014: PGA Legends, Golf Secrets, and What Really Happens Inside the Ropes

Behind every polite clap and pristine green lies a world of weird rules, friendly jokes, and whispered drama. This episode, we’re getting the lowdown from Mike Sheehy—aka Ambre’s dad—who’s spent 17 years volunteering at PGA tournaments. Think exclusive access, mid-game pranks, and one very illegal three wood. It’s a love letter to golf and all its glorious quirks. Come for the Tiger story, stay for the business deals, fire alarms, and unsolicited coaching advice. 

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MEET TERYN: https://www.instagram.com/teryn.laferney/  

MEET AMBRE: https://www.instagram.com/ambre.hobson/  

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://www.almostfanspodcast.com/

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Chapters

• 08:38 - How Golf Hooked a 7-Year-Old
• 16:09 - Inside the Ropes, Outside the Rules
• 27:47 - Will Trade Dignity for Signed Balls
• 30:13 - That Time with Arnold Palmer
• 37:42 - Silence Please (No, Seriously, Silence)
• 41:52 - Hally Leadbetter Making Golf Fun and Funny

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:01.58)
I was at the BMW championship volunteering in Chicago and I get to volunteer for three days. I had the number one, two and three player in the entire world. I'll never forget. got on the tee and I met Adam Scott. I met Henrik Stenson all of a sudden through the 15 people deep. was like the Red Sea parting and Tiger comes onto the tee and he got to the end of the line and it's Schmuck, the standard bearer.

And he starts grinning from ear to ear. And he said, thank you very much. And as soon as he said that, he started turning away and his demeanor went back to dead serious.

Have you ever wondered why people get so hyped about their favorite sports teams? Well, it turns out it's not just about the game. It's about the community. My name is Teryn. And I'm Ambre. Welcome to Almost Fans, the sports podcast that's fun, a little bit educational, and will give you plenty to say when you're trying to keep up with those diehard sports fans in your life.

Speaker 3 (01:09.154)
Welcome everyone. Grab your polos and pretend you're whispering into a CVS microphone because today we're diving into the most mysterious, tradition-filled and sneakily hilarious sport of all golf. And who better to help us navigate the fairways and sand traps of golf's quirks than a man who spent decades volunteering at pro tournaments.

casually rubbing elbows with the greats and perfecting the art of yelling, get in the hole at precisely the wrong moment. Today we're joined by Mike Sheehy, AKA Ambre's dad, AKA the guy who has seen more golf drama unfold than a country club soap opera. Before we get into that, which we're really excited about, we have to start every episode with our hat trick. And we're going to keep it really light today with our favorite childhood snacks. Ambre, why don't you give yours a go?

I'm so excited for this and it was maybe our easiest hat trick thus far. My number three is Dunkaroos. so great. I just had one the other day. Really? At that thing at our work where it was like, what was it? 90s themed party. We did have a 90s theme, but that's part of why when I was thinking about snacks, this one came up and I was like, yes. Okay, but can I just say I had one beef with Dunkaroos.

And it's a fact that there was never enough frosting. Never. Teryn, you don't like frosting though, right? We've talked about this. No, I like frosting. just don't like, I don't know how to explain this. I'm going to get so much hate for this. like, I'd prefer the cake over the frosting. You would like frosting off the top of the cake. We talked about how you and I are like the perfect teammates and so many different ways. And you can just add like another one to the list right here. I'll take the frosting, you take the cake. Yeah.

But I mean, I prefer to have it all together. Like I, I'm the kind of person that takes the bottom of the cupcake and puts it on the top like a sandwich so that it's the perfect ratio. Fair enough. All right, fine. But don't, Dunker is just needed more frosting. Yeah, agreed. Speaking of needing more frosting, my number three is toaster strudels. The fancy kids pop tarts. If the pop tarts were the every man's breakfast, toaster strudels were the luxury choice.

Speaker 3 (03:30.124)
The flaky buttery topped with the DIY icing packet, which there was never enough of, to be honest. I mean, and then they have the center fruit filled. So, so great. I got to say, unpopular opinion, if I were offered a toaster strudel or an every man's pop tart, I'm going strawberry every man's all day long. Yeah. my gosh. Okay. Perfect. You can take the pop tart. I'll take the toaster strudel.

Also, I have this vivid memory of my childhood and my mom would hide them because they're kind of expensive for a breakfast goodie. And it was the biggest deal if my mom would let me have some of her toaster strudels. Special days only. Yeah. My number two is Flintstones push-up pops, the orange ones, obviously. Did you have... You're making a face. you know what Flintstones push-up pops? know.

