February 21, 2025 • 53 mins
Have you ever wondered how a simple change in golf equipment can revolutionize your game? In our latest episode, we unravel the transformative power of a high-lofted 69-degree wedge, sharing personal anecdotes and insights into how even the smallest adjustments can elevate your short game. Join us as we explore the fascinating individuality of golf techniques, learning from athletes who have transitioned from other sports like a Division I tennis player turned golfer, and discover how their unique approaches can offer valuable lessons in adaptability and skill enhancement.
We're thrilled to welcome Super Bowl champion Jermaine Kearse, who shares his incredible journey from the NFL to the world of golf and entrepreneurship. Fueled by a competitive spirit, Kearse has turned his passion into a blossoming business with indoor golf facilities, illuminating the challenges and rewards of life after football. He offers inspiring insights on perseverance and "failing forward," providing a fresh perspective on personal growth that is both motivational and relatable for anyone looking to transition in their careers.
As we wrap up, we delve into the importance of mindset, culture, and community in sports. Drawing from experiences in the NFL and NBA, we illustrate how embracing one's role can lead to enduring success, featuring stories from junior golfers who have thrived in a supportive environment. With insights from legendary coaches and personal experiences, this episode underscores the immense power of a competitive community in achieving greatness. Whether you're a seasoned golfer or new to the sport, the stories and wisdom shared promise to ignite your passion and refine your game.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the my golf source podcast.
Welcome to episode five of themy golf source podcast.
I'm Darren, I'm Noah, so I dida thing.
Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I caved to the internet pressure and I bought
the 69 degree wedge.
No, you did not, I did why.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And I used it in SimLeak tonight.
How'd it go?
I am in love.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It's not just a number, it's a number all right.
So what was so?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
good about it.
It allowed me to take a shortchip right off of the green,
drop it within six feet of thepin and it'd stay there.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, I guess that makes sense.
So there's a lot of differentways to chip.
And what were you missing inyour game?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yardage.
Was there a certain yardage youjust didn't like?
I think it was reading thegreen.
Um, I think my 56 or my 60 hadsome variables in it.
So if I laid it too short thenit it would roll out but it
would take.
It would take a lot of thebreak and take a lot of the
green.
That I that I didn't see.
If I tried to fly it to the pinthen I rolled too far past it
(01:31):
and the 60 just kind of allowedme to place the ball with some
forgiveness and it just stayedthere you know that's super
interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
The 69, yeah, there you go.
So just having that backspingave you that feel, allowed you
to kind of fly it to where youwanted to.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It popped it in the air right out, right out of the
sand or right out of the roughthat's awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So I, uh, I used to give lessons this guy and he was
a division one tennis playerfrom ucla and what was unique
about it was he was a new golferand he was a terrible chipper
and he decided to get the 62degree wedge and everything was
(02:14):
about feel with this guy.
So he started just grinding.
Like six months he was outthere six hours a day.
It was was insane.
So what was really cool aboutit was we go into this chipping
lesson and I go in and I say,hey, uh, we're 20 yards off the
green and you know middle pin,probably, you know 30 feet.
(02:34):
You had probably three or fourshots to choose from and I'm I'm
a pretty big proponent ofgetting it on the ground as fast
as you can using the green.
Use the slope, you have controlof that.
You don't know what it's goingto do in the air.
And he's just like I'm going touse my 62-degree wedge, okay,
is that what you use everywhere?
Yeah, that's my club.
(02:55):
So I watch him hit a shot and hehits it to about three feet.
On the first try I'm like, okay, nice, let's see another one.
It's it to about two feet.
On the next one I'm like, okay,there's a little trend, let's
see what's going to happen.
And he chips in on the third.
I'm like, okay, well, you'reone of those guys that you can
just hit that club right.
(03:16):
I mean, and that's the uniquething about golf is that there's
not one way to do it.
And he's one of those outliersthat just wants to fly it all
the way there.
And he played tennis.
He's got feel he knows how todo it and he just figured it out
on his own.
And I think that's a uniquething about the sport is it's
not always about what YouTubesays, it's not about what I say
(03:38):
as a golf pro.
It's about what you believe in,and that self-belief will get
you there.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, you know, for for the longest time I only had
a 56 in my back.
That was my highest loftedwedge and when I got a 60 degree
wedge a few years ago, itimproved my game a lot.
Um, and now I've.
I used to use the 60 inside of20 yards or out of the bunker.
Now I'm to the point where I'musing my 60 inside of 20 yards
or out of the bunker.
Now I'm to the point where I'musing my 60 inside of 60 yards,
(04:08):
and I was having trouble withthe little short chips where I'm
not taking a full swing at it.
I just want to pop it up out ofthe rough, fly it three or four
yards, six yards onto the greenand have it check up, and I was
having a heck of a time withthe 60 and getting this 69.
(04:30):
I'm like this is speaking mylanguage.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
There you go, there you go.
Well, and it's interesting too.
I mean, golfers are sodifferent, so you, you have
different ways to play thoseshots.
Ricky Fowler is a unique playerbecause he's got let's say he's
seven yards out.
He's going to hit a full shotor something whatever, probably
more like 100 yards out, rightWith a 60.
(04:53):
So he hits a full shot 95, hegrips down a half inch, okay,
and he makes a full swing again.
So he's one of those guys thatjust says I'm going to grip down
and make the same golf swingbut, knowing that that grip down
gets me five yards less,manipulating what you already
have in your tool 100.
And then someone like you, whereyou have um, you know, maybe
(05:14):
you just have a swing and you'relike, hey, this feels good,
this is my chip shot, andbecause you know where you're at
and how little you do get toplay.
But when you go out there,there, you're like I want to
play good, so instead offighting it, why not just say,
hey, I'm going to put anotherclub in my bag, I'll make the
same swing and this one goesthis far.
So my 69 goes 10 yards, my 60goes 15 yards and I think you
(05:38):
can just work down the bag thatway too.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So here's a question I have for you.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
If you have 16 clubs in your bag and you go to play
in a tournament, what two clubsdo you take out?
Um, it depends on the golfcourse.
So it depends on condition andgolf course.
So if I'm playing a link stylecourse, firm, fast, right, you
know, sandy, and I know I got tokeep that trajectory down with
wind Um, I might take a hybridout, because why would I play
something that launches high?
I might put a two iron in mybag instead.
(06:07):
You know, for me I'm alwaysgoing to keep wedges in my bag.
I've got four wedges.
Those are the scoring clubs.
I will rarely ever manipulatethat.
I'm also one of those playersthat I feel like I can close
down the club or open it up inany turf condition and hit it.
I've just practiced my my tailoff for so many years.
(06:27):
I played at a par three coursegrowing up.
So, having the ability tounderstand how to get up and
down from any situation becauseif you miss a green on a par
three old course, you knowthey're push up greens, which
means that's how they drainedEverything's a volcano you have
to know how to get up and down.
So I think it's all um,strategically based on external
(06:48):
factors, right, that are.
You know what's going to happenwith the weather?
What kind of course are youplaying and you go from there?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
so, by default, do you have a hybrid in your back
or do you go with like threewood driver?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I do.
I have a four hybrid of atailor-made four hybrid in there
and a three wood and a driverand a three wooden driver.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No five wood.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
No, five wood, um, I have.
So when I was younger, um, I'mnot a big guy, I'm like five,
seven, one, 25.
Right, so, um, when I startedplaying golf at the age of 12,
um, you know, I I was, I hit itpretty far from my size, but it
was because I just ripped itfrom baseball just way inside,
crushed it, but I would have, um, I met somebody and they gave
(07:29):
me this instead of hybrids, wehad nine woods, 11 woods, seven
woods, right.
So I had a King Cobra nine wood.
It was my one 50 club.
It was all day long.
I did just rip it.
I'm like here's the wholenumber eight at bear Creek,
uphill, boom, you know, that's,that's my club.
So I think a lot of it comesdown to, um, that was the
equivalent of today's hybrid,okay, and it was pretty awesome.
(07:56):
And now some of those clubs,those manufacturers are making
seven woods and if you look atthe lofts they're around 20
degrees.
Well, that was what my fivewood was.
So you know, when they saywe're hitting it far, they're
de-lofting it, they're addinglength to clubs, they're doing
things differently, um, a bunchof different shaft preferences
that allows, you know, anygolfer to hit a little bit
further than they used to rightso taylor made we talked about
(08:20):
this briefly just released theum qi 35, qi 35, sure.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
What's so great about this club?
I know you've been raving aboutit, but but why?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
yeah, I would just say that you know, for my high
speed players last year, um, theold driver, the face popped a
little bit.
Um, center hits, our centerhits, but you know somebody that
swings at over one 10, we werepopping faces and as a college
(08:51):
golf coach I think I sent backlike seven or eight clubs and
it's no default to themanufacturer, right?
I mean, this is quality controlstuff.
You know, overseas it happens,everybody's got it.
Um, I remember when Callawaycame out with a multi-material
back in the day, the crown cameoff and, and, and it happens,
everybody's got it.
Um, I remember when callowaycame out with a multi material
back in the day, the crown cameoff and, and, and it happens.
I think the biggest factor nowis I think they've learned from
(09:12):
their mistakes and it just lookscool.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I don't know what to tell you it looks cool.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I I love it and I think when something looks good,
I think sometimes you playbetter.
I mean, it's like that lookgood, play good feel.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It feels good too, it does.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
That's kind of grippy , rubbery, spongy face.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, but it's different.
I would say last year it feltsoft, this year it feels more
like a metal face, even thoughit's multi-material with all
that carbon.
So it's good.
Good so it's good Yep.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Good, I'm excited to try it.
I know my son has been playingwith it a little bit, that
you've let him use the club andhe's like I'm in.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I've got in my office right now.
I'm waiting for him to comeback.
You know, the thing is too.
It's not just about Taylor made.
Everybody's got something goodright now.
Um, ping drivers are insane.
Um, you know, cobra irons arereally hot right now.
The Mizuno clubs are good.
The new Callaway we have fourdifferent head shapes right now.
Titleist just came out with anew one as well.
Titleist is incredible and thefunny thing is is what people
(10:13):
need to realize is off thecenter of the face they're all
equally as fast.
So the difference now is, withthe USGA standards everyone's
trying to be faster on toe hits,heel hits, heel hits, miss hits
.
So with simulation and what Ihave at golf garage, they're
tracking everything.
So the the companies that ownthose launch monitors are
(10:35):
tracking it and that's whatthey're selling to the club
manufacturers.
And then club manufacturers aretesting nonstop too.
So when the average player hitsit off the toe, let's say 10
millimeters because that's whatthey're looking at they're going
to try to figure out how tomake it faster 10 millimeters
out there, and so it's likeliterally points on the club
(10:55):
that they're trying to makefaster.
