Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by Comcast Business. Whatever
your day brings, they'll help you handle it with reliable
gig speeds and advanced cybersecurity solutions. Every day in business
is a big day. Comcast Business will keep you ready
for what's next. Comcast Business Powering Possibilities.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Just got to get out there and swing and ding it.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, you know, just guess it's gonna go out there
and try to swing it and ding it.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
That's right, Welcome in and swing it and ding it.
And iHeartMedia Podcasts presented by Comcast Business introducing Ultimate Speed
for Business, the fastest Internet plans yet from Comcast Business
Powering Possibilities. Also All Access GT. I have my All
Access gifts from the Oakmont trip on You see I
pointed the wrong side of time. So Ryan Gaino will
(00:54):
join us talk about what's going on in the world
of golf's travel because this is the time of year
we start itching like, oh there's changing, we have to
get on the road. And also the Penn Club on second.
There's no course of course this week, Harry, but we
will talk about the Penn Club on second for sure,
absolutely no doubt about it. But we are joined by
Lauren Golden, Program Coordinator of the LPGA Foundation. Lauren, welcome
(01:17):
to swing It and ding It.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Absolutely, thank you for coming. So talk about let's start
with your golf journey. We love people that work in
the world of golf. I think it's the most fascinating
thing in the world. I am super envious. I would
love to be doing this more often. So when people
actually do it and they get themselves involved in the
world of golf, we'd love to hear about how you
(01:40):
started in the game and got to where you are now.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Absolutely, I started really young, just like a lot of
players that eventually end up working in this space. I
played competitive golf for a very long time. When I
got into college, actually got involved with the NEPOA Invitational.
That's how I know Danielle and Brandon and really that
I liked that side of golf, hosting events, being part
of the tournament aspect piece through college COVID hit. So
(02:07):
my competitive kind of career ended on a dime almost
and I started my LPGA teaching certification.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So I was college.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I went to Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Okay cool.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
So the plan was to transfer out and do the
whole Division one scene, and COVID really didn't allow for
that to happen. So I got my teaching certification and
immediately got into teaching, and I found I just really
liked that space. And then meeting everybody at the LPGA
Professionals Conference last year opened a lot of doors. I
met the LPGA Foundation team. In a few weeks later,
(02:41):
this job opened up and it's been all gas, no
breaks since.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Very cool.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
So learn talking about your current position as program coordinator.
One of the major things is the growth of the
game for girls. You want to talk a little bit
about that and kind of what the foundation does to
kind of push that narrative.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Absolutely, we are a small but mighty team. In twenty fifteen,
they only had roughly five thousand girls registered in the program.
So I work for directly with Girls Golf USA, which
is the junior program underneath the tour with the focus
on just girl friendly programming and girl friendly golf. So essentially,
in twenty twenty three, we hit a million girls and
(03:23):
we've launched this one million more campaign where we're trying
to hit that next million by twenty thirty. Like I said,
small but mighty team, we're trying to do it by
twenty twenty nine, maybe twenty eight because we are all
systems go ahead and we have a lot of new
initiatives coming out, so we're not just in the US.
We have fifty six international sites. We have seven hundred.
(03:45):
We're closing in on the seven hundred mark for local sites.
So the way it works is we have a curriculum
and then we teach all of these instructors around the
world and then they manage their sites on a local basis.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Do you work in coordination with organizations like the First Tea?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Yeah, So a lot of our sites will be co branded.
So for example, First Team Miami works very closely with
Girls Golf Miami. We're all just we're all out doing
the same thing. We just want to see the game grow.
I know there's this great kind of clip with Together X.
They're pretty big. You've probably seen the the jackets that
(04:23):
they have. Everyone watches women's sports, but they put a
post out girls in sports become girls who lead, and
I think that's just what everybody's trying to help grow,
whether it be Girls on the Run, First Team, Girls
Golf USA. Like, we're all we're all working together to
push forward the next generation.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I love it as a dad who's about to have
his fourth daughter. One of them is going to get
into the game of golf, and I don't know, well they.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Better one had better.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
My daughter.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I just want to carry the bag when I'm older
and help them out, right, That's all I want to do.
But lar talk about the professional game and how much
of an impact that's had. I mean, we see it, right,
We talk to people all the time. It seems like
this year, year and a half, two years, there's just
been and I don't know if it's the coverage the
social media, seeing stars like Nelly Korda, where you're like, man,
these girls can play. And you know, Harry's been an
(05:15):
LPGA fan for for long, long before most people, it
feels like it is, and has watched the game and
consumed it because it just is so compelling to see
just how great they are. Talk about how that has
impacted what you guys do, and how that's helped grow
some of the people that are getting into it for
that reason.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Absolutely, I mean, the talent is unbelievable out there right now,
going out and watching those girls. If you go to
the range at an LPGA event. You're you're gonna leave
my You're gonna want to go to the range and
work on your tempo because you've never seen anything like it.
It's truly unbelievable and there's just so many good tell.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Me more about this tempo.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Absolutely the tempo town for sure, and a lot of
those girls. I mean, my first of event was when
Nelly Corda won to Drive On in Bradington last year
and I had the picture with her on eighteen and
she proceeded to win the next four events. So obviously
the talent is there and a lot of people. It's
a lot of eyes that we didn't recently and previous
(06:15):
years have, so our content teams unbelievable. If you go
to the LPGA Tours Instagram, the videos are just amazing
and it's a very small group of really talented people
making them. So it's really cool to see it all
come together and the eyes that they're getting on that
is well deserved because the talent's always been there, the
culture's always been there, and now a lot of people
(06:35):
are starting to realize it's there. So it's this little
hit and gem that's coming to life.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Wait, we got to circle back. I feel like I
heard you say you took a picture with Nelly and
she went on to win four, So are you the factor?
Do we need you to come take a photo with
Brandon before the season starts up?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
There you go, hey, it might be a good luck charm.
That was the ongoing joke, is that if I was
going to make it through my first year at the
company without seeing her win an event. So it's definitely
been a little bit of our inside joke for sure.
And we were actually just up in Boston and a
good friend of mine Angel again. She shot eight under
through twelve and we were watching her all day long.
