The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how much the equipment matters.
I just love that I can hit any shot I kind of want.
We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Ping proven Grounds podcast. I'm Shane Bake and with Marty Jerts and as always and Marty, we've got not just one of the great guys in golf. What are the great golf names today?
As a guest, Yeah, Seamous Power, It's awesome to have you on and we're looking forward to kind of getting to know you a little bit more and sharing that with our guests.
Yeah, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah, looking forward to it.
All right, Seamus, I gotta start with this initial thoughts on Johnson City, Tennessee. When you got there. How did you go from Ireland to Johnson City, Tennessee.
Yeah, it was a funny one. So our coach, like Fred Warren, was definitely one of the first to embrace international recruiting. I think, you know, it's probably hard to get good US recruits to go to Johnson City, but I didn't go on a recruiting visit, so I'd been to LA and Miami in my time in US, so.
Showed up there.
That's like the Elliott Tennessee.
Yeah, it was. It was something else, but it really is beautiful there.
Oh.
I was very lucky. So my team my freshman year, I think it was my freshman sophomore was like we were all as an all GB and I team, So I knew guys that had been through and they were very helpful and stuff. But I think without that it would have been a little more interesting, but it was still it was still quite the culture shock. I mean, just in introduction to college sports. There's nothing like that, certainly in Ireland, probably in norhere else in the world.
All that stuff was unbelievable. But it was great experience and beautiful plays. So it was nice.
What so you were there for four years?
Yes, yes, that all four So what was.
Your journey like, you know, from your freshman year to your senior year, you know, from your own personal golf game progression standpoint.
Yeah, it was interesting for me because I came in like under the radar, but I actually had a very good freshman year for the most part. And then I had some like hitt and miss stuff kind of my next couple of years. And then it was interesting. I wasn't even sure about professional golf really for my senior year. I didn't play very well in the fallside knee surgery like the summer before my senior year, but played very very well my last semester, and that was kind of
the best I played in college. And that was kind of thing that I saw enough to like, I'll give a professional golf a shot.
So right there, going into your final semester, in your mind, you were teetering were you're favoring maybe not?
Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't sure. I mean, I was lucky enough to have like we had Rees Davies on there. It was like one of the best players in college golf. He was there my first year. And then there was Garrett Shaw who was minimum two or three time All americanly or like, he was like our best player of my second year. And then it was other really good players. So I wasn't I'd never been the best player on
our team. So I was looking at, you know, all these other guys that we played against Georgia, and you were looking at a team and you would like Russell Henley, Harris, English, Hudson Swafford, Brian Harmon, and you're like, you have to play against all these guys. So it was a little up in the air for me. It wasn't one of that like sixteen, knew where I was gonna.
Go with it.
Yeah, it was later to golf, so kind of later learning all that side, So it was a little different. But I saw enough my senior year at least to give a shot. Yeah, I saw that.
You said if you weren't playing golf, you'd be an accountant, which is hilarious.
I said that.
I think when I got my like like ten or ten or ten more years, I definitely wouldn't be but I was sure I was. I honestly don't know. It was one of those things I hopefully never have to know, but from just from being around and doing what I've done for so long, it would be tough now to go back to kind of I feel like trying to get into something where you could still work for yourself for some sort of business by yourself would be the
avenue woul try to go down. But I had an accounting degree, so that was that was kind of easy, said.
And you were like incredibly ranked as a racquetball player.
As a kid, I was, Yeah, I actually have a bronze medal from the Rackaball World Championships. I was like twelve. Yeah, I was very we so it was kind of funny. My parents were so I grew up in a very rural place in Ireland. My parents were huge in getting a community center built, and my dad was huge in the handball, like as an Irish sport, like the not the throw kind of team on the you know, hitting
ball with your hand kind of one. But racketball was taking off, so racketball ended up being the sport that got played in the kind of the handball court and I loved it, Like I also a pretty good handl likee coordination. I just love racketball. And yeah, we were very lucky. Kind of was taken off in Ireland and I was kind of plaid at the right time and ended up going to Los Angeles a couple of times
for World Championships and kind of stuff like that. So it was really cool a few years and yeah, absolutely love.
To Since the popularity of like pickle and paddle have blown up, do you ever get into that at all.
