"Golfers Golf & Travel" with John Cook, PGA Pro introducing his MyPowerPlane

John Cook, PGA Pro and multiple winner on both PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions joins Randy and introduces his MyPowerPlane, while including some insights from his career and other topical items in golf.

www.liveecostyle.com; Facebook "All the Good Things in Life"; 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Alrighty.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Well, good ready, everybody. It is the second day of the championship. And uh when we're doing this podcast, which is about uh 1 16 in the afternoon, central daylight time, Rory McElroy once again is on the verge of missing the cut, even though he won the tournament a year ago, you know. So actually he was playing on a beautiful day. So it's uh the the love and starch of uh playing the worldly golf. Anyway, this is golfers, golf and travel, and my lovely associate from Pennsylvania, James Algio, is joining. How are you, James? I'm doing well, Randy. How about yourself? I'm doing great. We're getting ready for a new blizzard to come to the Midwest this weekend. That's why I'm have you heard about that? No. Well, when you sit high atop the 48th floor overlooking the cheddar curtain, as I do in in northern Illinois, and you read their their paper clips. Well, today, right now, we have about a 50 to 60 mile an hour breeze blowing through our front yard. The grass is turning green, and they're telling us by Sunday we'll have anywhere from eight to 25 inches of snow sitting upon straight grass. So I'm heading out. I am not, I've had enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

I am I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Do you know do you know how what the easiest way is to find out when you if you're if you've lived in the upper Midwest and you want to move south, you know how how you do that? And then you can yeah, it's very simple. You you find your snowblower and you duct tape it to the front of your car, right? And then as you drive south, you have to fill your car up. Okay, and as you pull into the parking lot, you know, you fill your car up, and people look at you crazy, and they look at you in a little crazy, and then you finally get to a place where somebody finally asks, So what's that? Well, now you know you're home because you know that nobody's there now.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

You know it's time to take it off the front of your car.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

You untape it, you give it to them, and you say, You figure it out. I have no clue.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

And I don't need it anymore.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Yeah, it's a very weak rototiller. That's all he does. I am out of here. We um, you know, I am just I'm just I'm over it. I am over the uh the winter, and uh the grass is getting green. I mean, if it gets warm, we could play golf, but yeah, no bet. You know, I saw my first robin, which is really very sad. Yeah, it's gone now. I mean, they of course probably stuff up in the air, but anyway, uh golfers, golf, and travel. What an exciting week we had. I appreciate y'all joining us because we know that people like to hear about authentic life, and that's why uh James is not an AI producer, right? James, you're not AI produced, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

No, if I was AI, I'd look much better than this.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Oh, you're you're very, very handsome, you know. I I uh I I claim to be AI, but they know that no AI would allow anybody to have. Well, my wife decided to put a new blade in my razor, uh-huh, forgot to tell me. Uh she put it in crooked. So the other day, and I'm like, oh my that's like whoa, you know, I couple a couple nicks, you know, it I very quickly, and I was like, holy cow, that that was weird, but yeah. So for everybody out there, put your own blades in your own razor. Um, you know, don't let anybody else do that. So yeah, the research this past week for everybody is that we come from our main culture of live eco-style, which celebrates what we call all the good things in life. Um, and it's very simple, it's all about dining, sipping, travel, golf, of course, is a big part of our life, recreation, all kinds of sports, family fun, and spots. Um, just all the good things in life, things that people we hope have the chance to enjoy. So um what we have done over the past 12 years is about 3,500 podcasts. Can you believe that, Jane?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Wow, yeah, 3,500, huh?

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Yeah, it's it's incredible. I mean, they are stacked up high and deep in our um in not only in our oh like Vimeo and YouTube and on our websites, but um on about 30 terabytes of uh backup drives that I have sitting in a safe. And but from about a half million miles of travel and that began when we went to Hawaii, we just began storytelling. And I'll I'll admit right up front, we're not very sophisticated about it, but we do like to talk about the history and the cultures and the things like that. And um, and for the next few weeks, we're gonna be talking about. I wanted it in the world of golf, we do have media credentials, and one of the places I always wanted to go, of course, is the masters, and then the week after that is Harvardtown, which is down on just about uh a half hour drive from Savannah, Georgia. Okay. Uh, have you ever been there?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

