My Golf Source
Attention Golf Enthusiasts! Level up your golf game with hosts Darren Penquite and Noah Horstman, PGA as they keep you up to date on the latest trends, equipment, training aids and more. Learn tips and tricks from PGA Professionals to lower your score and grow your love for the game of golf.
My Golf Source
Mastering the Green: Golf Techniques and Collegiate Insights from MyGolfSource
This episode delves into the nuances of improving your golf game, especially regarding spin control, with insights from co-hosts Darren and Noah along with guests Kira and Mason from SOU’s golf team. Featuring listener questions and expert advice, the discussion covers everything from equipment choices to personal preparation strategies for tournaments.
• Discussion on the recent weather impacts on local golf courses
• Tips for improving backspin on wedge shots
• The importance of center hits and proper equipment
• Advice for managing cutting and hooking with drivers
• Personal routines shared by student athletes for tournament day preparation
• Insights into the camaraderie and community within collegiate golf
Welcome to the MyGolfSource podcast. Welcome to this episode four of the MyGolfSource podcast. I'm Darren.
Speaker 3:I'm Noah and we are here yet again and I can't believe it's been a month a whole month, oh my gosh and the snow's starting to melt a little bit a little bit.
Speaker 2:Some parking lots still have it. Your parking lot still has quite a bit of snow yeah, but that's okay.
Speaker 3:We have a roof over our head.
Speaker 2:I drove by a few golf courses and they're got construction crews out at their facilities fixing all the damage from the snow and it's kind of a crazy situation, man.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, I mean, it's been what uh, fourth highest snowfall in southern Oregon history. We've had roofs collapse um the local high school in fact, north Medford High, yeah, it's incredible and um also a local distributor. Their building collapsed and we used them actually for some of our beer sales and talking to both of those facilities. Luckily no one was inside Wow, wow.
Speaker 2:Crazy weather, crazy times, crazy golf stuff. We're going to be talking with a couple SOU golf players that are going to be headed down to the Providence Invitational in Los Angeles this weekend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've got Kira and Mason coming on um both in the top five consistently and, uh, kira is actually coming off a win from the fall, so looking forward to having them on later.
Speaker 2:Excellent and and one of the big things we want to focus on on this podcast is to truly be the number one golf source in the nation where we take people's questions, we teach people tips and tricks, and we're going to be setting up opportunities for people on social media to message us, to record their voice, to send it into the show, and we're going to have professionals answering questions that you may have to give you some tangible advice to go out and onto the golf course and improve your game. Our first question today is from Tyler.
Speaker 4:I'm struggling. My wedges shot onto the green but once it hits next to the pin it rolls back. So how do I get more spin on that shot?
Speaker 3:Yeah, hey, tyler, thanks for the question, I think number one. It reminds me of a story. Arnold Palmer was in given a clinic, obviously quite a while back, and one of the best you know players of all time in his era, and he was talking to these people about something similar where, out of the gallery, they asked you know how do I put more backspin on the ball? And, in short, arnold said you know how many times you hit in the center of the face? And the guy couldn't answer the question and basically, until you could hit it in the center of the face, it didn't matter as much, right? So that's, that's ideal, um, when we're. But you know, to answer your question, there's a lot of variables.
Speaker 3:Um, when we're talking about spin out of the rough, depending on how thick it is, depending on the lie, you're rarely going to get spin anyway. So you're really going to have to pay attention to the loft and the bounce of your wedge. If you're chipping, um, you know, the more loft you have is what's going to create that spin, um, or backspin, and allow the ball to actually check up on the green. But if you're not striking it, well, you're not going to have any spin anyway right.
Speaker 3:The other thing I think we get caught up in is sometimes we hit that wonderful golf shot that did check up and spin right. It was solid center of the face, which is just what I was saying, and so we think that's the norm and a lot of times we need to learn how to manage our mishits better. I don't know any tour players that are naturally trying to put so much spin on the ball that it just hits and stops. Very often they have to have the ideal lie firm turf condition and a really tight lie for that to happen, and it just takes years and years of practice to understand what it feels like to allow your wrist to release that club in the right manner to allow the bounce to work properly. So that's called low point control, essentially.
Speaker 2:Where the face of your club literally pinches that ball down into the turf right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. And so what happens is if you don't understand the tool you're using, right, it would be like taking a claw nail, hammer right. You're like, okay, I'm going to hammer this nail, but with the backside that I pulled a nail out with right. Nobody would ever do that right? No, it doesn't work. But they were taught that. They were taught to use the proper side of the hammer. And so in the golf swing it's the same thing Like if you don't understand what a wedge's job is and how to use it. If you haven't been tested or fit for your bounce of the club, you don't know and a lot of that has to do with turf conditions that you're in softer climates, you know tend to need more bounce. You go down to the arizona desert.
