Episode 83: Amateur golfer and Nick Dunlap's caddie Hunter Hamrick

Hunter Hamrick was on Nick Dunlap’s bag for his historic win on the PGA Tour in 2024. Before that wild win, Hamrick has had quite a relationship with the game of golf. He played on the 2012 Alabama team that lost to Texas in the National Championship. He played professionally for nine years and then returned to Alabama as an assistant coach in 2021, where he met Dunlap. During this podcast, we talk about Hamrick’s recent win in the NIT at the Country Club of Birmingham before diving into that incredible 2012 National Championship, which was loaded with talent, and his experience on Nick Dunlap’s bag for his American Express Championship and how life has changed now that he’s a full-time PGA Tour caddie.

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Transcript

Sean Melia:

Want to welcome in Hunter Hamrick to the amateurgolf.com podcast. Hunter, thanks for joining us today. We got a bunch of cool stuff to cover, I'm sure.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to it.

Sean Melia:

You've you've had a pretty interesting golf experience, especially the last year or so. But, you know, you most recently, I think you you made it on our website as the NIT winner down at Country Club of Birmingham. And we can love to maybe talk about that. You're currently, you know, caddying for Nick Dunlap and maybe not playing as much golf as you'd like. So, you know, what was it like to to compete to win and to think you said in the article just to be the one swinging the golf club. How was that experience this week or last week?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I think it's the first thing I've really won since coming back to amateur golf. I hadn't played a ton of stuff, but I've had some decent finishes. I might have met a little bit the U.S. medium qualifier last year, but that's not really a tournament. But first tournament to really hold the trophy and win for a long time. So that was pretty cool.

Sean Melia:

Good to have the juices flowing, those competitive juices.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah. Well, luckily, you know, Katty and I do get that. So I've been kind of used to it, you know, Nick's pretty good at getting himself up there and in contention. So we've had that a few times this year, but it's still different, you know, swinging, having to, you're nervous, but I don't have to go swing the club. So yeah.

Sean Melia:

That final round you made a bunch of birdies. Any shots or little highlights from that week of competing that stand out to you or you kind of go back to now after a little bit of time thinking about it?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, a couple of little moments. You know, the first day I wasn't playing that great and I kind of grinded out at even par, which I thought was huge. You know, it just kind of kept me in there. And then the second day I doubled number one and then I came back and birdied number two, a tough hole up the hill. And I think that was just a key moment. And then

The last day I just played a great stretch of golf from like what?

11, 12, 13 through 16 right through there. just, you know, it just, haven't had a stretch in competition in a long time where you're kind of in that, in that, where it just seems easy, you know, I was hitting good shots and giving myself putts and making them and, got on a little roll right through there. it, it, it's always fun to get in that. They usually don't last long. It lasted four or five holes, it's just, know, where everything was clicking right. And, It's really fun to be in that moment.

Sean Melia:

Are you a scoreboard watcher while you're playing or while you're caddying either way?

Hunter Hamrick:

I'm not, you I'm not. So I didn't have a clue. You know, I wasn't watching the Golf Genius. I knew I was playing well and that place is tough. So I knew I was up there, but I didn't know. And funny thing is I had a buddy text me on 17. I had my phone out, but I wasn't watching, you know, Golf Genius or whatever. And see a text and it's like, congrats, man. I know you're going to finish this off or whatever.

And at that moment I had no clue that I was leading. And of course I bogeyed the last two holes, but yeah, I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah. I think at the time I had a four or five shot lead, you know, when I went back and looked at it, cause he texted me that and then I'm like, God. And I hit a bogey 17 and I don't know what I am. And I hit a bad drive off 18. And so I went to the golf genius then and checked it out. wanted, I was like, all right.

Sean Melia:

That's amazing.

Hunter Hamrick:

I'm in the trees, do I need to try to make a par or birdie or, know, can I kind of, you know, definitely just get it home, yeah. So I saw I had a few shots to work with and, you know, just made sure I didn't make a disaster. Yeah, yeah. He had more confidence in me than I've had myself.