(07:10):
She ended up shooting sixty four that day. But just
the golf has been unbelievable to watch, and you kind
of just stumble upon these rounds of golf and you
get to see it happen in real time. And I'm
just glad the rest of the world starting to get
to see it because I've had a front row seat
for a long time.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Harry actually got me more interested in watching women's sports. Initially,
I was like, I watched the men. I don't really
have time, and Harry each week would be saying Hey,
my wife and I watch this or that, and he's
pulled me in even more now with you, Lauren, and
it's like you said, everyone's in tune in watching Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I mean there's a lot of talent out there, and
the personalities are great as well. I mean, obviously Lexi's
been in the scene a very long time. Even though
she's retiring, there's just a lot more talent coming up.
And Lexi's done a lot for the sport. So obviously
we have all kudos to her for that, and I
think this next generation's coming up is a lot of
personalities like her that's going to be great for the game.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Well. I imagine some of the challenges, you know, to growing
the game in golf revolve around access and also about
you know, just having enough time in the day to
play around the golf takes you know, it takes a
lot of time, and maybe people don't have that talk
about the proliferation of indoor golf facilities and what that
has done to help grow the game, uh, you know,
(08:30):
at the at the female level.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Absolutely. I mean before I worked with the LPGA, I
actually had a PGA Junior League team and we were
out of an indoor facility here in Raleigh, So it's
just a different, different look. So obviously when you have
an indoor facility, you could go for two hours, you
could go for four hours. It really opens up your ability.
Your parents could drop you off, it's a lot safer
(08:54):
your indoors, you're with your coach. So bringing a lot
of new faces in and having these events almost where
you could have kind of those little wine and wine
and nine nights where everybody comes and they have a
little wine and hang out, it takes a little bit
of the pressure off going to the actual golf course.
So I think we're going to see a big change
in women getting into the golf golf world a little
(09:17):
bit more because there's a lot more ways to get
in without the pressure of go into the range with
ten people watching you, which I totally understand what I
wish more people would get out and do.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It's not as intimidating.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, you mentioned wine and dine.
Talk about the social programs you do, because I I
think it's funny when we talk about something those like
I think about my girls and I think about how
important that would be for them, right, Like, yes, they
love being active and getting into sports and activities, but
they love the social side of things, So talk about
how you marry those two together to bring more of
(09:50):
this program to light.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Absolutely, So girls Golf we have a lot of fun.
So we've introduced the Girls Golf National Championships, so we're
getting into the more competitive spaces well, but the base
of Girls Golf is really just fun programming. If you've
I know, Danielle follows me on Instagram, she sees we're
always dressed up. We're doing different. We have inflatable hippos
on the driving range and we're dressed up like princesses
(10:15):
or Winnie the Pooh or you name it. So it's
we do a lot of fun programming where it's more
so invited. I know, I've been to a lot of
events where I know for your future here we've had
the dads in TWU two's and the girls get to
have fun with their dads and play out on the
golf course and have them dressed up like you name it.
But a lot of it too is just creating spaces
(10:38):
for these girls to feel comfortable going to the golf course,
finding friends at the golf course, and then asking their parents, Hey,
I want to go to the golf course, So whether
that be a movie night, a pizza knight, a painting night,
and then eventually they get into that more competitive golf
space because they want to go and play with their friends.
So kind of a little reverse psychology on them. They
think that they aren't playing golf and then eventually they
(11:00):
fall in love with it. So definitely a lot to
look forward to for you. So I hope you have
a two two or something ready for Dad's day.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
We'll get them a green one, a swing ending, a
green two two. That would be great. But everything she's
talking about sounds like his daughter's in dance already. She's
quite the personality. She's the cutest thing you'll ever see.
So sounds like we have to connect after this and
make sure that we get her all set up. But
lovely learn for anybody that might be a little bit
(11:29):
older out of that two two phase. Talk about that
E leader program that you guys also have.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Absolutely, like I said, girls who are in sports become
girls who lead, so essentially, when the girls reached that
twelve thirteen age, they become assistant coaches in our program.
So when you join the program, you learn those basics
of golf and then eventually you help us with all
of our programming. The girls will do registration, they'll come
up with the themes, they'll pick the snacks, they'll make
(11:55):
the bags they come in and they really take this
kind of coach role for us, and we see them
grow up through the program and seeing those girls take
that leadership role at such a young age. And we
also have leadership academies for teenage girls where they get
formal leader leadership training at very young ages, and we
see them just really grow into these fine young women.
(12:18):
And when I started in my role, you hear all
these girls' names and you really don't. You're like, how
do you remember all these names? We have a million
girls in the program. Now, being on this side of it,
I could name one hundred two hundred girls that I'm like, oh, yeah,
she was here and she was there, and they're all
doing amazing things. They have podcasts, they have initiatives, they've
(12:38):
got nonprofits, they've got charities. These girls in our teen
program are really special and I do accredited a lot
to the kind of leadership and the confidence that comes
from playing golf. I'm always being able to take that
accountability and push it forward. So it's been great to
watch them all grow, and that's one of my favorite
programs that we do have.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Is there any way to quantify the effect on growing
the game like events like Drive Chip and Pot have
had the women's augusta amateur tournament that's televised, and even
nota Bagay's Junior Championship that he has every year that
eventually gets on television.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Absolutely. I mean, we just hit a million girls, So
seeing the growth from having only five thousand girls to
a million girls, I think that alone will tell you
that's a big number. I mean a million girls is
a lot, and I know this year alone, we've were
already well over six figures of girl girls impacted. So
every time you see an event like that on TV,
(13:42):
every time you see Nellie corda host to hold the
trophy up, or you see us make that ESPN Sports
Center Top ten reel, it's it's amazing what it could
do for these girls coming and then they have these
moments where they're looking for that programming next, and then
we see the spikes in our programming at the local level.
(14:02):
So everything that happens on the big stage eventually trickles
down to these local clubs and just having coaches that
are ready and available. All of our training for our
PSITE directors is free, and they all are very well
and capable of applying for grants that then come from
the HQ level. So we want to support those local
(14:23):
coaches to make sure that when that little girl sees
something on TV that just sparks that fire in her,
that there's going to be someone close by ready to
take the torch and run with it. So I think
all of the events that are going on are great
in their own way. I love watching the drive, chip
and putt. Those kids are unbelievable. I'm ready to recruit
(14:44):
them for my team one day. So I think all
of those are just great for the game and great
for moving the needle for junior golf.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So you played, and you played competitively, so working in
the game of golf, do you play more or less? Now?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I can't tell you the last time I've picked up
a club.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I did, Scottlin, you didn't hit one shot. I didn't.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So we actually we just got back from Saint Andrews.
