Golf Talk Live - Season 13 Episode 27 | Oct 23rd, 2025 - Golf Talk Live

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
The following broadcast is brought to you by the I
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is a livestream broadcast and media production company providing quality
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(00:32):
the game's most in depth instruction magazine, including reviews on
the latest equipment, tips from top teaching professionals, all designed
to help you improve from tee to green. Welcome to
Golf Talk Live with your host.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Ted Oto Rico.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Join Ted each week as he speaks with some of
the best in golf. This week's special guest will join
us a bit later. But first up is another great
discussion on Coach's Corner, So let's introduce tonight's Coaches Corner Panel.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Season thirteen a Golf
Talk Live. I'm your host, Ted Roto Rico. We've got
a great show for you tonight. The Coaches Corner Gang
are off this week, but I'm super excited to welcome
back my very good friend, Golf Fitness expert Bob Foreman,
and once again he joins me with some more great
fitness tips. And then a little bit later on, I'm

(01:26):
going to speak with this evening's featured guest, Jeff Minton.
He is the director of golf at Wild Dunes Resort
in South Carolina. He'll be joining me a little bit
later on in the broadcast, but before I officially introduce Bob,
I just want to remind everybody, of course, if you
want to watch this week or any of the previous
yeared episodes, you can visit the I Golf Sports YouTube
channel or Spotify dot com, and you can also listen

(01:47):
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(02:27):
and there's quite a few of them right now, so
you definitely want to take advantage of that, So go
Premium today at Golf tipsmag dot com. All right, as
I mentioned, I'm joined once again back off of a
fresh vacation, so he should be ready to go. Bob
Foreman has said as a golf fitness expert, he's the
former director of Fitness and Wellness for the Congressional Country
Club in Bethesda, Maryland. He's internationally known as a leader

(02:50):
in the field of golf fitness. His programs have been
recognized multiple years by the Golf Fitness Association of America
and holds the Masters of Science degree and Exercise Physiology
and is a certified golf fitness instructor through the Titleist
Performance Institute and Great Institute as well. And he's also
an author Functional Golf Fitness Training, which is available at

(03:10):
the book patch dot com. So, uh, Bob, welcome back
from across the Pond.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
As they say, thanks for having me back.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I appreciate it. So before we get into into what
we're going to talk about tonight, I'm assuming you had
a good time over there.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Oh, excellent time. You know, got to got to see
all the highlights of Europe and it was a whirlwind.
We went through seven cities in fourteen days for countries.
But it was well well worth it.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Good stuff. So you're well rested and ready to jump
right back into the show. So I'm glad. I'm glad
you had a good time, and and your other your
your other half as well had a good time. So
that's the main that's the main thing. So so, as
I mentioned, we're going to talk about the reverse spine.
So this is what our discussion is going to be
about tonight. So what I'm going to do is I'm

(04:04):
going to get our video going here, because we've got
a video that we're going to go through so you
can talk about some of the different things here. So
as I'm getting things ready here, maybe if you just
want to touch a little bit about what we're talking
about when we refer to the reverse spine, So what
are we what are we talking about here? So here's

(04:25):
a picture obviously our first image here in the video,
so you can talk about here it looks self explanatory.
Maybe you could just give us a few points here
and what we're looking at.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Well. The reverse spine is a very common swing fault
that you see in a lot of golfers, and it's
one that you want to avoid because it will really
kind of take away from your performance as well as
kind of sets you up for potential low back injuries. Now,
when we when we stand in address over the ball

(04:59):
for a right hand golfer, you know you have your
right hand lower on the club, which gets your spine angle,
your what's called your secondary spine angle, leaning away from
your target. And when you go into your back swing,
you want to try to maintain that angle away from
the target because when you do so, it sets you

(05:20):
up to initiate the down swing in the proper swing sequence, right,
and you know that will help in terms of impact,
that will help in terms of your distance and accuracy.
When you get into reverse spine, what happens is you
take the club back for one reason or another. Many
cases it's due to physical deficiencies, but it can also

(05:44):
just be a bad habit that golfers tend to get
into your spine angle starts to angle back towards the target.
So as as you see in this picture here, and
what that does, like I say, it doesn't really set
you up well all to initiate that downswing in the
proper sequence. So it kind of robs you of distance

(06:06):
and and you know, good hitting impact.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, And and typically you know, from from an instructional standpoint,
what we often see here our pitcher actually just disappears. So
let me put it back up here. What we typically,
as you said during the takeaway, a lot of times,
it could be a physical issue that they may be having.
Maybe they're weakened certain parts of their their body, especially
uh in not just in their lower body, but maybe

(06:31):
lower back, uh and also in some of the upper
body parts as well. And we'll talk about that too.
But typically what happens is it's a very ineffective or
poor weight shift too. They're not shifting to their uh.
In this case, it is we've got a right handed
golfer here, he's staying loaded pretty much all on his
left side. And uh again, if he's got some deficiencies
in his golf swing, he's sort of going to have

(06:53):
that that reverse spine as you're you're indicating here, so
what can we do? What are some of the things
and we're going to advance through some of the uh
steps here that you can do as far as exercise.
Let me go to the next next clip here and
see if we can get that stop doesn't want to stay?
Huh yeah, okay, so here we do. We're moving moving

(07:15):
fast here, so let me let me try to get
this back.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well. One of the biggest physical deficiencies that you see
in golfers is lack of shoulder mobility, specifically what's called
external shoulder rotation, being able to rotate your arm backwards
all right. Basically that's what you're going to do with
your trail side shoulder, the right shoulder for a right
handed golfer in the back swing and in the downswing

(07:43):
you're going to do that on the left side on
your target sell. But if you lack that mobility, what
happens is it kind of limits your backswing and to
compensate a lot of times as you're trying to make
that good turn, you know, shoulder turn that you read
about in the journals every month, is it starts pushing

(08:05):
you back towards the target, right, because you physically can't
rotate that shoulder. So you reach a certain point and
then you know, again try to get that club back further.
It forces you back leaning towards the target. So that's
one of the key areas that we see in many
many golfers is a lack of shoulder mobility.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, and a lot of it's tightness in the body.
They're just not very flexible, and it's not necessarily I
mean a lot of people work out and go to
the gym, perhaps, but they're maybe not doing the right
exercise they're going to help them in their golf game,
and they tend to stick to more weightlifting and things
like that, which is certainly good, but it's maybe not
always best for your golf game. So there's some things
that you're going to walk us through here. So let

(08:48):
me see if I can slowly advance this next step.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Well. In this picture too, you know, you'll note that
you know, this individual's got his arm rod back to
about one hundred and ten degrees. That's usually the threshold
that we look for to consider that acceptable. If you
can't get to ninety degrees, if you're short of ninety
or just barely reaching ninety degrees as you rotate that

(09:15):
arm back. That's a sign that you're limited in that
mobility in that shoulder.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Gotcha, gotcha? All right, So let me advance to the
next one. Here, see if we can get it to help.
We're going to have a little problem here. Okay. So
here there's the first one.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
It kind of shows the range of motion there.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
So the exercise we're going to get into is called
an open book. So what you're doing is you're lying
on your side in the fetal position. As you can
see there. You can have light weights in your hand.
You can do it without weights, and I emphasize lightweights.
You don't want to put a heavy weight in your
hand because again you may put a little more stress
on the shoulder than you want. But from this fetal

(09:59):
position where the arms are bent at ninety degrees, you've got,
like I say, lightweight in your hand. In this picture here,
I'm gonna take my right arm and I'm going to
maintain that angle in my elbow and I'm going to
rotate that arm up and over to the opposite side
as far as comfort will allow. And then I'm just

