Episode 24: The Open Preview and Tidewater Golf Club in Myrtle Beach!

In this episode of Tee’d Off, Ben Clyburn and Aaron Thomas sit down with Chris Cooper, General Manager of Tidewater Golf Club, to discuss current highlights in the golfing world and what makes Tidewater so special. The conversation delves into the drama of the US Open, JJ Spaun’s gritty win, and Rory McIlroy’s surprising media silence following his Masters victory. You’ll hear about Chris’ inspiring journey from picking up range balls in Georgia as a child, to chasing the pro golf dream in Orlando, to running one of Myrtle Beach’s most iconic courses. He shares why Tidewater is a bucket-list experience, how its recent KemperSports partnership is transforming the course, and what makes the Elite Package on mbgolf.com such a standout deal. Tune in to get the inside track on fall bookings, top-tier accommodations, and what’s teeing everyone off this week!

The Myrtle Beach Golf Package of the episode was the Elite Package. Play 2 Rounds for exclusive discounts and same day replays. Pro tip: the earlier you book, the more you save with the Elite Package!

The accommodations of the episode are the highly requested Malibu Pointe condos in North Myrtle Beach. These 1, 3, and 4 bedroom ocean view condos are the perfect place to stay for your next Myrtle Beach Golf Trip, and are only a short drive from more than 70 premium courses in Myrtle Beach! With spacious floorplans, finely appointed interiors, fully-equipped kitchens, and private balconies, definitely have Malibu Pointe on your short list of accommodations!

Transcript

EPISODE 24

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:07] ANNOUNCER: It's time for the Tee’d Off Podcast.

[EPISODE]

[0:00:18] BC: It is episode 24 of the Tee’d Off Podcast. I'm your host, Ben Clyburn, here with my co-host, Aaron Thomas. Aaron, how's it going, man?

[0:00:25] AT: Good, Ben. How you doing today?

[0:00:26] BC: Doing really, really well. We are joined in the studio today by Chris Cooper from Tidewater Golf Club. Chris, thank you so much for sitting in with us.

[0:00:33] CC: Thanks for having me, guys. I'm looking forward to this.

[0:00:35] BC: It's going to be a lot of fun. Let me go over the agenda of the show today. We'll hit the front nine, the world of golf, recap the US Open, talk about Scottie Scheffler's continued dominance of the game, and then we'll talk about, arguably, the face of golf, maybe playing heel, Rory McIlroy, what's going on with him. We'll discuss that. Then we'll preview the Open Championship back at Portrush this year, talk about our favorites and sleeper picks. We'll make the turn, and it will be Chris's story, how he got involved in the game of golf, and how he ended up at the beautiful Tidewater, and what makes that course special, some golf packages that you might want to consider when you're booking on mbgolf.com. That includes Tidewater.

Then we'll hit the back nine and talk some more Myrtle Beach golf, some fall and spring round updates, accommodations of the episode, and last, but certainly not least, tee’d off. You guys ready to jump in?

[0:01:26] CC: I'm ready.

[0:01:27] AT: Let's do it.

[0:01:28] BC: Let's do it.

[0:01:32] ANNOUNCER: The Front Nine.

[0:01:35] BC: Okay, the Front Nine. A lot to talk about in the world of golf. The US Open was an interesting one. The course at the beginning brought everybody to their knees in typical Oakmont fashion, and then at the end brought them to their knees from Mother Nature. I just want to get your guys' thoughts on the tournament and JJ Spaun pulling a Nick Taylor there at the end and dropping that putt. What did you guys think of the tournament overall?

[0:02:01] AT: It was everything I hope for from a US Open. I mean, I have some friends, we talk about it and say, we want the US Open to be a winner, even plus one somewhere in there, just how difficult the course is. I thought Sunday was everything I wanted for a finish.

[0:02:20] BC: What did you guys think of the weather? The grounds crew did an amazing job keeping the course playable. But on Sunday, there were some questionable things, like Sam Burns thinking he was in standing water. Do you think that was a bad break, or everybody's playing the same golf course? And JJ Spaun just outlasted everybody?

[0:02:43] CC: I think it was both.

[0:02:45] AT: Yeah. I was going to say, a combination.

[0:02:46] CC: It was a bad break, but everybody was playing the same golf course. I'm with Aaron. I like the US Open once a year. I like to see golfers struggle when they play golf, and even professional golfers. We see them light up the scoreboard all year long, which is fun, too. I like watching guys make a lot of birdies, something I don't do as much of anymore. But to see them struggle and even part of become a good score, I think that's a lot of fun. Like you were saying, I think the golf course got obviously very difficult to watch what JJ was doing. I mean, I've been following his career, I think since 2012, that guy turned professional. He's been on and off all the different tours, and watch a guy like that finally come through and do something like that. That was fantastic.

[0:03:28] BC: How he started on Sunday.

[0:03:29] CC: Oh, I know.

[0:03:30] BC: I mean, hitting the pin and I mean, all those bogeys. He could have put his head down and just said, “Maybe some other time. I started off.” I mean, he was pretty much wire to wire. I mean, I know he lost the lead during the rounds, but wasn't he in the lead after every day?

[0:03:49] CC: I think after the third round, he had lost it to Sam Burns.

[0:03:51] AT: Oh, yeah, yeah. He was second to last group.

[0:03:54] CC: But you're right. After 30 minutes, you didn't even see him anymore. They’ve gone.

[0:03:59] BC: The coverage was like, “Oh, forget about JJ.”

[0:04:01] CC: It was gone. But what he did on the back nine, you're right. I think they putt on 12. When he finally made that putt, got back in to – he was just grinding. I think the weather for him was a great thing. You can see, he's a mudder. He's a grinder. You can see everybody else, they had a reason. Bad break, bad call, whatever you call it. But he just all of a sudden, hey, JJ Spaun makes a long putt. You got to see the putt. Then they come back to him, I think on 14, he makes another birdie. All of a sudden, he's back in the tournament. They're talking about him. Yeah, to watch him just put his head down, he knew par was a good score. All those other guys were just coming back to him. Yeah. Then the way he finished, he just jumped on him on 17, 18 boom, boom. It's over.

[0:04:45] BC: Yeah. I agree with the US Open being a round, even, or over par tournament. I think we've gotten a little bit away from that. The LA Country Club won the last one at Pebble, which it was more set up for the AT&T, not for the US Open. I mean, that was just a joke to me. They didn't get the June Pebble weather either.

[0:05:04] CC: Yeah. It’s just junk.

[0:05:05] BC: On my break. I think when Ángel Cabrera won in ’07 at Oakmont, the winning number was five over, and it was blistering hot and hardwood floor greens. That's the US Open that they wanted.

[0:05:22] CC: Yeah. I mean, and rough’s the great equalizer. You know that. You start pinching in the roughs and make rough where it's a penalty. You hit it in there, those guys were saying, “Hey, we've got to hack it out and just try to make a par.” Then the greens are really firm, like you said. The pins get stuck on some of those corners, but that's what you saw at Oakmont. There were no flat putts. Everything was up and down. Yeah. I mean, even watched guys try to make 10-footers all week for par, and then after a while, yeah, it comes right back down to par, and there it was.

[0:05:49] BC: That thick rough, I mean, the power players, Bryson DeChambeau, who arguably playing the best golf of his life the last 12 months. Defending champion. It got the best of them. It was the rough.

[0:06:02] CC: It did.

[0:06:03] BC: It was not the putts. He was putting for par, instead of trying to score. He couldn't get close enough to the hole because he was playing from the rough.

[0:06:11] CC: Right. Well, it’s not super long. I mean, it's not super long. They put a premium on driving the ball in the fairway there, and guys like Spaun. Yeah.

[0:06:21] AT: On Sunday, how many wedge duffs did you see coming out of that rough? That's all they could find was the rough on Sunday.

