Aron Price [00:00:00]:
Wasn't it? You can only Monday qualify out there if you made it to final stage.
Todd Demsey [00:00:04]:
Yeah. Or if you have some kind of tour status. So the Mondays, really, they're not too bad. There's 35 guys for now, three spots. I did the first one of the year and shot even par. Missed by a lot. But I don't know, that Monday thing was a little tough to take after all these years and then going right back, seeing the same guys that I saw at the Mondays 100 hundred years ago.
Scott Riley [00:00:29]:
Welcome back to another episode of straight down the middle. Today's very special guest is I call him the most interesting man in golf, but he is a four time NCAA all American, won the individual at the NCAA, played on tour for, what, 15 years or so? And all the way in from Neptune Beach, we have Todd Dempsey.
Todd Demsey [00:00:53]:
Todd, good to be here.
Scott Riley [00:00:55]:
Welcome to the planet.
Todd Demsey [00:00:56]:
Thank you.
Aron Price [00:00:58]:
How long have you been in Jacksonville?
Aron Price [00:00:59]:
You do an amazing job of hiding out in Jacksonville.
Todd Demsey [00:01:02]:
Oh, yeah.
Aron Price [00:01:03]:
You're like the lowest key guy ever, man.
Todd Demsey [00:01:05]:
How long you been I know. Six stars. No, like eight or nine.
Aron Price [00:01:09]:
Okay.
Todd Demsey [00:01:09]:
Yeah. I don't know. I just kind of flink around, do my own thing.
Aron Price [00:01:14]:
Are you in Neptune?
Todd Demsey [00:01:15]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:01:15]:
Nice.
Todd Demsey [00:01:18]:
Used to go to TPC a little more, but just don't make it out there much.
Aron Price [00:01:22]:
Four time all American, is that like are you one of the four first teamers?
Todd Demsey [00:01:27]:
No, first team twice.
Aron Price [00:01:29]:
There's only, like, six guys that have been four first teamers.
Todd Demsey [00:01:32]:
Right.
Aron Price [00:01:32]:
Gary Holberg's one.
Scott Riley [00:01:34]:
David duvall.
Aron Price [00:01:35]:
Some tech guys, I think.
Aron Price [00:01:36]:
Duvall.
Todd Demsey [00:01:37]:
Mickelson. Mickelson.
Aron Price [00:01:38]:
He was 4th, fourth.
Aron Price [00:01:40]:
A lot of guys now don't get to four years, so that's the issue. Camilla. I think Camilla had a sneaky second team there.
Aron Price [00:01:46]:
No, dude, he wasn't he might have been two.
Todd Demsey [00:01:50]:
Yeah.
Scott Riley [00:01:51]:
But Todd Todd played at Arizona. Ross Moss. The Sun Devils. When was that?
Todd Demsey [00:01:56]:
93.
Scott Riley [00:01:57]:
You won the individual there.
Todd Demsey [00:01:59]:
Yeah, we had some good teams. I think the whole time we were ranked inside the top four, like, for four years, never outside the top four, so I don't think that could happen anymore.
Aron Price [00:02:14]:
Four years in a row.
Todd Demsey [00:02:15]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:02:15]:
Who was your cut? Was it Randy?
Todd Demsey [00:02:18]:
Started it as Steve Lloyd and then Randy lawn and then Steve he left with Phil.
Aron Price [00:02:22]:
Phil became Phil's agent. That's right.
Scott Riley [00:02:26]:
That's wild. You would have gotten an invite to Augusta National if you'd have done that, too.
Todd Demsey [00:02:30]:
Oh, yeah, that's right. Of course.
Aron Price [00:02:32]:
Florida beat Georgia Tech that year by a single stroke for the teams.
Todd Demsey [00:02:36]:
Okay.
Aron Price [00:02:36]:
You dusted them all.
Todd Demsey [00:02:38]:
Yeah. Duvall I remember Duvall Bogey, the last to lose the team and individual.
Aron Price [00:02:44]:
Oh, really?
Scott Riley [00:02:45]:
No way.
Aron Price [00:02:46]:
Todd Dempsey from Arizona State won individual tour, the fourth win in five championships as a sun Devil golfer.
Todd Demsey [00:02:51]:
Zang Phil was pretty much all that.
Aron Price [00:02:59]:
He was pretty good.
Scott Riley [00:03:00]:
That's one hell of a pedigree. You had a really amazing amateur career and then joined the PGA Tour in 95.
Todd Demsey [00:03:09]:
Yeah, 97 was my first year and lost my card pretty badly, but most of my time was on the Whatever web nationwide. I think I played for every sponsor.
Aron Price [00:03:29]:
Nokitua bar.
Todd Demsey [00:03:31]:
Yeah. Ben Hogan. I even played a Ben Hogan event.
Aron Price [00:03:35]:
Wow, you did touch them all.