Hmm

Speaker 3 (04:24.782)
idea what you're talking about. Oh, you're going to get torn apart again on this one. The orange push-up pops, were like, you know, like a little stick and you'd like, oh, But I don't know that. Are you sure they're just solely Flintstones branded? I'm sure there were other flavors, but in my world, the Flintstones orange was the only one that mattered. And did you have a Schwann man in your neighborhood when you were a kid? Um, I don't think we had a, well,

maybe we never did it, but there was always that ice cream truck coming around. Yeah. Well, the Schwann man had, I mean, yes, he did ice cream and push-up pops and all stuff, but there was also like breakfast things and I'm sure like chicken nuggets and it was a huge variety of frozen foods. The Schwann man. So my mom would place an order. I don't know how, because obviously we did not have internet back then. I think you had to like give him the order when he came around or yeah, maybe call it in. But we always got these push-up pops from the Schwann man and we'd sit on our stoop and just

you know, eat them in summer and get them everywhere. That's amazing. I do. Are they like orange sickle type? Yeah, they're like kind of creamy orange. Creamsicle. That's word. Creamsicle flavored. Yeah, I love those. Those are great. I just, for some reason, when you said Flintstones, I'm like, I don't know what that is, but I got you. My number two is bagel bites because let's be honest. Yeah, let's go savory. Honestly, that it's probably more of like a meal for me when, especially growing up, it was like a full meal, but

That is just all nostalgia for me. I wish back in the day we had air fryers because the worst part about bagel bites was you either had to bake them in the oven, which took way too long, or you them in the microwave and they were like mushy bagels. And that was the worst. Cause you know, to this day, I'm pretty snobby about, I want my food to be crispy. But like, I've barely ever used my microwave for any reheating of any food almost ever. But yeah, bagel bites. So good. Love that.

My third, so my top childhood snack is Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies, specifically the ones that have been in your backpack, in the bottom of your backpack for at least three days and they're a little bit dark brown and kind of like zhuzhed up a little bit. They're even better. I hate those. I hate them You're not human. How can you hate Little Debbie anything? I guess I think growing up, that was the...

Speaker 1 (06:46.199)
them.

Speaker 3 (06:53.714)
only type of snack my parents ever got was like the Swiss cake rolls and the oatmeal cream pies. So good. just little hearts, zebra cakes. The zebra cakes. All the sugar. Give me all the sugar all at once. Anything that resembles frosting. I'm here for it. All right. That's fair enough. Okay. So my number one favorite and probably to this day might be one of my favorite things.

don't ever buy them, but I really should. have a three-year-old, we should just get on this. I tried to be a little bit better about this, but it's gushers. The shock factor of biting into a gusher and having it explode in your mouth. Underrated. I shouldn't say that out loud. Let that go. Let that slide. Yeah, highly underrated. Highly underrated. I mean, I'm pretty much like anything sour and

gummy and that could give me a cavity. yeah, gushers are my desktop favorite. I'm hungry now. I know. Let's get some snacks. All right. Hey, pause for snack break. Yeah. Quick pause.

Speaker 3 (08:04.856)
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All right, Almost fans, today we've got a very special episode for you. We've got a special guest joining us, a guest who I have known for all of my life because he is my dad. We're talking today about golf and he has been an avid golfer for a very long time.

The sound of golf on the TV is basically the soundtrack of the summer of my childhood. We're so excited to get into some golf stories. He's got a long track record with this sport, met my mom at a golf course. So we're really excited to dive in to some fascinating stories today. So dad, Mike, my first question for you is when did you first pick up a golf club and what got you hooked on golf?

Well, I was probably seven years old and playing in our basement, we had an older home, very old basement. In the back of the very old basement was an even older kind of a cellar and very dark and damp. Really never, ever went into that area. Except one day I went exploring at seven years old and I found a set of golf clubs, very old golf clubs. I hauled them out, brought them upstairs and questioned my dad.

Speaker 2 (09:57.382)
What are these for? And he said, they were my golf clubs I used to play. I started asking him questions about how do you do it, et cetera, et cetera. And he very willingly said, why don't we go out and play mini golf? Didn't know what that was. We went out. Unbeknownst to me, there was a root beer stand right next to the mini golf course. So that was even a double whammy. So we started playing mini golf together, about seven, eight years old. There was a golf tournament at this mini golf course. went a month. It was two people per team.

And lo and behold, my dad and I won the tournament. I still have the trophy in my little keepsake box. So that's kind of my coolest thing that I own from golf is that trophy that my dad and I won. So that was eight years old. Then he got me on a driving range. I thought that was pretty cool. And then little notes to me is that he's trying to kind of weave me into playing golf with him. So now all of a sudden he talks me into

There's a par three golf course in town went out and I, he went down and he bought me my first golf club from a store called Montgomery wards, a five iron one club for one year. hit one club. I, I putted with it. I chipped with it. I teed off with it until I was 10 years old. Then I got a junior set of clubs driver, three, five, seven, nine iron and a putter went into high school, got a set played all four years of high school and

been playing ever since.

That's amazing. I have a really important follow-up question. This trophy, did it also come with a root beer float or was it just a trophy? I mean, the important things here.

Speaker 2 (11:35.254)
No, I drank plenty of root beer floats, but no, it didn't come with that. But yeah, it was fun. Go play mini golf and then go over to the root beer stand. It's all good. it is. It was awesome. Yeah, it's awesome.

