March 28, 2025 • 57 mins
Ryan Kukula, PGA Professional and Director of Instruction at Golf Garage, shares his journey from childhood golfing prodigy to competitive player and respected coach while revealing powerful insights about golf improvement and performance mindset.
• Growing up at his father's nine-hole course in Ocean Park, Washington where Ryan and his brothers would run the shop and play golf daily
• Shooting an impressive 63 recently while maintaining the same free-swinging feeling developed in simulator practice
• Competing on mini tours after college and learning that consistently shooting in the 70s wasn't good enough at the professional level
• Developing one-handed chipping techniques during a wrist injury that transformed his understanding of short game principles
• Using simulator practice to develop a freer swing without being attached to outcomes
• Breaking the habit of score-tracking during rounds to stay present and execute shots without mounting pressure
• Setting tournament goals for the upcoming season including pro-ams, sectional majors, and the Pacific Northwest Championship
• Accepting the challenge to help podcast host Darren break 80 before the end of 2025
Visit Golf Garage for lessons with Ryan and experience how indoor training can transform your game with measurable improvement.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to the MyGolfSource podcast.
Welcome to MyGolfSource.
I'm Darren.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I'm Noah.
Hey, what'd you do tonight?
Just got done with Sim League.
How'd that go for you?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Rough first hole.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Same here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Where did we play tonight?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I think it was like Tiger Woods' course.
Maybe we can have like our.
You know what was it called.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It was something naughty, it was just.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know, I think we have somebody on later that can
tell us more uh, excited aboutour guests later.
How about you?
What did we play, Ryan?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
We played black Jack's crossings black Jack just
outside of big.
Ben Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Oh yeah, is that tiger's course.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Not a tiger course.
I think it's a Nicholas courseactually.
Okay yeah.
It felt a lot like Utah orWyoming Looked like it yeah, it
did, but that's a lot of BigBend right there in Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Problem I had was when I went in the desert I was
like am I in Vegas?
Am I in Scottsdale?
What kind of sand is this?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I was just venting to my teammate Tyler here that I
wanted so badly to hit a300-yard drive tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Did you do it?
299.4, so I had to round it up.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
You're 0.1 away from the 300-yarder, 0.1 away from
rounding up to 300 yards.
Well, you know what's unique.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I mean, ryan already kind of let the cat out of the
bag that he's hearing, but we'vegot our director of instruction
here from Golf Garage who I'veknown for a very, very long time
, and I bet he could probablyget you to maybe 300.1.
Would that be happy?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
happy I I wouldn't be happy until I was at 315 with
ryan, because I know, because Iknow he can do it well,
absolutely, darren, I've, I'veseen your golf swing, we've got,
we've got 15 extra in there.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think, think so, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, obviously Ryan's on right now.
Definitely need to introducehim a little bit.
So, uh, ryan Kukula, pgaprofessional.
Uh grew up here in SouthernOregon and a native till he was
a couple of years old.
I'll let him tell his own story, but I've known Ryan since he
was two.
I actually, uh, worked at BearCreek Golf Course when I was 12,
(02:26):
picking range balls for freegolf.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So that's, over 40 years 28.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
So who's doing the math?
I'm 41.
He's not that.
He's not that old.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Okay, 29.
Yeah, yeah, ryan will hold meto this story.
So I'm out there, I'm pickingrange balls for some free golf
at this par 3 course.
So I'm, I'm out there, I'mpicking free, you know, range
balls for some free golf at thispar three course and I think,
uh, first time out there, we dida good job and the owner's like
, hey, uh, come back the nextday.
So I did and, you know, had agood time and that's that's
basically the, the gist of megetting into golf.
(02:57):
And then, about a week later, Iremember uh, uh, one of the,
this guy that was out there andhe's teaching golf and, um, you
know, I went up to him andtalked to him and, um, found out
that, uh, he's got this littlekid who's like two years old at
the time and there's a miniaturegolf course and and, uh, he's
like, hey, will you go out there?
And and pot with my son.
(03:17):
I'm like, yeah, absolutely.
So we go out there and we'replaying and like two-year-old
kids like, knock at it in thehole and like two putts and
three putts, and I'm like, whois this guy?
And, you know, we get up tothis hole.
There's a volcano hole and thekid makes a hole in one on it I
don't know if he remembers thisor not and we get done and find
out it's.
It's Ryan.
And you know I'm out thereminiature golfing with him and
(03:42):
you know, know, short end ofthis is, you know I'm.
You know, let's fast forwardabout 20 years and I'm coaching
college golf and I see a name ona prospect list at willamette
university and the last name'skakula.
And I see ryan.
I'm like no way is that kakula.
That rings a bell?
I know I was like, is thatrelated to john Kukula, who gave
(04:03):
me my first golf lesson?
And uh, sure enough, I, I, Icall him and I'm like one of the
and again, ryan can probablyfix this story.
But, like one of the firstquestions I asked him, I'm like
hey, uh, so are you related toJohn Kukula?
And I mean I remember the phonegoing silent a little bit and
and he was like, uh, yeah.
(04:24):
And I'm like, oh, uh, your dadgave me my first golf lesson.
So you know, luckily I was ableto recruit this guy because he
shoots under par every time heplays golf and he's a glorified
tour player and he works at agolf garage as our director of
instruction.
So for some reason he followsme around.
I don't understand why, butmaybe it's just because.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Don't ask questions, just go with it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I'm like just go with it right.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Just go with it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So we'd like to welcome to the show Ryan Kukula,
pga professional and directorof instruction.
There we go.
And Ryan, real quick.
I heard you played golf withone of your students.
I know you play a lot of golfwith your students, but uh,
what'd you shoot?
The last time you played, shot63 on Monday, I was 63.
(05:12):
Nobody shoots 63.
Come on.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
It was a weird 63, but uh, yeah, it was no, I mean,
that story is the story.
Spot on it was.
I remember having that phonecall after the original email to
you at Willamette, and Iprobably hadn't told my dad who
I was emailing.
I was just like, hey, it's thehead coach at Willamette, I'm
going to reach out to them andsee what happens.
(05:37):
And that phone call was wild, Iguess, to say the least.
It was like, oh my gosh, and Igot off the phone, talked to my
dad hey, do you know Noah?
And he's like, yeah, I actuallygave him a golf lesson at Bear
Creek.
I was like, whoa, okay, so fastforward a couple of years.
It was play golf at Willamettefor a couple of years before
(06:00):
Noah left to Ohio and then, whenhe moved back to Oregon, I was
caddying at Bannon Dunes, waslooking for a career in golf,
had bounced around some minitours in the Midwest Dakota's
tour 2017, golden State tour2017 and 18.
Wanted to stay involved,playing golf competitively, and
(06:24):
then moving back to Medfordactually was the farthest thing
from being on my radar.
I remember at the time like sixmonths before actually moving
here, I was no way I would everlive in Medford, but I remember
saying that to some friends andwe've all been there but ends up
, you know, coming back here.
(06:44):
Opportunity, uh, opportunity toteach, opportunity to play, uh,
learn the game in a completelydifferent way than I've ever, I
guess, thought of learning it.
Um, my dad, he, right now heruns a nine hole golf course in
ocean park, washington, on thelong beach peninsula.
It's a it's a great little ninehole track called surfside golf
course.
It's you see the ocean from thepro shop.
(07:06):
It's a two minute walk to thebeach.
Um, playable year round, exceptfor when it's monsooning on the
washington coast never happens,never happens no, but outside
of that it was, uh, yeah,growing up, growing up playing
golf.
It was my brother and I.
Uh, I have two brothers, butbrother and I we'd take a golf
(07:26):
cart or walk up to the pro shopevery morning.
7 am, open up the shop, pullthe carts up.
One of us would make breakfast.
One of us would work in the proshop from 7 in the morning
until 1 o'clock.
The other one would go out andplay golf.
We'd invite friends out andplay golf every day.
We'd flip at lunch, have lunchtogether and what.
The other one would go out andplay golf all afternoon, built a
(07:48):
pretty cool high school program, uh, where, if you ever go to
the town of Iwako, washington,when you enter on either two
sides, you'll see a welcome toIwako, home of the 2008, 2009,
2010, 11, 12, etc.
Etc.
State golf champs.
It's awesome, pretty wild,actually.
That's still there, um, butgoing back, it's, uh, it's.
(08:10):
It's always pretty cool tostill see it family ties yeah,
definitely my dad.
He does something pretty coolwhere he allows every high
school golfer to come out thereand play for free anytime they
want, as long as they're on thehigh school golf roster.
Um, you know, they can go outhit range balls.
Hit a, hit a bucket, go pick upa bucket.
Hit a bucket, go pick upanother bucket.
As much as they possibly want.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So, ryan, we have so much history together and one of
the things I'll never forgetwhen I was recruiting you at
Willamette was your high schoolcoach was more gung ho about
getting you to come play collegegolf.
I think then even you were.
I mean, you were this, this guythat was like the most level
(08:54):
headed kid ever.
You still are.
We know when you're playinggood golf cause you're jumping
about three feet every step.
It's almost like a skip.
Ryan's got his look.
It's.
It's amazing.
I always look for it to be likeman.
How many birdies do I have tomake today in this program when
Ryan's playing?
And, um, I'll never forget itbecause you're, you're in a high
school tournament.
It's my second year coach incollege golf, so I'm green and
(09:15):
I'm just like Rose city golfcourse.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Rose city.
That's right.
That's right, so Portlandthat's right.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So we get up there and your coach drives me
straight out to you V lines.
It stops 50 yards short of thegreen and there's these sequoias
that are about 40 to 50 feettall and Ryan doesn't know I'm
there and hits this drive and heand he he's a lefty,
unfortunately, we'll hold itagainst him so he pulls this
(09:42):
drive right over the sequoiasand it's dead.
He's like 220 out.
He's got 30 yards in front ofhim.
He's like 40 to 50 foot tallsequoias and I mean, as a high
school kid, you got to be shaken.
And his coach drives up,doesn't say anything about the
shot and he's like hey, ryan,here's.
(10:03):
You got to meet the coach fromWillamette, like as he's playing
high school golf, which isprobably illegal at the time.
I mean, I don't think you couldeven talk to your players at
that time.
So I'm like, hey, hey, ryan,good to see you.
You know I'm, you know blah,blah, whatever you say to try to
get a kid that you want, andyou know, and that was it.
Then Ryan walks past us, goesto his shot and I'm just, I'm
(10:27):
like, just wait here, coach.
You know, let me watch thisshot.
Ryan hits this nasty high drawfour or five iron or whatever it
was, and he plays it left ofthe pin, 30 yards short of the
green.
I'm like, wow, what highschooler doesn't go with the pin
(10:48):
in this situation, plays thespot uphill green, chips it to a
foot.
I literally told the coach.
I said take me in, I'm done.
That's the kid I want.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Ryan, what was the phrase that got you To
Willamette?
Yeah, what was the one sentenceor word that Noah said?
That said I'm sold.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I think it was some helping out with the financial
aid department.
To be honest with you,Willamette University is not a
cheap school to go to.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
We give no athletic scholarship.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That makes sense and to be honest, that was a huge
one.
That was to be able to go toschool there.
Um, I, you know, I I did a lotuh, I was hoping for a sappy
story.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
No, nothing that makes total sense 100 financial.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It was, it was massive ryan was actually for a
really, really good player.
That was one of my I don't wantto say easiest recruiting, you
know, because the ones thatdon't have it.
He's humble, right, he alreadyknows he's good, he's confident,
you know, but the ones thatdon't have it are the ones that
are asking for everything, right.
(11:53):
So it was one of those weirdconversations.
I still remember going to theAD and being like, yeah, there's
a kid that's going to changethe program.
We should probably figure thisout.
And again, like we can't giveathletic scholarships.
So luckily Ryan had really goodgrades, we were able to make it
work.
I mean, I mean we, we pulledevery string possible.
(12:14):
Like how can we give him themost we can give him as a work
study?
Like what do we do?
And, and um, you know, againit's, it's one of those things
Ryan's personality trait you'llnever know what he's thinking
and I think that makes a greatgolfer in general.
Um, and I, and again I want tohear more from ryan about, like
(12:34):
you know, his time out on themini tours, because you know
that's a tough road, you can goso many different routes and
like, what do you learn?
What do you do right?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
so you know, you know , ryan's a funny guy in that I
was just sitting here talkingwith the with another teammate
in the conference room hereabout, you know, youtube video,
golf tricks and stuff, and howwe all get so frustrated
watching these things on youtube, going, oh they make so much
sense, I can do that.