I was sending Danielle pictures. I think I'm the only
person in the world with a picture of a still
flag on eighteen at Saint Andrews.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
It was not.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Even thinking of moving.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
There was no wind, not a breath of air. Harry
was nowhere inside.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
That's unbelievable. But yeah, we my boss and I are
actually playing in the LPGA Pro Pro in December, so
I think I have to dust the clubs off pretty
soon and get ready.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
That's the problem. That's what I hear all the time.
The more people that work in in the golf space,
the less they get to play.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Absolutely, Yeah golf never heard of it, right.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, how can people get more involved and get more
information on you know, on their on their own local
programs that may be available.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
So if you go on girlsgolf dot org, there's a
lovely little tab that says fine a site. When you
type in your address, it's going to show you all
the sites closest to you, as well as all of
the information for the coach that's running that site. So
the nice thing about it is it's pretty much hands
off from the HQ level. All of our independent site directors,
they run their business. This is how they make a livelihood,
(16:16):
so they mean, well, they're great coaches and I have
a personal relationship with so many of them, so absolutely
by all means. And then of course if you want
further information or you want to chat further, all of
our information for my team is also on the website,
so sending that email. We're always ready to talk about
fly the flag for Girls Golf, as we say, and
(16:38):
really have more people get involved and hear about what
we do.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
And of course you guys can follow Lauren herself at
Lauren Golden Golf and you can follow Girls Golf on
Instagram as well at Girls Golf. Lauren. You know that
we're a Philly show. Three of us have Philly roots.
It's been a while since you've done it or since
you've used your clubs. But we need to ask your
favorite Philadelphia or Pennsylvania. Uh, if you need to extend
(17:04):
outside of the Tri state area favorite course.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Well, I mean, I was going to say scrant Country
Club just because Aaron Geo is my guy, but if
we're talking about Philly, the Philly Cricket Club, you can't
beat it.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
We love that. Two great courses. We'll let you have
them both one A one B one A one be awesome.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
One more question for you, who should who should we
have on next as our next guest.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
I mean I think Nelly maybe.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Who's in your contact list?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
I was going to say Angel might be the funniest
person and also the next big thing on the LPGA tour.
So I think Angel Yin is the play.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Can you hook that up for us?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
I could do my best.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
All right, we'll see that we need more women on
the show.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
That's what I'm saying forward here.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Thank you, Laaren, appreciate you coming on, love seeing the
work that you're doing. I just went on myself to
try to look into it and continued success. And here's
to another million.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
A million more here we come.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Thank you, guys, Thank you. All right, let's take a
quick break and we'll be right back with Ryan Gaino.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
This episode is brought to you by Comcast Business. Whatever
your day brings, they'll help you handle it with reliable
gig speeds and advanced cybersecurity solutions. Every day in business
is a big day. Comcast Business will keep you ready
for what's next. Comcast Business Powering Possibility.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Welcome back to Swing It and Dig It. Great to
talk to Lauren Golden about growing the game of golf
for the young ladies of the world. Very cool. Thanks
for setting that up, Danielle.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Good story, Yeah, good stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Yeah, no doubt. We welcome back Angel Yeah, yeah, we
gotta lock that upa we're doing twin Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
With this plan.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
No, let's see that.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Let's see the tex history.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
We can do that.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
On I got JW. Pill's performance.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Well, this was a great gift. When we went up
to Oakmont for a fantastic couple of days in h
in Pittsburgh with Ryan Gayano and All Access GT. That
was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Man, Yeah, it was a blast.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
I'll say I was super shocked at how much I
loved Longview, which was day.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Two of the event.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It was incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah, goodness was it. It was absolutely stunning.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
No two holes looked the same at all, Like it
just was Yeah, no, that's not a walking course.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
And when the Greens, the Greens were rolling at a
pretty slow fourteen and a half.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Wow, when when the Greens a break from Oakmont?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Very crazy.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Well, let's talk about the world of gob travel. This
is the time of year where we are in the
Philadelphia area where you start to think, oh man, the
club I mean, we've been so lucky with the weather,
but we know, we know that that the end is near.
And it's funny because most of us are idiots and
we planned last minute. But now is the time to
start thinking long term too, for other plans throughout the year.
So talk about what's going on in the golf travel
(20:12):
world these days.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I mean, the usual suspects are the usual suspects.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
People want to go to Scotland and Ireland to play golf,
but we're finding a pretty good spike with English golf.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I mean, Moose, you and I've talked about it before.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I know you're a big fan.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Yeah, it can't it can't be better. I just sent
I just sent a very very dear friend, first year
Philadelphia board member over to to play Sunningdale and swim
Ley Forest and all that stuff kind of just south
of London. And he's done it before, and he even
came back and just said, every time I go, it
gets better and better and better. But English golf is
(20:50):
a pretty good spike. Their weather usually lasts a little
bit longer obviously than Scotland and Ireland.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
But Spain and Portugal, I don't know if we've talked
about it.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
Before it started, it used to be like couples trips
when when when couples wanted to go do a golf
trip and do more than just golf and hang out
in the pub.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
But now those.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Spain and Port school has become a pretty consistent I'm
talking like weekly occurrence where people are booking trips over there.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
What are some of the highlighted courses over there.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
I mean the normal the normal runs are like the
Valderramas and that of the world.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
And candidly, they don't have a ton of let's say,
big name golf courses. They're all just really good. But
it's the stuff outside of golf that people are loving.
It's the touristy stuff, the food, beverage, seen the vineyards
like that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Has gotten pretty popular and.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
We're doing seemingly we're doing just an absolute boatload of
quotes and deals and things going out for Australia.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Uh that's on my list.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, I haven't been there, and it's.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
I'm chasing my own top one hundred list and I've
taken Australia, New Zealand and most of Asia Pacific off
of it because with kids at you know, my age.
I'm not going to get there until they're a little
bit older. But man, it haunts me every time I
see Royal Melbourne on TV or I hear about our
clients who are coming back from it saying it's the
greatest golf trip they've ever done. It haunts me. But
(22:23):
I'll get there eventually. So that that's kind of where
we're at. You know, people are looking at you know.
The hard part is right now you can't even really book.
You know, somebody wanted to go play Port Russian County
down or go to do the Old Course or Dornick
or Turnbury, whatever, it doesn't matter. You're not doing it
next year anyhow, unless you really want to go in
the off season. So most of what we're doing for
(22:44):
the big dogs is for twenty twenty six already.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Wow. So am I to take it that you prefer
Heathland Golf to Links?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
No?
