Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast

The Heart of Amateur Golf: Community, Competition, and Camaraderie

• Tim Newman & Chris Rocha • Season 4 • Episode 8

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Amateur golf is more than just birdies and bogeys—it's about the friendships, the shared experiences, and the unforgettable moments that happen between the shots. In this episode, Tim Newman and Chris Rocha bring you stories from the Golfweek Amateur Tour that showcase the power of community in amateur golf tournaments.  

🏆 Kevin Odom from Louisiana North shares his thrilling playoff victory at Stonebridge, but more importantly, he talks about the camaraderie that makes competitive golf events so special. He even jokes that his fellow players will be "carrying his coffin one day"—a true testament to the friendships formed on tour.  

🎸 Jeff Helbig, Nashville Tour Director, takes us to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail hosts some of the best local golf tour stops in the country. We dive into the Fighting Joe and Schoolmaster courses, their affordability, and the area's legendary music history—where artists like Aretha Franklin and Bob Seger recorded their biggest hits.  

🔥 Other episode highlights include:  

✔️ Why Louisiana’s golf scene is about more than just great courses—it's about family.  

✔️ The Shoals Regional tournament—an unbeatable opportunity to play championship courses at an incredible value.  

✔️ The importance of supporting our golf community through tough times.  

✔️ The hidden golf gems of Nashville and why its golf scene is a sleeping giant.  

✔️ Fun golf strategy talk, including why aiming for the bunkers (yes, really) might be the right move on some holes.  

Whether you're chasing a trophy or just looking to connect with fellow golfers, the Golfweek Amateur Tour is where competition and community come together.  

📢 Call to Action:  

Don't miss your chance to experience the best in amateur golf competition! Find a Golfweek Amateur Tour event near you and become part of this incredible golf community. Visit AmateurGolfTour.Net to register for upcoming golf tournaments and follow the action! 

🎧 Subscribe and listen to "Golfweek Amateur Tour - The Podcast" wherever you get your podcasts! 

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Speaker 1:

Ladies and gentlemen, golf Week Amateur Tour proudly presents Golf Week Amateur Tour, the podcast talking about all things Golf Week Amateur Tour, including interviews with tour directors, players and course professionals. Interviews with tour directors, players and course professionals Now here are your hosts Tim Newman and El Paso Las Cruces tour director, chris Rocha.

Speaker 2:

Tim, welcome back. How's your week been so far? I know mine's been real tough a house full of sickness, but getting better, getting ready for our events, but how you been?

Speaker 3:

I've been good. You don't sound real good. You better get it fixed before Saturday, because if you get the tour members sick then that's a real problem.

Speaker 1:

Right, right right.

Speaker 2:

So I don't really care about you, I just want to make sure that the players don't get sick. No, I think we'll be fine. I mean, worst case scenario, I'll just get my own cart. And the good thing about golf is you only have to yell four if you're hitting into somebody. Other than that, you don't really have to talk much.

Speaker 3:

I do hope you feel better and hope the kids are doing okay. And you know, here's the one person that cannot get sick and that's your wife.

Speaker 2:

Right, right. She's the backbone. So we always say like I'll take the sickness off the boys and deal with it so that they're not sick, but the second she gets it. I mean it's chaos and we can't figure out what's left and right and up and down.

Speaker 3:

I know it's crazy how that works. Sometimes. You know right. Maybe you know we could. We could do everything, but until she gets sick we can't. We can't figure out anything, don't know how to do laundry. Only thing we can make is macaroni and cheese. We eat snickers bars for lunches, um it's it's just not good. I'm pretty sure the kids like it because it's easy food for them but for us it's just not good.

Speaker 2:

I'm pretty sure the kids like it because it's easy food for them, but for us we're chickens without a head at that point.

Speaker 3:

Exactly. We do have some serious things that we need to talk about. Our friend, jay Wendell, passed away recently. A lot of people may not know his name, but I can tell you one thing he was a friend of ours. He's a very good friend and supporter of the tour. He is going to be really missed.

Speaker 3:

And how you would know Jay, just as a regular tour member, is, if you've ever been to Nationals and you stayed in a hotel and you got a hotel discount, almost every one of those hotel discounts started with Jay Wendell. He has been wonderful for the tour. It's tragic, chris. He died unexpectedly, um, and I don't know if other people know this and if I get in trouble for saying it, I'm sorry, but his wife is also dying of cancer, uh, she's um terminal, she, she's terminal, and the the sad part is they they have a son who's a senior in high school, um, and so he's he's in a in a world of hurt right now. So, as a tour, if we can keep them in our prayers and I know Jen shared a post today in Facebook or a couple days ago on Facebook about people to donate to help their son and his college tuition costs and that sort of thing, but it's a sad story all the way around.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it definitely is. And when you told me you know I had to take a moment because it makes you realize that life is precious and you never know what can happen. Because we talked to him before Nationals last year and he was telling us know to go say hi and just just swing by and say hi and he would show us around and with the craziness that national gets you, you don't really have much free time, um, so I didn't get a chance to go out there and meet him. But you know, you always say I'll next year, I'll make some time, but you never know what. What can happen within a full year. So so when you texted me, did that take a moment to reflect on that, because that interview was fun. He was super excited with the renovations that they were doing at the hotel and it's just, it's a sad story all around.

Speaker 3:

It really is. It really is. And then another piece, and I don't really want to get into this too much here. We'll talk about this in the closing. But Jennifer's parents are not doing well and Dennis and Jennifer have been in North Carolina helping and dealing with some situations there, some situations there. So you know, as you're listening to this, if you know, if you sent Dennis or Jennifer an email or you're expecting some goody bag stuff, please just be patient and they'll respond and get those things out to you as soon as possible. But you know again, chris, we'll talk about that later. Let's talk about some fun stuff you know we're going to talk to. We've got a really good episode this week. We're going to talk to a player who their first tournament won a two-day major. That's a good way to get started. We've got another tour director kicking off his season recently. Stick with us.

Speaker 2:

Let's go.

Speaker 3:

You want to go ahead and bring the first guest in.

Speaker 2:

First guest of this episode. We're glad to have him. We were talking off air before you arrived about me being sick. He said come to Louisiana and we'll fix you up real quick. I mentioned the story about how we wanted some Cajun food after the major and they took us to a Mexican restaurant and that was a little out of left field. But let's bring our first guest for this event from Louisiana North, mr Kevin Odom.

Speaker 4:

Kevin welcome to the show boy.

Speaker 3:

Doing great. And I know, look, I love to eat. Obviously I love food. But Cajun food for me is man, it's heaven, I love it. So, whether I'm sick, whether I'm not, but if you're sick, that'll get you cleaned out real quick.