(13:01):
That'll, that will improve mygame, surely.
And then we get out on thecourse and we're set up for
disappointment.
And I was telling him how Noahalways says none of that matters
if you're not hitting thecenter of the club face right?
So all these tips and tricksyou see on YouTube makes so much
sense if you're hitting theball in the center of the club
(13:25):
face every single time.
And ryan walks out of theoffice and I I had no idea who
was in there listening to thisconversation and was going.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Those are true words oh yeah yeah, yeah, and that was
you know specifically I was.
I have a friend who I used towork with at bandandon who
caddies now on the PGA Tour.
Used to caddy for Bryson for along time, now caddies for Kurt
Kudiyama.
Got to spend a day with himlast year at the Houston Open
Tuesday practice round.
(13:54):
Got there at 7.
Actually, one of the craziestthings that happened that day
was.
So my friend's name's Tim, himand I go park in the caddy
parking lot, jump on the shuttlethat takes us to the pro shop.
Another caddy jumps in theshuttle cart with us and it's
Ted Scott.
Ted Scott, caddies for ScottyScheffler.
Okay, so I'm like, oh wow, thisis another one of the caddies
(14:17):
that I know on the PGA Tour.
So Scotty's maybe here, walkinto the pro shop person.
I see scotty scheffler and he'sgiven my friend tim and then
his, his caddy ted, a hard timefor being a couple minutes later
than they should have been.
Um, but that whole day was, itwas watching everyone, every pj
tour player, warm up on thedriving range.
We went out, played nine holes.
(14:39):
Uh, actually got to carry thebag a couple of holes, which was
kind of fun.
Um, you know, talked witheveryone that we played with.
It was Chan Kim, david Lipsky,kurt Kitayama.
In our group, kurt finished thefront.
Nine took a lesson from hiscoach, did a short game lesson,
got to observe that.
That was really special, reallycool.
(14:59):
And then they had lunch, hit afew more balls at the range,
went out, chipped and putted onthe back.
Nine went through a bunch ofgroups just cause we were
chipping and putting.
We would just walk every hole,go to every green chip putt for
15 minutes and uh, yeah, I gotto see a lot of tour players, uh
, a lot of a lot of nationallyrecognized coaches, coaches that
(15:19):
were out there with theirplayers.
Um, just all in all, incredibleexperience.
Um, that was my second pga tourevent I got to go to, but first
one like inside the ropes,walking with the players and
actually took a couple of kurt'sclubs that day and flipped them
over, hit them left-handed, hitsome chips, uh, and hit a
couple good ones, which was justkind of nice so when you're
(15:41):
inside the ropes on the pga tour, what the tour players?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
what is there from an inside insider's perspective?
Where is their mind at?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
yeah, they were just I mean a it's just trying to get
a feel of the golf course thatday.
I mean that's what it was.
It was they were being atuesday practice round.
I I think everyone wasextremely approachable, they
were easy to talk to, they werepretty laid back.
It was it was literally justtrying to get a feel for what
the course was.
(16:13):
You know they all have theirshots that they hit, control the
ball better than you knowanyone else that we ever play
golf with.
And I thought it was just hey,I'm trying to learn this green.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I'm trying to learn this green.
I'm trying to learn this teeshot.
What's the grass feel like whenI hit an iron shot?
What's the mindset differencebetween Tuesday practice round
and Sunday morning, given thatthey make the cut?
Speaker 3 (16:37):
yeah, probably.
I mean hopefully not a lot,right, I mean that's, that's
probably the goal, it's maybe alittle less approachable.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That, yeah, they're definitely gonna be less
approachable.
Yeah, they're definitely goingto be less approachable.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And being a Tuesday versus a Sunday.
Yeah, tuesday was pretty coolbecause the tournament hasn't
started yet, so you're kind of,I think, able to see them as
just another golfer that day,and they just happen to be
really good at the game.
And then Sunday they're tryingto make a check trying to pay
(17:07):
for everything they're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
And look at, the event you were at is right
before the masters.
So how many guys want to winthat that are 150th in the world
to go get into the masters?
There's a lot of thoseCinderella stories in an event
like that.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Valero Houston that that week Houston.
That week Steven Yeager endedup winning because Scotty
Scheffler missed.
I think he missed a six-footputt on the last hole to force a
playoff.
But Steven Yeager won, gothimself a PGA Tour exemption for
the next couple years.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Sounds like your buddy could tease Scotty a
little bit, not being late.
But six footers, 70% make rate.
What happened so?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
every young golfer who is, you know, play college
golf, is wanting to make acareer in golf.
Every young golfer's aspirationis to be on the PGA Tour.
What did that look like for you?
What was your goals later?
What was your goals later?
What was your goals when youwere in your late teens, early
20s, versus what your goals arenow?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
yeah, when I was in my late teens, early 20s, uh, so
a that's going through college,finishing college, uh.
And then it was figuring outwhat I wanted to do with golf.
You, you know, I I had somesuccessful years at Willamette.
Um, that prompted me to want togive give uh playing golf as a
(18:34):
career a shot.
Uh, that was the minute.
Then that led to the mini toursin 2017, 2018.
Um, it led me to caddyingabandoned too.
So I a went to caddy abandonedto pay for my college.
I started that as a summer job,would go and work and then go
back to school and pay my bill.
When I got done with school, itwas I'm going to go caddy
(18:58):
abandoned, save up a littlemoney and try to go do this all
on my own.
During that time, I was able tomeet a few people that were
extremely helpful in helping mefund that playing endeavor.
When I was out there, it feltlike A you're on the road solo
for weeks at a time.
(19:18):
And the Dakotas tour was nicefor me because I have some
family in Northwest Iowa andthat tour is very much centered.
That would maybe be the centerof that tour.
It goes from South Dakota,north Dakota, minnesota,
nebraska and Iowa Might sneakinto Wisconsin certain years.
So I was able to stay withfamily travel for three or four
(19:40):
days at a time, come home for acouple of days and then go on
the road again, and I learnedquickly that you cannot shoot in
the seventies.
Uh, it was.
It was a humbling experience.
I played a lot of really goodgolf.
Um, where you know, even youknow, after you know, let's say,
a three-day event, uh, aftertwo days, they make a cut.
(20:02):
If you're plus one, 40, uh,over 140 shots after two days,
which is 70, 70, you probablymissing the cut and you're going
to the next event.
So, learning that was uhhumbling, yeah, humbling, to say
the least.
Um, like I said, a lot of goodrounds.
It was a ton of experience, tonof good experience, but it was.
(20:25):
It was something that I thinkspurred a change in my golf game
, and what I mean by that is atthe end of 2017, during that
tour, I was, I was spending timeliving in Las Vegas in the
winter and then I was going tocaddy and band in in the summer.
At that point, I was onlycaddying when I've, you know,
couldn't afford to go play.
So 2018 starts.
(20:48):
Uh, sign up for Canadian Tour QSchool.
A week after that I hurt a bonein my right wrist at the gym,
went and played golf thatafternoon because I didn't think
much of it, but I hit a shotand then it just shot some pain
up my right arm and ended up notbeing able to play golf or hit
a shot for the whole first halfof 2018.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Amateurs know that feeling.
It feels like you're swingingrebar yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I mean, I went home that day after that injury and I
couldn't open the fridge withmy right hand, so it led to the
first half of 2018.
Actually, I just I putted a tonand then I went and I learned
how to chip one-handed, startedchipping one-handed with my left
hand, my trail hand as a leftygolfer which I'm actually a
(21:36):
right-handed person just golfleft-handed so I start chipping
one-handed.
Once my right hand starts to beable to absorb impact on chips,
I start learning how to chipright-handed, one-handed.
And it just taught me a lot ofdifferent things as far as short
game principles, fundamentals,how to release a golf club, how
to have the club's interactionwith the turf be the easiest it
(22:00):
could be.
And so 2018, once I startedbeing able to swing golf again,
or swing my golf club again, Iwent back to band and enlisted
the help of a couple of friendswho I uh, I thought understood
the golf swing Well.
A couple of friends Kevin Ryeand Kyle Crawford, two really
good amateur golfers here in thestate of Oregon.
(22:21):
Um, kyle caddies abandoned,kevin lives in Portland now but
both of them helped me, likeoriginally, like initially start
to understand why my golf swingdoes what it does?
They started giving me somedrills that they had gotten from
coaches prior.
Um, and then I went throughthis long overhaul that was 2018
(22:42):
, 2019 of just revamping my golfswing to making it something
that was more consistent, youknow, and that was like a year
and a half before I reallyplayed tournament golf again.
It was something that I hadnever really gone through a
swing overhaul like that before.
So it just made something.
It created a golf swing that Imean the ball flight's just more
(23:02):
predictable.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So your reputation here in Southern Oregon and in
particular here at the GolfGarage, is impeccable as a coach
, as a trainer, as aprofessional, as somebody who
really understands the game andcan help develop people's skills
.
I talk to people around thegolf garage all the time who
(23:28):
they come to me and they're likedude, have you seen Ryan play
golf?
And they're like dude, have youseen Ryan play golf?
And I'm like, yeah, I'm likeI've never had the privilege of
playing a round of golf with you.
But they're like we were out atSonarage and he shot a 65.
I'm like, yeah, it's Ryanyou're talking about.
(23:51):
I know that I've neverplayed're talking about.
I know that I've never playedwith you, but I know that and
you're so humble and so low-keyin your demeanor around here.
But the people who I talk to,who you have helped in their
golf swing, have improveddramatically and just have the
(24:14):
highest level of respect I can.
You know I can't put words toso I've got a ryan story.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Ryan, I don't know if you remember this, but when you
first came to willamette youwere a very good ball striker.
You hit a lot of greensregulation.
You're always somewhere in thateven par range, couple of times
under par, and you know,putting wasn't your strongest
suit at the time, but you werestill a really good player.
(24:43):
Um, and one of the things Iremember, I was always trying to
figure out how do I motivateRyan.
We had a lot of good talent onthe team but we were always kind
of in that top 25.
You were the guy that got usthere.
You brought in a lot of goodrecruits and I was like there
(25:04):
was a term and I think youfinished like second and you
were super bummed.
It was like one of the firsttimes I saw some emotion.
It't.
It was just like frustrationafter and you know, almost
didn't want to like talk aboutit and I remember going to the
fan by you and I'm like you knowhow you doing what's going on.
You know, yeah, whatever, andyou know typical.
(25:27):
I mean, why would you want totalk about finishing second?
And then I started saying I waslike hey, you know what?
Guess how many tournaments Iwon my freshman year.
You're like I don't know.
I said I won six, go beat that.
And literally the dude goes outthere and he starts winning
(25:48):
golf tournaments.
I'm like I don't know if thatdid it, but I literally was like
, hey, maybe the guy just needssomething to shoot for silent.
But that it was silent butdeadly.
And we're like he's shooting 67all of a sudden out of nowhere
and he hits a slinger draw thathe doesn't talk about yeah, with
wedges.
Nobody wants to do that.
Never, never, actually, let mecoach him, but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
that's that's why I went through that swing change.
Yeah, we always joke about that.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I'm like you never let me coach you in college, but
it's okay.
But he wanted to beat me Rightand it was fun, like it was a
really really good relationshipthat way.
And you know, ryan, I think oneof the things that you bring to
the table, um, at the golfgarage this director of
instruction is, is the playingside of it.
Obviously, you know you're agreat player, your demeanor's
awesome.
(26:37):
You don't go up and down.
I'm sure you're going throughstuff, but what was the biggest
thing on the Dakotas tour?
That was probably the hardestthing to get to because I mean,
like college golf, you have afamily, you have backing, you
have it's all about the team too.
Right, it's an individual sport, but you have the opportunity
to be on a team and then you goout there and all of a sudden
(27:00):
there's this buzzsaw of reallygood players nearby yourself.
You had some family in Dakotas,which was nice, but like, how
do you find that support?
You know, what would you giveas advice to somebody out of
college that wants to go and tryto play on the tour?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think , uh, when I was out there, like
there were a few guys that Iremember you know a seeing at
every event, because it's a verysmall community of you know
guys that are playing thesetournaments Um, and towards the
end of the season it ended upturning into hey, like we're
sharing hotel rooms, we're goingto dinner together.
(27:36):
It would be trying to figureout how to build a network as
fast as you can with a couple ofpeople and if that, you know,
two people turns into six by theend of the you know tour or
whatever it is it's not like theshow naked and afraid.
No, it's not, it's, it's verymuch.