(10:21):
gonna hang there for fifteen seconds or so fifteen count
and just let gravity do the work for you. So
that basically what that's doing is it's kind of opening
up the chest cavity. That weight, this small, tiny weight
in your hand will actually help work that external rotation
as you just kind of hang out there, and then

(10:43):
you're going to bring that arm back to the starting
position and you want to do like two or three
reps and again holding for about a ten to fifteen
count each time you go. And obviously you want to
do both sides. You want to roll over on your
left side and do this same thing with the right
hand because you're always looking for symmetry no matter what

(11:04):
you do with your exercise, and a lot of people
will find that they'll have a tighter side, a more
limited side, and basically you want to spend a little
bit more time on that tighter side to try to
get it to catch up.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, So if you're just to clarify, so if you're,
let's say, typically a right handed golfer, you want to
make sure you're working the left side as well in
conjunction with the right because obviously what we see often
is they get a little stronger on one side of
the body and the other side tends to be a
little bit weaker, and that causes issues as well because
there's not it's not really in balance. So here's the

(11:40):
second image managed to get you talked about.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, so this is like you know the end result here,
So you want to hold that position for a fifteen
second count, bring it back, and then repeat that two
or three times. Now, you talked about strength training. The
one thing to keep in mind is that when you
do strength train, they're going to tighten muscles as well
as strength and muscles, So all the more reason that

(12:06):
you need to get into a stretching program to maintain
that range of motion and mobility.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, and you can see here as folks look on,
you can see the image here where your legs are
and your hips are staying in the same position. They're
not moving, they're not rotating with the upper body. So
again that's that's helping to create that sort of separation
from the upper and lower body and helping to do
stretch things out. So let's see if we can advance

(12:33):
to the next one and try to get that one.
Oh wenage to get that one to stay. So all right,
So this is another exercise. Tell us what this exercise
will before I move on to the next next image.
What are you getting ready to do here, and what's
the benefit of this particular exercise that we're looking at.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Well, a second factor that can lead up to reverse
bind is the lack of the ability for the golfer
to disassociate the upper body from the lower body, and
so they kind of become a one piece turn and
again trying to get that good shoulder turn and get
that club back because they feel that they're going to
get more clubbeds feet. So if you can kind of

(13:12):
work that disassociation between the upper and lower body, that's
going to benefit you in the golf swing. So this
is called the Heisman And basically what I have here,
I have my right foot up elevated on a bench.
You know, the other foot is just kind of hanging
back behind. I have a little weighted ball in my hands,
and what I'm going to do here is I'm going

(13:33):
to bring my left leg up and my knee across
my body and I'm going to finish in the Heisman pose.
So if you go to the next picture, you'll see
that that end that end motion there so you got
that left leg kind across the body. You're keeping your
shoulder square because again you want that stability up in

(13:57):
the upper body while you're rotating that low or half
and that's gonna work that disassociation. So that'll again work
to benefit that golf soil.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Right, and again you know, everything obviously should be done
in moderation. So if you're if you're not somebody that's
in great shape to begin with, you know, uh, can
they modify this a little bit? I mean, you're you're
stepping up on actually it's a step or a bench
that you've that you've got there. But if somebody, uh
maybe is a little bit jittery, like say somewhere older

(14:31):
or senior golfers, could they maybe do that on a
ground level and still kind of do something similar.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Definitely, definitely, you know it's probably the recommendation would be
to start on the flat surface and then work your
way up once you're comfortable with that. And again you're
doing like ten to fifteen reps and you're not going
to hold that position for a very long period of time.
You just kind of kind of get up there first
split second and then come back down. So not only

(14:57):
are you working that disassociation between the upper and lower body.
But as soon as you start to elevate yourself, you know,
on a little bend step or you know, something that
will elevate you up off the floor. It's also a
great exercise to start working the quads and the glutes
as well, to help strengthen those as you work that

(15:18):
range of motion. And it's a good balance exercise too,
so you kind of get multiple benefits from this this
particular exercise.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, and again it helps I think with the coordination too.
A lot of people it's it's amazing, you know, they
they don't realize this, but you know, a lot of
your little muscles too get engaged keeping stable and and
not doing a lot of these exercise You wouldn't think
so because you know, obviously you're engaging a lot of
larger muscles too, but your smaller muscles have to be
engaged to give you that stability otherwise you see people

(15:49):
wobbling all over the place. So let me let me
move on to the next clip here. Okay, so here's
I don't manage to get that one to stay. So
here's another exercise that you're you're going to and straight here,
So tell us what we're doing here and what are
some of the benefits.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Okay, this is called the reach through. So we're isolating
the mid back, the t spine, thoracic spine area where
rotation needs to come from in the golf swing. So
a lot of times again this is an area that
we see golfers tight in the thoracic spine area, and
again that's going to limit their ability to really kind

(16:25):
of produce a good golf swing. So from the all
fourst position, hands and knees, I'm keeping my left elbow
locked as I'm taking my right hand and kind of
reaching through between the left hand and the left knee
until i feel that stretch in the back of my
in this particular case, right shoulder and mid back area.

(16:48):
And you're going to hold that again for about a
fifteen count or so and then switch it over with
the right hand the right elbow locked and the left
hand reaching through and doing two or three you know,
set to each side. The more of the merrier. You
can also modify this stretch by actually bending the elbow
in lowering the opposite shoulders towards the floor, which will

(17:11):
give you more of a stretch in that mid back area,
but again a very prominent area where golfers tend to
lack range of motion and flexibility, which is going to
impact their golf right exactly.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
So let's move on to I think we might have
one more here. Nope, that's it. So what I wanted
to ask you is with the exercise that we showed,
I know there's some others that you have talked about before. Typically,
how long should people dedicate to this? Like how many
how long should these exercises take on average? I mean,

(17:49):
obviously everybody's going to be littleit differently, but if you're
done properly, I mean you don't want to rush through them.
As you said, you're doing multiple reps in that in
many cases, and something that you can work up to.
But typically is this you know, fifteen to twenty minute
exercise regime that they can do maybe a few times
a week. Give us sort of the skinny on that.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, well, again, when it comes to range of motion
and flexibility, everybody needs it, everybody can benefit from it.
So I mean, the more days per week you can
do it, the better it's going to be. You know,
if you can only manage five to ten minutes of stretching.
Do it, I mean, because you will feel a difference

(18:29):
and it will make an impact, and not only on
the golf course, but off the golf course as well.
I mean, a good thing to do is to get
together with a golf fitness professional go through an assessment.
This way, you know, you can identify where your deficiencies
are in terms of muscle tightness, muscle weakness, muscle and balance.