I have not. No, I heard it's beautiful, but I've never been.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Beyond Incredible, the history is beyond incredible. I'm gonna share a little bit of the history, but for about the next three podcasts and maybe four podcasts, wow, tie the world of golf together around and leading up to that area of the country. Because it's next week, we're gonna be going to uh Tampa, where the week after the players next week uh in Tampa is gonna be the Bellspar uh tournament, which is gonna be at Innisbrook, another tournament I've always wanted to go to. Um because it's at a place in Florida that looks nothing like Florida. Uh really no, nothing. It has it has trees and tree lined, it looks like a fort, it looks like an up north golf course, right? Typically, if you want to build a golf course in Florida, you dig a hole that automatically fills up with water. You take the dirt out, you put it up, that becomes your fairway and green, and anybody can design a golf course in Florida. I mean, it's huh, yeah, it's you go down about 15 feet and you got water. I mean, okay. So think of Florida as a big sandbar. It just really when we build greens down there, it's synthetic greens, we'd always have to line them with a liner. Oh wow, yeah, just so they didn't sink further into the ground.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

So we we've been around around the the world of golf many different ways, but um, our podcasting has become one of the most powerful forms of media in the world today because our our media is what we call authentic. Uh, we are not gonna um have AI produce anything. Uh, we might use it a little bit for research that we go and we do we do some more research behind it, but there's not gonna be any corporate scripts, there's not gonna be any um fake conversations, there's not gonna be any fake anything, pictures, um, just real conversations about things we love. And um, since we're centered around the the world of the culture of golf, uh going to Harbortown, the reason I wanted to focus on it is that I've always wanted to go there. I've been to Savannah in that area, but I've never been there during that week of the tournament. Well, this is actually what they call an elevated event, which means all the best golfers are gonna be there the week after the masters. You know, why do they go to Harbortown? Well, they go there because it's a flat piece of ground, it's a much easier golf course. Honestly, it's sort of like a vacation. They're playing still for a lot of money. I think first prize is four million dollars. The best golfers are gonna be there, but they take their families, and the course they go there to relax, and they're great, it's right on the shoreline. And the the chefs are great, the resorts are wonderful, there's distilleries and breweries and wineries in the area. It's just an incredible, um, incredible place uh that wrapped around a golf tournament and it's full of history. And I'm gonna get into a little bit of the history, but I want everybody to know that our golfers, golf and travel magazine is going to be coming out the week after the masters.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

While we are in uh Harbor Town. And each issue explores the destination, the courses, and the restaurants, and the experiences that make golf and travel one of the greatest adventures in sports. Uh, from world-class golf resorts that we're going to be covering, the culinary gems down at uh Harbortown. Um, all of our writers, myself, uh Art Strickland, um, Dina Garcia, uh Joanne Tallinn, um, Robert uh Mills, and other freelance writers are going to be bringing great stories about great destinations around the world. So it's a it's a beautiful publication. And look for it uh coming to you. Go just go to our golfers, golf, and travel um Facebook page, the easiest place to go, or um Louvico Style or Distillery Channel websites, and you can find them there, but they're gonna be everywhere. You're gonna want to get um, they are a very beautiful interactive magazine. Uh the story of Harbor Town uh goes back, it has a great history, but you've never been to Savannah, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

