024: PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and The Masters: Everything You Need to Know

Golf insider Jake Fergus joins us to talk all things pro golf—behind-the-scenes at The Masters, working with PGA Tour players at TaylorMade, and what’s really happening with LIV Golf vs. PGA. We cover tour traditions, golf gear innovation, how pros make money, and the magic that makes Augusta National legendary. Whether you’re a casual fan or a die-hard golfer, this episode is packed with insight, heart, and a few great name drops. New to golf? Don’t worry—we break it all down in plain English and start with the basics.

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Chapters

• 09:54 - Meet Jake: A Golf Insider's Journey
• 19:03 - The Legendary Augusta National
• 28:32 - Rory McIlroy's Career Grand Slam
• 31:31 - Understanding the Majors in Golf
• 36:16 - The LIV Golf Controversy
• 44:30 - The Slow Play Debate
• 47:08 - Growing the Game of Golf
• 50:55 - A Dream Round of Golf

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00.694)
When you walk through the gates of the masters, it gives me goosebumps again, thinking about it. It is like, it is almost like noise cancellation headphones. You walk through the gates and immediately the sounds gone. You don't hear anybody around you, the city, you don't hear sirens, you don't hear anything. You just hear birds chirping and quiet. So like just the essence of walking it in is spectacular. And you go through waves, right? There's 30,000 people waiting outside and then they let you in waves of like 300.

And when you get up to like the last wave before you scan your ticket and go through the gates, there's just one dude that stands there and he gives you the whole spiel. And then he just raises his hands like he's talking to the gods and he drops his hands and he's like, welcome to the masters.

Speaker 1 (00:49.442)
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 1 (01:14.69)
Hey there and welcome back to almost fans, the podcast that helps you keep up with sports, even if you're not quite sure what par means today, we're talking all things PGA with someone who knows the golf world way better than we do. Our friend and day job boss, Jake, he used to work at tailor-made has been to tons of golf tournaments and casual flex. He's been to the masters not once, but twice. So yeah, you're in for a treat.

But before we dive into birdies, bogeys and green jackets, we're kicking things off with our signature segment, the hat trick. That's where we share our top three of a sports or maybe not sports related topic. But this week it's all about the top three things that make us cry in sports, which is not that hard for me, if I'm being completely honest. But get ready for some feelings before we hit the fairways. So Ambre, why don't you start it off? Let's just.

Same.

Speaker 1 (02:13.026)
Get our tissues out and start with number three.

This was such an easy list to make, but my first one is whenever athletes, whenever I see someone else, an athlete crying about something they had just accomplished that was really difficult, gold medal is really obvious. You are the best in the world. You've been training and preparing for at least four years. That is such a big chunk of your life. Anytime they're, or if they come back from an injury, coming back from something, facing a personal struggle,

The best example I had, I remember watching the video of Michael Jordan when him with the Bulls won the NBA championship in 1991 and he's in the locker room crying, hugging the trophy. And the reason why that was, because know, like athletes win and then they cry all the time, but that like so many haters, so many people said he could never do it. So he overcame all of that and obviously won it a couple more times, but.

Yeah. Whenever athletes have some sort of personal struggle, persevere and then crush it. Makes me cry every time.

That's kind of like sort of like my first one, a little on the opposite end. My number three is whenever a key player gets injured and they're out for the remainder of their season. mean, I just can't help it. I feel for them so, so bad. Maybe because I did that in high school. I tore my ACL when I was in high school.

Speaker 1 (03:44.386)
and I was out for my whole volleyball season and it was the worst feeling ever. yeah, it just makes me want to cry for them.

I mean, can you imagine, okay, so being an athlete, your body is your moneymaker and it is the thing that you use to do your job. Can you imagine if, okay, so like we type and we're like on computers all the time, if all of our fingers were broken and we had no. To do our job. lost our voices? if we can't talk? Yeah, so our tongues are broken as well. That's the equivalent. You can't do your job, know?

No way.

Speaker 3 (04:16.418)
The thing you love, the thing you've been training for and working for and studying for, you you can't contribute to help your teammates if you're in a team sport. It's horrible. Yeah, man, injury when you're an athlete. Okay. My next one is any time there are kids hugging parent athletes. The best example I can think about is when Alison Felix, track and field Olympian, her daughter.

came out on the track after she had won a gold medal. And my favorite is when the kid is young enough to have no clue. And all the kid cares about is just hugging mom or dad and being close to them. Like kid has no idea what a huge moment it is, how meaningful to mom or dad. All they care about is being snuggled up by mom and dad, getting like my eyes are a little bit itchy just thinking about it. But yeah, anytime young kids are around athletes who just accomplished something amazing.

Yeah, that's a good one. OK, my number two is watching a big masculine lineman cry during the national anthem. Game is usually the Super Bowl, and that's when it's like the most prominent. like just you can't you mention this, like when they cry anytime anyone cries, I'm such a sympathetic crier. So if I see someone else crying, I have no control. It's coming.

I do love that

Speaker 2 (05:39.438)
Bye.

eyes are wet.

Yeah. Oh, I love that. My next one, and this will get me even in an 18 second commercial, it's the surprise veteran visit. The best. Kids of any age out on the baseball diamond or whatever, or parents, yeah, who have no idea that a mom or a dad or whatever came back early or is back and then surprises them center field or something. And then,

yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:10.316)
My eyes are itchy again. And then especially if there's little kids who like run at the parent and hug them, I'm just done. I can't even hold back the tears. Yeah. Anytime there's like a veteran involved with kiddos.

Take me Lord!

Speaker 1 (06:28.002)
Yeah, absolutely. My number one, and this is the reason we brought up this topic because I told you that I had something and it is very related. Well, it's just very related to this. And that is that any time whomever it is does not matter when they win a golf tournament. I cry. I feel like I mean, yeah, I don't know what it is about golf tournaments.

Really good one.

Speaker 3 (06:49.742)
I

Speaker 1 (06:57.046)
I feel like maybe I've just watched a lot of Sundays of golf.

in your blood?

The last day of the tournament is just like the day that I end up tuning in. And then I just, I don't know, I feel so overwhelmed by the magnitude of those. And it's usually like an important tournament. It's the Masters or the PGA Tour or whatever. And one person wins of all of those people who are there. And it's always like this big long thing, right? You they have to walk up the field to get to find their wife or their parent or their kids or whomever, their mom and dad.

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:32.558)
who have supported them this whole time and they've been out there for four days, rain, wind and shine.

