June 25, 2025 • 48 mins
PGA Tour caddie and former KSR writer Aaron Flener joins Matt to discuss how he became a caddie, life on the road, some of his favorite Kentucky memories and much more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is interrupted by Matt Jones on news radio Waight
forty WJS. Now here's Matt Jones. All right, welcome everybody.
Episode nine of interrupted by Matt Jones and one that
I've waited to do for a long time. You know,
I have been friends with this guy forever, and I
(00:23):
I'm not envious of a lot of people's jobs, but
I am a little bit envious of his. Aaron Fleener
from Glasgow, Kentucky. You may not know the name, but
you may have read his bachelor recaps on Kentucky Sports
Radio a long time ago. He is a caddy on
the PGA Tour for golfer JT posting, and I thought,
(00:45):
you know, some people have really interesting lives that I
would like to know about, and this is one of them.
What's it like to be a caddy on the PGA Tour?
Aaron Fleener is with us? Aaron is in Nashville. First
of all, shorted by that shirt hefty lefty Jared Lorenzen
in what eight K or whatever? I guess not a
kid but eight bit love it, big Kentucky fan, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I know you're a big hoodie guy. So I wanted
to bring out my finest one today.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That's a great one. How long have you had that?
It's fleeener like that looks like a tech it looks
like a techmobol Jared Lorenzo.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't even remember what company put it out, but
I bought it. I's probably had it ten years or so.
So yeah, yeah, big, big Jared fan.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So I mean you wrote for KSR. I want to
talk about that in a little bit, but you wrote
for Tucky Sports Radio, the website in its early years,
and then I remember you said one time, I'm going
with my friend Kent. He's going to become a pro
golfer and I'm going to be his caddy. And then
it became what Steven Jaeger and then JT posting, and
(01:49):
it's been such a cool life. But still even with
all that, you know, great experiences, there's still something about
Tiger because I see the behind you you have a
picture of you and Tiger that he just has a
special or right.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, that was the one and only time we've been
paired with him. It was up at Liberty National, New York,
and one of the PGA tour photographers got that and
sent it to me, and so I think I posted
somewhere and my cousin actually got it made into that,
which was really cool of him to do. It's just like,
I don't know, it's just something cool to have around
(02:25):
your house. Somebody comes over, like, is that Tiger? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I mean in my lifetime? Yeah, in my lifetime what
I mean the sports superstars. It's like Michael Jordan and Tiger,
Like those are the two biggest of our lives. When
you stood there next to Tiger, even though you're not
playing and you're cadding, it still had to be kind
of special, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, it's cool. So that was a really cool time
in our in my career with JT. That was the
week after he had won his first tournament at Wyndham,
and so we get to Liberty National the next week
and they paired us in the playoffs just based on
where you were on the FedEx company, so somebody had
withdrawn and I realized, oh my god, we're gonna play
(03:09):
with Tiger this week. And so like all week we're
just like pumped up, you know, And it just so
happened that day. The first day, we had to get
in a van to ride out to the tenth t
because we were starting on ten and so we get
in this van and all of a sudden, I see
Tiger coming.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I'm like, oh my god, they put Tiger in the van.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
He's about to get in this vand with us. Wow.
I'm like, I'm like hitting JT on his leg. I'm like, dude, dude,
doo dude. So he gets in and you know, it
couldn't have been nicer, like introduced himself. He's like, you know,
congrats on the win last week. He was like, He's like,
you went bogie free Wright and JT's like yeah, He's like, man,
that's so incredible and uh so like he was awesome.
(03:49):
JT talked to him a lot more than I did,
but it was a great day. He only played one round,
he didn't play good and uh Withdrew for an injury
the next day. So we play in the twosone with
Scott Piercy the next day.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Same thing, Tiger, Tiger Wood, Scott Piercy. Basically the same
for those players on the tour. You know, I mean
JT's had a lot of success one what three times
is that right?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Three times? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Three times? You know they they're living the dream, but
they still is Tiger, the one guy that still even
now makes people, even the players, kind of getting amped up.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean I wish that. I
wish you would have just been playing this whole time,
you know, and I had all the injury problems he's had,
and it would have been really cool because he was.
He hasn't played really much since I got on tour
in two thousand and I think seventeen was my first
year on tour, and I mean he's played here and there,
(04:48):
but he hasn't played like a full, you know, fifteen
event schedule like he did back in the day. So
for for us, he for sure, I still has that
aura when he's around. You know, some of the guys
that are a little older than us have played on
teams with him and know him a little bit more.
But yeah, still really cool when he's around.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So how old are you. You're a little bit younger
than me. You're forty two. Okay, So you started the
life of a PGA tour caddy you were a really
good golfer, and then explain how you went from What
were you doing when you then became a caddy?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, so I was working for the State of Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I didn't know that. What were you doing for this
downtown in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I was a procurement officer for the State of Tennessee
for like real estate construction and like moving.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Contracts, so exciting stuff. Sexy.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, I mean I learned what procurement was. I started.
I was like, Okay, what does this mean exactly? So,
I mean, you know, working for the state was I
would say it wasn't too challenging for me. So it
was one of those things where, you know, I always
(06:03):
had wanted to be a caddie. It was just like
one of those things that it's tough to get your
foot in the door. Yeah, and so you know when
Kent came to me and asked me.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
To So for people who don't know that's Kent Bull,
you were like it was he your childhood friend.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, he's a little bit younger than me, He's like
six years younger than me. But he was obviously he
was super, really good at golf, so he was always
playing with us even when we were in high school,
and so we just became buddies. He's really good friends
with my youngest brother, and he went to Middle Tennessee
and I was in Nashville, so you know, we kept
in touch, and so he had a sponsor that wanted
(06:41):
him to take a full time caddy down to Latin America.
I thought he would it would help him perform a
little better, and so he came to me. We worked
out a deal and yeah, I quit my job, and
that's cross. I was like, man, I'm jealous.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I was jealous. I mean I knew you and I
was doing this, and I still was a little jealous
because what what a cool gig. Now Kent was a
pretty I mean, people don't realize. I guess you could
speak to this better than me. People don't russ how
good these guys are. Like just like I played with
(07:17):
Kent once in Glasgow and he shot like sixty three,
barely trying on Glasgow's cross. Like, people don't realize how
good everyone is.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it's it's a very fine line between who makes
it and who doesn't. And it comes down to little
stuff like injuries or you know, just playing playing better
at the right exact time and someone else and it's
you know, Kent's career was derailed by some injureres and
(07:48):
some health stuff, and but man, there was nobody that
hit a driver better than him, and like.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
How could he far? Could he hit it? Like? I
don't think like again, in terms of distance, occasionally I
can muscle one up and almost get three hundred yards.
Can't if he muscled it up? Or JT if he
muscled it up? What's the what's the yard?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah? I mean people can hit it three hundred yards
like where it finishes three hundred yards, But these dudes
can fly it that far. So that's a whole different
thing and they know where it's gonna go every time.
And yeah, it's just like people see you, like a
plus two at their club, they're like, man, I wonder
if you know he could make it?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
No, it can't.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
He could not make it. Yeah, it's just it's a
different it's a different sound when they hit it. It's
just it's a different level and it's hard to understand
unless you're like out there right beside it all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So Latin American Tour give people a little sense of
what life is like. You did that for I think
two years give people We just did that one year.
That give me give people a sense of what life
the Latin American tours like and maybe some cities that
you went to.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, so our first city was in down in Columbia.
I don't remember what city. But so Kent and I
are traveling. There's like nineteen events on this schedule, and
so we're traveling together, but we're staying in hotel rooms
together every week, so we are literally right beside each
(09:25):
other every moment of every day for nineteen weeks of
that year. And not to mention, we lived together back
in Nashville, so it was we got a lot of
each other and luckily, you know, we get along pretty well.
You know, there would be times where you know, let's
let's take a little take a little breathe, or not
(09:46):
taught for a while like that. But uh, yeah, So,
I mean they don't put you in I mean, you're
staying in decent places when you're traveling because you know,
the tour doesn't want anything to happen to any of
the players or anybody involved. You're getting, you know, shoveled
back and forth to the course. So it was it
was safe. I mean, you could go out on your
(10:07):
own in the cities if you wanted. They're not like
locking you in that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So did you go out? I mean, did you go
out do you did you go out on the town
in some of those places, because I know you're a
dude who likes to go out.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, that year, we just kind of said, let's treat
this as a job, like, let's let's really you know,
lock in when we're playing, and then when we're at
home we can you know, hang out, party, hang out
with our friends whatever. Because there was guys on that
tour that did do that. Every night. They would show
(10:39):
up to the course and they've been out till four.
I'm like, well, we're gonna beat the crap out of
that guy. Yeah, so we you know, we tried to
treat it as a job. We missed a cut, yeah
we would go out. Maybe we didn't miss many cuts
that year, but we would go out and you know
hang out on like a Friday because you're stuck there.
It's not like you're like, it's not like I'm in
Charlotte for a tournament. Now we missed a cut, I
(10:59):
can just go home in an hour. You're just there,
and so yeah, we haang out. I remember going out
in uh Guatemala one night. I forgot what the city was.
