Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Exploring Golf's Challenges, Innovations, and Media with Nathan Rarick

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Exploring Golf's Challenges, Innovations, and Media with Nathan Rarick · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:17
  What's going on, ladies and gentlemen?
• 0:18
  This is Pods Plays Golf.
• 0:20
  Welcome to a special episode of The Scratch Project.
• 0:24
  Today, I am joined by my special guest, Nathan Rarek of Fairway to Green.
• 0:33
  And we're gonna bring Nathan in right now.
• 0:37
  How are doing, man?
• 0:39
  I'm good.
• 0:39
  How are you?
• 0:40
  Thank thanks for having me on.
• 0:43
  I'm great.
• 0:44
  I'm just, like I said, we've touched on it a bit.
• 0:46
  Just a little tired from the weekend.
• 0:49
  Yeah.
• 0:49
  No.
• 0:49
  I I I get it.
• 0:51
  It's, you know, playing golf on the weekend is always fun, but, you know, there's a little
• 0:54
  downfall to to all the playing and all the practice, but that's kinda what makes the game
• 0:58
  fun.
• 1:00
  I feel like every time I have a weekend tournament or just a weekend tee time, like, I
• 1:05
  have my friend that I go with on the weekends, and the tee time is always 06:30 in the morning
• 1:09
  or something.
• 1:09
  And I'm just like, oh my god.
• 1:12
  Yes.
• 1:12
  You know, sometimes I don't mind playing that early, but, you know, there are days where it's
• 1:17
  like, you know what?
• 1:18
  No.
• 1:18
  I I wouldn't mind a a 10:00, 09:30 tee time.
• 1:21
  You know, sleep in a little, get there, and and go.
• 1:24
  But, you know, what if you tee off that early, you got the rest of the day ahead of you.
• 1:28
  And, you know, if you're feeling up to, you could always sneak in maybe a little nine holes
• 1:32
  later in the day, or if you're really ambitious, and you'll play another 18.
• 1:39
  Yeah.
• 1:40
  I think I think that's a good place to start.
• 1:43
  So just casual fun here.
• 1:45
  What's the most holes you've played in the day?
• 1:48
  My record's, like, 36.
• 1:51
  I've done 36 a couple times.
• 1:56
  You know, it's it's the point where it's like I'm going out of town.
• 2:00
  Like, a couple years ago, I was down in, actually, it was down in Tennessee, Mississippi
• 2:06
  area.
• 2:07
  I was down there with my fiance.
• 2:09
  You know, she was visiting a friend, and we went.
• 2:11
  We watched the I think it was maybe the second round of the FedEx St.
• 2:14
  Jude championship.
• 2:15
  And the day before, I think I played two different courses out there, just, you know, to
• 2:20
  see what it was like.
• 2:21
  And, you know, both good courses, I will say the second time I got stuck in rain, like, a
• 2:26
  nice little, like, fifteen minute rainstorm, and I was on, like, whole 12.
• 2:30
  I had no idea, so I just had to sit in the cart, get soaked.
• 2:33
  But, yeah, 36 is the most I've done.
• 2:36
  After that, I I don't I don't know if I could play anymore after 36.
• 2:43
  Yeah.
• 2:44
  I, I did 36 holes a couple times.
• 2:48
  I had the first time I did 36 holes, I was playing at an executive course, so it's not
• 2:54
  like a regular course.
• 2:56
  I played 18 there, and then my buddy was like, hey.
• 2:59
  Are you still in town?
• 3:01
  And I'm like, yeah.
• 3:01
  And he's like, you wanna go play Apple Valley with me?
• 3:04
  And I was like, okay.
• 3:06
  And I was all confident about it.
• 3:08
  Then I went and played 18 at a full size big boy golf course, and I'd played 36 holes in a
• 3:14
  matter of, like, in the span of, like, forty five minutes of each other, you know, starting
• 3:20
  ending the first one, starting the second one.
• 3:22
  I started golf that day probably at, like, eight in the morning and didn't get home and
• 3:28
  finish my round until, like, six at night.
• 3:32
  Yeah.
• 3:32
  I mean, that's those are the fun rounds.
• 3:34
  Like, I know the the one time my friend and I, I'm living in New York, so kind of the finger
• 3:40
  licks there.
• 3:41
  So not a ton of golf courses.
• 3:43
  So there's, like, two nine hole courses that we played, and then we went and we went and played
• 3:48
  one of the front nines and one of the 18 hole courses.
• 3:51
  It was kinda we started, like you said, like, 9AM after the second round, like, grabbed lunch
• 3:56
  somewhere, played the last nine, then went to dinner.
• 3:59
  And, you know, it's it's something we try to do every year, just, you know, a different 27
• 4:05
  holes or whatever it may be.
• 4:06
  But, you know, he's one when I when I told him I played 36 holes.
• 4:10
  He was like, I don't know if I could do that.
• 4:11
  He he was like, I'll do 27.
• 4:13
  But if you add another nine, he's he's not in for it.
• 4:16
  Dude, it hurts your hands too.
• 4:18
  Glove or no glove after a while.
• 4:20
  Like, I don't know about you, but I'll show them.
• 4:23
  I don't know if you can see them on camera, but I've got calluses just right here on my fingers
• 4:28
  Yeah.
• 4:28
  Built up from swings upon swings upon swings.
• 4:34
  And I don't know if I could do 36 holes, anything past that.
• 4:38
  Like, 36 is my limit.
• 4:41
  Yeah.
• 4:41
  I don't I know, like again, I'm in New York, so Josh Allen's big big golfer here in the Buffalo
• 4:47
  area, and he does a thing where he plays he plays from, like, sunset or sunrise to sunset
• 4:53
  every year for, like, a charity.
• 4:56
  And I I can't remember.
• 4:57
  It's probably, like, every birdie he makes, he donates x amount of money, but then and he
• 5:01
  plays.
• 5:01
  And at the end of the day, his stats are like, I played a 100 some odd holes today.
• 5:06
  And he has he's got other Bills players to do it with him and other, like, sports media
• 5:10
  people in in Buffalo.
• 5:12
  It's all for a good cause, but, like, they'll post, like, their stats and be like, oh, I
• 5:16
  played 95 holes today.
• 5:17
  I'm like, I don't know how you can grip a club anymore, let alone swing, and my legs would be
• 5:22
  sore.
• 5:22
  Just, like, at some point, it can't be enjoyable anymore.
• 5:28
  Yeah.
• 5:29
  Speaking of, taking a massive amount of, challenge and charity, I keep like, I I don't
• 5:39
  know about you, but I keep getting on Instagram and Facebook.
• 5:42
  And I keep seeing this thing swirling around about the September swing challenge.
• 5:47
  I don't know if you've seen this.
• 5:48
  Like, it's three three hundred swings in September.
• 5:52
  I have to bring it.
• 5:54
  I don't have it on me right now, but I it's like, it pops up intermittently, and it's been
• 5:58
  popping up all summer.
• 5:59
  But I think it's like the American Heart Foundation or something.
• 6:02
  They're doing, like, a 300 swings in September challenge or something like that.
• 6:08
  Okay.
• 6:09
  Yeah.
• 6:09
  No.
• 6:09
  I'll Golf
• 6:10
  and heart heart health.
• 6:12
  And I was like, alright.
• 6:13
  Cool.
• 6:13
  I do 300 swings between the range and one round.
• 6:16
  So
• 6:17
  Yeah.
• 6:17
  Yeah.
• 6:19
  I mean, as, I'm a PE teacher as well, so we we do the the jumper up for heart with American
• 6:24
  Heart Association.
• 6:25
  So involving the golf into that, I think, is just an easy connection for both of them.
• 6:31
  And, again, it's something when I had taught high school PE, it was one of the sports I
• 6:35
  taught because I thought it was an easy thing for them to learn, and then it's something you
• 6:40
  can do for the rest of your life practically.
• 6:42
  It's it's a really good lifetime sport, and it's a good way of
• 6:45
  exercising.
• 6:45
  I wish that my PE teachers would have introduced me to golf because, I grew up in
• 6:51
  Kansas.
• 6:52
  Right?
• 6:53
  I was born out here, but I grew up in Kansas.
• 6:55
  And we had nothing but plains and green grass and fields.
• 6:59
  And, man, I wish that my PE teacher would've introduced us to golf at a much earlier age
• 7:06
  because then I could've got some practice in.
• 7:08
  It's a it it was one where, you know, it was during the COVID years.
• 7:12
  So, like, they were very strict on rules and what golf balls you could touch and what golf
• 7:18
  clubs you could touch.
• 7:18
  And it got to the point where I had probably, like, 15 kids a class, and I gave them all,
• 7:24
  like, golf wiffle balls.
• 7:26
  And I had to mark them with different colors so they knew who's the one to touch.
• 7:30
  And it was an insane amount of work to do.
• 7:33
  And then also trusting these, you know, high schoolers with seven irons and pitching wedges
• 7:39
  in their hand and, like, I was like, boy, what am I getting myself into?
• 7:43
  But nothing bad happened.
• 7:44
  No clubs were thrown.
• 7:46
  No one was hit.
• 7:47
  Again, it's a great sport.
• 7:50
  I know it's not for everyone.
• 7:52
  It's boring.
• 7:53
  People call it boring and and all that, but I think it's one of those things that, again, you
• 7:58
  can do for the rest of your life.
• 8:00
  So why wouldn't me as a teacher teach it?
• 8:03
  You know, I think golf gets kind of a bad rap in the boring aspect because people that call
• 8:07
  it boring have only ever watched it on TV.
• 8:10
  Yeah.
• 8:11
  And I don't think they've ever gone and actually played outside of maybe putt putt golf
• 8:15
  in the driving range.
• 8:17
  And it's funny because you go and talk to those same people, and they're like, oh, yeah.
• 8:20
  I love putt putt golf in the driving range.
• 8:21
  I'm like, then go to the golf course and just play.
• 8:25
  It doesn't matter if you're good or not.
• 8:27
  Just play and swing.
• 8:28
  You'll have fun.
• 8:29
  Yeah.
• 8:30
  I what other I mean, what other sport allows you to get up early and drink beer at six in
• 8:35
  the morning?
• 8:35
  No.
• 8:36
  And, again, I I think you bring up a good point.
• 8:38
  It's like, it doesn't matter, like, how good you are.
• 8:40
  And I I think when I first started again, I I started late.
• 8:43
  I started I think the first time I ever played was I was a high school sophomore and because I
• 8:49
  was busy with baseball and hockey and other things.
• 8:51
  So those were the things I did.
• 8:53
  It wasn't till, you know, college time I really got into it when I wasn't doing those sports,
• 8:58
  and I still wanted to be competitive and and, you know, beat my friends and hang out with my
• 9:03
  friends that I've got more into it now and turned 30 a couple months ago.
• 9:07
  And now that's that's pretty much the only thing I do now, like, sports wise, is practice
• 9:12
  or go to the putting rate or, like, putting green or or play.
• 9:16
  Now I'm unfortunately in New York, so our season is very limited.
• 9:20
  But I I think it's for me, it's a great way to get those, like, competitive juices going, you
• 9:26
  know, playing against my brother, playing against my friend, or just, you know, the the
• 9:31
  grind of it is something that is maybe makes me a golf sicko.
• 9:37
  Like, I don't mind.
• 9:38
  Like, last week, I woke up at 07:30AM, and I went to the range for an hour, and then I
• 9:42
  putted for an hour.
• 9:43
  And it's like, why?
• 9:45
  I'm not playing on tour.
• 9:46
  I'm not trying to chase some club championship, but I just enjoy getting better at this game.
• 9:55
  Well, let me answer your questions there, more like your statement there.
• 10:01
  One, because we're psychotic and we love this game so much.
• 10:04
  For sure.
• 10:05
  You know, we got a little bit of psycho in us because we love a game that we just go and
• 10:10
  chase that next big shot even though we've, like, shanked 13 of them to the right, and
• 10:16
  we've been in the trees all day.
• 10:17
  But you get that one good shot, you're like, yeah.
• 10:20
  I'm a do this for the rest of my life.
• 10:22
  Yeah.
• 10:24
  No.
• 10:24
  I mean, it's And you
• 10:25
  started you started golf when?
• 10:28
  College?
• 10:29
  The the first time I really played was, like, sophomore year of high school, and and then I
• 10:35
  got into it more in college.
• 10:37
  I'm I'm not super proud of this, but the one course by our our college, my friend and I
• 10:43
  found out that they have a a nine hole course.
