In this episode of Tee’d Off, Ben and Aaron are joined by golf legend Jimmy Hanlin, a TV personality and PGA professional, to talk about a wide range of topics, from the highly anticipated Masters tournament to personal golfing experiences and the overall state of the professional game. We start by finding out how his passion for the sport developed from an early age. From making a golf course from empty soup cans to hosting a TV show about golf, Jimmy shares how his professional involvement with the sport grew. We delve into the upcoming Masters tournament, our top picks, sleeper picks, and picks to stay away from! Discover why having top talent play in tournaments is good for the sport, the controversy surrounding the PGA Tour and LIV Golf tournaments, and what we can expect for the future of golf. We also share personal anecdotes and frustrations encountered on the golf course and the challenges Jimmy faces when offering advice to players during great segment of Tee'd Off! We also highlight the top golf packages in Myrtle Beach, including the renowned Barefoot Resort and AshWorth condos. Tune in for insightful golf discussions and expert recommendations from the pros!
Key Points From This Episode:
Quotes:
“People that are watching on TV, they just want it very simple, right? If I just do this one thing, it's going to help me get a little bit better. That's where I try to do a lot of things that keep it in that perspective.” — @JimmyHanlin [0:18:27]
“I think when we look back at this 20 years from now, we're going to see that the PGA Tour or the people that were involved at the PGA Tour and the world is going to owe [Phil Mickelson] an apology.” — @JimmyHanlin [0:25:33]
“At the end of the day, I want to turn on a TV every Sunday and have a chance to see John Rahm, Scottie Sheffler, and Brooks Koepke going at it. Just what I want to watch. It's the best.” —@JimmyHanlin [0:29:37]
“It's good if Tiger finishes four rounds these days. I love him. I love Tiger. He's been so good to the game of golf, and it's just a shame.” — @JimmyHanlin [0:49:23]
In this episode of Tee’d Off, Ben and Aaron are joined by golf legend Jimmy Hanlin, a TV personality and PGA professional, to talk about a wide range of topics, from the highly anticipated Masters tournament to personal golfing experiences and the overall state of the professional game. We start by finding out how his passion for the sport developed from an early age. From making a golf course from empty soup cans to hosting a TV show about golf, Jimmy shares how his professional involvement with the sport grew. We delve into the upcoming Masters tournament, our top picks, sleeper picks, and picks to stay away from! Discover why having top talent play in tournaments is good for the sport, the controversy surrounding the PGA Tour and LIV Golf tournaments, and what we can expect for the future of golf. We also share personal anecdotes and frustrations encountered on the golf course and the challenges Jimmy faces when offering advice to players during great segment of Tee'd Off! We also highlight the top golf packages in Myrtle Beach, including the renowned Barefoot Resort and AshWorth condos. Tune in for insightful golf discussions and expert recommendations from the pros!
Key Points From This Episode:
Quotes:
“People that are watching on TV, they just want it very simple, right? If I just do this one thing, it's going to help me get a little bit better. That's where I try to do a lot of things that keep it in that perspective.” — @JimmyHanlin [0:18:27]
“I think when we look back at this 20 years from now, we're going to see that the PGA Tour or the people that were involved at the PGA Tour and the world is going to owe [Phil Mickelson] an apology.” — @JimmyHanlin [0:25:33]
“At the end of the day, I want to turn on a TV every Sunday and have a chance to see John Rahm, Scottie Sheffler, and Brooks Koepke going at it. Just what I want to watch. It's the best.” —@JimmyHanlin [0:29:37]
“It's good if Tiger finishes four rounds these days. I love him. I love Tiger. He's been so good to the game of golf, and it's just a shame.” — @JimmyHanlin [0:49:23]
EPISODE 16
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:07] ANNOUNCER: It's time for the Tee’d Off Podcast. The Front Nine.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:25] BC: All right, guys. Kicking off the Front Nine and we've got a special guest. We've got Jimmy Hanlin, a TV personality, PGA professional, and multiple-time Emmy winner. Jimmy, thank you so much for being on Tee’d Off with us today.
[0:00:39] JH: Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. I could talk golf all day long. I could do a 24-hour podcast if you guys wanted.
[0:00:46] BC: I wish we had the time to do it because I think we'd do it, too. Well, let's jump right in on you, Jimmy. I ask all of our guests when they come on the show, what got you into the sport of golf in general?
[0:00:59] JH: It's funny, man. A couple of things, really. I started golf really young, right? I honestly, probably four, or five-years-old, maybe even a little younger than that. Crazy enough, myself and a neighbor kid of mine, we built our own golf course. We literally took soup cans and dug them into the holes and made our own holes, and we got our older brothers, this guy's older brother to mow the lower the height of the mower and mow closer to the hole, so we'd have some kind of a green that we would describe now is the worst green we've ever seen in our entire life. But back then, it was Augusta for us.
I really started at a young age. My parents didn't play golf. My dad played college football. My brother wasn't into it. I really didn't have anybody around me that played. I just fell in love with it myself. Then my dad worked part-time for the sheriff's department. He worked in the steel mills part-time for the sheriff's department and his partner owned a little public golf course up the road. I was probably about seven, maybe eight, and he told my dad, “Hey, drop Jimmy off any time. He can go putter out a putty green, or do whatever.” Dude, I never left. That next day I was there, man, I mean, I never left the golf course after that.
I worked for him from the time I was eight until I was 18. Anything from picking up tees and fixing ball marks to mowing around trees to doing whatever I could do for free golf. My dad, if he was here if he was on here, he'd tell you the story that I would work all year and never get a paycheck. At the end of the year, he would have a bill that I owed more than I actually made at the golf course. We'd find golf courses, find golf clubs, and eating food and everything else. I pretty much worked for free.
Yeah, I just fell in love with the game, guys, on my own. I didn't really have somebody that was pushing me into it. As you guys probably did growing up, I played everything, right? I played baseball, played basketball, and golf was just a little part of it for me. Decided to go to college and literally, I would say, this time of the year, April or May, my senior year, I was going to school to play baseball and golf wasn't even a thought. Changed my mind last minute, went to Methodist University, which is in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
At that time, there were only three schools that had the PGM program, where you graduate, you could become a PGA professional and had the programming to have that happen. One was in Michigan, one was in New Mexico, and one was in North Carolina. I said, “I'm going to North Carolina, man.” Went to school at Methodist and actually played basketball at Methodist. Ended up not playing golf there. Played basketball there for four years. Dabbled in baseball a little bit and played a little bit of golf, too. My golf off-game got a lot better when I was there. I don't know if you guys have ever been to Methodist. I know it's not far from you, but the golf facilities there are just awesome, and this was 30 years ago, right?
I just practiced and played every day. My basketball coach loved golf, a guy named Brian Chappell that actually lives in Myrtle Beach now. Chappy and I played golf every day. I'd get out of class, play golf, go to basketball practice around 5pm, and that was my life and I loved it. Dude, if you could take me back there right now, I’m in. I'll go right back to that all day long. Wake up, go to class if you want to, go play golf, go to basketball practice and then figure out the rest of the night, which I'm pretty good at that, too.
[0:04:33] AT: Man, well, you were a great athlete growing up then. I mean, because if you were going to go play college baseball somewhere else, changed your mind to pursue a degree in golf and a profession in golf and ended up dabbling in playing basketball, baseball, and some golf there. I played everything, too, but I wasn't that proficient at everything.
[0:04:56] JH: Well, I had the size, right? I mean, you guys know that in the world now, right? I'm 6’4”. Back then, a little trimmer, of course. I was probably 6’4”, 180. That's a good size. Right away, no matter what sport that I was looking at, I had some recruiting advantages just because of my size and stuff. That's where I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I was a good pitcher, 6’4” is good for pitching. I wish I was left-handed, I might be still pitching right now. Yeah, that was a big part of it for sure. I just love playing everything. I was, we call it jack-of-all-trades, master of none, right? I love to do it all.