Sean Melia:

Just get it home.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, that's amazing. Don't text your friends while they're playing in a competitive round. No matter how much they're leading by, it's only bad can happen. Only bad things.

I always like to just ask people. I think everyone has a different story, but just getting into golf. What? What? How did you get started? What's your golf origin story?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, so my dad was a golfer and he played college golf. started at Alabama, ended up in his hometown at Troy University and played a little mini tour golf after that and whatever. So ever since with him being someone that loved the game and played a lot, he had me swinging the club from once I could walk and then I just, I guess I enjoyed it and played my whole life.

Probably started tournaments when I was six or eight, you know, and just been doing it forever. So I just, I love the, I love the grind and I love the game. So.

Sean Melia:

Do you remember when you first beat your dad?

No, he probably might.

Hunter Hamrick:

Honestly, I don't. wish I did. he might, but I really don't. I would say I was probably 10, 11, 12, something like that, if I had to guess.

Sean Melia:

Yeah.

So competitive, you jumped right in playing competitive golf and you got to play at Alabama. Where did D1 Golf, obviously with your dad being a good player, it might have been percolating a little earlier for you, but when did it start to, you realized, I wanna go to college, I wanna play golf. And then when did Alabama kinda come into the mix?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, I think forever, you know, like playing college golf was the goal. Or I guess that was, it was almost a stop along the goal. You know, I think in coaching at Alabama, most of the really high end juniors, that's not like they're in goal. You know, it kind of can't be if you're recruiting the top end. Like if that's your end goal, then you might, this might not be the spot for you, but

You do want it to mean something playing college golf. And so I was really fortunate, not only did my dad play, when I was growing up, there was a great junior program at my club and we had a lot of good juniors. And so I was fortunate to kind of get to grow up in the atmosphere. You know, and I think that was super beneficial to me. was the youngest one and there was four or five of us that all played D1 college golf. And so I grew up with it, you know, and, they're 16 and being recruited or whatever. And I was, you know, 12, 13 and you know, I was competing right alongside them. So I knew that, you know, if they're going to college golf, then I got a shot at it for sure. So, I think

It was just always something that was kind of a stop along the journey for me. But yeah, I just was fortunate to have a really good situation of some older guys that kind of tag along and push me along.

Sean Melia:

Iron sharpens iron, right? Like just being around good players makes you better. And being the young guy, can.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah. I think it's the biggest deal for juniors. It's like you can find somewhere where you got some other other good players. You're going to. You know, really get a lot better. It's it's you know. If there's dads out there listening, it's like just get your get your sons or daughters around other good players and it just it's a lot more fun that way and you don't have to push him. You know kids will get out there and and push each other.

Sean Melia:

There's also just like the you don't have to be the best 13 year old. You don't have to be the best 14 year old like that. You just want to be in a place where you are playing around good players. You're competing. You're getting reps. You're seeing what other very good players are doing. I think sometimes junior golf we get just so wrapped up in being like the best 14 year old isn't always the best 20 year old.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, No, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you can probably think back to who was the best when 13 or 14 year old when you were coming up. And yeah, some of them are still the best, but like there's a lot of them that weren't even that good in college. And that's only three or four years later. So absolutely.

Sean Melia:

Yeah. And then so you end up going to Alabama. Was that your dream school? Was that the like the place you wanted to go play?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, pretty much. I I grew up an Alabama fan. So yeah, I had a pretty open mind about where I wanted to go or whatever. But one of my best friends growing up also played that I grew up with at my home course. He went to Alabama. He was three years older than me. And I kind of always was just tagging along to what he was doing. And so once he went to Alabama, I was pretty set on going to Alabama as well.

Sean Melia:

Yeah. And you had a pretty good little four year run that was capped off maybe a tournament you'd like another crack at, but finished runner up in the national championship in 2012, which was your senior year. and man, I went back and looked at that leaderboard from the metal play. Holy cow. yeah, it was incredible in the stroke play portion. Thomas Peters won,

Hunter Hamrick:

Yep.