Speaker 6 (22:54):
I think I would prefer Links. But I'm telling you
the Heathland Golf south of London, and it's I believe
the most underrated golf course on planet Earth is Sunningdale Old.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It's perfect, It's not there's no chance. In my mind.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
I'm pretty opinionated it's a top ten golf course on Earth.
I mean, it's just absolutely spectacular. And their new course,
which is kind of funny. It's like the old course, right,
the old course of Scotland and the new course at
St Andrews, you know, eighteen ninety two, but the old
and new at Sunningdale are as good as it gets.
(23:36):
Swinley Forest is kind of like a pine valley Junior
Walton Heath, Sat George's Hill. You can hop over and
play Royal St George's, Royal sink Port's. It's spectacular and
there's ten courses that you've never heard of that are
worth playing. There's a place called the Berkshire Club. It
looks like Berkshire but they call it the Berkshire. Maybe
(23:58):
the best manacured golf course I've ever played outside of America.
Absolutely stunned. So it's a great trip. But I do
prefer the wind blowing on the coast and playing that
links golf.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
So event golf. Right, So you have a lot of
stuff coming up, right, We're hearing about the prices for
the Ryder Cup.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
We talked about the story last week about the waste
management and the changes. We know you have a lot
of clients that go to that. You have the Ryder
Cup in Ireland. How much of that is a factor
for what you guys are doing right now compared to
people just going to play golf as opposed to people
going for a reason to see golf and also play golf.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
I mean, yeah, most of what we're doing is obviously
people playing golf trips or people go to events, but
there are those random kind of events that dictate playing golf.
I don't think I've ever said the story out here,
but the reason I started playing golf was because I
went to the Ryder Cup at Glenn Eagles and Skytland
and the clients wanted to play golf. I went and
(25:04):
played Panier, which most of you probably don't know of.
Ben Hogan says the best two shot part four in
all of Scotland is on that golf course. And then
the next day I played uh Carnoustie, and the day
after that I played Kingsbarnes And when I came home,
I said, holy crap, I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Now an addict of playing golf, especially.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
So you know, the Ryder Cups are big, Like when
the Ryder Cups at Beth Page very difficult to play golf.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Around that product.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
But when people are going to a dare in Ireland,
you know, we already have kind of packages built out
where they can go and play a lot of those
courses in the Southwest, so they can enjoy the Ryder
Cup there and then go and hop around and play
others and stay at other places. So there are those
rare events where you can kind of do both. Phoenix
(25:55):
Open is a great example. Most of us are freezing
when we go to Phoenix for the Phoenix Open and
we want to get out and play golf for the
first time in you know, two months, So we do
a lot of tea times, you know, throughout Scottsdale and
Phoenix area during that event as well.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
Talk about some of the packages you have right now.
Anybody that's listening and they're thinking, okay, like Moose said,
you guys are having some you know, colder months rolling
in soon, talk about maybe some packages that would entice
them these guys to book.
Speaker 6 (26:24):
Aga mean, if I'm listening to this and I'm going
to be cold and not playing golf outside of a
simulator in the next couple of months. The weekend package
for the Phoenix open is pretty spectacular, and in fact,
it's kind of all we have left to be honest,
there's that's all gone. Yeah, So basically it's you know,
(26:44):
we have the Princess Hotel right there on the property
at the TPC, the private skybox and the food and
beverage and the tea times attached, and we can customize
kind of what where you play and how often you
want to play. But there are so many good courses
out there that you can kind of build that package
you want. But the base of it is, you know,
come to the TPC or come to the Princess Sorry
(27:06):
on Friday, come enjoy Saturday.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Sunday.
Speaker 6 (27:09):
The Phoenix opened in a private skybox on sixteen. If
you're lucky, you'll be throwing beers on the whole because
you saw a hole in one. I will tell you
it's one of the coolest things I've ever done in
any sporting event ever. Like, look down at your beer
and say, at thirty in the morning, I probably souldn't
have a beer in my head already, but there's a
hole in one and you.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Just shot off there.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Oh my god.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
The most impressive part is that they'll have the entire
hole cleaned in like four minutes, right, and these elves
come out of nowhere with these they have their special.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Like waste management, guy, waste.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Management, beer waste management.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Right, it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Have you guys that was like, No, I was good.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
I was gonna say it sounds like, you know, just
like the guy at the golf course. It's just clearing
the uh you know, the chipping facility.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
With that literally come out with you know, they're all
the type things that they're like.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Uricans and cups instead.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Right, Yeah, have you we talked about it, right, there
were some issues last time. Have you guys received any
communications about changes or things that they're implementing this year
for better fan experience?
Speaker 6 (28:15):
Yeah, I mean the big change, and candidly, I think
it was it was very needed. And I want to
go out there for the party. I mean, you go
out there for the atmosphere. And I hate saying this,
but golf is kind of secondary. The party is what
is kind of the real rub. And even in Augusta,
it's the same way, like when you go onto it
to watch the Masters, the golf course is the star.
(28:37):
The golf is secondary. You know at Phoenix it's the
party that's the star in the secondary. But what they
had in the past years is they had an any
day general admission ticket and they sold normal you know,
like normal tickets, but it.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Says any day.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
And if you remember last year, out of fifteen years
of being there was the worst weather.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It was terrible.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
It was freezing cold and rainy and money and gross.
There was one nice day and that was what the
forecast called for. So anybody who had an any day
ticket showed up that one day, so they were.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
I feel like that was the problem.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
Yeah, So usually when you have beautiful days every day
there's any day, tickets get spread out relatively equally.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Well, they weren't that year, so you got overcrowding.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
You had mud, so people couldn't walk in the normal
ways that they did in the past, so everybody was
on like the cart paths, and there was nothing to
do to stay warm except what a lot of people
chose to do and should break your face off to
try to stay warm.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
And obviously we saw a lot of the results of
what that looked like.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
So that will be the biggest change that they're limiting
the any day general admission tickets they're not including general
mission tickets with Skybox purchases like they had in the past,
so they're trying to I think kind of pulled back
a little bit on some of the attendance issues.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Gotcha. Well, as you're listening to this, make sure you
head to the link in our Instagram bio for a
portal for our listeners to check out. As you could hear,
these guys are the experts. They think of things that
most people do not think of. So if you're planning ahead,
check it out and see see what can be done.
I've experienced it firsthand, and I can attest it is
a a special way to experience some of this stuff
(30:18):
for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, we have a question.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
I have a question for you. Yeah, I'm gonna put
you on blast. What did you shoot at Oakmont?
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I think I think I shot a I know I was.
I was at forty four in my first nine holes.