Todd Demsey [00:03:38]:
But yeah, I don't know. It was not really what I had in mind when I turned pro, but I have no regrets. Got to travel and play.
Scott Riley [00:03:51]:
You got banged up a bit. I mean, you had some injuries. What was going on with your back?
Todd Demsey [00:03:56]:
Yeah, I had to take, like, a year and a half off kind of right in the heart of when I should have been progressing. And then right at the tail end of that, I found out about I had a brain tumor. So that was another year. So kind of right when I think that was one, two. Had had a lot of stuff going on, but got through it and played. I don't know, I felt like I played okay, but just never got over the hump. Got my card back in eight. But yeah, I don't know, I kind of got there and then realized, do I really like this? I don't know. Maybe if I was playing better, I would have liked it, but I had.
Aron Price [00:04:42]:
A conversation with Peter Thomas last night about professional golf. He's not playing anymore. And we were just talking about obviously there's no substory, but it's hard to explain to people that haven't got there. Like, it's not all fun and games. It's an individual game. You sleep. You think about it. When you sleep, you can't sleep. Charlie we wrote the best article ever when he was hanging it up. He's back now on the Champions Tour. So there's stress. There's stress when you're playing good because you know the stats that you don't play good every week, you've got this little window. So when you are playing good, you got to finish third, not 15th. The stress when you're playing bad, how am I going to get back there? But not saying, I'm so glad I did it, and of course, and I would want to keep doing it, but it's not as easy as people think.
Aron Price [00:05:29]:
Todd, when you say it wasn't what you thought was cracked up to be, what were you expecting, like, coming out of college?
Todd Demsey [00:05:35]:
Yeah, I think just an unrealistic view.
Aron Price [00:05:38]:
Of, like, you were just going to come right out and start bulldozing guys.
Todd Demsey [00:05:41]:
Yeah, I thought it would a little bit of that, but then just the whole lifestyle, I guess I didn't really think about I didn't realize 30 weeks on the road a year.
Aron Price [00:05:52]:
Yeah, that's a big change for sure. From going to college where they're already doing they're doing everything for you. All the travels booked and you're just showing up, and it's like ten weeks a year yeah.
Aron Price [00:06:03]:
In college golf, too. You're with your buddies the whole time. You're rooming with one, you're practicing with one.
Aron Price [00:06:08]:
Who are your buddies on your who are your boys on your college team that you, like, hung with?
Todd Demsey [00:06:13]:
I mean, really, phil and Pat Perez are the only two that really got on the Tour, which is crazy.
Aron Price [00:06:21]:
What a combo.
Todd Demsey [00:06:22]:
Yeah.
Scott Riley [00:06:23]:
Right.
Todd Demsey [00:06:24]:
That is. But yeah, I traveled in an RV a lot of the time, so I hung out with kind of the RV people.
Aron Price [00:06:32]:
Yeah.
Todd Demsey [00:06:34]:
But yeah, I just when the kids got my my kids got to be school age, I just kind of priorities change. Yeah. When I started not caring if I missed the cut, I figured, something's not right here. I don't know. I do miss the competition, though. I want to play again.
Aron Price [00:06:52]:
I don't know where playing. Right. You just played in the Senior Open, right?
Todd Demsey [00:06:57]:
No. Or the Cue school. Yeah. Actually had a chance, but I really hadn't been playing, so kind of surprised.
Aron Price [00:07:06]:
Which Senior Cue School might be the hardest Cue School to get to get through.
Todd Demsey [00:07:11]:
Yeah. I think they're going to make it harder, too, with either three or four.
Aron Price [00:07:15]:
And 50 year olds get younger and younger. I mean, dude, you're one of the youngest looking 50 year olds ever seen in my life.
Todd Demsey [00:07:22]:
I don't know. The kids keep me young, I guess. Yeah. I don't know. I do want to play again. I don't know if it's hard to get out there, though.
Aron Price [00:07:32]:
I'll keep so many spots yeah.
Scott Riley [00:07:35]:
To keep the game sharp, too. I mean, it takes a lot of effort.
Todd Demsey [00:07:39]:
Yeah, exactly. I got to put the time in and between the kids and the persimmon. I'm making it's hard.
Aron Price [00:07:49]:
I want to dive.
Scott Riley [00:07:49]:
Yeah, you jump into that persimmons there. I think you were the last person professional golfer to game a Persimmon Wood. That was at the seniors, but also maybe before everybody went to metal. When was the last time you when did you make the switch from persimmon to metal as a golfer?
Todd Demsey [00:08:04]:
It was kind of college golf. It might have been right around at 93. I did win NCAA's with a Metal wood, I remember, but I would go back and forth. I played a Wood Brothers Persimmon after that, so I don't know when I started playing, that's what we played and never really loved the graphite shafts and the huge heads.
