Latest / PlayBetter's Golf Tech Weekly / #10: Tech at The Masters With Gabe Aluisy
Transcript
- speaker-0: we're going to feel as if we're transported to a far away, like bygone place and era. And yet, this is the most technologically innovative, advanced, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art production in all of sports, potentially. Back at it with Golf Tech Weekly presented by Play Better Mark Straforgen joined by Daniel Fitzpatrick and our guest today, Gabe Aloeisi from YouTube's Let's Play Through channel. Gentlemen, we're talking the Masters. You can't can't very well have a golf podcast and not talk about the Masters this time of year, but we're going to come at it from the angle that we know best, which is golf tech. Is the Masters the most technologically advanced tournament in golf, even though it feels the most traditional? We're going to dive into all the insane state of the art tech that's both right in front of us and going on behind the scenes at Augusta National Golf Club. We'll talk about how innovative the broadcast has become, as well as the app experience, about the unbelievable investment they've made in the practice range. And we're going to talk about how you can play Augusta National Golf Club even without an invitation. Once again, our guest, Gabe, comes to us from the ever popular Let's Play Through channel on YouTube. He is one of the leading voices in golf technology products and reviews, and he is a longtime friend of Play Better's. ⁓ Gabe, you've partnered with Play Better as a matter of fact, I understand you're going to be Flying up to Baltimore, joining the crew this weekend for a very special event on Master's Saturday. Can you give a bit of a tease? speaker-1: Yeah, so we're going to be doing huge giveaways over on whatnot on the platform. ⁓ Spiro has put up ⁓ three Garmin R10s, three Garmin S70s, so top of the line stuff from Garmin. And we're to be auctioning off, like kind of blowing out everything that's in the warehouse that ⁓ prices that people probably have never seen before. So it's going to be lot of fun. speaker-0: That's going to be an action packed day, Master Saturday. I can envision sitting on the couch, you got the Masters going on, you got your smartphone fired up. There's going to be a ton of action. We're going to talk about all of that as we get towards the end of today's episode. So please do stick around. This is a don't want to miss type of event. I promise you. And of course we've got Daniel Fitzpatrick on hand. Daniel is our resident golf tech expert available to help play better customers, navigate all their choices. Daniel, are you ready to talk some masters? speaker-2: Yeah, absolutely. Definitely my favorite week of the year. as you know, Mark, and you too as well, Gabe, when you grow up in a cold climate, Masters is always kind of feeling like the opening of actual golf season. So you get to see that perfect maintained golf course, and it just gets you in the mood to get out and start swinging. So even though me and Gabe are now in the southern climate, we're playing golf year round. ⁓ It still kind of re-energizes you and gets ready for the new season. looking forward to watching and we're actually, like you said, Mark, we're putting a new term on moving day this Saturday as we're going to hopefully be moving some of that old inventory out of the warehouse with ⁓ Gabe's show. So looking forward to that. speaker-0: No doubt it's going to be super, super awesome. ⁓ Let's start, with a ⁓ note of full disclosure and incredible heartache. ⁓ None of the three of us, as I understand it, have attended the Masters in person. ⁓ Sad as that is, ⁓ many, many years of failed lottery attempts. ⁓ But someday, someday and until then, we'll watch year after year just about every shot. from that fabled land. And I guess the great news and one of the things that I'm interested in diving into today is just how good it is even for those of us who can't attend. Obviously we dream of attending, everybody does. ⁓ But I would argue, and we'll talk about this, that this is the one event that if you're not able to be there in person ⁓ via all of the technology ⁓ available to us, it's the one event that you can actually feel probably the closest to ⁓ to being in person without actually being there, ⁓ which is kind of remarkable and really a gift for all of us, honestly. ⁓ And one of the reasons why, just as you said, Daniel, this year after year ends up being collectively all of our favorite weeks of the year. And I think that kind of goes universally for golfers all across the world, right? ⁓ So, so much special stuff that resonates with any golfer when we think of the Masters. It's just the ultimate ⁓ kind of goosebump. time of the year. ⁓ you know, I think what's so interesting and what makes this an interesting topic to talk about today is this very, very interesting and unique, I would argue, blend of tradition meets innovation. So you have the masters. It is the most revered, the most renowned. It's easily the most traditional. It's the most, some would argue, pompous almost. ⁓ events, right, not just in golf, but potentially in all of sport. ⁓ And yet there's this undercurrent of unbelievable technological innovation going on that ⁓ makes for a really, really interesting marriage that I'm not sure the viewer at home always even realizes is happening right in front of their faces. ⁓ Gabe, when you think of the Masters, ⁓ talk about kind of that vibe that comes to your mind, how it differs from all the other golf tournaments that we watch week in and week out, and the ones that we're lucky enough to attend. What's different about the Masters? speaker-1: Yeah, think it to your point is the depth of the technology and innovation that's happening during the tournament. I was like an early cord cutter back in the day. So I've actually been watching on their master's app. I don't know, maybe 10 years now, whenever they first launched it. And ⁓ every year it's iterative. It just gets better and better. You can track each and every player's shots and bounce back and forth and watch different broadcasts. You