U.S Kids Worlds Prep-

In this episode of the Golf Dads Podcast, Ryan and Jason discuss their experiences and preparations for the US Kids World Tournament. They delve into the unique challenges of youth golf, including the importance of practice, and managing expectations. 

The conversation highlights the balance between encouraging kids to pursue their passion for golf while ensuring they enjoy the game without undue pressure. In this conversation, Ryan discusses the complexities of balancing family life with youth golf, the challenges of scheduling tournaments, the importance of breaks, and the impact of technology and social media on youth sports. 

• Preparation is key for youth golfers heading into tournaments.
• Managing expectations is crucial for both parents and kids in golf.
• Finding the right tournaments is essential for young golfers' development. Planning family vacations around golf tournaments is common.
• Technology has changed how kids can practice golf year-round.
• Social media plays a significant role in youth sports marketing.
• Parents often feel pressure from social media to keep up with others.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everybody back and welcome back to another golf dads podcast. It's just Jason and I. Adam is uh he's left us high and dry because uh he's he's uh extremely doing more radio. Yeah, yeah, he has a face for radio. So the title of this podcast is World's Prep. So US Kids World is World's Tournament for the I guess what the 12 and Unders the uh is starts this week. Uh uh what Thursday? Thursday, Friday, Saturday. So Adam actually went to Pinehurst. Uh this is Sunday. He left yesterday, so he's in Pinehurst. I actually think right today he's playing Tobacco Road. Yeah, with very jealous about that. Yeah. See, we could talk about that a little bit because I feel like not everybody likes the same courses. And I know you and I played Tobacco Road. You sold you you gave you upsold it to me on how great it was. And now I will say this, to be fair, it is very, very aesthetically pleasing. It is a beautiful looking course, but with that, it's very different, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Like it's uh I don't know, it's extremely different.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

It's a very difficult course in terms of like difficult, not in the terms of Oakmont, difficult in the terms of a putt-putt golf course. You just gotta be on your game.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah, you gotta know the waters a little. I love strands courses. We have a house in Pauli's Island and Caledonia and True Blue are down there, and they're like classic strands courses, and so we play those all the time. And when we got the chance to play Tobacco Road, and you really got to see how he how his mind worked and how you can design these things. It's just such a cool experience to be down there. I know you're not a huge fan of it, but they do say whenever you go there, they're like you're gonna play the first time and you're gonna love it or you're gonna hate it. But he said, most people hate it. You have to come back, you have to play it two or three times, and and you just can't get enough of it after that. And well, I've played there I think twice now, and it's just I love everything about it. Granted, you don't want to be in a 30-foot bunker, but that's just part of it.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

I mean, and again, I guess I'm I'm a fan of golf and I'm a fan of golf course architecture, so it's like uh maybe it's like the flank Frank Lloyd Wright design of golf courses. You know, the stream flows through the house type of deal. It's just different. And I've you know, since you've taken me there, you know, you follow we follow these golf pages, you know, on Insta or whatever, and you see different uh so I'm not the only one out there. You people you see people that say that is the worst course ever. I can't believe they charge what they charge, and you see people uh in the same arena as you and and Adam that absolutely love it. So yeah, I don't know. It's just different for me. I, you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Maybe it's a little bit more. I'm not a great golfer and I shot a 78 there, so that's why I love it more.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah, yeah, you yeah. When you you tend to like the courses you do well on, that's for sure. We're gonna have to we we gotta put this out to the uh masses. What do you what do uh what do some of our listeners think of the crazy funky golf courses out there? If you've heard of Tobacco Row, you know, where's Tobacco Road, where does that uh what do you think about it? Like let us know. Send us a message, let us know what you think and some of the other funky ones. But I am in the uh field of man, on a scale of one to ten, I don't know, maybe a five. I'm I'm low. That is just straight bullshit. That's terrible.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

When we're gonna be technically leaving the next day, uh they're opening up their own nine-hole course, like uh like Definers has the cradle. They're opening up what they're calling the matchbox, and it's a 12-hole short course uh that kind of like weaves through the woods there. So I can't wait to see that. I know, I know you're not excited for it, but I am very excited to see that.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Again, like I I like the area, like I like being there. It's it definitely has a cool vibe. And I I mean, again, I'm a fan of golf, so yeah, I'll play golf, but uh it's just not like I guess if I had it like okay, do you want to play Pebble Beach, Beth Page back, you know, Beth play Beth Page back? I can't speak this morning. You know, or Tobacco Road, I'm going tobacco or I'm going, you know, Beth Page. See again, I can't speak. Uh Oakmont, you know, yeah, I want those type courses. So anyway, let us know what you think. Um, you know, hey, I did look before we jumped on here real quick, like overall downloads, and man, San Antonio is still they did bump down to number three, but uh we're still getting downloads in Texas. So I don't know. We're not maybe we're losing our traction in Texas. Maybe they're tired of the city.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Well, we're not the most consistent people out there.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Well, that's for sure, too. They're probably tired of waiting for us. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yeah. And we we are trying to apologize and get better at that. And you know, today's another perfect example of how hard it is to get the three of us together collectively. We have what eight kids between the three of us all going different directions. So it is difficult, but I think we're we're on some sort of path to get better. And we we do have some interviews lined up, and probably how it's gonna work is as our guests can come on, whoever's available is just going to run with it because otherwise, to get the three of us and then maybe a fourth person scheduled at the same time seems to be almost impossible to do. So hopefully we can do that. We're gonna try to get some more content out there. We did meet, uh, we've played a lot of golf this summer. We did meet some families that have recognized all three of us uh when we've been in in different areas, different tournaments, uh definitely different age groups. I have a son and daughter, so I lately this summer I've been actually caddying for my daughter. So I've been on like the the girls' side, and I've met some golf parents out there that have recognized me. I know you, Jason, uh caddying for Jack and the uh boys 10 have rec and have been recognized as uh you know the golf dad, and I know Adam has as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Yeah, it's pretty crazy to me.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, that's I would never think that or expect that, but it's it's really cool whenever somebody's like, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're you guys are from the golf dads podcast?