So that way the average golferand their mishit becomes a
faster ball speed and thosetechnology you know the launch
monitors out there on demo daythey can prove it further
straighter, further longer ballspeeds are higher excellent.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So yesterday we literally covered three states.
Right, you were in la.
I was here in medford, oregon,and we interviewed jermaine
curse in seattle.
I'd say I had the best weather.
Indeed, nobody's gonna arguewith that.
How did sou do?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
what a great way to kick off the season.
Um, ladies finished in secondplace and the men have finished
in third place.
And you know, gosh, the menwere right there.
The ladies, they just had thatsecond place locked up.
It was going to be tough to winthe tournament, so I was really
proud of them for justcontinuing.
And we played at AngelesNational in Sunland, california,
(11:55):
just outside of LA, and we hadgreat weather.
The golf course is insane.
It was Hideki Matsuyama's homecourse, so the greens were
running at a 12, which is reallyfast but the slopes were
incredible.
So if you hadn't played there,you would literally not know
(12:16):
where to hit it, because you'retrying to use these backboards
on the greens to get the ball togo from point A to point B, and
it's not just like landed bythe hole, because they were firm
too.
So, you know, I I definitelythink that we learned a lot
about strategy, um, and I thinkthat, um, the men this is kind
of interesting, but through 14holes of play yesterday on
(12:38):
moving day, final day, they werewithin one shot of the lead, 13
or 14 shots going into the day.
So they were grinding.
We had Oliver Oslin was threeunder par, we had a couple other
players right around, even, andyou know we just struggled on
those closing holes.
They're tough holes but youknow we gave it away a little
(12:58):
bit and ended up dropping acouple spots to third.
But you know everybody washappy.
It was a great trip, weather wasperfect.
It was a great trip, um,weather was perfect, course was
great and everyone's likemotivated to get ready for our
conference tournament, which islike two months away.
But they're like that's how wego to nationals coach.
So you know, game on right,that's what we're going to work
on.
Would your flight on time come?
(13:19):
Coming home it was um we.
Everything was pretty muchperfect on travel, this time
Good.
Yeah, got back at 11 o'clocklast night.
Yeah, I crawled into bed around11.30 and got up about 5.30 am
and I was ready to get in theoffice.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We went to the golf garage and we just wrapped up
our first round of finals in oursimile.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And you beat me, your team beat mine.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
It was a team effort.
We'll just say your teamstarted talking trash first.
We did, because that's what wedo, and I had to tell one of
your teammates that that's how Iplay better.
And we'll just say that on the17th hole I might have gotten
him back a little bit.
All right, hitting to do aboutsay that on the 17th hole I
might've gotten him back alittle bit, all right, hitting
into about two feet on the parthree.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
And then my, my teammate came up to me on 18 and
said you know, one of us won,one of us lost.
It's all on you now.
Huh, If you tie this hole, yourhandicap wins it.
If you lose this hole by one,you lose.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
How'd that go?
Double bogeyed.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So is this like the chime in that we say hey we have
a mental coach.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
His name's Daniel Shuler.
He's amazing.
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
We need to have him on the show.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Game on.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
All right.
So yesterday we sat down forabout 35 minutes with Super Bowl
champion Jermaine Kers from theSeattle Seahawks.
What a guy, what a guy.
It was, jermaine.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Thanks for joining us yeah, thanks for having me.
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
thanks so much for coming on our show, and although
we do a podcast about golf, welike to have pro athletes on
from all spectrums, uh, and weknow that after your pro
football career, you got prettyheavily involved in the golf
industry as well.
Can you tell us about whatintrigued you to get started in
golf?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, so I started playing golf in 2014-ish.
My stepdad got brothers and Iinto it and I think I remember
the time we went playing, weplayed on this nine hole course
and we were just all hooked andyou know, my competitive spirit
just just couldn't get enough ofit.
(15:33):
And you know, just trying tohit this little white ball
that's not moving and get it toa direction that you want it to
go and it's not doing what youwant, so it just kind of draws
you in and you know I'm supercompetitive and so that I wanted
to kind of master and just kindof draws you in and you know
I'm super competitive and sothat I wanted to kind of master
and just kind of really enjoyedit.
And I would say around 2016 iswhen my golf addiction really
(15:54):
took off.
Um, I spent some time in thenortheast and I was doing some
pretty much spring ball our otaswith the new york jets and
teammate and I.
We were done by noon every dayand we were on a golf course by
one o'clock every single day.
At the time, my wife and myfirst born still in Seattle, and
so I was going back to Seattleevery other weekend and so had a
(16:17):
lot of time on my hands andspent a lot of that time on the
golf course with my, my teammate, andre Roberts, and that's
where it really took and justkind.
And I just love the grind ofthe sport.
I love the symbolism of golfand life and everything that
comes with it and all the upsand downs and the light bulb
moments that happen and the twostep backs to go one step
(16:39):
forward.
I just love everything aboutthe game.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
No matter how great of an athlete you are, golf is
hard.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It is hard.
It is such a hard sport.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And I think that's why Ray loves it and, jermaine,
I mean, you loved it so muchthat you are now a co-owner of
not just one but two indoor golffacilities up in the Seattle
market.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow that got started?
Because I mean, you've got toreally be passionate about this
sport to do what you're doing upthere right now.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah for sure, I retired from football in 2019.
And I spent some time duringthe COVID year actually working
with the University ofWashington football team and
seeing if I wanted to get on theother side of the game of
football and into coaching orsome element type of role.
(17:33):
So I spent about six monthsthere and I had a conversation
with TGA tour player AndrewPutnam, who's a good friend of
mine, and we were kind oftalking to each other about an
indoor facility and my visionfor it, and he eventually
introduced me to his cousin,greg Bodine, who was at the time
(17:57):
caddying for Tony Finau for thepast six years.
He spent some time with PatrickRogers after Tony, um, and then
he had uh, had retired, um, andso Andrew introduced us.
Greg had no similar vision andso Greg and I met at a Starbucks
for about four hours justtalking to each other, getting
to know each other, um, talkingabout our vision of what we
(18:19):
wanted to create.
And, you know, after that fourhour conversation we just
decided like, hey, let's do this.
Um, we knew what we wanted tolook like and then instantly we
started looking for spaces tokind of create this and, um, you
know, we found a place inRedmond Washington and was able
to create evergreen golf club.
Um, and you know I just found abig passion in it.
(18:44):
And you know, none of us,neither Greg or I, have ever
started a business.
I have no business background,I don't have no business degree,
but you know I'm a type ofperson that learns through
experience and there was a lotof learning through this
experience of starting abusiness Some good, some bad,
(19:07):
but you know we kept at it, wekept grinding and you know,
personally, bearing through allthe different challenges we
faced, and you know we we wereable to create something pretty
cool every successfulbusinessman has failures right
we could.
We had an advisory board, justyou know, filled with some
people through our network andJosh Decker, who was a part of
(19:30):
that board, who he created thiscompany called Tag Board, which
is, you know, if you look ontelevision or at any arenas and
you see people pulling up tweetsand put them up, that's his
company.
And so we got, we were able upthat's his company, um, and so
we got, we were able to kind ofpick his brain.
And one one thing that you knowthere's moments in life where
people say things and it juststicks in your head, right, um,
(19:55):
one of them.
One of them was my coach, steveSarkeesian.
He told me you can't find a way.
You got to find a way to find away.
That stuck in my head and youknow, sometimes you can't find
the path and sometimes you gotto find a path to find the path,
and you know that's somethingthat always stuck with me.
But this particular thing thatJosh said to us is you know,
(20:17):
when it comes to life and youknow doing things, there's
always going to be points inyour life where you're going to
fail.
He said the important thing isto fail forward, and to me that
just stuck in my head and, youknow, it just gave me the
encouragement that like, hey,there's going to be mistakes,
(20:41):
there are going to be failures,but if you're failing forward,
that means you're continuing tolearn, continuing to persevere
and build grit in your endeavorsand all the things that you're
doing.
And so we kept that in mind allthe time, and, you know, that's
something that we kind of, youknow, put in our foundation of
how we go about our everydaylives, and it was something that
(21:04):
just really stuck with me.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Those are great words .
Let's rewind back a few yearshere.
Pro sports is incrediblydemanding.
What did you do to set youreyes on that goal and achieve it
, from the high school level onup?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah, so I mean, growing up I was a basketball
player.
I never really consider myselfa football player.
I remember my freshman year.
I even told my my mom I waslike hey you know we don't need
to buy cleats this year.
You know, I played in, you know,fourth, fifth grade and I was
like you know, we don't need tobuy cleats, I, I don't think I'm
(21:39):
gonna play football, um, andthen I quickly realized my whole
friend group played footballand I'm like I don't know what
I'm.
I wasn't that good my freshmanyear but I'm just very
(22:00):
competitive.
My competitive nature and mycompetitive spirit just allowed
me to continue to develop myskills.
I just kind of enjoyed thecompetition and that just kind
of led me throughout high school.
I don't think I really playedfull-time varsity until my
junior year, it's that.
(22:21):
And you know, I eventuallyearned some scholarships to some
schools, went to the Universityof Washington, went 0-12 my
freshman year.
You know I'm talking about arough freshman year and this is
before the transfer portal.
So this is you're stuck atwhere you're at and not saying
that I would ever hadtransferred out.
(22:42):
I really enjoyed my time atu-dub and um, that season taught
me so much in life of buildingperseverance and and building
grit.
You're going to hear those twowords a lot out of me because,
um, you know, I think those twothings are one of the biggest
traits of having success in life.
And so, um, you know just mymindset, just you know I, I just
(23:03):
really didn't have any doubtthat you know I could succeed in
the things that I were, I waspursuing and, um, it kind of
just led me to to where I was at.
I didn't get drafted, I wentundrafted um and signed with the
Seattle Seahawks, um as aundrafted and signed with the
Seattle Seahawks as a undraftedfree agent.
But my mindset never waveredand I was still confident in my
(23:29):
ability.
And you know, I just figured ifI had an opportunity I was
going to be able to showcasewhat I was, my worth and my
talent.
And I was able to do that.
And you know, pete took achance on me and you know, the
rest is history.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Were you always a receiver.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I mean, yeah, I mean I played some defense, I played
safety, I had a couple ofscholarships to play defensive
back, but I'd rather avoidgetting hit than trying to hit
somebody.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Jermaine, I've spent a little bit of time with you,
obviously, with our matchesbetween our academies, and you
know it's interesting.
This is the second time nowI've gotten to really hear you
speak and every time I'm justtaken back.
Like you said, the grit thatyou have, I just, you know, I'm
at a college golf tournamentright now watching my players go
(24:20):
through the ups and downs atthe level they're at with this,
uh, unique opportunity that ifthey had that same drive, that
same grit, they would be 10times better today.
