S1E17 - Aaron RAIses the Wanamaker, Black Golf Balls, Who Should Be Honored

In this episode, Dez and Casey discuss recent golf tournaments, player performances, new equipment releases, and imagine what legendary golfers' tournaments would look like. They also explore the impact of mental toughness, the latest golf tech, and have fun ranking ridiculous golf equipment.

00:00 Byron Nelson's Incredible Stats
01:26 PGA Championship Highlights and Player Reactions
08:41 Aaron Rye's Victory and Future Potential
10:37 YouTube Golf and Viewer Engagement
15:47 Upcoming Tournaments and Player Predictions
19:58 New Golf Equipment Releases and Innovations
24:53 The Black Golf Ball Debate
27:08 Honoring Golf Legends with Tournaments
32:04 Ranking Ridiculous Golf Equipment
39:49 The Dream of Playing Golf Full-Time

Golf, PGA Championship, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, golf equipment, golf technology, golf tournaments, mental toughness, golf gear, golf betting

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Do you know how many consecutive tournaments Byron Nelson won? And in addition, how many tournaments he won in the year 1945?

SPEAKER_00 0:08

I mean, I feel like some of those stats, even for Tiger, are actually pretty small. Since you asked it, I'm gonna go like five, which sounds ridiculous. I I mean five would be insane.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Um and five is insane. Oh, go keep going.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah. And then I'll go, I don't know, I'll go 12 tournaments in in that year.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

I think those are pretty good guesses, but this is gonna blow your mind. Although he won several tournaments in his short career, 1945, he won 11 consecutive tournaments and 18 total tournaments in the year 1945, which is just absolutely incredible and is a stat that I have never really heard of before, but makes it makes him one of the more incredible golfers. I can't even imagine what second is, which is crazy. I think actually Ben Hogan might be second. I could be wrong about that. Wow, that's unbelievable. I just think that's an amazing stat.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yeah, I mean, and also I I wonder what the total amount of tournaments was. I mean, that has to be almost every every third tournament.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yeah, crazy, crazy. I mean, obviously, maybe you could argue the competition got stronger, and and but I mean, and even compared to years, you know, like you know, 2001 Tiger, I I he didn't sniff that, so that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

A local municipal golf course says it's been overrun by what some are calling quote hack golfers. Has the game grown too much? Do we need more scratch golfers? I'm telling you, hack slow the game down. You can't grow golf if people are chunking it into the weeds all day.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Scratch player?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Hey everybody, it's Des and welcome back to the Hack and Scratch podcast, episode number 17. Excited to be back. We just finished off a major major. How are you doing, Casey?

SPEAKER_02 1:56

I'm doing great. Thought it was a very entertaining PGA championship. It's it's really nice to not really see one person run away with it. Instead, we didn't know till the last couple holes who was going to take it away. So really fun tournament to watch.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Were you surprised how much flack the players were giving about the bunched leaderboard?

SPEAKER_02 2:16

I was surprised because in my mind, I think that is what makes a really high-quality tournament when the conditions are so difficult that everyone needs to be on their A game just to hang in there. I thought it was strange that it was getting so much negative attention and having too many people there. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Yeah, I would say, you know, the one I really like, Scotty's comments about the pin placements are just being so difficult. I don't mind that. It was probably true. Forey's comment probably bothered me the most of like uh a good test or a good setup requires someone to or a couple people to pull away with it. And I'm just like, you know what? If if everyone was scoring very similarly, like if everyone was in a tight range of like, you know, plus three to minus three every day, then yeah, I would agree that that there's something wrong with this setup there in the fact that it doesn't allow for players to go after things they have to play conservatively, that kind of style. But the fact that people were shooting 63, 64, 65s, and then you had people blowing up with plus, I mean, there's a big enough range there where you could have separated yourself. It's just no one played consistent golf. And so I don't know. I found that very odd. And you know, I don't know, Rory upsets probably everyone at some point, but yeah, I don't know. I was I was surprised.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, and now is your turn to be upset by him. Um, because I don't think we are too often. Uh I'm a big fan of Rory, but at the same time, like, yeah, I think this is what makes the tournament great. Course is really difficult, and that's why there were so many people kind of in the same range. But overall, I thought it was a great tournament to watch. I love when it's that close because then you could you really get to see hole by hole how things change. Uh, fortunately for Alex Smalley, it was, I think, on like 14 or something like that, where he just scrolled a chip over the green, then ended up double bogeying. I'm like, dang, it's gonna be hard to climb back from. But overall, seeing Aaron Rye take it away with that incredibly long putt, it was like 70 or 80 feet, that was incredible. And I'm so stoked for him. He's been one of my favorite golfers for years now. And I just think you heard all the commentary. Everybody loves this guy, and they all know how hard he works, and it paid off. He just won the PGA. So really cool stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah, he's a true professional. A lot of the stories that were coming out were great. I wish we even got more of them. It's funny. I put a sizable bet on Scotty at the beginning of the week. So after day one, I am feeling wonderful. And then Rom got to such a high number with his bad start that I was like, you know what? I thought he'd do well this tournament. I'll put something on him for like a ridiculous number. And of course, Scotty starts breaking down, that never becomes live again. And then Rom gets in the mix and just misses on Sunday. So despite that, which was very disheartening for me on a wallet standpoint, I found myself rooting for Rai just as much as anyone. I just thought it was so cool how he rose to the occasion. I mean, you talked to me and you t you texted me, who the hell's hitting an M8364? I mean, he must have been juiced. I mean, he it must have been, even though he seems cool, calm, and collected, it he must have been juiced out there to just stripe it. And he was infallible. I mean, there was not a single week part of his game on Sunday. It was it was unbelievable to watch. One of the more dominant Sundays, I think I've I've seen in a long time.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Yeah, and especially that back nine. I mean, he was just lights out. The driver goes to show that you don't need new clubs, you know? And our future sponsors don't want you saying that, but yeah. I know you you absolutely need new clubs, but you mean like 2019? Yeah, that that's a 2019 club. That's unendable. Rory does it.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

