May 23, 2026 • 47 mins
Rich speaks with attorney and sports manager Jeff Chilcoat to talk about the ins and outs of representing golfers and other athletes.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Rich Comwell Golf Show. We are joined
this week by a.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well. It is a golf guest.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's a very very very unique attachment to the game
of golf. It's a very interesting attachment to the game
of golf. And I'm really looking forward to hearing about
all about this attachment and this kind of the the
the viewpoint of from from this from this person, because
(00:32):
it's an interesting take on the game of golf. And
the person joining us this week is a young man
by named of Jeff Chilcote.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Jeff is an attorney.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
He is a management attorney or a sports management attorney.
He does a lot of different things. But as we
talk to Jeff this week, you're going to start to
hear how we've kind of migrated into the world that
he's in now, which is actually a really, really.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Really exciting area of the of the world of golf.
But first off, I want to say, Jeff, yes.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Thanks for having me Rich good to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So so as we start always so talk to me
about your Obviously you are, as I already stated, an attorney.
But tell me, tell me about your early career, tell
me where you went to school, you know how how
you kind of kind of started down your road.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Sure, sure, well I for undergrad.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I went to Ohio State. And I'm a big buck
Eye fan.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
But okay, so let's stop, let's stop to stop there,
stop there, It's it's the it's the Ohio State University,
the Ohio University.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I have. I have two children that have graduated from
the Ohio State University. So I and it is absolutely
and and for those who do not know, and I
spend far too much time explaining this to people, it
is actually the correct name of the university. It is
the Ohio State University, and that it was actually assigned
(02:04):
by the Ohio State Assembly a long, long, long time ago.
So it although it does on Monday night football or
Sunday Night football, it does sound a bit arrogant when
they throw thee out there, but it's actually the Ohio
the Ohio State University. So that's okay to say that
in my world, because that's actually proper title.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
That is the correct name. And I have a sweatshirt
that just says the no.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
So yes, I think I think that all I mean
I that became such a thing through those introductions during
those Monday night football games where you had somebody trying
to be maybe a little bit of a smart Alex,
say the Ohio State University, and now it's it's it's
something that I think Ohio State people do with pride
and everybody else does demacas.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
The thing of it is is I got to be
honest with I grew up in and I'd say this
with full disclosure, I grew up in western Pennsylvania and
I hate Penn State. I've told I've said that all along,
and they say we are an l el penn State
back So you know I can make fun of them
for that too, because and that's a lot of fun
to say that. But because we are without a football
(03:16):
coach was fun for a while. We are without a
top five program for a while.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
That was fun. So all right, So anyway, so you
did undergrad there, correct.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, And then I went to law school at Capitol
University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. And but I was
sitting in law school thinking why am I here? You know,
the true practice of law just doesn't appeal to me
as much as it probably should. If this is gonna
be my career. But I took this sports law class
and I thought, wow, that's that's fascinating. We did this
(03:51):
project where we negotiated a fictitious NFL contract, and I
took it way too far. I was, you know, I
think my partners in this project thought, let's just get
in and out and do the bare minimum. And I
was like, no, let's take it to the nth degree
and I'm going to, you know, think about every angle
(04:11):
of this agreement. And I just loved it. And so
that's where I thought, you know what, maybe that's what
I want to do with my career. And so when
I ended up interviewing with a law firm, I told them, hey,
I know you guys don't do sports law, but this
is the area that really interests me. And they said, well,
we're a business law firm. We'll let you come in
(04:32):
here and have a job and do business law and
if you have extra time and you can develop the
sports stuff, go for it, and which was very kind
of them, and I was, you know, was providential. I
was in the right place at the right time and
picked up some sports clients and then year or two
into it, it was the primary piece of my practice, and.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
So I always envisioned myself being an NFL.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Agent to begin with, and I did do that for
many years, presented one hundreds of VENEFO guys. But I
the reality is I golf presented itself first, and I
wasn't really a golfer at the time, but I fell
in love with it. And so that is my practice
area now is golf, and so that's that's how that's
how began.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's that's pretty cool. So where are you from Originally?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well, I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I very
quickly moved to Ohio. My father had had an opportunity
to bring a ministry to Ohio and he called Young
Life and so we he was waiting for me to
be born to be able to move us to Ohio.
But I've got roots in Pennsylvania and Ohio and West.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Virginia for that matter.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Well, I have to tell you that that I knew
there was a reason I liked you because you were
born in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So so just you don't be rich, Well, we could
rectify the fact.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
That you liked We could fix all of this, right,
So so okay, so you start out the NFL. Okay,
And obviously there's all sorts of you know, that's better
than I do, all sorts of of you know, attorney
client stuff and things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
But so how long.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Did you stick with with the with the NFL, I mean,
was it was it?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Oh? I was like though, with the NFL for twenty
probably twenty five years, so yeah, it worked with a
lot of great guys, a lot of others as well.
And but yeah, probably twenty five years that I did
NFL work, So I was doing that at the same
(06:38):
time I was doing golf. So I've done golf my
entire career, but NFL I did for the first twenty
five years.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So it's interesting to me that that that that you
probably have, and I'm not going to ask you to
tell them here, but you probably have some really interesting
stories about discussions about money with people in the NFL,
don't you.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And And really what I feel like drove me out
was a sense of entitlement or I felt like the
athletes had an expectation that wasn't realistic or maybe not
realistic is the right word, but it didn't coincide with
who I wanted to be as a person where I
want to treat everybody the same. And I feel like
(07:21):
there was a number of football players, not all, there
are great ones out there, but where they felt like,
you know, I've been given this athletic ability and that
makes me better than others. There's just I just saw
too much of that and it kind of wore me down.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
And so that that was sort of the what sparked
me to want to move on.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I can appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So okay, So, so so you're a young guy based
in Columbus, right, I mean, because that's where that's where
you stayed, correct, and and and so yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
So.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Let's just before we get away from the NFL thing,
let's just make sure that we declare publicly for all consumption,
all the good guys you just mentioned are all from
the Ohio State University, and those lesser, lesser than good
guys are probably not from the Ohio State University because
that makes us all feel better.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So, so you.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Kind of get into you kind of get into golf
or you're into golf. You're not a you know, a golfer,
but you get into this golf and so so how
did how do you get there? I mean, because honestly,
you know, obviously they're professional sports, and but but ones,
the ones the the ultimate team game and the other
ones the ultimate individual.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So how how do you make that migration?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, it was just golf presented itself first, and so
you know, I had this interest in the NFL in
representing those players, but then golf presented itself, and so I,
like I said, I didn't play golf myself.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I mean, I'd go out.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Once a year with my dad type thing. But then
once I so we after the law firm, we report
presented the Christian Golfers Association, which I don't believe is
an organization any longer, at least not in that same title.
But they had known of my desire to do stuff
in sports, and so they referred an LPGA player to me,
(09:14):
and I worked on that LPGA player, and then a
second one presented itself almost immediately, and then by the
end of that first year, I had six players on
the LPGA Tour and then started picking up some PGA
Tour players as well, and so it was more about
the opportunity that I had in front of me. So
(09:35):
it wasn't intentional, But then I started to really love
the game of golf, and so I'm an addict. Now
you know, it's my goal to play the top one
hundred golf courses. I'm seventy percent of the way there,
but I've still got.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Thirty to go. And now i love the game and
I love so much about it.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
That sense of entitlement I discussed for the NFL does
not exist in anywhere near the capacity that it does
uh in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
In golf.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Golf is still very gentlemanly in a lot of ways.
And you have some, I mean most people in golf
I think are really good people and doing amazing things
from a charitable standpoint and a community standpoint. And I
have a terrific stories about clients of mine that have
done things behind the scenes that they didn't want anybody
(10:24):
to know about that we're helping others, so very different
experience for me.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, that's that's that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Those are the ones that obviously, you know, they don't
want anybody know about it, so we're not going to
tell those stories. But those that's I think, you know,
what's that saying? You know, you know, you realize, you know,
how hard you work is defined by when nobody's looking,
nobody's watching, right, you know. I mean I had a
son that got to be a pretty good look cross
player and a pretty good, you know, pretty good ice
(10:52):
hockey player, but a better lacrosse player.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
And and he heard that.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
One time, and he and he said to me, he goes,
you know, he goes, that's really really really true, he.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Goes, You know, I don't, I don't mind.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I don't want people to see that I go to
the middle school and run forties.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I don't want to see that. I don't want anybody
to see that. I just want to do it, you know.
And like that's the same thing, like, you know, I
have an opportunity to help, you know whatever, eight kids,
twelve kids, forty kids, you know, four families, whatever it
might be. I don't need I don't need people to
know I did it because I know I did it.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And that's really exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
That's really that's really cool, you know, And and that's.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's that's good to hear. That's good.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And so I can imagine that that sense of entitlement
you mentioned decreased greatly as you morphed into LPGA and
PGA tour players.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Absolutely absolutely. Yeah, I've seen some great things there and
and of course, you know, any segment of the population
has got its right and and and so there are
certainly individuals in golf that don't rise to that same level.