I so like ice. My girlfriend and I started playing some like pickleball last year, but then I kind of got had some hip issues, not because of that, just like through golf, so I haven't played much since. But yeah, it's amazing popular. It's I haven't played paddle but pickleball was fun. Like we only played a little bit, but it was it was really fun. And it seemed like everyone was playing in my gym in Vegas, like they changed out a couple of basketball courts to put in
pickleball courts and all this stuff. But it's it's so popular. I'd like to play a little bit bit more, but not a hips field.
But have you got into that yet, Marty?
Are you just just dabbled, just dabbled. But I'm trying to get my kids into ten and they're playing and taking tennis less.
You know, tennis is.
Hard, I mean with with racketball background and stuff like tennis everthing, ping pong, I thing. I'm assuming you were good at that.
Time, okay, when I was younger, like, but so rackaball and tennis didn't match up that well because rackaball you're hitting everything flat and then you're trying to when you go into tennis, trying to change the group and try to get like those tops difficult back inside, I'd be okay for inside, I kind of just what it wasn't as wasn't as good as i'd like, But I mean I may ably hit it fine. It's just trying to like hit the hit the shots you'd like to hit or work kind of.
Growing up in Ireland, what what you know? Obviously you played a couple of sports, but what what did your season look like? I'm always curious about that, Like, you know, were you like all golf in the summer? What did you do in the winter? What other sports?
Yeah, when I got into golf, like it was strange looking back, because you just play. I mean I had friends I got into it, and we would play golf from all day long in the summer. I mean it gets brighted. I can't remember four or five morning, it's bright an eleven at night, So you could play all day long. But I wouldn't play much during the school year, maybe once on the weekend because I didn't live I didn't live close to a course, so the season would be like that. But honestly it was it was kind
of funny. Even when I started golf, it wouldn't have been my main sport. I would kind of working in around so we have Irish football with a sport called hurling, which is like it's nothing really like lacrosse mixed with field hockey and kind of thing. And then I played a lot of racquetball, but a lot of different sports. Played soccer for a while too, so it was kind
of interesting. And yeah, I still like when I go home, there's you know, the like by hurling at football coach he said, that's my new was in trouble when I started kind of, you know, all of a sudden planning hurling football around my golf. But it wasn't like it was probably fifteen ish that I would play. I had more of a full season, which is amazing. I go
home now and in the winter. I don't know how I ever played golf in the winter, but I did, and I loved it, and yeah, I mean I just I just liked the challenge of it and started getting into it more and more. And then by the time we got to like fifteen sixteen, kind of got picked for some panels and then like you'd go and you'd use coaching panels and you so then you'd really be all season long, but you do a shorter season, like
you could play in the winter. But it's you know, it's ball in hand everywhere, and it's it's kind of miserable and frostly.
In my trips over there to Ireland and and anywhere in Great Britain and Ireland, there's not like great. It's not like over here where you are on perfect range and great practice facility. Did you have a range at all? I've been to a lot of courses that don't even have a range, or you're just playing all the time.
A lot of playing. But I mean our drive range was on a probably twenty five degrees slope and it was two hundred yards long, and you're.
Always above your feet or below your field.
I mean you could you could hit either end. It's not it's not like a rain. It was basically just basically just a field. Yeah, so you could, you could. That's the thing if you're working on something, if you're cutting too much, you got the other end. But it was yea, I was interured you'd pick up your own all your own balls. It was totally different. It's yeah, you ranges aren't particularly big in Ireland. It's kind of funny.
I don't know if it's I'm not really sure. Like you guys would just show up to take a couple of swings and get on the first tee and off you go. Yeah, it's very different. Yeah, so you would just be you'd be on the course a lot more. I mean in the summer. Yeah, you'd play, you could play two, three rounds. You'd come in and you just had other I was looking. I was at a golf club that there was a lot of juniors and we would play so much golf. Looking back, it was crazy.
But yeah, absolutely love to Americans go across the pond and they have to work on flighting the golf ball. Did you have to learn how to hit the ball up in the air?
I always, I rarely always had a higher ball flight. I always when I was sixteen seventeen, we always hit a little higher. And obviously in the wind you want to hit the lower. But I always found it easier to hit it lower when you need it to rather than trying to hit the higher. When you did so, I was like, this will be fine, but you do have to learn to add different shots. But the biggest thing is like going from never playing Bermuda grass to
go chipping on bermuda grass. It's just it's bizarre. You it looks like a fine line and you hit it and it goes a foot in front of you and you're that takes a little bit of time because it messes with your mind. Like we obviously play a lot of shots around the greens. It's tight grass, but it's like it's perfect to chip off if you if you can clip it, it just it comes off exactly how you think it is, and all of a sudden, you there's so many unknowns and that was the biggest part
to me. I was just figuring that out. And even on like on the fairway, like little climb the grooves or like it wall, like little different things like that we just wouldn't have seen before.