But you're just seeing them umwaver with the adversity of golf
and what it brings.
What.
What changed?
I mean, you can't always havethat ability to have grit all
(24:42):
the time.
What really?
What do you think really droveyou through?
What was the drive?
What was that factor that youhad?
Because some people have it butthey still have the low points.
So what really got you throughthose low points and those,
those highs and lows?
That's, that's a huge one forus yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Um, you know he would take Pete Carroll I'm speaking
about.
I think he might disagree withthis because he always believed
that you could teach grit andteach perseverance.
And I've always kind ofdisagreed a little bit about
that because I feel like thosemoments that you learn how to
build those characteristics isthrough experience.
(25:20):
You know, for me, you know someof the low points that I had,
you know, throughout my life,you know it's just a mindset
that I just kind of created.
You know, like you kind of justhave to like really think.
You know, I always tell a lot ofour juniors golf is a really
hard sport.
(25:40):
It's becoming a harder sport tobe a professional at and make
it to the top leagues.
For me, I always tell them youhave to feel like you belong
before you even belong To me.
That's just I like that.
(26:01):
To me it's not a level ofarrogance, it's just a certain
amount of confidence that youhave in, you know, your, your
preparation and how, um, thework and effort that you put in.
You know I I always hadconfidence in my work ethic and
(26:23):
you know the work that I putinto my craft.
And you know, sometimes you haveto believe that you belong,
because a lot of it's not thatpeople don't believe that they
have the skill set or whatnot,but some people doubt whether
they're worthy to be at the topspot, or they doubt as crazy as
(26:44):
it sounds, as scary as it is forpeople to fail, some people are
afraid to succeed too as well,which is, you know, it kind of
doesn't really make sense.
But you know you talk to a lotof more people and you know some
people are afraid of thesuccess and you know it kind.
Some people are afraid of thesuccess and you know it kind of
confuses me a little bit, um,but you know I always tell them
(27:06):
like hey, like you have to, likeyou have to feel, like you
you've, especially if you putthe work in, you have to feel
like you belong, like way beforeyou even get to that point,
because you know there's goingto be moments where you're going
to be tested, you know.
And then another big thing thatkind of helped me, you know,
kind of get through some of thatadversity is just figuring out
(27:27):
why I'm doing it, you know.
Yes, I think that's probablygoing to be the biggest thing
you know.
That's going to help peoplepersevere and, um, you know,
build grit and whatnot is you.
You can always rely on your why, but if you don't know what
your why is, what was your?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
what was your big?
Why?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
My why.
I mean, I'm just, naturally I'mjust, I just love competition,
I'm just very competitive.
Um, you know I, you know I Icame from.
You know I grew up in amilitary family and there's a
lot of you know grew up around alot of military kids and you
know I wanted to prove that Ican, I can do it.
(28:07):
You know, and you know somepeople's situations are a lot
different.
I mean, especially in the NFL,a lot of players come from some
real traumatic upbringings, comefrom some real traumatic
upbringings and you know, maybetheir why is to get their family
out of certain situations.
You know, to help their familyfinancially.
You know the why's are alldifferent and you know, honestly
(28:32):
, it really doesn't matter whatthe why is.
You know some people's why'smight be.
(28:56):
You know, I just want to berich.
You know, but the why is goingto always be the thing and the
main reason of what's going tohelp you build internal
motivation to, you know,overcome certain obstacles and
adversity, to be able to achievesomething.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Tell me about some of the adversity that you had to
overcome, something that's likemost memorable or most difficult
.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I mean, you know personally when my dad passed
away my dad was a huge was.
My dad passed away right beforemy senior year in high school.
I was heavily involved in mysports life.
Oh man, Um, going to Owen 12,my freshman year, uh, in in
college, um, having a new coachcome in and kind of getting put
(29:45):
buried at the bottom of thedepth chart, then having success
after working my way back upand then having a difficult
senior year.
There were some changes,Quarterbacks, leaving, coming
back in.
You know it's just start kindof starting over.
Didn't have a great year goingundrafted.
(30:06):
Uh, you know there's, there'salways, you know there's
definitely fork in the road,moments in my life where you
know you choose the wrongdirection and you go down a
different path.
And you know, unfortunately forme, I was blessed enough to you
know, choose the rightdirection.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Jermaine I had.
I have a very close friend ofmine who played for a little
while in the NFL for the, forthe Denver Broncos and then for
the Houston Texans for a littlewhile.
His dad played very, verysuccessfully in the NFL a long
time ago.
I was talking to him aboutcompetitiveness and drive and
(30:47):
what it takes to get to thatlevel and he kind of jokingly
said that his three brotherswere far better athletes than he
ever was and never made it toprofessional sports.
And I said why, what?
What made you different thanthem?
What allowed you to succeed?
And he said simply because I'mcoachable.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, I mean there's gotta be a certain level of
humility to have um, to, to beable to, you know, reach full
potential.
It's actually funny you saythis is because you know, like
even in for my career, like youknow the reality potential.
It's actually funny you saythis is because you know, like
even for my career, like youknow the reality is is like not
everyone's going to be the, youknow, max contract guy.
(31:35):
You know and always say, youknow, not that you not saying
that you can't and not sayingthat you shouldn't, strive for
that, but I always say, like youknow, strive for that.
But I always say, like you know, knowing your role.
You know, whether you know, forme on a football team, um, or
or in anything, you know,sometimes it's better to be an
elite batman or an elite robinover a okay batman.
I like that, um, you know.
(31:55):
I know a bunch of guys you knowin the nfl who's played 10, 12,
15 years just playing specialteams and probably was the dude
on their college team or highschool team.
Um, you know, I actually saw arecent podcast, um.
It was, uh, um, gilbert arenas,and he was talking to patrick
(32:17):
beverly two n NBA guys and hewas talking about Patrick
Beverly and most people.
If you watch the NBA, patrickBeverly is a guy that's known as
just like the defensive guy.
He's the attitude kind of like,you know, the bruiser of the
team.
You know he kind of does thedirty work.
(32:37):
But he went on and explainedthat Patrick Beverly averaged 30
, 35 points in high school.
But when he got to the NBA heunderstood those opportunities
are very slim and so he wantedto play for a long time and so
he understood what his role was.
(32:58):
And so he understood what hisrole was and he became elite in
his role, which allowed him toplay a lot longer than if he was
to try to be a guy who wasgoing to shoot the ball 25 times
, not get that opportunity, beupset about it.
And now he's putting his energyin things he couldn't control
and find himself out the leaguetwo, three years after it
(33:19):
started.
Find himself out the league two, three years after it started.
So it's just, you know, havingthe, you know the humility to.
You know sometimes just playyour role and you know sometimes
that might take you furtherthan your own.
You know selfish reasons oryour the plans that you have, um
, and you know, for me, you know, were, were there moments in my
(33:42):
career where I felt like I wasbetter and deserved more
opportunities and whatnot, ofcourse, and you know, sometimes,
you know, when you focus on thewrong things, it can distract
you.
And there were moments in mycareer where it hurt my career,
and you know, but I've learnedfrom it.
And you know, I my career, andyou know.
(34:03):
So, you know, but I've learnedfrom it.
And, uh, you know, I decided to, you know, change the way I
thought and my perspective onthings, and you know, I was able
to play eight years that'sgreat advice, jermaine.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
um also, you know, looking at what you're doing up
in seattle with evergreen golfclub is nothing short of
remarkable.
I know that I heard about yourfacility just after I started
looking into building GolfGarage and then in talking with
you throughout and the successesyou've had with those junior
(34:32):
golfers every player is sodifferent.
It seems like now you arealmost like this full-time golf
coach at some level and you havea coaching staff up there.
Can you talk a little bit andtell us a little bit more about
Evergreen and what you'reexcited about for the future and
then some of the up-and-comingjuniors?
It's your turn to brag aboutthe facility.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, I mean, when we created the facility, you know,
the number one thing we, youknow I wanted to make sure that
our facility had was culture.
A lot of the things I'velearned in terms of culture come
came from Pete Carroll and tobe able to have him, you know,
be able to learn from him andstill be able to call him and
(35:15):
talk to him about things.
It's a great opportunity tohave.
But a culture was a big thing,whether that was from our
juniors, um, to our uh members.
You know I I wanted it to allfeel and look the same and you
know it's something that wepreach a lot to our juniors.
You know, one of our juniors uh,no, you got to see him play a
(35:40):
little bit was Walker Lamb, akid who played golf.
He didn't have any offers.
He was shooting okay scores,was talking about taking a gap
year and whatnot, was talkingabout taking a gap year and
(36:00):
whatnot.
And you know we were able toget him involved in our junior
program stuff, our EvergreenElite stuff, and I always say
it's funny, like I always knewWalker had the skill set.
But what I think really helpedout Walker the most was the
culture, culture.
(36:20):
He was around the conversationsthat we constantly had, the,
whether it was, you know, offthe, on the course, off the
course.
You know, a certain type ofmentality um, I think that's
what kind of switched in andwalker's mind, and dude had
probably one of the best golfyears his, his very last year
(36:44):
and was able to earn himself ascholarship, you know, at
seattle university, and, youknow, played in.
He played in all thetournaments in the fall, just
started their spring session,had a top 10, took seventh place
in Mesquite this past week, andjust kind of just shows you,
(37:05):
you know, you bring the rightculture and you're around the
right culture, and you pair thatup with a skill set and content
that eager to continue todevelop, you know it can bring a
lot of success.
I mean, we have a lot of greatplayers Ethan Schwan, tygen Chia
(37:25):
, jack Duffy, a lot of kids atour facility that can play.
I think what they're getting isjust a mindset change.
The only way you do that,though, is if you surround
yourself with people who arethinking the same way.
Who's more competitive?
(37:47):
You?
Speaker 3 (37:48):
were uh me or tigan.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
I don't know if there's too many people more
competitive than me.
I mean they might, they mightbe competitive.
I remember, I remember yeah,because tigan wanted, tigan
wanted to play davis.
Yeah, that's right and he washe asking me he wanted to play
him, you wanted to play him, butthat's just.
That's just a mindset that welike to enforce, and you know,
(38:10):
and that's just kind of themindset that Tiger has as well.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Jermaine, what, what skill sets?
What lessons have you learnedon the football field that
you've been able to bring intothe game of golf and teach to
your students?
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Great perseverance.
Like I said, those are the twothings.
You're going to hear a lot outof me.
You know, I think for me thoseare the two main things.
I mean there's there's a lot ofthings that are happening on
the golf course.
You know and ups and downs, youknow different flows of the
(38:42):
game, you know having goodstretches of holes, of holes,
and then you know findingyourself making back-to-back
bogeys.
It's like how do you bounce,how do you keep yourself
mentally in that?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
and so you know I I think those are the the two
things that are transferable themost and honestly, in every
sport what advice do you havefor kids, um, that are growing
up and not not just in golf butin any sport that they want to
be, you know they want to do ona professional level.