With just themselves and their candy, like it's such a mental game.

And then so much money and it's like it's insane. But it's just like I feel like the magnitude of winning a golf tournament is just so big. And that's what made me think of it. I knew we were talking about golf and I'm like, I cry every single time. Yeah, I might not like the person. might vividly dislike that person. And when they win a tournament, I'm like, it's

There's also something really poignant about them because usually it's like everybody's quiet. So there's a drama that builds up and then they make the putt or whatever. Even if there's several strokes ahead, you just never know.

It's always holding their breath because anything could happen.

Speaker 3 (08:23.502)
Anything can happen, but they make the putt and then the crowd goes wild. The visual is, it's just one person standing in the middle of this putting green. I think the visual power of it is something too.

Always, I mean, literally always cry.

Golf. That is so interesting. Yeah. Well, good. Then today's episode is for you.

It's special place in my heart.

Speaker 3 (08:57.294)
Today's guest is someone we're especially excited to have on. Not just because he knows his stuff, but because we're lucky enough to work with him in our day jobs. Jake Fergus is a former tailor-made insider, as Teryn mentioned before, a passionate golfer and a walking encyclopedia of golf stories, equipment, knowledge, and traditions. We already mentioned he's a pro at attending the Masters.

He's met more than a few famous names in the game. But beyond that, Jake's just one of the kindest, most big hearted people you'll ever meet. He has a rare gift for making everyone feel like family. So while this episode dives into gear, tradition and current golf headlines, it's also full of the heart and community that makes golf and people like Jake so special. So let's get into it. Welcome Jake, we're so glad to have you.

I could not be more excited to be here with both of you. And it's especially exciting because of the fact that Ambre is picking up the game of golf and doing golf lessons this summer. Yeah, I was going say we got to wrap this up quick just so you can make sure you can hit that seven.

Like one hour.

Speaker 1 (10:09.198)
Are you doing chips and sips tonight?

chips and sips. spent at least 30 minutes trying to figure out what to wear. I'm so

Which Lululemon skirt are you wearing?

Okay, it's way too cold for the skirt, but I am wearing the Lululemon Midrise Joggers and the Lululemon Swiffly Quarter Zip. Oh my gosh. Totally set up for this. I know I was thinking about that, but actually these are the things I would pick even if they weren't our sponsor. Yeah, I'm so excited. And Fergus and I are going to go to the driving range every week for the foreseeable future.

Like a walking commercial.

Speaker 1 (10:43.074)
I wanna come. Where's my invite?

Jake and I and Teryn are going to the driving range every week.

We have clubs that we can share.

yeah, we'll use Casey's clubs.

Yeah, we're good. Okay. So Jake, TaylorMade, while you were working there, what were some of the most memorable moments, especially when you were working really closely with pro golfers? Name dropping is highly encouraged.

Speaker 1 (10:54.414)
Okay, great. Okay.

Speaker 2 (11:12.54)
man, there are a lot of really good stories. Actually, my first day as an intern at TaylorMade, we got to go up and do like an intern greeting and I got to meet my favorite female golfer, partially because she's super attractive, Natalie Galbis was up there hitting balls. And so that was like my first foray into TaylorMade was the first day at the job, got to meet Natalie Galbis, got to go up there, watch her hit balls. And actually, ironically enough, it was,

One of my good friends who was also up there hitting balls next to Natalie Galbis was a guy named by Ryan Barton. And I walked up to him because he was hitting balls right next to her. And I was like, dude, are you a professional golfer too? And he's like, actually, I'm an intern starting as well today. So I completely mistaken my professional golf best friend as a professional golfer, even though he's just an intern like me when we started. So that was my first day at TaylorMade.

There's probably a bunch of other really good stories, but one of them, that's my favorite just because it is the goat, Tiger Woods. We actually, when I was on the marketing side of TaylorMade, I had jumped between sales, marketing back to sales. But during my first couple of weeks in marketing, we went to a preline meeting, which is essentially when we debut all of the new clubs for the next year. So it's ahead of the public release. We go to all of our strategic accounts, the Dick's Sporting Goods of the World.

the PGA Tour Superstores, the Worldwide Golf Shops. And we were sitting in our pre-line meeting with the executive team at Worldwide Golf Shops and the Nike team had just left. And Nike had just, they had just found out the actual staff of Nike doing their pre-line meetings with Worldwide Golf Shops that they were going out of business. They had gotten a corporate email from Nike headquarters and was like, we're going out of business. So the guys that were doing the pre-lines packed up all their stuff and just walked out.

And we walked in after we're like, what just happened? And the CEO of worldwide golf shops was, well, they just got an email saying they're no longer going to continue to sell golf. So they are out of the business. Yep. Yeah, exactly. And that means all of their athletes were up for grabs, namely Tiger Woods. So my first year in marketing was spending all of our time trying to court Mr. Woods to sign with TaylorMade.

Speaker 3 (13:17.378)
So they're headed the bar.

Speaker 2 (13:33.294)
And so there's a famous story that our head of product always told. And he's like, yeah, how did we end up even getting to start talking to tiger? And he's like, well, we actually shipped them a hundred drivers of the new driver. It was M two at the time. That was the driver line. We shipped them a hundred drivers and he hit all of them. And he found one driver that he loved and he called it snowflake because all drivers just like snowflakes are different. And he's that detailed.

that he could tell the difference between all 100 drivers. And he found one out of all those hundred that he really loved. And he had hit a hundred drivers for, from every other manufacturer that was out there. And so Tiger's just like that type of creative golfer that can feel one gram of weight here, different than one gram of weight there on even from a head perspective. And so that was really cool to hear that story. But actually before the public was announced that he was signing with Tiger, we got to go do a photo shoot with him. And I was lucky enough.

to be invited because I was actually already in town doing some other account meets in Florida. And so they were like, Hey, Jake, you're already there. Why don't you just help do the photo shoot with Tiger? Like the very initial photo shoot. was like, wow, that seems pretty cool. And so I got to go and sit on our photo shoot with Tiger to shoot all the content for the tease marketing that we're going to do teasing that he was signing with Taylor made, uh, as well as kind of our first big kickoff and

while we were kind of introducing himself to each of us that were on the ground with him, he was just hitting one-handed wet shots. nobody else was paying attention to where these shots were landing, but they were all landing within like a three-foot circle. And so it just goes to show how amazing this guy is. And I've got to interact with him a couple other times. Turns out he's exactly what you would expect. He's kind of cocky, kind of brash, but it turns out he's just a really...

amazing golfer and that's I love him. mean his son Charlie just won his first AJGA tour event so that's a huge accomplishment and my brother actually called me because we're both big Tiger Woods fans he's like guess what this just means we get a whole lifetime of this life.