Honestly, after I got out of college, I went to Pinehurst to take my first job as an assistant professional. That's when I forgot about everything else and just focused on golf. That's really where my game really went to the next level because I'd never done that in my life before. I'd always split it up between basketball, baseball, and golf. At that point, it was like, all right, all those things are over with. We're just going to play golf. I was playing golf in between work and at Seven Lakes Country Club and Pinehurst and doing that. I did that for two or three years. My game got to a level where the members at this club gave me money and said, “Dude, it's time for you to go. Give it a chance to make it for a living.” They put this little group together.
I played for a living after that for about five years. They gave me enough money to stay out there and play for about five years. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I mean, unfortunately, I can't beat the Stuart Cinks and the Phil Mickelsons of the world, but I got to travel around the country and play a lot of great places and competitive golf. My game just got a lot better. That was fun. I think that's the weird thing now. I hate to push kids that way because you hate to see kids just focus on one thing, just like you were just talking about. It's fun to play everything, but the world is people are specialized in now, right? You almost have to. It's a point to get to the level you need to get to. I didn't do that. But I wouldn't trade anything for the world. I had a great time.
[0:07:03] BC: Well, so how did you transition from – you graduated from Methodist, PGM program, started working at Pinehurst, then chase the dream on trying to make it as a tour player. How did you transition from a competitor to somebody in front of the camera for golf?
[0:07:21] JH: Well, that's funny. That was just an accident, honestly. I played for a living for a while. I was completely out of money. Didn't know what the heck I was going to do. It was teaching pro Pinehurst number six, Danny Ackerman, right? He was my swing coach. He got the job in Cleveland in a place called Quail Hollow and said, “Hey, why don't you come up for a summer and see what you want to do? You can go back and play again if you want. You figure out what you want to do.” You're 28. You guys know that world. I mean, we don't know what we want to do now. Let alone that, right?
[0:07:49] AT: Yeah.
[0:07:50] JH: I went up to Cleveland and I never left. Got here, and never left. Worked as an assistant pro for a couple of years here. Became the head pro at the place that I currently own here now in Cleveland. During that whole timeframe, especially when you live in a big market, like here in Cleveland, I was asked to do a bunch of interviews on radio, just about the new golf course we were building, stuff like that. Then I did some golf tips for the news and stuff like that, the NBC and the CBS affiliates, and stuff up here.
At some point, it just started falling into place for me. They're like, you were talking about the radio. ESPN Cleveland asked me if I would want to host their show. Never did that in my entire life. Never been on radio, or TV before I came to Cleveland. I said, “Sure.” I've been on there for, I'm going into my 23rd year on ESPN Cleveland radio. Then the Cleveland Indians at the time were starting their own network. When they started their own network, they had no program. They came to me and said, “Hey, listen. We want to do a golf show.” We started up this show called Tee It Up Ohio, where we went around to all the public golf courses in Ohio and checked them out and played some holes and did that.
Then about three or four years later, Fox Sports bought Sports Time Ohio from the owner of the Guard – or the Indians, Guardians now. When that happened, everything just blew up for me. It became a national show, instead of a local show. It's just been going on for a while, man. I started that in 2000 and gosh, probably seven or eight. Now it's 2024. Natalie Gulbis joined me about eight or nine years ago. She was looking to do her own show and she figured out that I could do all the work for and she could just show up and have fun and do it. She's like, “I’m in.” Natalie joined me.
Gosh, it's crazy. But Natalie and I have been on the air almost 10 years together now and we just travel around the world and travel around the country and get to see some of the best golf courses in the country and in the world and have a lot of fun doing it. We've been to down to Myrtle multiple times. In fact, we stayed there on property with you guys about, gosh, it was about, probably two, three years ago, right? 18, we stayed there.
[0:10:05] AT: No, it was actually last year.
[0:10:06] BC: Last year.
[0:10:06] AT: Last year.
[0:10:07] JH: Was it last year? Oh, my gosh. [Inaudible 0:10:08].
[0:10:10] AT: I was out here waiting when the bus pulled up and you told me, yeah, you told me to look for a bus and I didn't realize what I was looking for until it pulled up. There's Jimmy's smiling face on the side, greeting me as they pull up. Yeah, that was last May.
[0:10:26] JH: Yeah. Yeah. It was great. The name of the condo group, the – Is it ash?
[0:10:31] AT: Ashworth. Yeah.
[0:10:32] BC: We put you in one of our Ashworth condos.
[0:10:36] JH: It was great. I mean, the condos were awesome. Little windy that day. We were trying to fly the drone around to have some good shots from the condos. I think that drone is in the Atlantic Ocean now right now.
[0:10:48] AT: Ended up getting a good shot. I saw it. I mean, the episode was great. Appreciate you plugging the Ashworth and that’s going to be our prompt for the episode. I’m glad you guys enjoyed it.
[0:11:01] JH: Yeah, we loved them. I mean, the condos were amazing. Just easy to get in and out of. I mean, just to do golf trip. I mean, I've always been the biggest fan. When I played for a living, I lived in Myrtle a good bit, right? Cause I played the Hooters Tour and the PowerBilt Tour were the two tours I mainly played, which eventually turned in, I think, into the Tarheel Tour eventually was the power. Anyway, but we played there. We stayed. Myrtle was very centrally located for us, right? We could get down and play in Florida and Georgia and easy to get to other places. I lived there a lot. I saw Myrtle change over that time. Golf was just awesome there, right?
I mean, it's just incredible how it has everything. Listen, I get to see the best places in the world, right? I'm the luckiest human being and that is a lot. I mean, when you're talking golf. I mean, we step onto these properties and people treat us like, like treat me like I'm Tiger, right? Cause I'm about to talk about their place. They're like, “All right, we better treat this guy pretty good.” Everybody treats Natalie good. I mean, that's just how the world works. In Myrtle, just every time we come back, it's just better and better, right? It really is.
I always say to Myrtle, to people about Myrtle, if you're looking for a golf vacation place, it's like, “All right, man. If you want something to do at night and during the day, there's nowhere better to come. There's nowhere better.” There's great golf vacation spots, but it's rare to have such great golf courses, such great accommodations, and then have great places at night. If you got 24 guys, there's always eight of them looking to find some trouble in the evenings. There's nowhere better than Myrtle Beach. Not that I know by experience, but it's really good.
[0:12:51] AT: I've never found any of those places.
[0:12:52] BC: That's the best summation of the golf destination of Myrtle Beach I've heard in a long time. I really appreciate it. I agree with it 100%. There are thousands and thousands of other golf groups that agree with it, too. We're having another good spring season. We're glad that the weather is turning springy. We're going to be welcoming a lot of guys that are going to be doing just what you said, here, guys, and girls soon. We cannot wait to have them back again this year.
[0:13:22] JH: People ask me their favorite golf course. My favorite golf course is Myrtle, man. I never get it – like, it changes every time.
[0:13:29] AT: Yeah. There's so many now. Of course, I mean, we've had some courses that some that have closed over the years, so it's minimized the product, which has been good. I mean, great for the courses that are here, but there's so many good ones.
[0:13:43] BC: To still have almost 80 courses. I mean, that's still got to be the highest concentration of courses in the country per the area. Like you said, the product's only gotten better. When we had 120-plus courses, your bookends were definitely bookends, that the bottom was at the bottom. Now, there's not a bad track out here.
[0:14:08] JH: No. I mean, it's crazy. Dunes was my favorite forever when I was young, and then it's like, oh, my gosh, there's 10 golf courses that I like, maybe just as much as the Dunes Club there. I mean, one jumps out of it like fizzle and ones like that, you don't even – it’s never even really heard of before, right? Then the Barefoot group came along with those four golf courses and they're so much fun, right? Then everybody knows about Caledonia and True Blue. I mean, there are just so many good.
[0:14:38] BC: Let's talk about 18 Holes. You went from putting in your backyard into a soup can to now traveling the world, the country with Natalie Gulbis and had on your face on a bus. I want to talk about the show, 18 Holes, if you can describe it for our audience and what you guys are up to this year with the show.