Speaker 2:Depending on the turf you're playing in and the time in the year, you might want an eight degree bounce wedge is it fair, is it a fair metric to say that if you're hitting ball first with a wedge and you take a divot after contact with the ball, that you're going to generate more spin than if you were to just pick it right off the turf and no divot?
Speaker 3:So it depends, right. Is the club face squared impact or not? So if the club face is squared impact, yes, that's a thing, but if someone's coming over the top steep and across, they have a shut face, no Right.
Speaker 2:And in the simulators when I watch the performance of my ball. If I'm at 8 000, 7 000 or 8 000 backspin, my ball is going to roll off the back of the green. If I'm at 9 10 000, my ball is going to check up really fast. If I'm in excess of 11 000 backspin revolutions per minute backspin, my ball is going to zip backwards yeah.
Speaker 3:So there's an ideal um launch window, essentially for a wedge. So when you're looking at more of a full swing shot, you could take your loft of your wedge, say 60 degrees. You want to divide that by two. That's your launch condition. So 60 degrees of loft equates to about 30 degrees of launch angle and then you want as much spin as you can have. If If I'm a tour player, I want 11,500.
Speaker 5:If you can, absolutely.
Speaker 3:They're playing on some of the first, firmest, fastest greens in the world. And one of the biggest things, too, on spin is ball. So not only can you create spin through a good hit right, and that's where you want to go see your local tour or your local PGA professional or professional to get fit properly for your wedges. And then maybe it's not a fit, maybe it is a lesson, maybe it is something that you need to do differently, maybe it's club choice in that area. But golf ball between, like a TP5X and a TP5, that's 300 RPM, wow. So that right there in itself helps you. If you're playing a two-piece ball, you know it could be three or four times that much, or if you go buy the walmart special for you know 16 bucks, I thought I saw you there the other day is that where you were shopping, I, it was costco oh, there you go involved, yeah, yeah the lawsuit's over right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh nice well, all right, that that's that's. That's great advice and, like I said, just being able to get the analytics behind what we're seeing our ball do as amateurs out on the course um makes a lot of sense. So thank you for your question, tyler.
Speaker 1:Next question is going to be from adam hey guys, it's adam, I've got a question for you. So I've been having to tee off with my six iron, which is a little bit pathetic, because I'm either slicing it really bad or I'm snap hooking my driver, and I sure would love to use my driver. What suggestions do you have, or what's like the first step to get that thing lined up?
Speaker 3:Hey Adam, thanks for your question, and I'm pretty sure this is Adam Rutledge.
Speaker 2:I think it is so shout out the infamous Adam Rutledge from the Rutledge Property Group.
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, shout out to Adam and thanks for your question. Pretty funny Quick story about Adam. I've given Adam a few lessons and first time I ever played golf with Adam was at Rogue Valley Country Club and we're on the first hole. He's 150 yards out and he pulls his wedge pitching wedge and I hadn't really seen him play up to that point and I'm like, hey, do you want more club? Like what's going on with this? And he decides to take a whale at that pitching wedge and hits it over the road. He carried it 200 yards with this pitching wedge it was the longest wedge I've ever seen. So anyway, was it?
Speaker 2:was it a good strike or did he played it it?
Speaker 3:was an incredible strike. So I'm just like, well, we've got. This was the assessment. This was like, on course, assessing, checking this out, so so obviously the guy's very, very gifted, it's got a lot of speed, um you know it works out a lot works out a lot right. Owner of a 45, right. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, with that being said, um, you know there's a lot in that question, and the number one thing is he's talking about directional miss Right. He's like, and I'm snap hooking it. Well, if you're snap hooking it, the direction of the club face matters. That club face is pointed, for a right handed golfer, to the left and he's a right handed golfer. So obviously when the face shuts down, it delofts Right, right, it delofts the club face and therefore it's hard to get it up in the air. And so when you're dealing with that, at the rate of speed that you swing at you know that's half the battle. You, you have to be aware of the club face. So you know there's a couple things there. Number one his six iron does go 240. So on most golf courses he's playing, that's probably plenty of club. And I even remember telling him on like the second hole, you might just need to hit seven iron. You're pregnant, your goal is to out drive everybody I played with adam.
Speaker 2:Adam played on a tournament with me um the david's chair tournament at stoner's golf course almost two years ago and he brought out a two iron I think, for his, for his tee shots. I'm like, dude, you can't play with us if you're not hitting a driver. Where's your driver?
Speaker 3:He's like Noah took it from me Of course I did, yeah, and he probably played pretty good too, you know. Going back to that question, I mean Adam made a lot of growth with that driver too. It was so funny because he would hit snap hooks and we finally got him to cut the ball and then he started hitting it better, um. But. But there is something unique about it. It's um in in lessons, particularly when you're snapping it. It's not just one thing.
Speaker 3:Sometimes there's some other things mentally there that go on with certain players too, where they don't want to see it.