It's amazing, and you got it.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Exactly. Like it makes me want to go back to my sim or my sim two, which I'm actually strongly considering after this week because I'm like, yeah, it really they haven't made those great strides in technology in the past six years. Like there's those clubs are still doing well. So I don't know. Really cool. I loved all the attention that his gloves and his iron covers got. I think it was PJ Superstore today posted like nice before and after. And it like the glove, the black gloves were in stock and they were cleared out or something. Like, that's so good. And you know, like I remember when he first came onto the scene and people were like, iron covers and gloves. And I'm like, Are we really gonna do this again? Because I was the same way growing up. My parents were like, hey, we're not just buying you a thousand dollar set of clubs just for you to knock around. You have to take care of them. So I had a set of iron covers as well. So did most of my high school golf team. So I was I'm glad that it's getting finally the positive publicity that it should. Because you, I mean, you saw his interviews, he's just such a good dude. Yeah. Um, I saw a bunch of interviews from like the past years, and I'm like, this guy is just an incredible stand-up golfer. And yeah, I I'm really happy to see him win.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah. No, it was amazing. Silences all the haters when you go, well, you know, we couldn't really afford nice things growing up, so I thought I would take care of him. And everyone's like, okay, maybe I'll maybe I'll not talk about the iron covers. I will still give him flack. Tommy two gloves is insane. I in what world? In what world do you need that? Um he is he has two of the biggest cardinal sins of all golfing, iron covers and and two gloves, and yet we still love him. So that's that's a testament to his person. But yeah, it was it was a fantastic tournament, great champion. Kind of I always get kind of excited when a slightly random golfer, I mean, not even random, the longest shot to ever, I think, win the PGA championship, which is crazy. Um, so good on him. Um, it gets him into all the majors for like the next five years. It's just a crazy you look at the list that he now gets to play in the venues, it's unbelievable. I kind of lose sight of that when you look at the big price tag of you know 3.6 million, but what you get to establish for your career for the next five years is remarkable. Kurt Kitiyama, I'll just throw that out there. Unbelievable Sunday. I I placed a top 10 bet on Kurt Kudiyama going into the week. The best backdoor ever made it by one stroke, uh, had to shoot a seven under uh on the final day to do it, and he did it for me. So shout out to Kurt Kitiyama. That's awesome, huge comeback there. Uh but honestly, Aranamink was great. I hope they return, you know, in the next sometime in the next 10 years. And uh, I think it was a great course, despite some of the flack it got.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Yeah, I honestly, when I was watching it all this weekend, I'm like, I want to play there. Something about it, like I just want to play it, me personally. It seems interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

It has a low-key great scene right now, and I think it's being highlighted the past couple years. And I've never said this, I never thought I would say this, but Philly golf trip sounds pretty good. Let's do it. I'm down. I know. All right. Any last thoughts on uh PGA championship before we move on?