you want to look at Amen Corner, you can do that. You want to look at the the full national broadcast, you can watch that. And then it's going on throughout the day, especially for people who are playing like, know fantasy golf and these pools, these masters pools have gotten big over the years and to be able to track the players that you're trying to watch, that is so. speaker-0: Yeah, gambling as well, right? I mean, that has become more and more of a thing for mainstream golf fans and the tech that the app provides kind of goes hand in hand with that. Meanwhile, you've got this this kind of ⁓ fairy tale fantasy land of almost like you're going back in time on the grounds of Augusta itself. No cell phones allowed right for the patrons. You've got disposable cameras available for purchase. They even have phone booths. ⁓ speaker-1: That must be the only like Kodak supply out there, right? Like who else is buying a disposable? speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. Truly. ⁓ Patrons aren't allowed to run. You can set your chair down. You can come back to it and it's going to be there. I mean, all of these things, it's like we collectively agree as a society that we're going to act different at the Masters and everyone kind of signs up for this and is on board for it. The food and drink prices. I mean, the concession prices are what you might expect to pay when you saw Jack Nicklaus win there in 86. I mean, you're getting You're getting the famous pimento cheese and egg salad sandwiches for a buck 50. You can get their their Georgia peach ice cream sandwich for $3. You've got a beer for $6. mean, guys, this is 2026, you know, it's it's just crazy. speaker-1: I was taking him last night. speaker-2: Yeah, I think I saw Mark, you can buy one of everything at a concession stand and the total would be like $78.50 or something. It's like you can take a hundred dollar bill there and just have a heyday. It's incredible. speaker-0: It really is pretty unbelievable. ⁓ And again, just trying to kind of scratch at this very, to me, interesting dichotomy of ⁓ this kind of throwback. we're in this, ⁓ like we're going to like the Universal Studios Harry Potter world where we're gonna feel as if we're transported to a far away, like bygone place and era. And yet, ⁓ this is the most. technologically innovative, advanced, cutting edge, state of the art ⁓ production in all of sports potentially. ⁓ Let's get into kind of some of that tech. Daniel hit us with a hit us with some nuggets. What's going on there at Augusta? speaker-2: Certainly. So, you know, if you've watched the Masters over the years, there's always some changes. Sometimes there's big changes, sometimes they're very minimal that you'll see just even with the golf course design or, you know, sometimes even overnight, they'll take trees out or move to you. The players talk about it from time to time, how truly the golf course can change overnight. And it's always so mind boggling because again, we haven't been there, so we don't really know in person what it looks like, but. They talk about on the broadcast how even sometimes they'll change things just to prevent one player from having an advantage at times. ⁓ But some of the most impressive technology and it's there. They're definitely the pioneers of this technology is their sub air system, which is underneath each of the putting greens on the golf course. And this was introduced in the 90s, ⁓ something that allows them to basically control the moisture and the firmness of the greens. which is incredible because they, you the players will talk about it if you watch their press conferences this week. From Wednesday to Thursday, the golf course changes dramatically. And a lot of it has to do with the firmness of the greens, which helps, you know, not only how high are the trajectory of the golf ball when you bring it in, in your approach shots, but also the putting and how fast they can get the greens to roll, especially by Sunday. And what this system does is it like it controls the moisture and you know I've got some former colleagues who who work with tour players and have been there and They talk about when you you know when you go from the 11th to the 12th green You can hear the sub air system on and it sounds like a big vacuum But you can hear it and there's a few places around the course where you can hear those those things turned on and it's typically that you know mid to late Wednesday when they hear those things get pumped up and ⁓ you know, they're trying to change the golf course to kind of even the playing field because it is one of the few golf tournaments throughout the year that when you win there, you have an invite to be there and play there as long as you want to. ⁓ So there are players who, you've seen, usually if you win there, you're probably gonna win there again because you get that experience and you understand how to get yourself around that golf course. So in my opinion, it helps them even that playing field out a little bit and, ⁓ you know, makes it kind of the same thing for everybody because Like we said, you know, year to year, it certainly changes. speaker-0: Yeah, no question. ⁓ What about on the tournament operation side of things? What's going on behind the scenes to produce what is undisputedly ⁓ the most technologically advanced golf broadcast in the world? speaker-2: Yeah, one thing that I always notice and for the longest time, I always thought was so cool is like you hear the birds chirping in the background that those aren't real birds. Unfortunately, they definitely add that into the broadcast and that's minimal. But, you know, it just kind of goes to show how they try to make it a full experience and make you feel like you are there with the with the patrons, with the players there. They're on the golf course. But it's incredible to to learn about the the technology that they've had there at. at the Masters and they're implementing some new things this year. ⁓ You know, they've got the new the new video vault where you can actually go back and you can watch every single shot. I think it's from the final