You know, it is a cool um, likethe camaraderie I guess you get
(27:59):
from having guys out there.
I mean, I'm not a religiousperson at all, I wouldn't say,
but when I was out there endedup meeting up with some guys who
they had, like I don't know,just nights where they talked
about faith, um, and then thatwas just, I guess, super like
the, the door was super openinto like what that actually
meant to everyone, um, and thenit just, I think, allowed a bond
(28:22):
to to be fostered.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
To what grounds people?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, I mean it's yeah, exactly it was I don't
know.
Yeah, it was something that Iguess was different to me when
it started, uh, but turned intosomething normal by the time it
ended.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So now let's fast forward because obviously you
know great advice, build a bond.
Um, you need support.
It's it's literally the biggestvillage in the world to play
tour golf and, um, my, my littleexperience out there as well,
it's like it's amazing.
You've got to keep your playerpositive, you've got to keep
(28:58):
them in the mindset and go, go,go, go go.
And then there's all thesepeople that say I want this, but
they really don't know what ittakes to do this.
And so golf garage isinteresting because you just
shot 63.
It's March, we played no golf,we've had snow, we've had all
this terrible weather, right.
So how is it that you can keepyour golf game sharp indoors?
(29:22):
What are some of the tricksthat you do at golf garage?
Potentially, whether it's it'steaching, coaching or just like
for yourself.
I've seen you hit balls in herebefore you practice.
You play, you're in our league.
You know what do you do to keepyour game short.
To say, in March, with terribleconditions, I'm still shooting
nine under par.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, it's, it's just knowing how far the golf ball
is going with all the irons,it's knowing what swings create
what shots.
Um, seeing shapes on the screenactually to me is very
beneficial.
Um, super, uh, I think I thinka very, very much a visual
learner.
So when I see shapes on thegolf swing, like on the
(30:05):
simulators on the screens, liketo me that's all right, that's a
draw, that's a left edge of thefairway starting shot, it's
moving back to the right centerof the fairway.
Um, and then what did thatswing feel?
Like it would be a golf swingfor me that I generally draw
shots, so like when I try to cutshots, uh, they go pretty
straight.
(30:25):
So, like, what is that feelingfor me?
And then I take that to the teebox on a on a golf course and
then, hopefully, you know,stripe it down the center.
But I think biggest thing isjust it's it's distances.
I know how far I hit the ballwith all my clubs.
And then I guess something thatyou know was I get, you know,
really unique was the othernight I was playing.
I came in Sunday night thenight before that round of 63
(30:48):
played, 36 in about an hour anda half and uh, yeah, played,
played Copperhead and playedgrand reserve, so that's uh,
that's the Valspar and that'sthe Puerto Rico open.
Um, and when I was, when I wasplaying out there, I was
realizing, like, the more I playgolf on the Sims, I realized
how freely I swing the club.
(31:10):
It's really interesting becauseI feel like when people put out
on the golf course, golf swingbecomes super restricted because
they're so, you know, focusedor attached to the, to an
outcome.
Then all of a sudden you'rehitting into a screen nine feet
in front of you and then thathas to change.
Like, in my opinion, that hasto change.
Repetition, yeah Well,repetition, but also just how,
(31:32):
how freely can your swing be?
Because, like, how attached areyou to hitting a golf ball into
a screen nine feet in front ofyou?
So to me I'm like I'm makingall these motions the way,
exactly the way I want to makethem, hitting shots, and they're
going the distances, maybe evena little bit farther than I
actually normally would, becausethe swing is so free.
And then I go out, and it was,you know, second hole at
(31:54):
centennial, uh 195, out of therough with a six iron.
The swing was as free as itfelt the night before when I
played that 36 and hit it to sixfeet, make eagle, and that was
the start of the round.
So it was just like that.
That six iron swing on two onhole two the other day felt the
exact same as like every ironshot that I hit the night before
(32:17):
on the sim.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I'll bring up the six iron because that's near and
dear to my heart.
I love my six iron.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Not your wedge.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
My 69 degree wedge is my girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
That's the one it comes through for me every time.
Darren, I don't take onstudents that have that wedge.
Come on, don't get me wrong, Ilove it.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
What's the balance on that thing?
There is no balance 6.9.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
There's none.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
It just goes in the air, it lands and it stops.
It stops which I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I got to echo something real quick here
because Ryan hit the nail on thehead.
I don't get to play a lot ofgolf, right, I'm trying to run
the golf garage, I'm coaching,I'm doing all this stuff.
But like I played tonight and Inoticed the same thing that
Ryan did, I made five birdies onthe sim tonight and that's the
most I've made in sim golf in awhile and I haven't played a ton
.
But there's something about itthat you do swing freer and I,
(33:15):
oddly enough, felt the same wayand I was like my six iron
doesn't go one 90.
I hit it on 77 on the golfcourse, but it's odd because on
the golf course you'recontrolling it to a yardage.
It's not your potential, and Ithink that's some things that
people struggle with.
and then a lot of 100 percentamateur golfers come in and they
(33:37):
hit it shorter and like thisisn't accurate.
And you're like, uh, let me hitone, let me make sure it's
working.
You hit eight iron stockwhatever and you're like you
know it's, it's there.
So I think there is some mentalside of this that if you hit
more in a simulator, you'regoing to find out number one.
Like you said, every ball youhit you can see how far you hit
it.
It's not about the other 13parameters.
(33:59):
Most people don't need to knowwhat their face to target is.
I mean, end of the day, theirgoals aren't going to be what
your goals are as a tour player,and I think it's like like as a
coach, you have to decide whatare the goals.
How can we?
Speaker 1 (34:17):
help you very quickly and Golf Garage allows you to
do that.
I will tell you firsthand with,specifically, the 6-iron, I'll
get out here in the simulatorand I will hit the 6-iron over
and over and over and over again.
And when I get this club dialedin I'm carrying, raw carry, the
six iron 197, 196, 198, youknow right in that just shy of
(34:42):
200 yards.
When I get out of the golfcourse, if I'm at 177, 180,
course, if I'm at 177, 180, I'mgrabbing my six iron because I'm
not hitting on the golf coursewith the confidence that I'm
hitting in the simulator.
And it's not that one is moreaccurate and one is less
accurate, it's that in thesimulator you get that
(35:04):
repetition to where you get thatconfidence to start swinging
more freely.
And when you get out on thegolf course and you're not
swinging in the level ofrepetition that you are in the
simulator, you're not strikingthe ball with as much confidence
.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
For sure.
And where do most people missShort?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Right 100%.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
I've gone out and caddied for a lot of my junior
golfers your son actually, fornine holes one time and then a
handful of others, and for themost part like hey, let's take
another club.
If we go long, we go long, butmost golfers don't go long.
Short is the dominant miss,short right specifically.
(35:48):
But short would be a bettermiss or a more often you know a
miss that's more often than thanlong.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
My miss today on the KP competition was long left.
Who won that left?
Who won that?
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I think, the owner of the golf.
First time, though.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
First time.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I'll take credit, baby, how far I was.
I was seven yards.
I don't know, ryan, I was sevenyards from the pain you're like
okay, well, we'll add it wouldhave been 21 feet when I was off
of the green because it wasback plant.
You would have been pinplacement t4 maybe fifth what
did they say?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
and?
Speaker 1 (36:26):
so there was a lot of close people today.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Winner winner chicken dinner.
Noah gets half off a Bay rental.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I'm donating that to one of my teammates and I said
anybody with PGA attached totheir name is not eligible.
That's why I don't run theevents, I just play Ryan's in
charge.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
I took that guinea pig shot that first one because
it was 155 down 28, and I hit agap wedge.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You couldn't see the green you couldn't even see the
green, you couldn't even see theflag.
Black Jacks.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Crossing golf trip coming up.
That place looks sweet.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I got to toot Ryan's horn a little bit here because
director of instruction.
Why is Ryan the director ofinstruction?
Well, he's about to be a ClassA PGA professional.
For one, he's a heck of aplayer.
He knows statistics, he is areally good mechanical coach and
he's still learning.
And what's really cool aboutRyan is he's a lefty so he can
(37:22):
mirror every righty and then hejust tells everybody that's
lefty, that he's really good, sohe gets the lefties and the
righties.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
So, ryan, here's a very raw and personal question
in your future, do you seeyourself being more on the
teaching side or in thetournament side?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Well, I mean I, I deal, I yeah, I mean, I ideally
like to do both.
Um, don't get me like I don'twant to stop playing competitive
golf.
Uh, competitive golf.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well, yeah, we have a tournament to win on, like what
, next Friday?
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Yeah, the, what is it the?
Speaker 2 (37:52):
high school we got to support those high schools.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
The high school shootout supporting the high
school, the local high schoolteams.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You know, what we should do is we should play some
bets against all the amateursin the field.
They can't take us down andwe'll double that money.
I like it yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Take me on.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
It's for the kids, man, it's gross baby.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah, RVCC Shootout hosted by Garrison's Furniture.
If you don't have a teamalready get a team.
Support the kids.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
We've got to support the team.
You coach too, right, wehaven't even talked about that.
What school do you coach, Ryan?
I?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
coach in the St Mary's High School, a small
school here in Medford.
Great history of golf too, bythe way.
Dylan woo uh alumni who's onthe pga tour right now it's.
It's a fantastic group of kids.
I have right now, um, you know,one, one senior, two seniors on
(38:40):
the golf team, um, but twoseniors, one junior, a great
sophomore class, great freshmanclass, a bunch of kids I've
taught now for up to almost sixyears at this point.
So, yeah, really, really funstarting the high school season.
Have a good look at, uh, youknow, competing for a state
title so, in your tournament,play career goals.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Yeah, what is the next six 12 months?
Hold for you, what's your yeah,what's your goal?
What's your plan?
Yes, in the in your cards yeah,so it's.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
It's some local events.
We medford, southern oregon,has has quite a few really good
uh pro-ams for the localprofessionals.
Uh, rogue pro-am mid-april,right around master's week has
two days at grants pass golfclub, two days at rogue valley
country club.
Then there's the opga eventsthat I'll play in uh throughout
(39:33):
the year, just great events thatI take students to, typically
almost always take students uhas my playing partners.
And then we have the Washingtonopen, the Oregon open, the
Northwest open, as some of thePacific Northwest section major
majors.
So those events are held at,you know.
The Washington opens Tacomacountry club Great course.
(39:53):
Uh, the Northwest open.
Uh is at a court golf coursecalled the home course in DuPont
Fantastic track One I playedactually my senior, senior year
of high school.
Uh state championship at umfinished second to uh, to a good
friend, good friend but um.
And then the the oregon open,this year, I think, is at aspen
(40:16):
lakes.
So three cool, three cool golfvenues, courses I've played
before.
So those events.
And then in september thepacific northwest section has
their major championship.
It's in missoula, montana thisyear.
Canyon river golf club Awesomecourse.
Actually caddied for Noah thereback in 2019.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Best caddy I've ever had.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
That will point you in the direction of potentially
PGA tour card.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
So PGA tour card would be different, but it would
.
It would you know, play well atthat event gets you into
another event.
Play well at that event getsyou into another event.
Uh, play well at that eventgets you into another event type
of deal.
Um, the 2026 skipping the cornfairy?
Yeah, it's well, it's not going.
It's not going many, it's notgoing to a route.
Actually it's so.
(41:02):
This, this event in missoula,montana, if you play well enough
, you qualify for the clubchampionship, like the PGA
professionals club championshipevent.
Um, and that is in 2026, heldat Bannon Dunes.
If you go there and play wellenough, you qualify for the PGA
championship, the major.
So then you play, you get toplay in a major event.
(41:24):
So, like you know,theoretically speaking, if you
play eight really good rounds ofgolf as a club professional,
you find yourself in a majorchampionship.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Excellent.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah, there's a route into a major just like that.
So yeah, that'll be a fun event.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
So what is your favorite golf course of all time
?
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Oh, it's such a good question.
My brothers and I have debated,have debated between this uh,
over the years I, you know, if Iwas, if I was being loyal, I
would say surfside golf course,my dad's home golf course.
But uh, maybe it's, maybe it'sband and dunes.
I've played that golf coursewith my dad and my family since
they opened in 1999.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
What about Citrus Farms?
Where's that rate?
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Yeah, I got to play Cabot Citrus Farms just a few
weeks ago.
Cabot was incredible.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
I would love to go back there, one of the top
courses in the country 30 newcourses.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
32nd.
I got to play all the coursesat Streamsong in the last month.
Those were incredible becausethey felt like Bandon Dunes and
a couple of them I got 30, 40mile an hour winds, just like
Bandon Dunes.
