July 10, 2024 • 48 mins
Fresh off a top ten finish, Rayhan Thomas joins Claude for a trip down memory lane starting with his time as a junior golf at CH3's academy in Dubai to Oklahoma State and now the professional circuit. They discuss the keys and differences between junior golf vs. collegiate golf, how to properly practice, the lessons you learn from traveling at a young age and how Viktor Hovland became his landlord.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host
Claude Harmon. This week's pod is it's a special one
for me, and the reason for that is my guest
is rayhn Thomas. I'm sure many of you don't know
who Ray is, but he just turned professional, played his
college golf at Oklahoma State University, had a top ten
in the International Series on the Asian Tour last week
(00:23):
in his second professional event as a pro. But the
reason why it's special for me is Ray started in
our junior program. I have an academy out in Dubai
and Ray started in our junior program when he was
nine years old. And to kind of watch his journey
and to kind of watch the things that he's done
and watch him turn professional now has been pretty cool
for me. He talks a lot about his junior career,
(00:48):
struggling when he got to college and kind of that
jump from junior golf to college golf, and now he's
making that jump from college golf to professional golf. And
I've got a massive, massive soft spot for Ray. He's
always got a smile on his face. Justin Parsons who've
had on the pod before, JP and I were working
together in Dubai at my academy. When Ray was a
(01:10):
junior and he was young, we would put him through exercises.
He couldn't touch his toes. He always had a smile
on his face. And to watch him play last week
finish top ten on an invite on the Asian Tour,
it was really really cool for me, and I think
this is a really good podcast because golf, even at
the highest level, can sometimes be difficult. You can go
(01:33):
through slumps, you can go through confidence crisises, and Ray
talks very very open about it. But I'm so excited
to get the opportunity to talk to Ray Hann. I
think he's got a big future and I'm excited to
see what he does as a professional. So this is
a cool one. It's special for me, and I think
everyone's going to enjoy listening to Ray Han Thomas and
(01:55):
his story. So my guest today is finishing up his
fifth year at Oklahoma State University in the golf program
and he just turned professional, made the cut in his
first professional tournament. Corn Fairy seventy two, sixty four, sixty seven,
seventy three, tied for sixty eighth. Ray, this is a
really cool moment for me, not only to watch for
(02:18):
everything that you did at Oklahoma State for the last
five years, but now that you're turning pro. You were
nine years old when you start in our junior program
in Dubai, and to watch the journey from where you started.
I mean, I still remember you used to show up.
I used to call you short. One day you came
to me and you said, mister Claude, I don't like
(02:39):
him when I when you call me short. And I said, Ray,
you'll load the ground. The journey has been so cool,
and now you're turning pro. When you look back on it,
from junior golf to now turning pro, what do you
think you've learned the most in the last you know,
five years at Oklahoma State. Because for people that don't know,
(03:00):
Oklahoma State's golf program is there. They're the Los Angeles Lakers,
the real Madrid they are. If you want to play
on the PGA Tour and you're lucky enough to go
to Oklahoma State, it's such a privilege. The five years
you spent there, what do you think being an Oklahoma
State cowboy golfer taught you in those five years?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It taught me a lot First of all, thanks thanks
for getting me on here, claud I really appreciate it.
And I mean the five years at Oklahoma State it
was awesome. I learned a lot more about myself in
my game, and that's what Coach Bratton was kind of
all about, trying to figure out who you are and
stick to those things, know your strengths and your weaknesses.
And I struggled for a good chunk of my college
(03:42):
career and trying to figure out, trying to figure out
who I was. And this last year has been a
really big leap for me, just in my confidence in
my game, and yeah, just figuring out what I do
well and what I do when I play well, and
trying to go back to those things when I see
myself straight off the path a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You had a kind of a really kind of meteoric
amateur career, you know, you just started playing so good
as an amateur. You want to mean a tour event,
and as an amateur where there were professionals playing, you
shot sixty one and a tourna made nine birdies in
a row. You got to Oklahoma State and you did.
(04:25):
You struggled early, I think, and that struggle for a
lot of junior golfers that listen to this podcast, for
a lot of parents who have junior golfers, the jump
from junior golf to basically one of the biggest colors
golf programs in the world and one of the best,
(04:45):
that's a big, big step, and I don't think people
realize how hard that jump is from high high level
amateur golf where you're having success, you're winning golf tournaments.
You know, Ray I have parents all the time, Let's
say to me when their kids go to college, were
used to seeing him win. We're used to seeing him
(05:06):
win junior golf tournaments. Now he's a freshman. Now she's
a freshman. She's she's not winning, she's not playing great.
What was What was the struggle for you and how
did you find your way out of it?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
The struggle for me initially was, you know, I'd be
at the course all day and I just didn't really
have a plan and I would just be going through
fields just trying to figure out some way to crack
the team and make it. And you're playing Carston Creek.
I don't know if you've ever been out there, but
it's a daunting and intimidating golf course if you're not
hitting the ball good. And so it was just like
(05:42):
the anxiety was building. And you know, playing for Oklahoma State,
we'd just come off probably one of the best teams
in college history of the last two years in twenty
eighteen twenty nineteen, had some amazing players and guys who
were in Torno and you know.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You Victor Hovlin, Matt Wolfe. Yeah, christ I mean they
want to a national championship. Zach Bowsho was on that team.
Zach was a.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Stud Austin's winner on the tour.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now, yeah, and you go into Oklahoma State, I think,
knowing a lot about it, but the culture that the
coaches and the other players, it is a it is
a It is a big family. And one of the
things I love about Oklahoma State and the job that
the coaching staff does there. All of the players that
(06:27):
play on tour still support love, go back, spend time
in Stillwater, Ricky, Victor Hobb. I heard a rumor you're
currently living in Vic's house in it Yeah, in Stillwater
because Vic's now moved to Duport to live with Christophurt.
That's the best to me, that's the best story. Of
(06:48):
the year. You've got you got Victor Howland, he wins
almost forty million dollars last year. He's rooming with his
college roommate who's playing on the corn Ferry, and Chris Vntura.
You've got all these guys down here, Ray living in
twenty million dollars houses and Vic's a roommate. You're now,
is Vic charging you to stay in the house or
(07:09):
is he is? He? Is he giving it to you
for free?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He hasn't sent me a billy yet, but I don't
think there will be one. I hope not.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I'll tell you what, if Victor Hoblin sends your ass
a bill for staying in his house, I'm gonna have
a talk with him because he he doesn't need the
rent money.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
He doesn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
But my point behind that is you get to meet
these guys that are now playing on tour, and they
play a huge part. I think in every player that
goes to Oklahoma State. I think there's yes, listen, every
college golf program they do the same thing. But I
just happen to know. You know, I worked with Ricky.
I know a bunch of the guys, and I think
(07:46):
they do a fantastic job at taking care of the
next generation of players. Said, come into Oklahoma State, they
go back, they play with you. Guys. Everybody I talked
to Ray, you were kind of in your five years
at Oklahoma State on the golf team. They used to
call you the Oklahoma State golf mascot because you were
everyone's favorite. Right, You've always got a smile on your face.
(08:10):
And that's one of the things I've always loved about
you is, you know, I've known you for a very
long time and watched you grow as a junior golfer
and now become a professional. Your attitude has always been amazing.
And you know when you got to Oklahoma State, you know,
justin Parsons and I, we were still trying to help you,
and we we knew that you were struggling. I mean,
(08:32):
you got the full blown driver yips for a good player.
That is scary because you drove it great as a
junior golfer. How much of that, Ray, do you feel
was your technique and your quest to try and get better,
and how much of that was just what all golfers
go through, is you get anxiety, you don't have confidence,
(08:56):
you can't see your shape, for you. What was it
when you got to Oklahomas Obviously you get a scholarship
to go there. You can't fake that. Yeah, you're a
good player, and they think you're going to be a
great player if you go to Oklahomas State and play
on the golf program. But you got there. Was it
the situation? Was it being away from home? Was it
(09:18):
just the expectation? What was it that caused you to
kind of have that confidence crisis that you went through.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I think it was a plethora of things, for sure. Definitely,
I think there were some technique issues in my swing,
but obviously, like they're guys that's swinging at all different
types of ways that can do it. But mentally, I
was just, you know, putting so much pressure on myself,
especially like you said, like you're winning junior golf tournaments
all the time, and your expectations rise so high, and
(09:49):
then when you don't meet those expectations, you're putting even
more weight. And I mean those first few years at
Oklahoma State, I mean I was down in the dumps
with my just because you golf is are weird sport
where you can put in a bunch of hours and
get worse and it literally felt like that, like I'd
be putting in eight hour, nine hour days and just
feeling like I was getting worse, And so that weighs
(10:10):
on you a lot. And I honestly think that the
real changing point was this last summer, I was hurt
with my right hand. I had a broken bone in
my hand and I had to take some time off.
And so Zach Bowsho got you know well, and who
was on the national championship team in twenty eighteen, He
asked me to caddy him while he was on the
corn ferry, and I knew he was struggling with his
(10:34):
game prior to that, and he also had some driver
issues and stuff things gone. And I caddied for him
in Wichita and he finished fourth after he Monday qualified
in and just learning from him and the way he
kind of goes about the game, and I really changed
the way I thought about the game. And that was
really a big pivotal point. When I got back, I
(10:54):
wasn't really as anxious as I was.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I think you had a unique opportunity as a player
to go caddy for someone who's a friend, someone who's
kind of around the same age as you. But you
got to go see him play in a professional tournament.