Scott Riley [00:08:37]:
Just didn't look good to your eye, or did you feel like it was a different type of game?
Todd Demsey [00:08:41]:
Yeah, it's definitely a different type of game. Yeah.
Aron Price [00:08:44]:
You like fucking frying paint.
Scott Riley [00:08:45]:
Traditional.
Todd Demsey [00:08:47]:
Yeah. I felt like we were cheating the game a little bit with these clubs, and it's weird. I know I need to Harvard. I probably should have gotten over it a little quicker, but I still feel like it's just equipment. Companies are trying to cheat the game instead of I mean, like tennis for example, I used to love watching tennis in the 80s. McEnroe Borg with their normal rackets. There were actually rallies, and now it's just an ace fest, and I just can't even watch it. But I feel like golf is, in my opinion, is kind of like getting that way. Yeah.
Aron Price [00:09:29]:
Already has, probably a little bit.
Aron Price [00:09:31]:
We do feel like get rid of the hybrids, smaller drive heads. You identify the more talented person who can get it out of the center, like those drivers. Now, you do not have to hit it on the center. Not even close. You can tow it all day long down there.
Aron Price [00:09:43]:
These persimmons that you're making now, handbuilding them. Can you walk us through the product? Where are you getting the wood? How does all this happen? And how long does it take you to make a set of woods?
Todd Demsey [00:09:58]:
Yeah, well, it started out, I would just get blocks of wood from Kentucky, blocks of persimmon, and shape them.
Aron Price [00:10:04]:
Holy so these aren't restores?
Todd Demsey [00:10:06]:
No, brand new. And I've gotten to now where I get the blanks where they're kind of shaped like a wood. It's got the thing at the end, and I shape them, put the inserts in. I mean, it's a lot of work. It takes maybe 7 hours per club, so I can have a few going at a time, but it's a lot of work. I do love it, but it's not probably not the best business plan.
Aron Price [00:10:41]:
Not huge margins per hour.
Todd Demsey [00:10:43]:
Yeah, I'm working pretty cheaply. But I do like it, and I think something good and a lot of good things have come from it, and I just love playing them. I did it originally for myself, and I still don't try to sell them, but if people ask me, I make them right.
Scott Riley [00:11:03]:
People like Kelly Slater.
Aron Price [00:11:05]:
Yeah, that's pretty sick.
Todd Demsey [00:11:06]:
Yeah, that was a good opportunity. Yeah, he loves them, and it's been helping me out with some exposure, but not that I really necessarily want I.
Scott Riley [00:11:18]:
Love the connections between golf and surf. And you grew up in San Diego?
Todd Demsey [00:11:24]:
Yeah, I grew up surfing in San Diego. And what part? Del Mar area. And golf just kind of I just loved golf, and it took me away from surfing, which was good, but I completely abandoned surfing, which I think was a mistake. I think I probably should have kept it going just to have a little balance. But yeah, now my kids, they surf all the time.
Aron Price [00:11:55]:
Boy, how different is it surfing here.
Todd Demsey [00:11:56]:
Than yeah.
Aron Price [00:12:00]:
I equate it to growing up in Florida. Okay. Surfing in Southern California versus growing up surfing here is like growing up on a Miami muni versus Palm Springs. But it does give you a bit of rawness.
Todd Demsey [00:12:14]:
Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's so many good surfers here in Florida. Yeah. And I went back a few summers ago, and when I go to the pier here and I went to blacks. There a couple of other spots surfers here can hold their own. I mean, I think it's just crazy. You have to fight for waves.
Aron Price [00:12:37]:
There's something to it, though, the Florida surfers, the roughness of it growing up, the breaks out there, they're so consistent.
Todd Demsey [00:12:45]:
You see beautiful waves here.
Aron Price [00:12:46]:
It's like you don't know what the fuck you're getting.
Scott Riley [00:12:49]:
When you got it good, though, you got to get after it, too.
Todd Demsey [00:12:53]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:12:54]:
When it's great for the body, too. Shoulders and back.
Todd Demsey [00:12:58]:
Yeah, I know. I feel so much better when I.
Aron Price [00:13:01]:
So how often are you getting in the water?
Todd Demsey [00:13:03]:
I try every day.
Aron Price [00:13:05]:
Really?
Todd Demsey [00:13:05]:
And there's a lot of days where it's not just flat, but I'll just get around and paddle around.
Aron Price [00:13:11]:
And your kids both rep?
Todd Demsey [00:13:13]:
Yeah, they're competitive surfers. Really? Yeah, they're getting sponsored.
Aron Price [00:13:18]:
That's their main thing is surfing.
Todd Demsey [00:13:20]:
Yeah. My son baseball is probably still his.
Aron Price [00:13:23]:
Main he's playing in high school.
Todd Demsey [00:13:25]:
He'll be in high school next year.
