Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast
Welcome to the Golfweek Amateur Tour Podcast!
If you love amateur golf, the thrill of competitive golf events, and the camaraderie of the golf community, this is the podcast for you!
Join hosts Tim Newman and Chris Rocha as they bring you the latest from the Golfweek Amateur Tour, covering everything from all of the local golf tours through the road to the National Championship. We’ll break down recent golf tournaments, highlight standout players, and dive into what makes amateur golf competitions so much fun.
But that’s not all, we sit down with tour directors, course pros, and players from across the country to hear their stories, get insider perspectives, and maybe even pick up a few tips along the way. And, of course, we’ve got Roger’s Rules, where we tackle the quirkiest, most debated rules in golf (because let’s be honest, we all need a refresher sometimes).
This isn’t just another amateur golf podcast, it’s a golf podcast for everyday golfers who love the game, the grind, and the great people that make up the Golfweek Amateur Tour. So hit subscribe, grab a drink (or a range bucket), and let’s talk golf!
Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast
Road to Hilton Head: Contest Challenges, Rule Insights, and Community Spirit
Ready to up your golf game and enjoy some competitive camaraderie? Join us as we dive headfirst into the excitement leading up to the National Championship, now just 30 days away! We also tackle the essential logistics and preparations for the Nationals, and Roger breaks down the vital "two by two" rule for immovable obstructions like sprinkler heads near the putting green.
Curious about the ever-evolving world of golf rules in the digital age? You'll laugh at the antics of the "footy golfer" who spreads incorrect rules online, and learn why it's crucial to verify your information through trusted sources like the USGA website. Hear our expert advice on playing two balls in ambiguous situations and the unique regulations of match play, especially as more tours incorporate it into their events. We also share some fascinating rulings from recent tournaments, including internal out-of-bounds areas, all aimed at enhancing your golf experience.
Celebrate the inspiring journeys of golfers moving through various competitive flights, with stories of growth, learning, and camaraderie. Hear about Chris's rise from C flight to A flight, the rapid progress of players like JP and Sean, and the remarkable consistency of top players like Jacob Hamner. Reflect on the sense of family within our tour, the excitement of the final tournament of the year, and the vibrant community spirit that makes our events so special. Plus, get a sneak peek into our traditions and joyful moments leading up to the National Championship Week in Hilton Head. Tune in for insights, laughs, and a deep appreciation for amateur golf!
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Ladies and gentlemen, golf Week Amateur Tour the podcast Talking about all things Golf Week Amateur Tour, including interviews with tour directors, players and course pros. Now here are your hosts Atlanta Tour Director, tim Newman, and El Paso Las Cruces Director, chris Rocha.
Speaker 2:Welcome back, chris. You know we've got less than 30 days to the National Championship. We're in the middle of voting for the shirt contest, which is fun, and we've got tours wrapping up the season. A lot of tours wrapped up this past weekend and everybody else is wrapping up this coming weekend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been something that we've been eyeing for a while end of the season. It's here and now. I just can't wait to get over there to Nationals and see everybody and have a good time. Uh, I have one event left our tour final, um, but after that it's going to be, uh, I think, a quick turnaround before around, before we get to nationals yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be real quick.
Speaker 2:I've got, don't get my uh. Our final tournament comes this weekend as well. You know, get that final two day in and yeah, you get with we. We get about maybe two or three weeks in between, but there's really there's a lot that has to be done between you know, now and uh, when everybody starts showing up between now and when everybody started showing up.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and I mean, like you said, the shirt contest we got to it. We made it to the Pick'ems. We were worried for a while there at the beginning, but we made it. We got our eight players and I know our guest is also one of them, and it's fun to see you scrolling through Facebook and seeing them all trying to get votes. Yeah, yeah, guest is also one of them, and you know it's it's fun to see you scrolling through facebook and seeing them all trying to, uh, get votes yeah, yeah, let's just go ahead and bring roger in.
Speaker 2:Roger, welcome back you, thank you. You made the final eight and you know, as we're recording this, we're. You still got a couple days left of voting in the first round, but when, when this episode goes live, we'll have already started voting for the second round in the first round. But when, when this episode goes live, we'll have already started voting for the second round in the first round. You, you've got to get some. You need some help.
Speaker 5:I need to get my campaign manager on this Cause. I'm getting trounced right now by somebody's brother. Yes, uh, my uh Lyle did send out a note. Hey guys, you gotta, uh, you know, give Roger some props, you gotta. But no, I I'm, I'm so far behind I don't know I might have to offer some incentives. Yeah, I'm not counting on that for my tour championship payoff roger, if it makes you feel any better.
Speaker 3:I haven't done any voting so well, I'd want to. I can't vote for him you okay?
Speaker 5:yes, so you can go for the underdog roger. Yeah, I would appreciate that. Maybe I need to get a new uh wardrobe manager too, for next year, at least get a better shirt there you go, oh yeah so yeah, but that's been fun looking at that and, uh, it's, it's been, it's been's been fun for the whole season seeing some of the shirts that folks came up with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's some pretty creative shirts out there. I don't want to start naming people off because they may not even make the two second round Because, as of right now, the number one seed looks like he's going to be upset.
Speaker 5:Oh, okay, okay, I didn't see that, yeah it's.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's very interesting to see how this has turned out. I mean, everyone, trust me, I've heard non-stop how he was the number one seed and how drake was disappointed to get the hc, which is which I love to hear, because I mean, that's what this is all about. But at the end of the day, um, you know it's, it comes down to the people and we're going to find out how that goes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, like I said, you know, when this airs, you know the second round, we'll have already started voting, so we'll know how it turns out by then. Roger, you know, as we get, as we wind down the season, obviously we wanted to have you back on and go over some, some rules as we, as we head into the national championship.
Speaker 5:So what do you have for us this week? Yeah, so, uh, there's been a video going around and I know Chris said uh posted this somewhere or sent it to me about what they call the two by two rule. Uh, chris, you remember sending that video.
Speaker 5:I do yes, yeah, they call the two by two rule. Uh, chris, you remember sending that video. Um, yeah, so it's called the two by two rule because they're thinking, uh, and the video that you'd sent describes one thing, but it's really about something else. So this is about immovable obstructions and they call that abnormal course conditions in the rules, rule 16. But it's really about, like, sprinkler heads by the putting green, whether, if they're on your line of play, you get relief from them, and in the video they showed how basically not to do it. Uh, so there's a couple things about that. The actual sprinkler head has to be within two club lengths of the putting green itself and then your ball has to be within two club lengths of that sprinkler head also, and it has to be on your line of play. On your line of play and think about, if your ball's on the sprinkler head, it's really something else that comes into effect, and that's the abnormal course conditions. That means the sprinkler head is interfering with your stance or your swing and under the regular set of rules you get relief for an abnormal course condition. You find the closest point of relief and then you get one club leg. But let's say, on your line of play that sprinkler head is right there but it has no effect on your swing or your stance.