And there are and there are great people in football too,
But I just the the ratio was not appealing to
(12:09):
be from an NFL standpoint compared to the golf standpoint.
What so.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Okay, so let me ask you this question, how many
are you comfortable at this point in your career that
we're talking about right now, how many LPGA or PJA
tour players are you comfortable working with at any one time?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Because there's a great question I don't happen.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yeah, I don't have a different yes, yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It's it's it's not so much I think the point
of diminishing return as much as that we want to
do right by the ones we made a commitment to.
So we've turned down over the years hundreds of players
to work with because we want to make sure that
the ones that we made a commitment to that we
can adequately serviced. And so for me to have too
(13:03):
many players, it would certainly be financially a boom for
us to add additional players. But if I can't produce
everything that that player demands and deserves, then I'm doing
them a disservice. And so we want to make sure
that we have this good balance. So there was there
(13:23):
was a time in my career where I had too
many and and it wasn't that I didn't feel like
I was doing a good job. It was more that
my wife made a comment one day where she said,
we would just come back from vacation, and she said,
you know, all our vacation pictures are going to be
me and the kids doing stuff and you on your
phone waving to us as we.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Do these things. And I thought, oh, you know, maybe
I need to.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Have a better balance and not be working all the
time type thing. And so so for us, like right now,
you know, we'll have about a dozen players on the
LPGA tour and and you know, that's that's a pretty
healthy number for us, and I, you know, I sort
(14:07):
of expect that we'll stay around that number. But you know,
different players require different effort too. So you you know,
when we have had players that were number one in
the world type thing, your day was consumed by the
schedule of that person and what was being asked of
them and planning all that, and so that that person
(14:29):
I could not have twelve that were the equivalent of
twelve number ones in the world.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That would be too much, right, So so and just
just to just to clarify that. Okay, so if you
represent me and I played the PGA Tour, Okay, so
every request goes to EGO, correct, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
At least it should.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I mean every once in a while it doesn't, but yes,
it should.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It should go through the agent because you're trying to
play in the schedule. So for the instance, one of
those players that hit number one in the world, we
were really kind of playing their schedule down to like
six minute increments.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
You know. We would give them a schedule and just say.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You're here from here from this time to this time,
and this is what you're doing. And we tried to
really make sure that person was prepared for what was
coming at them on the non tournament days.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Wow, that is that is that is fascinating. That that
that is really really really cool. So you know what,
as a matter of fact, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna take our first commercial break right now because
I want to have some very specific questions about what
you just said, Okay, and then we are going to
(15:37):
get into the expansion of your of your firm, and
and then we're gonna start talking about how we're now
making more of a more of a broad impact in
this world. This is the Rich Comonwall Golf Show. Welcome
back to the Rich Komwall Golf Show. We are in
(15:58):
the middle of a very interesting conversation with a young
man by named Jeff Chilcote, who is an attorney and
a a sports representative, a you know, the the Jerry
Maguire thing as an agent. But you know, so just
everyone understands it's way, way, way more than that. And
(16:20):
I don't think he ever stood in a kitchen and
screams showed me the money to an LPGA Tour player.
But anyway, so, Jeff, how much like if you are
representing an LPGA Tour player or a PGA Tour player
or an NFL player, like how you have to spend
(16:43):
a considerable amount of time mapping all that out right?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Because because okay, so let's take an LPGA Tour player.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, so they okay, there's they're they're sponsored by titleists,
they or made.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It doesn't matter. We don't have an affinity for either
one of them, right.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And they're they wear this shoe, and they wear this
clothing and they wear these sunglasses or whatever like that?
Is is it a lot of those contracts really boilerplate?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Or do you try to do you try to like try.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
To orchestrate them to you know, Debbie Smith or Jane
Jones or whatever, because obviously there's a fake names, but
like or is it just kind of okay, this company
wants you and this is how we do this.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, yeah, no, there's there's not. I mean, they usually
start as an agreement that is proposed. If you're talking
about like the club manufacturers, it starts as an agreement
that is proposed by the manufacturer, but then hopefully you
adjust and morphit the way that it fits for your client. Now,
you may not have any leverage to be able to
(17:48):
do that, depending upon who the player is. But it's
very different and you go into the the corporate world.
So if you're if you're dealing with a non golf
equipment company and you've got you know, X y Z brand,
then they're probably going to rely on you to present
the agreement and so you've made something very specific to
(18:09):
that player.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And uh so, no, they're all unique, and.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
There there are definitely nuances and changes in all of
those things, so which makes it a little bit confusing,
so that when you go to map out something for
a player, you have to read through all those agreements
because it's not like you can just say, oh, they
all have this many social media posts that they have
to do, or these this many you know, tournament minimum
(18:38):
type thing. They're all different, and so you have to
be prepared for that. And so we will do like
a synopsis of each contract afterwards, so we have a
quick reference sheet. But then ultimately, if you have any
question about the agreement, you're actually rereading the agreement and
uh and making sure that you're not stepping on anything
or doing anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So let me let me ask you this question then,
okay said, and this is actually just a really personal question.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Okay, even when you started out.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
With it with you know, with golf and the NFL
and all that, as a young guy, that money, the
amount of money just had to like like you probably
had to go in the other room and just sit
down and go, oh my god, they're talking about like
that much money. I mean just just yes, I mean,
like me personally, I mean, and obviously I'm not an
(19:26):
attorney and.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I don't do this for a living, like, but you.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Know, you you would probably be a little overwhelmed with
one hundred and ten kids in a junior program kind
of a different deal. Like and I've had to go
into I've had to go into a room and sit
down and go, Okay, now we're going to do this,
so we've got to get this squared away, right. But
but you you you had to have been like, oh
my god, I'm doing this.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Yeah yeah, well certainly, yeah, you and you think, how
is it that, you know, we have a teacher that's
making X and then you have an athlete who you know,
is something that was God given making you know, thirty
forty fifty times X. It just it is not necessarily
a balanced system. But yeah, so there's definitely those moments.
(20:11):
But the one like the time I was brand new
at it and I was at the PGA show in
Orlando and I was walking around with a client and
I stopped by a booth and I said, you know,
this is so and so on the LPGA tour And
they said, oh, take whatever you want. And I thought, oh,
that's interesting, and they're getting all these free products. And
(20:32):
then the next booth, this is so and so on
the LPGA tour, Hey, we'd love to ship you this.
And it was all day long, and so we just
kept carrying things to the car or giving the address
to have stuff shipped out. And I thought, this is
a unique world where you know, it's just anything to
be attached to the athlete. So yeah, that was a
(20:53):
that was kind of a light bulb moment where I
hadn't really realized the opportunities that exist that are different
for someone with with an athletic gift.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
So okay, so all right, so let me let me
let me go this way.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Okay, So then I'm gonna ask you this question and
and and obviously not calling any not citing any one
individual when you're walking in an environment like that, like
the one you just spoke of, because I've been in
the Marchindise show and that's mayhem. But your client has
to have a certain amount of personality in order for
(21:31):
people to go, yeah, you know what this is somebody
I could send you know too, two rainsoats to or
or whatever you know. I mean whatever I'm picking, you
know what I mean, I have four pairs of shoes
or whatever. Right they have to have some sort of
like you know what I'm saying, like like you have
to be able to present.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, And I've been so blessed there, rich Like I
have had some of the best personalities that the golf
world has had to offer, and and just you know,
people that are the best, most light, most known, whatever
that may be. I've been really really fortunate.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Now, we've been really selective on that too.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So you know, if there's a player that we think
is you know, not going to be fantastic in an
entertainment setting with a you know, if they're gonna you're
gonna put them in a pro am and their entertainment.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Skills are not up to par.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Then that's may not be a client that.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
We want to have.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So we really pride ourselves in the fact that if
we tell you this player is going to be great
in a pro am setting, then they're really going to
be great. So we've been so fortunate there, and the
list is endless. I mean really for years, I feel
like I've been had the the best players for making
sure that whoever they're playing with is having the best
(22:51):
day of their life.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
So let me ask you this question then, okay again
outsetting individuals, have you had to have sit downs with
players like, hey, listen, you know what, Oh yeah, I
guess maybe you had a bad day. Do you do
understand that these people paid whatever whatever number, you know,
forty eight cents or for four hundred cents, I don't care. Like, like, listen,
(23:14):
Jenny or Debbie or Bill or Dave. You know they're
going to tell the story of you, and you don't
want that story told based on what we saw or
what were what we heard.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yes, absolutely, we've had to have discussions not just about
you know, how good you are in a pro am,
but other things as well, like you know, was your
cursing picked up on television? You know, whatever that may be.
