Mike Beverly - How A Golf Executive Became A Better Father By Listening, Learning, And Leading At Home

What if the most important leadership lessons don’t come from the boardroom but from late-night talks at the kitchen table? 

A HUGE thank you goes out to Mark Krahe for making today's episode possible.  Today, we sat down with Sunbelt Golf CEO Mike Beverly—who leads the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail—to unpack the habits, values, and hard-won insights that guide him as a father and as a leader. It starts with gratitude for a strong partner in a demanding industry and widens into a blueprint for raising very different kids with empathy and clarity.

Mike opens up about early prenatal fears, the emotional whiplash of uncertain diagnoses, and the patience it took to later understand his son’s discalculia. That shift—from assuming to asking—became the foundation of his parenting. He connects those same principles to team leadership across 11 golf properties: you tailor your coaching, you take blame when things go wrong, and you celebrate your people when they get it right. The thread is humility, not as a brand but as a discipline you practice daily.

We also dig into stress management and the small rituals that keep the home safe from work fallout. Mike uses drive time to decompress, chooses words carefully when emotions run hot, and returns to the simple rules his parents taught him: respect, accountability, and love spoken out loud. Along the way, he shares what makes the RTJ Golf Trail special—meticulous course conditions, service that feels human, and a mission to elevate Alabama’s communities. It’s hospitality as leadership, and leadership as love.

If you’re a parent, coach, or people leader, you’ll find practical takeaways on advocating for your kids at school, creating decompression routines, and building cultures where people remember how you made them feel. And if you’re a golfer, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at a destination defined by excellence and heart. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a lift, and leave a review with the one insight you’ll put into practice this week.

Transcript

Season Seven Kickoff & Guest Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, I'm Riley. And I'm Renner. And this is my dad's show. Hi, I'm Casey Jacobs, host of the Quarterback Dad Cast. Welcome to season seven. I want to take a minute to tell you why I started this podcast. Really, I wanted to do it because I wanted to be a better dad myself. I did it because I wanted to learn from dad just like you. I want to learn how you were raised. I want to learn what your current family looked like. I want to learn what the values that your parents taught you were important and why they're important. And how do you use those values to become a better father yourself? We're going to learn about how we can improve this dad so that you can become that ultimate quarterback or leader of your house. So I hope that you take notes, I hope that you're present with each episode, and I hope you take away something from each conversation that we have. So sit back, relax, and listen to this episode of the Quarterback Dadcast. Well, hey everybody, it's Casey J. Cox with the Quarterback Dadcast. We are in season seven, and we have another fantastic guest who I'm excited to learn more about, who only comes to us from the one and only my uh Mark Cray, a seasoned tailor-made sales executive, sales executive leader who I met years ago. And he introduced me to our next guest, whose name is Mike Beverly, who is the CEO and president of Sunbelt Golf Corporation, who owns and they and this company is fantastic because if you're a golfer, you know this golf uh destination that I'm about to announce that they they manage. And it's the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama. Uh, I'm gonna be fortunate enough to go visit them uh in February, which I can't wait. It's been on my my my list uh of things to do forever. Um, Mike is a high character leader, he is a customer service um obsessed about just creating great experiences, not only for his company, his his leaders, but also his um the guests that come visit um the trail. And I can't wait to maybe do a video when that when I get done. But with all that said, everybody, that's not why we're having Mike on. We're having Mike on so we can learn about Mike the dad and how he worked hard to become that ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. So without further ado, Mr. Beverly, welcome to the quarterback deadcast.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Casey, thanks so much for having me. I can't wait to spend an hour talking.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Should be fun. I I also forgot you are a a Marshall. Is it a bison or buffalo?

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Who do you we are the thundering herd? Okay, yeah, yeah. I think I think the technical correct term is a bison. Okay. Although the American buffalo is often conserved, but I think I think it's really a bison.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

There we go. Uh I now did you you and Randy Moss used to run routes together at Marshall?

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Uh I was a little older than him. I I uh had him by about 15 years. So I take credit for turning the program around, though, because my uh they their first winning season after the plane crash was my freshman year. So I had nothing to do with it but sit in the stands and cheer him on, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

That must have been a surreal time to be there when that crash happened.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

Yeah, I mean Huntington truly is a you can imagine, it's a uh college town, and uh the movie depicts well the big nickel plant there and just an industrious blue-collar city revolving around a university. Um and yeah, I I can't imagine going through that in a town like that, how it really just emotionally shocked shockwaves through the town and the state, you know, and the nation, you know, it was a big, big story back at the time. But uh yeah, truly devastating to to kind of lead that out of that. And uh, you know, that's when they fought for in the movie as to see that freshmen become eligible to play so they could save the football program. A lot of people forget about Wichita State, had a plane crash that you know lost their team, but they they never brought their football back.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Wow, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Same tragedy.

Gratitude Check: Partners And Parenting

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Wow. Wow, well, um, if there's any thundering herd that went that knows people that went through that thoughts and prayers out to to the family that um again can't even imagine that, but we're gonna we're gonna turn this now positive. And I always start out each episode with gratitude, uh, Mike. So tell me what are you most grateful for as a dad today?

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Well, I you know, to be a dad, um you have to have a willing partner, right? So I think the most the thing I'm most gracious for is my wife. Um I married the right person who's been an incredible partner and mother to our two wonderful children. I mean I'm obviously gracious for them. Uh, we were blessed to have a boy and a girl, and when we had one of each sex, we decided to stop. I think that was our ultimate goal, and we knocked it out in two tries, but um, obviously I couldn't have them without her, and then uh working in the golf business uh is six to seven days a week, and have been my entire career, and just having a spouse that was supportive of that and not making me feel guilty when I worked long hours, but just being able to take care of the household and the kids, and I've I've joked about this, but in all sincerity, something could happen to me at uh when I was the kids were 10 and 6, and my wife would have been fine. She's that strong of an individual, and she's way more mechanically sound than me. She could take the dishwasher apart and put it back together. She's truly an amazing woman. So I I would say my wife, Holly, she's been a blessing in my life.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

There we go. Well, we already have a lot in common, I think, from our few prep calls we had, but the fact that you've mentioned your wife is mechanically inclined. Uh, I share that same gift that my wife has. I mean, she looks like like, what, what's wrong with you? I'm like, honey, I didn't grow up. I was playing sports growing up, not fixing cars. Sorry, I don't know how to fix that. And her dad's like MacGyver. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

So I know why uh why Bondo a car when you shoot who, you know?