[0:06:28] BC: Spaun, you nailed it there. I mean, he split the fairways all week, dude.

[0:06:32] AT: He did.

[0:06:34] BC: I mean, the ribbon. I was just like, well, that's right in the middle. I mean, you're going to do well.

[0:06:39] AT: Well, he's got two shots that are going to live on forever in US Open highlights, when he drove the green.

[0:06:46] CC: On 17.

[0:06:47] AT: And then his final putt. It's just, they're going to live on forever.

[0:06:51] CC: We've been watching it all week, too. They gave you that view right from behind the tee, and they're just hitting it down into nothing. And you watch that ball, you'd watch it all week when the guys cut it a little too much, you knew it was short and right in that front bunker. Then the guys that were hanging on to it and pulling them on that left side and right when he hit that thing and it started cutting, he picked his tee up, because he knew, “That's as good as I've got.” He knew where that pin was and that back right. Man, it was tight. It was clutch. It was over when he did that, in my opinion.

[0:07:18] BC: Yeah. Yeah. Let me ask you all this, though. I like a hard US Open course. Do you like par threes over 300 yards? I think that's silly.

[0:07:28] AT: For guys that can do it, sure, go ahead.

[0:07:30] BC: Yeah. Well, somebody said something during practice rounds and said, “Man, I love a reachable par three.”

[0:07:35] CC: Yeah. I was going to say, it would have been embarrassing for me to be standing there, and I'm like, “Man, I can't get there. I can't get there.”

[0:07:42] BC: I don't think that's necessary. Let the greens do the talking.

[0:07:46] CC: Everybody plays the same hole. You hear that. But right, 300 yards. That's a little much. I agree. I mean, what just, what was it? The year before it, I mean, a couple of years back, L.A. in L.A? They had the little short 100-yard too. That hole, that gave them a hard –

[0:08:00] BC: It did.

[0:08:01] CC: A lot of trouble there. Anyway, yeah. For me, 300 yards, probably a little long.

[0:08:06] BC: I just asked. I think it's a little trivial and I think they just wanted to do it to say it. I’ll tell you this much, I would not want to be a member of Oakmont Country Club. The people that want to be a member, that's the course they expect, and that's their job. I couldn't play that course twice a week.

[0:08:22] AT: It defined the slogan, though, which I thought was perfect, was we're not trying to embarrass the best golfers in the world. We're trying to identify them.

[0:08:30] BC: But the best golfers in the world don't play it every week. I was just like, wow. They interviewed people and say, “Listen, we've seen it rolling in 18 before. We've seen the rough higher than this.”  I'm just like, wow, it's a bucket list thing, but I would not want to be a member and play there in a men's group.

[0:08:47] CC: Oh, yeah. To your point. I mean, can you imagine that each week? If you're a scratch golfer at Oak Pot, it's going to travel everywhere. I was thinking of that very thing, too. They like it tough. They wanted to play hard.

[0:09:04] BC: All power to them. Bar stool had, or somebody who was a correspondent, or something, he was a scratch, and he shot a 93 on Monday.

[0:09:14] CC: I saw that.

[0:09:15] BC: Championship teeth.

[0:09:16] AT: They said, yeah, who was it put the, I was out there on extra, or something about?

[0:09:20] BC: JT started it.

[0:09:21] AT: Was that it? Was it Justin Thomas? Okay. Yeah.

[0:09:23] BC: But he said, throw a 15 handicapper out there. I think he was a Fox Sports guy. I forget who he was, but he shot a 40, a 47, or something on the front, or something, and had to rein it in. I think he might actually might have been in the 50s, and he shot something better on the back. But 93 from a scratch golfer.

[0:09:45] AT: Well, it's like we mentioned the par three. I mean, that thing in two.

[0:09:51] CC: You would stand on every tee and say, “All right, what can I know I'm going to hit in the fairway?” That's how it starts. Yeah. If it's a five iron, I'm still in the five iron.

[0:09:58] BC: Yeah. Just try and hit it straight.

[0:09:59] CC: I got to keep it in the fairway, because you know you don't want to be in the rough.

[0:10:03] BC: Well, coming off a top 10 finish, which I guess is a disappointment, and his recent play the last few years, Scottie Scheffler. I said on the last episode when we were previewing – No, no, two episodes ago, I said that Scottie Scheffler wasn't going to win a tournament this year. I said, there's no way somebody who has gone through that level of success. You're approaching the threshold of some of the greatest golfers ever if you continue it. I just didn't believe that it was possible, or highly unlikely.

Changed his putting grip again, got hurt, although minor, had just become a father. I just thought maybe there was just some steam let out of that thing. Not that he wasn't going to play well. I just didn't think he was going to win. The bottle was on that for a little bit. I looked pretty dang smart for a second. Then he rolls off three wins, three, four.

[0:10:57] AT: Ben hated it when Scottie started getting close to winning, because every Sunday I was sending a text. I’m like, “It's going to happen.”

[0:11:05] CC: It's hard to believe what the guy does. To your point, I mean, you keep thinking, well, at some point he'll slow down a little bit. I mean, but when you're watching somebody that's great, you really don't know it till it happens. He's got to continue to happen. I think, that guy, what he’s around, I mean, if you look at the people that are around him, I think the support that you get when you're playing golf on that level, just to see that, that to me looks like he has a great life off the golf course.

When you see his whole group there at the end, his caddy, his wife, and obviously, nice kid, you never know how a guy is going to react to being a new father. You never know. I think he and his wife, if you listen to that story, I think they were high school sweethearts. They’ve been friends a long time. She knows what he needs. She knows the support he needs, or what he needs. I think that's a really big deal. Man of faith all that. We see all that. I think –

[0:11:59] BC: And a routine guy.

[0:11:59] CC: - golf course. Yeah. He looks like he, you know.

[0:12:02] BC: In 2012 Tahoe, he drove for years and years and years and years. Jim Nantz bought it for charity last year. I mean, that represents who he is. Something that I think is different in Scottie this year, we've seen him be very demonstrative. He was demonstrative on the driving range during the US Open. I mean, finishing top 10 and had a shot to win it, sitting on the first tee on Sunday and was really giving it to his coach, not in a blame game, but in frustration.

[0:12:27] CC: I think he's frustrated with himself.

[0:12:28] BC: He’s throwing clubs against his bag. I mean, not that he was, I wouldn't say robotic, but the previous two years, it was just like, all he was doing was winning and smiling and holding a trophy. I just thought, I think that's been interesting to see we've just peeled back a layer of the onion to say, man, this guy is at the top of his game, but he's battling himself, too.

[0:12:52] AT: Well, he's also got a competitive nature that, I mean, if you've heard people on tour talk about it, he doesn't – you don't necessarily, when you looked at Tiger, you're like, “Yeah, this guy just wants to beat everybody.” You don't necessarily see that when you first look at Scottie Scheffler, but he has that mentality. I mean, everybody that speaks of him says, he is so competitive that I think that's part of what drives it.

[0:13:13] CC: I was going to say, has he always been that way? We're just noticing now?

[0:13:17] BC: Yeah, maybe.

[0:13:18] CC: I mean, he's probably been that way the whole time. Expectations go up, some go up, as ours go up for him.

[0:13:25] BC: He's meeting them. I mean, he's ticked off almost every single stat.

[0:13:31] CC: Can't imagine the pressure.

[0:13:32] BC: Yeah. He's meeting it. It's no secret, when we talk about the open, he's the favorite right now. These odds that I pulled, nine to two favorite. It's insane.

[0:13:41] CC: He would have to be.

[0:13:42] BC: I mean, but how could he not be?

[0:13:43] CC: Yeah.