[0:14:57] JH: Yeah, 18 Holes, I do two shows that are distributed nationally and they're distributed on all of the regional sports networks across the country. If you're watching a baseball game, like you're watching a Yankees in New York, it's on the Yes Network, so my shows are going to pop on there at some point. If you're watching, you're down in Florida watching the Marlins, it's going to be on the Sun Network, that's all-ballet sports now. Then we're also on in Chicago at the Marquee Network, which is not ballet sports. We're on in Pittsburgh on with AT&T network. Pretty much we have – we're in all 50 states and across the country.
These shows, I have two shows. One's called 18 Holes. I've been doing it with Natalie Gulbis for almost a decade now. We just go to different places and we try to show not just the golf. We show the golf course very thoroughly. We drone every hole. We play three holes. We typically will try to have a celebrity guest with us. We're playing one of the three holes if we play the city. But then when we're done, we sit there at the 19th hole with our Tito's vodka and we talk about just everything else there is to do. Sometimes that's different. Like I said, Myrtle Beach, we could shoot 50 shows there, because there's so much to do outside of golf. But sometimes we're talking about when we're in Virginia and we're talking about some cool places to go just outside the resort to do, or 18's being with me up at [inaudible 0:16:24] and all the things there is to do. They keep just adding things.
We just bounce around and we just – we try to make it – we call it a travel destination golf show, but we try to make it almost as much about everything there is to do as it is about golf, right? That's fun. That's fun. Natalie has her perspective. She obviously loves the spa and the shopping and all that kind of thing. We try to find some really cool things to do there. That's good.
Then I do a show called The Swing Clinic. The reason we did The Swing Clinic was it was instructional and people were asking for more instruction on 18 Holes with Natalie and I. But the show is only 22 minutes in contact, maintenance, and commercials, right? It's not that much time. We started to do a lot of instruction. I'll use a lot of the golf influencers, the Instagram girls like Elise Lobb, and Claire Hogle, and all of them. They join me and we just try to do instruction out on the golf course.
The key to that is we want to show you how beautiful the golf course is while we're still out there. We're still promoting where we're at, but we'll show you different shots. You hit in a fairway bunker. What am I doing in this fairway bunker? Ball’s above my feet. We try to provide as much that. It’s kind of funny, because to me, 18 Holes is way harder to set up, way harder to do. Visually, it's just more beautiful on television, but our ratings on The Swing Clinic are actually just as good, if not sometimes better. Because people just suck up golf instruction, man, and just want.
[0:17:53] BC: Yeah. I’m one of them.
[0:17:55] AT: Hey, I will attest. I will attest, Swing Clinic, pay attention. I'm a, I'm a small product. I mean, you wouldn't always know that by watching me play, but Jimmy has helped me with my swing. We've played a few rounds at golf and he has helped me and he is tremendous. There's no question about it.
[0:18:12] JH: I keep it simple, man. I'm pretty good at reading people. If you're analytical and you're going to know, want to know why I'm telling you to do something, then I can tell that guy what he wants to do and what he wants here. Very many people, especially people that are watching on TV, they just want it very simple, right? If I just do this one thing, it's going to help me get a little bit better. That's where I try to do a lot of things that keep it in that perspective. That's been my success in teaching through the years of being a PGA professional for close to 30 years now.
[0:18:45] BC: Well, you've got it covered with those two shows, 18 Holes covers a destination and an area that goes beyond the golf course, but does a ton of golf course coverage. Then Swing Clinic, that gets down into actual instruction when you're at the golf course. Those are two great shows that if you're not already checking it out, like Aaron has, definitely look at it. It'll be in your local, regional and national listings.
[0:19:14] JH: Yeah. It's fun. It's fun. I'll tell you, I got to – Our first shows of the year will air in end of April this year. We did two of them in a celebrity shootout in Vegas this year. It's really cool. To me, it's fun. We had Charles Woodson on the show and Urban Meyer.
[0:19:33] BC: Oh, cool.
[0:19:34] JH: Tim Brown, former Raider. We just had some great – Doug Flutie, which is really fun to watch play golf, because he is the kindest human you ever met. I'm very fortunate in that world, too. I get to meet a lot of people. Marcus Allen is probably top three, my favorite players of all time. I walked up on that shoot when we were shooting that morning and we were there early for the shoot and Marcus was chipping, and I didn't even know it was Marcus. He's the only one on property. He's there two and a half hours before the event. I'm over and I'm watching this guy chip and I'm like, “Man, this guy's got pretty good action.” Soft hands.
I look over and I'm like, “Holy. What was that?” I walk over, I'm like, “Man, Marcus. You got –” Because I talked to him, right? I'm like, “Man, Marcus. You got good hands.” He's like, “Yeah, man. Thanks. I work on it. Blah, blah, blah, whatever.” I said – this is the best conversation breaker of all time. I'm just going to tell you when you're a guy. “Hey, Marcus. Do you know Natalie Gulbis?” Bam. He's like, “Yeah.” He goes, “Yeah, Natalie and I, we’re good friends, man. I haven't seen her in a while. How's she doing?” I said, “Well, I host a show there, blah, blah, blah, whatever.” “Oh, yeah. I've seen your show, blah, blah, blah, whatever.” So, 30 minutes later, I'm on the range to giving Marcus Allen a lesson for an hour probably. It's like, wow. This is tremendous, right?
[0:20:53] AT: Especially as a Raiders fan, too.
[0:20:55] JH: Yeah. Yeah, that'll be fun for people to see, just people like to watch people that they – that are outside of golf.
[0:21:04] BC: I agree.
[0:21:05] JH: It's really helped the game a little bit that guys like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and Steph Curry, they all play golf, right? My kids that are younger, they don't care whether you found Jack Nicholas, or Earl Palmer anymore. That's beyond. They mentioned, they're heroes, right? Heroes are sometimes not golfers, at least love the game, which is really cool.
[0:21:27] BC: I like the ones that love the game that aren't quite as good as Marcus Allen. I mean, Tom Brady was – when they had that episode of the match a couple years ago, and Tom Brady was shanking the ball and duffing it in the rain, he looked miserable. I was like, “Dude, that is us.” Then he hits that shot and spins it back into the hole. That's how you get hooked. Then he was back. I was like, “That's us.” I love watching celebrities play, too.
[0:21:56] JH: It's pretty cool. I’ll tell you, you're right. There's a big spectrum of good and bad in the celebrity. I don't know if you guys remember Marshall Faulk, remember running back?
[0:22:05] BC: Yeah. Greatest show on Turf.
[0:22:07] JH: Man, that dude can play golf. He was in Vegas during this thing. This dude is here. I don't know what his handicap is, but if he says it's anything worse than a scratch, he's lying. He should be getting a shot. Dude can play. Eric Dickerson, oh, man, he could play golf. These guys can really play golf. It's fun. It's fun to watch those guys.
Again, with what I do, even tour players, right? If I'm walking up and down the range and I'm talking to somebody, even tour players, they're like, if they think you can help them a little bit, they're like, “Hey, dude. Come here, man. Come take a look at this really quick.” Everybody wants it. Myself, if I thought I had somebody on the range and knew anything, I'm calling him over, too. Just the game. It's a great game, man. I just love it.
[0:22:49] BC: Man, well, you've made a great career out of it. We're excited to watch the new season of 18 Holes and The Swing Clinic. Let's jump into the world of golf on the professional scale. Recent news, Tiger Woods hosted a meeting with the rest of the player directors of the PGA Tour out in the Bahamas, where they play the Hero World Challenge and the governor of the PIF who owns LIV. Yasser was there. I think it was a rather surface-level meeting, but was definitely, everybody came away with a positive outlook on things. I just wanted to get your thoughts on what you thought that meeting represented, and if you think a deal, whatever the deal is going to be, is closer now because of a meeting like that between the PGA Tour and the PIF.