I think I went ninety six. All right, yeah, yeah,
but I mean, you know, it's one of those things
where like you're taking pictures. Well, first of all, we
had every season that we've literally had a driving forty
(30:46):
four degree range to start, and then it was like,
you know, seventy and sunny at one point and then
back to forth. It was wild. But I mean what
an incredible I mean, it's like a time capsule.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And I'm you know, when we walked in, you said,
you're like, walk around, check it out. It's like a
museum in there, and there the people couldn't have been nicer.
And just to just to kind of feel like a
member for the day, it just was an awesome experience.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
I will tell you Oakbank does a brilliant job.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
Whether you're doing an event like that or whether you're
there playing in the squad or whatever, that club has
something special to it where you can come in as
a guest and feel completely comfortable at all times. So
I'm glad you got to experience that.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It's hosted by Danielle's former roommate.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah, Spencer Spence. Spencer's the best. Just don't let him
hear that I said that.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Did he play the guitar for you guys?
Speaker 1 (31:38):
No?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Good lord.
Speaker 6 (31:39):
If I see the guitar or if I hear Tennessee
Whiskey being played one more time, he.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Doesn't very very good. It's funny.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
We I have some funny videos that we should probably
put out there at some point of him walking down
the streets of Ireland just screaming, singing Tennessee whiskey. But
Spencer's in town here next week because we are defending
lean that side. We're defending the Pro Member championship that
(32:07):
we won last year at Cricket, So Spencer better have
his game ready to carry like you did last year.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
He actually just played in a charity event and I
got a home one this past weekend.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
No, I got a bunch of texts about it. I'm like,
imagine that.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Really save some of that for Cricket Club.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well, I got to give a plug to your colleague
Dan Dillon, who did a really nice job on our
Scottsdale trip that my wife and I have coming up
here in a couple of weeks in December. But let's
just say I wanted to schedule ahead. Twenty twenty seven,
the US Open is going to Pebble Beach, and is
(32:47):
there a type of trip that could be constructed where
you get maybe a day or two on the grounds
for the event, and then you go and play some
of the fabulous golf in and around that Monterey area.
Is that like something you could put together?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Yes, is the short answer.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
The long answer is think about the club or the
golf around that money peninsula area. They're not exactly the
most They're not Unie's, so you know, you're not getting Cyprus.
I have a few friends at Monterey. I don't even
know if I'd asked them to be honest to like
(33:25):
to post friends.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
What about in San Francisco, like a couple of those
clubs over there.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
I mean like, yeah, well, so you're not playing San
Francis golf. You're not playing Olympic you know during.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
The Upanish day right and Spyglass possibly, or it would
be hard that weekend now that.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
During the week that they have the open open there.
So the hard part is is that the private club
golf thing is not kind of monetizable, right. We can't
I can't build a package that has a private club
in it that we profit from you. That would break
the rules of whoever the member the host is. You know,
(34:03):
even when we went to Oakmont with Spencer, you know,
we submit a budget so they know that we're not
making any money for that. That is just purely a
networking function of inviting great friends and great clients.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
To come out and have fun, gotcha.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
So there are a lot of things we can do
and we can build out packages, but you're not going
to be getting the Cypress as the Monterey is San
Francisco Golf Olympic.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
But there's other really good golf courses there.
Speaker 6 (34:27):
You know, play TPC Harding, you can play Pasa Tampo.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I don't think it's private anymore, you know.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
So there are a bunch of other really good golf
courses that we could plug in with the US Open,
so you could do a day or two at the
Open Champion or the US Open and then go play
some golf. But yeah, sadly, I don't have the access
to be able to build a Cypress package for.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Which, by the way, you have to do at some point.
Speaker 6 (34:54):
It is a spectacular place, but not not something that
we can do through the business.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Sadly.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
I just got the email about my approval for my
iHeart client trips again this year because I went out
in July and yeah, it was incredible, But I need
to get on some of those other courses next year
when I go out there.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
For sure, this is an embarrassing thing for a guy
who owns a golf travel business.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I've never played Pebble Beach. Wowow, yeah, I know it's
really it's kind.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Of so sadly is that at the top of the
list right now have to check off for you or what?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
No?
Speaker 6 (35:26):
No, and not not being disrespectful to Pebble by any meanings.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
We sent a lot of clients out there, and I
know how good it is.
Speaker 6 (35:32):
But I've been out there twice and it's because of
Cyprus that I've gone out. And I know that sounds terrible,
but like I literally flew out, played Cypress, played Monterey
in the afternoon and read eyed home both times.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Wow wow.
Speaker 5 (35:46):
Kind a short flight out there.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Either, no pain. But when you when you have a
you know, little kids at home, it makes sense the
logistics become more important.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
So no, I'll go out and do it.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
But the one that I'm missing, uh, and it's the
only one I don't want to say I care about.
But because I don't, I've never asked for help for
a tea time like that.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
That's just not something that I'll do.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
But there's a place down in Georgia that I have
yet to play. I had one invite and I had
to say no to it because I was in Scotland.
About to play the old course when the call came in.
But when that happens, I'll start worrying about knocking the
others office.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I met a gentleman on our oak My trip which
just happened to have a brother that's a member there
that I immediately got a little closer with him as
he was telling me stories about Hilton Head and other places.
And yeah, he's was paying attention, but I wasn't fully
band attention. Then he said that, I'm like, so tell
me more about this. Yeah, he's a swing.
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Bridge friends with some of our you know, a couple
of our Pine Valley buddies know him well. So I've
been able to actually go and play with with Furman
a few times. And uh again, I've never asked, I
never will, but the call will come at some point.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
So we know there's something coming for you guys. I
know you can't really talk about it, but the work
that you're doing is is being recognized on a on
a large scale, it seems these days.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Yeah, I mean we've you know, we've made a pretty
good splash. You know, we're sitting here across the hall
from construction of our new office where we're like doubling
our space. Wow, you know, we went from a basically
two to three person shop to forty people. You know,
(37:32):
we went from a million and a half in revenue
to twenty five million in revenue over the last couple
of years. And it feels good to be recognized in
the space, not just because of growth and like, you know,
how much revenue you're creating, but doing it the right
way with the right people.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
So we'll have an announcement coming up towards the end
of the month where we can formally kind of say
what we're hinting at. But it does feel good the team.
I mean, look, everybody here works their butts off. So
not only do they work hard and they have a
huge knowledge base, but we really really give.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Curfwards on here.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Yeah, we can it out said, Okay.