Speaker 1 (15:49.336)
Tiger Woods. Okay, Jake, I know Tiger is your favorite golfer of all time. Let's take him out. He's not currently playing, right? I mean, he's injured, right? But who's your favorite current player who is playing right now? I think this tells a lot about a human.

Yeah, this is a great question. Unfortunately, the live and a PGA tour thing got in the way of this a little bit, the little bit as golf fan, it did definitely did affect me a little bit. I mean, the fact that we can't watch John Rom or Dustin Johnson every week on the PGA tour is so disheartening because guess what? Yeah, Brooks Koepka. And no one wants to watch the CW. Like that's what the live golf tour has from TV rights perspective. I'm not turning on the CW to watch golf. Heck no.

They affect you emotionally?

Speaker 2 (16:35.974)
but yeah, I mean, my favorite golfer outside of Tiger Woods actually is John Rom and that was going to lead into my next like famous golf story. But, when John Rom was just getting out of college at Arizona state, he was being courted by all the major manufacturers because everybody realized he was the next big thing. Phil Mickelson even said that he was, most likely to win more majors in Tiger out of anybody that was coming up with the next kind of class of golfers at the time. And so we had him in.

to celebrate him, signing at TaylorMade. And so we're all sitting in the conference room. All the entire marketing team was sitting in there with him and he was doing a ask me anything on Twitter with the TaylorMade account and all of his fans. And I mean, the guy's 21 at the time I was 23. so he literally got up after he's done and he's like, Hey, so I'm in town for the rest of the day. What do you, does anybody have any good restaurant recommendations, any great places to get a beer? And everybody else was like,

I'm going home to my family. I was the youngest person at the time in the department by like a decade. And so I was like, sure, I'll take you out. And so actually John and I went out to this place called the G-spot. no, wasn't a strip club. It a legitimate bar. It's actually called the grand Avenue bar and grill in Carlsbad, California. But it is got a sign that says the G-spot on it. And we crushed 10 course lights each and had a great time. so that

Are you to a strip club?

Speaker 2 (18:03.754)
Yeah, you get a couple of close-likes.

Speaker 2 (18:08.396)
Family had nothing going on.

wait, John Rahm, he's kind of like, he's kind of considered like a grumpier one too.

Yeah, I mean, the Spanish golfers all have huge attitudes. That's just naturally who they are. But he's a super nice guy. He is a big dude, though. I mean, he is a scary big dude. When you're next to him, I mean, I just celebrated short king week at the beginning. you did.

Five nine to five eleven, hey! I thought I was... So sorry.

That's 5-2 to 5-7, Karen.

Speaker 3 (18:40.573)
Take it down a notch.

But John's like 6'3".

That's crazy. think he's just got the RBF.

Oh, he does. Yeah. Yeah. That's just the Spanish golfers all do. They hit a bad putt. They throw their putter. They're big tossers of the golf club when they're angry. I mean, I'm the same way.

motions.

Speaker 3 (18:59.606)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:03.82)
Okay, so you've been to the Masters, Jake. Can you explain why Augusta National feels so legendary, even to just casual fans?

Well, I have goosebumps even talking about the Masters. It is, so many people describe it as adult Disneyland and it's especially for golf fans. And it really is. I mean, we're in the hospitality industry, obviously, and the hospitality that is provided at the Masters is truly unparalleled. I mean, where do we even start with this? Realistically, the best place to start is when you walk through the gates.

So we're walking through the gates for the first time and it's in the middle of Augusta, Georgia. I mean, Augusta national is in the middle of no dunk Georgia. mean, there is a Chili's, there is a Hooters, there is Motel six, there is the stay bridge ins, there is the Walmart and like that's the entire city and the Walgreens backs right up against the Augusta national. And so like you're in the middle of absolute nowhere and it's just a.

the hustle and bustle of a city that's really busy at a certain time, right? But when you walk through the gates of the masters, it gives me goosebumps again, thinking about it. It is almost like noise cancellation headphones. You walk through the gates and immediately the sound's gone. You don't hear anybody around you, the city, you don't hear any hustle and bustle, you don't hear sirens, you don't hear anything. You just hear birds chirping and quiet. So just the essence of walking it in is...

fake birds chirping. I've heard that.

Speaker 2 (20:38.464)
It is not fake birds chirping, but they do pipe that into the TV. They do pipe it into the TV. They definitely do. have to. They're not that loud. so walking into the tournament is spectacular and you go through waves, right? There's 30,000 people waiting outside and then they let you in waves of like 300. And when you get up to like the last wave before you scan your ticket and go through the gates, there's just one dude that stands there and he gives you the whole spiel, no phones.

Okay.

Speaker 2 (21:07.488)
make sure you're staying outside the ropes. And then he just raises his hands like he's talking to the gods and he drops his hands. Moses. Welcome to the masters. And everybody just like, it's so powerful. mean, is Casey, Casey like wants to write books about this guy, my wife, because it is the coolest entrance into a sporting event because it is so powerful. And then there's just a mad rush to the, to the gift shop.

because the gift shop, if you haven't been to the Masters, is the coolest place in the world. is essentially a super-sized Walmart worth of golf gear that's all Masters logo.

I.E. the reason why Jake has been only wearing master's gear for the last two months.

last two years. right. Yeah, let's just say we spent a couple thousand dollars on some masterpieces.

Gosh.

Speaker 2 (21:58.348)
It was, it was disgusting, but you wait in line for an hour and you get up to like where you're entering this like huge atrium of golf gear. And they give you essentially a burlap Santa sack because they know everybody is going to be spending that much money. And the guy in front of us spent 55 K. So that gives you like a quick kind of realization of like how massive this shop is, like how could you even spend $55,000 on anything?

yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:28.223)
I'm swag. my god.

That piece of it's cool. But then the hospitality that's provided from a concession standpoint, the price points of the food that have stayed consistent. I mean, a sandwich for like a pimento cheese, egg salad sandwich or two dollars. And club sandwich is three dollars beers, five dollars. The prices haven't changed at this place ever. And that's the coolest part of the experience. And it's the way that the restaurant or the way that the concessions are laid out is also spectacular. They're pumping like

How much did it cost?