rounds, if I'm not mistaken, of basically anything in the last 50 years. So if you want to go back and watch every shot that Tiger has hit, you know, around Augusta that they you can just tap a few buttons right there on the app and you can watch it. I mean, it is really cool. speaker-0: Cheers. speaker-2: But all of that is part of their their new integration with IBM, ⁓ which is going to be really interesting I'm really excited to watch this aspect of the the broadcast where it's definitely going to be AI driven a little bit for the speed of things ⁓ But when a player is is hitting a shot or hitting a putt they're gonna have real-time data on Historic's, know of previous players previous champions ⁓ Against the current field as they're playing in front of them to show, okay, what's the actual percentage that this player can make this putt or, you know, can put this shot within five or 10 feet. So that type of technology, I mean, they don't have that anywhere else. And it all goes in with the built-in technology that they've put into Augusta. There's cameras everywhere. You don't see them. ⁓ If you look around, everything is painted green to blend in with the surroundings. You know, all of the scoreboards are strategically placed. all of the camera towers, they're strategically placed. You might be able to see the towers, you know, once in a while, but, ⁓ you know, it just makes everything look so impressive and visually appealing. And, I'm just like you guys, it makes me want to get out there even more and try to try to see the place because, you know, like everybody says, it doesn't do it justice. It's watching it on TV. speaker-0: Yeah, it's amazing how there's no signage. There's no corporate sponsor signage ⁓ kind of junking up the the the aesthetic of it. It's all so pristine and pure looking and feeling. And yet, just as you said, Daniel, we have access to literally every single shot that's being played on that golf course throughout the entire field. We can actually watch any one of the players we want hit every single one of their shots for the time that they're that they're in the event. Which is just kind of insane and just as you said all in this kind of way that's very hidden to us We don't even quite understand how we're able to see all of what we're able to see just as you said They have cameras hiding in the bushes ⁓ Not to mention when you're tuning in over the air on the on the CBS telecast I mean, it's of course something totally unlike anything else in that they take zero dollars, Augusta doesn't take any money from CBS and ESPN for the broadcast rights, which means that they retain control of the how this is going to go and how many commercials are going to be shown. And so as it is, we have four minutes of ads per hour. I mean, you can't get four minutes, only four minutes of ad per 10 minutes on a lot of things that you're watching today. It's truly, it's truly incredible. Right. ⁓ ⁓ There's only three sponsors for the event. ⁓ these sponsors, this isn't necessarily, this is kind of a slow burn strategy, clearly. ⁓ They're trying to align themselves with what is the most prestigious event in golf. Obviously has a good demographic tuning in that they're interested in kind of being positioned with. ⁓ But this whole kind of ⁓ control of the broadcast rights goes all the way back to 1966. ⁓ And then, yes, the app, as you said, Gabe, and as you said, Daniel, that's become the secret weapon that sets this kind of viewer experience ⁓ apart. And just as you said, Gabe, it continues to iterate and continues to get better every single year. Daniel, as you touched on, this new Vault feature is sick. I mean, I wasted an hour and half of my time when I thought I was going to just check it out for like two minutes. Honestly, I went down the rabbit hole. Next thing you know, I'm pulling up 1976 Hubert Green's like missing his putt heartbreak. It takes me down another rabbit. I mean, just insane ⁓ calls to mind. speaker-1: From IBM or is like, is the IBM CEO a member of Augusta? Like, how did this all come about? speaker-0: It's a great question. That's an interesting question. What I was going to say, Gabe, it reminds me of the video you did a few years ago. Didn't you do one where you did like either your favorite, your favorite shots or moments at Augusta and kind of did like a replay, right? speaker-1: Yeah, the top five favourite shots from Augusta over the years. There been some incredible ones. It was tough to make that list because there were so many to choose from. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Well, he might be out of business now. We can we can find him for ourselves. Right. Yeah. Right there. speaker-1: This way you know quickly, huh? speaker-2: It's too, because with the app, not only for past, but I'm sure you guys are the same way, you can put up four different broadcasts at the same time. You can watch live from the range. You can watch Amen Corner. You can watch featured groups and the broadcast all at the same time. ⁓ Whether you have a computer on the app with an iPad or ⁓ man, it... It changed the game in golf broadcast viewing. And for the longest time, I felt like, you know, Augusta and the Masters kind of had this, this negative energy that they, ⁓ well, you know, you only get to see the broadcast at three o'clock. You know, you kind of have to wait all day to watch it. Now that's not the case anymore. And with this app, it's so powerful that you can watch what you want. And if you just want to follow, Hey, want to, I want to watch Bryson all day long today. You can do that. You just turn on one player and you watch every shot he hits. So it's really cool. speaker-0: Yeah, kind of perfect for a game. I know you've got a pretty sweet Sim studio set up and we'll talk some some sim golf here in a minute. But just curious when you when you tune in, do you ever are you hitting balls and watching at the same time or kind of what's your what's your approach to watching a golf tournament? speaker-1: Well, lately it's been a tradition, I guess lately now 13 years, my son was born April 8th. So his birthday is here on Wednesday. I, from the, like it was the second day he was born, we were watching the Masters together. And so it's kind of been a tradition. My son watches zero golf, but he'll actually watch the Masters with me, at least on Sundays, just to keep that going. But a lot of times, yeah, usually on my phone. ⁓ Let's say I'm editing a video, making a video, whatever. It's kind of in the corner there as I'm doing whatever I'm doing. If I have to hop in the car and go get groceries, I've got the app streaming ⁓ during the Masters, which I don't do for any other tournament with that one. I'm sure I'm tuned in from Thursday on. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, awesome. And actually, it's worth tuning in even before Thursday. ⁓ The driving range experience is crazy. ⁓ I don't know that people totally understand exactly what's going on on that driving range and just how thoughtful this was all put together. ⁓ Daniel, I know that's a subject you've looked into a fair amount and both of us are blown away by it. Kind of tell us a little bit about what you've discovered. speaker-2: Certainly. this is the driving range they're using this week is called the tournament driving range. So this is typically only used this week out of the year. And I believe they do allow the women for the Anhuang to use it as well. ⁓ But it's designed and very, very strategic with what they've done with this driving range. ⁓ Not only are some of the greens that are out there shaped very similarly and sloped very similarly to some holes that are actually on the golf course, so players can practice some of those approach shots into certain holes like number two, for instance. They have a very similar ⁓ green there in the middle of the range so the players can practice that approach shot. ⁓ But even ⁓ if you look down all the way to the back of the driving range, they have two distinct fairways that are basically aligned, which allow you to practice the tee shot off of number one. And they have a bunker on the right side. That's the exact same size, exact same shape. and the exact same distance that you're gonna face on number one. And then they also have on the left side of the driving range, ⁓ I believe it's hole number five, ⁓ that dogleg left par four, which they've significantly lengthened in the last few years and they've changed the bunkering on the left side of that hole to make it, basically if you go in those bunkers, you might be lucky to make a bogey out of them. ⁓ So they've they've pushed those ⁓ two very significant tee shots into the driving range so the players can practice those. And that's just kind of scratching on the surface of what they've done with the driving range. mean, the players talk about it a lot, how there's, you know, targets everywhere that they can practice different types of shots for. There's flags everywhere. They can have different type of wedge ladder drills. ⁓ The short game area, the bunkering is strategically a very shallow bunker. So that way the players can see how the golf ball is reacting on the green. When they go on the golf course, almost all the bunkers are, you know, that's so far above their head, they can't actually see the ball land a lot of times. So to allow the players get a real feel on the course, they've actually shallowed the bunkers in the practice area, which is really cool. ⁓ And then you talk about the actual technology that's there. mean, holy cow. I mean, as a viewer, it's so cool. mean, even just yesterday watching a little bit of live from the Masters, they were showing some of the players on the range and they have top tracer technology out there where they can track every player shot and who like the range rats of the week are and stuff like that, ⁓ which you've actually seen trickle into some other events now. I mean, I know they've got it at TPC Sawgrass now. Some of these premier events are are latching on to some of this technology and adding it to their broadcast and their their tournament lead up information and stuff like that, which is really cool to see it trickle down and and get into some of the other prestigious events throughout the year. ⁓ But then the players have their own technology that's out there, too. And you'll also notice that, you know, in some of the other tour events, there's usually a lot of people on the driving range at Augusta. You basically get your caddy and one other person that can be out there. because they want the patrons to be able to see the players on the range and get that experience ⁓ and all their technology. has to be reviewed. It has to get a special sticker put onto it. So that way it's able to go out onto the range and even onto the course. And there's certain restrictions on how many swing videos they can take and certain things like that. So, you know, even the players are under strict guidelines with certain things that they have to adhere to and follow. At the end of the day, it's all tradition and respect and honor. know, I don't know how some of these guys are so confidently taking divots of grass hair because I would certainly be a little timid, you know, hitting down on the ball at times. yeah, I mean, that's just a little bit of glimpse of what the range is and what they've built. And it's always evolving. That's what's that's what's amazing about Augusta. speaker-0: Yeah, just so much cool things like the tunnels underneath the range for the media to be able to transport from the media center to the range or from ⁓ food and beverage all going on underground, the heating systems that the range is available, even when the golf course is closed for a frost delay, for example, right? It's just a kind of a continuous series of no stone left unturned kind of decisions that the membership makes, obviously a well-heeled membership and in a profitable event ⁓ as well. ⁓ But it does seem that they're spending the money ⁓ in the direction that's going to provide the best viewing experience for the patrons, as they call them, ⁓ including the ones at home. ⁓ just incredible. Daniel, you've had you've actually had working experience ⁓ on professional tours. ⁓ helping