The Golf Show 11-29-25 2025 SEG 1: Alamo City Golf Trail

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, It's Andy Everett.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Enjoy this podcast version of The Golf Show from sports
Radio AM seven sixty The Ticket Now from sports Radio
AM seven sixty The Ticket. This is another edition of
The Golf Show. The Golf Show brought to you by
MK Golf Tech, Joe Caruso's Golf Academy, and by Alamo

(00:22):
City Golf Trail.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Now on the first t Andy Everett. All Right, Saturday morning.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's still a football Saturday, but we still talk golf
at this time every Saturday as we have for the many,
many years. Thank you for being with us, and we'll
get to all the golf topics of the week and
the day coming up here in just a little bit.
Andrew Peterson, executive director of the Alamo City Golf Trail,
joins us. Good morning and happy Thanksgiving again.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, Andy, thanks for having me. Good to be here
and good to see you.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
All Right, let's talk about let's just get started here
with the Alamo City Golf Trail. Yesterday, the powers that
he said that we don't have to travel and we
don't have a game on Black Friday, so I actually
got to golf for the first time in a month,
and the almost Basin golf course was in good shape.
I trust most of the others are still doing well
right now.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah. Andy, at first, I would be remiss not to
say that.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I know this is a tough time of the year
on your golf game because you have your commitments to
UTSA and football and basketball. So I'm glad to see
you still get an opportunity to get out there. Thanks
for asking. All the animal city off trail courses are
really in fine shape.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
We start to check out a little bit with dormancy
and grass kind of starting to lose its color. Course
kind of speeds up a little bit because the grass
is not actively growing, but condition wise we're still good.
We're trying to keep karts on the path in and
around places where it makes sense to try to keep
the grass as healthy as we can through the winter time.
But this also means it typically green speeds will increase

(01:53):
a little bit too.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
So overall a very good shape. Yeah, I'm a fan
of faster greens. I know some people get intimidated by
faster greens, but I think that when you have putts
on slopes, it's easier to put on a green that's
a little bit quicker because you can allow the speed
of the green to dictate where the ball is going
to fall and kind of start its descent or die,

(02:15):
Whereas when you're on slower greens and you get any
kind of a break to it, you really have to
hammer it, and then if you miss, then you're probably
looking at a similar putt coming back.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Is a busy golf course operator Andy, I'm always concerned
about what pace of play looks like, and typically when
you speed up greens, you slow down play. So it's
trying to find that equal librium or that balance on
keeping people moving.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
You put a bunch of signs up in the golf
course that I've noticed recently about how to keep up,
and I read it the other day and I'm like,
most of this is common sense, but people don't necessarily
always think about it. And the first one that comes
to mind is be ready when it's your turn. I
see so much time that there's slow play because the

(02:57):
guy that's supposed to be on the tea boxes on
his phone in the heart or is.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
His turn to hit or her turn to hit, and.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
They're doing something other than getting their glove and their
club out to be ready to hit, so to be
I think that's number one. To be ready to play
is something that we could all look look better at.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
We launched a survey throughout the Animal City golf trail
at the beginning of November and we've had over five
hundred people respond to it, and I'm.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Very, very encouraged by the results.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
We've got a lot of very favorable comments and reviews
and that's heartwarming. But our biggest pain point is definitely
pace of play, and as a commitment to improving the
golf experience, we're going to work especially hard at that
this coming year. We're talking about eliminating five sums and
try to do everything we can.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Well.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I was at Almost Base in a couple of weeks
ago and I came across the sign in the men's
bathroom and I said, Wow, this sign is really great.
Kind of had like a little catchy feel to it
with acronisms and sayings, and I said, who did this?
And turns out the assistant managers just took the liberty
and create them.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
So I saw.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
So I took a picture of it and sent it
to our marketing manager and I said, hey, we need
these all.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Every one of them. Yes, Well, it makes a little sense.
You know, play when it's your turn.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Be ready.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
You're not putting the US open if you've hit it
eight times, pick it up.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
I mean, who cares if you put a nine or
a ten on the scorecard.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
You're not if you make an eight on every hole,
you're really going to shoot a bad score anyway. So
let's let's move move it along. Play the proper set
of teas. If you're not a scratch golfer, better, there's
no reason for you to play the tips unless you're
a high school golfer or a competitive golfer where you're
forced to. And then if you are a competitive golfer,