They have like cobblestone streets, but it was that was
interesting playing a golf tournament on the side of a
volcano that week, and so you know, Kitt and O
(11:19):
are big, big dudes and walking up and downhills, He's
not going to play his best.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, I mean that had to be though, Like there's
got to be part of it. Though. That was an
amazing experience to go to these places you would never
otherwise go.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, I would have never gone to Lema, Peru or
you know, Buenos Aires, you know places like that. So
while you know when you're and when you're doing it,
when you start there, you're really excited about it, Like
I could never go back and do it now, But
like when you're on that come up, everything's like new
(11:54):
and fun. And so like he played great that year.
I think we finished second on the money list.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
He won. Did he win an event which won.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
The Argentina Open, Yes, And so yeah, it was fun,
like met a lot of great dudes. I did not
understand at the time, like how great of a networking
that was for me, because there's only there's probably four
or five American caddies down there that are actually traveling
full time with guys. Most guys are just getting locals
(12:26):
that you know, don't speak English. So like we hung
out with the players all the time. So now I'm like,
to this day, very good friends with Harry Higgs, Keith Mitchell,
Adam Shank like all these guys that are on tour now.
And at the time, you know, I didn't realize, like
how big of a networking business?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What was Harry like? Harry Higgs seems fun? Was he
fun down there?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah? I mean those guys are great. I remember I
got the first day we were going to the course
that season. We were in a van with Keith Mitchell
and Harry Hicks and They're just like blabbing in the back.
I'm like, these guys won't shut up. I didn't like
them at first because and now they're like two of
my best friends.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, well, Harry's become a legend. So you were working
with a really good friend and including someone you live with,
and also kind of working for them just on a
personal level. I would think that's a dynamic that can
be hard. Was it hard sometimes?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah? Yeah, for sure. It's tough, like because you're out
there in the heat of competition, and so if those
guys hit a bad shot or something. They're gonna get mad.
That's just human nature. Like, so you have to try
to separate your personal feelings versus your encourse interactions. Like
(13:50):
if he gets mad at me and questions something I
said to him, I can't take that back to the
hotel later back, I'm not going to dinner with you. You
were an asshole to.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Me today, you know, Yeah, could you do that? Were
you able to? Were you able to do that?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah? Yeah, I think, Uh, that's something I've always done
pretty well. You just kind of chalk it up to
like that's that's what you sign up for. That's part
of the job. Like you have to understand that. And
if you do understand that and you can handle that,
then you can last and in this job for a while.
(14:27):
If you don't, if you take everything personally, if you
you know, take it home with you all night and
you're worried about all the time, you're gonna burn out
pretty fast.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Do you. You know, I've known you for a long
time and you share a trait with our mutual friend
Drew Franklin and Johnny Bruce. Another one when three you
get together. That Atlanta SEC tournament is one we still
talk about. But but you are like the fun guy.
Like everybody that gets around Aaron Fleeer wants to have
(14:57):
fun because Aaron Fleeener's fun. I'm sure on tour there's
a temptation to have people like all want to be
let's go be crazy and have fun. And I would
bet I don't know, but a lot of people see
Aaron Fleeener as the fun dude. Do you have to
be careful not to let that interfere with the job.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah. Like I said earlier about that year with Kent,
like I treat my works as work like okay, at
work twenty six twenty seven weeks a year, so that
also gives me twenty two twenty three weeks off year
when I can do whatever I want. So I look
at my work weeks as work like I get my rest.
(15:38):
I take my job seriously, you know, if we miss
a cut or something and we're staying over the weekend,
like yeah, I might go hang out with some other
caddies or something, get dinner or something. But like I'm
also like older now, so I don't have the same.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
True move that way back like I used to, And
it's like.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It's just not worth it to go out there and
not be totally sharp when you're when you're working, because
it's a very competitive business, Like you cannot give someone
a reason to not trust you or think you're not
fully there and prepared and ready every day. So I
(16:20):
try to treat it. You know, I'm not a serious guy,
but I do take the job seriously, and I take
showing up ready physically being physically ready to work every
day seriously.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Are there golfers that are known as like, you don't
want to work for that dude. He treats his cadd
he's poorly, he's difficult. And then I'm sure there are
golfers that are nice. But are there golfers sometimes you're like,
you gotta be careful with that guy?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, I mean they're all going to have their moments,
like like in any workplace or business, like if you
catch one of these guys on a bad day or
right after they made a double bogie and you're you know,
you're a little kid trying to give him a high five,
and they don't give you high five, and then forever
you're like, oh man, that guy's an ass. Yeah, that
guy's not really an ass, he's just having a bad moment,
(17:10):
you know, like he may make a birdie on the
next hole and give a kid a ball. It's just
like there's guys that are tougher than others, for sure,
but most of them are, you know, once they get
off the course, are great to be around, very generous
and you know, kind and uh, taking interest in your life.
(17:34):
Like it's crazy, Like I tell people this all the time.
Like before I got into it, you know, Ricky Fowler
was like the thing, like he was the guy, one
of the young guns, and like I watched him, I
was a fan. And now like Ricky Fowler will walk
past me on the rain and be like, hey, Flaer,
what's up, Like how you doing? And it's just like
it's still like.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Baffles in my mind, does it. You don't get used
to that, Like you don't get used to that, and
it's not it's never it's still kind of us.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
To talking to him like we're buddies. But it's still like, wow,
like I'm buddies with Ricky Fowler. Yeah, legit, Like it's
just you know, stuff like that is not like it's
not it doesn't go past me like that. That's not cool.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, I can see that. What's uh, what's a quality
of What are the qualities of a good caddy? So
so you you sit there, you meet a caddy who's
just starting and he says, Aaron Fleeter, what should I
do to make sure I succeed in this? What would
you say?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, I would think I would say, first of all,
just get to know as many people as you can, because,
like I'm I'm very blessed in that I've worked for
JT for eight years, so I haven't had to worry
about like looking for another job or you know, stuff
like that. But like I saw today, like my buddy
(18:53):
Joe Grinder and Marikawa had just gotten together like five
weeks ago, and now they've split again. But Joe is
you know, so well networked and knows everybody he'll get
another job. And so knowing agents, knowing the players, girlfriends, wives, families,
and the players themselves, it's very important because when they're
looking for a new caddy, they may ask their buddy,
(19:17):
that's a player, who should I hire? And if you
know that guy knows you, knows you're a good caddyback, well,
you know what about Fleener. That's kind of how I
got the job with JT. Was Jaeger let me go
halfway through his rookie year. And then Keith Mitchell, who
was one of my friends from the Latin tour that
I was talking about earlier, his roommates with JT. And
(19:38):
he tells JT like he knows that JT has been
looking to possibly make a switch, but you know he's
not going to do it until he finds somebody he wants.
So Keith goes to JT and says, hey, Fleener's looking
for a job, Like I think you guys would would
mesh well together, Like why don't you give him a shot?
So that's how stuff like that happens.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
What causes those relationships to break? Like, I mean, I'm
sure there are many things, but if you were to
look and say, because I feel like it would be
so personal and I know it can't be, but it
would be be so hard to like let this person
go you're with every week, what causes those relationships to break?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, I think just like maybe the way they communicate
together is and it doesn't mesh well, or their personalities
don't mesh well, or you know, the way a caddy
will present a situation of a shot to a guy
he doesn't like or you know, the player wants somebody
(20:36):
who's like excellent at reading greens and that's all they
care about. And so they're going to just go find
a guy that's great at reading green It's like some
guys that doesn't matter to that wouldn't matter at all
to my guy. He doesn't call me in to read.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Put You don't read any putts right like you just
did that. He doesn't care what you think.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
It's not that he doesn't care, it's that he just
wants to have one thought in his mind. Okay, over
the put He's a you know, top fifty guy in
the world. So like what am I going to tell
him that he doesn't already know, you know, on and
around the greens, Like he's an elite like Chipper and Putter.
So he just wants to make a choice, trust it,
(21:16):
and then go and execute it without having you know,
because if he says, well, I see it, you know,
just outside the hole in the right, and if I'm like, well,
I think it's more now there's doubt in his mind
and you know, whether he wants to trust his gut
or not, he's also thinking, I don't know he said
it was a little more and then you just don't
commit and you make an even worse stroke than you
(21:38):
would have.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Do you have to be like amateur psychologist ever to
sort of get somebody back on track? Or like, do
you have do you have to do like that sort
of personal role at all?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah? I mean you gotta be careful with that stuff,
like you gotta you can't overdo that stuff because then
it doesn't mean anything when you do it. Like if
I tell him every week, like, hey, come on, you
know we can do this, He's just gonna be like, dude,
shut the hell up, like leave me alone. But like
if I just kind of let him get it out,
(22:10):
you know, as long as it's not affecting what he's
doing on the next shot, I have no problem with,
you know, a guy expressing some frustration or being like, hey,
you know you said the win was here. I think
he was doing something a little different, like just going
forward to need to be aware of that stuff like that,
like it's fine, but just no one when to speak
(22:32):
up and not to speak up. It was another thing
I would tell like a new Caddy, like these guys
are here because they're really freaking good, like you, They
didn't get here because of you. They got here because
of them. So let them play. Go out there and
play golf and help them where you can help them,
or answer questions if they have questions for you. Don't.