Scott Riley [00:13:27]:
He's already raking, dude.
Aron Price [00:13:28]:
Where's he going?
Todd Demsey [00:13:30]:
Fletcher?
Aron Price [00:13:31]:
Yeah. Did he go to Fletcher Middle?
Todd Demsey [00:13:33]:
No, Florida. Virtual. Okay.
Scott Riley [00:13:36]:
Is he 14? Yeah, I've seen some. He's got a killer instagram. Both your kids are freaking athletes. Maggie, I don't know if she might be the best surfer in the family or not, but they can absolutely rip.
Todd Demsey [00:13:51]:
Definitely better than me, but that's does.
Aron Price [00:13:55]:
Your wife, is she athletic?
Todd Demsey [00:13:56]:
Yeah, she is. She surfs a little bit, but yeah, we love living here. I grew up in San Diego and then was in Arizona for a long time. Yeah.
Aron Price [00:14:07]:
When I play with you on two of you always in Arizona.
Todd Demsey [00:14:10]:
Yeah, which I love it there, too, but it's just nice to be near the beach.
Aron Price [00:14:14]:
It's very similar vibe. Neptune Atlantic beach area to California.
Todd Demsey [00:14:18]:
California? Yeah.
Aron Price [00:14:19]:
It's about as close as you can get from Florida.
Todd Demsey [00:14:21]:
I agree.
Aron Price [00:14:21]:
I do the real estate, obviously, and that's what I try to sell people in Jacksonville, I'm like, you go north to Savannah, it's croakies. It's like golf visors. You go south. Daytona is a little rough, and then you further get in south. It's all to New Yorkers. I said Jacksonville has the pier, has people riding around on bikes with no shirts.
Aron Price [00:14:37]:
Stop saying that.
Aron Price [00:14:39]:
But Neptune Beach. It's not point of age. Is Neptune Beach jack's Beach, Atlantic Beach. That's as close because only because California is similar to Australia. So the closest you can get to Australia is that little pocket right there, you know, holy coast.
Todd Demsey [00:14:55]:
Todd.
Aron Price [00:14:55]:
Getting back to you, wanting to maybe play a little bit more, and it's tough. And I know you're not this kind of person, dude. I know you're like, under the radar, but you should get as many freaking starts as you have a great story, man, and you can fucking compete. You know what I'm saying? Someone needs to go to bat for you and get some stars.
Aron Price [00:15:22]:
Kevin, Kenny, come on.
Aron Price [00:15:23]:
Somebody does, because it's a waste if they don't.
Todd Demsey [00:15:27]:
Thanks. I appreciate it. I'd love to.
Aron Price [00:15:29]:
And I know that's not in your nature.
Todd Demsey [00:15:31]:
You're a local.
Aron Price [00:15:32]:
Look at me, look at me. But Jim Fury.
Todd Demsey [00:15:34]:
I've tried. Yeah.
Aron Price [00:15:36]:
Did you try, Jim?
Todd Demsey [00:15:38]:
Were you 50 yet, though? I just turned 50 and it was kind of a pathetic last minute email attempt, which we'll help you ride it. Yeah. And then I tried another one.
Aron Price [00:15:51]:
Just go to his yes.
Todd Demsey [00:15:52]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:15:52]:
Nothing. He's duel.
Aron Price [00:15:53]:
How many invites a week do the seniors get?
Todd Demsey [00:15:56]:
Two, I think so, yeah.
Aron Price [00:15:58]:
Two.
Aron Price [00:15:58]:
Dude, that tour is freaking brutal, dude.
Aron Price [00:16:02]:
They want to keep those guys on there, I guess.
Aron Price [00:16:05]:
Wasn't it? You can only Monday qualify out there if you have, like if you made it to final stage.
Todd Demsey [00:16:12]:
Yeah. Or if you have some kind of Tour status. So the Mondays, really they're not too bad. There's 35 guys for now, three spots. I did the first one of the year and shot even Par missed by a lot. But I don't know, that Monday thing was a little tough to take after all these years and then going right back, seeing the same guys that I saw at the Mondays 100 years ago.
Aron Price [00:16:45]:
The circle comes around so much like not winning in golf every week, obviously everyone loses except one guy, but the qualifier is 32. Guys don't get in. Three get in.
Todd Demsey [00:16:56]:
Yeah, it's true.
Aron Price [00:16:58]:
Where did your kid play baseball here before high school?
Todd Demsey [00:17:02]:
He's been playing travel, like, for the Dodger Scout organization.
Aron Price [00:17:06]:
Dude. Okay, so we're on another level here.
Scott Riley [00:17:11]:
Really good coaching, good rep, umpiring, as well.
Aron Price [00:17:16]:
Are your kids pretty tall?
Todd Demsey [00:17:18]:
He's not really yeah, he's getting there. He's about five nine, so I guess it was 14. That's pretty tall.