Casey’s Daughter’s Injury And Resilience

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Exactly. I got four hours to go play golf, not fix a freaking build a house or something or build a port. Um okay, what I'm most grateful for, um, so everybody, this is we're recording in January. This episode will come out in February. And um, unfortunately, um the some adversity hit our family over the weekend. Um, my daughter um went through a pretty significant knee injury. We don't know the six the extent of it now, but um, she's gonna play, for those that know, listen to a previous episode, she's gonna go play college basketball after after this, and I'm so grateful for that. But um 99% her senior year is now over. Um, so that's a bummer. I'm not grateful for that, but I'm grateful that I have had the experience to go through what she's now gonna go through. And I'm just trying to find the silver lining and positive positive um thoughts to think about. So, you know, me, I lost my senior year in high school, didn't play at all. Um, I told my daughter, at least I said, honey, at least you played 10, 12 games, um, which doesn't remove any of the pain, but um we can be a little bit grateful for that, but it still sucks. And just I'm grateful that I I know what she's gonna be going through, and I just hope that I say the right thing, help her out with the right time, and hope she you know leans on me at times for for just conversations and and lets the emotion out. Um, because it's it's literally brought back PTSD for me. Like I've there's times where we're my wife and I yesterday just freaking broke down, like, what? No, this was not how the story was written. It was they're supposed to be in the state championship and have these great, great opportunities, and but that's not not the path that uh the good Lord has decided to take us down. So, but I'm excited to see what the future holds, and I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be uh hopefully the best out I can be with this adversity ahead of me, ahead of us.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Well, having met you and talked to you a few times and listened to several of your podcasts, there's no doubt that you're gonna handle it the right way as a family and as a father. Um, how long did you take you to switch that mental switch from being uh, you know, man, this is devastating impact to that now you're the motivated athlete that I'm gonna work through this and come back stronger than ever? You know, because you know that's gonna happen with her being that type of athlete. She's got to have that type of internal drive and motivation, and she knows what's ahead with being committed to playing in college. So I wouldn't imagine that would be a week or two of getting through this uh surgery or whatever lies ahead and the swelling going down. As soon as that rehab kicks in, her competitiveness is gonna kick in.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

I sure hope so. I mean, for me, it was like 24 hours. Um, I had a couple moments today where it got got me again, but I just said tomorrow's new day, new mindset. Um and I just like and I woke up fired up and I couldn't and I couldn't wait to you know attack the day and um just staying busy getting stuff done. I had a lot of work stuff I was dealing with today. And um, you know, it's not but we're all flawed humans, and it's gonna be there's gonna be days where we're not our best, and that's they all rely on my wife or a friend and I'll reach out to somebody else to try to get help. But um yeah, it's gonna be an interesting journey ahead. So if there's any families dealing with um what we're going going through, you're not alone. And if you want to connect to talk, I'm I'm always an open book because I love being curious, I love connecting with other people and just relying on curiosity to form new relationships. Um well, Mike, bring us inside the the huddle per se, I always like to say. So, like tell tell us how you and your wife met and then talk a little bit about each member of the team from your the your kids.

unknown 9:22

Yeah.

How Mike Met Holly And Built A Family

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Well, uh uh my wife and I met during college, but not at college. So um I worked um my last couple of years, my degree is actually in psychology and was counseling kids who were all court committed, um, as dangerous to themselves or others. So about as low as they could go in the system. Um, and our it was a really neat place. It was an old prison farm that had been rehabbed, and uh there was a school and an admin building on site. They had certified educators there and administrative building and nurses, but then there were three cottages: one for the older boys, one for the younger boys, and one for the girls. Um very nice uh double locked door facility. We had runners and things like kids who would take off. So I was running the younger boys' cottage. I had worked there for a year or two and worked my way up to um head counselor there. And uh my wife Holly at the time was working in the girls' cottage part-time while she was finishing school. And you know, we would do activities together with the boys and the girls and the older boys sometimes. So I, you know, I had met her, but um, knew who she was. We really met when one of my kids had been in my cottage for a couple of years and they decided to um transition him back to home life in Morgantown, West Virginia, which I now affectionately call Morganhole, because I'm not a as a Marshall fan, you don't like WVE even Morgantown. So I had to take him to his home and uh meet with his mother and social workers there. And me being a male and them females, they wanted a female to accompany me on the trip. And Holly was lucky enough to get to ride with me in my new car as a college uh graduate, and uh we rode up there, spent a couple days with his family at the house, you know, and he spent the night at home, so we went to dinner together and just hit it off. And the thing that I drew me to her, obviously attracted uh physically, beautiful uh girl, but her uh how smart she was. And then I'm a little bit of a dry, sarcastic, smart ass, and I had someone who could give it back to me, and uh I appreciated that. It was like, man, I I love being with someone that can give me a challenge and really was not looking for a girlfriend at the time. It seemed like I'd always had one from my senior year through and was kind of tired of it. But we just kind of started hanging out, and about four or five months later, I realized in that field, you you know, to get to make any real money in psychology, you have to get your master's or your doctorate. And I was kind of burnt out. I played golf and then worked and um switched majors three times, you know, four and a half years of school. I said, Man, I'm not ready to just jump back into getting a master's. I'm gonna go to Hilton Head. I knew a friend down there and get started in the golf business, just take a year off, and I never looked back. I I went down there and got saved enough money on my own, and uh after a couple of months she came down, and then the rest is history.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

So family-wise, we have two uh wonderful uh children, they're not kids anymore. Uh, I have a son, Nick, who's 29, and my daughter Lauren is 25, and uh just awesome kids, uh very responsible. Um sure it was due more of the Holly's got to spend more time with them than me. Uh, but couldn't be more blessed how they turned out and uh how they treat other people um and both doing well and successful in their young adult age. So Nick is single, Lauren is engaged and about to get married uh in less than four months, May 2nd. So that is funded and set aside, but uh mom and her, I'm sure, will be getting nervous as the day comes close.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Wow. Um, what do what do Nick and Lauren do? No.