(22:55):
You don't have to micro manage every second of them
on the All.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Right, I'm going to give you a few I'm gonna
give you some a few things, and I want to
get your quick reactions to all of them. So tell
me quickly, what is what was the like it like
the first time JT won a PGA to our event.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
The first time he won was Wyndham twenty nineteen, and
we were three back going into the Sunday and he
got off to like a really hot start. I think
he was like five under through seven or something. And
so he was also bogey free that week, and so
that was kind of a blessing because he was kind
(23:36):
of more thinking about that, like I want to finish
this tournament without making a bogie, instead of thinking about,
oh God, I'm about to win this golf tournament.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I remember like I was fine. I was fine, and
then we got on eighteen and I was like I
got kind of nervous, and I'm like not saying anything,
and or walk down the fairway and he looks at
me and he just starts laughing because he can just
tell how nervous I am.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh really, you can tell you're nervous. Okay, Yeah, he
was like, are.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
You having any fun or what? I just started laughing.
I was like, yeah, man, this is great, Like he
could tell that. I was like it was starting to
get to me a little bit, and uh yeah, that
person was special, especially for him. It was in North Carolina,
you know, close to where he's from. He had tons
of friends and college teammates and college coach and his
(24:30):
mom and dad and grandma, like everybody's there. So it
was like it was, you know, really awesome. I'll never
forget that for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
What was it like the first time you walked on
to Augusta National as an actual caddy?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah? That was Luckily I'd gotten he took me down
there to play a few weeks before that, so like
I got to get the initial like shocking eye out
of my system.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
So you played there, would you shoot? I mean you're good,
like like you're not PGA Tour good, but you're come
to your course and kick your ass good? So would
you shoot.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I think I shot like eighty two or something like.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
It was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I remember it was super hot, and yeah, I didn't
play I didn't play great. It was more just like
it was. The shocking thing was like how fast the
round seemed like it went by, like it's like all
of a sudden, we're on eighteen and I like it
was like almost like a like a blackout, Like you're
just like because you're you've watched it on TV all
(25:35):
these years and now you're you're just there.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
People don't realize how hilly that course is. Like on television,
it doesn't do justice to the elevation changes and all
that when you're there.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, so our first our first Masters was the one
that they played in November, so we didn't really get
the full experience the first time. Oh, the COVID one
it was still cool obviously, but the first one, I
think in twenty three was the time we went back
after that, and that's when it was like full fans
(26:09):
and like everybody's there and that was like, that was
really cool. But Augusta's tough. It's tough for caddies because
the yardage book they give us there is nothing like
what we have normally on tour, Like our tour books
have like pictures in them, and like, you know, we
know exactly what numbers we're looking for when we look
down at our book, and Augussa is just like they
(26:30):
can give you like the front number to the green.
They don't tell you like, oh, this plays uphill three yards.
You have to figure all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Out on oh okay.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And so it's a lot of pre tournament work for
us that week and then you know players are a
little bit tighter that week, a little more amped up, nervous,
like because it's the Masters, you know, it means everything.
So the major weeks are tough. They always feel like
you've worked like two weeks when they're over because there
(27:03):
they are courses that we don't go to all the time,
so we have to do a lot of extra work,
and you know, the rounds feel like they take forever,
and the golf courses are hard. So you know, Majors
are great, that's the term that you want to be
playing in, but they do take a lot out.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
What's the hardest course you've been a caddy on? Is
it Oakmont?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Oakmont? For sure?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Why is it so hard? Well, I mean it looks miserable,
But why is it so hard.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I've been there twice now, I went with Kenton.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, I was there. I went there. I was that
when you Kent was there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
That was the first major ever caddied, and it was
It was wild going back there a couple of weeks ago,
because it made me realize like how far I've come,
and like my knowledge of my job. I remember being
there with Kenton just feeling very overwhelmed, like with everything
(28:01):
that I needed to know, and like this time it
was still a lot of work, but like you just
you know exactly what you need to know, and like
you know how to go out there and figure it out.
And but Oakmont's tough just because it never lets up.
Like you can make a bogie on literally any hole.
Like on tour, we played courses that aren't like that,
like you can you know, there's easy holes on tour,
(28:24):
but there's no easy holes. You hit it in the
rough anytime, you're gonna be lucky to make a bogie.
And so like every shot is so pressure packed because
you know if you miss it, you're in big trouble.
So it was tough, I thought, I mean, and I
thought we played in the easiest conditions that we possibly
could have had a couple of weeks ago. It was
(28:46):
not a whole lot of wind. It was soft, like
I could just can't imagine what the scores would have been.
Had it been like firm and windy it could have been.
We could still be playing.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You would have never been able to finish. What about
when you were at Valla and able to being a
major in your home state with I know a lot
of people that you know there. Of course, Scottie Scheffer
gets arrested during that, but what what was that special
being in Kentucky?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
That was a crazy week. We must have cut that
week unfortunately, but it was awesome. Yeah, a lot of
shout outs. What I remember most that week was that
Memo got to come. She had never I don't think
she'd ever been to a tournament and like actually seen
us in person, and we had gotten her set up
in like a hospitality suite on eighteen and so like
(29:32):
both days when we're coming up eighteen, she's you know,
waving at us for looking over waving at her, and
so that was really cool experience. You know, she's ninety four.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Now, Well let me tell who that is for Kentucky fans.
This is me Ma that some of you may remember.
She's been miked up for a couple of games before
for KSR. And one time she's the one that said
the Bobby Huggins sorry you got the dad you I
but thanks for Trey Mitchell. That's how that's your grandmother
(30:03):
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
That's that's my grandmother. That's me, Moll. Yeah, who had
to be explained what the word shifty meant about Rob Dillingham.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
She's like the biggest Kentucky fan though in the world.
I saw you had.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
A post huge sportsman.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
She's doing having some health issues and my prayers are
for her. I hope I are with her. She's the
absolute best.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Prayers for her. The next week, she's she's going through
some medical stuff. You know, she's having some pain, you know,
off and on and so normally it would to alleviate it,
they would do a surgery, but obviously she's ninety four,
so she can't do you know, you can't do surgery
on someone that ace. So they're they've got a doctor
(30:47):
in Louisville that thinks he can he can help her
a different way. So next Thursday, appreciate some thoughts and
prayers for for mem all. She's going a little trying
to get that taken care of. But I went up.
I got to go up and is it whether yesterday?
Spend the day weather in Glasgow. So it's always great
to see her. Man. She just speaks her mind.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
As soon as I walk in the door, she's like, well,
you guys didn't play very good last year.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I'm like, okay, I'll tell her. She's like, she said,
you know, I'm you know, got my thing next week,
so I need you guys to play good at John
Deer for me. So I told JT that she wasn't
real pleased with That's great.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Uh, you know she when I play in Glasgow, I
don't know if she she always seems to know I'm there,
and she'll stand out there in her yard and wave
and say hi, and we see her at the game.
She goes to like every SEC tournament, so uh, in.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
High state tournament she's been to like how many in a.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Row she's been to like fifty or something, right, It's.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, crazy all right, So a little behind the scenes
of caddy World here for a second, are there. I'm
sure there are caddies you like and probably some of
you don't like. But are there ever caddy rivalries? Are
there ever any sort of I mean, we see golfer
rivalries and people players who don't seem to like each other.
Does that ever happen in the caddy world.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Not really. I would I would like in the caddy
world to like a big traveling fraternity basically honestly guys
that you hang out with more that you know, you're
more like, but like you get along with everybody for
the most part. I don't think there's any like. You know,
(32:31):
if a guy feels like loses his job and feel
like another guy like kind of snaked it from behind
his back or something like. I've heard stories about that.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Well, I wouldn't ask you about that. You said JT
or somebody had somebody when you had to do that.
Do you ever worry about that? The sort of guy
wants to talk to the next guy, but then he
has a guy and I don't want to stab him, Like,
do you worry about that?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah? A lot of guys, a lot of players will
not hire a caddy directly away from another person like
they'll but you know, they have to be fired or
quit before they're you know, considered fair game. I guess
I don't know how that happens. Like I said, I'm
you know, in a unique situation where I'm probably in
(33:15):
one of the longest tenured caddy player relationships on tour,
so I don't have to deal in that world a
whole lot. But yeah, there's like an unwritten rule. I
would say that, Uh, you know, you don't try to
you don't try to take.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Another man's job, so you have to be single for
a while. Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, I would say, because
you said you're in one of the longest relationships. You
said it was eight years. I guess for most of
us probably don't look and see who the caddies are.
So like, the one I can always think of was
was Tiger with the one guy he had forever who
(33:53):
was always going at the crowd and telling them to huh.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
That seems like Williams.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, Stevie, that was a long relationship. How long is
the average player caddy relationship?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
You think average maybe a year.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
So there's a lot of like upside down pineapple stuff
going on there. There's a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yeah, it's Uh, I don't know. Those guys are some
guys just like won a different guy around just because
they want to hear a different voice, or they they
don't require much out of the caddy, so they just
want someone different to hang out with, or you know,
there's all different reasons. But yeah, maybe longer than a year,
(34:40):
but yeah, I'm definitely on the upper end. Like Xander
and his caddy Austin have been together for a long time.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I didn't run, Yeah, I didn't run. It was that
short of time. That's interesting. Okay, have you ever had
to be you know, you sometimes see on television one
of the caddies you know, gets angry at the somebody
in the crowd tells them to get back or have
you ever had to do that?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, dude, give me an example. It's hard for me
to see you getting angry at somebody.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I mean, it's just part of our job, and like
it's something that I don't mind doing because like in
my normal life, I'm very calm. I would never yell
at anyone, and so like getting to do it like legally,
I guess good.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Really, yeah, you could just let it all out. I
got you.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
You try to be nice like if you hear somebody
like making noise or something like, you'll just say quiet please,
you know first, and then if it keeps going, then
quiet like a little bit louder and if if I
have to go a third time, it's gonna be loud. Okay,
quiet or stop? Or you know.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
What's the most obnoxious thing fans say to golfers is
it the what is? What's the thing that makes you
cringe when they say?