That's a great business setup.

Speaker 3 (11:49.474)
Well, Mike, it's so good to have you on. What do you think makes golf unique and different compared to other sports that people play?

Well, I'll answer that question with a question for you too. What sport can you play at a young age and get better at as time goes by until you get my age? answer is golf. There is no other sport that I know of unless you two would know of one where you can start it and improve as time goes on. So to me, that's pretty cool.

know, dad, would you also say golf is one of those sports where you can do business while you're good? mean, you like you don't do business really while you're playing hockey. I don't know. I'm thinking about hockey from today. Pickleball. Pickleball maybe. mean, tennis, basketball, football, you know, like there's no other sport where you can do business while you're, you know, it's like one of those networking opportunities.

it's without a doubt, golf is extremely social. So especially if you start playing golf with people who are your friends, it's a great time you can go out. You can be as athletic as you want to be. You can go out and be as social as you want to be. And you can have business, perform business.

that point you can be as athletic as you want to be so like I can't have a handful of beers and not care that much because we're just having fun today we're just having fun

Speaker 2 (13:19.842)
Cute story, back when I was golfing, I had a buddy of mine that I played with that was very, very, very serious. And I always had a hard time beating him. We were both working in a hospital. He was in charge of facilities, okay? So he was in charge of maintenance, et cetera. And basically whenever there were fire alarms or anything like this, this was a big deal for him, right? So I talked to some people at work. I knew we were going out. yeah, I knew we were going out golfing.

I knew it would be about a two and a half hour round. And I said to a friend of mine in his office, I said, at this time, which was two hours into the round, I need you to do me a favor and page him on the golf course and tell him that there's a fire at the hospital. No. yeah. yeah. Sure enough, we're on the eighth hole. I'm getting my behind kicked by him. All of a sudden his pager goes off and he picks up his pager. My God, there's a fire at the hospital.

He gets on his phone and he calls back. He's midway now into the conversation. And I said, Larry, I kind of set this up with Bob. There's no fire. There's I wanted a way to beat. He was so upset. I won. His game went down the tubes. And for years, he reminded me of that. Yeah, we're still still friends, I beat him. I couldn't beat him fair and square. I had to. That's pretty low. And I'm not proud of but I did win. So.

Couldn't

Speaker 3 (14:46.926)
You didn't make him leave completely. You told him right away.

Yeah. No. Yeah, no, you know, especially in his position when he heard and saw a fire on his pager, it was hilarious. So, but yeah, but yeah, the business and social. yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (15:08.952)
Dad, what's the most memorable round of golf you've ever played in all of your life?

Um, well, um, I have played in my life. shot, uh, 32 or excuse me, 34. That was two under par for nine holes. So that was very memorable. That was at about 10 years ago at Koshkanong Mounds, just down off at the interstate. And then, uh, I was going through my memorabilia box. At that time it was called Whitewater Country Club and I shot two over par for 18 holes. And then when we were down in Florida, I shot three over par. I've got that card. That was about

five, six years ago. So those are the best.

for the PGA. I know, right?

In my dreams, in my dreams, especially all of the all of volunteering I do at the golf courses. I know I I don't belong anywhere near that so.

Speaker 3 (15:56.398)
Well, that's a perfect segue into our next question for you, which is you volunteered at quite a few professional tournaments. What are some of the behind the scenes secrets about the pro golf tournaments that people would not know about?

Well, I hope you too didn't have any dinner plans or breakfast plans because I can take you into hours worth for some reason Okay, I've been volunteering at the golf courses. I started at US Bank Championship in 2008 so 17 years I've been doing this I started out as a First year as a laser operator laser operator you would sit on the fairway when a golfer would tee off the ball would land you had a laser

And you would, it was called shoot the ball with the laser. And then that would tell the network or in just hit a 295 yard drive. So this was going back to the PGA and I really enjoyed that. And did that for one year, but I kept watching group after group go by. in this group were people, they were called standard bears, fancy name for a person that carries.

a 15 pound sign, two sided, it has Taron's name on each side. And then it has numbers as far as where you are in relation to par. Red numbers are below par. Black numbers are above par. And I kept watching these people go by and I'm going, that's what I got to do. So in 2009, I started standard bearing and have been doing it ever since. Kind of the highlight of my year for three days. Unfortunately, U.S. Bank.

um, stopped their tournament in 2009 and I wanted to continue on. So I looked around for another tournament and the John Deere Classic over in East Moline was the next closest. So I've been doing that every year, driving three hours, ending three days, carry a 15 pound sign around. Um, but if you're a golfer, it's the greatest three days of my life during the year because I can be inside the ropes from

Speaker 2 (18:06.496)
Meet at the screen away from the golfers listening to the caddy and the pro listen to every single shot, all the different strategies that they use, all the information that they're formulating on each shot, direction, your lie on and on and all this information and they're comparing notes, et cetera. And then, you know, they hit their shot off you go then and you're doing this with numerous players in your group, either two summer threesome, but the highlight.