And I remember when I was doing television back in
the day for Sky Sports, they put me on course
and I'd never done on course commentary and stuff, but
(11:21):
I remember it was a FedEx Cup that that Billy
Horsell won. We were in We're at Cherry Hills, and
Sergio Garcia had a chance to win this golf tournament
and he made some really soft, soft bogies coming in
that were just bogeys that you just don't expect good
players to make like that. And as someone that was
(11:41):
watching it, you could just kind of see, man, that
that was just that you just there's no way you
can make bogey from from that drive, and you still
have to when you caddied fors at. It kind of
make you look at your own game and say, and
maybe I don't need to take on some of these shots,
fire at some of these flags. You know, I talk
(12:02):
about this all the time on the podcast, right, I
think so many players don't realize that twenty feet left
or right of it is a good shot. But also
you go to Oklahoma State and you look at the
wall of players that have won tournaments there. I've seen
that locker room in that area where I mean it's
just nothing but guys raising trophies, right, Yeah, and so
you feel like you have to basically knock it stiff
(12:26):
every single shot. You feel like you have to go
shoot sixty four, sixty five every single time you tee
it up. And that's that's very, very difficult to do.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, And so when I saw Zach and when
I've played with him, it is just like, you know,
he'd miss some shots, but he was playing very well
at the time. And what I got from him the
most was that he kind of thought of the game
as a puzzle and he was like trying to figure
out what the biggest parts of the puzzle are and
just grind on it and don't look at like struggles
(13:00):
as something to be deterred from, but like a challenge
to try to overcome. And I got that. You know,
I've kind of narrated down to I think golf, professional
golf is just critical thinking and problem solving, and so
if you can, if you have the right tools to
problem solve it, I think I think you can kind
of get through anything.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
The other thing, I think that I'm really proud of
you for ray your junior year, you're an academic all
big twelve. There aren't a lot of golfers playing professional
golf that were high on academics. But I think it's
something that's really interesting that you talk about the problem
solving and the puzzle of golf. A lot of junior
(13:38):
golfers struggle when they go to college ray because they
forget that your technique is important. Yeah, I mean, you
were trying and you were doing the right things. The
first couple of years. You're grinding eight hours a day.
You're working your ass off. You're trying to get better,
but sometimes in an effort to try and get better,
(13:59):
in an effort to try work so hard, you can
get worse. And it's a mind I mean, just it
blows your mind that wait a minute, I'm I can't
work any harder than I'm working like, I can't put
more time in that I'm putting in and I'm getting worse.
What's that like? And how do you say? Okay? Was
(14:21):
it an adjustment of how much you were practicing? Wasn't
an adjustment on changing the way that you practice? How
did you find this this kind of bridge to okay?
I'm struggling. How do I get myself out of this
because I'm already working harder than I've ever worked in
my life.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, it was mainly just once I understood what I
needed to do in my golf swing, I just said, okay,
range session, just grind on the things I need to
because I would always go back and forth with different
trying to get fields and things to just have me
get through the day. And I was like, I just
to myself, I know what I need to do. As
long as I get these things done, I will play
(15:01):
good golf at some point, and it will it will happen.
And then I changed my practice from where I was
spending most of my time on the range because I
was just scared to go on the golf course, especially
at Carston. I'm hitting balls in the junk every single
time and having to reteat It's not fun if you're.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Not driving it good. At cars two Creek, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
You will swear I.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Big numbers.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
So I was just like, okay, I keep I'm scared
to go on the golf course, and that's where that's
where I'm going to be making my my my bread,
you know. So I just said, you know, our range
sessions are an hour long, go to the golf course
and just play as many holes as I can. And
that's how I changed, And I'll just kind of beat
it out. I was like, I will dig this out
of the dirt and beat it out of my system.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Chris Venturo, who was on that national championship team, I
worked with him when he turned pro, and I talked
to him about you know what they did. You know, him,
Victor Hovlin, Matt Wolf, they were all on that team,
and he said, listen, we played way more golf than
we practiced. He said, yeah, there were times where we
would practice. But he said, Vic Matt, He said Matt especially,
(16:05):
he said Matt when he was at that at Oklahoma
stated he said, he just basically played all day long.
He'd play from you know, sun up to sundown. And
I think that's something that everybody that's trying to play
competitive golf is. It's important to hear that that you
went from eight hours a day on the range to saying, Okay,
I'm going to spend an hour on the technique stuff
(16:26):
that I need to work on. But then the most
important thing is not what happens on the driving range,
it's what I actually do when I'm on the golf
course trying to play and trying to score. When you
made that shift to try and say, Okay, I'm going
to practice less and I'm going to play more. It's
not like that solved the technique issues, right, But what
(16:50):
did it do for your confidence to get out there
and just say, Okay, I've got what i've got today,
I'm only going to hit balls for an hour and
I'm just going to go play and I'm going to
try and shoot this or because I think so many
people listening think what happens on the driving range is
a it predetermines what happens on the golf course.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, it's like people try to recreate tournament conditions and
you can to a certain degree, but it's never really
the same. And so what I what me and Zach
kind of talked about was like progressions, Like go through
your progressions. Like if you're working on something into your technique,
do it on the range, see it happen. Take it
on the course by yourself, see it happen. Do it
(17:31):
in like a money game or a little game against
your body, see it happen. Just do it in a
tournament and see it happen. And your confidence will slowly
grow back, because then you'll be like, Okay, I'm starting
to get this thing. And that's what I kind of
did with my I'd go by myself and just bang
balls off the tee and you know, play play holes
and shoot a score and be like, Okay, I can
see it happen. Go do it in a money game.
See it happen. Go do it on the tournament, and
(17:54):
the confidence grow from there.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I think so many people listening Ray struggle with the
off the tee and there's nothing I think putting is.
Obviously there's no substitute for great putting. Yeah, but if
you can't drive the golf ball, and you can't drive
the golf ball in play, if you were going to
play any sort of competitive golf, whether it's the monthly medal,
(18:20):
whether it's the club championship, whether it's a junior tournament,
or whether it's elite Division one college golf, if you
can't drive it, you cannot play and you can't compete.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeh.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Did you go to trying to shape the ball more
and hit shots with your driver, or did you say, Okay,
I'm just going to try and become really one dimensional
and just kind of hit one shot all the time, one.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Shot all the time. I kind of heard I remember
when you when I when I spoke to you a
few times, you would just be like, these guys don't
shape it all that much. You need to get really
good at one shape and then start working it from there.
And I kind of took that too, And I've listened
some to Scott Foston too. I think he's a really
smart guy. And so I just was like, I'm gonna
hit one golf shot and I'm going to pick good
(19:09):
targets and just try to rip it and just keep
doing that and if it if it, if I hit
one into the junk, so be it. I'm gonna still
keep picking one shot and hitting it at one target.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
You started working with Dana Dalquist. I saw Dana at
the US Open. Obviously great win for Dana. He works
with Bryson d. Chambeau. I think Dana's one of the
smartest golf instructors out there. I've had him on the
podcast before. What's the work that you've done with with Dana?
And what shape now, Ray are you are you trying
to hit? Is it a draw? Is it a fade?
(19:40):
What is it? And what are the technical changes that
you've made that in kind of your fifth year, the
COVID year that you were lucky enough to have was
kind of a great year for you. If you look
at your career over the four years previous, what have
you done in trying to work with Dana and what
changes you guys trying to make.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I've been hitting a fade, at least trying to hit
a fade for the most part. I hit it pretty
straight if anything. And uh, but I've been just trying
to work a fade. And me and Dana, I've kind
of been working on some things. He's used the sports
box stuff and just trying to keep my height. I
tend to get really like squatty and down in my back.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So yeah, yeah, you had to go to Dana Dolquist
to tell you that. I mean, and I mean, how
many times have we told you, but your head drops right?
Good job, fly to California and have someone else tell
you that.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And so he's helped me with that and a few
other things on my shoulder till it's get I get
really into the left side bend on my back swing.
And what he's really taught me is like the understanding
of the golf swing, which I think is like a
problem solving tool for sure, because you need to know
what you're like when you do something bad, what you're doing,
and how to correct that, I think, and I think
as a good golf coach, like you guys, you know,
(20:54):
you have to give your students the tools to be
able to problem solve. And he's definitely given me that.
Like I understand that when my ball starts moving too
far from right to left, that my left shoulder is
getting a bit too far down and I'm pushing vertically
too early, and.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Then that club at your speed is coming in is
just a man and it's struggling. You struggle to manage
the face from there.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, And so he's really taught me just problem solving
and understanding, and he's great with like he's great with
the technique, but he's also good with talking about how
to prepare and he talks about narratives and stories and
things to tell yourself and he's big into that as well.
So he's a great guy to talk doing a good
edition ray.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
When you were struggling those first couple of years at
Oklahoma State, were you able to try and look back
at You know, we always we hear people say, just
play like a kid. When you were a kid used
to shoot. I mean I remember, I mean when you
were kind of playing junior golf and competing after even
after I'd moved from Dubai. Like I said, you know,
(21:57):
in twenty seventeen, you're playing in a tournament shit sixty one.
You make nine birdies in a row, and you're smart.
You're a smart kid. You're intelligent, You're a thinker. You
remind me a lot of your Junior President's Cup. You're
a part of the junior the first Junior President's Cup
(22:18):
team for the international side in twenty seventeen. Your captain,
Trevor Ummerman, who's a good friend of mine, who I know,
who I worked with. I used to say to Trevor,
you're almost too smart to play golf because you try
and overanalyze everything. Whereas guys like Brooks, guys like DJ,
guys like Gary Woodland, they are very much seaball hit ball.
(22:41):
You know, they don't think a lot, and that is
a strength for them. But for someone like yourself, who
is a very cerebral type person, was it hard to
kind of go Can I just go back to doing
what I did as a junior to where I wasn't
really income, my brain wasn't with all of this, so
I just played golf.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I think about I've thought about that a lot, and
what I think is the kid that I was then
has led me to this point that I am now,
And I think golf and just your mind in general
is a constant evolution. And I'm never trying to get
back to the kid that I was because it's just
not going to happen. There's so much that's happened since then, experiences,
(23:23):
thoughts and things like that that have gone, like, you know,
I'm not the same person that I was, so why
don't I just try to be the best person I
am today? And like, I get there some guys that
do the simple and really just you know, and that's
great in all power to them. But me, I've learned
that I actually, really I'm very curious and interested in
the golf swing and all the little intricacies in it.
(23:47):
And that's what I've kind of just dove into. And
that's what Dana has been able to teach me. Danny Luf,
because who was my coach prior, He's also taught me that,
and I've just really enjoyed just learning about the golf
swing and what good gootball strikers do, how I can
play well myself.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So coming from your parents were Indian, you play for India,
but you were brought up and grew up in Dubai
and for someone by the time they got to college golf, right,
I mean, you have done as much travel as a
lot of tour players. You play golf all over the world.