[0:13:44] BC: You mentioned Tiger Woods, and he's such an assassin, no matter what. I mean, no matter. If you interviewed him today and asked him when he enters a tournament, no matter what his personal life, injury life, he enters a tournament thinking he's going to win. He wants to destroy them. Let's transition to another huge story in golf. Rory McIlroy wins the Masters, gets the career grand slam. An electric Sunday at Augusta. I mean, one of the most memorable I can remember, whether you like him or don't like him, you watched.

[0:14:21] CC: A lot of fun to watch.

[0:14:22] BC: It was cool to see him get the career grand slam. Since then, he has refused to talk to the media. He did not call Jack Nicholas, who he confided in at the Masters to say, he wasn't going to be at this tournament. Jack, who keeps things close to the chest, had a press conference first tournament and was visibly upset about it. During his very short press conference before the US Open, he said that he was lacking motivation. Just wasn't really feeling it. I don't think I've ever heard somebody – Tiger Woods was the face of golf for so long. I don't even think that's – the word motivation is not even in Tiger's vocabulary, and he just wakes up a killer.

I think Scottie Scheffler has that in him, kind of a friendly assassin. Rory McIlroy is arguably still the face of golf. You can argue that he's the face of golf over Scottie Scheffler, even, from a commercial standpoint, from a playability standpoint, stardom. What is going on with this guy? I mean, I'm shocked. I mean, just why has he become so unlikable? Why is he playing the heel?

[0:15:44] AT: I mean, if you read X, and I try not to go down many of those rabbit holes, but they're – you see a lot of the same things, like is it something in his personal life? They're like, he just looks like somebody that's genuinely not happy, and nobody knows what it's about. I mean, something’s not right. I mean, it could be a number of things, but I don't know. He's embraced it. I will say that.

[0:16:09] CC: Recently. Yeah.

[0:16:11] BC: It was Collin Morikawa earlier in the year that said, “I don't owe the press anything. Da, da, da, da, da.” That's Colin Morikawa. I know he's won two majors, and he's a United States star golfer. It's Colin Morikawa. Rory McIlroy, there's a level of expectation to be available and be the star of the show that he has met for decades. We have seen him struggle, and we've seen him be great. He is at the absolute pinnacle to win the career grand slam, and just as about as likable as he could have gotten right there. Then to just –

[0:16:48] CC: Imagine all that all the years of all the questions that he's received, some that he liked, some that he didn’t, he referenced, I think the other day, he said that, “I don't have to talk to everybody all the time. I get upset at you guys. Some, and it's not necessarily you guys.” Wasn't really talking about. Somebody over the years has upset him, and I don't know. Finally, he wins the masters, and he thinks, “I'm there. That's what I've always wanted to do. It's my personal goal. I've got the career grand slam now. I don't have to worry about it anymore.”

You're right. It's almost like you can see it in his body language now. It's almost like, “I don't want to talk to everyone. I don't feel like I have to.” I think, to me, it seemed like the situation that happened at the PGA this year when he got the driver pulled on him, it seemed to me like he really took offense to the fact that they were trying to make it seem like the Augusta thing. He was cheating. You heard some of that on that. You heard some of that chatter out there.

I don't know if over the years other reporters have asked him the wrong type of questions, but anybody that would ask him that type of thing. I think he stood away and said, “Look, I don't want to talk to anybody right now, because I don't want that question, because that had nothing to do with anything.” I don't know. I think he gets upset at people there in his face. That would be hard for me to understand. I've never been in a position like that. Yeah, just to watch his body language, you can obviously tell he's upset. There's no way to know exactly what the problem is.

[0:18:18] AT: He does get, I think, more personal life questions asked than probably the average PGA tour person.

[0:18:23] CC: He does. He does.

[0:18:24] AT: I mean, let's not forget when the divorce thing went public. That wasn't supposed to happen, apparently. Whatever. I mean, I just saw whenever I watched Full Swing a while back, that's what I saw last year on that. I mean, sometimes I can see if somebody digging into your personal life, you might not want that.

[0:18:43] BC: Well, even through the scandals. Tiger Woods has always been pretty dang private with his private life. I mean, these big cracks have shown. But he's always been available to the media when he's doing something publicly. It goes with the territory. I'm not saying that reporters aren't that creative. He's probably had the same question asked, I mean, about chasing the Masters. Oh, my God. I mean, he got that question for 10, 11 years. He finally achieved it. I just feel like, things should just get easier for you. Not harder.

[0:19:21] CC: Yeah. I felt like he probably thought he had to take that question, though. He had it in on the Masters. So, he had to take it when they asked him to stand there. Yeah, I want to do it. He got in close a couple of times, had fallen apart, and I don't remember exactly what year that was.

[0:19:34] BC: Yeah, first attempt at it.

[0:19:36] CC: Yeah, but to stand there and take those questions over here, then to finally get it, you're right. It's almost like he felt like, “Hey, I've done it. I don't have to do it all the time anymore.” I don't know.

[0:19:45] AT: Yeah. Another thing too is, I mean, he did – I mean, he made himself the face of the PGA tour, and the whole LIV thing happened. Some people didn't necessarily like how he was the face of the PGA tour at that time, his language and stuff towards some of the golfers that left, and where they call about face whenever John Rahm left. Oh, well, he's going to be on the Ryder Cup. None of those guys were Ryder Cup eligible until his number one horse left and went. Some of that stuff makes you, you know.

[0:20:22] BC: He got shafted there. Jay Monahan really threw him up, because Tiger was injured and propped him up. He took that mantle, and then LIV, or the PIF and PGA, at least announced the merger years ago.

[0:20:38] AT: Still no deal done.

[0:20:39] BC: Still no deal done. Then he left the players' council. I just think it's somebody that at his level, I just expect more. I expect more. I think it goes with the territory of being –

[0:20:55] CC: Expectations.

[0:20:56] BC: If you're going to be the best, you got to be the best. And he's done it. I don’t think it's right for him to say, “I don't want to do it anymore.”

[0:21:03] CC: You're right. I mean, and they do it for years. They do it for years. Then all of a sudden, when they decide one day, “I want to step off and not be that person anymore.” It's hard to let them go. It's not going well right now for him, I can tell you that.

[0:21:15] AT: It's going to make the Ryder Cup fun.

[0:21:17] BC: Man –

[0:21:17] CC: That will.

[0:21:18] BC: I cannot wait for that. But the Open Championship is before that. Back in Portrush, Rory McIlroy memorably missed the cut the first time at Portrush, which was a huge disappointment to him and the fans, and the home country. But Shane Lowry picked up the pace there and won it for him. I look forward to it being back at Portrush. I think that is an absolutely stunning golf course, and a nice little change –

[0:21:44] CC: Do you guys remember who finished second? Remember who finished second to Lowry?

[0:21:48] BC: No.

[0:21:49] CC: It was Fleetwood.

[0:21:50] BC: Ooh.

[0:21:51] AT: It seems like it's been so long ago.

[0:21:54] BC: Heartbreak pretty recently at the Travelers with Fleetwood.

[0:21:57] CC: Yes, it was.

[0:21:57] BC: Does he have that clutch bone in his body, or is he just going to have to wait? I mean, he’s –

[0:22:03] CC: They would be popular, man. He seems to be listening to everybody talk out there.

[0:22:08] BC: He's such a great ball striker. On the greens is where he is.

[0:22:12] CC: Top 10 machine.

[0:22:12] BC: Yeah. Well, top two machine too, right? 40, 41?

[0:22:17] CC: It's 42. Yeah. Yeah. 42 now.

[0:22:20] BC: That camera angle of him. He couldn't even watch Keegan.

[0:22:23] CC: I know. I saw that.

[0:22:25] BC: I mean, that brings in whole other questions, Chris. I mean, Keegan Bradley went in. Are we going to have a playing captain?

[0:22:30] CC: We’re going to see number six or seven, eight?

[0:22:33] AT: Eight, I believe. Eight. Yeah.

[0:22:35] CC: Maybe. Could happen.