Speaker 3:Ben hogan was a great example of that. He never wanted'd never wanted to see that snap hook, which is why he changed his grip, which was the Hogan secret, and the grip is definitely something there. But number one is going to be set up right. We got to make sure that the club face is set up square to the target first, and I would just go into that for Adam too, that the first thing I would want him to do is actually set up with the club out in front of him, making sure that the club face is square to the target, almost like you're looking down a ping pong paddle or a racket and see that face square and then you're going to bow down to the ball, essentially, and and you're going to address the club to the target first, and then take your stance, because what you're going to notice is the club face is most likely left, and you're probably trying to compensate for that left, maybe with your body.
Speaker 2:So don't line up your feet and then drop the club in front of the ball, behind the ball.
Speaker 3:Correct. I always. I always tell people too. A lot of times when they see a shot they don't like, they tense up even more and you know they try to do something exact opposite, like aim a different direction. Well, sometimes when you aim the to the right, let's say that might create even more of a snap hook if the face is left, depending on how you're swinging.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, I have a problem with slicing the ball and then I try to correct it and I overcorrect and I get into the snap hook and that's a good tip and I need to apply that too where I drop the club face behind the ball, line up the club face and then adjust my stance to that. That actually makes a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, depending on the technology you have and what it can do. Um, you know, like sports box AI, where we can see that 3d person right, we know how they move and so, being able to see how a player moves, we can decide if they need to take it. Let's say, more inside right or or more straight back, more two plane swing versus one plane swing there's so many different concepts out there, but defining that um is all relative to um getting to know your student and the relationship you're building, so that way, you know, you could teach them from afar if you have to Awesome.
Speaker 2:Adam, thanks for the question, buddy and um, our last question for today is from Derek.
Speaker 5:Hey guys. This is Derek Got a question about a driver. I'm struggling with pretty consistent toe high hits on driver. I'm not experiencing that issue with my mini driver finding the center of the face pretty often with it, Wondering if I might have equipment issue with the shaft. It's kind of my thoughts that the driver's shaft might not be stiff enough for me. It's tip 120-ish club speed, ball speed about 170. Currently playing Callaway Epic LS with a Mitsubishi MMT 70, extra stiff on it. On the Mini I've got a Mitsubishi CK Pro White 72 or stiff. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for your question, Derek. Number one, I just did some simple math on my calculator. He's ball speeds at 170, club head speeds at 120, smash factors at about 1.41, 1.42. He's a beast. I mean he is at a 1.5, right. So hit location is obviously off center, right. And yeah, I mean he's playing equipment.
Speaker 3:Everything he was saying shaft wise is white. So essentially, when we get into like a whiteboard shaft, most of our manufacturers at this point are color coded with the shaft. So you've got red, which is typically a little bit softer of a shaft, maybe some more twist in there to help the golfer, essentially. And then you've got the blues, and then you've got the blacks, and then you've got the whites. And then he's talking about tour spec as well. So if it's a tour shaft, right, that could mean it's even a 2X or a 3X, I don't know without seeing it.
Speaker 3:However, the one thing I'm going to say is shaft is player preference. It has nothing to do with you know hitting it higher or lower. It has everything to do with how you feel that club head. And if you can't feel the club head and know where it is in space, you're gonna have a really hard time delivering it at impact consistently? Um, obviously, a couple questions would be is is this player already currently taking lessons? What are they doing right? And I think, um, for me, the number one thing here is that he's saying he's hitting it high on the toe. So what?
Speaker 2:that tells me, potentially without with his driver, but not with his mini driver.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly. So a couple of things there. Right, mini driver is going to be much, much smaller CC head. Most likely. It's a higher lofted club as well, potentially, and it could be more like a three wood, essentially Right, and so the length of the club could be different too, depending on.
Speaker 3:I'm not there, but what I was going to say is high toe hits many times are because of a loss of posture, potentially, and that club is moving.
Speaker 3:So if he is swinging as hard as he is, he might not be stabilizing his lower body as well as he should be right, so he might not be in sequence, as we call it, lower body leading.
Speaker 3:And what can happen is if you're swinging that hard and you can't stabilize, you're going to come out of posture almost standing up, or your hands are going to do something where maybe they're raising up, and that's going to bring the club closer to you to a toe hit. So what I would recommend in this situation, just first and foremost, is a hallway drill, super simple. Grab two sticks, put them down about half an inch wider than the driver at the target you're trying to hit at and see if your hit location gets better. Number two you probably have technology, it sounds like to know where hit location is. But if you don't, you can get a piece of tape from your local professional that has hit location on it. You can take baby powder, put it on the face. They have the foot spray you can spray you know on there and it'll show you exactly where you're hitting it on the face too, if you go to the driving range versus a place like ours where we have the technology right then and there.