(18:50):
And this way you can dedicate a program to those
specific areas, so it's a better time consumed workout and
that you know, you know exactly what you need to
work on and you can dedicate exercises to those areas.
So that would be a great recommendation.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
So if you wanted to, let's say, incorporate this because
you know people want to might go to the gym,
and these are things that these are all exercise that
could easily be done at the gym. So if let's say,
if you had a regular workouts maybe three days a week,
you could either alternate other days and do more of
this and and or you can add it in conjunction
to other things that you're doing. But the biggest mistake

(19:30):
that and that's really what I was alluding to earlier,
is we see a lot of people going to the gym,
and you know, it's good to get some cardio in
there and all these other things, but you know, they
tend to just stick with the weights and they're not
doing any of the stretching, and they get out there
and they're stiff and they're tight. So these are exercise
that they can do whether they're at home or or
if they're going to a gym. But what about when

(19:51):
you're at the golf course. I mean, people are not
going to drop down on the grass and start doing
some of these exercises. These are things that you can
do elsewhere. But are there's some things that they could
do to help with this reverse line at the golf
course as they're getting ready to play, maybe they got
a few minutes. There's anything they can do to help
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yeah, there's there's definitely exercises that you can do, and
using your golf club, you know that that's a great
way to kind of work the some of the muscle groups.
One of the best stretches that I do personally that
I recommend to golfers is to take your golf club,
you know, hold it out in front of you and
start with the right, palm up, left, palm down on

(20:31):
the golf club. And what you're gonna do is keeping
your arms extended, is you're gonna flip that golf club
this way right, so with every hand is facing up,
you're gonna flip that club and then rotate to that
same side and that's going to really work that you know,
mid back and posterior or shoulder area. And again hold

(20:53):
for about a ten fifteen count. Come back, change the
hand position, left, palm up, right, palm down, flip to
the right and rot right. But you know, that's a
really good one to do before the round and during
the round because you know you're going to tighten up
as you're waiting to hit your next shot. So yeah,

(21:16):
that's that's one of my favorites.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
And that's a good one too. You know, you raise
a really interesting point. I want to touch on that
just a little bit because a lot of times we'll
see golfers, especially when they get on that back nine,
they start, you know, it's starting to get into a
little bit longer day. They've been playing for a couple
of hours, they're they're getting a little bit tightened up
in that people think the opposite. You know, because you're
playing golf, that you're actually going to loosen up and
you do a little bit, but you tend to start

(21:40):
because you get tired. Your muscles are getting tired. So
an exercise like that would be a good one. Maybe
while you're you're waiting for your other bodies to tee
off and you got your driver or whatever in your hand,
you can be doing that exercise there to kind of
loosen up before you actually tee off on that pick hole.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
Definitely, definitely, And that brings up a good point too.
You know you talk about the cardio component. You know
that back nine a lot of people get fatigued and
that's when you know you start hitting bad shots. So
I mean cardio is important to kind of get you
through that back nine and the stretching as well. I
mean I can post. What I'll do is I'll post

(22:15):
some golf kart stretches on the website that people can
go to and kind of take a look at. But again,
great to do during the round while you're waiting to
hit the next shot, so to stay loose and to
reduce that potential for injury.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, I see a lot of people now doing that.
I think as more people are becoming fitness conscious, I'm
actually seeing more people out in the golf course, even
when they're out the middle of the fairway and their
buddies are hitting, you know, I'll see them do different
stretches and different things just to stay loose, because you know,
if you're staying there and you're especially you're playing with
a foursome and you happen to be the last guy
to hit, you know, you're standing there sometimes for a
few minutes, and it's very easy. Especially you know when

(22:53):
you start getting on that back nine, you know, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
U hole and suddenly you start diffening up a little
bit again you're tired. I mean, it's a you know,
especially if you're playing in a climate that's a little
bit warmer, that humidity starts to kick in. And obviously,
first and foremost, you want to stay hydrated and make
sure that you have a little something something healthy to

(23:14):
eat at the turn. Not you know, scarfing down a
chili dog or something like that, but you want to
have something a little bit better. But particularly stay hydrated.
That's going to help with the muscles as well. Correct.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Yeah, and you know we're getting into October, November, December,
and the temperatures are starting to come down a little bit,
so you know, the cooler attempts will tighten you up
a little bit as well. So yeah, it's really good
to maintain and stay loose throughout that round.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, and it doesn't take very long. I mean, you
can do a lot of these exercise that we that
you you know, walked us through here a few minutes ago.
Those are things that take really no time at all.
They can be done away from the golf course. Some
of them can be certainly done at the golf course,
so you just pointed out, so there's really no excuse,
and they don't take a lot of time. So and
these are things even when it doesn't have they have
to wait till days that you're playing golf. These are

(24:02):
things that you can be doing, you know, wherever you are,
if you're on vacation either. These are things that you
don't even have to have a golf club. You can
get a broom handle or something. And do you know
the exercise that you just demonstrated, You know, there's a
lot of ways to to uh, you know, mimic what
what you just pointed out, even if you're not going
to be at the golf course for a few more days,

(24:23):
so there's really no excuse to do it, and and
it keeps you loose. And as we've always said, you know,
anytime somebody is doing a fitness you made an excellent
point just a few moments ago, and that is you
want to go and you know, get an assessment by
a golf fitness a certified golf fitness professional, and let
them look at what you know, what your deficiencies are,

(24:44):
and let them walk you through a program. But these
are exercise that you know certainly are going to be
very easily and conduce it for golf and you're not
going to put a lot of strain. But obviously you
want to always consult with your medical professional in case
you have any back issues or things like that that
may you know, prevent you from doing certain things. But again,
if you speak with your certified golf fitness professional, they

(25:05):
can do an assessment and tell you some of the
areas that you really need to work on, and then
you can put together a game plan to move forward.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, you know, I've been testing golfers since two thousand
and six and I have yet And I've assessed all levels, juniors, amateurs,
some touring golfers, and I have yet to have a
golfer go through the assessment and pass everything. And in
many cases, especially for the amateurs us amateurs, it's not

(25:37):
just one, two, three, four things. It's a whole host
of things that they need to work on. And I'll
tell you, stretching, if you're going to do anything, stretching
is the thing that I would recommend. I mean, you know,
that will get you, that will get you further down
the fairway, and that'll and just during the day, the
activities and daily living are going to benefit from a

(25:59):
regular stretching well.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
And you said some raise some great points on an
earlier segment the season where you talked about the posture
and you talked about how, you know, in today's you know,
modern technology with with computers and things like we're doing
right now doing this podcast, you know, we're you know,
kind of hunched in front of the monitor and whatnot. Yeah,
exactly got to be conscious of that. But you know,

(26:22):
when you're doing that, if your job involves that, it's
very easy to kind of get those hunched over shoulders
and if you're not doing things to keep those those
muscles stretched, what ultimately happens, and we've seen this where
the front to the muscles in the front of the
body start to shorten because you're sitting at a desk
all day and you almost get to a point of
permanent that you're hunched over like that, and that creates

(26:45):
a lot of issues with the posture. So you know,
and those are things that you touched on a little
bit earlier in the season. So there's there's never an
excuse me if you want to play golf, and you
could be at any age. I mean, I've seen some
you know, sixty seventy eighty ninety year old folks out there,
you know, swinging a golf golf club, and I've seen
some really you know guys out there struggling. And I've
seen some others that, man, you know, I wouldn't want to,

(27:06):
you know, get into a game for money with. But
the difference is that the guys that are playing well,
even at later in life, they're out there doing the
things that you're talking about. They're out there stretching, they're
out there doing things. I see them all the time
up in the range and uh, and out in the
golf course. So again we're not just saying this to
hear ourselves talk. We're trying to do this. And as
you point out, coming into the to the fall, you know,

(27:30):
the cooler temperatures and things, it's very important to make
sure you stay loose in limber because those muscles will
definitely tighten up. So any final thoughts that you want
to send the folks off with here on on the
reverse line.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Well, you know that that kayphos, as you talked about
the rounded shoulder posture. I mean, that is still another
factor that can lead golfers into reverse spine. And like
I say, it's very very common. I mean, if you're
out there with a force one, just kind of take
a look from the backside of your playing partners and
I can guarantee at least one of them is going

(28:03):
to be doing that reverse Fine, that's how prevalent it is.
But take the time to get the assessment or just
get into a good stretching routine. It doesn't take all
that long. I mean, even if you just dedicated ten
minutes fifteen minutes a day or most days of the week,
you will feel better, Your game will be better. And