Speaker 5:And people are thinking a lot of times this comes up pretty often. They're thinking well, I get relief, don't I? It's on my line of play and under the normal, just the regular rules of golf, you do not get relief. That's not a regular rule, it's a local rule and, like I've always said in the past, local rules there's so, so many of them and unless somebody tells me that there's a local rule in effect, then I would rule. No, you don't get relief, but there is a local rule and it's a local rule five F, five dash one Not that there'll be a quiz on that later and that is if your ball is, if the sprinkler head is within two club lengths of the green and your ball is also within two club lengths of that sprinkler head and it's on your line of play, then you get relief from that.
Speaker 5:But you just got to remember that that's a local rule, it's not just automatic. And that's the biggest thing that guys automatically think they get relief and they don't, because it's not a local rule and honestly I don't know. On our tour, I mean, some tours may play that rule and other tours. I mean, you know regions. I'm not sure what you guys do on your tour if you have that as uh, as a rule now we.
Speaker 5:I hope other tours don't do it, but we don't yeah so, uh, it does come up and it's the line of play and and you remember that's pretty there's not a whole lot of area there when you talk about that. That's within two club length. So if it's a sprinkler head on your line of play, you know out when you're pitching, you know you're not going to get relief for that, it's just it's on your line of play. And the reason that is instituted is because if it's that close to the putting green, a lot of times the choices a player will choose to putt the ball and if you think if a sprinkler head is on that line, then that's definitely going to affect being able to putt it. So that's kind of why they put that rule into effect. And what you do there, when they were talking about two by two, that the two is the within two club lengths of the putting green and then your ball within that two club lengths, not two club lengths away, do you get to drop. That's what that video was showing. You again find your closest point of release and then you drop your ball and that's, you drop your ball from that spot and that's your two, two by two rule. Um, it's not two club lengths away, you don't drop two club lengths away, unless, for some odd reasons, two club lengths is the closest point of relief, then yes, but that's normally not the case. So it's, uh, that's the two by two rule, other than that one. I really just wanted to talk a little bit about things golfers can do in the off season or things they shouldn't do. Also, in the off season, I've mentioned to you guys that the best, the starting point, that almost ought to be a, uh, that ought to be a what do you call it? A qualification of joining our the golf week tour.
Speaker 5:Load that app to your phone. Maybe you guys can see uh, it's, it's free, it's easy. There's a regular, there's the app, and then there's an expert section which gives all the clarifications and all that stuff. And, um, it's downloadable on all your phones and it's, it's pretty easy to use. It has, you know, all the rules. It has qualified, uh, which not qualifications, um, clarifications, um, and it. It pops up fast. You can. There's a search bar in it. So if you're not exactly sure, put a couple of words in and it'll come back with what they think you might be asking about. So that's the USGA Rules of Golf app. And on the opposite side of that.
Speaker 5:Believe it or not, you know what internet trolls are, or people that just try to cause trouble. I'll put it that way. There's this one guy and it's been going around and he's called maybe you guys could look it up, or anybody listening. He's called the footy golfer and I think he came up with that name like using a foot wedge to get your ball out of the woods or something you know. Give yourself free.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so he posts videos and the thing about it is he's so serious and if somebody just came across him, he posts these videos and it looks legitimate. But the rules that he placed that, he says, are totally they're not within the rules at all. Like he'll say you know, know, if you're in a penalty area and the grass is long, if it's longer than, say, your knee length, you get a free drop out of that penalty area and you don't even have to drop the ball, you can place it and that. That is like one that he did recently, but he's so serious about it. And then he just like ends the video and he's like he looks like a normal guy, and then you just read all the comments and everybody's like you don't know what the f? You're talking about this. This is not true. Why would you post her? And then he has lots of these. So, um, that's, that's the other thing. So you gotta be careful what you see on the internet is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Yes, you do.
Speaker 5:And then you know, on the flip side there are I mean, like there's tons of these out there but there's facebook, uh chat groups about the rules of golf. One's called the golf rule samaritan and that's probably the highest level. It has officials that are usga that I've seen been to the workshops and the guys that make the comments. They are the top of the top, um. And then there's one just called golf rules. There's a bunch of them out there and the only problem with them is I almost I go on them occasionally when I'm kind of like, I guess, when I'm bored.
Speaker 5:You know, golf nerd that I am, golf rules nerd that I am, but somebody will ask a question and it'll be a pretty simple question with a pretty simple answer.
Speaker 5:But people start going down rabbit holes like they twist the question a little bit and you might learn something. They twist the question a little bit and you might learn something, but you never. Like. If you start reading these things you'll get confused because there'll be a simple answer to a question but then you'll have literally there'll be 75 or 80 replies because people will throw in things about local rules or they'll throw in things about what about this or what about that? So what I really like to do is use that usga website and use those videos that um, oh shoot, I forget the guy, the guy who does the great videos from the usga um, I can't think of his name right now, it'll come to me, but his little short videos are so good. Uh, they really, they really describe things the right way and and you can go to just the regular old USGA website and there are lots of videos that are very easy to understand and very easy to learn a little bit about the rules.
Speaker 2:And for us and what we do. That's pretty much really what we need the players to do to understand the basics. And obviously you know if there's could be some some more technical or some more complicated issues, then you know that that's where the you play the two balls and get rulings and and other people involved comes into play. But but knowing the basic stuff is is really what we need our players to do exactly, yeah, that.
Speaker 5:Yeah. It's funny. You mentioned about the playing two balls. That comes up a lot in these chat groups. They say you know people don't do that enough and they really should, because that you know, play two balls and you know, yes, it's going to take a little extra time, but that's probably the right thing to do.
Speaker 5:Our tour we have a really nice three-day match. It's not what we used to call a lava cup. We're doing something else. So learning a little bit about match play in the off-season is a fun thing to do too, because match play has its own set of rules, some of them that are unique only to match play, and it's good to know those because those match play events are so great and so many tours are doing them and we don't discuss those that much because we don't play that on our tour, we do it outside. But it's really good to know and it's nice when you get to watch. You know the President's Cup is coming up soon, so it's good to know. Like you know, somebody just casual watcher might watch like why didn't he have to put that one? And they don't realize. It's okay, you're allowed to concede putts and or whatever it might be so um, nice to learn about match play a little bit.
Speaker 5:If you don't know about it. Yeah, really that. That was it for that I was thinking about towards the end of the year here, just you know, learning the usga rules website. Download that app and um it'll, it'll really put you in a good place when you want to learn a little bit more about the rules.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let me just bring up a couple other if you don't mind, roger. You know, with the tour championship that happened back at Eastlake a few weeks ago, you know there were a couple of strange things that the committee did with making, you know, playing the ball out of one fairway, actually out of bounds oh yeah yeah, can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 5:so the course can have internal out of bounds, um, if, uh. So what they did, as I recall they they had a, um, I think they said it was really for spectator safety. They said I think what they declared was it was like the edge of a fairway, anything past that was internal out of bounds. I think, as I recall, and a committee has a lot of options, they can set many things and the committee is the committee, they're the ones that set these rules. And I remembered I didn't I remember seeing about the the out of bounds there. But you know, on, on some courses, you know you could hit it all the way across the fairway and you'd still be in bounds. But as I recall, I think what they did was say they didn't want players to be, uh, they were basically taking a shortcut. So they didn't want players to be taking a shortcut, like it was, let's say, a dog leg and you could go, you, if you went the normal route of the course, you know you'd hit it out to the fairway and then turn right and hit it to the green. But they said, you know they didn't want players just driving it right through the turn or whatever. So they made an internal out of bounds where if you put it there, you're going to be penalty, you're going to be, you're going to be going out of bounds. That's how I recall it.