Speaker 2 (22:59.342)
20,000 people through these concession stands every hour. And you don't wait. It's like a five minute wait. And you're never waiting for food or alcohol because they just have lines. They've got nine lines of essentially grab and go. They have pallets of sandwiches, pallets that they stack. And you just grab, grab, grab, grab. And next thing you know, you have six egg salad sandwiches, a chicken sandwich, four beers, a cheese straw bite.

I like.

Speaker 2 (23:28.04)
and like 16 other things and you're out in like four minutes. So you're not missing any of the action and you never see a single sandwich or drink being made, prepared, delivered anywhere. They show up like magic. They have underground tunnels that literally take the sandwiches to each concession stand and come up through the ground and then they pallet rack those things into their home. No, I'm dead serious. That's a good. They have full tunnels underground so nobody sees any workers.

Is that a joke? They tunnels underground?

Speaker 2 (23:57.676)
delivering food or anything.

It's like the true, it's truly the backstage front stage.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is. It is truly wild. And my favorite part of the Masters is how intimate it is. Like we've, I've been to the waste management, the wasted management as it's become lovingly called because everyone's hammered while they're there. Um, and that tournament allows in a hundred thousand people a day. The Masters, you get 20,000 people, 30,000 people, depending on if it's a practice round or a normal round. And so it's, you're up close and personal with all the players at any point.

And so our first time going, we actually, my brother and I walked in and my wife obviously sprinted to the gift shop. That's her natural place. yeah, exactly. And we walked, my brother and I walked to the range because we're like, no one's on the range yet. There's the, all the, the whole stands were empty and there was only a couple of people warming up and we couldn't see who they were. And so we sat front row at the range and it turns out it was Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player.

Speaker 3 (24:42.808)
Priorities.

Speaker 2 (25:02.754)
Fred couples who were warming up to hit the ceremonial tee shot on the first hole. And so it's so funny because Gary Player was chirping Jack because Jack's getting older. He struggles hitting the ball a little bit. And Gary's like, Jack, can't hit the ball over a hundred yards anymore. What's going on? Why are you even still showing up for this? You suck. And so just absolutely hammering Jack Nicklaus. And so everybody knows.

those three know that just my brother and I were sitting in the grandstands at this point. And so Jack finally hits a really good shot and he turns around and he looks at us and he goes, how do you think Gary liked that one? And so it's just like super intimate and super cool that like that type of situation can happen there. And it's the only place that can ever happen.

Speaker 3 (25:56.142)
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Speaker 3 (26:37.742)
I have a very important question about the masters. How did they enforce that no one brings a cell phone in? That blows my mind. Or do they not enforce it and they just kind of like say, on your honor.

Yeah, it's a great question. They definitely enforce it because if you get caught with it, you are escorted out of the grounds and your tickets are revoked forever. You are no longer allowed to come back. So nobody takes the risk. It's not worth it. So it's just one of those things that nobody ever tries to do. Even the grounds crew, like the people that are working, they had multiple volunteers get escorted out because they had their cell phones.

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (27:17.634)
So like, can you bring it in with you in case there's like an emergency or you just leave it in the car?

No, they've lockers at every entrance or you leave it in car. We left it in the car.

Yeah, because that's my thought is like, what if the only thing that makes me nervous is like, what if I'm lost and I can't find my group or something like that?

it's so funny because Adam Schefter, I don't know if you guys have talked about Adam yet, but Adam's like an NFL insider. And so he was actually at the Masters and a kid recognized him knowing full well he didn't have his cell phone on him. And he walked right up to Shafdie and said, hey, did you hear about the huge trade in the NFL? And then just kept walking past him. And Shafdie tells the story afterwards. He's like, yeah, was freaking out that I missed a huge trade because I was at the Masters. couldn't report on it.

It's just like they are really strict about it, but there's some I mean it is really nice to be without the cell phone for a full day

Speaker 1 (28:12.972)
Yeah, I bet. Okay. So speaking of the masters, Rory McElroy recently completed his career grand slam with his win at the masters. And I know, we know you are rooting for him. So what does this mean in the golf world? Say that, give us the magnitude of this.

Well, there's only been three, now four other players that have completed it. I thought it was six. Teryn, can you fact check that? I'm questioning myself now, but I'm pretty sure it's four now that have won all four majors. Yeah, now I'm going to look like a dummy if I got that one wrong.

I'm pretty sure it's six.

Speaker 1 (28:48.366)
check you.

Speaker 1 (28:55.916)
Go back.

I'd say there's only been a handful.

Yeah. So anyway, the significance of the, of Rory winning the fourth major is the fact that one for me in my adult life, it hasn't happened. and except for tiger was obviously the most recent one to do it. And for me, that is a huge accomplishment because again, it's, is the majors make golf, right? There, there's no records out there that exists in the golf world.

that don't have a huge emphasis on the majors themselves, right? Tigers chasing Jack's record of 18 majors, right? That's the only thing the majority of common sense golf fans really, or like just the common fan knows about the game of golf is how many majors has Tiger won versus Jack? That is the ultimate prize. And so to have Rory complete the career grand slam and win all the majors won, just goes to show that he's probably the best golfer of our generation.

And it's really just an amazing accomplishment for the golf world. And that's why he was so emotional. I have a feeling that if he doesn't refocus, it's going to be a long road back to the top for him because it does kind of feel like the pinnacle of his career. He hadn't won a major in 10 years, a decade, since he won until he won the Masters, which that's a long time as in the primary career to go without winning a major. It's very different than Tiger after his 10 year gap because he was already on the

Speaker 2 (30:27.532)
downswing of his career, dealing with injuries, et Rory never really had that downturn and to go a 10 year hiatus without winning a major and then having it be the masters, the cap off the grand slam is just a, it's an accomplishment that we probably won't see for a very, very long time.

you

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Jake, can we zoom out for a second? You've used this term a bunch of different times and probably a lot of people listening know what this means, but will you explain it to me like I'm five? What are the majors? Why are they such a big deal? Is it just the money or is it something else?

Speaker 2 (31:46.102)
Yeah, it's, it's interesting. It used to be the money, I think probably back in the day, because really the PGA tours changed a lot recently. And now the money has become so extreme because of the live PGA tour kind of split the PGA tour just started finding money all over the place because they realized they needed to start paying players. so.