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I'm like, yeah, yeah, I didn't know everybody was like, I can't wait to listen to us. Like, don't take anything we say seriously.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

But we you know, so we've talked amongst the three of us, yeah. We need to do a better job because we've done zero marketing, like, and I say that very loosely, like we're not we're not marketers, but like, you know, and it's fun. We go, well, you guys are going to worlds, I'm not, we're staying back. Um, but you know, tea gifts, you know, hey, check us out. Like, we haven't done really any of that. Yeah, we just kind of go to the golf tournaments and we, you know, hang out with with who we hang out with. And if people have heard of us, they've heard of us. But I don't think any of us have really been out there at all pushing golf dads. Um, you know, I know uh Ryan, who we had on what may it's been a while now, up in Boston, the the PGA head professional and college coach, you know, he reaches out to me and listens and he says he tells everybody. So maybe he probably has a he probably has a pretty big uh a big wand that he waves around. But you know, I I you know I think just word of mouth. Um I think the last podcast I mentioned, I met some at the Arnold Palmer, I met some people from Canada. Uh so yeah, it's it's been really cool to hear from everybody. Please keep reaching out to us somehow. I'm on Instagram, Adam is on Instagram, Jason's on Instagram personally. You can find us, Jason Slater, I'm Ryan Fjord, Adam Predabon. Um, all three of us are on Instagram, and then also the Golf Dads podcast is on Instagram as well. So reach out to us, let us know what we're doing well, what we're doing bad, what you want to hear more of. We'll probably not listen, but we'll see. But anyway, with all of that, we titled this one World's Prep because these guys have been going hard, what, the last two weeks getting ready for uh the U.S. kids world tournament in Pinehurst. So what's that look like on your end, man?

SPEAKER_00 8:35

It's been a lot. Uh I'm honestly I was a little bit nervous because I you don't want to wear the kids out. You don't want to overdo it. You're you're just trying your best to be consistent. And so we put together kind of like a practice schedule, which we talk about. Like this is one of the hardest sports out there because you don't have a coach to go practice, you know, every day. You're gonna be running this, running this. It's all kind of up to you. So we kind of laid out like a a seven-day practice schedule with uh like rest days in between and things like that. And it's honestly it's been great. His uh his game is looking great, his his mind i is good. It's just a matter of trying to control when all the pressure's on, you know. So I'm I I'm excited. Uh we are leaving today. We're actually playing our parent child today and then leaving right after that to head down. But he's just been grinding, you know, really a lot of focus on short game, 100 yards in. That's what we've really spent the most time on. And it it's I actually like to see his like warm-up now when he's on the range. He used to hit like 50 drivers because he didn't like this or didn't like that. Now he might hit four or five drivers, and that's it. We just call it and we go, but he really tries to dial in those 40, 50, 60, 70 yard shots. Because that's where as you had uh Rachel on, you know, I thought that was some of the best advice. I told that straight to him, too, where she said, you know, you're not a bad putter, you're bad at irons. So we've really focused on what she said there and tried to apply that over the last couple weeks to take that down to Pinehurst. But we'll see, we'll see how it goes. He's it's not for lack of effort if he doesn't do well, he's he's really grinding it out there.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yeah, I mean Jack is definitely driven. We played golf with him, we played golf with you guys yesterday, my two and Jack and Cole, and you know, you and I just kind of drove the cart type of deal. But yeah, I mean, I know Jack has the drive to practice and and do what it takes. And uh, you know, it's it's it's it's it's your your kids, and this is what I've kind of hit home, you know, we can want them to practice. We as parents slash coaches can stand back and see where they need to do the work and the amount of work. And we also know the amount of work they're putting in. My kids are, you know, I tell them, I like, look, this is on you. You want to get better, you got to do the work. That's all there is to it. I can want it, I can tell you, but if you don't actually do it, then you can't really expect, you know, um you know, great results. And we're kind of seeing that a little bit. Like I think they're kind of seeing it, like, you know, if you want to play at the level, and and it's a double-edged sword, it really is. You know, especially when you go to a tournament like the U.S. Kids Worlds and Jack's in the 10-year-old, and you know, Jack's a great golfer, and there's gonna be a whole array of great golfers down there. When you see the level of commitment it takes to, you know, if you want to be, you know, whatever, winner, top five, top ten, even top 20. I mean, these kids are really good, 10 years old. So it takes discipline. And, you know, I think it's it, you know, each, you know, for I and I get this question, I don't want to say a lot, but I've gotten this question before is like, how hard do you go, you know, as far as I'm gonna say pushing your kid, but I guess it is pushing your kid. But if they want to do it, then, you know, boom, you got the green light. But if they're pushing back, then you kind of have to be careful because in my circumstance, I think it's fair to say, you know, we want to be this, we want to be into this for the long haul. So, you know, we kind of just I let them understand that, hey, if you want to do well, you have to it has to come, it has to come by you. It can't come by anybody else. So you gotta have the desire and you gotta want to get out there and work and grind it out. And if you don't, that's okay too at nine. You know, our kids are my twins are nine. But don't go to a golf tournament and you know, expect to do so great, you know. It's like, and I think that's where I'm running into an issue with my kids. Our expectations and our our output of uh work is like a 180 right now, especially with Jackson. He expects to shoot five under par and he puts work in to shoot 15 over par.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