SPEAKER_02 9:19

No, other than Aaron Rye, this is not the last we're gonna see of him. I could see him continuing to do very well because he has a very similar, I would say even better, mindset and headspace than Scotty Scheffler. Wow. Hot that is, I know, but that is the reason Scotty is so good, is because he has an incredible mental game as well. I think Aaron Rise is even better. You don't see him get super worked up, super pissed off and angry in the way that maybe Scotty does sometimes. He's extremely humble. And I think he's it's the same as Scotty, where like life comes first, golf is second. But I think that mindset helps you win tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Yeah. Well, I mean, we we talk about all the time the hangover after you win. This is a guy who I don't think you'll see any hangover. I think he very much could win this week, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yep. Him and his wife were, I think we're gonna go to Chipotle for dinner after, is what he said. She's also a professional golfer golfer, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

So yeah, I don't know. It's it seems crazy, but yeah, this could just be the start of something pretty amazing. I mean, you saw what it's done for Rory in just the last 18 months, getting that first master's win. Sky's the limit. There's no reason you can't tell yourself if you're Aaron Rye, you can't win the big tournaments anymore. It's it could be really, really good for him. Yeah, a lot to a lot to come. YouTube golf took a little bit of a hiatus this week. I think it's smart that they do kind of down weeks during the the major um weeks and uh big professional golfing weeks. So there wasn't too much to talk about. We did get another hater series with Joey. Uh, I know you watched it today. All around thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Uh terrible golf by both gentlemen. I would say Joey played better than I kind of thought he would, maybe. But what was the guy's name? AJ? Yeah. He he was punching way above his, I don't know what the term is, but he was trying way too hard and he just did not have the game to back it up.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Do you think that we are getting people that lie about their handicap, or there is just that dramatic of an effect of uh a person who doesn't play in front of cameras every week, doesn't play in front of an audience, all of a sudden getting out there knowing that if they play horribly, it's gonna be all over the internet, all their friends are gonna raz them about it. What's happening here? Because clearly, I mean, he's I can't remember what he said he was, but he I mean he's playing like a plus 25 handicap, or not plus but 25 handicap.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

I thought I heard Perez say something like 10 to 15 range, and I was like, no. And I I do think he's lying about his handicap, because a lot of people do, but he never said things like I just don't have my game today or whatever. It just seemed like every shot was like, yeah, I expected that. I'm like, okay, man, well, yeah, I don't think uh I don't think you're as competitive here. But I think the funniest thing about the episode for me was that Perez and Bob looked just very uninterested in the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Well, just because I think they saw the writing of the walls, completely on Bob because he does the vetting. The fact that he wasn't able to detect that this guy wouldn't, that was another annoying thing. He wasn't a hater. There was not a single bone in his body that hated Joey. No, and and you could tell he was not he brought them like jerseys and stuff, and I mean, it just really nice guy. So it's just bad on Bob for for the vetting process. I know he takes pride in that and it takes him a long time, but he did not sniff that out properly. Um and so they they gotta get a little bit better and tighter at this.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

But I'm not surprised that people that are keyboard warriors and try to like position themselves to be on these sure series are doing probably a pretty good job at lying just so that they can get on. So it's like like I that's a hard job for Bob to actually know who's gonna be good. Yeah, you know, because this is him now as creative director, not uh not golfer. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

I um I saw a lot of the comments were actually, hey, like this is run its course, let's flip it and start golfing with a couple fans every once in a while. And I was like, you know what? Maybe that is kind of what we need, a good little balance. Yeah. But I don't know. It's just it's a tough watch. I think the funniest thing with Joey's golf is like obviously these are like pillow fight rounds, and you know, the guy will be 2 OB already on the hole, and all Joey really needs to, I mean, no pressure at all on Joey, just needs to lay it up there three and he'll just shank one, cold shank one heart out of nowhere, get a decent drive, have all pressure gone, you know, AJ's in the woods, just cold shanks one. Just I it's so interesting. I I don't know. I'm gonna talking all this crap, and I'm gonna go play golf tomorrow and I'm probably gonna blow up myself and look like Joey, but it just doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Well, only one way to find out is if you and I go and join on their next one.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