to set up range setups. ⁓ Just kind of talk about what goes into some of that and maybe a bit about what the Top Tracer technology brings us. speaker-2: Yeah, it's certainly unique, the Top Tracer system. They use cameras to basically track the golf ball. And we can experience some of that technology even as consumers. mean, there's Top Tracer ⁓ driving ranges probably anywhere locally to people who are listening. I know we have them locally all over, even in Florida in the warm climates here, ⁓ But even so, ⁓ like ⁓ a top golf, it's very similar technology to that. ⁓ It is limited data that they're able to track and capture with that. ⁓ But it gives us the fans inside ⁓ the visuals. We get to see stuff that's really cool. Like how fast does Tiger Woods swing his golf club? What's his ball speed? And even it enhances the broadcast in a way because we can now see, ⁓ maybe he's a little cold starting out. And you can see maybe you know, he's swinging it a little easier. And then you can really see when the players get warmed up and start moving that golf ball. But then you can also see kind of what their practice routine or warm up routine looks like, because, geez, me as an amateur consumer golfer, like even as a kid, and probably a lot of kids are this way, we go out there, we grab our driver, driver, and we just start swinging as hard as we can. And, you know, it doesn't really help you a whole lot as far as activating and getting warm and. ⁓ Like we talked about last week, Mark, with the stack system and the dynamic warmup and how important that can be, ⁓ you actually get to see the tour players kind go through some of that and use their training aids on the golf course and their technology. ⁓ So it is really cool to be able to kind of see how they go through their routines. And geesh, like we said a little bit earlier, they have these range rats of the week. You can see who's trying to find something on the range and who's kind of got it. mean, you look at a guy like ⁓ ⁓ You know, like VJ Singh or even JJ Spahn from last week. He didn't hit a single range ball yesterday, probably using it at more of a rest day because of how many holes he had to play this weekend or on Sunday. I think they played 27 on Sunday ⁓ in the rain. So ⁓ it kind of gives you a little bit of insight about how each player ⁓ approaches the week or practices within the week ⁓ to kind of give the viewers at home ⁓ a feel for that. But then not only on the driving range. They use top tracer out on the golf course as well with all of their camera broadcasts. ⁓ Essentially, it's a small radar that's attached to each of the broadcast cameras and it tracks and measures a little bit of data and also shows that tracer on the broadcast so we can see where the golf ball is headed. ⁓ It is a little bit unique because Augusta, if you watch golf, you may not know this, but Augusta is the only ones who use a yellow ball tracer. ⁓ And that I think goes into some of their tradition of their colors. Everything is kind of green or white or yellow that's out there. that's certainly unique, but it's a very advanced system. It gets all pushed back into a TV compound and you can view all the holes from one screen. mean, we had a little bit of experience with that on the live tour when I was with FlightScope at the time. It was so freaking cool to be able to see how the TV networks and broadcast work from the backside of things and how they pull this all together and to see what you the viewer has no idea what's going on. But it's really, really cool how much technology and how many people it truly takes to to make all that happen. And the Masters is that like on steroids times 1000 like with the volunteers and the amount of people in the broadcast. It's absolutely speaker-0: Yeah, and the fact that it's the same, you know, the same venue every year allows them to have fixed or permanent installations, whereas other other venues can't quite have that same advantage. And so it just allows them to be that much more prepared, not to mention that, of course, they're already going to be that much more prepared. So it's wild. Ah, now in 2026, one of the things that the three of us spend a lot of our working days communicating to consumer golfers is just how amazing this is for all of us in 2026 to be living as golfers ⁓ in the amount of technology that we have available to us is truly stunning, even for the three of us that are spoiled enough to get to play with it a lot. ⁓ It's still, mean, maybe speak for all of us, I still have pinch me moments pretty much weekly where I'm just like, damn, this is just cool as hell, like the stuff that we get to do. ⁓ And one of those things that it allows us to do is we, us, as Gabe would say, mere mortals can in fact play Augusta National Golf Club and we don't even need an invitation. ⁓ speaker-2: And we're gonna wear shorts. speaker-1: even in Gantt's mouth for that matter. ⁓ speaker-0: Right, right. Good luck getting away with that at Augusta. All of us have got a taste of this. Daniel, I'm going to hit you with your experiences here because I know they're very recent. But Gabe, I want to come back to you and tell us a little bit about ⁓ your experience playing Augusta National, never having been there. speaker-1: Yeah, man, mean, like you said, what a time to be alive. We have experiences that you couldn't have dreamed of, you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago, certainly. I was just playing Augusta. Well, technically the Georgia Golf Club is what they call it on GS Pro. I was playing it this week with my buddy. And just to make it even more fun and immersive, we played the Bactis. That's nice thing about a simulator. could play from, you could set it up as a par three. You could play from. you know, the ladies tease or the senior tease or wherever. And I think that that's so cool. But ⁓ we chose to play it from the tips. ⁓ It's amazing, like, for instance, the first hole, like on TV almost looks like, you know, this is a pretty straightforward hole. Why do some people bow you this hole? then seeing it in GS Pro and how tight and narrow that drive