The greens were faster, so itwas even harder.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
We're not in Kansas anymore.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
No, but that's the first course that actually
popped into my head when youasked the question.
It might be Pasatiempo.
I've gotten to play Paso Tiempodown in Santa Cruz three
different times Um, once with mydad and then twice with uh one
(43:00):
of our coaches here, mattPreston, and uh, and then when a
couple of our golf garagemembers we took a golf trip down
there a couple of years ago.
Actually, a cool story withthat one was we went early March
2023.
My birthday is March 2nd.
We played Pasatiempo March 2ndand we flipped out a hole-in-one
(43:21):
on the 15th hole there.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
That's a video I've looked at like three times it's
a wedge.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Yeah, we have it on camera.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
We've got to post that to the my golf course.
It's a wedge.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
It's a wedge shot that lands 114 yards.
Uh, wedge shot.
Lands eight feet behind thehole, spins back, hits the flag
stick and then wraps around thecup, ends up half an inch on the
front edge looking in.
So it was just, you know,looking back like what a memory
that would have been having anace on.
It was my 30th birthday and youknow, whatever it is now is
(43:54):
what it is.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
But do you have any superstitions?
What do you eat the nightbefore a big tournament, or the
one pressure's?
Speaker 3 (44:02):
on.
No, I quit.
I quit having superstitions fora long time.
For a while now, actually, likeon the golf course, I would
used to have certain things,like I wouldn't go to the
bathroom if I was playing well,but if I was playing poorly I
would use the bathroom.
If I needed to use the bathroom, you know, I thought plan ahead
(44:24):
, everybody, yeah.
And then I just started liketelling myself this is
ridiculous.
Uh, so no, I, I don't thinkit's this point.
Maybe some peanut butter andbanana sandwiches are probably
my favorite thing to have on thegolf course during tournaments.
I'll eat those on hole sevenand hole 13.
Outside of that, I mean, don'tbe specific or anything.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Well, so let's back up here the best players in the
world have a process.
That's why Ryan can shoot thosedeep numbers 65.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
It doesn't scare him, it's just like let's keep going
.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Let's make birdie, let's make eagle.
It's not a big deal, right?
I always?
Speaker 3 (44:57):
used to use, uh, for a while.
One of them was I had thisOklahoma state quarter, um, and
I just liked the emblem on it,but, uh, I mean, that was that's
probably like the mostsuperstition thing I ever had
for a while.
Now I use a different ballmarker, so I don't use that
quarter anymore.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
All right, here's a big ask.
In 2025, you and Noah have tohelp me break 80.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Okay, yeah, doable Ryan.
I don't know if we can do it,buddy, as much as we can.
Oh, come on, darren, that's soeasy, you just need some time.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, you have until December 31st 2020.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Ryan will take you on the golf course because he
loves to play golf, and I'llhelp you in the golf ground.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
We're going to document this and we're going to
make it happen.
Yeah, break 80.
I'm telling you, I'm the typeof person I was thinking there's
some par 3 courses around here.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
We can make that happen, no problem.
Yes, yes, yes, par 28.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I'm the type of guy I go out there on an 18-hole
course and it's definitely notmy best round of golf, but it
was my best start to a round ofgolf.
I was one under going into holeseven and I shot a 94.
Yeah, yeah.
So what do you say?
Speaker 3 (46:19):
What do you say to that?
It's a really good start,because I know everybody
everybody listening to thispodcast is in that boat.
Yeah, you know, it's somethingthat I've started to do over the
last I don't know how manyyears has been.
Well, a going back to when Iwas a junior golfer, my dad
taught my brothers and I, uh,and I have two brothers right
(46:42):
now that are both OPGA golf pros.
Uh, my youngest brother, blake,actually just won his first
event as a pro.
Uh, couple of like justliterally the last couple of
days at Astoria golf, uh, golfand country club and Gerhardt,
um, but he always taught us totry to not keep score.
You know what I mean.
Like write, write the numberdown, but try to not track it
(47:06):
Right, because then, all of asudden, the start, you know.
The second, you start trackingit.
All of a sudden, the start, youknow the second, you start
tracking it.
All of a sudden, you're, you'reattached to something right,
and and and people, just ashuman beings, want to be
attached to something.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
So if you can figure out how to detach yourself from
that, all of a sudden, somethinggood could happen my best
rounds of golf, which are in themid mid 80s, are shot when I
don't walk away feeling like Idid anything exceptional.
I just played consistentlyboring boring maybe right I like
that word where some of the myrounds of golf, where I hit the
(47:43):
best shots of my life that I'msuper thrilled about, don't even
get me in the 80s.
Yeah, yeah, so it's.
It's that mindset of not caringabout the score, it's just
about getting out there andexecuting every shot
individually yeah, the best ofyour, your ability, which might
(48:04):
not be a birdie, might just be apar or a bogey, but that will
bring your score into theeighties, low to mid mid
eighties.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
So, yeah, yeah, sometimes bogeys are great, and
as cliche I mean, there's somany golf cliches, right, let's
get there, I'm going to hold youguys to it.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
You two between the two of you have to get me sub 80
by December 31st.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Uh, wow, at me, sub 80 by December 31st.
Wow, I don't think it'll takethat long If you do what we say
you're going to do.
It might take like two weeks,two weeks.
Are you willing to take twoweeks off work?
Speaker 1 (48:43):
I can't take two weeks off work.
That's your own problem.
I mean, I'm the normal person.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
You're the CEO of your business partner and all
you got to do is take two weeksoff.
You want to accomplish thisgoal or not?
I mean, we're just putting youin the challenge here because
here's, let's go, let's realquick here.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Give me six months, not two weeks.
Six months and I still get todo my full-time job.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
We'll see, we'll see, we'll see.
We've got to write some thingsdown.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
You sound like Chubbs from Happy Gilmore.
Give me six months, I'll workwith you every day.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Well, you know what's really funny about all this
Happy Gilmore 2 coming out inJuly?
We're going the golf garage isclosed when Happy Gilmore 2
comes out, or we're going tohost it here, hey, you know what
?
Every golfer has thisexpectation and we deal with
this daily, Ryan.
And it's how to manage theexpectation, because they tell
you one thing in an assessmentand then week three comes along.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Oh no no, no, no, I want this yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
And so you know.
The nice thing about thetechnology is we can look back
at it and say here's where youwere, here's where you are Plain
and simple.
Stats Don't lie.
Measurable, measurable,measurable.
Number two we have video appsthat say here's the
accountability aspect, this iswhat you wanted See this video,
and this is me voicing it overand this is what you were
(49:57):
supposed to do, right?
So what's really nice about itis, if you really want to get
better, it's like a gym, right.
Why would I ever go to atrainer?
I know how to work out.
I really do Like I I've takenclasses.
I know I've been to trainersLike I don't need one.
I do it for accountability.
Why would you take golf lessonsfrom our director of instruction
?
Because he will keep youaccountable and he understands
(50:20):
it, he's been through it, heknows all the details of it.
He you're not going to make thesame mistakes he made twice
right?
That's the whole goal ofcoaching.
That's the goal of Golf Garage.
We can make you accountable foryour actions and you're going
to get better way faster.
Ryan just shot 63, right.
I have the same experience in apro-am in Arizona where I
(50:40):
played really well.
I think, like these things.
Golf is not hard if youunderstand what you're trying to
accomplish, and the golfcoach's job is to keep you
accountable.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
It's still hard.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
For you Until we break that number.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Yeah, I like it's hard for anybody without PGA
attached to their name.
Is it a?
Speaker 2 (51:01):
bet, like you and I, versus Darren, and he has to do
something for us.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
Yeah, let's make this ?
A running tab or something likethat.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Yeah, that sounds good, but maybe next week, like
we'll come up with this off theair, and then we'll come up with
it next week and, darren, yougot to come up with this.
I mean, like this is game on.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
I think that's a good idea.
Especially with a lot of mystudents, I try to inspire
practice.
I know how much I've practicedin my life, so you know my goal
with anything anyone that I'mever working with, is just to
inspire them to practice morethan they ever have, because a
lot of people don't practice.
They hit golf balls, like maybeonce a week after work and I
get it.
(51:40):
You have a job.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
That's hard.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
We have a full-time job, I have a 24-7 facility and
you have a key fob, Danny.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
I own a business and a full-time job and I have a
wife and four children at home.
Speaker 2 (51:51):
And they're asleep at about midnight and you're still
ready to go.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Let's do this, and I've got one of our clients.
Tyler hanging out with us todayon the podcast and he's he's a
full-time real estate agent.
You know for his career.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
That's a pretty cool magazine too.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
He does, and we'll talk about that in the next
couple of weeks.
Oh yeah, but it's.
You know, it's a full-time joband we're golf enthusiasts.
We want to be better, but it'snot our full-time job.
It's hard, I get it.
Golf is hard and I don't carewhat you say about golf being
easier.
It's always hard, no matter howeasier it gets.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
Would you say that after you played Augusta and
Pebble?
Or would you be like, oh mygosh, that's the coolest golf
course I've ever played dream.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
I will say it is the coolest golf course I've ever
played.
That is a dream come true, butman was it hard.
That's exactly what I'll say.
I played Coeur d'Alene resortcourse, which is one of the
bucket list golf courses.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
How far was the par three?
174.
You know what's awesome?
Hold on so.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
Ryan changes every day depending on the tide.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
I was thinking about this.
So when Ryan said that earlierabout his hole in one, good
golfers remember every shot.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
I remember that I was the only one in my group before
that hit the green and realquick, Darren.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
I'd like to point out it's a lake that there's no
tides, it's just the level ofthe lake.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Where was the moon at ?
Speaker 1 (53:21):
We'll look back at that, whatever it was the level
of the lake changes and theymoved the green barge closer,
further out.
How long was the boat ride?
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Not long enough.
I played there in August 2008.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
I didn't finish my course light from leaving the
dock to getting to the dock ofthe green.
I didn't quite finish it.
Lake levels were up.
Yeah, it was a long par threethat day.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
Love it, noah's dying have you played that course,
not yet Someday.
Bucket list courses, though.
What do we think for Ryan andgot a couple of questions.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
What's your bucket list course?
Bucket list course Not lickcourse Bucket list, course
Bucket list courses.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
So I've gotten to play a couple different allister
mckenzie courses with my dad,which have been pretty sweet.
Uh, red, uh, northwood,northwood's golf club.
Uh, just north of san franciscois an incredible nine hole
public golf course in theredwoods.
Um, if you haven't played there, go play it it's, it's insane,
we played it 18 holes oneevening stayed there overnight.
(54:31):
Played 18 holes in the morning.
The morning fog and the suncoming through the Redwoods on
the nine hole public track issomething special.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Um on top of that, have you played the coyote Creek
tournament course, San Jose.
Speaker 3 (54:47):
I have not played coyote Creek.
No, um played a few times inSan Jose, but I haven't played
that one.
Um court of all was one Iplayed down there in that area
used to be where they had the.
I think it was the Safewayclassic.
Actually, um, did you walk ordid you?
Speaker 2 (55:03):
ride in a cart, road in a cart, I think.
Oh, because I caddied fiverounds on that one.
Speaker 3 (55:10):
That's not.
That's not a fun walk, butAlistair McKenzie golf courses
would be a pretty cool track.
So the few that I've playedhave been Pasatiempo, northwood
you played Pebble, yet I haven'tplayed Pebble.
Metal Club was a pretty specialone, just north of San
Francisco for AlistairMcKenzie's first golf club on
(55:34):
the West Coast.
And then Pasatiempo is actuallythe model for Augusta, if
people don't know that, if youget the chance to play,
pasatiempo just went through aremodel.
That place is incredible.
They hold the WesternCollegiate College Tournament
there every single year and Ithink it's hosted by Pepperdine.
That place is worth the walk.
(55:55):
I've rode there once and thenwalked twice, walked that golf
course.
It's a brutal walk but it isworth the walk.
Speaker 1 (56:02):
I've played Sandpiper Golf Club and Rancho, san
Marcos and La Parisima in SantaBarbara County several times.
I am going to be playing what'sone of Klamath Falls running
why?
Arnold Palmer and Taurus forthe first time next month.
(56:23):
I want to play band in dunesthis summer and sometime in the
next couple of years I want toget pebble.
Pebble is great on my listbecause it's, you know, nearby
and within my member travel.
Can you say?
Speaker 2 (56:40):
member trip.
Speaker 3 (56:41):
Yes, let's game on it , on, let's go in the fall.