The money has become less of a thing now just because so many players are making so much money on the tour right now that it's always been about the legacy of the game. mean, golf itself naturally is a legacy game that it's all about looking back on history and respecting the history of the game itself. And that is a huge piece of it. And that's why the majors are such a big part of the game. And that's why so many of the live guys had such internal debates on leaving because

They knew that they were going to lose out on potentially playing in majors. so the just legacy and the history and the fact that Jack's record is been standing for as long as it has, and we just have not had somebody approach it. And there's so much more talent across the board that winning majors now, especially multiple has become so much harder than it even did back in the early nineties, late eighties that

It's just a huge piece of kind of the history of the game. Like it's very similar to tennis in that fashion where I couldn't, I couldn't even name a tennis tournament outside the majors. A lot of people can't name golf tournaments outside.

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:20.184)
So when you say majors, that's like the upper tier, the most prestigious.

four tournaments.

Four majors. yeah, it's the Masters, the PGA Championship, the British Open, which is just called the Open, and then the US Open. And so all four of those make up the majors and they're played in a pretty condensed timeline. Like the Masters is in April and then now they've switched the order. So the Open is the last major and that's usually done by the beginning of August. And so it's like a condensed timeline to fit all the majors in, but that's kind of the general.

I'm like,

That's very confusing that the PGA championship is just one of four. I get caught up when there's like champion or championship in the name of something that is not like the penultimate we or, you know, whatever golf tournament. So that is one of the four. So you can't be like the single champion in a given year.

Speaker 1 (34:18.252)
that it is a it does it is the champion of the PGA right like you're saying basically of all the tournaments that's the one that's saying like I am the PGA champion.

So actually it's really, the PGA championship is really weird. So the PGA championship is actually celebrating all of the PGA teaching professionals. And so the right, there's PGA tour golfers, and then there's members of the PGA of America. And so the PGA of America is everybody that is a teaching professional, a head pro and assistant pro at golf courses, all of those people are teaching professionals that have full-time jobs running golf courses, et cetera.

and the top 20 teaching professionals get to play in the PGA championship. And so it's a celebration of not just the PGA Tour, but it's a celebration of the PGA of America in its entirety, where 20 of the best teaching professionals in the world get to ultimately play with the big guys. And Michael Block, ironically enough, I've got to meet him. He actually gave me a couple of lessons. Michael Block, two years ago, kind of took the world by storm, made the cut.

played with Rory on the last day, got a hole in one the last day, ended up taking top 15 in the tournament where he got to be invited back. It was a huge story. Super nice guy. Shout out to Royal Tribuco Country Club where he's the head pro at, which is in Southern California. But he is the quintessential like PGA teaching professional that probably could have made it pro if he didn't love teaching the game so

Okay. I know. Okay. So you mentioned Liv and I think probably our listeners are like, what are you talking about? So can you give us the breakdown of what is the deal with Liv versus PGA? They, if they're not following golf closely, give us the breakdown of what it is, why it's controversial and why it's shaking up the sport.

Speaker 3 (35:54.38)
blown.

Speaker 2 (36:16.194)
Yeah, I think the easiest way to explain it is imagine if the National Football League was like, we're gonna split into two. We're gonna be a Canadian Football League and we're going to be the American Football League. And that's exactly what has happened in the golf industry and professional golf, generally speaking. We've split the talent pool in half. And a lot of it has to do with a little bit of greed and a lot of...

monopolistic tendencies that the PGA Tour had that a lot of the players had issues with. And so Saudi Arabia, being the country that it is, was like, you know what? We want to inject ourselves into American sports. It seems like a pretty good thing to be a part of, generates a ton of revenue. Why don't we just fund a competitive league to the PGA Tour, pay all of these guys guaranteed money, which the PGA Tour doesn't do. So that's why you saw, and if you've been paying attention a little bit, that

Like Dustin Johnson, $100 million guaranteed contract to play for the live tour. Phil Mickelson, $150 million. John Rahm, $100 million. They're just throwing billions of dollars at players to get them to commit to playing in this new league. That's going to be more worldwide. It's going to be 54 holes, so the guys don't need to play as much. They don't have to play full rounds of golf. So instead of four full rounds, they only have to play three. There's no cut, so there's guaranteed money.

for every tournament they play in. And so it's just all the, can play in shorts on live. And so they have a bunch of like really unique approaches to how the game is played. Ultimately tearing away at the tradition of like the PJ tour and the game itself, but the guaranteed money, the fact that, and obviously Saudi Arabia backing it is controversial in and of itself, but all of those things forced a lot of hands to get.

those top guys to come play at live and a lot of them did it because it is generational money that they are taking on in guaranteed contracts. And so that's a big piece of it. And that's really the biggest difference. Obviously Rory and Scotty and all these guys are trying to save the PGA tour. There's a lot in there.

Speaker 1 (38:24.994)
Yeah, and they made it a big deal in the news that like, like it was like people were rejecting and like, you know, all these things. It was very dramatic.

yeah, it's extremely dramatic. mean, if anybody's watched the full swing documentary on Netflix, it is, you can see the drama amongst the players. like my biggest issue with the entire thing is how does the PGA Tour just find an extra hundred million dollars to start dishing out the players? Like that money was obviously going somewhere. And as a nonprofit, it probably should have been going to the players that are putting on the programming. And so it is, it's actually helped the PGA Tour a lot.

I think with the players and continuing to drive more players to stay at the PGA Tour level, but it should have never gotten to that point. And the PGA Tour kind of allowed it to do that.

Like the players were feeling greedy, but also the PGA had been being greedy.

absolutely. that's, mean, yeah, I, I'm always curious what Jay Monahan, the director of the PGA tour is thinking when he's like, yeah, hey, we're going to find some more money for these elevated tour events and we're going to have purses the size of lives. And it's like, how did that money not exist last year or the year before?

Speaker 3 (39:38.648)
from. Okay, Jake, let's say you're a PGA golfer, pretty, pretty good at what you do. What's the price tag? Like what, what amount of money does it take for you to jump over to live?

man, I mean for me personally as a hack now in my golf career, I'd probably do it for 10 million bucks just.

Okay, but let's pretend you're like really good and you're winning some stuff. You're making a decent living here, you know, with all the tradition and you know, da da da da da, the PGA. What's the price tag?

Am I winning? Like, have I won a couple tournaments? to the point where I could potentially win more?

You're like upper mid, we'll say.

Speaker 2 (40:17.71)
or mid. Okay, we'll call him Charles Howell the third, who's like a top 25 monster. My price, I probably wouldn't do it. I honestly think that the tradition of the PGA Tour and the ability to play in majors, those things get me more excited than the financial benefit of playing golf. Like if you're getting $100 million to play golf professionally, like what's the difference between $125 million? Like I would rather play

You're Charlie, Charlie.