(24:22):
When you do that, and you go all over the
world and you have to play in the Middle East,
you have to play in Europe, you have to play
in Ireland, Scotland, you have to play in Asia, the conditions,
the grasses are very, very very different. Your game translates
differently in different wind conditions and stuff like that. What
(24:44):
did you like about all of the different golf courses
that you got to play as a junior golfer.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I just I really enjoyed the competition, obviously, the aspect
of just being able to go out and compete against
different people in different places. And I thought in terms
of just the golf courses, I thought it was just
a fun challenge to be able to be able to
kind of just play everywhere that anywhere I could play
and try to see how my game fit. And I
think the travel really helped me when I moved to
(25:16):
college because it was like being away from home wasn't
anything new to me. April here was just so friendly
and welcoming that I never felt like out of place
away from home, like this is home for me now.
And I think that's what was really important to you.
Just learning how to be independent and be by yourself.
Because I was fifteen, I think was my first trip
by myself and I went to the UK for like
six two weeks, and I mean I was staying with
(25:37):
friends and a lot of Scottish pros and the buy
that connected me with people and just being by yourself,
you got to figure out how to get around and
where you're playing, and yeah, you have to be extremely independent.
I think that's what the travel did for me.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
That Junior President's Cup team that you were part of
the twenty seventeen not Shay botch It he was on
the American side. Garrett. He's won a couple of times
on tour now. Derrick Heego, the South African he was
on that team. He's won on the PGA tour, Carl
Phillips's stud Chris so Lampreck. I mean, one of the
longest hitters. When you look back at that, it must
(26:14):
be kind of cool to say, Okay, I was part
of these kids. And I remember I was at that
President's Cup and I came out and watched you play.
And what did you learn about that kind of competition?
You know, that's a big deal. I mean, Trevor immondwo
was the captain for the US, I mean for the
international side. I think Justin Leonard was the captain for
(26:34):
the American team. It was the first time the Junior
Ryder Cup they've been doing for a long time. We've
all seen the pictures of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas
doing that. But to be a part of that, I
think you were the leading point in the standings to qualify.
I mean you were leading the standings going into that tournament.
It was it was in New Jersey that week. Must
(26:55):
have been pretty cool for you to play.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Oh, it was awesome. It was an amazing week. And
the greens were I remember the greens being so fast.
I'd never put it everything like that before. Like Trevor
Mummerman and he had us hit like these four footers
from above the cup on the practice putty green and
he was like, just try to leave it short and
you just couldn't and uh, just to develop some feeling.
It was an amazing week. I played it. I played
against Option the singles and he destroyed me. And you
(27:20):
could tell that kid was going to be special and
he is and uh, but it was just it's it
was an amazing experience and I think it really showed me
that I, you know, had the potential to be uh,
to be good and uh, to be around those guys
was was was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Oklahoma status, I said, is one of the elite, elite
of US college golf programs. When you get there, it
is it is kill or be killed. There is it's
a fast learning curve and there is a lot of
time if you're playing bad you kind of feel like, man,
(27:57):
I mean, I've got to play so good because they've
got so many good players. The schedule, you all play
the tournaments, you all play that competition aspect of it
where you're constantly, constantly in competition, I think is so
important for your development for professional golf, because that's what
(28:18):
professional golf is, right, from a competitive standpoint, Alan Bratton,
the head coach there, Donni Dahr, who was one of
the assistants. What did you learn from Coach Bratton and
Donnie about being a competitor and how did they kind
of mold who you are as a player today, because
they're two of my favorite people. I think they're two
(28:39):
of the best in developing great players.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, I mean, Coach Bratton is one of the best,
but probably one of the best coaches, if not the
best in college golf right now. And I think Coach
darr was the same. He's not he wasn't really an assistant.
He was we had two head coaches. And I think
what Coach Bratton's really good about is he he's a
good motivate, very good motivator, and he kind of lets
(29:03):
you realize that, you know, we we see the guys
like Brooks and DJ and Scottie and those those people,
and we see them play so well, and he's like,
there's no reason why you do that. There's no reason
they were in the same spot that you were at
some stage. He's like, there's no reason why you can't
dream big enough and and be out there with him.
And I think he was. He was really instrumental in
(29:25):
helping me get better, and you know, I'm extremely grateful
for what he's been able to help me with.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And the culture Ray at Oklahoma State, there is a
there is a you can feel it, you can touch it,
you can see it. The culture that they've created at
a really kind of remote place in Oklahoma. The weather's
not great, it's windy, it gets cold. But to be
(29:53):
a what's it like to be a part of that culture,
to be a part of, you know, the Oklahoma State
golf program. I think, you know, if you look at
right now, Alabama has a culture, Texas has a culture.
Conrad Ray out at Stanford, he's done the same thing.
But to me, the way that the guys at Oklahoma
State have done it over the last you know, twenty
(30:14):
thirty years. I mean it's second of what's it like
being in that culture? And do you do you feel it?
And is it something that you feel as it's you know,
you've got a responsibility to play well because of everything
that has come before you.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I think it more of like a responsibility to just
cocked myself like like a cowboy. You know that there's
a certain culture that coach Bradden Stratta instill in us
and the way we act and conduct yourself, play good
or bad. And I think the main thing I got
from Oklahoma State was the relationships I've built with certain
people like Victor. He's been a huge person for me.
Obviously I'm staying at his house and you know, he's
(30:53):
been able to you know, He's I bounce ideas off,
Zach Bowshoe, Austin Necker, all these people are huge, huge
for me to be able to talk to and kind
of bounce ideas off. And I've learned so much from
him that and these are connections I'm going to keep forever.
He coached Bratton, somebody I talked to on a daily
basis and get his ideas and things. And I think
just having that kind of support system and that culture
(31:16):
is huge. And I think all the Oklahoma State guys
have a kind of thing of paying it forward, you know,
whether it's through the pro am or talking to guys
like us and seeing if they can help us get better.
Everybody wants everybody from Oklahoma State wants the guys to
do well. And it's awesome because my first few years,
Victor was living in Stowwater and he I think he
(31:37):
missed the cut somewhere, like I think it was the
players he missed the cut. In the next day, he
was qualifying with us at Stillwater Country Club on a
bunch of greens, and I was like, man, this guy
works hard and he's trying to get better, and he's
not afraid to just pitch up with us and play.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Ricky Foller is probably as famous as anyone who is
associated with the Oklahoma State program. I know you've spent time.
Every time I would see Ricky when I was working
with him, and if he was at Oklahoma State, I'd
always say to him, how's my boy Ray doing? And
he would always say great things about But Ricky's kind of,
(32:12):
I think, a global ambassador for Oklahoma State golf, right.
I mean the orange clothing that he that he wears,
he kind of leads orange. What are some of the
things that you've learned from Ricky and the time that
you've gotten to spend around him, because I mean, you
couldn't meet everybody thinks that their public persona might be
(32:35):
different than who they really are, right. We're going through
that right now. A lot of people are saying, hey, Bryson.
It's all in act. He's not really like that and stuff.
But Ricky is what you see is what you get.
He is just one of the nicest human beings I've
ever met. Talk to me about the times that you
get to spend with with Ricky and how that's shaped
(32:57):
the way that you do things.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, I mean I've spent some time with him. I
played I think a nine hole practice around with him
in Abu Dhabi. I think you were there.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah, I was there.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yeah, we set that up. It was sweet. It was
sweet to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
And at that time, it was funny that we set
that practice round up with you when you qualified where
we were like.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Sixteen, yeah, sixteen or seventeen, Yeah, it was it was
you know you.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I mean, you weren't even on Oklahoma States radar at
that point. So the fact that she played in Abudabi
with Ricky at that time and then went on to
follow in his footsteps, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
That's pretty cool. And so from Ricky we played. So
he came down to still Water I think maybe two
years ago now, and we had like everybody wanted to
play with him on the team, and so we ended
up playing like an eight sum at Carston, and I
just thought that, you know, just watching him go about
his business and how kind of focused he is, even
when we were in the eight. So I'm like, he's
(33:53):
trying to shoot the bows score he can possibly shoot.
And that's what I've went from Victor too, when we
were just having fun games. He is trying to shoot
the lowest possible score you can possibly shoot. And I
think seeing that and seeing how diligent and focused he
is on trying to get better. And Coach Bratton always
talks about how Ricky was such a stud in college
(34:13):
and he was like he knew he was going to
be great, and he is.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I think what you just said there is something
that's really important for people listening. If you're going to
play so many times, it's easy to go out on
the golf course and just say, listen, i'm not hitting
it good, so I'll work on my game, or I'm
not going to try and shoot the lower score. But
the guys that make it to the tour, they are fierce,
(34:37):
fierce competitors, and when they go out, they're trying to
play their best and they want to shoot the lowest score.
And I think I say that to so many of
the juniors. Listen, if you're going to go out and play,
if you want to hit a couple of balls, that's fine,
but you have to keep score every time you go play.
Otherwise you don't understand the competition aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah, I mean, Victor was Victor because I had spent
so much time with him and played with him a lot.
I mean, you can just see the focus that he
puts into his practice. Like when he's playing, he is
shooting the lowest score he can possibly do. He's running
through his gold routine and he's trying to beat you,
and he's trying to get his chip out. They paid for.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
So the big jump from junior golf to college golf.
Now you're making the ultimate jump from college golf amateur
golf to professional golf. Make the cut in your first
competitive professional event in the corn Ferry. You got a
sponsors invite. I was talking to Donny Daher about it.
He said he thought the sixty four, the sixty seven
(35:44):
that you shot in the second and third round, seventy
two in the first, seventy three in the last round.
But he said he thought those two rounds were really,
really important for you moving forward making the cut. What
was it like playing your first professional of Was it
different than you thought? Is it different ray than elite
(36:07):
college golf?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
It is definitely a little different obviously now you're on
your own. I mean, when you're with the team, you know,
you got coach Bradney's telling you where to go, and
you know what we're doing and for the day. And
now it's on your time. You know, you decide when
you're going to go play or practice, strond what you're
going to do for the day. And so it's definitely
different that in that aspect. But at this end of
the day, it's just golf, like good golf anywhere. It
(36:30):
doesn't matter, like you know, good golf travels. And so
when I went out there, I kind of had its
expectation on the corn Fray that you had to just
go shoot lights out, which you kind of do to
make the cut because those cuts are just so low.