Speaker 5:And on my course there's one of the courses I play there's a sign right off the tee box Players are not allowed to cut across this lake for fear. Because there's a sign right off the tee box, players are not allowed to cut across this lake for fear because there's a putting green to the right of the putting green of the hole that we're playing and they're afraid people are going to get hit on this other putting green. So they make it a penalty that you can't cut across this lake. Basically, you have to hit straight to the fairway. You can't cut across this lake, basically you have to hit straight to the fairway.
Speaker 5:Um, and so then that actually came up in one of these golf rules tests well, how do you avoid that? And it came up that a lot of that has to do with the design of the course, like, why did they make it so that you could drive over that? And the suggestions were well, why don't they put up a fence next to the tee box so you can't, like, cut across and a lot of courses don't want to do that, for the aesthetics of it doesn't look good. And then other courses were like we put trees up there, we put a row of bushes, and that solved some of the problems. But, like the course I'm at, they just put a sign up and said you're not allowed to do it, so it's up to the player to. Yeah, you know, you police yourselves.
Speaker 3:So, um, that that's what I recall about that. I think now, with with the talent that players have um being able to to think of of routes like that and driving it, I don't think they were expecting that when they built the courses. And now they have to put these new rules in to kind of help with the, like you said, the aesthetics of the course and the way it's supposed to be played.
Speaker 5:Exactly. Yes, that's exactly what this one was reminding me of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then the other one was Sahith Tagala called a pound lead on himself because he thought he may have brushed the sand when he was in a sand trap. I thought that was kind of interesting because he wasn't even sure if he did it. But you know, to play it safe, he called that penalty. It cost him two strokes and it didn't cost him the tournament, but it did cost, you know, a couple of spots in the money.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and that's you know. Know it's up to the player to decide. You know it's. You know the onus is on the player and kudos to him for doing that. Yeah, I, I do remember seeing that, though, and, and other players like they never saw it or that it was even hard to see, like in the video or anything, or I don't even know if they had the video. Yeah that, but he, he said he did so, and you know who knows. But good on him if that was the case.
Speaker 5:You know you, the regular golfer, is gonna be like wow, that's just like I'd never call that on myself, but that is the rule. So, uh, you know you can, you can take it. It isn't. You can hit it in the back swing, but not while you're setting up the ball. Or, you know, because it might. You know you can, you can take it, it isn't. You can hit it in the back swing, but not while you're setting up the ball. Or, or you know, cause it might, you know, and the reason for that is they say it could improve your lie.
Speaker 5:Uh, some, you know, if you put, if you put the sand down a little bit behind the ball, then it might be easier to hit the ball, that kind of thing, and so you know a couple of pebbles of sand though it's just wow, that was, that was a tough one. Yeah, yeah, it probably cost them with with that kind of money they were playing for in that tournament. It probably was tens of thousands of dollars. Yeah, yeah, for sure that was just a player calling it on himself yeah, I mean that's tough.
Speaker 5:That's tough to do. Glad we're not playing for that big kind of well. Maybe we are at Nationals. How much are we playing for at Nationals? Hope everybody's honest down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too. We know that they are.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yes, lyle set up a neat tournament this coming weekend. He set up a tournament just like that end of season tournament, the end of season tournament that the PGA Tour did Our flight winners. They're starting at minus 10, and then they go to minus 8, minus 6, minus 5. So he's doing a two-day tournament this coming weekend, just like that, and he's got some nice prize money signed up and guys are pretty excited. We've never done that event before, so that's a pretty exciting. And he's got a nice turnout for that one too. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a good idea.
Speaker 5:That'll be fun. Yeah, good idea. Yeah, the tour. I forget forget what the name of it. He called it, but uh, he's got at least Wow. So where are you in that field?
Speaker 2:I didn't make the I think I'm, I think I have to add strokes to Mark?
Speaker 5:I don't know how that is here my.
Speaker 5:Roger, I'm sorry, I know. Yeah, you know it's funny about that I text. After my final round of the season I said, or no, it wasn't the final, it was up going into the last tournament. I said to him well, listen, uh, I'm qualified to drop down a flight and I hate to do it, but put me down a flight. He said you can't, it's the last three tour. I guess you can't in the last three tournaments of the season. So he said it's uh, you gotta wait till next year to move down. It's like, okay, I know I'll move right back up again after I shoot a good score, but I was like, ah darn, it's been a kind of a rough year on tour for me.
Speaker 2:Well, that happens, and there's always next year.
Speaker 5:That's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, roger, thanks so much for everything you do for us. This year has been great, and I look forward to seeing you in the winner's circle for the shirt contest there you go.
Speaker 5:I'm gonna start sending out my incentives soon and get with my uh, can't say manager. Thank you guys very much.
Speaker 2:I appreciate all the time you let me have on here all right, buddy, you take care and we'll talk to you soon yep, bye now j now Tim.
Speaker 3:another successful interview with Roger. You know, as golf keeps getting played, there's other rules that keep coming up that we have questions for, and I'm glad we have an expert in that field to have on the podcast. And I know at the regional I had a lot of guys come and thank me for having somebody that knows the rules on as they listen, you know, every at least once a month. So, uh, great to have him back on here again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know what a lot of people don't realize is. You know we have Roger on, you know, once a month, but the interaction that we have with him when he's not on is is a lot more. You know he and he is very freely giving up his time. You know we give him something and he'll go research it and come back with an answer and really comes back with answers pretty quick with some of these things that we're asking him and you know some of them does require a little. You know it's not just cursory research. I mean, he's got to go dig around for some stuff.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, definitely, but he knows where to go and if you're listening and you don't have that app, I'd suggest go get it, because it has great information it really does, and it's so easy to use and one of the things that USGA did is they put in those diagrams that are visual. So you don't necessarily and I'm laughing as I'm saying this you don't have to actually be able to read anymore. If you can look at a picture, it tells you you know what the ruling is and where you're supposed to drop and what you're actually supposed to do.
Speaker 3:Right. The diagrams help a lot and it's quick and easy and able to make the determination, especially for us directors after a round when we have, you know, numerous scorecards getting turned in and things like that. It just makes it a whole lot easier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And again, you know I tell our guys you know you don't need me to make judgments about you. I don't need you to do a whole lot of adding. You know when the scorecards come in, just put the. You know, you know what the number that you got on the hole. Don't add it up. You know I'm a public school guy too, so so just don't worry about adding it up. Computer will do that for you. Yeah, it will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anyway, so we we've got another first time guest with us. This week it's JP T from Louisiana, south Tour.
Speaker 4:Jp, welcome to the show bud, hey bud, how y'all doing. Thanks for having me man we're doing great.
Speaker 2:Thanks for taking some time with us tonight. I know we kind of caught you at a bad time. You got some. You know we don't want to give away, but you got some friends over for your weekly gathering, so take some time with us.