We've had a number of those uncomfortable conversations. And but
the thing is is like, if if you or I
go play golf with someone and we're having a bad
(23:50):
day and we're not as social or not as communicative
as we should be, you know that that story doesn't
get told because we're not that excited.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
But if you go play with that pro that story's
going to.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Be told over and over and over again. And the
good news is, if you're good, your reputation is.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Going to spread like wildfire.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
But if it's bad, it's gonna spread even worse. You know,
it's it's gonna multiply. So you know, we a number
of years ago we had were involved in the tournament
and we had a little bit of say in the
they were doing a nine and nine, so basically the
pro am people in the pro am are playing nine
holes with one pro and then playing nine holes with
(24:33):
a second pro, and so I had a little bit
of say and who they were playing with, and we
gave them two very big names. One was my client
and one was not. And went to dinner with one
of the people in the pro am that afterwards, and
I said, how was your experience, thinking they were going
to say unbelievable. You know, these two pros were spectacular,
(24:56):
and they said, well, one on a scale of one
to ten, one was a one and one was ten.
And I said, oh, please let my client be the
ten and they said, yes, your client was the ten.
They said attentive, you know, learned my wife's name and
my kids' names, and asked me all questions types of questions.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
About my job, and we laughed a lot and they
had fun.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
And then I said, well, what was so poor about
the other one? And they said, well, this player, which
if I said the name, everybody would know I was
talking about if you follow golf at all, and said
they basically waved at me on the first tee, never
said anything to me, had looked at their phone, looked
at their watch, and it just was a tough day.
(25:38):
Now that pro, I don't think that PRO does that
on a regular basis, but that for that particular day there,
you know that that reputational damage is exponential. That's going
to go out there to the world. And I think
that person probably does a good job most of the time,
but they just had a bad day and that you know,
(25:59):
But you can't have that. They're paying a lot of
money to play with you, right.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
So it's interesting because I I spent some time in Altuna, Pennsylvania,
which is a do and this is completely different thing
but not really, and they have a double A baseball
team there, right, And there was a player that that
I was friends with and he ultimately, you know, made
it the trip away with.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
The Dodgers and whatever.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
But but we were standing there talking and he was
talking to me. It was the end of the year
and he hadn't been called up the trip away, and
he was like a little bit cantankerous about that, you know.
And and he was standing here talking to me and
it's September, and you know, he should have been called up.
And he was like, you know, we got word this
morning and I'm not getting called up, and you know
this and that, and he goes, I don't know if
(26:41):
I want to demand a trade or whatever. I'm standing
here talking to him and and he's and he's like, so,
you know, he's like, all right, let's not talk about
that anymore. Let's see what do you look, you know,
can we let's go do something like next week I'll
come play golf or whatever, and this and that, and
he goes, I gotta go stretch, and he turned to
walk away. I'm like, hey, Joe, and his name's not Joe.
I said, Joe, come here. Yeah, I said, you got
to sign those kids autographs right there.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And he looked at me and he goes. He goes.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I said, buddy, you're the best baseball player these kids
will ever see in person. Yeah, I said, I said,
you have to understand something. I said, they they don't.
And I didn't say it. I didn't say it like this,
but I'm like, they don't care you're not going to Indianapolis.
They care that you walk away from them.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And like he was like, you're right.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
And I'm not saying he's a bad guy. He's not
a bad guy. But he walked over the here, come
here here, let me hey guys, how you doing whatever?
And he did exactly what he should have done. But
like that's what I'm talking about, Like, like, I'm sure
you've had to have conversation with people like, hey, listen,
you know these are the people from Isley's ice Cream.
You know, like they pay you a lot of money.
Let's let's make sure that we're kind of on our
on stage.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Absolutely, Yeah, we've had definitely had to have some of
those difficult conversations. And you love it when you don't
have to have those, not just because you don't have
the uncomfortable uh time with the athlete, but it's also
just because you know that your athlete's doing the right thing.
So we have a client who well I can use
her name because I think this is such a cool
(28:11):
thing that she tried to do is her name is
Emma Tally, and Emma was a former USAM champ, NCAA champ,
and she had a baby this past year and is
not playing golf at the moment and maybe not again.
I think she'll probably go into broadcasting or something like that.
But Emma's goal was to thank every volunteer in a
tournament and so she which is a fantastic thing to
(28:35):
do because golf tournaments, I don't know if people realize,
but there are hundreds of people that are giving of
their time to make sure that event goes off without
a hitch and to make sure that they can raise
money for charity. And so Emma was zigzagging allcross every hole,
wearing herself out, thanking all the volunteers because they're on
either side of the thing, and that's just who she is.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
And so we never told her that that was an
a good idea.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
In fact, I'm not sure it is the idea because
you wear herself out, But I love the sentiment behind that,
and it just says something about who Emma is and
so many other golfers that do things like that. So
you're right, those things mean so much And another good
example this is years ago, we had a client who
(29:22):
was lining up to read a putt and there was
a child outside the ropes that was, you know, playing
the ropes and moving back and forth. And the player
walked over and had said very gently and nicely, could
you just stand still for just a minute, and it
was not a harmful thing, and all the kid did
stand still. But then once the player finished putting out
(29:46):
I don't remember if they made the put or not,
they walked over, signed that golf ball and gave it
to the kid and kind of rubbed their head like,
thank you for listening to that. I thought that kid,
you you know, that kid's could be a fan for
life because they took the extra step of making sure
that it was personal even though they had asked them
to stand still. Those things are meaningful.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, so so yeah, so I guess I guess it's good.
I would like to think that obviously that those conversations
are way easier to have than the difficult to conversations.
But I would like to think that the people that
you're having these conversations with the difficult ones, because everybody
has difficulty, you know, you know what you do too,
(30:31):
you know what, you go into work and you have
a bad day and you just got to go or
something at home, and you're like, like, I need a
minute here, Like I made a mistake. Hold on a second,
I'm better, I'll do better. You know, we're good, but
like I would like to think that like that does
help them, you know, because it proves improves self awareness.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Yes, absolutely, And that's one of our goals is not
just to make sure that we get our clients the
most money and the best opportunities, but it's also to
become better people and and so that that is a goal.
So we pride ourselves on that is to try to
help developmentally, and and that's true for us too. I
mean people in our office, we're not finished products, you know,
(31:16):
We're still trying to become better folks. And so yeah,
that's absolutely true. So those difficult conversations, even though you
don't want to have them, once you get through them,
you feel like, Okay, we did the right thing. We
tried to help that person learn a good lesson and
maybe in the process we learned one as well.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Right now we're on the other side of it and
we're actually all better for it. So absolutely Okay, so we're.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Going to take our take a second commercial break now,
and when we come back, we're going to talk about
what Jeff's doing now and some of the larger plans
and opportunities that he sees in the near future. This
is the rich Comewell Golf Show. Welcome back to the
rich Comboll Golf Show. We're having a very very very
enjoyable conversation with Jeff Chilcote today. Jeff is an attorney,
(32:07):
a sports attorney, and he represents several LPGA and PGA
tour players and we are not naming names today but
just kind of getting the landscape of what that looks
like from from Jeff's viewpoint. Jeff has more than more
than five months experience.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
But we're not going to.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Say he's got you know, he's old, because he's not.
He's nowhere near that. But but he has a really,
really really keen eye on the golf landscape and and
and this and the corporate world that that goes into that.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So so, Jeff, obviously your firm is kind of where
you want to be.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I think you probably want to add like one player,
two players, do you know, let me ask you this question,
if you if you want to add a player, how
do you recruit them?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Sure, well, we we will evaluate a player not just
on their golf ability, but also on who they are
as a person, as I mentioned earlier, want to make
sure that they're going to be great in that entertainment setting.
But yeah, so we've got our eye on a couple
of people right now, and so we're always growing, I guess,
but you're part of it is you have to keep
(33:19):
up with the attrition because you have players retire. So
you know, we've had over the last few years, Uh,
some fantastic humans and fantastic golfers retire between you know, Drina,
Britney Lang, Britney Linscombe, Katherine Kirk, Stacy Lewis, a bunch
(33:40):
of them that have retired over the last number of years.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
And so we we.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Still work with them for as they do stuff in
the corporate world. But then we have to, you know,
add younger talent that is, you know, active out there
that are playing a tournament schedule. And so we're always
looking and but we're.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
We're pretty happy with what we have now.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
But I've got my eye on a couple of folks
that we're recruiting, and so what we'll do with that
is hopefully have some conversation with those folks, maybe even
get a chance to watch them play and make sure
that we as there's good uh a good fit between us,
and maybe watch them interact with some people to make
(34:21):
sure that their communication level is good. And so that's
kind of the process. It can take in some instances
a day or two, and in some cases it can
take years. So yeah, just depends on the situation on
how that goes and how long it goes.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, and I I gotta I gott always. I have
to assume that.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And I know it's not the same, but it's a
lot of hiring from within, correct, Like, because because you
have player a you know, Jane, Julie, Jenny, Tom and
Bill and like, these guys run into people and they're
like and new a new young player is like, hey,
I need somebody to help them, Like, hey, here's the
guy that, here's the farm, this.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Is this is where you want to go.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I would say, yeah, absolutely, referral is massively important to you.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Correct, Yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
We early on, you know, when you didn't have a
lot of people out there, it was purely on your
own effort to go out there. But now at this stage,
we have been had some clients that have been really
good to us to make sure that they're keep an
eye out, and some of them will call and say,
you know, I just got paired at this player and
they're really good, and I don't I think either they
(35:33):
don't have an agent, or they're unhappy in their situation,
or I told them to call you, whatever that may be.