The pinnacle is 2013. I was at the BMW championship volunteering in Chicago, a major tournament, 70 of the top golfers in the world. And I get to volunteer for three days. Thursday round went by. I took a look at night and I tried to project who I was going to have at my group the next day. And what I saw caused me to get no sleep Thursday night. I went in on Friday.

and confirmed that I had the number one, two and three player in the entire world. Ever heard of Tiger Woods? In my group, along with Henrik Stenson and Adam Scott. One, two, three in the world. was, this is a, can't even, I couldn't breathe. To be able to spend five hours on the golf course, literally arm in arm with Tiger Woods, perhaps the goat.

No, you tell me a little bit about him?

Speaker 2 (19:34.754)
You know, arguably the goat. I'll never forget. I got on the T and I met Adam Scott and I met Henrik Stenson and there was no tiger. All of a sudden through the 15 people deep, it was like the Red Sea parting and tiger comes onto the T and he he was just a beast. Just cut like nothing I've ever seen a golfer truly physically fit. And there was an entourage of people introducing themselves to him.

And he had this tiger face on very, very serious. And he got to the end of the line and it's Schmuck, the standard bearer. And he starts grinning from ear to ear. And he says, hi, my name is Tigard Woods. And I told him who I was and he said, thank you very much for coming out with us today. And as soon as he said that, he started turning away and his demeanor went back to dead serious. It was kind of like there's this one guy on the tee that he's not there to.

Impress them or anything. He's not in a suit. He's just guy with a sign, you know, just happy as can be and golfers rarely speak to each other on the golf course. Usually just the caddy of the golfer. So we were on about the fourth or fifth hole. Both players, both Tiger and Adam were carrying their clubs in their hands as they went up the fairway and Tiger asked Adam if the ball on the right was his and Adam said yes. And Tiger said, so you out drove me.

And Adam smiled. He says, yeah, there you exactly. And then Tiger looked at the club and it was a three wood. So he got out drove by Adam Scott with a three wood. And Tiger says, can I see your three wood? He picks it up in his right hand. He looks at it. He goes, this isn't legal. And he looks over to me on the left and he says, Mike. And I said, yes, sir. He says, I need you to get with your official score. He's got a hands-free headset.

He can contact the PGA, let him know that Adam Scott has got an illegal club. And as he's telling me this, I'm on his left. He's going like this, winking at me and I right away picked up. This is a practical joke. So I call the official score over next to me. And Adam is having a conniption with Tiger going, no, no. See, this is right in the middle of this whole belly putter ordeal. This is illegal.

Speaker 1 (21:39.82)
We can.

Speaker 1 (21:57.494)
It is an illegal. is an

Tiger starts laughing, I start laughing, and the people behind the ropes are all watching what's going on. They can't hear a word because we're too far away. As this joke is going on. Are you just crying? I am like the players so rarely speak to each other, but to pull it.

Tiger, he's so serious all the time.

serious and we started laughing and my gosh it was just it was it was hilarious it was hilarious.

friends.

Speaker 3 (22:30.562)
Yeah, this this makes me think of you paging somebody about a fire disrupting their game.

little bit.

There is a similarity there, isn't there?

One other, I'll try to keep this story quick. At the John Deere Classic one year, we were going up to 17th hole, par five, Guelph in my group hit his second shot. He hit a driver for a second shot off of the fairway, which is very unusual. And he put it on the green from like 300 yards. And I don't know what I said because I said something and the Guelph looked at me and he said, do you like that shot? And I said, you must have hit that 300 yards.

off of the ground with your driver. He says, well, I actually hit it 303 yards. I said, my bad, my bad. And we're going up the fairway and he says, you golf? And I go, oh yeah. He says, have you ever hit a driver off the fairway? I go, yeah. And he says, have good luck. I go about 60, 40. He says, when it's the 40, what happens? And I tell him, and he goes, I can help you. He stops in the middle of his round, all these people watching.

Speaker 2 (23:43.244)
He takes his driver out, takes the head cover off. There's a leaf on the ground. And he says, here, take my driver and address the leaf like it's your ball and show me where in your stance you have the ball. And I showed him and he said, there's the problem. You need to adjust where you have the ball. And he showed me where to place the ball in his stance. I said, thank you.

And I picked up my sign and I gave them the driver back. And I look over on the sides with all these people and the people are all going.

Just, why did he put the down and he got.

What happened? A free golf lesson in the middle of this golf tournament.

It's just wild.

Speaker 2 (24:23.878)
It is, just, these goofy things just happen, you know, and that's another reason I keep coming back, you know. The volunteers are so wonderful and the people that manage the volunteers are so great. Just keep driving to three hours and doing my thing.

Speaker 3 (24:42.99)
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So when you're holding the sign, you're basically following one group around and you have all of their scores on your sign. So you're following that same group around the whole day. So they're seeing you for the full day.