So yeah, when when they start doing fans, we'll we'll apply. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I did start the Brian Bros and D'Angelo Russell, uh, the D Lo video. I think I think it's fantastic. I've said this before on the podcast, but there is just a different level of mindset, training, whatever you want to call mental state of professional athletes and how they view things. And D'Angelo Russell being uh an all-star in the NBA and and just what he's seen and who he's played with. I mean, he's played with some remarkable players and he's a great player himself, but it's just a mindset thing. It's just I know if I was given like the craziest gifts in this world, I don't think I could really achieve that level of um of athletic performance because the mental state is just a different thing. And it's phenomenal to hear stories about and talk about. And it really kind of converted me on like this uh my guest playing kind of interview style golf, where they do have these people. And honestly, Bryson's channel was really good for that as well, when he would bring on some high profile people and talk to them during the round. But I yeah, I I think it's great, and I think the back nine is gonna be posted later this week, but I'm looking forward to it. He's he seems like a really great guy. They got LeBron on the phone um midway through the round, and Brian Bros were kind of awestruck, and I think that was the first time they talked to Braun uh on the phone, and you know, he's inviting them out and they want to play, and it's just it's funny watching those kind of two worlds collide. Um, but really cool stuff.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Is a universal game, people pick it up at different parts of their lives, and we're just gonna see more of those athletes jumping on and getting to play. I mean, yeah, it's just super cool. I love it. Grow that's growing the game, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Absolutely, absolutely. All right, well, that does wraps it up for a quick uh YouTube rundown. We do have some professional golf to talk about. We are rallying to TPC Craig Ranch for the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. This has been an interesting course over the years. The comparable courses are are kind of the Danta Vallarta, which is that one played down in in Mexico that usually gets kind of interesting winner. It was like, I think it was what Pot Geter and Brian Campbell or someone uh a couple years ago dueling it out. So that TPC Scottsdale. Um, so again, uh kind of different with waste management, but all around good course, playing probably at around 7,300 yards this week, par 71. Uh, there is water, I think on 13 holes, a decent amount of trouble. Yeah, overall, nothing really pops as far as you know, stat correlation. Got to hit it well off the T. Distance isn't that uh significant here. Um, it's uh really about the approach angles in. Um, and so yeah, it's uh it's gonna be an interesting uh dog fight. You know, there is some class talent. Obviously, Scotty Scheffler's here, Aaron Rye coming off his big win. Jordan decided to sign up for this and then Brooks as well. Um, but then you have a whole cast of characters that are dying for a good win. And, you know, despite Scotty winning it last year, I don't know. We'll see. I feel like the winner's probably gonna come from outside maybe the top 10 favorites. So what do you what do you see this week?

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Okay. Yeah, I mean, I I agree with you on kind of the approach is gonna be very important, but I also think distance is is really important here as well. There's one par five that I was looking at today. It's like 640 yards, and it that that's not reachable by a lot of people, obviously. And so those guys that on those type of holes that can get the advantage of maybe getting their third shot closer, they're gonna have the upper hand having these lower approach distances. So I've picked a lot of guys that are gonna be good off the tee. So one of those is Brooks Kepka. I think we've seen him trending in the right direction.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

He did have a missed cut or two here and there, but if it's good to see my putter around, I mean, he his game is pretty solid outside the putter.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Well, and that leads me to my next person, Jordan Speeth. Like, if he can get the putter going too, you know, he's he's unstoppable. And that's I think what kind of destroyed him this past weekend.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

35 feet of putt on the first day. It's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Yeah, yeah. That but we have been seeing little glimpses of old Jordan Speeth. So if he can figure it out, then he can he can figure it out. So I'm hoping for that. Yeah. Has some last one, what's that? He has some good history here for sure. That's true, yeah. Um, and then my last one is gonna be an advantage of strokes gained off the tee, is Michael Brennan, which I know sounds kind of an outside pick, but um I think he's kind of a value pick as well, playing some generally good golf. But if he can get that advantage on distance and keep things pretty accurate, he'd be in a good spot too. So yeah, those are my picks.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Nice. We have a couple of common themes. I also like Jordan Speed this week. I think his putter just needs to pop and he'll be right in contention, honestly. And he feels comfortable here. I think he goes aggressively at it. It's a weaker field. I'd like to see him take advantage of it. I'm gonna go down the board for the next two picks. Blades Brown, who I've talked about a million times, comes to this. You know, I realistically, I don't think he'll win it, but I'll probably put a top five bet on him. I think he does have the game to kind of show out here, and uh he's been playing really well. So again, another person that just needs to find the putt of the week. And then my last one rounds it out, Tom Kim. Seemingly out of nowhere pick, but his game has been trending really great. T Degreen. Um, and if he just can put together a positive putting strokes gain performance this week, he'll be right in that mix as well. So yeah, I'm going with uh Speed Blades and and Kim, and we'll see how it goes. Perfect. I like it. All right. Uh, we got actually a couple new releases this week. They weren't really PGA themed, but a lot of companies are kind of taking, and they always do, right as golf is about to peak around around the US in in May, June, and July, they're taking the opportunity to release some of their things. So we're gonna do a longer Pro Shop drop today. Uh first one. So obviously, Zero Torque has been incredibly hot as a trend, but now TaylorMade has made it completely personalized and customizable. Uh so the so TaylorMade launched their My Spider ZT, which is their kind of custom online platform where you can customize every single thing about that club from the colors and you know, they don't have just stock normal colors, they have bright, vibrant pops, and you know, that might not be for some, but I do think it's an interesting market to play to, and you can customize literally everything on that club. What what are your just general thoughts about something like this?