(28:26):
you'll be able to move better. And those are three
good things to get out of that routine.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well said, well Bob, thank you as always again, I'm
glad you had a great vacation and good to have
you back on the show, and don't forget again. If
you want to get your hot little hands on a
copy of Bob's book, Functional Golf Fitness Training, you can
get that at the book patch dot com and there
is a link, a full link available. But if you

(28:53):
just go to the book patch dot com and either
enter into a search for Bob Foreman or you can
do again. The book title is Functional Golf Fitness Training,
you'll get a access directly right there, and I suggest
that you order yourself a copy because I know there's
a lot of good stuff in there. And it's never
too late, doesn't matter what age you are. That's never
too late to get out there and get yourself into shape,

(29:15):
and you don't have to go crazy. But just some
of the things that Bob's bringing on the show here
are things that anybody can do, any age group and
any physical ability. And again, always make sure that you
consult with your physician first if you are having any
physical issues. Beforehand, but definitely go and get in touch
with somebody like Bob, a certified golf fitness expert, and
let them give you a proper assessment and see where

(29:37):
things are at and you can go from there. But
Bob is always I want to thank you very much
for joining me. It's always a pleasure to have you on.
I'll look forward to the next time. And yeah, so
it's always good to have you on the show. And
I always learned something new, and I know I got
to get myself out there start do with some more
of this stuff myself. So I've filled myself a little
tightening up here as I get longer in the tooth.

(29:59):
As a say in all.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Those previous episodes, I have fuck listed on the website too,
so if they want to go to the website, all
those are on there, they can access those.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Okay, perfect, Well, that sounds good. All right, I'm gonna
take a quick commercial break, and when I come back,
I'm gonna be joined by tonight's featured guests.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
Will be.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
HM.

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Speaker 2 (31:32):
Welcome back, everybody, and I'm excited to have tonight's featured
guest Jeff Minton. He is the director of golf at
Wild Dunes Resort in beautiful South Carolina, and I'm going
to tell you a little bit about him. But don't
forget to tune in each and every week here on
Golf Talk Live. You can go to our Eye Golf
Sports YouTube channel and all of the previously air shows
and including tonight's, will be there a little bit later on,

(31:54):
but you can check them all out if you missed
some of the previous episodes, they're all up on our
Eye Golf Sports YouTube channel and you can also listen
to them in audio version. You can go to spreaker
dot com or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can
also listen to the audio version if it's more convenient
for you. So, but glad you could join us tonight,
Very very excited to have this gentleman, and he, as
I mentioned, is a PJ professional. Began his career in

(32:15):
the hospitality industry at Pinehurst Resort and Club, and after
several stints as head professional at Shanty Creek in Michigan,
he was also at the Lodge at Vantana Canyon in
Arizona and also at La Costa Resort and Spa in California.
He later joined and has said more recently joined Wild

(32:36):
Dunes Resort in the Isle of Palms in South Carolina.
And very very excited to having the show. So, Jeff,
welcome to the show.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
Thanks ed great to be here, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
I appreciate it. So I'm going to start things off,
I think before we get into talking about Wild Dunes.
I want to just I always like to ask, especially
if somebody's never been on the show, is why golf?
What was it a golf that drew you to the business. Well,
both first off as somebody who plays the game, but
also as a golf and professional So when did you

(33:09):
get your first start and who introduced you to the game.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
Actually, pretty funny story because my best friend growing up,
his dad actually owned a golf course vent Tonic Canyon
Resort in Tucson and Arizona. His dad was the owner,
and we were friends, and you know, we were both
baseball players. We were pretty good baseball players in Little
League and Pony League, and in high school they actually

(33:35):
switched the golf seasons to be the same as a
baseball season. So I kind of had to make a
choice what did I want to do? And I was
a pretty accomplished golfer at the time. You know, I
made the golf team, and you know, I was one
or two in the high school team, and pretty much
once they switched from baseball to golf in the spring,
I just, you know, I kind of made a commitment.

(33:57):
I was actually in my junior year and high school.
The coach, his name is Rick la Rose, the coach
for the University of Arizona, came to my high school
and pulled me and my buddy out of class and
took us down to the campus at University of Arizona,
and he said, we want to keep your local boys
here in Arizona. So I was pretty much hooked at

(34:18):
that point to go to University of Arizona, which is
which I played golf in college, and then you know,
just from there I started working at the club Wintna
Canyon and was pretty much hooked on it kind of
ever since. When I finished school, I actually went into
the PGA program and started working towards my class A,
which which I got. And again, the rest is kind

(34:41):
of history. He's kind of been in some really cool
places and that's some really good experience, and we worked
with some great mentors who helped me along the way.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
I think a lot of people you know that got
their start and golf have a very similar story. Some
you know, started very very young, and you know, maybe
it was their dad or uh, you know, another relative
maybe got them into the game. And some took a
similar you know journey as you did that where they
started playing uh golf in school and and you know,
we're invited to play on a golf team at university

(35:14):
and then ultimately goes on to uh, you know, to
other areas. What was it about the teaching side of
the game that drew you to that? I mean, obviously
you enjoyed playing the game, You enjoyed being the competitiveness
of golf. But what was it that sort of what
switched sort of flicked on inside and said, you know what,
I think I'd like to do something else in the
game in addition to playing. But I want to be
able to do something and help others with their game.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
Yeah, teaching is a big part of it. I get
a lot of satisfaction by making people hit it better.
You know, these are very most people who you take
lessons or you know, they're pretty successful in their business,
and it's pretty satisfying. We can help somebody, whether you know,
get the ball in the air, hit it farther, make

(35:58):
some putts. So every lesson that I ever ever got into,
my goal was just to make the person happy, make
sure they have fun playing golf. And you know, I
always tell them you're not going to get worse before
you get better. You might hear that in golf. That's
not how I want you to feel. I want you
to enjoy it and I want you to get better.

(36:19):
And just making people's free time more enjoyable. And I
think that's when I get done the lesson and people
are like, wow, I hit some balls I've never hit before.
That's what got me hooked. And that's the satisfaction that
I get from teaching, and I still do. I don't
teach much anymore, but when I do, it's very satisfying.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, we're going to get into that because now you're
in the position of director of golf, so you have
a little bit different aspect of the game now that
you're dealing with. But before we get into that, some
of your duties as director of golf, what would you
say is the most misunderstood aspect of the game by amateurs?

(37:01):
As a professional who's been around the game for a while,
what what if most amateurs really kind of just don't
get until they've come to you know, see yourself or
maybe some of the other pros working at Wild Dunes.
What is it that they don't understand?

Speaker 4 (37:13):
I think I think a lot of it is. You know,
for the most part, golf's a game of misses, So
you're not going to hit every shot like right on
the middle of your seven iron and it's going to
go one fifty. I think Ben Hogan probably set it
the best. Golf is a game of misses. So I
think people think that it's it's easier than it is,

(37:33):
and they get frustrated when they hit one or two
bad shots after a good one, and I'm like, this
is the hardest sport you're going to ever play. So
you got you have patients, You're going to get better,
and our goal is to make your bad ones better,
because that's how you improve. You're not going to hit
them all great. But if your misses are findable and

(37:55):
you have a decent short game, you can enjoy. You
can enjoy it. And again the short game, you know,
spend as much time shipping and putting as you do
hitting full shots on the driving range. I think, you know,
that's where you can make up the strokes the quickest.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
You know, it's interesting that you say that, because it
you know, when you when you really look at golf,
even some of the best players in the world, they
were not necessarily the best ball strikers. They were not
necessarily hitting at the stratas, but they could scramble very well.
If you even look at Nicholas, Nicholas could certainly hit
some long, long balls, but you know, he was not
the best with his wedge game compared to other players.