Yes, I have that sign and on the sign it says Teryn on one side, Teryn on the other, Ambre, Ambre. And then it says where you are like Teryn has a red six and Ambre might say red five. So you're both one is six under one is five under. So I'm holding that sign and I carry that for that group the whole time. Now, if Teryn gets a birdie, then she goes from a red six to a red seven. So I have a little pouch.

and I change on both sides that score.

Speaker 3 (26:00.856)
So you have to keep the score right on there as well.

It's imperative because there's two reasons. Number one, as we go along, the people in the crowd know what players they know Teryn and Ambre are in this group and they know Teryn is six under power, Ambre is five under power. In addition to that, the pros, when they get off the green, they'll glance at my sign to make sure that the score I have on my sign is the score they have on their scorecard because they know I coordinate my sign.

with the official score who's right next to me that goes into the PGA. It is. And then at the end of a round, they have to make sure that the score on my sign is the same score they sign their scorecard for. Because if they don't match, you can be disqualified. you know, carrying the sign, there is a reason. You do have a functional purpose. But, you know, that's another thing is that how many sports do you know of that you can get involved?

a lot of pressure.

Speaker 2 (27:00.79)
with a professional athlete and actually perform a function while they're performing their sport. So yeah, it's pretty cool.

Dad, you, okay, so you're hearing this giant sign around. I'm pretty sure I've heard you say before that you are not allowed to let anybody else hold it. It's your responsibility. What if you have to go pee? What do you do? There's what's everywhere.

probably about 100 yards from the green on the ninth hole. have a true story. We have a volunteer wearing the volunteer shirt and he or she will sprint out from the crowd and say real quick, do you have to go to the bathroom? And if you do, then you run quick to the porta potty between the ninth green and 10th hole. And then you quick run back and get the sign before they're done on that green. if you have to go.

It's almost like you should just go.

If you have to go any other time, you just hold it. You just got to hold it in. Yeah. So yeah, especially when you're out and it's a lot of times it's really hot. So you have to drink water. So yeah, it's soon as your round is done. And, hopefully you get a signed golf ball. That's of course the goal is, then you go to the bathroom right away. So speaking of after every round.

Speaker 2 (28:17.986)
Hopefully we get a signed golf ball. have 104 signed golf balls in my collection. And on the back, this is how anal I am, but I take masking tape. You can't always read the name of the golfer. So this is Patrick Rogers from the John Deere Classic of 24, first round and Patrick shot a 66. So I have all that information. So I'll keep these until the day I die. And I always know who it was.

feel like you gotta put those in a little case there.

I have three display cases. You ever heard of Jerry Kelly? Jerry Kelly, local golfer. Third round, 2015, John Deere, shot a 67. Now this one is for Ambre. Let me see if she can catch this one. The golfer, no. Name is Billy Horschel. Round one, shot a 71 at the BMW in 2015. But can you see they all have

No, can't say I have.

Speaker 2 (29:15.178)
markings so that they all know whose golf ball it is. You see the word Titleist? There's a blue dot. Titleist, orange dot. All the golfers are completely different so that they never hit the wrong golf ball. Now, this one, you see the orange and the blue line? Note the orange and the blue. Billy Horschel. Ambre? Gators. Florida Gators graduate.

Teryn and I would both get that reference. Mike, who is your favorite golfer ever in person? Who would you like the most?

There you go.

Speaker 2 (29:45.832)
I would have to go back again, back when I started golfing and my dad got me involved, we would go up to a professional golf tournament up in Minneapolis. And this was right at the time where Arnold Palmer was very big. Have you guys ever heard of Arnie's army? fans that would watch Arnie at a golf tournament were called Arnie's army. So we would go up to the tournament and we would find out.

No.

Speaker 2 (30:13.132)
when Arnie was going to be playing what his tee time was. And then we would go ahead about three hours and find a place to sit for three hours just to be a part of Arnie's army when he would come through. He was so, so iconic, so all American down to earth. had a very, a very unique swing and follow through that no other golfer had. I think of the word charismatic.

You just watched him and you just became an instant fan of his right away. So that I would say that would be my number one favorite call for a ball time just because again, my dad and I used to go up and watch him play.

So golf has, it's just full of lots of traditions and some spoken and a lot of unspoken rules. Do you have any stories about a time that you or someone near you did something really embarrassing?

I'm afraid so.

Yes, we love a good embarrassing story.

