The Measured Golf Podcast
With so many amazing things happening in the Measured Golf Community, we have decided to start a podcast to discuss all of the amazing things that we are seeing have a positive impact on our athletes. Whether it be Ground Reaction Forces, Golf Biomechanics, or strategies for making the most out of your limited practice time, we hope that this podcast becomes a resource for you to finally become the player you know you can be!
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The Measured Golf Podcast
When Golf Becomes A Moral Compass And Maybe Even More
What if golf isn’t just a game, but maybe moral code or even more? I open up and share the moments that made me see golf as a kind of secular faith—rituals, standards, and the quiet work we do when nobody’s watching.
We talk about how COVID packed tee sheets without truly creating more "golfers", why bunkers go unraked and greens riddled with ball marks, and what Scotland gets right: community at the heart of the course, honest handicaps, firm ground that teaches scoring from the soil up. From there, we build a case for self-policing and leading by example. Fix three ball marks a green. Rake every bunker that needs it. Take your hat off inside. Thank the staff. These aren’t fussy rules; they’re small choices that protect pace, conditions, and the shared experience that makes golf feel sacred.
Along the way, we get into accountability and the inner game: the solitude between shots, the sting of imperfection, and why progress comes from owning the miss, not excusing it. We explore golf karma, the difference between talking improvement and doing it, and the story of a competitor reminding Tiger Woods to replace his mark with a title on the line—a perfect snapshot of honor over outcome. If you’ve ever felt the course ask more of you than a number on a card, this conversation is for you.
If this resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a playing partner who needs to hear it. Tell us your code: what standard do you hold when no one’s looking?
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Measured Golf Podcast, where you and I sit down and discuss all things golf. And we're going to take a little uh tangent or diverge a little bit from the typical conversation about golf swing technique, uh, or even the things that are currently going on uh in professional golf and amateur golf. And it's uh it's that time of year, right? Uh we're getting towards the end of the season. A lot of us start taking stock of how that season unfolded for us. And for a lot of us, we start thinking about what do we have to do to get ready for next year? And I kind of am going to go a completely different way with this and kind of talk about something that I've wanted to maybe talk about for a while and maybe just haven't had the comfortability or the trust to uh share. But there's this overwhelming sense that I've had uh since about May when I was over in the UK playing golf, that you know, there's there's something more to golf than just a game. Um, I've felt that way for a long time. I think a lot of other people feel that way. And being in the UK and playing golf, uh, I've now before I continue, I I've been to the UK uh and played golf before this trip, uh, but I had not personally played at St. Andrews. And as many of you know, St. Andrews is generally considered the home of golf. And uh I actually got to play the old course back in May. And I had a very uh very wild experience. And my father, who has been passed away for almost 20 years now, um, I felt like he was with me in a very tangible way to the point to where uh after holding out for Eagle on number nine, um, just kind of turned. And as I've done a lot of times in my golfing career, kind of was like, hey dad, that one's for you, more or less. And it just hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was kind of crying hysterically, uh, not hysterically, but pretty ugly crying. And uh, you know, I'm not somebody that typically does that. So, you know, that that experience has really stuck with me and it's really made me think a little bit differently. And since May, I've kind of been debating this topic with myself and what is golf and what does golf mean to me? And where I've kind of wound up through doing a lot of reading here recently is that maybe golf is more than a game, and maybe golf is actually meant to be a religion. Um, and I know that there's a lot of people uh in our current society, this day and age, that don't believe in religion or have their issues with religion. Uh, I definitely have my issues with organized religion, but religion itself generally I don't have any issue with, no matter the denomination or faith. Um, I think religion does a lot of good things for people. And I think generally, religion sets a North Star or a moral code for a lot of people to live their life by. And when you say that and when you make that statement, I believe that golf does the same thing. I know that here recently, especially since COVID, you know, golf has kind of started to morph a little bit and change a little bit. And there's a lot of talk out there about how many more golfers we have that are playing the game of golf. And I completely disagree. Um, I don't think that we've actually created any more golfers since COVID, nor do I think that we've grown the game of golf, whatever that means. Uh, as a matter of fact, I think if anything, we've probably run off more golfers since COVID than we've added. Now, when I say that, a lot of people are going to probably think to themselves, well, the golf courses have never been busier. Uh, it's very difficult to get a tea time, the rounds are very slow. And my point is that we did not create more golfers. We actually created more people who tailgate on the golf course because during COVID, as you may remember, golf was one of the few things that we could do and get outside and kind of have uh a shared community with. And I think a lot of people were tired of being cooped up in the house. And we know that drinking was at an all-time high during COVID. And I think a lot of people just wanted to get outside and drink instead of being stuck inside. And now we have an inundation of people on the golf course who are basically tailgating. They drive their cart, uh, they drink probably way too much, and they uh really aren't very good golfers, and they're not really there to be good golfers, and they're certainly not there to take care of the golf course. They're there to hit bombs and drink their transfusions and pretend that they, you know, shot a score that we all know is not realistic or accurate. So I don't know that we've created more golfers, but I definitely think that we've lost a little bit of the spirit of what golf is. And what I hope to do over the rest of this podcast episode is maybe share some correlations and maybe talk a little bit about this. And if you are a golfer, um, and I mean that in the highest regard, if I label, if if I call somebody a golfer, it is the highest compliment I can bestow upon them. Because golf is a wonderful transformative experience for a lot of people. And if you've ever met a golfer, or if you are a golfer yourself, you will probably already know this. But it doesn't matter how bad they play, it doesn't matter how rough it gets, they're always they always seem to have that internal faith that they are going to get better and that it will be better tomorrow. And that is, by definition, faith. Uh, that is a belief system. That is having this process to where you believe that if you continue down this route, that you will see improvement. And it's not that dissimilar from you know a lot of religions to where they kind of more or less paint a pathway and they have requirements. And if you follow these and do good works and you know, kind of more or less follow the particular subset of rules for that religion, then you are rewarded, right? And in religion, we're rewarded with uh maybe an idea of heaven or maybe an idea of uh reincarnation