Scott Riley [00:17:26]:
He's hitting dingers. He's nuking the ball.
Todd Demsey [00:17:29]:
Yeah, he's starting to hit home runs on the big field, which is he.
Aron Price [00:17:33]:
Doesn'T use the wooden bat.
Todd Demsey [00:17:34]:
Like use the well, actually he does. Like today we were practicing with the wood bat.
Aron Price [00:17:41]:
My eight year old has a wood bat. He like, loves it. Yeah, he just bought it. He goes wooden back because the pros use, obviously. So we get down to cornerstone in point of Edra. He always brings out he obviously has his other bat, too, but little, I don't know, retro Kid loves the Persimmon, too, or the wood.
Scott Riley [00:17:59]:
All right, I want to get back to technology and golf. I mean, that's one of the reasons we want to get you on tell your story, but also get your thoughts on current state of the game. I was curious, what do you think was, like, the peak era of golf? If you go back in time and say, let's freeze right here, for me, it's like when the nine, seven, five and great big birthday, that's as big a driver should get. What do you think?
Todd Demsey [00:18:24]:
Yeah, mid 80s is when I started really getting into golf. So that's kind of the era where Nicholas was kind of at the end of his career, but he won the Masters still.
Aron Price [00:18:36]:
Greg Norman was coming up.
Todd Demsey [00:18:38]:
Yeah. Trevino was still kind of around. Yeah, that's kind of the era. Maybe it's just because my age that's just when I boss.
Aron Price [00:18:49]:
When you're in love with the game.
Todd Demsey [00:18:51]:
Yeah, exactly. But now I can't watch it.
Aron Price [00:18:55]:
That's awesome.
Todd Demsey [00:18:56]:
I love that.
Aron Price [00:18:58]:
I got a question about this.
Scott Riley [00:19:00]:
I'm disappointed in where the game is today.
Aron Price [00:19:02]:
I never got to play Persimmon Woods. But when you were audited, when you were playing them but he played them at a he played them as a kid. He played them at a high level. How often were you what's the shelf life on a Persimmon Wood?
Todd Demsey [00:19:18]:
I mean, they they lasted pretty long.
Aron Price [00:19:21]:
Really?
Todd Demsey [00:19:21]:
Yeah, it was and you would get a driver and you just figure out how to hit it. You don't take the shaft out. You figure it out. You order it. You ask for nine degrees. It might be ten, it might be eight, but you just figure it out. I kind of miss that instead of I think it's better, the fact that you can change the lie and loft if you start hitting it bad. I like the you're working at yourself. Yeah.
Scott Riley [00:19:54]:
I love how like Goat Hill and Link soul does. The they have, like, a Persimmon challenge or they just revert back to some old tech. Wouldn't that be rad to see something like that in professional golf?
Aron Price [00:20:06]:
Be awesome.
Scott Riley [00:20:07]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:20:07]:
Well, guys would have to start changing their swings probably, right? Lucas herbert track man's. Not set up for persimmon woods, bro.
Aron Price [00:20:14]:
Well, you can find it.
Scott Riley [00:20:16]:
And that golf ball flies different, too.
Aron Price [00:20:18]:
You used to be able to shape.
Scott Riley [00:20:19]:
It because it was a balada.
Aron Price [00:20:20]:
Sure, it's on YouTube, but Mike Clayton and Lucas Herbert, and they bullshit. And so they went and did it, and so they had the Persimmon thing. So eventually Lucas Herbert works it out, but his first few shots, it's on YouTube. They were, like, along the ground.
Aron Price [00:20:34]:
Really?
Aron Price [00:20:35]:
Then he finally but they had the track man there, too. They got the data, and it was very interesting.
Todd Demsey [00:20:41]:
The ones that I make, they're more designed for today's ball. They're a little more loft, a little less bulge and roll on the face. When I try to hit an old Persimmon, a McGregor or whatever, it's with the new yeah, but mine are pretty good with the new balls.
Aron Price [00:21:00]:
The new ball is too low. Spin over the old ones.
Aron Price [00:21:03]:
So for your liking. Are we too far? This whole rollback with the bar, are we already too far gone?
Todd Demsey [00:21:10]:
Yeah, I mean, when I saw that, I was happy to see it, but I think it's probably too late. We got these 7800 yard courses, so if we roll it back, it would just be unplayable. Maybe we could go back to the normal 7000 being a long course.
Aron Price [00:21:30]:
Well, it's interesting because the people complaint USGA. The only people that are setting up 7800 yard golf courses are the ones.
Scott Riley [00:21:39]:
Who USGA out of control to be.
Todd Demsey [00:21:40]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:21:40]:
How funny is that?
Aron Price [00:21:41]:
It is. It makes no sense at all to me.
Scott Riley [00:21:44]:
And you want to roll the ball back.