Speaker 2:And when you're generating that much clubhead speed, aerodynamics have to come into play and a driver is by nature going to have more resistance than a mini driver because it's bigger, right. And so does it come into play where I've heard you talk about. You know you're getting your hands through the ball and you're not giving the time for the driver head to release at the right time. And so much of that has to do with one it's bigger and heavier to the shaft is longer. Three it's lesser aerodynamic than a fairway would yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 3:It's amazing right now the technology out there is so aerodynamic anyway, I mean they, I mean just unlimited amounts of money in R and D, even like with air going over the driver, and you know, they start with CAD, they get into AI, they do all this stuff with head design not to go down that rabbit hole right now, but you can make a driver extremely light if you want to, depending on swing, waiting it, um, depending on shaft. You know, when I first started playing golf, graphite was coming out and they'd have to throw out about 10 shafts for every one good one, literally. They were just so far off. They'd have to do these things called spine checking and checking, you know, the deflection of the shaft to make sure it was a good fit for you. Now, like 99% of the shafts that come off the line are almost exactly the same. So, as far as the other there, they're very good.
Speaker 3:The quality control now is so much better than it used to be, um, and so what I would say also in this is just, you know, when you get into somebody with that club head speed, that's awesome, cause you can't just that club head speed. That's awesome because you can't just teach club head speed. You got to learn it. You know it's a gift at some level as well. But one degree open, closed face of that club head speed when you are now carrying it potentially 285 to 3, yeah to 310.
Speaker 3:Yeah, now, all of a sudden you're hitting it into the trees right or left, because you're hitting it into the trees right or left, because you're hitting it so far. So it's kind of like that happy medium of you know, the mini driver might be the club for you a lot of the time because you're hitting it well and you're already hitting it 270. And even on a tour course, if you're hitting it 270 down the middle and your nine iron goes 160, you know game on Right. So some of it could be strategy as well, um, but you know we're working on that right now with the SOU team. We're going down to California, um, on Monday and the golf course that we're playing down there requires a certain shot shape which is more of a cut or it's going to be a, you know, cutter's paradise and there's desert golfers paradise. There we go, yeah, yeah, exactly, and the lefties are going to want to hit draws. But I think everyone on the team going down right now is a righty. So it'll be interesting to see.
Speaker 2:Excellent, and, kara, you're from Southern California, I am what, and it's exciting that you're going to get to go home to play golf. Is this a course you're familiar with?
Speaker 6:It's not, but I am excited to play it. I think I've heard of it, but I've never played it before.
Speaker 2:So what brought you up to Southern Oregon to go to school?
Speaker 6:I was emailing a couple other colleges about playing golf, like anywhere, and um, noah had emailed me and reached out and asked to talk and I was like yeah, like why not, let's do it. And then we set up a zoom meeting and then we talked and then after that, after talking with him and him telling me about his plan to build the program up and everything about the new golf team, I was like I can get on board with this, like I really like it, and oregon was far enough away from home to where I wanted it to be, but it was still across some independence and be an adult yeah, exactly, but I think it was like close, express some independence and be an adult.
Speaker 6:Yeah, exactly, but I think it was like the perfect place, because it's as a little similar to the weather in California, just a little bit colder.
Speaker 2:I would say A little bit cooler, a little bit hotter in the summer.
Speaker 6:Yeah, but it's still great.
Speaker 2:And we got some great golf courses around here to play as well.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What are you studying in school?
Speaker 6:I am studying uh business administration excellent.
Speaker 2:There's such a high demand for that. Yeah, absolutely, um, so what? What have you done over the last couple of weeks to prepare for this course? You're coming off a win, right? Yeah, um, how is it to come off of a win and that high you have? And I can only imagine there's now more pressure on you that you don't want because that expectation, that bar has been set. How do you balance the rush and the high and the excitement of coming off a win with preparing for success in your next tournament?
Speaker 6:It honestly just enhances my excitement even more, and I always have high expectations for myself anyway, so it's really nothing new, and, win or not, I still played good in Arizona, and it just made me even more excited to continue playing, especially now that the tournament that's coming up. It's somewhere that I am familiar with, and so I'm pretty excited about that.
Speaker 2:Is this a course, noah? That is on the simulators.
Speaker 3:It's not, and so that preparation strategy is definitely really important for us. So that preparation strategy is definitely really important for us. I had mentioned previously that we'd used the simulators to get ready for a tournament up in.
Speaker 3:Washington and it definitely helped on all the dog legs that were there and the elevation and you know you could change humidity and all that. So you know, for us we looked at the golf course the other day on a flyby and one of our other players, our captain on the men's, ricky he couldn't be here today because he's already down there Right, so he went a little early to see family but he's played at a bunch. It's 10 minutes from his house. So it's unique that we have three players on the team from the LA or greater area and that we get to go home where they're going to have some family members out there rooting for them too.