Speaker 4:

But, Trey, if you're sick, that'll get you cleaned out real quick. I'm just going to go out there and say I've never in my entire life been disappointed of Gina O'Neill until. I heard that she brought y'all to a Mexican restaurant. We're going to throw that out there right now. I'm going to have a conversation with her. I'm going to say, gina, I love you, you're the best tour director in the United States. We're going to have to work on your catering menu, I mean that's just.

Speaker 3:

You know, you're not doing mexican food in louisiana when we have some northerners coming down, come on well. Well, let's be fair with it now. I mean, we we did go go get mexican, but but we also did get to take part in in the buffet food that was there at uh, um, oh at the trails, yeah, yeah, um, at Tomatco Trails, yeah, and I'm going to tell you what.

Speaker 3:

I'm going to go right back to it. I mean, I love it all, but I'm going to go right back to the bread pudding, because you don't get true authentic bread pudding everywhere, but you go to Louisiana and you're going to get some real good bread pudding, so I'm going to keep bringing that up.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, we do that well, but I'm I'm gonna give her some grief over the mexican food, and we have good mexican food down here. It's a little tex-mex, but I'm gonna give her some grief, I'm gonna. Gina, this is the first time you've ever disappointed me, and that's it's been a lot. I've known her for a long time, so uh, anyway, well, let's throw chris under the bus for that.

Speaker 3:

for even bringing that up, hey that's a fond memory.

Speaker 2:

You know it was Taking second place B-Fly. You know first place in the Skills Challenge and then going to Mexican food in Louisiana. It's a story that you can't just miss. The punchline on that one.

Speaker 4:

That's exactly right.

Speaker 3:

But that was. I mean, gina did a really good job with that regional last year at Tumaca Trails. Tumaca Trails, you know, took care of us. Gina did a great job. It was a heck of a lot of fun there. I'll tell you that right now.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, so Tumaca is always on our schedule every year. It's always in good shape. They take care of us as a tour. You know Gina just does such a good job at every tournament. I love her like family. Everybody on the tour does. It's just one of those things that every I is dotted, every T is crossed, and then they always make sure that our tour is taken care of at the tournaments that we're at or the courses we're at. Yeah, Tumaca's a good one. I'm glad y'all got to see that one.

Speaker 3:

yeah, me too. What I'd actually like to do is get back there another time when we don't have, when we're not doing the podcast, and we can actually have a little bit more fun with everybody that's here, because there's got to be some level of professionalism for afterwards, as opposed to doing all the Tim Tim when in Louisiana when in Rome you know,

Speaker 4:

I mean Tim at least I'm there and we won't go eat Mexican food, you know make sure.

Speaker 2:

Hey, at least our podcast was in the clubhouse, not in the men's locker room.

Speaker 4:

OK, so that's true, we're one step ahead.

Speaker 3:

So, kevin, you started the 2025 season off right? I mean, you guys had a two day tournament there this past week at stonebridge and, uh, you won in the playoff.

Speaker 4:

tell us about that yeah, it was, man, it was fun. I mean it's you know, it's my home course. Uh, you know I felt good coming into it, been playing some really good golf, uh. Uh, you know, the first day first day was, you know, it was kind of a grind, like it is in the first day of every major tournament and you kind of tell yourself it's a marathon, don't do anything stupid, keep yourself in it. I missed a lot of short putts the first day. The greens were slick, I mean, they were fast, but I was one shot back after day. One Never looked at the scoreboard the whole time, was kind of hanging around all day. It was a shotgun start. I was on three, uh, birdied 16, 17, part 18, which is a tough hole, and, uh, you know, hit it right down the middle and one is like you know what, let's take a look at the scoreboard and see what we need to do, which is, you know, just the Achilles heel and had a three shot lead with basically one and a half to play and go double bogey, bogey. You know, because I am what they refer to as an amateur golfer and it was just didn't miss very much all day and I saw that I was like you know, and no, you know, I hit a putter from 40 yards out on one shot. And after I won in the playoff, one of the guys came up to me. He's like dude, what were you thinking? Back there? I was like I wasn't thinking, I didn't know what was happening. I blacked out, you know. But no, I mean it was fun.

Speaker 4:

We went to the playoff with two of my really good friends, really good golfers, hit three, one of the toughest holes out at Stonebridge, dead in the wind. You got to go over one water and then on your shot to the green, another water. It's just a really tough hole. Uh, just hype, three good drives in a row. Uh, ended up, you know, winning in the playoff. But, um, you know it was so cool about our tour it was the guys in my group. After I made double bogey with you know, two to play, they're like dude, just just you know two to play, they're like dude, just you know. Just make birdie on the last hole, you're good. You know the guys in my group were cheering me on. I knew they were out of it. So they're cheering me on, you know.

Speaker 4:

Then we go to the playoff and we have a three person pop. There's 50, 60 people around the green. You know they're all watching the playoff and every time somebody hits a shot, you know they're. You know it doesn't matter who hits it, they're like you know, it's just, it's, it's just so much fun, right, I mean it's um, I think it starts with Gina. She's everybody's cheerleader and then that filters down to everybody on the tour which all of a sudden becomes I'm cheering for these other people.

Speaker 4:

Uh, you know, playoff hole. Um, I hit my tee, shot down the middle. The guy that I'm playing with one of my close friends named john wilson great golfer, really good golfer uh, hit his tee ball, got a bad break, hit the tree, you know, threw it out of bounds and uh, he comes up. He goes hey, man, just go go up there, hit your ball. If you knock it on the green, I'll concede. You know, of course. You know they were like look, you know, technically you're out, so either you can concede or you can go re-tee. He's like well, I'm going to go re-tee. So he re-teed and hit it down the middle, knocks it on the green. I knocked mine on the green, so we're pulling up. He goes, man, he's like it's good. He's like let's just pick them up.

Speaker 4:

I said, buddy, I said, look, I'm not 15 footer and I three put my 20 footer, which I three put this weekend more than once. Yeah, we're going back to the tee box. You know what I do. That's why I love you. Let's finish it out. And he missed his not to put. So, man, it was just a good weekend, had some things go my way and it was a lot of fun. You know, that's one of the things I love about this tour is there's people that I met four years ago on this tour that will probably be carrying my coffin one day. You know, I mean, that's what that I didn't know before this tour. So it's just, you know, it's just a good time, you know.

Speaker 3:

You know, it's so true in those things that you said I don't want to think about carrying anybody's coffin, um, but but but you're right. You know the, the, the people that you meet really do do become family and and and again, like Gina, you're not the first person that has told us that that Jean is everybody's cheerleader, I mean. So that's, I mean we. We hear that all the time. Um, you know from from players. You know whether it's from from your tour, or people that have gone and played, you know, at one of your events, or Gina and Trey have gone to play in other events. That's, that's who they are and it's it's, it's what you should know is it's not just you guys, it's that, that's who Gina is all the time and and people notice that and that that says some. That says a lot about who Gina actually is, you know, as a person. It's not fake, it's not just on tournament day in Louisiana North, it's, it's everywhere she goes.