But I put that weight on myself that first round
and I wasn't hitting the ball all that good those
few days leading to it, and it just kind of showed.
(36:52):
And then that second round, I spoke to Dana and
I had a late teeth time. So I got out
there and just hit a few extra balls and I
was just like, Okay, I know what I need to do,
just with my movement. If I made good movements, I
will shoot a good score. And that's what I did.
And that last round I was playing pretty good and
just kind of let it go a little bit. But
it was awesome. And I got to play with Chris
Vinchuur in that last round, and he made the game
(37:14):
look very easy.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
He's in, Chris fin Tura should put putt better. I mean,
the guy, he's one of the best. He's one of
the best pure. I mean, listen, I've been around the
game a long time. Chris Fintur was one of the
best pure putters I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
I mean he also put through ten holes and when
I played with him, he was six hundred ten.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
And you know this. The other thing is he works
his ass off on his putting.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah, he looked like he was. He was doing a
whole bunch of drills before the round, and I mean
you could tell when he started putting he was like, Okay,
I get why he was doing those, Like he's making everything.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I had Matthew Pavall on the pod a couple of
months ago and he's done. He's moved to kind of Jupiter,
and he was I was letting him practice at Floridian.
He does ninety minutes a day ray of putting drills,
like every day, ninety minutes. So when he was on
the leaderboard US Open a couple of weeks ago and
everybody's looking at it, going where is this coming from,
(38:11):
I'm like, this is not a surprise. And he hits
driver everywhere. Everywhere. He doesn't hit it miles right, he
doesn't vomit. He hits kind of a little bleed cut.
But a great example for you moving forward is he
just gets the ball in play with the driver and
(38:33):
he's got so much confidence in it that he's hitting driver.
And if you remember watching the US Open, he had
a ton of drivers and he really really did the
jump now to competitive professional golf. Talk me through what
the plan is, because I don't think people realize that
when you are in college golf, everything is done for you. Yeah,
(38:55):
the travel, the school, you know, when you have to
go to school, the coach and the team as you
went to practice. As soon as you get out, you
have to find a place to live. You have to
find a place to practice. You have to find all
of this stuff yourself. And I think one of the
big jumps that is hard for a lot of players
early on is everything's kind of been done for you
(39:16):
as a college golfer, especially when you're at a program
like Oklahoma State. I mean, you guys fly private at
Oklahoma State as much as the tour players do. So
now you're about to go play your first kind of
big international. You're going to play the International Series as
part of the Asian Tour in Morocco. I grew up
(39:36):
at that golf course by the way. Really yeah, my
dad was the first head pro at Royal Darslum that
they ever had. We moved to Rocco when I was
in nineteen seventy two, and there is an island green
that they have there and my sister and I used
to have we named two ducks that lived in the pond,
(39:57):
and when we were kids, we would go feed the ducks.
But my dad the first head pro. Have you ever
played there?
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I've never played there.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
They've got fifty four holes there. Ray it's Trent Jones
and it is old school. You will love it. I mean,
it's just tree lined old school. So now you're going
to go play international series Morocco? Are you are you excited?
Are you nervous? What are your expectations? And then after that,
(40:28):
what is the plan to get on a tour somewhere?
Are you going to go to Europe and you're going
to try the US? What's what's what's the plan?
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Uh So yeah, I'm feeling all kinds of things about Morocco.
You know, I'm excited. It's like when you turn pro
in college, you have a schedule and you know what
you're going to be playing in and when what we're
doing as a pro, like I've turned if you're not
a superstar, you don't know exactly what you're what you're
going to play in. So you're scrambling looking for events,
looking for money, looking for people to sponsor you. And
(40:59):
you know, as an Indian you have to like you know,
get a visa for here and a visa for there.
And you know I've talking been talking about visas for
the last three months and so that stuff is all
stuff that I wish I didn't have to do, but
you have to do is just a you know, an
adult and a professional. But I'm excited you know, just
try to get like, I don't care where I play
(41:19):
right now, I just need to play. I just need
to get as many tournaments as I can get into,
and just just keep getting reps and get ready for
I'm going to do the corn for your Q school
and uh, I've got conditional status on PGA Tour Americas
and so I'm gonna try to see if I can
get get into some of those events in Canada and
so just try to build a schedule off that and
(41:40):
just get ready, just get as many reps as I
can until Q School and hopefully get a maybe a
PGA Tour card or a CORN free card.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah, who's going to caddy for you? I mean, I
mean obviously both shoes gotta he's got to pay it back, right,
I mean, both shoes, both shoes got to take the
job of caddying for you and Morocco.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yeah, that would be sweet. I love that. I mean,
and him have a great time together, so that that
would be awesome. But I'm just going to do a
local guy. I'm in a position where I just need
to get local guys until I get status somewhere and
then then I'll get somebody.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Lastly, Ray as a junior golfer. You came through our
junior development program as a nine year old, and I
think so many kids they need Indian golfers. You're the
next generation of Indian golfers, right, and there is a
(42:33):
there is a long Jo t Rendawa Jee Milka sing,
there's a bunch of guys, Auto Bandla hereing now is
kind of one of the guys and Shif Kapor old school.
Do you feel like it's an opportunity for you as
a golfer but also a golfer to represent India because
(42:54):
I think junior golfers always looked to the superstars, right,
you're sixteen years old, like, Okay, I want to be
Rory McRoy, But if you're not from Northern Ireland, you
can't really relate to what he did. And I think
it's important that Indian young Indian golfers look at someone
like yourself, Ray and say, okay, Ray, it's from the
(43:15):
same country as I am. He kind of had the
same upbringing as I did. Do you feel like it's
important that you kind of fly the flag now and
hopefully can fly the flag for Indian golf moving forward.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Yeah. Absolutely, India has been great to me when I
was a junior and amateur and kind of helping me
get my way. And even the Academy back in Dubai,
you know, they've done a great job of developing some
good players and sent some guys to some pretty nice
colleges like you know, Joshill Tennessee, Toby Bishops in Florida. Yeah,
and you know, Justin.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
We've spent thirty I think we've sent since we started.
You were the first group of junior golfers that we
really from an elite standpoint, started working with in two
thousand and nine, I think since two thousand and night.
I was starm to Justin about this the other night.
I think we sent close to almost thirty kids to
play Division one college golf out of out of Dubai,
(44:09):
which is a very very small, small golf market.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, there are a small place. I mean, you wouldn't
really expect it, but you know, the facilities at the
Academy were fantastic, and the and the development program was
huge for me as a kid, you know, not only
just for my golf game, but you know, I got
to hang out with some of my best friends to
this day, and so I always had a blast when
I was at the Academy and kind of just took
that along with me as I progressed on. And I
(44:35):
mean the Academy was huge for me. I mean, learning
from Justin he's still a huge mentor to me and yourself.
And being able to talk, bounce ideas off you guys,
and reach out to you guys when I need something.
I mean, that's huge, and the Academy has been a
big part of that.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Well. I can't tell you how proud I am of you.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Ray.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
It's it's something that that Justin and I and all
of us that that watched you in Dubai kind of
do what you've done. It's it's pretty special. Lastly, Ray,
go to Indian Come on, give it to me. What's
your go to order when you go when you go home?
When you when you go home and you get what's
(45:13):
what's the what's the Indian food that because obviously Indian
food in America? When you go home, what's the go to?
What do you crave? What do you say, I've gotta
have that?
Speaker 2 (45:23):
So my when I go back home, my mom knows
exactly what I want and she'll set up like the
menu for the week and Uh, it's like this semolina
rice thing and this fish curry she makes, and it transcends,
it puts me in a place like it brings almost
brings tears in my eyes. I talked to talk about
it with the guys at school and they don't quite
understand it. But for an Indian, for an Indian like,
(45:45):
the food is just so important to us, and it
takes me back to back to them my child today.
It's it's an amazing thing. So yeah, I will be
How spicy can you go? I honestly can't go too spicy.
I think I've been pretty westernized. I mean, you can't
even here. You wouldn't even know I was Indian if
you didn't didn't have the video on, you know. So
I kind of go too spicy. But she knows how
(46:06):
to do it just right, justin And.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
I think of you like you're part of the family,
and uh, we're proud of you regardless of what you do.
And I know whether you make it in professional golf,
you're going to make it in life because I think
you're one of the best kids that I've been lucky
enough to meet. So good luck, We'll all be watching
play good and say hello to the say hello to
my pet ducks on the on.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
The part three will I will thanks great to talk
to you right lost. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
So that was a really cool talk with rayhn Thomas,
and listen, I think he's somebody that you're going to
want to follow. You know. I can't imagine anyone listening
to that podcast and not saying, Wow, what a cool story.
He struggled, He had a standout junior career, kind of
caught lightning in a bottle late as a junior, went
(46:55):
to kind of the one of the top college golf
programs in the country, Oklahoma State University. He struggled, he
fought through it. He's trying to make his way as
a professional. Now made the cut in his first professional
event on the Corn Ferry and now as a top
ten on the international series on the Asian Tour. And
I think ray can do some really really cool things.
(47:17):
But I think it's a great story. He's a great kid.
I've never seen him not smiling. He loves golf, he
loves life. He's a smart kid, and I root for him.
I think all of you follow his career. He's going
to get more starts. He's going to Chase. Now he's
got to try and find a way to be a pro.
He's got to try and find a tour to play on,
(47:39):
and it's going to be exciting to see what he does.
But as I said in the opening, it's a cool
story and for me to kind of see a young
kid who was He wasn't the biggest kid in our
junior development program. He was just a great kid.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
He still is.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
I'm proud of him. I'm excited to see where he
goes as a pro and hope everyone follows his career.