(38:30):
Even Tiger would sometimes would spray it off the tee,
but they were able to recover very effective. So having
that short game and being able to dial it now,
they were very accurate when it came to the short game,
but you know other areas that they struggled with, And
I think that's I think I agree with that. So
you've now progressed to a much higher level of the game.
You're now a director of golf at a very prestigious

(38:52):
resort at Wild Dunes. What is your duties for those
that don't understand what you know that obviously aren't in
the golf business, But for the audience here, what does
a director of golf do? What is your function now?
And then I've got the other question I have for
you is what is the best part of what you do? Meaning,
what is the best part of your job? What do
you love the most about your job? You've kind of

(39:13):
leaked out a little bit a few moments ago, And
what's the most challenging part of your job? So just
give us an overview first off, of what a director
of golf typically does and day to day, and then
give us your your most challenging and your most rewarding
part of that job.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
Absolutely well, you know, you have the golf business and
you have the business of golf. When you get to
a position of a director or a general manager at
a club, you're really focused on the business of golf,
meaning you're analyzing the T sheet, you're you're working on
your retail. If you're involved in food and beverage, you're

(39:51):
managing the food and beverage department and the cost of sales.
So it's a little less operational as far as you know,
the day to day T sheet operation. I want to say,
it's more strategic in what you're thinking about day to day,
whether it's forecasting, whether it's budgeting, whether it's working with

(40:14):
the membership department and kind of coming up with ways
to kind of grow that program. So it's really you
become a professional golf businessman more so than just an operator.
Where you're you're playing, you're playing with members, you're teaching.
That's obviously that's very very important, and that's you know,

(40:37):
because it is a people business. But I think as
a director you tend to get more into that aspect
of it, particularly at a resort, because there's there's other components,
there's rooms, there's food and beverage, there's everything else involved
with the amenity the amenity of golf, so you kind
of dabble in a little bit of a different though

(41:00):
stream than you would be if you're just doing operations.
For me, I think the most challenging thing is not
being able to teach and play as much as I'd
like to, because I just don't really have the time,
right you know, with thirty six holes, you know, eighty
thousand rounds and fifteen hundred members, there's really a lot

(41:24):
a lot going on. And again, you know, the director
of golf and the golf business, you know, we've we've
been kind of tasked with doing other things. In my case,
I oversee the tennis department and the spa and the retail,
so there's more. There's more things on my plate than

(41:44):
just golf. But yeah, I definitely miss the the playing
part of it and the teaching part of it. That's
you know, that's probably the most challenging. The rewarding thing
is still the same though. It's still when you walk
out and you're talking with customers or you're reading comments
from customers that played your golf course and talking about

(42:05):
how friendly the staff was, how good to pace the
play was how they like the course in the conditions.
You know, ultimately that's what gets them the comeback. So
that's that's kind of how I go about day to day.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
You know. It's it's funny too, because there's kind of
a running joke in this business. You don't get in
the golf business if you want to play golf, because
especially if you're successful at it, because there comes a
point in time where you don't have any chance to
play your own game anymore. You're so busy, as you said,
in the business side of golf. So you know, I've
talked to a lot of young guys that are still
you know, working up the ranks, and they're all excited

(42:42):
because they still play a lot of golf and that
are not quite as busy yet. And then I've talked
to a few that, you know, five or six years
into it now they've got a full dance card, teaching
and so forth, and it's like, man, where did my
golf game go? I don't get to play anymore. So
that a lot of truth in that in that statement.
So you also think ahead, no, go ahead.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Yeah, I think it isn't I think it is. I
think it is important though to balance that out because
at the end of the day, we all got in
the golf because we love the game, and you know,
you we really should try to play more and make
it a point, whether it's playing with your members, are
playing with your staff. Again, that's part of it. I
know it's hard to do that, but you know, I

(43:23):
try to carve out a couple of rounds a month
here and there, just to make sure you know that's
I do, keep that I keep sharp.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Yeah, and then yeah, that's important. And I agree also
in addition to you know, doing what you do, you've
spent a lot of time. In fact, I think a
couple of decades you volunteered with the first team in Charleston,
whereas you're getting a chance to work with maybe future generations,
not necessarily golf professionals, but young golfers. Not tell us

(43:53):
a little bit about that experience, then we'll start talking
about wild dunes.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Yeah, I think, I mean, I think anytime you can
show our younger kids, particularly through the first tea, the
life lessons that you learn from golf, to me, that's
a no brainer. I think, like you said, that's the
next generation of golfers, and you know, a lot of
the first Tea kids, at least in Charleston don't really

(44:17):
have the whereabouts or the opportunity to get lessons or
to play a lot of golf. So for me, that
is probably one of the most rewarding things, you know,
getting the first team to come out to the golf course.
Some of our members will actually help as far as
being like Marshalls or driving the cart for them. But

(44:39):
the when these kids are done, they're so excited about
the game and they're so grateful that you know, we
took our time to come out and they could you know,
hit some balls, learn some etiquette. And again that's you know,
giving back to the game through junior golf through First
Key is super high on my priority. And again that's

(45:00):
the next generation of you know, golfers to come. So
we all need to, you know, try to strive to
do things like that for sure.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Yeah, I think it's important that, you know, anybody that's
in this game that you give back, you know, as
we progress in our careers. You know, I've taught, now
I don't I'm like you, I don't do as much anymore,
but I've taught for over thirty two years and you know,
I've I've had a pretty good career and I've enjoyed
that and now I'm looking forward to playing a little
bit more myself. So I've had enough of it to decide,

(45:29):
you know, so it's time to get back out. Yeah,
a little bit of my golf if it's if there's
anything still there. But but anyways, and I agree with you.
I think it's very important that we give you got it? Oh,
I know, yeah, area, And this is the best time
of the year too, when it's you know, cool down
a little bit because I'm in in Florida, so I

(45:49):
know what heat is like, just as you do in
South Carolina. So it's nice to get a little that
fall temperature to to ease things up a little bit.
So let's talk about Wild Dunes. Wild Dunes obviously has
been around for a number of years. And of course
you've got a couple of Tom Fozzio course. You got
the Seaside Course and then the Harbor course as well.

(46:09):
Tell us a little bit about each of them. And
I know there's been some some renovations and updates that
have gone on over over the last while, so you
can share that as well, But just give us kind
of an overview of the courses. So the Links is
Fozio's favorite course, it's his only seaside course, but it's still,
you know, it's still his favorite golf course. Tell us
a little bit about that, what people can experience playing

(46:30):
that course.

Speaker 4 (46:31):
Interesting enough, that was Tom Fozzio's first solo design, yes,
when he went out on his own, and thee the
piece of property that he had in Charleston, which is
referred to as the Low Country. It's it's pretty amazing
because there's a lot of elevation and on the Links course,
So the name Lynks Course isn't actually, you know, one

(46:54):
hundred percent what the golf course is. There are some
sand dunes that are you know, seventy feet above level,
and you know it's a little bit of a parkland course.
Obviously there are some holes sixteen, seventeen, eighteen that finish
on the Atlantic which are you know, are really special.
But again the Links courses, it's a par seventy at

(47:17):
this point. One of our holes, the eighteenth hole, which
was on the ocean, we've unfortunately a few storms we've
had had made us convert that from a par five
to par three for now. So it's a par seventy.
That course was renovated in twenty fifteen, so about ten
years ago. A similar renovating to the Harbor Course. Just

(47:41):
like any just like anything that infrastructure needs to be replaced.
You know, the greens over time had gotten smaller, you know,
the t boxes. Back in the eighties when they built it,
people weren't doing forty thousand rounds on a golf course,
so you know, the te's were enlarged, the green enlarged.
The irrigation systems now are so much more advanced, you