Parenting Through Uncertainty And Diagnosis Fears

Discalculia, School Advocacy, And Lessons Learned

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Nick's uh Nick is working for Publix Corporation, uh full-time with them and their management deal. So he's transitioned, uh he got into give a little backstory on our children that they're because they are quite different individually, as you I don't know if your two are, uh, but mine are very, very different personalities. Nick is very conservative and quiet, very well read, um not especially outgoing. And early on in his life, we Nick we had some issues with him uh at birth. He was our first child, so we don't know what we're doing to begin with. Um and our first ultrasound, they came back and told us it was kind of thrown out very lackadaisically, but not oh, that could be indicative of dwarfism. Oh wow. It was just the ultrasound that his limbs appeared to be small and his head was large, and but it was thrown out very casually. So we got home, it's like, what the hell did that mean? That was was it serious or is this too early? But why would they say it if it wasn't with intent? So we called, and they were like, Well, we thought you might be calling back. And we were still taken back a little bit by uh, you know, just the approach. But uh three weeks later you go back, you do another one, and it's like, okay, we we still see the same thing. So then we were referred to medical university. We were living in Hilton at the time, uh medical university of South Carolina. And so you go up there another three or four weeks later, and by then we started trying to do some research. You know, now you're you're still back in early days of the internet, but the library on Hilton Ed's not, you know, it's a resort city, it's not the greatest. But you just start trying to wrap your head around what are the basics, you know, what's the worst case scenario? Uh, what's the best case scenario? There's 46 types of achondroplasia. Like, oh shit, we didn't know that. Uh, we have no genetic history, so we really don't know. You know, one of us has a mutated gene, and you realize then that there's a 50% chance every child, with depending on which parent has it, which one they get it from, could be a dwarf. So then you're like, well, do we have other kids? And then I think rationally we we start rationalizing, well, you know, why us? And we looked at it as like, well, we we were actually not discouraged. There's lots of worse things. They're generally have a good lifespan, they're above average intelligence, they're just little people, right? And then why us is like, well, look at our backgrounds. I've you know, we've spent some time with kids who were split personality, schizophrenic, explosive behavior disorders. We're just coming out of that. And for our age, I thought we were um mature. Holly's mom had passed and left us a little bit of money. So from a financial perspective, we were a lot better than people who were very young without anything. And it's like, you know, you just start right. And then genetic-wise, like our families had been blessed. We had nothing. Uh historically, it's going to happen at some point to someone in your family, and God chose us. So we just embraced what was going to come down our way and prepared and prepared and prepared. And at the end, it turned out that uh basically Nicholas was confined in uh in her uterus and didn't get the nutrients, it was confined. So his brain was trying to take everything it could get, and that's why the you know the measurements were a little bit off. And he looked a little bit like an alien when he was born. Um, and he wasn't awfully small. Holly's blood pressure was high, she was very stressed. So he was born three or four weeks early. Um and he started growing quickly, so I felt pretty sure. And you know, I I had read and researched when he came out, I didn't get the hold, and they took him, we had some other complications. They took him quickly and uh started doing a lot of tests, but I didn't see the severity. Like I it wasn't the worst types of the, you know, the curvature of the forehead, the curvature of the spine, web fingers. Like I saw enough quickly that I was like, okay, this isn't the worst type of scenario that we would have to deal with. But it probably took her a good year, year and a half of us continuing to go back and just run some tests. We start growing so fast, I was pretty much at ease. And then Lauren comes across four years later and she's the opposite. She's about eight pounds, 13 ounces, she's tall, she's big. But Holly still, she did not want to do an ultrasound. Uh, you know, she was just had some uh reservations, obviously, the way the first one went. And uh, but we took better care of ourselves and herself through the pregnancy. And you know, Nick's always in challenge uh a little bit. You know, we we found out through all this, he ended up having, I think, probably due to his complications of birth, a math disability, um, which we struggled early on with single addition, uh single-digit addition, subtraction. So we kind of knew, didn't really get it tested till later, which I wish we would have done it sooner. Um, I always thought I was working with a kid when we got to middle school that just didn't like math because he wasn't good at it, and it just turned out that it had zero retention. It's discalculum, much like dyslexia. There's multiple stages of that as well. Some that are so bad that they have time with uh trouble with space and time like driving a car knowing how fast to stop. Nothing like that. But when I read it, I was like, holy shit, it nailed him to a T that because I could teach him the same thing over and over, he could not retain it. Um, and it made me feel guilty that we struggled and fought, you know, like um to get through it, and I just because I thought he didn't like it. And that taught me some lessons as a parent later on, like never assume, like you know, uh listen to your children a little more and because you don't know everything, even though you think you do and they're not doing it. He was being honest the whole time. And then that was, you know, I had to fight for him later on because we had a very good Catholic school that was college preparatory and tough. And when we got into the junior and senior years, there was no easy math class for him to get through, and we had to work together, and uh they helped us get him through. He was such a good student and everything else. He reads and writes at extremely high level, um, but just can never do math, and therefore he never really liked school. Um Lauren, on the other hand, again,'s always been the blessed child as far as she was a great student. Um I I would argue that Nick's probably smarter than her in a lot of ways, and I would I've told him both this. Like he's so gifted in politics, he's an old soul, but geography, the world, world wars, history, just history buff. Loves to read that stuff. Lauren's much more like me, she's outgoing, she's very good at math, um, which is one thing I could understand, right? With him, it's like I can just see it. Nick's much more like my wife. She's a reader. Grammatically, she's so gifted. Like, I can write things, and about the third or fourth try, I'll get a letter. Oh, this is okay. I'll send it over to her. She sends it back in 10 minutes, like so much better than what I've done four times, right? And it's like, okay, well, we offset each other, we we complement my skills and her skills uh from an educating at home perspective or helping with homework. Like, this is your this is your area of expertise. Don't ask that for uh English or grammar help, right? Um but Lauren she not that I was smart, I was good at math, but she worked her work ethic. She was much me from a competitive standpoint. I was much I was a very competitive student. Not that I was a great student, but I wanted to do well and I wanted to finish my test first, and I wanted to have the best grade, and she's very much uh that way, and graduated, uh, had a full uh scholarship at Southern Miss academically, and uh graduated the honors college with the highest GPA and the most hours taken, and carried the president's banner at uh graduation, which I didn't know of, which was a shock, just president's sorority, just did you know, just over the top and everything. Um, so much different kids, uh which has taught us a lot, you know, how how to handle each other.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Wow. What's been maybe the the biggest lesson you've you would you would you've learned that maybe you'd tell your your yourself as a young dad that maybe if there's a younger dad listening that we could we can help provide some of your wisdom.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Well, probably patience early, early, just to be as patient. Um, but you don't know that. You know, you've never had a kid before.

Values From Humble Roots: Faith And Tough Love

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Hello, everybody. My name's Craig Koe, and I'm the senior vice president of relationship management for Beeline. For more than 20 years, we've been helping Fortune 1000 companies drive a competitive advantage with their external workforce. In fact, Beeline's history of first to market innovations has become today's industry standards. I get asked all the time what did Casey do for your organization? Organization. And I say this: it's simple. The guy Flat Out gets it, relationships matter. This down-to-earth presentation, his real-world experience applied to every area of our business. In fact, his book, Win the Relationship and Not the Deal, has become required reading for all new members of the Global Relationship Management Team. If you'd like to know more about me or about Beeline, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. And if you don't know Casey Jaccox, go to caseyjcox.com and learn more about how he can help your organization. Now, let's get back to today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Well, I want to transition and learn about you and learn about the impact mom and dad had on you. And maybe with that talk about some of the values that were really important to you now that you're uh you're a dad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Well, I just lost my dad September 30th. And uh I read and listened to your deal about your father and his battle with dementia, and you touched on it again in your book. But my dad's headed down that road a little bit here late in life where had a heart attack, and so there were some changes that we caught in his online behavior and wanted to send money. And he got through some tough times of having you have to start being their parent, right? Of I had to get a conservatorship and take over his finances, and there were arguments, and he punched me, and and I never took any of it personal. I knew in the end it hurt me because I thought I was hurting him, but I knew in the end I was doing what he did for me. He was I was protecting him.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah.