(04:43):
then you probably can play from the back teas. So
I think that's I think those are some of the
easy steps. I've got a tip of the week coming up.
A little bit that I saw from Fluff Cowen the
other day about raking buckers that we'll get to in
the future. What about the future of the trail into
twenty twenty six, Any projects that you've got going or
is it going to be status quo for.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
A little while now?

Speaker 3 (05:04):
We can't stop doing projects, Andy, I feel like I'm
on a roll, so I might as well keep going.
As long as we can afford it, I'm going to
keep doing it. I think is hopefully a lot of
people know. We're investing over a million dollars one point
twenty five to be exact, into a cart path restoration
work at Mission to Lago and that's a long, arduous
project to take out the old broken asphalt and put

(05:26):
in new, widened concrete with curbs.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
It really enhances the look at the golf course.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
As soon as we wrap that up, which will probably
be February ish, we're going to do the same thing
at Northern Hills, and then we're going to level spend
about three or four hundred thousand dollars leveling the tea
boxes at Northern Hills, and I think people that have
played there in the last well he last ten years
the tea boxes are just brutal.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
They are absolute turtleback.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Shaped and you can't get a level line on them.
So that's going to be a much needed project. And
then we are just kicked off building a halfway house
at Cedar Creek so to be at the top of
the head of the driving range, right where the range
deck is. Bathrooms in a concession area there where you
can buy a hot dog and a coke at the turn,
and also you use the bathroom there, which would be

(06:14):
a nice enhancement. And then we're going to add on
to our facility at San Pedro and build a nice
big outdoor bar area so easier to get a drink
from the driving range or the putting course. So yeah,
not massive projects, but good projects for.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Us to continue to improve.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
The issue with the turtleback tea boxes at Northern Hills
is that just erosion overtime?

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Is that what happens? Yeah, that's exactly right.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
They're fairly small and they just become a mountaintop over time.
So yeah, we're going to widen those out and I
think it's really going to be a really great enhancement there.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
All right, Well, we'll get to give you a tip
of the week here and a little bit on also
how you can improve your own golf course conditions after
an experience I've had, not only yesterday but other well,
we had a Thanksgiving Day death in the golf world.
Fuzzy Zeller, the nineteen seventy nine Masters Champion, the only
player that I think has ever won the Masters in
its first appearance, passed away had a heart attack on

(07:13):
Thanksgiving Day, and unfortunately for Sevy, he said something that
was kind of derogatory towards Tiger after he won the
Masters in nineteen ninety seven, and his not his popularity,
but his brand kind of took a hit for that,
and I think did for a long time. But everybody
that met him. I never did, but everybody that met

(07:33):
him talked about how warm and nice he was, how
friendly he was to play, and he was.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Not a slow player.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
He played quickly as well, which we all like to
see because I think those are examples of role models.
If you see a golfer on the golf course playing well,
like we see now with Ludwig Oberg, he doesn't take
any time over the ball, get it go. I think
players like that set an example for the recreational golfer
that you don't have to be meticulous on the golf course.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
I met Fuzzy Zeller in two thousand and four. I
was working at English Turn Country Club in New Orleans
and Fuzzy was out there to help out with with
kind of this charity event, and he was hitting drives
on the eighteenth tee and this was a morning start,
and he was out there from let's just call it
eight o'clock to to one o'clock or so, and we

(08:20):
had to take turns going to get Fuzzy of refreshment
so he could he could continue to continue to stay upright,
I suppose. But I came back with the orange juice
he requested, and and a little extra and he said,
next time, I need a little bit more extra.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah. So he was quite the character that way.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
But he was very very kind and thoughtful to me
and the rest of the team, and he was very
very good. But yeah, that incident with Tiger was really
a shame. I remember he was branded by a k
Mart at the time and for those younger people that
don't know, it was the precursor to Walmart, I suppose,
but he lost that brand endorsement and it was worth
a lot of mine and really really unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, and John Daily, I saw a little bit of
a clip that he put out there about how sadden
he was. It was by the death and unexpected because
of a sudden heart attack for Fuzzy and he a
Fuzzy was a mentor to John because John went through
some some rough times where he was kind of rambunctious
kind of self destructing, tearing up hotel rooms, getting suspended