is, I mean, you can't miss that drive right or left quite more than a couple of degrees. And you're really in trouble. And then the way that where those pins sit on ledges, ⁓ it's really amazing. I think they just did a redesign of it, the designer's tech bud of this most recent iteration. I don't know when it was rolled out, but I know I had to re-download the course. And not only is it more detailed and crisp and the graphics are even better than they've ever been, but they really got the undulations of that course. That's what's great about the broadcast on CBS and the app lately is that They've tried to get these interesting camera angles to show the elevation changes. As you mentioned, some of those bunker shots, they're going way over their heads, but even just approaches into these elevated greens can be so steep. And you get that now inside of GS Pro with this latest build, it just blew me away. And I got to say, I had a pretty good round going. ⁓ I birdie from the tips. Like some of these are like, there's a part, there's a 506 yard par four. There's like, 450 to 470 yard par four is very, difficult for me. Guy only hits it like 250, 260 off the tee. But I had a good round going. I was, two under after three, but as it seems to do in the tournament, I think the nerves got to me a little bit. So I happy. I was happy to get the opportunity. was like, if I could go to Augusta and shoot 77 on, on tournament pins, I'd be very, very happy with speaker-0: Sure, you would be very happy. Yeah. Well, Daniel, just also played the Georgia Golf Club. ⁓ GS Pro, just to back up a quick second, mean, we're talking about if you have the computing power, a very accessible software platform that is compatible with and integrates either natively or through a very simple ⁓ software workaround. with pretty much every golf launch monitor that's available, all of the ones that play better sells. It's only a $250 a year ask. ⁓ And really the stumbling point, if there is one, is the computer requirements. But if you clear that hurdle, man, you're in for some incredibly, incredibly graphically detailed, incredibly immersive ⁓ sim golf that's available to all of us, including Augusta National. Daniel, I know you just played it using the Pro TVX, if I'm not mistaken. Hit us with what you found. speaker-2: Yeah, and and I agree with you, Gabe. I hadn't played ⁓ Augusta or the Georgia Golf Club, as they call it, in quite a while. ⁓ The last time I played, it was it was a very poor experience because I just didn't play well. know, that that golf course has a very, very unique way of exaggerating ⁓ how good you feel about your golf game. It makes you feel really, really poor about your game, because if you if you can only shape the ball pretty much one way like I can. It becomes very difficult. You have to have almost every shot in your arsenal to get around that golf course. So it is very, very difficult, especially like you said, Gabe, when I decided last night I was going to play from the tips. I was going to put the fairways greens on firm conditions, ⁓ tournament conditions, basically, and the Sunday pins. I think I put the green stimp at like or something like that, just just for the fun of it. ⁓ And it's fun because you get to kind of experience some of those iconic shots, especially like the tee shots. you said, Gabe, number one, ⁓ I like to hit kind of a heavy draw. So I really love the tee shot on number two. I really love the tee shot even on number five or on number 13. You know, there's certain shots where you feel really, really cool and it makes you think back to. you know, maybe some of the shots that Tiger or Phil or Jack and all these guys and you can go to the video vault. You can watch these shots and maybe go into GS Pro and you can practice them, which is pretty cool. ⁓ speaker-0: that's critical speaker-1: You can't drop the ball from anywhere on the course in GS Pro to hit shots from, which is awesome. speaker-0: Well, now too, like we should bring up also that with the latest improvements to Home Tea Hero, we now have that same option to do that via the Garmin R10 or Garmin R50. Now we're talking about a really, really affordable way in, right? mean, you could have a Garmin R10, a cell phone and a $9.99 a month Home Tea Hero subscription and you can play Augusta National. It's not going to be as graphically enhanced as what you're going to find at GS Pro. ⁓ or with something like Trackman Software or the Golf Club 2019, those being your other options to play Augusta. But as far as the most affordable way to play, ⁓ playing via Garmin's HomeT-Hero is pretty awesome. And just as you alluded to, Gabe, they now have, know, Augusta is one of their enhanced courses. And so it's now ⁓ more detailed, more graphically enhanced than it was previously. ⁓ So more immersive. And then also you have that option to hit any one of those shots that Daniel just was describing and go and practice it over and over again. ⁓ Daniel, when you were playing it last night, did you have ⁓ favorite holes that jumped to mind or shots that you were just kind of talking about that you really enjoyed hitting as you related it to all of those years of watching on TV? speaker-2: Yeah, certainly. I I mentioned a few of them already, but it was even the shots that I wasn't expecting, which I, which kind of reminded me of a few shots, like even, um, man, I think I was on hole number seven and I had hit my tee shot way right into the fairway next to it. And I was sitting there as I was trying to pick my club and go through it. And I'm like, man, I'm, pretty sure I remember seeing tiger do this before and hitting this huge high hook shot up over the trees and landing it, you know, a couple of feet away. then. you know, bringing it back off the slope to like a foot. it's like, it just kind of gives you a chill, you know, like, ⁓ man, this is really cool. And then like, I actually hit a very similar shot. Now I missed the green just barely to the right because I didn't hook the ball enough, but man, it was so cool to sit there and be like, man, I can kind of experience some of this in a way. And it's