Speaker 2:

No, I, I can definitely, you know, validate what you're saying, because when we were at at the regional, you know, and I was in contention, the other three guys that weren't in contention in my group were kind of cheering you on, uh which you know, I'm not a scoreboard leader or scoreboard watcher, but when you have three guys cheering you on, it's like all right, there's something brewing here, um, and I mean even with gina, like the playoff we had at nationals for the tour director cup, I mean she was out there on the hill and her bright orange get up that she wears, and it's like, gina, you better move, because if I, if I top this thing, it's going right at you.

Speaker 2:

So either you're quick or we'll see what happens. But I mean, even then, you know she's the loudest screamer when you hit a good shot, and it's just awesome. And she was regardless of where she took us out to eat. It was a top-notch tour, top-notch event. And, like you said, tim, I'd like to go back again. I got to enjoy a little bit more than you as far as being able to be myself on the golf course and then have to put the professional podcast hat on when, when the cameras were rolling, but, uh, it was fun. Minus the humanity, though.

Speaker 1:

when, when, when, me and my wife walk out of the here we go to the airport and we go at the same time.

Speaker 3:

It's a little different, but uh, I had a good time, okay, but I don't think there's ever been an episode, and we're 60 deep now that Chris hasn't complained about the weather no there's been a couple. There's been a couple.

Speaker 2:

It's too hot it's too cold, it's raining it's windy.

Speaker 4:

Well, I mean, I was born and raised here and it does get a little humid down here, but just bring a shirt to change into and you know you're good to go. Shirt, socks, undershirt, underwear, you know whatever.

Speaker 3:

So were you paired with either John or Steven, you know, during the second round, or were they together and you were in a different?

Speaker 4:

group. So here's what's crazy is they were paired together ahead of me, they were in the group ahead of me, they finished one, oh, and they knew they had a one shot, or they were one shot behind me. Uh, and the hole that I finished on is our number one handicap hole and and I mean you know, and so my guys, we get on the t-box. I'm like kevin, you got a one shot lead dude, you got this. You've been piping. I'm like Kevin, you got a one-shot lead Dude, you got this. You've been piping it all day. Just hit it up, killed my tee shot. One of the best shots I hit. One of the best drives I hit all day until we got to the playoff, the three playoff drives, guys, I hit drives I've never hit in my life. End of the win. John Wilson looked at long I'm, I'm, I'm amped up. You know, I'm just, I'm amped up right now. He said I don't know what's going on, but you need to back it down. I'm like no, dude, but but. But on the last hole, I mean I hit it right down the middle. You know I'm sitting in the middle of fairway, you know, it's just a, it's a little. You know driving range eight iron and I hit the ugliest snap hook eight iron you've ever seen in your life. Left of the green. And John and Steven they're sitting on the back of the green because they know that I'm one shot ahead of them and they're just sitting there watching. They want to know what's going on. I hit one of the best pitches I've hit all day long for about 30. I was 30 yards left of the green. That's how bad of a snap hook. It was Wow. And I, the green. That's how bad of a snap hook. It was wow.

Speaker 4:

And I lock it up there three feet from the hole and I'm walking out. I got my chest poked out, you know, I was like. I was like and john looks at me and he's like yeah, he's about to make this, because that's when they sit around you. That's kind of what I do. I'll miss it a hundred times if they're not there, but if they're there, there's a good chance it's going in and, uh, I hit the putt, I go to get it out the hole and it rims out and I miss it. And they stand up and john was like was that kind of a jerk move? I was like nah, dude, you did exactly what you need to do to get to that next tee box. So let's go do this, you know. But uh, I mean it was, you know it was, it was fun. You know it was fun. It was nothing but laughs and uh, uh, but yeah, that was, that was the last hole.

Speaker 3:

That was kind of how it ended oh, that's awesome again being able to be to be in those situations and have the pressure, but have the fun, have that camaraderie, you know it's, it's what keeps coming back every week, right so there's, there's, there's actually a, a d-flighter.

Speaker 4:

Her name is Tracy Ryan. It's her first year on the tour and she won her flight this year in her first tournament by one. She won her flight by one. And I looked at her and I said are you hooked? And she goes, oh, I'm hooked. She was like this was so much fun. Like at one point she had an eight-shot lead and she looked at the scoreboard and then kind of went the other way. After she looked at the scoreboard she's like why did I do that? I was like don't do that again and uh, but she won d flight. She came to me it's her first trophy she's ever won and she's like I'm hooked, I'm absolutely hooked. So you know, it's just something special, you know that's cool.

Speaker 3:

That is awesome. That I mean to to win your first time out. That's pretty awesome, yeah. So, tracy, congratulations, god bless you. You got to do it again Now. You got to go for two in a row, right, and now the pressure's on.

Speaker 2:

Right, I mean, you can't win them all if you don't win the first.

Speaker 3:

Exactly, Exactly. So what's your favorite course that you guys play on a regular basis?

Speaker 4:

On a regular basis. Man, I love, I mean, the nicest course that we play in, the toughest, which I've never played well on. I've never had a, you know, top five finish at Mystic Creek over in. It's actually an Arkansas course that we travel over to. It's beautiful, but I mean mean tamaca is just so good, it's always good. It kicks my butt, you know it really does, but it's, it's always in good shape. The fairways are always good, the greens are always good. Um, oak wing and links on the bayou in, uh, in alexandria, they're both just always good. Um, I mean they just. I mean they do a really good job of picking up courses that are that focus on, at the very least, making sure the greens are good. You know, and that's, you know, that to me that's what's important, right? I mean, if, the, if, the if, if the course is in good shape, great, I love it. But if the greens are good, that's all I really care about. I want to be able to put on something that's smooth and true.

Speaker 3:

That's what really affects the play, more than anything else anyway, right. I've heard Trey and some of the guys talk about Oakwing a lot.

Speaker 4:

Well.

Speaker 3:

Trey likes.

Speaker 4:

Oakwing, because I think that's his only win. So you know well, Trey likes opening because I think that's his only win. So you know, I gotta say that I love me some, uncle Daddy I mean, that's what we call him, uncle Daddy he's fun to hang out with too, that's for sure. He's as good as they come.

Speaker 3:

I don't know if it's a Louisiana hospitality thing. You know because my brother also lives in Louisiana. He lives down by Fort Polk in DeRidder.

Speaker 4:

I don't know where that is, yeah absolutely Armpit, you know, middle of nowhere.

Speaker 3:

I don't know why he lives there, but God bless him.

Speaker 4:

Well, that's the armpit that uses deodorant. So there's another armpit, that's the armpit that uses deodorant.

Speaker 3:

So there's another armpit, but but everybody, I mean I don't think I've run into anybody in Louisiana that that is not hospitable and nice and and you know all those things that that we that is traditional for for being down South Right, but you actually have that in Louisiana and that's just true.