Sean Melia:

Like Tyler McCumber was second, Patrick Cantlay, Corey Connors, Justin Thomas, who was a teammate of yours. He was a freshman. Homa, Keith Mitchell, Patrick Rogers were all in the top 10 that year. I mean, that was in kind of like, I wouldn't say golden age, but that chunk of time was really good.

Hunter Hamrick:

Well, that's what my wife asked that the other day. She's like, do you think the college guys are as good as when y'all were coming? And you don't know. It's always that age old debate. when we were playing there, whatever. These guys got, right now, my age group is kind of in prime PGA tour years. So you really get to see who's there and who knows what these guys will accomplish. But we did have a great.

Hunter Hamrick:

Great group going through college right then. mean, you know, had Kent State with in that turn. You had NZQ's, Corey Connors, Taylor Pindroth all on that squad. You had Florida State with Berger and Koepka. You know, you had, you had Homa and Michael Kim and Brandon Hagee and Joel Stalter who I played.

Sean Melia:

Mackenzie Hughes, right, and Cory Connors? Spieth in Texas?

Hunter Hamrick:

You know, one on the European tour, Texas, have Spieth for Telly. I mean, was, you know, my team at Alabama, some good players. So, yeah, it was really just stacked all the way around.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, it's incredible. And you win your championship match. You kind of go out, I think you went out first and won six and five. And Dylan Fratelli was the final match, one for Texas, think I read. Just reading some bits and pieces and it sounds like he hit a kind of a long putt to win and win three to two. So it was like kind of a classic championship match. Are there any moments for you that?

You kind of return to it's man, it's almost 13 years ago at this point, which is crazy to think and yeah, I don't mean to make you feel old. I'm older than you are, but it's time flies. Any, any, any highlights or things, or do you find yourself talking to those teammates about, about that week or, anything specific?

Hunter Hamrick:

It does.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, we talk about that week a lot when we get together, know, coach COO or whatever. And he always says that was one of maybe his favorite week coaching and so many memories from it. really was, you know, I've had a lot of good moments in golf and also a lot of bad moments, but that's definitely probably one of my golf highlights in my life. Like it was just a wonderful week. You know, we didn't win, which

What I just capped it off as the perfect ending to senior year. But it was just what a setting at Riviera for eight days and to come down to a match like that, was, and just the teams we beat from Kent State to Cal to Texas. I really was, mean, it's gonna be hard to top that week in college golf, like in college golf history. That was from the setting to the team, it was to the matches, was.

Unreal, some great golf played and so yeah, I remember about every part of that week.

Sean Melia:

Anything, anything specific, any, any shots that you hit or little moments with your team?

Hunter Hamrick:

You know, I think the big moment going into the last day, Sewell had told me a few weeks before the national championship that he was like, I'm going to put you at the, you know, if we get the match play, I'm going to put you in the last match. Are you comfortable with that? And I was like, yeah, absolutely. You know, as a competitor, you're never going to be like, no, I don't want to be in that moment or whatever. So, you know, so then going into the matches.

First one, we were fortunate to beat Kent State and I got called off the course. And then the second match, I came down to the last hole against Cal and it was just super nerve wracking. I ended up winning two in one. And I remember going into the last day being like, I don't wanna be in that situation tomorrow. I don't want it coming down to me. That was too much today.

Sean Melia:
Yeah

Hunter Hamrick:

I won, like I just, I don't know if I can handle the nerves of this whole thing coming down to me tomorrow. And so like my goal was just to get up. I wanted that thing over, you know, like that was like, I want to get up and just, I want this thing over as early as I can get it over with. That was my kind of mentality going into it. And then, and then, you know, they do the little pick on thing. Well, like, the golf week,

Sean Melia:

Yeah

Hunter Hamrick:

People always do it the night before and they do their picks or whatever. And it was funny, we were having our team meeting and they did the pick them with Ron Balicki, know, Ron Ron, I think they always called him, you know, and you had Lance Ringler and all those guys doing their picks. And not a single person picked me to win my match. You know, I was playing Julio who...

