May 23, 2025 • 50 mins
Cindy Miller joins Rich to share some stories from her playing days, the inspiration behind her book, and more. Afterwards, Rich talks about the upcoming U.S. Open in Oakmont.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Rich Kalbgof show this week as we
head into Memorial Day weekend, I am very, very very
fortunate to be joined by Cindy Miller. Cindy is a
greatly accomplished player and a greatly accomplished teacher, and a
greatly accomplished a lot of different things. But we're going
(00:22):
to kind of focus on a couple of different aspects
of what Cindy does. But first off, Cindy, thanks for
coming on the show today.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Oh thanks for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Awesome, awesome, so as I do with everybody. So get
us started on how you got started in golf.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, my parents played, and they dragged me to as
a golf course every weekend. And I didn't really like golf,
and the pool was my babysitter until I got fat
in eighth grade and the schmid twins, who were really
cute started to call me ten time testing. So I
quickly found kind of version to swimming, and my only
(01:05):
other choice was the golf course. So I started to play,
and my dad got me lessons and the pro said
I could be good, and I happened to be a
competitive control freak. And so I started to play.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, so that is in the town of Dunkirk, New York. Correct,
Silver Creek, SILVERCA. You're in Silver Creek, okay. So so
you started to play, and obviously you you get pretty good,
but you decide that you are going to migrate across
the country to play college golf.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, mom and her friends, you know, I played against
the women at the club, and of course they didn't
like getting beat by a punk, and they my mother
and her friends took me to an LPGA Tour event
when I was seventeen, and I had never seen, you know,
somebody that could really hit it way and Laura Baugh
(02:01):
was playing and she's a year older than me, and
I thought, holy wow, this is amazing. And she had,
you know, beautiful clothes on and a beautiful golf bag
and gorgeous shoes and they could kill the ball. And
I came home and I thought, okay, I want to
play on the LPGA Tour and I want to kick
her butt. And so the dream was born, and I
(02:25):
said I want to play on the tour. My father goes, well,
you're not good enough. I don't know how youre going
to do that. But so I wrote to the Ben
Hogan Company because I played their clubs and Golf Digest magazine,
and I asked them that they knew of any colleges
that had women's golf teams, and they actually wrote back
and gave me a list of names, and the University
(02:47):
of Miami stuck out, because if you're from Buffalo, you
know that's where you'd want to go, right And they
wrote back and said, you're not good enough to be
on the team, but she could be a walk on.
And my dad said, you've got one year to earn
a scholarship or you got to come home. And the
golf coach. Really I never met the coach. It was
(03:07):
the athletic director, Isabella Hutchinson, and so I never visited
the school, and my parents didn't even take me. A
family friend who was a captain for Eastern Airlines at
the time, lived in Coral Gables, Florida, and had a
cottage at the beach on Lake Erie and said, you know,
I'll take her down when I fly back to Coral Gables,
(03:28):
and he and his family helped me off at my
dorm and I sat on my bed and cried for
a little while and thought, wait, you know what are
you doing? You're crazy? And then I went and met
the coach and he said, yeah, I did say you
could be on the team, and that's what started it all.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So you literally how long did you cry tell the truth?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Probably an hour?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, well you had to be scared to death.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I was like, what the hell what? And here's the truth.
So my parents were both out and I was the
youngest of three kids, and my father used to beat
the crap out of my mother. So I was left
to protect her, to make sure he didn't kill her. Right,
And so I was running away from horror, running towards
(04:16):
the dreams. So I was really petrified, and yet I
was like, I got to get out of here. But
I hope to God he doesn't kill her, because if
he does, it's my fault. But yet I was being
pulled towards this huge dream and I was like, I
got to go, and yet he said, okay, you got
one year during a scholarship, but you're not good enough
to be here. So I'm sitting on the bed thinking,
(04:37):
I hope to God this coach wasn't lying. Right now,
you're trapped like a rat with no cheese, And so
again I Thank God for Norm Parsons for saying yes
to me, because the man changed my life. I mean,
he gave me a chance. You know. Did I work
my ass off? Of course I did, you know, but
(04:58):
again he said yes, Thank you Norm.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So all right, so obviously you you stay there for
four years, and you are earned your scholarship because obviously
you'd stay there for four years. So when did you
Who did you play with at Miami?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, a bunch of no names. In fact, you know,
when we won the national championship the first one my
junior year, we had T shirts made Miami no names
stroke it better? Uh, Kathy Moore from oak Kill from Rochester,
Mary Lawrence from Canton, New York. Me, Sarah levc from Illinois.
(05:41):
So Kathy, Mary, Cindy, Sarah Levac and Kathy what's her name?
Oh my god? Why am I braindeed? Carol and Hill?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So okay, So I like how you slipped that in
there that when we won the won the first one
because you won two in a row.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, and we played against Nancy Lopez and Tulsa. Yeah,
and you know all these hot shots that were supposed
to kick everybody's butts. Kathy Morse won the national championship.
I mean, the Kathy Morse was good, and she went
on to play the tour, won on the tour, but again,
she wasn't a superstar. She was quiet and shy and
(06:26):
you know, quietly kicked everybody's.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Butts, right, right, So leaving Miami, you now you're going
to turn professional obviously, right, You guys want two national championships,
You've got to go do that, right, all right?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You got to try, and I you know, first time
I tried, I didn't make it. Again my whole life,
I've been told I'm not good enough, right, And so
then my dad died the week before the first National Championship,
and so I got no father, mother who's trying to
run the fledgling business, and no money. And so I
(07:05):
get in the car and I drive to California by
myself to play the Mini Tour, Which again, I mean,
would you let your daughter, who's you know, twenty years old,
drive to California by yourself? No? Right, you know, I
got a CB radio. I call myself the Buffalo Obama.
I'm talking on the CBE radio with a bunch of
(07:25):
truckers sleeping in rest areas, which again, why the hell
would you do that?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Right?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
No cell phones?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Right, there's no cell phone. Right, there's no cell phone.
There's no cell phone. And you got to make sure
you have a dime in your car because you have
to call somebody. That's what you're going to use.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Right, It's just ridiculous. So I get to California, I
play the Mini Tour, I win a Mini Tour event. Now,
I had met Alan Miller when I was at Miami,
so that we used to play skins games at the
rat Scaler against the guy's golf teams. And then we'd
(08:04):
go to the rat Skeller and have beers on Friday nights.
And there's this guy sitting at the bar with one
hundred dollars bills buying everybody's shots. Of course, if you're
from Buffalo, you know how.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
To do shots, right, of course you do.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And I'm not stupid. I'm going to make friends with
the guy with one hundred dollar bills. And so his
name was dirt Bag, and he was a professional gambler.
And he's telling me how he's won of Pat Bradley's sponsors.
And the guy's twenty four years old. I'm like, yeah, right, okay,
you know one of Pat Bradley sponsors, and it ends
up it was true, and he said, my good friend
(08:40):
Alan Miller's coming to play at Durell. He's on the
PGA tour. I'll get your free ticket. I'm like, okay, sure,
and he gets me a ticket. And I was taking
lessons at Darrell from Eddie Bush and so I know
how to get there, and you know, YadA YadA, YadA,
And I catch him on the back nine at Durell
and number ten. It's a dog leg left car four
(09:02):
and I see this guy swing and I'm like, oh
my god, does anybody swing that slow in that smooth?
So I follow him the whole back nine and after
he's done, he says, you know, do you want me
to help you with the swing? So, because it's a resort,
you know, part of the range is blocked off for
the tour players to hit balls and the other path
is for the resort guests. So he's helped me with
(09:24):
my swing. And Ben Crenshaw walks by and go, hey, Elan,
what are you doing? Gives him a little wink. We'd
become buddies, you know, because Alan's like a shy, quiet
golf guru, who reads directions, and I'm the lunatic who
doesn't read directions and just wants to kill the ball,
doesn't want to practice. So every year he would come
(09:45):
down for Durrell and Inverary and we would all go
out to dinner, you know, me dirt bag and a
couple of the golf golfers and stuff, and we just
would have fun. So when I'm on the Mini Tour,
kind of know how to find him wherever he is
on tour and I'm leading the tour event and I'm like,
(10:07):
I need to find Alan because I don't know what
I'm doing and I don't want to choke, and I
want to win this event. So I call Alan and
I'm like, I need some help. I want to win
this event. He says, where you can't go out and
try to win. You got to play each shot one
at a time. I'm like, what do you mean?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I like it? What do you mean? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah? Because I'm like I want when right? He says,
you got to get one shot at a time. I'm like, okay,
you just go out there and you hit you know,
your t shot in the fairway and then you try
to play smart. I go well, what do you mean
play smart? You don't fire at the pins because if
you fire at the pins, you're going to bury it
in the bunker. I'm like, well that makes sense. So
(10:52):
he's got this strategy of eighteen greens. Okay, what's that mean? Well,
I just try to fire at the middle of the
green and then I you know, if I hit it,
cut and I cut it every time at the same place,
I'm going to hit eighteen greens, which is why he
was in the top twenty five of all fairways hit
and all greens in regulation on the PGA Tour. Right,
(11:14):
I'm like, oh, well, you know, and I don't hit
any greens and hit it up and down.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Right. I want to win. I want to win eighteen Yeah,
I want to win.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
So yeah, which is why opposites the tracks right right, Right. Finally,
I said, hey, are we ever getting married? Because this
guy's too shy to ask nobody, And I'm thinking, I
get I need this guy so I can learn how
to play better. Right, I'm not stupid. Right, So I
won the tournament the next day and then I qualified
(11:45):
to play on the tour. But again, of the best
in the world, I'm the worst, right, now she qualifies
the play, but then she loses her card. Mm hm,
So now I'll let you talk.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Wow. So so that's that's that's an incredible story. First
of all, let me back up a little bit. What
the hell were you thinking driving across that country?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I gotta go play in the mini tour. I gotta
learn how to play better.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
That's incredible, that's incredible. Were you ever scared?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
No, I got pissed off. I got a speeding ticket
into Mexico. I was following these freaking truck drivers and
I'm stupid.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Whatever?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Oh my god? Wow? So okay, So all right, so
how many tour events did you play in?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Oh? God, I have no idea, never counted. But I
played enough and made enough cuts, right you know, you know,
to get my class APGA card, but they won't give
it to me, right right? Whatever?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, I understand. So so okay, So let me before
we morphed into the second a second part of your story,
tell me, like, Okay, so, who's the best player you
ever played with on tour?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh? Kathy Whitworth, Joanne Carner.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Whitworth was that good, wasn't she?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They were just so smart? You know, I mean, just
so smart. So I used to sit behind him on
the range and they know, what are you doing? And
I'm watching you? Why I know, because I'm gonna learn something, right,
you know, And they just shake their head at me. Again,
kids nowadays aren't smart enough to do that. I mean,
(13:44):
when I qualified for the tour again, I'm from Buffalo,
so I thought, okay, how are you going to practice
this win? And well, I gotta find a golf course
in Florida. So what are you going to do? Oh? Well,
Bob Rich Senior, who owns rich Don Dairy Kremer Rich products, Right, Oh,
he owns a golf course, and why bomb? Okay, So
write him a letter and ask him if you can
work at his golf course so he can practice. So
(14:05):
I did, and he wrote back and he goes, well,
Joeanne Carner is a member of my course. He might
not want you to practice there, so you got to
ask her. So I said, okay. So the next tournament
I play is in Wheeling, West Virginia, and at pours
rain and we get stuck in a cabin in the
rain delay. Well, who's in the cabin with me? Joanne Carner? Well,
(14:28):
I had met her at DREL because she used to
take lessons from Eddie Bush. So I walk up to
her and I said, I am Cindy Kessler. I met
you at DREL. You may not remember me. And I said,
I live in Buffalo and I need a place to
practice in the Winner. And Bob rich Senor said to
ask you if it's okay if I practice at Palm
(14:50):
Beach National. He goes, yeah, why would I care? And
I said, well, you are Joanne Carner and you're in
the Hall of Fame and I'm just a punk from
Silver Creek. He goes, of course I don't care. I'm like, well,
that's kind of what I thought. But and she said no,
it's fine. I said, oh, great, perfect, I'll tell him.