Speaker 4:No, yeah, yeah nights we got a group of friends that always get together some of the golf tour guys and a few other people. We play a little cards and one of us cook. Every other week it's a good Thursday night meal. You don't go home hungry. You might go home broke. You ain't going home hungry.
Speaker 3:Hey, you know what? The next time I'm in town, I need to be invited to that, because I'm all for a game of cards.
Speaker 4:Chris says you can definitely do that. Yeah, we always bring a crowd. So yeah, you'd definitely be invited.
Speaker 2:Well, that's great. So, jp, you've been a member of the tour for what? 10, 11 years now, right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, it's been about 11 years now. I've been running the tour for the last. This will be my fourth year, so, um, you know, I I've been around the block and back um as a player and it's now a tour director for sure. Um, it makes it a little easier knowing all the guys beforehand. You know we play together, um, when we're not, when it's not a golf week event, you know, on the weekends they got a good 10, 12 of us that just go play and have a good time. So, yeah, it's definitely a great little thing to be a part of.
Speaker 2:And you started off in the C flight, chris. So, chris, you know, jp is one of the guys that we really like to talk about. Starts in the C flight and he's moved all the way up to the A flight. Like to see him get to champ, you know. Yeah, I've seen a few of those in the last scores and it's got a little bit of work to do.
Speaker 4:But, uh, but making this, but seriously making that jump from c flight to a flight, is really what we like to see yeah, you know, it's uh, first starting out in the tour, it's going to add a few strokes being out there with some competition with you and you know, playing by the rules totally, you don't get the old mulligan and the couple, uh, drop out your pocket balls that you and your buddies play with. But, um, no, it's honestly the first event. I was pretty spooked about it. You know, a little nervous and you know.
Speaker 4:But I think on the first hole I learned about six different rules about golf before I got to the green, which with my, with my, uh, you know, my, my other competitive partners and uh, so, but everybody in the group you know what I'm saying it really was a helpful playing with those guys and kind of understanding competitive golf compared to just weekend golf and to realize that, man, you know we're just all out here having a good time playing by the rules and, uh, you know, just to work your way up. So, like I say, yeah, I know a lot of people on the tour because I've been through every flight except for d and champ, so, uh, and I can work my way to either one just as quick so but no, it's like I go to nationals, I go anywhere.
Speaker 4:They're like man, I remember playing you and c flight, whatever you and a now and I'm like, yeah, but I'm trending back, don't worry. I got one of those fluctuating handicaps from like a 6 to a 12. There's no consistency there you go. But we're going to hope that changes this year for Nationals for sure.
Speaker 3:You know what I started in D and I'm already in B and I've said it to Tim numerous times, I think I'm going to start next year in A, because once you, you know, once you move up, it kind of forces you to get better, or else you're going to be in a lot of trouble real quick.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, the good thing about it is when you start moving up you start playing with better competition to where tempo and everything else you start seeing good golf shots it makes you want to hit good golf shots, you know. Seeing good golf shots, it makes you want to hit good golf shots, you know. And it, you know, it just kind of works its way out and then you kind of get to that level to where you feel like you're peaked. But you know you can be get a little more out of it and uh, that's what most of us do, you know. And and but uh, I've had a guy, matter of fact, that was started in d and in two seasons he's up in b. So you know he's been moving quick. That's awesome. He bought himself a simulator man. He started putting him swings in after work. There you go, and he just started coming man, every tournament he was like he was winning. He was, he hadn't won. He's the only guy I know that got bumped from D to C to B before he won a trophy.
Speaker 2:Wow you get, you get bumped up without even winning.
Speaker 4:Yeah he would come in second or third with a great score. Somebody would out-shoot him that day just by a stroke or so and it meant it was just the luck of the draw, it was just against him. And finally he came through and he's like man. When I told him the first time he got promoted from D-Flight he's like man, I can't go to C-Flight. I said why Sean he D-Flight? He's like man, I can't go to C-Flight. I said why, sean? He said I hadn't won a trophy in D-Flight yet. I said well, unfortunately that's not how it works.
Speaker 4:So work hard in C-Flight, man he shot up through the ranks like just putting in good scores and man he's actually a pretty consistent golfer.
Speaker 2:now I can only imagine the look on his face when he told him he was going to C to B without winning. That's right, that's exactly right. We're having this conversation again.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and the crazy thing, he lives down the road from me. So you know I see him a good bit on his way home and stuff, and man, he would stop by all the time and just give me a little hell about it. You know I was like, look, man, just the way it is. I said you know, friend or no friend, that's just the way this stuff works. I don't pull punches for nobody.
Speaker 2:So you've got some pretty good sticks in your champ flight. You know, looking at your players, like Jacob Hamner he's a minus 2.9.
Speaker 4:Yeah, he's a little, he can play some golf man, he don't lose his ball and he's not the longest guy but he's the most consistent guy. His ball's is gonna be in the middle of the fairway and in the middle of the green and then, if he's feeling it and he starts bringing off some birdies, man, he could, he could really shoot. He um, he pretty much wins a good 90 of our champ flight tournaments and uh, but yeah, he is a stick for sure. He um, he is very, very straight with his ball. I don't care what club it is pitching, wedge seven, nine four iron driver, it's gonna be down the middle, maybe 10 yards, a little left or right.
Speaker 2:He don't lose his ball well, that's one of the keys. You know, chris, how many champ like guys that we talked to, that says control your shot. You know, pick your spot, hit your spot and you're gonna be be fine, right, and you know when you can do that. And, jp, if he doesn't hit the ball, far you to me, that's when I talk to guys that you know when, when they get bumped up just like the guy we just talked about up on, from D to C and C to B Well, I don't hit it as far as everybody else. Okay, you may not hit as far as everybody else. Okay, you may not hit as far as everybody else, but maybe you can putt better than they can. Yep, maybe you can chip, chip better than they can. It's about finding what works for you and what's what the strength of your game is, and you and you worry about that. Don't worry about how far you can, how far you can hit it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, oh right, he puts it out there, but he don't, he don't try to over swing, he puts it in the middle of the fairway and, like I said, it doesn't matter to him if he's hitting a five iron in or he's hitting a six, uh, a seven iron in both of those clubs. He just all in his mind is it's a different trajectory, right, he's gonna. He's gonna swing it the same, he's gonna hit it the same. So you know the irons in his bag, you know, until you start getting into your short wee wedges, but the irons in his bag, he plays them all the same, man, and he he's definitely consistent on hitting the center of the club face hey, I'm.
Speaker 3:I'm a short hitter and I believe you know it doesn't matter how far you hit it. Now, um, I've. What I've started to do with my groups is you know how people bet on how many putts you do. I bet on how many fairways you're going to hit because I know I'm going to hit more than everybody else. So it's all about being consistent with what you know you can do.
Speaker 4:A lot easier to hit the ball when there's not a chunk of grass laying between the face and the ball.