[0:23:45] JH: Yeah. I talk about this a lot, on my radio show and ESPN and stuff. It comes up and there's always breaking in new things that are involved. The worst thing that ever happened to this whole setup here is Jay Monahan and Greg Norman, right? Let me tell you, I grew up the biggest Greg Norman fan. I am still a Greg Norman fan. The dude was just fun to watch play golf, a savvy business guy and he’s great. But the problem is Greg Norman has an ax to grind with the PGA Tour. He has an issue with – they haven't done what he's wanted them to do throughout the years. Jay Monahan doesn't like Greg Norman, probably for part of the business area.
When you take two guys that are making decisions for these big bodies, that there's personal involved in it, not just looking at it from a business standpoint, there's never going to be good decisions. It's just never going to be. That happened right out of the gate. I will tell you, Phil Mickelson deserves an apology. He exposed the PGA Tour in many ways and what they were doing and how they weren't doing it right, or whatever. Did he do it exactly right? I don't know. I'm not that tied into it. He could have probably went at it in a little softer way, but he didn't. At the end of the day, he exposed them.
I think when we look at history 20 years back, I think most of us are going to sit there and say, “Man, Phil took the bullet.” Phil took the bullet for the last five years of his career, where he could have probably still had a chance to win a major and still been very competitive, but took the bullet because he knew there needed to be a change in golf. Still, there'll be people who argue today that that's not the case.
Guys, I think when we look back at this 20 years from now, we're going to see that the PGA Tour or the people that were involved at the PGA Tour and the world is going to owe Phil an apology. He was correct. He was right, in that there were some major issues with the tour and there were things that were going on that just, it wasn't good for golf in the future. Now, I know there's still a lot of people that probably disagree with that and argue with that. Again, I think when you look 20 years down the road, we look back, I think that's all going to change.
I think the other thing is, as you saw, I think you see here Rory talking about, he thinks the best players in the world should be on the same golf course. He's starting to soften up to it, which he was a hard stance, “No, no, no. This is ridiculous. If those guys want to go, let them go.” That's all changed. I think you see Tiger taking this meeting, right? Makes a big deal. That's a big deal for Tiger to take this meeting and sit down and talk.
I can't speak for them guys, because I'm not in those meetings and there's not anybody that's really aware of exactly what's going on. I have a feeling what's happening is they're sitting down with the Yasser and they're figuring out that, okay, what happens with a lot of this in this country and a lot of this, what we disagree with has really nothing to do with what they're trying to do with golf. Maybe even this guy. I don't know the history of this guy, Yasser. But maybe he's not a bad guy. I don't know that. He could be a terrible guy, and I don't know that.
Something's happening, because all of a sudden, this is getting softer. It's starting to blend together. At the end of the day, they're going to infuse 3 billion dollars into PGA Tour and they're going to look for a way back for their players to be able to maybe potentially play in something, and it's for the good of golf. I tweeted out yesterday. I said, “This leaderboard is atrocious. Thank God for Scottie Sheffler, because if it wasn't, there's nothing to watch.” I follow golf on a weekly basis for a living. There's guys on the leaderboard and I don't know who they are. That's not good for golf. That's not good for our kids that want to – we're trying to make them love the game and want to get into the game and want to watch it, and they don't even know who's on the leaderboard. How quick is that TV going to turn off, or that phone going to turn off when they're watching it, right?
Whatever has to happen, and listen, again, at the end of the day, I wish I was in those meetings, because I'm good at that stuff, but I'm not, right? Because I'm not those meetings, I can't really tell you what's going on. What I can tell you is not having Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and John Rahm and Phil Mickelson, not having them on, in playing in tour events and against the best players in the world, against Scottie Sheffler and Jordan Spieth, it's bad for golf. It's just bad.
I mean, it's very similar. If you want to sit there, let's just say that The Rock decides he's going to come out of pocket and he's going to steal the seven, or eight of the best NFL players to go play in his new football endeavor, right? Bad for the game, man. Let's just say, he paid a 100 million to whoever. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey and Davante Adams. If he stole seven or eight guys, that deludes the NFL product, right? That's what's happening with golf right now. The product that we're watching on TV right now, every week, it's diluted. It's not the best players in the world.
You can give me that, “Blah, blah, blah. Let’s give some chance to the younger guys,” and, well, of course it does, because there's not as many good players. Yeah, younger guys are going to get a chance, but they're going to get a chance to play against the guys that aren't the best in the world. That's just a fact. It actually makes the Masters more exciting, I think, because you haven't seen these guys play against each other, and there might be a little bit of this going on a little bit. At the end of the day, I want to turn on a TV every Sunday and have a chance to see John Rahm, Scottie Sheffler, and Brooks Koepke going at it. Just what I want to watch. It's the best.
I'll leave it at this because this is a hot topic for me. I get a little fired up. On Sunday afternoons, or Saturday afternoons, they're not showing the Owen 12 team playing against the three and 90, right? They're showing the best. They put the best games on national television. Major League Baseball. It's usually, if you turn it on for Sunday night baseball, it's usually the Yankees and the Angels, or something like that. They're not showing the Pirates and the Guardians. I hate to say that. Because at this time right now, they're not the best teams at baseball. Well, right now, we're watching the Pirates and the Guardians on the PGA Tour, except for on some select events. It just sucks. Because I love watching golf and I love watching the best players in golf. Right now, they're not playing against each other, except for four times a year.
[0:30:44] AT: Jimmy, have you found yourself, like me, where I used to watch every tournament, loved it, watching the best players. But since the LIV PGA Tour split, I feel like, I've become more of a casual golf watcher, because I don't tune in every weekend like I used to. Like you, I saw your tweet that said about the field for this weekend's event. I looked at the field and I probably won't even turn it on.
[0:31:14] JH: Yeah. Yeah, I can't agree with you more. Believe me, it's not making the betting world happy, right? Because golf's a big betting sport. You like to go put 50 bucks on somebody and watch them for the week and see if they can make them some money. Golf's fun to bet. I mean, I'm going to tell you, I think golf's the most fun sport to bet. Because you can bet it, you can live bet it. Believe me, last week when I had Cam Young and I had – who else did I have? I had Cam Young and Cashmere Keith, and they were both at the top of the leader board. I'm fired up in there and Cashmere Keith just starts falling down the leaderboard.
I got Cam Young at the top. Then he's done 18, he hooks it. I got a cash out for 400, but I could win nine. I'm like, “God, do I cash out right now?” It’s in the woods. Who's the think Peter Malnati’s going to come up in birdie 17, right? It's just a great sport to bet. It's fun to watch. It gets your juices flowing in the middle and it's great. When you lose the talent, it just makes it less watchable.
Listen, Peter Malnati is a great ambassador for the game of golf. He's good. He's good at what he does. He's good at representing the players. At the end of the day, he's not – my son Palmer 16, Peter Malnati is leading the tour, but he's not watching. He’s not watching. It's just not happening.
[0:32:39] AT: The casual fan isn't as interested.
[0:32:42] JH: I got another news for you. If those 40 guys that are on LIV right now were in that event, he's not winning. Just not happening. That's a problem. You could sit there and AT and I have a good buddy that says, everybody on LIV’s watched up and there, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Listen, I'm not even standing up for what LIV golf is, because I don't love the shotgun starts and the leaderboards are a little graphic key for me and they're all over the place.
You got them watching on to CW, which is tough to find sometimes. I'm not standing up for what they're going. I'm just standing up for, I want both guys on the same golf course, same time. I don't care who's – I don't care if you guys are running the event at Myrtle Beach, right? Don’t matter to me. As long as the best guys are running it, you two can run a tour for all I care. I just want the – or, I mean, the best guys are playing, that's all I want.
[0:33:28] AT: Yeah. Biggest names and best guys, I agree.
[0:33:31] JH: That's it. It’s I want. I want to watch every Sunday and I want to get fired up.