So it is tough, you know. I have uh, you know, obviously another boy, Cole, and this is the first year he's not going to well, he's gonna be there, but he's not gonna be playing in worlds. And it it's always tough to manage not an expectation, but you know, you have I have one kid that is like eat, sleep, breathe, golf, you know, especially right now. And you know, you're asking him to kind of turn it up a notch, and he's just responding over and over again. I mean, he he was up yesterday, I I got up at six o'clock, he was already up, and he's out in the garage, just like air, you know, taking practice swings with no clubs, because his clubs were in the car. And he's like, Would you mind turning the sim on and go get my clubs? I'm like, it's it's six o'clock in the morning, man. Like, go to sleep, get some rest, you know, like try and calm it down a little bit. But, you know, we have Cole who, you know, I love Cole. He's so much fun to caddy for and stuff, but he's just not just not really interested in golf the way, you know, Jack is. So that's been interesting to see how, you know, like you said, they go out there and they want to play their best every single time, but then you're not really putting in work. And you know, we played with with you guys yesterday and Cole was getting really frustrated. I was like, bud, you haven't picked up a club in probably a month and a half and you know, actually done anything with it. You can't there's you can't have an expectation of doing well if you're not going to put the practice time in. So so yeah, I don't I I'm I'm excited for you know everything. It is tough, you know, when you have one kid wanting it, one kid not wanting it, and you're just trying to manage, you know, keep everybody happy, keep everybody doing stuff. But uh But yeah, with with worlds coming up with Jack, I I'm I think the best thing we did in terms of our preparation, I guess you could say, was laying out like a a list of what you're gonna do each day. And it hadn't it wasn't anything crazy. It's you know, maybe like an hour practice, you know, a little bit of range, a little bit of uh heavy on putting. But I remember even when we had the last podcast that we talked about, I I think Jack overdid it around the Arnold Palmer time. He was just like two, three times a day wanting to get out on the course and driving range, and he was just putting too much work in, I think, and it was kind of scattered at the same time. Now it's very simplified. Um, so you know, in terms of other people, I think giving them an actual practice schedule really helps a lot of like just keeping an organized practice and uh what they can actually focus on on day to day. And you do that over a couple weeks, over a couple months, you're gonna see huge changes in their their their game. So yeah, I don't know. Our our world's prep has been a lot different than we've ever had for any tournament, but I think it's done well and you know, we'll just have to wait and see how it how it goes.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah, and yeah, again, it's golf. Anything can happen. You know, uh you know, it's just you know what just the other day, and what you know, at the 3M championship, Anthony Kim shot 59 on uh Friday, and uh what what he shoot yesterday, it wasn't, you know, even or something.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Even, yeah. So like Jack did that down in South Carolina. First day he shot a 77, the next day he shot a 67. You know, you don't you don't know. Day to day is going to be totally different. So uh you just try your best.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

You just don't know. And and and uh, you know, uh I know for Alex, you know, he's down there. Adam and I had talked, or the three of us have talked, you know, but you know, Alex has to play 18 holes. Jack's been doing that. Alex has played a couple rounds of 18-hole golf, but uh, you know, 18 holes walking in Pinehurst, you know, it's warm, it's hot. So there's a physical, physical, and then you know, that probably gets to be a mental factor as well that could enter in. And when something like that happens, you know, it doesn't matter how much practice you've done, you know, swinging the actual golf club. So there's a lot of a lot of variables that come into play with golf, and that's what makes it so, you know, that's what makes the game so fun. It could be it could be anything, you know, and and it's just it's but you know, it's fun to see these kids grind it out. It's fun to see um, you know, we follow Pinehurst on Instagram and you know, my wife and I are having FOMO, the fear of missing out a little bit because a lot of people were down there already posting. And you know, we chose to not go just because uh this will be two years in a row. My my daughter made it, my son didn't uh on the status points, you know. It's the boys' nine is a little different than the girls' nine as far as how many points you have to have. I think this year was what, like level 12s were waitlisted for a while. Was that what it was? A boys' nine? It was something like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Yeah, it's starting to get I don't want to say out of hands, but it's it's kind of crazy. I mean, you are it is the world championship. These are kids from literally all over the world flying in. You know, you're talking kids. We played with a kid from Africa last year, you know, there's there's kids coming from everywhere, and you're getting the top 150 kids in the world that are gonna be at this event, but it's not when they're when you're younger, when you're like six, maybe seven, it's a little easier to get in. I think some people are still deciding whether they want to golf or you know, what's going on there, but then when you get into the eights, the nines, the tens, it's just so competitive now that if you're not a level, at least a level 12, you don't have shot. You know, you're not you're not getting in as a at least on the boys' side, you're not getting in. Realistically, if you want to have a a sure way in, you got to be a level 13, which I think means you have to shoot, you have to play a round that's like two under par or three under par or something like that in total.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Like there's only 14 levels, and you need to be a 13. Yeah. And like a level 10 is like what, if you're on n two nine hole rounds, is like what 36, 38, something like that. So it's not like you're a bad golfer.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Right. It's yeah, yeah. It's it's uh 73, 74 is not a bad round for uh for a little kid, but in terms of like getting those priority status points and qualifying stuff, it's it's just crazy now. You gotta you really gotta be out there and you gotta put all the stars aligned for at least one event throughout the year.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah, I mean that that's ex is it it's a little easier, it's a little, you know, less on the girl side, but I can see that starting to creep up as well. So anyway, back to you know, my why, you know, Harper played in it last year and Jackson kind of sat the bench and you know, of course he had a great time hanging out with everybody and you know, we had fun and but he didn't get to play any golf, he just had to watch, and then it would have been two years in a row for that. So we were just like, you know what, we're not gonna do that. There's plenty of tournaments where we can go and uh they can both play because they both do enjoy golf. And I mean, the worlds are great, but it's also not the end all be all. You know, it doesn't mean it doesn't really mean anything if you're not there. So we're going to Michigan State, which is uh coming up here in a couple weeks, like August 9th or 10th, something like that. It's and and it's with it's like within a six-hour drive, five and a half, six hours, so it's something we can drive to. Pinehurst is about seven hours for, so it's not it's kind of getting, you know, towards the end of how far I want to drive. You know, but again, it's a it's a state tournament. Both kids get to play, you know, it's it's competition, and uh it's in a cool spot, Frankenmuth, Michigan, I think, which you know, in August is a pretty cool spot. So just kind of do like a mini vacation, hang out up there, you know, do some swimming, do some uh golfing and you know, see how it goes. So you know, I don't think we've we've talked oh god. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