But yeah, that happens so much more now. So the
you know worse early on in my career and and
other folks that are in our office, they were focused
on the recruitment of players, and now it allows us
to be focused more on how do we manage the
(35:55):
player and rather than the recruitment of additional ones just
be because of exactly what you said. That referral from
someone else is so helpful.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Right, So so all right, So then before we've morph
into the area that I really want to talk about
for a couple of minutes, are you let me ask
you a very, very very you have to be in
a situation where you see LPGA Tour player PGA Tour
player play, are you ever not amazed at how good
(36:28):
they are?
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Well?
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Yes, I mean, I don't think the LPGA Tour, the
Legends Tour, which is the women's equivalent of the Champions Tour,
I don't think anybody realizes the quality of the play there.
And when you get up and close in personal, which
I've been so fortunate to be so often, and you
see what they're capable of doing with golf ball, it's unbelievable. Now,
(36:55):
there are different levels of ability too, so there are
every once in a while you have a player that
kind of squeaks on the tour, maybe got caught lightning
in a bottle at the last stage of Q school
and maybe it's premature for them to be out there,
or maybe they just they just got lucky. But for
the most part, the depth of talent is really deep
and amazing. And so I have, as I mentioned, been
(37:19):
very fortunate on those folks that I've worked with. But
and I've thought, I love the fact that I've had
an opportunity to influence golf and have a little tiny
piece of the growth of golf and more specifically the
growth of the LPGA Tour, and so I want to
make sure I mentioned that the Legends Tour a couple
(37:40):
of years ago a year and a half ago, had
asked if I would help them pursue additional tournament opportunities,
And so we've been trying to help the Legends tour
find more places to play because it is a product.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
That is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
You have these former LPGA players that are now just
a little bit older but can still play, and you
can get up close and personal to it at a
Legend event, and so we're trying to help them grow
their tour because it's a product that should be seen
by way more people than it is.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, and let's let's talk about that for a minute.
So how many how many events do you have right now?
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Well, it depends on how you look at it.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
If you consider some of the pro am events that
they do that are not full field stroke play events,
then they've got you know, ten or twelve type of
opportunities throughout the course of the year. But from a
stroke play standpoint, there's just a few events. There's going
to be the two majors that they have every year.
There's gonna be an event this fall in Atlanta, and
(38:45):
we've got a couple of leads on some events for
twenty twenty seven that we're excited about. But if once
you get out there and you see that, and you
get to see not just how great these players are
and how gifted they are with a golf club in
their hands, but how they interact. It's an experience like
no other. You know, you can get up close and
personal and have a discussion with these players that you
(39:08):
just can't do in other sports.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
That is so cool. That is so cool. So tell
me some of the players that are playing out.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
There on the Legends Tour. You've got, I mean you
Anica who you mentioned earlier, well, or I guess you
and I were.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Talking about that offline, but the Anica.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Is out there for a tournament or two a year.
She doesn't play all of them, but what a treat
to see her play. You have Julie Engster out there playing,
Angela Stanford, who's the current Solheim Cup captain.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
She plays as many of those events as she can.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
And and you have some really terrific talented women that
are out there. Laura Davies.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Last year, I saw Laura at an event in Utah.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
And there's so many names to mention, but really quality
human beings that are also incredible at golf.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Right, I mean, I I have a my my and
this is this is personal. I have no problem saying this.
My favorite player out there is Chris Cheddar. I've known
Chris for a long time and and and she has
been nothing but absolutely awesome to to me personally. To this,
(40:23):
this sounds really egotistical, but this show, she's she's she's
jumped on twice and and she was part of my
hundredth show, which was really really really cool.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
And then and she.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Actually has reached out to She's taken a phone call
from a fourteen year old girl that I teach that's
trying to get better. And the girl was like, well,
if you could ask you, I said, do me a favorite.
Let me let me see if I can figure this out.
So I I texted Chris and she's like, tell her
here's you know, my number, just sort of call me.
And she spent like fifteen minutes on the phone with
(40:55):
her and like.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Yeah, I'm not at all.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
And then the girl came back to me and she
said wow.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
She was like really, I'm like what, like, you can
say it it's like normal. I'm like, yeah, she is normal.
She's just really good at playing golf. She's a normal person.
I mean, you know, like she has kids, and she
has she goes to the groceries.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
She's normal. But she just knows something about this that
you don't and she's willing to share it with you.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
And yes, and that's the beauty is Chris is exactly that,
so sweet. But there's so many others just like Chris.
So it you know, if anybody takes the time to
go to an event, at some point you'll realize and
uh and just become a fan. It's it's it's an
impossibility to be there and not experience the legends to
(41:43):
her event and not become a fan.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
So, and I guess I can reveal to the public
at large is we are working and I'll say it
like this, Jeff and I are working on getting a
LPGA Legends event to Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
It's a great it's a great golf course. It's hosted several.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Several Westernia Opens US Open qualifying site for several years
and Westervirnia.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Amateur at one time.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
And we are working on that with with a with
a pro am kind of model, because we're going to
try to raise some money for the longest running charity
golf tournament in longest consecutive consecutively running.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
I never know how to say that.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Charity event in Parkersburg, and that's early early infancy stages.
But we're working on doing that for twenty twenty seven
because I think.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
That it would be a I think it would be
a boon to the event.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
I think it would be awesome to have them those
players here. I think my members, our members at Parkersburg
Country Club would love to spend a few days with
around those ladies. And I think I think an event
(43:15):
that we're targeting to raise the money for it, which
is United Way, would be greatly benefited from that.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And one of the reasons, and I say.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
This for no ego affectation, is because Jeff has been
so easy to work with and because you have been
so easy to work with, Jeff, and so I'm really
excited to try to develop that for this area.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Thank you for those kind words, and yeah, how cool
if we can really pull this off, not just to
have the fun of it, because it is a fun event,
but also the potential impact to the young folks that
come out and see this. And you know, who knows
that what trajectory has changed. You know, someone decides that
they want to put more effort into golf. Often it
(44:00):
produces the college scholarship and and golf is such a
great tool outside you know, of course, it would be
great if it meant someone's career was changed and they
became a golfer. But golf is such a useful tool
to use from a business standpoint.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
I am always excited to.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
See and hear about folks and how they can use
that to the betterment of their career.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Yeah, it's it is interesting because I have and I
spoke a little bit. I was speaking last week with
Tom Attis, the former PJ of America President of pg
of America, and we talked about you know, he talked
about all of his assistants he's.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Had and and some of the ones I've had. But
I look at it like I've made an impact.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
I've been fortunate enough to to help make an impact
in the in the larger world. I have a spokesperson
in Congress, you know.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
I have and I say I have because I do.
I have a I have a technical writer for Google.
You know, I have school teachers.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
I have principles that have worked for me and like
and because of this game.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
And if we could use this event too.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Maybe obviously improve United Way charities and and maybe maybe
they give a little bit of money to get somebody
into college or maybe they get as you said, somebody
gets goes and plays at you know, X y Z
university Division III level and they get education or Division
two get education through it. That's that's how we that's
(45:27):
how we build communities with the game of golf.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
And that's my mindset with that.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Yeah, that's fantastic, and uh yeah, that's the beauty of golf.
You I don't think a lot of people are saying
that about uh, you know, the NBA type the way
you use basketball.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
You know, at least it's very few, but golf is
unique in that respect. It's is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah, that's and and that's kind of where we're going.
And the good the good news for me.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
The good news for me is I did sit down
with the organizers of the event and and they are
first of all there they were like, wow, wow, do
you you know we never thought of that. I'm like, well,
you know, and I made some dumb joke about you
you stay awake at night until like one thirty in
the morning thinking of things that something comes to you.
But but but I'm like, I'm like, you know, and
(46:14):
and they're like, do you think that will work? And
I said, I guarantee you one way it won't work
as we don't try to do it. I mean, it's
it's the same thing I told my my my children
about trying something.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
I guarantee you one way you will not achieve it
is if you don't try it, you don't try.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
To achieve it. You know what with t s. Eliott said,
everything's in the try. Everything else is just after it,
so you know, so it's that's that's what we're doing,
and that's what we're gonna do. And you know, and
because you know, obviously if you shoot from the moon,
if you miss, you're pretty far out there.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
You know, you're pretty far out there. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Well, Jeff, I promised you it wouldn't feel like a
full hour, but it's been a full hour. And I
want to tell you thank you for spending time with
us today.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
It's it's been.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Awesome talking with you and as always, obviously we'll be
in touch, but thanks for everything you're doing out there
trying to trying to grow the game of golf and
and try to make some positive impacts through your effort
as well.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
Thanks Rich, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
You bet you. This is the Rich Combwall Golf Show.