• 10:45
  Now they have an 18 hole course up kind of on top of the hill, so then they have, like, their
• 10:50
  executive nine.
• 10:51
  And it was down on the bottom.
• 10:52
  We played it once, and we went to go pay at the clubhouse, like Shaq they have, and no one was
• 10:58
  there.
• 10:58
  And we're like,
• 11:00
  alright.
• 11:00
  Let's go play it again.
• 11:02
  Yeah.
• 11:02
  So, like, we quickly learned that no one was ever there.
• 11:05
  So we would play there once, twice a week kind of towards the end of our college year just
• 11:09
  because that's when the weather was nice.
• 11:11
  And it's like, yeah.
• 11:13
  Should we go up to the pro shop on the hill to go pay?
• 11:15
  But I'm like, I'm not driving all the way up there to do that.
• 11:18
  If they want someone here, they should put someone here.
• 11:21
  So, like, that was when I really got into it.
• 11:23
  And then the COVID, right, we talk about this COVID boom.
• 11:27
  That's all I did.
• 11:28
  I that was the first time I took lessons.
• 11:30
  I think I I bought, like, a a six pack of lessons and really just focused on different
• 11:36
  things and spending time at the range and putting.
• 11:39
  And now, you know, it's it's led to still playing bad golf, but it's still fun.
• 11:48
  Yeah.
• 11:49
  Don't, you know, don't be ashamed of that.
• 11:51
  I mean, if they're not gonna have people down there, that's their own fault.
• 11:55
  Yeah.
• 11:55
  I I agree.
• 11:59
  For me, though, I got a really late start to golf.
• 12:02
  This is actually, my second year golfing.
• 12:06
  Okay.
• 12:08
  It was my second year starting in, April.
• 12:12
  I got into it really, really late.
• 12:14
  Like, I I got into it last year.
• 12:17
  I was looking for a way to lose some weight and not really think about it.
• 12:21
  And I was like, well, what if I just walk the golf course?
• 12:23
  Yeah.
• 12:24
  And then it turned into, oh, man.
• 12:25
  This is really fun.
• 12:26
  And then it turned into, yeah.
• 12:28
  This is this is it.
• 12:29
  This is what I'm doing.
• 12:32
  I think.
• 12:32
  Like, I I can't tell you how obsessed I am with this game.
• 12:35
  It's actually sometimes I go to sleep thinking about just, you know, club clubs, ball flight,
• 12:43
  everything, and I'm just like, oh, man.
• 12:45
  I got a problem.
• 12:48
  I know.
• 12:48
  It it's this term gets thrown around, and I I wouldn't say it's a newer term, but, like, the
• 12:53
  golf sicko, the golf psycho, whatever you wanna call it.
• 12:56
  Like, it's it's fully ingrained into me now.
• 13:00
  Like, how do I plan my week?
• 13:04
  Like, when can I go to the range?
• 13:05
  When can I sneak out nine holes?
• 13:08
  When am I gonna wake up early to play nine holes before I have to go do this?
• 13:12
  Like, again, I I'm a teacher.
• 13:14
  So man.
• 13:15
  Yeah.
• 13:16
  I I'm a teacher.
• 13:17
  I I coach things.
• 13:18
  So, like, my soccer season starts here, and I think August 31 is our first day.
• 13:22
  So I got, like, two weeks left before soccer, and then, like, school starts in September.
• 13:26
  It's like, alright.
• 13:27
  How can I make the most out of these, like, next two and a half ish weeks before I can't
• 13:32
  really play other than maybe a Saturday or Sunday morning or or something like that?
• 13:37
  So it's it's tough being in New York.
• 13:40
  I I will say I've the the sicko in me has looked into moving somewhere south where I can
• 13:46
  play golf twelve months of the year and enjoy it.
• 13:50
  And, again, I I think it'd be great if I could play in December.
• 13:54
  But Hey. Of
• 13:55
  Of course, we're here in
• 13:55
  New California, baby.
• 13:57
  Golf all year long.
• 13:58
  I know.
• 13:59
  I've we're we're big Florida fans here.
• 14:02
  My my fiance is a big, a Disney fan.
• 14:04
  So, like, we go down there.
• 14:05
  I've played some of those Disney courses.
• 14:07
  And this past June, like, right after school went out, we spent, like, three weeks in
• 14:12
  Florida just, you know, driving around different parts.
• 14:14
  And I played a couple super nice golf courses.
• 14:17
  I was like, yeah.
• 14:17
  Like, this could this would be great if this was my my course I played in November or
• 14:22
  December.
• 14:23
  Like, I'd love that.
• 14:26
  Out of curiosity, which, which part of Florida were you guys in?
• 14:29
  Orlando.
• 14:30
  So we spent we started in Orlando and then went down to the Fort Myers, like Naples area.
• 14:37
  So you got to play some of those Disney courses.
• 14:39
  Did you play any other courses while you were in Orlando, like, No No?
• 14:43
  Or
• 14:44
  I played it was at Orange Lake Resort.
• 14:46
  I played there.
• 14:47
  Have two courses there.
• 14:49
  I played the lesser the least hard one there, and I still here's the thing.
• 14:54
  I it was a great course.
• 14:55
  It was I was really struggling with the driver that day and, you know, it being in a resort,
• 15:01
  the fairways are tight, and, you know, there's condos and townhouses all over the place.
• 15:05
  And I donated a lot of balls to some of these houses and just you know, it was it was tough.
• 15:11
  That was one that I played, and I think the other one was called was it the Providence Club
• 15:16
  or or something like that down, like, the Davenport area?
• 15:21
  And then when I went down to Fort Myers, I actually played it was on Sanibel Island.
• 15:26
  That's kind of where we we go to vacations right on the coast.
• 15:30
  It's beautiful beach area, and I was looking, and I have a couple golf courses on the island.
• 15:34
  And I I played at Sanibel Island, I think, golf club there, and it was great.
• 15:38
  There was no one there because, again, golf sicko.
• 15:41
  It's June 28 in Florida, and it's 90 degrees.
• 15:46
  No one's playing golf.
• 15:47
  You know, me from New York, I'm like, I'm gonna play.
• 15:49
  Mind you mind you, as someone, because I actually have some history in Florida.
• 15:55
  I graduated, and I, lived in Florida back and forth between my mom and my dad with, you know,
• 16:01
  shared custody.
• 16:03
  So I got to go down to Florida quite a bit.
• 16:05
  I played a couple rounds of golf with my stepdad when I was in high school, you know,
• 16:09
  down there and in my early twenties just casually to go hang out with him.
• 16:14
  And, some of the nicest courses I didn't get to play the Disney courses, unfortunately.
• 16:19
  But some of the nicest In Lake Nona.
• 16:29
  That's my that's my wife.
• 16:32
  Hey.
• 16:32
  You can come through.
• 16:33
  Oh, thank you.
• 16:34
  Sparkling water.
• 16:35
  There you go.
• 16:38
  This is the person behind the camera who makes all the magic happen.
• 16:41
  Nice.
• 16:43
  Yeah.
• 16:43
  I I think the Orlando area came out.
• 16:45
  I met met up with someone there from from Instagram, and he was like, hey.
• 16:49
  Do you wanna play?
• 16:50
  I'm like, sure.
• 16:50
  And he showed me this this Providence club, and it was fantastic.
• 16:54
  It was pristine.
• 16:55
  Like, the starter was great.
• 16:57
  He goes, you know, we walked this course the other day.
• 16:59
  We counted 38 gators, so watch out.
• 17:02
  Like, I was like, oh, man.
• 17:04
  Like, I don't know.
• 17:04
  They they had towels for us because it was hot, and and so it was I think some of the golf
• 17:09
  courses there are great.
• 17:10
  Again, the the Disney courses are nice.
• 17:12
  They're they're Disney, so you get what you expect.
• 17:14
  Some of them are hard.
• 17:15
  Some of them aren't.
• 17:16
  I know my fiance's dad, he he goes down there, and he'll play a different couple different
• 17:22
  courses sometimes that he likes.
• 17:24
  And, yeah, I mean, there's there's a lot of courses there that I'd love to play that if I
• 17:29
  lived there, I'd probably get the chance to or at least try to.
• 17:32
  Whereas, you know, if I'm there for a week, you know, I'm gonna pick the the closest one or the
• 17:37
  one that has a tee time available.
• 17:41
  I'll tell you this, man.
• 17:42
  People who haven't golfed in Florida before or been to Florida, 90 degrees is no joke with how
• 17:48
  humid it is there.
• 17:50
  Yeah.
• 17:50
  Like, 90 degrees out here in Cali is nice because it's a dry heat.
• 17:54
  Mhmm.
• 17:54
  But 90 degrees in Florida, you are never dry.
• 17:58
  You are always got that flop sweat on your forehead, sweat running down your back.
• 18:02
  Like, it's all it's humid as all can be.
• 18:06
  And also, yeah, you go to a Florida course, you're gonna see some swamp puppies all the
• 18:11
  time.
• 18:13
  Yeah.
• 18:13
  No.
• 18:13
  I I mean,
• 18:14
  I would mention whenever the wind picks up.
• 18:17
  Yeah.
• 18:18
  I got lucky.
• 18:19
  You know, it was again, I I was a little smart in the fact that I made my tea times eight,
• 18:24
  08:30 in the morning, so it's not as hot.
• 18:26
  But, like, as I was finishing at, like, 11:30 noon, I'm like, oh, thank god I'm not going off
• 18:32
  right now because I'd I'd die if I was playing four hours in this.
• 18:35
  And luckily, again, no one was on the golf course, so I was able to zoom through pretty
• 18:40
  quick, you know, where I needed to take my time, you know, catch some shade and all that.
• 18:45
  But, yeah, I think I like the Florida golf.
• 18:47
  I mean, some of the fairways I played were real narrow, so that wasn't great.
• 18:52
  You know, the driver was not working for the first half of the summer, and I kinda figured
• 18:56
  something out here lately that I think if I was driving it like I am now, I would've shot lower
• 19:01
  scores.
• 19:02
  Maybe.
• 19:03
  I don't know.
• 19:04
  But it's definitely definitely a fun time to play different parts.
• 19:07
  Alignment is probably the biggest thing for people like us.
• 19:12
  Like, I think we get in our head too much about our swing.
• 19:18
  Yeah.
• 19:19
  And we forget the basics of alignment and grip, and I think that that cost us more strokes than
• 19:24
  we realize.
• 19:26
  Yeah.
• 19:26
  I mean, you see you see Scottie Scheffler and other people on the range, their internal
• 19:31
  weeks.
• 19:31
  They're they're spending ten minutes talking with their coach about their grip.
• 19:34
  It's like, you're the world number one.
• 19:36
  Why are you doing this?
• 19:38
  But it's literally the contact with the club.
• 19:40
  So if that's off a little, you know, it matters so much.
• 19:44
  And I I think that was honestly, bring up alignment is I was playing with my fiance's
• 19:48
  dad, I don't know, maybe a month ago now, and, usually, I have a little draw to the driver.
• 19:53
  I'm a lefty, so I get the nice left to right ball flight.
• 19:56
  And just I was missing everything left, just, like, really pushing everything left.
• 20:00
  Nothing was coming back right.
• 20:02
  And he was like, you know, last year you stood, like, stand more close to your target.
• 20:06
  I'm like, yeah.
• 20:06
  Like, I I do remember that.
• 20:08
  So I went to the range, and I, you know, started doing that more, and I kinda got that
• 20:12
  drawback.
• 20:13
  So, hopefully, it stays.
• 20:15
  You know, I'm sure there'll be another issue to fix next week or next time I tee it up.
• 20:19
  But right now, I I think we're good with that.
• 20:22
  Now everything else in my bag, you know, there's issues.
• 20:25
  But the driver, I think, is maybe good for now.
• 20:29
  I've got I just I actually just went and got, I got some new equipment over the last couple
• 20:35
  weeks.
• 20:36
  I traded in my Titleist GT two driver, and I got a Cobra dark speed adapt driver.
• 20:45
  And oh my goodness, it is so wonderful.
• 20:50
  I love it so much.
• 20:51
  Yeah.
• 20:51
  It's it's got 33 different lie options lie and loft options on its SureFit 33 hosel adapter.
• 20:59
  It is the most in-depth adapter I've seen on a shaft ever.
• 21:06
  It there's 33 different combinations you can use, and it's incredible.
• 21:10
  And, like, they have this thing on the back of the head cover.
• 21:13
  It looks like circles.
• 21:14
  And I was like, oh, that's kinda cool.
• 21:16
  And then there's a QR code that's on the back of the club.