When you jumped right into the bermuda and tennessee probably right.
Yeah, straight like it was, it was bizarre, like it's welcome to the stage. Yeah, I think you're you're so naive grown up in our l I'd never seen grass called dormant. I didn't know that was.
Yeah.
So my freshman year that fall, you know, we got like a Tennessee got whatever some hard frost. Didn't go to the practice for a day or two, and then I go up to practice and immediately panic, call my coach. I think our drive man has been vandalized because it started to go dormant. And it's like I never I didn't notice was a thing, And it was like it was the strangest thing. You just you grow, we grew up.
People ask you working on grass, especially on a move to college first, and I was like, I have no idea grass is grass, Like we don't have different types, and all of a sudden it becomes such a thing, and you know, playing out here now you get to be very aware of you start to figure out what to do on certain ones and all that. But that was a that was the funniest adjustment for me, and especially then coach like driving up in a panic, thinking we'll be vandalized and he's looking at me like I'm
an idiot. So it was it was an interesting introduction, jameus.
In your time in college, you start working with Scott Sullivan, right yeap on just kind of introducing you to equipment optimization some club fitting things.
Tell us about like your first experience with Scott.
With Ping and and and uh you know some of those times in college.
Yeah, it was amazing. I mean when I came to college first, I had a mixed bag of everything. I think I'd like, I wouldn't be terrified him that, but like those small McGregor irons and like mixed bag of everything kind of I think I don't remember a Potter. Yeah, so like like Scott then comes in. He would always come with the Bank of Tennessee and like October and Scott would come in and do his like like trip in around that and it was just I'd never really
seen that before. It was amazing just even just meant like introducing you to like what you're looking for with launch and that sort of stuff for you know before you're just kind of looking at it, going like that looks pretty good.
Eyeballing it.
Yeah, that's all I would do that one. Yeah, Like so all of a sudden you're being introduced to that. It was it was amazing. Like I switched over to ping was it that fall or that spring and I've
been paying ever since. It was just amazing that everything all the options this and that, you know, like I was I guess naives all that I'd be like, I don't like this one, so you just assume that just get a driver from some like a different companies like that one's gonna better, not realizing that, oh no, you can like tweak this to suit you. You can do this,
you can do that. So it was it was amazing and we were actually was actually talking about it yesterday, like the fact that he was doing on that before the adjustable heads to I don't know how many drivers he was squeezing in those club gloves. But yeah, Scotty was great, Like, yeah, it was amazing. He it was an amazing service and it was just like it was
I was blown away. It's like two days later, like like all this stuff starts showing up and it's just all of a sudden like night and day difference, and like he's gone through every different grip, grip sizes to like shafts, all this kind of stuff where I was very naive, like you just kind of I don't know, you just kind of have clubs and you either sometimes you liked or some others you didn't really know why. So it was amazing. Yeah, it was an incredible service. Yeah.
Yeah, so you brought up how he was able to do that, you know, before the adjustable. So a lot of times we would actually like trim the feral and shim the shaft in tilted a little bit. And that's
now actually what the adjustah houzzle. You know, it's kind of in there, just tilted a little and you can really fine tune things and looking at your specs you play, you play all your woods in a custom like non standard setting, like you I think your drivers in the big plus, right, it's like adding one and a half degrees.
Yeah, it is, so I like, I like, it's amazing. I was kind of missing it right like for like a little while, and then so I put it in that big plus and it just I feel like the face is looking at me more in that setting, and I like a lot more. It's still only like nine and a half degrees even in the big Plus, but it just the visually it looks much easier. It's as funny as that is. It's just visually is the big
thing for me. As soon as I put that in the dot, or even put a if you give me a nine and a half degree in the dot, it feels like that toe is kind of sliding away from me. Yeah, and even like older people aren't going to see it. Like also funny game for that, but yeah, it's been a huge, huge change for me putting that big plus. And yeah, it's incredible the way you can do that. You can completely change your club, changes our plays.
You're big minus guy, right, I mean you're the opposite.
I'm a ten to five and I put in the big minus.
Interesting, I kind of wanted.
The phase point just a little bit, right, But it's it's so fun to have those options, have that individual reference to your eye, right.