Single Parenting Empathy And Work Realities

SPEAKER_03 23:33

You know, from himself. So it was was not an easy situation to go for go through with him. But I I tried to rationalize with him, and I just could not. I could not make him aware. Like he could literally watch a TV show. It's like that guy's getting catfished. Like, uh, that's what's happening to you right now, Dad. Oh no, it's not. That, you know, and I would show him and I'd go home 30 minutes later, he'd be chatting with the same person. So I was able to do that because of the way he parented me. And my mom and dad grew up poor in southern West Virginia. Uh Wolf Penn, West Virginia is a real place, obviously an unincorporated coal mining town. His father was a coal miner and then a preacher. And uh so I have several pastors uh on both sides of the family, and that's not, you know, none of them Catholic. Uh, but it was a big deal growing up. We would go to church three times a week. But my mom and dad just instilled um, as you talk about a lot in your book, the golden rule, just how you treat people, right? Always so it's very much respect, yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no ma'am. Doing the right thing. We'd go to church three days a week, you know, Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, church with the youth group and things like that. Having said that, I still found the way to have a foul mouth and curse too much. I still do, but I I what I try to judge myself more and hold myself accountable is for what's in my heart, what I say. So a lot of times I don't talk about my religion a lot because I don't believe I'm probably the best uh exemplification of it 24 hours a day. So I've got things to work on and strive for, but it is it is in my heart. Um but my mom was probably the most caring person I've ever seen, not just for us. I mean, she she took care of old people in the church, she would go to the grocery store, she'd go help them at their houses, she would take care of other kids. And I I think I have a lot of that. I mean, I I I I would say out of my family, and directly, I'm by far the most loving uh an expression of that. I I don't think you can tell your loved ones enough that you love them. Um, I try to finish every conversation because you never know when it's the last time you talk, whether it's a car ride or an accident, you just you just never know. And I never want to live with that regret. And even the tough times parenting, and I'm sure just being around you a little bit, that you have those tough conversations, you get on them, and you might have to come back in a half an hour or later. It's like, listen, I don't like those conversations, I don't like that I had to talk that way, or but I love you, and I do it because I love you. And I and I always want them to know that. But I got that from my parents. It's is it tough love? Yes. It was never tough from the standpoint of, yeah, I got spanked with the belt. I think that was part of the time, and I needed it as much as my brother and my fault. But it tough love is from accountability perspective. Like I'm not gonna allow you to do certain things, and then you come back in later, it's like I'm telling you this because I love you and I want you to turn out to be the person I know you can be. I I think those conversations on both sides are so important. They've got to know that right from wrong, and they gotta know you're doing it out of love. Otherwise, if you don't do both, I think you get the schizophrenic side, right? You can't coddle them and give them everything they need. Uh, and you can't just be tough on them. And then they're gonna, you know, they're not gonna necessarily respect you. But then, you know, when you it's like a preacher's kid, you know, the old deal, you're just tough, tough, tough. And when they go to college, they're wild because you didn't let them experience anything or you didn't talk to them about things. You just told them no, you can't just say no. You gotta give perspective on why you're saying this. I think my parents did a great job of teaching my my I have a sister that's four years older, my twin brother and I, of teaching us those right and wrong things and how to respect uh you know, elders and tell me what did mom and dad do for work. Uh my dad uh went into the Air Force out of uh high school and then went to college and finished with an engineering degree, um, construction engineering worked for a telephone company. So I was born in Virginia, then he moved back to West Virginia and Beckley. And he did like uh a lot of fiber when they were going through that lane in underground, did the underground White House at the uh at the Greenbrier when it was done. It was a confidential deal when that was all done. Now I think it's the casino underground there. My mom worked, I remember working in a couple of department stores, and then later on, as we got older, she stayed at home and made sure my brother and I were played everything we got to practice and made sure the house was she took care of all of us. And uh she covered up my brother when we broke things up.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

There we go.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

Amazingly, she ran into the closet door with a vacuum or something. My my dad had to see like, come on.

SPEAKER_04 28:25

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Uh no, they again they complimented well and set an example for for us.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Besides um, you know, accountability, um, treating people you want to be treated, uh having manners, ethics. What is there in any other values that really stood out that maybe you learned through a story?

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Not particularly. No. I mean, I try to think of some things, wonder what you're gonna throw at. I I really can't really recall any real heart-to-heart things. It was mostly just holding us in accountable. When we got out of line, my dad, he he was a quiet man. Uh, my brother and I talked about it, especially with his passing in the few last few months. Like, he didn't talk a whole lot about himself, and he didn't talk, I mean he talked about his family and growing up, you know, poor their house, burned down, things like that. But he just it was just right and wrong. It was just very consistent on a day-to-day basis that hey, you're out of line, get back in. Um, I'll see you when I get home.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

Conversation. And my mom just showers with love. I mean, it was just uh there was just that good not that my dad was harsh, he was a loving man, but he was desperate, definitely the disciplinarian of the two. Um, I think that's more traditional back, you know, during that time frame growing up in the 40s, 50s, and you know, we were born in this, I'll be 60 in a year and a half. So I think that was more common uh back then now. It's really there's so many parents that are both working. I think it's it's really hard. And my my brother and sister are both divorced. And you know, I told you how grateful I'm that perspective of having my wife. I've seen them both, both of them had custody of their children, have had to raise them, and I can't imagine doing it without my spouse. And my brother uh done a tremendous job, both have with their children. They love and have been great parents. And my brother's son, a phenomenal student, Harvard grad school, and he's an entrepreneur now and got his own business and doing great things. And my my sister's daughter works at a vet, a mother too, and you know, just they they both I just can't imagine. I've sit there and watch them, you know, at Christmas time we're getting together. So I am the only one. I I I'm grateful for my wife.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Like I, you know, I guess when it's close to you and you see it more frequently and the stress that it causes being a single parent.

Golf Origins And Choosing A Career Path

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Um I'm blessed that I have a great spouse. And I don't know. I try to be sensitive to those that don't, you know, when you man, we have 1300 employees and you know, you have single parents and they've got to get your kids to places of doctors. And if you don't have that empathy for what other people, but it's easier to have empathy when it's close to you and you see what other people are going through. You're not exposed to something sometimes. It's hard to be empathy just like you and your daughters need.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

You're feeling it uh emotionally because you've been through it.

SPEAKER_04 31:16

Yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

It'd be hard to understand. You know, if you did.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

How did you get involved with golf?

SPEAKER_01 31:22

And when did you did you first start playing, I guess?