• 21:19
  And then when you scan it with your phone, it'll actually take you to the adjustability
• 21:24
  guide.
• 21:25
  And those circles that were on the back of your head cover, they just look like interlapping
• 21:29
  circles, like, a Venn diagram.
• 21:31
  They're all different ball flights.
• 21:34
  Wow.
• 21:34
  It's like, you can go and choose them and be like, hey.
• 21:37
  If you have this ball flight after hitting with a one, which is neutral, try this one because
• 21:42
  it'll change your ball flight.
• 21:44
  And it's it's it's surreal.
• 21:46
  I love it so much.
• 21:48
  Yeah.
• 21:49
  I think that's that's a big thing that, again, I'm I haven't played a lot.
• 21:53
  And, you know, being in New York, I don't play a lot.
• 21:55
  So I've I've asked people, you know, PGA pros and and people I've taken lessons with.
• 22:00
  Like, oh, you gotta get fitted.
• 22:02
  You gotta get fitted.
• 22:02
  And I'm like, yeah.
• 22:05
  I think I probably should, but also that's so much money.
• 22:08
  And, again, here in New York, we can play from April to middle of maybe, like, October 1, if
• 22:15
  you're lucky, like, late in October.
• 22:17
  So, like, am I playing less than 20 rounds a year probably?
• 22:23
  Like, in a good year, maybe 20 rounds.
• 22:25
  Like, is it worth that giant investment?
• 22:28
  And and everyone I say it I say and ask, they say, yeah.
• 22:31
  Definitely is.
• 22:32
  You'll play better, and don't you wanna play better?
• 22:34
  I'm like, yeah.
• 22:35
  But I also don't wanna be out.
• 22:36
  You wanna you wanna hear something crazy?
• 22:39
  Yeah.
• 22:40
  I got fit, last year, actually, into Mizuno JPX nine twenty five hot metals and to the title is
• 22:47
  GT two driver and to the five wood and a Mizuno Pro t one wedges and a Ping Scottsdale putter.
• 22:54
  Guess how many of those are still in my bag?
• 22:56
  Zero.
• 22:58
  None of them.
• 22:59
  Yeah.
• 23:00
  And I feel bad because it was a giant waste of money because guess what?
• 23:05
  You could you when you get fit as early as I did and at our skill level, as you get better,
• 23:12
  those clubs make you worse.
• 23:15
  Yeah.
• 23:15
  I think that's a really good point.
• 23:17
  Like So
• 23:18
  I've been fitted for one club in my bag, and it's because I was talking to someone, and I
• 23:23
  think my putter broke.
• 23:26
  And I was like, I don't know.
• 23:27
  Like, I'll just go to Facebook marketplace and and buy some random one.
• 23:31
  And the guy goes, what's the club you use every hole?
• 23:35
  And I was like, I my putter, I guess.
• 23:38
  Like, he was like, you're not chipping in all the time or hauling out.
• 23:40
  I'm like, no.
• 23:41
  I'm definitely not doing that.
• 23:42
  He goes, so why don't you have that fit?
• 23:45
  I'm like, I don't know.
• 23:46
  I was like, I I don't have a good answer for you.
• 23:48
  He goes like, if there's one club that you should have, he was like, outside he was like,
• 23:53
  driver.
• 23:53
  Yeah.
• 23:55
  He was like, you're gonna use the putter in every hole.
• 23:57
  And so I did it.
• 23:58
  I got fitted, and this was, I don't know, three years ago, maybe just after COVID, I I would
• 24:03
  think, if I remember right.
• 24:05
  And I I still have in my bag, and, you know, there are times I'm like, again, I'm a terrible
• 24:11
  putter.
• 24:12
  It's just like I can't like, does it even matter that I have this putter fitted to me?
• 24:16
  I don't know.
• 24:17
  But so that's the one I have.
• 24:19
  But I you bring up, like, you can outgrow these clubs or right?
• 24:24
  Like, all of sudden, you pick up sweetness.
• 24:26
  Now this regular shaft isn't good because you need a stiff shaft iron or in your iron or in
• 24:33
  your driver.
• 24:34
  But, like
• 24:35
  Yeah.
• 24:36
  Because now you're launching your seven iron one eighty.
• 24:38
  Yeah.
• 24:39
  It's like so I I don't know.
• 24:41
  I I'm sure if I were to move and play more or, you know, for whatever reason, win the lottery
• 24:49
  or or something where I can get a big sum of money, sure.
• 24:52
  That'd be one of the things I'd probably do would be get a nice iron set or or something
• 24:56
  like that.
• 24:57
  But to waste my time to get fitted, I don't know.
• 25:00
  I'd I'll I'd have to see the advantages of it before I actually spend the money to do it.
• 25:06
  This is what I would say, and this is to someone who did get fit and has none of that in
• 25:11
  his bag still.
• 25:13
  It is about confidence.
• 25:16
  It is about what you feel is comfortable.
• 25:19
  And sometimes when you get fit, you have this pre you have this notion of what you want
• 25:27
  already.
• 25:29
  So you kinda come in with a little bit of a bias, and you don't really allow yourself to be
• 25:34
  fit into probably what you need to
• 25:35
  be fit
• 25:35
  into because you have in your head, like, oh, I need the strict on z x I r's or whatever.
• 25:42
  Yeah.
• 25:42
  So, like, you really try and that's what I did with the Mizuno JPX nine twenty five.
• 25:46
  It took me a year to realize this, but I kinda I kinda, like was like, yeah.
• 25:51
  This is what I need.
• 25:52
  When in reality, now I play believe it or not, I play a player's distance irons now.
• 25:58
  I play, MaxFly x c twos, and they're wonderful.
• 26:03
  And they're, like, less they're they're more than half the price of the Mizuno JPXs.
• 26:11
  Like, I think my Mizuno JPXs, when I got fitted into them, were, like, $1,300, and I got these
• 26:16
  ones for $800.
• 26:18
  Yeah.
• 26:18
  I I think that's a great After
• 26:20
  trade in, I paid, like, $2,200.
• 26:22
  Yeah.
• 26:22
  I I you breed, everyone's swing is different.
• 26:25
  Everyone's at different parts of the game.
• 26:27
  Right?
• 26:27
  If you're learning the game, like, yeah, like, player development or getting the very basic
• 26:32
  irons are probably good.
• 26:33
  If you're again, I'm, a a 16 on a good day.
• 26:37
  Right?
• 26:38
  And so and, again, I don't play out.
• 26:39
  It's like, is there maybe the next level
• 26:41
  six shots better than me.
• 26:43
  So, like, again, is there a better iron level that I can use?
• 26:48
  Like, I'm not gonna go play blades.
• 26:50
  Like, I'm not stupid.
• 26:51
  Like, oh, put me in p seven nineties from Taylor Made or or, like, I'm I'm not gonna go
• 26:56
  do that.
• 26:57
  Like but, like, what is the best iron for my game?
• 27:01
  Like so I I get the point of, yeah, like, everyone needs a iron that fits their game, and
• 27:06
  I I get it.
• 27:07
  I do.
• 27:08
  It's just more so me.
• 27:09
  It's like, I don't wanna spend all this money.
• 27:11
  And if it doesn't work, now what?
• 27:14
  Like and now I gotta
• 27:15
  You wanna hear something crazy?
• 27:16
  Buy them.
• 27:17
  Like, I don't know.
• 27:20
  I actually disagree with you a little bit there.
• 27:23
  Alright.
• 27:24
  I think a beginner should play blades.
• 27:27
  Okay.
• 27:29
  You know why?
• 27:30
  No.
• 27:30
  Why?
• 27:31
  Because you're gonna learn to strike the ball a heck of a lot better starting out with a
• 27:38
  smaller sweet spot and blades than starting out with game improvement irons.
• 27:43
  And I was I've I've been talking to a couple of my friends about this, and they're like, hey,
• 27:46
  man.
• 27:47
  Ever since you switched to your player's distance irons, you're you know, you still have
• 27:50
  a miss, but it's significantly less.
• 27:53
  The dispersion with blades and player's distance irons are way more like, the smaller
• 28:01
  club head, it's way less than those bigger club heads because they're trying not to punish you
• 28:06
  for off center hits.
• 28:07
  But what they don't tell you about that too is when you hit a really bad one, even if it's
• 28:11
  flush on an off center hit, that thing's going even further into the tree line than if you hit
• 28:17
  it with a blade or, you know, a smaller club head.
• 28:21
  Yeah.
• 28:21
  So if you can learn to hit a blade early and that's what you start with, I honestly think
• 28:29
  you're better off for it because it improves your accuracy and your ball striking.
• 28:34
  Yeah.
• 28:34
  No.
• 28:35
  I I think it's a it's a great point that I haven't really thought about.
• 28:38
  It's like, if you can learn on the hardest thing and then kind of get easier, like, yeah,
• 28:44
  you're gonna have your misses aren't gonna be terrible misses like some my misses are real
• 28:49
  bad sometimes, and that's my thing with playing the draw, and I'm trying to take the one side
• 28:55
  of the fairway out.
• 28:56
  If I know that my miss is gonna be a yank right and I'm not gonna be slicing or pushing things
• 29:02
  left and I'm always gonna be on the right side of fairway in the golf course, that's what I'm
• 29:07
  trying to do.
• 29:07
  It's like, let me at least eliminate half of the course.
• 29:11
  Let me play from this side.
• 29:12
  I know, right, if I hit it good, it's gonna stay in the fairy.
• 29:14
  But if I yank it or really, you know, come over, like, two inside and it really goes
• 29:20
  right, at least I know where it's going.
• 29:22
  If I can just kinda know where my miss is going and make my less my bad shots less bad, that's
• 29:29
  kind of the goal.
• 29:31
  Yeah.
• 29:31
  That's and that's golf.
• 29:32
  You know?
• 29:33
  Play within it's one thing to play, you know, hero ball, but to be able to play within your
• 29:39
  own game, that is probably outside of fixing alignment and grip.
• 29:45
  That's probably the most important part is the mental side of the game is trying not to be a
• 29:51
  hero.
• 29:51
  Like, you will score better if you play safe golf.
• 29:56
  Now people be like, oh, that's boring.
• 29:57
  It's like, watch a punch shot that you punch back out into the fairway sometimes.
• 30:01
  You might end up better than you thought.
• 30:04
  Lay up, you might end up better than you thought.
• 30:07
  Like, you don't always like, especially for me.
• 30:11
  I'm a shorter hitter right now because I'm still getting the mechanics every and
• 30:14
  everything down.
• 30:16
  I'm not trying to hit the green and two on a par five or, heck, even on a par four.
• 30:21
  I play everything, like, it's, so if it's a par four, I play it like a par five.
• 30:26
  Yeah.
• 30:26
  Par five, par six, par three, par four.
• 30:30
  I think that's a great way to learn, and I think you bring it, like right?
• 30:34
  Like, I'm never going for the green and two on a par five.
• 30:38
  I know that I can't hit even if it's 200 yards away or two fifteen, like, where I have to hit
• 30:45
  my hybrid or my three wood.
• 30:47
  Again, I don't know why I have them in the bag because I never hit them because I'm terrible
• 30:50
  at them.
• 30:51
  Like, I know that I'm what I'm gonna do is if I hit a good drive, I'm gonna hit a nine iron,
• 30:57
  eight iron to lay up and get myself, you know, a 150 yards or so in to make par.
• 31:04
  I'm not trying to make birdie.
• 31:06
  Like, I'm like, cool if
• 31:08
  I That's perfect mentality.
• 31:10
  And I make birdie cool.
• 31:12
  I'm perfectly fine with the par.
• 31:14
  Like, give me the par on a par five and and let me walk away.
• 31:18
  I know, like you said, I know my game.
• 31:20
  I can't get there.
• 31:21
  Like, I
• 31:22
  Yeah.
• 31:23
  But that's the hardest part of golf in my opinion, though, too.
• 31:27
  It's accepting your limitations.
• 31:30
  Because golf and this may sound like just part of being the sicko that I am, but golf will
• 31:37
  teach you a whole lot about who you are as a person.
• 31:42
  And it'll humble you.
• 31:45
  Oh, it does.
• 31:45
  And it's the thing I say this all the time, like, when I'm playing with my friends.
• 31:49
  Like, again, I I play baseball.
• 31:51
  So, like, I could hit a pitcher throwing 90 miles an hour.
• 31:55
  I could hit that.
• 31:56
  I could hit the curveball, and it's moving.
• 31:58
  When that little white ball is standing still, perfectly in the fairway, and I chunk it or I
• 32:05
  thin it or I yank it 30 yards right.