Speaker 2 (31:14.094)
You're gonna this is this is ugly if Okay, when you're a standard-bearer you want to be accurate you want to be as Inconspicuous as possible in a group because these pros are this is their livelihood and they're focusing to the nth degree on everything they do for those five hours So you want to be with them, but you don't want to be seen or heard so one year When we were down in Florida

volunteered for the Valspar Championship in Tampa Bay. Never been on the course, researched the golf course, got a lay of the land, went out, we're on the back nine, par three, I remember this like it was yesterday, the three golfers hit their shots, all three went on the green. We were going down the fairway together like we always do, all of a sudden the golfers started going over to the right side of the green. And the next tee was on the back left. And I thought to myself,

Why wouldn't I go to the left side of the green? Cause it's shorter and it's in Florida and it's really getting hot. So I put two and two together, shorter distance. This will work. So I started and I had to go along between a sand trap and next to the sand trap, there was a slope about like this. Florida 45 degree angle, Florida in the morning, humidity, wet grass.

to what?

started along this path just knew this was really a mistake. got three fourths the way through feet go out from under me. I do a barrel roll into the sand trap followed by my sign rolling after me Lord take me away right away. I felt there was nothing broken. got up as fast as I could grab my sign part of me said I don't think anyone noticed no.

Speaker 2 (33:11.554)
The grandstands were filled with people that watched the standard barrel do the barrel roll. And I'm going, okay, at least the golfers didn't see, I look over at the golfers. They've got their hands up, they're doing one of these.

They're applauding and laughing.

Speaker 1 (33:28.44)
I couldn't believe that happened to me. just, I...

wanted to just die and I

that they laughed and that you didn't have to just like shame you could kind of be like I did

I did it!

Got to the other side of the green, I got into the.

Speaker 1 (33:45.102)
I was like, shame. Just a cardinal sin, don't edit.

for what I did.

What you do? So the golfers putted out. I'm honest to God, Terri. Got onto the next tee, the par five. Golfers in front of us were just hadn't quite finished hitting their second shot. So we had a little bit of a break. So the three golfers on the tee, I'm on the tee. So happy this episode is ended. no. Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the golfers coming over towards me. I'm going, please.

Go get a drink of water. Don't come over. He comes and he stops and he says, I just want to let you know something. What's that? He goes, the three of us got together. He said, we would have scored you higher, but you didn't keep your feet together when you went in just before your dismount.

I'm just in tears and the culprit's around in the back of the T laughing.

Speaker 2 (34:41.581)
And I looked at the three of them I said, shut up and play golf.

I'm just like, it can't get anywhere. It was like the Cardinal sin of golf, you know? So there's embarrassment, number one.

feel like that's something I would 100 % do. So I just relate. Yes, I can really, really relate to that.

Do you relate to it?

Speaker 2 (35:14.798)
especially in front of all these people and crawl in a hole and die.

I just need to get out of here and go. That's so. Mike, what do you think has changed the most in professional golf over the years?

What a hoot.

Speaker 2 (35:28.43)
Having done these tournaments for as long as I have and having been a standard bearer, being inside the ropes with these players, listening to these conversations, I've become very aware of how golfers, be it through golf equipment and changes, be it through obviously health and wellness and fitness, this has become very important. But golfers in general are hitting golf balls further and further than

I've ever seen. So I've seen 15 years and I see how far golfers hit them in person. I know when they get on a tee, what club they're going to hit because I can remember from year to year to year. And it's amazing how I can see how the yardage is that they hit the golf ball or that much further. So I think it goes back to the technology piece, what golf manufacturers are doing to the equipment, but also the fact that golfers are becoming over the years that become very fit.

And they're seeing how this extra distance can increase the likelihood of the possibility of scoring better and making more money.

Bryson D. Shambows of the world.

Exactly right. Grip it and rip it. So, Brayson DeChamble, perfect example, hit it a mile, he didn't care how far left or right he went because he knew he's only going to have 90 yards in and if he has a tree branch here and there, he's 50, 60 yards farther than the competitor and that's his thing. and it worked. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:00.546)
Dad, we have one last really hard hitting question to finish off with. We are dying to know when a golfer goes to hit a shot, do we all really have to be quiet or is that just golf being over dramatic?

the answer is yes and no. I can tell you when I'm a standard bearer, silence is actually at a premium. As a matter of fact, when if Teryn is hitting a golf ball at the John Deere Classic, I reach up and at the, I get next to her name and then I point to her name so that the people know Teryn is hitting. I have to, when I do this, I have to be absolutely perfectly still and I need to be perfectly quiet.

In addition to that, then when golfers are putting, you can't be in their line of vision. So you're always having to make sure you're standing in the right place. So here's perfect examples of yes, you need to be perfectly quiet. Now you have tournament. Have you ever heard of the waste management?

That one's a ruckus.

16th hole 20,000 people as soon as the gates up 20,000 people sprint to that hole and they begin Partying and they're in costumes and they're known on that hole for their routing in the golfers when they come through They just egg this on oftentimes they'll put on Masks or capes or any number of things to egg the people on so that's an exception to the rule

Speaker 2 (38:35.246)
You know that one hole. Another exception is are you familiar with the writer cup every two years when USA plays against Europe here they go back and forth a European course USA course in here. This is where boisterous for the entire tournament is over the top yelling and chanting and screaming and golfers are egging it on. So yeah, it's a yeah it is. But you know there are these.

Kind of

Speaker 2 (39:04.622)
spots where they have things like this going on. But in general, yeah, it really is important for the quiet. Just because of the concentration level and any kind of noise or distraction or movement really does throw them off. It's an immense amount of concentration.