What is member trip?
Speaker 1 (56:46):
we will do our podcast live from pebble.
Speaker 2 (56:50):
Ryan's invited, let's do this game on.
Hey, I think we need to figureout what Ryan's favorite food is
.
Do you know what it is?
Speaker 1 (57:00):
tacos on Tuesdays what about Thursdays pizza yes,
I love it.
Speaker 2 (57:09):
I love it.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (57:11):
Thanks for joining us .
My golf source podcast.
See you next week.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
Y'all.
Welcome to the MyGolfSource podcast.
Welcome to MyGolfSource.
I'm Darren.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I'm Noah.
Hey, what'd you do tonight?
Just got done with Sim League.
How'd that go for you?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Rough first hole.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Same here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Where did we play tonight?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I think it was like Tiger Woods' course.
Maybe we can have like our.
You know what was it called.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It was something naughty, it was just.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know, I think we have somebody on later that can
tell us more uh, excited aboutour guests later.
How about you?
What did we play, Ryan?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
We played black Jack's crossings black Jack just
outside of big.
Ben Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Oh yeah, is that tiger's course.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Not a tiger course.
I think it's a Nicholas courseactually.
Okay yeah.
It felt a lot like Utah orWyoming Looked like it yeah, it
did, but that's a lot of BigBend right there in Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Problem I had was when I went in the desert I was
like am I in Vegas?
Am I in Scottsdale?
What kind of sand is this?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I was just venting to my teammate Tyler here that I
wanted so badly to hit a300-yard drive tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Did you do it?
299.4, so I had to round it up.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
You're 0.1 away from the 300-yarder, 0.1 away from
rounding up to 300 yards.
Well, you know what's unique.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I mean, ryan already kind of let the cat out of the
bag that he's hearing, but we'vegot our director of instruction
here from Golf Garage who I'veknown for a very, very long time
, and I bet he could probablyget you to maybe 300.1.
Would that be happy?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
happy I I wouldn't be happy until I was at 315 with
ryan, because I know, because Iknow he can do it well,
absolutely, darren, I've, I'veseen your golf swing, we've got,
we've got 15 extra in there.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think, think so, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, obviously Ryan's on right now.
Definitely need to introducehim a little bit.
So, uh, ryan Kukula, pgaprofessional.
Uh grew up here in SouthernOregon and a native till he was
a couple of years old.
I'll let him tell his own story, but I've known Ryan since he
was two.
I actually, uh, worked at BearCreek Golf Course when I was 12,
(02:26):
picking range balls for freegolf.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So that's, over 40 years 28.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
So who's doing the math?
I'm 41.
He's not that.
He's not that old.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Okay, 29.
Yeah, yeah, ryan will hold meto this story.
So I'm out there, I'm pickingrange balls for some free golf
at this par 3 course.
So I'm, I'm out there, I'mpicking free, you know, range
balls for some free golf at thispar three course and I think,
uh, first time out there, we dida good job and the owner's like
, hey, uh, come back the nextday.
So I did and, you know, had agood time and that's that's
basically the, the gist of megetting into golf.
(02:57):
And then, about a week later, Iremember uh, uh, one of the,
this guy that was out there andhe's teaching golf and, um, you
know, I went up to him andtalked to him and, um, found out
that, uh, he's got this littlekid who's like two years old at
the time and there's a miniaturegolf course and and, uh, he's
like, hey, will you go out there?
And and pot with my son.
(03:17):
I'm like, yeah, absolutely.
So we go out there and we'replaying and like two-year-old
kids like, knock at it in thehole and like two putts and
three putts, and I'm like, whois this guy?
And, you know, we get up tothis hole.
There's a volcano hole and thekid makes a hole in one on it I
don't know if he remembers thisor not and we get done and find
out it's.
It's Ryan.
And you know I'm out thereminiature golfing with him and
(03:42):
you know, know, short end ofthis is, you know I'm.
You know, let's fast forwardabout 20 years and I'm coaching
college golf and I see a name ona prospect list at willamette
university and the last name'skakula.
And I see ryan.
I'm like no way is that kakula.
That rings a bell?
I know I was like, is thatrelated to john Kukula, who gave
(04:03):
me my first golf lesson?
And uh, sure enough, I, I, Icall him and I'm like one of the
and again, ryan can probablyfix this story.
But, like one of the firstquestions I asked him, I'm like
hey, uh, so are you related toJohn Kukula?
And I mean I remember the phonegoing silent a little bit and
and he was like, uh, yeah.
(04:24):
And I'm like, oh, uh, your dadgave me my first golf lesson.
So you know, luckily I was ableto recruit this guy because he
shoots under par every time heplays golf and he's a glorified
tour player and he works at agolf garage as our director of
instruction.
So for some reason he followsme around.
I don't understand why, butmaybe it's just because.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Don't ask questions, just go with it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I'm like just go with it right.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Just go with it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So we'd like to welcome to the show Ryan Kukula,
pga professional and directorof instruction.
There we go.
And Ryan, real quick.
I heard you played golf withone of your students.
I know you play a lot of golfwith your students, but uh,
what'd you shoot?
The last time you played, shot63 on Monday, I was 63.
(05:12):
Nobody shoots 63.
Come on.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
It was a weird 63, but uh, yeah, it was no, I mean,
that story is the story.
Spot on it was.
I remember having that phonecall after the original email to
you at Willamette, and Iprobably hadn't told my dad who
I was emailing.
I was just like, hey, it's thehead coach at Willamette, I'm
going to reach out to them andsee what happens.
(05:37):
And that phone call was wild, Iguess, to say the least.
It was like, oh my gosh, and Igot off the phone, talked to my
dad hey, do you know Noah?
And he's like, yeah, I actuallygave him a golf lesson at Bear
Creek.
I was like, whoa, okay, so fastforward a couple of years.
It was play golf at Willamettefor a couple of years before
(06:00):
Noah left to Ohio and then, whenhe moved back to Oregon, I was
caddying at Bannon Dunes, waslooking for a career in golf,
had bounced around some minitours in the Midwest Dakota's
tour 2017, golden State tour2017 and 18.
Wanted to stay involved,playing golf competitively, and
(06:24):
then moving back to Medfordactually was the farthest thing
from being on my radar.
I remember at the time like sixmonths before actually moving
here, I was no way I would everlive in Medford, but I remember
saying that to some friends andwe've all been there but ends up
, you know, coming back here.
(06:44):
Opportunity, uh, opportunity toteach, opportunity to play, uh,
learn the game in a completelydifferent way than I've ever, I
guess, thought of learning it.
Um, my dad, he, right now heruns a nine hole golf course in
ocean park, washington, on thelong beach peninsula.
It's a it's a great little ninehole track called surfside golf
course.
It's you see the ocean from thepro shop.
(07:06):
It's a two minute walk to thebeach.
Um, playable year round, exceptfor when it's monsooning on the
washington coast never happens,never happens no, but outside
of that it was, uh, yeah,growing up, growing up playing
golf.
It was my brother and I.
Uh, I have two brothers, butbrother and I we'd take a golf
(07:26):
cart or walk up to the pro shopevery morning.
7 am, open up the shop, pullthe carts up.
One of us would make breakfast.
One of us would work in the proshop from 7 in the morning
until 1 o'clock.
The other one would go out andplay golf.
We'd invite friends out andplay golf every day.
We'd flip at lunch, have lunchtogether and what.
The other one would go out andplay golf all afternoon, built a
(07:48):
pretty cool high school program, uh, where, if you ever go to
the town of Iwako, washington,when you enter on either two
sides, you'll see a welcome toIwako, home of the 2008, 2009,
2010, 11, 12, etc.
Etc.
State golf champs.
It's awesome, pretty wild,actually.
That's still there, um, butgoing back, it's, uh, it's.
(08:10):
It's always pretty cool tostill see it family ties yeah,
definitely my dad.
He does something pretty coolwhere he allows every high
school golfer to come out thereand play for free anytime they
want, as long as they're on thehigh school golf roster.
Um, you know, they can go outhit range balls.
Hit a, hit a bucket, go pick upa bucket.
Hit a bucket, go pick upanother bucket.
As much as they possibly want.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So, ryan, we have so much history together and one of
the things I'll never forgetwhen I was recruiting you at
Willamette was your high schoolcoach was more gung ho about
getting you to come play collegegolf.
I think then even you were.
I mean, you were this, this guythat was like the most level
(08:54):
headed kid ever.
You still are.
We know when you're playinggood golf cause you're jumping
about three feet every step.
It's almost like a skip.
Ryan's got his look.
It's.
It's amazing.
I always look for it to be likeman.
How many birdies do I have tomake today in this program when
Ryan's playing?
And, um, I'll never forget itbecause you're, you're in a high
school tournament.
It's my second year coach incollege golf, so I'm green and
(09:15):
I'm just like Rose city golfcourse.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Rose city.
That's right.
That's right, so Portlandthat's right.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So we get up there and your coach drives me
straight out to you V lines.
It stops 50 yards short of thegreen and there's these sequoias
that are about 40 to 50 feettall and Ryan doesn't know I'm
there and hits this drive and heand he he's a lefty,
unfortunately, we'll hold itagainst him so he pulls this
(09:42):
drive right over the sequoiasand it's dead.
He's like 220 out.
He's got 30 yards in front ofhim.
He's like 40 to 50 foot tallsequoias and I mean, as a high
school kid, you got to be shaken.
And his coach drives up,doesn't say anything about the
shot and he's like hey, ryan,here's.
(10:03):
You got to meet the coach fromWillamette, like as he's playing
high school golf, which isprobably illegal at the time.
I mean, I don't think you couldeven talk to your players at
that time.
So I'm like, hey, hey, ryan,good to see you.
You know I'm, you know blah,blah, whatever you say to try to
get a kid that you want, andyou know, and that was it.
Then Ryan walks past us, goesto his shot and I'm just, I'm
(10:27):
like, just wait here, coach.
You know, let me watch thisshot.
Ryan hits this nasty high drawfour or five iron or whatever it
was, and he plays it left ofthe pin, 30 yards short of the
green.
I'm like, wow, what highschooler doesn't go with the pin
(10:48):
in this situation, plays thespot uphill green, chips it to a
foot.
I literally told the coach.
I said take me in, I'm done.
That's the kid I want.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Ryan, what was the phrase that got you To
Willamette?
Yeah, what was the one sentenceor word that Noah said?
That said I'm sold.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I think it was some helping out with the financial
aid department.
To be honest with you,Willamette University is not a
cheap school to go to.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
We give no athletic scholarship.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That makes sense and to be honest, that was a huge
one.
That was to be able to go toschool there.
Um, I, you know, I I did a lotuh, I was hoping for a sappy
story.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
No, nothing that makes total sense 100 financial.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It was, it was massive ryan was actually for a
really, really good player.
That was one of my I don't wantto say easiest recruiting, you
know, because the ones thatdon't have it.
He's humble, right, he alreadyknows he's good, he's confident,
you know, but the ones thatdon't have it are the ones that
are asking for everything, right.
(11:53):
So it was one of those weirdconversations.
I still remember going to theAD and being like, yeah, there's
a kid that's going to changethe program.
We should probably figure thisout.
And again, like we can't giveathletic scholarships.
So luckily Ryan had really goodgrades, we were able to make it
work.
I mean, I mean we, we pulledevery string possible.
(12:14):
Like how can we give him themost we can give him as a work
study?
Like what do we do?
And, and um, you know, againit's, it's one of those things
Ryan's personality trait you'llnever know what he's thinking
and I think that makes a greatgolfer in general.
Um, and I, and again I want tohear more from ryan about, like
(12:34):
you know, his time out on themini tours, because you know
that's a tough road, you can goso many different routes and
like, what do you learn?
What do you do right?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
so you know, you know , ryan's a funny guy in that I
was just sitting here talkingwith the with another teammate
in the conference room hereabout, you know, youtube video,
golf tricks and stuff, and howwe all get so frustrated
watching these things on youtube, going, oh they make so much
sense, I can do that.
(13:01):
That'll, that will improve mygame, surely.
And then we get out on thecourse and we're set up for
disappointment.
And I was telling him how Noahalways says none of that matters
if you're not hitting thecenter of the club face right?
So all these tips and tricksyou see on YouTube makes so much
sense if you're hitting theball in the center of the club
(13:25):
face every single time.
And ryan walks out of theoffice and I I had no idea who
was in there listening to thisconversation and was going.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Those are true words oh yeah yeah, yeah, and that was
you know specifically I was.