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I think like now with sports betting being way more
common and like everybody's doing it on their phone or
in the moment, like some like golf bro being like
oh j T I, you know, I bet on you
to win, Like oh gosh, it's like okay, well do
you think that's gonna make him try harder? Like do
you think he, oh, this guy's got five dollars on me,
(36:16):
I'm gonna go I'm gonna try now, And so you know,
we just look at him like, oh, thanks, buddy, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Has there ever been a moment where you've done something
either a recommendation or a club choice or whatever where
it didn't work out and you went, oh no, I
screwed that up.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Oh yeah, I mean we're human, like you're you're helping
him with I don't know how many shots a week,
but yeah, you're gonna make mistakes. It's just, uh, you know,
something that you both have to know is that you're
both trying as hard as you can to do the
right thing and to I'm trying to help him as
(36:57):
much as I possibly can all the time because however
much money he makes, that's how much.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Yeah. Well, okay, So I don't want to get into you.
I don't want to get into your deal because I
think that's private. But just in general, give me a ballpark.
Because this is the thing I always hear people ask.
We've had people calling and ask this on the show.
What is the general way that caddies get paid?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah, so the amounts are different, just depending on different guys,
I think. But so every caddy gets like a weekly
salary no matter what happens, and that's to help cover.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
So what's a ballpark? What's that ballpark?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Usually anywhere from like probably eighteen hundred to three.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Thousand, okay, but you have to pay your expenses out
of that.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
We pay our own expenses that way. We have write offs,
you know when for tax purposes and stuff like that.
So they pay us a weekly salary and then you
make a percentage on their earnings past that. So most
guys make somewhere seven eight percent of the earnings and
(38:06):
then a win usually gets gets you paid ten percent
on that. So you know, it's a it's a good living.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
I mean it's yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
I'm very lucky to do something that I love doing,
and like I couldn't I'm not smart enough to make
the money that I make doing anything else. In the way,
there's nothing else I could do.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So like if they get a FedEx bonus, you get
a percentage of that too.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah, some guys have that in their deals too. Just
depend It's it's very like player to player dependent on that. Uh.
And then we can also make money off endorsements too.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Like I you do like underwear, don't you Don't you
do underwear, So the underwear.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Is not going anymore. But we did that for two years,
two years longer than I ever thought I would be underwear.
I'll be honest. That was great. But then I have
like JT has an Elijah Craig deal, so I have,
you know, Elijah Craig deal as well. And then our
hats with Mega Corp. Like so like, we make pretty
decent money on that stuff too.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Which is you know, so you get to sell your
hat and stuff on your own, like not, it doesn't
have to be what what the golfer does.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
It doesn't have to be now a lot of times
they would like it to be. So I would never
sign a deal that I didn't ask JT's agent about first, Like,
is it okay if I do this deal with this brand?
Or because you don't want to, you know, do something
that's competing with something that he's got going on.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Are you one of the best caddies at golf? You
got to be up there?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
No, not even close. Really, Yeah, there's I mean there's
caddies that played on tour. Yeah, I'm like a probably
a two handicap, which is not bad. But there's guys
that are actually really, really good.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
So it's I always assumed you were one of the best, Right,
let me two more things and then I'll let you go.
When the live stuff happened, you guys were living this moment.
A was their tension during it? And B like what
was it like during that period of time when you
knew there were people amongst you who were going to
leave where there was there like long term short term resentment,
(40:25):
like what was that like during that time?
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Uh man, I mean I try to stay out of
that as much as possible, But just because I'm not,
it doesn't really concern me. But yeah, there was. It
was just weird because there were so many unknowns, Like
you just we get asked about it a lot, like
I don't have any answers. I know as much as
I know WHAT'SPP. I just know whatever's being reported to everyone. Yeah,
(40:54):
you know, JT from the start said I had no
interest in doing that. It's not like I don't know.
I don't think there's any like hard feelings towards guys
that left. You know, they made their choice and some
guys made their choice to stay. I mean, honestly, when
you get down to the bottom line of it, it
(41:14):
did nothing but good for everybody on our tour because
it raised our purses, be bettered our treatment and you know,
it did a lot of good for us. Now I
can I can see from a fan standpoint where it
doesn't look good. I mean, it looks like a lot
(41:35):
of greed and like, you know, not caring what the
what the fan thinks. And so I don't know. I
don't know if it's I don't know that it's been
good for the game professional game of golf, where you
don't have the best players playing all together all the time.
I think it makes the majors a little bit, like, uh,
(41:59):
a little better and they're all back together, like it
gets a little more fire into that. So I don't know.
I don't know what's going to happen with that going forward.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Like I said, I was surprised how resilient the PGA
Tour has been on it. I mean, I didn't think
liv was gonna succeed the way they thought, but I've
been surprised how little everyone seems to care about those events.
I don't mean to even make you speak on that.
I'm not trying to put you in a different spot.
But it's still even though they have Bryson and Brooks,
(42:30):
and I still never know who wins their events. And
I'll still watch the Sunday of the PGA Tour event.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
You don't have to comment. I'm not trying to put
you out a top spot.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I just like I'll check their scores just to see,
like if any of my you know. The main thing
is like you just miss guys that aren't around. Yeah, yeah,
Harold Varner. I love chopping it up with him a bunch,
and like I never see him anymore, like caddies that
went over there that I was buddies with, Like you
just don't see guys anymore. If you see him at
a major, like you're so busy, you don't really have
(43:08):
time to like you know, really get to know like
what's going on with him. So that was the biggest
led down for me. It was just like kind of
losing some guys that you liked having around.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Favorite person why to see paired up with JT. Favorite
person to be on the course with.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Probably, I mean I've been asked this question and it's
answer is always seawoo Kim.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Why is it Seawhu Kim?
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Because see who Kim is so hilarious. He's he speaks
like pretty good English, but it's not like perfect and
so it's really funny when he says stuff like he's
he's like very aggressive on the golf course and like
hit shots that no one else would even try, like
(43:57):
he's pulling out drivers off the deck and he just
says funny stuff sometimes I like it.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Now I have a new uh, I have to watch
Sew kimmore. Let's say you had to pick the president
of the United States and had to be a PGA
toward golfer. Who would it be? Wow, I bet you
haven't been at that way golfer.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
No, I haven't. I would probably say I would probably
go with Ricky Fowler.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Honestly, Really, why is that?
Speaker 2 (44:32):
I just think he's well respected by everyone people think.
I think people will have a misconception of him, that
he's like some huge personality just because of all the
like commercials and like he's so you know, so recognizable.
But he's like a very like, thoughtful, like keeps to
himself type of guy. And I think everybody respects him.
(44:58):
He's well liked. I think he would be I think
he would be a good leader. I don't know if
he would want to. I don't think he would want
to do it.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
It's got a pretty good life. It seems like he
probably why would you want to waste it? Well? All right, So, Aaron,
you used to finish with this. You used to work
with ks R. You are a huge Kentucky fan, favorite
Kentucky player of all time.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Man so like when I was a kid. The first
I remember the ninety two team pretty well, but like
my first really when I got into it was when
we won the title in ninety six, and I loved Anthony.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Epps, Like he's from down there.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Yeah, so he's from not too far from where I
grew up. And I just liked how like how hard
he played and he seemed like he was like one
of the leaders of that team. So like for somebody
in the nineties, it was him. Like after that, probably
Boogie was like, how could you know one of the
guys from the past, you know, fifteen years? And I
(46:01):
liked a lot. There's been a lot, I mean, but
those two probably stand out the most. I liked him
because I'm left handed, so I liked the.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Do you play golf left handed?
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Nor writ in golf one handed? Stuff?
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I didn't know. I didn't know you were left handed.
Well you did a great job on Cass. I used
to write recaps of The Bachelor, which still if you
go back, were some of our most red posts. A
funny thing.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
About most commented on for sure, Oh.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
People got so angry that you would do that. They'd
say they gave you the whole stick to sports. Before
that became a thing, they got really angry, but you
seem to enjoy it more by the fact that they
get angry.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Yeah. I can't even watch that show anymore after I
did that. It's just it's such a bad show.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
It's so terrible. But that's why you may that's why
you made it good. And then you a funny story
about you when it You were suggested to me by
Big Easy Zach mccriche to be a writer. And I
won't say who it is, but I accidentally asked the
wrong person. I didn't know you, and someone had someone
(47:14):
had written me and said, hey, I'd like to write
for KSR. I thought it was you, so I hired
that person and thinking it was you, and it wasn't
and they weren't particularly good, and I remember thinking, why
did Easy suggest this guy to me? He's not particularly
(47:34):
good And then like a year later I met you
and realized I realized they was supposed to be you.
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Yeah, I think Gabe ended up Judge Gabe ended up
connecting us.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah, it's been great, man. That was that part of
my life was it was a blessing, you know, I
got to know Drew and now Drew's, you know, one
of my best friends and just went on Drew's birthday
vacation with him a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. So
it's been great man. It's good to see you guys.
Still haven't continued success, and I know you guys work
(48:07):
really hard.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Well, thank you and congratulations good luck with the British
Open and the FedEx Cup coming. Aaron Fleeer appreciate you
doing I wanted to do this for a long time,
so thank you.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Thanks buddy.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
All right, thank you guys for listening. We will see
you very soon.