or whatever that faith may provide at the end of the journey, there is a reward there. And I think a lot of golfers kind of look at golf very similarly. If they go and they practice and they go and they do the right things, then there's almost like this sense of something good is right around the corner. And that's beautiful, right? Like that's obviously what keeps new golfers coming back, is that one good shot that more or less allows them to kind of see maybe what the future holds for them. Now, the thing that really is difficult uh for a lot of golfers is that that feeling never leaves. Um, it doesn't matter what you shoot. I've I've spent my entire life in the golf industry. Um, I really enjoy it, I really love it. But I've honestly been out with players uh personally who have shot rounds of 64 in competitive play. And you would think if you're somebody, let's say, who maybe struggles to break 100, maybe 90, maybe 80, you're probably thinking to yourself, oh my God, if I shot 64, I'd be so happy. But it's more or less the same feeling. And that feeling is that they left a couple out there. Uh, there was an opportunity to do a little better, and that's kind of what drives it all of us, right? To keep going, to keep trying to work at this skill acquisition, uh, to kind of get better and find a way to shoot lower scores. And, you know, there are drawbacks to that kind of thinking as well. Just like there's drawbacks to religion in a lot of ways, and this kind of reward, rewarded behavior uh kind of creates a sense of entitlement. Well, I've I've done the right things, I've done the work, and now I should be, you know, paid off in a way, right? You know, if if you live this good life according to your faith, you feel like you should wind up in heaven. So a lot of people are out there chasing a score or chasing this improvement, which typically is tied to a score or a handicap. And generally speaking, you know, golf and in my opinion, religion, uh, they they they actually should should have a higher um a higher calling, or maybe even, you know, maybe pass this reward situation to to kind of think about it, you know, being in your faith and being a golfer, you know, we're not owed anything. Uh, I think a lot of religions talk about that. I think golf doesn't talk about that enough. But just because you quote unquote do the right thing doesn't mean that things are going to work out and doesn't mean that things are gonna get better. And one of the biggest things that I think people fail to realize is, you know, we're always kind of stuck with the scenario that we don't know what we don't know. And a lot of golfers find an immense amount of frustration because they go practice by their definition, but maybe they're not practicing the right things. Maybe their practice doesn't have much intention, maybe their practice doesn't have a goal. More importantly, maybe their practice isn't practice at the things they're bad at, but more they go to the driving range and do things that they're very good at. And they never really attempt to work at those things they're bad at because people generally don't like to do things they're not good at. So I think a lot of correlation exists between this religion um idea and the idea of golf. And I really kind of want to start by maybe sharing something that maybe others don't um don't know if you haven't been to Scotland in particular. The reason I'm keep I keep referencing Scotland, once again, it's the home of golf, and golf is just very different there. And I'm not talking about, you know, the style of golf being Lynx golf predominantly or the different formats that they play over there versus just the pure kind of stroke play that we do here in the United States. But golf over there, it feels to me, serves a much larger scope and has a much deeper sense of reverence within the community. And what I mean by this is if you think of, and I'm just gonna use uh one that we all know, but if you think of the old course, okay, the old course, hole number 18, almost kind of backs right into town, right? Like you literally uh have some pretty big buildings there because that is the town or city of St. Andrews. And uh, you know, uh when you get out to Carnusti or you get out to some of these other courses I've been at, generally speaking, the golf course tends to kind of be located near or around the center of the community that it serves. And it's very interesting. The uh the almost it feels like genesis of this was to have a common ground, was to have a space to where the community could come. A lot of people aren't aware of this, but you can't get a tea time at St. Andrews on the old course on Sunday. And the reason for that is the entire course of St. Andrews turns into one big communal park, and people are out there in droves, and they're taking their dogs and their children and their loved ones, and they're having picnics and they're going to the beach, and it's really a beautiful thing, but it's it's a sense of community, and you really feel that there, uh, that there's this sense of community. And one of the stories that I'd like to share very quickly uh about our time in St. Andrews that really sticks out to me is that we got off, we actually um were in London and took a train over to Scotland, and the train uh doesn't get you all the way to St. Andrews. So the train we got off in Edinburgh, and then from Edinburgh, we actually took a uh bus up to St. Andrews, and the bus was very, very crowded, as you might imagine. Uh, public transportation is a lot bigger deal over in the UK than it is here. And we were on the bus, and my group that I was with kind of got separated on the bus. Um, so we were all kind of sitting with different people, we were just kind of filling in the gaps or standing, whatever the case was. And Aram, our uh in-house trainer, strength and conditioning coach here at Measured Golf, uh, was sitting there, and two gentlemen started talking to him and asking him if he was going to St. Andrews to play golf. Aram obviously said yes. And it was very interesting to kind of watch this from afar, right? And the two gentlemen, um, and I I don't mean to sound like I'm judging, it's not my place to judge them, but it was fairly obvious that these gentlemen were not golfers and they admitted to such. Uh, but the way that they spoke about golf was in this very reverent way. And for non-golfers to talk about golf that way, it just really took me aback because, quite frankly, you don't see that in the United States. Do you typically think uh see a lot of non-golfers who feel like golfers are entitled and feel like golf is this very uh segmented thing that doesn't really have uh access to most of the people that would enjoy playing? So it was very interesting to kind of see that, and it kind of sparked this idea of how tied in golf is to the society at large in Scotland. And going back to this idea that this golf course is in the center of the community, everybody is very aware of its existence, and everybody more or less has at least tried golf once or twice, if they're not kind of somewhat of a regular golfer. And it's just kind of baked into the DNA of Scotland, it seems like. But I think that this goes back to the idea that in a lot of ways that a church in a local community or a city here in the US kind of serves as this communal space. I strongly feel that golf serves that same thing there. And it creates a space to where people can come. They have something that they're interested in doing together, which would be the game of golf. And it creates an opportunity for people to have discussion and debate things and to maybe talk about the current events, and it's not this situation to where, you know, you represent this and I represent that. And now because we don't have any common ground, we just agree to never agree. Um, and there's really not that. We have this thing in common called golf, and it really allows for people to come together, which I think is beautiful, and I think we could use some more of that in