Speaker 4:

So from my perspective anyway, I appreciate that and I really I feel like we try to do that when people come visit us, you know from other tours and we have people that come over from the Arkansas tour. We had several from the Arkansas tour that came and played in the opening season, major, and you know they just they're like you know, it's just kind of a different feel. You know you, you know we, you know it's really it. Our tour is a family.

Speaker 4:

Gina says it all the time You're family, we're family, you know you, you, you celebrate when things are good with each other, you hurt with each other when they're not. But it's, it really is a family tour for us and I think the people that come in we treat them the same way because we want them to be a part of our family. And I think, like you said earlier, one of the best things I think I've heard you say all day and you said a lot of really good things, but with Gina it's not fake, right? I mean what you see is what you get and it's true and it's real. And I think that translates to the rest of our tour.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think so too, Because you know I've talked about this, chris, with you a lot. You know we get a lot of feedback from other players about tours and I've never heard anything bad about Gina ever in Louisiana. North. Never not once, except Mexican food, that's not bad.

Speaker 4:

And I just count what Drew says anyway, I'm texting her as soon as we get done with this. I'm like how could you? And I'm going to put a jalapeno emoji. That's awesome.

Speaker 2:

She's going to be mad at me.

Speaker 4:

You're going to get me in trouble now she's going to be mad at me. You're going to get me in trouble now. Well, she's going to get me. She's going to get me. I'm within slapping distance.

Speaker 3:

Give us your best safe for public consumption. Story about something that happened on tour Sure uh, non-consumption story but something that's safe to be put out on on the podcast.

Speaker 4:

Okay, um all right, well, let's go with this. Uh, so the first, the first, uh, man there's. So there's so many I could give. We're going to okay. So so the first, the first win I ever had on tour it was four years ago. A guy that I was riding with. We met that day. Gina's like hey, you're going to love this guy. His name's Justin Rushing. Fantastic guy, You're going to love him. He's going to ride in your golf cart with you because it's Stonebridge. He shows up and it was my first year on tour.

Speaker 4:

I was trying to make friends, didn't really know anybody, and I said, hey, the big white golf cart is lifted, Going to have free, uh, uh, fireball shots before we take off. You know, just, you know, trying to get people to come out. He's the only one that showed up and he was riding with me and we got a little over served on the fireball shots. I won. I won the tournament. Um, I got the trophy, drank a beer out the trophy and then lost my gift card. That that, uh, you know that I, that I won from winning the tournament. I had to get my wife to come get me. She was so disappointed. My kids were so disappointed. Um, but fat flash forward four years. Um, because he he had to drop out of the tour for a little bit of job change and young kids and other things Flash forward four years. And he rode with me at the tournament this past weekend.

Speaker 3:

How was?

Speaker 4:

that. And day one he shows up and he's like Fireball. I'm like, why not, let's go? So we did it again this time. Like I said, I haven't seen him in you know, three, four years and you know, here we are again. I don't know. That's probably the best story to tell that you know I got a little tipsy and lost my gift card, but you know.

Speaker 2:

I thought you were about to say that he had your gift card and four years later he ended it back to you.

Speaker 4:

That would have been a much better story, you know, like, if we could get that, like that tail end to come back, because I would love to get that gift card back. I think what happened is I think I actually used it to buy everybody in the you know in the clubhouse drinks and just told my wife I lost it. But you know who knows?

Speaker 3:

We don't know. Again, that wouldn't be the first time or the last time that happens. Again, that wouldn't be the first time or the last time that happens. You would be surprised how many times after tournaments I'll get a phone call from somebody who gets home and whatever. They say, well, I had too much to drink, or whatever. I can't find my gift card. Did you give it to me? I say, yeah, I gave it to you. Go check your golf bag, go start tearing everything apart. It happens all the time. Everything apart, it happens, it happens all the time.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it happens. Now we did have one. I hit a hole-in-one in the practice round and I had to buy everybody drinks, because if you get a hole-in-one you've got to buy everybody drinks. And we stayed up there until 10 o'clock at night. Gina calls me the term is supposed to tee off at you know eight o'clock, shotgun. She calls me at you know seven, 51. She's like Kevin, where are you at? I said I'm looking at you right now and I was walking up with my bag on my shoulder, both my, uh, my shoes in my hand, barefoot, no socks, and she goes what happened? I said I hit a hole in one. She goes that makes sense, don't get in the cart Was that this past weekend?

Speaker 4:

No, no, no, this was a couple of years ago, oh okay, oh, my goodness. She's like what am I going to do with you, ko? I said, gina, only you know that's awesome.

Speaker 3:

That is awesome man. So we've talked about Oak Wing, we've talked about Tamaka, but if somebody could only come to one tournament in Louisiana North, what If somebody could only come to one tournament in Louisiana North?

Speaker 4:

what would it be this year? Or just in general? In general, in general, man, I would say either Oak Wing or Tamaka. I mean they're both Alexandria. Oak Wing is really good, that's always in good shape. I would probably say Tamaka, uh, it's, it's a casino course. You've got, uh, you know, you've got the restaurants in the casino. Um, they're always putting money into the course. It's always in good shape. I mean it's a tough course, I mean it's a challenge. Uh, you know for, uh, no matter what flight you're in, doesn't matter if you're champ abcd, it's, it's, it's a challenge, you know, for, no matter what flight you're in, doesn't matter if you're champ ABCD, it's just a tough setup and it challenges you as a golfer. But at the same time it's always set up well to where you know it's not the golf course's fault why you don't play good, if that makes sense like it's on you.

Speaker 3:

Well, kevin, thank you so much for taking some time with us tonight. I really do appreciate it. Um wish you the best rest of season. Hopefully we'll see you in Hilton head in October.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, absolutely, guys Appreciate you guys.

Speaker 3:

Y'all have a good night All right, Send best everybody down there in Louisiana, and and uh don't, Don't be too hard on Gina and Trey.

Speaker 4:

It's getting crawfish season, so y'all need to get down here soon. Oh, tell me about it. See, I just got chills when you said that yeah, all right, buddy, you take care of yourself. You too, guys, thank you.

Speaker 5:

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Speaker 2:

Tim, all I'm going to say is Kevin's one guy that I regret we didn't hang out with at the regional last year.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, he seems like a fun dude man. Um, and I I can't remember which movie it is, but it's it's bill murray's. He's going around talking, it was stripes, he was, it was in stripes and he says I want to party with that dude. That's the, that's the guy I mean. He. He sounds like he's a fun guy. Oh, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2:

It would have been a good time with him, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Big supporter of the tour, and you know, what really struck me is when we started talking about his win, the first thing that he said wasn't about himself, right, which? Is cool because it was about the D-Flight player Right, which is cool because it was about the deflate player, right.