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Yeah, I mean, I I love it. I've always loved the spider line of putters as well. The only zero torque putter that I've tried is like the lab. I didn't like it. And so I want to be able to try something else because I still do like the idea of it and think if with some practice it could get better. Secondly, I think Taylor Made is chasing lab a little bit because I think they have a similar kind of customization platform on their website, which is cool. Like a lot of different colors, and you can you know do engravings, have different face plates and things like that. I like it because for me, putter is all about like feel and vision, and you want it to look good. You want to feel comfortable with it. And sometimes just like the putters you get at Roger Dunn or whatever aren't exactly what you want. So if there's it like for me, I like just high contrast black and white, but I don't, I didn't really like the versas of Odyssey and things like that. So if I could build my own here, that seems kind of cool. Nice. And I I assume it's not really much more out of pocket if you were to it, might even just be the same price, but I like the idea. Of having a unique putter. I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yeah. You know, I compare it to back in the day, I think maybe 10 years ago, Nike transitioned to like the my Nike and kind of customizable footwear. You've seen a bunch of different footwear companies jump in on the same thing. This is cool. As long as quality doesn't dip, I think this is fantastic. I'm a person that probably tries to look better than they play. And so I like I like something like this. I could see myself wanting uh just really cool, different kind of customized club. And uh yeah, it looks great. So an M8 might have won the PGA championship this week, but there's an actual driver that is stealing all the headlines, and that is the GTS driver. And turns out the hype might actually be backed by numbers. So Tidalus' new GTS drivers are finally being fitted all around the world since I think May 14th. And there's three different models, but here's where the numbers break down. So at this week's PGA championship, of all the players who played, Tidalus was by far the most played driver at 40% of the entire field. Do you know how many of those players were playing this specific GTS model?

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Geez, so 40% of the entire field, say at least half?

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Yeah. So 32 were playing the GTS models, which is remarkable. I mean, not to not to forget that Tidalus is absolutely crushing it with 40% of the field playing their drivers, but 32 of them are playing this new GTS driver, which is interesting because a lot of players tend to not move on to the newer technologies right away because they want to use something that's reliable. I mean, goodness sakes, an M8 just won the the PGA championship. Well, it's very interesting when there is such a consensus to shift towards a single driver. And this GTS has been making headlines throughout this year. And now that they're fitting them for the public, I can't even imagine the numbers Tylis is going to put up this year.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Yeah, and these drivers usually, I mean, I think they're gonna be running what 50 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah, 649 is kind of the par level that all the big manufacturers are coming out with.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

That's a lot of money, but there's a reason why there's so many guys playing it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

We'll see. If I'm uh if I'm cold shaking it tomorrow off the tee, who knows? I'll be getting a fitting next week.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Alrighty. Last one, I almost thought I had to check the date, make sure it wasn't April Fool's, but black golf balls are here, and yes, they do cost $100 a dozen. So Ridgestone is releasing limited edition black Tour BX and Tour B RX balls. More of probably a collectible, I hope, um, rather than an actual practical every game, everyday ball, but pretty incredible. They are using this new tech that they call a velocity surge or velo surge tech, and they are claiming that it's gonna add 2.3 miles per hour ball speed, which is pretty significant, yeah, to come from a golf ball. So they're launching it in complete style, yeah, black style, and this is a black golf ball. Is there an amount of dollars I could pay you to play with a black golf ball?

SPEAKER_02 25:05

I mean, it needs to be a very sunny day, and I need to keep it in the fair line. Yes, but so no, I don't think you could get me. Is it also claiming that it can add up to nine yards?

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yeah, I think it's yeah, like right at that eight to nine yards.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

That's that's insane.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

That is an insane claim. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

No, I don't I don't think you're gonna see me using those. I would rather use like a black uh iron, like the ones we talked about a couple weeks ago. Yes, but this is a lot. I don't think I've ever seen somebody play with a black golf ball. I don't think we're gonna see it very often.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah. At eight dollars a pop, uh, they're gonna be easy to lose.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Jeez, the eight dollars is a lot of money for one golf ball.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

For sure. Well, we'll see how it goes. Like I said, more of a novelty, less of practical, but who knows? You'll probably see some black golf balls out there. Too good. All right, so we've gotten to the part of the show where we do some games. This week we are doing a draft. And obviously, with the CJ Byron Nelson, we're talking about other players that should have a tournament in the future. All players of the past today. That's the rules. No current active players, at least on the the normal PGA tour. Who, in your mind, Casey, should have a tournament?

SPEAKER_02 26:23

So, yeah, so we, you know, we have Arnold Palmer, we have the Byron Nelson. Uh, do we have a Jack Nicholas one? We have like something at Jack's place. What tournament is that? That's the um the memorial, right? Yeah. So I would consider that Jack's place. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Just curious, you consider the Genesis Opas in Tigers?