Learning The Business Side Of Golf

SPEAKER_03 31:24

You know, I yeah, my journey in the golf business, um I take a lot of pride in it because we didn't I I didn't hurt, I don't want to paint a picture that I was like a poor kid. We didn't have a lot, and my dad didn't leave me really financial for, but my dad provided such an opportunity, but I was so grateful that he got out of where he grew up in West Virginia. It's very depressing. And I left my family that's still there, but man, I go back there and say, thank God my dad moved away because it is really uh the coal mines have slowed down, there's nothing there uh anymore. And it's like if my dad didn't have the courage to go into the Air Force and get out and provide an opportunity for himself, he wouldn't have it. But you know, my brother and I were so competitive and athletic. My dad just took us to the golf course in the summer, but we played sports year-round, basketball, baseball. We played golf, just something to do, going out to the course on the weekend and playing at a really podunk little nine-hole West Virginia course. I remember there was a blind R3 that you couldn't see the green, it was just over a hill, and you literally had to bounce the ball halfway down the hill to bounce it onto the green. And when you put the hole, you rang a cowbell off the back of the green on a pole. So the group behind you they couldn't see, right? To let them know that it was clear to hit into their approach into the green. But it didn't matter. I got a club in my hand, and half the time I remember they mowed you know now. I'm responsible for agronomy and construction and everything else for$26. They mowed everything with a tractor and a pool behind gang unit, one height. But it was a place to go put the club on the ball. And I just remember half the time they never they wouldn't even charge us. We'd go in, it's like y'all go play. Um, and then we graduated to a really, you know, decent public golf course where I grew up, but still, I love playing it. But we weren't country club kids. We didn't really have the money to do it. I never played in a junior golf tournament in my life. Um, I I played in a few city amateur events, and uh I decided when I went to college, I was either gonna walk on, play baseball. I had a couple letters, like a couple small D3 schools for basketball. I played point drive, but I didn't want to go to a real small school. So when we decided on Marshall, I was like, well, I'm either gonna walk on to try to play baseball or golf. And I decided to play golf, and I I won a four-round uh tournament with two spots available. And my whole goal was to make a team and then maybe really get uh someone to help me with my golf game because I was an athlete. I really wasn't like I I had a friend I played with that was a little bit 10 years older than me, he was one of my best friends growing up. He uh dabbled in the golf business and then was a teacher in town. And I ran into the golf course, started playing a lot with him, and he did club repair. So I was learning from him. And you know, he gave me a few little lessons here and there, but you know, it wasn't like I'm the kids now that grow up playing AJGA and you're taking lessons weekly, and I just learned to get the ball in the hole, and uh I hit a cut off the T, right? I just played a cut shot. Well, the golf course, I our home course in college has got like five dog legs right to left. And I'm going out with these guys that have a lot more experience in junior golf, and they're all hitting you know draws and hooks around the corner, and I'm having to play back to the top of the hill and hitting eight iron, they're hitting flip wedges. And I'm like, shit, I've got to learn to hook the ball, or I'm never gonna make it a squad. So my freshman year, I worked with the system pro there, and I I learned to hook it. Uh I learned to hook, I didn't learn to control it, right? And then by the end of my freshman year, I got, you know, still playing for Simmon Woods, 85, 86. Like I got to where I'm working in both directions off the T, away from trouble. You know, there's a bunker on the left, I'm gonna aim at it, hit a cut away from it. I got to be a pretty, pretty good player and start managing the golf differently. And I played a couple years, and it was a little different time, right? My my golf coach became the acting athletic director after a fire and uh really didn't watch me hit any golf balls for years. My dad, trying to send me everything he could, was paying for my apartment for my brother and I, and I'm getting like 25 bucks a week to spend, and I'm doing that on the way to the golf course just in gas. So I'm like, man, if I want to go on a date, I've got nothing. So I just like you know, I can play golf competitively, I don't have to be on the team, and I'm not getting any financial aid out of it. And so I I you know I stepped back at that point. That's when I started working in college, and uh, I you know, I played in the West Virginia Open a couple things, and then I still love golf and still playing, and uh, just decided, you know, to take that jump at it at after college to take some time off. And I just love my dad worked so hard to bring blueprints home in a suitcase, and I think I got my work ethic from both of them because my mom worked really hard around the housekeeping, never set out, but I I just hit me there. Like, if I'm gonna do and work as hard, I want to do something, be around something I in the floor, and I just love sports and athletics. Like, I think I'm gonna dive at the golf thing. Now, I will tell you, I I jumped in early on knowing that I was getting into golf business. A lot of guys would jump in as an assistant and they think they're gonna play every day and play the way on the floor. I knew that wasn't the deal. So I I jumped in trying to learn the business aspect. As soon as I got moved into the golf shop, I was trying to learn the buzzage and the point of sale and business side of it, and still played competitive, you know, in some section events and stuff. And I still try to play in a couple of years, but I was I knew I was never going to play, you know, professional golf at an it's just that's a whole nother level of golf people don't understand until you go play with a few of those guys.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:56

So you know my dad's just exposing me as a kid, getting me out there.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Now, does your brother still play?

SPEAKER_03 37:02

He does a little. Um, you know, he's he was staying with my dad when my dad just passed, so we're in town together. So I get him out at the course that's close to us. We uh we try to play, you know, as much as possible. His job doesn't allow him to get out as much as possible. We were pretty equal players. When I broke my ankle, he stayed on the baseball route and I went the golf route.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

And uh we were pretty equal in high school, but I'm a much better player now just because I've hit millions and millions of golf balls. Athletically, we're still pretty equal.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Wow. Have we have we toned down the fist fights in the driveway, or we do we still go out at a little bit?

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Not from a competitive standpoint. Uh we've gotten into it from time to time over other things, but I I think uh I mean hopefully we're maturing a little as we get close to 60. I'm 58 now. Uh I think we've learned to respect and love each other. And it's just like a marriage, right? You learn, you I look back at you know, parenting or like try not to have those conversations when you're emotional. There's there's something to be said that know when to go into the other room and relax. And my my marriage, you know, not that we've never fought. You know, I most times when we were young, right? And you look back, it's like, why didn't we ever fight about it? It was all stupid because we were never jealous. It wasn't anything like that. It was typically just ego or pride or not wanting to lose, and even in an argument, it's like it's not worth it. Like go you go over there for 20 minutes, you go back and uh very rarely does that happen ever anymore in my life.

SPEAKER_04 38:36

And I'm fortunate of that because it's it's a waste of time and energy, right? And I really just try hopefully appreciate uh I still battle my my ego uh from time to time.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

And um I'd say one of the things from a faith perspective, I one of my favorite prayers I listen to because I'm not good at it, but that's why I need help is the litany of humility. I don't know if you're familiar familiar with it, but I like to listen to it. It's basically about just being humble and wanting others to be uh noticed before you and not being honored, and like everything is before you. Uh and I struggle with that in respect. I think some of that's a competitor, right?

SPEAKER_04 39:16

You want to be good at what you and you want to be perceived as well, but you shouldn't ask for it and you shouldn't talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Um I think our president maybe that really uh but I think as a leader, uh right, it's simple on this, it's not simple to do, but you want to give all the uh gratitude and thanks to your uh your team members, and then you take all the blame. Uh because in real end in the end it is my fault whether I know about it or not. I'm running the organization. I try to do that.

Humility, Ego, And Leading With Accountability

SPEAKER_04 39:51

I I don't know if I'm perceived to do that, but I I think about it and want to be perceived. But uh it's life uh is a constant work, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:04

It might be like working on yourself to be better, and it doesn't matter what age you are, whether it's learning something that you've never done before or just being a better person, working on your faith, being a better parent. Uh it's and to me that's uh I know I've I showed you that daily coach deal, and I the today's was a pretty good one because it was um about embracing the adversity, right? And it just like your daughter, like that would be a good one for her to read today. Like the this the strangeness that's gonna be thrown at you, like you you just have to embrace it because getting upset about it's not gonna change the fact that it's already occurred or happened, and it's just the outlook of how you tackle you tackle that adversity, and you know, uh your life changes so much. And you know, I I'm not smart by any means. I I would say now with my younger managers, I'm just much more experienced, right? That you learn through your experiences of man, I wish I I would have managed that differently. And parenting has taught me so much manage from a motivation. My kids are so different, right? How I motivate one, talk to one versus the other, I can get on this one in this type of manner. People are the same way, whether they're your kids or not, you can't motivate, lead, treat everyone exactly the same. The template playbook is not the same for every person or relationship. And when you finally realize that a little bit later in your life, you kind of feel like, damn, we're not very smart. But you learn through experience. You know, that's the only thing I hopefully I can add to anyone is like, you know, a 58-year-old guy. And I started, I was lucky to start managing at a much early age, and some of my guys working for me now. I'm looking back, you know, some of my guys are in the early 40s and getting opportunities I probably got when I was 24. And that 18 years of management, I failed and learned a lot. That by the time I got to 42, I looked back and I said, Man, I knew so much. Well, I was not that I knew more.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