(48:05):
can water more efficiently. It's just a totally different to
different program. I think one thing with the Lynx course
is when people play it every day, it's a different experience.
Particularly being on the coast. You might get a northeast
breeze one day off the ocean, and then the very
next day it could come out of the south, so

(48:27):
the holes play totally different, which is a pretty unique experience,
similar to a true links course if you're going overseas
Ireland or Scotland. So you know that's kind of links
course that was built in nineteen eighty and it was
so popular that the owners decided let's get Fasio back

(48:47):
in nineteen eighty five, and let's build a harbor course
again Fazzio and he had a co designer, a guy
by the name of Mike Strantz, who has some pretty
popular golf course is in the Carolinas and other places.
So the Harbor course isn't exactly on the ocean, but
it has holes that parallel the inter Coastal Waterway, which

(49:11):
is the waterway from Florida all the way to New York.
It's a little tighter because we didn't have quite or
they didn't have quite the land to you know, be
as forgiving as we had with the Lynx course. But
again typical Fasio design, really good par threes. He always
throws in a risky reward Part four, whether it's drivable

(49:35):
or if you want to lay up. You know, the
greens tricky. And as you mentioned, that course has recently
just been renovated. As a matter of fact, it opens
tomorrow with our with our Men's member guest. But similarly
it closed in the closed in March of this year. Again,

(49:56):
similar to the Lynks Course, full renovation. Greens were doubled
in size, new car paths, new irrigation. We went with
what's called runway teas, so you have one kind of
big teeing area which makes it a lot easier to mow,
and you have a lot more teem space. And again,

(50:17):
the Harbor course had been the original irrigation the original
greens for forty years, so obviously it was time to
improve the infrastructure. So against Fazzio and his team were
very involved with a design. Truan Golf was also a
partner in helping consult with the project. And again it

(50:41):
couldn't have been It couldn't be more happy to see
what it does. And I'm super excited to see what
golfers are going to say when they play it, because
although the bones are the same, with the new greens
and the new turf on the greens, the better irrigation,
it's just going to really be a game changer, you
know for a wild dunes. Now now we have two

(51:02):
really good, excellent Fasio golf courses that are going to
be in good shape for a long time well.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
And I think with the changes to it, it gives
you a little different perspective in your play with the
greens being a little bit bigger, you know, you have
more areas too, you know, to consider depending on on
where the pins cut in at where sometimes you know,
the older courses that were had smaller greens. You know,
you didn't have a lot of areas, especially if you
had some you know, hazards or something nearby. So yeah,

(51:34):
you know, I'm not going to name names, but there's
some some still out there that a little little dodgy.
But so, you know, especially and it's important for.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
Oh yeah, we had we had some greens that were
the side. We had some greens that were the size
of the Volkswagen. I'll tell you so. Again, even though
even though the actual corridors, actually the corridors of the
ferries haven't gotten wider, but you mentioned it. Despite seeing
a larger green and having a bigger space, the perception is,

(52:02):
oh wow, I can hit agreen now, you know, I
might not be able to put but at least it
actually appears to me more open. But again it's just
it's just over time, you know, greens just tend to shrink,
and you know, we basically brought them back to their
original size that they designed, you know, forty years ago.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
So it's great.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Well, and I think you know, in this day and age,
you know, as you and I both know golf is
a you know, it is a difficult game. It's challenging,
it's tough, and I think the more people that have
come to the game, I mean, we saw a big
influx of people, you know, through the pandemic. You know,
golf was one of the fortunate groups of businesses that

(52:43):
were able to stay open through that, and there was
a lot of new people that never played the game before,
so you know, they're coming to the game. It's challenging enough,
so anything that you can do as a resort to
make it more not just aesthetically appealing by you know,
giving the courses, for lack of better words, a face lift.
I know there's more to it than that, but generally,

(53:03):
you know, that's some of what's happening. But to make
it more forgiving a little bit too still challenging at times,
but also more forgiving. That helps those that are newer
to the game say hey, I want to come and
play this because I know I have a chance. It's
you know, they're not playing something so challenging and so
difficult that they can't, you know, give a good run
at it. So I think it's very important and very

(53:24):
smart that you guys, you know, jumped on that as well.
What would you say from a playing perspective if you
were being a caddie to one of the players walking
around or driving around that course, and you could pick
either course. If you want to start with Seaside, that's fine,

(53:46):
what would you advise them on how they should best
approach that? And you could pick whatever level of player
you want. The reason I'm asking is I just want
to get a sort of a flavor. If you were
advising somebody as their caddy, what would you want them
to look for? What would you want them to to
get the best experience out of it?

Speaker 4 (54:05):
One hundred percent starting with the Seaside course or the
Lynx course. Again, the distance isn't all that important, So
if it's a better player, I would say, all right,
maybe there's four or five holes where you know you
should you can bust your driver. It's a par four.
You might be reachable, sure, but there's a lot of

(54:26):
holes where you're better off being a little more strategic
and placing it in an area where the next shot
to the green is going to be a little bit
easier for you. At the Links course, most of the
trouble is long, So I tell I would tell people,
whatever you do, don't go long because it's going to

(54:47):
be really hard to get up and down. Again. It's
also at sea level. It's also at sea level and
the wind always changes, so nobody ever takes enough club
And that could be anywhere anywhere people play that amateurs
tend to always underclub themselves. But you know, on the
least course, it would be a little more strategic. Off

(55:08):
the tea, you know, try to you know, see where
the pin's at and it be like, all right, maybe
a three wood to the left side of the fairway
will give you a better shot and to the pin.
And again at both courses, particularly now with the Harbor
course being redone, the greens are probably the most trickiest
of the courses because of the undulations and you know,

(55:32):
because of the slopes, you don't really you know, you
can't really see him because you think you're in the
low country and there's not a lot of elevation right
particularly the Harbor course there's it's it's pretty narrow, so
you know, you know, most everybody. And I would also
tell people, like you just said, play the te's that
you're comfortable with. You know, if you're play it all

(55:53):
the way forward. You know, if you're not a long hitter,
have fun. I want you to. I want you to
hit a part four and two. So don't play from
the back teas or don't play from the white tees.
You know, we have a little little sign of the
first tee that kind of gives people based on their
average score of their handicap, what tees we recommend just
to have more fun. And you know, it also helps

(56:15):
to be to play to get people playing the right tees.
But I think playing the right teas, you know, not
always hitting it as far as you can, you know,
try to keep it, try to keep it in play,
and you know, and it's kind of go from there.
And you know then, particularly you know at Wild Dunes,
long is typically not a good thing, not a good
thing to be well.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
And I think you know you want again, because you
are a resort, you want people to come and have
a good Obviously, you have members and things like that
that are more familiar with the surroundings, so they they
already kind of know most of that. But you know,
when you have groups coming in to enjoy the resort
that maybe have never played there before, you want them
to have a really good feel of what to expect

(57:00):
and what some of the challenges might be when they're
out there. So I think it's important, you know, to
sort of put that out there. And I know there's
a lot of other things. You've got the sweet grass In,
You've got some great accommodations. Maybe you could touch a
little bit on those as well, and then we'll talk
about the many and I mean many options dining options
that you guys have available at the resort as well,

(57:20):
So talk about the sweet grass In and some of
the other accommodations that people will find when when they
book to stay at Wall Dunes.