I said, I think I'm going to work in the
pro shop. I'm not sure where I'm going to live.
(15:11):
She goes, we had a trailer sitting at the campground.
You want to stay there? And I go absolutely. So
I lived in their camper with cockroaches that were twelve
feet long, all right, right? And she lived in her
on the beach.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So again, you know, you just have to ask for
what you need. So then I would get my daily
beating every afternoon, and she would teach me. She goes, Tindy,
what the hell are you doing? Hit the shot like this,
and then you know, you owe me a dollar because
I just kicked your ass right, and then you know,
hit the shot like this. And then she and Don
came to our wedding and Silver Creek, and then the
(15:49):
day after our wedding we went to a Bills game
and we say in Rich's box, you know, I mean again,
stuff that's so cool, is so cool, We're so lucky.
But again, you got to ask for what you want. Yeah, yeah,
I done playing a tour event. You know, I t
off first because I sucked, and then I finished. And
(16:11):
go watch her play and just watch how she hit
shots because she was smarter and better and hit it
so far right, and just learn. Go learn. Find somebody
that does what you want to do, and go learn
from them. That's why would you take a lesson from
somebody who's never done what you want to do? Sorry,
(16:32):
but that's that's true.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Okay, So when we come back from this break where
you're going to talk about like what you just said,
which is which is the next stage of your career?
This is the rich comwoll Golf Show. Welcome back to
rich Comwagolf Show. I am joined this week by Cindy
Miller with Cindy Miller, and Cindy was just telling us
about how she got her start on out of Miami
(16:56):
and walked on at Miami and just oh, by the way,
win two national championships and then travel to California and
win tour events and then play the tour and then
meet people that teach you things that you want to learn.
And so, Cindy, so now you're on the tour, off
(17:16):
the tour. You know, I don't to put it that simply,
but you you gotta at this at some point you
have to decide that are you're gonna stay out there
or are you gonna do something else? Right? Yeah, so
you decide to do something else?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Well, I didn't really decide. It was kind of decided,
right the tour.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Just the tour decided for you.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, for God, yeah exactly. So you lose your card
and we get married on Halloween and I'm thinking, Okay,
I'm gonna I'm gonna get married to this PGA Tour
player who's played in the Masters five times, who's the
second peerst ball striker Dave Palace is ever tested. So
I've got an in house golf guru. So I'm gonna,
(18:02):
you know, take a chill till get my golf swing underway,
get my brain right, and go back and requalify for
the tour because we're the only married couple in the
world that have ever played on the PGA Tour, the
LPGA Tour, the Legends Tour, and the PGA Tour Champions Right,
So that's my plan. And but then I get pregnant
a month after we get married, so I'm like, oh,
(18:25):
now I'm gonna have a kid. So I go from
LPGA Tour player to PGA Tour wifey pooh to PGA
Tour mommy. So I'm like, okay, I guess I'm not
supposed to play. So then I start to caddy and
I think, okay, well, I'm going to teach this guy
how to putt and then we're going to get rich
and live happily ever after. So he plays for five
(18:49):
years and he and he starts to play better, and
then he loses his card and he says to me,
I really don't want to play anymore. So the last
he played were I'm pregnant with Jamie, our second kid,
and I start having issues. I go into early labor
and they can't really stop it, so they put me
(19:10):
in the hospital, which you know that was no fun. No,
I'm trapped like a rat without cheese. We've got a
daughter who's about three. Thank god, his mother and his
sister were able to take care of her. While I'm
in the hospital. He's trying to go play. You know,
he's staying home as long as he can. He runs
out to a tour event. You know, he's missing the
(19:31):
codd He's coming home making sure I'm okay stop in
early labor. But then Jamie gets born or shows up.
And then a few hours after Jamie's born, they see
him turning blue. They have to take him via hospital
to a neo natal intensive carrying it at a children's hospital.
So all his crap's going on, and Alan missing cuts.
(19:52):
So he loses his card and I'm like, okay, let's
go back to Q school and he goes, you know,
I don't really want to play anymore. I go, what
do you mean you don't want to play? What are
you going to do? You know, this is all you've
ever done? He was the superstar. He was the number
one ammer in the country with Lanny Watkins. He's won
every you know, amateur tournament in the world. He was
(20:12):
I don't know, but I don't want to play anymore.
And Alan's shy and quiet, you know, he's like Ernie
else and he never really had a job. And he goes,
I don't know, but I don't want to play. And
he's not a salesman. He was an insurance major. He
took a test and they're like, no, you're not a salesman. Well,
you know, anybody could have told you that. So he said,
(20:37):
I think I want to teach. I'm like, teach what golf?
I was like, you want to teach golf. I'm like,
shoot me, I don't want to teach golf in a
private country club. And you know, I have Missus Smith,
you know, Cindy. Cindy helped me. And I'm like, oh
my god, that's the worst thing I want to do.
(20:58):
He goes, no, I'll help you. This is the to
be fun. I'm like, fun because he's a student of
the golf swing.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You know, that's fun for him, That's right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It's fun for him. I'm like no, absolutely not. So
he was teaching at the club Prinscole Country Club, and
of course now the head pro doesn't like him because
everybody wants a lesson from Allen. So then the club says,
we we don't really want you here because you're taking
business away from the head pro. And I'm like, okay,
(21:30):
where are we going to go? Well, nobody wants you.
You play it on tour. So then I pick up
the phone and I call the guy in Buffalo that
they had this outdoor discount place right in indoor range.
You know it's Buffalo. You got him indoor? Yeah, no,
(21:50):
he can come up, yeah, and you can come up parentee.
So he drove up and he stayed at my mother's
house and people were paying him cash to give lessons
do them. He goes, this is pretty good. So I said, well,
should I come up with the kids? And he said yeah.
So drove up with the kids and my mom watched
(22:13):
the kids, and you know, he's like, all right, tell
him this and tell him that. I'm like, oh, all right, really,
so I did. And then I'm like, all right, what
do you tell them if they do this? And what
do you tell them if they do that? And then
it was like, it made total sense to me. It's
never it was nothing like anybody had ever told me.
(22:34):
And it's funny because then they say, well, how the
hell did you play the tour? I go, I don't know.
And then I said to him, where were you when
I was fifteen? This makes total sense. If I had
known this, I really would have been good, right, And
so I cyndiized it, you know, I dumb blonded it down,
(22:55):
and then people started to like it because I'm like, no, no, no,
don't keep your head down. It's got nothing to do
with it. It's got everything to do with the club
had getting down to the ground, and Ito cares where
your head is. You can look up and still do this.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, there's a lady out there that does that every time,
and she wants everything. Don't tell me where your head
needs to be.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And that's the committee. The committee
of day is going to tell you everything you need
to do, and they're always doing it wrong, and I go,
you know, don't listen to them, do it my way.
And they were like, oh my god, this works, and
that they would tell their friends, and then everybody came
and now I'm starting to have fun because they can
be Cindy and I can be the badass bitch from
Buffalo and then they're telling their friends and so again,
(23:38):
I could never have the you know, club job at
the private club because I'd get fired in two seconds
because I would say something I shouldn't say, which is
good because that don't want the private head pro job, right, no,
and I want four hundred people tell me what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
So it worked, so okay, perfect. So you just I'm
assuming you fell in love with it, right, because I
mean you had to fall in love with it because
you are so good at it. You can tell that
you love it.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Well, I didn't fall in love with it. What I
fell in love with And this is my sick competitive
nature is you know people don't. I can't do this
because everybody has failed because everyone's told them what they're
doing wrong. So that's what's so sick about our business.