Speaker 6 (47:28):
Over one hundred episodes, a whole lot of stories told,
and it's only growing from here. To catch up on
past episodes of The Rich Komwall Golf Show, search for
The Rich kom Wall Golf Show on the free iHeartRadio
app and tune in next Saturday at nine for another
episode of The Rich kom Wall Golf Show
Welcome to the Rich Comwell Golf Show. We are joined
this week by a.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well. It is a golf guest.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's a very very very unique attachment to the game
of golf. It's a very interesting attachment to the game
of golf. And I'm really looking forward to hearing about
all about this attachment and this kind of the the
the viewpoint of from from this from this person, because
(00:32):
it's an interesting take on the game of golf. And
the person joining us this week is a young man
by named of Jeff Chilcote.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Jeff is an attorney.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
He is a management attorney or a sports management attorney.
He does a lot of different things. But as we
talk to Jeff this week, you're going to start to
hear how we've kind of migrated into the world that
he's in now, which is actually a really, really.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Really exciting area of the of the world of golf.
But first off, I want to say, Jeff, yes.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Thanks for having me Rich good to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So so as we start always so talk to me
about your Obviously you are, as I already stated, an attorney.
But tell me, tell me about your early career, tell
me where you went to school, you know how how
you kind of kind of started down your road.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Sure, sure, well I for undergrad.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I went to Ohio State. And I'm a big buck
Eye fan.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
But okay, so let's stop, let's stop to stop there,
stop there, It's it's the it's the Ohio State University,
the Ohio University.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I have. I have two children that have graduated from
the Ohio State University. So I and it is absolutely
and and for those who do not know, and I
spend far too much time explaining this to people, it
is actually the correct name of the university. It is
the Ohio State University, and that it was actually assigned
(02:04):
by the Ohio State Assembly a long, long, long time ago.
So it although it does on Monday night football or
Sunday Night football, it does sound a bit arrogant when
they throw thee out there, but it's actually the Ohio
the Ohio State University. So that's okay to say that
in my world, because that's actually proper title.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
That is the correct name. And I have a sweatshirt
that just says the no.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
So yes, I think I think that all I mean
I that became such a thing through those introductions during
those Monday night football games where you had somebody trying
to be maybe a little bit of a smart Alex,
say the Ohio State University, and now it's it's it's
something that I think Ohio State people do with pride
and everybody else does demacas.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
The thing of it is is I got to be
honest with I grew up in and I'd say this
with full disclosure, I grew up in western Pennsylvania and
I hate Penn State. I've told I've said that all along,
and they say we are an l el penn State
back So you know I can make fun of them
for that too, because and that's a lot of fun
to say that. But because we are without a football
(03:16):
coach was fun for a while. We are without a
top five program for a while.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
That was fun. So all right, So anyway, so you
did undergrad there, correct.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, And then I went to law school at Capitol
University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. And but I was
sitting in law school thinking why am I here? You know,
the true practice of law just doesn't appeal to me
as much as it probably should. If this is gonna
be my career. But I took this sports law class
and I thought, wow, that's that's fascinating. We did this
(03:51):
project where we negotiated a fictitious NFL contract, and I
took it way too far. I was, you know, I
think my partners in this project thought, let's just get
in and out and do the bare minimum. And I
was like, no, let's take it to the nth degree
and I'm going to, you know, think about every angle
(04:11):
of this agreement. And I just loved it. And so
that's where I thought, you know what, maybe that's what
I want to do with my career. And so when
I ended up interviewing with a law firm, I told them, hey,
I know you guys don't do sports law, but this
is the area that really interests me. And they said, well,
we're a business law firm. We'll let you come in
(04:32):
here and have a job and do business law and
if you have extra time and you can develop the
sports stuff, go for it, and which was very kind
of them, and I was, you know, was providential. I
was in the right place at the right time and
picked up some sports clients and then year or two
into it, it was the primary piece of my practice, and.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
So I always envisioned myself being an NFL.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Agent to begin with, and I did do that for
many years, presented one hundreds of VENEFO guys. But I
the reality is I golf presented itself first, and I
wasn't really a golfer at the time, but I fell
in love with it. And so that is my practice
area now is golf, and so that's that's how that's
how began.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That's that's pretty cool. So where are you from Originally?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well, I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I very
quickly moved to Ohio. My father had had an opportunity
to bring a ministry to Ohio and he called Young
Life and so we he was waiting for me to
be born to be able to move us to Ohio.
But I've got roots in Pennsylvania and Ohio and West.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Virginia for that matter.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Well, I have to tell you that that I knew
there was a reason I liked you because you were
born in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So so just you don't be rich, Well, we could
rectify the fact.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
That you liked We could fix all of this, right,
So so okay, so you start out the NFL. Okay,
And obviously there's all sorts of you know, that's better
than I do, all sorts of of you know, attorney
client stuff and things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
But so how long.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Did you stick with with the with the NFL, I mean,
was it was it?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Oh? I was like though, with the NFL for twenty
probably twenty five years, so yeah, it worked with a
lot of great guys, a lot of others as well.
And but yeah, probably twenty five years that I did
NFL work, So I was doing that at the same
(06:38):
time I was doing golf. So I've done golf my
entire career, but NFL I did for the first twenty
five years.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So it's interesting to me that that that that you
probably have, and I'm not going to ask you to
tell them here, but you probably have some really interesting
stories about discussions about money with people in the NFL,
don't you.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And And really what I feel like drove me out
was a sense of entitlement or I felt like the
athletes had an expectation that wasn't realistic or maybe not
realistic is the right word, but it didn't coincide with
who I wanted to be as a person where I
want to treat everybody the same. And I feel like
(07:21):
there was a number of football players, not all, there
are great ones out there, but where they felt like,
you know, I've been given this athletic ability and that
makes me better than others. There's just I just saw
too much of that and it kind of wore me down.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
And so that that was sort of the what sparked
me to want to move on.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I can appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So okay, So, so so you're a young guy based
in Columbus, right, I mean, because that's where that's where
you stayed, correct, and and and so yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
So.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Let's just before we get away from the NFL thing,
let's just make sure that we declare publicly for all consumption,
all the good guys you just mentioned are all from
the Ohio State University, and those lesser, lesser than good
guys are probably not from the Ohio State University because
that makes us all feel better.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So, so you.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Kind of get into you kind of get into golf
or you're into golf. You're not a you know, a golfer,
but you get into this golf and so so how
did how do you get there? I mean, because honestly,
you know, obviously they're professional sports, and but but ones,
the ones the the ultimate team game and the other
ones the ultimate individual.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So how how do you make that migration?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, it was just golf presented itself first, and so
you know, I had this interest in the NFL in
representing those players, but then golf presented itself, and so I,
like I said, I didn't play golf myself.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I mean, I'd go out.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Once a year with my dad type thing. But then
once I so we after the law firm, we report
presented the Christian Golfers Association, which I don't believe is
an organization any longer, at least not in that same title.
But they had known of my desire to do stuff
in sports, and so they referred an LPGA player to me,
(09:14):
and I worked on that LPGA player, and then a
second one presented itself almost immediately, and then by the
end of that first year, I had six players on
the LPGA Tour and then started picking up some PGA
Tour players as well, and so it was more about
the opportunity that I had in front of me. So
(09:35):
it wasn't intentional, But then I started to really love
the game of golf, and so I'm an addict. Now
you know, it's my goal to play the top one
hundred golf courses. I'm seventy percent of the way there,
but I've still got.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Thirty to go. And now i love the game and
I love so much about it.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
That sense of entitlement I discussed for the NFL does
not exist in anywhere near the capacity that it does
uh in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
In golf.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Golf is still very gentlemanly in a lot of ways.
And you have some, I mean most people in golf
I think are really good people and doing amazing things
from a charitable standpoint and a community standpoint. And I
have a terrific stories about clients of mine that have
done things behind the scenes that they didn't want anybody
(10:24):
to know about that we're helping others, so very different
experience for me.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, that's that's that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Those are the ones that obviously, you know, they don't
want anybody know about it, so we're not going to
tell those stories. But those that's I think, you know,
what's that saying? You know, you know, you realize, you know,
how hard you work is defined by when nobody's looking,
nobody's watching, right, you know. I mean I had a
son that got to be a pretty good look cross
player and a pretty good, you know, pretty good ice
(10:52):
hockey player, but a better lacrosse player.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
And and he heard that.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
One time, and he and he said to me, he goes,
you know, he goes, that's really really really true, he.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Goes, You know, I don't, I don't mind.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I don't want people to see that I go to
the middle school and run forties.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I don't want to see that. I don't want anybody
to see that. I just want to do it, you know.
And like that's the same thing, like, you know, I
have an opportunity to help, you know whatever, eight kids,
twelve kids, forty kids, you know, four families, whatever it
might be. I don't need I don't need people to
know I did it because I know I did it.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And that's really exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
That's really that's really cool, you know, And and that's.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's that's good to hear. That's good.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And so I can imagine that that sense of entitlement
you mentioned decreased greatly as you morphed into LPGA and
PGA tour players.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Absolutely absolutely. Yeah, I've seen some great things there and
and of course, you know, any segment of the population
has got its right and and and so there are
certainly individuals in golf that don't rise to that same level.
And there are and there are great people in football too,
But I just the the ratio was not appealing to
(12:09):
be from an NFL standpoint compared to the golf standpoint.