Speaker 4 (57:28):
Yeah, so the sweet grass In is our newest accommodations.
It's a little over two hundred rooms, strictly hotel product.
It was built in twenty twenty one when it opened,
So that's probably our most high end product. It's the newest,
you know, Below the sweet grass In, the next product

(57:51):
we have is called the boardwalk In. The Boardwalk In
it's kind of more of a cozy, older school traditional hotel.
It's a little little darker wood. The bar is really cool,
has a nice, good experience with it, and it's on
the boardwalk which leads you out to the ocean, you know,
behind it. You know, we each each each each hotel

(58:14):
has it's own pool. We have five pools on property.
So the Sweet Grass in it's a little more kid friendly.
It has like the zero gravity pool, the splash pad,
hot tub, the boardwalk in is the it's it's kind
of a more of an I don't want to say
it's an adult hotel, but we have adult only pool

(58:38):
to boardwalk in, and it's a little kind of a
little different feel. And the third option we have is
it's the residences at Sweet Grass. So these are one
and two bedroom condos that are really popular for groups
like golf groups, eight or twelve guys who are coming
to the property and they want to kind of be
in close quarters, not individual hotel rooms. So they can

(59:02):
get like a three bedroom that can sleep you know, six,
seven or eight guys pretty easily. So they're all together.
And the good news is all three of the combinations
are in the core of the resort where all the
activity is. It's close to the harbor course, it's close
to the pool, it's close to the you know, the
dining options you mentioned, So it really depends on what

(59:25):
people are looking for you know, if you're coming for
with your family you want a little more room, the
residence would be a great option for you. If you're
doing a staycation or anniversary trip, the board walk, you know,
the sweet Grass are really good options. So it's pretty much,
you know, something for everybody. There's there's even homes for

(59:48):
rent on the island, anywhere from a five bedroom to
an eleven bedroom home for people to rent. So pretty
much all different types of accommodations are available, you know
at WHI.

Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
Dudes, Yeah, and again that's important. You want to be
comfortable when you're there, and especially if you're playing some golf,
and I mentioned you know obviously don't have to go
through the mall, but you obviously have a lot of
dining options as well. One of the nice things about
in around the Charleston area and in the southern parts
of the United States is some fine cuisine. And I

(01:00:22):
know that you guys offer plenty of that Southern charm
if you will at while Dunes. So maybe you could
just touch on a few of the experiences that they
may have visiting when it comes to dining.

Speaker 4 (01:00:31):
Yeah, good point. We have a lot of options, you
don't I necessarily really have to even leave the resort, although,
as you mentioned, Charleston is pretty as a pretty good
reputation for being a great foody town. So you know,
some of our guests do you know, they're going to
be at a resort two or three nights, but we
also encourage them to try some the local flavor downtown.

(01:00:53):
But you know, our our signature restaurant is called Coastal Provisions.
It's located in the boardwalk in it's you can get
a nice steak, you can get a local fish, it's
got a really good wine list. It's kind of more
of a fine dining experience. We also have in the
sweet Grass Inn in the lobby a restaurant called The

(01:01:15):
Oyster Catcher. It's available for breakfast and for dinner, and
the name pretty much can tell you a little bit
about it. Great oysters, great southern seafood, they got awesome
hutch puppies. There's a bar right there as well, so
it's a little bit more casual option. Obviously, at a resort,

(01:01:35):
we have a great pizza joint called Coastal Crust. You
can go in there and get a fire doven pizza,
some local draft beers and again at the golf courses.
Down at the Lynx course, it's we have the nineteenth hole.
It's called Huey's. A little more casual dining, you have
more of a clubhouse tech menu with burgers, club sandwiches, salads.

(01:02:00):
By the beach. There's beachside burgers again, which is kind
of like your typical pool slashed beach bar. A lot
of fun drinks that are made in blenders again, burgers,
chicken nuggets for the kids. So again, there's pretty much
all kinds of options. We have a sweet shop. Oh,
she's a candy shop with ice cream, all the old

(01:02:21):
school candies you can remember when you were a kid,
you know. And our families who come there for the
summer love that. So again, plenty to do to stay
in the resort. For sure, you really won't get bored
with our with our menu options.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Yeah, and thank you for for making me hungry with
all those great autos.

Speaker 4 (01:02:42):
Right, it's right, I read a dinner time too. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
I'm glad you stopped when you when you did, because
I was getting to the thinking to myself, I got
envision the I'm a I'm a steak person. I love
some good seafood. As well, and and uh, yeah, I
always like to throw down a good burger and and
uh and a draft or two. But so you know,
lots of dining options that's important and a little something
for everybody. You can have a little bit more upscale

(01:03:07):
experience if you want, or you can get something a
little bit more casual to Obviously, it's a very family
friendly resort with a lot of things, which is important
as well because not everybody's that's coming to the resort
may even necessarily want to golf. So I know you
have a spa there as well, So there are other
things that go on in the resort that people can enjoy,
other activities. You mentioned some sports earlier, so for those
that maybe come with the family, there's some things for

(01:03:29):
them to do. Maybe you could touch a little bit
on that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:31):
Yeah, absolutely, So we have a full recreation program which
kind of caters towards family. We have an area where
we offer bing goo on the plaza at night in
the summertime, we do movies on the amphitheater. We have
crafts all throughout the day, so you know, if mom
or Dad are playing golf or going to the spa,

(01:03:53):
there's a place where the kids can go and be
entertained for two, three or four hours for sure. Plus,
you know, we have seven resort pools. We have a
lap pool that's heated. We have two beach pools I
talked about the zero gravity and the kids pool. We
also have a fantastic tennis program. It's one of the

(01:04:16):
top in the country. We have twelve hard true tennis courts,
which is basically clay court. And of course it wouldn't
be a resort without pickleball, of course, so we now
have six pickleball courts that are it's all the craze. Yeah,
it's you know, once we built those six courts, they're
pretty much busy all the time. And you mentioned the

(01:04:38):
spot Beautiful Spot, sweet Grass, fourteen treatment rooms who are
really focused on wellness. So there's fitness centers, there's yoga classes,
and again there's you know, there's always a beach. We
offer bike rentals which you can ride around the resort
grounds on a beautiful bike paths without even really leaving

(01:04:58):
the resort. So again and if you're a family, there's
all kinds of things to do, whether it's summerfall, or winter.
We always try to program it so you know, families
find something to do other than golf.

Speaker 3 (01:05:12):
Is there other.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
Other entertainment that comes to the resort, like do you
have I mean, you mentioned about that you had the
amphitheater in that where they can there's movies available. Do
you have musical entertainment that you know comes you know
at certain times the year to the resort that you
know gets people a little bit more festive as well.
Is that something that you guys have available at the resort.

Speaker 4 (01:05:36):
Yeah, pretty much every night, particularly in the summer, and
it's most popular down to Grand Pavilion. We have whether
it's a steel drum band, whether it's just a local
little group. They we have a little rotation that plays
down there all the all the time. At the clubhouse
down Lengths we have every Thursday night we have live music.

(01:06:01):
There's trivia on Wednesday nights. So there's you know, all
kinds of entertainment. And you know, we have fire pits
so when when it gets a little cooler, it gets
dark early, they got a little fire pits where we
do s'mores and but you know, obviously a lot of entertainment,
particularly in the summer months.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
For sure, who has been again, it's a it's a resort,
so it's again family friendly. Are you seeing over the
last few years, are you seeing a trend one where
or the other as far as guests is it, is
it pretty much the status quo where it's pretty predominant
family coming into the resorts. Or are you seeing, as
an example, are you seeing more women's groups coming in,

(01:06:40):
like you know, maybe four sums of women coming in
and playing typically like the guys have done for many years.
Are you seeing more of an increase in that area
as well? And you guys have any sort of leagues
that go on throughout the season as well, and I'm
talking about golf primarily.