No, I have not.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

That's it's such a an incredible. I'm gonna talk about Savannah in this. We're talking about the RBC Heritage, but we're gonna talk about Savannah first in this podcast because it's just full of great stories, and you understand my passion uh for why I want to uh um focus on Savannah. Uh Savannah is one of the most beautiful towns in America, it sits right along the coast. Um, and do you remember during the Civil War you heard about uh Sherman just burning burning down the south? Sure. Well, when he got um to Savannah, Savannah was founded in 1733 um by James Oglethorpe. Uh he was a British general and he established a colony in the province of Georgia as a refuge for debtors and a protective buffer between the British colonies and Spanish Florida. So you know it's just sort of a very interesting place on the coast. Um, what makes Savannah very, very unique is that he designed the city in a series of public squares, literally squares when you get into town, they're very small blocks that are squares, another way to explain it. And each square tells its story. You might find a fountain um, you know, dedicated to a uh, you know, somebody that saved George Washington's life, you know, later on in the war of 1812 or whatever. Uh the layout still exists today, and it gives Saban its famous walkable charm. And it really is. I've been there, it's incredible. Um, and when you walk around, it's got um that it's just it's just it's just remarkable, great places to eat. But anyway, um, one of the stories, um 1864, General uh William Sherman completed his march to the sea, capturing Savannah as his last stop as he marched across Georgia. And like many other southern cities that were burned down during the war, Sherman chose not to destroy Savannah. So beautiful. Wow, instead, he sent a famous telegram to Abraham Lincoln offering the city as a gift. The message read, I beg to present to you a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah. So he didn't burn it down, it's just too beautiful, and I admire him and thank him for doing that. Yeah, Savannah's historic architecture survived today from that time. Uh, the city is filled with 18th and 19th century homes, oak lined streets, beautiful public squares. Why visitors fall in love with Savannah? Well, have you ever seen that Spanish moss that's you know drained everywhere and gives it a cool thing? Um it has incredible uh southern cuisine, uh, waterfront views of the Savannah River, and a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. In fact, the hotel that I stayed in in Savannah a number of years ago, I went into the, you know, waking up, going into the bathroom in the morning, opened up the drapes, and I look outside, and here's a big tanker. Uh, I mean, like an oil tanker going down the Savannah River. Oh, wow. You know, so it is very, very interesting. And they do have a saying down there once you visit Savannah, you never want to go home because this is your new never want to leave. And that was true. Um, it is just really it's rich with history, culture, food, and hospitality. There is an interesting story. There's so many stories. Um, one of the oldest um buildings in America is called the Pirate's House. And uh Pirates House still is active today as a restaurant, uh, one of the oldest buildings in America. In fact, if I remember correctly, in the backyard, um the yard itself was used as like uh a place where whoever owned it grew plants, uh, food, you know, cucumbers, things that people could eat back in the day when this building was built. And the building still stands today as it was built. And you walk into it, and the floors are very you know uneven, smoky, filled, and it's dark. Um, but it had one thing underneath it, and a story that goes with it that is true. So as we storytell, as we said, we want to talk about the authenticity of it. We actually got this from our trip to uh the pirate house. And basically, have you ever heard the term Shanghai? Sure. Okay, well, Shanghai came from Savannah and from the Pirate House. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Yep. Uh during the 17-1800s, Savannah was a major Atlantic trading port. Ships from Europe and the Caribbean and Asia regularly stopped there, where ships constantly arriving and departing, tavern taverns sprang up along the harbor to serve sailors, merchants, and travelers. Who knew that would be the case? Yeah, really bringing in rum from the Caribbean. Who would think?

unknown 15:38

Huh?

SPEAKER_03 15:39

The pirate's house, which was the name still today, became one of the most famous of these gathering places. It was known for rum and ale for the sailors, hot meals and lodging, gambling and storytelling, and a very rough crowd that included privateers and pirates. Now, because of the transient population of sailors, the tavern also became associated with one of the darker practices in the era in this era known as Shanghai. Shanghai, like Shanghai, China. Okay, right. So the term slow boat to China, you're gonna get here in a minute. Okay, the legend of kidnapped sailors. And when I heard this, sitting with my media team, I was like, Are you kidding me? Okay, and they weren't, okay. And what has happened, the story goes like this. And I'm sorry I wrote this, but I just we have short time, but I wanted to to get this out exactly as as I we want to be authentic in it. So sailors having too much room, sailors and travelers might be knocked unconscious or drugged while they're in the pirate's house. They would then be carried through hidden trapdoors and underground tunnels that ran beneath the tavern toward the Savannah River. Remember, I told you I get up in the morning, I look out, Savannah River running. Well, Savannah River, I'll get to the next story, runs all the way to Augusta National. Ah, okay, which is where the the Masters is played. So there is a talk that I'm gonna give you today of how golf came to Augusta National. Okay, back in this era. Um, so anyway, with the hidden trapdoors being underground and being able to get to the Savannah River, from there the knocked-out drugged uh sailors were loaded onto ships and that were needed crews to sail. I mean, they you know, crews would come in, they'd have people on the ships that either die, or you know, let's say they're coming from down the Atlantic, you know, coming from Scotland or Spain or wherever. But people died, and then when they get to America, they go, Hey, I like it here, I'm done. You know, I'm out. Well, now ships had to go and repopulate their ships. How do you do it? Knock somebody out, Shanghai them. Okay, these ships often sail to distant ports, including China and the Far East, hence the term Shanghai, right? Forcing the kid kidnapped men to work as sailors for months or years before they ever could return home. Hence the term slow boat to China. Wow, true stories. Yeah, the practice gave the term being Shanghai, that's where the term came from. While historians debate how frequently it actually occurred in Savannah, the port city certainly had the same maritime culture where such kidnappings happened in other major seaports like San Francisco, Portland, and Liverpool. The tunnel today still exists.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Visitors to the Pirate House today can still see portions of the old tunnel system believed to connect the tavern to the riverfront. And these tunnels have fueled the legend of generations that are part of the restaurant's historical tours. Whether myth or reality, the stories become permanent and part of Savannah's culture. Um I just found that when I was sitting there in having lunch, knowing, and I told my partner at the time, I said, if I pass out and I find myself on a boat going to China, you know, I will return. I promise you. I'll be back. Yeah, I will return. Okay. Um, yeah, just downriver from Savannah's a story square sits the pirate house, and they have those squares. It's this just you know within walking distance.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