As I say, we've we've talked about it, everybody, you know, with with Adam and and whatnot. And we just wonder like how many more, you know, how many more years of Pinehurst World Championship are we gonna do? Not because we don't love it, not because it's not great, but there's so many other places to go and tournaments to play in and stuff. And we put so much weight on obviously it's the world championships, the coolest, you know, coolest thing, I guess, in in the 10-year-old, nine-year-old, eight-year-old realm of golf. But there's also tournaments in Europe and there's tournaments all over the country, and there's different tours. There's Under Armour, there's Hurricane, there's we have Isleys, like there's there's other stuff that they're gonna be coming into as they get a little bit older. And uh, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. And I I I I kind of like what you guys are doing, where you know, you're gonna go, you're gonna play, you're gonna have some fun, but you're going to different spots. And there's also probably not a whole lot of pressure on the situation either. You know, like Pinehurst, uh, whether any of our kids or parents want to admit it or not, it is a very high pressure week. You know, there's a lot that goes into it, it's a very expensive week. It's a lot of time off. It's a lot of travel. It's a lot of uh preparation and whatnot that leads into it. And sometimes I think that can take away from, you know, the experience of what you're trying to do. And getting away, you know, playing Michigan, playing whatever is just like, all right, we're gonna see a cool spot and also, yeah, we're gonna go off and have some fun too.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Yeah, yeah. I mean, good point. And I think we should probably we should probably dedicate a whole episode to, you know, just talking about just that, like all the different tours and then kind of everything behind the scenes that has to take place in order for it to happen. Travel, time off of work, the expense. You know, uh in our case, you and I, you know, we have we have if if cool plays, you know, but I have two kids that really play and cool, you know, is kind of hit or miss, but still you're gonna have a third coming up yet. It's when Casey starts, you know, man, it it it takes a village, really. It does. And uh, you know, it's it's it can be tasking. And I know, you know, some of the discussion in in our home with my wife and I, it's like, you know, we have to plan every family vacation around a golf tournament. And selfishly I'm like, well, yeah, why wouldn't we? Yeah. And and I guess it's not because, from my perspective, it's not because I just want my kids to go to golf. It's because we haven't really purposely went anywhere else unless there was a golf tournament. So it's like, yeah, we've had at any given time prior to our kids playing golf, which is they've only this is basically, you know, working on two and a half years. You know, it wasn't like we were going to the beach or we were going to Florida. We, you know, we didn't have destination type vacations. We just kind of winged it, so to speak. So then when golf came about, it's like, oh yeah, there's a reason to go to that spot. So let's go to that spot and then let's play golf and see what else it has to offer. So that's kind of how we're looking at Michigan. The twins' birthdays in October, so there's one in like Jupiter, Florida area, which we've never been to that part of Florida.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

There's a big kid.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Jeez, you had to ask me. I can't remember. There's two of them down here. Um one of them, it's not the national one. No. Um, but anyway, yeah, we're gonna, I think so. Their birthday is uh October 5th. I think it's the following weekend, so it that's gonna be like a birthday present. We're gonna go down there, we're gonna play golf again, but we're also gonna go to the beach. We're gonna do a Jackson and I are gonna do a fishing trip. You know, so you know, we're we're gonna have fun with it and you know, kind of see that part of the world as well. So you know, but and like you mentioned, the European, there's uh there's an Ireland, you know, golf tournament. And some of I think some of our friends or people we kind of know within US kids went there this past I was maybe a month or so ago. But you know, there's a direct flight from Pittsburgh to Ireland. So it's like that's that's that's eye-opening. Like, what's that all about? I mean, what a cool trip that would be, right? Like go to Ireland, have some dark beard, play golf. Like, heck yeah, man, I'm in, you know. Yeah, you can definitely have no problem caddy in Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