I think he'd played really good in stroke play and he was having a good senior year, you know, top 10 or 20 or something in college golf. and for what none of them picked me. And so, I had already read it, but then coach had seen it too. And so we're in our team meeting that night and he's kind of, you know, jabbing at me like, we're, we're going to have to go out there and, know,

I don't even know if we should let him play. He's got no chance to win, know, all this stuff. So kind of a combination of me not wanting to it come down to me and you know, no one picking me. just, I just felt like I had a lot of motivation going into that match. And, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't, you know, sometimes it can be too much and you can try too hard or whatever. But for whatever reason, I was just in a, in a really good, mental space that day and I get off to a super hot start. I think I eagle the first and birdie a few and it just all worked out for me. It was just kind of that magical day and besides getting the team win, which would have been a cherry on top, but it was a great match and just a cool moment all around.

Sean Melia:

Golfweek giving you bulletin board material. Who would have thought?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah they did. Yeah, yeah they didn't give me a chance.

Sean Melia:

Awesome.

And you gave it a you gave it a good long grind on the pro tour. You returned in 21 to Alabama as assistant coach. So from 2012 to 2021, you're you're playing pro golf. What what was what was the kind of the transition from Alabama to I think. It's understated how hard it is to go from being on a team, being kind of like having.

your events picked, everything set up to then like, all right, now you're on your own. What is that process like for you?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I definitely, you know, made some mistakes along the way for sure. But you know, that is what it is. It was, it was great. mean, I was going to turn pro the whole time and I came back from Nationals and a few days the next day qualified for the U.S. at Sectionals. And so, you know, there I go. I'm turning pro and going to play the U.S. Open as my first event. So that was a kind of how that worked out, which was awesome and made the cut and had a good week. And I was like, this professional golf thing's not going to be too bad. know, it's just going to, you know, whatever. It's going to be easy and not easy, but you know, I'm going to have some success at this. And I had some success here and there and got some status on corn fairs several times and just couldn't ever really get over the hump for whatever reason. But yeah.

I got to play for a long time and enjoyed it and learned a lot of things along the way.

Sean Melia:

You said you made some mistakes. What mistakes would you, maybe this is helping you with Nick a little bit, what mistakes did you make that you've maybe tried to either talk to your Alabama players for those two years you were there, who might be turning pro, anything, any lessons learned that you've tried to pass on?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, I think, you know, it's just super important to get like a good team around you and just like, and just get some really good mentors and get in a good spot as far as, know, where you're living and where you're putting, you know, I think, I think I made that mistake a little bit. It's like, I'd always been pushed, you know, whether it was a good junior program or a good college program. And, probably didn't put myself in the situation as far as being able to get pushed after college.

And you know, maybe did a few things wrong as far as teacher and swing coach, you know, stuff like that. you know, everything happens for a reason. But yeah, I try to pass it along to when I was coaching and to Nick and, you know, those decisions you make, it's like, especially for me as kind of a fringe guy, like I had to do everything right to get out on the PGA Tour, didn't bomb it, whatever, you know.

Probably my goods good enough, in very much had to do everything correct to have success out there some guys are super talented or gonna get out there anyways and You know, I just had to make the right choices and maybe missed on a few but So I just try to Help these guys make hopefully better decisions not that I made bad ones, you know, I but just you know, really know that they do hold some weight and try to put them in the best situation to be successful.

Sean Melia:

I mean, 2012, 2013, that kind of window of time feels like the beginning of you mentioned you didn't bomb it. That was almost the beginning of let's just see how far I can hit it. Equipment kind of took off even a little bit faster than it had in the previous decade, even when the Pro-V came into play and everything else.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, we got, know, the last year, 2012 was the last year you could get to the tour where now you can get back to school, but you know, we couldn't had to go through corn fairy, you know, in my limited experience playing seven or eight, whatever PGA tour events, I felt like that style of play help was a little more beneficial to me, you know, cuts at one, two under.