Speaker 4:You still got to keep it straight though you still got to keep it straight. Oh yeah, 100%. We just played Cushota and the island back-to-back, which is notorious for the rough, and I'm going to tell you what if you get off in any of that, you might as well just punch it out. And so, yeah, I would much rather be down the middle, lose a little bit of distance, than gain that 15, 20 yards and be in the rough left or right, Absolutely, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:When I joined the club up in Pennsylvania before I moved down to Atlanta, we had these weekend group games and most of the guys that were playing were like 65, 70 years old and they would beat everybody because they would. Just, they can dunk right on down three or four times in one putt, you know, and walk away with their bogey and we're spraying the ball all over the place. And that's where I really learned that you know, it doesn't really matter how far you hit it. You got to hit it straight, hit your spot and don't lose your ball.
Speaker 4:Don't take a big number. Well, that's the thing. Going to nationals, we don't play a lot of those courses here. We've got a few. That's pretty. That's kind of tight when you start getting a little bit towards Mississippi. But a lot of us, we're a lot of flat land. We don't have a lot of trees and a lot of courses. If we do, it's nothing like that. It's a big difference of just tuning your game to where you want to hit it straight. We all go out to these courses down here and it's grip and rip on a lot of them. If you can get an extra 15 yards, so what? When you go up there to hilton and a lot of these guys first time I try to tell them like, look, man, this is target golf. You go out, you hit spots that's all you do here is hit spots.
Speaker 4:You hit in the middle and you hit spots and uh. So I'm interested to see there's a few newcomers coming this year. But, um, also I feel confident, I think. I think, as far as la south, we're gonna do pretty well this year. This year we got a few little regional winners in there and in the group, and so we'll see how it goes. But I can't wait. So who are your regional winners? Wally Bird just won French Lick.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right. You know what? I interviewed him up there, that's right.
Speaker 4:Yep and Jared Chason won Vegas at Paiute.
Speaker 3:Okay, how about that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's two good showing by two of them, for sure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. So. You're heading into your final tournament of the year this coming weekend, so that'll be over by the time this airs, but what would you say is some highlights of your year this year?
Speaker 4:We've had some nice tournament with some playoffs. We've had some good playoffs this year. I'm going to tell you, probably about one every three tournaments it seems to be happening. We've had one, two playoffs champ flight or A flight and C flight or B and D. We've had a good bit of playoffs through the year, which makes it exciting because everybody's there waiting and then when they guys go out, we've got they've got groups following, you know. So it kind of pumps everybody up, you know. That's that's a good thing. And and the most thing for us is that you know, we got through the year we was a little bit down, you, but it picked up with all the core group. Everybody was there every tournament.
Speaker 4:We're a big family down here. We hang out when we don't hang out. It's just one of those things and honestly, that's the reason I took the tour over when I did the four years ago. I've got a job, I've got kids, I've got a lot of things on my plate, but also I enjoy the people that I was around in this tour and I didn't want to see, I didn't want to see it go downhill, I wanted to kind of see it, you know, stay where it was at at least at minimum, if not grow it, and that's what we've been trying to do. But, um, you know, it's just a big core of us that enjoy Hilton head every year, um, head every year, um, and we play golf on the way up. So it, you know it's, it's a good reset for the year, um, for life, from life, oh yeah, and and especially going up there, you know, just to, for nine days we go, let go and not a care in the world, and then we come back to reality and and work our ass off for for an extra week because you know we're behind, we're about a month behind, when we get back from taking a week exactly so
Speaker 4:it's one of those things. But but I tell you what that's all my guys they play. We got a lot of camaraderie in our tour. We got a lot of trash talking, but it's all friendly and there's not too many people on our tour that can talk bad about anybody else. Everybody's there to kind of help everyone out and enjoy ourselves, because we all spend the money to go do this Right. So, like I tell everybody all the time look, you could be having a bad day, don't make the other three guys in the group have a bad day as well. You know we've all been there, so and and I think the way we've all been together for so many years, not everybody holds everybody accountable, right, so it's so it's kind of a great thing. It's a great thing to, like I say, be part of my tour man. I wouldn't trade it for the world man, there's some good people.
Speaker 2:That's good to hear, but I do have a question for you, because Gene and Trey from North Louisiana they fly out. So do you drive out or do you fly out? Oh we drive.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah, we drive. Okay, yeah, we got a group, we got 12 of us. We'll go to Kinderloo Forest. We're going to Kinderloo Forest over there in Valdosta. We'll play 36 on Saturday and then we'll wake up Sunday, drive into Hilton Head. We'll play 18. I think we're going to play at Robert Trent and then we turn around on Sunday, and you know, we just well, sunday we play that morning, sunday morning we drive to Hilton, we play that morning, then we go check in and then we do our Ryder Cup, our Heritage Cup against Michigan. We do a practice round Monday and then we're 36 on Tuesday, 18 on Wednesday, and then Thursday we all say we're going to take a break, but we always find a foursome to get in. So, go home, we start Nashville's noodle armed, you know, like every other year.
Speaker 3:I, I did that one year and never again, never again. I have to take Thursday off because I want to at least try and swing a ball Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Well, and swing a ball Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker 4:Well, I said I was going to take Thursday off this year and we're going to see if I hold to it. But you know, I'm like a kid man. I'm almost a 47-year-old kid. It's like if I don't go I'm going to miss out somehow on something. I have some clowning around or some funny story that I'm not going to be part of, so I force myself to where I say I'm not going to be part of. So I force myself to where I say I'm not going to go.
Speaker 2:And then when they when this truck starts man, I'm jumping in the back I gotta go, I gotta go, yeah, yeah, because the one time you don't go, that's going to be the one time that something happens.
Speaker 4:And you, you're really going to miss it and I missed it. That's exactly right, exactly, yep so I'll sleep one day.
Speaker 3:So here's what you do, and hopefully these guys aren't listening, or hopefully they are and they catch on. But um, the guy who doesn't go, you, you all just show up at the end. You just make up some random story of a alligator chasing you down fairway 15 and the guy's like no, I missed it and it's just a story that you guys keep going on all weekend the only problem is that whole group that I'm with.
Speaker 4:They're just like me we'd'd be running in circles, man we're. You know each of us is following the next one. You know what I'm saying. So we'd be running in circles. Nobody wants to miss nothing.
Speaker 2:Well, jp, it's funny you mentioned Kinderloo Forest, chris, you remember, you know, last episode we had Donnie Thomas on and he said what a good course that was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I remember that, you know and you know. I guess that tells you in and of itself that they make that special trip out there to play that course. Now, jp, I've never played it but I've heard about it and you know, I've got, you know, one of my members who lives down that way. He wants us to do a tournament there, but it's too far from Atlanta, it's more in Donnie's neck of the woods, and so Donnie plays there every year. It's beautiful.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a real nice course. We played it two years ago and we try to switch it up and here and there we'll go to different places. But that's a good halfway point pretty much for us. So it takes us five and a half hours to get there somewhere in there. So we kind of stopped there, reset. And this year what we're going to do is Friday we're going to go to Biloxi, I think, and play Fallen Oak Friday evening, and then we're going to get up Saturday morning and drive to Valdosta and, like I say, it's a five and a half hour ride and we're going to play golf. We're going to play probably 36. And then we'll turn around and, uh, probably go get a little dinner, get to bed, wake up and hit the road and, uh, play again when we get to hilton head. There you go, you know.