• 32:07
  Like, I'm like, what?
• 32:09
  Like, why?
• 32:10
  Like, why is this game
• 32:11
  You feel like it's mocking you.
• 32:13
  Yeah.
• 32:13
  I'm like, this game should not be this hard.
• 32:16
  Right?
• 32:16
  I have a basic you.
• 32:18
  Yeah.
• 32:19
  I have a basic chip.
• 32:20
  Duff it.
• 32:21
  Or I skull it.
• 32:22
  Like, what am I doing?
• 32:23
  Like, it was like, the other day, I played, and it was a par three.
• 32:28
  It was, like, a 155 yards.
• 32:30
  Hit a great shot.
• 32:31
  I'm maybe, like, 15 feet from the pin, and it's downhill.
• 32:35
  So I'm like, alright.
• 32:36
  I can't really hit this hard because it's gonna go way by, and I don't wanna do that.
• 32:40
  And I was so nervous that I hit my first putt five feet.
• 32:45
  Now I give myself a 10 foot downhill for par.
• 32:48
  Missed that.
• 32:49
  And now you're frustrated.
• 32:50
  Putt.
• 32:51
  I go, I just took me one hit to hit it a 155 yards on the green.
• 32:55
  Took me three putts from 15 feet.
• 32:58
  Like, am I doing?
• 32:59
  Like, this is, like, this I'm like, this is so dumb.
• 33:02
  Like, this is like, why do I play this game?
• 33:05
  But I did I am I gonna play again this week?
• 33:08
  Absolutely.
• 33:09
  Is it the same thing?
• 33:09
  Absolutely.
• 33:11
  Maybe.
• 33:12
  But, like, it's just, like, so many things.
• 33:14
  Like, when and then, again, I'm not a PGA Tour player.
• 33:19
  I'm not a pro.
• 33:20
  Like, I'm not a scratch.
• 33:21
  I'm not a single digit heavy.
• 33:22
  I understand that.
• 33:24
  But, like, when something as easy as that, then I just screw up so bad.
• 33:28
  I'm like, why?
• 33:29
  Why am I playing this?
• 33:30
  And but here I am.
• 33:32
  You know, I have a podcast about it.
• 33:34
  I write about it.
• 33:35
  I I play it all the time, and I love it even though it drives me insanely mad more than any
• 33:41
  other sport I've ever played in my life did.
• 33:45
  Yeah.
• 33:45
  It'll drive you up a wall if you let it.
• 33:47
  Oh, it does.
• 33:48
  It it's so so frustrating.
• 33:50
  And it's like
• 33:51
  But with me and you being sickos the way that we are, we'll be getting driven up that wall.
• 33:56
  And then the next thing you know, we'll have, like, a little marker here, and we have just
• 34:00
  equations and everything on the wall of why we screwed up and, oh, this will definitely fix my
• 34:06
  game.
• 34:07
  Yeah.
• 34:07
  It's like my Instagram Discover feed is swing thoughts and swing tips and this and your setup
• 34:14
  and all this.
• 34:15
  And it's like, man, it's just like I'm hitting driving range hitting if driving range of my
• 34:20
  shots will go to, like, read and whatever.
• 34:23
  And I'm just, like, mad and, like, yelling at myself, swearing at myself, and she's like,
• 34:30
  what's the matter?
• 34:31
  I'm like, I can't play this game.
• 34:33
  She goes, so?
• 34:34
  You're bad.
• 34:35
  Who cares?
• 34:36
  I'm like, I care.
• 34:37
  I wanna be better.
• 34:38
  She was like, you play once a week.
• 34:40
  You're not gonna get better like this.
• 34:41
  I'm like, I guess that's fair.
• 34:43
  But, like, it's still so frustrating.
• 34:46
  That's a punch that's a punch in the pride right there.
• 34:49
  Yeah.
• 34:51
  Alright.
• 34:52
  We've talked a lot of golf, and, I feel like I've done you a little bit of a disservice.
• 34:57
  I haven't really talked about you very much.
• 34:59
  Oh, it's okay.
• 34:59
  You're from New York.
• 35:01
  You are the creator, host, and editor in chief of Fairway to Green.
• 35:09
  Tell me how that came about.
• 35:10
  Yeah.
• 35:11
  So I'm I'm not the creator, editor, all that before you give me too much credit.
• 35:16
  I'm just a writer and podcast host there.
• 35:19
  The whole operation goes to to my boss, Kelly Kelly Okin, who she started this media company
• 35:26
  back, I think, 2022, 2023.
• 35:30
  She was a division one golfer.
• 35:32
  She played on the mini tours, I think, the Epson tour a little, and then she worked in a
• 35:37
  golf marketing business and really noticed that the women in golf and golf coverage for women
• 35:43
  isn't covered as well as the men, and she created Fairy to Green to be more of an
• 35:48
  equitable sports media company.
• 35:50
  And, again, we'll throw the golf sicko thing out there.
• 35:53
  I was on a website one day, you know, in my office between classes, and they're looking for
• 35:58
  careers in golf as I as I do sometimes.
• 36:02
  And I saw this thing pop up for Ferriter Green to be a writer.
• 36:05
  I'm like, you know what?
• 36:06
  Let me apply on a whim.
• 36:07
  I have no writing experience.
• 36:09
  I'm a PE teacher.
• 36:10
  I I don't have a writing background.
• 36:12
  I play golf.
• 36:13
  At the time, I was the JV golf coach at my school.
• 36:17
  I applied, and, you know, Kelly and I talked the next day and did some writing submissions
• 36:23
  for I think it was the the RSM classic was my first one in 2024 in November 2024, and she
• 36:30
  liked it.
• 36:31
  And, you know, from there, it's been almost two years now, this November of, you know, covering
• 36:36
  golf on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, the the women's tours.
• 36:40
  And this past last summer, I created my one of the two podcasts I host called the draw, which
• 36:46
  is kind of a golf news podcast similar to this.
• 36:49
  My cohost and I, Brian, he's gonna be a senior at Syracuse University and then journalism
• 36:55
  school there.
• 36:56
  Yeah.
• 36:56
  We go over all the things that are happening in golf world.
• 37:00
  So that was been good.
• 37:01
  You know, that one's growing steadily.
• 37:03
  And then just a couple months ago, kind of in April, I sat down with my boss, Kelly, and she
• 37:08
  was like, I wanna get more into storytelling.
• 37:10
  And I was like, cool.
• 37:11
  Like, I'd love that.
• 37:12
  Like, I'd love writing the recaps of Scottie Schuffler winning for the fifth time this year
• 37:16
  and Rory McIlroy winning the masters and completing the career grandstand Back to back.
• 37:21
  And all of that.
• 37:22
  Those were so fun to write about.
• 37:24
  But, you know, I wanted to, like, how can I do something different and more?
• 37:29
  And I pitched her the idea of, you know, can I start a podcast where I just talk to PJ
• 37:34
  professionals?
• 37:35
  And she was like, yeah.
• 37:36
  I love that idea.
• 37:38
  And it's kind of taken off from there.
• 37:40
  I've I've interviewed a whole bunch of people, and we've released, I think, it's up to, like,
• 37:43
  eight or nine episodes now.
• 37:46
  And I've talked to some really cool people at some really cool golf courses and just kind of
• 37:49
  learning how they got to where they are and what they do in their career.
• 37:54
  And I've talked to people that are the traditional head golf professional.
• 37:58
  I've talked to people that were a head golf professional that left work in a golf course to
• 38:02
  go be a master club fitter or or do something else in the golf world.
• 38:07
  And it's been really fun.
• 38:09
  It's led me to some really cool conversations with people that I never thought I'd I'd talked
• 38:14
  to.
• 38:14
  And, like, for instance, I I talked to one of the assistant golf professionals at and we
• 38:20
  talked about the PGA Championship.
• 38:22
  Oh.
• 38:22
  Yeah.
• 38:22
  I talked to the assistant golf professional at Hazeltine before the women's PGA Championship
• 38:29
  there.
• 38:29
  And so I've got some some really cool people that are really good at their job, and I've
• 38:35
  been able to connect.
• 38:36
  And it's been a lot of fun to, you know, start this journey of trying to be I don't even wanna
• 38:42
  call myself a golf content creator, maybe trying to be someone in the golf media or just,
• 38:47
  you know
• 38:48
  Buddy, you're a golf content creator.
• 38:50
  Yeah.
• 38:51
  I
• 38:51
  You're there?
• 38:52
  Whatever
• 38:53
  you wanna call it, I it's been really fun.
• 38:56
  And, you know, where it goes, who knows?
• 38:59
  I I'm still teaching.
• 39:00
  So will it one day be my full time job?
• 39:02
  I I have no idea.
• 39:04
  But it's definitely something I enjoy doing, and, it's always nice to, you know, talk with
• 39:08
  other golf content creators about this game that drives us so maddening, but also that we'd
• 39:14
  love so much.
• 39:17
  Yeah.
• 39:18
  I guess I should clarify when I say creator, like, not like as in you made the thing, but
• 39:23
  creator as in you're a content creator.
• 39:26
  Because now that word is just such a I feel like that word's got, like, three different
• 39:30
  meetings now.
• 39:30
  You can be, like, the creator of the blog, create and then it's, like, create just
• 39:33
  everything gets dumbed down to creator.
• 39:36
  I'll tell you this much, man.
• 39:38
  I have enjoyed having you on, and we do coverage of everything as well.
• 39:45
  And I wouldn't mind having you on as, like, a special guest or a special guest analyst when
• 39:50
  you have time to cover some of these big events like Aaron Rye, mister double glove head cover,
• 39:58
  bringing
• 39:58
  it in.
• 39:59
  I mean, that was one of the more shocking ones that I talked about with my cohost when we did
• 40:05
  that recap, and it just, like, again, like, I'm I'm a sicko.
• 40:10
  That was a tough course.
• 40:11
  Yeah.
• 40:12
  I watch every week on the PGA tour.
• 40:13
  Like, I know random players' names and how good they are.
• 40:17
  So, like, I knew Aaron Rye.
• 40:18
  I thought Aaron Rye had a case to be on the Ryder Cup team last year.
• 40:22
  Like, I I thought Aaron Rye is good.
• 40:26
  Very good.
• 40:27
  Like, he doesn't get a lot of notoriety in the PGA, but he is one of the best DP World Tour
• 40:33
  golfers ever.
• 40:34
  Yeah.
• 40:35
  I mean, beat Between him and Francisco Morielli.
• 40:38
  Yeah.
• 40:38
  He beat Fleetwood, I think, in a playoff this past fall a year ago, and he's won the Wyndham
• 40:43
  championship.
• 40:44
  I think it was 2024 before Cam Young did.
• 40:47
  And, yeah, I thought he had a serious case for it.
• 40:50
  I I know they end up picking the one Hogarth brother, which was a fine pick.
• 40:54
  He played well.
• 40:55
  Again, there's nothing against it.
• 40:56
  Know Rye deserved it, though.
• 40:58
  Yeah.
• 40:58
  So I there was a lot of, you know, things I thought, like Marco Penn.
• 41:02
  You know?
• 41:02
  And I don't think, yeah, I don't think there's any way they can deny him this year or this
• 41:08
  coming Ryder Cup after winning
• 41:09
  this year.
• 41:09
  I think that team's gonna look obviously, you're gonna have Rory.
• 41:15
  I'm gonna say Ram, who knows with all the live stuff and DP World Tour stuff.
• 41:20
  Like, I'm gonna
• 41:21
  That's interesting.
• 41:22
  I don't I don't know if you watched, my last thing.
• 41:26
  Probably not.
• 41:27
  But okay.
• 41:29
  So Saudi pulled the PIF last year, and that money's already ran out.
• 41:36
  So now they have this partnership, I think, with JCB.
• 41:39
  Mhmm.
• 41:40
  But they're not able to pay these contracts.
• 41:42
  Oh, yeah.
• 41:43
  And they're, like, asking if they would take equity.
• 41:46
  It's like equity and what?
• 41:48
  This company's worth less today than it was Yeah.
• 41:51
  Six months ago.
• 41:53
  And I think from what I've been hearing because I've I've watched, like, the Scratch show the
• 41:59
  Scratch Golf Show, couple other guys, Shane O'Golfs, you know, they report on this stuff
• 42:05
  when it comes out.
• 42:07
  I think Ram is in the process of coming back to the PGA Tour because I'm pretty sure Liv's in
• 42:12
  breach of contract at this point if they can't pay him.
• 42:16
  Yeah.