Everyone has failed at golf. Everyone we've all failed, right,
(24:34):
Rory failed, you know a few weeks ago, because it's
a little demon in our head tells us how we're
going to screw it up, right, right. So what I
love about it as I look people in the eye
and they have no idea, But my little competitive nature
looks them in the eye. And what I'm saying to
(24:54):
myself is, you know what, honey or mister, I'm going
to make you better than you ever thought that you
could be. And you have no idea that that's what
I'm going to do to you today. And then we're
both gonna win, right, And that's that's my little challenge
to myself and to them. And then they have no
idea that that's what I'm thinking. And when they leave,
we're both smiling.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, I want you to be better than you want
to be. Yeah, that's simple, all right. So aside from that,
I mean that you offer so much more. So talk
to me about like you do stuff beyond the golf swing.
(25:36):
Do you do stuff with people's lives?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I do?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
So we're all broken, We're all yeah, we are broken.
We are broken. You are correct, We're all broken and
a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Of us don't think we are, but we are, you know, right,
And again, if you're willing to admit it, you know,
I got I got to think called the it bucks,
right And because I'm willing to share my story, you know,
for my most of my life I was trying to
hide it. Don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody, you know,
it's a house of horrors, and keep it a secret.
(26:10):
And like the whole neighborhood can hear what's going on
here anyway, So now I don't really care. So there's
three things in the box. First thing in the box
is a nail. Most of us are whining about, you know,
oh I can't do this and I ate my job
and my husbands drive me nuts. I'm like, shut up,
but get off the nail. It's been poking you long enough.
I don't want to hear you whine. You know I
can't hit the box. Shut up. I'm going to show
(26:31):
you how to do it right. And then the second
thing in the box is a mirror. If you're willing
to look in the mirror, you know, what are your strengths,
what are your weaknesses? In the year a little bit
too bossy, you know, look in the mirror and see
some things about yourself that you can fix. And then
the third thing in the box is a seed. Let's
plan a seed. Let's get better. Let's me do this,
(26:53):
get something, get better. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, it's interesting because because I, you know, I I'm
an alcoholic, so like that. The craziest thing in the
world was my father kin to me. He's like, hey, look,
you're you're an alcoholic. You need it, you need to
fix this. And like, in order to just say out loud, hey,
guess what, you know, I don't need anybody to give
me a hug. I just need you to understand it.
And I know it. So if you say it out
(27:16):
loud and all of a sudden, it becomes not scary anymore.
It's a it's a it's a thing. And you know,
you talk, you talk about the mirror. I mean, you know,
my wife asked me one time, She's like, how come
you how come I see your shaving? Why do you
shave in the shower? Just because I don't like I
didn't like the guy in the mirror. Now I like
the guy in the mirror. I'm okay with that guy.
I'm okay with that guy.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Right. Well, Alan's an alcoholic, and Alan tried to commit
suicide and we were going to get divorced and then
we ended up not signing the papers in the courthouse.
I mean, again, this whole thing's a miracle. Well, I mean,
hega tour serious Rado, who did a one hour feature
on him last May in Mental Health Month, and they
all said, you know, you want to share your story.
(27:57):
Of course, we want to share our story. Freak America
were together, try again, and who cares? You want to
help people because we're all broken.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Right, Talk to me about your books. Your book is
really cool. Talk to me about your bo.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Oh it's called it's called take another Shot, it's business,
golfer life. And again it's never too late to take
another shot. I mean, I got people that are eighty
six years old come in to boot camp. I'm not
too old. No, you're not too old. Let's right again,
at anything, right, you know, if you're willing to get
off the nail, look in the mirror and plan a seed.
We're not dead yet, so let's have some fun doing
(28:32):
something anything, you know. Yeah, it cares.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah. I had a guy on the range the other day.
He's like, well, I have you know, I have like
prostate cancer, and you know it's kind of hard for
me to do. I'm like okay. He's like, that doesn't
bother you. I'm like, well, no, it doesn't bother me.
Because if it doesn't bother you, let's just go figure
it out. Yeah, golf golf ball go we wanted to go.
(28:57):
We'll get there, golf ball go where we wanted to go.
Oh you know what, what about next week? And well
next week we'll look at it then. And it's amazing
to me that people people don't don't buy into that.
And you talk about you talk about get over yourself.
I gave a golf lesson, said, uh, give a golf
lesson to Jack Ham last year and the guy won
four Super Bowls of the Steelers and and he had
(29:18):
his shoulder replaced. I said, does that hamper you at all?
He goes, oh no, he goes things like that, don't
hamper me. I'm like, if everybody could take that broken
and just say it's it is what it is. It's
not going to hamper me. I'm just gonna do it.
We can do it.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Belief system too, it's your belief system and what do
you believe and why do you believe it? Because it
came from an experience. And again sometimes it's your parents
and what are your parents instilled in you? And is
that the truth? And when you and when you figure
out that, oh my god, that's not the truth. But
I thought it was the truth. It's really not the truth. Well,
(29:57):
then you can change your beliefs. Yeah, and you're like,
oh my god, my whole life I thought this was true,
but it's not. Well, let's change it and let's take
another shot, right, because like, wow, it's freedom.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Holy cow, I know, I know. It's it's like a
blank canvas. I get one. Look, I got one. I
gave myself one. Yeah, I gave myself one. It's free, exactly.
It's free because I gave it to myself. I didn't
cost me a thing. What soho? Who who you? Who
you're working with? Now?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Like?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Who do we know? I mean, because I know you
people don't realize you teach some pretty pretty awesome people.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
But you know what, I don't really teach that many
famous people. I'm really don't I teach, you know, famous
normal people. You know. Have I taught famous people? Yeah?
But you know to me that doesn't matter, right, you
know what's really cool? And I'm humbled by this because
(30:57):
in the book, I've asked the chairman of the Board
of Delaware North, mister Jeremy Jacobs. I said, you know what,
will you share a story because your company and a
lot of your people helped me when I needed help
when my dad died. And now I don't want to cry.
And I had no money and I qualified for the tour.
I qualified for the tour, and I didn't have enough
(31:19):
money to pay an entry fee. Your guys that ran
Buffalo Raceway put together sponsorship thing, and so his chapter
is switching roles. And mister Jacobs told a story about
when his father died and he had to become the
chairman of the Board of Delaware North. And I don't
know if you know what they do, but he owns
the Boston Bruins, and he owns and runs all the
(31:44):
effect the PGA. Last week he did all the food
service for that does the food service for the bill
Stadium whatever. So he wrote a story about how dad
died when he was twenty eight years old and he
had to take over the chairman of the board of
Delaware North. And then Chris Bok who owns New eraic
cap well, his dad, Dave Cook, was one of my sponsors.
(32:05):
And so Chris Cook's chapter is in the book. Taken
Another Shot is vision. And I dove in the shallow
into the pool when I was nine years old and
lost my vision. I went blind, and you know, I
was diving for a penny. Of course I got the penny,
and then I came up and I was like, wow,
I just dashed the crip out of my head. And
(32:26):
then I couldn't see and I was in Children's hospital
and I said, Chris, I need you to write a
chapter in the book about your vision for new era
cap which is their gazillion Dylan you know, billion whatever.
And Danielle and her daughter his wife came in for
a golf lesson last night and I sent them a
couple copies of the book and I said, thank you
(32:48):
so much for writing in the book. She goes, I
need two hundred and fifty copies of the book because
our big foundation golf tournaments July twenty eighth. I got
all the Major League Baseball guys and the NFL coming
in to ok Hill and they're going to give out
the books. She goes, I need two hundred and fifty
copies of the book, which is pretty cool, but they're
going to give that out. A big shotbackers and the
(33:12):
owner and the guy who started Donald Ross Sportswear wrote
a chapter in the book about dreams. You know, I
had a big dream. And Jim Kelly, who backs my
nonprofit pursue You're a dot Org. I get a grant
from Jim Kelly every year from Kelly for kids. So,
(33:34):
you know whatever, I love Jim Kelly.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
He's he's from Pittsburgh. We're okay with him. He's from
Pittsburgh're okay with okay with him?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah again. You know John Gerson from kk R, he
wrote a chapter resilience. You know, Jane Blaylock wrote about pressure.
You know, she put on tour forever. She's a good
friend of mine. She's been a mentor forever. You know. Anyway, again,
all these people me so.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
So you helped them.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Tommy schaff from Major League Sales is awesome, from Saint
Louis is whatever. So a lot of these people have
helped me. You got to give back. Yeah, so you
can go to Amazon and buy the book Take another
shot Business Golfer Life. In fact, the e book right
now is on sale for a ninety nine cents. Well,
(34:24):
so if you like e books, yeah, I like the book,
give me a book, Go buy the book.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That's awesome. Cindy, I know you got to run. I
knew this would be awesome. I can't tell how much
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Oh, thank you. You are getting me.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
You're you're you know, I was. I was in Dunkirk
for a while, and you know, obviously right down the
street from Silver Creek, and you you are, you are
and still are and always will be a legend in
that area and in the country. And just know that
a lot of people look up to you for a
lot of different reasons. And some of that has to
do with the golf swing, but a lot of it
(35:00):
has to do with how you kind of impact our life.
So I just want you to know I appreciate you
doing it. I really do.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Thank you, honey, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
All Right, I'll talk to you soon. Okay, thank you too.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Keep doing good stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Thanks man, I'll talk to you.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Soon, okay, honey, Bye bye bye.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
This is the Rich Comono Golf Show. Welcome back to
the Rich Commono Golf Show. I'm obviously a little bit
sad that I couldn't keep up Sydney Miller on for longer,
because it's a fascinating story, fascinating person. If you hear
the early struggles and the childhood struggles and and just
(35:38):
the stuff like that. It's just and and if you
see her now, you know you would think that, you know, actually,
if you see her now you can you can sense it.
But it's it's incredible, it's incredible. She she just she's
so it's so honest and and so so neat about it.
(35:59):
It's just it's just really really really she's just really
good about just being really forthright and honest. And and
everybody has Everybody's broken, that's her big thing. Everybody's broken.
And let's see if we can't give herself a clean
slate today and then because this is all we've got.