This is interrupted by Matt Jones on news radio Waight
forty WJS. Now here's Matt Jones. All right, welcome everybody.
Episode nine of interrupted by Matt Jones and one that
I've waited to do for a long time. You know,
I have been friends with this guy forever, and I
(00:23):
I'm not envious of a lot of people's jobs, but
I am a little bit envious of his. Aaron Fleener
from Glasgow, Kentucky. You may not know the name, but
you may have read his bachelor recaps on Kentucky Sports
Radio a long time ago. He is a caddy on
the PGA Tour for golfer JT posting, and I thought,
(00:45):
you know, some people have really interesting lives that I
would like to know about, and this is one of them.
What's it like to be a caddy on the PGA Tour?
Aaron Fleener is with us? Aaron is in Nashville. First
of all, shorted by that shirt hefty lefty Jared Lorenzen
in what eight K or whatever? I guess not a
kid but eight bit love it, big Kentucky fan, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I know you're a big hoodie guy. So I wanted
to bring out my finest one today.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
That's a great one. How long have you had that?
It's fleeener like that looks like a tech it looks
like a techmobol Jared Lorenzo.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I don't even remember what company put it out, but
I bought it. I's probably had it ten years or so.
So yeah, yeah, big, big Jared fan.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So I mean you wrote for KSR. I want to
talk about that in a little bit, but you wrote
for Tucky Sports Radio, the website in its early years,
and then I remember you said one time, I'm going
with my friend Kent. He's going to become a pro
golfer and I'm going to be his caddy. And then
it became what Steven Jaeger and then JT posting, and
(01:49):
it's been such a cool life. But still even with
all that, you know, great experiences, there's still something about
Tiger because I see the behind you you have a
picture of you and Tiger that he just has a
special or right.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, that was the one and only time we've been
paired with him. It was up at Liberty National, New York,
and one of the PGA tour photographers got that and
sent it to me, and so I think I posted
somewhere and my cousin actually got it made into that,
which was really cool of him to do. It's just like,
I don't know, it's just something cool to have around
(02:25):
your house. Somebody comes over, like, is that Tiger? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I mean in my lifetime? Yeah, in my lifetime what
I mean the sports superstars. It's like Michael Jordan and Tiger,
Like those are the two biggest of our lives. When
you stood there next to Tiger, even though you're not
playing and you're cadding, it still had to be kind
of special, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, it's cool. So that was a really cool time
in our in my career with JT. That was the
week after he had won his first tournament at Wyndham,
and so we get to Liberty National the next week
and they paired us in the playoffs just based on
where you were on the FedEx company, so somebody had
withdrawn and I realized, oh my god, we're gonna play
(03:09):
with Tiger this week. And so like all week we're
just like pumped up, you know, And it just so
happened that day. The first day, we had to get
in a van to ride out to the tenth t
because we were starting on ten and so we get
in this van and all of a sudden, I see
Tiger coming.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I'm like, oh my god, they put Tiger in the van.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
He's about to get in this vand with us. Wow.
I'm like, I'm like hitting JT on his leg. I'm like, dude, dude,
doo dude. So he gets in and you know, it
couldn't have been nicer, like introduced himself. He's like, you know,
congrats on the win last week. He was like, He's like,
you went bogie free Wright and JT's like yeah, He's like, man,
that's so incredible and uh so like he was awesome.
(03:49):
JT talked to him a lot more than I did,
but it was a great day. He only played one round,
he didn't play good and uh Withdrew for an injury
the next day. So we play in the twosone with
Scott Piercy the next day.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Same thing, Tiger, Tiger Wood, Scott Piercy. Basically the same
for those players on the tour. You know, I mean
JT's had a lot of success one what three times
is that right?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Three times? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Three times? You know they they're living the dream, but
they still is Tiger, the one guy that still even
now makes people, even the players, kind of getting amped up.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean I wish that. I
wish you would have just been playing this whole time,
you know, and I had all the injury problems he's had,
and it would have been really cool because he was.
He hasn't played really much since I got on tour
in two thousand and I think seventeen was my first
year on tour, and I mean he's played here and there,
(04:48):
but he hasn't played like a full, you know, fifteen
event schedule like he did back in the day. So
for for us, he for sure, I still has that
aura when he's around. You know, some of the guys
that are a little older than us have played on
teams with him and know him a little bit more.
But yeah, still really cool when he's around.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So how old are you. You're a little bit younger
than me. You're forty two. Okay, So you started the
life of a PGA tour caddy you were a really
good golfer, and then explain how you went from What
were you doing when you then became a caddy?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, so I was working for the State of Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I didn't know that. What were you doing for this
downtown in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I was a procurement officer for the State of Tennessee
for like real estate construction and like moving.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Contracts, so exciting stuff. Sexy.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, I mean I learned what procurement was. I started.
I was like, Okay, what does this mean exactly? So,
I mean, you know, working for the state was I
would say it wasn't too challenging for me. So it
was one of those things where, you know, I always
(06:03):
had wanted to be a caddie. It was just like
one of those things that it's tough to get your
foot in the door. Yeah, and so you know when
Kent came to me and asked me.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
To So for people who don't know that's Kent Bull,
you were like it was he your childhood friend.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, he's a little bit younger than me, He's like
six years younger than me. But he was obviously he
was super, really good at golf, so he was always
playing with us even when we were in high school,
and so we just became buddies. He's really good friends
with my youngest brother, and he went to Middle Tennessee
and I was in Nashville, so you know, we kept
in touch, and so he had a sponsor that wanted
(06:41):
him to take a full time caddy down to Latin America.
I thought he would it would help him perform a
little better, and so he came to me. We worked
out a deal and yeah, I quit my job, and
that's cross. I was like, man, I'm jealous.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I was jealous. I mean I knew you and I
was doing this, and I still was a little jealous
because what what a cool gig. Now Kent was a
pretty I mean, people don't realize. I guess you could
speak to this better than me. People don't russ how
good these guys are. Like just like I played with
(07:17):
Kent once in Glasgow and he shot like sixty three,
barely trying on Glasgow's cross. Like, people don't realize how
good everyone is.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it's it's a very fine line between who makes
it and who doesn't. And it comes down to little
stuff like injuries or you know, just playing playing better
at the right exact time and someone else and it's
you know, Kent's career was derailed by some injureres and
(07:48):
some health stuff, and but man, there was nobody that
hit a driver better than him, and like.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
How could he far? Could he hit it? Like? I
don't think like again, in terms of distance, occasionally I
can muscle one up and almost get three hundred yards.
Can't if he muscled it up? Or JT if he
muscled it up? What's the what's the yard?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah? I mean people can hit it three hundred yards
like where it finishes three hundred yards, But these dudes
can fly it that far. So that's a whole different
thing and they know where it's gonna go every time.
And yeah, it's just like people see you, like a
plus two at their club, they're like, man, I wonder
if you know he could make it?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
No, it can't.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
He could not make it. Yeah, it's just it's a
different it's a different sound when they hit it. It's
just it's a different level and it's hard to understand
unless you're like out there right beside it all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So Latin American Tour give people a little sense of
what life is like. You did that for I think
two years give people We just did that one year.
That give me give people a sense of what life
the Latin American tours like and maybe some cities that
you went to.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, so our first city was in down in Columbia.
I don't remember what city. But so Kent and I
are traveling. There's like nineteen events on this schedule, and
so we're traveling together, but we're staying in hotel rooms
together every week, so we are literally right beside each
(09:25):
other every moment of every day for nineteen weeks of
that year. And not to mention, we lived together back
in Nashville, so it was we got a lot of
each other and luckily, you know, we get along pretty well.
You know, there would be times where you know, let's
let's take a little take a little breathe, or not
(09:46):
taught for a while like that. But uh, yeah, So,
I mean they don't put you in I mean, you're
staying in decent places when you're traveling because you know,
the tour doesn't want anything to happen to any of
the players or anybody involved. You're getting, you know, shoveled
back and forth to the course. So it was it
was safe. I mean, you could go out on your
(10:07):
own in the cities if you wanted. They're not like
locking you in that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So did you go out? I mean, did you go
out do you did you go out on the town
in some of those places, because I know you're a
dude who likes to go out.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, that year, we just kind of said, let's treat
this as a job, like, let's let's really you know,
lock in when we're playing, and then when we're at
home we can you know, hang out, party, hang out
with our friends whatever. Because there was guys on that
tour that did do that. Every night. They would show
(10:39):
up to the course and they've been out till four.
I'm like, well, we're gonna beat the crap out of
that guy. Yeah, so we you know, we tried to
treat it as a job. We missed a cut, yeah
we would go out. Maybe we didn't miss many cuts
that year, but we would go out and you know
hang out on like a Friday because you're stuck there.
It's not like you're like, it's not like I'm in
Charlotte for a tournament. Now we missed a cut, I
(10:59):
can just go home in an hour. You're just there,
and so yeah, we haang out. I remember going out
in uh Guatemala one night. I forgot what the city was.
They have like cobblestone streets, but it was that was
interesting playing a golf tournament on the side of a
volcano that week, and so you know, Kitt and O
(11:19):
are big, big dudes and walking up and downhills, He's
not going to play his best.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, I mean that had to be though, Like there's
got to be part of it. Though. That was an
amazing experience to go to these places you would never
otherwise go.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, I would have never gone to Lema, Peru or
you know, Buenos Aires, you know places like that. So
while you know when you're and when you're doing it,
when you start there, you're really excited about it, Like
I could never go back and do it now, But
like when you're on that come up, everything's like new
(11:54):
and fun. And so like he played great that year.