And it says right here in their storyline of the of the pirate house, where the legend says sailors were once Shanghai'd through underground tunnels and forced onto ships bound for China. Whether myth or truth, it's one of the most colorful pieces of maritime history in the American South. So hence, I guess we're telling authentic tales, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, I guess so.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

You know, I don't know. I I just found that story when I was there beyond incredible.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, that's really that's very interesting. History is fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Yeah. Um, well, it even got it became more interesting because Savannah um was actually captured by a pirate. Now, who was the pirate? Yeah, who was the pirate? Well, the pirate you would know because actually books came from this. One of the most feared pirates in history, Blackbeard, sailed the Atlantic coast in the early 1700s and terrorized merchant ships along the eastern colonies.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Huh.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

And while there's no evidence they actually captured Savannah, historical records show the ships operated along the Georgia and Carolina coast from 1717 to 1718, just before the city of Savannah was founded. Lackbier's strategy was simple. He would blockade ports and intercept incoming ships, loaded with cargo, everything from rum and sugar to medicine and gunpowder. His most famous ship, the Queen's and Queen Anne's Revenge, carried 40 cannons and terrified merchant ships.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

Stories later told the Savannah told in the Savannah taverns helped fuel the pirates' legend that surrounded the harbor. Um the the there's continuous stories of these smuggler tunnels under Savannah, which tunneling must be you know a way of doing things. Actually, in uh Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and other communities I'm not going to go into, actually, Lake Geneva, which is a popular tourist place in Wisconsin. There are tunnels under the city up there that in the 1920s Al Capone helped facilitate because he was As a hideout, so he said the feds can come to Lake Geneva, but if I can get in the tunnels and get to five different entrances to the lake, the feds ain't bringing a boat, you know, so I'm out of here. So yeah, so it um it was quite interesting. Um so Savannah, when you get down there, um, there's also they have a culture of um of uh ghost stories. So really yeah, there's cemetery tours, there's a lot of cool. And I uh when I was there with my my team, some of the team members were just they're deathly afraid of um of uh ghosts, you know, and we and we went on the podcast tours, and um there is uh so we went to this one cemetery and it was at sundown, and they wouldn't get out of the car. Would not get out of the car. True story, absolutely true, you know, knock me off air if this is not true. Um so I'm walking around and I'm I'm looking actually at the you know, Savannah's a very old town. So you get down there, you know, you want to take your family and you want to go to a great place, you want to go on vacation. Let's say you're going to Harbor Town. The reason I am belaboring Savannah is that Harbortown to go stay and go to the tournament, there the hotels are gonna run anywhere from 600 to 1200 a night. Oh wow. So Savannah being about 45 minutes away, there are tons of places to eat, tons of places you can stay that possibly won't be that expensive, you know, to go you know, to go down there. Um but when you get to Savannah, you're gonna be really enthralled of if you listen to our podcast, because we're gonna fill you up. The ghost tour that we went on was actually in an older home. Great storytelling about who died here and who got killed there, and they were in this chair there. And they said, Now make sure you're taking a lot of movies, capturing movies, because when you get back, um, you can see the ghost in your your film. Really? Yeah, I'm like, come on, you know, so what they call them is orbs, lights that light, you know, through your um, you know, your film. We're a media crew, so we have some pretty good cameras, yeah. So I said, Well, okay, I'll bite, let's do this, you know. Right. And the guys that didn't like ghosts actually came on the ghost tour, okay, regrettably, because they were our hosts, and I almost forced them to do it. We go through this beautiful tour, and uh then we get back and we said, Okay, let's go in and see if we can find any orbs. We did really now. Whether it was dust reflecting off the light or it was ghost, you tell me, I don't know. Right, right. But the next night I took them to this iconic cemetery. I'll give you the name of their next podcast because I don't want everybody to flood it, everything we're doing there. But yeah, it was at sundown, the tombstones were old, 1700s. I'm fascinated. I'm reading it. My media team has all jammed five people into a car, and I'm like, this is just way too much fun because I'm not scared until true story, an F-150 now is driving, leaving the cemetery. Okay, and so it has to drive around the car where my team is. Okay, as the truck approaches me, I look in the truck, there's nobody driving it.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Come on.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