And and it's a very very very good teacher, very
good teacher of the game of golf, but a very
(36:20):
good teacher of the game of life too. And and
you know when she says that she yells at people,
and she's not kidding. I know people will go to
see her for their golf swing and she yells at
him like, you know, like not like charl sergeant yell
at him, but like what are you doing? Like what's
going on there? So but for the rest of the show,
(36:41):
first off again, a final kind of wrap up here.
Cindy's awesome. She's super helpful, and I was very honored
to have her on. And her husband was a very
good player, I mean, very good player. And and he
he's really shy and quiet, right, I have him on too,
(37:03):
But he's a he's a he's a pretty special guy too.
They're a pretty pretty special couple. But but so to
wrap that all up, thank you to Cindy. And I
know that Allen was kind of stage whisperer, a little
bit of a couple of names, and and so it
was great to have them on. Now going forward for
(37:23):
the next for this segment, we're just going to talk
a little bit about local stuff. We're going to talk
about a couple of things that are going on locally
as we head into Memorial Day weekend. First of all,
I this is a this is a kind of a
personal statement I I have I've had been fortunate enough
(37:43):
to have in what is a long becoming a long career,
like every day it gets longer. Obviously a lot of
young people that have worked for me and clean golf clubs,
clean golf carts, you know, you know, uh, you know,
vacuum floors, you know, bring up, bring up merchandise or
(38:09):
membership stuff for you know, uh, merchandise and and greens
fees and carts and all that fun stuff. And I
and I've never failed to be be proud of all
of them because they've all kind of made their own way.
And you know, ones in Washington, d C. Is in
his name, is in the Congressional record. One was worked
(38:32):
for Google, and and when one's one's a doctor and
and it's just it's incredible. But one of the things
that that I that I always do and I'm gonna
do again is on Monday, uh, Memorial Day, I send
them all, because they're all young people, I send them
all a message. And the message is that Memorial Day.
(38:56):
And this has nothing to do with golf, but Memorial
Day is actually to remember those who, as Lincoln put it,
gave the last full measure of devotion and which means
they died in service to their country. And well, I'm
all happy about fireworks on fourth of July, and I'm
all happy about taking a day off on I don't
get it off, but everybody gets a day off on
(39:18):
at Labor Day, and you know, football season starts. It's
always great. Memorial Day is in this country is seen
as the start of the start of summer. But it
is designed to remember those who gave the last full
measure of devotion. And that is the that that line
(39:40):
is from the Gettysburg Address and if you go to
the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, d C. It's on the
wall of the Lincoln Memorial along with his second inauguration address,
but Lincoln's second auguration address. But I get very emotional
when I read it. I get very emotional when I
when I I hear it, it's the last full measure
(40:03):
of devotion because I truly believe that there are not
I do not have what those people have. You know,
I've had. I've been honored by people who have told
me that I would have done whatever I needed to
do if somebody told me, you have to go do
this in the military. And I don't know that. I like,
I'm thankful that they have faith in me. But so
(40:27):
I want everybody to have a ton of fun. And
everybody's probably gonna hear this on Saturday, and the podcast
will come out following Tuesday, so I'll be talking about
the day before. But just remember to take a moment.
My children. I will send them a message to my
children are told and to just take up a moment
of thanks and just remember those who gave the last
(40:48):
full measure of devotion so we could have the world
we live in now. And that says nothing to do
with politics and who's in the White House and who's
not in the White House. It doesn't matter, you know.
It's to remember those who gave that last full measure
of devotion. So please do so. And that's my public
service announcement for this week. Now onto the fun stuff
(41:11):
of golf. I think that now we're starting to kick off.
I know now that we're starting to kick off the
season for golf events and doing good. I would tell
you that I'm fortunate enough on June second to start
helping our Patriots Everywhere program. Uh. And that's PGA of
(41:32):
America program. And we we get to teach, teach, teach veterans.
Friend of mine, Bob Silairo is going to come and
do it with me. Very good golf professional, way better
teacher than I'll ever be, and probably a way better
golf professional than I'll ever be. But we get that
(41:54):
it's the best part of our deck. It's the best
part of our week. We need to spend an hour
with veterans and and hopefully we can we can make
an impact. I mean, obviously we get a little better
at golf, but you know what, maybe we can just
get them off of their off of their dark space
because many, many, many veterans are and I've talked at
(42:15):
length on this show about the the suicides and the
taking of veterans lives, every of their own lives every day,
the twenty two or twenty three a day in this
country do that. And if I could just stop one,
just one with something as simple as a golf clinic,
(42:39):
place to go, place to hang out, place to meet people,
a reason to get out of a house, or reason
to not do that. You know, there's six seconds between
I think it's six seconds, six minutes between the time
they person makes a decision at the time they do it.
So if I can just maybe there's six minutes or
(43:01):
with me, and that's great because now they're not going
to do that because they don't have the opportunity to
make the decision. So there's a golfer good thing. It's
a really great PGA of America program. And aside from that,
I think that you are now going to because I
know that when I sit at my desk and I
(43:22):
get emails and I have people walk in and ask
me for donations for rounds of golf or golf lessons
or something anything because they're raising money for something. Every
time there's an event, a golf event to raise awareness
for something or money for something, or you know it's
childhood cancer or it's you know, literally baseball. It doesn't
(43:46):
have to be catastrophic. It's it's incredible. It's incredible, and
it's it's a worthy, worthy, worthy thing. The game is
designed to have a ton of fun. It's a lot
of fun. But when we when we put it for
positive energy, make a lot of money. PJA Tour donates
(44:07):
a lot of money to charity and a lot of
But but aside from those guys you see on TV, everybody,
everybody lives in an area where you can probably see,
you can probably see, you'll probably contact somebody say hey,
we're raising money for the local hospital or the you know,
(44:28):
lunches for for for the food bank, or you know,
for the school to to redo something. And it's awesome,
it's awesome. I I I don't play in them, I
run a lot of them, but it's I would, I would,
I would ask you to to just if you didn't
if you did it once last year or five times
(44:48):
last year, to play golf for good, you know, played
an event that raised money for something, do it just
one extra time this year. And if you haven't done
it ever, h you know, pick and choose, but I'll
tell you what there just do it once. You feel
so good about things, you really what you see, you know,
(45:10):
you raise you know, I know that, I know that.
You know there are a lot you know that there's
the Athletic Foundation at Ohio State University. I you know,
that's great, that's great, but but there are a lot
of them that are you know, we're doing a benefit
for the Washington Hospital or the cancer Unit at Washington
Hospital or the Nick Unit at Washington Hospital. Just any
(45:33):
I'm just picking places and things. But it's just awesome.
You know, make a little bit of money and and
and and maybe make somebody else's life life a little
bit better and you get to play golf. I mean,
what better way to do things? You know, And it's
just it just makes me happy and proud when I
(45:55):
see people that actually come together for a common cause,
you know, I Mean this world is a hard place
sometimes and if we can all kind of pull in
the same direction. Things get better. You know, we we
see things. We see things every day on TV or
on the radio or hear them on the radio, or
(46:16):
you know, podcasts and things like that, or like this
is awful and this is awful. There's a lot of
good us around the game of golf. There really is.
There really is. I mean, it's I mean, I I
you know, I go back and forth with my own
son about, you know, how good is this guy and
how's he compare to the greats of years gone by?
And that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking
(46:37):
about that's a lot of fun to do that with golf.
But it's really a lot of fun when guys get
together and girls get together, and people get together and
raise a little bit of money for something, you know,
maybe we you know, I mean, I saw a YouTube
video today of kids from the cancer Unit or the
the the Alan Wing at Buffalo. I think it's Buffalo General,
(46:59):
don't quote me, the hospital in Buffalo just reaching out
to Josh Allen to say thank you for all you do.
Reduce them to tears, you know, And what's he do?
You know, he says, I just play football. You guys
fight a real fight. So you know, we can all
we can all make an impact. We really can't. You know.
It's and so I'm just going to wrap up this,
(47:22):
this whole thing, and and and and I've said it
a bunch of different ways. But if you can use
golf for good, that would be great. I mean, you know,
if you have a chance to chance to you know,
throw throw your hat and the ring and go play
in the fire department outing or you know, the township
outing that makes money to you know, to make the
parks better, or to make the make the you know,
(47:45):
make make the firehouse bigger, or you know, put one
more volunteer fireman, you know trained. You know how good
is that? It's great. It's like impact of that community.
You know, it's just awesome, you know. And and that's
what we use golf for, you know. And we talked
to Cindy today and what did she say. You know,
(48:06):
she writes a book. It's not about golf. Has to
do with golf and life and business. Everybody gets another chance,
take another shot, help somebody get a shot. You know,
use golf for good. It's a it's a it's a
great thing. And it's a feeling that you don't you
(48:28):
don't get if you if you have a chance to
do it, please do it, Please do it. And I
just want to wrap up this segment kind of looking
forward a little bit. I I've heard from a lot
of people about the Dave Kendall episode I I heard
I I'm going to try to have on. I'm trying
(48:48):
to have on. There's some there's some there's some energy
behind some major changes to the PGA of America and
the governance of the PGA of America. So probably going
to reach out to the president of the pg of
America and see if he'll come on the show with me.
I think that would be great. His name is Don Ray.
He's been on the show once, but we would just
(49:09):
talk about PGA business. Randy Cavanaugh is another guy who's
actually kind of not against but trying to kind of
shape the pg of America a little bit. So we'll
get into that and you know, and we'll have some
we'll have some fun guests on. I'm hunting a former
US Women's Open winner down see if I can't have
(49:31):
her on. It's a really good golf story. But but
I guess I just want to wrap up and say
thanks for listening, enjoy your Memorial Day. Please just take
a moment and say thank you to those who gave
that last full measure of devotion and thanks for listening.
And next week we're gonna a pretty dynamic guest on.
(49:53):
It's down to two or three, so I don't want
to tell you who it's going to because I don't
want to lie to you. But again, thanks for listening.