You know, Jackson can yell at me in any country.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Well, you are you're usually wrong. But no, yeah, that was that that would be so cool to to experience some of these other places and courses, and that's where uh we we're getting back to you know, how many more years of this do we have left? I know Pinehurst or like the US kids still has like the teen championship, so when you're I think you turn 13, then it you're at like a different week and than the kids are and stuff, but I don't know. I w I guess we'll see how it plays out, but uh there's so much other stuff to do out there. Even like you said, outside of golf, where you still want it to be fun for the kids. It can't always just be golf, golf, golf, golf, golf. You know, even if you're gonna go on vacation, yeah, you can go play golf, but it's not you're not purposely there for golf, you know. You we're a lot of us are using up all of our time off and whatnot to go to these tournaments instead of you know, maybe making an experience somewhere else. So I I I like what you're doing. I think it was a good step. And maybe I know you've said like you wish Jackson would practice and you know stuff like that. And but maybe, you know, maybe that little time off and kind of resetting things will help him out and maybe want to get back into it and go a little harder for you know, maybe the next year or whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Yeah, no, that's a good point. You know, and uh we played, well, you know, as I said, a dedicated episode to our schedule, how we do things where we're going, you know, the the inner workings. Um I sat down and counted up, you know, be we're gonna play 20, I think Harper's playing 23 events, Jackson's playing 22 events, from like the start of the spring tour to basically the Florida uh deal in October, probably be one of our last ones. Now, a lot of those are local tours because we played Cleveland Spring Local Tour, we played Pittsburgh summer local tour, and we're probably gonna play some of the Pittsburgh Fall local tour. So that ate up a it's not like we were traveling, you know, nationwide to 20 events. Cleveland is a lot. Yeah, Cleveland is, yeah. I mean, it's it's you know, two to three hour drives to the course. Yeah. So it that that is kind of like a little bit of travel, but the for the most part, you know, it's it they're day trips. But, you know, we played the the last Pittsburgh summer tour one was, I don't know, maybe three weeks ago at this point, maybe even a month. And, you know, we had just came off of it was like Arnold Palmer, Ohio State's drive chip putt was in there, I think. I mean, and I was caddying for Harper, my wife was caddying for Jackson, and I could just like on the sixth hole, and Harper was playing well. I, but she was just done. Like I could just tell. Like it was, I she, and honestly, listen, hey, I was done. Like, I was like, you know what? Like, we have been hitting it hard. You know, we played, I think we're at uh what at Cle or at the Ohio States for two and a half days or whatever it was, and played uh 18-hole practice round, two 18-hole actual rounds, and I caddied for Jackson, I caddy for Harper in the morning. So she only played nine holes and I caddy for Jackson in the afternoon, eighteen holes. So like I was literally physically done, 27 holes a caddy in a day. But um, you know, they were just kind of wore out, man. And I was like, I just the writing was on the wall for me. I'm like, you know what, we're taking a break, you know, and it couldn't have come at a better time. That's been three weeks, and that's what I told Harper on the way home yesterday. Like, she hasn't touched a club except for drive chip putt uh since we left Hannistown. I mean, I say hasn't touched. She chipped and putted a little bit here and there, but that's not like we had any form of dedicated practice. Yeah. Jackson was probably a little more because he plays with me in the evenings, you know. But, you know, we play five or six holes, and he wants to get something to eat, and you know, then the weather moves in. We had a couple of those. So, I mean, he was playing a little bit, but again, not really dedicated practice. We went on a fishing trip to Lake Erie. We caught, you know, we just, you know, we went bass fishing. We started to get back to like a little bit of a normal life, and I think it was well you know, emotionally, physically, I think it was probably a pretty good reset. So we'll see what happens. The fall tour's coming up. We're gonna play some of that. We have a couple of these tournaments, but they're also playing soccer in the fall. They both are playing. So that's gonna take up some time as well. So it's not gonna be just golf. Uh they both love soccer, so you know that that'll be a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Like having another sport is so important for these kids to like have a reset, you know. They do go, like you said, 20 events in a couple months. And you know, that's not 12 months, that's a couple months. They're they're week to week, back to back, going, going, going. So having another sport is huge to just get them the mind reset and kind of off the photo, also into a team atmosphere instead of just such a high pressure, you know, individual sport. So yeah, Jackson, my Jackson loves soccer as well. Cole, that's actually where Cole is thriving. Like he's he's very good at soccer, he loves playing it, and we've kind of shifted our focus for him playing golf over to soccer, you know, on that side. So yeah. So yeah, it's I mean, I'm I'm excited. I'm actually very excited for this week to be over. It's been so much and going so hard.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

And and when when we're doing it, it's a grind, and yeah, Adam and I talk about it. Yeah, yeah. And Adam's, you know, he left yesterday, so he's gonna be there almost a week, right? Like, so he's really gonna be they're playing golf today. I think they play the parent child tomorrow. Tuesday is the parade, Wednesday is what the practice round and the lake party.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Yeah. So like, and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday is golf, golf, golf. So I mean, that's a you know, that's like I said, that's like you're just gonna puke golf for about a week here, man.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Like it's gonna test, you know, the parents and the kids. Like, how much do you really like golf? Because look out, here it comes this week in Pinehurst, you know.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Yeah, it is. And it's uh it's not easy to talk about. No.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