Speaker 2:

How awesome is that? No, it is awesome because that's the hospitality you get from that tour. It's not about me. We're going to take care of everybody and we're going to have a good time.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So, gina, you know, keep doing great things. Kevin, you know, like I said, if you get to three wins in a row, we'll start talking about having you on every week. So you know, chris, go ahead and talk about our next guest. He's got a regional coming up and we'll talk to him about it. But the Shoals Regional in Alabama is going to be a good time. Uh, the Shoals regional in in Alabama is going to be a good time and I'm interested to see what he what he says about. You know the, the history, if he, if he knows it, or let's talk about anything about the history of the Muscle Shoals area. I don't know if you know about this. That's at one point was, it was a got a lot of history in music. Um, a lot, a lot of old time recording studios, some of the some of the biggest names in music, a lot of old-time recording studios, some of the biggest names in music ever. That's where they got their start and it's in Muscle Shoals.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty cool. I'd be interested in learning about that. That's pretty awesome.

Speaker 3:

Let's go ahead and bring in our next guest, the Nashville Tour Director. Thank you very much. Glad to be here, jeff. Welcome to the show bud. You know you've got this regional coming up and I don't know if you heard me say it's going to be a good time. You've got two really good courses up there. But what I mentioned was that the history of Muscle Shoals and the music industry and music scene there at one point that was the place to be, if you were. Oh, absolutely. If you wanted to be a recording artist.

Speaker 6:

First, a lot of people don't even know where Muscle Shoals is. So to give everybody kind of a frame of reference, muscle Shoals is a city that's right along the Tennessee River as it dips down into Alabama. So the Tennessee River kind of cuts Tennessee in a third from the Memphis side and then the river turns and goes parallel along the Tennessee-Alabama line about I don't know about 50 miles in and then it goes all the way over and then cuts back up through Chattanooga and then it goes all the way over and then cuts back up through Chattanooga. So the Shoals area was a low area when it was a river and now they've taken the Tennessee River. Since the 1940s, after World War II, during the great deal of improvements in the Tennessee Valley area, they put two dams and the area of Muscle Shoals is now a lake and you actually have to cross the dams off a major interstate or a major road to get back over to Muscle Shoals.

Speaker 6:

Muscle Shoals is on the south side of the Tennessee River and there's a county seat of, I believe, lauderdale County in Alabama, that's Florence, alabama, and Florence Alabama is the home of North Alabama State University. So the golf courses and they're absolutely great golf courses, sit above a bluff that looks down over the lake. On a good clear day when you're out the back of the clubhouse you can look straight back over, see the other side and lots of boats and people out having a good time on the lake. So that's where Muscle Shoals is Also to give people. If you're coming in your north side of the state you're kind of parallel to Huntsville, so if you actually fly in, if you're going to fly in to get to Muscle Shoals, you would fly into Huntsville International Airport. It's about an hour drive west and you cross I-65 interstate and you go through a town called Athens and you go to Florence and then there's some bridges that get you back over to the Muscle Shoals side. For people who want to stay, lots of hotel options that are in Florence, alabama, there's a really beautiful Marriott that's got one of those circular restaurants that overlooks the lake. Lots of people stay there and they've got in their bar area down below. They normally have a live band that plays every weekend and they're called the Swampers.

Speaker 6:

Wow, and that's a note back to the formation of Muscle Shoals and the music industry in the 1960s. Muscle Shoals and not to get too deep into it. In the 1960s there was a legend in the music industry by the name of Ricky Hall and he needed to try to come up with recording studios and a way to get some business going down into that area of the country. And so they established a major recording studio it's called Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals and they had a lot of set players that would come in and so they had background music and people that could perform and they had some major major players in the early music industry of country music that came up. One of the most famous is a gentleman by the name of WC Handy. There's a park named after him and I'm trying to think of some songs like Walking in Memphis. There's a reference to WC Handy and it's really kind of cool. They have all that still there.

Speaker 6:

Again, if you're in Florence you want to go and hear some good live music, go to the Swampers, which is in the Marriott downstairs, but there's lots of other places to stay. They have lots of hotels, lots of good restaurants. Again, the Swampers, the rotating restaurant above the Marriott. There's one down. There's a marina. That's right down as you cross one of the bridges. They've got a great restaurant. It's got a wonderful steam pot that I like to get when I'm down there and if you're in that Alabama area you've got to try the Alabama white sauce on your barbecue. So it's really a good time.

Speaker 6:

We normally do a couple of tournaments out there every year. It's one of our major tournaments in the summertime. I have it scheduled for the end of June, normally for the regular tour, and we've packed it out. This year we moved it up for April to get a little bit better weather, because sometimes in that June time frame in Muscle Shoals it can get a little hot. Especially one of the courses doesn't have a lot of trees about the biggest thing out. There's a thistle, uh, but it's, it's. You know. It's got a lot of ponds to chum it over the. I had posted a couple of pictures where there's some par threes that you're clearing a lot of water, um and uh, but it's a. It's a tough track and, uh, it'll lead to some pretty good play well, tell us about the other courses as well.

Speaker 3:

I mean, you've got both. Those courses are really good. I mean, that's not even a question which is your favorite course and why out there, and which course is going to produce the lowest scores.

Speaker 6:

It's interesting. Okay, first let me explain to some folks because this is going out and a lot of people may have heard or have. It's pretty famous. It's Robert Trent Jones in Alabama. There's a little bit of history to that. One too is that it was formulated in the 1990s, I think they broke construction for the set of courses built, which would have been around nine, but it was the brainchild of a gentleman in Alabama who was trying to find the Alabama consolidation system for the throughout the. So he also wanted to build a tourist destination and so he went to golf and what they decided to do was to build two, three, even smaller short courses around their major seas and they started construction and these are very affordable public play and they were well built. You know we're at 25-year anniversary coming through now and as playable now as they have been when they opened and they're fantastic layouts. And if you've ever been in an RTJ course you have them at Hilton Head. They're well done and well maintained. So there's major RTJ golf trail courses in Alabama in their major cities. They've got them from Mobile coming up the interstate. They've got three wonderful ones in Montgomery and Prattville. Opelika has some that are fantastic. That's over by Auburn territory Coming up to Birmingham.

Speaker 6:

There's two different sets of courses in Birmingham, but kind of the hidden jewel is the one that we get in the Nashville tour. It's about two hours from Nashville in Muscle Shoals. The courses are named the Fighting Joe. And the Fighting Joe is named after ooh, I cannot remember. He's a Confederate general and he actually he's a general and the Confederacy dissolves but then he reaches the exact same rank in the Union Army after the war. So he's well-respected in the area and they named the course after him. Course and, uh, schoolmaster is named after um, president woodrow wilson, I believe, and because he was a that was one of his nicknames, I believe, in politics was being a schoolmaster. Because he was a teacher, he would teach people and so that's where the names come from. All right, so to just kind of describe the courses uh, the fighting joe, uh, which if you were looking out the clubhouse and the river or the lake, if you're looking out the Fighting Joe, is kind of to the left and it's more open. It's not a lot of trees You're going to have carries. It actually has the longest hole on the whole Alabama Robert Trent Jones golf trail. It's over 800 yards and the good news is it's all downhill and the good news is our guys aren't planted at 800 yards. I believe that's for a potential US amateur and really, really tough of me. I'm going to tell you what. You got water all up the right side as you get down there and the green's kind of tucked behind the water. So it's a tough, tough hole. There's a lot of holes that are like that.