SPEAKER_02 26:44

No, I don't. That's actually a great question because that leads into my first person is Ben Hogan. Why Ben Hogan does not have a golf tournament, I do not know. I would assume that if he were to have one, it'd be at one of his home courses in Texas. But I really think it should be the Genesis. You got Hogan's Alley, got he's he's won there a few times, right? And it I think he said it's one of his favorite courses. I think the Genesis Ben Hogan invitational or the Ben Hogan Genesis invitational would be really cool.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yes. Oh no, that's the hero world. What am I talking about? We we literally took a picture next to the Genesis. That's right. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

Yeah, no, Genesis is the tall, skinny one, but Tiger does present it. Yes, so a lot of people do consider that Tiger's tournament.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah, I I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

I consider Tiger's tournament the hero world challenge.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

That is for sure what it is. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, okay, cool. Well, I'm gonna start us off with um a kind of interesting one. I'm gonna go be Trevino. Um, all around interesting character, just a great advocate for golf, kind of you know was counterculture on the anti-country club kind of uh need or um, you know, kind of came up through public courses and things like that. And so I would fancy him to have a tournament and I would put it as the Houston Open. So the current Houston Open, which is played at Memorial Park now, I would rename that to the Lee Trevino imitational.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Nice. I love that. And what an entertaining tournament host he would be. Oh, yeah. I think that would be perfect. Absolutely. Uh so my next one would be Sam Sneed. Tied for most wins on the PGA tour. How this guy doesn't have his own tournament, I do not know. I was reading up on it. He did used to have one. Uh I forget exactly where it was, uh, but I'm like, let's keep that. We got to bring that back. But I was also reading uh when he was 85, he shot a round of 78 at the old white course of the Greenbrier in Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. At 85, he shot a 78. Like, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Incredible.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

So I don't really have like a name for the tournament, but the like Samsene legacy invitational something like that. Something very simple. But I just I think he needs to be honored.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

For sure. I love it. We the problem is we have so many people like this to honor, and you can't honor them all. Um, but you're you're totally right. Sam Sneed should have one. I'm gonna go with a golfer who a lot of professionals talk about today as one of their inspirations, but I'm gonna go Raymond Floyd, Mr. Floyd, third-time major champion, Hall of Fame winner, um, two 22 wins, I think, on the PGA tour. So definitely a big enough name to have it. You know, now that it is back at Durral, I think that is a perfect tournament to co-name with Raymond Floyd. And so I I would love to see that one. It's kind of a golf course that matches his style of game, and I think that would be a great honor. It also may help with the publicity of the tournament and shifting it away from some things. So just an idea there.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

I like it. I like it. I'm not gonna comment anymore on that, but okay. So my last one, which this one I'm surprised that we don't have really anything else attributed to him, but Bobby Jones, one of one of the more the most decorated golfers um the past. And I also was reading that East Lake was one of his home courses.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

So why are we not calling it the Bobby Jones Tour Championship? Just saying. I know that that's pretty uh, you know, we don't need to put branding on it. The tour championship's the tour championship, but why not? You know, what's is there a way we can make it more interesting and make the tour championship really honor one of the greatest golfers of all time? I think that would be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

I love it. So uh yeah. I'm I'm glad we uh we pseudo-honour him and with the uh with the masters, uh just given his legacy and and what he contributed to that course with with Dr. Aleister McKenzie. But yeah, I do feel like he's so ingrained with like Georgia golf that that something else probably needs to be more stable and and named after after Bobby Jones directly. So I totally agree with that. I love that pick. For the last one, I'm gonna go with probably, I mean, okay, he phenomenal golfer and and rightfully so named a tournament after, but I just think the fit is too perfect. It's gotta be Payne Stewart at Payne's Valley. They gotta figure out something to do. I don't care if it's you know uh false swing or whatever it is, but it has to happen. Well, I guess it can't be false swing, the weather would be too bad, but it would maybe, maybe the the late summer swing. Um Payne Stewart, Payne's Valley. It's a match made in heaven. Obviously, Payne Valley, built by Tiger Um and his his foundation. So I I just think it's perfect. It should exist. We should figure out how to fit it in.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

I agree. That is a perfect combination there. And yeah, we gotta do that. Somebody's gotta do that. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Well, a lot of good options. Yeah, if you want to call us for for suggestions, just go ahead and bright and do that Brian Roll app and we'll we'll answer. So perfect. Cool. All right. Next one we got a blind ranking.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Yes. I, you know, I've been kind of going down nostalgia lane recently. I have my old putter that I got when I was 15 that I want to get restored. And it got me thinking about like all of the other old equipment that is out there in the golf world. So I thought we'd rank blind rank the most kind of ridiculous uh golf equipment from clubs to training aids to things like that. So there's eight of them. We're gonna go through and you're gonna rank them, all right?