I'm dead serious. I was trying to whip my phone around, and I'm sure whoever was driving it was below the dash, but he did a really good job of it. 300 yards or not, right? Right, tell me, you know. Wow, yeah, and I was like, that's interesting. Uh-huh. All of a sudden, my team said they started rolling on.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

Did you see that? Did you see?

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Did you oh so much fun, but I don't know. I I'm just gonna say they did a good job of driving that car, but true story, true true. As we say, we're authentic. That is, I'm telling you, a true story. Uh my experience of that. Now, whether that happened that way, you know, I I have my suspicions. Um, we had a lot of fun in that in that cemetery. I did some interesting fun podcasts. Um, sort of so you're you you're you're not big into the history of golf, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Uh a little bit, not much. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

So if I told you there was a connection now, we've now talked about ghosts and pirates and so forth and so on. That there was a connection to Augusta National through Savannah, that might be interesting to you, you know. Absolutely, you know, and um here it is. And again, I wrote this out just so I didn't miss anything. Long before golf became a global uh sport, the game traveled across the Atlantic through trade routes between Scotland and the American colonies. We all we all know that, okay. And even in Wisconsin in the Midwest, there's this what I call Johnny Appleseed of golf course architects. This guy was an architect for really famous courses all across the northeastern United States and even through the Midwest down into Georgia. However, before he became uh alive, uh there were ports, you know, trade routes between Scotland and the American colonies. And most ports, like Savannah, played a surprisingly important role in golf in the 1700s. Now remember, golf started in Scotland at the old course in about 1450. So it'd been around a bit. In the 17s and early 1800s, Savannah was one of the most important commercial ports in the southern colonies. Ship arriving from Scotland carried everything from textiles to iron tools to barrels of whiskey and trade goods. Isn't it interesting that from Scotland they got their whiskey and from the Caribbean they got their rum? So, you know, we wonder why they had the Boston Tea Party. Why the heaviest taxes in America were on liquor, you know, yeah, uh coming in through the ports. But the other thing that were brought by the merchants were golf clubs and golf balls, really. And like I told Joanne, leaving this weekend. Well, we got to throw our clubs in the trunk because we're going south. Well, right, no different than the merchants, okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Huh.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

At the time, golf equipment was handmade in Scotland. And again, I'm gonna have to bring some up and put it on my wall. I do have some of the oldest equipment that was made in my collection.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

You really, yeah. Oh, that'd be cool.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

I'd like to see that. Yeah, it they're they're they're they're worth a little bit of money and very different. But early balls were called featheries, and that was stuffed with feathers and wrapped in leather, and then they would boil it and it would tighten up and they'd stitch them together, and that's what they were using for golf balls. At the time, golf equipment was made in Scotland, and these featheries made it to America. Scott Scottish merchants who settle in America port cities, including Savannah, often brought their favorite pastime with them, more importantly, than the stuff they put on their ships.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

First thing I packed is my golf club. My ships were in port for a few weeks, waiting to reload cargo sailors, merchants sometimes played informal games on open coastal land and fields near town. The informal matches helped introduce the game um to America. The Savannah Golf Club was formally established in 1794. Wow, isn't that incredible? I mean, I find that just amazing. War of 1812 was after 1794. You know, we got the golf going, okay? Making it one of the oldest golf clubs in North America, and the roots of golf in the region go back even earlier through the Scottish trading connections. Wow, I just find that amazing. That is, it is just fascinating to think that the same ship sailing into Savannah carrying rum, cotton, and trade goods were also quietly bringing something else to America. Golf. Yeah, huh? Oh no, yeah, I mean, it really is, you know, and uh um how did that tie as we wrap up the show? Okay, I'm gonna talk a little bit about it. The Savannah, Augusta, Georgia connection that helped shape the Masters. Okay, now the the schedule for golf is this week is the tournament players championship, next week is the Balspar. Week after that, they go to Texas, I believe, and then they come back and play at the Masters around the 8th of April.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