Speaker 6:

Another one that I like on the Fighting Joe is there's a course a couple of holes past or, yeah, maybe a couple of holes past that that has. It's a par four. It's kind of short. It's got a set of bunkers on a hill right in front of you that you kind of use as the aiming point. But if you look really close at those bunkers, they're shaped in the form. There's five bunkers. They're shaped in the form of a paw print and that's a symbolism for a north alabama state university which is their mascot, I believe the tigers. So they they own us to that.

Speaker 6:

I will tell you this when you're playing that hole, aim for the bunkers, aim for the bunkers. You know it because the fairways to the right you hit it on that fairway shot. You're going to end up in some water. Just go right over top of the bunkers, um, and then the finishing hole is not a lot of finishing holes are par threes. This one is, and boy it is something else. You come out, you got the whole lake to the right side and it is a classic Redan style with. To the left you've got some bailout area, but you're covering a ravine which has a little path that goes down to a boathouse. That's at the lake level and the lake level is well below you. So you got to play that that kind of tough shot. It's not long. It's going to play about 150, 140 yards, but it's. It is definitely a little bit intimidating, but it's a great way to finish a round.

Speaker 6:

So that's the Fighting Joe side, and again more wide open, not a lot of trees. Now the Schoolmaster side, which is again, if you're looking out from the clubhouse, it's going to be on the right side. It's wooded. It was built a little bit through a wooded area that sits there, so you've got a lot of shade and that, but you get that classic park woodland. And let me say this too these courses are in the middle of the country. Around them are cotton and soybean fields. There's some houses that you can see off of, I think number 16 on the Fighting Joe. That's about it. What else you're going to see out? There is farmland and farm tractor supply stuff, so they're out in nature. I've played the schoolmaster before. I've seen foxes running across the fairways. I've seen all kinds of things, lots of different types of bird species, especially coming right up over off the lake. So it's pretty pristine and it's nice to be able to be in a residential area and get out there and just have good, like we all love to do, a good walk in nature with some golf clubs and hitting a golf ball.

Speaker 6:

But again, schoolmaster, more wooded, again, some really really tough holes. The second hole Par 3, has this beautiful waterfall that sits behind it, so you're kind of hitting right into that and a nice overview, and it has multiple teeing areas. Into that and a nice overview and it has multiple teeing areas. You've got some holes that go up under a road and go on to the other side and then you come back. There is the exact same thing in terms of it finishes looking the bluff on the right side and it climbs up a hill and turns right the whole way and it's got a nasty false front to it. So that flag is kind of that initial deep into that green. And for both of these courses the greens run fantastic. They're the hybrids that we're using down in the Tennessee North Alabama area. They're the hybrids that we're using down in the Tennessee North Alabama area. They're the champions for the courses or holes like that. So they run true and they really run pretty fast, especially under certain conditions. These two courses are really good. Challenges of golf.

Speaker 3:

Well, again, like I said, you can't go wrong with those courses and the price is right too. Well, that's one of the other $375 to play those two courses.

Speaker 6:

One study was especially in my area. We're getting such a population influx into our area really putting a lot of pressure on the golf courses and they're raising rates like crazy. I think that's happening probably everywhere, but these courses have kind of maintained their rates and kept them down.

Speaker 6:

Now I don't know what will happen in the future, but I'll keep fighting them and saying we can keep this right the way it is, we can keep getting these tournaments and getting our guys nationally to come on down and play, because you know, being earlier in the year, I mean, I know some of our tours are just now starting back up. You know the Milwaukees and the Chicago's of the world. So, hey guys, hop a plane, fly into Huntsville, come on over, and we got two great golf courses and pretty good weather in April. The main thing we have to dodge in April is just rain showers. Most of the cold weather knock on wood is gone, even though this winter has been kind of tough on all of us. Even Hilton Head, you guys got a lot of snow. Yeah, so we've gotten cold streaks, but nothing major.

Speaker 3:

We got some snow a couple weeks ago and that's about the worst that we've had. Yeah, but you can't go wrong by going to this regional. You really can't. So hurry up and sign up, get on down to the Shoals and play In Nashville. What's going on in Nashville? What I noticed is and I know you guys play here every year is at the Hermitage but the golf shop. This is Chris guy. Yeah.

Speaker 6:

Chris Bears, he's something else.

Speaker 3:

You got to, you got to do something with him. I mean, I mean, he's what he. I love the guy. I mean he's phenomenal Just watching, watching his reels and those types of things. And then I saw him do an interview a couple weeks ago and he just seemed like he's just a fun guy to be around. Yeah, he, he's pretty good golfer.

Speaker 6:

um, he's in the clubhouse. He runs the the pro shop side. Um, he's the uh tour tournament director. He's got other people with him too. But um, he, uh, and for people who have not seen him, you've got to check it out, check out Instagram or the reels and look up Hermitage Golf Course.

Speaker 6:

And one of the things too this is, a lot of people don't know Hermitage. There's two courses and actually tomorrow at 9.30, I've got a straight tee start out on the President's Reserve for our regular tour and we're going to have a good time. But if you don't know, 30, I've got a straight T start out on the President's Reserve for our regular tour and we're going to have a good time. But if you don't know, it's way back in the day and this was back in the 70s the first course was built. It's more of a Parkland-style course and it's called the General's Retreat. Now these are located within about five miles of the Hermitage. The Hermitage is Andrew Jackson's home and so it's across the street a little bit farther up and that's why it's called Hermitage. So the courses are both named for Andrew Jackson. So you got the General's Retreat, which I'm not sure Andrew Jackson ever retreated from and then you got the President's Reserve.

Speaker 6:

Now the President's Reserve was Andrew Jackson. One of the things when he settled in that area was horse racing. He had a horse racing track but they had a lot of wildlife in the area and hunting. The President's Reserve, which we're playing tomorrow, was an old duck hunting reserve and so a lot of the bridges when you're going over and it's pretty swampy. But when you're going over some of the bridges you're going to see duck blinds out there, lots of geese out there even now. So that's why it has that name. And then the other thing that makes Harman's kind of-known is the owners brought in some black-faced sheep about 10 years ago, maybe even longer than that, and they have this herd of sheep and they are.