I have a friend who I used towork with at bandandon who
caddies now on the PGA Tour.
Used to caddy for Bryson for along time, now caddies for Kurt
Kudiyama.
Got to spend a day with himlast year at the Houston Open
Tuesday practice round.
(13:54):
Got there at 7.
Actually, one of the craziestthings that happened that day
was.
So my friend's name's Tim, himand I go park in the caddy
parking lot, jump on the shuttlethat takes us to the pro shop.
Another caddy jumps in theshuttle cart with us and it's
Ted Scott.
Ted Scott, caddies for ScottyScheffler.
Okay, so I'm like, oh wow, thisis another one of the caddies
(14:17):
that I know on the PGA Tour.
So Scotty's maybe here, walkinto the pro shop person.
I see scotty scheffler and he'sgiven my friend tim and then
his, his caddy ted, a hard timefor being a couple minutes later
than they should have been.
Um, but that whole day was, itwas watching everyone, every pj
tour player, warm up on thedriving range.
We went out, played nine holes.
(14:39):
Uh, actually got to carry thebag a couple of holes, which was
kind of fun.
Um, you know, talked witheveryone that we played with.
It was Chan Kim, david Lipsky,kurt Kitayama.
In our group, kurt finished thefront.
Nine took a lesson from hiscoach, did a short game lesson,
got to observe that.
That was really special, reallycool.
(14:59):
And then they had lunch, hit afew more balls at the range,
went out, chipped and putted onthe back.
Nine went through a bunch ofgroups just cause we were
chipping and putting.
We would just walk every hole,go to every green chip putt for
15 minutes and uh, yeah, I gotto see a lot of tour players, uh
, a lot of a lot of nationallyrecognized coaches, coaches that
(15:19):
were out there with theirplayers.
Um, just all in all, incredibleexperience.
Um, that was my second pga tourevent I got to go to, but first
one like inside the ropes,walking with the players and
actually took a couple of kurt'sclubs that day and flipped them
over, hit them left-handed, hitsome chips, uh, and hit a
couple good ones, which was justkind of nice so when you're
(15:41):
inside the ropes on the pga tour, what the tour players?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
what is there from an inside insider's perspective?
Where is their mind at?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
yeah, they were just I mean a it's just trying to get
a feel of the golf course thatday.
I mean that's what it was.
It was they were being atuesday practice round.
I I think everyone wasextremely approachable, they
were easy to talk to, they werepretty laid back.
It was it was literally justtrying to get a feel for what
the course was.
(16:13):
You know they all have theirshots that they hit, control the
ball better than you knowanyone else that we ever play
golf with.
And I thought it was just hey,I'm trying to learn this green.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I'm trying to learn this green.
I'm trying to learn this teeshot.
What's the grass feel like whenI hit an iron shot?
What's the mindset differencebetween Tuesday practice round
and Sunday morning, given thatthey make the cut?
Speaker 3 (16:37):
yeah, probably.
I mean hopefully not a lot,right, I mean that's, that's
probably the goal, it's maybe alittle less approachable.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That, yeah, they're definitely gonna be less
approachable.
Yeah, they're definitely goingto be less approachable.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And being a Tuesday versus a Sunday.
Yeah, tuesday was pretty coolbecause the tournament hasn't
started yet, so you're kind of,I think, able to see them as
just another golfer that day,and they just happen to be
really good at the game.
And then Sunday they're tryingto make a check trying to pay
(17:07):
for everything they're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
And look at, the event you were at is right
before the masters.
So how many guys want to winthat that are 150th in the world
to go get into the masters?
There's a lot of thoseCinderella stories in an event
like that.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Valero Houston that that week Houston.
That week Steven Yeager endedup winning because Scotty
Scheffler missed.
I think he missed a six-footputt on the last hole to force a
playoff.
But Steven Yeager won, gothimself a PGA Tour exemption for
the next couple years.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Sounds like your buddy could tease Scotty a
little bit, not being late.
But six footers, 70% make rate.
What happened so?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
every young golfer who is, you know, play college
golf, is wanting to make acareer in golf.
Every young golfer's aspirationis to be on the PGA Tour.
What did that look like for you?
What was your goals later?
What was your goals later?
What was your goals when youwere in your late teens, early
20s, versus what your goals arenow?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
yeah, when I was in my late teens, early 20s, uh, so
a that's going through college,finishing college, uh.
And then it was figuring outwhat I wanted to do with golf.
You, you know, I I had somesuccessful years at Willamette.
Um, that prompted me to want togive give uh playing golf as a
(18:34):
career a shot.
Uh, that was the minute.
Then that led to the mini toursin 2017, 2018.
Um, it led me to caddyingabandoned too.
So I a went to caddy abandonedto pay for my college.
I started that as a summer job,would go and work and then go
back to school and pay my bill.
When I got done with school, itwas I'm going to go caddy
(18:58):
abandoned, save up a littlemoney and try to go do this all
on my own.
During that time, I was able tomeet a few people that were
extremely helpful in helping mefund that playing endeavor.
When I was out there, it feltlike A you're on the road solo
for weeks at a time.
(19:18):
And the Dakotas tour was nicefor me because I have some
family in Northwest Iowa andthat tour is very much centered.
That would maybe be the centerof that tour.
It goes from South Dakota,north Dakota, minnesota,
nebraska and Iowa Might sneakinto Wisconsin certain years.
So I was able to stay withfamily travel for three or four
(19:40):
days at a time, come home for acouple of days and then go on
the road again, and I learnedquickly that you cannot shoot in
the seventies.
Uh, it was.
It was a humbling experience.
I played a lot of really goodgolf.
Um, where you know, even youknow, after you know, let's say,
a three-day event, uh, aftertwo days, they make a cut.
(20:02):
If you're plus one, 40, uh,over 140 shots after two days,
which is 70, 70, you probablymissing the cut and you're going
to the next event.
So, learning that was uhhumbling, yeah, humbling, to say
the least.
Um, like I said, a lot of goodrounds.
It was a ton of experience, tonof good experience, but it was.
(20:25):
It was something that I thinkspurred a change in my golf game
, and what I mean by that is atthe end of 2017, during that
tour, I was, I was spending timeliving in Las Vegas in the
winter and then I was going tocaddy and band in in the summer.
At that point, I was onlycaddying when I've, you know,
couldn't afford to go play.
So 2018 starts.
(20:48):
Uh, sign up for Canadian Tour QSchool.
A week after that I hurt a bonein my right wrist at the gym,
went and played golf thatafternoon because I didn't think
much of it, but I hit a shotand then it just shot some pain
up my right arm and ended up notbeing able to play golf or hit
a shot for the whole first halfof 2018.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Amateurs know that feeling.
It feels like you're swingingrebar yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I mean, I went home that day after that injury and I
couldn't open the fridge withmy right hand, so it led to the
first half of 2018.
Actually, I just I putted a tonand then I went and I learned
how to chip one-handed, startedchipping one-handed with my left
hand, my trail hand as a leftygolfer which I'm actually a
(21:36):
right-handed person just golfleft-handed so I start chipping
one-handed.
Once my right hand starts to beable to absorb impact on chips,
I start learning how to chipright-handed, one-handed.
And it just taught me a lot ofdifferent things as far as short
game principles, fundamentals,how to release a golf club, how
to have the club's interactionwith the turf be the easiest it
(22:00):
could be.
And so 2018, once I startedbeing able to swing golf again,
or swing my golf club again, Iwent back to band and enlisted
the help of a couple of friendswho I uh, I thought understood
the golf swing Well.
A couple of friends Kevin Ryeand Kyle Crawford, two really
good amateur golfers here in thestate of Oregon.
(22:21):
Um, kyle caddies abandoned,kevin lives in Portland now but
both of them helped me, likeoriginally, like initially start
to understand why my golf swingdoes what it does?
They started giving me somedrills that they had gotten from
coaches prior.
Um, and then I went throughthis long overhaul that was 2018
(22:42):
, 2019 of just revamping my golfswing to making it something
that was more consistent, youknow, and that was like a year
and a half before I reallyplayed tournament golf again.
It was something that I hadnever really gone through a
swing overhaul like that before.
So it just made something.
It created a golf swing that Imean the ball flight's just more
(23:02):
predictable.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So your reputation here in Southern Oregon and in
particular here at the GolfGarage, is impeccable as a coach
, as a trainer, as aprofessional, as somebody who
really understands the game andcan help develop people's skills
.
I talk to people around thegolf garage all the time who
(23:28):
they come to me and they're likedude, have you seen Ryan play
golf?
And they're like dude, have youseen Ryan play golf?
And I'm like, yeah, I'm likeI've never had the privilege of
playing a round of golf with you.
But they're like we were out atSonarage and he shot a 65.
I'm like, yeah, it's Ryanyou're talking about.
(23:51):
I know that I've neverplayed're talking about.
I know that I've never playedwith you, but I know that and
you're so humble and so low-keyin your demeanor around here.
But the people who I talk to,who you have helped in their
golf swing, have improveddramatically and just have the
(24:14):
highest level of respect I can.
You know I can't put words toso I've got a ryan story.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Ryan, I don't know if you remember this, but when you
first came to willamette youwere a very good ball striker.
You hit a lot of greensregulation.
You're always somewhere in thateven par range, couple of times
under par, and you know,putting wasn't your strongest
suit at the time, but you werestill a really good player.
(24:43):
Um, and one of the things Iremember, I was always trying to
figure out how do I motivateRyan.
We had a lot of good talent onthe team but we were always kind
of in that top 25.
You were the guy that got usthere.
You brought in a lot of goodrecruits and I was like there
(25:04):
was a term and I think youfinished like second and you
were super bummed.
It was like one of the firsttimes I saw some emotion.
It't.
It was just like frustrationafter and you know, almost
didn't want to like talk aboutit and I remember going to the
fan by you and I'm like you knowhow you doing what's going on.
You know, yeah, whatever, andyou know typical.
(25:27):
I mean, why would you want totalk about finishing second?
And then I started saying I waslike hey, you know what?
Guess how many tournaments Iwon my freshman year.
You're like I don't know.
I said I won six, go beat that.
And literally the dude goes outthere and he starts winning
(25:48):
golf tournaments.
I'm like I don't know if thatdid it, but I literally was like
, hey, maybe the guy just needssomething to shoot for silent.
But that it was silent butdeadly.
And we're like he's shooting 67all of a sudden out of nowhere
and he hits a slinger draw thathe doesn't talk about yeah, with
wedges.
Nobody wants to do that.
Never, never, actually, let mecoach him, but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
that's that's why I went through that swing change.
Yeah, we always joke about that.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I'm like you never let me coach you in college, but
it's okay.
But he wanted to beat me Rightand it was fun, like it was a
really really good relationshipthat way.
And you know, ryan, I think oneof the things that you bring to
the table, um, at the golfgarage this director of
instruction is, is the playingside of it.
Obviously, you know you're agreat player, your demeanor's
awesome.
(26:37):
You don't go up and down.
I'm sure you're going throughstuff, but what was the biggest
thing on the Dakotas tour?
That was probably the hardestthing to get to because I mean,
like college golf, you have afamily, you have backing, you
have it's all about the team too.
Right, it's an individual sport, but you have the opportunity
to be on a team and then you goout there and all of a sudden
(27:00):
there's this buzzsaw of reallygood players nearby yourself.
You had some family in Dakotas,which was nice, but like, how
do you find that support?
You know, what would you giveas advice to somebody out of
college that wants to go and tryto play on the tour?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, I mean, I think , uh, when I was out there, like
there were a few guys that Iremember you know a seeing at
every event, because it's a verysmall community of you know
guys that are playing thesetournaments Um, and towards the
end of the season it ended upturning into hey, like we're
sharing hotel rooms, we're goingto dinner together.
(27:36):
It would be trying to figureout how to build a network as
fast as you can with a couple ofpeople and if that, you know,
two people turns into six by theend of the you know tour or
whatever it is it's not like theshow naked and afraid.
No, it's not, it's, it's verymuch.
You know, it is a cool um, likethe camaraderie I guess you get
(27:59):
from having guys out there.
I mean, I'm not a religiousperson at all, I wouldn't say,
but when I was out there endedup meeting up with some guys who
they had, like I don't know,just nights where they talked
about faith, um, and then thatwas just, I guess, super like
the, the door was super openinto like what that actually
meant to everyone, um, and thenit just, I think, allowed a bond
(28:22):
to to be fostered.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
To what grounds people?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, I mean it's yeah, exactly it was I don't
know.