Aron Price [00:21:46]:
If you have firm ground conditions, you don't need a long course. I just played West Hampton and it was so short. It's like 6400. Seth ranner. You could set that up. You don't want to have 18 tough pins. But if you did a six six, six, promise you there would be like a 62. But if you had a pro van, there'd be plenty of it's so short. It is so tricky and awesome. Like, you got to play away from pins. You got to use your brain. Interesting.
Aron Price [00:22:17]:
This Persimmon thing you said it's for you. It's not the best business model. Are you trying to scale up eventually? Do you want this to be something even five years from now? Like, this is still your thing?
Todd Demsey [00:22:29]:
I'd like to. I just don't know how to do it yet.
Aron Price [00:22:32]:
Yeah, I oi we get IOI involved.
Todd Demsey [00:22:34]:
Just nobody knows how to do it. Well, I've been doing it since I was in high school, but I don't know, you can't just tell somebody shape the face, put in the so it just takes I don't know. I'm talking to some people in Kentucky that do it. And if I could get a little help, I think I could get bigger. But I just like making it for myself and for people that contact me.
Scott Riley [00:23:09]:
So what were you doing in high school? Did you get into like, club repair?
Todd Demsey [00:23:13]:
Carpet.
Aron Price [00:23:14]:
How do you shaping boards?
Todd Demsey [00:23:17]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:23:19]:
Wood flooring.
Todd Demsey [00:23:20]:
I just mainly refinishing wood. I have a wood and I want to see what it would look cherry color. So I sand it down and I don't know, I just had a need to do it for some reason.
Aron Price [00:23:35]:
You weren't looking for the finish that's more aerodynamic or anything?
Todd Demsey [00:23:39]:
No, just aesthetics.
Scott Riley [00:23:41]:
Were you fixing other clubs for your friends and players on your team?
Todd Demsey [00:23:45]:
Yeah, my instructor, he always told me to work on my own clubs because I don't know why, so I did. I would always make sense.
Scott Riley [00:23:58]:
Change your own grass.
Aron Price [00:23:59]:
More personal.
Aron Price [00:24:00]:
There's a relationship there. That's why I always joke about, like, practicing right before dark. I don't know. Always love being on a golf course. 738 30, sun's going down. You're just chitting chips. You're like finding it. I feel like there was, for whatever reason, you would grind around out better if you stayed late the night before. I'm not saying be there at 07:00 A.m. To 07:00 p.m.. I'm saying like, go there at 06:00 P.m. Just when the sun was going down. There's a sort of weird relationship.
Todd Demsey [00:24:25]:
Yeah, I know. With kids now, it's tough to do that as you know, but I agree. I miss those days.
Aron Price [00:24:33]:
Where are you? Are you playing here? You just got TPC a little bit?
Todd Demsey [00:24:37]:
Yeah, it's 8 miles, but it takes like forever. Forever. Traffic?
Aron Price [00:24:43]:
It never used to.
Todd Demsey [00:24:45]:
Oh, really?
Aron Price [00:24:45]:
Traffic is fucking nuts. Salana Road like that is a chokehold now.
Todd Demsey [00:24:51]:
I hit balls every day from my front yard into Neptune Beach Elementary's Field. I can hit up to like five irons. Hopefully they don't see this or hear this.
Aron Price [00:25:05]:
Actually, one of the guys that rots in is the principal of he's always bothering us.
Scott Riley [00:25:12]:
So who got you into the game? Is it a family game?
Todd Demsey [00:25:15]:
Your dad? Yeah, my dad. He played at Wake Forest. He was kind of like walked on. At Wake Forest? Yeah.
Scott Riley [00:25:24]:
There's some way.
Todd Demsey [00:25:26]:
Let's do the palmer. Was he was just before Palmer? No, but yeah, I mean, he kind of walked on and played a little. So he's always been around scratch. He's 85 now, but he still play? Not really, no. Just pots a little bit.
Scott Riley [00:25:45]:
When did you first beat him?
Todd Demsey [00:25:49]:
I started when I was ten, I think about great age? Twelve. About twelve or 13.
Scott Riley [00:25:56]:
God, I'd be pissed if I just taught myself what the game and he beats me two years later.
Todd Demsey [00:26:00]:
No way.
Scott Riley [00:26:00]:
I'd be proud. But what happened to me?
Aron Price [00:26:03]:
I can't wait for those days.
Scott Riley [00:26:05]:
Right.
Aron Price [00:26:05]:
What course were you playing out there growing up? Kind of all over.
Todd Demsey [00:26:09]:
It was place called Whispering Palms. I think it's now called Morgan Run. Oh, yeah. It's just kind of like a public course. It was good, though. There was no range.
Aron Price [00:26:23]:
Which I think is 6 miles from Ray del Mar.
Todd Demsey [00:26:26]:
Yeah, exactly.