It is yet because I like I like to fade it, but I don't like to see the face because as soon as when the face starts getting I feel like I was going to want make you want to do that. Yeah, it's like it's it's such a strange game for that. And like sometimes it's as soon as you see a club, you don't even realize the time, but like it's somewhere deep down is telling you. Your gut's telling you we don't like to look at this one. And sometimes it takes you a little like to kind of trust it.
But yeah, it is amazing to have those options. I mean, you can just completely change how I mean, how thing that ball flies distance, it's going everything basically, it's it's it's incredible.
Now shames, Your grips are interesting too, right, plus five wraps in the bottom hand, yeah, right, plus two at the top taills how that kind of came to be?
Yeah, So I was this was CP was like we were talking. Actually I got them regripped, and it's almost no ordeal to get them regripped. There there's a lot going on. But I don't have particularly big hands. But I think I just have like shorter fingers and bigger palms or something someone told me. So I just had I can't like probably regular midsize. I kind it's been
a few years regular midsized grips. And I think it was like one of Bubble's clubs that was like sitting around when I was at the fact dory, like seven on it and I was just like, oh, that feels nice. So like I was with CP, so he was like, oh, we'll just like we'll build it up a little bit, and I think he would go like one or two raps and I'm like I could still go a little and eventually at the end of the day, like he was like, so what is that, he was like, and
they were like, it's it's all sorts. There's a black tape in there, there's like other stuff. But it feels amazing in my hands, like when I hold like a regular sized grip. Now, I don't know how I ever was able to do it. Like the biggest thing for me is especially around the greens. I go up and down the shaft a lot, and I didn't like when I would go down near like the end of the grip, the club feel like really really small. It just kind
of like a toy club. So I much prefer like it's just less tapered, so it's it just feels a little more similar when I go up and down the shaft a little bit. So I liked it. It was something I hadn't really experienced it before. It was just it's something that I picked up and I liked, and it's been like that for a few years. So it feels amazing my hand now.
Short iron shots, let's say nine iron pitching wedge, you grip down.
When a lot of times I do, yeah, ok, yeah, and that's that's when it feels much more similar to what it does of the top. So it's I like it like it's and it's strange, like so many people, I want to.
Pick them up.
Like when it feels better than I thought it would, I was like, I don't know what it is, but it definitely feels nice in my hand, like it just I'm not sure. It just feels comfortable to size fits.
So yeah, don't Can we talk about the back to back aces that the masters?
Yeah for sure.
So the first one goes in, Yeah, you have a moment everybody goes nut's obviously that's a lot of fun. Yeah, the second ones in the year, I mean, what's going through your mind?
It was the craziest like it was. It was because on seven actually lipped out, Like I got up to
seven and it lit the hole. I was like, this far from the hole and then so I was like, oh, that would be just like the most dialed ever, right, And then you get on eight and we're waiting and I played the previous year and it pins on the front and this screen just comes ripping back, so you're like trying to land it thirty feet past it and as soon as it lands, you're like, I knew, like from last year, you kind of knew how it was breaking was like, oh, that's kind of chance, and it
just went in perfectly, and then yeah, it was. It was a crazy feeling down and like that part of the part three course, it's so loud, it's so all the people are. It was amazing walking up there and get the ninety and like, you know, there's people like they're behind the ninety. They're like, you know, you know, see if you can follow that, but all these guys like saying this kind of stuff. I was like, and I honestly on nine didn't even hit it particularly a
good shot. I probably pulled it four yards, but it funneled off the left slope back in and that was that was obscene With that one in, I just like I didn't know what to think. And then yeah, it was my brother was caddying for me. I thought that was funny because I feel like he was probably the only one wasn't de lied because he was the one is like he was following that and I was like, yeah, good, look at that one. So it was gassed. And then I'm walking up and they were signing out like they
call the group up behind in Scottish. Schiffer dunks in on top of my ball. So like you didn't even go.
Scottie Scheffer's ball out as you're getting your I left.
It in there for him. Yeah, it was on top of it.
Yeah, it was a rare scenario. Yeah, what should I do here?
Funnel pins throwing the water from But no, it was. It was amazing. It was like that's such a unique experience. Like the year before, like I don't have kids running yet, but like I was with Scott Sollings and Keegan Bradley both of their kids out and it was just it's just nothing like it. It's just a blast. Is everyone's in good form, like everyone's happy to be there. It's just amazing and obviously to have like memories like that.