What advice do you have forthem at, say, the junior high
(39:10):
school level or high schoollevel uh, to accomplish those
goals?
Speaker 1 (39:14):
I mean there's a couple of things I would say
control what you can control.
You know, I think we kind ofget into a we're in an
environment where social mediais very prominent in our lives
and constant comparison toothers.
You know, especially in juniorgolf, like that's one thing that
I've noticed a lot in juniorgolf.
You know there's, there's somekids that might not be as
(39:35):
developed at their age than youknow the kid that's winning all
the top junior tournaments attheir age when they're like,
only 13 years old.
I tell a lot of our kids I'mlike junior golf success doesn't
guarantee success in highschool, it doesn't guarantee
success in college.
Or even, you know, like justbecause you're the top junior
(39:55):
right now doesn't mean, you know, it's going to guarantee
anything in the future.
You know we got a kid atEvergreen, lincoln Hitt.
You know he wasn't the best athis age, you know, two, three
years ago.
But the kid grinds and hecontinues to put the work in and
you're seeing the results fromit.
(40:17):
He didn't care about othersaround him and what they were
scoring.
He's fallen in love with theprocess.
That's one thing we say a lottoo is like you got to fall in
love with the process, becausewithout the process the results
don't feel what they should feellike.
Right, you know, if the processwas easy, I mean then you're
going to get through the resultand you're not going to feel as
(40:39):
what you thought it was.
But results feel good becauseyou know what that process and
how hard that process was, thevalidation through that process,
the affirmation absolutely andyou know, if it was easy, then
any everybody would be doing itright and so and then the next
thing is it's a core quote thatwe always say is how you do one
(41:01):
thing is how you do everything.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
That's the truth.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And that's the reality in everyday life on the
golf course, at home, in school,in your workouts.
How you do one thing is how youdo everything and it's going to
show.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
A couple quick, lighthearted questions for you.
What's your favorite golfcourse that you ever played?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
I got to play Augusta National in November.
I had to play it twice, uh noway it was an unbelievable
experience.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yep, that's everything you would think, and
more my next question was goingto be what golf course is on
your bucket list, but I don'tthink that's applicable after
you play the guys I mean I wouldlike to play cypress.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Um, I played pine Valley one time when I first was
probably like around in 2016.
I wasn't that great at golf soI'm like I shot like a 92 and I
want another crack at it.
I love my favorite golfarchitect is Alistair McKenzie.
I love my favorite golfarchitect is Alistair McKenzie.
(42:03):
So I like to knock off as manyAlistair McKenzie courses as
possible, so Paso Tiempo is oneof them that I would like to get
down to.
I got to play Crystal Downs innorthern Michigan, which was a
phenomenal golf course.
It was so much fun.
I really enjoyed that one.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
It was hard and it was cold, so I had to go back in
a warmer time, jermaine, Ithink our next junior match play
might have to be down at PostaTiempo.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (42:33):
I think that would be great.
Maybe we throw the coaches inthe match.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
I think that's a mandatory at that point.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
What are you eating for dinner?
What's your favorite food?
Well, I'm at Evergreen Tacomaand we have Evergreen Elite
tonight that I'm coaching, soI'll probably be ordering from
Chipotle before our session.
Yes, so that's probably whatI'm eating.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Real quick before we let you go what is your most
memorable time?
What sticks with you in yourprofessional career?
What, what specific instance,what game, what catch, what when
what?
What sticks with you the most?
Speaker 1 (43:13):
um, I mean, I mean probably has to be winning super
bowl.
You know, the first super bowlyou know being, you know, from
the state of washington, goingto the university of was playing
for the Seattle Seahawks andwinning the city's first Super
Bowl.
I mean that's a pretty specialstory for myself, a huge
(43:34):
blessing I mean you don't get tohear a lot of stories like that
and just super blessed andhonored to be able to, you know,
own that story I've heard thisfrom from receivers.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
When you're out on the football field, there's so
much pressure on you, especiallyin a game like the super bowl
what do you do to get thattunnel vision that receivers
talk about to not be taking intoaccount the fans, the pressure
and the three or four guys thatare about to just clean your
clock, the second your handstouch the ball?
Speaker 1 (44:06):
um, you know.
Here's another pete carrollthing is pete did a lot in terms
of training our subconsciouslevel and how he went about that
is repetitive training.
So and saying so every, everytime, every day, every single
day, whether it's practice, agame, you heard championship
(44:28):
opportunity, championshipopportunity.
You know you build these skillsand you know these
conversations that you're having.
You know your mind is and yourconsciousness is always
listening right, it's alwayspaying attention, it's always
recording.
You know you have to be mindfulwith how you talk about certain
(44:51):
things, with how you thinkabout things, and it's honestly
a skill set to train this.
You know your subconsciouslevel because always look at it.
You know your subconscious is,you know what you do when you
don't really have the time, oryou know to think about it right
, it's just happens, right, andthat's whether it's training
(45:12):
your, you know your, yourskillset, or you know developing
your skillset, and so you knowgetting into those big moments I
mean, honestly, the Super Bowljust felt like another game is
because Pete had a training thatway, as if every day was that
game, every regular season,every preseason was that game,
(45:32):
and so I mean when you get outthere on the field, I mean, at
the end of the day the field isgoing to be 100 yards.
You know you're going to playfour quarters and football is
still going to be football.
I've been playing that game mywhole life, and it's something
that I now am trying to retrainwhen it comes to golf.
(45:53):
So it's a whole new journey formyself, because I like to
compete in golf as well, and soit's something that I'm trying
to train, you know, with mycompetitiveness in golf, and so
it's a whole other journey initself.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Jermaine, thank you for your time.
It's much appreciated andyou've had a lot of wise words
and advice that our listenerscan certainly take to heart and
help them in their personal lifeand in their golf game as well.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Yeah, thanks, jermaine.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Thank you guys for having me on.
It's great being with you,jermaine.
Thanks guys.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
It was such a pleasure having Jermaine on the
show, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
It was, it was, he was humble to tell.
And just so much wisdom, as aprofessional athlete, of what we
as an amateur can really taketo heart and apply to our game
and apply to our personal lifeas well.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Well, I would just say that I have already told all
my players from SAU they haveto listen to this podcast
because I've been so fortunateto spend time with Jermaine and
he is just a genuine individualand what he's doing in Seattle
and I mentioned this yesterdaywhen we were recording it's it's
(47:14):
nothing short of exquisite,like his vision.
I know he says you knowperseverance, grit, all this
stuff, and I got to play golfwith him at running Y last year
and it was so much fun becausehe he's one of those guys like
when you play with someonethat's so competitive, they get
mad, he doesn't?
He just literally understandsthat this is part of the process
(47:37):
and, even though maybe I losttoday, like I'm going to grind
and I'm going to come back andbeat you the next time.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
Well, he said that repetitively, that you know he's
the most competitive person heknows.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Well, and that's why I was joking with with Tygen.
I was like I remember thisTygen kid.
I'm like this kid is socompetitive and he's like, no,
I'm, I'm more competitive thanTygen is.
So you know what it it's.
It's so cool though.
So, going back to what they'redoing up there um, you know we
do similar things.
(48:10):
We we have an indoor golfAcademy at golf garage.
We have a global golf Academy,which is different than what
they're doing Um, but you know,they have so, so much to offer.
They have a tour caddy um inJibo which is Bryson
DeChambeau's caddy Um, and Iknow Bryson's been up there and
(48:31):
spent time with the kids.
I mean, that's insane.
You have this multi-majorchampion up there that just
loves giving back to theseplayers, and they don't have one
, but they have two of these,these facilities.
So, you know it, it's reallycool to see this up and coming,
and I didn't know they had thatfacility um about to open when I
(48:54):
started my project.
So, naturally, jermaine reachedout to me and said hey, we're
going to have this tournamentand the tournament's going to be
an academy based and we want toplay against your academy, and
so when they came down torunning.
Y.
It was so much fun to be ableto play head to head match
(49:17):
against another indoor facilityand their guys were great and a
lot of it was when they firststarted.
They weren't necessarily swingcoaches, they were just coaching
the game and in general lifeand all this stuff.
Now they do have some swingcoaches.
Um, they have more of anAcademy field, definitely, but
(49:37):
it's so cool to see and, like inhis words, I wanted to build a
culture and ultimately, before Imet him, that's the whole thing
about golf garage too, so Ifeel like there's a lot of
similarities, but they're doingit right up there.
I'm really excited to know himand to um to be able to be on
this.
Like, have him on this podcastwas so cool, right.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
And that's that culture and that that mindset,
the mental game, is whatdifferentiates the great golfers
from the professional golfers,right.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
Well, it's so funny.
I mean him saying that I playedCyprus and I play, or I want to
play Cyprus.
I played Augusta, I want toplay Cyprus.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
You played.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Augusta.
Twice I played Pine Valley, oh,but I want redemption because I
shot 92.
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
I was going gonna ask him.
I was gonna ask him one, whatcourt, what's your dream, or
what's your favorite courseyou've ever played?
And then I was gonna ask himyou know what?
What course do you want to playthe most that you haven't
played?
And he said, well, I playedAugusta National twice.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
I'm like, okay, well, that no one voids my second
question yeah, it's like wheredo you, where do you go from
there?
There's some good ones, but no,it's pretty unique, um, to have
someone like that that hasliterally won at the highest
level of their craft and rightand and so now they're going
(50:59):
back into another sport and youcan just see the drive is
already there.
That I want to.
I don't know what he wants todo with it, but it's like man,
is he, where's he going to besenior tour?
What's he doing with this?
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
How did you beat him when you played him at?
Speaker 3 (51:15):
Absolutely.
I beat him Good.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Yeah, good.
Speaker 3 (51:18):
Yep, no, it was a lot of fun.
I mean I would, I would justsay it.
It was competitive, but I wouldjust say we were, we were
thinking about the kids duringthat that event, we were
thinking about what we weregoing to do, we were talking a
lot about, we were talking shop,but we were just having a good
time.
I mean, I think that's theunique thing about him too.
As a professional athlete, I'vegotten to play golf with a lot
(51:41):
of professional athletes.
I've coached a lot ofprofessional athletes, just
being director of instruction atprivate clubs.
Um, and man, he is down toearth and he is a giver and um,
yeah, I mean, if you get theopportunity to go to evergreen
golf club, please do.
Um, they're going to.
You know, just open up theirarms to you, yeah, so, um,
(52:03):
they're a little East of Seattleon one and then I think their
second one's evergreen Tacoma,so down South, All right.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
What do we have to look forward to next week?
Speaker 3 (52:14):
Yeah.
So I think in the coming weekswhat's unique about this podcast
is we're looking at supportingsome local talent as well.
