  I'm only the second Native American Native American to ever receive NCAA All American
• 19:23
  honors as well.
• 19:24
  So it doesn't it doesn't necessarily, like, a chip on my shoulder, not like I hate anyone
• 19:30
  else, but I have to remember as well that I am carrying a whole entire nation on top of on my
• 19:37
  back, and I have to do everything that I can to represent them well.
• 19:41
  Because we come from a strong people, you know, a a strong and a strong lineage and history of
• 19:46
  people and our ancestors that are carrying that with me.
• 19:49
  So always that's something I always try to remember is that, like, I am more than just
• 19:53
  your every average average person.
• 19:55
  You know?
• 19:56
  There I'm carrying so much more than that.
• 19:58
  There are so many people that are looking up from to me, and I have developed a mindset to
• 20:02
  be able to look away from that.
• 20:04
  100 99% of people look at that as pressure.
• 20:07
  I look at that as motivation and and and happiness.
• 20:10
  You know?
• 20:10
  And so that's what kinda drives me every single day is, like, it's not and people try to try to
• 20:16
  put in my mind that it's pressure, but it's not.
• 20:18
  I don't see it as
• 20:19
  It's not pressure.
• 20:20
  It's pride.
• 20:21
  Mhmm.
• 20:22
  It's pride.
• 20:22
  It's who I am.
• 20:24
  And when you play with pride of people, that's powerful.
• 20:29
  Like, that is people would say, oh, he's feeling the pressure.
• 20:33
  No.
• 20:33
  It didn't matter if anything, bro.
• 20:34
  You're you should be feeling the pressure if you got you know, you gotta sit over here and
• 20:38
  try and get in his head and say, oh, it's pressure.
• 20:40
  You're the one feeling the pressure.
• 20:42
  He's out here doing his thing representing his people, and you're like, oh, man.
• 20:46
  This guy, he's a reservation kid, and he's smoking me right now.
• 20:51
  Yep.
• 20:52
  So here's a story Here's a story before we we close-up.
• 20:57
  I was at the NCAA tournament.
• 20:59
  First day, I shoot three under, and I'm right there.
• 21:01
  I think I'm in eighth place or fifth place or something.
• 21:03
  Second day, I shoot two under on a hard, windy day.
• 21:06
  It was a gritty two under.
• 21:07
  I went birdie I went birdie birdie birdie on the last three holes to get that.
• 21:10
  You know?
• 21:12
  And then so I'm grinding it out, grinding it out.
• 21:14
  And then the night before the the tournament, I'm just kinda sitting there, like, just
• 21:19
  thinking.
• 21:20
  You know?
• 21:20
  Or not before the last round of the tournament.
• 21:23
  I'm sitting there kinda thinking about, like, dang, like, all the hard, like like, all the
• 21:28
  hard things I've been through and, like, dang.
• 21:31
  Like, I'm finally here.
• 21:32
  Like, I climbed that mountain, and I finally got my I could see it right there.
• 21:35
  You know?
• 21:35
  I'm just trying to fight those feelings off.
• 21:37
  Right?
• 21:39
  And I remember, like, right before I went to bed, you know, I kinda like to do a little bit
• 21:43
  of deep breaths before I go to bed, you know, before a tournament like that.
• 21:46
  Because, you know, that feeling of, like, you almost jump you almost fall off a high high
• 21:51
  high diving board or, like, that nervous feeling.
• 21:54
  Yeah.
• 21:54
  Imagine that in a golf tournament.
• 21:56
  You're feeling that for about five or six days straight.
• 21:59
  Right?
• 21:59
  And it never really turns off.
• 22:01
  It it does at points, but it never really turns off.
• 22:03
  You're almost feeling that for six days straight.
• 22:05
  It's the best feeling in the world, but it can drive you a guy about nuts.
• 22:08
  You know?
• 22:09
  And
• 22:10
  I think they call that an adrenaline high.
• 22:13
  Yeah.
• 22:13
  That's okay.
• 22:15
  And so I was feeling that, and I was trying to fight that off.
• 22:18
  Right?
• 22:18
  I just remember sitting there, and I was like, you know what?
• 22:22
  You're feeling this feeling, whatever, but just let it let it push you because you worked so
• 22:27
  hard to feel this feeling.
• 22:28
  This is what you played for.
• 22:30
  And I guarantee you, there might be guys that might be more talented out there than you.
• 22:34
  There might be guys that might have more this, that, and other, but not a single one of them
• 22:39
  has worked as hard as you to get back from this injury that you had under a year ago and to to
• 22:45
  fight back and to just fight, to be able to just play this game.