our society. But there's a lot of these things that keep coming up, this this idea that golf uh kind of calls to a higher power inside of all of us, and I've never felt that as strongly as I have in St. Andrews. And if you look at the old course, and then you look at the other courses that are there at St. Andrews, you know, a lot of people will tell you maybe the old course is the third best course there. And um I I get that. And I've played the castle, uh, I've played the new course, uh, I've played quite a few of them. And yeah, you know, as a golfer, maybe they're a little bit more interesting, or maybe they have a little better view, or whatever the case may be. But there's something very tangible and real and almost mystic about being at the old course. And a lot of people uh have described having very deep experiences there, uh, including myself with my father. Um, it's just a magical, magical place. But, you know, I really believe that this idea that faith uh and golf and a belief system, it all kind of makes sense, right? Like it's really hard to not see the golfer that's trying to get better as having faith. And whether that faith is in golf is going to work out for them because they're doing the right things, or it's a personal faith that, hey, I know that if I work at this, I can get better, right? So there is this belief system, there's this faith, and I think that's beautiful. But the thing that's really awesome about playing golf in the UK is it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find a bunker that is unraked. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find a ball mark. Now, the ball mark situation is a lot due to the way that the turf is conditioned. However, you're not gonna see somebody just kind of walk up, mark their ball in, and go about their business. Almost everybody's gonna try to find a ball mark. If they do see a ball mark, even if it's not theirs, they're gonna fix it. And you're just not gonna see this bunker uh with all the footprints going on in it and people walking away without even thinking to rake. Uh, it just doesn't exist. Um, now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure that there are some American people who are from other parts of the uh world who are visiting who maybe aren't so um etiquette, you know, don't understand golf etiquette as well, that maybe get away with that every now and then. So I don't want to say never, but I I think a Scotsman, a true Scot, uh would rather die than to be known as somebody who doesn't fix ball marks and and rake their bunker. And there's these standards. Um, there really are. There is standards within golf. And one of the biggest things that's kind of happened to American golf is the YouTube generation, right? We going back to COVID once again, everybody was kind of locked inside. Golf really kind of takes off uh for the obvious reason that it was the one thing that we could do outside as a community. And a lot of people were new to golf at that time or were experiencing golf for the first time. And they couldn't go take a golf lesson, they couldn't go maybe play with their dad, they couldn't go maybe play with their grandpa because of the social distancing requirements. But one thing that we see is that, you know, we haven't really done a great job here in the US with helping golfers, new golfers, uh, learn the etiquette of the game. And you can call it etiquette, you can call it standards, you can call it what you like, but quite frankly, it's just not getting done. And I've recently played golf. Um, and to be honest, every bunker, I mean, and I legitimately mean this, every bunker just hasn't been raked. There's footprints everywhere, there's ball marks everywhere, the pace of play is incredibly slow. Um, you walk into a clubhouse, everybody's wearing their hats. We see a lot of hats backwards on the golf course, we see a lot of shirts untucked. We see a lot of these things that I don't think you would have seen on the golf course maybe 20 years ago. And I think the reason is is because before golf became this thing to where everybody was kind of involved with it, a lot of people were led to the game by a family member. Uh, that was my personal scenario, right? So I played golf because my dad played golf, not very well, but I wanted to spend time with my dad as a young man, like we all do. And my way of spending more time with my dad was going to him when he did his league. And I'm not saying that the standards were very high there because they certainly were not, but my dad did teach me how to fix ball marks and how to rake a bunker and how to, you know, keep your cap on straight, keep your shirt tucked in, and those types of things. And this is in a beer league, more or less, uh, maybe 20 years ago, or actually it's longer than that now, probably 30, 35 years ago. So um it's it's really changed with how golfers become golfers and how they're exposed to the game. And I contribute to YouTube. This is going to go on YouTube, and I am guilty of this as well. I don't have a video that explains how to properly fix a ball mark. I don't have a video that explains how to properly rake a bunker. I don't have a video that talks about clubhouse etiquette and golf course etiquette and how this all works. And the reason that I don't make that is because it would get three views. Because people aren't interested in that. They're interested in hitting bombs and drinking transfusions by and large. And I know that I'm kind of throwing golfers stateside here under the bus, but that's generally what we're seeing at the public golf courses. And I typically play public golf courses. Um, I understand that if you go to your nicer clubs, obviously they have rules in place, they have their own set of standards, and people are expected to follow them. And if they don't follow those standards, well, then the club gets rid of them. So I think that what we probably are going to need is we're going to need some self-policing from, and not necessarily better golfers, but we're going to need some policing from golfers at large and help these people figure out like, you're not going to be able to walk away from a bunker without raking it anymore. And you're not going to be able to not fix your ball marks anymore, or or maybe somebody's going to, you know, talk to you about that and maybe ask you to go out there and fix the mess that you left because that's what it is. It's a total lack of respect for the golf course. And it's a complete lack of respect for the people that are charged with making sure you have a nice golf course to play. And so many people complain about the course conditions. So many people complain about how, you know, these golf courses, they're paying all this money because it's gotten more expensive over the past few years and that the quality has gone down. Well, if you're one of those people and you're not helping maintain the golf course, you are part of the issue. And it has to get better because I can't imagine what it's going to look like in another 10 years. And I understand, you know, that it's it's asking too much to put the responsibility on the maintenance staff. They shouldn't have to clean up after adults, they shouldn't have to pick up trash off the golf course, they shouldn't have to rake the. I mean, don't get me wrong, bunkers need routine maintenance, um, which is which is normal. But they shouldn't be having to go out every single morning because the last 30 tea times of the day were like, well, we're the last groups of the day, so somebody else will get it. Like that just doesn't work. And for too long, this has kind of been allowed to fester and develop. And I think you're really seeing it play out at the public golf course level. Um, a lot of golf courses are getting rid of bunkers left, right, and center. Um, and I know that there are maintenance costs involved with these bunkers, but at the same time, you know, they're investing all this money and trying to provide a decent bunker for us to play out of. And then their