Speaker 6 (38:16):
I just really give a ship is that. We actually
love this. So when somebody is planning their experience wherever
it is or whether it's an event or golf trips,
we love it and it's really cool to see that
being recognized because we are doing it a.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Bit different, we do approach it differently. So yeah, we're
very excited.
Speaker 6 (38:39):
We're very proud of what we're building and to be
blunt too, it's just the tip of the iceberg, a
big three year run of growth coming up.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
We will we will have you back on to to
be able to talk about it.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
But yeah, Terry and I at least so we can.
Maybe if you keep.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Giving me the shirts, I'll wear them. You know that works.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
You know what's funny, Daniel, We has got some of
the girls. Just got an order of some all access
swag that came in. I will find out if there's
an extra, and if.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
So, give it to Spencer to bring back for me.
Speaker 6 (39:10):
Yes, I will literally see him. He's uh, he'll be
here on Sunday. So I think we have an extra.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
All right, Harry, what size are you? I'm gonna make
sure that Moos isn't the only one getting some cool swag.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Well, is it sized like under armor? It's an extra large?
If not, it's large.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Yeah, it's usually large large.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
I got one for you, beautiful.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
You'll have you'll have to swing by the office or
we'll we'll figure out a way to get.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
It over to you.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
Stop by the office. Put some stories. Let's see, let's
see the what the new twenty.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Five million dollar company? You could afford shipping, but whatever,
it's fine.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
All right.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
Well, thank you Ryan Gaino for coming on. All make
sure you head to our Instagram page. In our bio
there's a link for our listeners to uh to take
a look the best golf travel business there is. So
make sure you do it the right way and we'll
talk soon. Man, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Thank you guys, got it all right.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Let's just keep rolling right into some of the stories
so Mike Powers doesn't have to worry about doing a
second break. See Ryan, Yes, thanks buddy, appreciate it. How
about John Clark posted yesterday? How about how about this
foursome that it looks the internet sleusor telling me it's Marion,
but it was Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Obama and Jeffrey Lourie.
(40:29):
Where was that it looks like it was? People are
saying it looked like Mary and they didn't merit it
out because they wanted it to be very private. It's
funny because they say Jalen is not a big golfer.
But I guess when you get that invite, you gotta
you gotta go. It just shows you the power of
Philly golf. Danielle. Your guy Nico, Oh yeah, gets the
(40:51):
wind in the Zozo Final Final Final, round sixty seven,
one shot victory, birdie, sixteen and eighteen. He last won
the can Open, I believe in last year. That was
his first win. Great story with him, but some other
great stories. Right when you see JT getting a T two,
Ricky Fowler in the fourth place, kiddy, I'm Eric Cole.
(41:14):
We talked about a T six, And how about Seamus
Powers and Harry Hall. They're like they're in the top ten,
top fifteen, top twenty. It seems like the entire fall
playing really good golf. But congrats to Tanika.
Speaker 5 (41:26):
Very cool. I got to tell you back when he
did win last year, I texted as fiance and I
was like, hey, like Brad's on air. I need to
know some stuff that you know, he can have to
talk about Nico because you know, Nico's had status for
a while, but you know it's not like he, you know,
was top of the leaderboard each week. He was kind
of far down there. So I texted her and she's like, actually,
(41:49):
what we do every single week is it's tradition. We
find a place and try a cheeseburger in every single
city that we're in, So that's like their thing. They
go and they try a cheeseburger every single week. But yeah,
I went with his performances week. Did you guys see
first round he was first in putting with four point
three two strokes gained above the entire field. Wow, first
(42:13):
round insane. Second round four point three to two strokes
gained with his iron play and overall two point twenty
five with his approach shot. So that was the strongest
out of the week. But because I was trying to
like look at it and break it down, like I
was like, wow, hold on this first round, like he
just hot star that Potter was working just incredible for him.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Oh yeah, yeah. On the back nine, he hit both
those par threes, he hit his T shirt to twelve
feet and made birdies on both of them, and then
he bogies the par five. He missed the fair way
right into the rough and then put his layup into
the rough on the left side, which was a huge mistake.
And he survived that with a birdie at sixteen and
then a birdie at eighteen. Because he hit the green
(42:55):
in two and Grazerman did not. It took him three
to get there and he had to run almost a
thirty foot putt up the hill and came close to
making it to force a playoff, but came up one shot. Sure,
And you talk about JT. J T made birdie at eighteen.
He had made a birdie since the sixth hole. It
was par city all the way. And he only made
one bogie all week and that was day one. So
(43:17):
he had a really great week, just didn't make enough birdies.
And you talk about Fouler foul shot sixty four on
that final day to get solo fourth. They were really good.
I really enjoyed watching it.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
I knew the.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Crazy. Yeah, it's got that weird. It almost looks like Prince.
Remember when Prince the Rock and Roller became a symbol,
remember his name. That's what it looks like to me.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
You're right, yeah, it looked like Prince.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
I just thought it was like a spaceship for like
a laptop.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
What kind of head covered you got for that?
Speaker 5 (43:48):
On my iPad?
Speaker 1 (43:49):
It's like an oven, mit, you got to put over
that damn thing. But yeah, it was great to see
him play well, you know, I mean, it's just more fun.
You know when when guys like Ricky Fowler and JT.
Branded guys are up there on the leader board and
making runs.
Speaker 5 (44:03):
So it was you guys watching this live or no
a dB.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (44:08):
I woke up once and turned it on. I was like, okay,
I thought JT might be making a run. Fall back asleep,
And the next day I was like, okay.
Speaker 3 (44:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's tough when it's you know, when it's
there right.
Speaker 5 (44:19):
Great, it doesn't feel right either, you know what I mean.
It's not the time I watched golf and.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
I tell you this Max Grazerman kid, that's his third
runner up finish. Now this season he finished runner up.
You remember the three M and the Windom. He had
chances to win both of those and you know, ran
into some uh hit it out of bounds on that
par I think it was fourteen at the Windom after
he had just made a birdie from the fairway and
(44:43):
that's what blew it there. But he's, you know, three
runner up finishes, so he's gonna knock one down here
pretty soon.
Speaker 5 (44:48):
And he just got his card. I believe this past
year because I remember like looking at the grads and
I looked at it and I go wow. I was like,
be like Max got his PGA Tour card.
Speaker 6 (44:56):
Like.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
He's a really good cutter too.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Yeah, yeah, that kind of helps, right, yep, it does.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
He's been a top ten butter over the last decade
and then you know, in recent years, I feel like,
you know, Potter and Driver both been off at the
same time. He has that little mini driver too. Do
you see that?