I think we finished second on the money list.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
He won. Did he win an event which won.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
The Argentina Open, Yes, And so yeah, it was fun,
like met a lot of great dudes. I did not
understand at the time, like how great of a networking
that was for me, because there's only there's probably four
or five American caddies down there that are actually traveling
full time with guys. Most guys are just getting locals
(12:26):
that you know, don't speak English. So like we hung
out with the players all the time. So now I'm like,
to this day, very good friends with Harry Higgs, Keith Mitchell,
Adam Shank like all these guys that are on tour now.
And at the time, you know, I didn't realize, like
how big of a networking business?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What was Harry like? Harry Higgs seems fun? Was he
fun down there?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah? I mean those guys are great. I remember I
got the first day we were going to the course
that season. We were in a van with Keith Mitchell
and Harry Hicks and They're just like blabbing in the back.
I'm like, these guys won't shut up. I didn't like
them at first because and now they're like two of
my best friends.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, well, Harry's become a legend. So you were working
with a really good friend and including someone you live with,
and also kind of working for them just on a
personal level. I would think that's a dynamic that can
be hard. Was it hard sometimes?
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah? Yeah, for sure. It's tough, like because you're out
there in the heat of competition, and so if those
guys hit a bad shot or something. They're gonna get mad.
That's just human nature. Like, so you have to try
to separate your personal feelings versus your encourse interactions. Like
(13:50):
if he gets mad at me and questions something I
said to him, I can't take that back to the
hotel later back, I'm not going to dinner with you. You
were an asshole to.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Me today, you know, Yeah, could you do that? Were
you able to? Were you able to do that?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah? Yeah, I think, Uh, that's something I've always done
pretty well. You just kind of chalk it up to
like that's that's what you sign up for. That's part
of the job. Like you have to understand that. And
if you do understand that and you can handle that,
then you can last and in this job for a while.
(14:27):
If you don't, if you take everything personally, if you
you know, take it home with you all night and
you're worried about all the time, you're gonna burn out
pretty fast.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Do you. You know, I've known you for a long
time and you share a trait with our mutual friend
Drew Franklin and Johnny Bruce. Another one when three you
get together. That Atlanta SEC tournament is one we still
talk about. But but you are like the fun guy.
Like everybody that gets around Aaron Fleeer wants to have
(14:57):
fun because Aaron Fleeener's fun. I'm sure on tour there's
a temptation to have people like all want to be
let's go be crazy and have fun. And I would
bet I don't know, but a lot of people see
Aaron Fleeener as the fun dude. Do you have to
be careful not to let that interfere with the job.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah. Like I said earlier about that year with Kent,
like I treat my works as work like okay, at
work twenty six twenty seven weeks a year, so that
also gives me twenty two twenty three weeks off year
when I can do whatever I want. So I look
at my work weeks as work like I get my rest.
(15:38):
I take my job seriously, you know, if we miss
a cut or something and we're staying over the weekend,
like yeah, I might go hang out with some other
caddies or something, get dinner or something. But like I'm
also like older now, so I don't have the same.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
True move that way back like I used to, And
it's like.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It's just not worth it to go out there and
not be totally sharp when you're when you're working, because
it's a very competitive business, Like you cannot give someone
a reason to not trust you or think you're not
fully there and prepared and ready every day. So I
(16:20):
try to treat it. You know, I'm not a serious guy,
but I do take the job seriously, and I take
showing up ready physically being physically ready to work every
day seriously.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Are there golfers that are known as like, you don't
want to work for that dude. He treats his cadd
he's poorly, he's difficult. And then I'm sure there are
golfers that are nice. But are there golfers sometimes you're like,
you gotta be careful with that guy?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, I mean they're all going to have their moments,
like like in any workplace or business, like if you
catch one of these guys on a bad day or
right after they made a double bogie and you're you know,
you're a little kid trying to give him a high five,
and they don't give you high five, and then forever
you're like, oh man, that guy's an ass. Yeah, that
guy's not really an ass, he's just having a bad moment,
(17:10):
you know, like he may make a birdie on the
next hole and give a kid a ball. It's just
like there's guys that are tougher than others, for sure,
but most of them are, you know, once they get
off the course, are great to be around, very generous
and you know, kind and uh, taking interest in your life.
(17:34):
Like it's crazy, Like I tell people this all the time.
Like before I got into it, you know, Ricky Fowler
was like the thing, like he was the guy, one
of the young guns, and like I watched him, I
was a fan. And now like Ricky Fowler will walk
past me on the rain and be like, hey, Flaer,
what's up, Like how you doing? And it's just like
it's still like.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Baffles in my mind, does it. You don't get used
to that, Like you don't get used to that, and
it's not it's never it's still kind of us.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
To talking to him like we're buddies. But it's still like, wow,
like I'm buddies with Ricky Fowler. Yeah, legit, Like it's
just you know, stuff like that is not like it's
not it doesn't go past me like that. That's not cool.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, I can see that. What's uh, what's a quality
of What are the qualities of a good caddy? So
so you you sit there, you meet a caddy who's
just starting and he says, Aaron Fleeter, what should I
do to make sure I succeed in this? What would
you say?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, I would think I would say, first of all,
just get to know as many people as you can, because,
like I'm I'm very blessed in that I've worked for
JT for eight years, so I haven't had to worry
about like looking for another job or you know, stuff
like that. But like I saw today, like my buddy
(18:53):
Joe Grinder and Marikawa had just gotten together like five
weeks ago, and now they've split again. But Joe is
you know, so well networked and knows everybody he'll get
another job. And so knowing agents, knowing the players, girlfriends, wives, families,
and the players themselves, it's very important because when they're
looking for a new caddy, they may ask their buddy,
(19:17):
that's a player, who should I hire? And if you
know that guy knows you, knows you're a good caddyback, well,
you know what about Fleener. That's kind of how I
got the job with JT. Was Jaeger let me go
halfway through his rookie year. And then Keith Mitchell, who
was one of my friends from the Latin tour that
I was talking about earlier, his roommates with JT. And
(19:38):
he tells JT like he knows that JT has been
looking to possibly make a switch, but you know he's
not going to do it until he finds somebody he wants.
So Keith goes to JT and says, hey, Fleener's looking
for a job, Like I think you guys would would
mesh well together, Like why don't you give him a shot?
So that's how stuff like that happens.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
What causes those relationships to break? Like, I mean, I'm
sure there are many things, but if you were to
look and say, because I feel like it would be
so personal and I know it can't be, but it
would be be so hard to like let this person
go you're with every week, what causes those relationships to break?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, I think just like maybe the way they communicate
together is and it doesn't mesh well, or their personalities
don't mesh well, or you know, the way a caddy
will present a situation of a shot to a guy
he doesn't like or you know, the player wants somebody
(20:36):
who's like excellent at reading greens and that's all they
care about. And so they're going to just go find
a guy that's great at reading green It's like some
guys that doesn't matter to that wouldn't matter at all
to my guy. He doesn't call me in to read.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Put You don't read any putts right like you just
did that. He doesn't care what you think.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
It's not that he doesn't care, it's that he just
wants to have one thought in his mind. Okay, over
the put He's a you know, top fifty guy in
the world. So like what am I going to tell
him that he doesn't already know, you know, on and
around the greens, Like he's an elite like Chipper and Putter.
So he just wants to make a choice, trust it,
(21:16):
and then go and execute it without having you know,
because if he says, well, I see it, you know,
just outside the hole in the right, and if I'm like, well,
I think it's more now there's doubt in his mind
and you know, whether he wants to trust his gut
or not, he's also thinking, I don't know he said
it was a little more and then you just don't
commit and you make an even worse stroke than you
(21:38):
would have.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Do you have to be like amateur psychologist ever to
sort of get somebody back on track? Or like, do
you have do you have to do like that sort
of personal role at all?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah? I mean you gotta be careful with that stuff,
like you gotta you can't overdo that stuff because then
it doesn't mean anything when you do it. Like if
I tell him every week, like, hey, come on, you
know we can do this, He's just gonna be like, dude,
shut the hell up, like leave me alone. But like
if I just kind of let him get it out,
(22:10):
you know, as long as it's not affecting what he's
doing on the next shot, I have no problem with,
you know, a guy expressing some frustration or being like, hey,
you know you said the win was here. I think
he was doing something a little different, like just going
forward to need to be aware of that stuff like that,
like it's fine, but just no one when to speak
(22:32):
up and not to speak up. It was another thing
I would tell like a new Caddy, like these guys
are here because they're really freaking good, like you, They
didn't get here because of you. They got here because
of them. So let them play. Go out there and
play golf and help them where you can help them,
or answer questions if they have questions for you. Don't.
(22:55):
You don't have to micro manage every second of them
on the All.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Right, I'm going to give you a few I'm gonna
give you some a few things, and I want to
get your quick reactions to all of them. So tell
me quickly, what is what was the like it like
the first time JT won a PGA to our event.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
The first time he won was Wyndham twenty nineteen, and
we were three back going into the Sunday and he
got off to like a really hot start. I think
he was like five under through seven or something. And
so he was also bogey free that week, and so
that was kind of a blessing because he was kind
(23:36):
of more thinking about that, like I want to finish
this tournament without making a bogie, instead of thinking about,
oh God, I'm about to win this golf tournament.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, And.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I remember like I was fine. I was fine, and
then we got on eighteen and I was like I
got kind of nervous, and I'm like not saying anything,
and or walk down the fairway and he looks at
me and he just starts laughing because he can just
tell how nervous I am.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh really, you can tell you're nervous. Okay, Yeah, he
was like, are.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
You having any fun or what? I just started laughing.