customer just simply doesn't take care of it. And as a small business owner, if and I've been through this, you know, we used to have a snack bar here uh at my facility at Measured Golf, and it was free. You know, I didn't charge anybody, and we had bottles of water and we had some snacks and coffee and all. And, you know, honestly, it just got to a point to where I was having to go to Costco every single week to replenish this thing. Nobody was saying thank you. Nobody was, you know, only taking what they needed. And honestly, like I got tired of picking up trash around my facility because people would just leave it behind because there was no value to it for them. It was something free. And generally, when things are free, a lot of people struggle to see the value. And that's where I feel like golf is kind of headed, right? Is people were paying their greens fee. The greens fee feels expensive because it probably is. And when they go out there and they hit it into the first bunker and they have it in a footprint, well, now they're upset. And now they're like, well, you know what? I why why do I have to clean up? Why do I have to straighten up? And it goes back to, you know, if we're talking about golf being this religion, it's about doing the right thing when nobody's looking. And I can't tell you how many bunkers I rake every round because I can't, I just simply cannot walk by a bunker that has tons of footprints in it. Um, I have too much respect for the people that are behind me and the people where they're gonna play later that day. And and honestly, I would do the same thing if I was the last tea time of the day. Um, but we're just not respecting the the golf course or the staff that provides that golf course for us. And we're really not doing really justice to ourselves. And, you know, I think a lot of people are probably going to listen to this podcast and kind of turn it off because maybe the shoe fits a little too well. And if that's you, then that's okay. Like, it's not the end of the world. And this is the beautiful thing, right? Like when you go into a house of worship and you, you know, maybe feel bad, maybe you had an argument with your loved one, you know, maybe you were cross um with somebody that you wish you weren't, but maybe you're you're kind of seeking a little bit of redemption. Well, this is your moment for redemption right here, because there's a very simple golden rule when it comes to golf, and it's rake every bunker that needs raked, and it's fixed three ball marks of green. Because as many good, gracious people as there are who are golfers and do the right things, there's always going to be a small sect of people who, quite frankly, just they can't do better for various reasons. And we're going to have to protect the other fellow golfers from that experience. And, you know, I like to believe, and and once again, we're back to a reward-based program, but I like to believe that if you're fixing your ball marks, maybe more than your share, and you're raking bunkers, maybe more than your share, that creates a lot of good golf karma, right? And what golfer couldn't use some good golf karma, especially when you have one kind of hanging on the lip. Um, and more often than not, you know, it feels like after fixing a few ball marks or maybe raking a couple extra bunkers, it tends to feel like, you know, maybe I get it, you know, one that I shouldn't have got to fall, or maybe, you know, I hit one offline a bit and I find myself being okay when I thought otherwise I would be in bad shape. So I do believe that there is golf karma. I do believe that golf rewards uh the people that do the right thing, whether they're playing by themselves and nobody's around, or whether they're playing in a group, or maybe they're playing in a scramble, or whatever the case may be. But you never know who is watching. It shouldn't matter who is watching. We should always strive to do the right thing. But I think it's even more important if you're with newer golfers to make sure that you live up to the code of a golfer. And I think that the easiest way to get people to want to do the right thing is by leading by example. It's massive. Um, I was playing at a very nice club, uh, like a very nice club not that long ago, and we had caddies with us. That's part of the requirements, part of the code for that golf course. And I noticed that the caddy, uh, who was very young, by the way, none of this, and she was also uh a nice young woman. And I uh I noticed that she was fixing ball marks and maybe the way that a lot of people think is okay. And she has one of these big like switchblade tools, basically, which by the way, you don't need a tea will work just fine. But she had like one of these big switchblade tools and she sticks it in the ground and kind of pops it up, right? And I saw that and I was like, okay, well, this is an opportunity. And I said, her name was Yaz. I said, Hey, Yaz, uh, if you don't mind, uh, can I show you something? And she's like, sure. And I pulled a T out of excuse me, I pulled a T out of my pocket and found a different ball mark, and I fixed it and I showed her exactly how I did it. And before I could even get done fixing the ball mark, which by the way doesn't take very long, she was like, Wow, thank you so much. Like I've I've kind of wondered, like, am I doing this right or wrong? And she wanted to learn how to do it the right way. And the rest of the day, she literally used a T and she fixed all the ball marks, exactly how I had shown her. And the thing that was actually really cool about this situation is that I was uh standing over where my ball was, getting ready to hit a putt. Um, Yaz was kind of standing over by the golf bags with the other caddies, and I see her fix a ball mark. And then I see the other caddies kind of go over there and like kind of they're all standing around one another. And she had shared what I had just shared with her a few minutes ago with the caddies. And after the round, you know, everybody was like, hey man, thanks for showing us that. Nobody's really taught us that before. And that's beautiful, right? Because I didn't have to be demonstrative. I didn't have to yell, I didn't have to accuse her of having ill will towards the golf course. Uh, I just showed her, right? And if we could lead by example, that's always going to be the best way to get people to behave better on the golf course, much like faith, right? We all uh I'll use myself as an example. I grew up in the state of Kentucky. Uh, there are a lot of Southern Baptists in Kentucky. And I'm not saying that every Southern Baptist is this way, but when I was in college, I worked at a couple liquor stores. And you'd be amazed at how many people that you might see from church at the liquor store. And that might not make a lot of sense to you depending on what your personal. Belief system and faith is, but one of the uh the caveats to being a Southern Baptist is you're not supposed to be drinking. Like that's what they believe. And you see a lot of you know Southern Baptists who are out drinking pretty good on a Saturday night and uh at church Sunday morning, and they're there to be forgiven for all of their sins and transgressions. And uh, you know, it's it's funny, right? It's do one thing and say another kind of scenario, and and that exists outside of faith as well and outside of golf as well. But I truly believe that we are all called uh to a higher responsibility when we're on the golf course. And I think that we should all do our very best to respect the golf course uh in the best possible way. So I just think that there's a lot of a lot that could be said for where the current standards or the current expectations are for golf. And you can call it etiquette, it's supposed to be a gentlemanly game, but it's more or less just doing the right thing. And if you haven't thought of this before, it's doing the right thing, not only for yourself, uh, but it's doing the right thing for the others. Because if you're like me and you're paying