Speaker 6:

Whether you think anybody else owns them or not, they own those golf courses and they just go wherever they want to. I take Meredith and Amelia out there and they always want to go up to the sheep and they're real tame. You can pet them and everything, but it's their golf course and they'll wander between both courses and just do whatever they want to do and eat whatever they want to eat. And then at night they come back over to the President's Reserve side where their main pens and get their real official food. But that's after they've lounged around on the course and watched you hit a golf ball quite a bit.

Speaker 3:

I think that's hilarious. I really do and I like history and I talked about the Shoals and the music history there. But if nobody's ever been over to the Hermitage, you know it is home. They do a really good job of walking you through history and around the property and everything that goes on now and went on at that time period. They do a really good job over there too.

Speaker 6:

I should have also brought up originally the first course. The president's reserve was built about 15, 10, 15 years later. Uh, general's retreat, when it was originally built, when it was opening, um, they contracted with the lpga and there was an lpga event that started there. Um, one of the stories I give people is on the General's Retreat. I remember going out there to watch and Ray Knight, the third baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, was there.

Speaker 6:

Well, ray was married to Nancy Lopez and he was walking around and I started walking to him and at the time I think I was coaching some baseball or something. We were just talking to have a good time but we were watching Nancy play and we got to hole number 11, which is par five. That runs right along the fence line which on the other side of that fence line now is the other course. But that hole is par five. We're pretty good tee shot to get it out there. Then decision time, especially for the ladies, to even try to go for it in two. It's a pretty long par five. Most ladies, even the pros at that time. I would never see them even attempt a shot like that.

Speaker 6:

Ray Knight and I are up farther along the rope line about midway on that hole and we get up there and he looked over at me and goes she's going to go for it Because she had hit a pretty good drive and she smoked a three-wood and it hit the front bank because there's water protecting all the whole front and right side of that green. It hit the front bank and jumped right up onto that green and I don't think she eagled it, but she got a birdie and it helped her coming down the stretch for that. That course hosted that event for quite a long time and then it moved, I think, to the other side over toward Franklin or the Legends Club, which is now owned by Vanderbilt. They have two courses over there. It's some of the better public golf courses in the Nashville area and they've hosted some pretty good events.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, jeff, I don't think a lot of people truly understand the quality of golf that's in Nashville. It's kind of a sleepy giant. I mean, there's a ton of really good solid horses out there that nobody has really heard of.

Speaker 6:

Absolutely. One thing though with Nashville there's a whole lot of private clubs. So we get a lot of private clubs, yes, and actually we got some that are getting built. Real quick story. An add-in on my senior side Usually later in the summer we do an event down in the Memphis area. For years we would go down to Tunica, which is a little bit south of Memphis, where the casinos are. Most of those casinos have shut down or moved. Now there's another casino or newer one that got built in Arkansas across the river. A lot of people go to it now.

Speaker 6:

But the Tunica National Golf Course was a great venue and we've done that event for quite a few years. But we moved it this year and we moved it to a course that's kind of northeast of Memphis in the Millington area and it's called Miramichi. Interesting story on Miramichi Miramichi originally was owned and opened up and was a pretty good venue, and then Justin Timberlake bought it and sunk a ton of money into it and really turned it and enhanced the value of it quite a bit. Then I think he sold it back to Millington and Millington is just south of a military town and we're moving our Tunica event. We're going to play and I'm partnering with the senior tour in Arkansas and we're going to do a two-day event down there. That's going to be I think it's either last weekend in August maybe, or the first weekend in September in and around. I'd have to look at the schedule. I don't have it in front of me, but that's when we're doing that event. Is another Justin Timberlake turnaround is he's now bought property in the Nashville area with a private club and they're opening that up. That should, I think, about a year. I think it's under construction now and I think it'll open up soon. But we've had a lot of investment with private clubs. Another one is Brant Snedeker's, real big with the Golf Club of Tennessee, which is a very elite private club. Then we've got a gentleman who owns Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

Speaker 6:

If you ever heard of Tootsie's, tootsie's is downtown Nashville, right on Broadway. It is a honky-tonk. Okay. So for people who don't know who honky-tonks are, it's a small, skinny room. You walk in. It's not very big and normally when you walk in you come through those front windows that overlook the outside. That's where the band sits. They sit and they're facing toward the audience with their backs to the people who are walking on the street and they sing country music and we've got quite a few of those and those were made famous. Back in the fifties Honky Tonks were opening up. Tootsies is one of the original ones and it's so popular now. They now have opened up their roof. They've got a roof skyline that looks over, looks to Cumberland River. There's a whole lot of fun going on most of the time and it's right behind the Ryman Auditorium, which was made famous back in the 50s too as an auditorium where a lot of performances occurred. A lot of country music would go to the Ryman and perform, so you can actually walk out the back door of Tootsie's.

Speaker 6:

Well, I leave this all to say. The gentleman by the name of Steve Smith owns Tootsie's. Well, he bought one of the private clubs that was the old DuPont plant sitting out very close to where I live, and renovated it and it's a private club and they did a fantastic job. And now he's even bought some more, another golf course up in the middle Tennessee central area, up near a lake, and they're renovating it and that one is really big into. They've renamed it.

Speaker 6:

It used to be called I can't think of it Now it's called Honky Tonk. I have to look it up, but it's the big guy out of Arkansas. The golfer, john Daly, is real big friends with Steve Smith and they've done a lot of videos. If you look them up you'll see that I think they had who's the young guy in the live tour that did really well in the US Open? He's big friends with Bryson, yes, and they've got some videos where they're having a blast. You know Daly's driving around with a golf cart that's got a front trunk full of beer and he eats a whole lot of.

Speaker 6:

M&Ms and he's smoking a cigarette. But all that connection we're seeing a whole lot of golf and golf ideas and things coming out of the Nashville area that have really, really prompted an upsurge and a lot of play plus the population movement in. So if we could build about five or 10 more courses, that'd be great. Uh, it would house the population. But uh, we fight for everything we get. We have good courses. Uh, especially our public side, and uh, enjoy it. Anybody wants to come down and play?

Speaker 3:

we'd love to have you well, jeff, thank you so much for for joining us and sharing a lot of really good information. And and again, sign up for Shoals. Don't regret missing it. And you know, again, nashville's got a lot of hidden gems. So again, jeff, thank you so much for joining us and we'll talk to you soon. All right, thanks, guys. Talk to you later. Let's take a break from the show to hear about Strixon's ZX Mark II drivers. Z ZX Mark II drivers.