Speaker 2 (40:46.338)
for the love of the game, the legacy that it's going to bring potentially, win majors, like have my name recognized by the larger golf world and make 25 million bucks after a good career. That sounds pretty good to me.

But they can still play the majors, right? They originally were saying that they couldn't and then got a lot of pushback. Is that true?

Yeah. And so it's, different for each major because they're qualifying criteria. Like you have to be top 50 in the world to qualify automatically for certain majors, right? Like the masters is invite only. So there is a huge debate whether or not they're going to invite the live guys. And some of the live guys have actually gone on to play it in other tours around the world, not the PGA tour, but like the DP world tour or events that they know they can get into majors by winning. And so it's, they're all trying to.

find workarounds to get into all the majors. And a lot of them have, a lot of the big names have status because they've either won the US Open or won the PGA where they keep getting invited back. But it is interesting because we're missing a lot of really great players that don't have those statuses that are playing on with, and we've kind of forgot about them to be perfectly honest, I think as a golfing.

What do predict the future of live golf and the PGA is do you think they'll make nice you think they have to to get through?

Speaker 2 (42:06.506)
that's such a good question. And it's something I've stopped paying attention to because of the drama. The drama of the PGA Tour and Liv is overwhelming. And you know, it's funny, I think the players always talk about how bad it is for the fans. I honestly don't think the fans are even paying attention. Like I think that we just realized that there's a separation of church and state right now. We got Liv and we got the PGA Tour and like the tournaments that don't matter, like no one cares about any.

Even as a casual golf fan, we're just watching those tournaments for fun on Sundays. And it's a great napping background show. so unless it's a major, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things for the casual golf fan. And so to be perfectly honest, I don't know what's going to happen necessarily with Liv and the PGA Tour. And I really don't care. As long as the Liv guys continue to play in the Ryder Cup and the majors, and they get to come back together every once every

or four times every year and then maybe five times every two years with the Ryder Cup. That's really all.

video.

you

Speaker 3 (43:13.558)
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Jake, switching gears. So in general, slow play seems to be a growing frustration for fans and some players as well, I think. Do you feel like the PGA Tour should enforce stricter penalties or is that just the price of the game? And also, will you define slow play for listeners too?

Well, as the fastest golfer that probably exists out there, there is nothing more I hate than slow play. And slow play is just the product of a traffic gen. Like, Hey, you have grandma Nellie out there hitting balls in front of you and she, she only hits it 50 yards and she needs a hit. She needs to hit seven shots to get to the green. And so it just takes longer for some people to play on the tour. should have no excuse. A lot of the times it's these guys that are.

not paying attention or not reading their pots while other people are preparing to hit their shot. And so the biggest thing that needs to happen in the game of golf is just more proactive players impacting that situation where it's like, Hey, if John Rom is 50 yards in front of me and he's waiting for me to hit, he should be getting ready to hit his shot. Well, I'm preparing to hit mine and not watching me hit my shot. And a lot of it has to do with also

Speaker 2 (45:25.71)
putting to reading greens is a very, it's a very hard art to completely master. And so these guys spend a lot of time reading greens, but they sometimes don't read the greens until after somebody else has putted like you go around the green and read the putt while somebody else is preparing to hit their butt. And so there's just a lot of it. Golf is extremely mental, obviously, and it takes a lot of mental energy. And I think sometimes it's just lost on how slow some of these guys are playing.

because they are so focused on the next shot, the next move. And there are certain things that are happening in the game. There's this thing called aim point. That's become a huge point of contention where people are lining up their putts with their dominant eye to try to figure out which way the green is sloping and at what percentage slope that it's current, like that the green is at to judge how far and also which direction the putt is going to go. And that takes a long time. It takes.

I disagree for that.

Some of these guys do have like a Bryson protractor on like his green reading book. He's just a weirdo, but it also just slows the game down as well. And so that's a huge issue. They should be penalized more if it is impacting the pace of play because there is not a single person that wants to play six.

Okay, so you said you're a fast golfer? I mean, not criminally. Okay, so like compared to the average golfer, you are faster. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:45.901)
practices.

Speaker 2 (46:51.466)
It is, I, if I think too much about my golf shot, it's never good. It's never good.

Fair enough. So grip it and rip it. is good.

RIP it Earth.

Alright Jake, what is something about golf you wish more people understood or appreciated?

God. That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (47:11.384)
You like the history of it. You like the history of golf and the tradition of it. Whereas that bothers me.

Why does it bother you?

Because it feels so particular that there's no room for people who don't understand it. I just feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I need to know before I can go step out on a green. So that's why it bothers me. I feel like I'm being judged.

that's great. Cause one of the things that I think that is underappreciated about the game, cause it's, I think it gets a bad rap for being the snooty snobby sport that is super like high end only elite people can play golf. I think that has changed a lot. I think that's changed a lot in the last two decades. and I specifically think that it's a lot of the work that the PJ tour has done as well as the PJ junior league.

And I think that it's becoming more accessible. mean, with the rise of just, I mean, with pop golf being what it is and just getting people excited to swing the club and hit a little white ball, like that type of entry into the game is something that's really just started. And I think we're continuing to see it grow and making it more accessible for even lower income populations to play. And that gets me excited. That's like something I'm very passionate about is growing the game.

Speaker 2 (48:33.838)
and allowing everybody to have access to it because it's a sport that you can play for your entire life. And obviously it is a sport from a business perspective that's important to at least understand at the highest level and also participate in when the opportunity becomes available. But the growth of the game at the junior level has been really cool to watch. I've always wanted to coach golf, had some opportunities to do so, just haven't had the chance to take someone up on that offer yet.

But I mean, we're, we have kids that are except for Ambre. Um, Ambre is going to, I'm going to coach Ambre up, but I mean, PGA junior league, think they have 125,000 members. I'm going to have to fact check beyond that, but it's a, it's a huge number of kids that are now playing golf and it's accessible and the parents don't have to pay a ton and they all have their own jerseys with their own number, with their last names on the back. Like it's a real sport. So we're making it feel more accessible as an industry.

which is really cool to see. just saw 25 kids at Maple Bluff, the country club we belong to out there in their jerseys playing nine holes together. It's something that we wouldn't have seen a decade ago. And so that piece of it's awesome. And I really love the growth of the game, part of it, and especially how much it's grown, even after Tiger kind of fell off the face of the golf industry. Like we were a little worried there in 2013, 2014, that golf was going to start going the wrong direction.