I had the opportunities thrown at me. I failed to learn and was put in some situations that I had to learn at an earlier age. And that's just my life is different. It's not that I'm smart, those experiences.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

So I think about I think about leadership and and parenting and being a dad is like I always I I think the three superpowers that I talk about a lot are being humble, being vulnerable, and being curious. Being humble to realize you got it's hey, like you've been very humble about your wife and giving her a lot of the credit. Vulnerable enough to say, hey, I don't have all the answers to figure out. Like I could, I could we both let our ego get in the way and be defensive that we can't fix anything, or we can say, That's not my that's not my game. Uh I need help for that. And some of my buddies like to give me a hard time, but I'm like, well, can you can you um how many words can you type a minute and can you talk in front of a thousand people and not get nervous? I I can do that. You can't. So it's like we kind of joke back and forth, but and then just asking great questions and making people think. And I think that's the way it's kind of like how you've done with your your sons, like learning maybe he doesn't want to, you know, go watch a game, but maybe you use curiosity to learn, hey, what concerts do you like? Let's go see something you want to do. You know, meet him where he's at, we're thinking that's a great, that's a such a if there's a younger dad listening, you know, I got a 19 and a 17-year-old. Um, you got your what 29 and 27, you said if I memory's correct? 25. 29, 25. Uh there's so much that that you can learn from that. And I think about like one of my my college football coach um used to say, uh, if you ever have to tell me how good you are, you're not that good. When you're great, I'll tell you. So that one stuck with me. And then I I think the the position of quarterback, I think the the the the more humble you are as a quarterback, the harder your team plays for you. And I use that that same skill I learned in in college, I learned that in business. And I think it's it falls through with fatherhood and being a husband and um dad, but I think like I what drove me even like the work world was I I used to give a I we used to go to this event when I was in corporate, and my CEO said, Man, you're the humblest guys that ever won this award. And I was like, Oh, and I like I didn't want him to ever not say it to me again. So my goal was to always have him say something about being humble. And then the following year he'd see he'd be like, Wow, you did more last this year than last year, but you're your humility, you're more humble. And like that drove me because I never wanted to be the the a-hole that you know, oh, there's that Jacobs guy, what a tool.

Managing Stress And Not Bringing It Home

SPEAKER_04 44:28

Well, you know, I admire that trait. Like I said, I struggle. I mean, I I listened to awesome, but listen to the temporal golf. I had and I still do for and I've really gotten better at that 16 growing up.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

But I never did it in competition because I knew it wouldn't work.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Right? Like I you cannot play golf in every. But if I go out for a casual round sometimes, you're stressed, you got all these other things going on. It would come out in the golf because my expectations were I don't practice in body much anymore, but I still know I can it's more of a losing patience for yourself. But it's really not that, it's what you're doing, right? Like it's like what what are you really acting out over? What do you it's displacement, right? It's coming back to my psychic, you're displacing it in a different area. That's not what's driving the frustration, whether it's uh it's all the other frustration, whether it's job, family, uh, health concern, parents, things like that. There's just stress and it comes out. The thing that I've found and I've really taught to talk to my kids about, and I think a lot of people do this in their relationships, you bottle it up all day, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:35

So as adults, you what is your event, right?

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Is it coming home and having a drink? Is it uh yelling at your family? Right, because you're stressed all day and you've held it in. So kids in particular, right? Uh they hold it in at school when they come home, they're maniacs, right? They're running around, they're jumping all over the furniture, and then your teachers are like, your kids are so well behaved. I'm like, My kids? Well, it's because they've held it in all day, they're letting it out when they get home, but you still do that, right? As an adult, you're still you still have the same emotions. It's I I I have tried to appreciate my time in the car because I'm driving an hour, like it's more in my office in Berman November, which I'm not going to move, it's in the middle of the state. I try to get to all 11 locations, and I'm really in the middle of the state. So, from that perspective, I come to the office week, it makes more sense to drive an hour. How am I using the hour and a half now? It allows me to think through things, plan my week, listen to phone calls, podcasts, whatever, but not necessarily carry that emotion when you walk in the door, right? You're not displaced. And my wife and I are open about work, things like that. We share everything. But you're hopefully you're not taking. It's easy to take things out on the one hand. And that's the least that's the person you should not do. But it's so easy to do that. And I think that's what drives whether it's your kids or your spouse, um, to do that. In in reality, it should be the opposite, right? You should take out the people on the front that are making you mad. You know what I'm saying? I'm not saying take that out, but confront, hold them accountable.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 47:05

Don't take your frustrations out at home. If you're doing that with your spouse, you should don't don't do that because it's gonna do nothing but injure your relationship, you hurt feelings, and then it's sometimes it's just tough to get over.

SPEAKER_04 47:18

You know, you just can't forget, forget. That would, you know. Uh I think it's great. Good advice.

Truth, Teaching Moments, And Teen Drivers

SPEAKER_03 47:25

I I've always one thing I've always taught my kids, and it's been from my parents, just the being truthful, right? You're gonna wreck tomorrow. I'm gonna buy you a piece of crap. I did, I bought them both pieces of shit, knowing they were gonna wreck them. And sure enough, my my my son was four years older, my daughter, so he has varsity football and he gets done, and he he drives up to the convenience store to get a Gatorade or something. He's hanging out waiting on her to get done with her practice. And he goes back and you know, he makes a bad decision. He goes out of a entrance of a parking lot crossing two lanes to turn left, and the guy waves him on, it's clear, and he pulls out, and the guy brought something when he could have driven up another 300 yards and got to a red light. That's a teaching moment. You know, well, that's the reason I didn't get you the car, right? So I'm not like you're not gonna be emotional about that. I expected that to happen. And my my daughter, the same way. My son a year after school, I told you he didn't like the idea of college, and he's what am I gonna study? And he he does a year of a miracle, which taught him some great things, traveled all over the country and did some great projects and spent some time with different types of people.

SPEAKER_04 48:29

And uh well, while he's away, my daughter turns 16, right? He's like uh she's like, I want a car.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

I'm like, Well, I'm not gonna buy a car. Nick's car is sitting in the driveway, he can drive it until he gets home. Well, the week before he comes home, she wrecks his car in total sense, right?