[0:22:37] BC: That would be awesome.

[0:22:38] CC: He said he wouldn't put himself on it, but if he qualified that, yeah, he was going to do it.

[0:22:43] BC: Would he still be the captain, or would he appoint some vice captains to be more extra than those?

[0:22:47] CC: He still has one pick, right? I think he's picked four already. He has one left he hasn't picked yet.

[0:22:53] AT: Yeah. He said in the interview the other day that he would not appoint somebody to be captain while he played. He’s blaming on taking it. Yeah.

[0:23:02] BC: He would be a playing captain.

[0:23:04] AT: He's going to take it full on if he decides to do it. He said, he's only going to do it if he feels – he's only going to play if it best serves the team. That'll depend on who's left out there for him.

[0:23:14] CC: You're right, man. He is a ra-ra guy. In New York, I'm telling you.

[0:23:17] BC: Oh, man. He's got to play.

[0:23:19] AT: Yeah. I'm excited.

[0:23:21] BC: I mean, if he's still in form, I think he has to play.

[0:23:24] AT: Yeah. He's been in form all year.

[0:23:25] BC: All year. Well, actually, the last two years –

[0:23:28] CC: Yeah. He's been right there.

[0:23:28] BC: - he's played really well. He's been really consistent. I mean, that's what you need, especially Bethpage Black.

[0:23:33] AT: What, he's 43 now. Is that right?

[0:23:36] CC: 44.

[0:23:38] AT: I just saw it the other day, too. I can't remember.

[0:23:40] BC: Mid 40s.

[0:23:41] CC: I'm telling you, he still gets it out there. He's a great driver. I don't know. I think it'd be great.

[0:23:50] BC: Well, his odds at Portrush, not that he's –

[0:23:53] AT: Can't be terrible.

[0:23:55] BC: No. They got to be pretty good.

[0:23:56] CC: It’s got a lot to do what kind of weather they got.

[0:23:58] BC: Yeah, it does. Let's talk about that.

[0:24:01] CC: He hits the ball way up in the air.

[0:24:03] BC: Yeah. That's usually not helpful. There's even a little scootch of wind that's got to hurt him. But look, Chris, I'll start with you. Who's your favorite? We'll go through our favorites and we'll go through our sleepers for the Open Championship. Who's your favorite?

[0:24:16] CC: You know what? I've been watching. He's gotten close a couple of times. I mean, I think, if I had to pick, obviously, Scottie Scheffler is there. But what did Scottie finish last year? Seventh, I think. That's his best finish ever in an Open Championship.

[0:24:28] BC: It's good to know.

[0:24:29] CC: I tell you, I'm going to pick John Rahm. Yeah. I'm going to pick John Rahm.

[0:24:32] BC: Played well at the PGA.

[0:24:34] CC: He's played well. PGA. He has played well in spots.

[0:24:38] BC: And we forget about him.

[0:24:39] CC: We do forget about him, because he'd slid over. There's a couple of those guys that continue to play well, DeChambeau and those guys when they come over, but Rahm to me, you going over there, I think if I had to pick, that's going to be my favorite. What are the odds on him? It's like –

[0:24:55] BC: It is 12 to one, 12 to one. That’s pretty dang good. I mean, that would be the number one favorite if we weren't in the Scottie Scheffler era.

[0:25:04] CC: Yeah. Scheffler’s, he's got to be up there and obviously –

[0:25:06] BC: Yeah, 20 to one. Rory, seven to one. Aaron, who's your favorite?

[0:25:11] AT: Scottie. I mean, you got to, even though he's –

[0:25:13] CC: It’s hard not to.

[0:25:15] AT: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the US Open maybe roughed him up a little bit, but he'll get in though.

[0:25:21] BC: Only finished seventh.

[0:25:23] CC: But there again, you see what he does. I mean, he slid back in there in the US Open. I mean, he thought he was done. He was gone. I'm telling you, had he made a couple of putts at the US Open –

[0:25:31] BC: He'd have won the thing.

[0:25:32] CC: He'd have won it again.

[0:25:35] BC: Rolling out of 62 in the travelers, I know it's always a scoreable track. But I mean, he's just – his stats, and hopefully, we don't do a montage of what I said earlier in the year and what I'm saying now, my favorite's also Scottie Scheffler. Guy, I said, he wasn't going to win a tournament. He's first in strokes gained over Rory. First in strokes gained off the tee.

[0:25:57] CC: Scottie, too. I'm like, I'm going to try to pick some of that.

[0:26:00] BC: I tried. I did the research. I can’t.

[0:26:02] CC: It's hard. It's hard not to pick him.

[0:26:04] BC: Rory, I don't know where his head is. I really like Shane Lowry. I like the story. He's not playing well. He's just not playing that well. Xander, he's not having the best of years. John, I forgot about him. Ludvig, not quite met expectations of how he was playing last year. Collin Morikawa.

[0:26:25] CC: Russell Henley’s a mudder. He’s a scrapper.

[0:26:28] BC: He's my sleeper pick. Here’s your poor man, Scottie this year. Scottie's first in strokes gained overall, strokes gained off the tee, strokes gained approach, and top 20 in strokes gained putting. That's not bad. For three wins, 11 top 10s, and a runner-up, no missed cuts. Russell Henry is fifth in strokes gained overall. First in approach, 75 to 100 yards, and fifth inside 100 yards. That's pretty big.

[0:26:54] CC: He likes bad weather. He likes it head high.

[0:26:56] BC: Yep. He's 30th in putting. He's got one win, one runner up, eight top 10s. The only two blips on his radar, two missed cuts and they so happen to be the Masters and the PGA.

[0:27:06] CC: Yeah, that's nuts.

[0:27:07] BC: But he's coming off of a top 10 at the US Open, which were the most difficult of conditions and tracks out of the three.

[0:27:16] CC: At Royal Portrush. He might get it there.

[0:27:19] BC: At 50 to one, he's my sleeper pick. Scottie, he's my favorite. I don't have to get into that. Who's your sleeper pick, Aaron?

[0:27:25] AT: Well, I want some redemption. I like Sam Burns. I feel like, he is – he's been playing well. It was at the Canadian Open. He ended up losing out on that after what, four or five play-off holes, I think it was.

[0:27:40] BC: Yeah, 70 to one.

[0:27:41] AT: I feel like he's playing well enough right now, and maybe some lessons learned from the US Open. Maybe he can carry that over and –

[0:27:51] BC: He has gotten so much more consistent over the last two years. I picked him as a sleeper a few years ago. He was a guy that could roll off seven, eight birdies out of 10 holes and then explode. I mean, you would see squares and circles all over his card to shoot two under. He's so much more consistent. Now, he's really good friends with Scottie. Scottie says he's one of the most competitive guys he knows. I think that's a really good pick.

[0:28:13] CC: They are close. They are good friends.

[0:28:15] AT: I want him to bring the mullet back for the Ryder Cup. That's where he won me, when he had the mullet for the Ryder Cup.

[0:28:25] BC: He's a hot head. He's calmed down, but he gets hot. He runs hot. That's great for the patriotic movement there.

[0:28:31] CC: Yeah. He does run hot.

[0:28:33] BC: Chris, who's your sleeper pick?

[0:28:35] CC: I'm going to take European. I'm going to take Robert MacIntyre. He’s obviously played well in the Open. Won the Scottish Open a few years ago. Yeah, I've just watched him over the years. I think it's time. I didn't want to. I mean, he's hitting it from the wrong side, but I've watched him play. I mean, he's impressed me. I don't know if you've watched him coming down the stretch there in the US Open. He didn't miss any putts, man. He just kept knocking them in, knocking them in. Yeah. I think, what am I getting there?

[0:29:05] BC: Robbie's 25 to one.

[0:29:09] CC: Okay. That’s my guy.