No, it is, it's always, I mean, it's definitely the most expensive week of the year in terms of everything, prep and mental grind and everything. It it it takes a toll. Uh, but it is it's a great event. I I feel like we're talking a little bad about it, but it's a great event. It's just I think after it, you gotta let the kids kind of sh shut it down for a little bit and kind of reset things.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yeah, uh, I don't think we're talking bad about it, but it's just a reality. Um, like we and you know, I think all three of us have joked that uh, you know, the the whole U.S. kids model is a really good model as far as getting us sucked into that because you know it we it we they do a really good job and the parents enjoy, I think, you know, we enjoy worlds just as much as the kids playing. And it, I mean, it is a great atmosphere, it's a great vibe, you know, from the parade, uh, the lake party, even just hanging out at Thistled or the cradle, you know. I mean, it's just a it's just a cool vibe, man. And, you know, downtown's awesome. We go out to eat together, hang out, you know, we swim. You know, it it's just it is just a fun time, and it's built around a little golf, you know, little kids' golf tournament. Uh so it yeah, we're not, you know, we're not crapping on it, man. It's just it is what it is. Like it, it also, it's both, you know, it's a lot of fun, and it can be taxing on a family. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we you you mentioned, and I will put this little uh little nugget out there, but you mentioned about you know, how long do we do this with all the other tours, you know, go to worlds, and because there's so much other stuff to see. I have an interview up my sleeve. I yeah, the guy agreed to, you know, come on the show. I told you about him that uh I went, we just kind of went and watched the Sonny Hanna Amateur because it's kind of local to us, and it's you know, some argue top five uh amateur golf tournament in the country. You know, the the best of the amateurs are there, a lot of college players. And I started chatting up this father was following his son, who's you know, like one of the best at Texas AM. He was a freshman, and uh they came up through the U.S. kids ranks, and man, he was just loaded with information. But he said specifically, and I'm not gonna put it out there because I'll let him say, but he said specifically how long you got to do the U.S. kids stuff for. Because he was like, listen, I I've I've been down this road and I can turn around and look back and see what I did. He's like, I can tell you exactly, you know, what needs to be done, how to do it, and where to do it at type of deal. He was a hoop, man. He was just loaded with information. You know, he even went as far to tell me how much he spent on his son's golf career. So and uh yeah, that number I don't want to know. Yeah, that number it'll boggle your mind, honest to goodness. And I I'm kind of I'm not gonna put it out there, but I'm gonna let him tell when he comes on. But I think he's gonna be a great interview, and I like that type of stuff. Somebody that's been there done that type of deal because you know, we're kind of in the thick of things right now. We're just trying to figure it out, you know. And we've met people along the way that are have kids a few years older than us, and you know, they give us advice here and there. But you know, this I think his son's 20 now or 19 or soon to be 20. He was highly recruited, you know, he I guess like colleges were fighting over him and he landed at Texas AM and you know, doing really well. But uh yeah, it'll be cool to hear some, you know, some of that. And then hopefully we can keep this up, and then as our kids get that age, we will be, you know, our content will shift a little bit and we can talk about the uh the heydays and what we what we may have did right and what we may have did wrong. You know.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

I'm sure there's a lot of wrong, but we're we're just trying to navigate the dark with a little flashlight here and hoping that we're doing it doing it right. But I can't say I feel like we're doing anything too wrong, but but yeah, it is it is it would be very interesting to hear from someone's point of view who's kind of been there, done that. And because there is so much to it, you know, a lot of I there I would think that there's a goal of like maybe the kids playing college golf at some point and you know, maybe getting that scholarship and stuff. So hearing it from somebody who went and traveled that path and what they're what they're went through on the way would be that would be huge help.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Yeah. Well, hey, that's you bring up a good point. And I don't think we've ever said or we've ever even talked about like what is the end game here? Like what are we doing? Yeah, as Adam says, what are we doing? You know, like what are we doing this for? What is the end game? Is it is it a call, you know, there's probably no wrong answer. Is it a college scholarship? Is it, you know, after college? Or we you know, do we want our kids to sell? But ultimately, it's up to them. And then, you know, probably a good question to ask is is at what point or what age do you start asking your kid what the end game is? Because I don't know, it'd be really hard for an eight or a nine-year-old to say, you know, oh yeah, this is exact. I mean, I'm sure there's a handful of kids out there that exactly want to be a Scotty Scheffler. And I mean, who doesn't want to be that, right? But realistically, you know, what what are we, what are we going for here? What are we doing? You know, so that's probably something that is a moving target, you know, as your kids get older, you know, they just, you know, you kind of watch what they're doing and who knows where they're gonna end up. I've I've learned in this, you know, some of the people I've talked to that puberty, you know, when when hormones and emotions and that whole body change happens, it really changes the way uh kids think, the way kids feel and their interests, and and it's not a decision. It is just they become a different person, right? And I I've I've I've learned that in all sports, not just golf, that you know, you have these very dedicated, uh, great, you know, driven athletes in a certain um discipline, you know, at 10, 11, 12, and then all of a sudden their body starts to change, and then like 13, 14, 15, you know, they're different. And uh some of them come back and some of them don't, you know, and it's just like kind of a roll of the dice, just given on you know how things shake out. So it's it was uh pretty inter it's pretty interesting stuff. I know I think Rachel talked about that a little bit with me off air, and we're probably gonna have Rachel back on. I just talked to her the other day, and she has uh kind of along this same line of things, like because she was a junior golfer and now playing on the LPGA tour or the Epsom tour. And uh Burnout she said she yeah, she was a great interview, and she said she, you know, after she she had went back and listened to the podcast, like she said she took notes like on some other things she wanted to talk about, and one of them was burnout because she said, you know, she can rattle off a half a dozen junior players that were just cream of the crop, junior players that they just vanished, never saw again. And so and she said, you know, half of them she has stayed in touch with because they were really good friends, and you know, she knows the story, and you know, one in particular, she you know, she kind of told told me told me the details, and you know, it it's gonna be an interesting listen on you know what happened to that young lady and why she just just one day said no more. You know, and so I think all that's real, you know, it's like it it it is a real conversation, and sometimes as parents we get caught up in what we want for our children, but we fail to realize at some point they're gonna have a say in this, whether it's uh whether it's a a direct thought saying or it's a physical or emotional change that's gonna be a you know, it's gonna tell us.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Yeah, that's that's all really good stuff. I I really liked that episode with you know, listening to Racial, listening to some of her insights and stuff. And it is kind of scary, you know, thinking about the burnout and what you know we we talked before, I I think we get that forced breakup here where we have winter and you know the kids don't get that year-round, so I think that that is huge. But if we weren't in, you know, these northern states that have these seasons, what would it look like for the kids, you know? You know, my Jack would want to play every day, but what what would that look like when he's 13, 14? Is you know, is it over? Is it boring? Is he done with it? You know, like you said, the body starts having changes, the the mind starts changing. So I don't know. It's there's so much coming. Yeah, there's so much going on. We're just like I said, we're just trying to navigate the dark here. But I I am very interested to hear what that guy has to say and then having Rachel back on. I think that'll be great.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Yeah, that'll be a good one for sure. You know, that's interesting you say too, uh, we get that forced break with winter time. And, you know, geez, I'm almost 50 years old, and I remember like my high school golf coach, we're talking over 30 years ago, right? And I played high school golf and yeah, I loved golf at the time. And I remember like he was a like, you know, because he talked to good players about going to college, and he was like, if you want to play college-level golf, you got to live in the south. You just can't do it, you know, from being in the north because you can't play year-round. Yeah. Which there's there's some truth to that. But also, you know, Arnold Palmer went to Wake Forest. So, like, yeah, you can also there, there's there's always variables. But now, with I mean, there's facil indoor facilities just about in every major city. I know we have them in Pittsburgh. There's one that just opened in Morgantown. You have a simulator in your garage. You know what I mean? Like, so technology has changed so much. These kids from the north in three feet of snow can actually hit a golf. They can, you know, Jack can play, you know, Pebble Beach every day of the week if he wants to on GS Pro. Shout out to GS Pro if you're listening. Um, but you know, so technology, you know, good and bad, I mean, man, it has really opened up that door to, yeah, we're not playing golf year round, but you can knock the rust off, you know, in November, December, January. You know what I mean? So I don't know if that's and I I truly don't know if that's the case anymore. I would say there, yeah, there probably is an advantage of growing up year-round in Florida and Texas, you know, somewhere where you can actually play year round, but maybe it isn't as big of an advantage as it was, you know, even 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Sure, yeah. I'm sure it's not quite as big, but I I don't know. I it is kind of crazy, you know, like you see some of these these kids' Instagrams and stuff like that, these young kids golfing, and I saw like, I don't know, it must have been like a thing to do, but everybody was posting like their upcoming schedule over the next like month. And I'm looking at some of these play like these kids are going. I mean, they are going, they are all over the country and the world, and they're playing they're playing 20 or more tournaments in a couple weeks, you know, and it's and and they're not just locals like we're talking about. They're California here, Florida here, Ireland, like we said over here. I don't know how they can keep up with a schedule like that. So that'd be my fear on burnout.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