(09:23):
by the tour, and he said it was fuzzy that
to a certain extent, saved his life. So I think
that there's a deep admiration from a lot of people,
but especially John Daily on the on the PGA Tour.
I am obviously a avid golf channel watcher. I'll watch,
you know, especially during the golf season. We're in here

(09:43):
on Saturday morning. If there's like the European Tour, Swiss
Open going on, it's usually on the LPGA Tour for
a good chunk of the season is anchored by a
man named Grant Boone, and I had no idea. He
also did Abilene cre football and basketball games. And this
past weekend of this past week, UTSA on Monday night

(10:05):
played in a tournament in Florida.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
And when I do.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Typically before the start of the road trip, is I
find out if the other team's broadcaster is actually going
to be there and they're going to travel all that,
because that becomes part of our pregame interview. It's really
easy to get to broadcasters. Sometimes it's difficult to get
to coaches. Some don't have a problem with it. Others
have don't even want you to ask the request. So

(10:32):
if I know a broadcaster is coming, I know it's
easy to get to them and we can do a
two and a half three minute interview for the pregame show.
And I saw online just the name Grant Boon, Director Broadcasting.
Send him an email, send it back about thirty minutes later, Yeah,
I'm good, I'll see you at the game. And then
I realized Grant Boon, that now seems familiar. So when
I actually clicked on his name on the Aplene Christian website,

(10:53):
it was like, holy cow, he's.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
The Golf Channel guy.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
So I got a chance to meet him and we
talked for about ten or fifteen minutes after we did
our little segment before the game. And he gets to
work with Judy Rankin, and I think she's amazing at
what she does on the Golf Channel coverage.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
So it's kind of cool to see that. Andy.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
I think you need to be on the Golf Channel
one of these days. Maybe I'm all in May, that's
your Kylin. That would be fun, all right.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Johnny Keefer is a San Antonio golfer and after he
has played last week, at the RSM. He is now
number forty seven in the world. I think he was
either fifty or fifty one, but he's now forty seven.
He needs to stay in the top fifty for the
next four weeks. If he does, that's an automatic exemption
invitation to the Masters. So I think it's actually the

(11:41):
week before Christmas is when the Master sends out its invites,
and Johnny is now forty seven and he may have
a great chance to go play in the Masters for
the first time.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, I think having these San Antonio Tour pros is
pretty awesome. I was talking to a kid the other
day that it was out at Oak Hills and the
Meisner brothers and Johnny Keefer. We're playing with Abraham Answer
and Keifer shot sixty one at oak Hills, which those
guys can kind of tear up. But I think it's

(12:13):
a pretty challenging golf course, said.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Six twelve thirteen holes. Yeah, I thought, Wow, this kid's
really got a future. He was a high school all star.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
He played with the Mike Martin's team over at Johnson
High School, and then he went up to Baylor University
and we kind of kept an eye on him a
little bit because my wife played golf at Baylor, so
she's obviously kind of kind of keeping an eye tracking
that a little bit. And then he turns pro and
he just tore it up up in Canada and won
a handful of events and graduates to the corn Ferry
Tour And when you finished number one on the corn

(12:43):
Ferry Tour this year, Yeah, he won a couple of times,
I think, so a future is definitely bright.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
All right, We're going to talk about the rumors that
are now flying around as far as the PGA Tour
is concerned, and what it may look like after next year.
Some I think are okay, others I'm not too great about.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
We'll talk about who.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
May shine in twenty twenty five. Besides Scottie and Rory,
got a Tip of the Week coming and another golfer
that just went under the knife for a back issue.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
All that coming up. It's the Golf Show on the
Ticket