[0:29:10] BC: Coming off of a really good –

[0:29:12] CC: Sleeper pick. That's me, I think.

[0:29:14] BC: And likable.

[0:29:15] CC: Seems to be.

[0:29:16] BC: I don't think I've ever heard a bad thing uttered about Robbie MacIntyre. He's had some exposure in international play. Just a good teammate.

[0:29:25] CC: Yeah. I think so.

[0:29:26] BC: Lefties not too far removed from winning.

[0:29:28] CC: Familiar.

[0:29:29] BC: Brian Harman won.

[0:29:30] CC: All those guys that grew up playing over there, man, they just know. They know how to play.

[0:29:34] BC: There's a different emotion to it that foreigners, which would be us, don't quite have it. It's just a home field advantage just in that continent, that have to be in country.

[0:29:48] CC: That's their Super Bowl over there.

[0:29:49] BC: Yeah. It is.

[0:29:49] CC: That and the Ryder Cup. But I'm telling you, he'll play hard there. I think he'll play well.

[0:29:55] BC: Well, it's my second favorite major, even though I have to get up in the middle of the night to watch it, because –

[0:30:00] AT: I always do it.

[0:30:00] CC: I don't mind it.

[0:30:02] BC: Because just something about it, just on TV and the whisper, and it's just different. The clouds are a different color. I've been over there before. It looks exactly like it does on TV. It’s just beautiful.

[0:30:17] CC: The middle of the summer here, it’s burning hot, and you watch these guys and they're all covered up. It could be. You get one weather in the morning. You get another kind in the afternoon. Who knows what you're going to get? You're right. I mean, I like seeing just what type of weather they're going to have to play with.

[0:30:30] BC: Yeah. It's a really different way of playing golf.

[0:30:33] CC: That's right.

[0:30:34] AT: I love the Sunday morning, like you're getting your final round in during breakfast. It is. It's a great feeling.

[0:30:42] BC: It's going to be great, and I can't wait to recap it.

[0:30:44] CC: I'm like you, that my wife thinks I'm crazy. You set an alarm, get up in the middle of the night.

[0:30:48] AT: I do the same. Yeah.

[0:30:49] BC: World open. Then you miss it. Especially now that it's the last major, which I think they need to put the PGA back. I understand the FedEx Cup is trying to become this huge thing with the playoffs and stuff. I miss it being the PGA, being glory's last shot. I think there's some steam that's been left taken out of that.

[0:31:09] AT: I've adjusted. I'm okay with it. Because really, when August, and I think that's the way it's looked at when August is winding down, so the PGA tour is winding down and you got other sports that are picking up. It does lose some steam in August, I believe.

[0:31:28] CC: I'm with you, Ben. I feel like golf's over after the last. Yeah. Then I've got to wait until college football starts. My brain’s aren't playing well. That's about it.

[0:31:40] AT: See, I could get into the FedEx Cup though. Yeah, I can. I could watch the –

[0:31:44] BC: They're going back to just a stroke play event.

[0:31:47] AT: Which I like. Yeah.

[0:31:49] CC: Maybe it'll be a little more entertaining that way, for Scottie Scheffler to get such a big lead. That's not a lot of fun to watch.

[0:31:55] BC: Yeah. He needs to give strokes.

[0:31:58] CC: Yeah. We just talked about how great he was. Now we're going to give him shove.

[0:32:00] AT: Of course, I don't know. His tee choked up a lead one year, I remember, and said, I mean, it's had its interesting points. We'll see. I'm still looking forward to it.

[0:32:10] BC: Yeah. Well, that has a lot going on in the world of golf. What do you say, we transition, get a little more close to home and talk some Tidewater golf with Chris?

[0:32:18] CC: Sounds great. Let's do it.

[SPONSOR MESSAGE]

[0:32:23] 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.

[EPISODE CONTINUED]

[0:33:02] ANNOUNCER: Making the turn.

[0:33:04] BC: All right. Making the turn. We are joined by Chris Cooper, General Manager of Tidewater Golf Club, located in beautiful North Myrtle Beach. Chris, I ask every guest that comes on the show, what got you into the sport of golf, and how did it end up becoming your profession in Myrtle Beach?

[0:33:20] CC: Well, I'd be honest with you, I really didn't have a choice. My family, or golf family, they have obviously, pictures, I can't remember of me when I'm two-years-old, holding a golf club. There was my dad. My dad was a scratch golfer and a golf coach at a college in South Georgia. I grew up around the game. I played all the other sports, too, baseball, football, basketball, but golf was always there for me year-round. We lived close enough to the college, where there was a practice area, practice green, and a driving range.

When I was eight, nine-years-old, my dad had me come over every day after school and take care of the range. I mean, I would pick balls right around a little three-wheeler and pick the driving range, and then mow the practice green. I mean, I'm a little guy doing this. But the love for the game was there because my dad had it. He and I shared that, and I played tons of junior golf, traveled all around. That's what we did in the summers. A lot of my friends played. That was our babysitter back then. I mean, in the summers, your parents would just drop you off at the golf course.

[0:34:29] BC: They were all day.

[0:34:31] CC: “See you. Pool’s over here. Here's a couple of bucks. Stay out of everybody's way. If the pro tells us you were a pain, I'll deal with you when we come to pick you up.” That's what we did in the summers, really, just play golf all the time. My dad would come out later in the afternoons. He and I would play together. My dad's love for the game gave me a love for golf. Like I said, I played all the other sports, but golf was always the one that I excelled at the most, and went on to play high school, college, and then got done, like everybody who had any success at all in their life, I think I'm good enough. I moved to Orlando and headed down there to try to be around it. Cause back then, that's what everybody was doing, if you thought you were any good. But you get down there and –

[0:35:14] BC: Still a big –

[0:35:15] CC: It is. It’s a big training area. But I moved down there and worked at a big resort. But I'm like, yeah, I'm going to be working at the resort, man, but I'm down here to play golf. That's what's serious. Well, you get down there and you try to play in some tournaments, money gets tight. Before you know it, you find out you're not as good as you thought you were. A lot of good players. I got into the golf business there at Grand Cypress down in Orlando. Man, there they teach you just everything. I mean, I started working as a — in valet for them at the golf club. Then the valet drivers, then they move you down to the bag drop, and then you run this large bag drop, and then they move you from there to the tournament office. You run huge groups for the tournament office there, then after all of that, they move you to the golf shop, and then you run the golf shops.

Through all that, they have a big academy there. You have to be certified in teaching. I got into the PGA there and became a class A, and met my wife. Man, that's when my life got straightened and out. You tell her, “Hey, I'm a golfer.” “Well, I'll see you on TV.” You're really not a golfer, so what do you do? That's when I got into the golf business. Got serious about it. Moved here in ’97. Started working at Tidewater in ’98. I've been at Tidewater for 27 years.

[0:36:36] BC: Wow.

[0:36:37] CC: I've watched Tidewater just turn into what it is today. When I first got there, we were selling real estate. That was the big key out there, man. We were pushing real estate. Now, Tidewater's all grown up, and I've just moved my way through there. I started as an assistant at Tidewater and became Head Pro a long time ago. Well, it would have been probably 2000, ’99-2000. Then we had a little short stint with Trim Golf, and then we were managed by Burroughs and Chapin for a while, for 10 or 11 years. Then we went back to self-managed in 2014, where I just managed it with our team out there.

Up until recently in August, we were purchased by KemperSports. For the last couple of years, I've been working with KemperSports and been the acting general manager at Tidewater though for since 2014. It's been a journey, man. I love golf. That's all I could really do. I never really knew what else I would do if it wasn't the play golf, or be in the golf business.

[0:37:40] BC: The value to learn all the aspects, when you're a child picking up the range and then everything you did in Orlando to learn the business of golf, really, when you got here in the late 90s, you were much more than an assistant.

[0:37:53] CC: I was.