There's a little more precision, know, greens matter a little bit more where at Corn Fray you're shooting 25 under, it's just kind of bomb it out there, hit your wedge, make a bunch of putts. You know, it's a little different style game for someone like me. So having to go through that avenue is actually little probably tougher for me, but you know, it is what it is. Like I said, everything happens for a reason and...

Maybe I'm in the spot now to be able to pass some of that stuff along.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, well, that's a good nice way to transition. you know, your assistant coach at Alabama, you get to know Nick Dunlap. He qualified. He gets invited to play the AMEX. You travel out to what is that, Southern California, right? He's he's coming off an incredible summer, having won the USAAM, the North. Did he win the Northeast and the North and South that summer?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, on desert and springs or whatever.

Hunter Hamrick (22:58.726)

Northeast and north-south, yep.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, so I mean, was like playing great. Had a solid fall and now you're out at the MX and suddenly you're you're in contention on the PGA tour. Like Justin Thomas was in the final group with you, which is also kind of a cool little story, the Alabama connection. He was a teammate of yours in 2012. Like what a crazy whirlwind that must have been just going out there and then coming back like,

Nick Dunlap just did something no amateur has done in 33 years.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, it was definitely a crazy couple weeks. was, you know, I had a job. Thought I was about to start playing a bunch of amateur golf myself, you know, I got to play a little bit, leading up to that for a few months between my coaching and then, and I kinda, yeah, I'm gonna be, you know, have this job and I'm gonna get to play a bunch of amateur golf and this'll be, you know, this'll be fun, whatever. And life definitely changed really quickly, but.

A lot of good things and it was, yeah, it was a crazy weekend and a pretty cool experience.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, when did it become realistic for maybe for you and Nick to discuss or think about like winning that event? When did that become for you something that you thought could happen?

Hunter Hamrick:

I think after Saturday, we had a four shot league going into Sunday. It's hard to not think then like, all right, this is that real possibility. mean, four shots is, it's not a lot, but it is a lot. And so he definitely put himself right there and he's great closer.

Sean Melia:

What kind of conversations do you have on a Saturday night with him? Are you trying to just, I mean, you're new at this too, right? This is like, you've been on, you've played PJ tour events, but like catting for a 20 year old who's leading by four shots, like what?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, I yeah, that's what I talked to a couple of caddies, know, because we'd played the first three days it was the Pro-Am, you know, so like we did different courses. Yeah, we played with Wilson Furr who played at Alabama the first couple of days. He unfortunately got a back injury. Then we played with the Pro at La Quinta for the third round when he shoots 60. So it was very, you know, casual like.

Sean Melia:

Yeah. And it's on different courses, right? So you're jumping around.

Hunter Hamrick:

I don't know what I'm doing caddying, but I didn't really care. I'm not, know, Wilson's my buddy. Like I'm not going to mess him up. The pro isn't even in the tournament. Like, you know, I mean, if I mess up, who cares? And we're all just out there kind of playing casual golf, you know? And then four shot lead playing in the final round with JT and Sam Burns. yeah, it's like, okay, well, this is real. I got to figure out what I'm doing overnight, you know? So actually talked to a couple caddies and like, all right, what do I need to be doing? What do I not need to be doing? Stuff like that. yeah.

Sean Melia:

What kind of advice did they give you?

Hunter Hamrick:

I mean, stuff I kind of knew, but it was also just like, I've always been playing, not caddying. So just as far as etiquette and getting their ball, when caddies in the bunker, you get the ball, someone hits it out short of the green, you go right to the bunker for that. Just caddie etiquette that you don't really think of and stuff like that. And just making sure that I wasn't gonna be in the way with bones.

Sean Melia:

Yeah.