still very realistic too. And I'm sure Gabe can attest to this. It's like, even when you get into trouble in the simulator. there's a way out and they give you the opportunity to pull off an incredible shot if you don't want to just take your medicine and chip it out. You know, like that's what's unique about Augusta is, you know, it feels like every year there's these iconic shots, but some of it I feel like is kind of on purpose because even when you get into trouble, they almost like bait you into these incredible shots. Like look at Rory last year on number nine. ⁓ I believe it was number nine when you know his caddy is basically telling him just to punch it out and he basically tells him to you know kind of piss off like just give me my my iron and he hits this incredible draw shot through a hole in the trees to like three feet and even he was shocked that he pulled it off ⁓ but it was so freaking cool to kind of experience some of that even when you didn't hit the best tee shot or be in the best spot it's like you know I'm gonna take a risk here and see if I can pull off one of these incredible shots I remember watching as a kid which I'm sure the same for you guys. This tournament is a big reason why I even picked up a golf club in the first place. Watching Tiger escape the trouble that he did all the time was so freaking fun to do. speaker-0: Phil from the pine straw, Bubba drawing it around in the playoff on 10. All of these shots that you can go recreate for yourselves and that are so memorable to all of us. It just makes it again, kind of backing up that point of, damn, are we lucky to be doing what we do in 2026? And so is everyone else out there because all of us have access to this, you know, from the garment side of things up to ⁓ playing on a very expensive setup. ⁓ You know, you could be playing on a Trackman IO and playing Augusta National via the Trackman software and just have an incredibly immersive, realistic experience. ⁓ You two are the better golfers ⁓ here. ⁓ You're the closest to making the champions dinner. You're not going to make it, sadly. ⁓ But if you did, what would be on the menu? Gabe, what would you be serving? speaker-1: Yeah, I'm, believe it or not, huge Indian food fan. Probably my number one food. So I would probably go like some kind of Tikka masala, Makhti or something like something really, really good. ⁓ That would get me going for sure. Then I thought, well, maybe I should serve something really heavy because I think the master's dinner is what Tuesday night, like right before these guys have to get ready for the tournament. Might suit just to. you know, get in my opponent's head and maybe serve them something super heavy and then give myself a little salad, something like that. speaker-2: Great show. speaker-0: There we go. love it. orange orange tikka masala sauce all over those green jackets splattering up and everyone's green jacket. Exactly. Daniel, how about you? What are we eating? speaker-1: injury. speaker-2: Yeah, I think I'd have a little bit of my roots where I came from and also maybe something a little bit of a taste of where I am now. ⁓ I grew up on a cattle farm, so there would definitely be some nice rib eyes that would be served there for sure. Corn fed, of course. None of that grass fed stuff. ⁓ And then I'd probably have to sprinkle in a little bit of the Key West nature here with some spiny tailed lobster or ⁓ maybe some key lime pie to tie it off at the end. And then, you know, I'd probably get a few laughs, but, know, I'd probably disappoint my dad if I wasn't, you know, serving everybody a bush light with their meal, just sprinkling some Midwest charm there. But now it would definitely be something, you know, along those lines that a little bit of the history, but a little bit of the current at the same time, which I think would be cool. speaker-0: I love that. Well, the Bushlight would be quite the departure from the wine list that Rory's got prepared for his guests. I don't know if you looked at that, but there are some some very, very nice bottles of wine. ⁓ He is serving a wagyu fillet and some salmon, I believe, as his entree has some pretty interesting apps and desserts ⁓ on that on that menu as well. ⁓ But what a room to be in. That would be ⁓ pretty, pretty amazing. ⁓ ⁓ Guys, this has been ⁓ really fun. It gets the juices flowing to watch some Masters, ⁓ fire up the sim and play Augusta National, ⁓ to follow along on the app. There's just so many ways to engage with this tournament more than there are with any other thing that we watch or engage with throughout our year as sporting fans. so ⁓ for everyone that has... speaker-2: You even play the par three course as well because the par three tournament starts tomorrow. I did play the par three course. That was the first time I think it's called Georgia three. super fun little golf course. No hole in ones for me, but was super fun just to kind of get a little bit ⁓ of a warm up before I the real. speaker-0: later And 16 there that yeah, yeah speaker-2: Yeah, so it was cool. But yeah, something definitely to keep in mind too. If maybe if you're watching the par three tomorrow, you can you can fire it up and play the par three course on GS Pro as well. speaker-0: That's a sweet idea. are we are recording here on Tuesday, the day of the Champions Dinner par three contest coming tomorrow and potentially when this airs will be live ⁓ from Augusta National hitting the ceremonial first tee shots potentially. ⁓ Let's let's pay this off with with one of the main events for this weekend and that would be on Masters Saturday. Gabe is going to be flying ⁓ up to Baltimore. Joining the crew in Baltimore, he is going to be live streaming in the warehouse, rifling through a ton of amazing, amazing inventory, even doing some product giveaways, if I'm not mistaken. Take it away, Gabe, what have we got? speaker-1: Yeah, I'm excited because every time I come up to the warehouse, it's like for a person like me, a golf tech junkie, it's like walking into the Disney world of golf because it's just like, ⁓ my God, here's this. And you look at this shelf