Speaker 3:And the golf course is very unique. It's not ridiculously hilly but it requires some accuracy and we know from what Ricky was telling us cause we let him do the walkthrough and tell, tell them the team kind of. These are some things to watch out for. And at the end of the day it was very easy to see that we just got to get off the tee. Well, I mean, we have a group of amazing ball strikers between the men's and the women's programs already, so usually it's about how fast we get it in the hole on the green. But I would just say in this instance you know, having a few months off and now coming right into it and having snow and not being on the course one time prior to going, you know it's going to be really fun to get down there play a practice round. I think everyone's excited to get on a golf course, probably wearing shorts down there, depending on the weather.
Speaker 2:And, uh, that excitement leads to some great things, that's for sure, tell me what is your routine from the morning you wake up on the day of a tournament? What do you? What do you eat? What do you think about, what do you do?
Speaker 6:Um, I mean, I wake up with excitement just cause I'm ready to play. Um, I hydrate myself, drink water first and foremost, and then I just get ready as this, this, as if I was going to any other tournament that I've played before best western breakfast yeah okay the best, yeah, and then um talk with my teammates, see how they're feeling. Um, just talk with them about any concerns they may have. Um, they ask me questions about what I'm going to focus on during the day.
Speaker 2:So you find your comfort in camaraderie with the team.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where I know other people find their comfort in superstitious, quirky, funny, odd things and wanting to be alone.
Speaker 6:And that's so cool when you're on a college team to have you know, to have that camaraderie to depend on yeah, people, a lot of people think that golf is an individual sport, and it is for the most part, but when you're playing at a collegiate level, it's more team than anything yeah, and you get, even if you playing well, you get that pressure that's put on you too.
Speaker 2:If you know somebody has a really bad hole, it's like, okay, well, here's my opportunity to help make up for that as a team and do my part Exactly. Yeah, cool.
Speaker 3:Well, I would just say just to echo that that team side of it, you know our culture is all about family at SOU. I've stressed that since day one. And um, you know it's unique that we have Mason over here. He's going to be interviewed in a few minutes. And then we have um, kira and you know, both freshmen coming into a program, um, you know where they, you know, did have a fairly decent team culture.
Speaker 3:I felt like down where they were at Um, and so to be able to have um players already come in, knowing what it feels like and then being able to take it and make it personal for themselves, because we are a new program and I remember recruiting Kira that was one of the biggest selling points for her is, you know, she's a great golfer. Obviously she could have went D one and for us to have her, you know, we're fortunate, because I think the selling point in itself was that, oh, I can. I can create the culture that I want because it's a new program, and then I can help grow it to a level of you know that, that I can help bring in other players because I'm a good player and I mean that's what you need.
Speaker 2:You need good players if you're going to recruit good players golf is unique in that it it, if you have a great coach and you have great camaraderie, it doesn't matter whether you're playing for d1 or d2 or d3, it doesn't matter because you're not having, you know, professional organization recruiters out there looking at you. It's up to you. So if you feel your skills can become more refined because of great coaching in a smaller school, you're going to be more set up for success on the professional level after college, right?
Speaker 3:Well, and I just also think that from my experience you know, whether it's working with a junior golfer with the dream of playing on the PGA tour or a professional golfer, um, it's the work ethic they're putting in on their own, regardless of where they go. I mean and I think that's probably some advice for some of those junior golfers looking it's like just go play, find a place to play, play all four years, play competitive golf, you'll be better. I played division three. I could have went D1. I had offers and opportunities. I had walk-on opportunities all over, but it wasn't important. What was important was I wanted to be able to go play and I did for four years. My ultimate plan was to go D3 and then see how I did and go D1.
Speaker 3:The second um after I got ranked in the country, I had a D1 interview with a school that I was looking into and they told me I couldn't do the major I wanted to do. We traveled too much. So immediately I shut down like well, this isn't what it's cracked up to be, and I spent the remaining three years at Pacific University Best decision of my life, because I got everything I wanted, you know, and I didn't have to compete for it at a big school. It was awesome. Carol, what is your?
Speaker 2:most memorable round of golf. Where was it? When was it? How did you play? Well, I've been in college, or no, your whole life, your whole golf career.
Speaker 6:Honestly, I would say Arizona's pretty up there, arizona's pretty up there.
Speaker 3:How awesome was it in the playoff? I just let's back up. We rode in a car together in the playoff. Can you tell the story of how you were feeling and then what happened? Just walk us through, you know, in a minute or two, this, this playoff that you had, and then, obviously, the celebration at the end was incredible.