[0:33:34] BC: I think when this thing started, I think Phil left, and then Brooks Koepka was the biggest in his prime guy to leave. I think it was right before The Players Championship, because Mike Tirico, who I love him as an announcer, but you just don't see him as much anymore since he left ESPN, but he came on and he said a lot of the things you said, Jimmy. He said, you can't question who the winners and losers are. I mean, the people that went to LIV are getting a big paycheck, and maybe the, the PGA Tour youngsters and unknowns will have an opportunity to become a star. That remains to be seen, but he said, “I'll tell you what. I'll tell you who the losers are. The losers are the people that are watching, because they're not going to see the best product week in and week out. It's going to get worse.”
That was right at the beginning. I was like, I just don't think this is going to catch on. Now you got 40 LIV guys and you've got two diluted fields. I hope they get a deal done so that they get back on the course. I'm not somebody to be good in those meetings. I just want them to get it done.
[0:34:46] JH: I agree, man. You know what? Too bad like, what I see is when I tweet something out because people get all fired up over it when I put it on social media and guys are like, “Well, dude, I get it. Brooks and John Rahm, but really Bryson DeChambeau, he wasn't a force on the PGA Tour.” It's like, “Dude, you didn't watch that. The guys won 30 million on a PGA Tour. You're going to tell me, he wasn't any good? Shut your mouth. Don't tweet at me like that. You don't know what you're talking about.”
There's guys like Louis Oosthuizen that the dude was on the leaderboard of the Masters every time you turned it on. Every time, right? There's guys out there that are second-tier guys that people are like, “Ah, they're washed up.” They're not washed up. They're great players that you'll see in major championships. There's a lot there. There might not be all 40 that would be a chance to win on a PGA Tour, but there's a solid 20 guys that could win on a tour every – that are currently playing on LIV.
[0:35:43] BC: Well, we will see the power and the money got together in the Bahamas. I know it was surface level, but hopefully, that is a sign of good things to come. Jimmy, thank you for your thoughts on that. I know, I could tell it fires you up, but it was a good question to ask you because you had some good content about it.
Well, let's jump into, regardless of LIV and PGA Tour, my favorite professional week of the year is coming up, Master's Week. I'm praying for some good weather, whether the weather is good or bad, I know it's going to be green and beautiful there.
[0:36:18] AT: Tuesday practice round. Yeah.
[0:36:20] BC: Yeah. Aaron's going to go to practice round.
[0:36:20] AT: I’ve got Tuesday practice round tickets. Yeah.
[0:36:22] BC: Are you going, Jimmy?
[0:36:24] JH: I'm not going this year. I've been there a lot and I love it. It's just so great. It's tough time for me because this is when we get hopping golf-wise, golf course opens up, that kind of stuff. I haven’t been there in a few years since COVID. If you're listening right now, or you're watching right now, if you can get your hands on a practice round ticket, you just got to do it at least once in your life, right? It's just so incredible. It's a golfer's dream. Everything about it. Everybody's so excited to be there. I mean, it's so good. I'm glad you're going on Tuesday, Aaron. It's awesome. It's the best week in sports in my opinion. I just love it.
[0:37:08] AT: I've been for two other. I've actually been for tournament rounds two other times. This will be the first time I've gone for a practice round, which I hear is just way more relaxed, as far as getting around the course and you got – I don't think you can take your phone in, but I know you can take it. You're allowed to take a camera in, I believe, to take pictures for the practice round. I'm excited.
[0:37:31] JH: Yeah, you're going to have a great time.
[0:37:32] AT: It's the merchandise shop that's going to get me.
[0:37:36] JH: Don't ship that stuff right back home for you, buddy. You would have to carry it around.
[0:37:39] AT: Done it before. I know what to do.
[0:37:43] BC: Well, the field's going to be nice and deep. I'd like to get everyone's thoughts on one favorite and one sleeper pick. We'll start with the favorites and then we'll end with the sleepers. I'll start with mine. My favorite pick is going to be, here's a guy that finished, he's only had two master starts, finished in second and sixth, and then was not healthy last year. I'll take Will Zalatoris.
[0:38:09] JH: Whoa.
[0:38:10] BC: He's putting better. It's still an ugly stroke, but it's a lot better than it was. I think he's somebody that – the course, he loves it. It seems to love him with a top two and a top 10 finish. That'll be my favorite.
[0:38:26] AT: That's a name I haven't heard for a while. I haven't heard that name for a while.
[0:38:30] BC: He's scored with some leaderboards this year.
[0:38:31] AT: Yeah. Well, I think he's struggling with some back issue.
[0:38:32] JH: He should have won about three weeks ago, and the three, four weeks ago, he should have won for sure. Yeah, no doubt about it.
[0:38:40] AT: Yeah. I know he's had some back issues. Well, maybe he's been off filming Happy Gilmore 2.
[0:38:45] BC: Yeah. He's going to be the cabbie, right?
[0:38:46] AT: I've heard a catch coming out. I don't know. Yeah.
[0:38:48] BC: He's going to be in it. Tiger's going to be Chubbs' son. Paige Spiranac’s going to be the love interest, I think.
[0:38:59] AT: Supposedly. That's out there. Well, but the originals, you got to have Shooter and you got to have Happy.
[0:39:05] BC: Oh, they're going to be in for sure.
[0:39:06] AT: They’ll be. Yeah. I got a kick out of that when I saw his name on there.
[0:39:10] BC: Who's your favorite?
[0:39:12] AT: My favorite, you got to go with the guy with the hot hand right now. Sheffler. I mean, the guys on fire. I mean, he's won the last two biggest tournaments, last two elevated events. I really think his, at least in my opinion, Jimmy, and you can agree or disagree with me, but I thought his play on Sunday at the players was phenomenal. Just cause he has had a few tournaments where he slipped back, then he started out well and then felt falling back a little bit. But he really seemed to have it all together. His putter has been – that's always been his issue in a lot of these tournaments. If his putter’s on, I don't think anybody can beat him.
[0:39:56] BC: Yeah. It's been on.
[0:39:57] JH: Well, I think with Scotty, the deal with Scotty is that he's the one guy that's rooting for LIV and PGA Tour to stay separate, right? Cause he's just got a whole mouth, right? There isn't anybody in his class. He's going to put Tiger-type numbers up here pretty soon with career wins and everything like that, because he's the best, right? Until you infuse some of these guys from LIV that are on that level. I don't think there’s anybody who could compete with him, but I actually this week, I like John Rahm. The reason that I like John Rahm is because I – I do think that John Rahm has a little bit of buyer's remorse going to LIV from the standpoint that he's a savvy guy. He loves the history of the game. Couldn't pass up the money, and I don't blame him at all. I think he's missing. I think he misses the heat of The Players Championship. I think he misses the – it's not quite as the hot competition at LIV. It's just a more relaxed atmosphere.
I don't think that fits his personality as much. I totally think he was right to take the money. It's an incredible amount of money that his great, great, great kids are set for the rest of their lives, right? I think he misses that. He's got four opportunities this year to prove that he is still the best player in the world. I think he's going to prepare himself and be ready to do that, right? Before this all happened between him and Scotty, they were the best two players in the world. Ryder Cup-wise, I think he showed that he might be a little better, especially when Scotty's putter's not going. I love John Rahm to win back-to-back. I love him to win again.
Again, I think that I'm so glad that Augusta allows these guys to play and all the major championships, allows these guys to play, because it's so exciting to see the best players on the world, same golf course here in about a week and a half.
[0:41:56] BC: Yeah. Last repeat was Tiger, right? 01, 02, or was it another one?
[0:42:00] JH: Right. Yup.
[0:42:01] AT: Yup.
[0:42:03] BC: Yeah. That would be from a betting standpoint, my only – unless you want to go law of averages and we're due, I'll go with it there. Yeah, that's a good pick. He's, he's a fiery competitor. When you get that money, and it's already designed to be relaxed, yeah, I think he is missing those competitive juices. I think they'll come out in Augusta soon. Jimmy, who you got as a sleeper pick that may be under people's radar that's got a shot?