Yeah, it was something that Iguess was different to me when
it started, uh, but turned intosomething normal by the time it
ended.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So now let's fast forward because obviously you
know great advice, build a bond.
Um, you need support.
It's it's literally the biggestvillage in the world to play
tour golf and, um, my, my littleexperience out there as well,
it's like it's amazing.
You've got to keep your playerpositive, you've got to keep
(28:58):
them in the mindset and go, go,go, go go.
And then there's all thesepeople that say I want this, but
they really don't know what ittakes to do this.
And so golf garage isinteresting because you just
shot 63.
It's March, we played no golf,we've had snow, we've had all
this terrible weather, right.
So how is it that you can keepyour golf game sharp indoors?
(29:22):
What are some of the tricksthat you do at golf garage?
Potentially, whether it's it'steaching, coaching or just like
for yourself.
I've seen you hit balls in herebefore you practice.
You play, you're in our league.
You know what do you do to keepyour game short.
To say, in March, with terribleconditions, I'm still shooting
nine under par.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, it's, it's just knowing how far the golf ball
is going with all the irons,it's knowing what swings create
what shots.
Um, seeing shapes on the screenactually to me is very
beneficial.
Um, super, uh, I think I thinka very, very much a visual
learner.
So when I see shapes on thegolf swing, like on the
(30:05):
simulators on the screens, liketo me that's all right, that's a
draw, that's a left edge of thefairway starting shot, it's
moving back to the right centerof the fairway.
Um, and then what did thatswing feel?
Like it would be a golf swingfor me that I generally draw
shots, so like when I try to cutshots, uh, they go pretty
straight.
(30:25):
So, like, what is that feelingfor me?
And then I take that to the teebox on a on a golf course and
then, hopefully, you know,stripe it down the center.
But I think biggest thing isjust it's it's distances.
I know how far I hit the ballwith all my clubs.
And then I guess something thatyou know was I get, you know,
really unique was the othernight I was playing.
I came in Sunday night thenight before that round of 63
(30:48):
played, 36 in about an hour anda half and uh, yeah, played,
played Copperhead and playedgrand reserve, so that's uh,
that's the Valspar and that'sthe Puerto Rico open.
Um, and when I was, when I wasplaying out there, I was
realizing, like, the more I playgolf on the Sims, I realized
how freely I swing the club.
(31:10):
It's really interesting becauseI feel like when people put out
on the golf course, golf swingbecomes super restricted because
they're so, you know, focusedor attached to the, to an
outcome.
Then all of a sudden you'rehitting into a screen nine feet
in front of you and then thathas to change.
Like, in my opinion, that hasto change.
Repetition, yeah Well,repetition, but also just how,
(31:32):
how freely can your swing be?
Because, like, how attached areyou to hitting a golf ball into
a screen nine feet in front ofyou?
So to me I'm like I'm makingall these motions the way,
exactly the way I want to makethem, hitting shots, and they're
going the distances, maybe evena little bit farther than I
actually normally would, becausethe swing is so free.
And then I go out, and it was,you know, second hole at
(31:54):
centennial, uh 195, out of therough with a six iron.
The swing was as free as itfelt the night before when I
played that 36 and hit it to sixfeet, make eagle, and that was
the start of the round.
So it was just like that.
That six iron swing on two onhole two the other day felt the
exact same as like every ironshot that I hit the night before
(32:17):
on the sim.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I'll bring up the six iron because that's near and
dear to my heart.
I love my six iron.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Not your wedge.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
My 69 degree wedge is my girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
That's the one it comes through for me every time.
Darren, I don't take onstudents that have that wedge.
Come on, don't get me wrong, Ilove it.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
What's the balance on that thing?
There is no balance 6.9.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
There's none.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
It just goes in the air, it lands and it stops.
It stops which I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I got to echo something real quick here
because Ryan hit the nail on thehead.
I don't get to play a lot ofgolf, right, I'm trying to run
the golf garage, I'm coaching,I'm doing all this stuff.
But like I played tonight and Inoticed the same thing that
Ryan did, I made five birdies onthe sim tonight and that's the
most I've made in sim golf in awhile and I haven't played a ton
.
But there's something about itthat you do swing freer and I,
(33:15):
oddly enough, felt the same wayand I was like my six iron
doesn't go one 90.
I hit it on 77 on the golfcourse, but it's odd because on
the golf course you'recontrolling it to a yardage.
It's not your potential, and Ithink that's some things that
people struggle with.
and then a lot of 100 percentamateur golfers come in and they
(33:37):
hit it shorter and like thisisn't accurate.
And you're like, uh, let me hitone, let me make sure it's
working.
You hit eight iron stockwhatever and you're like you
know it's, it's there.
So I think there is some mentalside of this that if you hit
more in a simulator, you'regoing to find out number one.
Like you said, every ball youhit you can see how far you hit
it.
It's not about the other 13parameters.
(33:59):
Most people don't need to knowwhat their face to target is.
I mean, end of the day, theirgoals aren't going to be what
your goals are as a tour player,and I think it's like like as a
coach, you have to decide whatare the goals.
How can we?
Speaker 1 (34:17):
help you very quickly and Golf Garage allows you to
do that.
I will tell you firsthand with,specifically, the 6-iron, I'll
get out here in the simulatorand I will hit the 6-iron over
and over and over and over again.
And when I get this club dialedin I'm carrying, raw carry, the
six iron 197, 196, 198, youknow right in that just shy of
(34:42):
200 yards.
When I get out of the golfcourse, if I'm at 177, 180,
course, if I'm at 177, 180, I'mgrabbing my six iron because I'm
not hitting on the golf coursewith the confidence that I'm
hitting in the simulator.
And it's not that one is moreaccurate and one is less
accurate, it's that in thesimulator you get that
(35:04):
repetition to where you get thatconfidence to start swinging
more freely.
And when you get out on thegolf course and you're not
swinging in the level ofrepetition that you are in the
simulator, you're not strikingthe ball with as much confidence
.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
For sure.
And where do most people missShort?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Right 100%.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
I've gone out and caddied for a lot of my junior
golfers your son actually, fornine holes one time and then a
handful of others, and for themost part like hey, let's take
another club.
If we go long, we go long, butmost golfers don't go long.
Short is the dominant miss,short right specifically.
(35:48):
But short would be a bettermiss or a more often you know a
miss that's more often than thanlong.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
My miss today on the KP competition was long left.
Who won that left?
Who won that?
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I think, the owner of the golf.
First time, though.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
First time.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I'll take credit, baby, how far I was.
I was seven yards.
I don't know, ryan, I was sevenyards from the pain you're like
okay, well, we'll add it wouldhave been 21 feet when I was off
of the green because it wasback plant.
You would have been pinplacement t4 maybe fifth what
did they say?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
and?
Speaker 1 (36:26):
so there was a lot of close people today.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Winner winner chicken dinner.
Noah gets half off a Bay rental.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I'm donating that to one of my teammates and I said
anybody with PGA attached totheir name is not eligible.
That's why I don't run theevents, I just play Ryan's in
charge.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
I took that guinea pig shot that first one because
it was 155 down 28, and I hit agap wedge.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You couldn't see the green you couldn't even see the
green, you couldn't even see theflag.
Black Jacks.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Crossing golf trip coming up.
That place looks sweet.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I got to toot Ryan's horn a little bit here because
director of instruction.
Why is Ryan the director ofinstruction?
Well, he's about to be a ClassA PGA professional.
For one, he's a heck of aplayer.
He knows statistics, he is areally good mechanical coach and
he's still learning.
And what's really cool aboutRyan is he's a lefty so he can
(37:22):
mirror every righty and then hejust tells everybody that's
lefty, that he's really good, sohe gets the lefties and the
righties.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
So, ryan, here's a very raw and personal question
in your future, do you seeyourself being more on the
teaching side or in thetournament side?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Well, I mean I, I deal, I yeah, I mean, I ideally
like to do both.
Um, don't get me like I don'twant to stop playing competitive
golf.
Uh, competitive golf.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well, yeah, we have a tournament to win on, like what
, next Friday?
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Yeah, the, what is it the?
Speaker 2 (37:52):
high school we got to support those high schools.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
The high school shootout supporting the high
school, the local high schoolteams.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You know, what we should do is we should play some
bets against all the amateursin the field.
They can't take us down andwe'll double that money.
I like it yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Take me on.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
It's for the kids, man, it's gross baby.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah, RVCC Shootout hosted by Garrison's Furniture.
If you don't have a teamalready get a team.
Support the kids.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
We've got to support the team.
You coach too, right, wehaven't even talked about that.
What school do you coach, Ryan?
I?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
coach in the St Mary's High School, a small
school here in Medford.
Great history of golf too, bythe way.
Dylan woo uh alumni who's onthe pga tour right now it's.
It's a fantastic group of kids.
I have right now, um, you know,one, one senior, two seniors on
(38:40):
the golf team, um, but twoseniors, one junior, a great
sophomore class, great freshmanclass, a bunch of kids I've
taught now for up to almost sixyears at this point.
So, yeah, really, really funstarting the high school season.
Have a good look at, uh, youknow, competing for a state
title so, in your tournament,play career goals.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Yeah, what is the next six 12 months?
Hold for you, what's your yeah,what's your goal?
What's your plan?
Yes, in the in your cards yeah,so it's.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
It's some local events.
We medford, southern oregon,has has quite a few really good
uh pro-ams for the localprofessionals.
Uh, rogue pro-am mid-april,right around master's week has
two days at grants pass golfclub, two days at rogue valley
country club.
Then there's the opga eventsthat I'll play in uh throughout
(39:33):
the year, just great events thatI take students to, typically
almost always take students uhas my playing partners.
And then we have the Washingtonopen, the Oregon open, the
Northwest open, as some of thePacific Northwest section major
majors.
So those events are held at,you know.
The Washington opens Tacomacountry club Great course.
(39:53):
Uh, the Northwest open.
Uh is at a court golf coursecalled the home course in DuPont
Fantastic track One I playedactually my senior, senior year
of high school.
Uh state championship at umfinished second to uh, to a good
friend, good friend but um.
And then the the oregon open,this year, I think, is at aspen
(40:16):
lakes.
So three cool, three cool golfvenues, courses I've played
before.
So those events.
And then in september thepacific northwest section has
their major championship.
It's in missoula, montana thisyear.
Canyon river golf club Awesomecourse.
Actually caddied for Noah thereback in 2019.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Best caddy I've ever had.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
That will point you in the direction of potentially
PGA tour card.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
So PGA tour card would be different, but it would
.
It would you know, play well atthat event gets you into
another event.
Play well at that event getsyou into another event.
Uh, play well at that eventgets you into another event type
of deal.
Um, the 2026 skipping the cornfairy?
Yeah, it's well, it's not going.
It's not going many, it's notgoing to a route.
Actually it's so.
(41:02):
This, this event in missoula,montana, if you play well enough
, you qualify for the clubchampionship, like the PGA
professionals club championshipevent.
Um, and that is in 2026, heldat Bannon Dunes.
If you go there and play wellenough, you qualify for the PGA
championship, the major.
So then you play, you get toplay in a major event.
(41:24):
So, like you know,theoretically speaking, if you
play eight really good rounds ofgolf as a club professional,
you find yourself in a majorchampionship.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Excellent.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah, there's a route into a major just like that.
So yeah, that'll be a fun event.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
So what is your favorite golf course of all time
?
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Oh, it's such a good question.
My brothers and I have debated,have debated between this uh,
over the years I, you know, if Iwas, if I was being loyal, I
would say surfside golf course,my dad's home golf course.
But uh, maybe it's, maybe it'sband and dunes.
I've played that golf coursewith my dad and my family since
they opened in 1999.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
What about Citrus Farms?
Where's that rate?
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Yeah, I got to play Cabot Citrus Farms just a few
weeks ago.
Cabot was incredible.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
I would love to go back there, one of the top
courses in the country 30 newcourses.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
32nd.
I got to play all the coursesat Streamsong in the last month.
Those were incredible becausethey felt like Bandon Dunes and
a couple of them I got 30, 40mile an hour winds, just like
Bandon Dunes.
The greens were faster, so itwas even harder.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
We're not in Kansas anymore.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
No, but that's the first course that actually
popped into my head when youasked the question.
It might be Pasatiempo.
I've gotten to play Paso Tiempodown in Santa Cruz three
different times Um, once with mydad and then twice with uh one
(43:00):
of our coaches here, mattPreston, and uh, and then when a
couple of our golf garagemembers we took a golf trip down
there a couple of years ago.
Actually, a cool story withthat one was we went early March
2023.