to play golf and it feels expensive, which it does, you know, we don't want like you don't want to be the person that makes that worse for somebody behind you. You don't want to pass that buck to them. Um, I know sometimes it's very frustrating and we feel like, why is this left to me to do? But at the same time, we have to kind of live up to what our faith is. And it challenges everybody, right? So faith is challenging. Um, golf is challenging, you know, but I really believe that if you want to have some good golf karma, right? I think that doing some of these things is really important. And I know I briefly mentioned it, but and maybe it's, you know, me once again being from the state of Kentucky, uh, tries to kind of be more southern than it actually is. But, you know, it's it's kind of common courtesy to take your hat off when you go inside, especially at a nicer golf course. Um, and I think a lot of people maybe haven't heard that before. Uh, maybe a lot of people who didn't have a overzealous grandpa who'd smack them upside the head every time they didn't take their hat off inside. But that is definitely one of those like unwritten rules. Uh, and depending on where you go, maybe a written rule as well. But we take our hats off inside, guys. You know, the sunglasses, the hats, all that stuff needs to come off your head. Um, and we and we need to be respectful of the fact that, you know, whether you're a member or not, we're still a guest of the golf course. Um, and I think a lot of people lose sense of that maybe when they join a club and they think that they're paying, you know, the dues and and you know, maybe they're getting hit with assessments and some of these things. But at the end of the day, we need to, you know, live up to our own moral code. And, you know, there is a North Star that we all strive for. And I get it, a lot of people, you know, they show up to the golf course to play a game, and the goal of any game is, you know, to do your best and to shoot the lowest score possible within this game. But there's a lot of things that also occur in the four or five hours that you're out there, uh, other than shooting a score, that really are indicative of what kind of person you are. Um, similar to, you know, if you are part of your local church or part of your current faith, and you know, you're out in the public and you see somebody, and maybe they're not living up to those standards that that that faith has, you know, how does that make you feel? Well, that's how we as golfers also feel uh when we're out there and we find unraked bunkers and ball marks and things like that. Um, it's just really not kind of following the traditions of the game of golf. So one of the kind of as we kind of go, it might get just a little bit more uh or sorry, it might get a little less tangible. But one of the other things that I always kind of find interesting is I play a lot of golf by myself. Um, I really enjoy going out, walking, carrying my bag, just me, uh, because it creates a lot of like time for reflection. And reflection is generally best in in solitude. And I don't know how many golfers think about this, but we do spend a lot of time kind of in our own little heads while we're playing golf, even if you're playing within a group, you know, those moments before hitting the shot and then hitting the shot, you know, there's a lot going on inside of us. So golf really does create this space that's almost sacred to where excuse me, to where you can, you know, find the time to maybe have that conversation with you yourself, maybe have that reflection that otherwise we don't have. I'm sure most people listening to this have very busy, chaotic, hectic lives, as we all do. But golf really kind of creates this unique opportunity to to kind of, you know, A, uh, be still, uh, to be uh reflect, and then C, maybe to be introspective and look at ourselves in the mirror. And I think that's what drives golfers the craziest is, you know, there's nobody to blame it on. There's there's nobody, you know, you hit one, uh, you know, maybe you hit a great drive, and you know, you've got a pitching wedge in your hands into a par four and you're licking your chops because, oh man, I I should hit this to 15 feet, and I'm gonna have a good look at Birdie and yada yada yada. We all tell ourselves these things, we pile on the expectations, and then we just pull hook this thing, you know, 30 yards left of the green. That drives golfers crazy. And I think the biggest reason that drives golfers crazy is because there's nobody to blame. You can't, you know, and golfers love to try, right? Like, oh, the wind popped up, or you know, oh, I didn't I didn't realize that the ball was above my feet, or oh, this golf club doesn't fit me correctly, or whatever the case may be. But in reality, there are no excuses. We are accountable for each and every stroke, and we can make up narratives that protect our ego, but in reality, we really need to learn to sit with ourselves and to accept ourselves as being imperfect. And I'm pretty sure that's what most faith and most religions tell people is that we are imperfect. And I can't think of a better example of that than golf. Going back to some of my earlier statements, if we think about, you know, the player I was with on the bag that shot 64 in a competitive round, you know, that's an absolute triumph. I can't imagine how good that young man felt about himself because he has really performed well and it's a personal best. And man, does that probably make him feel really, really good? But at the same time, there's still this personal accountability going on to where it's like, well, I messed up here and I messed up here and I messed up here. And that's where we have to learn to accept. And we have to learn to accept that as much as we try to be robots who do the exact same thing every time, we're always going to be fallible because of being a human being and we are going to make mistakes. And that is okay. And faith tells you that's okay, religion tells you that's okay. And that's why there's always this redemption faction to things, right? To where we're able to maybe right the wrong down the road. But at the end of the day, there is an honor code within golf that says that we play by the rules, we put everything out, and we tally it up faithfully, and that's what the score is. And as we all know, there's a lot of people out there who maybe don't put everything out and certainly don't play by the rules, and maybe don't keep accurate scores. And we all know that person, and there's a real trust factor probably with that person. I know for me personally, I really feel like I get a good understanding of what kind of person I'm dealing with based off the way they play golf. Because if they are incapable of being accountable on the golf course to themselves, I don't know how they're going to be accountable and truthful and honest in any of their other dealings. Because at the end of the day, it's very difficult to be truthful and honest if you're not truthful and on with others, if you're not truthful and honest with yourself. And that's where golf really puts the magnifying glass to us. Because we all do the same thing. We go to the driving range, maybe before we tee off, and we kind of hit some balls and we find it, right? And we're like, oh, today's a day. Today's a day. And I hate to tell people, but that's just your ego talking. Um, and that is a false sense of confidence. And then because we feel like this is who we are, we move the goalpost, we raise the expectations of this is who I am as a golfer today. When we go out there on the golf course and we make that mistake, man, that stinks. Because it's literally chipping away at our own self-belief and our own confidence and our own ego. And that's really what drives golfers crazy because nobody likes that scenario. If you think that you're doing a good job at wherever you work, and then you come in on, you know, Wednesday morning feeling good about the work you've been doing all week, and your