What so.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Okay, so let me ask you this question, how many
are you comfortable at this point in your career that
we're talking about right now, how many LPGA or PJA
tour players are you comfortable working with at any one time?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Because there's a great question I don't happen.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yeah, I don't have a different yes, yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It's it's it's not so much I think the point
of diminishing return as much as that we want to
do right by the ones we made a commitment to.
So we've turned down over the years hundreds of players
to work with because we want to make sure that
the ones that we made a commitment to that we
can adequately serviced. And so for me to have too
(13:03):
many players, it would certainly be financially a boom for
us to add additional players. But if I can't produce
everything that that player demands and deserves, then I'm doing
them a disservice. And so we want to make sure
that we have this good balance. So there was there
(13:23):
was a time in my career where I had too
many and and it wasn't that I didn't feel like
I was doing a good job. It was more that
my wife made a comment one day where she said,
we would just come back from vacation, and she said,
you know, all our vacation pictures are going to be
me and the kids doing stuff and you on your
phone waving to us as we.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Do these things. And I thought, oh, you know, maybe
I need to.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Have a better balance and not be working all the
time type thing. And so so for us, like right now,
you know, we'll have about a dozen players on the
LPGA tour and and you know, that's that's a pretty
healthy number for us, and I, you know, I sort
(14:07):
of expect that we'll stay around that number. But you know,
different players require different effort too. So you you know,
when we have had players that were number one in
the world type thing, your day was consumed by the
schedule of that person and what was being asked of
them and planning all that, and so that that person
(14:29):
I could not have twelve that were the equivalent of
twelve number ones in the world.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That would be too much, right, So so and just
just to just to clarify that. Okay, so if you
represent me and I played the PGA Tour, Okay, so
every request goes to EGO, correct, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
At least it should.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I mean every once in a while it doesn't, but yes,
it should.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It should go through the agent because you're trying to
play in the schedule. So for the instance, one of
those players that hit number one in the world, we
were really kind of playing their schedule down to like
six minute increments.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
You know. We would give them a schedule and just say.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You're here from here from this time to this time,
and this is what you're doing. And we tried to
really make sure that person was prepared for what was
coming at them on the non tournament days.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Wow, that is that is that is fascinating. That that
that is really really really cool. So you know what,
as a matter of fact, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna take our first commercial break right now because
I want to have some very specific questions about what
you just said, Okay, and then we are going to
(15:37):
get into the expansion of your of your firm, and
and then we're gonna start talking about how we're now
making more of a more of a broad impact in
this world. This is the Rich Comonwall Golf Show. Welcome
back to the Rich Komwall Golf Show. We are in
(15:58):
the middle of a very interesting conversation with a young
man by named Jeff Chilcote, who is an attorney and
a a sports representative, a you know, the the Jerry
Maguire thing as an agent. But you know, so just
everyone understands it's way, way, way more than that. And
(16:20):
I don't think he ever stood in a kitchen and
screams showed me the money to an LPGA Tour player.
But anyway, so, Jeff, how much like if you are
representing an LPGA Tour player or a PGA Tour player
or an NFL player, like how you have to spend
(16:43):
a considerable amount of time mapping all that out right?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Because because okay, so let's take an LPGA Tour player.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, so they okay, there's they're they're sponsored by titleists,
they or made.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It doesn't matter. We don't have an affinity for either
one of them, right.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And they're they wear this shoe, and they wear this
clothing and they wear these sunglasses or whatever like that?
Is is it a lot of those contracts really boilerplate?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Or do you try to do you try to like try.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
To orchestrate them to you know, Debbie Smith or Jane
Jones or whatever, because obviously there's a fake names, but
like or is it just kind of okay, this company
wants you and this is how we do this.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, yeah, no, there's there's not. I mean, they usually
start as an agreement that is proposed. If you're talking
about like the club manufacturers, it starts as an agreement
that is proposed by the manufacturer, but then hopefully you
adjust and morphit the way that it fits for your client. Now,
you may not have any leverage to be able to
(17:48):
do that, depending upon who the player is. But it's
very different and you go into the the corporate world.
So if you're if you're dealing with a non golf
equipment company and you've got you know, X y Z brand,
then they're probably going to rely on you to present
the agreement and so you've made something very specific to
(18:09):
that player.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And uh so, no, they're all unique, and.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
There there are definitely nuances and changes in all of
those things, so which makes it a little bit confusing,
so that when you go to map out something for
a player, you have to read through all those agreements
because it's not like you can just say, oh, they
all have this many social media posts that they have
to do, or these this many you know, tournament minimum
(18:38):
type thing. They're all different, and so you have to
be prepared for that. And so we will do like
a synopsis of each contract afterwards, so we have a
quick reference sheet. But then ultimately, if you have any
question about the agreement, you're actually rereading the agreement and
uh and making sure that you're not stepping on anything
or doing anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So let me let me ask you this question then,
okay said, and this is actually just a really personal question.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Okay, even when you started out.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
With it with you know, with golf and the NFL
and all that, as a young guy, that money, the
amount of money just had to like like you probably
had to go in the other room and just sit
down and go, oh my god, they're talking about like
that much money. I mean just just yes, I mean,
like me personally, I mean, and obviously I'm not an
(19:26):
attorney and.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I don't do this for a living, like, but you.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Know, you you would probably be a little overwhelmed with
one hundred and ten kids in a junior program kind
of a different deal. Like and I've had to go
into I've had to go into a room and sit
down and go, Okay, now we're going to do this,
so we've got to get this squared away, right. But
but you you you had to have been like, oh
my god, I'm doing this.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Yeah yeah, well certainly, yeah, you and you think, how
is it that, you know, we have a teacher that's
making X and then you have an athlete who you know,
is something that was God given making you know, thirty
forty fifty times X. It just it is not necessarily
a balanced system. But yeah, so there's definitely those moments.
(20:11):
But the one like the time I was brand new
at it and I was at the PGA show in
Orlando and I was walking around with a client and
I stopped by a booth and I said, you know,
this is so and so on the LPGA tour And
they said, oh, take whatever you want. And I thought, oh,
that's interesting, and they're getting all these free products. And
(20:32):
then the next booth, this is so and so on
the LPGA tour, Hey, we'd love to ship you this.
And it was all day long, and so we just
kept carrying things to the car or giving the address
to have stuff shipped out. And I thought, this is
a unique world where you know, it's just anything to
be attached to the athlete. So yeah, that was a
(20:53):
that was kind of a light bulb moment where I
hadn't really realized the opportunities that exist that are different
for someone with with an athletic gift.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
So okay, so all right, so let me let me
let me go this way.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Okay, So then I'm gonna ask you this question and
and and obviously not calling any not citing any one
individual when you're walking in an environment like that, like
the one you just spoke of, because I've been in
the Marchindise show and that's mayhem. But your client has
to have a certain amount of personality in order for
(21:31):
people to go, yeah, you know what this is somebody
I could send you know too, two rainsoats to or
or whatever you know. I mean whatever I'm picking, you
know what I mean, I have four pairs of shoes
or whatever. Right they have to have some sort of
like you know what I'm saying, like like you have
to be able to present.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, And I've been so blessed there, rich Like I
have had some of the best personalities that the golf
world has had to offer, and and just you know,
people that are the best, most light, most known, whatever
that may be. I've been really really fortunate.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Now, we've been really selective on that too.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So you know, if there's a player that we think
is you know, not going to be fantastic in an
entertainment setting with a you know, if they're gonna you're
gonna put them in a pro am and their entertainment.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Skills are not up to par.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Then that's may not be a client that.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
We want to have.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So we really pride ourselves in the fact that if
we tell you this player is going to be great
in a pro am setting, then they're really going to
be great. So we've been so fortunate there, and the
list is endless. I mean really for years, I feel
like I've been had the the best players for making
sure that whoever they're playing with is having the best
(22:51):
day of their life.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
So let me ask you this question then, okay again
outsetting individuals, have you had to have sit downs with
players like, hey, listen, you know what, Oh yeah, I
guess maybe you had a bad day. Do you do
understand that these people paid whatever whatever number, you know,
forty eight cents or for four hundred cents, I don't care. Like, like, listen,
(23:14):
Jenny or Debbie or Bill or Dave. You know they're
going to tell the story of you, and you don't
want that story told based on what we saw or
what were what we heard.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yes, absolutely, we've had to have discussions not just about
you know, how good you are in a pro am,
but other things as well, like you know, was your
cursing picked up on television? You know, whatever that may be.
We've had a number of those uncomfortable conversations. And but
the thing is is like, if if you or I
go play golf with someone and we're having a bad
(23:50):
day and we're not as social or not as communicative
as we should be, you know that that story doesn't
get told because we're not that excited.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
But if you go play with that pro that story's
going to.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Be told over and over and over again. And the
good news is, if you're good, your reputation is.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Going to spread like wildfire.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
But if it's bad, it's gonna spread even worse. You know,
it's it's gonna multiply. So you know, we a number
of years ago we had were involved in the tournament
and we had a little bit of say in the
they were doing a nine and nine, so basically the
pro am people in the pro am are playing nine
holes with one pro and then playing nine holes with
(24:33):
a second pro, and so I had a little bit
of say and who they were playing with, and we
gave them two very big names. One was my client
and one was not. And went to dinner with one
of the people in the pro am that afterwards, and
I said, how was your experience, thinking they were going
to say unbelievable. You know, these two pros were spectacular,
(24:56):
and they said, well, one on a scale of one
to ten, one was a one and one was ten.