• 42:16
  And I think he'll probably be out of run.
• 42:19
  He's John Ram.
• 42:20
  He's good now.
• 42:22
  I've I've been on record.
• 42:24
  I've said this to people not on podcasts and people in in my life.
• 42:29
  Personally, I'm not a John Rom fan.
• 42:33
  Him leaving two, three years ago, I thought was, I'm not gonna say cowardly, but it's like,
• 42:40
  come on.
• 42:41
  Like, you said all this stuff and then you leave.
• 42:43
  It's like, alright.
• 42:44
  Like, I get it.
• 42:45
  You wanna get your money.
• 42:47
  I I understand.
• 42:48
  You're setting yourself up for generational wealth and and good for you.
• 42:51
  So, like
• 42:52
  Hey.
• 42:53
  I don't know if you've ever watched professional wrestling, but, back in the
• 42:57
  eighties, there used to be this guy called the million dollar man, Ted DiBiase.
• 43:02
  And he had this famous line, everybody's got a price.
• 43:07
  Yeah.
• 43:07
  So, I mean and he he took it.
• 43:09
  And, again, what I'd like to see him back on the PGA Tour, sure.
• 43:14
  Like, is he one of the top competitors, one of the best golfers in the world?
• 43:18
  Yeah.
• 43:18
  Like, he is.
• 43:19
  He was world number one.
• 43:21
  He has two major championships.
• 43:23
  He's amazing.
• 43:25
  I just Okay.
• 43:26
  Let me ask you this then.
• 43:27
  How how do you feel about Bryson?
• 43:29
  I'm the same.
• 43:30
  I those two just don't I don't need to see them play.
• 43:35
  I know there's a big chunk of people like, I wanna see the best players play the best
• 43:38
  players, and I I get it.
• 43:39
  I would love to see Bryce and Rory go head to head all the time in final pairings and all
• 43:44
  that.
• 43:45
  To me, like, I don't know what live guy I I miss the most.
• 43:52
  That that'd be a really I don't know if I have an answer to that, to be honest, of, like, what
• 43:57
  guy do I miss playing the most.
• 43:59
  I I don't know.
• 44:01
  I think Bryson now, what he's trying to do and I saw I think someone was like, he was asking
• 44:06
  for 500 thou million dollars in his contract. He's
• 44:08
  He's like, okay, dude.
• 44:09
  You're not bigger than the game of golf.
• 44:11
  Like
• 44:12
  No.
• 44:12
  I think that's strategic, though, because he's asking for $500,000,000 knowing they're not
• 44:17
  gonna be able to give him that so he can go back to the PGA tour.
• 44:21
  Yeah.
• 44:21
  And, again, will I be mad if I see him tee it up at TPC Southwind for the FedEx St.
• 44:28
  Jude?
• 44:28
  No.
• 44:28
  Like, cool.
• 44:29
  Like, I again, I wanna see the best players play against the best players.
• 44:33
  Do I miss them?
• 44:34
  No.
• 44:35
  And it seems like I'm like, oh, well, you're just you're an anti live guy.
• 44:40
  No.
• 44:40
  I'm I'm not anti live.
• 44:42
  Live's not for me.
• 44:43
  Like, I I've tried watching it.
• 44:44
  I've sat down on Saturdays and Sundays and tried watching it.
• 44:47
  It's not for me now.
• 44:49
  There are great things that
• 44:49
  are coming.
• 44:50
  Of golf is not as good as the PGA.
• 44:53
  No.
• 44:53
  Like, they're There great is one thing there is one thing from Liv that I wish the PGA would do
• 44:59
  more of, though, and that's the team aspect because I think there's a there's there's money
• 45:05
  there.
• 45:06
  There's real interest there instead of just doing the Zurich classic for the one time, you
• 45:12
  know, the team aspect.
• 45:14
  Yeah.
• 45:14
  I I think
• 45:14
  there's if you had teams in the PGA, it would be great because you could market that and sell
• 45:20
  merch too.
• 45:21
  Yeah.
• 45:22
  You could I mean, I again, I'm a golf sicko.
• 45:26
  I like TGL.
• 45:28
  I'm one of the rare people that like watching it.
• 45:31
  My friends don't watch it.
• 45:33
  My fiance's dad who likes golf and I play with all the time, he's like, it's he's not for me.
• 45:38
  For me Hammer.
• 45:40
  That's the stuff I like.
• 45:42
  I I wanna hear Tiger Woods mic'd up talking to Tom Kim and Max Homa and Kevin Kissner.
• 45:48
  Give me all of that.
• 45:49
  Give me all of the inside conversations on how to hit this shot and what we're trying to do.
• 45:54
  And, like, you saw some of these young players get involved this year.
• 45:58
  Tom Kim, you know, finally breaks through with a win.
• 46:01
  Akshay wins at the Arnold Palmer.
• 46:03
  Michael Thor Bornson gets his win at Rocket Classic.
• 46:06
  He was on a team Patrick.
• 46:08
  Rory McElroy, and Hadecki.
• 46:09
  You can't tell me his weeks spent with those three major championship golfers helped him
• 46:15
  this year.
• 46:16
  Right?
• 46:16
  Like
• 46:16
  Yep.
• 46:17
  Also, shout out Jackson Clovion.
• 46:21
  Yeah.
• 46:21
  I think he's really good.
• 46:23
  And, again, I we talked about this on my podcast the last two weeks.
• 46:27
  He needs to be on the president's cup team.
• 46:28
  I don't care that he's only played five or six events.
• 46:31
  I don't care that he finished sixty seventh in the FedEx cup points.
• 46:35
  I want him on the team.
• 46:37
  I am a big Justin Thomas fan.
• 46:39
  He's probably my favorite golfer, you know, all the way back to the spring break boys with him
• 46:43
  and Ricky and Spieth and and all that.
• 46:46
  And I I would pick Jackson Coyvin over Justin Thomas right now.
• 46:51
  I just for me, you know what JT is gonna give you.
• 46:54
  You know that he'll be there next year at the Ryder Cup team in Ireland.
• 46:58
  For Jackson Coyvin, I think, you know, get his feet wet with this team event in a home
• 47:03
  presence cup similar to what they've done in the past with Ludwig Oberg on the Ryder Cup
• 47:08
  team.
• 47:08
  And Tom Kim, when he was a rookie and he won it, he won the window.
• 47:13
  That's the difference, though.
• 47:15
  I feel like Europe they, team Europe, they just they break these guys in at a younger age, and
• 47:21
  they're ready come, you know, their third Ryder Cup.
• 47:24
  Like, they just and then we we and we just tried out like, I don't wanna say this is an
• 47:30
  insult to team USA, but Europe's been kicking our ass.
• 47:34
  Oh, yeah.
• 47:34
  I I don't think it's installed.
• 47:36
  It's it's true.
• 47:37
  Outside of the Whistling Straits in, what was it, 2019 or or 2021 or whenever that was, when
• 47:44
  we went to Lake Golf Nationale and Jim Furek was the Ryder Cup captain, they demolished us.
• 47:49
  Like, they killed us.
• 47:50
  Speaking of which, Jim Furek is the Ryder Cup captain again.
• 47:54
  And there you go.
• 47:55
  And, again, there's so many conversations you're gonna have with that.
• 47:58
  Like, who did they ask?
• 48:00
  It just feels like an old boys club is what it feels like.
• 48:03
  And that's the thing is, again, I I like JT.
• 48:06
  I'm not the biggest fan of Patrick Cantley, but I know he's, like, tenth in the points or
• 48:10
  eleventh in the points.
• 48:11
  Like, for me, like, those guys, like, they don't need to be at Medina in September to have
• 48:18
  a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
• 48:19
  Ken Cantley hasn't won in three years.
• 48:22
  JT won last year.
• 48:23
  He's played okay, but the back injury like, I want the I want Jackson Coyvin.
• 48:28
  I want Michael Thorpe Bornson.
• 48:30
  Heck, if it's not one of those guys, give me someone like Ryan Girard or Jacob Bridgeman.
• 48:34
  Like, these guys who are having career years on the PGA score.
• 48:37
  Knapp.
• 48:37
  Jake Knapp, who again, just these guys who are just playing really well.
• 48:43
  And, again, that doesn't mean they're gonna be on the run.
• 48:46
  And they're hungry, dude.
• 48:48
  Yeah.
• 48:48
  Like, they I don't wanna say JT and Cantley, some of them are complacent, but it's like,
• 48:53
  alright.
• 48:54
  Like, another cup team.
• 48:56
  I gotta spend another week here.
• 48:58
  Again, Medina's a great course, but, like, I don't know.
• 49:01
  So there's
• 49:03
  Okay.
• 49:04
  I gotta get this off my chest real quick.
• 49:07
  In most respectful way possible, Nathan, Cantley can go piss up a rope.
• 49:13
  Yeah.
• 49:13
  I'm not a big fan.
• 49:15
  He takes way too long.
• 49:16
  Cantley can go piss up a rope.
• 49:18
  Furek I don't know what it is about Jim Furek, but the man like, anytime I see him,
• 49:24
  immediately makes me just frustrated.
• 49:28
  Because between him and who's the guy on the golf channel who's criticizing everyone all the
• 49:35
  time?
• 49:35
  Chambly,
• 49:36
  I think.
• 49:37
  Randall Chambly.
• 49:38
  There's Eamon Lynch is is a big one that
• 49:41
  does have he done?
• 49:43
  He criticizes everyone, and he acts like he's been, like, a major winner, and he won, like,
• 49:49
  what, one event in his life?
• 49:50
  Yeah.
• 49:51
  That yeah.
• 49:51
  He's got he's got a lot of hate on all of his anti lib takes and and things like that.
• 49:56
  And, yeah, I don't Cantley for me is a fine player.
• 50:01
  I just I don't need him there.
• 50:03
  It it's I understand that he has a built in pair and was Xander Shoffley, and he can match
• 50:08
  well with other golfers.
• 50:09
  But to me, I want the young young guns in.
• 50:12
  I think, right, the the President's Cup has is not as exciting as the Ryder Cup.
• 50:18
  It's just not.
• 50:19
  And for whatever reason, you know, whether it be the international team not being as well, so
• 50:23
  it's not a close competition, whatever it is.
• 50:26
  I think a good way to bring in some of this juice in, like, younger kids, like, bring these
• 50:30
  younger golfers in.
• 50:31
  Give me the 21 year old.
• 50:32
  Give me the 22 year old.
• 50:34
  Like, again, I Let them test their metal.
• 50:38
  Yeah.
• 50:38
  I I don't you should win anyways.
• 50:42
  The international team is not as deep as us.
• 50:45
  So, like, you should win.
• 50:46
  So, like, why not?
• 50:47
  What what is the worst thing?
• 50:49
  Again, you don't have to play him all the time.
• 50:51
  He can play one match and the one singles match, and that's it.
• 50:55
  But at least he has the experience of it.
• 50:57
  He's he's learning from Scotty and Morikawa and Sam Burns and Russell Henley. Like
• 51:02
  Like getting to be around those guys in a concentrated area, like, for an amount of time.
• 51:08
  Even if he only plays two matches, he's getting to be around people who can genuinely make him
• 51:14
  better at the game.
• 51:15
  Yeah.
• 51:15
  And also make him a better pro.
• 51:17
  He is he won in his third career professional start, fourth career professional start,
• 51:23
  beating Scottie Scheffler with Scottie Scheffler chasing him.
• 51:27
  It's not like he did it against one of these opposite field events.
• 51:29
  Nerve.
• 51:31
  Yeah.
• 51:31
  And it again, it he won two national championships in college.
• 51:35
  He won every major award you can in college.
• 51:39
  He is the next best young player that the Americans have produced since I don't even know
• 51:47
  when.
• 51:48
  Tiger Woods?
• 51:49
  Yeah.
• 51:50
  Like, I I know Speed had a lot of hype when he was coming out of Texas, and and Scottie had a
• 51:55
  lot hype.
• 51:56
  Like
• 51:57
  I don't know, like, who I again, to me, I don't see why not.
• 52:03
  There's one guy on Liv that I wanna see come to the PGA tour.
• 52:08
  Okay.
• 52:09
  And because I feel like him and Jackson would have just an all time rivalry.
• 52:16
  Michael Lasasao.
• 52:17
  I want him to come from live back over to PGA because Michael Lasasao is one of the best
• 52:22
  amateurs too.
• 52:23
  Yeah.
• 52:24
  No.
• 52:24
  He he won the national championship last year at Ole Miss or wherever he's at.
• 52:29
  So there's a couple of them.