Speaker 3:You see, you guys are talking about five hour drives being too long. I drive anywhere, in any direction, five hours and I'm still not in another town.
Speaker 4:So I don't want to hear it well, it's 12 hours for us, to be fair, to get there 11 and a half. But uh, yeah, I'm not driving. I'm not driving out west. I go to vegas every january for that regional. You know we got a group of us that use that go and uh, there's no way. And I got a brother-in-law wants to hook up campers and go out west. I said you lost your mind, I'm not driving, we can go out west anytime you want to. But uh, you know there's plenty of airplanes that fly that way. You know, there, no way I'm going to drag a camper for 20 hours. That ain't going to happen.
Speaker 2:JP, jen and I are full-time RVers, right yeah. And one year, right after the national championship, we were trading our rig in and we were trading it in Phoenix. So we hopped in and drove from Hilton, from hilton, head out to phoenix and back and jesus yeah, and we and we did that in a week.
Speaker 4:It was bad yeah I was never, never again years ago, when I was I was probably 19 or 20 years old uh, I worked in albuquerque, new mexico, and I drove from new orleans to there it was 23. And Albuquerque, new Mexico, and I drove from New Orleans to there it was 23 and a half hours, I think is what it was, and we drove straight through nonstop there. And then when we left, we drove back and I tell you what that was rough, me and my wife swapping and sleeping and all that man and she can't sleep when I drive or when anybody drives, so it's like she catches, you know, you know what. So I said I'll never, I'll never take a trip like that again, not driving.
Speaker 4:Now, if I had an RV or something where we could stop a few times every other state or something and chill for a day or so, I could get with that, but uh, no, not not to straight through them. I can't. We hell. We go to Indiana and she makes me get a hotel room before we get to Nashville, so she just costs me extra money when we go anywhere over four or five hours, so it's cheaper to fly.
Speaker 2:So, jp, what's the best course that you all play in on your regular rotation?
Speaker 4:Oh, man, one we didn't have this year that we enjoy a good bit is English Turn there in New Orleans where the tour used to play years ago. Cushota is a real nice tournament over there and Tamaka Trails is, honestly, is probably in the last couple years has done a one. You know they took a lot of bunkers out of there because they had to hand rake every bunker.
Speaker 4:So they was kind of you couldn't keep that going, so they was losing, you know. So they went and redone it and they took a probably man, I would say probably close to 80 bunkers out of that place and made it where the equipment can get in and rake them. Now, and Matt, you can tell, they got more time to spend on the course instead of raking bunkers and, man, that thing's came alive. It's beautiful, the greens are great. We got so many nice tracks, man, kind of decent tracks around here. But I would say Cushota's probably one of my favorite courses, but English turns right there with it. And next year I'm working with TPC to try to get a TPC Louisiana on it.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 4:So, um, hopefully that'll come through yeah.
Speaker 2:That that'd be a good get right there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely, and if I could get some kind of uh can get a relationship started with them, then you know that's a possibility later on to maybe even hosting a regional there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it's uh, you know that's a possibility later on to maybe even hosting a regional there. Yeah, so it's uh, you know it's a good spot. People can can get there easily. It's a lot of uh excitement in that area. New orleans you got, you know, everything you want to do, plus you got the course. So hopefully that'll be something in the future. And you can't forget about dancing rabbit you know, that's dancing rabbit.
Speaker 4:That's a little gym in the middle of nowhere. You know it's a. It's a beautiful course. We got the oaks and azaleas. The azaleas is kind of mimicked off of Augusta a little bit Some stone creeks going through the fairway and different things like that.
Speaker 2:It's definitely a very nice track yeah, I haven't been out to that one, but I've heard real good things about it.
Speaker 4:So we had our regional there this year and, um, no, I'm sorry, it was at our own waverly and, like I say, we got, we've got on waverly. You can't go wrong with either. Moseo. We played that as a regional this year, me and, uh, jason from mississippi, tour director boykins, yep, um. So we've got some nice tracks. You know I enjoy them and especially around the coast. Jason's got a good bit of nice tracks as well because of the casinos and a few other things. Keep them very, very nice. But the favorite one probably I would say would be, yeah, I would say Cachata would probably, or Tamaka would be one of my two favorites on this track. You know, on our schedule this year, awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, JP, thanks so much for spending some time with us tonight. Good luck tonight. I know you're going to go home full and hopefully not broke, and we'll see you here in a couple weeks.
Speaker 4:All right, thanks for having me, fellas. And remember, go LA South, baby we coming to Hilton Head. So y'all get ready, remember, go LA South, baby we coming to Hilton Head so y'all get ready, All right buddy, take care, have a good one, tim.
Speaker 3:Another great interview with another tour director. It's just great to start having these guys on and ladies, have them on and get to know them and have you know our whole Golf Week membership. Get to know these new directors, or these directors in general, so that in case they do travel, they know who their point of contact is and who they're going to see. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:We've had some of his players on. Obviously the winners are the regionals, but we've had some of his other players on periodically. But it's good to have a tour director come on and talk about things from the tourist perspective, the courses and things that they're doing to get get players out to national championship and uh, you know other things like that. You know the, you know building that camaraderie. You know, like he says, they travel together. You know they hang out together. You know when, you know not during uh tour events. You know, just like you know a lot of the other tours. But having that come from the tour director itself is, I think is really kind of shows the culture of each individual tour.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for for sure it's. It's just great to see and, um, you know, best of luck with them and their and their event against Michigan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and hopefully their arms and back their arms don't fall off and they can bend their backs Don't hurt. So they you know, by the time Sunday of national championship they can still turn and hit the ball.
Speaker 3:Right right. It's a daunting task for anybody.
Speaker 2:if you're trying to do that, yes, speaking of that, you didn't get my junk when you sent that text to me the other night, trying to get on Higgs. Point I didn't Ask Siri. I mean, she's the only one who knows anything.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean I got great news. Yeah, I got on Good. So it's going to be a fun little trip back and forth. I'll give you more details when we're at the director's meeting, because I'm super excited and all it took was a phone call.
Speaker 2:When are you playing that? Thursday or Wednesday.
Speaker 3:Wednesday Early morning.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, good luck. What do you mean? Good luck Early morning? I mean I know who's going with you and that's why I'm saying good luck. I mean getting those guys up and getting moving and actually getting on the boat and getting out there.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm getting on the boat. Whether they're with me or not, that's on them, I'll be there. Okay, me and my wife will both be on that boat and if they're in the car with us, great. If not, sorry, charlie.
Speaker 2:Well, enjoy. It's supposed to be really nice out there. I've never been. I can't wait directed meeting that night and you know we're live.
Speaker 3:Wednesday night too. We're live Wednesday night. We're live Thursday night, isn't this shoot? We might go live Friday, saturday, sunday.
Speaker 2:We'll play it by ear no, no, not Sunday, not Sunday, not Sunday. No, I'm not doing anything Sunday, it was Sunday. We're we're busy Sunday you're not wrong we're busy. We're busy, but we do need to talk about. I mean, wednesday night we go on after the tour director's awards ceremony, so there's no time for that. I mean it, we start when they end, right?