SPEAKER_04 48:48

So we don't tell him we pick him up at the airport, we go to eat as a family, and it's like, hey, no one wants to tell you something.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

But uh, you know, it's just those are the things that like those are things you're the things you remember, like this injury that's going on, right? Like y'all are gonna remember how you handle this as a family as you fought through this adversity, uh, just like you do with yours. Like you're you remember it so clearly. It's something you've overcome and embraced, made you stronger, uh, whether physically strong or emotionally strong or both. 100% believe she's gonna come out stronger and better.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

What's eerie uh about the injury? I didn't say this earlier, but you made me think of it. So my high school football coach named Marty Osborne, I actually interviewed him in like season two because I wanted to go like pay tribute to him and just for the how he handled it, and he made me a coach. I was his offensive coordinator. I was literally in the booth with a headset. And Riley today, she was crutched and she goes, Hey, I picked her up from school because we're not she's not driving yet. We're trying to make sure she's good.

SPEAKER_03 49:53

And um Is there a left knee or right?

SPEAKER_01 49:56

Uh it's she's a righty, but her it's her left knee, so she can drive. Um, but her her uh her basketball coach goes, I hope you're ready to be my assistant coach. And I think I'm gonna go talk to him before and just say, Hey, if you're open to advice or just a thought, I'd love to show a story of what my coach did for me that I I want to hopefully see you do the same thing for my daughter, if that's something you're open to, because I think it could have a lasting impact on our life. Like I'm almost 50, I still remember what Coach Marty Osborne did when I was a 17-year-old punk. So I could still I still literally can see the conversation, tell him everything I told him like it was yesterday.

unknown 50:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

Well, it's amazing what coaching can happen in life, right?

The Power Of Coaches And Trusted Voices

SPEAKER_03 50:36

I mean, sometimes a coach will tell you the exact same thing parents preaching that you, right? But just hearing it from someone else that you respect in a different way. Um, I mean, I'm sure you've we all see the things right now that how your kids perceive you, it's they love they listen to everything you say, and then they get to the teenage years, dad doesn't know anything. Now they're my parents are so annoying. By the time they're in college, you know, they whatever, right? And then they start having kids, and slowly by the time you get to be an older age, it's like, mom and dad were pretty smart, right? It's just because their perspective has so much changed. And you know, I haven't mentioned uh, you know, I told you I've had the last couple of tough years. My my best friend died um on my wife and I's anniversary is 9-11. We had it first, we always joked it was a beautiful day in Hilton Head, and uh we got married. Um, and my best friend passed on the same day in 2025, and he was the president of the company before me. We had worked together in Hilton Head, and he was about 15 years older than me. It was more became more like a brotherly uh relationship. Um, and we had so many conversations that sometimes you can't have with your your brother because the emotion's not there, like it's truly out of love and support. Um and sometimes you judge your friends less than your family, right? And he had two children that were older, not much younger than me, 10 years, you know, in the late 40s now, but never two girls never had kids. Um and then he had while we were living together in Hult Med, John was I was 23, he was 38, he had two children over there, and I've known them their entire lives. Um his son is playing on the Corn Ferry tour right now, and I have followed every shot he's ever hit, like he's my kid. And I you know, I obviously don't love him like my kid, but I love him immensely because I love John so much. And uh his daughter, you know, worked for us here, and you know, I love I just love his kid. You know, I've known him entire lives, but we talked so much about our family and stuff over time, and we'd go on business trips together and go back to the room with Paul Berman and it wasn't working with his life, right? And uh was he my mentor? Yes, in a way. I I think we we helped each other out. Like I I turned him on to a couple jobs when I left and he would call me and say, What the hell did you do to me? These people are nuts. And then when he uh he actually opened the facility I ran on the trail and didn't get along with the president at the time. I had an opportunity, I was in the Midwest in the Kansas City area and left. They called me back, like we want you to come back. And I was like, No, I can't, you know. Uh wife and kids just got here two months ago. We saw her, I said, I can't come back. I wouldn't be fair to my employer, but I have a guy, right? So I turned John into the same thing. It's like three months into the job. What the hell do you do? So anyway, he Dr. Bronner, who built the golf trail, begged John to come back, loved him because he was just such a unique, honest person. And probably back then six months later, he made him the president. Well, he starts calling me and saying, Hey, I want you to come work. It took a couple, three years, and I ended up down here. And it just my family had relocated that family. So what a blessing I got to work with my best friend who I love and respect. And then the reason I love him because he would do it the right way. And if I didn't do something right, even though we were close, he would hold me accountable. And then, you know, my my dad and sister, and my mom, dad, and sister were in Montgomery, and my brother was in the Huntsville area, so I got to be closer to my family. My wife had no family, so our kids got to be instead of being 15 hours away in Kansas City and then back together, we would do it. I'd cut it to eight and a half. But they were eight and a half hours away from their only grandparents.

SPEAKER_04 54:23

We you know they got to see him cut out. I got to get closer to my family, and this has been the best job I've ever had in my life. We have the best owner at offer so continually uh supports us, but reinvests in the properties and they're so good.

SPEAKER_03 54:39

And just because our mission state was do so much more than provide great office service, he truly tries to make the state of Alabama better, and that's why the trail was created. You know, we get the honor of uh carrying in that mission on on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_04 54:54

Dr. Bronner will be 81 uh in January, I think. Uh yeah, the trail's 33 years old, going on 34 this year.

SPEAKER_03 55:03

So what a visionary it was to create this, and it I think it has done one year.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

How can people learn more about the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail if they don't have to?

Friendship, Mentorship, And A Leadership Journey

SPEAKER_03 55:13

Uh just go to the trail, rtjgolf.com, rtjgolf.com. Uh website's got information on all the properties we have, and then you know, we have I you know, we're our business model is to do golf packages first. We book a year out in advance. So we've got sites from all the way from Huntsville to Mobile, about 360 miles from north to south of the state. So from the Appalachian Foothills and the mountains in Huntsville and all the way to the Gulf Coast to Mobile. So the properties are so great and unique. Some in big properties, you know, Birmingham, Hoover, Montgomery, Huntsville is the biggest city now. But the ones that are not on the big city are just the thing I tell people my first visits when I went around the trail as a director and finally seen all the sites. And I'm just basing it off rounds of golf productivity in 36 whole site versus like I have these pictures in my head. Well, what I think I learned right now is this commitment to excellence. It didn't matter if it was in Greenville, Alabama, a town that's 9,000 people. That property is probably the hidden jewel of the trail. It is so good. Commitment to the infrastructure, the clubhouse, and the facilities and the offer is the same as it is at the bigger clubhouse. And so you'll never have a bad experience on the facilities product. And then you know our job now is one thing John said that always resonated with me, our is we can market and we can get all the publicity to get them here, but the fact that to get them to return is how we treat them in the experience that right. So it's once you're here, are the conditions there and then the service, right? You you remember how you're treated.

SPEAKER_04 56:43

I don't care if it's a five-star restaurant or a golf person. Your dollars can be spent anywhere. So how do we separate ourselves? It's how we treat people.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

Love it. We will make sure this is linked um in the show notes so people can learn more about the Robert Trunt Jones golf trail. I cannot wait to meet you in person in a month. I can't wait to see. Um, I've showed my son, who's a he's a big golfer, and I've like, I swear there's the the level of green uh pixelated pictures on that website does not look it you can't get more green than that place. So I cannot wait to see it. And um I'll share pictures with everybody once once I'm back. Um this has been a blast. Um getting to know you, um Mike. You've dropped so much wisdom. I have a page and a half full notes. Um you've a lot of times I ask I ask people like you know, I'll talk about their dad game where they where they you know they wish was better, but you've you've been so humble and you've shared multiple areas where like you could go back and wish you would have done it differently. And hope they're hope that if if you're a younger dad, like this was one of those episodes you want to go back and listen to again and take notes or upload it through Chat GPT and have it summarized for you because there's a lot of really good takeaways um that I think that Mike, you you will help a younger dad out there. So I'm very grateful that you've spent some time with us today. Um if people want to connect with you or just learn more about you, is there any social platform, social media platforms that you're you're active on that people if they wanted to learn more about you?