boss lights you up, nobody likes that, right? Nobody likes to play a short par four and make a double bogey, but it happens. And it happens more often, probably, than we like to admit. But that is how it works. And as much as it might hurt us in the moment, as much as it might really feel like it makes us question ourselves and it shakes us, shakes our faith in ourselves and our belief in ourselves, we have to own that to get through that. We have to be able to own our imperfection in order to better understand it so that now when we go and practice and we prepare, now we can go about working on the things that tend to get in our way. But when we fail to examine ourselves and we make up excuses and we come up with reasons for why this happened, that's a deflection. And more importantly, we're never going to understand what we have to do to get better. Um, and that's where a lot of people really miss the mark with golf. And sure, you know, you can sign for whatever scorecard you want and you can tell people your handicap is whatever you want. But if you go out and play golf, you know, the truth is gonna come out. And that's where I think a lot of people struggle, right? Is a lot of people play golf because of maybe business reasons. Uh, they're out with colleagues, they're out with their boss, maybe they talked a big game at the office. And now we're out here and it's like, okay, well, you're being examined, and we're gonna see how truthful you've been. And more importantly, we're gonna look at what kind of person you are. Do you fix those ball marks? Do you rake those bunkers? Do you keep an honest scorecard? Do you play by the rules? And, you know, a lot of people just really have a tough time with that. So I think it all ties into morality, right? And morality, integrity, honor, you know, if you if you think of religion of faith, we we tend to hear about morality. If we talk about golf, we tend to think about honor. And I think those things are very, very similar. Um, I don't think there's a massive difference in them. And honor is very, very important in golf. And going back to Scotland, you know, I think, and and once again, I I'm not Scottish myself. I've been a few times. I am definitely giving you my observations. But I think in Scotland, like, I don't think there's a bigger sin, let's call it, than lying about your handicap. And it's it's really amazing to listen to people talk about golf and the earnestness that they talk about it in. And like the handicaps tend to be um a bit lower over there. And I think the reason for that is a lot of the handicaps um are lower due to the fact that once once again, they're not playing stroke play every single time. Uh, as a matter of fact, there's not a there is a lot of stroke play over there, but it's not the predominant way the game is played over there. So that's going to have an effect on handicap. But the other thing, too, is that American golf tends to be very soft. Uh, the ground is very soft. We really like a green golf course over here. And to keep it green, depending on where you live, it needs a fair amount of water. And if we're constantly watering to keep the greenness going, then the golf course becomes soft. And for a lot of golf courses here in the US, the ball just doesn't go anywhere on the ground. So if you're a new golfer and typically new golfers struggle to get the ball in the air, you know, it's going to take you five, six, seven strokes just to get to the green on a par four as a new golfer. And by the time you get there, you're so frustrated. Uh you feel like you're holding everybody up. You know, you just kind of get it up on the green, you slap it around a couple of times with a putter and you move on. But over in the UK, where the ground is so much firmer because it's sand-based, uh, what you tend to see is that the ball will travel a good ways along the ground, assuming that it doesn't run into a bunker. Um, but because the ball is running so much more, even if you top it three times, you're you're pin high on a part four. So now all of a sudden you're incentivized to learn how to chip and pitch and putt and learning how to score. So I think there's a few reasons why the handicaps tend to be a bit lower, but you will listen to people over there talk about their handicap in a very earnest and honest way. And it's not this, well, I'm a so like you don't see it being a braggadocious thing like you do here. Um, if you go over to a pub in St. Andrews and you're talking to somebody and he's not a great golfer, they'll tell you, oh, I'm all the way down to an eight. And you know, it's almost like shame because there's such honor within being a good golfer within that society. And they're they're almost like wearing this uh a little bit as a martyr, that they're not better at golf, right? And I think that's really beautiful because if we go to, let's say, a bar in New York, you know, everybody's gonna tell you how they're a scratch golfer, uh, because it's a very braggadocious thing. And a lot of people, especially new golfers, tend to think like an 18 is like a bad handicap. And in American golf, an 18 is not that bad. Uh, it takes quite a bit of work, actually, to be a legitimate 18 playing American golf. So um, I don't think there's any shame in that, but I definitely think that the way handicaps are perceived uh here in the US is pretty disingenuous. And I I really get upset because a lot of people treat that handicap as their North Star. And the only way, only reason handicaps are invented is to level the field amongst compet competitors. Um, it's not meant to be a North Star. As a matter of fact, if you're using it as your North Star, you're probably in a good bit of trouble because when you think that way, and it's all about lowering that handicap, and that's all you're focused on, that really doesn't tell us how to do it. Uh, and it's very outcome focused. And one thing about golf is golf is about progress, and golf is about skill acquisition, and golf is about this continual learning, very similar to faith and religion, right? It's it's nobody's supposed to be the perfect member of their church starting out. It takes time. We maybe need to read the book or the literature that comes along with our faith or religion. Maybe we need to go and and speak with the the head person and and get some insight. Maybe we need to take some classes and pass a test, or maybe there's good works or whatever the case may be. But similar to golf and religion, it's not about being this ideal from the jump. It's about going through the struggles, it's about learning how to better yourself, it's about doing the right things, uh, maybe when nobody's looking. Uh, it rewards a lot of the same behaviors. And once again, versus being this like thing that we talk about, which I would say in religion and faith, you know, I'm gonna use Catholicism uh as an example just because I'm most familiar with it myself. Uh, but like, you know, we don't we don't do these works, right? Um, we go out into the community, we self-report back to uh the priest and a confession, maybe. And then it's like, okay, we'll go say how you know 10 Hell Marys and you're forgiven. Um, and I know I'm uh forgive me, I'm not trying to offend anybody who is Catholic. Um, but like that's kind of in a nutshell my understanding of it. Um, so the thing about golf though is that you can talk all you want to talk, but if you don't go and practice and you don't work on these things, the the idea that you're somehow going to get better uh just doesn't exist. And that's where I think there is a little bit of a divide, right? Is you know, we talk about good works uh in faith and religion, but on the golf course, like they have to happen, or we don't get the reward. We don't get that cookie. Um, and I think that's beautiful, right? I I love action, action steps, uh, learning how to get better at something. And that's the greatest gift that I think golf teaches us is it teaches us how to better ourselves um through that introspection and and through