Speaker 3:well, you know, I do need to probably talk and we're not staying on as long as we did last year either no, because I didn't get any cheesecake last year either. No, because I didn't get any cheesecake last year we didn't get any dinner last year.
Speaker 2:Have you seen me? Do I need dinner? I need cheesecake, yeah, yeah, well, anyway, but we do need to decide what time we're going on on Thursday, and you and I should talk about it and we'll put that out in the next episode, so everybody's aware.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, and when we are on there, come say hi. When you come, check in early, get your welcome package, come say hi. We'd like to shake everybody's hand and get as many people on as we can in a decent time frame, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I do have to thank all of our listeners again. We got a really good question from Jeff Pond from the Columbus tour a little over a week ago and you and I have been going back and forth on it and we've kind of gone back and forth with that a little bit as well. And let me pull up what the actual question was, that way we can read it and everybody can have some understanding of what he's talking about. I've been in B in B flight all year, 13 tournaments and just took over first place with one tournament left. I shot 79 and moved to A. What's your opinion? To lose all B points and basically be shut out for player of the year?
Speaker 2:I have not played in any tournaments as an A player. I agree I should play the last tournament as an A. Should I skip the last tournament? Number one, jeff, do not skip the tournament. Go out and play. I mean, that's part of you know at least. My philosophy is you go out and you play and chips fall where the chips fall, when you score which you score and you move up. And first and foremost, congratulations on being moved from B flight to A flight.
Speaker 3:Right, but that's the main thing. It means that you're getting better, you're playing better, you know and you're playing the best you can, regardless of what happens, and unfortunately you know where the chips fell. They may not have been in your favor as far as point trace is concerned, but I mean, that's a line that every player goes through when they're close to getting to that new handicap level and if you stop playing, you're going to lose points and you're not going to have a chance. If you keep playing the best you can, it means you're getting better and in my opinion, that's a win in itself. I've told you guys before, especially in this episode, my goal is to get to a eventually champ and if I don't challenge myself then I'm never going to get there yeah, and, and we definitely understand the frustration of losing the points and being bumped up.
Speaker 2:It happens every year. It happens every year. To it, at least from from my perspective, happens every year to at least one person in one of my flights, every year. Right, right, it doesn't really matter and I get the frustration. It's a hard issue to solve. You have to be bumped up so you're no longer in that flight. You're no longer in that flight and you know, trust me, you know we've had these discussions on a regular basis. You know as tour directors, you know with the national office, on a regular basis, on an ongoing regular basis.
Speaker 2:So, it's not like we just made a decision here and let it go. You know we're always trying to find, you know, ways to make the player experience the best that it can be.
Speaker 3:And in this scenario there really isn't a good option, right? And I mean, look, you have to put the other shoe on as well and understand if you were the guy in, let's say, a-flight that's been leading all year and all year and you've been playing A-flight all year, and then a guy who gets bumped up at the end of the season takes his points race away because he had more points in B-flight than you did in A-flight. I mean, how's he going to feel at that point? He's been working his tail off in the flight all year and somebody that just got bumped up takes it away from him. So I mean it's a lose-lose on both sides. But I would personally say, you know, take it as a win that you're getting better, that you're playing better, and you know, ultimately it's going to be a new challenge to hopefully you can succeed in this new flight.
Speaker 2:And know that us, as tour directors, are continually talking to find ways to improve on what we're doing and make things better. I just don't know that this is one that there really can be any change. I mean, obviously, we talked about it, but you know we'll have to wait and see what happens.
Speaker 3:It's tough and, tim, I mean the tour has been around for 30 years and I'm pretty sure it wasn't perfect at the beginning. Some people might think it's not perfect now, but at least we can say we're having these conversations and eventually, soon something will come out. I mean, I've been a director for seven years and I know we've had so many conversations that we've seen progress in in different areas and sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, but at the end of the day it's the trial and error that we're doing to make this tour the best for everybody.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and the majority of these changes that are coming through actually originate, you know, from UL's players and come up through tour directors Right. Then they're brought to tour directors across the country you know through the national office, you know, to see what what the consensus is. So it's, there's ongoing conversations and and we're we're obviously open to making changes to make things better. We make we pretty much make changes to something every year, right, chris? Yeah, we do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, we do, and most of the time it works out. So we appreciate you asking these questions. We encourage anybody else that listens to definitely send us questions, because that's how those conversations start, and if you keep it to yourself and always wondering, guess what's going to happen, we can't start these conversations and next thing you know you're going to be upset about it for years, but yet nobody knows what's going on. The only way we can get better as a tour is by our members, you know, telling us how we can get better or giving us suggestions.
Speaker 2:So keep it up and, jeff, hopefully we'll see you in Hilton Head in a couple weeks. Come by, sit down, have a talk with us. Love to have that chat.
Speaker 3:Definitely I I'm not opposed to it.
Speaker 2:And Chris, you know, we we did something we hadn't done before. You know, just a few days ago did the Facebook live with the seeding of our of our shirt contest, of our eight monthly winners, right, it was to.
Speaker 3:it was great. It was great. There was some people on the back end that weren't happy with us for a couple of times, but I mean, just like our first podcast episode, it's a work in progress. It was fun.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm already looking forward to next year's seating and see what we get, and there, with a you know, voting's out. We've already gone through as this podcast, this episode, comes out. We've already gone through round one, so congratulations to those winners. Um, there's some blowouts and then there's some tight races. If, if you weren't paying attention, you missed out. But uh, voting for round two is up and uh, get your votes in, because I know they all need it and we want you all to help us decide who is, or who had, the best shirt of the year.
Speaker 2:Right, and don't just vote for one of the contests. I mean, you can vote for somebody in each of the head-to-head matchups. You know, chris, that's one thing that I don't know, if you looked at it. Some of the head-to-head matchups you know, chris, that's one thing that that I don't know, if you looked at it.
Speaker 3:Some of the head-to-head matchups, people weren't voting in all of them, they were only voting in and maybe one or two of them right, right, go get in there and look at all of them and and give them all a vote, yeah, because, uh, your vote counts it does.
Speaker 2:This is one place where your where your vote counts. Why did I go in there? Why did I go in there? Everybody only gets one vote for a head-to-head matchup. For sure, there's no bribery going on.
Speaker 3:And this is really important stuff.
Speaker 2:This is really important stuff, right here.
Speaker 3:Right right. They tried to do bribery with getting strokes taken away and I don't know how that's working out, but can't have that around here. It's not going to happen all the time.
Speaker 2:Well, again, we appreciate everybody's support on that and hopefully you've enjoyed it throughout the season and we will have a winner here in just a couple weeks.
Speaker 3:Yes, and losing a little weight here, but I can't wait to see if I get a shirt. We're going to have them on the welcome show for sure. Regardless of who it is, they better be there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they got to show up. That's part of you know. It's kind of like Miss America you know you win and you've got duties.
Speaker 3:Yep Win. Whether you like it or not, you have appointments you need to make to and, yeah, we expect you there With a shirt on or you won't get checked in. How about that?
Speaker 2:See what happens. Oh boy, this is fun. So we're both wrapping up our seasons. This coming weekend.