[0:42:31] JH: Well, I'm going to give you a couple, even though you only want one. I'm going to give you a couple. One would be this young kid, Ludvig Åberg. I mean, he's got all the skills. He is comfortable as you could absolutely be on the golf course. He's phenomenal, right? I mean, he's got everything. The question will be, it's Augusta. Can you figure it out? Cause he can hit the shots and he can roll the ball and he can do everything that you want to do. The funny thing is, guys, in fact, I forget last time I looked, but his odds weren't that great for someone like that. He was like in a top 10 in odds. It's like, are you kidding me? This kid has never won before or a year. He’s never won in majors.
[0:43:16] BC: He's never even played, has he? He's never played Augusta, has he?
[0:43:19] JH: No. I think it's his first time he's ever played. I think that's one that's interesting. Kind of sucks, I think Wyndham Clark's hurt right now. He's a guy that you would really like this week, because he was just – it was just coming together for him. Pretty good. I'll give you my best long shot. This guy plays great there. The only thing that you don't know and I don't know is how hard he's working at it right now. Cause he is a guy that took the money and seemed to just and have fun with his buddies. Cam Smith, right?
I mean, Cam Smith owns Augusta when he's on his game. He plays as good as anybody there. Last time I looked, I think he was plus 460, 4,600 to win about a 100 and 46. I’m like, that's an insane amount. He used to be, before he went to LIV, he was probably plus 800, or something like that. You just don't know where he's at. If he, gosh, if he's secretly been working a little harder, man, shoot, he's awesome there. He's top five guaranteed there. That's the guy I like, that, man, if you're going to throw a few pennies, he's a guy that I don't think it's a waste of money.
[0:44:32] BC: When he was, he and Scotty were trading blows that the masters that he almost walked away with it, you could see his game. I tell you, that final round at St. Andrews, that was some of the best golf I've ever seen, because I don't think Rory could have played any better. Rory's A game is almost unbeatable. It got beat that day. It really did, because that was when Cam Smith to me, I was like, this guy, he's a top-five player in the world. Just stamped. Who's your sleeper pick?
[0:45:07] AT: I tell you what, my sleeper, somebody, and Jimmy, I don't know. Do you watch Full Swing?
[0:45:11] JH: Oh, yeah.
[0:45:12] AT: Yeah. I just finished the second season last week. My sleeper is somebody that I'm going to pull very hard for because I just think he's the most likable guy that is on that series is Tom Kim. I love that guy, man. He is just so likable. Of course, when he had his PGA incident last year in the PGA Championship where he fell in the mud and had to get cleaned up, I didn't really know him that well at the time. I still can't believe Todd hasn't given him a sponsorship, but he is – I think, I put him as my sleeper because he did finish under par last year. It wasn't great. He wasn't too consistent, but I think he finished it two under last year. I got to watch some of that in Full Swing. Like I said, just because he's a good guy. I like to see the good guys win.
[0:46:04] JH: Yeah. He's super talented, man. He's a super-talented player. I think after I watch Full Swing, I bet him that next week – Yeah, absolutely. He's a young stud for sure.
[0:46:17] BC: My sleeper pick, he's informed, but he had a top-10 finish last year. He's as likable, I think, as Tom Kim. I'll go with Sahith Theegala.
[0:46:27] JH: Yeah. I like him.
[0:46:29] BC: I mean, he's super likable. I think if he's somebody that can have a nice Thursday or Friday, he's going to have a great backing coming into the weekend. I think that's a guy that eats that up, the support. That would be my sleeper pick. I think, somebody that I know sleeper picks, you don't really pick as deserving people, but I think he's somebody that deserves a shining moment. That would be my sleeper pick.
[0:46:57] AT: I like that pick.
[0:46:59] JH: Yeah, he's fun to root for, right? I'll tell you a couple of guys that I would stay off of, if I were you guys, from a state, one of that stuff. You got to stay as far away from Tony Finau as you can stay right now, because he's got putter problems. Even watch that putter go back right now, it looks like AT after a weekend with his Pittsburgh boys. It's drawn and aim. It doesn't look good at all.
[0:47:22] AT: A little shaky.
[0:47:24] JH: Yeah, a little shaky. And Justin Thomas. I love him, man. I gave a clinic with him in Firestone. His dad was a Pittsburgh guy. We worked at Montour Heights Country Club for a while. I'm a big fan of the whole family. PGA Pro all the way down to grandfather, who's from – who was the PGA Pro at Zanesville in Ohio here for a long time. It's just not there right now, right? Justin's the guy you almost force it. You want it to be there. His struggles were a little deeper than we thought before that Ryder Cup. He was able to scrape it out and not embarrass himself and not play bad. But he just is not able to find it, especially under pressure right now.
It stinks. Those two guys are two guys two years ago that were tops, right? I mean, Finau and Justin Thomas had to be in your top 10 for sure. Both of them just seem like, they're fluttering a little bit right now.
[0:48:20] BC: Yeah. I mean, for JT to have an eight on some in the 80s recently, that's tough going into Augusta. He's definitely not informed and he hadn't been informed.
[0:48:33] AT: Yeah, it doesn't seem to be. I mean, you correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he has played very well with the Masters over the years either. I don't think it's been his best tournament. He's done better at the other majors. I don't think the Masters has been his go-to.
[0:48:49] JH: Yeah. I mean, he's a great player and he's going to find it, but he just – it's just not there for him right now. His buddy, Tiger, they’re buddies. They're tight and Tiger's not out there playing right now, so that changes his world a little bit. His buddy, Jordan Spieth isn't playing very good either.
[0:49:06] BC: Well, Jimmy, what do you think about both of those buddies? What do you think about how their performance chances at Augusta, both Tiger and Jordan? Those are two guys that can play that course with their eyes closed, but what form are they going to be in?
[0:49:21] JH: Yeah, not good. Tiger, it's good if Tiger finishes four rounds these days. I love him. I love Tiger. He's been so good to the game of golf and it's just a shame. I mean, listen, I remember when Casey Martin wanted to take a card out because it was – and listen, Casey Martin is the golf coach at Oregon now and the nicest human being you ever meet. I was so against it. I was like, you can't do that. Walking golf is part of the everything, right? It's blah, blah, blah, whatever. Now I sit here and I'm the same guy 25 years later and I'm like, man, I'd give Tiger a card right now if he could get around for four rounds and play. He's so fun to watch and you just want to watch him do what he does and he can't do it because he can't walk 72 holes.
I don't know. I mean, I don't know that it's ever going to change, guys. I mean, maybe he's still around during the champion's tour and he can ride a cart when he's 50 and he might light it up again. I just have never seen him comfortable watching walking 72 holes since the accident, right? How do you play good golf if you're in pain, right? I just don't see it happening, as much as I would give anything to let it happen. Jordan Spieth is just isn't there right now, right? Jordan Spieth’s a very streaky player, guys. He's a guy that you'll find it again and he may even dominate golf for a short period again when he does find it. He hits that driver, it goes crooked, he blocks it right, that putter goes sideways from short, short putts every once in a while. It's just not there right now.
He's not the guy to me that's going to pop up out of nowhere and play good. He's either playing good, or he doesn't play good. That's what I see out of him, and I just don't see him from either of those guys, honestly.
[0:51:02] BC: Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more with takes on both of them. We'll see. If they surprise us, we'll all be pleasantly surprised, but not likely. Add them to the stay-away-from list with Tony and JT from a vantage standpoint.
[0:51:18] AT: Yeah. I think just having Tiger out there is, I mean, for me as a fan is plenty. I mean, we all want more out of him. You know what? The guy almost never played golf again. Hey, he gets to still walk Augusta National. That's a win.
[0:51:32] JH: No doubt about it. No doubt about it. For sure. Absolutely.
[0:51:36] BC: Well, Jimmy, we don't let anybody leave the show until we wrap up with our namesake, which is Tee’d Off. We tell a story, or something about the game of golf in general that grinds our gears a bit.