That then they go to the RBC. So we're really loaded with golf here in Florida and Southeast Georgia. Yeah, best golf. The Azaleas are out. If nobody's ever been to the south this time of year, flowers are blooming. It's the reason that we're heading out by car to go to Tampa. Between now and Tampa, we're gonna see spring come alive. Uh it's just a beautiful trip, just a leisurely trip. You go down the four lanes, but it's just to go through Georgia is just absolutely exquisitely beautiful. Well, the Savannah Augusta connection was basically uh long before the Masters Tournament became one of the most famous sporting events in the world, the cities of Savannah and Augusta were tied together economically because of that Savannah River that came again talking about that river that you know came in from the ocean. And 17 and 1800, Savannah was a primary port for the entire state of Georgia. Okay, wow, and Georgia is a huge state. Oh, yeah. And if I go back, um Olythorpe when he wanted to become a state, I believe he had to get 13 people to sign the application to the king. We had to actually apply for stateship. Okay, to the king, you know, right. He found 13 Native Americans and I think some Haitians to sign the application. So, anyway, that that was interesting, but then they became this huge state, and agriculture goods from inland towns, including Augusta, were transported downriver to Savannah, where they were loaded onto ships, um, going to Europe. The most valuable of these, of course, was cotton, you know. Sure, yeah, you go down, you know. Obviously, we know that you know, plantations that's what General Sherman was burning down, right? Were these, you know, getting rid of slavery in the South, basically. Cotton fields were full of American slavery, right? Um, so the two cities essentially formed a trade partnership connected by the Savannah River, wealth that built the city and eventually golf. The fortunes created through the cotton trade helped build August into a wealthy southern city by the late 1800s. Wow, okay, these fortunes financed estates and country homes, social clubs, sporting traditions imported from Europe. Well, what was that? Golf. Okay, brought to America largely by Scottish merchants and travelers. Early 1900s, wealthy uh um winter visitors from the northeast were looking at a place to play golf, and that led to the development of Augusta National Golf Club founded by Bobby Jones, Clifford Roberts, in 1933. Wow, so we now today in this podcast have tied together pirates being Shanghai to Augusta National having the most incredible golf tournament still today in a upcoming so yeah, and it's just full. I mean, that's just a 35-minute glimpse of right little bits of history. When you get to Savannah, it's everywhere, it's everywhere. I mean, the food is exciting. Um, this time of year, um it just uh it is a incredible, you know. If we remember, I'm I'm talking about the next thing we're gonna talk about. What I really wanted to talk about today was the RBC Heritage that I've already go to that I'm gonna go and cover. But why is that such a spectacular tournament? Okay, well, to give you a little hint, it's on flat land, the food is great, people are wonderful, it's all about relaxation, it's a shoreline village, and it's just where it's it's a place I've reserved, I guess, for later in life. I've been down in the area. Um, like I told Joanne, I said, of all the places we've gone, this is going to be the one that um that you really want to go to um and plan our trip extensively because the food, every time I listen to the other media guys that are down there, they go, Oh, the food, the food, the food, the food, the food. And I'm like, it's like where a a gluttonous marathon was interrupted by a golf tournament, you know. It's it's crazy. Nothing wrong with that. No, and I want to go be part of it, you know. Yeah, but yeah, there it's uh very the golf course itself at the RBC is very flat. Augusta National is very hilly, it's a tough RBC. Has always been one of those things, and they have this big red and white iconic lighthouse that okay, you know, the picture book lighthouse, right? Well, basically, it was never used as a lighthouse.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Oh really?

SPEAKER_03 36:50

Yeah, there are lighthouses on the shoreline, and there we'll get that story in our next podcast. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, it's the iconic postcard picture. If somebody shows you this red and white lighthouse, you go, Oh, you're in you know, you're down there. Yeah, that's where we're at. Yeah, it's a fake lighthouse, but you know, that's okay. We'll go from there. So that sounds a little harsh, but not really. Anyway, what I mean, James, I did all the talking again. I appreciate you. You're an excellent listener.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

I I try my best, you know. I mean, that was really a fascinating story. I it really is uh that's cool. That's uh definitely learned something new today for sure.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