And this is the Rich Combell Golf Show.
Welcome to the Rich Kalbgof show this week as we
head into Memorial Day weekend, I am very, very very
fortunate to be joined by Cindy Miller. Cindy is a
greatly accomplished player and a greatly accomplished teacher, and a
greatly accomplished a lot of different things. But we're going
(00:22):
to kind of focus on a couple of different aspects
of what Cindy does. But first off, Cindy, thanks for
coming on the show today.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Oh thanks for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Awesome, awesome, so as I do with everybody. So get
us started on how you got started in golf.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, my parents played, and they dragged me to as
a golf course every weekend. And I didn't really like golf,
and the pool was my babysitter until I got fat
in eighth grade and the schmid twins, who were really
cute started to call me ten time testing. So I
quickly found kind of version to swimming, and my only
(01:05):
other choice was the golf course. So I started to play,
and my dad got me lessons and the pro said
I could be good, and I happened to be a
competitive control freak. And so I started to play.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Okay, so that is in the town of Dunkirk, New York. Correct,
Silver Creek, SILVERCA. You're in Silver Creek, okay. So so
you started to play, and obviously you you get pretty good,
but you decide that you are going to migrate across
the country to play college golf.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, mom and her friends, you know, I played against
the women at the club, and of course they didn't
like getting beat by a punk, and they my mother
and her friends took me to an LPGA Tour event
when I was seventeen, and I had never seen, you know,
somebody that could really hit it way and Laura Baugh
(02:01):
was playing and she's a year older than me, and
I thought, holy wow, this is amazing. And she had,
you know, beautiful clothes on and a beautiful golf bag
and gorgeous shoes and they could kill the ball. And
I came home and I thought, okay, I want to
play on the LPGA Tour and I want to kick
her butt. And so the dream was born, and I
(02:25):
said I want to play on the tour. My father goes, well,
you're not good enough. I don't know how youre going
to do that. But so I wrote to the Ben
Hogan Company because I played their clubs and Golf Digest magazine,
and I asked them that they knew of any colleges
that had women's golf teams, and they actually wrote back
and gave me a list of names, and the University
(02:47):
of Miami stuck out, because if you're from Buffalo, you
know that's where you'd want to go, right And they
wrote back and said, you're not good enough to be
on the team, but she could be a walk on.
And my dad said, you've got one year to earn
a scholarship or you got to come home. And the
golf coach. Really I never met the coach. It was
(03:07):
the athletic director, Isabella Hutchinson, and so I never visited
the school, and my parents didn't even take me. A
family friend who was a captain for Eastern Airlines at
the time, lived in Coral Gables, Florida, and had a
cottage at the beach on Lake Erie and said, you know,
I'll take her down when I fly back to Coral Gables,
(03:28):
and he and his family helped me off at my
dorm and I sat on my bed and cried for
a little while and thought, wait, you know what are
you doing? You're crazy? And then I went and met
the coach and he said, yeah, I did say you
could be on the team, and that's what started it all.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So you literally how long did you cry tell the truth?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Probably an hour?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, well you had to be scared to death.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I was like, what the hell what? And here's the truth.
So my parents were both out and I was the
youngest of three kids, and my father used to beat
the crap out of my mother. So I was left
to protect her, to make sure he didn't kill her. Right,
And so I was running away from horror, running towards
(04:16):
the dreams. So I was really petrified, and yet I
was like, I got to get out of here. But
I hope to God he doesn't kill her, because if
he does, it's my fault. But yet I was being
pulled towards this huge dream and I was like, I
got to go, and yet he said, okay, you got
one year during a scholarship, but you're not good enough
to be here. So I'm sitting on the bed thinking,
(04:37):
I hope to God this coach wasn't lying. Right now,
you're trapped like a rat with no cheese, And so
again I Thank God for Norm Parsons for saying yes
to me, because the man changed my life. I mean,
he gave me a chance. You know. Did I work
my ass off? Of course I did, you know, but
(04:58):
again he said yes, Thank you Norm.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So all right, so obviously you you stay there for
four years, and you are earned your scholarship because obviously
you'd stay there for four years. So when did you
Who did you play with at Miami?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, a bunch of no names. In fact, you know,
when we won the national championship the first one my
junior year, we had T shirts made Miami no names
stroke it better? Uh, Kathy Moore from oak Kill from Rochester,
Mary Lawrence from Canton, New York. Me, Sarah levc from Illinois.
(05:41):
So Kathy, Mary, Cindy, Sarah Levac and Kathy what's her name?
Oh my god? Why am I braindeed? Carol and Hill?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So okay, So I like how you slipped that in
there that when we won the won the first one
because you won two in a row.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, and we played against Nancy Lopez and Tulsa. Yeah,
and you know all these hot shots that were supposed
to kick everybody's butts. Kathy Morse won the national championship.
I mean, the Kathy Morse was good, and she went
on to play the tour, won on the tour, but again,
she wasn't a superstar. She was quiet and shy and
(06:26):
you know, quietly kicked everybody's.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Butts, right, right, So leaving Miami, you now you're going
to turn professional obviously, right, You guys want two national championships,
You've got to go do that, right, all right?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You got to try, and I you know, first time
I tried, I didn't make it. Again my whole life,
I've been told I'm not good enough, right, And so
then my dad died the week before the first National Championship,
and so I got no father, mother who's trying to
run the fledgling business, and no money. And so I
(07:05):
get in the car and I drive to California by
myself to play the Mini Tour, Which again, I mean,
would you let your daughter, who's you know, twenty years old,
drive to California by yourself? No? Right, you know, I
got a CB radio. I call myself the Buffalo Obama.
I'm talking on the CBE radio with a bunch of
(07:25):
truckers sleeping in rest areas, which again, why the hell
would you do that?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Right?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
No cell phones?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Right, there's no cell phone. Right, there's no cell phone.
There's no cell phone. And you got to make sure
you have a dime in your car because you have
to call somebody. That's what you're going to use.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Right, It's just ridiculous. So I get to California, I
play the Mini Tour, I win a Mini Tour event. Now,
I had met Alan Miller when I was at Miami,
so that we used to play skins games at the
rat Scaler against the guy's golf teams. And then we'd
(08:04):
go to the rat Skeller and have beers on Friday nights.
And there's this guy sitting at the bar with one
hundred dollars bills buying everybody's shots. Of course, if you're
from Buffalo, you know how.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
To do shots, right, of course you do.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And I'm not stupid. I'm going to make friends with
the guy with one hundred dollar bills. And so his
name was dirt Bag, and he was a professional gambler.
And he's telling me how he's won of Pat Bradley's sponsors.
And the guy's twenty four years old. I'm like, yeah, right, okay,
you know one of Pat Bradley sponsors, and it ends
up it was true, and he said, my good friend
(08:40):
Alan Miller's coming to play at Durell. He's on the
PGA tour. I'll get your free ticket. I'm like, okay, sure,
and he gets me a ticket. And I was taking
lessons at Darrell from Eddie Bush and so I know
how to get there, and you know, YadA YadA, YadA,
And I catch him on the back nine at Durell
and number ten. It's a dog leg left car four
(09:02):
and I see this guy swing and I'm like, oh
my god, does anybody swing that slow in that smooth?
So I follow him the whole back nine and after
he's done, he says, you know, do you want me
to help you with the swing? So, because it's a resort,
you know, part of the range is blocked off for
the tour players to hit balls and the other path
is for the resort guests. So he's helped me with
(09:24):
my swing. And Ben Crenshaw walks by and go, hey, Elan,
what are you doing? Gives him a little wink. We'd
become buddies, you know, because Alan's like a shy, quiet
golf guru, who reads directions, and I'm the lunatic who
doesn't read directions and just wants to kill the ball,
doesn't want to practice. So every year he would come
(09:45):
down for Durrell and Inverary and we would all go
out to dinner, you know, me dirt bag and a
couple of the golf golfers and stuff, and we just
would have fun. So when I'm on the Mini Tour,
kind of know how to find him wherever he is
on tour and I'm leading the tour event and I'm like,
(10:07):
I need to find Alan because I don't know what
I'm doing and I don't want to choke, and I
want to win this event. So I call Alan and
I'm like, I need some help. I want to win
this event. He says, where you can't go out and
try to win. You got to play each shot one
at a time. I'm like, what do you mean?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I like it? What do you mean? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah? Because I'm like I want when right? He says,
you got to get one shot at a time. I'm like, okay,
you just go out there and you hit you know,
your t shot in the fairway and then you try
to play smart. I go well, what do you mean
play smart? You don't fire at the pins because if
you fire at the pins, you're going to bury it
in the bunker. I'm like, well that makes sense. So
(10:52):
he's got this strategy of eighteen greens. Okay, what's that mean? Well,
I just try to fire at the middle of the
green and then I you know, if I hit it,
cut and I cut it every time at the same place,
I'm going to hit eighteen greens, which is why he
was in the top twenty five of all fairways hit
and all greens in regulation on the PGA Tour. Right,
(11:14):
I'm like, oh, well, you know, and I don't hit
any greens and hit it up and down.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Right. I want to win. I want to win eighteen Yeah,
I want to win.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
So yeah, which is why opposites the tracks right right, Right. Finally,
I said, hey, are we ever getting married? Because this
guy's too shy to ask nobody, And I'm thinking, I
get I need this guy so I can learn how
to play better. Right, I'm not stupid. Right, So I
won the tournament the next day and then I qualified
(11:45):
to play on the tour. But again, of the best
in the world, I'm the worst, right, now she qualifies
the play, but then she loses her card. Mm hm,
So now I'll let you talk.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Wow. So so that's that's that's an incredible story. First
of all, let me back up a little bit. What
the hell were you thinking driving across that country?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I gotta go play in the mini tour. I gotta
learn how to play better.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
That's incredible, that's incredible. Were you ever scared?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
No, I got pissed off. I got a speeding ticket
into Mexico. I was following these freaking truck drivers and
I'm stupid.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Whatever?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Oh my god? Wow? So okay, So all right, so
how many tour events did you play in?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Oh? God, I have no idea, never counted. But I
played enough and made enough cuts, right you know, you know,
to get my class APGA card, but they won't give
it to me, right right? Whatever?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, I understand. So so okay, So let me before
we morphed into the second a second part of your story,
tell me, like, Okay, so, who's the best player you
ever played with on tour?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh? Kathy Whitworth, Joanne Carner.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Whitworth was that good, wasn't she?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They were just so smart? You know, I mean, just
so smart. So I used to sit behind him on
the range and they know, what are you doing? And
I'm watching you? Why I know, because I'm gonna learn something, right,
you know, And they just shake their head at me. Again,
kids nowadays aren't smart enough to do that. I mean,
(13:44):
when I qualified for the tour again, I'm from Buffalo,
so I thought, okay, how are you going to practice
this win? And well, I gotta find a golf course
in Florida. So what are you going to do? Oh? Well,
Bob Rich Senior, who owns rich Don Dairy Kremer Rich products, Right, Oh,
he owns a golf course, and why bomb? Okay, So
write him a letter and ask him if you can
work at his golf course so he can practice. So
(14:05):
I did, and he wrote back and he goes, well,
Joeanne Carner is a member of my course. He might
not want you to practice there, so you got to
ask her. So I said, okay. So the next tournament
I play is in Wheeling, West Virginia, and at pours
rain and we get stuck in a cabin in the
rain delay. Well, who's in the cabin with me? Joanne Carner? Well,
(14:28):
I had met her at DREL because she used to
take lessons from Eddie Bush. So I walk up to
her and I said, I am Cindy Kessler. I met
you at DREL. You may not remember me. And I said,
I live in Buffalo and I need a place to
practice in the Winner. And Bob rich Senor said to
ask you if it's okay if I practice at Palm
(14:50):
Beach National. He goes, yeah, why would I care? And
I said, well, you are Joanne Carner and you're in
the Hall of Fame and I'm just a punk from
Silver Creek. He goes, of course I don't care. I'm like, well,
that's kind of what I thought. But and she said no,
it's fine. I said, oh, great, perfect, I'll tell him.