• 52:30
  Like, I liked Joaquin Neiman.
• 52:32
  I thought he was a good player.
• 52:33
  I like watching him play.
• 52:35
  Like, I'd love to see him come back and see if he can
• 52:37
  actually win out of Joaquin's great.
• 52:39
  I was a fan, like, of, like, Abe answer.
• 52:42
  Like, he was just a good PGA Tour pro.
• 52:45
  Like right?
• 52:45
  I now Right.
• 52:46
  Do I miss Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson and Sergio and and all the kinda
• 52:53
  older European stars?
• 52:54
  No.
• 52:55
  No.
• 52:56
  They can stay there.
• 52:57
  Especially not Sergio.
• 52:58
  Yeah.
• 52:59
  But, like, I'd like I'll
• 53:00
  tell you someone who I think should be on tour, though.
• 53:04
  And I think, he gets kind of an interesting reputation, But I I wanna say he's, obviously,
• 53:14
  I want AK to come back to the PGA and finish his career there.
• 53:18
  Anthony Kim, I love AK.
• 53:21
  But I would say on the live tour of guys that I actually think are good and could play on the
• 53:27
  PGA and need to come is a South Africa product, actually, Dean Burmester.
• 53:33
  I think he'd be great on the PGA tour.
• 53:35
  Yeah.
• 53:36
  And there's a lot of guys.
• 53:37
  Like, he's a good one.
• 53:38
  Anthony Kim, his story of coming back, I mean, that's probably the single best thing to happen
• 53:46
  to Liv in its years of existence.
• 53:49
  Like, I don't know if they will have a better story than that.
• 53:51
  I think that was really cool just to see what he overcame.
• 53:55
  I don't think so.
• 53:55
  It just it's gonna be tough to beat, especially now.
• 53:59
  And I in your existence, like, I think, Tom McKibbin, he's a really good young player over
• 54:04
  there that looked to have a PGA Tour card from a success on the DP World Tour card, and he
• 54:09
  chose Liv.
• 54:10
  Again, yeah, you've kind of you're young.
• 54:14
  You haven't earned a lot of money in your career.
• 54:16
  Liv is giving you this x amount of money.
• 54:19
  You could go play in the PGA Tour, but you could lose your card real quick.
• 54:22
  Marco Penge finished first on the race set of buy rankings last year and was all gung ho.
• 54:27
  Like, oh, Marco Penge.
• 54:28
  Marco Penge.
• 54:29
  He finished a hundred and fifth on the FedEx Cup, and now he's gonna have to struggle to
• 54:33
  earn his PGA tour card.
• 54:34
  So, like, I get it.
• 54:35
  Like, I in that aspect, I get it for McKibbon, and I get it for other I think Elvis Smiley was
• 54:41
  another guys.
• 54:42
  Yeah.
• 54:43
  I I get it.
• 54:43
  I do.
• 54:44
  You're like, and you thought I
• 54:46
  actually think it's smart for them.
• 54:48
  Yeah.
• 54:49
  Again, Michael Delisaso, and I think Caleb Surratt was another one who plays on John Ram's
• 54:54
  team.
• 54:54
  Like, Eugenio Chachara was one who was the next best Spaniard golfer, plays two years on Liv,
• 55:01
  wins once, gets relegated.
• 55:04
  Now he's won twice on the GP World Tour, and he's gonna earn his PGA Tour card.
• 55:08
  So, like, it's worth
• 55:09
  he was I never got that about Liv.
• 55:11
  They relegate them to where?
• 55:14
  They have to kinda go through similar to Q School, the PGA Tour.
• 55:19
  And if you don't get it, you don't have LIV tour status, you
• 55:22
  gotta go.
• 55:22
  What is their version, though?
• 55:24
  Because I haven't seen one relegated golfer come back.
• 55:30
  Yeah.
• 55:30
  So how it works from what I understand again, I'm I'm not the biggest live watcher.
• 55:36
  And so last year, if you finished within the last x amount of spots on the individual race,
• 55:43
  you get relegated, and then they play, like, two or three tournaments as a q school thing
• 55:47
  and the top four or five earners earn their live tour status.
• 55:51
  And if you don't, you just aren't on the live tour anymore.
• 55:55
  You gotta go figure it out yourself.
• 55:57
  Now most of them just go back to the Asian tour or the DP World Tour and play on those and gain
• 56:02
  status back that way.
• 56:05
  How does that work, though?
• 56:06
  Do you think oh, and I know you don't know.
• 56:08
  You're not the biggest live golf watcher.
• 56:10
  Like, I I'm not either.
• 56:11
  But how would that work with someone who signs a contract with that money up front?
• 56:17
  Do they get all of that in one go then?
• 56:20
  Or That
• 56:20
  that is happens if you get cut?
• 56:22
  I don't yeah.
• 56:23
  That was the big thing.
• 56:24
  Think it was was it Henrik Stenson this past year?
• 56:27
  Or
• 56:29
  It was Stenson.
• 56:30
  He got cut.
• 56:31
  Yeah.
• 56:32
  He signed a big contract, I assume, a good hefty sum.
• 56:38
  And right?
• 56:39
  So do they still own that money?
• 56:41
  Is there some clauses in the contract of if you don't stay in this league?
• 56:44
  Or that, I don't know.
• 56:45
  That's it's great great question, and I don't know if Liv will ever tell us what or if any of
• 56:51
  the lube players that were relegated.
• 56:52
  Like, will Stenson ever say what happened?
• 56:55
  No.
• 56:55
  Probably not.
• 56:57
  It's just I could live, like, two more years before it's completely dead.
• 57:01
  Yeah.
• 57:02
  I'm I'm shocked theirs is an investor.
• 57:04
  Again, I talked about this on my back because I we called it two weeks ago, we said it's dead
• 57:09
  and then literally we recorded the podcast on a Tuesday.
• 57:13
  The next Wednesday, Liv is like, we got a new investor.
• 57:16
  I'm like, great.
• 57:17
  Now I gotta redo this whole bit.
• 57:18
  Like, oh, Liv is not dead.
• 57:20
  They have an investor.
• 57:21
  We're like, why?
• 57:22
  And it's like
• 57:23
  They're on life they're on life support at this point.
• 57:26
  Yeah.
• 57:26
  And today, they just canceled their team championship in Michigan.
• 57:30
  So now their last event of the year is their individual championship in Indianapolis, I
• 57:35
  think.
• 57:36
  So, like, that's not happening.
• 57:38
  So, yeah, I I think you're gonna see some interesting like, I again, I wouldn't be
• 57:42
  shocked if Ram they do something similar for Ram that they did to Kefka where he has to pay
• 57:49
  this x amount of money.
• 57:50
  He won't be in signature events.
• 57:52
  He can't take sponsor invites.
• 57:54
  He kinda has to play his way up into those events, which, again, I thought was a fair deal
• 57:59
  that the PGA Tour gave Brooks Koepka.
• 58:02
  They extended it to Smith or Cam Smith, Bryson, and Ram.
• 58:06
  None of them took it.
• 58:08
  If I were them, I would have taken it because I know at the time Brooks only paid, like, a
• 58:12
  $5,000,000 fine, which is nothing for Brooks Koepka.
• 58:16
  I'm sure the PGA Tour is gonna be like
• 58:18
  Oh, Brooks was also at the end of his contract, though, is the problem.
• 58:22
  Yeah.
• 58:22
  So that will be an interesting thing.
• 58:24
  But, like, they'll probably ask people, like, to pay an x amount of fine.
• 58:29
  And if you're Ram or Deshambo, you have that money.
• 58:31
  But if you're someone else who You have
• 58:33
  that's pennies to them.
• 58:35
  Yeah.
• 58:35
  If you're someone else who can't afford a $2,000,000 fine, a $3,000,000 fine, your best
• 58:40
  bet is go go to the DP World Tour, finish in the top 10 of their rankings, and earn your PGA
• 58:45
  Tour card that way, similar to what Patrick Reed is doing.
• 58:48
  He's first in the race to buy rankings and because he won back to back events, and he's
• 58:52
  gonna have full status on the PGA Tour come next year, and we'll see what happens from
• 58:57
  there.
• 58:59
  Yeah.
• 59:01
  Alright, man.
• 59:02
  Fairway to green.
• 59:04
  Shout out Kelly for putting you on because you do a great job.
• 59:07
  Yeah.
• 59:08
  No.
• 59:08
  It's You do you do wonderful work.
• 59:10
  Thanks.
• 59:10
  It's it's been fun, and, you know, Kelly's been great.
• 59:13
  I was learned a lot through her and got a lot of good connections.
• 59:17
  And, again, I get to do this, which is something I never would have thought I'd do.
• 59:21
  And I would say if you've never gone to PGA show in in Orlando in January, it's a it's a
• 59:28
  golf stick.
• 59:29
  I have plans on I have plans on being there this January.
• 59:32
  I went for the first time this past year, and it was outside of the people I got to interview
• 59:39
  and talk with and the brands I gotta connect with.
• 59:42
  Just going around and seeing all of the equipment, everything that goes into this
• 59:47
  Like a golf course.
• 59:48
  Shop.
• 59:49
  Oh, it's it's I, like, walked in with Kelly, and I was like, oh my god.
• 59:54
  And I was like again, I was doing I was filming interviews and stuff for, like, our our
• 59:59
  channels and writing articles about them.
• 1:00:01
  And I just remember, like, again, I had never gone.
• 1:00:05
  And so, like, all the, like, apparel is on one side, all the equipment's on the other, and I
• 1:00:10
  just remember going back and forth, back and forth for two days because I didn't plan very
• 1:00:14
  well.
• 1:00:15
  And, like, at the end of the day, like, look at my watch.
• 1:00:17
  I'm like, oh, I have these amount of steps.
• 1:00:19
  I go back home to the hotel, and my fiance and her mom, they went to Disney that week.
• 1:00:24
  And I had more steps than they did going around Disney.
• 1:00:27
  I was like, what the heck?
• 1:00:29
  But the things you see, the conversations you meet, I mean, I just got you you get some cool
• 1:00:36
  gifts, some free stuff, and the connections.
• 1:00:38
  I think just that was a big thing is the connections being built, like, with these
• 1:00:42
  brands.
• 1:00:42
  So then when I started this the podcast, it's like, oh, do you know anyone like this?
• 1:00:48
  Or do you have any and they've been good.
• 1:00:50
  And it it's it's really cool.
• 1:00:52
  It's definitely one of the the cooler things I've I've got to do since doing this.
• 1:00:57
  So if you are planning on going for we gotta meet there.
• 1:01:02
  But Obviously.
• 1:01:03
  Take a walk and, you know, it's, yeah, it's it's a golf sickos dream, I'd say.
• 1:01:10
  Alright.
• 1:01:11
  Here, I plan on going.
• 1:01:13
  So we obviously we gotta link up and play a round of golf and just I don't know.
• 1:01:19
  Maybe I might need a a guiding hand through the super Yeah. You
• 1:01:25
  You know, show because I might get lost.
• 1:01:27
  It's a it's a lot.
• 1:01:28
  It's, like, my second day.
• 1:01:30
  I'm like, okay.
• 1:01:30
  I kinda get it.
• 1:01:31
  But then, like, you, like, watch
• 1:01:33
  Did you get to try out that, that that new launch monitor, the l m one?
• 1:01:39
  I talked to a lot of simulator businesses there that week.
• 1:01:42
  So I talked do you remember the brand?
• 1:01:45
  Because I know I talked with Golf Zone and oh gosh.
• 1:01:49
  What are the other ones?
• 1:01:52
  But there's so many different simulators and and things there that were.
• 1:01:56
  And then you have, like I didn't get to go to the demo day just because as a teacher, I can't
• 1:02:00
  take the whole week off because my job would hate me then.
• 1:02:04
  But, like, I know if you go, like, Monday or Tuesday it is, like, you can go to the driving
• 1:02:08
  range and they have, like, demo day, and there are just people there, like, showing you how to
• 1:02:13
  use their products and clubs and different, like I know, like, we got a connection with,
• 1:02:19
  like, tight eyewear.
• 1:02:20
  And, like, they were showing us their sunglasses, and we talked with rangefinder
• 1:02:24
  people.
• 1:02:24
  So if you can get to, like, that demo day, like, I couldn't I don't think I'll be able to
• 1:02:29
  go, but, like, that'd be something, like, you should look into.
• 1:02:31
  Like, demo day is really cool from what I hear as well.
• 1:02:35
  You know?
• 1:02:36
  And I just gotta put this out there for anybody who's in the PGA space terms of making
• 1:02:40
  sunglasses and products.