So, you know, I think you and Iboth know that we've got maybe
potentially Adam Rutledge, youknow, and a few other guests
from our area, and I think thatwould be really, really fun to
(52:38):
get them on and talk off.
That might be a wild time,didn't he call in last week?
I?
Speaker 2 (52:45):
don't know, adam did yes.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
Yes, he did so so we'll get that maybe a little
bit.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Uh, conversation about juggernaut open excellent
which is at uh centennial golfclub.
This summer.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
So, uh, we'll have to get those, those guys going on
I have a 9 10 t time atcentennial tomorrow hey, good
luck thank you.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
I'll let you know how I did next week.
Welcome to the my golf source podcast.
Welcome to episode five of themy golf source podcast.
I'm Darren, I'm Noah, so I dida thing.
Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I caved to the internet pressure and I bought
the 69 degree wedge.
No, you did not, I did why.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And I used it in SimLeak tonight.
How'd it go?
I am in love.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It's not just a number, it's a number all right.
So what was so?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
good about it.
It allowed me to take a shortchip right off of the green,
drop it within six feet of thepin and it'd stay there.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well, I guess that makes sense.
So there's a lot of differentways to chip.
And what were you missing inyour game?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yardage.
Was there a certain yardage youjust didn't like?
I think it was reading thegreen.
Um, I think my 56 or my 60 hadsome variables in it.
So if I laid it too short thenit it would roll out but it
would take.
It would take a lot of thebreak and take a lot of the
green.
That I that I didn't see.
If I tried to fly it to the pinthen I rolled too far past it
(01:31):
and the 60 just kind of allowedme to place the ball with some
forgiveness and it just stayedthere you know that's super
interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
The 69, yeah, there you go.
So just having that backspingave you that feel, allowed you
to kind of fly it to where youwanted to.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It popped it in the air right out, right out of the
sand or right out of the roughthat's awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So I, uh, I used to give lessons this guy and he was
a division one tennis playerfrom ucla and what was unique
about it was he was a new golferand he was a terrible chipper
and he decided to get the 62degree wedge and everything was
(02:14):
about feel with this guy.
So he started just grinding.
Like six months he was outthere six hours a day.
It was was insane.
So what was really cool aboutit was we go into this chipping
lesson and I go in and I say,hey, uh, we're 20 yards off the
green and you know middle pin,probably, you know 30 feet.
(02:34):
You had probably three or fourshots to choose from and I'm I'm
a pretty big proponent ofgetting it on the ground as fast
as you can using the green.
Use the slope, you have controlof that.
You don't know what it's goingto do in the air.
And he's just like I'm going touse my 62-degree wedge, okay,
is that what you use everywhere?
Yeah, that's my club.
(02:55):
So I watch him hit a shot and hehits it to about three feet.
On the first try I'm like, okay, nice, let's see another one.
It's it to about two feet.
On the next one I'm like, okay,there's a little trend, let's
see what's going to happen.
And he chips in on the third.
I'm like, okay, well, you'reone of those guys that you can
just hit that club right.
(03:16):
I mean, and that's the uniquething about golf is that there's
not one way to do it.
And he's one of those outliersthat just wants to fly it all
the way there.
And he played tennis.
He's got feel he knows how todo it and he just figured it out
on his own.
And I think that's a uniquething about the sport is it's
not always about what YouTubesays, it's not about what I say
(03:38):
as a golf pro.
It's about what you believe in,and that self-belief will get
you there.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, you know, for for the longest time I only had
a 56 in my back.
That was my highest loftedwedge and when I got a 60 degree
wedge a few years ago, itimproved my game a lot.
Um, and now I've.
I used to use the 60 inside of20 yards or out of the bunker.
Now I'm to the point where I'musing my 60 inside of 20 yards
or out of the bunker.
Now I'm to the point where I'musing my 60 inside of 60 yards,
(04:08):
and I was having trouble withthe little short chips where I'm
not taking a full swing at it.
I just want to pop it up out ofthe rough, fly it three or four
yards, six yards onto the greenand have it check up, and I was
having a heck of a time withthe 60 and getting this 69.
(04:30):
I'm like this is speaking mylanguage.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
There you go, there you go.
Well, and it's interesting too.
I mean, golfers are sodifferent, so you, you have
different ways to play thoseshots.
Ricky Fowler is a unique playerbecause he's got let's say he's
seven yards out.
He's going to hit a full shotor something whatever, probably
more like 100 yards out, rightWith a 60.
(04:53):
So he hits a full shot 95, hegrips down a half inch, okay,
and he makes a full swing again.
So he's one of those guys thatjust says I'm going to grip down
and make the same golf swingbut, knowing that that grip down
gets me five yards less,manipulating what you already
have in your tool 100.
And then someone like you, whereyou have um, you know, maybe
(05:14):
you just have a swing and you'relike, hey, this feels good,
this is my chip shot, andbecause you know where you're at
and how little you do get toplay.
But when you go out there,there, you're like I want to
play good, so instead offighting it, why not just say,
hey, I'm going to put anotherclub in my bag, I'll make the
same swing and this one goesthis far.
So my 69 goes 10 yards, my 60goes 15 yards and I think you
(05:38):
can just work down the bag thatway too.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So here's a question I have for you.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
If you have 16 clubs in your bag and you go to play
in a tournament, what two clubsdo you take out?
Um, it depends on the golfcourse.
So it depends on condition andgolf course.
So if I'm playing a link stylecourse, firm, fast, right, you
know, sandy, and I know I got tokeep that trajectory down with
wind Um, I might take a hybridout, because why would I play
something that launches high?
I might put a two iron in mybag instead.
(06:07):
You know, for me I'm alwaysgoing to keep wedges in my bag.
I've got four wedges.
Those are the scoring clubs.
I will rarely ever manipulatethat.
I'm also one of those playersthat I feel like I can close
down the club or open it up inany turf condition and hit it.
I've just practiced my my tailoff for so many years.
(06:27):
I played at a par three coursegrowing up.
So, having the ability tounderstand how to get up and
down from any situation becauseif you miss a green on a par
three old course, you knowthey're push up greens, which
means that's how they drainedEverything's a volcano you have
to know how to get up and down.
So I think it's all um,strategically based on external
(06:48):
factors, right, that are.
You know what's going to happenwith the weather?
What kind of course are youplaying and you go from there?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
so, by default, do you have a hybrid in your back
or do you go with like threewood driver?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I do.
I have a four hybrid of atailor-made four hybrid in there
and a three wood and a driverand a three wooden driver.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No five wood.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
No, five wood, um, I have.
So when I was younger, um, I'mnot a big guy, I'm like five,
seven, one, 25.
Right, so, um, when I startedplaying golf at the age of 12,
um, you know, I I was, I hit itpretty far from my size, but it
was because I just ripped itfrom baseball just way inside,
crushed it, but I would have, um, I met somebody and they gave
(07:29):
me this instead of hybrids, wehad nine woods, 11 woods, seven
woods, right.
So I had a King Cobra nine wood.
It was my one 50 club.
It was all day long.
I did just rip it.
I'm like here's the wholenumber eight at bear Creek,
uphill, boom, you know, that's,that's my club.
So I think a lot of it comesdown to, um, that was the
equivalent of today's hybrid,okay, and it was pretty awesome.
(07:56):
And now some of those clubs,those manufacturers are making
seven woods and if you look atthe lofts they're around 20
degrees.
Well, that was what my fivewood was.
So you know, when they saywe're hitting it far, they're
de-lofting it, they're addinglength to clubs, they're doing
things differently, um, a bunchof different shaft preferences
that allows, you know, anygolfer to hit a little bit
further than they used to rightso taylor made we talked about
(08:20):
this briefly just released theum qi 35, qi 35, sure.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
What's so great about this club?
I know you've been raving aboutit, but but why?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
yeah, I would just say that you know, for my high
speed players last year, um, theold driver, the face popped a
little bit.
Um, center hits, our centerhits, but you know somebody that
swings at over one 10, we werepopping faces and as a college
(08:51):
golf coach I think I sent backlike seven or eight clubs and
it's no default to themanufacturer, right?
I mean, this is quality controlstuff.
You know, overseas it happens,everybody's got it.
Um, I remember when Callawaycame out with a multi-material
back in the day, the crown cameoff and, and, and it happens,
everybody's got it.
Um, I remember when callowaycame out with a multi material
back in the day, the crown cameoff and, and, and it happens.
I think the biggest factor nowis I think they've learned from
(09:12):
their mistakes and it just lookscool.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I don't know what to tell you it looks cool.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I I love it and I think when something looks good,
I think sometimes you playbetter.
I mean, it's like that lookgood, play good feel.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It feels good too, it does.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
That's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
That's kind of grippy , rubbery, spongy face.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, but it's different.
I would say last year it feltsoft, this year it feels more
like a metal face, even thoughit's multi-material with all
that carbon.
So it's good.
Good so it's good Yep.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Good, I'm excited to try it.
I know my son has been playingwith it a little bit, that
you've let him use the club andhe's like I'm in.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I've got in my office right now.
I'm waiting for him to comeback.
You know, the thing is too.
It's not just about Taylor made.
Everybody's got something goodright now.
Um, ping drivers are insane.
Um, you know, cobra irons arereally hot right now.
The Mizuno clubs are good.
The new Callaway we have fourdifferent head shapes right now.
Titleist just came out with anew one as well.
Titleist is incredible and thefunny thing is is what people
(10:13):
need to realize is off thecenter of the face they're all
equally as fast.
So the difference now is, withthe USGA standards everyone's
trying to be faster on toe hits,heel hits, heel hits, miss hits
.
So with simulation and what Ihave at golf garage, they're
tracking everything.
So the the companies that ownthose launch monitors are
(10:35):
tracking it and that's whatthey're selling to the club
manufacturers.
And then club manufacturers aretesting nonstop too.
So when the average player hitsit off the toe, let's say 10
millimeters because that's whatthey're looking at they're going
to try to figure out how tomake it faster 10 millimeters
out there, and so it's likeliterally points on the club
(10:55):
that they're trying to makefaster.
So that way the average golferand their mishit becomes a
faster ball speed and thosetechnology you know the launch
monitors out there on demo daythey can prove it further
straighter, further longer ballspeeds are higher excellent.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So yesterday we literally covered three states.
Right, you were in la.
I was here in medford, oregon,and we interviewed jermaine
curse in seattle.
I'd say I had the best weather.
Indeed, nobody's gonna arguewith that.
How did sou do?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
what a great way to kick off the season.
Um, ladies finished in secondplace and the men have finished
in third place.
And you know, gosh, the menwere right there.
The ladies, they just had thatsecond place locked up.
It was going to be tough to winthe tournament, so I was really
proud of them for justcontinuing.