Speaker 6:So yeah, so um, after I finished the round, I was very happy with my performance for the tournament overall, and then I was expecting to just ride back to our house and leave for the airport. And then Noah comes up to me and he's's like you're about to play in a playoff, and I'm like really, I was like I wasn't expecting to be tied for first, but I wasn't really keeping track of the score. Anyway, I was just happy with the way I played. And then we rode back to the 18th hole, which is where the first hole of the playoff was, and I was like very nervous. I had never been in a playoff before and I just didn't really know what to expect. And the girl I was playing against was also very good, and Noah was just right there the whole time. He was talking me through about anything that was on my mind and then, when it was time to tee off, I think we went with probably the most perfect club and shot that I could have had at the moment.
Speaker 2:What was that? What did you tee off with?
Speaker 6:I teed off with a 5-wood and the girl teed off with a driver, and if I had hit my driver I probably wouldn't have been in the fairway.
Speaker 2:And how was the other girl?
Speaker 6:She was fine uh, she was in the middle of the fairway but I was to the left side and the pin was to the right, so it set me up with a perfect shot in, because I had a lot of room for error and I hit a nice little cut right inside of the hole and had like 20 feet uphill oh, that gives me goosebumps.
Speaker 6:Yeah. And then the girl's second approach shot. She pulled it a little left and she was a bit far from the pin. And then we walk up to the green and I had a similar putt previously during that round in the same day and I was shaking over the ball. I was so nervous because I was like I don't really want to play another playoff hole. I kind of just want to get this over with.
Speaker 3:Well, plus, we had a flight to catch.
Speaker 6:That too. Yeah, the pressure, my gosh, noah. But I wasn't thinking about that. I was just thinking about making the putt and I was telling Coach Noah that I was just so nervous I don't really know what to do. But he just talked me through the whole thing. He said I'm just going to let you feel what's right and do what you need to do to make this putt. And he just stepped back. Let me do what I did and you made the birdie putt. I made it yeah, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 3:I can just picture Noah standing over there on the french tapping on the clock like come on no, you know what, um, as nervous as she says she was, she did not look nervous or act nervous. There was some nerves driving up to the t and it was pretty, pretty awesome as we talked through it, because the look changed after we talked through it and you could tell she was zoned in, ready to go and the five wood was the best place you could have ever hit, cause um, the girl hit it about 50 yards past her five wood and Kira hits it far, and this girl actually probably hit it a little bit farther than Kira does. So you know, the fact is, sometimes when you get into those playoff situations it turns to match, play Right, and so the mindset shouldn't shift. You got to take whatever you know, whatever horse you wrote in on, and I think that was like kind of the, the knowledge I was trying to give to her. It was like it's okay, just relax, you just got into a playoff, you're playing great right now, go play golf, and so I think that was a little bit comforting.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, moving forward, um, kira had the upper hand because she got to play first, so hitting five would when the girl had driver. Now it's like, ok, I'll hit it close and she did, and the girl pulled her wedge 50 feet from the hole and then she hit it to like six feet, so she didn't even have a gimme yet. So I would say that, looking at it from a coaching perspective, I'm like man, you can be freed up on this putt and actually hit it two or three feet by, and you'll still have her putt first. And you know, I think for Kira, the second she hit it. I recorded the whole thing, but the celebration with your mom and your sister was just going to ask do you have this on video?
Speaker 3:I have it on video.
Speaker 2:We might have to post it on the my golf source uh Facebook page.
Speaker 3:Is that?
Speaker 2:okay with you, mm-hmm. Yeah, excellent, yeah, we got to do that tonight. Sounds good, we'll get that up there All right, and before we move on to Mason, what's like your dream bucket list course that you haven't played? Augusta, augusta, yeah, yeah, the Untouchable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they have a tournament you can play in. For that, that women's amateur, we might have to get you signed up, oh yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have you ever played golf overseas?
Speaker 6:I have not.
Speaker 2:That'd be fun too. Yeah, All right, Mason Garrett. Thank you so much.
Speaker 6:Thank you.
Speaker 2:It's been a pleasure meeting you. This is my first time meeting you and thanks for coming on the show with us yeah, thank you for having me all right. All right, mason, thanks, um, thanks for coming in here and joining us as well. You're also from southern california. You're also playing for sou. What brought you up here to southern oregon?
Speaker 4:uh. So I was, uh, emailing colleges, kind of like Kira, and there were some schools that offered me but there were others that also didn't, and I had Noah, uh, actually, he emailed me and my mom, uh, it was so funny. My mom saw the email first, which was kind of bizarre, but she's just like, uh, hey, uh, school um reached out to you, southern Oregon. I'm like, oh, really, and, uh, he wanted to get a zoom call right away and I kind of just got the impression from him that like he wanted me and it felt really nice to be wanted and he was very, um, yeah, he was very, uh, nice about it and it was awesome to give me that opportunity. And so we had the zoom meeting went really well scheduled. A visit went down to the visit and he seemed very confident in getting me and, uh, and he did so it was awesome. Good, well, welcome to southern oregon. What, what are you studying? I'm studying, uh, business management okay a lot of business management people.