Thanks everyone for listening. We've got the last major of
the year coming up next week and I'm excited to
get up to Troon, Scotland. It's one of my favorite
in the open road. It's a great golf course. It's
(48:19):
going to be cool to watch. Son of a Butch
comes to you almost every Wednesday. We will see you
definitely next week.
It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host
Claude Harmon. This week's pod is it's a special one
for me, and the reason for that is my guest
is rayhn Thomas. I'm sure many of you don't know
who Ray is, but he just turned professional, played his
college golf at Oklahoma State University, had a top ten
in the International Series on the Asian Tour last week
(00:23):
in his second professional event as a pro. But the
reason why it's special for me is Ray started in
our junior program. I have an academy out in Dubai
and Ray started in our junior program when he was
nine years old. And to kind of watch his journey
and to kind of watch the things that he's done
and watch him turn professional now has been pretty cool
for me. He talks a lot about his junior career,
(00:48):
struggling when he got to college and kind of that
jump from junior golf to college golf, and now he's
making that jump from college golf to professional golf. And
I've got a massive, massive soft spot for Ray. He's
always got a smile on his face. Justin Parsons who've
had on the pod before, JP and I were working
together in Dubai at my academy. When Ray was a
(01:10):
junior and he was young, we would put him through exercises.
He couldn't touch his toes. He always had a smile
on his face. And to watch him play last week
finish top ten on an invite on the Asian Tour,
it was really really cool for me, and I think
this is a really good podcast because golf, even at
the highest level, can sometimes be difficult. You can go
(01:33):
through slumps, you can go through confidence crisises, and Ray
talks very very open about it. But I'm so excited
to get the opportunity to talk to Ray Hann. I
think he's got a big future and I'm excited to
see what he does as a professional. So this is
a cool one. It's special for me, and I think
everyone's going to enjoy listening to Ray Han Thomas and
(01:55):
his story. So my guest today is finishing up his
fifth year at Oklahoma State University in the golf program
and he just turned professional, made the cut in his
first professional tournament. Corn Fairy seventy two, sixty four, sixty seven,
seventy three, tied for sixty eighth. Ray, this is a
really cool moment for me, not only to watch for
(02:18):
everything that you did at Oklahoma State for the last
five years, but now that you're turning pro. You were
nine years old when you start in our junior program
in Dubai, and to watch the journey from where you started.
I mean, I still remember you used to show up.
I used to call you short. One day you came
to me and you said, mister Claude, I don't like
(02:39):
him when I when you call me short. And I said, Ray,
you'll load the ground. The journey has been so cool,
and now you're turning pro. When you look back on it,
from junior golf to now turning pro, what do you
think you've learned the most in the last you know,
five years at Oklahoma State. Because for people that don't know,
(03:00):
Oklahoma State's golf program is there. They're the Los Angeles Lakers,
the real Madrid they are. If you want to play
on the PGA Tour and you're lucky enough to go
to Oklahoma State, it's such a privilege. The five years
you spent there, what do you think being an Oklahoma
State cowboy golfer taught you in those five years?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It taught me a lot First of all, thanks thanks
for getting me on here, claud I really appreciate it.
And I mean the five years at Oklahoma State it
was awesome. I learned a lot more about myself in
my game, and that's what Coach Bratton was kind of
all about, trying to figure out who you are and
stick to those things, know your strengths and your weaknesses.
And I struggled for a good chunk of my college
(03:42):
career and trying to figure out, trying to figure out
who I was. And this last year has been a
really big leap for me, just in my confidence in
my game, and yeah, just figuring out what I do
well and what I do when I play well, and
trying to go back to those things when I see
myself straight off the path a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You had a kind of a really kind of meteoric
amateur career, you know, you just started playing so good
as an amateur. You want to mean a tour event,
and as an amateur where there were professionals playing, you
shot sixty one and a tourna made nine birdies in
a row. You got to Oklahoma State and you did.
(04:25):
You struggled early, I think, and that struggle for a
lot of junior golfers that listen to this podcast, for
a lot of parents who have junior golfers, the jump
from junior golf to basically one of the biggest colors
golf programs in the world and one of the best,
(04:45):
that's a big, big step, and I don't think people
realize how hard that jump is from high high level
amateur golf where you're having success, you're winning golf tournaments.
You know, Ray I have parents all the time, Let's
say to me when their kids go to college, were
used to seeing him win. We're used to seeing him
(05:06):
win junior golf tournaments. Now he's a freshman. Now she's
a freshman. She's she's not winning, she's not playing great.
What was What was the struggle for you and how
did you find your way out of it?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
The struggle for me initially was, you know, I'd be
at the course all day and I just didn't really
have a plan and I would just be going through
fields just trying to figure out some way to crack
the team and make it. And you're playing Carston Creek.
I don't know if you've ever been out there, but
it's a daunting and intimidating golf course if you're not
hitting the ball good. And so it was just like
(05:42):
the anxiety was building. And you know, playing for Oklahoma State,
we'd just come off probably one of the best teams
in college history of the last two years in twenty
eighteen twenty nineteen, had some amazing players and guys who
were in Torno and you know.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You Victor Hovlin, Matt Wolfe. Yeah, christ I mean they
want to a national championship. Zach Bowsho was on that team.
Zach was a.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Stud Austin's winner on the tour.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now, yeah, and you go into Oklahoma State, I think,
knowing a lot about it, but the culture that the
coaches and the other players, it is a it is
a It is a big family. And one of the
things I love about Oklahoma State and the job that
the coaching staff does there. All of the players that
(06:27):
play on tour still support love, go back, spend time
in Stillwater, Ricky, Victor Hobb. I heard a rumor you're
currently living in Vic's house in it Yeah, in Stillwater
because Vic's now moved to Duport to live with Christophurt.
That's the best to me, that's the best story. Of
(06:48):
the year. You've got you got Victor Howland, he wins
almost forty million dollars last year. He's rooming with his
college roommate who's playing on the corn Ferry, and Chris Vntura.
You've got all these guys down here, Ray living in
twenty million dollars houses and Vic's a roommate. You're now,
is Vic charging you to stay in the house or
(07:09):
is he is? He? Is he giving it to you
for free?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He hasn't sent me a billy yet, but I don't
think there will be one. I hope not.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I'll tell you what, if Victor Hoblin sends your ass
a bill for staying in his house, I'm gonna have
a talk with him because he he doesn't need the
rent money.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
He doesn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
But my point behind that is you get to meet
these guys that are now playing on tour, and they
play a huge part. I think in every player that
goes to Oklahoma State. I think there's yes, listen, every
college golf program they do the same thing. But I
just happen to know. You know, I worked with Ricky.
I know a bunch of the guys, and I think
(07:46):
they do a fantastic job at taking care of the
next generation of players. Said, come into Oklahoma State, they
go back, they play with you. Guys. Everybody I talked
to Ray, you were kind of in your five years
at Oklahoma State on the golf team. They used to
call you the Oklahoma State golf mascot because you were
everyone's favorite. Right, You've always got a smile on your face.
(08:10):
And that's one of the things I've always loved about
you is, you know, I've known you for a very
long time and watched you grow as a junior golfer
and now become a professional. Your attitude has always been amazing.
And you know when you got to Oklahoma State, you know,
justin Parsons and I, we were still trying to help you,
and we we knew that you were struggling. I mean,
(08:32):
you got the full blown driver yips for a good player.
That is scary because you drove it great as a
junior golfer. How much of that, Ray, do you feel
was your technique and your quest to try and get better,
and how much of that was just what all golfers
go through, is you get anxiety, you don't have confidence,
(08:56):
you can't see your shape, for you. What was it
when you got to Oklahomas Obviously you get a scholarship
to go there. You can't fake that. Yeah, you're a
good player, and they think you're going to be a
great player if you go to Oklahomas State and play
on the golf program. But you got there. Was it
the situation? Was it being away from home? Was it
(09:18):
just the expectation? What was it that caused you to
kind of have that confidence crisis that you went through.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I think it was a plethora of things, for sure. Definitely,
I think there were some technique issues in my swing,
but obviously, like they're guys that's swinging at all different
types of ways that can do it. But mentally, I
was just, you know, putting so much pressure on myself,
especially like you said, like you're winning junior golf tournaments
all the time, and your expectations rise so high, and
(09:49):
then when you don't meet those expectations, you're putting even
more weight. And I mean those first few years at
Oklahoma State, I mean I was down in the dumps
with my just because you golf is are weird sport
where you can put in a bunch of hours and
get worse and it literally felt like that, like I'd
be putting in eight hour, nine hour days and just
feeling like I was getting worse, And so that weighs
(10:10):
on you a lot. And I honestly think that the
real changing point was this last summer, I was hurt
with my right hand. I had a broken bone in
my hand and I had to take some time off.
And so Zach Bowsho got you know well, and who
was on the national championship team in twenty eighteen, He
asked me to caddy him while he was on the
corn ferry, and I knew he was struggling with his
(10:34):
game prior to that, and he also had some driver
issues and stuff things gone. And I caddied for him
in Wichita and he finished fourth after he Monday qualified
in and just learning from him and the way he
kind of goes about the game, and I really changed
the way I thought about the game. And that was
really a big pivotal point. When I got back, I
(10:54):
wasn't really as anxious as I was.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I think you had a unique opportunity as a player
to go caddy for someone who's a friend, someone who's
kind of around the same age as you. But you
got to go see him play in a professional tournament.