And I said, oh, please let my client be the
ten and they said, yes, your client was the ten.
They said attentive, you know, learned my wife's name and
my kids' names, and asked me all questions types of questions.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
About my job, and we laughed a lot and they
had fun.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
And then I said, well, what was so poor about
the other one? And they said, well, this player, which
if I said the name, everybody would know I was
talking about if you follow golf at all, and said
they basically waved at me on the first tee, never
said anything to me, had looked at their phone, looked
at their watch, and it just was a tough day.
(25:38):
Now that pro, I don't think that PRO does that
on a regular basis, but that for that particular day there,
you know that that reputational damage is exponential. That's going
to go out there to the world. And I think
that person probably does a good job most of the time,
but they just had a bad day and that you know,
(25:59):
But you can't have that. They're paying a lot of
money to play with you, right.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
So it's interesting because I I spent some time in Altuna, Pennsylvania,
which is a do and this is completely different thing
but not really, and they have a double A baseball
team there, right, And there was a player that that
I was friends with and he ultimately, you know, made
it the trip away with.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
The Dodgers and whatever.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
But but we were standing there talking and he was
talking to me. It was the end of the year
and he hadn't been called up the trip away, and
he was like a little bit cantankerous about that, you know.
And and he was standing here talking to me and
it's September, and you know, he should have been called up.
And he was like, you know, we got word this
morning and I'm not getting called up, and you know
this and that, and he goes, I don't know if
(26:41):
I want to demand a trade or whatever. I'm standing
here talking to him and and he's and he's like, so,
you know, he's like, all right, let's not talk about
that anymore. Let's see what do you look, you know,
can we let's go do something like next week I'll
come play golf or whatever, and this and that, and
he goes, I gotta go stretch, and he turned to
walk away. I'm like, hey, Joe, and his name's not Joe.
I said, Joe, come here. Yeah, I said, you got
to sign those kids autographs right there.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And he looked at me and he goes. He goes.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I said, buddy, you're the best baseball player these kids
will ever see in person. Yeah, I said, I said,
you have to understand something. I said, they they don't.
And I didn't say it. I didn't say it like this,
but I'm like, they don't care you're not going to Indianapolis.
They care that you walk away from them.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And like he was like, you're right.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
And I'm not saying he's a bad guy. He's not
a bad guy. But he walked over the here, come
here here, let me hey guys, how you doing whatever?
And he did exactly what he should have done. But
like that's what I'm talking about, Like, like, I'm sure
you've had to have conversation with people like, hey, listen,
you know these are the people from Isley's ice Cream.
You know, like they pay you a lot of money.
Let's let's make sure that we're kind of on our
on stage.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Absolutely, Yeah, we've had definitely had to have some of
those difficult conversations. And you love it when you don't
have to have those, not just because you don't have
the uncomfortable uh time with the athlete, but it's also
just because you know that your athlete's doing the right thing.
So we have a client who well I can use
her name because I think this is such a cool
(28:11):
thing that she tried to do is her name is
Emma Tally, and Emma was a former USAM champ, NCAA champ,
and she had a baby this past year and is
not playing golf at the moment and maybe not again.
I think she'll probably go into broadcasting or something like that.
But Emma's goal was to thank every volunteer in a
tournament and so she which is a fantastic thing to
(28:35):
do because golf tournaments, I don't know if people realize,
but there are hundreds of people that are giving of
their time to make sure that event goes off without
a hitch and to make sure that they can raise
money for charity. And so Emma was zigzagging allcross every hole,
wearing herself out, thanking all the volunteers because they're on
either side of the thing, and that's just who she is.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
And so we never told her that that was an
a good idea.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
In fact, I'm not sure it is the idea because
you wear herself out, But I love the sentiment behind that,
and it just says something about who Emma is and
so many other golfers that do things like that. So
you're right, those things mean so much And another good
example this is years ago, we had a client who
(29:22):
was lining up to read a putt and there was
a child outside the ropes that was, you know, playing
the ropes and moving back and forth. And the player
walked over and had said very gently and nicely, could
you just stand still for just a minute, and it
was not a harmful thing, and all the kid did
stand still. But then once the player finished putting out
(29:46):
I don't remember if they made the put or not,
they walked over, signed that golf ball and gave it
to the kid and kind of rubbed their head like,
thank you for listening to that. I thought that kid,
you you know, that kid's could be a fan for
life because they took the extra step of making sure
that it was personal even though they had asked them
to stand still. Those things are meaningful.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Yeah, so so yeah, so I guess I guess it's good.
I would like to think that obviously that those conversations
are way easier to have than the difficult to conversations.
But I would like to think that the people that
you're having these conversations with the difficult ones, because everybody
has difficulty, you know, you know what you do too,
(30:31):
you know what, you go into work and you have
a bad day and you just got to go or
something at home, and you're like, like, I need a
minute here, Like I made a mistake. Hold on a second,
I'm better, I'll do better. You know, we're good, but
like I would like to think that like that does
help them, you know, because it proves improves self awareness.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Yes, absolutely, And that's one of our goals is not
just to make sure that we get our clients the
most money and the best opportunities, but it's also to
become better people and and so that that is a goal.
So we pride ourselves on that is to try to
help developmentally, and and that's true for us too. I
mean people in our office, we're not finished products, you know,
(31:16):
We're still trying to become better folks. And so yeah,
that's absolutely true. So those difficult conversations, even though you
don't want to have them, once you get through them,
you feel like, Okay, we did the right thing. We
tried to help that person learn a good lesson and
maybe in the process we learned one as well.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Right now we're on the other side of it and
we're actually all better for it. So absolutely Okay, so we're.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Going to take our take a second commercial break now,
and when we come back, we're going to talk about
what Jeff's doing now and some of the larger plans
and opportunities that he sees in the near future. This
is the rich Comewell Golf Show. Welcome back to the
rich Comboll Golf Show. We're having a very very very
enjoyable conversation with Jeff Chilcote today. Jeff is an attorney,
(32:07):
a sports attorney, and he represents several LPGA and PGA
tour players and we are not naming names today but
just kind of getting the landscape of what that looks
like from from Jeff's viewpoint. Jeff has more than more
than five months experience.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
But we're not going to.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Say he's got you know, he's old, because he's not.
He's nowhere near that. But but he has a really,
really really keen eye on the golf landscape and and
and this and the corporate world that that goes into that.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So so, Jeff, obviously your firm is kind of where
you want to be.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I think you probably want to add like one player,
two players, do you know, let me ask you this question,
if you if you want to add a player, how
do you recruit them?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Sure, well, we we will evaluate a player not just
on their golf ability, but also on who they are
as a person, as I mentioned earlier, want to make
sure that they're going to be great in that entertainment setting.
But yeah, so we've got our eye on a couple
of people right now, and so we're always growing, I guess,
but you're part of it is you have to keep
(33:19):
up with the attrition because you have players retire. So
you know, we've had over the last few years, Uh,
some fantastic humans and fantastic golfers retire between you know, Drina,
Britney Lang, Britney Linscombe, Katherine Kirk, Stacy Lewis, a bunch
(33:40):
of them that have retired over the last number of years.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
And so we we.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Still work with them for as they do stuff in
the corporate world. But then we have to, you know,
add younger talent that is, you know, active out there
that are playing a tournament schedule. And so we're always
looking and but we're.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
We're pretty happy with what we have now.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
But I've got my eye on a couple of folks
that we're recruiting, and so what we'll do with that
is hopefully have some conversation with those folks, maybe even
get a chance to watch them play and make sure
that we as there's good uh a good fit between us,
and maybe watch them interact with some people to make
(34:21):
sure that their communication level is good. And so that's
kind of the process. It can take in some instances
a day or two, and in some cases it can
take years. So yeah, just depends on the situation on
how that goes and how long it goes.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, and I I gotta I gott always. I have
to assume that.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And I know it's not the same, but it's a
lot of hiring from within, correct, Like, because because you
have player a you know, Jane, Julie, Jenny, Tom and
Bill and like, these guys run into people and they're
like and new a new young player is like, hey,
I need somebody to help them, Like, hey, here's the
guy that, here's the farm, this.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Is this is where you want to go.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
I would say, yeah, absolutely, referral is massively important to you.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Correct, Yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
We early on, you know, when you didn't have a
lot of people out there, it was purely on your
own effort to go out there. But now at this stage,
we have been had some clients that have been really
good to us to make sure that they're keep an
eye out, and some of them will call and say,
you know, I just got paired at this player and
they're really good, and I don't I think either they
(35:33):
don't have an agent, or they're unhappy in their situation,
or I told them to call you, whatever that may be.