[0:51:53] AT: Preferably nothing I've been a part of when we played golf, Jimmy.
[0:51:58] BC: This is good. A few people are good to see this, so if there's anything incriminating, let's change their names. I'll kick mine off. I don't play as much golf as I'd like to down here. We’re busy selling it. I am a member of the surf club here. Not the surf club, but more of a private club standpoint, because I understand public play. The Rangers are out there and they're stacking the carts up on one and 10. They got to get play going and pace going.
At a private club, I don't like showing up for my tee time. I'm timely and punctual. A couple of carts cut and getting – driving in front of me and sit on the tee. I was like, what are you doing? You know I that you're seven, 14 minutes behind my time. We're not racing off the first tee. That grinds my gears just a little bit because we're not going anywhere.
[0:53:01] AT: You don't like to tee off with a gallery?
[0:53:02] BC: I don't like teeing off with a gallery. No, I do not.
[0:53:05] AT: See, I'm more of a hold my beer, watch this kind of person. It doesn't bother me.
[0:53:10] BC: No. Not me. That, but just in general, just to drive around and park in front as if I'm wasting time or something. It’s like, man, we hadn't even started. That tees me off a little bit. Aaron, what tees you off?
[0:53:24] AT: It's funny because mine's the exact opposite. Before we started talking to you here today, Jimmy, I was telling a story. One of my friends, I was playing in an outing on Wednesday. As we're sitting there waiting for him to show up, I looked at the guy that had put everything together and I said, “Well, look, man.” I said, “You realize,” I said, “You just need to send everybody involved one email.” I won't name this person, “But you need to send him a separate email 20 minutes earlier than the time you sent us.” I said, “He'll be here on time.” I said, “There's nothing worse for me than waiting for a friend, or one of your foursome, or somebody in your group to show up for your tee time.” Chances are you were out just as late as they were the night before. I don't like holding everybody else up, because you do get that. You start getting a crowd.
[0:54:14] BC: Yeah, that's not good. I mean, if you're not punctual, or someone in your group's not punctual. I think it's even worse if you're the punctual one and someone else isn't.
[0:54:23] AT: For the love of God.
[0:54:24] BC: Because you’re getting the heat.
[0:54:25] AT: If you are the late one, just put your shoes on, get in the cart and go. Don't go in the clubhouse and get a sandwich, or a coffee, or whatever else you need.
[0:54:32] BC: You missed that opportunity.
[0:54:34] AT: Yeah. It's just get in the cart and go.
[0:54:40] BC: If that person's listening, you know who we're talking about. He's now been your second – this is your second Tee’d Off.
[0:54:44] AT: That’s the second time he’s been on Tee’d Off and I haven't named him, but he knows who he is.
[0:54:52] JH: Well, that's good stuff. That's good stuff.
[0:54:53] BC: Jimmy, what you got?
[0:54:55] JH: For me, I'm going to give you two quick ones. First one would be as an instructor, right? When people play golf with me, they're always asking me like, “What do I need to do? What do I need to fix?” Which I love. I literally would rather fix somebody and then play a good round of golf than me play a good round. I played my fair share of good golf. Now, I'm good with it. Then when I give somebody something and they hit a couple bad shots, and they're like, “Well, this just doesn't feel good. This doesn't feel right, doesn't feel good.”
Well, yeah. It doesn't feel good, because you've been doing it wrong for 25 years. It's not going to feel good, because it's different than what you've done. Trust me, when I tell you, I've been watching you play the first seven holes, you want different, right? Because what you got going right now is not good. I get that a lot. I get that somebody wants help, you give them something to fix it. If it doesn't fix the next shot, then it's wrong. Or it's, “I can't do this, or I can't do whatever.” It's like, put no work in. You just think there's some magic thing that we're going to change in one second, that's going to make your golf game completely better. That's probably as an instructor, that's my hardest thing.
It's like, God, do I even want to go down the road of fixing this guy? Because he's going to tell me that I messed him up. It's like, well, you were messed up before. Trust me, if I had a camera to show you the last seven holes, right? I think that's pretty good. Then I think sometimes for me, I play different – I think golf is two different times of golf. There's golf where you're out there just to enjoy the camaraderie and the fun with your friends. We go out there and we play and we have a good time, you know what I mean?
AT and I have a buddy that the beverage cart girl shows up, he takes two holes off, right? I don't even see him. The beverage cart girl shows up on nine and starts playing it on like 12. I'm good with that, right? Because that's the style and type of golf that you're playing. Then you play sometimes where it's a little more competitive. You might have some games going on, some playing, whatever. That person in the group that doesn't accept one or the other, like when you're having a nice, enjoyable round with your buddies and you're just playing, you're kicking back five footers, because you're just out there and they're in there and they're grinding it out and trying to figure it out, it's like, “Dude, we’re just having a good Friday. We're not playing for anything. We're just having a good time.”
Now on the opposite side of that, when you're out there and you got some bets going or whatever and you got the guy that's playing bad, so he wants to make it, oh, here's a seven-footer bag, kind of things, like, “Dude, what are you doing?” Read the moment, right? Read what you're in and stay with what you're in, because I truly believe there's both and both are fun, but you got to stay in the right one.
[0:57:31] BC: Those are great. We've had a couple instructor type Tee’d Off. They're very similar to that one before. We've not had one about knowing your place, knowing your group, because you got to have both with golf, I think. I think even the pros, I mean, they're grinding it out on television. But when they go on vacation, they're having a nice, fun round. We see it on Instagram and stuff like that. You want to do both when you're playing golf, because I think both are fun, but know the situation.
[0:58:10] JH: For sure. I have a 16-year-old son that started playing just a couple years ago. He's a really good athlete, but he didn't play golf. Now he's starting to play. If I went out there and grinded it out every time I played with him and didn't even pay attention to him and just focused on every shot, he wouldn't want to play golf. He'd be like, “This sucks. Spending time with my dad and he didn’t talk to me. He's over there grinding out a three-footer.” You got to read the room a little bit and see what it is and, and try to stay within that. I think anyway, because you’re going to run into both.
[0:58:42] BC: I agree.
[0:58:42] AT: I'm definitely the latter. I'm the take it easy and have fun while you're playing. Because as he mentioned, our friend, I'm usually the one driving our cart, so I'm lagging behind waiting on him.
[0:58:57] BC: Well, Jimmy, it's been really great to have you on the show. Really appreciate your insights on the world of golf and master's preview, of course, Tee’d Off, but then, telling your history on how you got into the sport, which is just a great story, and then how it becomes this great dream job. I mean, it really is. I'm envious of what you guys are doing, and I admire it. Guys, check out 18 Holes and The Swing Clinic with Jimmy Hanlin. Jimmy, thanks so much for being on, and hope to see you down here at Myrtle Beach sometime soon.
[0:59:35] JH: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me, guys. It's fun. Hopefully, I get down to Myrtle and see you boys as soon as possible. I love it down there.
[0:59:41] BC: Yeah, for sure.
[0:59:42] AT: Hey, we're ready for you, man. Just let me know when you want to come.
[0:59:45] JH: Awesome. Thanks, fellas.
[0:59:47] BC: All right. Thanks, Jimmy.
[0:59:47] AT: Thanks, Jimmy. We'll talk soon.
[0:59:47] BC: We’ll talk soon, man.
[0:59:48] JH: Yup. Sounds good.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:59:53] ANNOUNCER: Planning an unforgettable Myrtle Beach golf getaway has never been easier with mbgolf.com. At mbgolf.com, we give you the power of choice in pairing world-class golf with premium options from golf course villas to oceanfront condominiums brought to you by Condo World, the leaders in Myrtle Beach luxury travel. Make your next day and play journey to the golf capital of the world, the experience of a lifetime. It's all just a call, or a click away.
[1:00:30] ANNOUNCER: The back nine.
[1:00:34] BC: Okay, the back nine. Wow, what a great conversation with Jimmy Hanlin.