[0:37:54] BC: You were a green.

[0:37:55] CC: No, I was. I was prepared to be, in my opinion, you think you know everything, but you didn't. I mean, Tidewater’s taught me a lot. Yeah, I felt like I did bring a lot to Tidewater with regards to just the way we did it down there. It was just different. We just did things differently here. Being in this area now for, I mean, I've called this area home for over half my life now. It's been a great place to work, a great place to live. I was just driving here today, and I was standing here and when I got here. The drive between Tidewater and here, right down the beach, everybody's having a good time. It just makes you happy to where you're living.

The people at Tidewater, I've worked with, I mean, our accountant's been there 25 years, our shop manager who works closely with me, he's been there 26, our superintendent 21. It's just our love for the property, man. Nobody leaves. I mean, it's just a great place to be, a great place to work. Like I said, we just purchased by KemperSports and man, we're just thrilled with them. They've been fantastic to us. The transition from our old owner to the new owner has been fantastic for everyone.

[0:39:01] BC: Well, that's great. Here, we have the same very little turnover, a great team, and that love the area, born and raised in North Myrtle Beach. I share all that sentiment with driving to work every day, and being happy and all –

[0:39:15] CC: Just happy you live here. It’s crazy.

[0:39:16] BC: - the people that visit here are happy, and the people that work here are happy. T's a wonderful place that I'm just so thankful every day to come and do this.

[0:39:26] CC: We call it work.

[0:39:28] BC: Then get paid to do it. It’s just, wow.

[0:39:29] CC: That's right. That's exactly right. What a beautiful area, and I've just been blessed to be at Tidewater as long as I have. I love the property.

[0:39:37] BC: Yeah. Well, it's changed management a few times. Glad that KemperSports and you guys are doing a great job over there. What has not changed is how special that golf course is. Tell us about the golf course and what are some key factors that make it so great.

[0:39:53] CC: Well, I mean, just the property itself. I mean, almost 600 acres out there and you've got an 18-hole facility. The cool part about Tidewater is when you're standing on a tee, you really don't see anybody else. You don't see another hole. I mean, there's a couple of places where you can, but for the most part, every hole is its own experience. It's a Parkland style. You start there by the clubhouse, and then you blast out onto the cherry grove salt marsh, and you get to play out there a little while, and then you make the turn back, and you come back over. Now you get on the intercoastal side, and you get to play along those.

The views, the property itself, that's what makes it special. Kemper as I said, they realized when they got to Tidewater right away, look, we can make this place even better sooner than I had anticipated. Right away, they saw the value in putting money back into the bunkers. We just got through a big renovation back in February, and all of our bunker faces have been, for lack of a better word, and all that surrounds. The bunkers have been modernized. Tidewater was 30-plus-years-old and the bunkers really had never had a facelift. They recognized that right away, to their credit. Man, they have really improved the way that golf course looks. It looks a lot more modern and sleek.

We had the old push-up bunkers. We push the sand up. What a constant maintenance nightmare that is, after all the big thunderstorms we have. Now that the grass is now grown them down and had the big beautiful faces now with the sand down in the middle. A lot easier to maintain and just a really cool modern look.

[0:41:27] BC: I'm sure it looks great. I'm only semi-excited about that, because I'm always in them.

[0:41:32] CC: We tried to make it more player-friendly, too. I mean, the head of our company, the gentleman, says, “Play golf, play fun, play fast.” That's what he wants everyone to do.

[0:41:43] AT: I love that.

[0:41:44] CC: Play fun, play fast. It's supposed to be a good time, right? We tried to make it more player-friendly. I mean, even though we really didn't take out a ton of bunkers, we left them. I mean, they're there, but we made them smaller, and we gave you more grass in between all those areas to miss shots and make mistakes. Over the years, I've heard the problems and, “God, I wish I would do something over here.” You watch it over time, and you can look right at 13 green, a beautiful par five out there on the salt marsh. The right side when the greens get firm, it would roll down. If you hit it on the green, you hit a great shot and you'd get penalized, because it would roll down into this big waste bunker over here. We said, “Look, let's cover that up and grass that area over there and give people a fighting chance to make a par if they missed the green after they've hit a good shot.” To Kemper’s credit, I mean, they came in, they said, “Look, let's make this place more player-friendly. Let's make it so we can play fast, play fun.” I think we accomplished that.

[0:42:44] BC: I would say, and Aaron, I'll ask your opinion of it. I've always found Tidewater to be challenging, but a fair test. I think there's a couple of courses on the beach that aren't unfair, but are more challenging. Sometimes I will choose to play something different. Tiger Woods is not one of those, but you can get into trouble out there. Aaron, you're our in-house player. How do you feel about the course?

[0:43:08] AT: Love it. I mean, as Chris said, one thing I always say that I like about a golf course is I like the views while I'm playing. Like you said, you'll pass some golfers, but you're not playing on holes together. The courses is spread out. Some of some of the nice views, the marsh views, the waterway views.

[0:43:29] CC: We tell people, get your phone out. Get your camera ready.

[0:43:32] BC: So many advertisements are from Tidewater.

[0:43:35] CC: Yeah. They Myrtle Beach area, period. You see the big –

[0:43:38] BC: Yeah. Anything.

[0:43:39] CC: On magazine cover, all that. That's number 12, at Tidewater. That's what they're looking at.

[0:43:44] AT: Every hole, I mean, has its own identity. You know in some courses, you'd be like, “I feel like I've played this hole before.” You don't have that at Tidewater.

[0:43:51] CC: You hit all the clubs. You hit all your clubs when you play Tidewater. I mean, it's not like you're going to have a day of drivers and wedges. You're going to hit your mid-irons. You're going to hit your woods. You're going to hit everything.

[0:44:01] AT: One of my favorite holes is number 10. I love 10.

[0:44:04] CC: We double tee, and I always say, look, you start on 10, 11, and 12. That's a bigger kick in the shins starting on one, two, and three, because you get two great par fours, even though a very short par four, a lake short of the green.

[0:44:17] AT: You've got to place it.

[0:44:18] CC: We've shaped, that shave that bank. I mean, so you're hitting a short iron in there. Yeah, you got to pay attention to what you're doing.

[0:44:25] BC: We're talking specific holes. Chris, what's the signature hole at Tidewater that everyone needs to know about?

[0:44:29] CC: I call it the signature corner. Everyone sees that picture of 12 there. It’s a beautiful par three, a peninsula green sits out there. I mean, years back, we've taken a few trees out on that corner now. That tee box can range from a 100 yards, all the way back to 200 now, just depending on what we feel like doing with the tees that day. The left side it's got a split level there, and then drops down and goes to the right. With the new bunker, we've taken out that front little sliver of a bunker that used to penalize people for good shots. It would roll off of there, and sometimes rest up against that bulkhead because it was so thin. We've taken that out. Given it a little more grass there.

Yeah. Number 12 is the beautiful par three, and then obviously, you turn right into 13. Beautiful par five. It's a good two-shot hole if you hit a good drive. I mean, you can make a three or four there. You can get it on the green, but you got to pay attention to what you're doing, because that's a three-level green. Hitting a precise approach, whether it be your second shot, if you're trying to go forward, or a good, tight wedge. Like I said before, we've tied in some of those bunkers now where it's not as penal around the green.

[0:45:38] BC: I don't think we've ever had any negative comments about people playing Tidewater, except that they didn't book it quick enough and that it's not available. Aaron, what is a great package to consider when you are planning your golf trip to Myrtle Beach on mbgolf.com and you want Tidewater to be a part of your itinerary?

[0:45:56] AT: Coincidence, you actually say, didn't book it early enough, because Tidewater is part of the Elite Package that we offer on mbgolf.com, which features four of what I would consider my personal favorites in the area anyway, Arrowhead, Arcadian Shores, Prestwick, and of course, Tidewater. The big advantage to that package is the early booking discounts that are offered. They offer two. If you're booking six or more months out, obviously, the bigger the discount, and they do still offer a three to five-month discount. If you book early, you want that six-month savings, because it's by far the best.