I said, I think I'm going to work in the
pro shop. I'm not sure where I'm going to live.
(15:11):
She goes, we had a trailer sitting at the campground.
You want to stay there? And I go absolutely. So
I lived in their camper with cockroaches that were twelve
feet long, all right, right? And she lived in her
on the beach.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So again, you know, you just have to ask for
what you need. So then I would get my daily
beating every afternoon, and she would teach me. She goes, Tindy,
what the hell are you doing? Hit the shot like this,
and then you know, you owe me a dollar because
I just kicked your ass right, and then you know,
hit the shot like this. And then she and Don
came to our wedding and Silver Creek, and then the
(15:49):
day after our wedding we went to a Bills game
and we say in Rich's box, you know, I mean again,
stuff that's so cool, is so cool, We're so lucky.
But again, you got to ask for what you want. Yeah, yeah,
I done playing a tour event. You know, I t
off first because I sucked, and then I finished. And
(16:11):
go watch her play and just watch how she hit
shots because she was smarter and better and hit it
so far right, and just learn. Go learn. Find somebody
that does what you want to do, and go learn
from them. That's why would you take a lesson from
somebody who's never done what you want to do? Sorry,
(16:32):
but that's that's true.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Okay, So when we come back from this break where
you're going to talk about like what you just said,
which is which is the next stage of your career?
This is the rich comwoll Golf Show. Welcome back to
rich Comwagolf Show. I am joined this week by Cindy
Miller with Cindy Miller, and Cindy was just telling us
about how she got her start on out of Miami
(16:56):
and walked on at Miami and just oh, by the way,
win two national championships and then travel to California and
win tour events and then play the tour and then
meet people that teach you things that you want to learn.
And so, Cindy, so now you're on the tour, off
(17:16):
the tour. You know, I don't to put it that simply,
but you you gotta at this at some point you
have to decide that are you're gonna stay out there
or are you gonna do something else? Right? Yeah, so
you decide to do something else?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Well, I didn't really decide. It was kind of decided,
right the tour.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Just the tour decided for you.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, for God, yeah exactly. So you lose your card
and we get married on Halloween and I'm thinking, Okay,
I'm gonna I'm gonna get married to this PGA Tour
player who's played in the Masters five times, who's the
second peerst ball striker Dave Palace is ever tested. So
I've got an in house golf guru. So I'm gonna,
(18:02):
you know, take a chill till get my golf swing underway,
get my brain right, and go back and requalify for
the tour because we're the only married couple in the
world that have ever played on the PGA Tour, the
LPGA Tour, the Legends Tour, and the PGA Tour Champions Right,
So that's my plan. And but then I get pregnant
a month after we get married, so I'm like, oh,
(18:25):
now I'm gonna have a kid. So I go from
LPGA Tour player to PGA Tour wifey pooh to PGA
Tour mommy. So I'm like, okay, I guess I'm not
supposed to play. So then I start to caddy and
I think, okay, well, I'm going to teach this guy
how to putt and then we're going to get rich
and live happily ever after. So he plays for five
(18:49):
years and he and he starts to play better, and
then he loses his card and he says to me,
I really don't want to play anymore. So the last
he played were I'm pregnant with Jamie, our second kid,
and I start having issues. I go into early labor
and they can't really stop it, so they put me
(19:10):
in the hospital, which you know that was no fun. No,
I'm trapped like a rat without cheese. We've got a
daughter who's about three. Thank god, his mother and his
sister were able to take care of her. While I'm
in the hospital. He's trying to go play. You know,
he's staying home as long as he can. He runs
out to a tour event. You know, he's missing the
(19:31):
codd He's coming home making sure I'm okay stop in
early labor. But then Jamie gets born or shows up.
And then a few hours after Jamie's born, they see
him turning blue. They have to take him via hospital
to a neo natal intensive carrying it at a children's hospital.
So all his crap's going on, and Alan missing cuts.
(19:52):
So he loses his card and I'm like, okay, let's
go back to Q school and he goes, you know,
I don't really want to play anymore. I go, what
do you mean you don't want to play? What are
you going to do? You know, this is all you've
ever done? He was the superstar. He was the number
one ammer in the country with Lanny Watkins. He's won
every you know, amateur tournament in the world. He was
(20:12):
I don't know, but I don't want to play anymore.
And Alan's shy and quiet, you know, he's like Ernie
else and he never really had a job. And he goes,
I don't know, but I don't want to play. And
he's not a salesman. He was an insurance major. He
took a test and they're like, no, you're not a salesman. Well,
you know, anybody could have told you that. So he said,
(20:37):
I think I want to teach. I'm like, teach what golf?
I was like, you want to teach golf. I'm like,
shoot me, I don't want to teach golf in a
private country club. And you know, I have Missus Smith,
you know, Cindy. Cindy helped me. And I'm like, oh
my god, that's the worst thing I want to do.
(20:58):
He goes, no, I'll help you. This is the to
be fun. I'm like, fun because he's a student of
the golf swing.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You know, that's fun for him, That's right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It's fun for him. I'm like no, absolutely not. So
he was teaching at the club Prinscole Country Club, and
of course now the head pro doesn't like him because
everybody wants a lesson from Allen. So then the club says,
we we don't really want you here because you're taking
business away from the head pro. And I'm like, okay,
(21:30):
where are we going to go? Well, nobody wants you.
You play it on tour. So then I pick up
the phone and I call the guy in Buffalo that
they had this outdoor discount place right in indoor range.
You know it's Buffalo. You got him indoor? Yeah, no,
(21:50):
he can come up, yeah, and you can come up parentee.
So he drove up and he stayed at my mother's
house and people were paying him cash to give lessons
do them. He goes, this is pretty good. So I said, well,
should I come up with the kids? And he said yeah.
So drove up with the kids and my mom watched
(22:13):
the kids, and you know, he's like, all right, tell
him this and tell him that. I'm like, oh, all right, really,
so I did. And then I'm like, all right, what
do you tell them if they do this? And what
do you tell them if they do that? And then
it was like, it made total sense to me. It's
never it was nothing like anybody had ever told me.
(22:34):
And it's funny because then they say, well, how the
hell did you play the tour? I go, I don't know.
And then I said to him, where were you when
I was fifteen? This makes total sense. If I had
known this, I really would have been good, right, And
so I cyndiized it, you know, I dumb blonded it down,
(22:55):
and then people started to like it because I'm like, no, no, no,
don't keep your head down. It's got nothing to do
with it. It's got everything to do with the club
had getting down to the ground, and Ito cares where
your head is. You can look up and still do this.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, there's a lady out there that does that every time,
and she wants everything. Don't tell me where your head
needs to be.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And that's the committee. The committee
of day is going to tell you everything you need
to do, and they're always doing it wrong, and I go,
you know, don't listen to them, do it my way.
And they were like, oh my god, this works, and
that they would tell their friends, and then everybody came
and now I'm starting to have fun because they can
be Cindy and I can be the badass bitch from
Buffalo and then they're telling their friends and so again,
(23:38):
I could never have the you know, club job at
the private club because I'd get fired in two seconds
because I would say something I shouldn't say, which is
good because that don't want the private head pro job, right, no,
and I want four hundred people tell me what to do.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
So it worked, so okay, perfect. So you just I'm
assuming you fell in love with it, right, because I
mean you had to fall in love with it because
you are so good at it. You can tell that
you love it.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Well, I didn't fall in love with it. What I
fell in love with And this is my sick competitive
nature is you know people don't. I can't do this
because everybody has failed because everyone's told them what they're
doing wrong. So that's what's so sick about our business.