and there's the Bushnell stuff and there's the garment. I'm looking everywhere. So I mean, you guys gave me a great opportunity to actually come up there and be able to pick these shelves and let people ⁓ have a little taste of what it's like. Plus get some incredible. ⁓ prices on this technology. if you've never been on Whatnot, it's a live auction platform. You can think of it as like eBay meets ⁓ live streaming. So we're gonna have a lot of fun. It'll be very interactive. We'll actually have the masters streaming behind us. I got confirmation from Whatnot that we'll be able to do that. So it's gonna be kind of a watch party, if you will. ⁓ While we auction off just some of the cool technology that you guys have. So there'll be simulators, watches, everything that. PlayBetter is sold over the years. Golf clubs, apparel, balls, everything you could think of. I believe my partner, Sean, who's the cameraman for Let's Play Through, he ⁓ put together the list of all the items. I think we've got 1,300 plus items that will be being auctioned off. We're gonna go from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. So hopefully my voice will hold up. ⁓ But basically for the entire day of the master's broadcast on Saturday. And as you mentioned, the giveaways are going to be incredible. So there'll be plenty of giveaways just for being there. We'll be giving away golf technology just for joining us on the stream. And then if you were to purchase something during the stream, we've got some big ones. So we've got the Garmin R10 you were talking about. There's three of those we'll be auctioning off. Or not auctioning off, giving away, I should say, to anyone who's purchased anything during the stream. And then we've also got three S70 watches, which we talked about data tracking at Augusta. For me, that's like the... the holy grail of golf watches if you want to track your stats. So there's gonna be three of those. There may be some other even bigger giveaways, launch monitors and things like this that you have to tune in to see. ⁓ hopefully in the show notes, we'll be able to leave a link to the whatnot stream itself. And if you hit our link, you'll be able to get $15 free just to shop the sale. So all you have to do is hit the link, come spend your free $15. You might even win a Garmin R10. It could be a really good way to cap off master's weekend for you. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-0: That's going to be a lot of fun. Get some rest, Gabe. That's going to be a long day for you. speaker-1: I gotta take some cough drops. speaker-0: Yeah, it's going to be super, super, super serious ⁓ and seriously exciting event. would too encourage everybody to tune in. There's going to be some some really wild deals available that that might be shocking for people. As Gabe mentioned, giveaways available and just a ton of fun energy and fun, like minded people, ⁓ including Gabe. So, Gabe, thanks for doing that. ⁓ Really looking forward to to watching Daniel. put your wallet away you were in danger of spending some money probably huh speaker-2: I've got to thank Spiro for that because I'm a very addicted person to what not since the PGA show in January when he kind told us ⁓ about it. Yeah, I'll have to distract my wife while I'm watching that on Saturday. I might be buying a couple things myself. speaker-0: Awesome. Well, let's wrap it up. ⁓ Guys, let's pick a couple of winners here. Daniel, who you got this week? speaker-2: Yeah, I, you know, for some reason I keep gravitating towards Brooks Koepka. So I, you know, I think that he's finally not distracted from the last few years. I think he, ⁓ he plays well and pulls through this week. speaker-0: All right. Great. Great pick. Gabe, any picks? speaker-1: I think I'm going with ⁓ Spieth, of course. You know, he's been there. I think he's ⁓ got the game for it if he can stay out of the big trouble and the big blow up holes. speaker-0: Okay. All right. Well, give me Cameron Young at 23 to one. I think I think he's kind of a sneaky pick, somebody that his game sets up very well for Augusta. Certainly is now proven himself in some high leverage situations. lot of success at the Ryder Cup. And I just I just feeling it. I'm feeling Cameron Young, an American winner this week. at Augusta. So speaker-2: Nobody picked Bryson there because I a little bit of a fan insight here. I had some friends ⁓ and again, former colleague walk, you know, with Bryson yesterday. He hit four shots in the water on 15 hitting that approach shot. So he's either going to eagle that hole every time this week or there there might be a blow up. Who knows? speaker-0: Awesome. Some inside the ropes ⁓ Intel there from Daniel. Thanks for that. ⁓ Awesome. Guys, thanks for joining. Gabe, big thank you to you for joining. Encourage everyone out there to check out Gabe's Let's Play Through channel if you haven't already. Many of you are already familiar with that space. It really is one of the leading spaces in our corner of the world of golf technology. Gabe does an incredible job of making the content very relatable. He's often out on the course showing you these products in action, in his own hands, ⁓ with his own on course experiences, very open, very transparent, very honest, and for that reason, very successful content. So please check out Let's Play Through. Consider giving that channel a subscribe. Please do consider giving this channel a subscribe, ⁓ as well as your like if you did enjoy this content. We certainly do appreciate everyone watching and listening. This is just our 10th episode of Golf Tech Weekly, but Daniel, we've got some fun things around the corner. ⁓ More exciting guests like Gabe. Gabe, I hope that we'll have you on again at some point and I really do thank you for joining us. speaker-1: Thanks for having me guys, this is Glass. speaker-0: Awesome. I'm ready to watch some Masters. Let's get off the horn here and ⁓ go fire up the driving range, maybe get the Sim working and ⁓ see if we can have some fun. ⁓ Daniel, we'll see you next week. Everyone enjoy watching the Masters. Thank you for tuning in and catch you next time.