Speaker 3:Give me a wrap up of your thoughts on your season in El Paso. It was fast, I think it was fast. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing everybody out there again. I enjoyed meeting all the new members we got. We got a good handful of new members. I really loved it. People bringing guests, Courses were always in great shape. I enjoy traveling and hanging out with you for a couple events and having those stories that we'll have. I enjoyed it. It was great. It was quicker than I thought and, like you said, as we scroll down and do registrations for each tournament and as you get to that bottom of that list, you're like man, this season's already over with. I'm ready to go. So we're at that point now, you know, got my tour final coming up two-day event and then rest, recover and on the nationals.
Speaker 2:How about you? Well, before I get to that, you know you brought up the whole idea of traveling together and it was great, and I've been given some inside information. Oh, we're gonna have a good time next year. I'd like to hear that. I'm just gonna put it there. All right, I'll just leave it at that. You're, I'm just gonna leave, I'm just gonna leave, okay, okay.
Speaker 3:I mean, the last time we did this to me, it ended up being what we had this year. So if it's anything like that, I'm excited. I'm really excited.
Speaker 2:So we'll leave that there. But you know, wrap up for us here in Atlanta again went by very, very fast. It's almost like, you know, you snap your fingers and it's over. You know, for me things are a little bit different. You know, because you know I don't necessarily, I don't really live in Atlanta anymore. So when I go, so what I?
Speaker 2:When we do these tournaments and I go in and I see the guys, it's tournament day is the best day of the week. Right, because I, you know I'm seeing them. You know, before, when I lived in Atlanta, I saw them a lot more and tournament days were still fun, it was still great. But when, when you roll up on Saturday, you roll up on Sunday and you get everything set up and guys start coming in, that is truly the best. You know the, you know the best day of the week, and it goes by so quick you don't even think about it. You know you hang out with these guys. Now the season's over, you'll see them in a couple weeks in the national championship and then that's it for you until the next season.
Speaker 3:Three months, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, you.
Speaker 3:I can see that.
Speaker 2:You know you, and El Paso, you see your guys. For the most part. On a regular basis.
Speaker 3:I mean yes and no, I mean some guys, yes, but you know we'll keep in contact and, like Jordan, sends me memes at least like 10 times a day. It's worse than some people, I know. But yeah, you have the groups that you're always staying in contact with. And then you have the other group, where they may not be from El Paso, las Cruces, they may be from Truth or Consequence that we talked about Right Albuquerque. We have guys from Alpine, billy's from Alpine. He comes and drives three hours a week. We've got people from Odessa, midland that come out and play. So it's nice to see them every week and, like you said, tournament day is a fun day to be able to see all these people and get to catch up and see how everyone's doing. So I can understand that, but with you it is different because you aren't there except for one day out of or two days out of the month.
Speaker 2:And you celebrate wins, right. And a win may not be just a tournament win. A win could be somebody's first birdie. A win could be, you know, getting moved up. A win could be a career round, Right, you know, all those things that are wrapped into tournament days. It's what makes it, you know again, the best day of the week.
Speaker 3:And then you got to take three months off. Yeah, I don't know about you. You know, as a director, when we're doing awards and a guy has a career round, you know, oh, the next C-Flighter. You know your D-Flight champion, Joe Schmo, and getting everybody riled up for that is fun because you know, like you said, they have a career round, or they shoot great, or it comes down to a three-hole playoff and they win with a 30-foot putt that happens to hit the back of the cup and fall in. Those are the fun times, Exactly.
Speaker 2:It's been a great year. If you know, take away some of the struggles right, some of the struggles with getting courses and some of the things that we haven't had to deal with before this year, and it's still a great year, you know it was. It was still just as fun as any other year. You know, it was still the, the, the, the highs of giving out awards, seeing the winners. We had a hole in one and we we I think we had four regional winners this year what most we've ever had. We just Atlanta. We had a really good year, what most we've ever had. We just Atlanta. We had a really good year.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, but but get ready for nationals, because that's going to be fun in itself, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But we we got to get more, more El Paso guys out, you know it, it will.
Speaker 3:I'm working on it, it's hard.
Speaker 2:It's hard, it's not like it's a quick trip.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not a five-hour drive from Louisiana, like some people, or a walk down the main road. For Tim it's a big trip right. It is.
Speaker 2:What we have to do is get them to understand how much fun it could be especially how much fun it could be if you bring your family, or how much fun it could be if you don't bring your family.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying, though, right, I understand. I understand I'm not saying one way or the other. I mean, it's just National Championship Week is probably one of the best weeks of the year, because of the fun, because of everybody that's around, because of the competition it's. You know, hilton Head in October is a great time to be here Great weather, good courses. You know, you've been here, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know, I completely agree. I mean, from the first time I went um and you had to come back every year, regardless of whether I was a director, not just because of how much fun it is, I mean, but it's you know. You make it a trip. I mean me and my brother have have done it where we've flown into charlotte and driven down and played a couple courses before we got to hilton head, or flown into florida, played Sawgrass and then drove up, you know, three hours to get to Hilton Head or Savannah, play a course there. Like, there's so many different options you can take.
Speaker 3:If you make it a guy's trip to play some courses that you probably would never play, that are bucket list courses, and still have a great time during the tournament, I mean, even then you know it's a flight of what? Maybe 150, 200 people's just in your flight, not at the, at the course itself. And uh, you know what are your goals? I mean, my goal is to make, is to make the money at least. But first goal is play the better course of the two on day three. That's. That's, that's goal number one.
Speaker 3:And if you know, if you're on that course, then you have a really good shot at making the money because, yeah, there can only be one winner, but there's 30 guys that make it into the prize pool, so it's. I mean that those are my personal goals and I think I've accomplished it all, but one year when I got moved up to B-Flight right before Nationals. But it's, it's still fun and at the end of the day you play golf, you go, you have a great lunch at the headquarters and then you have the whole afternoon to go hang out or try this seafood restaurant or go check out this beach, or you name it Go to Pop's Candy Store.
Speaker 3:I've already told my wife. She's got it on the list and we're going to make it happen.
Speaker 2:Well, one of my goals for you is to have you interview yourself on Sunday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that'd be interesting. I would really love that. Honestly, I don't know how that would work, but that'd be pretty cool. I might have to pull you off the mic, dennis, hold off on a flight real quick. I don't know how much you'd appreciate that. We'll do what we got to do.
Speaker 2:And the good thing is, is your wife coming this year?
Speaker 3:Yes, she is. She's super excited, she's going to get to meet a lot of people and she's a little nervous, but uh, we'll make it. Have a.
Speaker 2:Have a good time yeah, don't tell her, don't be nervous. Nothing to be nervous about, right.
Speaker 3:I tell her all the time, but she, she is what she does, what she does. Nothing I can do about that.
Speaker 2:I understand. Alright, my friend, good luck this weekend, finish it off with a bang and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3:Definitely. I can't wait. I can't wait to see how the rest of this shirt contest unfolds and then rest for a couple weeks and head out to nationals. Sounds good, bud.
Speaker 2:Take care We'll talk to you soon. All right, partner, be safe, all right.
Speaker 1:Bye, take care, we'll talk to you soon. All right, partner, be safe. All right, bye-bye you.