Aron Price [00:26:28]:
It's probably why your short game was sick, dude. Because there was no range.
Aron Price [00:26:32]:
No range as well. In Australia, half the golf clubs don't have a range. There's not enough real estate, so you just warm up in nets. I remember someone saying if you are warming up bad on a range, there's like this predetermined, like where your ball is going, and if you warm it a net, there's nothing. You're hitting it. Maybe you're not centering.
Aron Price [00:26:50]:
There's way more conscious shit going on the range.
Aron Price [00:26:53]:
And you get on the first tee and you're fine.
Aron Price [00:26:55]:
Way more to learn on the golf course than the range. That's just the way it is.
Scott Riley [00:26:59]:
You could just show up, loosen up.
Aron Price [00:27:01]:
I'll never forget when I first that's.
Aron Price [00:27:02]:
What you're supposed to be doing. You're supposed to be loosening up, but you don't on the range. Whereas if you're hitting into a net, you are literally that's all you can do is loosen up. You can't find it, you can't see anything.
Aron Price [00:27:13]:
When I first moved to TPC, I would go out there and hit balls and these cart guys would be like, oh, this kid over here, he's going to be so sick. And I'm looking at him like, that kid's got no chance. That kid is hitting pro v's at twelve years old off the range. No chance. Because it just doesn't work out that way, man. You need some grit. No adversity figure it out. The course does that.
Todd Demsey [00:27:41]:
Yeah, I agree.
Aron Price [00:27:42]:
You need it. Not everyone, but yeah, if you got it too good too early, what's going to happen when you got to face it?
Aron Price [00:27:50]:
Well, I'm fighting that battle with Liam. He plays other sports, but he has no clue how good. You know what I'm saying?
Aron Price [00:28:00]:
That's what old people say to young people. You got no idea.
Aron Price [00:28:02]:
I would never say that to him because I'm with you. That is annoying to hear.
Aron Price [00:28:06]:
But it's I say to my kids, I'm like, you guys got no clue. The world is so easy.
Aron Price [00:28:13]:
Do you ever get a word in with Pat and Phil on the same team?
Todd Demsey [00:28:17]:
They didn't overlap. So I was with Phil.
Aron Price [00:28:21]:
So Pat came in when Phil was going out.
Todd Demsey [00:28:24]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:28:27]:
Pat, they're still playing together.
Todd Demsey [00:28:29]:
Yeah, that's right.
Scott Riley [00:28:30]:
They're not friends, not teammates.
Todd Demsey [00:28:31]:
Though.
Aron Price [00:28:34]:
We know a few stories there that we can repeat. I'm sure Todd knows 100.
Scott Riley [00:28:38]:
Todd, you got a good story. Back to you beat Duvall by one. But you told me a story about a us junior m, I think the one that he did win.
Todd Demsey [00:28:49]:
Oh, yeah. I was caddying. I played and lost early in match play, which I tended to do a lot. So I was catting for a friend. Austin mackey is his name. I'm not sure what he's doing now, but SUP Austin, he was roddy and Austin, great player. I mean, he hit the ball so good. And playing the final against duvall, I forgot how many holes it was, but he was one down on 18, par three at singing hills. I can't believe they had a USGA event there, but sure, it's lovely.
Aron Price [00:29:25]:
Now that was pre Mark Davis, but.
Todd Demsey [00:29:29]:
Yeah, I was like going to be a good caddy. He had about a 20 footer up the hill and pretty makeable putt. And Duvall, I forgot what Duvall was doing, but if he makes this putt, they're definitely going to extra holes. And he had been kind of like ramming putts by. So I said good speed, but I forgot my words. But I just didn't want them to hit it 6ft by and go, like right over the hole. So I gave him the advice to maybe die. It in there. Uphill 20 footer left. It two rolls short right in the middle. And that was the end of my caddy.
Aron Price [00:30:18]:
Dealing with what were you, 16 or so?
Scott Riley [00:30:21]:
That's what I love, seeing teenagers on the bag there, helping each other out.
Aron Price [00:30:25]:
It is different, though, doing TV now, dude, because we can hear everything. The caddy conversation, some of these caddies, it's the most dad advice ever. Right there, there'll be water, right? And it'll be like, all right, we got all day to the left.
Todd Demsey [00:30:39]:
And it's.
Aron Price [00:30:40]:
Like, why don't you just tell me not to hit in the water?
Aron Price [00:30:44]:
Percentage down the lift.
Todd Demsey [00:30:47]:
I did caddy one other time at a nationwide event for Chris Stutts. I don't know if you guys know Stutts. He played out there a little bit, but he number eight. Lafayette, you guys.
Aron Price [00:31:02]:
Yeah, sure. Par three.