If you're in the crowd and you are being annoying and making loud noises, will they kick you out?

Yes, they will. a matter of fact, interestingly enough, when I was at the BMW, they tried to make sure that people didn't have cell phones, but they had people within the crowd that looked like Teryn or Ambre or I. And if they would see somebody, they would give them a ticket that they would have to place on their hat and they would have to wear this on their hat. This is kind of like a warning. So here now you see people going through the crowd and if they got on their hat, that means they got a warning.

If they do it again and one of the people in the crowd saw them, they're escorted out of the tournament.

never put that on their hat. feel like people would just throw it on.

Speaker 2 (40:05.396)
I know it's like, it's like, you know, I don't want to have to, but you didn't have a choice, but no, in general, if sometimes too, people, you know, get over served and they're escorted out because there's security all around the golf course and all around the holes. So, yeah, you see them escorted out every once in a while.

Well, this has been so much fun to chat with you, dad. I think that kind of- What a hoot, you know? What a hoot. I think this episode just, if I were to summarize it up, it's just there's a lot of really neat history stories about golf and then some tidbits from current golfers, names that we know a lot, but it's, I think just neat to think about the longevity.

of golf as a sport, but then also to start to zero in on how it's changed over time as well. So super fun to chat with you.

quick on the longevity of golf. You know, there's four majors every year, one of which is the British Open. The British Open, the first British Open was in 1860. Oh my gosh. That's how far back, you know, golf goes back even before that. But that's the first major. it's been around for hundreds of years.

Yeah, that's pretty amazing. Well, thanks for taking time today, Dad.

Speaker 2 (41:17.11)
I've enjoyed it. Thank you for the opportunity.

Speaker 3 (41:23.97)
Alrighty friends, we are onto our third and favorite segment of the day. She's got game. And today the lady we're talking about is Miss Halle Ledbetter. Have you heard of Halle? No. Okay, good. Teach me. I will so teach you. Okay. So Halle was born into a super solidly golf family. What do I mean by that? Her mom, her two brothers,

played golf all the way through college, but perhaps most notably her father is David Ledbetter, who is, I mean, for a very long time, a leading golf instructor, worked with a ton of pros, like a household name when it comes to professional golf training, and even operates an international chain of training centers named appropriately the David Ledbetter.

golf academies. So he's super famous in the golf world and she's his daughter. So that makes her also adjacently famous. Just to hammer home exactly what sort of golf bubble she grew up in. She's made comments about how when she was a kid, she just believed that the morning drive, which is a show on the golf channel, was just like the news. That's just the news. That's just what was always on. She didn't know that there was other things happening in the world other than golf.

Halle went on to play golf in college. She was really good. One year that she played in college, her team won the NCAA championship. So she's got a bunch of golf street cred. to you were going to ask that. University of Arkansas, Whoopig Sui by the way, for two years. wow. And then to Rollins, I think. I hadn't heard of that before. I think she won. Her team won when they were at Rollins. So anyway, but all to say, she's a super solid golfer.

Okay, so here's what she's really known for now. After she graduated college, she was really itching to be in the media. She wanted to be either be on radio or TV, etc. So she went on to get a job at Golf Digest, which is a magazine, but it's just like a huge golf marketing conglomerate. They have all sorts of videos and TV shows and the magazine and all these things.

Speaker 3 (43:42.604)
and she worked her way up to senior producer of digital content and lead on air host. So she got her dream. She's on TV. Super awesome. She does so much cool stuff to get golf out in the world in a way that's really humorous. She makes golf fun and funny. So she's got a show on Golf Digest named On the T where she basically

interviews famous people while they play golf. So her most recent show, she's interviewing Tom Holland, who is better known to me at least as Spider-Man. Also, he's British. He's British. Did you know that? That rocked my world when he, the first words that came out of his mouth. He does such a good job of being an American Spider-Man. So well done, Holland. Anyway, so they're like, they're just...

There's playing around a golf and she's, you they're both miked up and she's just asking him questions about his life and how he plays golf and whatnot. Other super famous guests that she's had on include DJ Khaled. Did I say that wrong, Khaled? DJ Khaled. DJ him, Cedric the entertainer, Nick Saban, Larry Fitzgerald, NFL player, former, Nate Barghazzi, famous comedian. I freaking love him. Yeah.

But basically she's interviewing her guests as they're playing golf, which is really fun and funny to watch. It reminds me about how we had talked to my dad about how social golf is and how it's just one of those sports that you can really get to know somebody. You can be social and you can kind of accomplish some work while you're also playing the sport. She also hosts a golf comedy skit show. She's got several podcasts about golf.

often discussing several podcasts. How does one have several podcasts? That is such a great question and a TV show and also interviewing people while she golfs. guess if your whole world is entertainment, then you figure out a way. But you know, as much as she loves entertainment, she found the perfect marriage of golf and entertainment. She does it in such a really fun way. She also has a crazy big presence on Instagram.