And then they said, which is kind of a cool thing they send you like crystal, but it's like, so it's Waterford Crystal, which is where I grew up in here, so it was like I've seen the boxes coming, so it was it's pretty special. Just yeah, I mean everyone, like I asked about it. It was like on ESPN Top Plays and so it was. It was fun. It was just a I don't know, it was different. It's different to normal home and ones and obviously the back to back ones.
Was absolutely your brother hit after you made this second Yeah, hit in the water.
Actually hit a pretty good shot, but it was Yeah, it was tough to follow.
How nervous was he? I mean you know, I mean I can only imagine if you're sitting up there cold turkey. Right. I swung all day so I twin brother. So it's funny.
So like they did back to back years and they don't play a lot of golf and then they're like they're like carrying around. They're like one of them like I haven't had a golf shot for like four months. I'm like, this is not a good place to start. But they both did decent shots. But it like it's that's a tough one because there's just as you said, water all around, and it's a lot of people when you're not used to it, it's a lot of people around. So yeah, they had fun with it.
Since we're on this, this is a big debate on social media, so I want to ask you this too. Par three holes in one count I definitely counted.
I'm like, I remember someone asked me that interview. Right afterwards, I'm like, I get it, but I feel like there were long enough where one was like one hundred and thirty and one was I think they're bout one hundred and thirty or something like that. I do get the debate, but I'm definitely counting augusta. I think if I get it from h R to a ghust, I'm counting it.
Well, I say this, I always ask pe all this. I'm like, how many times you hold out for eighty yards? You know, if you're a ten handicap, it's like once in your life, then count it. If you made a hold in one from eighty yards on a short course, who cares, I'd say, counted.
Yeah, Like if I I mean I've spent pebble last week, If I get one of number seven airs, that I'm definitely counting and that's shorter. So I was like, oh, I definitely did. I definitely did.
What What wedges do you bring to the Part three contests or do you have to bring like a nine iron.
Or there is I brought up to nine iron. There's I can't remember the exactly. There's one. It's like high one forties is a numbers five ish. It's really fun like and they changed it up the two years I've played, like they completely changed it was amazing that we're able to do that, Like the first hole was completely different.
It was several holes that changed a lot, so it was it was pretty cool, like you've the first hole is short, and then the third down the hill is like seventy yards downhill, which is a very unusual distance for downhill. You just throw it on the green, but then I think it's four and five or like a little longer where you're hitting like one hundred and forty hundred and fifty yard shots. So I think I carried up to a nine er, and just to be sure in case, it was in two winters.
So your wedge is Shamus, you play fifty eight? Did you ever used a sixty? Did you grow up with the fifty six? How did you settle around it?
Eight?
I just liked it around. I liked it around the greens. I did like I had at sixty at one six. I went the other way at sixty fifty six fifty two pitch or probably forty eight, But it's I like chipping with the fifty eight and it fits my set a little bit more like the pitchers have gotten gotten stronger over the years, so like that gap between forty six and fifty two is getting a little bit too
big kind of thing. So it was like I I liked it, and then by much before chipping with a fifty I do most of my chipping with a fifty eight. It's just right in between everything kind of. It just always kind of made more sense to me instead of like swapping within sixteen fifty six and all that. Yeah, so I like that there. As soon as I was okay with that, then it made the gaps going through the bag just a little bit.
That's rare.
I'm always curious if if a player has gone from a sixty down to fifty eight for green side and that's what you've done that idea.
Yeah, I like it. It gives you more obviously if one time you have to did a flop that you've got to open a little bit more whatever. But I feel like my standard chip shot is just a little bit simpler with the fifty eight.
So you go fifty eight, then fifty four bent to fifty three.
Yeah right, they're basically at that point all just fitting the filling my yardage numbers. Yeah, because I do as I said, I do most of my chipping with the fifty eight. So like my lobby goes one hundred yards, and I want like that fifty four to fifty three goes one sixteen and you know, like one thirty and then one forty five, So we match up to the my like I feel like a pitching way with the set like dictates one dictates one end and then the labo detext the other.
And then you just yeah, match shames. I love this because we are built with the new S one fifty nine. We built this really cool wedge app that does the gaping right for the players so they can do exactly what you've been able to do out here, you know, in the truck and the track man, and it'd figure out you're gapping.
Yeah.