But well, yeah, and hey, that's probably a whole other dedicated episode. And I know you know how I feel about this. You and I have talked off air, and I'll put it out there. Like, again, I I question like, what are we doing with these Instagram accounts? Like what like are we like because some of them like you and I know Jack has one and his is, you know, Jack Slater golf or what you know, it's cute and you know it's what he's doing, and and that's fine. But like you said, some of these are they look like they're professionally ran, you know, and and and then and like you said, like the the schedule that they put out there, and it's like these kids are 10, you know, 11 years old, like holy cow, you know, and but we've ran into it. And again, I don't know what's right or wrong. I I kind of let my moral compass guide me and everything through life. And it's just like, wow, I can't believe that world exists. And it does. And then you have to wonder, again, what's the end? You know, what's the end game here? Is there a law or is there some sort of data that says that if you don't do that, that you're you're somehow leaving your kid shorthanded? I I don't think so. You know, I you know, again, like we said, some of these kids are are pre pubescent, so they're not, you know, we don't know what's going to happen in in four or five years. And like I had a an an actual conversation with a person one time that was like, oh no, you have to do this. And and it was a it was a young lady's parent. And uh G's 10, I think. And I I just really don't think like there's, you know, say the college coach of Texas A, you know, watching a 10-year-old's Instagram account. You know what I mean? Like, again, they they they might be like if if one, you know, if you went, like, oh, that's cool, great, you know, maybe somebody to kind of sort of keep on the radar. But I think w we just established everything that's probably going to happen in the next four or five years, you know, and even in four years, a 10-year-old will be only 14, you know, and they won't go to college for another four years after that. So like I I feel like there's plenty of time, but uh, what the hell do I know? Like I we just said in the world of technology, you know, Jack can play uh pine or pebble beach in his garage.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Yeah, there is uh and we've we've talked about it before too, but there's there's a guy that he he is a current like college recruiter, and I he's offered to come on and talk. So I I feel like that would be really interesting as well to ask people those types of questions of like, you know, is does this make any sense to to be you know pushing things like this at eight, nine, ten years old? Are are coaches actually trying to follow along that long? You know, or does it help that there's more so that when they do start looking into you, that there's a long, basically a long history of things they can go back and look at and you know, tournaments played, scores and things like that. So I'd be I'd be really interested to hear how some of the what the what the map looks like of you know what they're looking for uh and how crazy are we in what we're doing now.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah, uh yeah, exactly. It would be interesting to hear, and I know I've kind of dove into it a little bit with it not golf, but you know, there's a lot of travel sports is kind of under fire a little bit right now, like travel soccer, travel softball, travel baseball, because private equity is buying up a lot of those teams. And, you know, it's kind of a trap inside. And then, you know, there's a lot of these kids. I have friends, I played baseball. I have friends that coach travel baseball teams, their kids play baseball and they all have Instagram accounts. And, you know, basically it's it's exposure for the team, i.e. the, the, the private equity. You know, so at the end of the day, when you create these accounts, you have, say, you know, whatever, you know, the elite, you know, dragons out of wherever, you know, then they create these Instagram, these Instagram accounts, and they, you know, everybody on a team is promoting the tournament, then we see the tournament, right? And it's just the same thing, like we're looking at people's schedules and seeing everywhere they're at. And you said there was like a, you know, it must have been the thing to do is post golf schedules. Well, that attracts people like you and I to those tournaments because we have that fear of missing out, that FOMO when we, oh geez, that must be the thing to do. We got to get our name on that list for next year, right? And it creates this. But at the end of the day, I think it's just, it's, it's genius marketing. It's just it's selling the product. I have a couple friends that just swore off social media and they say how much healthier their life is now, because you know, they don't see that type of stuff, which creates an anxiety in our chest. It's like, oh man, we must be missing the boat here because, you know, there's you know, 10 little Johnny's, 11-year-olds playing this tournament that I'm not at. So, you know, what did I do wrong? Oh my God, you know, here, you know. So I don't know. I think it probably a little bit of both. It's probably it's probably a a little bit of good. Like it's pretty cool to have an Instagram account and show the world what you're doing, and there's nothing wrong with that. Like I said, these kids are they're putting in a lot of work and they're doing really well. So from that perspective, why not show it? And it's also probably a little bit of marketing on, you know, if you're getting a discount to promote something, and yeah, you know, that's what makes the world go around. So I guess my perspective is just be aware of what you're looking at, you know. But I think it will be interesting to hear from a coach's perspective.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Yeah, I'd love to hear that. But on a side note, Jack is has been spending he's on like his third draft of we were going past Oakmont one day, and he's like, I want to play there so bad. And he's like, What if I write them a letter? And I was like, Yeah, go for it, bud. So he's on his like third rough draft of a letter that he's like working on trying to send over there to see if he can get on to play over there.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