Speaker 3 (46:00.108)
you'll see her in one reel at a super fancy event where she's getting in trouble for wearing heels. And so somebody handed her a pair of flip-flops so she wouldn't wreck up like the fake turf. Yep. And then in the next reel, she's talking to some famous golfers and the next reel, she's doing a spoof about parents of youth golfers and all the funny isms, know, and things that they do. Ambre, so you like got on Instagram once a month to find her. Yeah. I mean, it took me 10 minutes to find.

You know, spell out Instagram. Yeah, I did find it. Can we just pause and say that Teryn will, I'm terrible at social media, which is why Teryn handles all of that for our podcast. And don't give away all the secrets. She'll send me an Instagram. If you were to text it to me, I would see it, but she'll send me an Instagram, different really awesome things. So much easier to just DM it to you. And I won't look for two weeks and then she doesn't give up on me. She keeps sending me cool stuff.

and I'll comment on something and she'll just give me a very sweet, well, welcome back. It's nice to see you here again. I just pile it up for you so that when you do get back in, you've got a good amount of content to spark your entertainment. And then I let her get back out. I'll see you again in a couple of weeks. It was nice seeing you in here. You know me so well. Every single thing you send me is so amazing. Dead on. Speaking of amazing.

So have two more things I want to tell you about her Instagram. First off, she also does some interviews of high school players. she puts on the white caddy jumpsuit, which is famous because the caddies in the masters pro tournament wear these white jumpsuits. So she does that. And then she carries the golf clubs for these high school boys and high school girls players one at a time and just sort of interviews them kind of like she did with Tom Holland. So it is so cute.

Okay, I'll tell you about one more amazing nugget I found on her Instagram. So she does these funny spoofs and this one is set in a breakfast restaurant. It's her and a friend. Again, totally a spoof. It's all fake, right? Okay. So she's in this breakfast restaurant and she's talking to her friend and she's like, whoa, girl, that's the third check this month you've picked up. You're like, what's going on? Do you have another job? And her friend is like, yeah, I just picked up a part-time job with this new company called

Speaker 3 (48:19.774)
Only fan. And Halle's like, You're taking your clothes off for money? Quick time out. This is meaningful because our podcast name is purposely sort of a cheeky, funny spin off of OnlyFans. Okay, so back to the story. Halle's like, what girlfriend? You're taking your clothes off for money. And this girl's like, no, no, no. Only fan, not OnlyFans. Again, this is a made up company.

What?

Speaker 3 (48:48.194)
So her friend goes on to be like, yeah, this is a phone line for men who want to talk about golf. And Hallie's like, say more. Her friend's like, yeah, well, you know, think about it. Whenever a man finishes a round of golf, he wants to call his wife or his girlfriend and tell her everything that just happened. And the wife and the girlfriends don't care. So the friend's like, so he calls me. So these clients, they just call me and they tell me about. Yeah, exactly.

So this friend goes on to say that, you know, so Hallie's like, what did they talk to you about? And the friend's like, well, mostly they want to talk about what score they got, what score they should have gotten. And then other things like how the beer cart girl has a crush on them and this and that and the other. And her friend's like, mostly I just say, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, know, but her friend's like, but once in a while, you know, you run out of things to say. And so

OnlyFan provides its employees with a cheat sheet of topics. And she reads off a couple of them and here they are. Slow golfers are the worst. And then, and the golfer man is like, I know they're the worst. Here's a couple more. Wow. That sounds like a bad break or whoof. Even Tiger couldn't have pulled that one off. She's like, so she has this cheat sheet. At the end of the reel, Halle's like, I think I want to do this job too. It was like,

Hilarious. I know. So she has some spoofs like that too. There's one at the Thanksgiving dinner table where a kid brings a live golf fan to Thanksgiving dinner and the father loses his cookies. Anyway, she's just really, really funny. But the reason why I picked her today is because she takes this sport, the game of golf, which to me at least feels very mysterious and cloaked in

traditions and red tape and sort of some spoken rules, but a ton of unspoken rules, what you can and cannot do. Exactly how I feel about it. Yeah, but she makes it more approachable and fun and relatable and funny. She also kind of hits some gender topics and how women are trying to get into golf more. just...

Speaker 3 (51:02.72)
overall uses humor to kind of highlight some issues and make it feel more approachable for people who haven't been playing for years and years and years. So for all of those reasons and more is why we have chosen Ms. Hallie Ledbetter to be our She's Got Game athlete today.

And that's a wrap on our round with Mike Sheehy, pro golf insider, tradition enthusiast, and probably the only guest who could make golf etiquette sound funny. Whether you're a seasoned golfer or just here for the Arnold Palmer's, we hope you had as much fun as we did. If you want to help our podcast grow, please take a moment to rate, review, and follow us on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It truly means the world.

Join us next week for more laughs, a few questionable decisions, and definitely some surprising moments. Until then, catch you next time, Almost fans.

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