Todd Demsey [00:31:07]:
Yeah, he hit the pin, was front left. He hit it, long left in a bunker, straight downhill, water behind. And he's looking at it and he's like, I got to go to the left, and what are you talking about? You got the best short game. Just go right at it. You can hit this. And he just hits it. Perfect. Checks up, trickles into the water, makes like seven or something. I don't think I'm a good caddy.
Aron Price [00:31:35]:
Does he play, like, medium golf?
Todd Demsey [00:31:38]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:31:39]:
So a lot of my I feel my buddies that play on those medium circuits. I've definitely heard that name.
Todd Demsey [00:31:43]:
Yeah, I think he won the Bob Hope or whatever it's called now in Palm Springs. Did. He at the Amateur amex. Yeah.
Scott Riley [00:31:52]:
Wow.
Aron Price [00:31:53]:
I've definitely heard his name. Supposed to be a character, I think.
Scott Riley [00:31:57]:
So what's next? What do we have? You got anything circled? You got Q school again?
Todd Demsey [00:32:02]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:32:03]:
Any Mondays?
Todd Demsey [00:32:05]:
I don't know. I always say I'm going to look at the schedule, go close, but I.
Aron Price [00:32:10]:
Haven'T done we did do the one here, the one in Jacksonville.
Todd Demsey [00:32:13]:
Of course, yeah. Hopefully you get in, but I'll do that one.
Aron Price [00:32:18]:
Maybe start the letter writing process earlier. Because I do think dude, come on.
Todd Demsey [00:32:27]:
I'd like a chance we're going to.
Aron Price [00:32:30]:
I think a lot of people here would like to see you have a go at it, which matters for sponsor invites.
Todd Demsey [00:32:35]:
Yeah, okay.
Aron Price [00:32:36]:
You know what I'm saying?
Todd Demsey [00:32:37]:
I'll work on it.
Aron Price [00:32:38]:
Get the whole town out there following. We already know Jim Fury is a world beater. We already know.
Aron Price [00:32:43]:
I was going to say if we could get some dirt on Jim Fury, but there's no dirt on Jim Fury.
Aron Price [00:32:47]:
Clean as a whistle. And that course sick, dude. Tim Mcquana.
Todd Demsey [00:32:53]:
Oh, yeah.
Aron Price [00:32:53]:
Have you played it since they redid it?
Todd Demsey [00:32:55]:
Not since they redid it actually everything.
Aron Price [00:32:58]:
Except the 11th green is amazing. 11th green instead of was so shallow. Deeper, and it's more to the left. They made it, I guess, member play. They made that they made it easier. Way easier.
Aron Price [00:33:10]:
Yeah. That was little finger back there.
Aron Price [00:33:12]:
That was my favorite wedge shot in all of Jacksonville by a mile. Really?
Scott Riley [00:33:16]:
Number eleven.
Aron Price [00:33:17]:
It was like a shot at the sand belt. Like you got the perfect number, you had a perfect shot, and your balls are still in your throat. Like go Sid. It was awesome.
Aron Price [00:33:28]:
It's a great hole.
Scott Riley [00:33:32]:
Well, what else we got?
Aron Price [00:33:35]:
That's it. Thanks for coming in.
Scott Riley [00:33:36]:
I didn't want to ask you about Live.
Aron Price [00:33:38]:
Yeah, we're staying away from that. It's too high stress. Yeah, let them duke it out.
Aron Price [00:33:44]:
But I'm sure you probably don't have an opinion, do you?
Todd Demsey [00:33:47]:
I don't. Neither one interests me a whole lot, but hopefully golf becomes more watchable, dude.
Aron Price [00:33:58]:
Somehow you interest me a lot.
Todd Demsey [00:34:00]:
Yeah, you do.
Aron Price [00:34:03]:
I believe when you say you don't watch golf. I believe when you say, I can't watch tennis anymore because of the way the way it was before. You live that way, man.
Aron Price [00:34:12]:
Do your kids play any golf?
Todd Demsey [00:34:13]:
Obviously they're surfing baseball a little bit, but not really. They're just not into it.
Aron Price [00:34:20]:
Fair enough.
Aron Price [00:34:22]:
Well, I'm with you, dude.
Todd Demsey [00:34:24]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:34:24]:
Most interesting man in golf.
Scott Riley [00:34:26]:
Yeah. Thanks for coming out and seeing.
Todd Demsey [00:34:28]:
Thank you. I love what you guys are doing.
Aron Price [00:34:30]:
I appreciate it.
Todd Demsey [00:34:31]:
Yeah.
Aron Price [00:34:32]:
It's hard work. Well, these guys do all the hard work.
Aron Price [00:34:36]:
Come on, Matt. You're heavy.
Aron Price [00:34:39]:
Busting our ass over here.
Aron Price [00:34:40]:
Your heavy lifting is picking up that Borrow over there.
Aron Price [00:34:43]:
Whatever. All right.
Todd Demsey [00:34:46]:
Thank you.