But yeah, that happens so much more now. So the
you know worse early on in my career and and
other folks that are in our office, they were focused
on the recruitment of players, and now it allows us
to be focused more on how do we manage the
(35:55):
player and rather than the recruitment of additional ones just
be because of exactly what you said. That referral from
someone else is so helpful.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Right, So so all right, So then before we've morph
into the area that I really want to talk about
for a couple of minutes, are you let me ask
you a very, very very you have to be in
a situation where you see LPGA Tour player PGA Tour
player play, are you ever not amazed at how good
(36:28):
they are?
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Well?
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Yes, I mean, I don't think the LPGA Tour, the
Legends Tour, which is the women's equivalent of the Champions Tour,
I don't think anybody realizes the quality of the play there.
And when you get up and close in personal, which
I've been so fortunate to be so often, and you
see what they're capable of doing with golf ball, it's unbelievable. Now,
(36:55):
there are different levels of ability too, so there are
every once in a while you have a player that
kind of squeaks on the tour, maybe got caught lightning
in a bottle at the last stage of Q school
and maybe it's premature for them to be out there,
or maybe they just they just got lucky. But for
the most part, the depth of talent is really deep
and amazing. And so I have, as I mentioned, been
(37:19):
very fortunate on those folks that I've worked with. But
and I've thought, I love the fact that I've had
an opportunity to influence golf and have a little tiny
piece of the growth of golf and more specifically the
growth of the LPGA Tour, and so I want to
make sure I mentioned that the Legends Tour a couple
(37:40):
of years ago a year and a half ago, had
asked if I would help them pursue additional tournament opportunities,
And so we've been trying to help the Legends tour
find more places to play because it is a product.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
That is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
You have these former LPGA players that are now just
a little bit older but can still play, and you
can get up close and personal to it at a
Legend event, and so we're trying to help them grow
their tour because it's a product that should be seen
by way more people than it is.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, and let's let's talk about that for a minute.
So how many how many events do you have right now?
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Well, it depends on how you look at it.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
If you consider some of the pro am events that
they do that are not full field stroke play events,
then they've got you know, ten or twelve type of
opportunities throughout the course of the year. But from a
stroke play standpoint, there's just a few events. There's going
to be the two majors that they have every year.
There's gonna be an event this fall in Atlanta, and
(38:45):
we've got a couple of leads on some events for
twenty twenty seven that we're excited about. But if once
you get out there and you see that, and you
get to see not just how great these players are
and how gifted they are with a golf club in
their hands, but how they interact. It's an experience like
no other. You know, you can get up close and
personal and have a discussion with these players that you
(39:08):
just can't do in other sports.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
That is so cool. That is so cool. So tell
me some of the players that are playing out.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
There on the Legends Tour. You've got, I mean you
Anica who you mentioned earlier, well, or I guess you
and I were.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Talking about that offline, but the Anica.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Is out there for a tournament or two a year.
She doesn't play all of them, but what a treat
to see her play. You have Julie Engster out there playing,
Angela Stanford, who's the current Solheim Cup captain.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
She plays as many of those events as she can.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
And and you have some really terrific talented women that
are out there. Laura Davies.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Last year, I saw Laura at an event in Utah.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
And there's so many names to mention, but really quality
human beings that are also incredible at golf.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Right, I mean, I I have a my my and
this is this is personal. I have no problem saying this.
My favorite player out there is Chris Cheddar. I've known
Chris for a long time and and and she has
been nothing but absolutely awesome to to me personally. To this,
(40:23):
this sounds really egotistical, but this show, she's she's she's
jumped on twice and and she was part of my
hundredth show, which was really really really cool.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
And then and she.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Actually has reached out to She's taken a phone call
from a fourteen year old girl that I teach that's
trying to get better. And the girl was like, well,
if you could ask you, I said, do me a favorite.
Let me let me see if I can figure this out.
So I I texted Chris and she's like, tell her
here's you know, my number, just sort of call me.
And she spent like fifteen minutes on the phone with
(40:55):
her and like.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
Yeah, I'm not at all.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
And then the girl came back to me and she
said wow.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
She was like really, I'm like what, like, you can
say it it's like normal. I'm like, yeah, she is normal.
She's just really good at playing golf. She's a normal person.
I mean, you know, like she has kids, and she
has she goes to the groceries.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
She's normal. But she just knows something about this that
you don't and she's willing to share it with you.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
And yes, and that's the beauty is Chris is exactly that,
so sweet. But there's so many others just like Chris.
So it you know, if anybody takes the time to
go to an event, at some point you'll realize and
uh and just become a fan. It's it's it's an
impossibility to be there and not experience the legends to
(41:43):
her event and not become a fan.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
So, and I guess I can reveal to the public
at large is we are working and I'll say it
like this, Jeff and I are working on getting a
LPGA Legends event to Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
It's a great it's a great golf course. It's hosted several.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Several Westernia Opens US Open qualifying site for several years
and Westervirnia.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Amateur at one time.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
And we are working on that with with a with
a pro am kind of model, because we're going to
try to raise some money for the longest running charity
golf tournament in longest consecutive consecutively running.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
I never know how to say that.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Charity event in Parkersburg, and that's early early infancy stages.
But we're working on doing that for twenty twenty seven
because I think.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
That it would be a I think it would be
a boon to the event.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
I think it would be awesome to have them those
players here. I think my members, our members at Parkersburg
Country Club would love to spend a few days with
around those ladies. And I think I think an event
(43:15):
that we're targeting to raise the money for it, which
is United Way, would be greatly benefited from that.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And one of the reasons, and I say.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
This for no ego affectation, is because Jeff has been
so easy to work with and because you have been
so easy to work with, Jeff, and so I'm really
excited to try to develop that for this area.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Thank you for those kind words, and yeah, how cool
if we can really pull this off, not just to
have the fun of it, because it is a fun event,
but also the potential impact to the young folks that
come out and see this. And you know, who knows
that what trajectory has changed. You know, someone decides that
they want to put more effort into golf. Often it
(44:00):
produces the college scholarship and and golf is such a
great tool outside you know, of course, it would be
great if it meant someone's career was changed and they
became a golfer. But golf is such a useful tool
to use from a business standpoint.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
I am always excited to.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
See and hear about folks and how they can use
that to the betterment of their career.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Yeah, it's it is interesting because I have and I
spoke a little bit. I was speaking last week with
Tom Attis, the former PJ of America President of pg
of America, and we talked about you know, he talked
about all of his assistants he's.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Had and and some of the ones I've had. But
I look at it like I've made an impact.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
I've been fortunate enough to to help make an impact
in the in the larger world. I have a spokesperson
in Congress, you know.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
I have and I say I have because I do.
I have a I have a technical writer for Google.
You know, I have school teachers.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
I have principles that have worked for me and like
and because of this game.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
And if we could use this event too.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Maybe obviously improve United Way charities and and maybe maybe
they give a little bit of money to get somebody
into college or maybe they get as you said, somebody
gets goes and plays at you know, X y Z
university Division III level and they get education or Division
two get education through it. That's that's how we that's
(45:27):
how we build communities with the game of golf.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
And that's my mindset with that.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Yeah, that's fantastic, and uh yeah, that's the beauty of golf.
You I don't think a lot of people are saying
that about uh, you know, the NBA type the way
you use basketball.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
You know, at least it's very few, but golf is
unique in that respect. It's is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah, that's and and that's kind of where we're going.
And the good the good news for me.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
The good news for me is I did sit down
with the organizers of the event and and they are
first of all there they were like, wow, wow, do
you you know we never thought of that. I'm like, well,
you know, and I made some dumb joke about you
you stay awake at night until like one thirty in
the morning thinking of things that something comes to you.
But but but I'm like, I'm like, you know, and
(46:14):
and they're like, do you think that will work? And
I said, I guarantee you one way it won't work
as we don't try to do it. I mean, it's
it's the same thing I told my my my children
about trying something.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
I guarantee you one way you will not achieve it
is if you don't try it, you don't try.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
To achieve it. You know what with t s. Eliott said,
everything's in the try. Everything else is just after it,
so you know, so it's that's that's what we're doing,
and that's what we're gonna do. And you know, and
because you know, obviously if you shoot from the moon,
if you miss, you're pretty far out there.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
You know, you're pretty far out there. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Well, Jeff, I promised you it wouldn't feel like a
full hour, but it's been a full hour. And I
want to tell you thank you for spending time with
us today.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
It's it's been.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Awesome talking with you and as always, obviously we'll be
in touch, but thanks for everything you're doing out there
trying to trying to grow the game of golf and
and try to make some positive impacts through your effort
as well.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
Thanks Rich, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
You bet you. This is the Rich Combwall Golf Show.
Speaker 6 (47:28):
Over one hundred episodes, a whole lot of stories told,
and it's only growing from here. To catch up on
past episodes of The Rich Komwall Golf Show, search for
The Rich kom Wall Golf Show on the free iHeartRadio
app and tune in next Saturday at nine for another
episode of The Rich kom Wall Golf Show
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