• 1:02:42
  Can someone please make some tight fitting but not uncomfortable sunglasses that can go over
• 1:02:47
  glasses so that I'm not having to push them up constantly?
• 1:02:50
  That'd be great.
• 1:02:51
  Yeah.
• 1:02:52
  That's a that's a again, I I don't worry about this, but these these tight eyewear ones that
• 1:02:56
  they've you know, I interviewed them and stuff.
• 1:02:58
  It's they're pretty good, sunglasses.
• 1:03:01
  They stay on.
• 1:03:02
  They're they help with, like, green reading and and all that.
• 1:03:05
  Like, they show the contour.
• 1:03:07
  So I will say I don't know what they have as far as products for over glasses, but, again,
• 1:03:12
  they're they're pretty good sun sunglasses that I enjoy have been enjoying this summer, you
• 1:03:17
  know, in my golf rounds.
• 1:03:20
  Absolutely.
• 1:03:22
  I gotta say, man, this has been so much fun.
• 1:03:25
  I'm so glad that I got the chance to sit down and talk with you.
• 1:03:29
  Connection wise, I gotta ask, Man, you gotta get Kelly on here.
• 1:03:33
  I gotta have both of you on here.
• 1:03:35
  Yeah.
• 1:03:35
  I gotta I gotta
• 1:03:36
  have Kelly on.
• 1:03:37
  I gotta have you on.
• 1:03:38
  Like
• 1:03:39
  Yeah.
• 1:03:39
  I know she's always, you know, being being the the creator of it.
• 1:03:44
  She's always busy with meetings and stuff, but I know, like, I know we connected on LinkedIn
• 1:03:50
  and stuff.
• 1:03:51
  So I know she's she's on LinkedIn and Instagram like I am, and I know, Bubba has I think was
• 1:03:57
  gonna reach out to her as well.
• 1:03:59
  So she's definitely a great resource, and she'll definitely have some cool stories of,
• 1:04:03
  you know, starting up and and even playing stories that are that are really cool.
• 1:04:08
  And she definitely could give you some some advice on, you know, creating a a media company
• 1:04:12
  because she's she's done a great job.
• 1:04:14
  It's it's something that, you know, watching her do everything.
• 1:04:17
  Like, we went, I went with her to the people.
• 1:04:21
  Just love to get her perspective as a as a woman in the space who's trying to get more of
• 1:04:27
  an eye, not just on the LPGA stuff, but just more equity for, you know, women and girls in
• 1:04:34
  golf as a whole because I feel like you're right.
• 1:04:38
  The girls, like, you've got your Nelly Cordas, but other than that, you don't hear about
• 1:04:43
  anybody else because there's not really that much dedicated coverage to the LPGA as there is
• 1:04:49
  the PGA.
• 1:04:50
  Yeah.
• 1:04:51
  She she'd be a she's a great advocate for it, she'd be a great guest for that.
• 1:04:54
  And we talk about in our podcast all the time is, like, the LPGA has so many talented golfers
• 1:05:01
  that, like, we're so excited that they're gonna have the women's TGL starting at, I think, at
• 1:05:06
  the end of this winter is is coming.
• 1:05:08
  And, you know, they had a new broadcast deal with the Golf Channel and NBC that, you know,
• 1:05:11
  gave them more better broadcasting rights in hours and more time to tell stories.
• 1:05:16
  So I think that's been a really cool feature of the LPGA Tour this season, just their enhanced
• 1:05:21
  broadcast.
• 1:05:22
  And, you know, they have the Solheim Cup this year, which is pretty much the women's version
• 1:05:26
  of the Ryder Cup, and that's always really fun.
• 1:05:28
  It's in Netherlands this year, so that's really cool.
• 1:05:31
  And like you said, like, Nelly Korda is Nelly Korda.
• 1:05:34
  She's one of the best players in golf period, like men, women,
• 1:05:38
  like women.
• 1:05:38
  A whole league on just one person.
• 1:05:40
  No.
• 1:05:40
  What she's done this year in the major and same with Hayron Yu who's won two majors, you know,
• 1:05:46
  they've been really good.
• 1:05:47
  I mean, Gino Tidacon, who's the number two player in the world, she just won for the tenth
• 1:05:51
  time this past weekend.
• 1:05:53
  She's still looking for kind of that major breakout, but, like, she's really good.
• 1:05:57
  She's won their tour championship the last two years.
• 1:06:00
  Like, they're up to, like, this last little run on the PGA Tour.
• 1:06:04
  I think the LPGA Tour had a lot better young stars, like, winning and, like, winning
• 1:06:10
  quickly.
• 1:06:11
  Like, lot
• 1:06:11
  more just didn't have the same amount of coverage.
• 1:06:14
  Yeah.
• 1:06:14
  And that's the problem.
• 1:06:15
  And that's a shame because they have these people and these women who are absolutely
• 1:06:20
  phenomenal, and they're not getting that spotlight that they should.
• 1:06:24
  Yeah.
• 1:06:24
  And so I I think Kelly's done a really good job, and I I will fill in for writing for the
• 1:06:29
  LPGA Tour and Epson Tour stuff here and there.
• 1:06:31
  But, like, my my coworker, Brian, who does the package, he does all our LPGA Tour stuff.
• 1:06:36
  He does a really good job.
• 1:06:37
  I know we just added another girl who's gonna do more of the Epson tour stuff as well.
• 1:06:42
  So, again, yeah, it it's it's really cool to see, and we try to highlight that on our
• 1:06:47
  podcast.
• 1:06:48
  It's you know, I'm trying to learn more about the ladies European tour and more about the
• 1:06:52
  LPGA tour, but I think it's made me a better golf content creator, whatever you wanna call
• 1:06:57
  me that, you know, it's not just the PGA tour.
• 1:07:00
  Not just PGA world.
• 1:07:02
  You are a golf content creator slash pundit in the space now.
• 1:07:10
  Yeah.
• 1:07:10
  I mean, it's it's something I'd never again, two years ago when I sent in that application,
• 1:07:17
  I would have never thought I'd be on a podcast or multiple podcasts and all that.
• 1:07:21
  So it's definitely cool.
• 1:07:23
  It's something that is, like, a pinch me thing.
• 1:07:26
  Like, am I doing?
• 1:07:28
  Like, again, if even if it's reaching very limited people, I still enjoy doing it.
• 1:07:34
  I enjoy talking with people.
• 1:07:35
  I know the feeling.
• 1:07:37
  Like, I can't go It's surreal getting to do this.
• 1:07:40
  I can't go have an hour conversation about golf things with with my brother.
• 1:07:46
  I can maybe talk to him a couple minutes, but he's like, I don't I don't play it.
• 1:07:49
  I don't wanna talk about it.
• 1:07:50
  Or my friend or my fiance will listen to me, but she's like, alright.
• 1:07:54
  I I don't wanna talk about it anymore.
• 1:07:55
  So
• 1:07:56
  It's like through this one, out that one.
• 1:07:59
  I will say I she is a trooper, and I love her for the fact that, like, we plan vacations
• 1:08:04
  around PGA Tour events sometimes.
• 1:08:06
  Like, I'm in Buffalo, New York, so they have the, RBC Canadian Open is usually up in, like,
• 1:08:12
  the Toronto area.
• 1:08:13
  So we've gone, like, four or five years.
• 1:08:15
  We've gone out to Connecticut for the Travelers Championship when the PJ championship was in
• 1:08:20
  Oak Hill and Rochester.
• 1:08:21
  We went last year, drove to Pittsburgh.
• 1:08:24
  Did you get to go to Bethpage Black for the Ryder Cup?
• 1:08:26
  No.
• 1:08:27
  So, unfortunately, just my schedule and how expensive it was and and all that, that was one
• 1:08:33
  where I was like, I can't do it.
• 1:08:35
  I I coach soccer in the fall.
• 1:08:36
  So, you know, to take you know, miss a game in a couple practices wouldn't have been feasible
• 1:08:41
  for me.
• 1:08:42
  But, you know, I'm I'm hoping to get to someone.
• 1:08:45
  I went to the Presence Cup in North Carolina a couple years ago when I was at Quail Hollow as
• 1:08:51
  Spectator.
• 1:08:51
  That was really cool.
• 1:08:54
  I'd love to get to a Ryder Cup.
• 1:08:55
  That that's a goal.
• 1:08:56
  I you know, going to Ireland would be a dream to to go do that, but I don't think
• 1:09:00
  love to go to my first PGA event, to be honest, man.
• 1:09:03
  That's my that's my first one on the bucket list is getting to go to my first PGA event as
• 1:09:08
  media.
• 1:09:10
  Yeah.
• 1:09:10
  I I've never gone as media, so I will say that.
• 1:09:12
  I would just go as a fan.
• 1:09:14
  You know, it's hopefully coming.
• 1:09:16
  You know, I've talked with Kelly about getting you, like, some, like, media things and
• 1:09:20
  possibly getting to some events, and we're working on that.
• 1:09:23
  Her and I are trying to get the PGA Tour to, like, you know, give us something just to see
• 1:09:27
  if I can.
• 1:09:28
  But it it's definitely just a cool experience just to go as a fan.
• 1:09:32
  Who knows?
• 1:09:33
  Maybe we'll meet up at one of these events.
• 1:09:35
  Yeah.
• 1:09:35
  There you go.
• 1:09:35
  I mean, that'd be cool.
• 1:09:36
  I know just being around people like that is always a good time.
• 1:09:41
  And when you go to the PGA show in January, you're gonna see this is the one thing that I
• 1:09:46
  didn't realize was the thing was, like, the community and the environment there is, like,
• 1:09:51
  everyone is, like, so helpful.
• 1:09:53
  And, like, even though they do the same thing as you, they're gonna be like, oh, what do you
• 1:09:56
  need?
• 1:09:57
  Like, how can I help you grow, or do you want some advice in this?
• 1:10:00
  And, like, business cards have some business cards because, like, I'm trading them.
• 1:10:04
  Like, there's, like, sticks of gum almost.
• 1:10:06
  Like, it's just, like, everyone's has them.
• 1:10:08
  Like, oh, what's yours?
• 1:10:09
  What's yours?
• 1:10:10
  Just in, like, in the media room, like, I sat down and just, like, eating lunch, and this guy
• 1:10:14
  just starts and he's like, oh, what are you doing?
• 1:10:16
  We just talked and reached in.
• 1:10:17
  And now, like, we he, like, has a newsletter, and he followed our newsletter.
• 1:10:22
  So it's just these random things where you don't think you're gonna meet anyone.
• 1:10:26
  It's like, oh, I'm just eating my Chick fil A lunch, and someone is like we just started up a
• 1:10:31
  conversation about what we do.
• 1:10:32
  And it's it's really it's a really cool space to be a part of.
• 1:10:36
  Absolutely.
• 1:10:37
  The golf community as a whole is just really nice.
• 1:10:40
  It brings people from all backgrounds in and I don't know, man.
• 1:10:44
  It's just it's a special place.
• 1:10:47
  Yeah.
• 1:10:47
  I mean, it's it's everywhere.
• 1:10:49
  With that said, this being a special place, what is your place?
• 1:10:55
  What is your place where we can find Nathan Rarek?
• 1:10:58
  Where where are you?
• 1:11:00
  Luac, plug I need all the shameless plugs.
• 1:11:03
  Let's go.
• 1:11:04
  Yeah.
• 1:11:04
  So, I mean, this is weird to do because I usually do this for people on my show.
• 1:11:10
  But I'd say the the first one is check out Fair Degree, and we do outside of my writing, we
• 1:11:15
  have so many good writers, and and Kelly does a really good job with her writing and her
• 1:11:20
  podcast.
• 1:11:20
  So you can get all our podcasts there.
• 1:11:22
  So that's ferrodegree.com.
• 1:11:24
  On Instagram, I'm I'm Nathan Rare at golf.
• 1:11:27
  You just search that up.
• 1:11:28
  You know, I have
• 1:11:29
  K.
• 1:11:29
  Podcastings and clips there, and, you know, I have a couple videos of me playing some holes,
• 1:11:34
  you know, not good golf.
• 1:11:35
  I do have one coming tomorrow that will maybe was one of the shocking ones that I mean, I can
• 1:11:42
  give you a sneak peek.
• 1:11:43
  I was filming it, and I hit probably the best shot of the day.
• 1:11:47
  And I was like, oh, that's that's, like, the hole in one.
• 1:11:50
  Of course, I'm playing alone.