[1:00:38] AT: Jimmy's the best, man. I've known him for a number of years. If you want to talk golf, hands down, one of the greatest people you can talk with.
[1:00:46] BC: Yeah, he was calling you AT. Is that what he calls you?
[1:00:48] AT: Yeah. I got some friends that, that's just my nickname. I don't know. Maybe it might be hard to say my name or something. It could be, maybe they just had too much to drink. I don't know. AT just flows for him.
[1:01:01] BC: Keep you slightly anonymous. AT, you don’t know.
[1:01:05] AT: Yeah. Him and some other friends, they've called me AT for a number of years, which I don't mind it. I like it.
[1:01:10] BC: How long have you known Jimmy?
[1:01:12] AT: Oh, Jimmy. I've known, I feel like I've known Jimmy. What is this? 2024? 10 years now, something like that, at least. Yeah. I'd say, sounds about right. It could be longer, but I mean, that sounds about right. He basically is a mutual friend that I became friends with. He started doing some stuff with some friends of mine from Pittsburgh he referred to, and they actually brought him down to Myrtle Beach. They had some stuff they were doing, but we all ended up hanging out and playing golf and just – the four of us together, it is a great time, a dangerous time, but it's a great time. It's a lot of fun.
[1:01:54] BC: Well, much appreciated getting him on the show. Jimmy, thanks again. That's going to be a great segment of the show. I can't wait for people to see it. To bring it back to Myrtle Beach, which Jimmy gave a great plug on Myrtle Beach golf, and I couldn't agree more with the things he said. The spring is just about to really kick off, Aaron.
[1:02:15] AT: Yes. We have been busy, busy, busy. Obviously, we're getting into April, because the Master's just around the corner. Becomes a busiest, really the busiest month of the year for golf in Myrtle. We're certainly seeing it. Obviously, groups already booked, coming in, getting everything ready to come in. Things are, knock on wood, weather has been very good for us. We've had a few rainy days, but those rainy days have not impacted golf. We actually were told this past week that there was going to be a rain out for one of the days. Everybody got their golf in. We actually got the rain over the evening, which worked out great for the golf courses, too. Yeah, everything been going great. Very smooth for spring golf. Looking forward to continue that way.
[1:03:05] BC: Yeah. Looking forward to some great weather and the courses I drive past on the way to work, nothing but green. I cannot wait to have the golfers down here. There are still some tee times left, not many. Get to mbgolf.com now if you want to book a spring package because availability on the course and availability in the rooms are very limited.
[1:03:29] AT: April tee times. Yes, very limited right now, especially the further we get in April. Yeah, hopefully you already got your tee times. You might be able to find some extras, but yeah, definitely book them with us.
[1:03:41] BC: If you're thinking about fall, go ahead and start thinking about it, too, because I've seen some – already seen some October rounds booked the last couple of weeks.
[1:03:51] AT: Yeah, we've been booking, it seems like, we every year, the fall booking start earlier and earlier, as I was even saying to myself, early in the year, like in January, is when is typically our spring booking period. We already had some October stuff that was people were calling and inquiring about in October has been booking like wildfire. But don't get me wrong, if you want to come in the fall, I love spring golf in Myrtle. I personally think fall is the greatest time for golf in Myrtle Beach, because the weather is –
[1:04:23] BC: You can't beat it.
[1:04:24] AT: No. I think it is really the greatest time. If you want to do a trip, do fall, because there is availability right now. Get it while it's there.
[1:04:33] BC: Yeah, get it while it's there. Go to mbgolf.com to learn more about all of our packages and accommodations that we offer. Aaron, what is the package of the episode?
[1:04:45] AT: I'm actually, I'm going to say, Barefoot. The reason I say, because Jimmy actually mentioned when he was talking about so many great courses down here in the area, all four courses, Barefoot are ranked high as far as the Myrtle Beach area goes. They're in the top all the time. A couple are nationally. I Know The Dye and the Love course get national ranks and a lot of golf course rankings. You can play. They've got a number of packages you can play. The most popular one is the – when you play the four rounds, they do a 25% discount off of all four rounds. Essentially, you are getting a free round by playing all four courses.
It's a great location for Barefoot to play. All four courses are great. If you stay, you're staying with us. Any of our condo, world condos here are close drive. They're easy to get to. Fantastic facilities, driving range, putting green.
[1:05:45] BC: One of the best facilities around. I mean, not just a Myrtle Beach. It's fantastic. They'll shuttle you from the range to the tee.
[1:05:53] AT: Yeah. The food and beverage, too. I mean, they got great food and beverages there. One of the things that I really like is they have a cabana that is there. When you get there at your backdrop and you go in, check-in, you come, there's a cabana that sits outside, that they have open during the spring and fall months. It’s, I mean, a full-service bar and grill, hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken sandwiches, things like that. You can sit there after your round on a nice evening.
I have my friends we were talking about earlier from Pittsburgh, we've gone over there and just hung out, not even play golf. We just go in the cabana and hung out when it's open. It had drinks and a little bite to eat or something.
[1:06:36] BC: I love it.
[1:06:37] AT: It's a great, yeah, great little spot. Like I said, you're getting four of the best courses in the area when you –
[1:06:42] BC: They do it right at Barefoot Resort. The four courses, they have the names Love, Fazio, Norman, and Dye for a reason. They designed them. They're all different and they're all beautiful and they all have their own challenges and benefits. What's your favorite course?
[1:07:01] AT: I like the Norman myself. Everybody has their own opinion on what the best course is there. I mean, they're all great. For me, I think it's more of an aesthetics thing for me. Because I like that the Norman weaves around the inner coast of the waterway and you get some really nice views while you're playing.
[1:07:23] BC: I like the Norman. I love the Fazio. I think the layout's the best. I would say, the Norman's more picturesque. Then the Love’s got the ruins, which are amazing. The Dye is a typical Pete Dye beauty as well. It just doesn't agree with my game. That would be the most difficult to me would be the Dye course. It's a fantastic course.
[1:07:46] AT: It is. It's phenomenal. It kicks my butt every time I play it. I mean, I love all four courses. If you're not having a so good round, Norman, because I can at least look out of the waterway as boats go by or something.
[1:07:59] BC: Some people down there.
[1:08:02] AT: Yeah. Actually, something to have a good time.
[1:08:03] BC: Well, think about the great Barefoot courses and the Barefoot package when you're booking your next MB golf vacation. To pair that with great accommodations, Jimmy mentioned the Ashworth, where he stayed when they shot 18 Holes. That's right on the ocean, front off of Main Street and North Myrtle Beach. They've got two, three, and four-bedroom condos. They're gorgeous. Huge floor plans. Fully equipped kitchens, washers and dryers in the condo, private balconies. The golfers love the Ashworth there.
[1:08:35] AT: Yeah. They do. Location, location, location right off of Main Street, as you said. I mean, you're a short walk to a number of restaurants, bars attractions that are right there off of Main Street. You can't beat the location. As we mentioned with Barefoot, the package, it's not even a 10-minute drive from there to the Barefoot courses. I bet a few times that it's seven minutes.
[1:09:02] BC: Yeah. It could be less if you get some green light.
[1:09:06] AT: If you don't hit any red lights, you'll be there faster. Yeah.
[1:09:08] BC: It's just two roads. Up Main Street and down 17 and you're there. Definitely consider the Ashworth when you're booking your Barefoot package with mbgolf.com.
[1:09:18] AT: Yup.
[1:09:18] BC: Well, Aaron, this wraps up another great episode of Tee’d Off. Big thanks again to Jimmy Hanlin. Thank you for getting him on the show. That was awesome. Make sure you guys visit mbgolf.com to book your golf package. There's some left in the spring and start thinking about the fall package now. Thank you, everyone, for listening and we'll see you next time.
[1:09:39] AT: See you next time.
[OUTRO]
[1:09:42] ANNOUNCER: Thanks for listening to Tee’d Off. Visit mbgolf.com and follow us on Instagram @teedoffpodcast for the latest episodes and news.
[END]