[0:46:31] CC: It is. You know what’s weird about that package? We put that thing together years ago. Normally, packages that you do, you pair yourself with a certain group of people. Normally, packages run their courses. But that thing stays, I mean, stays around and has hung around. I talked to Jay Smith down at Prestwick all the time about it, or Frank over at Arcadian, and we say, “Look, man. Is this thing going to ever quit?” They're like, “No. Let's do it again.” I mean, because it just continues – people continue to book it. I think it is the good savings with the early windows. Getting in there early. I mean, it's got to be 10 years, I think, it's been around.

[0:47:08] AT: Oh, yeah. I would say, at least. I mean, with the way the bookings of trending recent years, booking earlier.

[0:47:15] BC: I was just going to say that, 10 years, the market for golf has been up and down so much in that 10 years and we're sitting now where people are booking earlier than ever to play. That's really a testament to that package, the Elite Package. Because you've had light years and you've had strong years and you've had all that market fluctuation in between, and the Elite Package is still there. That is one of the longest-standing packages in all of Myrtle Beach.

[0:47:45] AT: Yeah. I've been doing our side of it, for as long as Chris has been at Tidewater and I've seen a lot of packages come and go.

[0:47:54] BC: Sure. You always want to try something different. But at the same token, don't fix it if it ain't broke.

[0:48:01] CC: It's the value in it. It's the booking early. It's the value. But you're right. Normally, you see a golf course, you're like, well, it's the same four on that thing. But no, it just continues to do well. It's because you're getting all those great golf courses at such a good price.

[0:48:13] AT: Yeah. Well, the catch is also with that package is, like you said, it's four golf courses, but you don't have to play all four. You just have to do a multi play on it to take advantage of it. Yeah. If in previous years you played one or two of the courses and you want to switch it up, you can –

[0:48:30] CC: You can pick two of them and then play two other courses you've never played before and still get the value.

[0:48:36] BC: That's great. Yeah. I love the flexibility in that. Well, the Elite Package is available on mbgolf.com. Aaron and the team are ready to take your phone calls, online chats, or emails. We'd be happy to put a quote together for you listeners, and get you out on Tidewater. Chris has been awesome, talking the world of golf and Tidewater with you. You mind sticking around and we talk a little more Myrtle Beach golf?

[0:49:00] CC: I'd love it.

[0:49:01] BC: Let's do it.

[0:49:01] CC: Yeah. This would be good.

[0:49:03] ANNOUNCER: The Back Nine.

[0:49:06] BC: Okay. The Back Nine, talking a little more about Myrtle Beach golf, which we'll always love to do. Aaron, the fall is booking up, and we're in the summer.

[0:49:18] AT: Yeah. Yeah. Well, fall started booking in spring. Which we are a forehead wipe, made it through, and everything was good. Great. I mean, shoot the weather in the spring. You couldn't ask for better.

[0:49:28] BC: I think that's April we ever had.

[0:49:30] AT: Yeah. I mean, hardly, I mean, I know we needed some of it, but we had hardly any rain. I don't think we had any groups deal with hardly any weather.

[0:49:38] CC: No, it was perfect. It's going to make it tough for next April.

[0:49:43] AT: Yeah. We've set expectations high for the fall with that with that spring season we had. We are still booking, but we've already taken a lot of bookings. As we always mentioned, people tend to book earlier and earlier every year. Tee sheets are filling up for the fall, but it continues to go. It's just good.

[0:50:01] BC: Yeah. That's good. Well, I think that April is, we had great weather in April. For me, October and a little bit early November is my favorite time of year in the Myrtle Beach area.

[0:50:13] CC: Best time to play golf.

[0:50:14] BC: Yeah. It's booking up. That's apparent. We've had next spring bookings, too.

[0:50:20] AT: We've got groups that have already stayed, stayed with us, April, May are already booked for next year.

[0:50:25] CC: Back to that Elite Package.

[0:50:27] AT: Exactly.

[0:50:28] CC: We’re talking about booking now.

[0:50:30] BC: Product placement.

[0:50:31] AT: You get the best deal, go right back to see you and book it again for next year. That's one of the best prices.

[0:50:36] BC: Product placement. Let me place some more product over the microphone here.

[0:50:40] AT: To your point, the fall down here, beautiful. Weather's perfect. Golf courses are perfect. You never know how your golf course is going to look exactly in March. You don't know what kind of winter were you going to have? This year, we had a horrible winter. A lot of golf courses are still dormant. They still look that way, but you know when the fall rolls around, golf courses are perfect. All of them are perfect.

[0:51:03] BC: Chris had a short drive down Sea Mountain Highway and down the boulevard to get to our office. Our office is only minutes away from most of our accommodations in North Myrtle Beach. You're within a half hour of most of the golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area, which is, couldn't be more centrally located to these great courses. Aaron, our accommodations of the episode are next door to our office, the Malibu Pointe. Chris, these condos are great. We've got one, three, and four-bedroom condos and four-bedroom, four-bath condos right across the street from the beach with an ocean view. We've got fully equipped kitchens, great bedding for golf packages. Aaron, our golfers just can't say enough about the Malibu Pointe.

[0:51:47] AT: Yeah. It's one of the most popular ones we have. I mean, it is requested. Same groups every year. I think the hardest thing for us is being able to have them available for groups, because they get booked up so quickly.

[0:52:00] BC: I'd like more of them. Yeah. If there's an owner listening that is not part of a rental program, we'd love to have you.

[0:52:06] AT: If you got a three or a four, bring it our way, because we can use it.

[0:52:11] BC: Yeah. Because it's super popular. It’s got resort amenities as well. It's got a lazy river, multiple pools, fitness center. It's dynamite of a place. It's a golfer's haven.

[0:52:22] AT: For an evening nightcap, Molly Darcy’s.

[0:52:25] BC: Yeah. Molly Darcy's. The value's great because it's across the street from the beach, and you get all of the oceanfront resort amenities for a little bit more value. Definitely consider the Malibu Pointe when you're booking your Elite Package to play Tidewater on mbgolf.com. I think I covered it all with that one.

[0:52:45] AT: Yeah.

[0:52:45] CC: You did.

[0:52:48] BC: Well, guys, it's been a great episode, but we have to end it with tee’d off. I'm going to kick my tee’d off off. Kick it off. Mine's easy. Wyndham Clark. Tee’s me off, man.

[0:53:03] CC: I noticed you didn't mention him in the earlier.

[0:53:05] BC: I didn't mention him. No.

[0:53:07] CC: We're going to save him to the last –

[0:53:09] BC: I was hoping the RNA were going to ban him from playing anyway, which I think would be extreme. Oakmont, he should not be suiting it up at Oakmont when they return there in what? Eight years.

[0:53:20] AT: Who even says he'll be eligible there in eight years?

[0:53:22] BC: Yeah. Well, who knows? He tore up. You can hollow locker room, too. I mean –

[0:53:27] CC: Did he kick in? I know, I saw the pictures of what happened.

[0:53:29] BC: He’s tore up something, a T-Mobile something.

[0:53:32] AT: He threw his driver.

[0:53:33] CC: He threw his driver out of sand.

[0:53:34] AT: Yeah. Which, coincidentally, doesn't T-Mobile sponsor him? There's a T-Mobile hat.

[0:53:39] BC: Well, I don't know.

[0:53:40] CC: Does he really?

[0:53:41] AT: Yeah. I think so.