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Yeah? I saw that.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
Yeah, thirteen points. I can't quote me on it, but
thirteen point yeah, thirteen point five degree mini driver dialed
down to like twelve point some odd degrees. But a
little mini driver, I mean he's a mini guy.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Yeah, I got to look into one of those. I
got to look into one of them.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
You know what, you know what your mini driver is
three wood and five wood. I'm telling you that's all
you need.
Speaker 5 (45:35):
Sure you get more comfortable hitting my woods. I used
to hate it and just be like, let me just
hit my fi iron.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
This past week, Brannan's like, no, I'm like all right,
I'm working on it.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
So no, no tour event this weekend. No, Yeah, we're
back next week with the Worldwide Technology Championship in Mexico.
Not a little quiet. I guess it's after you play
in Japan. You can't come back and you know, play
somewhere else. I'd probably be rough for the guys. That
was a great field. It's it's a fantastic tournament that
I feel like not many people actually watch in person,
(46:05):
which because of the time change.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Yeah, but you know, it's it's.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Great to be I mean with Hideki, you know, I'm
sure it's a huge event.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah. All the favorites kind of floundered though, I mean
it was a no cut event or you know, you know,
they would have missed the cut. Most of those guys
more Cow included the defending champ shawfle A didn't you know,
got off to a slow start, probably would have missed
a cut and Hideki like you mentioned, But the Asian
crowd is so respectful. It almost felt like you were
(46:34):
watching the tournament during the COVID year because it was
so quiet, like they only clap and they clapped, you know,
they don't go nuts, you know, like when somebody makes
an eagle or a birdie like the whole right. Yeah,
there's none of that, right.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Not like that Yankees fan that pulled the ball out
of somebody's glo. Yeah, pictures with the guy, Yeah, I
mean that's the face on that guy.
Speaker 5 (46:58):
You imagine Kevin the Gandhi to it out like you
imagine if that happens in Philly. We are rights clabbing
his glove and the other guy like grab. I'm like,
I was blown away.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
It was.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
It was one of the wildest things I've always wild
really was.
Speaker 5 (47:17):
Like I said, another reason to hate New York fans, all.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
New York fans, right, not just Yankees.
Speaker 5 (47:22):
Fans, New York including he is.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
He is.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
Well, we don't have a course, of course, to see,
but that will not stop us from talking about the
Penn Club. On second, we're still in the works of
doing the live event out there to get you guys
out there with us to check it out. But Harry
great spot, Uh, you probably have some some plans to
work on the game there, for sure.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
I do. And I think it wasn't our pal Sean
Brace out there doing some djus. Is that? Is that
what I saw on something?
Speaker 3 (47:51):
You never know?
Speaker 1 (47:53):
Yeah, he's all over the place and Kancha Hocken on
a Friday night. He's big.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Really, he's falls areas.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
I know he's over a daisy too doing stuff. But yeah, yeah,
I got plans in fact, I sent an email to
to Coop with my outline for the winter. I'm going
I'm getting together with them for five five sessions between
middle of December and middle of March. Love that and
we're gonna we're gonna figure out that what that's all about.
But what I'm going to be doing at the Penn
(48:22):
Club is getting the weight to the front side. I'm
starting to lift the front heel in the backswing and
then like allah, Jack Nicholas and Tom Watson go back
and look at some of their golf swings, they'd really
get up on their toe. I don't really want to
do that. I just want sort of a subtle But
that's going to be worked on for months in during
(48:43):
the winter at the Penn Club. Visit them at PC
two Conchi dot com and they got all kinds of
different options for you to join in different you know, sessions,
you know how many sessions you get per month and
so forth. So check them out and that's where I'll
be working.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
Out love it, Stay tuned. We want to try to
link it around a golf event obviously, yeah, but I
don't know, maybe it's maybe we do something when when
the match is going on that'd be a fun one
because it's like a Tuesday night or something. Sure, yeah,
stay tuned. We'll have some giveaways out there.
Speaker 5 (49:14):
I've watched Party or something.
Speaker 1 (49:15):
Or maybe the TGL stuff that starts in January on
Monday or Tuesday nights. You know there we go.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
Yeah, absolutely, that'd be fun. There were some changes, Well,
I'll propose changes, Danielle. Does that play into your tea
at all? Or yeah?
Speaker 5 (49:28):
But let's let's dive into that and start talking about
that first, because you know, other than t that's like
a full discussion, like seems.
Speaker 3 (49:35):
Like shrink the game, shrink the tour, right, I'm like, what.
Speaker 5 (49:38):
Is reducing memberships? Shrinking fields? And like it seems like,
I mean, I could spend forever on X looking at
everybody's comments, but it's like players are divided on the
changes something as important progress and others thinking like so
sad and really it's probably you know, the guys who
have security and the guys who are like flirting with
where are they fall in that?
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Oh? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (49:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (50:00):
But yeah, I mean when players in the starting field
of an open tournament played on one course from one
fifty six to one forty four with a reduction of
one twenty or one thirty two is required by circumstances
such as daylight. UH change exempt status from one twenty
five to top one.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
Hundred hundred X cup.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
That's a big cut.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
It is big.
Speaker 5 (50:19):
Very Tour cards reduced YEP from thirty to twenty. That's ten.
Speaker 3 (50:23):
That's huge.
Speaker 5 (50:24):
That's a lot. And that's you know, talking about like
growing the game and everything.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
They were talking about the Monday Q stuff eliminating that.
I didn't see that listed here, but they did say
about qualifying that was previous.
Speaker 5 (50:34):
And Ryan French, our guy at Monday Q, he published
a full email which is what the PGA Tour players
were email. The PGA Tour email the players a deck
of proposed changes and that'll be voted on by the
PGA Tour policy. I think this tomorrow, Yeah, this Thursday,
I believe, and it will take effect in twenty twenty
six if approved. But one of the things that I
(50:56):
saw was like pace of play, Like I obviously nobody
wants to be stuck behind, you know, small players. But
I was just looking on X forever and it was
I never thought I'd be in agreeance of you know,
I think i'd say like, yeah, we do need pace
of play in effect, and it shouldn't take forever. And
somebody's like yeah, but sometimes if you have like you know,
that hard shot, and it takes out the creativity if
(51:18):
you're trying to like rush through it. But I'm like,
maybe there should be like Caviat, like if you're in
the lava Rock, you're sitting.