Well, we got to get you out on the road with us because it's uh when we last media trip down to Savannah, I think we had I know we had at least nine people on the trip, and okay, we had you know a different kind of um media team at the time, and that's been miniaturized now where we use basically our cell phones and computers, right? So it's a lot easier traveling. We don't need you know sound lights, camera, and all that, right? But to find these stories um to do the research is so much fun. Uh oh yeah, you know, you sit there and and uh and I had forgotten the Pirate House. I'm telling you, anybody that goes to Savannah, go have lunch at the Pirate House. It's not expensive, it's it's just yeah, it's just one of the oldest buildings in America. You can say you've been there, you know. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It really is, and it smells smoky. And to sit there and know, not that it's good, bad, or indifferent, but it's just part of that real history, right? Guys were Shanghai, you know. I mean, they were when I heard that story about going the tunnel, and they said, Oh, yeah, tunnel's still here. You want to go see it? Sure, you know, like you gotta be kidding me, huh? Yeah, that's why and then when I went to Lake Geneva and they said, you know, I was telling them that story about Savannah, right? Well, you know, Capone did the same thing in Lake Geneva. Really? Where? Well, right under my story. You want to go down and see it? You know, sure, you know. So you know, these great stories are everywhere. Anyway, golfers, golf, and travel. We're all about authentic um storytelling and travel. We want you to write to us. Uh, if you want us to come visit your town community, if you got a small the small stories or the great stories. Um, I know your experiences in in racing, James. Just if you haven't listened to James in the past, he has a deep culture in the in the world of auto racing. And I am sure. Um, so did you hear by the way Danica Patrick is out of a job?

SPEAKER_01 39:34

I did. I heard that yes, I heard she is out of Sky Sports, um, covering Formula One.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

So since she grew up just north of where I live, and well, actually from Rockford, Illinois, I thought maybe you'd want to call her up and see if she wanted to be part of our podcast, you know. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Well, you know, she does her own podcast too, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

She might be a tough get, but uh, but you know, we're we it's it's it's glory and opportunity coming with us. Come on, it is absolutely without a doubt. You can see people fighting to get in here every day.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

So yeah, I know we're beating them back with a stick.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

But I always thought she'd be a lot of fun. I mean, I I saw her workouts that she had going, and and I didn't know she had her own podcast. How often is that?

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Yeah, um, I think she does it weekly. Yeah, it's yeah, uh, you know, touches on different subjects, and well, it's yeah, I've listened to some. They're they're interesting.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

Yeah, well, I just think that she should join us. I just think Danica, we're reaching out to you, you know. Right. If you're listening, you know, we're gonna have fun. I'm I grew up in Freeport, you grew up in Rockford, yeah, yay, big eight, you know. There you go. I I I know your whole history, you know, so we're there. We're we're there for you, Danica. Please, we're begging. Just that much, you know, a lot.

unknown 40:55

Right.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Anyway, what's going on in the world of racing? Any big races coming up this week?

SPEAKER_01 40:59

Yeah, uh uh NASCAR is in Las Vegas this weekend. Of course they are. Yeah, so that's uh that should be interesting. Last week, um, they were in Phoenix. Um, Ryan Blaney broke uh Tyler Reddick's win streak. He's uh you remember remember Tyler won the first three races of the season. Um Blaney put on a good performance and wound up taking the taking the event last week. So we'll see what uh Vegas has in store. You know, chances are it's gonna be good weather since they don't get a whole lot of rain out there. So uh should be should be interesting.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Talking about the world of gambling, so it does is auto racing made the world of uh online gambling.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Oh, absolutely. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. You can yeah, you can bet on the winter, you can bet on if somebody's gonna finish in a top three or in a top five. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's definitely entrenched in the the world of gambling.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Now, do they have live gambling during the race then?

SPEAKER_01 41:56

You can sit there and that I haven't seen. No, I mean they might, but if they do, I'm not aware of it.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

But how many laps are gonna go without a yellow flag, you know, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

You know, they might. Yeah, I've I'm not that into gambling where I'm you know on the app constantly looking for something to bet on, but um they might, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

Yeah, the world of golf is completely nuts on gambling. It is it really, it's it's insane. I don't I don't touch it, ain't doing it. I don't it it's just you know, there are some guys that really know what they're doing, and I am not that guy. Um I don't I I you know the if it wasn't for my paper route, I you know, I would be hard pressed to do my podcast. So people don't even know what a paper route. You even know what a paper route was?

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Sure, had one when I was 12, man. That was my first job.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

You did you deliver the newspapers then? Have the bike and uh yeah, sure. By your bike or by foot?

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Uh my bike, yeah. Every morning on my bike, we were out there.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

You were you a good thrower?