• 22:49
  Not be in this position, but just to be able to play at a nine hole golf course.
• 22:54
  And so I went in there with that mindset, and I ended up going shooting 64 in the final round
• 22:58
  and getting second place and being one of the best tournaments to ever play in the NCAA
• 23:03
  national championship ever and top top three tournament ever.
• 23:08
  And then it was funny because I rolled in my last putt at May 20 at a ride around 04:00.
• 23:15
  And so
• 23:17
  And you didn't know until almost six.
• 23:19
  Yeah.
• 23:19
  Yeah.
• 23:20
  Until at 04:00.
• 23:22
  And then I tapped it in on May 20 at 04:00 is the exact time I tore my hamstring a year prior
• 23:31
  to that.
• 23:32
  So it's just one of
• 23:33
  those things, man.
• 23:34
  If you just if you just put your head down and work and believe in yourself and don't let the
• 23:40
  external people and whoever they are tell you that you're not capable or tell you that this
• 23:45
  is more this is more logical and you should take this path.
• 23:49
  If you don't listen to that and you just keep grinding every day and keep believing in
• 23:53
  yourself internally, you're gonna accomplish great things.
• 23:56
  You know?
• 23:57
  I believe in that.
• 23:58
  Alright, ma'am.
• 24:00
  Before we get out of here, I wanna give you the floor.
• 24:03
  What are you doing in the future?
• 24:05
  What can we expect to see from you?
• 24:07
  And, you know, plug yourself.
• 24:10
  What do we got going on, Lance?
• 24:12
  Yeah.
• 24:12
  I'm, I'm I'm working towards my professional golf career right now.
• 24:18
  I'm hoping to make that start here in August.
• 24:21
  I just have some, some, I guess, logistics I need to work out on everything, and then we'll
• 24:29
  I'll make make my announcements and everything.
• 24:31
  But but other than that, I'm still working on my golf brand.
• 24:35
  I do Driven.
• 24:37
  Here.
• 24:37
  I'm a get a sticker real quick for you guys.
• 24:39
  Everyone go follow Driven on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
• 24:42
  It's on there.
• 24:44
  It is my brand.
• 24:45
  I started about a year ago.
• 24:46
  The year when our anniversary was about three years ago.
• 24:49
  And Could you
• 24:49
  flash that one more time?
• 24:51
  Three days ago.
• 24:52
  Sorry.
• 24:53
  Here we go.
• 24:54
  Driven.
• 24:56
  Driven.
• 24:56
  Everyone go follow
• 24:57
  Driven.
• 24:57
  Logo.
• 24:58
  Yeah.
• 24:59
  I know.
• 24:59
  Right?
• 25:00
  Yeah.
• 25:01
  Troy Fico was the guy that made it for me.
• 25:03
  Go follow him as well.
• 25:05
  And then, I'm working towards that.
• 25:07
  I'm doing youth golf camps and stuff like that kind of for a living.
• 25:10
  And then, yeah, just waiting on for the next tournament, man.
• 25:15
  I'm trying to go find the next one.
• 25:17
  So go follow Driven and follow along on that process.
• 25:19
  It's all over there, everything that I'm doing.
• 25:23
  Alright, man.
• 25:23
  I can tell you with without a doubt, this was one of the most fun interviews that I've had.
• 25:29
  It was a pleasure having you, and I hope we can do this again.
• 25:32
  You bet, man.
• 25:33
  Thank you.
• 25:34
  Alright, man.
• 25:35
  I know you got some work to get in.
• 25:37
  I know you're hungry, so
• 25:39
  you
• 25:39
  go and get in that go get that fuel to go, you know, drive you further.
• 25:44
  Everyone go check out Driven on Instagram.
• 25:47
  Is there any other socials you'd like to plug that the people can go follow?
• 25:50
  Yeah.
• 25:51
  Follow me on Instagram as well.
• 25:52
  Lance underscore six zero five.
• 25:55
  Alright.
• 25:56
  You heard the man.
• 25:57
  This was the scratch project.
• 25:59
  This was Lance Christensen.
• 26:00
  I'm Pods Plays Golf.
• 26:02
  I'll see you guys next week.
• 26:04
  Lance, thank you so much for coming on, brother.
• 26:06
  I hope we can have you on again very soon.
• 26:08
  Alright.
• 26:09
  You bet.
• 26:09
  Remember, stay driven.
• 26:11
  Stay driven.
• 26:12
  Alright, guys.
• 26:13
  Catch you.
• 26:30
  Skunked golf.
• 26:31
  Look good even if your game stinks.