Speaker 3 (51:24):
In the middle of a fair way, right like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (51:27):
Then you know what I mean, like, let's go pick
it out.
Speaker 1 (51:29):
You know behind Aaron Raye that's yeah.
Speaker 5 (51:34):
But the bulk of the reaction, you know, I feel
like it's like people are like, well why and they
don't want this to happen. But I guess in closing
people are kind of saying like they're change needed to happen.
You have all of these huge like Wells Fargo and
all these other sponsors saying like, our ratings are down.
(51:54):
What is it? Because at the end of the day,
no matter if it's one hundred and fifty or one
hundred or three hundred on a field, you know, the
optimal field size for a tournament that nobody wants to.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
Watch, right zero.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Yeah, Well, here's a novel concept. How about the players
you know, the branded players during near the top of
the leader boards and the top of mind of every
golf fan, start playing better golf. I mean, the last
year was not a great year for a lot of
big name players, you know. And if it weren't for
these stupid no cut events, which I don't like by
the way, because it has no sense of urgency for
rounds one and two whatsoever. You know, were not for those,
(52:30):
a lot of those guys would have missed the cut.
So they got to start playing better.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
Especially with and yeah, guys that live that you know,
there's ten twelve, fifteen top guys that you're not competing
against right right, And it's like, I don't know if
they they're just like taking their foot off the gas
because they thinking that way uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, a lot
of comfortable.
Speaker 5 (52:52):
Yep, let's not go when you're comfortable. So that's the thing.
I mean, Hey, if I'm you know, one of those guys,
I'm like, yeah, of course, let's right. These younger guys
in here, you know, it's like, no, it's not like
squon like let the young young dogs eat. He's like, nah,
I want to eat, Like that's right. Yeah. Oh man,
(53:13):
So yeah, it should be interesting. But as Harry pointed
out in our text thread, like you know, no mention
of liv and any of this still right?
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yeah? Yeah, ever gonna are they ever gonna come together?
Are you ever going to see John Rahm and Brooks,
Koepka and Bryson back in these in these events?
Speaker 5 (53:28):
Maybe not that combo, but we will at the match.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
Any other tea Daniel, Oh, yes, of course.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
So we'll start out like Vanderbilt. I don't know if
you guys saw this, but the new golf facility is
absolutely insane. I remember, like Temple had to go off
site to like tease Golf Academy and seeing that and
now seeing these colleges just roll it out and not
even for golf but every sport. But now seeing that
golf is kind of held to that same level as
(53:58):
you know, basketball, football, everything else, and are having full facilities.
I mean, this thing is like a golf paradise. If
you guys haven't you know, seen it yet, take a
second and google it or look through Instagram or x
and just take a look at it. It's it's absolutely insane.
Speaker 1 (54:14):
Yeah, they got quite a program on both you know
the men's and you know, Angelina Tolentino is from Mount Laurel,
New Jersey, who's a true freshman down there and has
already established herself as the number one player on the squad.
So I'll be watching a lot of I'll be trying
to watch a lot of Vanderbilt golf when whenever it's on.
Speaker 5 (54:36):
For sure, something that some college players might be or
college kids might be doing, but serious PGA tour players
are dosing psychedelics like mushrooms in ayahuasca.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
Yeah so yeah, I mean, I think they get it
from the Chris Hefty at my club that the night
he's been on the the psychedelics in the hyahuasca for years.
Speaker 5 (54:58):
There's a shout out any local people needing some shrooms
reach out. But one of the current PJ door players,
obviously they didn't drop the name, but attributes his resurgent
to micro dosing and quote, it allows me to take
a deep breath on the course, and I haven't been
able to get that in years. I actually know a
lot of players on tour that do microdose. You know,
(55:22):
it's kind of weird. I think, you know, I think
golfers in general, not even pro golfers are all just
a little you know, mental if you will, and it's
like you need something like, oh, it's it's the shrooms
that are helped me play well, Oh it's you know,
the gummy I E. Or it's his parasox eewear, or
it's whatever. They always need, like some type of thing
(55:43):
to hold on to. Somebody who maybe should start micro
dosing Tom Kim, did you guys see who broke the
locker door? After THEO he apologized on social media, So.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
He had a great year?
Speaker 5 (56:00):
Are not at all? But you know what, maybe he's
trying to he's trying to build his his number so
he can get some extra money at the end of
the year. Yeah right, but yeah, not too not too
much more on t there was like an interesting just
stat that I saw golfer's distribution by handicap raid range
(56:22):
and for males, let's just go with like say, uh
five to a nine point nine, it's a twenty point
one five for males, and for women it's a two
point five to four percent of golfer distribution by handicap
on the range. So Lauren was talking a little bit
about the women today. So you can actually golf Di
I just put up that that graphic, so if you're
(56:46):
if you're a stat nerd and you want to look
at that, you can kind of take a look there.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
Awesome, Yeah, great stuff. Thank you for uh for to
Lauren Golden for coming on, and Ryan Gaino from All Access.
Speaker 6 (56:58):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (56:58):
We'll be back next week to talk about an upcoming
golf tournament, the World Blide Technology Championship. More to come
with some of the off season stuff going on, and
take advantage of a couple more days. It looks like
a nice weather in our area. Hopefully it extends a
little bit more.
Speaker 5 (57:12):
Net I got out to play that. I'm making sure
I'm playing, you know, at least once a week now.
So I went out and played Jonathan's Landing match course.
It was the first time I've been there since twenty
twenty one when it was a pile of dirt. I
was out there with Brad and Gil Hands and Caveman
Construction when they were doing that redesign and I couldn't
(57:33):
make like the opening ceremony. Oh my god, I went
out there. That place is insane. The greens were nuts.
I was in this one bunker brand It's like you're
not just pick it up. He's like, I'm like, let
me hit it out of here. I'm like, what, Like
he literally grabbed it, you know, like on social media
when they threw the shots and then they throw the sand.
It looked like he even threw some sand form me.
(57:54):
He goes there you go, great chat, honey. And I
was like, I low key wanted to try to get out,
but the face of the bunker was probably like four
feet high, and the bunker itself was only a foot long.
Of my drive just rolled and just kept rolling and
rolled all the way out, and I was in the
beach all day.
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Oh man, it's.
Speaker 5 (58:12):
Great to continue to get my reps in.
Speaker 3 (58:14):
So yeah, great, happy you got out there. Everyone else,
try to get out there and swing it and ding
it and we'll be back next week. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (58:21):
Give it a listen, swing it and ding it.