Everyone has failed at golf. Everyone we've all failed, right,
(24:34):
Rory failed, you know a few weeks ago, because it's
a little demon in our head tells us how we're
going to screw it up, right, right. So what I
love about it as I look people in the eye
and they have no idea, But my little competitive nature
looks them in the eye. And what I'm saying to
(24:54):
myself is, you know what, honey or mister, I'm going
to make you better than you ever thought that you
could be. And you have no idea that that's what
I'm going to do to you today. And then we're
both gonna win, right, And that's that's my little challenge
to myself and to them. And then they have no
idea that that's what I'm thinking. And when they leave,
we're both smiling.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, I want you to be better than you want
to be. Yeah, that's simple, all right. So aside from that,
I mean that you offer so much more. So talk
to me about like you do stuff beyond the golf swing.
(25:36):
Do you do stuff with people's lives?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I do?
Speaker 1 (25:40):
So we're all broken, We're all yeah, we are broken.
We are broken. You are correct, We're all broken and
a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Of us don't think we are, but we are, you know, right,
And again, if you're willing to admit it, you know,
I got I got to think called the it bucks,
right And because I'm willing to share my story, you know,
for my most of my life I was trying to
hide it. Don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody, you know,
it's a house of horrors, and keep it a secret.
(26:10):
And like the whole neighborhood can hear what's going on
here anyway, So now I don't really care. So there's
three things in the box. First thing in the box
is a nail. Most of us are whining about, you know,
oh I can't do this and I ate my job
and my husbands drive me nuts. I'm like, shut up,
but get off the nail. It's been poking you long enough.
I don't want to hear you whine. You know I
can't hit the box. Shut up. I'm going to show
(26:31):
you how to do it right. And then the second
thing in the box is a mirror. If you're willing
to look in the mirror, you know, what are your strengths,
what are your weaknesses? In the year a little bit
too bossy, you know, look in the mirror and see
some things about yourself that you can fix. And then
the third thing in the box is a seed. Let's
plan a seed. Let's get better. Let's me do this,
(26:53):
get something, get better. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, it's interesting because because I, you know, I I'm
an alcoholic, so like that. The craziest thing in the
world was my father kin to me. He's like, hey, look,
you're you're an alcoholic. You need it, you need to
fix this. And like, in order to just say out loud, hey,
guess what, you know, I don't need anybody to give
me a hug. I just need you to understand it.
And I know it. So if you say it out
(27:16):
loud and all of a sudden, it becomes not scary anymore.
It's a it's a it's a thing. And you know,
you talk, you talk about the mirror. I mean, you know,
my wife asked me one time, She's like, how come
you how come I see your shaving? Why do you
shave in the shower? Just because I don't like I
didn't like the guy in the mirror. Now I like
the guy in the mirror. I'm okay with that guy.
I'm okay with that guy.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Right. Well, Alan's an alcoholic, and Alan tried to commit
suicide and we were going to get divorced and then
we ended up not signing the papers in the courthouse.
I mean, again, this whole thing's a miracle. Well, I mean,
hega tour serious Rado, who did a one hour feature
on him last May in Mental Health Month, and they
all said, you know, you want to share your story.
(27:57):
Of course, we want to share our story. Freak America
were together, try again, and who cares? You want to
help people because we're all broken.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Right, Talk to me about your books. Your book is
really cool. Talk to me about your bo.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Oh it's called it's called take another Shot, it's business,
golfer life. And again it's never too late to take
another shot. I mean, I got people that are eighty
six years old come in to boot camp. I'm not
too old. No, you're not too old. Let's right again,
at anything, right, you know, if you're willing to get
off the nail, look in the mirror and plan a seed.
We're not dead yet, so let's have some fun doing
(28:32):
something anything, you know. Yeah, it cares.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah. I had a guy on the range the other day.
He's like, well, I have you know, I have like
prostate cancer, and you know it's kind of hard for
me to do. I'm like okay. He's like, that doesn't
bother you. I'm like, well, no, it doesn't bother me.
Because if it doesn't bother you, let's just go figure
it out. Yeah, golf golf ball go we wanted to go.
(28:57):
We'll get there, golf ball go where we wanted to go.
Oh you know what, what about next week? And well
next week we'll look at it then. And it's amazing
to me that people people don't don't buy into that.
And you talk about you talk about get over yourself.
I gave a golf lesson, said, uh, give a golf
lesson to Jack Ham last year and the guy won
four Super Bowls of the Steelers and and he had
(29:18):
his shoulder replaced. I said, does that hamper you at all?
He goes, oh no, he goes things like that, don't
hamper me. I'm like, if everybody could take that broken
and just say it's it is what it is. It's
not going to hamper me. I'm just gonna do it.
We can do it.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Belief system too, it's your belief system and what do
you believe and why do you believe it? Because it
came from an experience. And again sometimes it's your parents
and what are your parents instilled in you? And is
that the truth? And when you and when you figure
out that, oh my god, that's not the truth. But
I thought it was the truth. It's really not the truth. Well,
(29:57):
then you can change your beliefs. Yeah, and you're like,
oh my god, my whole life I thought this was true,
but it's not. Well, let's change it and let's take
another shot, right, because like, wow, it's freedom.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Holy cow, I know, I know. It's it's like a
blank canvas. I get one. Look, I got one. I
gave myself one. Yeah, I gave myself one. It's free, exactly.
It's free because I gave it to myself. I didn't
cost me a thing. What soho? Who who you? Who
you're working with? Now?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Like?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Who do we know? I mean, because I know you
people don't realize you teach some pretty pretty awesome people.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
But you know what, I don't really teach that many
famous people. I'm really don't I teach, you know, famous
normal people. You know. Have I taught famous people? Yeah?
But you know to me that doesn't matter, right, you
know what's really cool? And I'm humbled by this because
(30:57):
in the book, I've asked the chairman of the Board
of Delaware North, mister Jeremy Jacobs. I said, you know what,
will you share a story because your company and a
lot of your people helped me when I needed help
when my dad died. And now I don't want to cry.
And I had no money and I qualified for the tour.
I qualified for the tour, and I didn't have enough
(31:19):
money to pay an entry fee. Your guys that ran
Buffalo Raceway put together sponsorship thing, and so his chapter
is switching roles. And mister Jacobs told a story about
when his father died and he had to become the
chairman of the Board of Delaware North. And I don't
know if you know what they do, but he owns
the Boston Bruins, and he owns and runs all the
(31:44):
effect the PGA. Last week he did all the food
service for that does the food service for the bill
Stadium whatever. So he wrote a story about how dad
died when he was twenty eight years old and he
had to take over the chairman of the board of
Delaware North. And then Chris Bok who owns New eraic
cap well, his dad, Dave Cook, was one of my sponsors.
(32:05):
And so Chris Cook's chapter is in the book. Taken
Another Shot is vision. And I dove in the shallow
into the pool when I was nine years old and
lost my vision. I went blind, and you know, I
was diving for a penny. Of course I got the penny,
and then I came up and I was like, wow,
I just dashed the crip out of my head. And
(32:26):
then I couldn't see and I was in Children's hospital
and I said, Chris, I need you to write a
chapter in the book about your vision for new era
cap which is their gazillion Dylan you know, billion whatever.
And Danielle and her daughter his wife came in for
a golf lesson last night and I sent them a
couple copies of the book and I said, thank you
(32:48):
so much for writing in the book. She goes, I
need two hundred and fifty copies of the book because
our big foundation golf tournaments July twenty eighth. I got
all the Major League Baseball guys and the NFL coming
in to ok Hill and they're going to give out
the books. She goes, I need two hundred and fifty
copies of the book, which is pretty cool, but they're
going to give that out. A big shotbackers and the
(33:12):
owner and the guy who started Donald Ross Sportswear wrote
a chapter in the book about dreams. You know, I
had a big dream. And Jim Kelly, who backs my
nonprofit pursue You're a dot Org. I get a grant
from Jim Kelly every year from Kelly for kids. So,
(33:34):
you know whatever, I love Jim Kelly.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
He's he's from Pittsburgh. We're okay with him. He's from
Pittsburgh're okay with okay with him?
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah again. You know John Gerson from kk R, he
wrote a chapter resilience. You know, Jane Blaylock wrote about pressure.
You know, she put on tour forever. She's a good
friend of mine. She's been a mentor forever. You know. Anyway, again,
all these people me so.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
So you helped them.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Tommy schaff from Major League Sales is awesome, from Saint
Louis is whatever. So a lot of these people have
helped me. You got to give back. Yeah, so you
can go to Amazon and buy the book Take another
shot Business Golfer Life. In fact, the e book right
now is on sale for a ninety nine cents. Well,
(34:24):
so if you like e books, yeah, I like the book,
give me a book, Go buy the book.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That's awesome. Cindy, I know you got to run. I
knew this would be awesome. I can't tell how much
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Oh, thank you. You are getting me.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
You're you're you know, I was. I was in Dunkirk
for a while, and you know, obviously right down the
street from Silver Creek, and you you are, you are
and still are and always will be a legend in
that area and in the country. And just know that
a lot of people look up to you for a
lot of different reasons. And some of that has to
do with the golf swing, but a lot of it
(35:00):
has to do with how you kind of impact our life.
So I just want you to know I appreciate you
doing it. I really do.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Thank you, honey, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
All Right, I'll talk to you soon. Okay, thank you too.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Keep doing good stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Thanks man, I'll talk to you.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Soon, okay, honey, Bye bye bye.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
This is the Rich Comono Golf Show. Welcome back to
the Rich Commono Golf Show. I'm obviously a little bit
sad that I couldn't keep up Sydney Miller on for longer,
because it's a fascinating story, fascinating person. If you hear
the early struggles and the childhood struggles and and just
(35:38):
the stuff like that. It's just and and if you
see her now, you know you would think that, you know, actually,
if you see her now you can you can sense it.
But it's it's incredible, it's incredible. She she just she's
so it's so honest and and so so neat about it.
(35:59):
It's just it's just really really really she's just really
good about just being really forthright and honest. And and
everybody has Everybody's broken, that's her big thing. Everybody's broken.
And let's see if we can't give herself a clean
slate today and then because this is all we've got.