that self-awareness and through that belief of hey, I I can do this, and if I do this, the golf course, you know, is going to reciprocate. So I think that's beautiful. Um, I really do. And probably the biggest, and I've I've kind of more or less danced around it the whole time, but um, you know, where golf, I believe, is truly more of a religion than anything else, is that it's the quest for perfection. Um, it's this striving to be the best we can be. How many times have you been on the putting green and told yourself that this is to win the US Open? How many times have, you know, you've been on a on the golf course, and you're like, oh, this is just like you know, number 12 at Augusta? Um, we all go through that and we all think that way. And, you know, we all have this dream of you know being able to go out there and go mono a mano with Scotty Scheffler and and be able to beat him. Um that's that's kind of that that ego, that's kind of that faith, that's kind of that uh commitment to if I just keep getting better, right? And in a lot of ways, that's amazing. Because if we didn't have faith, if we didn't believe we could get better, if we didn't have that internal belief system, you know, life would be miserable because life is hard. Um, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter how much money you have, uh, it doesn't really matter at all. Life is always going to be difficult for the person living it because of the fact that we only have our perspective. So even though I've had some traumatic things happen in my life that are not great, and maybe if I describe them, some people be like, oh my goodness, like that's one of the worst things you could go through. That's just my perspective, and I only know what I know. And that's why I generally try not to relate my pain and my trauma to anybody else's, because you only know what you know, and your rock bottom is your rock bottom. And we can't compare and contrast these things because it's it's all based in perspective, and that's where you know golf really drives people mad is this wanting to do better. And and like I said earlier, the 64 that this player shot, you know, there were a couple shots that he felt like you know were there that he didn't take advantage of. And that's that quest for perfection, right? But one thing that we do know is that you know, perfection really isn't defined within golf, just like it really isn't defined within religion um or faith, right? It's it's really left up to the person to do their best and to try to live uh in accordance with whatever that is, faith, religion, or golf, right? And that's where I think I want to kind of take this conversation, right? Um, so many people um talk about chasing scratch, right? There's a million podcasts about it, there's a million YouTube videos about it. You know, if you go to your water cooler at work, they're probably talking about trying to pursue scratch. But being a good player uh and being able to quote unquote be a scratch player, you know, it's such a small piece of it. Um, you know, I've played with some guys that are just amazing. Uh I played some professional golf earlier in my life. Uh I get to work with a lot of professionals now that work on the or that, yeah, I said that correctly, that work on the PGA tour, LPGA tour, Division I college athletes. Uh, I've mixed it up with these guys and way better golfers, right? Like I can say that because it's true. Uh they are better at golf than I am, and I'm okay with that. But a lot of people that I've played with who are better than me, I would say are worse golfers than me. And what I mean by that is they might have beat me on the scorecard, but you know, maybe they didn't fix their ball marks, maybe they didn't take their hat off when they went inside, maybe they didn't like rake the bunkers. Like there's a lot that goes into quote unquote being a good golfer. And I think that we're really losing sight of that quickly. And, you know, as somebody who's recently sober again, um, you know, I'm really enjoying this process. I'm really enjoying the frustration. I'm really enjoying having that self-introspective park to this again, because it's the only way to growth. And for so long, you know, last year I had maybe one of the best golf seasons of my life. And then this season's really been a struggle. Um, and not because I've like hit the ball significantly different or whatever. It's just it's not kind of clicked for me this year. And I think a lot of that was because of the fact that I was doing drugs on the golf course. Uh, I haven't drank in about 17 years, but I was a pretty regular cannabis user, very regular cannabis user. I was definitely an addict. Uh, and about a month ago, uh, I decided that enough was enough. And since I've made that decision, I'm not going to tell you that the golf has gotten better. Uh, it hasn't yet. But at the same time, I'm at least now more aware of what's going on. And through golf and through that solitude and through that introspection and through the ability to actually understand what's going on, you know, I'm being honest with myself. And now that I'm being honest with myself, it's like, oh, well, you know, I need to work on this a little bit more. And, you know, I really need to work on the core work, right? And my belief system needs help. Um, my belief system about golf needs to change. And for so long, for the past year, it just hasn't been there. And that's really been the difference, right? Is is this this ability to believe in oneself, to do the right thing, and to step up to the challenge and have that action step. So, you know, I love to walk. Um, I think that's very important. Uh, golf is supposed to be like a physical activity. Uh, so I'm not a big fan of the carts, you know, I'm not a big fan of the music, not because I don't like music, I love music, but music has a time and place. And, you know, on the golf course, I like I like the quiet. I like uh there not being a lot of distractions because once again, that creates a great opportunity for us to have that conversation with ourselves, to be accountable with ourselves, and to maybe ask ourselves some questions that otherwise we don't ask. So I think there's a lot of opportunity uh for golf to be more than what it currently is. And if you're in Scotland and you're listening to this, you probably think, you know, what's this guy talking about? Like, this is what we do. And yeah, but I think, you know, a lot of us um owe golf a lot. I know I do. I owe golf my entire life. This is what I do, this is what I love. Uh, I've been very fortunate to get to spend my life doing it, uh, but I owe it uh a lot for saving my life, to be perfectly honest. And it has in a lot of different ways at a lot of different times. So, you know, I think the idea that, you know, we go to the golf course and you know, we've got our drinks and we've got our boom box and we've got our cart, and like we're just gonna cruise around here and you know, not take care of the place because you know, I paid top dollar to be here and somebody else will come and fix it, you know. I think that's gotta go. And growing up in Kentucky, um, you know, like I said earlier, you know, it's predominantly Southern Baptist down in Kentucky. And we have a term that we use down there called a holy roller. And they tend to be those people who are very boisterous about their faith and their religion, and you know, they they're kind of trying to convince everybody that they're living the right way. And the problem is that this person, this holy roller type, uh, is not doing that. And it's this kind of sales job that they're trying to do to convince everybody around them that they're a person of faith and a person of good moral character and they have honor. But, you know, so much of golf now is about, you know, what you wear and what clubs you have and what club you belong to, and all that, all that. And it just feels very disingenuous. It feels like a golf roller, I guess is the term we'll come up with. Um it's just