And we played at AngelesNational in Sunland, california,
(11:55):
just outside of LA, and we hadgreat weather.
The golf course is insane.
It was Hideki Matsuyama's homecourse, so the greens were
running at a 12, which is reallyfast but the slopes were
incredible.
So if you hadn't played there,you would literally not know
(12:16):
where to hit it, because you'retrying to use these backboards
on the greens to get the ball togo from point A to point B, and
it's not just like landed bythe hole, because they were firm
too.
So, you know, I I definitelythink that we learned a lot
about strategy, um, and I thinkthat, um, the men this is kind
of interesting, but through 14holes of play yesterday on
(12:38):
moving day, final day, they werewithin one shot of the lead, 13
or 14 shots going into the day.
So they were grinding.
We had Oliver Oslin was threeunder par, we had a couple other
players right around, even, andyou know we just struggled on
those closing holes.
They're tough holes but youknow we gave it away a little
(12:58):
bit and ended up dropping acouple spots to third.
But you know everybody washappy.
It was a great trip, weather wasperfect.
It was a great trip, um,weather was perfect, course was
great and everyone's likemotivated to get ready for our
conference tournament, which islike two months away.
But they're like that's how wego to nationals coach.
So you know, game on right,that's what we're going to work
on.
Would your flight on time come?
(13:19):
Coming home it was um we.
Everything was pretty muchperfect on travel, this time
Good.
Yeah, got back at 11 o'clocklast night.
Yeah, I crawled into bed around11.30 and got up about 5.30 am
and I was ready to get in theoffice.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We went to the golf garage and we just wrapped up
our first round of finals in oursimile.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And you beat me, your team beat mine.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
It was a team effort.
We'll just say your teamstarted talking trash first.
We did, because that's what wedo, and I had to tell one of
your teammates that that's how Iplay better.
And we'll just say that on the17th hole I might have gotten
him back a little bit.
All right, hitting to do aboutsay that on the 17th hole I
might've gotten him back alittle bit, all right, hitting
into about two feet on the parthree.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
And then my, my teammate came up to me on 18 and
said you know, one of us won,one of us lost.
It's all on you now.
Huh, If you tie this hole, yourhandicap wins it.
If you lose this hole by one,you lose.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
How'd that go?
Double bogeyed.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So is this like the chime in that we say hey we have
a mental coach.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
His name's Daniel Shuler.
He's amazing.
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
We need to have him on the show.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Game on.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
All right.
So yesterday we sat down forabout 35 minutes with Super Bowl
champion Jermaine Kers from theSeattle Seahawks.
What a guy, what a guy.
It was, jermaine.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Thanks for joining us yeah, thanks for having me.
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
thanks so much for coming on our show, and although
we do a podcast about golf, welike to have pro athletes on
from all spectrums, uh, and weknow that after your pro
football career, you got prettyheavily involved in the golf
industry as well.
Can you tell us about whatintrigued you to get started in
golf?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, so I started playing golf in 2014-ish.
My stepdad got brothers and Iinto it and I think I remember
the time we went playing, weplayed on this nine hole course
and we were just all hooked andyou know, my competitive spirit
just just couldn't get enough ofit.
(15:33):
And you know, just trying tohit this little white ball
that's not moving and get it toa direction that you want it to
go and it's not doing what youwant, so it just kind of draws
you in and you know I'm supercompetitive and so that I wanted
to kind of master and just kindof draws you in and you know
I'm super competitive and sothat I wanted to kind of master
and just kind of really enjoyedit.
And I would say around 2016 iswhen my golf addiction really
(15:54):
took off.
Um, I spent some time in thenortheast and I was doing some
pretty much spring ball our otaswith the new york jets and
teammate and I.
We were done by noon every dayand we were on a golf course by
one o'clock every single day.
At the time, my wife and myfirst born still in Seattle, and
so I was going back to Seattleevery other weekend and so had a
(16:17):
lot of time on my hands andspent a lot of that time on the
golf course with my, my teammate, andre Roberts, and that's
where it really took and justkind.
And I just love the grind ofthe sport.
I love the symbolism of golfand life and everything that
comes with it and all the upsand downs and the light bulb
moments that happen and the twostep backs to go one step
(16:39):
forward.
I just love everything aboutthe game.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
No matter how great of an athlete you are, golf is
hard.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It is hard.
It is such a hard sport.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And I think that's why Ray loves it and, jermaine,
I mean, you loved it so muchthat you are now a co-owner of
not just one but two indoor golffacilities up in the Seattle
market.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow that got started?
Because I mean, you've got toreally be passionate about this
sport to do what you're doing upthere right now.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah for sure, I retired from football in 2019.
And I spent some time duringthe COVID year actually working
with the University ofWashington football team and
seeing if I wanted to get on theother side of the game of
football and into coaching orsome element type of role.
(17:33):
So I spent about six monthsthere and I had a conversation
with TGA tour player AndrewPutnam, who's a good friend of
mine, and we were kind oftalking to each other about an
indoor facility and my visionfor it, and he eventually
introduced me to his cousin,greg Bodine, who was at the time
(17:57):
caddying for Tony Finau for thepast six years.
He spent some time with PatrickRogers after Tony, um, and then
he had uh, had retired, um, andso Andrew introduced us.
Greg had no similar vision andso Greg and I met at a Starbucks
for about four hours justtalking to each other, getting
to know each other, um, talkingabout our vision of what we
(18:19):
wanted to create.
And, you know, after that fourhour conversation we just
decided like, hey, let's do this.
Um, we knew what we wanted tolook like and then instantly we
started looking for spaces tokind of create this and, um, you
know, we found a place inRedmond Washington and was able
to create evergreen golf club.
Um, and you know I just found abig passion in it.
(18:44):
And you know, none of us,neither Greg or I, have ever
started a business.
I have no business background,I don't have no business degree,
but you know I'm a type ofperson that learns through
experience and there was a lotof learning through this
experience of starting abusiness Some good, some bad,
(19:07):
but you know we kept at it, wekept grinding and you know,
personally, bearing through allthe different challenges we
faced, and you know we we wereable to create something pretty
cool every successfulbusinessman has failures right
we could.
We had an advisory board, justyou know, filled with some
people through our network andJosh Decker, who was a part of
(19:30):
that board, who he created thiscompany called Tag Board, which
is, you know, if you look ontelevision or at any arenas and
you see people pulling up tweetsand put them up, that's his
company.
And so we got, we were able upthat's his company, um, and so
we got, we were able to kind ofpick his brain.
And one one thing that you knowthere's moments in life where
people say things and it juststicks in your head, right, um,
(19:55):
one of them.
One of them was my coach, steveSarkeesian.
He told me you can't find a way.
You got to find a way to find away.
That stuck in my head and youknow, sometimes you can't find
the path and sometimes you gotto find a path to find the path,
and you know that's somethingthat always stuck with me.
But this particular thing thatJosh said to us is you know,
(20:17):
when it comes to life and youknow doing things, there's
always going to be points inyour life where you're going to
fail.
He said the important thing isto fail forward, and to me that
just stuck in my head and, youknow, it just gave me the
encouragement that like, hey,there's going to be mistakes,
(20:41):
there are going to be failures,but if you're failing forward,
that means you're continuing tolearn, continuing to persevere
and build grit in your endeavorsand all the things that you're
doing.
And so we kept that in mind allthe time, and, you know, that's
something that we kind of, youknow, put in our foundation of
how we go about our everydaylives, and it was something that
(21:04):
just really stuck with me.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Those are great words .
Let's rewind back a few yearshere.
Pro sports is incrediblydemanding.
What did you do to set youreyes on that goal and achieve it
, from the high school level onup?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah, so I mean, growing up I was a basketball
player.
I never really consider myselfa football player.
I remember my freshman year.
I even told my my mom I waslike hey you know we don't need
to buy cleats this year.
You know, I played in, you know,fourth, fifth grade and I was
like you know, we don't need tobuy cleats, I, I don't think I'm
(21:39):
gonna play football, um, andthen I quickly realized my whole
friend group played footballand I'm like I don't know what
I'm.
I wasn't that good my freshmanyear but I'm just very
(22:00):
competitive.
My competitive nature and mycompetitive spirit just allowed
me to continue to develop myskills.
I just kind of enjoyed thecompetition and that just kind
of led me throughout high school.
I don't think I really playedfull-time varsity until my
junior year, it's that.
(22:21):
And you know, I eventuallyearned some scholarships to some
schools, went to the Universityof Washington, went 0-12 my
freshman year.
You know I'm talking about arough freshman year and this is
before the transfer portal.
So this is you're stuck atwhere you're at and not saying
that I would ever hadtransferred out.
(22:42):
I really enjoyed my time atu-dub and um, that season taught
me so much in life of buildingperseverance and and building
grit.
You're going to hear those twowords a lot out of me because,
um, you know, I think those twothings are one of the biggest
traits of having success in life.
And so, um, you know just mymindset, just you know I, I just
(23:03):
really didn't have any doubtthat you know I could succeed in
the things that I were, I waspursuing and, um, it kind of
just led me to to where I was at.
I didn't get drafted, I wentundrafted um and signed with the
Seattle Seahawks, um as aundrafted and signed with the
Seattle Seahawks as a undraftedfree agent.
But my mindset never waveredand I was still confident in my
(23:29):
ability.
And you know, I just figured ifI had an opportunity I was
going to be able to showcasewhat I was, my worth and my
talent.
And I was able to do that.
And you know, pete took achance on me and you know, the
rest is history.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Were you always a receiver.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I mean, yeah, I mean I played some defense, I played
safety, I had a couple ofscholarships to play defensive
back, but I'd rather avoidgetting hit than trying to hit
somebody.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Jermaine, I've spent a little bit of time with you,
obviously, with our matchesbetween our academies, and you
know it's interesting.
This is the second time nowI've gotten to really hear you
speak and every time I'm justtaken back.
Like you said, the grit thatyou have, I just, you know, I'm
at a college golf tournamentright now watching my players go
(24:20):
through the ups and downs atthe level they're at with this,
uh, unique opportunity that ifthey had that same drive, that
same grit, they would be 10times better today.
But you're just seeing them umwaver with the adversity of golf
and what it brings.
What.
What changed?
I mean, you can't always havethat ability to have grit all
(24:42):
the time.
What really?
What do you think really droveyou through?
What was the drive?
What was that factor that youhad?
Because some people have it butthey still have the low points.
So what really got you throughthose low points and those,
those highs and lows?
That's, that's a huge one forus yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Um, you know he would take Pete Carroll I'm speaking
about.
I think he might disagree withthis because he always believed
that you could teach grit andteach perseverance.
And I've always kind ofdisagreed a little bit about
that because I feel like thosemoments that you learn how to
build those characteristics isthrough experience.