For me, it makes it so easy because then is the most you can be away from a full wedgshot is going to be seven yards seven eight yards for me, So then it's like you just have to basically need one other shot with your wedges, which is at one in between, and you should be pretty set from all the way from ninety yards all the way from me
to one forty five. So it's a big gap. We hit a lot of shots in that and it's nice when you don't have to worry about too much about taking stelf Off or this or that.
Or Yeah, Seamus, you played so well in the twenty twenty two PGA Championship. I was reading some of your quotes after and you were like, I wasn't that far off from getting the playoff. It feels like that gave you a lot of confidence. Can you kind of go back to that Sunday after the great round on Saturday and just what you were feeling at, like, how are the nerves going into that final round?
Yeah? Actually felt great because I was I can't remember what group I was. I was maybe fourth, last or fifth, Like I wasn't like right in it, but I wasn't too far away, and it was that it was the
golf course was going to play. It played very difficult that weekend, and yeah, I had chances like I I look back, I I had a very makeable like BIRDI pott on nine for maybe eight feet, a lot of break, but still when you're hoping to make a three point of ten like against a tough green, but you would like I wouldn't have expected three pout of it, And then had really good chances on like what was that part five? Like thirteen I hit fluid right over the top of the pin and only made a par and
lipped out on sixteen, didn't birdy seventeen. I was like, there wasn't much out of a playoff in the end. It was like, damn, what could have been? But that's golf and it was fun to be And I hadn't hadn't played many majors at that point, so it was fun to kind of get get into a position like that in the tour. And there's definitely a different feel to them, Like you I heard it from guys forever.
They're like it, you kind of our majors feel different even showing up on a Monday, and they definitely do. And that was that was a special week. I had a good run, like even in the US Open. Then not too long after that it was another good run there. So you have some some some positive stuff, so hopefully you can kind of get back in there en this year.
James your your let's talk about your putter a little bit. You're just playing the PLD three right, yeah, And and uh, I'm in the office. Tony Serrano would always come in and when you guys were working on that and talk about the design, the Nuance. You were super involved in the design of that putter.
Yeah, it was, Yeah, it was cool how I came to be like I like Tony was kind of he was sending me like designs. Yeah, and it looked it was amazing, and he like some of the things he was able to do. I've always been I found like like all sorts of little custom things. I'm slower on the stroke, so he's like put copper on the bottom for a little bit more and all this. But I
love love the design, absolutely love it. And it originally we designed it in the different huzzle so probably I can't remember what number looks like the kind of the bend huzzle and h but then I saw that like the answers I think the answer fur huzzle I have now and I absolutely loved it. It's been ever ever since. I've gotten a few kind of variations, one like in the ANSWERCU style head and one even this week like
like this small catch head yep. But it's hard to get me out of it when I have absolutely love it. It just it makes like I love I like the size of it where it's like in between mine's like it said, whatever you call it it's not the full size mid mallage.
Yeah again a small mid mallage.
Yeah it is. Yeah, it's not particularly deeper and so it's it's it's very nice and I always though it looks cool as well, like obviously in the All Black as well. And yeah, Tony did a great job of it. But it was fun to be involved on. I mean, I don't know how much he was taking on, but just even to see like which line it was, he was able to show me what options there are and all that kind of stuff, and yeah, came out really well.
Absolutely loved that. That was I mean that's probably six it's gonna be six years ago maybe now, and yeah, it's pretty much didn't been in the bag ever since.
Yeah, that was super cool.
I remember remember him working on it in our CAD software and then he'd send you screenshots and back and forth and from our iping data. That's our tool we we put you on. Uh you know in iPod on your measure putting shrow. You have always you mentioned it, but you've always been on the slow tempo ratio side. So our fitting logic there is that you need you folks with the slower tempo ratio, do better with the heavier putter. So is that something you've kind of noticed just it is experimentally.
Yeah, it just feels especially when you get to like you just like slightly longer. I've always been excellent short putter, so it's just trying to add a little bit more to like mid to longer putts and just felt easier. Felt you know, like if you get forty feet with a regular weight putter. For me, I feel like I'm taking it back to my waist to get it like long enough. Yeah, so with the extra weight, it just gives you a little bit, a little bit of help
there where you kind of needed. But yeah, it's it's great that one's a nice mix. I said it didn't affect my short on his X and I love the white line on top. It's clean and everything, and yeah, it was great. I was lobbing to have it called sp one but didn't quite get it.