I was like, yeah, man, this is great, Like he
could tell that. I was like it was starting to
get to me a little bit, and uh yeah, that
person was special, especially for him. It was in North Carolina,
you know, close to where he's from. He had tons
of friends and college teammates and college coach and his
(24:30):
mom and dad and grandma, like everybody's there. So it
was like it was, you know, really awesome. I'll never
forget that for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
What was it like the first time you walked on
to Augusta National as an actual caddy?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah? That was Luckily I'd gotten he took me down
there to play a few weeks before that, so like
I got to get the initial like shocking eye out
of my system.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
So you played there, would you shoot? I mean you're good,
like like you're not PGA Tour good, but you're come
to your course and kick your ass good? So would
you shoot.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I think I shot like eighty two or something like.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
It was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I remember it was super hot, and yeah, I didn't
play I didn't play great. It was more just like
it was. The shocking thing was like how fast the
round seemed like it went by, like it's like all
of a sudden, we're on eighteen and I like it
was like almost like a like a blackout, Like you're
just like because you're you've watched it on TV all
(25:35):
these years and now you're you're just there.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
People don't realize how hilly that course is. Like on television,
it doesn't do justice to the elevation changes and all
that when you're there.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, so our first our first Masters was the one
that they played in November, so we didn't really get
the full experience the first time. Oh, the COVID one
it was still cool obviously, but the first one, I
think in twenty three was the time we went back
after that, and that's when it was like full fans
(26:09):
and like everybody's there and that was like, that was
really cool. But Augusta's tough. It's tough for caddies because
the yardage book they give us there is nothing like
what we have normally on tour, Like our tour books
have like pictures in them, and like, you know, we
know exactly what numbers we're looking for when we look
down at our book, and Augussa is just like they
(26:30):
can give you like the front number to the green.
They don't tell you like, oh, this plays uphill three yards.
You have to figure all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Out on oh okay.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And so it's a lot of pre tournament work for
us that week and then you know players are a
little bit tighter that week, a little more amped up, nervous,
like because it's the Masters, you know, it means everything.
So the major weeks are tough. They always feel like
you've worked like two weeks when they're over because there
(27:03):
they are courses that we don't go to all the time,
so we have to do a lot of extra work,
and you know, the rounds feel like they take forever,
and the golf courses are hard. So you know, Majors
are great, that's the term that you want to be
playing in, but they do take a lot out.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
What's the hardest course you've been a caddy on? Is
it Oakmont?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Oakmont? For sure?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Why is it so hard? Well, I mean it looks miserable,
But why is it so hard.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I've been there twice now, I went with Kenton.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, I was there. I went there. I was that
when you Kent was there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
That was the first major ever caddied, and it was
It was wild going back there a couple of weeks ago,
because it made me realize like how far I've come,
and like my knowledge of my job. I remember being
there with Kenton just feeling very overwhelmed, like with everything
(28:01):
that I needed to know, and like this time it
was still a lot of work, but like you just
you know exactly what you need to know, and like
you know how to go out there and figure it out.
And but Oakmont's tough just because it never lets up.
Like you can make a bogie on literally any hole.
Like on tour, we played courses that aren't like that,
like you can you know, there's easy holes on tour,
(28:24):
but there's no easy holes. You hit it in the
rough anytime, you're gonna be lucky to make a bogie.
And so like every shot is so pressure packed because
you know if you miss it, you're in big trouble.
So it was tough, I thought, I mean, and I
thought we played in the easiest conditions that we possibly
could have had a couple of weeks ago. It was
(28:46):
not a whole lot of wind. It was soft, like
I could just can't imagine what the scores would have been.
Had it been like firm and windy it could have been.
We could still be playing.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You would have never been able to finish. What about
when you were at Valla and able to being a
major in your home state with I know a lot
of people that you know there. Of course, Scottie Scheffer
gets arrested during that, but what what was that special
being in Kentucky?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
That was a crazy week. We must have cut that
week unfortunately, but it was awesome. Yeah, a lot of
shout outs. What I remember most that week was that
Memo got to come. She had never I don't think
she'd ever been to a tournament and like actually seen
us in person, and we had gotten her set up
in like a hospitality suite on eighteen and so like
(29:32):
both days when we're coming up eighteen, she's you know,
waving at us for looking over waving at her, and
so that was really cool experience. You know, she's ninety four.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Now, Well let me tell who that is for Kentucky fans.
This is me Ma that some of you may remember.
She's been miked up for a couple of games before
for KSR. And one time she's the one that said
the Bobby Huggins sorry you got the dad you I
but thanks for Trey Mitchell. That's how that's your grandmother
(30:03):
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
That's that's my grandmother. That's me, Moll. Yeah, who had
to be explained what the word shifty meant about Rob Dillingham.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
She's like the biggest Kentucky fan though in the world.
I saw you had.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
A post huge sportsman.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
She's doing having some health issues and my prayers are
for her. I hope I are with her. She's the
absolute best.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Prayers for her. The next week, she's she's going through
some medical stuff. You know, she's having some pain, you know,
off and on and so normally it would to alleviate it,
they would do a surgery, but obviously she's ninety four,
so she can't do you know, you can't do surgery
on someone that ace. So they're they've got a doctor
(30:47):
in Louisville that thinks he can he can help her
a different way. So next Thursday, appreciate some thoughts and
prayers for for mem all. She's going a little trying
to get that taken care of. But I went up.
I got to go up and is it whether yesterday?
Spend the day weather in Glasgow. So it's always great
to see her. Man. She just speaks her mind.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
As soon as I walk in the door, she's like, well,
you guys didn't play very good last year.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I'm like, okay, I'll tell her. She's like, she said,
you know, I'm you know, got my thing next week,
so I need you guys to play good at John
Deer for me. So I told JT that she wasn't
real pleased with That's great.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Uh, you know she when I play in Glasgow, I
don't know if she she always seems to know I'm there,
and she'll stand out there in her yard and wave
and say hi, and we see her at the game.
She goes to like every SEC tournament, so uh, in.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
High state tournament she's been to like how many in a.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Row she's been to like fifty or something, right, It's.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, crazy all right, So a little behind the scenes
of caddy World here for a second, are there. I'm
sure there are caddies you like and probably some of
you don't like. But are there ever caddy rivalries? Are
there ever any sort of I mean, we see golfer
rivalries and people players who don't seem to like each other.
Does that ever happen in the caddy world.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Not really. I would I would like in the caddy
world to like a big traveling fraternity basically honestly guys
that you hang out with more that you know, you're
more like, but like you get along with everybody for
the most part. I don't think there's any like. You know,
(32:31):
if a guy feels like loses his job and feel
like another guy like kind of snaked it from behind
his back or something like. I've heard stories about that.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Well, I wouldn't ask you about that. You said JT
or somebody had somebody when you had to do that.
Do you ever worry about that? The sort of guy
wants to talk to the next guy, but then he
has a guy and I don't want to stab him, Like,
do you worry about that?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah? A lot of guys, a lot of players will
not hire a caddy directly away from another person like
they'll but you know, they have to be fired or
quit before they're you know, considered fair game. I guess
I don't know how that happens. Like I said, I'm
you know, in a unique situation where I'm probably in
(33:15):
one of the longest tenured caddy player relationships on tour,
so I don't have to deal in that world a
whole lot. But yeah, there's like an unwritten rule. I
would say that, Uh, you know, you don't try to
you don't try to take.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Another man's job, so you have to be single for
a while. Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, I would say, because
you said you're in one of the longest relationships. You
said it was eight years. I guess for most of
us probably don't look and see who the caddies are.
So like, the one I can always think of was
was Tiger with the one guy he had forever who
(33:53):
was always going at the crowd and telling them to huh.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
That seems like Williams.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, Stevie, that was a long relationship. How long is
the average player caddy relationship?
Speaker 2 (34:03):
You think average maybe a year.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
So there's a lot of like upside down pineapple stuff
going on there. There's a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yeah, it's Uh, I don't know. Those guys are some
guys just like won a different guy around just because
they want to hear a different voice, or they they
don't require much out of the caddy, so they just
want someone different to hang out with, or you know,
there's all different reasons. But yeah, maybe longer than a year,
(34:40):
but yeah, I'm definitely on the upper end. Like Xander
and his caddy Austin have been together for a long time.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I didn't run, Yeah, I didn't run. It was that
short of time. That's interesting. Okay, have you ever had
to be you know, you sometimes see on television one
of the caddies you know, gets angry at the somebody
in the crowd tells them to get back or have
you ever had to do that?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, dude, give me an example. It's hard for me
to see you getting angry at somebody.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
I mean, it's just part of our job, and like
it's something that I don't mind doing because like in
my normal life, I'm very calm. I would never yell
at anyone, and so like getting to do it like legally,
I guess good.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Really, yeah, you could just let it all out. I
got you.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
You try to be nice like if you hear somebody
like making noise or something like, you'll just say quiet please,
you know first, and then if it keeps going, then
quiet like a little bit louder and if if I
have to go a third time, it's gonna be loud. Okay,
quiet or stop? Or you know.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
What's the most obnoxious thing fans say to golfers is
it the what is? What's the thing that makes you
cringe when they say?