SPEAKER_00 32:31

All right, sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Okay, so the first one, I feel like everybody knows this, is the put a potty. It's basically a portable putting green for your bathroom. Looks ridiculous, probably like most white elephant gifts. Yeah, that's the first one.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

And we are ranking them as one is the most ridiculous. Yes, correct. Okay, I'm gonna go, it's not crazy because I've honestly wanted one, probably, but I need the man cave to do it. Um, I'm gonna go six. I'll go six.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

I think that's good. I like that. All right, the next one. This club gets a lot of hate. I weirdly had one in my garage, but never really used it. The chipper is the putter wedge combo.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Texas wedge kind of like that the pseudo putter chip like wedge.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yeah, it's like a blade putter, but it's got the loft of a wedge. Yeah. And it just looks ridiculous, and I can't really think of any time to use it.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

I'll tell you when all the time when you just don't want to hit into the fringe as much and you want that all to pop up slightly. Obviously, people have been using woods and stuff like that for ages. Uh, I would love to have the chipper if we didn't have a 14 club limit. So I'm gonna put that at seven. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Yeah, I feel like that's reserved for like a three-wood, and it's it's hard to give up another club for that. Yeah, exactly. Okay, this one I remember when I was in high school, was marketed to death and advertised to death. It's the Q-Link stress-reducing calming necklace. Uh, I believe the tour player sponsorship was from Charles Howe the Third. And I just remember there's so many commercials. I've been wearing this like necklace that had a little kind of medallion, and it's supposed to like calm you down and reduce electromagnetic waves or some crazy stuff. And I just remember like, oh wow, like why isn't everybody using this? And my dad was like, oh, because it's BS, you know. But they sold them in like display cases at Roger Dunn, which I thought was so funny. So yeah, where would you put the Q-Link necklace?

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Mark Cuban would be so proud of me right now. I'm gonna put that very at the top, number one, most ridiculous thing. Yes. I have hated these things since like T-ball. Because for some reason, before they got to the golf scene, they were all over uh pitchers' mounds in in little league. Baseball really, really, for some reason glommed onto these things. And yeah, they're just a bunch of BS, they're placebo effects, and and sure, it works for some way, some people. I mean, that's the whole point of a placebo effect, is it does work mentally. But yeah, as far as the actual science behind it, no, sir. Yeah, it just seems a step beyond snake oil to me. It's very much there.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

All right, cool. We got our number one. All right. Well, this next one is the swing jacket. It's essentially a straight jacket that's supposed to help you from slicing the ball or coming over the top or something. It looks ridiculous. It kind of looks, if you're wearing this at the range, people might think you're wearing a bulletproof vest.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Um there's a much more appropriate version which just locks the arms together, kind of at the elbow, and a little bit of resistance. It's just a small, kind of basically two arm sleeves connected with some fabric. This thing, I've seen it, does look like a straitjacket. There's no need to be wearing this thing. Um, so I'm gonna put that up high. I'll go three. All right, three. I like it.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Okay, so this next one is called the Euro Club URO. Essentially, it's it's a wedge or an iron that when you take it out of your bag, it's got a tube on the end of it, and you can pee into it so you don't have to go pee behind a tree. The marketing photo is absolutely hilarious. It's just the bottom half of a guy standing with the club out with a towel over it, and it's just hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

You know, I yeah. Probably should have been number one. I'll give it its respect and go number two. Okay. Okay, I see what I did there unintentionally.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Yes, it'll go. Yeah, we'll go with number two.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Okay. Yeah, pretty ridiculous. Just go behind the tree. No one's gonna be able to do it. Just go behind the tree.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

What are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you kidding yourself? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

All right, this next one, I think I remember my golf team having one that we like passed around, but it's the momentous putter. It's essentially like a weighted, heavily weighted putter that's supposed to help you make a smoother stroke. To me, after I used it, I was all out of whack. Because it's like, you know, when you lift up something heavy and then you pick up something light, you know, it's like, whoa, that was way too easy. I felt like I was just like my putter became like a spaghetti noodle after using this thing. But you you I don't think you could use it in tournaments, but the idea was that you would practice with it and be able to like feel a smoother swing. But I thought it just completely screwed me up.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

I'm conflicted here. I'll go, I'll go. That's pretty ridiculous. It just doesn't need to exist. I'll go, I'll give it a four.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Yeah, I'll give it a four. Okay, four. All right, so you have five and eight left. We got two more. So this one, I actually saw a family member have this, and I can't name who that person was because I think they listened to this podcast. But it's the Polera golf ball. Essentially, it's a not USGA approved golf ball that is has a core for some way, makes it spin way less. It's got a horosphere in there, just something like Robbins that just stays painting. Yeah, like it it stays something they claim 75% straighter. Uh and it, you know, it goes like probably 60% of the distance, but you're not like slicing it into the trees. It's it's crazy, but you they sell them in like packs of 12. But if you were caught playing in a tournament with this something, you would be disqualified immediately.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Fascinating. So that I mean, which is funny because that is the USGA's way of acknowledging that it does have some effect, clearly. Yeah, otherwise they wouldn't they wouldn't disallow it. Controversial, but I'll at least say it does what it says it does, and I'll give it, I'll give it an eight.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Okay. Wow, put that at the bottom. So, Brian, does you use polar golf balls?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