Hunter Hamrick:

And Travis, Sam Burns, is caddy, but they were great. It was fun to be in that position. Got to learn quickly. Some of these guys, they come up from caddying for a while. It's like, all right, well, you get a day. Yeah, so.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, that's it.

Sean Melia:

Yeah. mean, millions of dollars are on the line for those guys. you know, JT hadn't played great the year before. mean, in your there's also that like, like you said, I I got a kind of I want to I want to help Nick win, but I want to be out of the way if so these guys don't feel like we're just this.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to look like the big idiot out there. There's a gallery, there's, you know, it's just, didn't want to stick out like, all right, this guy, definitely a first timer, or whatever. I just didn't want to stick out in the way. So, yeah.

Sean Melia:

You mentioned Nick's a closer. What about him makes you say that? Like what are the qualities that he has that you see in him that make him a closer?

Hunter Hamrick:

I think that's kind one of his special attributes, you know? mean, obviously he's got a lot of talent, hits it far, putts good, you know, all the things that good players do, but like his real special attribute is like his ability to close, like, you know, I kind of call him a shark, like when there's a little blood in the water, he's got the ability to go get it, you know? And he's not scared of the moment and you know, some guys, whether they're scared of it or they just for whatever reason don't seem to be able to get it done in that moment. He enjoys it. He loves the big moment. He relishes it and does a really good job in those situations.

Sean Melia:

So he wins, which was amazing. And he wins, I think people forget, he had to get up and down on 18 from like right of that green. He was definitely steering clear of that water off the tee.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah, no doubt.

Sean Melia:

Has to get up and down like you said like closer hits a six foot maybe six foot par putt Everything changes for him. Everything changes for you as well, but it doesn't quite happen right away I think he waits a few days to Announce he's turning pro Maybe maybe Wednesday or Thursday of that week Were you part of any of those conversations with him? Was it all kind of just him and his family trying to figure out like is this a thing we want to do and then he came to you after and said

I'm going to do this, I'd love you to join me.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think Nick counts me as, you know, a friend or a mentor, whatever you want to consider it. And we definitely had a few conversations about it. He's, you know, nice enough to, to ask me for advice on occasion. So, yeah, we did talk about it a little bit, but, know, at the end of the day, that that's his decision is his life. You know, he's got to be comfortable with whatever he makes, but yeah. So we talked about it a little bit, leading up to it.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, and then he picks you. right, he taps you to be his full-time. I want you joining me on tour. And so you guys, go to Pebble first, I think was the first event and no cut, kind of gets to play for free a little bit. Just being out on his own, he obviously had you and you mentioned kind of having a team around you. It seems like he had a slow start, which is completely understandable. He's a 20 year old kid who suddenly got thrown into this entire new world that

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah.

Sean Melia:

I don't think he was expecting to be a part of for another maybe year. For you, how are you kind of part of just helping him through some of those growing pains? And then he wins again at the Barracuda in the summer.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, both of us had a lot of some growing pains there early, just like figuring out what we're doing, you know. I think winning the expectation changed a little bit for him and had to realize that it's still golf. This is the same stuff. Like, you know, these guys are really good. I don't have to be win every week or be perfect or whatever. You know, I think he had to kind of put a lot of internal pressure on himself early, yeah, and just kind of figuring out the whole thing. know, practice rounds, courses, you know, it's all new for me too. but yeah, I think, you know, just us doing it together, you know, we had a little comfort zone there, you know, like he knew me, I knew him, we'd worked together for a while, for a couple of years. And so at least, at least on the road, you know, had each other to, you know, be friends or whatever.

Sean Melia:

For you as a caddy, obviously caddying like one off on the PGA tour is one thing, but then suddenly you mentioned like new courses and travel and a schedule. What kinds of things for you have you learned over the last 10 months?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, you know, played the corn fairy, you know, full time, you know, a year or two. So like, and just professional golf for nine years, whether it was Mondays or, you know, mini tour stuff or, you know, so I was used to the travel and the schedule in, in all that. But, as far as learning to caddy was definitely different, you know, there's, there's definitely a different preparation to it than as a player. And,

Just kind of learning how to do that was something that took a little while. And I'm not saying that I'm there yet. I have one full year under my belt. definitely learning throughout the year and just growing for that. There's a lot more preparation and a lot more to caddy and then I had previously thought. And also I was a very self-sufficient player. like I didn't.