(25:20):
You know, for me, you know someof the low points that I had,
you know, throughout my life,you know it's just a mindset
that I just kind of created.
You know, like you kind of justhave to like really think.
You know, I always tell a lot ofour juniors golf is a really
hard sport.
(25:40):
It's becoming a harder sport tobe a professional at and make
it to the top leagues.
For me, I always tell them youhave to feel like you belong
before you even belong To me.
That's just I like that.
(26:01):
To me it's not a level ofarrogance, it's just a certain
amount of confidence that youhave in, you know, your, your
preparation and how, um, thework and effort that you put in.
You know I I always hadconfidence in my work ethic and
(26:23):
you know the work that I putinto my craft.
And you know, sometimes you haveto believe that you belong,
because a lot of it's not thatpeople don't believe that they
have the skill set or whatnot,but some people doubt whether
they're worthy to be at the topspot, or they doubt as crazy as
(26:44):
it sounds, as scary as it is forpeople to fail, some people are
afraid to succeed too as well,which is, you know, it kind of
doesn't really make sense.
But you know you talk to a lotof more people and you know some
people are afraid of thesuccess and you know it kind.
Some people are afraid of thesuccess and you know it kind of
confuses me a little bit, um,but you know I always tell them
(27:06):
like hey, like you have to, likeyou have to feel, like you
you've, especially if you putthe work in, you have to feel
like you belong, like way beforeyou even get to that point,
because you know there's goingto be moments where you're going
to be tested, you know.
And then another big thing thatkind of helped me, you know,
kind of get through some of thatadversity is just figuring out
(27:27):
why I'm doing it, you know.
Yes, I think that's probablygoing to be the biggest thing
you know.
That's going to help peoplepersevere and, um, you know,
build grit and whatnot is you.
You can always rely on your why, but if you don't know what
your why is, what was your?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
what was your big?
Why?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
My why.
I mean, I'm just, naturally I'mjust, I just love competition,
I'm just very competitive.
Um, you know I, you know I Icame from.
You know I grew up in amilitary family and there's a
lot of you know grew up around alot of military kids and you
know I wanted to prove that Ican, I can do it.
(28:07):
You know, and you know somepeople's situations are a lot
different.
I mean, especially in the NFL,a lot of players come from some
real traumatic upbringings, comefrom some real traumatic
upbringings and you know, maybetheir why is to get their family
out of certain situations.
You know, to help their familyfinancially.
You know the why's are alldifferent and you know, honestly
(28:32):
, it really doesn't matter whatthe why is.
You know some people's why'smight be.
(28:56):
You know, I just want to berich.
You know, but the why is goingto always be the thing and the
main reason of what's going tohelp you build internal
motivation to, you know,overcome certain obstacles and
adversity, to be able to achievesomething.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Tell me about some of the adversity that you had to
overcome, something that's likemost memorable or most difficult
.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I mean, you know personally when my dad passed
away my dad was a huge was.
My dad passed away right beforemy senior year in high school.
I was heavily involved in mysports life.
Oh man, Um, going to Owen 12,my freshman year, uh, in in
college, um, having a new coachcome in and kind of getting put
(29:45):
buried at the bottom of thedepth chart, then having success
after working my way back upand then having a difficult
senior year.
There were some changes,Quarterbacks, leaving, coming
back in.
You know it's just start kindof starting over.
Didn't have a great year goingundrafted.
(30:06):
Uh, you know there's, there'salways, you know there's
definitely fork in the road,moments in my life where you
know you choose the wrongdirection and you go down a
different path.
And you know, unfortunately forme, I was blessed enough to you
know, choose the rightdirection.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Jermaine I had.
I have a very close friend ofmine who played for a little
while in the NFL for the, forthe Denver Broncos and then for
the Houston Texans for a littlewhile.
His dad played very, verysuccessfully in the NFL a long
time ago.
I was talking to him aboutcompetitiveness and drive and
(30:47):
what it takes to get to thatlevel and he kind of jokingly
said that his three brotherswere far better athletes than he
ever was and never made it toprofessional sports.
And I said why, what?
What made you different thanthem?
What allowed you to succeed?
And he said simply because I'mcoachable.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Yeah, I mean there's gotta be a certain level of
humility to have um, to, to beable to, you know, reach full
potential.
It's actually funny you saythis is because you know, like
even in for my career, like youknow the reality potential.
It's actually funny you saythis is because you know, like
even for my career, like youknow the reality is is like not
everyone's going to be the, youknow, max contract guy.
(31:35):
You know and always say, youknow, not that you not saying
that you can't and not sayingthat you shouldn't, strive for
that, but I always say, like youknow, strive for that.
But I always say, like you know, knowing your role.
You know, whether you know, forme on a football team, um, or
or in anything, you know,sometimes it's better to be an
elite batman or an elite robinover a okay batman.
I like that, um, you know.
(31:55):
I know a bunch of guys you knowin the nfl who's played 10, 12,
15 years just playing specialteams and probably was the dude
on their college team or highschool team.
Um, you know, I actually saw arecent podcast, um.
It was, uh, um, gilbert arenas,and he was talking to patrick
(32:17):
beverly two n NBA guys and hewas talking about Patrick
Beverly and most people.
If you watch the NBA, patrickBeverly is a guy that's known as
just like the defensive guy.
He's the attitude kind of like,you know, the bruiser of the
team.
You know he kind of does thedirty work.
(32:37):
But he went on and explainedthat Patrick Beverly averaged 30
, 35 points in high school.
But when he got to the NBA heunderstood those opportunities
are very slim and so he wantedto play for a long time and so
he understood what his role was.
(32:58):
And so he understood what hisrole was and he became elite in
his role, which allowed him toplay a lot longer than if he was
to try to be a guy who wasgoing to shoot the ball 25 times
, not get that opportunity, beupset about it.
And now he's putting his energyin things he couldn't control
and find himself out the leaguetwo, three years after it
(33:19):
started.
Find himself out the league two, three years after it started.
So it's just, you know, havingthe, you know the humility to.
You know sometimes just playyour role and you know sometimes
that might take you furtherthan your own.
You know selfish reasons oryour the plans that you have, um
, and you know, for me, you know, were, were there moments in my
(33:42):
career where I felt like I wasbetter and deserved more
opportunities and whatnot, ofcourse, and you know, sometimes,
you know, when you focus on thewrong things, it can distract
you.
And there were moments in mycareer where it hurt my career,
and you know, but I've learnedfrom it.
And you know, I my career, andyou know.
(34:03):
So, you know, but I've learnedfrom it.
And, uh, you know, I decided to, you know, change the way I
thought and my perspective onthings, and you know, I was able
to play eight years that'sgreat advice, jermaine.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
um also, you know, looking at what you're doing up
in seattle with evergreen golfclub is nothing short of
remarkable.
I know that I heard about yourfacility just after I started
looking into building GolfGarage and then in talking with
you throughout and the successesyou've had with those junior
(34:32):
golfers every player is sodifferent.
It seems like now you arealmost like this full-time golf
coach at some level and you havea coaching staff up there.
Can you talk a little bit andtell us a little bit more about
Evergreen and what you'reexcited about for the future and
then some of the up-and-comingjuniors?
It's your turn to brag aboutthe facility.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, I mean, when we created the facility, you know,
the number one thing we, youknow I wanted to make sure that
our facility had was culture.
A lot of the things I'velearned in terms of culture come
came from Pete Carroll and tobe able to have him, you know,
be able to learn from him andstill be able to call him and
(35:15):
talk to him about things.
It's a great opportunity tohave.
But a culture was a big thing,whether that was from our
juniors, um, to our uh members.
You know I I wanted it to allfeel and look the same and you
know it's something that wepreach a lot to our juniors.
You know, one of our juniors uh,no, you got to see him play a
(35:40):
little bit was Walker Lamb, akid who played golf.
He didn't have any offers.
He was shooting okay scores,was talking about taking a gap
year and whatnot, was talkingabout taking a gap year and
(36:00):
whatnot.
And you know we were able toget him involved in our junior
program stuff, our EvergreenElite stuff, and I always say
it's funny, like I always knewWalker had the skill set.
But what I think really helpedout Walker the most was the
culture, culture.
(36:20):
He was around the conversationsthat we constantly had, the,
whether it was, you know, offthe, on the course, off the
course.
You know, a certain type ofmentality um, I think that's
what kind of switched in andwalker's mind, and dude had
probably one of the best golfyears his, his very last year
(36:44):
and was able to earn himself ascholarship, you know, at
seattle university, and, youknow, played in.
He played in all thetournaments in the fall, just
started their spring session,had a top 10, took seventh place
in Mesquite this past week, andjust kind of just shows you,
(37:05):
you know, you bring the rightculture and you're around the
right culture, and you pair thatup with a skill set and content
that eager to continue todevelop, you know it can bring a
lot of success.
I mean, we have a lot of greatplayers Ethan Schwan, tygen Chia
(37:25):
, jack Duffy, a lot of kids atour facility that can play.
I think what they're getting isjust a mindset change.
The only way you do that,though, is if you surround
yourself with people who arethinking the same way.
Who's more competitive?
(37:47):
You?
Speaker 3 (37:48):
were uh me or tigan.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
I don't know if there's too many people more
competitive than me.
I mean they might, they mightbe competitive.
I remember, I remember yeah,because tigan wanted, tigan
wanted to play davis.
Yeah, that's right and he washe asking me he wanted to play
him, you wanted to play him, butthat's just.
That's just a mindset that welike to enforce, and you know,
(38:10):
and that's just kind of themindset that Tiger has as well.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Jermaine, what, what skill sets?
What lessons have you learnedon the football field that
you've been able to bring intothe game of golf and teach to
your students?
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Great perseverance.
Like I said, those are the twothings.
You're going to hear a lot outof me.
You know, I think for me thoseare the two main things.
I mean there's there's a lot ofthings that are happening on
the golf course.
You know and ups and downs, youknow different flows of the
(38:42):
game, you know having goodstretches of holes, of holes,
and then you know findingyourself making back-to-back
bogeys.
It's like how do you bounce,how do you keep yourself
mentally in that?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
and so you know I I think those are the the two
things that are transferable themost and honestly, in every
sport what advice do you havefor kids, um, that are growing
up and not not just in golf butin any sport that they want to
be, you know they want to do ona professional level.
What advice do you have forthem at, say, the junior high
(39:10):
school level or high schoollevel uh, to accomplish those
goals?
Speaker 1 (39:14):
I mean there's a couple of things I would say
control what you can control.
You know, I think we kind ofget into a we're in an
environment where social mediais very prominent in our lives
and constant comparison toothers.
You know, especially in juniorgolf, like that's one thing that
I've noticed a lot in juniorgolf.
You know there's, there's somekids that might not be as
(39:35):
developed at their age than youknow the kid that's winning all
the top junior tournaments attheir age when they're like,
only 13 years old.