You're okay with it.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Gonna plan on using them tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Those are probably so $28 a ball.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yes, they are not cheap either. All right. So the last one that comes in at number five is the Cleveland Stubby Putter. There was another version of this, but this was the only one that I could find. It's basically just a square putter head, just completely square, like the width of a golf ball. The idea is that you can putt with it, yes, but it's supposed to be like you make better contact because you're focusing on hitting it in the square. So when you go back to your larger putter, you can focus more easily. Similar to the Mementus, thought it screwed me up because I was like hitting it way softer and trying way too hard to control it. So I thought it was kind of BS.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Let's go with five on that. I I think that that's a decent spot. All right.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

I think I think those are great picks. Having Q Link at number one, I like how much money's got more personal aggression than anything.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

I think probably the Euro Club should have probably been number one, but it's a it's a good two. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

But this is just a short list of some of the crazy stuff that's out there. So we'll have to do this again and see what else we can find out.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Yeah, I'll create a list for you. This is uh all the the greatest infomercials of the golf world. This is, you know, golf channel at at 2 a.m. Exactly. Perfect. All right. Well, we have one more topic for tonight, and it's less of a game more than a question. But recently we've we've had a couple videos go out about, you know, would you keep playing if would you play golf full time if you got paid $100 a par or a thousand dollars a birdie? I just want to cut to the chase today. How much realistically would it take for you to quit your job and play golf full time if they paid you?

SPEAKER_02 40:27

Okay, I have a couple questions. What is this my salary, like an annual salary?

SPEAKER_00 40:32

This is an annual salary. You are not on the tour. You are just playing because some rich billionaire wants to see you play. Gotcha. And can I progress at all, or do I stay at this salary? How does that work? You know what? You let's say you, for the argument's sake, you progress at just a normal, steady career rate.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

Okay. Hmm. Feel like I'm gonna be undershooting here, but I I would do it for like 60k. Okay. Okay. Now, have you checked life on this? I know. I think that leaves a lot of room for improvement. And I would be a hard worker, so I would get promoted pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

That's good. I think part of the funny theatrics of it is you're just going to play, and it's hard to tell your wife and to tell your child, hey, sorry, I just I gotta go out and play, make some money today. Yeah. But a very modest, moderate salary. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

I don't think it would be the best time now that I just had a kid to like take a pay cut, but I don't love my job.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

Positives, think about the wonderful positives. I mean, uh, you know, maybe it's around a day. You'd be home by noon, spend more time with the family, more time with kids. Obviously, you'd be a little drained physically, but you'd be in a great mental state. You just played golf, you're happier, clearly less stressed, probably than your normal day job. There's a lot of great things that you're you're I get exercise.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Yes, yeah, yeah, you're gonna be in shape. Exactly. So I don't know. That that's my number. Am I totally out of like what what would you do?

SPEAKER_00 42:01

Well, I do have one more kid than you, so I gotta think I gotta think of that. That's true. No, I think I think I could I think I could convince my wife realistically. I was like, hey, all the reasons I just said we're gonna we're gonna step it. We're gonna we're gonna focus in on eighty thousand dollars a year. How can we make this work for our family going forward? I think I could have that conversation. So I'm gonna go eighty thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

Okay. Those aren't wildly different.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

No, yeah, no, I think we're I think I think most people out there would say something similar. I think some people would be ecstatic to to get paid sixty, eighty thousand dollars a year. Um yeah. Curious about the you know, maybe the golfers' higher earnings probably on average than any other uh hobby or you know, career adjacent sport. So curious what what other people would say. I think sixteen eighty would probably be a a big step down for some some golfers. So we'll see. We'll see where it lands.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

But yeah, that's yeah. I also would be curious, like, can you get fired?

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Yes, if you don't play, Casey. If you don't play, that's the one condition. This rich billionaire says if you don't play, you're fired back on the side.

SPEAKER_02 43:15

And then easy enough for me, but I could I think you could sweeten the deal by saying if you don't, you know, shoot or maintain this handicap, like you get a pay cut.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Yes. Yes. And if you and if you exceeded, maybe you get a pay raise. Who knows? Endless cycle of disappointment because eventually you're not gonna keep pace with your improvement. Yeah, exactly. Nice. Well, cool. That is gonna do it for us this week. Thank you for joining and see you next time.