And I remember when I was doing television back in
the day for Sky Sports, they put me on course
and I'd never done on course commentary and stuff, but
(11:21):
I remember it was a FedEx Cup that that Billy
Horsell won. We were in We're at Cherry Hills, and
Sergio Garcia had a chance to win this golf tournament
and he made some really soft, soft bogies coming in
that were just bogeys that you just don't expect good
players to make like that. And as someone that was
(11:41):
watching it, you could just kind of see, man, that
that was just that you just there's no way you
can make bogey from from that drive, and you still
have to when you caddied fors at. It kind of
make you look at your own game and say, and
maybe I don't need to take on some of these shots,
fire at some of these flags. You know, I talk
(12:02):
about this all the time on the podcast, right, I
think so many players don't realize that twenty feet left
or right of it is a good shot. But also
you go to Oklahoma State and you look at the
wall of players that have won tournaments there. I've seen
that locker room in that area where I mean it's
just nothing but guys raising trophies, right, Yeah, and so
you feel like you have to basically knock it stiff
(12:26):
every single shot. You feel like you have to go
shoot sixty four, sixty five every single time you tee
it up. And that's that's very, very difficult to do.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, And so when I saw Zach and when
I've played with him, it is just like, you know,
he'd miss some shots, but he was playing very well
at the time. And what I got from him the
most was that he kind of thought of the game
as a puzzle and he was like trying to figure
out what the biggest parts of the puzzle are and
just grind on it and don't look at like struggles
(13:00):
as something to be deterred from, but like a challenge
to try to overcome. And I got that. You know,
I've kind of narrated down to I think golf, professional
golf is just critical thinking and problem solving, and so
if you can, if you have the right tools to
problem solve it, I think I think you can kind
of get through anything.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
The other thing, I think that I'm really proud of
you for ray your junior year, you're an academic all
big twelve. There aren't a lot of golfers playing professional
golf that were high on academics. But I think it's
something that's really interesting that you talk about the problem
solving and the puzzle of golf. A lot of junior
(13:38):
golfers struggle when they go to college ray because they
forget that your technique is important. Yeah, I mean, you
were trying and you were doing the right things. The
first couple of years. You're grinding eight hours a day.
You're working your ass off. You're trying to get better,
but sometimes in an effort to try and get better,
(13:59):
in an effort to try work so hard, you can
get worse. And it's a mind I mean, just it
blows your mind that wait a minute, I'm I can't
work any harder than I'm working like, I can't put
more time in that I'm putting in and I'm getting worse.
What's that like? And how do you say? Okay? Was
(14:21):
it an adjustment of how much you were practicing? Wasn't
an adjustment on changing the way that you practice? How
did you find this this kind of bridge to okay?
I'm struggling. How do I get myself out of this
because I'm already working harder than I've ever worked in
my life.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, it was mainly just once I understood what I
needed to do in my golf swing, I just said, okay,
range session, just grind on the things I need to
because I would always go back and forth with different
trying to get fields and things to just have me
get through the day. And I was like, I just
to myself, I know what I need to do. As
long as I get these things done, I will play
(15:01):
good golf at some point, and it will it will happen.
And then I changed my practice from where I was
spending most of my time on the range because I
was just scared to go on the golf course, especially
at Carston. I'm hitting balls in the junk every single
time and having to reteat It's not fun if you're.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Not driving it good. At cars two Creek, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
You will swear I.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Big numbers.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
So I was just like, okay, I keep I'm scared
to go on the golf course, and that's where that's
where I'm going to be making my my my bread,
you know. So I just said, you know, our range
sessions are an hour long, go to the golf course
and just play as many holes as I can. And
that's how I changed, And I'll just kind of beat
it out. I was like, I will dig this out
of the dirt and beat it out of my system.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Chris Venturo, who was on that national championship team, I
worked with him when he turned pro, and I talked
to him about you know what they did. You know, him,
Victor Hovlin, Matt Wolf, they were all on that team,
and he said, listen, we played way more golf than
we practiced. He said, yeah, there were times where we
would practice. But he said, Vic Matt, He said Matt especially,
(16:05):
he said Matt when he was at that at Oklahoma
stated he said, he just basically played all day long.
He'd play from you know, sun up to sundown. And
I think that's something that everybody that's trying to play
competitive golf is. It's important to hear that that you
went from eight hours a day on the range to saying, Okay,
I'm going to spend an hour on the technique stuff
(16:26):
that I need to work on. But then the most
important thing is not what happens on the driving range,
it's what I actually do when I'm on the golf
course trying to play and trying to score. When you
made that shift to try and say, Okay, I'm going
to practice less and I'm going to play more. It's
not like that solved the technique issues, right, But what
(16:50):
did it do for your confidence to get out there
and just say, Okay, I've got what i've got today,
I'm only going to hit balls for an hour and
I'm just going to go play and I'm going to
try and shoot this or because I think so many
people listening think what happens on the driving range is
a it predetermines what happens on the golf course.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah, it's like people try to recreate tournament conditions and
you can to a certain degree, but it's never really
the same. And so what I what me and Zach
kind of talked about was like progressions, Like go through
your progressions. Like if you're working on something into your technique,
do it on the range, see it happen. Take it
on the course by yourself, see it happen. Do it
(17:31):
in like a money game or a little game against
your body, see it happen. Just do it in a
tournament and see it happen. And your confidence will slowly
grow back, because then you'll be like, Okay, I'm starting
to get this thing. And that's what I kind of
did with my I'd go by myself and just bang
balls off the tee and you know, play play holes
and shoot a score and be like, Okay, I can
see it happen. Go do it in a money game.
See it happen. Go do it on the tournament, and
(17:54):
the confidence grow from there.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I think so many people listening Ray struggle with the
off the tee and there's nothing I think putting is.
Obviously there's no substitute for great putting. Yeah, but if
you can't drive the golf ball, and you can't drive
the golf ball in play, if you were going to
play any sort of competitive golf, whether it's the monthly medal,
(18:20):
whether it's the club championship, whether it's a junior tournament,
or whether it's elite Division one college golf, if you
can't drive it, you cannot play and you can't compete.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeh.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Did you go to trying to shape the ball more
and hit shots with your driver, or did you say, Okay,
I'm just going to try and become really one dimensional
and just kind of hit one shot all the time, one.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Shot all the time. I kind of heard I remember
when you when I when I spoke to you a
few times, you would just be like, these guys don't
shape it all that much. You need to get really
good at one shape and then start working it from there.
And I kind of took that too, And I've listened
some to Scott Foston too. I think he's a really
smart guy. And so I just was like, I'm gonna
hit one golf shot and I'm going to pick good
(19:09):
targets and just try to rip it and just keep
doing that and if it if it, if I hit
one into the junk, so be it. I'm gonna still
keep picking one shot and hitting it at one target.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
You started working with Dana Dalquist. I saw Dana at
the US Open. Obviously great win for Dana. He works
with Bryson d. Chambeau. I think Dana's one of the
smartest golf instructors out there. I've had him on the
podcast before. What's the work that you've done with with Dana?
And what shape now, Ray are you are you trying
to hit? Is it a draw? Is it a fade?
(19:40):
What is it? And what are the technical changes that
you've made that in kind of your fifth year, the
COVID year that you were lucky enough to have was
kind of a great year for you. If you look
at your career over the four years previous, what have
you done in trying to work with Dana and what
changes you guys trying to make.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I've been hitting a fade, at least trying to hit
a fade for the most part. I hit it pretty
straight if anything. And uh, but I've been just trying
to work a fade. And me and Dana, I've kind
of been working on some things. He's used the sports
box stuff and just trying to keep my height. I
tend to get really like squatty and down in my back.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So yeah, yeah, you had to go to Dana Dolquist
to tell you that. I mean, and I mean, how
many times have we told you, but your head drops right?
Good job, fly to California and have someone else tell
you that.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And so he's helped me with that and a few
other things on my shoulder till it's get I get
really into the left side bend on my back swing.
And what he's really taught me is like the understanding
of the golf swing, which I think is like a
problem solving tool for sure, because you need to know
what you're like when you do something bad, what you're doing,
and how to correct that, I think, and I think
as a good golf coach, like you guys, you know,
(20:54):
you have to give your students the tools to be
able to problem solve. And he's definitely given me that.
Like I understand that when my ball starts moving too
far from right to left, that my left shoulder is
getting a bit too far down and I'm pushing vertically
too early, and.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Then that club at your speed is coming in is
just a man and it's struggling. You struggle to manage
the face from there.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, And so he's really taught me just problem solving
and understanding, and he's great with like he's great with
the technique, but he's also good with talking about how
to prepare and he talks about narratives and stories and
things to tell yourself and he's big into that as well.
So he's a great guy to talk doing a good
edition ray.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
When you were struggling those first couple of years at
Oklahoma State, were you able to try and look back
at You know, we always we hear people say, just
play like a kid. When you were a kid used
to shoot. I mean I remember, I mean when you
were kind of playing junior golf and competing after even
after I'd moved from Dubai. Like I said, you know,
(21:57):
in twenty seventeen, you're playing in a tournament shit sixty one.
You make nine birdies in a row, and you're smart.
You're a smart kid. You're intelligent, You're a thinker. You
remind me a lot of your Junior President's Cup. You're
a part of the junior the first Junior President's Cup
(22:18):
team for the international side in twenty seventeen. Your captain,
Trevor Ummerman, who's a good friend of mine, who I know,
who I worked with. I used to say to Trevor,
you're almost too smart to play golf because you try
and overanalyze everything. Whereas guys like Brooks, guys like DJ,
guys like Gary Woodland, they are very much seaball hit ball.
(22:41):
You know, they don't think a lot, and that is
a strength for them. But for someone like yourself, who
is a very cerebral type person, was it hard to
kind of go Can I just go back to doing
what I did as a junior to where I wasn't
really income, my brain wasn't with all of this, so
I just played golf.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I think about I've thought about that a lot, and
what I think is the kid that I was then
has led me to this point that I am now,
And I think golf and just your mind in general
is a constant evolution. And I'm never trying to get
back to the kid that I was because it's just
not going to happen. There's so much that's happened since then, experiences,
(23:23):
thoughts and things like that that have gone, like, you know,
I'm not the same person that I was, so why
don't I just try to be the best person I
am today? And like, I get there some guys that
do the simple and really just you know, and that's
great in all power to them. But me, I've learned
that I actually, really I'm very curious and interested in
the golf swing and all the little intricacies in it.
(23:47):
And that's what I've kind of just dove into. And
that's what Dana has been able to teach me. Danny Luf,
because who was my coach prior, He's also taught me that,
and I've just really enjoyed just learning about the golf
swing and what good gootball strikers do, how I can
play well myself.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So coming from your parents were Indian, you play for India,
but you were brought up and grew up in Dubai
and for someone by the time they got to college golf, right,
I mean, you have done as much travel as a
lot of tour players. You play golf all over the world.