a really a shame that we've lost so much of what makes golf special. And it's one of the few games that you self-report, you know, you self-report when you have a rules infraction. Um it's that's a beautiful thing, right? Um, if you haven't seen the story about Tigers' third US, I'm sorry, third U.S. amateur uh victory, he has a putt to win. Um, and he forgot to put his mark back. He was going to hit the putt, and he was going to incur a two-stroke penalty, and uh that was going to be that. And the the g I forgive me because I forget the name of the gentleman he played with. Um but the the gentleman he was playing with told him, Tiger, you forgot to put your mark back. That's you talk like we're we're playing for probably that gentleman's biggest accomplishment he would ever have in golf. Uh Tiger obviously went on to be just fine, but you know, this gentleman had the opportunity to take down a two-time U.S. amateur champion and was right there ready to do it. And instead of watching Tiger not put his ball mark back, letting him hit the putt and then calling the penalty, had had the courage, right? I think that's the right word, had the courage and the honor and the respect for the game to go, hey Tiger, you forgot to put your mark back. And then unfortunately, uh golf did not reward him, and Tiger made the putt. So uh Tiger is a three-time uh US amateur champion. And uh I think that's that's really cool, right? Like, you're not gonna hear about that in other sports, you know. You're not you're not gonna see you know Stephen Curry uh self-report a foul on LeBron James when it was the game-winning shot. Like that it doesn't occur in basketball, that doesn't occur in football. Uh, it just doesn't occur really in any other sport other than golf. And I think that moment really is uh reflective of the magic that is golf. So I don't know um if I've made a very good case for golf being something more than a game, but I certainly hope I have. And if nothing else, um I think I've shared a little bit with how I view the game and how I kind of treat the game in a very reverend way, because to me it is a lot. And I have learned most of what I know about life through golf. And like I said, I'm very fortunate to have spent the past 35 years in the game of golf. Um, I owe it a great deal, I owe it everything, and I really am appreciative of it because it's always been there for me. Uh, very similar to how a faith and a religion and a church works, right? Like the golf course is always there, uh, it's always available, and it's up to me with how I choose to use that resource. Um, I can go out there and I cannot respect it, or I can go out there and understand that maybe I'm walking on hallowed grounds and more or less treat it that way because that's how I feel. Um, and it's it's not it's not fake with me. It's not one of those things to where I only fix ball marks and wreck bunkers when other people know it's an all-the-time thing because once again, it's it's about the character of me. It's not how I'm perceived. It's it's what am I doing? Am I living up to this code? And I think honor is huge. And I think that golfers constantly have their honor checked and constantly have that honor uh almost kind of toyed with, right? And there's a lot of opportunities on a golf course to do the wrong thing. There's a lot of opportunities to kind of nudge the ball a little bit, there's a lot of opportunities to improve your lie a little, there's a lot of opportunities to kind. Of just maybe not do the right thing. But at the end of the day, you're only lying to yourself and you're only cheapening your own experience. And I can promise you that the next time you go play golf, if you fix three ball marks of green and you rake the bunkers and you take care of the golf course and you say please and thank you to everybody, and you take your hat off and you say thank you for making this available for me, you're going to leave feeling a lot better than you would if you didn't. Score doesn't matter. Um, the score is going to be the score. And depending on what kind of golfer you are, those are the scores you're going to shoot. Um, maybe lower the expectation a little bit, maybe take some of the stress off of trying to be perfect, which we all know is is impossible as a human being, and maybe focus on the the low-hanging fruit, let's call it, that is the etiquette that goes along with playing golf. Because once again, you're gonna shoot roughly the scores you shoot. So, how do we get it lower? Well, I believe that maybe a little golf carmo could go a long way in helping you shoot some lower scores. So, anywho, I uh I really love golf, if you can't tell, and it means a lot to me, and I love to share it. Um, I love trying to do things that help people connect with golf in a more meaningful way than a than a one one number score because that just it really distills golf down to the lowest common denominator. And at the end of the day, golf is multifaceted, um, and it is the greatest game ever. And I don't think it's a game. I I truly believe golf is a religion, it's very old, it serves a lot of purposes for people, it provides a moral compass for people. And I think it would be very difficult to argue that golf is simply just a game. Um, so I understand that a lot of people play it as a game, but just because you maybe don't recognize it for more than it is, you know, it doesn't mean that we can't respect it all the same. And generally people, you know, respect, you know, sacred spaces. Uh, and I think that we need to to kind of enforce that if that's not happening, right? Like if you drove by a church uh and somebody was doing something uh in in bad faith, you know, I think a lot of people would intervene. And I think that's what we need on the golf course, right? Is we need to get some of these bad actors to shape up or just get get get them gone. You know, one of I hate to say it that way, but there's there's too many opportunities and there's too many good things that golf can do for people to let a few bad actors ruin it for everybody. So, with that said, fix some ball marks, you know, share the game of golf with somebody that you care about, teach them the etiquette, um, because this is how we we keep this thing going. And I think if we don't take action and we don't start self-policing, uh, I think it's only going to get worse. And I don't I don't know what that looks like, nor do I want to think about it uh because I love it too much. So, anywho, thank you so much. Um, I really hope you took something away from this. I know it is definitely uh quite a bit of a divergent from where we normally go in these podcast conversations, but I'm happy that I did this and it feels good and it feels right. And whether anybody likes it or not, it's once again not about what people see me doing, but it's about trying to do the right thing. And right now nobody's watching, uh, nobody's in here with me. So uh I guess I'm I'm living up to my honor code that golf has taught me over the years. So thanks again for listening to this podcast. I really hope you enjoyed it and took something away from it. If you did, please do us a favor. Um, you can find our podcast anywhere you download your favorite podcast and leave us a review uh if you don't mind. That really helps, uh, as well as subscribing. And then if you don't mind, uh if you thought this was cool and maybe you don't want to have this conversation with a loved one or somebody you play golf with, just share the podcast with them and let me be the bad guy. So uh please do that. That really helps us out a lot. And uh if you have any kind of feedback or anything like that, there's a whole lot of ways to get in touch with us. Uh, we have a YouTube channel called Measured Golf. We have a website, measuredgolf.com, and we have a social media uh which you can also find at measuredgolf. If you're interested in reaching out directly to me, you can find me on Instagram at the forceplayguy. So thanks again for listening, and until next time, keep grinding.