Get there pushing through, you know what, Just win the Masters and the really start to make your nails. I mean, I think that's the key. You'd go back to kind of college days. You talk about a mixed bag, you know, you get this ping bag full of clubs and then all of a sudden, you play ping and then you get to this point in this pro career we're helping designing a putter. I mean, do you have these moments where you kind of sit back and go, hey, I've
made it. But b this is pretty crazy from a kid from Ireland that's going to you know, East Tennessee State or whatever, and now all of a sudden, I'm helping make this putter that you can sell and go get.
Yeah, I mean, like I like, I've like I tried to remind us of not to lose perspective on stuff like as it is, it is pretty cool. Like it's the biggest moment for me always is is with the thing stuff is when you go into the vault and you actually have because I remember going in there in college and there was you know, you're blown away by it and it's like you're looking for your favorite player. And then like I have like some Potters in there now, which is that's when it kind of hits it home
to me. But yeah, having to having the potter designed was was was amazing and yeah, I mean, like it's it's been a cool journey for me with Ping. I said, I switched that I can't remember my freshman or sophomore year.
And I have.
I haven't changed anything almost since the seconds. So it's been a it's been a really really cool journey. It's like like Scott Sullivan, like, I mean I still when I get this se himhen I'm in the office and stuff, he's still in a which amazing, Like it's like he's so good at his job. And that's like, I mean, the staff and everything is being it's been. It's been amazing.
It's I always say, like, my my coolest thing that I can say about paying is like over the years is like when I was in college, you're treated incredibly well. And I feel like, no matter like mini tours all the way, but you're still treated incredibly well, Like no matter what if you're struggling, if you're playing well, they still treat you like incredibly well. It's it's amazing. The equipment is fantastic because you have like you've got more and more guys go to like that, I don't you
call like free agent type rights now? And I was like, people ask me if you thought about that, and I was like, if I thought I could find something better, maybe I would. But like I like I don't think. I like everything I have is it does exactly what I wanted to do. So like it's amazing equipment that it's it's been a it's been a great.
Run, Shamus.
Let's talk a little bit about your driver in your fitness training. You work with a friend of the pod Mike Carroll do yeah, Irish influencer here. Yeah, it is touching a lot of people with his with his fitness app. You use this app, But what do you do on you know, the fitness side or maybe like to the ball speed side with your driver, Right, you've lived in the high one seventies, Yeah, I have sort.
So I've been actually talking a lot so I yeah, but at the moment, I'm way down. I like hip issues. Like the second half of last year. Everything feels good. My speed isn't coming isn't back yet, so I'm working a little bit more on it. But yeah, like that was when I talked to I started with Mike in twenty twenty, I think, and it was just talking was
I loved this stuff. It's very simple. You're not like it was like new kind of technology and new stuff where you're much more efficient in the gym with your stuff and then obviously golfs. He was like, realistically, his job is like to keep you injury free and to then try, especially at my age like this, why would have been like getting towards my mid thirties or was like a minimum you want to be keeping your speed
ideally if maybe able to pick them up if you can. Yeah, and all the stats now show how much of a help it is. So yeah, doing a lot of stuff at the moment, like swinging like speed sticks and doing all this stuff, and it's just trying to get used to me moving. Probably from March April last year, I was restricted like all year, and so I wasn't able to swing at full speed and now my body kind of thinks that's full speed. So it's trying to work
work that back. But then I'll see the West Coast has been horrible weather, so I know it hasn't been
the most like confusive to to some speed. But yeah, it's a huge part of golf, you know, and you're trying to match that up with the equipment and then like and that's that's what's been so interesting with the when I gained a little bit of speed with Mike first and then like you have to tweet the equipment of all that stuff to strike all of a sudden, it's like climbing a little bit too much with the extra speed and this and that. So it's it's a huge thing. You know, you see the stats of golf.
Every you know you can gain the massive place you can gain if you have it in if like if it's in there. So trying me trying to get back to something that I win seventies, it's only like the low one seventies at the moment. So it's it's frustrating, but it'll get there now once I get kind of fully healthy.
Yeah.
That you bring up a good point that if a player picks up like five miles an hour of club speed and you delivered the same same angle of attack everything, you're gonna spin the ball like three hundred RPMs more.
So you have to refit your dry Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, every Yeah, it's it's it is amazing, yeah, every all. I mean that's obviously a big jump, but yeah, even even a little jump, you can just see something different. I react with the ball and kind of trying to balance them up. But when you get him in it, when you're when you really feel like you're swinging the well with some speed and equipments. Right, you can see a big difference. And that's when you see those like stats really help me out.