(24:22):
When you do that, and you go all over the
world and you have to play in the Middle East,
you have to play in Europe, you have to play
in Ireland, Scotland, you have to play in Asia, the conditions,
the grasses are very, very very different. Your game translates
differently in different wind conditions and stuff like that. What
(24:44):
did you like about all of the different golf courses
that you got to play as a junior golfer.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I just I really enjoyed the competition, obviously, the aspect
of just being able to go out and compete against
different people in different places. And I thought in terms
of just the golf courses, I thought it was just
a fun challenge to be able to be able to
kind of just play everywhere that anywhere I could play
and try to see how my game fit. And I
think the travel really helped me when I moved to
(25:16):
college because it was like being away from home wasn't
anything new to me. April here was just so friendly
and welcoming that I never felt like out of place
away from home, like this is home for me now.
And I think that's what was really important to you.
Just learning how to be independent and be by yourself.
Because I was fifteen, I think was my first trip
by myself and I went to the UK for like
six two weeks, and I mean I was staying with
(25:37):
friends and a lot of Scottish pros and the buy
that connected me with people and just being by yourself,
you got to figure out how to get around and
where you're playing, and yeah, you have to be extremely independent.
I think that's what the travel did for me.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
That Junior President's Cup team that you were part of
the twenty seventeen not Shay botch It he was on
the American side. Garrett. He's won a couple of times
on tour now. Derrick Heego, the South African he was
on that team. He's won on the PGA tour, Carl
Phillips's stud Chris so Lampreck. I mean, one of the
longest hitters. When you look back at that, it must
(26:14):
be kind of cool to say, Okay, I was part
of these kids. And I remember I was at that
President's Cup and I came out and watched you play.
And what did you learn about that kind of competition?
You know, that's a big deal. I mean, Trevor immondwo
was the captain for the US, I mean for the
international side. I think Justin Leonard was the captain for
(26:34):
the American team. It was the first time the Junior
Ryder Cup they've been doing for a long time. We've
all seen the pictures of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas
doing that. But to be a part of that, I
think you were the leading point in the standings to qualify.
I mean you were leading the standings going into that tournament.
It was it was in New Jersey that week. Must
(26:55):
have been pretty cool for you to play.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Oh, it was awesome. It was an amazing week. And
the greens were I remember the greens being so fast.
I'd never put it everything like that before. Like Trevor
Mummerman and he had us hit like these four footers
from above the cup on the practice putty green and
he was like, just try to leave it short and
you just couldn't and uh, just to develop some feeling.
It was an amazing week. I played it. I played
against Option the singles and he destroyed me. And you
(27:20):
could tell that kid was going to be special and
he is and uh, but it was just it's it
was an amazing experience and I think it really showed me
that I, you know, had the potential to be uh,
to be good and uh, to be around those guys
was was was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Oklahoma status, I said, is one of the elite, elite
of US college golf programs. When you get there, it
is it is kill or be killed. There is it's
a fast learning curve and there is a lot of
time if you're playing bad you kind of feel like, man,
(27:57):
I mean, I've got to play so good because they've
got so many good players. The schedule, you all play
the tournaments, you all play that competition aspect of it
where you're constantly, constantly in competition, I think is so
important for your development for professional golf, because that's what
(28:18):
professional golf is, right, from a competitive standpoint, Alan Bratton,
the head coach there, Donni Dahr, who was one of
the assistants. What did you learn from Coach Bratton and
Donnie about being a competitor and how did they kind
of mold who you are as a player today, because
they're two of my favorite people. I think they're two
(28:39):
of the best in developing great players.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, I mean, Coach Bratton is one of the best,
but probably one of the best coaches, if not the
best in college golf right now. And I think Coach
darr was the same. He's not he wasn't really an assistant.
He was we had two head coaches. And I think
what Coach Bratton's really good about is he he's a
good motivate, very good motivator, and he kind of lets
(29:03):
you realize that, you know, we we see the guys
like Brooks and DJ and Scottie and those those people,
and we see them play so well, and he's like,
there's no reason why you do that. There's no reason
they were in the same spot that you were at
some stage. He's like, there's no reason why you can't
dream big enough and and be out there with him.
And I think he was. He was really instrumental in
(29:25):
helping me get better, and you know, I'm extremely grateful
for what he's been able to help me with.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And the culture Ray at Oklahoma State, there is a
there is a you can feel it, you can touch it,
you can see it. The culture that they've created at
a really kind of remote place in Oklahoma. The weather's
not great, it's windy, it gets cold. But to be
(29:53):
a what's it like to be a part of that culture,
to be a part of, you know, the Oklahoma State
golf program. I think, you know, if you look at
right now, Alabama has a culture, Texas has a culture.
Conrad Ray out at Stanford, he's done the same thing.
But to me, the way that the guys at Oklahoma
State have done it over the last you know, twenty
(30:14):
thirty years. I mean it's second of what's it like
being in that culture? And do you do you feel it?
And is it something that you feel as it's you know,
you've got a responsibility to play well because of everything
that has come before you.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I think it more of like a responsibility to just
cocked myself like like a cowboy. You know that there's
a certain culture that coach Bradden Stratta instill in us
and the way we act and conduct yourself, play good
or bad. And I think the main thing I got
from Oklahoma State was the relationships I've built with certain
people like Victor. He's been a huge person for me.
Obviously I'm staying at his house and you know, he's
(30:53):
been able to you know, He's I bounce ideas off,
Zach Bowshoe, Austin Necker, all these people are huge, huge
for me to be able to talk to and kind
of bounce ideas off. And I've learned so much from
him that and these are connections I'm going to keep forever.
He coached Bratton, somebody I talked to on a daily
basis and get his ideas and things. And I think
just having that kind of support system and that culture
(31:16):
is huge. And I think all the Oklahoma State guys
have a kind of thing of paying it forward, you know,
whether it's through the pro am or talking to guys
like us and seeing if they can help us get better.
Everybody wants everybody from Oklahoma State wants the guys to
do well. And it's awesome because my first few years,
Victor was living in Stowwater and he I think he
(31:37):
missed the cut somewhere, like I think it was the
players he missed the cut. In the next day, he
was qualifying with us at Stillwater Country Club on a
bunch of greens, and I was like, man, this guy
works hard and he's trying to get better, and he's
not afraid to just pitch up with us and play.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Ricky Foller is probably as famous as anyone who is
associated with the Oklahoma State program. I know you've spent time.
Every time I would see Ricky when I was working
with him, and if he was at Oklahoma State, I'd
always say to him, how's my boy Ray doing? And
he would always say great things about But Ricky's kind of,
(32:12):
I think, a global ambassador for Oklahoma State golf, right.
I mean the orange clothing that he that he wears,
he kind of leads orange. What are some of the
things that you've learned from Ricky and the time that
you've gotten to spend around him, because I mean, you
couldn't meet everybody thinks that their public persona might be
(32:35):
different than who they really are, right. We're going through
that right now. A lot of people are saying, hey, Bryson.
It's all in act. He's not really like that and stuff.
But Ricky is what you see is what you get.
He is just one of the nicest human beings I've
ever met. Talk to me about the times that you
get to spend with with Ricky and how that's shaped
(32:57):
the way that you do things.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, I mean I've spent some time with him. I
played I think a nine hole practice around with him
in Abu Dhabi. I think you were there.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah, I was there.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yeah, we set that up. It was sweet. It was
sweet to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
And at that time, it was funny that we set
that practice round up with you when you qualified where
we were like.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Sixteen, yeah, sixteen or seventeen, Yeah, it was it was
you know you.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I mean, you weren't even on Oklahoma States radar at
that point. So the fact that she played in Abudabi
with Ricky at that time and then went on to
follow in his footsteps, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
That's pretty cool. And so from Ricky we played. So
he came down to still Water I think maybe two
years ago now, and we had like everybody wanted to
play with him on the team, and so we ended
up playing like an eight sum at Carston, and I
just thought that, you know, just watching him go about
his business and how kind of focused he is, even
when we were in the eight. So I'm like, he's
(33:53):
trying to shoot the bows score he can possibly shoot.
And that's what I've went from Victor too, when we
were just having fun games. He is trying to shoot
the lowest possible score you can possibly shoot. And I
think seeing that and seeing how diligent and focused he
is on trying to get better. And Coach Bratton always
talks about how Ricky was such a stud in college
(34:13):
and he was like he knew he was going to
be great, and he is.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I think what you just said there is something
that's really important for people listening. If you're going to
play so many times, it's easy to go out on
the golf course and just say, listen, i'm not hitting
it good, so I'll work on my game, or I'm
not going to try and shoot the lower score. But
the guys that make it to the tour, they are fierce,
(34:37):
fierce competitors, and when they go out, they're trying to
play their best and they want to shoot the lowest score.
And I think I say that to so many of
the juniors. Listen, if you're going to go out and play,
if you want to hit a couple of balls, that's fine,
but you have to keep score every time you go play.
Otherwise you don't understand the competition aspect of it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah, I mean, Victor was Victor because I had spent
so much time with him and played with him a lot.
I mean, you can just see the focus that he
puts into his practice. Like when he's playing, he is
shooting the lowest score he can possibly do. He's running
through his gold routine and he's trying to beat you,
and he's trying to get his chip out. They paid for.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
So the big jump from junior golf to college golf.
Now you're making the ultimate jump from college golf amateur
golf to professional golf. Make the cut in your first
competitive professional event in the corn Ferry. You got a
sponsors invite. I was talking to Donny Daher about it.
He said he thought the sixty four, the sixty seven
(35:44):
that you shot in the second and third round, seventy
two in the first, seventy three in the last round.
But he said he thought those two rounds were really,
really important for you moving forward making the cut. What
was it like playing your first professional of Was it
different than you thought? Is it different ray than elite
(36:07):
college golf?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
It is definitely a little different obviously now you're on
your own. I mean, when you're with the team, you know,
you got coach Bradney's telling you where to go, and
you know what we're doing and for the day. And
now it's on your time. You know, you decide when
you're going to go play or practice, strond what you're
going to do for the day. And so it's definitely
different that in that aspect. But at this end of
the day, it's just golf, like good golf anywhere. It
(36:30):
doesn't matter, like you know, good golf travels. And so
when I went out there, I kind of had its
expectation on the corn Fray that you had to just
go shoot lights out, which you kind of do to
make the cut because those cuts are just so low.