My birthday is March 2nd.
We played Pasatiempo March 2ndand we flipped out a hole-in-one
(43:21):
on the 15th hole there.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
That's a video I've looked at like three times it's
a wedge.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Yeah, we have it on camera.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
We've got to post that to the my golf course.
It's a wedge.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
It's a wedge shot that lands 114 yards.
Uh, wedge shot.
Lands eight feet behind thehole, spins back, hits the flag
stick and then wraps around thecup, ends up half an inch on the
front edge looking in.
So it was just, you know,looking back like what a memory
that would have been having anace on.
It was my 30th birthday and youknow, whatever it is now is
(43:54):
what it is.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
But do you have any superstitions?
What do you eat the nightbefore a big tournament, or the
one pressure's?
Speaker 3 (44:02):
on.
No, I quit.
I quit having superstitions fora long time.
For a while now, actually, likeon the golf course, I would
used to have certain things,like I wouldn't go to the
bathroom if I was playing well,but if I was playing poorly I
would use the bathroom.
If I needed to use the bathroom, you know, I thought plan ahead
(44:24):
, everybody, yeah.
And then I just started liketelling myself this is
ridiculous.
Uh, so no, I, I don't thinkit's this point.
Maybe some peanut butter andbanana sandwiches are probably
my favorite thing to have on thegolf course during tournaments.
I'll eat those on hole sevenand hole 13.
Outside of that, I mean, don'tbe specific or anything.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Well, so let's back up here the best players in the
world have a process.
That's why Ryan can shoot thosedeep numbers 65.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
It doesn't scare him, it's just like let's keep going
.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Let's make birdie, let's make eagle.
It's not a big deal, right?
I always?
Speaker 3 (44:57):
used to use, uh, for a while.
One of them was I had thisOklahoma state quarter, um, and
I just liked the emblem on it,but, uh, I mean, that was that's
probably like the mostsuperstition thing I ever had
for a while.
Now I use a different ballmarker, so I don't use that
quarter anymore.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
All right, here's a big ask.
In 2025, you and Noah have tohelp me break 80.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Okay, yeah, doable Ryan.
I don't know if we can do it,buddy, as much as we can.
Oh, come on, darren, that's soeasy, you just need some time.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, you have until December 31st 2020.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Ryan will take you on the golf course because he
loves to play golf, and I'llhelp you in the golf ground.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
We're going to document this and we're going to
make it happen.
Yeah, break 80.
I'm telling you, I'm the typeof person I was thinking there's
some par 3 courses around here.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
We can make that happen, no problem.
Yes, yes, yes, par 28.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I'm the type of guy I go out there on an 18-hole
course and it's definitely notmy best round of golf, but it
was my best start to a round ofgolf.
I was one under going into holeseven and I shot a 94.
Yeah, yeah.
So what do you say?
Speaker 3 (46:19):
What do you say to that?
It's a really good start,because I know everybody
everybody listening to thispodcast is in that boat.
Yeah, you know, it's somethingthat I've started to do over the
last I don't know how manyyears has been.
Well, a going back to when Iwas a junior golfer, my dad
taught my brothers and I, uh,and I have two brothers right
(46:42):
now that are both OPGA golf pros.
Uh, my youngest brother, blake,actually just won his first
event as a pro.
Uh, couple of like justliterally the last couple of
days at Astoria golf, uh, golfand country club and Gerhardt,
um, but he always taught us totry to not keep score.
You know what I mean.
Like write, write the numberdown, but try to not track it
(47:06):
Right, because then, all of asudden, the start, you know.
The second, you start trackingit.
All of a sudden, the start, youknow the second, you start
tracking it.
All of a sudden, you're, you'reattached to something right,
and and and people, just ashuman beings, want to be
attached to something.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
So if you can figure out how to detach yourself from
that, all of a sudden, somethinggood could happen my best
rounds of golf, which are in themid mid 80s, are shot when I
don't walk away feeling like Idid anything exceptional.
I just played consistentlyboring boring maybe right I like
that word where some of the myrounds of golf, where I hit the
(47:43):
best shots of my life that I'msuper thrilled about, don't even
get me in the 80s.
Yeah, yeah, so it's.
It's that mindset of not caringabout the score, it's just
about getting out there andexecuting every shot
individually yeah, the best ofyour, your ability, which might
(48:04):
not be a birdie, might just be apar or a bogey, but that will
bring your score into theeighties, low to mid mid
eighties.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
So, yeah, yeah, sometimes bogeys are great, and
as cliche I mean, there's somany golf cliches, right, let's
get there, I'm going to hold youguys to it.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
You two between the two of you have to get me sub 80
by December 31st.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Uh, wow, at me, sub 80 by December 31st.
Wow, I don't think it'll takethat long If you do what we say
you're going to do.
It might take like two weeks,two weeks.
Are you willing to take twoweeks off work?
Speaker 1 (48:43):
I can't take two weeks off work.
That's your own problem.
I mean, I'm the normal person.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
You're the CEO of your business partner and all
you got to do is take two weeksoff.
You want to accomplish thisgoal or not?
I mean, we're just putting youin the challenge here because
here's, let's go, let's realquick here.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Give me six months, not two weeks.
Six months and I still get todo my full-time job.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
We'll see, we'll see, we'll see.
We've got to write some thingsdown.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
You sound like Chubbs from Happy Gilmore.
Give me six months, I'll workwith you every day.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Well, you know what's really funny about all this
Happy Gilmore 2 coming out inJuly?
We're going the golf garage isclosed when Happy Gilmore 2
comes out, or we're going tohost it here, hey, you know what
?
Every golfer has thisexpectation and we deal with
this daily, Ryan.
And it's how to manage theexpectation, because they tell
you one thing in an assessmentand then week three comes along.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Oh no no, no, no, I want this yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
And so you know.
The nice thing about thetechnology is we can look back
at it and say here's where youwere, here's where you are Plain
and simple.
Stats Don't lie.
Measurable, measurable,measurable.
Number two we have video appsthat say here's the
accountability aspect, this iswhat you wanted See this video,
and this is me voicing it overand this is what you were
(49:57):
supposed to do, right?
So what's really nice about itis, if you really want to get
better, it's like a gym, right.
Why would I ever go to atrainer?
I know how to work out.
I really do Like I I've takenclasses.
I know I've been to trainersLike I don't need one.
I do it for accountability.
Why would you take golf lessonsfrom our director of instruction
?
Because he will keep youaccountable and he understands
(50:20):
it, he's been through it, heknows all the details of it.
He you're not going to make thesame mistakes he made twice
right?
That's the whole goal ofcoaching.
That's the goal of Golf Garage.
We can make you accountable foryour actions and you're going
to get better way faster.
Ryan just shot 63, right.
I have the same experience in apro-am in Arizona where I
(50:40):
played really well.
I think, like these things.
Golf is not hard if youunderstand what you're trying to
accomplish, and the golfcoach's job is to keep you
accountable.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
It's still hard.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
For you Until we break that number.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Yeah, I like it's hard for anybody without PGA
attached to their name.
Is it a?
Speaker 2 (51:01):
bet, like you and I, versus Darren, and he has to do
something for us.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
Yeah, let's make this ?
A running tab or something likethat.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Yeah, that sounds good, but maybe next week, like
we'll come up with this off theair, and then we'll come up with
it next week and, darren, yougot to come up with this.
I mean, like this is game on.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
I think that's a good idea.
Especially with a lot of mystudents, I try to inspire
practice.
I know how much I've practicedin my life, so you know my goal
with anything anyone that I'mever working with, is just to
inspire them to practice morethan they ever have, because a
lot of people don't practice.
They hit golf balls, like maybeonce a week after work and I
get it.
(51:40):
You have a job.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
That's hard.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
We have a full-time job, I have a 24-7 facility and
you have a key fob, Danny.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
I own a business and a full-time job and I have a
wife and four children at home.
Speaker 2 (51:51):
And they're asleep at about midnight and you're still
ready to go.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Let's do this, and I've got one of our clients.
Tyler hanging out with us todayon the podcast and he's he's a
full-time real estate agent.
You know for his career.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
That's a pretty cool magazine too.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
He does, and we'll talk about that in the next
couple of weeks.
Oh yeah, but it's.
You know, it's a full-time joband we're golf enthusiasts.
We want to be better, but it'snot our full-time job.
It's hard, I get it.
Golf is hard and I don't carewhat you say about golf being
easier.
It's always hard, no matter howeasier it gets.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
Would you say that after you played Augusta and
Pebble?
Or would you be like, oh mygosh, that's the coolest golf
course I've ever played dream.
Speaker 1 (52:34):
I will say it is the coolest golf course I've ever
played.
That is a dream come true, butman was it hard.
That's exactly what I'll say.
I played Coeur d'Alene resortcourse, which is one of the
bucket list golf courses.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
How far was the par three?
174.
You know what's awesome?
Hold on so.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
Ryan changes every day depending on the tide.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
I was thinking about this.
So when Ryan said that earlierabout his hole in one, good
golfers remember every shot.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
I remember that I was the only one in my group before
that hit the green and realquick, Darren.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
I'd like to point out it's a lake that there's no
tides, it's just the level ofthe lake.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Where was the moon at ?
Speaker 1 (53:21):
We'll look back at that, whatever it was the level
of the lake changes and theymoved the green barge closer,
further out.
How long was the boat ride?
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Not long enough.
I played there in August 2008.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
I didn't finish my course light from leaving the
dock to getting to the dock ofthe green.
I didn't quite finish it.
Lake levels were up.
Yeah, it was a long par threethat day.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
Love it, noah's dying have you played that course,
not yet Someday.
Bucket list courses, though.
What do we think for Ryan andgot a couple of questions.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
What's your bucket list course?
Bucket list course Not lickcourse Bucket list, course
Bucket list courses.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
So I've gotten to play a couple different allister
mckenzie courses with my dad,which have been pretty sweet.
Uh, red, uh, northwood,northwood's golf club.
Uh, just north of san franciscois an incredible nine hole
public golf course in theredwoods.
Um, if you haven't played there, go play it it's, it's insane,
we played it 18 holes oneevening stayed there overnight.
(54:31):
Played 18 holes in the morning.
The morning fog and the suncoming through the Redwoods on
the nine hole public track issomething special.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
Um on top of that, have you played the coyote Creek
tournament course, San Jose.
Speaker 3 (54:47):
I have not played coyote Creek.
No, um played a few times inSan Jose, but I haven't played
that one.
Um court of all was one Iplayed down there in that area
used to be where they had the.
I think it was the Safewayclassic.
Actually, um, did you walk ordid you?
Speaker 2 (55:03):
ride in a cart, road in a cart, I think.
Oh, because I caddied fiverounds on that one.
Speaker 3 (55:10):
That's not.
That's not a fun walk, butAlistair McKenzie golf courses
would be a pretty cool track.
So the few that I've playedhave been Pasatiempo, northwood
you played Pebble, yet I haven'tplayed Pebble.
Metal Club was a pretty specialone, just north of San
Francisco for AlistairMcKenzie's first golf club on
(55:34):
the West Coast.
And then Pasatiempo is actuallythe model for Augusta, if
people don't know that, if youget the chance to play,
pasatiempo just went through aremodel.
That place is incredible.
They hold the WesternCollegiate College Tournament
there every single year and Ithink it's hosted by Pepperdine.
That place is worth the walk.
(55:55):
I've rode there once and thenwalked twice, walked that golf
course.
It's a brutal walk but it isworth the walk.
Speaker 1 (56:02):
I've played Sandpiper Golf Club and Rancho, san
Marcos and La Parisima in SantaBarbara County several times.
I am going to be playing what'sone of Klamath Falls running
why?
Arnold Palmer and Taurus forthe first time next month.
(56:23):
I want to play band in dunesthis summer and sometime in the
next couple of years I want toget pebble.
Pebble is great on my listbecause it's, you know, nearby
and within my member travel.
Can you say?
Speaker 2 (56:40):
member trip.
Speaker 3 (56:41):
Yes, let's game on it , on, let's go in the fall.
What is member trip?
Speaker 1 (56:46):
we will do our podcast live from pebble.
Speaker 2 (56:50):
Ryan's invited, let's do this game on.
Hey, I think we need to figureout what Ryan's favorite food is
.
Do you know what it is?
Speaker 1 (57:00):
tacos on Tuesdays what about Thursdays pizza yes,
I love it.
Speaker 2 (57:09):
I love it.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (57:11):
Thanks for joining us .
My golf source podcast.
See you next week.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
Y'all.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com