SPEAKER_01 43:03

I was pretty good, yeah. Yeah, I got pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

So, did you have the little tear-off tab you had to give people for their dime a week or whatever they would be?

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Um, yeah, there was a little receipt. Yep, there was, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

How much did you have to pick up? And was it weekly you had to pick up your uh collecting?

SPEAKER_01 43:19

We did every week, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure Friday was a or it's like Saturday morning. I would go out and hit the neighborhood up and try to catch everybody while they were home, you know, so they could pay for their paper. I mean, you had the dead dates every once in a while that you had a two, three weeks in a row weren't uh weren't adding it up, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

So how much money were you picking up?

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Oh man, come on, that's a long time ago. I have no idea. I mean, it might have been a quarter, I it might have been a quarter a week for the paper, 35 cents if you included the Sunday paper. I mean, you know, we're talking a couple years ago, so it was a I remember it was a dime a week.

SPEAKER_03 43:53

Actually, the guys would come around and we had to find a dime to give to the paper boy to get a seven day a week paperboy. I mean it was dying. But I also know that the rent now this is going back, okay, uh do tell 1950s, okay?

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

So I know that the uh my parents bought their um Leave It the Beaver classic, you know, house after World War II in the brand new neighborhood, three bedroom, one bath, four kids for eleven thousand six hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

Yeah, that was typical price for that and the whole neighborhood that vers had that version of that one level, you know, sure new home. But you know, it it that that neighborhood, it was so so amazing to grow up in. I was telling it, we're really diverting, but to grow up in the baby boomer era, you know, I just feel like I was privileged because of all the things that we saw develop from the space program to the curing of polio to the vaccines that we were protected by. We weren't, but our kids were, you know, as when my when I had children in the 70s. Um but you know, it was just it was just a great time. And now today my kids tell me, uh, you know, we hate the boomers. Well, what did I ever do to you? You know, right? You know, I you can still go drink out of a hose. I'm not gonna stop you, you know. You can and you know, back then 4.3 kids per family was you know, uh sort of a tradition. And I think it was because if you lost one, what difference it would make, you know, the rest of the yeah, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

A few others.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

So they're just enough around, but it was always we got in our bikes and had to be back by uh were you did you have a rule where you grew up had to be back by the time the street lights came on?

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Oh yeah, yep, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

So and you grew up in Pennsylvania? Is that where you grew up? No, I grew up in New Jersey, New Jersey, okay. Yeah, um, yeah, yeah, and that found it because where we grew up, you know. I I saw the story this week. My mom would four three of the four would show up. I was the oldest of the four, except my brother, younger me, five years younger. He'd be the one that would it'd be dark, and my mom would sit and say, Well, go find your brother. Well, where am I supposed to start?

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Right.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

Where? And now I'm gonna be out in the dark ride my bike, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Yeah, exactly. In the meantime, he'll come home.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Yeah, I mean, it is insane. But I always I always knew where he went fishing and lose time, and literally there was this creek about two miles south of our town. He literally could hop across because it's full of catfish and carp and stuff, and that's where I'd find him with his bike and in the dark, still fishing. I should have left him, honestly. I really would have made my life a lot better. So, yeah, for sure. Anyway, authentic stupid stories, yep, by old Uncle Randy. James, it's always a pleasure. Um, always it uh next week we're gonna continue our authentic stories. Probably uh we're gonna know who has won the uh tournament players championship, uh delve into a little bit of the history of that. Uh, we're never gonna be talking about scores, you know. We let other people do that, you know. Sure, we'll talk about some unique uh why they're talking about turning the tournament players championship into the fifth major. Is that really a thing that they should do? Okay, a little bit of history of how the majors came about. Do you have any idea how the majors came about in the world of golf? Well, it didn't come from the world of golf. That's weird, huh? Yeah, it is it's a very interesting story. And in fact, Jack Nicholas, when it did change, had to agree to give up two majors.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

Yeah, how did how do you do that? You know, those two. Now, some people listening know the answer to that, but a lot of people don't. So it um we'll we'll delve into that history of the worldly golf, and we'll delve into why uh what the term golf stands for over in Scotland. Okay, doesn't it's interesting, it'll make you laugh. Yeah, it'll make you laugh. Anyway, for James Algio, this is old Uncle Randy, and always remember if we sign off every place for golf is golf and travel. Always leave a better football. Like my grandfather told me and tells everybody else when you just don't know who's watching. So anyway, James talk to you next time.