[0:53:42] BC: Well, maybe it was intentional then to have bad service or something. We talk about Rory, and we're being so critical of him for not talking to the media. At least he's not thrashing dressing rooms. It's just, what is this? Then his apology. It was so cringeworthy. He's like, “Yeah. I'm really sorry about that, but I'd like to move on.” I bet you would like to move on. You need to eat some humble pie, man. I mean, this is, you are not Rory McIlroy. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a double standard there. You can't do that stuff. You're a Major champion and could be a big part of the Ryder Cup. Man, what a jerk.

[0:54:21] CC: I just hate it, man. Just kids are watching. We're trying to grow the game on my side of the – and then kids see that type of thing. That's what I have a problem with.

[0:54:31] BC: He's an adult.

[0:54:32] CC: Yeah. Just, I mean, let's grow the game together. I see those guys, and like we said before, a lot of pressure. Yeah. I mean, you got to act like you know what you're doing.

[0:54:42] BC: Golden rule with people ain't stuff. Treat how you want to be treated.

[0:54:47] AT: I agree. I mean, I could remember when I was younger. I mean, yeah, the occasional club might whip out of my hand, but I haven't done that in years. Even with the bad records, I think I've mellowed out a lot when it comes to –

[0:55:01] CC: Back when talking of my dad introduced me to the game, I mean, if I acted that way on the golf course, I wouldn't get to go to the golf course. It’s just how it was going to be. I'd be mowing a lot of grass, that type of stuff. Just like you said, the golden rule. I mean, we –

[0:55:18] BC: That was easy.

[0:55:18] CC: Got to set an example. Got to set an example. 

[0:55:20] AT: Especially at Oakmont. It's hallowed grounds.

[0:55:23] BC: Yeah. I mean, anywhere. Don't do it at your local Muni. Let alone at Oakmont.

[0:55:27] CC: Yeah. We're picking on LIV for having music. Don't beat up the place. I mean, we're picking on all the golf right now. Let's just set an example.

[0:55:36] BC: That was an easy one by me and probably a cop out. Aaron, what's your tee’d off?

[0:55:41] AT: Well, mine's actually going to fall on me, which happened recently. I guess, I tee’d myself off. I've probably mentioned before, sometimes if you're playing, there's some weather around, every group has a weatherman. Well, I played the weatherman and I got caught.

[0:55:56] BC: Uh-oh.

[0:55:57] AT: Yeah. I was like, I think we got some time. No, we did not.

[0:56:01] CC: I do it every day.

[0:56:03] BC: You get stuck on the course, or –

[0:56:06] AT: We got off, but got soaked and had we just left whatever we should have left, it would had been fine. That was me playing weather man, which I will not do again.

[0:56:14] CC: I mean, this time of year, it's tough to be the weatherman.

[0:56:16] AT: It is. It is.

[0:56:18] CC: Stuff's popping up.

[0:56:19] BC: In recent weeks.

[0:56:21] AT: I pulled the classic, “I don't think the heavy stuff's coming down for a while.”

[0:56:25] CC: At least you have your phone up. You’re tapping the radar.

[0:56:27] AT: I did look at the radar. Yeah. I even looked at it. They had it wrong, man.

[0:56:31] BC:  Well, cause it shows up right after it's about to start raining. It's 20% chance of rain. Now, look at the clouds. I look at my phone, 80% chance of rain. I'm like, “Of course, it is.”

[0:56:41] AT: Yeah. I said, “Oh, we got plenty of time.” Then a bolt of lightning crashes down about –

[0:56:46] BC: Showers, man.

[0:56:48] AT: No more weatherman for me. That tee’d off is on me, to me.

[0:56:52] BC: That's a good one. Chris, what tees you off?

[0:56:55] CC: You know what? I mean, I could sit here and tell you a thousand things, really, all the way from – it always comes down to it. I was talking to Aaron about this earlier. If you’re a guy and you've been standing behind the counter. Any length of time and you've worked in the golf business anywhere, there's going to be the phone calls that you get, and everybody just wants you to predict the weather. “I mean, I'm playing next week. What's the weather going to be?” There's the frost delays. I mean, I've heard those before.

[0:57:22] BC: Because you guys have the secret meteorology equipment.

[0:57:26] CC: There's all of that.

[0:57:26] BC: I tried to come up with one and said, I'm just going to think one that hurts my feelings personally, when I'm out playing golf, which ain’t a whole lot anymore. But when I do have the chance to go out, and I'm in a bunker, right? I'm in a huge bunker, and I hit my shot, and I'm looking around for a rake, and there's not a rake, or there's one rake, and then you go by a little bitty bunker, and there's five rakes. I think that's just something — I'm just thinking. I thought before about the beverage cart. I mean, you see the beverage cart right at the end. I mean, there's a lot of those things. But yeah, I could give you a bunch. Not all of them really tick me off because, there again, I work at a golf course and I play golf all the time. If I had to choose one, that would probably be it.

I mean, this is a big bunker. Why can't there be a lot of rakes around this one? Well, during the day, everybody has chosen to grab the rake and move it over to this little tiny bunker that's way over here. That big tick me off.

[0:58:27] AT: They call that bunker the 20 and over handicap bunker, because he's in the one that you should probably be in.

[0:58:32] BC: Yeah. Well, the one that's got all the rakes around it, ironically is the one that is raked the worst, or not raked at all.

[0:58:38] CC: That's correct.

[0:58:39] BC: Because I've had plenty – I've had a few tee’d offs before where I'm in shoe marks, or all ball marks –

[0:58:44] CC: But it's hard to party your own golf course. I don't even like to, because I see every problem whenever.

[0:58:48] BC: Yeah. That's true.

[0:58:49] CC: All I end up doing are fixing ball marks, picking up broken tees, taking care of everything.

[0:58:56] BC: Making the cups.

[0:58:57] CC: Exactly. I can at least relax a little when I play somewhere else. I'm sure all the guys will tell you the same thing. They all feel that way. Everyone hates playing their own course.

[0:59:06] AT: I could see that. Yeah.

[0:59:08] BC: That's an interesting take.

[0:59:09] CC: Yeah. You hate playing your own course because you're just too critical. The guys out there having a good time; they're not looking at it the way you’re looking at it.

[0:59:17] BC: Right. Right. That was a really, really good one. Introspective there.

[0:59:22] CC: Yeah. I’m just telling you. I've talked to a lot of guys about it, too. They're like, “No, I don't even playing it.”

[0:59:28] BC: Yeah. It makes total sense. Never thought of that.

[0:59:28] CC: First of all, you work in 50 hours a week and then you get a chance to play golf, you don't want to stay at the same place. Let's go somewhere else.

[0:59:37] BC: Yeah. Because it's more like work. The pleasure in it, it's got to be –

[0:59:41] CC: It's an unwritten rule with all the guys. You know when to ask when they're busy, but yeah, and they come out, yeah. Come on out, man. Have a good time. Enjoy yourself today. That type of thing.

[0:59:51] AT: We know when to play. 

[0:59:52] CC: It's hard to do at your own facility. It’s really hard to enjoy yourself all the time.

[0:59:56] BC: Well, Chris Cooper, General Manager at Tidewater Golf Club. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[1:00:00] CC: A lot of fun, guys. This was really cool. Thank you very much.

[1:00:02] AT: Thanks, Chris.

[1:00:03] BC: We'll have to have you back. Aaron, another great episode. Next episode, 25.

[1:00:07] AT: Twenty-five.

[1:00:08] BC: Twenty-five. We'll have to do some sort of celebration.

[1:00:11] AT: A toast.

[1:00:12] BC: Yeah. A toast. Maybe we can get a beverage sponsor for that episode. We'll see.

[1:00:16] AT: Perfect.

[1:00:17] BC: Thank you everyone for listening, and we'll see you next time.

[END OF EPISODE]

[1:00:24] ANNOUNCER: Thanks for listening to Tee’d Off. Visit mbgolf.com and follow us on Instagram @teedoffpodcast for the latest episodes and news.

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