But I put that weight on myself that first round
and I wasn't hitting the ball all that good those
few days leading to it, and it just kind of showed.
(36:52):
And then that second round, I spoke to Dana and
I had a late teeth time. So I got out
there and just hit a few extra balls and I
was just like, Okay, I know what I need to do,
just with my movement. If I made good movements, I
will shoot a good score. And that's what I did.
And that last round I was playing pretty good and
just kind of let it go a little bit. But
it was awesome. And I got to play with Chris
Vinchuur in that last round, and he made the game
(37:14):
look very easy.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
He's in, Chris fin Tura should put putt better. I mean,
the guy, he's one of the best. He's one of
the best pure. I mean, listen, I've been around the
game a long time. Chris Fintur was one of the
best pure putters I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
I mean he also put through ten holes and when
I played with him, he was six hundred ten.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
And you know this. The other thing is he works
his ass off on his putting.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yeah, he looked like he was. He was doing a
whole bunch of drills before the round, and I mean
you could tell when he started putting he was like, Okay,
I get why he was doing those, Like he's making everything.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I had Matthew Pavall on the pod a couple of
months ago and he's done. He's moved to kind of Jupiter,
and he was I was letting him practice at Floridian.
He does ninety minutes a day ray of putting drills,
like every day, ninety minutes. So when he was on
the leaderboard US Open a couple of weeks ago and
everybody's looking at it, going where is this coming from,
(38:11):
I'm like, this is not a surprise. And he hits
driver everywhere. Everywhere. He doesn't hit it miles right, he
doesn't vomit. He hits kind of a little bleed cut.
But a great example for you moving forward is he
just gets the ball in play with the driver and
(38:33):
he's got so much confidence in it that he's hitting driver.
And if you remember watching the US Open, he had
a ton of drivers and he really really did the
jump now to competitive professional golf. Talk me through what
the plan is, because I don't think people realize that
when you are in college golf, everything is done for you. Yeah,
(38:55):
the travel, the school, you know, when you have to
go to school, the coach and the team as you
went to practice. As soon as you get out, you
have to find a place to live. You have to
find a place to practice. You have to find all
of this stuff yourself. And I think one of the
big jumps that is hard for a lot of players
early on is everything's kind of been done for you
(39:16):
as a college golfer, especially when you're at a program
like Oklahoma State. I mean, you guys fly private at
Oklahoma State as much as the tour players do. So
now you're about to go play your first kind of
big international. You're going to play the International Series as
part of the Asian Tour in Morocco. I grew up
(39:36):
at that golf course by the way. Really yeah, my
dad was the first head pro at Royal Darslum that
they ever had. We moved to Rocco when I was
in nineteen seventy two, and there is an island green
that they have there and my sister and I used
to have we named two ducks that lived in the pond,
(39:57):
and when we were kids, we would go feed the ducks.
But my dad the first head pro. Have you ever
played there?
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I've never played there.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
They've got fifty four holes there. Ray it's Trent Jones
and it is old school. You will love it. I mean,
it's just tree lined old school. So now you're going
to go play international series Morocco? Are you are you excited?
Are you nervous? What are your expectations? And then after that,
(40:28):
what is the plan to get on a tour somewhere?
Are you going to go to Europe and you're going
to try the US? What's what's what's the plan?
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Uh So yeah, I'm feeling all kinds of things about Morocco.
You know, I'm excited. It's like when you turn pro
in college, you have a schedule and you know what
you're going to be playing in and when what we're
doing as a pro, like I've turned if you're not
a superstar, you don't know exactly what you're what you're
going to play in. So you're scrambling looking for events,
looking for money, looking for people to sponsor you. And
(40:59):
you know, as an Indian you have to like you know,
get a visa for here and a visa for there.
And you know I've talking been talking about visas for
the last three months and so that stuff is all
stuff that I wish I didn't have to do, but
you have to do is just a you know, an
adult and a professional. But I'm excited you know, just
try to get like, I don't care where I play
(41:19):
right now, I just need to play. I just need
to get as many tournaments as I can get into,
and just just keep getting reps and get ready for
I'm going to do the corn for your Q school
and uh, I've got conditional status on PGA Tour Americas
and so I'm gonna try to see if I can
get get into some of those events in Canada and
so just try to build a schedule off that and
(41:40):
just get ready, just get as many reps as I
can until Q School and hopefully get a maybe a
PGA Tour card or a CORN free card.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah, who's going to caddy for you? I mean, I
mean obviously both shoes gotta he's got to pay it back, right,
I mean, both shoes, both shoes got to take the
job of caddying for you and Morocco.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yeah, that would be sweet. I love that. I mean,
and him have a great time together, so that that
would be awesome. But I'm just going to do a
local guy. I'm in a position where I just need
to get local guys until I get status somewhere and
then then I'll get somebody.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Lastly, Ray as a junior golfer. You came through our
junior development program as a nine year old, and I
think so many kids they need Indian golfers. You're the
next generation of Indian golfers, right, and there is a
(42:33):
there is a long Jo t Rendawa Jee Milka sing,
there's a bunch of guys, Auto Bandla hereing now is
kind of one of the guys and Shif Kapor old school.
Do you feel like it's an opportunity for you as
a golfer but also a golfer to represent India because
(42:54):
I think junior golfers always looked to the superstars, right,
you're sixteen years old, like, Okay, I want to be
Rory McRoy, But if you're not from Northern Ireland, you
can't really relate to what he did. And I think
it's important that Indian young Indian golfers look at someone
like yourself, Ray and say, okay, Ray, it's from the
(43:15):
same country as I am. He kind of had the
same upbringing as I did. Do you feel like it's
important that you kind of fly the flag now and
hopefully can fly the flag for Indian golf moving forward.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Yeah. Absolutely, India has been great to me when I
was a junior and amateur and kind of helping me
get my way. And even the Academy back in Dubai,
you know, they've done a great job of developing some
good players and sent some guys to some pretty nice
colleges like you know, Joshill Tennessee, Toby Bishops in Florida. Yeah,
and you know, Justin.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
We've spent thirty I think we've sent since we started.
You were the first group of junior golfers that we
really from an elite standpoint, started working with in two
thousand and nine, I think since two thousand and night.
I was starm to Justin about this the other night.
I think we sent close to almost thirty kids to
play Division one college golf out of out of Dubai,
(44:09):
which is a very very small, small golf market.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, there are a small place. I mean, you wouldn't
really expect it, but you know, the facilities at the
Academy were fantastic, and the and the development program was
huge for me as a kid, you know, not only
just for my golf game, but you know, I got
to hang out with some of my best friends to
this day, and so I always had a blast when
I was at the Academy and kind of just took
that along with me as I progressed on. And I
(44:35):
mean the Academy was huge for me. I mean, learning
from Justin he's still a huge mentor to me and yourself.
And being able to talk, bounce ideas off you guys,
and reach out to you guys when I need something.
I mean, that's huge, and the Academy has been a
big part of that.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Well. I can't tell you how proud I am of you.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Ray.
Speaker 1 (44:52):
It's it's something that that Justin and I and all
of us that that watched you in Dubai kind of
do what you've done. It's it's pretty special. Lastly, Ray,
go to Indian Come on, give it to me. What's
your go to order when you go when you go home?
When you when you go home and you get what's
(45:13):
what's the what's the Indian food that because obviously Indian
food in America? When you go home, what's the go to?
What do you crave? What do you say, I've gotta
have that?
Speaker 2 (45:23):
So my when I go back home, my mom knows
exactly what I want and she'll set up like the
menu for the week and Uh, it's like this semolina
rice thing and this fish curry she makes, and it transcends,
it puts me in a place like it brings almost
brings tears in my eyes. I talked to talk about
it with the guys at school and they don't quite
understand it. But for an Indian, for an Indian like,
(45:45):
the food is just so important to us, and it
takes me back to back to them my child today.
It's it's an amazing thing. So yeah, I will be
How spicy can you go? I honestly can't go too spicy.
I think I've been pretty westernized. I mean, you can't
even here. You wouldn't even know I was Indian if
you didn't didn't have the video on, you know. So
I kind of go too spicy. But she knows how
(46:06):
to do it just right, justin And.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
I think of you like you're part of the family,
and uh, we're proud of you regardless of what you do.
And I know whether you make it in professional golf,
you're going to make it in life because I think
you're one of the best kids that I've been lucky
enough to meet. So good luck, We'll all be watching
play good and say hello to the say hello to
my pet ducks on the on.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
The part three will I will thanks great to talk
to you right lost. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
So that was a really cool talk with rayhn Thomas,
and listen, I think he's somebody that you're going to
want to follow. You know. I can't imagine anyone listening
to that podcast and not saying, Wow, what a cool story.
He struggled, He had a standout junior career, kind of
caught lightning in a bottle late as a junior, went
(46:55):
to kind of the one of the top college golf
programs in the country, Oklahoma State University. He struggled, he
fought through it. He's trying to make his way as
a professional. Now made the cut in his first professional
event on the Corn Ferry and now as a top
ten on the international series on the Asian Tour. And
I think ray can do some really really cool things.
(47:17):
But I think it's a great story. He's a great kid.
I've never seen him not smiling. He loves golf, he
loves life. He's a smart kid, and I root for him.
I think all of you follow his career. He's going
to get more starts. He's going to Chase. Now he's
got to try and find a way to be a pro.
He's got to try and find a tour to play on,
(47:39):
and it's going to be exciting to see what he does.
But as I said in the opening, it's a cool
story and for me to kind of see a young
kid who was He wasn't the biggest kid in our
junior development program. He was just a great kid.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
He still is.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
I'm proud of him. I'm excited to see where he
goes as a pro and hope everyone follows his career.
Thanks everyone for listening. We've got the last major of
the year coming up next week and I'm excited to
get up to Troon, Scotland. It's one of my favorite
in the open road. It's a great golf course. It's
(48:19):
going to be cool to watch. Son of a Butch
comes to you almost every Wednesday. We will see you
definitely next week.
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