It was the first time in history that there was more courses closing than opening when Tiger kind of fell off in the early, like the early 2010s. and we've seen it come back in a big way. A lot of it had to do with COVID obviously, there's nothing to do with people playing outside, but the access to the game, the cost of the game, all of those things had become more accessible to the larger population. Still expensive.

Yeah, still expensive.

Speaker 1 (50:28.984)
is still. It takes a lot.

It's too expensive, don't get me wrong. There's opportunity out there to get involved.

Yeah

Okay, our last question for you. If you could play a round of golf anywhere in the world with anyone dead or alive, let's just say your answer is probably going to be me, but let's just give me a little while, take me out of this equation here. If you could play around with anyone dead or alive, who would it be and where would you choose to play?

This is ice

Speaker 1 (50:56.539)
Are you gonna give her a twosome or a foursome?

Yeah, foursome for sure. That would be impossible. this is a tough one. I'm going to exclude some people that I would really love because they're dead. But I would probably have to say that playing Augusta National with my dad, my brother and Tiger Woods would be my my dream foursome.

I'm come for you, I promise.

Speaker 1 (51:28.152)
two picks and you picked your dad and your brother?

Yeah, mainly because we're all like when we are talking about Tiger Finan- There is nobody in the world bigger Tiger Finan-x than my brother and I. And then we'd have to include my dad because then we'd feel really guilty if we didn't. So that-

Be the experience.

Speaker 1 (51:49.352)
I get it. You're doing it for the family experience.

Thank

And just, I would maybe replace my brother with Casey just because I know she's illicit in the seven.

Speaker 1 (52:03.726)
No, we're not cutting it out.

Okay, Jake, that was amazing. Thank you so much for your time today. Hold on, but before you run, if you could, just asking for a friend, if you could give advice to somebody who's playing golf for the first time ever, aside from like putt-putt golf when she was five and six and seven, what would be your advice?

Well, everybody always says keep your head down, which is horrible advice. Make sure you finish on your left side, all your weight on your left side, and make sure you transfer your weight on your backswing and you're gonna be good to go. There's two L's in the golf swing, the top L and the finishing L, and those two is all you need to know. If you can make those two L's happen, your swing's gonna be great.

You lost me like 10 seconds into that advice. When you say L, do you mean arms and club?

Yep. So your arms go this way and it makes an L with your club. And then when you finish, it's this reverse L same thing on the other side.

Speaker 3 (53:05.81)
If there's no mirror out on the green, how will I know if my arm is making

We to be straight.

Well Ambre, that's why I'm going to be there to help you.

Speaker 2 (53:23.65)
I'm so excited to hear about how this goes. Also, what's the sipping portion of the chips and sips? Are they bringing wine?

You get a drink chip and then you can use it whenever you want.

Okay, so what are you, I know you, so I'm asking what you're drinking.

I mean, I need to put a bunch of kids to bed, so I'm gonna have to use it some other time. I'll take you out. I'll take the two of you out for drinks.

boring. She's the most

Speaker 2 (53:47.526)
Well, actually, here's my advice. The easiest way to swing a club for somebody that doesn't play golf is get hammered.

Yeah, exactly

about anything.

just wail at the ball and it's probably going to be.

100 %

Speaker 1 (54:03.416)
Just have a lot of fun with your girlfriends and you will love.

I'm so excited.

Yeah, we have.

Don't tip the golf cart over.

Don't chip. Okay. See, that's a piece of advice that I can remember.

Speaker 2 (54:14.382)
It takes a lot to tip those things over. I've done some stupid things in golf carts and like that it would be a really crazy challenge.

But still noted. Cool. Well, Fergus, this has been so fun and super funny. My face hurts. I need to go make a sandwich, probably not pimento egg salad, but some sort of a sandwich before I go. But thanks so much for joining us and sharing all of your passion for golf and your funny stories and your name dropping. So it's such a great time hanging out with you and we're totally going to have you back soon. So get ready.

I can't wait. See you next time. This has been so much fun and I love you guys both so much. This is awesome. It's even better being with you guys live than listening. So I can't wait to come back.

Awesome. Thanks. We'll see you next time.

All right, now we are on to our third and final segment of the day. And it's been a long time since I've gotten to do one of these, but today I'm getting to share my She's Got Game, Ambre's favorite segment of the show. No, it's yours. I kind of love the hat trick, if I'm going to be honest, I think maybe the hat trick's my favorite.

Speaker 3 (55:23.918)
I don't think you're allowed to say that. just...

Speaker 3 (55:30.444)
Okay, all right.

Today we're going to dive into the incredible journey of Sheri Steinhauer. Probably never heard of her, have you? I hadn't either. She's a Wisconsin sports legend who's conquered not just one, but two professional sports. I'll let that be a surprise for you later down the road. we'll see.

Never.

Speaker 3 (55:56.556)
I want to know now.

Okay.

So let's start at the beginning. Sherry grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where Ambre and I currently live. Shout out. And she was the youngest of five siblings. Actually, she had four older brothers, all born within five years of each other. And then five years after the youngest brother was born came Sherry. Can you imagine that dynamic?

Can you imagine how intimidating that was to come over and pick her up for a date?

Ooh, I'm sure not great.

Speaker 3 (56:32.662)
If all those dudes lined up at the front door.

But they might all be like out of the house by the time she's dating if we're being honest.

Maybe. I don't know. Five years. Anyway.

Anyways, all four brothers were into golf, so were her parents. So it was only natural for Sherry to pick up a club. She started playing at the tender age of six. And mainly she said she started going to the golf course because she wanted to avoid being left home with a babysitter. Her mom said, do you want a babysitter or do you want to come with? And she was like, I want to go hang out with the rest of the family. Of course.

By eight, she was already competing in junior tournaments at Nacoma Golf Club. I don't know if you're familiar. I'm not familiar with that one.

Speaker 3 (57:13.58)
So familiar. It's like right over by Seminole. yeah. Really?

Yeah, I would say I don't know it very well, but by 12 years old, she had her sights set on becoming a professional golfer. She knew at 12. And her dedication paid off. Sheri clinched three consecutive Wisconsin State Junior Championships from 1978 to 1980. And then when it came time for college, she received offer letters from several universities, including LSU, Florida, Wisconsin, and Texas.