Speaker 2:I think we're gonna open up a big big, big company.
Speaker 3:We're gonna franchise golf Garage and they're all going to take one.
Speaker 2:You know what. You've lived in several locations. I've lived in several locations and the one super unique thing that I love about the Rogue Valley here in Southern Oregon is if you are an entrepreneur, there is endless opportunity there. The population growth here has been off the charts over the last 10 years, and if you own a business and want to provide a service, the community here is so hungry for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would agree. I mean, the community is still, even though it's a hundred thousand people in Medford, which is not small, but it's not even close to big.
Speaker 2:I think the Rogue Valley. When you factor in the surrounding areas and even factor in Grants Pass, we're probably a little over 200,000 people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the county's got over 300. And I only know that because I studied it for this building. So, yeah, I would just say that everyone's super supportive of this and, like you said, the entrepreneurial spirit is definitely strong here right now. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I love it. Said, the entrepreneurial spirit is definitely strong here right now. Absolutely, I love it. Well, back to you, mason. Um, what are you? Have you played the course you're going to for this Providence Invitational? I have not. You have not. No, what, no, what is the Providence Invitational?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So um Providence is a school, NAIA Division II school down there that's hosting. So most schools have their name tied into their invite, so to speak. So we have our conference events, we have our fall event, spring event, conference championship. So the main events we play in will get you two things One player of the year, award points. But the tournament we look forward to, which would be our US Open, our Masters, one of the majors, it's our conference championship. There's an automatic qualifier for the winning team to go to the national championship. So in NAIA, in our level, we do not have a regional. We go straight to nationals if you win, which is pretty awesome. We're already playing a competitive schedule with upwards of 12 events a year. Multiply that by three rounds, four rounds, you got a lot of golf in 24 weeks. So it's really good. What does your preparation look like?
Speaker 4:Uh, so, uh, preparation is really important to me. Um, it's funny for me because I think I love practice more than playing, which sounds weird, but I I just really enjoy the process of it and, like I love to work on things that I need to work on and I like to know what I need to work on, and whenever I feel like I practice really well or just practice like what I need to work on things that I need to work on and I like to know what I need to work on, and whenever I feel like I practice really well or just practice like when I need to, I feel really confident going into the tournament. Good, what?
Speaker 2:what's your? What's your routine from when you wake up in the morning on a tournament day?
Speaker 4:Uh, so I wake up, uh, shower, uh, I um, get a good breakfast in, um, and then I have some butterflies, because I care about it, obviously, and I do my stretching. Uh go putt first, uh, and then I go hit some balls, uh, go chip a little and then go back to the putting green and then uh, yeah, then I go play.
Speaker 2:So you prefer to focus on your own personal systems? Yes, where Kara prefers the camaraderie and the talking and the interaction and the love she feels from her teammates. Interesting, interesting, I love it. Everybody is so unique in that way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think we need to get the rest of the team on the podcast. I just learned some new things about our players as well. So, no matter how long you've been with them or conversations you have, it's going to make coaching a little easier just from some of these.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's fascinating when I'm preparing for something, I get really, really stressed out so I want to do anything, but think about it. Well, I am.
Speaker 3:I am best if my mind is off of whatever I have to do until the minute I have to do it well, with mason just now saying that he likes to practice more than play, and that might be the first time I've heard you say that. Tyler says it quite a bit actually. I was very like the way tyler said it the first time. He's like, oh, I don't even care, you know, know, about playing, I just like to practice. And I'm like wait, wait, what? Don't say that to your college golf coach? What are you talking about? But no, honestly, like the process side of it, and what you're saying is going to be really helpful when we go down there, because if you have the mindset of every day you're trying to get a little bit better, it becomes practice in itself, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And nobody succeeds without practice and nobody's going to practice successfully if they don't love it Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. Um, so Mason is a grinder right. He? Uh, he was out here last night, right? How late did you stay?
Speaker 4:Probably till like 845 ish, 830 ish At night yeah.
Speaker 3:That's pretty awesome. Um, how do you feel about your game going down there? We've talked about it, but what do you? What do you think your biggest strength is right now? Going down into LA.
Speaker 4:Uh, I'm feeling really good. Uh, my irons are the best they've been and uh, I think the reason why I've just been practicing so much is because last fall I didn't have the season I wanted. Uh and uh, I just told myself, like no one's gonna feel sorry for you, for you and I would sometimes feel sorry for myself because I played bad but but I just told myself you got to crawl out of this hole and I think I put in a lot of hours, I put in a lot of work and I feel like there's a good chance I can play well. But if I don't, it wouldn't be the end of the world, because I would just go back and practice even if I won.
Speaker 2:I love that and you mentioned earlier on when we when we first started talking that it's it feels good to be wanted.
Speaker 4:It does, it feels good to be needed.