And and it's a very very very good teacher, very
good teacher of the game of golf, but a very
(36:20):
good teacher of the game of life too. And and
you know when she says that she yells at people,
and she's not kidding. I know people will go to
see her for their golf swing and she yells at
him like, you know, like not like charl sergeant yell
at him, but like what are you doing? Like what's
going on there? So but for the rest of the show,
(36:41):
first off again, a final kind of wrap up here.
Cindy's awesome. She's super helpful, and I was very honored
to have her on. And her husband was a very
good player, I mean, very good player. And and he
he's really shy and quiet, right, I have him on too,
(37:03):
But he's a he's a he's a pretty special guy too.
They're a pretty pretty special couple. But but so to
wrap that all up, thank you to Cindy. And I
know that Allen was kind of stage whisperer, a little
bit of a couple of names, and and so it
was great to have them on. Now going forward for
(37:23):
the next for this segment, we're just going to talk
a little bit about local stuff. We're going to talk
about a couple of things that are going on locally
as we head into Memorial Day weekend. First of all,
I this is a this is a kind of a
personal statement I I have I've had been fortunate enough
(37:43):
to have in what is a long becoming a long career,
like every day it gets longer. Obviously a lot of
young people that have worked for me and clean golf clubs,
clean golf carts, you know, you know, uh, you know,
vacuum floors, you know, bring up, bring up merchandise or
(38:09):
membership stuff for you know, uh, merchandise and and greens
fees and carts and all that fun stuff. And I
and I've never failed to be be proud of all
of them because they've all kind of made their own way.
And you know, ones in Washington, d C. Is in
his name, is in the Congressional record. One was worked
(38:32):
for Google, and and when one's one's a doctor and
and it's just it's incredible. But one of the things
that that I that I always do and I'm gonna
do again is on Monday, uh, Memorial Day, I send
them all, because they're all young people, I send them
all a message. And the message is that Memorial Day.
(38:56):
And this has nothing to do with golf, but Memorial
Day is actually to remember those who, as Lincoln put it,
gave the last full measure of devotion and which means
they died in service to their country. And well, I'm
all happy about fireworks on fourth of July, and I'm
all happy about taking a day off on I don't
get it off, but everybody gets a day off on
(39:18):
at Labor Day, and you know, football season starts. It's
always great. Memorial Day is in this country is seen
as the start of the start of summer. But it
is designed to remember those who gave the last full
measure of devotion. And that is the that that line
(39:40):
is from the Gettysburg Address and if you go to
the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, d C. It's on the
wall of the Lincoln Memorial along with his second inauguration address,
but Lincoln's second auguration address. But I get very emotional
when I read it. I get very emotional when I
when I I hear it, it's the last full measure
(40:03):
of devotion because I truly believe that there are not
I do not have what those people have. You know,
I've had. I've been honored by people who have told
me that I would have done whatever I needed to
do if somebody told me, you have to go do
this in the military. And I don't know that. I like,
I'm thankful that they have faith in me. But so
(40:27):
I want everybody to have a ton of fun. And
everybody's probably gonna hear this on Saturday, and the podcast
will come out following Tuesday, so I'll be talking about
the day before. But just remember to take a moment.
My children. I will send them a message to my
children are told and to just take up a moment
of thanks and just remember those who gave the last
(40:48):
full measure of devotion so we could have the world
we live in now. And that says nothing to do
with politics and who's in the White House and who's
not in the White House. It doesn't matter, you know.
It's to remember those who gave that last full measure
of devotion. So please do so. And that's my public
service announcement for this week. Now onto the fun stuff
(41:11):
of golf. I think that now we're starting to kick off.
I know now that we're starting to kick off the
season for golf events and doing good. I would tell
you that I'm fortunate enough on June second to start
helping our Patriots Everywhere program. Uh. And that's PGA of
(41:32):
America program. And we we get to teach, teach, teach veterans.
Friend of mine, Bob Silairo is going to come and
do it with me. Very good golf professional, way better
teacher than I'll ever be, and probably a way better
golf professional than I'll ever be. But we get that
(41:54):
it's the best part of our deck. It's the best
part of our week. We need to spend an hour
with veterans and and hopefully we can we can make
an impact. I mean, obviously we get a little better
at golf, but you know what, maybe we can just
get them off of their off of their dark space
because many, many, many veterans are and I've talked at
(42:15):
length on this show about the the suicides and the
taking of veterans lives, every of their own lives every day,
the twenty two or twenty three a day in this
country do that. And if I could just stop one,
just one with something as simple as a golf clinic,
(42:39):
place to go, place to hang out, place to meet people,
a reason to get out of a house, or reason
to not do that. You know, there's six seconds between
I think it's six seconds, six minutes between the time
they person makes a decision at the time they do it.
So if I can just maybe there's six minutes or
(43:01):
with me, and that's great because now they're not going
to do that because they don't have the opportunity to
make the decision. So there's a golfer good thing. It's
a really great PGA of America program. And aside from that,
I think that you are now going to because I
know that when I sit at my desk and I
(43:22):
get emails and I have people walk in and ask
me for donations for rounds of golf or golf lessons
or something anything because they're raising money for something. Every
time there's an event, a golf event to raise awareness
for something or money for something, or you know it's
childhood cancer or it's you know, literally baseball. It doesn't
(43:46):
have to be catastrophic. It's it's incredible. It's incredible, and
it's it's a worthy, worthy, worthy thing. The game is
designed to have a ton of fun. It's a lot
of fun. But when we when we put it for
positive energy, make a lot of money. PJA Tour donates
(44:07):
a lot of money to charity and a lot of
But but aside from those guys you see on TV, everybody,
everybody lives in an area where you can probably see,
you can probably see, you'll probably contact somebody say hey,
we're raising money for the local hospital or the you know,
(44:28):
lunches for for for the food bank, or you know,
for the school to to redo something. And it's awesome,
it's awesome. I I I don't play in them, I
run a lot of them, but it's I would, I would,
I would ask you to to just if you didn't
if you did it once last year or five times
(44:48):
last year, to play golf for good, you know, played
an event that raised money for something, do it just
one extra time this year. And if you haven't done
it ever, h you know, pick and choose, but I'll
tell you what there just do it once. You feel
so good about things, you really what you see, you know,
(45:10):
you raise you know, I know that, I know that.
You know there are a lot you know that there's
the Athletic Foundation at Ohio State University. I you know,
that's great, that's great, but but there are a lot
of them that are you know, we're doing a benefit
for the Washington Hospital or the cancer Unit at Washington
Hospital or the Nick Unit at Washington Hospital. Just any
(45:33):
I'm just picking places and things. But it's just awesome.
You know, make a little bit of money and and
and and maybe make somebody else's life life a little
bit better and you get to play golf. I mean,
what better way to do things? You know, And it's
just it just makes me happy and proud when I
(45:55):
see people that actually come together for a common cause,
you know, I Mean this world is a hard place
sometimes and if we can all kind of pull in
the same direction. Things get better. You know, we we
see things. We see things every day on TV or
on the radio or hear them on the radio, or
(46:16):
you know, podcasts and things like that, or like this
is awful and this is awful. There's a lot of
good us around the game of golf. There really is.
There really is. I mean, it's I mean, I I
you know, I go back and forth with my own
son about, you know, how good is this guy and
how's he compare to the greats of years gone by?
And that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking
(46:37):
about that's a lot of fun to do that with golf.
But it's really a lot of fun when guys get
together and girls get together, and people get together and
raise a little bit of money for something, you know,
maybe we you know, I mean, I saw a YouTube
video today of kids from the cancer Unit or the
the the Alan Wing at Buffalo. I think it's Buffalo General,
(46:59):
don't quote me, the hospital in Buffalo just reaching out
to Josh Allen to say thank you for all you do.
Reduce them to tears, you know, And what's he do?
You know, he says, I just play football. You guys
fight a real fight. So you know, we can all
we can all make an impact. We really can't. You know.
It's and so I'm just going to wrap up this,
(47:22):
this whole thing, and and and and I've said it
a bunch of different ways. But if you can use
golf for good, that would be great. I mean, you know,
if you have a chance to chance to you know,
throw throw your hat and the ring and go play
in the fire department outing or you know, the township
outing that makes money to you know, to make the
parks better, or to make the make the you know,
(47:45):
make make the firehouse bigger, or you know, put one
more volunteer fireman, you know trained. You know how good
is that? It's great. It's like impact of that community.
You know, it's just awesome, you know. And and that's
what we use golf for, you know. And we talked
to Cindy today and what did she say. You know,
(48:06):
she writes a book. It's not about golf. Has to
do with golf and life and business. Everybody gets another chance,
take another shot, help somebody get a shot. You know,
use golf for good. It's a it's a it's a
great thing. And it's a feeling that you don't you
(48:28):
don't get if you if you have a chance to
do it, please do it, Please do it. And I
just want to wrap up this segment kind of looking
forward a little bit. I I've heard from a lot
of people about the Dave Kendall episode I I heard
I I'm going to try to have on. I'm trying
(48:48):
to have on. There's some there's some there's some energy
behind some major changes to the PGA of America and
the governance of the PGA of America. So probably going
to reach out to the president of the pg of
America and see if he'll come on the show with me.
I think that would be great. His name is Don Ray.
He's been on the show once, but we would just
(49:09):
talk about PGA business. Randy Cavanaugh is another guy who's
actually kind of not against but trying to kind of
shape the pg of America a little bit. So we'll
get into that and you know, and we'll have some
we'll have some fun guests on. I'm hunting a former
US Women's Open winner down see if I can't have
(49:31):
her on. It's a really good golf story. But but
I guess I just want to wrap up and say
thanks for listening, enjoy your Memorial Day. Please just take
a moment and say thank you to those who gave
that last full measure of devotion and thanks for listening.
And next week we're gonna a pretty dynamic guest on.
(49:53):
It's down to two or three, so I don't want
to tell you who it's going to because I don't
want to lie to you. But again, thanks for listening.
And this is the Rich Combell Golf Show.
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