I tell a lot of our kids I'mlike junior golf success doesn't
guarantee success in highschool, it doesn't guarantee
success in college.
Or even, you know, like justbecause you're the top junior
(39:55):
right now doesn't mean, you know, it's going to guarantee
anything in the future.
You know we got a kid atEvergreen, lincoln Hitt.
You know he wasn't the best athis age, you know, two, three
years ago.
But the kid grinds and hecontinues to put the work in and
you're seeing the results fromit.
(40:17):
He didn't care about othersaround him and what they were
scoring.
He's fallen in love with theprocess.
That's one thing we say a lottoo is like you got to fall in
love with the process, becausewithout the process the results
don't feel what they should feellike.
Right, you know, if the processwas easy, I mean then you're
going to get through the resultand you're not going to feel as
(40:39):
what you thought it was.
But results feel good becauseyou know what that process and
how hard that process was, thevalidation through that process,
the affirmation absolutely andyou know, if it was easy, then
any everybody would be doing itright and so and then the next
thing is it's a core quote thatwe always say is how you do one
(41:01):
thing is how you do everything.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
That's the truth.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And that's the reality in everyday life on the
golf course, at home, in school,in your workouts.
How you do one thing is how youdo everything and it's going to
show.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
A couple quick, lighthearted questions for you.
What's your favorite golfcourse that you ever played?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
I got to play Augusta National in November.
I had to play it twice, uh noway it was an unbelievable
experience.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yep, that's everything you would think, and
more my next question was goingto be what golf course is on
your bucket list, but I don'tthink that's applicable after
you play the guys I mean I wouldlike to play cypress.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Um, I played pine Valley one time when I first was
probably like around in 2016.
I wasn't that great at golf soI'm like I shot like a 92 and I
want another crack at it.
I love my favorite golfarchitect is Alistair McKenzie.
I love my favorite golfarchitect is Alistair McKenzie.
(42:03):
So I like to knock off as manyAlistair McKenzie courses as
possible, so Paso Tiempo is oneof them that I would like to get
down to.
I got to play Crystal Downs innorthern Michigan, which was a
phenomenal golf course.
It was so much fun.
I really enjoyed that one.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
It was hard and it was cold, so I had to go back in
a warmer time, jermaine, Ithink our next junior match play
might have to be down at PostaTiempo.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (42:33):
I think that would be great.
Maybe we throw the coaches inthe match.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
I think that's a mandatory at that point.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
What are you eating for dinner?
What's your favorite food?
Well, I'm at Evergreen Tacomaand we have Evergreen Elite
tonight that I'm coaching, soI'll probably be ordering from
Chipotle before our session.
Yes, so that's probably whatI'm eating.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Real quick before we let you go what is your most
memorable time?
What sticks with you in yourprofessional career?
What, what specific instance,what game, what catch, what when
what?
What sticks with you the most?
Speaker 1 (43:13):
um, I mean, I mean probably has to be winning super
bowl.
You know, the first super bowlyou know being, you know, from
the state of washington, goingto the university of was playing
for the Seattle Seahawks andwinning the city's first Super
Bowl.
I mean that's a pretty specialstory for myself, a huge
(43:34):
blessing I mean you don't get tohear a lot of stories like that
and just super blessed andhonored to be able to, you know,
own that story I've heard thisfrom from receivers.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
When you're out on the football field, there's so
much pressure on you, especiallyin a game like the super bowl
what do you do to get thattunnel vision that receivers
talk about to not be taking intoaccount the fans, the pressure
and the three or four guys thatare about to just clean your
clock, the second your handstouch the ball?
Speaker 1 (44:06):
um, you know.
Here's another pete carrollthing is pete did a lot in terms
of training our subconsciouslevel and how he went about that
is repetitive training.
So and saying so every, everytime, every day, every single
day, whether it's practice, agame, you heard championship
(44:28):
opportunity, championshipopportunity.
You know you build these skillsand you know these
conversations that you're having.
You know your mind is and yourconsciousness is always
listening right, it's alwayspaying attention, it's always
recording.
You know you have to be mindfulwith how you talk about certain
(44:51):
things, with how you thinkabout things, and it's honestly
a skill set to train this.
You know your subconsciouslevel because always look at it.
You know your subconscious is,you know what you do when you
don't really have the time, oryou know to think about it right
, it's just happens, right, andthat's whether it's training
(45:12):
your, you know your, yourskillset, or you know developing
your skillset, and so you knowgetting into those big moments I
mean, honestly, the Super Bowljust felt like another game is
because Pete had a training thatway, as if every day was that
game, every regular season,every preseason was that game,
(45:32):
and so I mean when you get outthere on the field, I mean, at
the end of the day the field isgoing to be 100 yards.
You know you're going to playfour quarters and football is
still going to be football.
I've been playing that game mywhole life, and it's something
that I now am trying to retrainwhen it comes to golf.
(45:53):
So it's a whole new journey formyself, because I like to
compete in golf as well, and soit's something that I'm trying
to train, you know, with mycompetitiveness in golf, and so
it's a whole other journey initself.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Jermaine, thank you for your time.
It's much appreciated andyou've had a lot of wise words
and advice that our listenerscan certainly take to heart and
help them in their personal lifeand in their golf game as well.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Yeah, thanks, jermaine.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Thank you guys for having me on.
It's great being with you,jermaine.
Thanks guys.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
It was such a pleasure having Jermaine on the
show, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
It was, it was, he was humble to tell.
And just so much wisdom, as aprofessional athlete, of what we
as an amateur can really taketo heart and apply to our game
and apply to our personal lifeas well.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Well, I would just say that I have already told all
my players from SAU they haveto listen to this podcast
because I've been so fortunateto spend time with Jermaine and
he is just a genuine individualand what he's doing in Seattle
and I mentioned this yesterdaywhen we were recording it's it's
(47:14):
nothing short of exquisite,like his vision.
I know he says you knowperseverance, grit, all this
stuff, and I got to play golfwith him at running Y last year
and it was so much fun becausehe he's one of those guys like
when you play with someonethat's so competitive, they get
mad, he doesn't?
He just literally understandsthat this is part of the process
(47:37):
and, even though maybe I losttoday, like I'm going to grind
and I'm going to come back andbeat you the next time.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
Well, he said that repetitively, that you know he's
the most competitive person heknows.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Well, and that's why I was joking with with Tygen.
I was like I remember thisTygen kid.
I'm like this kid is socompetitive and he's like, no,
I'm, I'm more competitive thanTygen is.
So you know what it it's.
It's so cool though.
So, going back to what they'redoing up there um, you know we
do similar things.
(48:10):
We we have an indoor golfAcademy at golf garage.
We have a global golf Academy,which is different than what
they're doing Um, but you know,they have so, so much to offer.
They have a tour caddy um inJibo which is Bryson
DeChambeau's caddy Um, and Iknow Bryson's been up there and
(48:31):
spent time with the kids.
I mean, that's insane.
You have this multi-majorchampion up there that just
loves giving back to theseplayers, and they don't have one
, but they have two of these,these facilities.
So, you know it, it's reallycool to see this up and coming,
and I didn't know they had thatfacility um about to open when I
(48:54):
started my project.
So, naturally, jermaine reachedout to me and said hey, we're
going to have this tournamentand the tournament's going to be
an academy based and we want toplay against your academy, and
so when they came down torunning.
Y.
It was so much fun to be ableto play head to head match
(49:17):
against another indoor facilityand their guys were great and a
lot of it was when they firststarted.
They weren't necessarily swingcoaches, they were just coaching
the game and in general lifeand all this stuff.
Now they do have some swingcoaches.
Um, they have more of anAcademy field, definitely, but
(49:37):
it's so cool to see and, like inhis words, I wanted to build a
culture and ultimately, before Imet him, that's the whole thing
about golf garage too, so Ifeel like there's a lot of
similarities, but they're doingit right up there.
I'm really excited to know himand to um to be able to be on
this.
Like, have him on this podcastwas so cool, right.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
And that's that culture and that that mindset,
the mental game, is whatdifferentiates the great golfers
from the professional golfers,right.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
Well, it's so funny.
I mean him saying that I playedCyprus and I play, or I want to
play Cyprus.
I played Augusta, I want toplay Cyprus.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
You played.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Augusta.
Twice I played Pine Valley, oh,but I want redemption because I
shot 92.
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
I was going gonna ask him.
I was gonna ask him one, whatcourt, what's your dream, or
what's your favorite courseyou've ever played?
And then I was gonna ask himyou know what?
What course do you want to playthe most that you haven't
played?
And he said, well, I playedAugusta National twice.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
I'm like, okay, well, that no one voids my second
question yeah, it's like wheredo you, where do you go from
there?
There's some good ones, but no,it's pretty unique, um, to have
someone like that that hasliterally won at the highest
level of their craft and rightand and so now they're going
(50:59):
back into another sport and youcan just see the drive is
already there.
That I want to.
I don't know what he wants todo with it, but it's like man,
is he, where's he going to besenior tour?
What's he doing with this?
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
How did you beat him when you played him at?
Speaker 3 (51:15):
Absolutely.
I beat him Good.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Yeah, good.
Speaker 3 (51:18):
Yep, no, it was a lot of fun.
I mean I would, I would justsay it.
It was competitive, but I wouldjust say we were, we were
thinking about the kids duringthat that event, we were
thinking about what we weregoing to do, we were talking a
lot about, we were talking shop,but we were just having a good
time.
I mean, I think that's theunique thing about him too.
As a professional athlete, I'vegotten to play golf with a lot
(51:41):
of professional athletes.
I've coached a lot ofprofessional athletes, just
being director of instruction atprivate clubs.
Um, and man, he is down toearth and he is a giver and um,
yeah, I mean, if you get theopportunity to go to evergreen
golf club, please do.
Um, they're going to.
You know, just open up theirarms to you, yeah, so, um,
(52:03):
they're a little East of Seattleon one and then I think their
second one's evergreen Tacoma,so down South, All right.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
What do we have to look forward to next week?
Speaker 3 (52:14):
Yeah.
So I think in the coming weekswhat's unique about this podcast
is we're looking at supportingsome local talent as well.
So, you know, I think you and Iboth know that we've got maybe
potentially Adam Rutledge, youknow, and a few other guests
from our area, and I think thatwould be really, really fun to
(52:38):
get them on and talk off.
That might be a wild time,didn't he call in last week?
I?
Speaker 2 (52:45):
don't know, adam did yes.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
Yes, he did so so we'll get that maybe a little
bit.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Uh, conversation about juggernaut open excellent
which is at uh centennial golfclub.
This summer.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
So, uh, we'll have to get those, those guys going on
I have a 9 10 t time atcentennial tomorrow hey, good
luck thank you.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
I'll let you know how I did next week.
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