Speaker 4 (01:06:58):
But yeah, for sure. Yeah, from a women's standpoint, you
mentioned it, that's women are one of the fastest growing
segments in the game. So we are certainly seeing a
lot more groups of four, eight and twelve women who
are coming together seeing at the resort, you know, maybe
doing a clinic in the morning and then playing eighteen

(01:07:18):
holes in the afternoon and then going to the spa.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
Wild Dunes is kind of unique because we have kind
of like three seasons. You have the spring season, which
is really where you have your golf groups. Whether it's
guys' trips or likes you mentioned now women's trips. We
have a lot of meeting space, so we get a
lot of corporate groups in the spring, and then in
the summertime it's more of a family resort, so people

(01:07:44):
come for their maybe their week long vacation, so they'll
hang out at the beach during the day, and we
offer a really cool program in the afternoons, so kids
play free with a paying adults, So they might go
to the beach all day and you know, maybe a
mom plays, maybe she doesn't, but they can come out
as a family and go out at four or five o'clock.

(01:08:07):
Kids are playing free. It stays light until eight, so
they're enjoying an awesome time of golf at really no
no pressure. There's nobody really pushing them, but there's there's
definitely been a trend in since COVID, there's been a
trend in more family vacations and more family friendly options.

(01:08:30):
You can pretty much count on the summertime the t
sheets are going to be full from like four to six,
which is great because we want we want them out there.
And again, you know, same with the you know, same
of the women's groups. So you know, we're we're also
a private club, so we don't we don't have a
lot of particular leagues, but you know, we'll we'll have

(01:08:50):
a nine and wine event where and it's kind of
geared towards the women. They can come out. That's a
really casual play nine holes. Every thing a hole. We
have a wine vender pairing wine with cheese. It's a
really really cool event. I joined I joined them to
that one. Yeah, that's the six hour nine holes. Yeah,

(01:09:13):
and then when they come back, right when they come back,
they feel no pain for sure. So the whole idea
is the whole idea It is fun, Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
we don't even keep scoring that in that event. But
we're also we also were in a pretty local area,
so we do have a lot of local We have

(01:09:34):
a kind of a rewards program. If you're a local,
you can you can download the Wild Dunes at and
for every round you spend, you get points and just
like and it's like a credit card or airline credit card.
The more points you get you can redeem it towards
free rounds or discounts or merchandise. So you know, we

(01:09:55):
appreciate the locals and that's kind of our reward program
we had for them. It's been pretty popular, and you know,
particularly now the Harbor is open. It was a little
tougher the last year with one golf course, sure the
members and the resort guests, so we got to be
we weren't quite as available. But now with the Harbor
course reopening, I expect to see a lot more locals

(01:10:16):
who take advantage of the you know, the rewards and
the wild dunes.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
App Yeah, and that's a that's a great perk to
have and to be able to offer to the locals
because again that gets gets the numbers up, gets people
coming out in that and it gives them a little
something in return, you know, when they're spending money at
the resort and say hey, I'm getting you know, after
so much, I'm getting a free round, or I'm getting
discounts or whatever the case may be, or as you said,

(01:10:41):
off merchandise too. So you know, it gives them a
way of almost an incentive to earn those points as well,
and especially if they're enjoying their experiences there, then that's
something they're going to pass around to others in the
area and and and visitors and so forth. So I
think that's a great idea. Yeah, I want to I want.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
To fin Wild Dunes in the Great Wild Dunes of
the Wild.

Speaker 3 (01:11:05):
Is the go ahead?

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
No, no, no, please go ahead?

Speaker 4 (01:11:07):
Yeah, I would say, will this is a great place
for a staycation. Yeah. You know, you can be a
mount pleasant of Charleston and you drive ten minutes and
you're on a little island at Wild Dunes and you
feel like you've gone, you know, somewhere miles apart. So
we do, we do do a lot of staycations, and
we promote that to our locals, which again, you know,

(01:11:29):
helps the golf courses, the restaurants and you're not having
a drive or you know, fly forever to get some
R and R.

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
Yeah, and you're right on the water too for the
most part. So I mean, you know, you can't beat that.
You got some beachfront property. Everybody likes going to the beach.
So I wanted to finish off as we get ready
to wrap up that, Yeah, exactly, I wanted to finish
off and let you talk a little bit about the
instructional side of golf. What do you have to offer

(01:11:57):
there a little bit? Do you have an academy and
maybe you could touch on a little bit about that.
If people are looking to tune up their game, what
types of things do you guys have to offer it
well done?

Speaker 4 (01:12:07):
So we pretty much have a whole gamut, whether it's
in search of the perfect swing, video analysis we have,
we have group lessons, whether it's two, four, six, We
can pretty much customize any type of group you can have.
We offer a playing lessons typically later in the day,

(01:12:29):
kind of based on you know, the person's ability. You
don't want to go on a playing lesson at ten
o'clock on a Friday, So you know, we kind of
worked at you know, out with these individual person We
don't have we don't have a golf school per se,
although we we've always created customized schools. If somebody wants

(01:12:49):
like a family lesson, they have all four family members,
you know, we'll do an hour chipping and putting and
an our full swing, we videotape them, maybe go out
play a play three or four holes, which people really like.
And of course you can always get you know, an
individual lesson with any of the pros we have with

(01:13:10):
direct your instruction or head pro teaches. And somebody really
twists my arm I'll go back out there again and
watch them hit some slices.

Speaker 2 (01:13:20):
Right right, exactly, Yeah, the only slices you want it
while Dunes is one of those pizza slices is what
you want to get. But yeah, well, well, Jeff, I
want to thank you very much for coming on. It's
always interesting to learn about new places that for those
that maybe are not familiar with with Wild Dunes, and

(01:13:42):
I'm going to give you that website. It's wild Wild
Dunesresort dot Com is their website. You can go and
hear all of what we talked about here on the
show and a lot more information on there, and you
can reach out if you want if you have questions
or you for those of you have never visited the resort,
you can certainly get a lot of information there, but
you can also reach out to their very accomplished team

(01:14:04):
at the other end to help you guide you through
and navigate for your whether it's a staycation or whether
you're planning a little bit longer vacation, Wild Dunes Resort
is definitely a place you want to go to a
lot of great stuff there, So again, go to Wild
Dunesresort dot com. I want to thank my very special
guest earlier, Bob Foreman, our golf fitness expert. Thank you

(01:14:24):
Bob for coming on and helping us deal with the
reverse spine from a physical standpoint. That's something that a
lot of golfers struggle with, so we were glad that
Bob was able to come on. And of course my
very special feature guest of the eating Jeff Minton, director
of Golf at Wild Dunes Resort. Thank you Jeff again
for joining us. And for those of you tuning into

(01:14:44):
the broadcast again and go to our Golf Sports YouTube
channel you can catch all of the shows, incleaning tonight's
will be there shortly and if you want to listen,
as to I said to the audio version, you can
go to speaker dot com wherever you listen to podcasts,
they'll be available there as well. On that note, against
thank you to all of my guests this evening, and
I will see you next week right here in Golf

(01:15:04):
Talk Live. God bless everybody and have a great weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:15:11):
Thanks for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this week's
broadcast of Golf Talk Live. We'd like to thank this
week's Coach's Corner Panel and a special thank you to
tonight's guest. Remember to join Ted every Thursday from six
to eight pm Central on Golf Talk Live, and be
sure to follow Ted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If

(01:15:31):
you're interested in being a guest on Golf Talk Live,
send Ted an email at Ted dot golf Talklive at
gmail dot com. This has been a production of the
Igolf Sports Network.

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Golf Talk Live - Season 13 Episode 27 | Oct 23rd, 2025

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Golf Talk Live - Season 13 Episode 27 | Oct 23rd, 2025