Everyone wants something different from their their player or every player wants something different from their caddy and and So just learning what Nick likes and trying to do that, but you know, I didn't want a whole lot from a caddy So it was you know, I had to learn from How to actually caddy, you know

Sean Melia:

Yeah. it can be, was at a master's practice round on a Monday in 2018. And I remember seeing Mike Greller completely by himself on one of the greens, just rolling balls and taking notes and like that stuff that people don't see. think people who might just watch on the weekends think the caddy shows up, puts the bag over their shoulder, has a yardage book and kind of just.

maybe steps off yardages from a sprinkler head and it's, it is very, it can be a very involved job if you're, if you, if you want it to be.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah, it's one of those jobs that's almost as much or little as you, you know, your player wants or you do, you know, like you can show up and carry the bag and not do it. you know, there's some great, you know, you got Austin Kaiser and Grellar and Ted Scott and all these great caddies and they're putting a lot of work in. They've done it for a lot of years. you know, I tried to learn a little bit from them this year and they're kind enough to

Show me a few things here or there, but yeah, they put in work, that's for sure.

Sean Melia:

What kind of things do you find that Nick likes from you? How has that relationship developed?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, I think, you know, over the course of the year, we kind of just figuring out what he does like, you know, I don't think he even knew, you know, going into it, you know, he hadn't had like a full time cat or done courses like that. I mean, he played on a lot of talent and, and, and stuff like that. So I think he's just learning what he likes, but you know, he's not big on like the ball rolling and stuff like that. Like he really wants to, you know, but.

Sean Melia:

Yeah.

Hunter Hamrick:

I do do a lot of preparation for the courses and figuring out where to miss and you know and some strategy to it. Yeah, so.

Sean Melia:

Yeah. And like from college golf to jumping on the PGA tour too, you just mentioned like the places to miss college golf is like go make birdies, go hit driver everywhere. You know, the golf courses are.

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's very much what he had to learn. And so now it's, you know, some of my job and his job to, okay, where are we going to hit it to this pin? Where are we going to miss? just, and that was some of, you know, his early struggles is you can't just hit it every pin. go to, you know, when you show up at a player's championship or a Bay Hill or whatever.

You have to be comfortable hitting it 40 feet away from the hole and you got to be able to go up there in two butt and that's how you got to play that hole and then you go to the next hole you know and there might be a bird somewhere down the road but like on this hole we we can't even think about the pin over there and that was you know a hard concept for someone that's that talented and can hit all the shots like but it's just it's just not worth it in some of these situations and some of times you can't even get near the hole so like you know

Sean Melia

Move on. Yep.

Hunter Hamrick

Even though you think you might can, 1 out of 10 might, but it's not good enough for us to hit it over there.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, what's your next tour stop?

Hunter Hamrick:

He's going to play a couple things coming up in December and the Grant Thornton and then start back in Hawaii.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, not a bad place to kick off January. Who's his partner in the Thornton?

Hunter Hamrick:

Yeah, yeah. He's playing with Gabby Ruffles who I know her brother, Ryan, I've played with him few times and he's good player. So that'll be interesting. Yeah, that'll be fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'll be fun.

Sean Melia:

Nice, that's a... Ryan, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, two young guns. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Well, Hunter, thanks so much for giving us your time. And good luck this season. We'll be obviously following along with you and Nick. And one nice full year now to go get it and go have an awesome season and continue the journey that you guys are both on.

Hunter Hamrick:

Absolutely. Well, I appreciate you having me on.

Sean Melia:

Yeah, no problem. Thanks Hunter. Bye.

Hunter Hamrick:

Thank you.