And despite her love for her home state and her desire to stay home and be a homebody, she chose the University of Texas. She said she wanted to ensure that she could play golf year round.

You're around. lady.

super smart. And so the transition she said it was really tough for her. She said she was a super shy kid and teenager. And she said that the day her parents dropped her off at college was one of the hardest days of her life. She talks about how, you know, whenever she would win anything, and they would make her do a speech, it was the hardest thing ever. Because she just hated being in front of the camera and hated she's she says she's gotten better since but

Speaker 1 (58:30.09)
But when her parents dropped her off, she said she watched them drive away and she's like, all I could think was, wait, they're not turning around. They haven't turned around. And her dad said that he literally in the car at the same time, looked at her mom and says, we cannot turn around. We can't turn around. They knew she was just suffering and it was going to be really, really hard for her. But the University of Texas had a really cool adaptive parents program.

Band-Aid off.

Speaker 1 (58:59.564)
And it paired her with this family, the Osteens. She says they were such a support for her and they gave her that family environment that she was used to. And it was part of the reason why she made it through her time being thousands of miles away from home. And she says she remains close with them to this day. So at Texas, Sherry's golf career flourished. She secured six individual titles.

She was named an All-American in 1985 and she led her team to three national top 20 finishes. Her amateur success peaked when she was the low amateur, meaning she had the lowest score of all the amateurs in the tournament in the 1983 US Women's Open. She then turned, I know they have amateurs in those big tournaments and sometimes they're crushing it and they're doing just as good as the pros. Yeah.

So cool.

So she turned pro in 1985 and then she joined the LPGA or the Ladies Professional Golf Association in 1986. And her perseverance paid off because in 1992, she clinched her first major victory in the DuMarié Classic. And then she went on to win the Women's British Open in 1998 and 1999. And then again in 2006, the first two years it wasn't a major and then in...

2006 it was recognized as a major. She had a 26 year career. She amassed eight LPGA Tour victories and represented the US in four Solheim Cups. Ambre, have you ever heard of the Solheim Cup? Okay, so it's the biannual golf tournament for professional women golfers. It's basically like the Ryder Cup.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40.629)
Absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49.834)
So they do it in alternate years of the Ryder Cup. it's U S versus Europe. and they do kind of team play. she was, yeah. So it's kind of the same idea, but for ladies and they alternate years when they do it. So overall her LPGA achievements, she had eight tour titles, two majors. she had multiple, I think four, yeah, four us Solheim cup team trips. And then she,

to the Ryder Cup.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18.026)
actually gained $6 million over her career, which I mean, the fact that she was, she's a little older is pretty big deal. However, injuries, including some hip surgeries and a tremor she mentioned in a podcast that I was listening to about her led to her retirement in 2012. Some of those physical challenges and the emotional toll actually of concealing her tremor made it really difficult for her to continue competing. She mentioned that

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47.222)
putting was actually her biggest hurdle just generally when she played. And that made competing mentally and physically just too much for her. mean, imagine golf is such a mental game to begin with. then adding in you've got obviously physical body injuries, but then like a tremor that you're not only just trying to get through it, but you're also trying to hide it. You're trying to conceal your injury because I don't know if she was

ashamed or it was sort of an embarrassing type of thing for someone. But yeah, just hard to imagine how she must have felt. But Sherry, like any true competitor, you know, we talk about this, how sports makes you just different. You know, you can't just give up competition when you are a competitor. You can't just give up on competition just because it's hard. And I think Sherry is a great lesson in pivoting when needed because that competitive spirit of hers

found a new outlet. She is now a professional pickleball player. She was introduced to the sport in 2016 by her former University of Texas teammate, Lisa DiPaolo, and she was instantly hooked. So her dedication to pickleball, like golf, led to a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2018 US Open Pickleball Championship. Competing at a super high level, should have said.

She's come.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12.096)
A higher than her skill level division. I don't know what that means. Maybe they have like numbers that are related. Pickleball. Exactly. And today Sherry is a professional pickleball player and ambassador for Selkirk sport. And she continues to compete and promote the sport with the same passion and determination that defined her golf career. Also fun fact, we had Jake Ferguson earlier in the show and his dad is her partner in pickleball doubles. So shut up.

Yeah, like candy

Speaker 1 (01:03:41.65)
wild. What a small world. Didn't know that leading into this. beyond her athletic achievements, Sherry remains committed to nurturing young talent. She supports initiatives like the Sherry Steinhauer Girls Championship. It's in Madison, Wisconsin, and it's obviously encouraging girls to pursue golf.

I watched some interviews and listened to some podcasts that Sherry was on and was reflecting on her journey. And she was asked, what is one regret you have? And Sherry says that she wished she would have set her goals higher. She always wanted to be a pro golfer, but she said she, that was basically her goal. She wished that she would have had the goal to be the best in the world. And I think that's great and all, but I also can't come at the cost of enjoying what you do. And it seems like

up until the very end of her career, Sherry really loved golf and she found a lot of joy in it. So I think she's probably a little too hard on herself looking back. She also advises aspiring athletes to treat themselves with kindness, emphasizing the power of the mind and self-compassion. And she hopes that she'll be remembered as someone who did the right thing and was kind to others. And I think a great way to wrap this story up about Sherry, as I mentioned, I was listening to a podcast that

was recorded in September of 2024. And she told the host about her frustrations with playing golf and how her injuries were such a hindrance to her, but that she had an upcoming weekend planned where they were going on a little family getaway. And for the first time in years, she was bringing her clubs with her. under the pretense that it was fine, however she played, no matter how she played, she was gonna be okay with it.

She wanted to start enjoying it again. So I don't know where Sherry is now playing pickleball with Greg Fergus, I guess, but I hope she's finding joy in both pickleball and golf. So for her perseverance and her passion for competing and loving sports is why I've chosen Sherry Steinhauer as our She's Got Game Athlete of the Day.

Speaker 3 (01:05:47.566)
Love that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52.15)
All right. And that's a wrap on today's episode of Almost Fans. Big thanks to Jake for giving us the inside scoop on the PGA Tour, what it's like working in the golf industry. And of course, what actually happens at the Masters? I'm still not over the pimento cheese sandwiches. And if you're walking away knowing a little bit more about birdies, golf gear, or just feeling ready to fake it through your next golf combo, mission accomplished.

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a minute to leave a rating and a review wherever you're listening. takes just a couple of seconds and it helps more listeners find the show. And it seriously means so much to us. Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time.