Speaker 5:

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Speaker 3:

I'm glad we got Jeff on and talked a little bit about the Shoals Regional. Again, that's really a hidden gem, sounds like it. The price is right, it's low, you can't beat those two courses. And then just the history of the area. If you've got some time, go they do some recording studio tours. Go they do some recording studio tours. Just kind of as a just kind of as an idea. Some of the songs that were recorded in Russell Scholes Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger that was recorded there. A bunch of Etta James songs, clarence Carter songs Sitting in Limbo by Jimmy Cliff, hey Jude with Wilson Pickett, aretha Franklin.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, do Right Woman, do Right man. Lots of really good songs and artists came through there and did some recordings Mustang Sally, how about that one? Yeah, that's a good one when a man Loves a Woman. So, again, lots of good history there. And the general he was talking about was General Joseph Wheeler Right, joe, that's who it was. But anyway, again, a lot of history there, a lot of history up in Nashville, you know. And Herbert brought up the whole idea about going to Andrew Jackson's homestead. That's a really good tour up there, let alone, you know, going over to the Hermann's golf courses and golf shop. This is Chris, you know golf shop. This is Chris. Yeah, I mean Chris. Yeah, I mean the guy's freaking hilarious. So you know, if you're in the area, work for Nashville, nashville, you should stop in and try and play. Jeff runs a good tour, a good tournament, and glad we finally got him on. It's been we've had him on before, but it's been a while, so glad we could get him in.

Speaker 2:

It was a good time talking to him. I am concerned that he said they have white barbecue sauce.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you don't disrespect barbecue that way coming from a Texas guy, that's kind of like having Mexican when you go to Louisiana. True.

Speaker 2:

True, true, true. But you know, I'll let him enjoy that white barbecue sauce and I'll Hopefully one day I can make it out there. I'd love to play a course in every state, so I got to go there eventually.

Speaker 3:

You should do it alphabetically.

Speaker 2:

I should what.

Speaker 3:

You know, do it alphabetically. Start with what you know. Do it alphabetically Start with Texas and go backwards. There you go. Oh boy, how's things in El Paso? I know you had a torment. Did you get better?

Speaker 2:

I did better. Yeah, lately we've been getting dust storms like crazy you can barely see across the street.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that picture you sent me yesterday. I was like, oh my God. Yeah, I don't want to be able to breathe.

Speaker 2:

You can't, and I think that's what got me sick. But it's tough, but it's supposed to pass. Today we have events coming up, some first majors, and continue grinding, trying to get out there as much as I can at least.

Speaker 3:

So is this like a season, like a dust, storm season, or is it just they roll through and out again?

Speaker 2:

I mean, every once in a while they roll through, but for the most part it's windy season, but it's never been this bad. I don't know if it's the construction around the town that's causing all the dirt to get loose, but it's been pretty bad lately, Probably global warming. At least we didn't get snow.

Speaker 3:

Yeah well, it doesn't bother me'll just stay inside, chris, I dust, dust, storms, tim's inside snow, inside rain, inside you know right, but when the dust gets through your ac, vent and yeah, it gets into everything oh my god, it's not fun I don't.

Speaker 3:

I don't know if I told you about the time we were in. We were in arizona and we were playing it and, of course, and then all of a sudden I can't remember it, but we were staying on the 18th tee box. It was jen and I and we saw it running in rolling in and she said we should, we should probably go. I said no, we're going to finish this hole. It was 18th hole. We finished it. You know, drive over to the car, jump out of the golf cart, get in the car just as it's hitting us and it, I mean it gets in everything. It gets in through the vents. Yep, you can taste it, it's. I mean it gets it got in, I mean it literally got into everything. It was disgusting.

Speaker 3:

I believe you told me that before, but yeah, it gets it's everywhere, yeah, so well you know I mentioned earlier about Jennifer's parents and again, you know, yeah, they're doing the best they can. You know, give them a little bit of leeway, they'll get back to you when they can. And you know us as tour directors, uh, you know, we, we, we can handle a lot of the things anyway. So just come through us and, and you know, we'll take care of you the best we can until they, until they can get back online and take care of things that they need to take care of yeah, I mean just remember.

Speaker 2:

You know, life happens to everybody. Situations come up and Just got to respect the time as it is. But the train will get back on the tracks, hopefully sooner Than anyone Would hope for. But just keep that in mind and, like you said, go to your directors. I'm pretty sure we can get you the answer A lot quicker than going through the support email and just bear with them.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it'll be all right, but again it is what it is. I feel all for them, knowing how they've been dealing with this situation for actually for a few years, and it just comes time. So thoughts and prayers go out to them and they'll get back to some normalcy, hopefully sometime soon. Yeah, definitely soon. Yeah, definitely Now. Normally, this episode we would be announcing the February Player of the Month.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 3:

We already know who it is, but we've got to keep it a secret and he will be announced on our next episode. Yes, he will.

Speaker 3:

I actually have to get in touch with him and let him know he's going to be ecstatic about it and generally how this is going to go, where the original plan how this was going to go was, uh, what dennis is going to choose. So we take all the identified information off of the emails that we get, send them over to Dennis he chooses. And then the original plan was he would come on and announce it and we would have that player and their tour director on the show Because of what's going on. That's why it didn't happen this time. Hopefully for the April, hopefully in April for the April, hopefully in April for the March Player of the Year. We can do that. We'll just have to modify that. He will still be choosing them, but the announcement will be a little bit different.

Speaker 2:

If they're still, but we've been getting a lot of responses for March already, so that's pretty cool. Here's the one thing I would say. But I mean, we've been getting a lot of responses for March already, so that's pretty cool, Yep.

Speaker 3:

Here's the one thing I would say, and I think I'm going to send out to all the tour directors Be a little bit more specific, Give us a little bit more detail of what they've done. We've got good responses so far. Like you said, us give us a little bit more detail so that we can truly get into who these people are, and that may be a differentiator as well.

Speaker 2:

So everybody can go out there and help you set up or ask to to tear down or help you read score cards, but like what? What's that one thing that separates them from everybody else?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so so um, as I, you know, as I think about it, if, if I were Gina, I would nominate Kevin Odom, right, I mean, and it goes back to what he said, the very first thing he said was not about himself, it was. It was about a different player in a different flight and, and championing that, that person and congratulating that person for winning. Uh, that's that to me. So, so, gene, if you're listening, you know you, you can submit them if you want. I would if I were you. But again, we don't choose, right, right, but those are the types of people that you know we're looking to really highlight and honor, because, to me, that made a big impression on me, on who Kevin is and what the tour means to him and what he means to the tour Agreed, A thousand percent Agreed.

Speaker 3:

So well, listen, buddy. First thing I want you to do is stop being sick and get back to being awesome. Thank you, Appreciate it. All right. And if you're going to play tomorrow and you're not feeling good, be careful.

Speaker 2:

I will, I will. I have too much running on the line to do something stupid. Yep.

Speaker 3:

Yep, yep, yep. So All right, my friend, you enjoy yourself. All the best to the family. Tell them to stop being sick and get back to being awesome. Tell Diane don't ever get sick and always stay awesome. That can't happen.

Speaker 2:

Can't happen.

Speaker 3:

Can't happen.

Speaker 2:

But no, I appreciate it, thank you, I'll let them know Be safe.

Speaker 3:

Take care. Talk to you soon, yep. Thank you.

People on this episode

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Tim Newman

Host
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Chris Rocha

Co-host