• 1:11:52
  Luckily, I'm filming it, and it goes, like, over the stick to, like, 20 feet.
• 1:11:55
  I'm like, oh, it's not close.
• 1:11:57
  Drain the birdie butt.
• 1:11:58
  So that that's coming to Instagram, I think, tomorrow.
• 1:12:00
  You know?
• 1:12:01
  I bet you that pitch mark was right next to that hole, though.
• 1:12:04
  Yeah.
• 1:12:04
  It was close.
• 1:12:05
  I was like, ugh, man.
• 1:12:06
  You know, my first couple, you know, hole vlogs, one was a a bogey or a double bogey
• 1:12:11
  because I hit one out left out of bounds, and the next one was a par.
• 1:12:15
  So, you know, steadily getting better.
• 1:12:16
  So Nathan Rarek Golf, the podcasts are the draw, and the other one is the teacher and the
• 1:12:23
  pro.
• 1:12:23
  You can find them on wherever you get your podcasts, you know, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or
• 1:12:27
  right on our website, fair to green.
• 1:12:29
  And then, you know, LinkedIn, Nathan Rarek always down to, you know, connect and message
• 1:12:34
  with people there.
• 1:12:35
  I've found some great people.
• 1:12:37
  I've got a lot of good guests through Instagram messaging and LinkedIn messaging.
• 1:12:41
  So, you know, those are my things.
• 1:12:42
  And, again, it's it's been fun talking with you.
• 1:12:45
  And, again, hopefully, come on, get to this again sometime soon.
• 1:12:50
  And, you know, thanks for having me on and shouting me out so much.
• 1:12:54
  Hey, man.
• 1:12:54
  No problem.
• 1:12:55
  Hey.
• 1:12:56
  Maybe, next time around, I'll come on your stuff.
• 1:13:00
  You know?
• 1:13:01
  Yeah.
• 1:13:01
  Definitely.
• 1:13:01
  That's something fairway to green for you.
• 1:13:03
  Yeah.
• 1:13:04
  Definitely something we can do, and, you know, we usually record, you know, sometime early in
• 1:13:09
  the week and love to have you on, you know, get some some of your perspective from the
• 1:13:13
  tournaments because I know people are probably sick of hearing just Brian and I all the time
• 1:13:17
  talking about, you know, who our favorite golfers is.
• 1:13:20
  My my cohost love cohost loves JJ Spawn.
• 1:13:23
  So when he won the US Open, like, it was like, alright.
• 1:13:26
  You Oh, he was over the man.
• 1:13:28
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:13:28
  And, you know, this past, you know, talking about the Ryder Cup and then all that.
• 1:13:33
  You know, we've we've had some good debates on on that and, you know, Wyndham Clark stuff and
• 1:13:38
  stuff like that.
• 1:13:38
  So adding a third person
• 1:13:39
  We call over here at the Scratch Project, we call Wyndham Clark, Wyndham Clark because every
• 1:13:44
  time he's in a US Open, man, it's he looks like he's gonna win it.
• 1:13:48
  Yeah.
• 1:13:49
  He's he's one of the more I don't I don't know if I call him
• 1:13:52
  He's had a solid season this year too.
• 1:13:54
  Oh, yes.
• 1:13:55
  Five in FedEx points.
• 1:13:57
  Yeah.
• 1:13:57
  The US Open win, he absolutely blitzed the field and was at Colonial where he shot
• 1:14:02
  whatever final round 61 or whatever.
• 1:14:04
  When when his putter gets hot, it is It's hot.
• 1:14:07
  It's unlike any That ping that ping
• 1:14:11
  putter is incredible for him.
• 1:14:13
  Yeah.
• 1:14:13
  The onset putter.
• 1:14:15
  Yeah.
• 1:14:16
  It's he's he's a world class player.
• 1:14:18
  He's gonna be on the President's Cup this team this year and probably a Ryder Cup team again
• 1:14:24
  next year.
• 1:14:25
  He didn't play too bad a couple years ago when he was on it.
• 1:14:27
  Didn't play last year at Beth Page.
• 1:14:29
  But, yeah, it's it's always good to, you know, get some other people's perspective on what's
• 1:14:34
  going on in the golf world.
• 1:14:36
  Alright.
• 1:14:37
  I gotta ask this, though, before we get out of here.
• 1:14:41
  What is the shot that got you, like, completely hooked on golf?
• 1:14:45
  Who is your favorite golfer?
• 1:14:47
  And what is your favorite course that you've played and a bucket list course that you wanna
• 1:14:52
  play before it's all said and done?
• 1:14:54
  Yeah.
• 1:14:55
  That's those are some great questions.
• 1:14:56
  The the my shot, I don't know.
• 1:14:58
  I'll save that one for last.
• 1:15:00
  My favorite golfer is Justin Thomas.
• 1:15:03
  I think I know again, you asked my cohost and you asked Kelly, they can't stand Justin
• 1:15:10
  Thomas, and I get it.
• 1:15:11
  He's not for everyone.
• 1:15:12
  Something about his win when he got really popular in two thousand seventeen and sixteen
• 1:15:17
  when he had that five win season and won the PGA championship that year down at Coral
• 1:15:22
  Hollow.
• 1:15:22
  I think, one, he just has a good energy about him.
• 1:15:27
  Like, he is very creative, and I think that's what I'd like.
• 1:15:32
  It's just, like, he's not always hitting the same stock.
• 1:15:34
  He's not DJ where DJ is only hitting fades.
• 1:15:37
  Like, JT is shaping the ball and being creative with the ball, and you can see that on the tee.
• 1:15:43
  And then around the green, it's just like, oh my word.
• 1:15:45
  This guy is otherworldly with the wedge and
• 1:15:47
  He's a wizard.
• 1:15:48
  Yeah.
• 1:15:49
  Now putting wise, that's kind of his downfall, and he'd probably say that too.
• 1:15:52
  But Justin Thomas, and he's always not gonna hurt.
• 1:15:55
  I like being well dressed.
• 1:15:56
  He's always well dressed.
• 1:15:57
  So he's probably my favorite right now.
• 1:16:00
  I'm a big Matt Fitzpatrick fan as well.
• 1:16:02
  Just for whatever reason, I just like the way he goes about things.
• 1:16:06
  I think the writing every shot down and the golf sicko in this in me loves that.
• 1:16:10
  So that's another one that I really enjoy watching as well.
• 1:16:14
  My favorite course I've ever played it's tough.
• 1:16:18
  I haven't played a ton of crazy golf courses or any of, like, the big resort ones like like
• 1:16:24
  Pinehurst or Bandon or any of that.
• 1:16:26
  I'd say there's one in Buffalo.
• 1:16:28
  It's called The Links At Ivy Ridge, and it's just you know, Buffalo's pretty flat, but this
• 1:16:32
  one is hilly, and it's difficult, and it's like, they have, like, a 600 yard par five that
• 1:16:39
  is just it's an impossible hole that is just it's so much fun to play.
• 1:16:44
  So that's probably my favorite golf course.
• 1:16:45
  I like playing there.
• 1:16:49
  My dream course, I guess, would be Augusta would be the generic one, I would say.
• 1:16:57
  I think the one that again, I I mentioned it.
• 1:16:59
  I didn't mention it, but I think Tobacco Road in in North Carolina.
• 1:17:04
  The the views and the red clay and and all of that look great.
• 1:17:10
  My my friend's boss actually got to play it once, so I talked to him about it.
• 1:17:14
  And he was like, if you're a golf person, you gotta go down there.
• 1:17:17
  So that'd be the one that's probably, like, not a common answer and not many people would say
• 1:17:21
  it would be Tobacco Road.
• 1:17:23
  And then the the golf shot, I don't know if I have one specific, like, thinking back to it.
• 1:17:31
  I can remember when I first started getting into it, I would I was a camp counselor, in the
• 1:17:37
  summertime, you know, trying to be that good education major working with kids all the time.
• 1:17:42
  And my shifts, I think, started, like, 10AM, and there was a golf course right down the
• 1:17:46
  street from the school.
• 1:17:47
  So I would go there occasionally, like, once or twice a week, play nine holes, and then go to
• 1:17:51
  work.
• 1:17:51
  And I remember it was it's one of the par fives there.
• 1:17:55
  It's like the home course here.
• 1:17:56
  And it it's not super long, but, you know, as a bad player, it's a three shot hole.
• 1:18:01
  And I remember being off their green maybe 10 yards and, you know, hitting a chip and it just
• 1:18:08
  rolling and, you know, being eight in the morning, the ball line and the dew line just
• 1:18:13
  matching up, and it just goes in the hole, and I just go freak out.
• 1:18:17
  And I'm like, I don't know what to do.
• 1:18:18
  I'm alone.
• 1:18:19
  There's no one on the golfer.
• 1:18:20
  So, like, I I filmed from where I was, and I filmed all the way up to the hole with the dew
• 1:18:25
  line mark, And I was like, alright.
• 1:18:27
  This is this is phenomenal.
• 1:18:29
  So I I would say that's probably the, like, the one golf shot that sticks in my head to this
• 1:18:33
  day from, you know, eight, nine years ago.
• 1:18:38
  Yeah.
• 1:18:38
  I mean, that's one of those moments where you make that and you're just like, ah, no one's
• 1:18:43
  here to see it.
• 1:18:44
  I know.
• 1:18:45
  I mean, like, how many times has it happened since?
• 1:18:47
  Not many.
• 1:18:48
  But still yeah.
• 1:18:50
  I still have the video saved.
• 1:18:51
  I can I pull it up and, you know, I can see it?
• 1:18:54
  It always pops up in my memory.
• 1:18:55
  So it's like, oh, yeah.
• 1:18:56
  I remember that.
• 1:18:57
  So it's it's cool.
• 1:18:58
  Here's something funny.
• 1:19:00
  And my wife, actually, she can tell you about this too.
• 1:19:03
  She's off to the side here.
• 1:19:04
  But it's the stuff you don't get on camera that drives you nuts because you'll do some of the
• 1:19:10
  best stuff off camera.
• 1:19:11
  Like, sweetie, tell him what I did yesterday.
• 1:19:15
  Oh, you sound like a 30 foot foot?
• 1:19:17
  Yeah.
• 1:19:18
  Yeah.
• 1:19:20
  Yeah.
• 1:19:21
  No.
• 1:19:22
  It's it's always that.
• 1:19:23
  Like, I remember I was playing I think I was playing with my fiance's dad and her two
• 1:19:29
  brothers, and it was the last hole.
• 1:19:32
  And it's just it's a I like to draw the ball, and it it's a dogleg left for a lefty.
• 1:19:36
  It's just an awkward visual.
• 1:19:37
  And I just, you know, make a mess of the hole and finally get to the green in, like, five
• 1:19:42
  shots, and I'm 30 feet away.
• 1:19:44
  And I just walk up to the putt.
• 1:19:45
  I quickly read it.
• 1:19:47
  I hit it and goes in the hole.
• 1:19:49
  I'm like, this has no business of going in, but it did.
• 1:19:53
  Like, this is so stupid.
• 1:19:55
  But I love it, and that's what makes the game so fun.
• 1:19:59
  You know, golf is a four letter word, and sometimes it has us saying other four letter
• 1:20:04
  words.
• 1:20:04
  That's all I'm gonna say.
• 1:20:06
  That that it does.
• 1:20:07
  Well,
• 1:20:10
  Nathan, I am so glad that you could join me today.
• 1:20:14
  We gotta do this again.
• 1:20:15
  We gotta get Kelly on.
• 1:20:16
  We gotta get you both on.
• 1:20:18
  I'd love to have Brian on with you as well.
• 1:20:20
  Yeah.
• 1:20:20
  We just gotta get this going.
• 1:20:24
  This was a lot of fun.
• 1:20:26
  I'm glad the people know where to find you.
• 1:20:28
  This will be up on YouTube, hopefully, within the hour
• 1:20:32
  Okay.
• 1:20:32
  After we're done so they can go watch this back, enjoy all the, you know, golf sicko talk
• 1:20:38
  that we did today.
• 1:20:40
  Hopefully, there's more to come.
• 1:20:42
  And, yeah, man, we should, we should link up outside of this and try to get something going.
• 1:20:47
  For sure.
• 1:20:47
  Yeah.
• 1:20:48
  No.
• 1:20:48
  Thanks again for having me on, and I'm always down to to talk golf anytime.
• 1:20:53
  Alright.
• 1:20:53
  This was Nathan Rarek of Fairway to Green on Pods Plays Golf.
• 1:20:58
  Thank you for joining us.
• 1:21:00
  Everybody, have a good one.