SPEAKER_03 58:12

Not really. I try to keep a low profile. I've I've got I I don't post, I I more just enjoy it for humor. Yeah, and try to keep my algorithm somewhat clean. It's amazing how quickly they can turn when someone sends you something snarky and funny. Oh yeah. Well man, I'm an hour down a hole of I don't need to be down.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

There we go.

SPEAKER_03 58:33

Um but email, you know, mbeverly at rtjgoff.com. Uh reach out there. I do have a LinkedIn profile again. I I don't post a whole lot of things. I'm more trying to just see what else is out there and monitor our social media. Other than that, no, I I I love people and uh you know I think patience in this world is something that's sorely missed. You see so many people acting out and the one thing that the empathy and the perspective of never know what someone else is going through. I learned that lesson with our people so many times that you know I found out one of our people or the family members having a health crisis, and it's like it explains so many things. Even even with my father, and I don't want to waste my time, but we battled heart conditions the last two, three years, and I get him in take him for a checkup and he's not doing well, his blood pressure's low, we go in the hospital, we don't out and he's battling this cough for months, and we do x-rays and all this thing. So I get in there and he's got cancer, just eaten up with it. I had no idea. And I look back just in the last two months, like, well, that explains this, and that explains that. Not that I would have done a whole lot different, like I I just would have known that my time was shorter. Yeah, and I he was 85, so I knew I didn't do that a lot and I he knew I loved him, but he didn't know you had weeks or that perspective is like, man, that explains why he's coughing.

The RTJ Mission: Experience And Service

SPEAKER_04 59:52

Like we we tried cough medicines, we did extra lung extra, like all these things that I just couldn't get an answer. Oh, he's got nodules on his head. What do you mean? Like I thought I was here for heart reasons, you know, just your perspective will change.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:07

So just taking that step back before you react and having that in. I mean, I I'm not saying because I'm good at it, I'm saying because I continually learn lessons of like, wow, I should that's why this is happening, or this person's again with my son and this math and that and helpful.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:22

Like you're you're gonna learn these things be patient with other people.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

Gold. Absolute gold. All right, it's now time to go into the lightning round. Uh this is where I show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college, not bong hits, but football hits. And to show you that I got a screw loose. My job is to answer these, uh, your job is to answer these questions ideally as quickly as you can, and my job is to try to get a giggle out of you.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

We'll do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

Are you ready?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:46

Hope I don't fail.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:47

Okay. True or false, you taught Chad Pennington how to throw a football at Marshall. Definitely false. Okay. Uh tell me who would be your dream foursome from people who went to Marshall.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:59

Oh, people that went to Marshall. Uh Randy Moss, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

Probably Chad Pennington for sure, and then Bob Pruitt. Uh well, let's throw a five cement, my brother, too. I mean, I run a golf course, I can play five.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

There you go. Play a little game of Wolf.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:18

Uh coach Coach Bruitt was from Beckley, but he was Moss Pennington's coach and probably the greatest coach in the world. He's from my hometown. I've developed a coach.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:28

Wow. Um, if you were to take your lovely bride on vacation right now, just you and her, where are you taking her?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:35

Right now would be somewhere warm. Puerto Rico, Virgin Island, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:41

Sounds nice. Uh, if we if we went into your phone, what one genre of music might surprise the people that work for you?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

I'm kind of like my son. I'm all over this. Um, probably an RB playlist.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:54

Sweet. All right. Probably got that from Cray. Um your favorite 80s comedy movie is 80s.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:04

Uh Coming to America. Solid choice. Little Eddie Murphy.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

The I'm not gonna say it.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:11

Soup. Taste the soup.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:13

The Royal Blank is ready, sir. If I was to come to your house for dinner tonight, tell me what we'd have.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

Probably a protein. My favorite, probably chicken or steak with uh asparagus or you know, we're both trying to be healthy now.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:30

So my favorite meal is a steak with asparagus and maybe a salad or a baked.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

Yeah, you all sounds good.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:38

I mean, that's a once-a-week go-to.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:40

Getting hungry, I was thinking about that. Um, if there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

It's something about, you know, just learning from your mistakes.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:51

Like, you know, I I was such an idiot younger uh days. Not that not that I ever did anything bad or got in trouble. If you just look back, decisions and emotions. Um I but honestly, I I would hope if my wife would answer something about love.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:08

I I really try to tell people, and not just that I've got some friends I've told you earlier, like I go out of the way to make people know that I care about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:16

So let's call it, let's call it um love, learn and mistakes. How about that? If that can be okay. So now love, learn and mistakes, um, every airport, every Amazon facility, every Barnes Noble sold out, Mike, is and now Hollywood's gonna make a movie out of it. You're the casting director. I need to know who's gonna who gets the gift to star the one and only Mike Beverly in this critically acclaimed hit movie on Netflix.

How To Plan A Trip On The Trail

SPEAKER_03 1:03:40

Well, hopefully if they they'll throw in a little golf. So I can't stand watching a golf movie, right? Where the guy looks like he's never played golf before and they try to sell it to golf. A any athletic movie, but I like Kevin Costner because he looks like he can hit a base. So having said that, uh, someone who's athletic hopefully has a little sense of humor. I would say two guys, and my wife would definitely pick the latter, but I I like Chris Pratt. I think he's funny. He's hilarious. Moneyball, and he's a good Catholic guy. And so is the other one, Mark Wahlberg, but he's left-handed.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:13

I had a baseball left hand as well. But my wife would definitely, I think she has a choice. One of those two.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:21

Solid choice. All right, and last and most important question. Tell me two words that would describe Holly. Two words steady and loving. Love it. Lightning RAM is complete. Uh, this has been fantastic. I'm grateful. I can't wait for the people at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail to listen to it. Everybody at Sunbelt. Um, their fearless leader was vulnerable enough to sharing, opening up about his life, his journey. Um, again, I got a page full of notes. I'm grateful for all the uh stories you shared. And um I know that many of our listeners will get a lot out of this episode. You know what I know I did, and I sure hope that everyone got as much stuff as I did. I want to say thanks to Mark Cray from our friends at TaylorMade for making um this connection happen um with your well buddy up north. And uh we'll make sure that this is um again links to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. We'll make sure make it really easy to learn more about it. I've had people visit it, I have not visited it yet, but I will visit it soon. I cannot wait. And uh, hope that you go to uh their website and just take advantage of your next buddy's golf trip. Go down to Alabama and visit it because the website. I'm already sold, I can't wait. So uh, with that, Mike, thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to seeing you next month. Okay, thanks.