Speaker 2:And now your team needs you, yes, and they want you, yes, and so that that's gotta be a great driving force. Yes, for sure To, to execute on the course what you've been practicing and working on so hard in the, in the sim, definitely so we had kira.
Speaker 3:Kira is just amazing in the gym. She loves working out. It's a big thing for her. Mason, you've bulked up a little bit this year already so talk to us about what you're doing in the gym and why you took the initiative to work out a little harder in the off season and you actually reached out to coach matt, which was like a coach's dream to hear. You reached out to a coach to get some help in the gym.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, I was pretty skinny last year, I was around 152 pounds freshman year and I probably only hit the ball like 260, like carry and not far. And I just told myself, if I want to be a better player and a good player, I'm going to have to hit it further. So I, um, I looked, I uh researched some workouts and talked to my swing coach about it, and reached out to coach Matt too, and, uh, I'm still uh working, uh with some new exercises, still experimenting with them, but I'm definitely on a good uh track to get a good plan for them for sure. What do you weigh now? Uh, I weigh one 74.
Speaker 3:Yeah, baby oh yeah, he's a he's, he's a beast. It's funny Like you're five, 11.
Speaker 4:Uh no, I'm six like one, six, two on a good day.
Speaker 2:We're sitting down.
Speaker 4:I didn't. I didn't get to sit next to you.
Speaker 3:Okay, I mean he's not lying. When I recruited him, I mean string bean comes to mind.
Speaker 3:honestly relative to his size, right, I'm a little guy so I can say that, right, I'm 125 pounds, soaking wet, 5'7". So yeah, I mean it's pretty incredible how he can move the ball, even the 260, it was efficient. So it's rolling out to 300, you know, at that size. So now when Mason wants to get after it, it's out there and he's one of the longest on the team because he's so efficient already and he knows how to make the ball go somewhere. It's good. What are your?
Speaker 4:future ambitions oh for college. After college, oh after college. Sorry, I mean obviously I would love to play on the tour. I think there's not a reason why I should try.
Speaker 2:Not a reason why you shouldn't try. Shouldn't try, sorry.
Speaker 4:I meant shouldn't try, sorry about that and maybe a swing coach or maybe a college coach. I just want to do something related to golf, but obviously I would love to try to make the tour first and yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2:And that was one of the biggest surprises to me when my son started playing golf and I got to know Noah and I got to know the coaches here. Golf is so unique in the professional sports world where you can make a career. Anybody who wants to do it, who starts at a young enough age and is a proficient golfer can make a career. Anybody who wants to do it, who starts at a young enough age and is a proficient golfer can make a career in the golf industry, whether they play on the tour or not.
Speaker 3:Well, and on top of that, when I got into the industry, you were going in one track. You were an assistant pro. You were making $0, working four jobs, working 50 hours a week for a base salary and you would have to find the time to teach golf to try to make ends meet.
Speaker 2:Now they're equated to like a bartender who's making minimum wage, but they make their money in tips because they do a great job. You're making minimum wage as a pro in a golf shop or an assistant pro, but you can make really good money doing lessons on the side for a side hustle.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, I mean, I would say that's a hundred percent accurate. And on top of that, now there's career paths. So you know the golf academy that I have immediately you can go into teaching and coaching if you want to, or the fitness element, right, and then they have operations. Now they have, um, you know, professional management, all that. So it's really nice to see that there's specialties going on in the golf industry. Um, I think just being able to go into what you're passionate about right away keeps professionals in the industry and it allows them to fast track and allows them to make you know a living, as opposed to you know you're at the bottom of the totem pole for a long time until you get into that head pro job or director of instruction.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Mason. Who's your favorite tour player? Who do you look up to the most?
Speaker 4:I really like Jordan Spieth a lot. All right, it's my wife's favorite too.
Speaker 3:That's kind of scary.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying I'd be having a conversation with your wife.
Speaker 3:We were at the PGA show about five years ago and Kimberly got so excited because there's this huge billboard of Jordan Spieth and I had to take her picture with it. So, yeah, it's all right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you deleted that one.
Speaker 1:He's a good looking guy. He's a good looking guy, it works.
Speaker 2:Hey, thank you both for coming on the show. It's been such a pleasure. Thank you for all of our listeners that called in with their questions. We'll be taking more of them next week, and who's going to be our guest next week?
Speaker 3:well, so jermaine couldn't be on this week, but he said that he is looking forward to next week. Jermaine, curse everybody. Owner of ever green golf club up in seattle and tacoma looking to be on the show next week. Retired Seattle.
Speaker 2:Seahawks wide receiver.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he is, and Super Bowl champion Amazing.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to it, and we are going to get Kira's win playoff win posted on our social media page. Look us up on Facebook. Mygolfsource and our MyGolfSourcecom website will be up in due time as well. Stay tuned. See you next week.