He should 100% do that, and we'll talk about that. Like, just send it to the pro.

unknown 48:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Like, hey man, you know. I'll tell you what, my nephew played in the WPIL championship there, and there there wasn't a practice round, and he just called down there or had I don't want to say he did, but maybe maybe my sister called the pro and told him, like, hey, he's playing in a championship. Is there any way we can get a practice round? He said, Absolutely, we'd love to have him. I mean, that's yeah, you know what I mean? So I you know, I don't I I have a friend that's a member there, and you know, he said it is a very family-oriented, oriented membership in court. Like that, you know, there's not a lot of members, and obviously it's high-end, but you know, it is a very family environment. He was like, they love families, they welcome young children into golf. They're trying to grow the, they're doing everything they can to grow the game. So, you know, if I had an extra whatever it costs, I'd probably be a member there. Couple milk. Couple, I don't know what it is. Yeah. But that would be really cool if Jack gets that. That I mean, and hey, good on him, man. Like you drive down, you know, you drive down a turnpike head and we pass it so much going to Ohio, you know, he's probably like, you know what, I'm gonna send him a letter. That would be a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 49:50

Like you say, we drive past it every time we're going to Ohio. So what dozen times, 20 times a year?

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Yeah, 20 times a year. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, we time it, we know exactly how long it takes to get to Oakmont from our house. It's 50 minutes. Like, yep, we're in Oakmont, yeah. Yeah. Instead of sending like the perfect letter, I think Jack should just send a letter a week. Like just every every week, write a letter and just bomb bar. No, like send it Snell mail, man. Like let them open an envelope and look at his handwriting and be like, I want I'm a 10 years old, I want to play your course, you have to let me. And every week he can here's what I shot last week. Yeah, I mean, they would have to let him on at that point.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

We'll see. We'll see. He's big into it right now, but but yeah, we're wrapping wrapping it up, but the the world stuff, I'm excited for it, I'm nervous for it. He's put a lot of time into it, and we don't have anything to do at this point. And and I will say, I was thinking about this too. One really good point that I heard from a dad down there, and we've played with with these people many times before, and I won't mention any names, but I know the dad can be a little hard on his kid, you know, in the tournaments that we've been playing. We all can. Everybody's emotions get out of out of control every once in a while. But I heard him say, it was last year or two years ago, but he said, you know, his son didn't do so well that day, and he was like, totally fine, totally cool with it. No, no, didn't have any like emotions like usually, and he's like, you know, they work so hard all year to get here. This is the reward. Why would I be mad about you know how he did down here? And I was like, that is probably some of the best advice I've ever heard, you know. For all the dads out there that might listen, you know, are are coming into it, try and just take in the week of your kids have just worked their ass off, grinded it out. They are one of the top 150 kids in the world if they're gonna be at this event. So let them enjoy it, do their best and just just make a memory out of it instead of trying to make it a a must-win situation.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Yeah, that's great advice for sure. That's that's that's a good spot to end it. So good luck with down there with worlds. I'm sure uh, you know, our group text will be going. We'll see how it goes, and everybody up here will be rooting for for Jack and Alex, and I think uh the Reese's Burial will be down there, right? Andrew will be down there, Beaches will be down there. We're trying, we're rating off our our uh Pittsburgh slash Ohio friends. Uh Ryan Kai will be down there. Yeah, so we got a we got a pretty good group of people that's gonna uh be down there. So hopefully somebody can come home the champion, man. And if not, just like that dad said, it's a great time and and celebrate celebrate the wins and the losses the same. All right, man. Well, good luck. Thanks everybody for tuning in, and uh we'll we'll talk to you later.