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I think like now with sports betting being way more
common and like everybody's doing it on their phone or
in the moment, like some like golf bro being like
oh j T I, you know, I bet on you
to win, Like oh gosh, it's like okay, well do
you think that's gonna make him try harder? Like do
you think he, oh, this guy's got five dollars on me,
(36:16):
I'm gonna go I'm gonna try now, And so you know,
we just look at him like, oh, thanks, buddy, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Has there ever been a moment where you've done something
either a recommendation or a club choice or whatever where
it didn't work out and you went, oh no, I
screwed that up.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Oh yeah, I mean we're human, like you're you're helping
him with I don't know how many shots a week,
but yeah, you're gonna make mistakes. It's just, uh, you know,
something that you both have to know is that you're
both trying as hard as you can to do the
right thing and to I'm trying to help him as
(36:57):
much as I possibly can all the time because however
much money he makes, that's how much.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Yeah. Well, okay, So I don't want to get into you.
I don't want to get into your deal because I
think that's private. But just in general, give me a ballpark.
Because this is the thing I always hear people ask.
We've had people calling and ask this on the show.
What is the general way that caddies get paid?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah, so the amounts are different, just depending on different guys,
I think. But so every caddy gets like a weekly
salary no matter what happens, and that's to help cover.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
So what's a ballpark? What's that ballpark?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Usually anywhere from like probably eighteen hundred to three.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Thousand, okay, but you have to pay your expenses out
of that.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
We pay our own expenses that way. We have write offs,
you know when for tax purposes and stuff like that.
So they pay us a weekly salary and then you
make a percentage on their earnings past that. So most
guys make somewhere seven eight percent of the earnings and
(38:06):
then a win usually gets gets you paid ten percent
on that. So you know, it's a it's a good living.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
I mean it's yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
I'm very lucky to do something that I love doing,
and like I couldn't I'm not smart enough to make
the money that I make doing anything else. In the way,
there's nothing else I could do.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So like if they get a FedEx bonus, you get
a percentage of that too.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah, some guys have that in their deals too. Just
depend It's it's very like player to player dependent on that. Uh.
And then we can also make money off endorsements too.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Like I you do like underwear, don't you Don't you
do underwear, So the underwear.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Is not going anymore. But we did that for two years,
two years longer than I ever thought I would be underwear.
I'll be honest. That was great. But then I have
like JT has an Elijah Craig deal, so I have,
you know, Elijah Craig deal as well. And then our
hats with Mega Corp. Like so like, we make pretty
decent money on that stuff too.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Which is you know, so you get to sell your
hat and stuff on your own, like not, it doesn't
have to be what what the golfer does.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
It doesn't have to be now a lot of times
they would like it to be. So I would never
sign a deal that I didn't ask JT's agent about first, Like,
is it okay if I do this deal with this brand?
Or because you don't want to, you know, do something
that's competing with something that he's got going on.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Are you one of the best caddies at golf? You
got to be up there?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
No, not even close. Really, Yeah, there's I mean there's
caddies that played on tour. Yeah, I'm like a probably
a two handicap, which is not bad. But there's guys
that are actually really, really good.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
So it's I always assumed you were one of the best, Right,
let me two more things and then I'll let you go.
When the live stuff happened, you guys were living this moment.
A was their tension during it? And B like what
was it like during that period of time when you
knew there were people amongst you who were going to
leave where there was there like long term short term resentment,
(40:25):
like what was that like during that time?
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Uh man, I mean I try to stay out of
that as much as possible, But just because I'm not,
it doesn't really concern me. But yeah, there was. It
was just weird because there were so many unknowns, Like
you just we get asked about it a lot, like
I don't have any answers. I know as much as
I know WHAT'SPP. I just know whatever's being reported to everyone. Yeah,
(40:54):
you know, JT from the start said I had no
interest in doing that. It's not like I don't know.
I don't think there's any like hard feelings towards guys
that left. You know, they made their choice and some
guys made their choice to stay. I mean, honestly, when
you get down to the bottom line of it, it
(41:14):
did nothing but good for everybody on our tour because
it raised our purses, be bettered our treatment and you know,
it did a lot of good for us. Now I
can I can see from a fan standpoint where it
doesn't look good. I mean, it looks like a lot
(41:35):
of greed and like, you know, not caring what the
what the fan thinks. And so I don't know. I
don't know if it's I don't know that it's been
good for the game professional game of golf, where you
don't have the best players playing all together all the time.
I think it makes the majors a little bit, like, uh,
(41:59):
a little better and they're all back together, like it
gets a little more fire into that. So I don't know.
I don't know what's going to happen with that going forward.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Like I said, I was surprised how resilient the PGA
Tour has been on it. I mean, I didn't think
liv was gonna succeed the way they thought, but I've
been surprised how little everyone seems to care about those events.
I don't mean to even make you speak on that.
I'm not trying to put you in a different spot.
But it's still even though they have Bryson and Brooks,
(42:30):
and I still never know who wins their events. And
I'll still watch the Sunday of the PGA Tour event.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
You don't have to comment. I'm not trying to put
you out a top spot.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I just like I'll check their scores just to see,
like if any of my you know. The main thing
is like you just miss guys that aren't around. Yeah, yeah,
Harold Varner. I love chopping it up with him a bunch,
and like I never see him anymore, like caddies that
went over there that I was buddies with, Like you
just don't see guys anymore. If you see him at
a major, like you're so busy, you don't really have
(43:08):
time to like you know, really get to know like
what's going on with him. So that was the biggest
led down for me. It was just like kind of
losing some guys that you liked having around.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Favorite person why to see paired up with JT. Favorite
person to be on the course with.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Probably, I mean I've been asked this question and it's
answer is always seawoo Kim.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Why is it Seawhu Kim?
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Because see who Kim is so hilarious. He's he speaks
like pretty good English, but it's not like perfect and
so it's really funny when he says stuff like he's
he's like very aggressive on the golf course and like
hit shots that no one else would even try, like
(43:57):
he's pulling out drivers off the deck and he just
says funny stuff sometimes I like it.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Now I have a new uh, I have to watch
Sew kimmore. Let's say you had to pick the president
of the United States and had to be a PGA
toward golfer. Who would it be? Wow, I bet you
haven't been at that way golfer.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
No, I haven't. I would probably say I would probably
go with Ricky Fowler.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Honestly, Really, why is that?
Speaker 2 (44:32):
I just think he's well respected by everyone people think.
I think people will have a misconception of him, that
he's like some huge personality just because of all the
like commercials and like he's so you know, so recognizable.
But he's like a very like, thoughtful, like keeps to
himself type of guy. And I think everybody respects him.
(44:58):
He's well liked. I think he would be I think
he would be a good leader. I don't know if
he would want to. I don't think he would want
to do it.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
It's got a pretty good life. It seems like he
probably why would you want to waste it? Well? All right, So, Aaron,
you used to finish with this. You used to work
with ks R. You are a huge Kentucky fan, favorite
Kentucky player of all time.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Man so like when I was a kid. The first
I remember the ninety two team pretty well, but like
my first really when I got into it was when
we won the title in ninety six, and I loved Anthony.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Epps, Like he's from down there.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Yeah, so he's from not too far from where I
grew up. And I just liked how like how hard
he played and he seemed like he was like one
of the leaders of that team. So like for somebody
in the nineties, it was him. Like after that, probably
Boogie was like, how could you know one of the
guys from the past, you know, fifteen years? And I
(46:01):
liked a lot. There's been a lot, I mean, but
those two probably stand out the most. I liked him
because I'm left handed, so I liked the.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Do you play golf left handed?
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Nor writ in golf one handed? Stuff?
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I didn't know. I didn't know you were left handed.
Well you did a great job on Cass. I used
to write recaps of The Bachelor, which still if you
go back, were some of our most red posts. A
funny thing.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
About most commented on for sure, Oh.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
People got so angry that you would do that. They'd
say they gave you the whole stick to sports. Before
that became a thing, they got really angry, but you
seem to enjoy it more by the fact that they
get angry.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Yeah. I can't even watch that show anymore after I
did that. It's just it's such a bad show.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
It's so terrible. But that's why you may that's why
you made it good. And then you a funny story
about you when it You were suggested to me by
Big Easy Zach mccriche to be a writer. And I
won't say who it is, but I accidentally asked the
wrong person. I didn't know you, and someone had someone
(47:14):
had written me and said, hey, I'd like to write
for KSR. I thought it was you, so I hired
that person and thinking it was you, and it wasn't
and they weren't particularly good, and I remember thinking, why
did Easy suggest this guy to me? He's not particularly
(47:34):
good And then like a year later I met you
and realized I realized they was supposed to be you.
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Yeah, I think Gabe ended up Judge Gabe ended up
connecting us.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah, it's been great, man. That was that part of
my life was it was a blessing, you know, I
got to know Drew and now Drew's, you know, one
of my best friends and just went on Drew's birthday
vacation with him a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. So
it's been great man. It's good to see you guys.
Still haven't continued success, and I know you guys work
(48:07):
really hard.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Well, thank you and congratulations good luck with the British
Open and the FedEx Cup coming. Aaron Fleeer appreciate you
doing I wanted to do this for a long time,
so thank you.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Thanks buddy.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
All right, thank you guys for listening. We will see
you very soon.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.