Yeah, the crew is telling me you're around with radar at home. Was like the Pope come into town. Like it was crazy. People were coming out of the woodwork to say, what's up. What's it like going home these days? Yeah, that was a blast. Actually I'd never done anything like that.
It was really fun and it wasn't like the nicest day ever, and I wasn't sure really what to do. But he was like he's obviously done a lot, right, Yeah, he's he's fun to be around. He made it, He's made it such a great experience. But yeah, people coming out, I think they were trying to like limit some of the people because I mean I grew up in a small town, so like something like that is not happening very often. And you know that's like also I grew up in and it's like, you know, I know so
many those people for twenty twenty five years. So yeah, it was really fun. It was actually a great It was a lovely morning right before the Irish Open was that last Yeah, last year, so it worked out great. Yeah, Yeah, it was fun time because he's still well able to hit it and stuff, and yeah it was it was a blast. I wasn't sure exactly how it would work, but I was glad he'd give me a couple of mulligans and that kind of stuff.
I was like, tae something. Yeah, we've gone through that as well. Yeah, I also saw you're a big reader. You'reeah a history reader. So you're on the road, you're watching stuff, or you're reading stuff.
I probably mix it up, like I'll I probably, I mean it's probably fifty to fifty. But I do like reading a lot. Yeah, I just I've read a lot of history stuff, all that kind of stuff. I'm reading about a book, I'm reading the moment, like the Secret History of the world kind of stuff like this, like going back a couple of thousand years, so all this kind of I like reading that, like that sort of stuff.
I don't read many novels and stuff anymore. I sometimes when I'm flying, every novel's a little like easier reading. But if I'm just sitting like in the room, like I like reading more history stuff and all that. So you want, what do you watch right now, not really anything in particular. Are you like a brain dead watcher?
So like if you need to go to bed, you got an early teach sometime trying to dive into like some show that you've seen a million times.
It depends like late at night, someone's I'll put out, like I'll often put on like The Office or something.
America.
Okay, I actually always watched the American Yeah, yeah, I was.
I missed.
I actually was late to both of them. I didn't watch any of them month they were all done on TV, so that was that's my one excuse. But yeah, it is funny when Ricky Gervais makes it like appearances in the in the America, So.
Yeah, it's like such a little easter egg.
Yeah, and i'd always watched the American one. First. When I started watching like the British one, and the first couple of episodes are identical. It was really funny because but after you've seen The America when it's weird because then you picture like each character a certain way, and all of a sudden it's different. But yeah, they're they're
very funny. But you know, if I'm by myself, like again, I watch like docu series and they've like Netflix is brilliant for World War two stuff and all kind of interesting kind of stuff like that. So I'll usually I find by myself. That's kind of what I'm much.
You ever dive into golf history stuff when you got into that at all?
Not really, No, like I've learned somebody, I'm not. I'm not great with that stuff. I see, we didn't. I didn't grow up around golf. Nobody in my family plays arounding, so I wouldn't like I you know, I remember it was such a huge deal when Tiger win the mass
was in ninety seven. Yeah, but I wouldn't have really known, like I it was only like when I maybe ten years after, I was like, oh, Markomer won two minute, Like when in ninety eight, I was like, it was like ninety seven happened and nothing else happened like around.
Till like the Tiger Slam, and then it was like, oh he chipped in a five. It's like following that career. So I was like a little later to it. So I'm not as as good with all that stuff obviously. When you know, in Falo or something like that, or something someone from like like Britain or a home won, it was a big deal, but outside of that, it wouldn't.
Be great with some of some of this stuff with it.
And you grew up playing junior golf, like against Shane Lowry and Rory was kind of coming up. Yeah, did you play against him? Where were you in terms of their level?
So well interested, So Shane was a late bloomer, like so Rory. I think I was thirteen and Rory was or was like fourteen. Roy was twelve. We were put on some like panel together and he was like it was amazing straight away, like it was. He was like everyone at thirty fourteen is basically like you know, hitting it out there and then chipping and podding and that's how they kind of figure out to play. And he's over there with his cut down little blade iron and
you're hitting high draws and you're looking at it. I remember, I'll never forget. It's like it wasn't great conditions. He just like like he he was like small. He had an e orc driver categories way down. He was ripping these things and it was so strange, but he was amazing right from the get go, like in an Irish godf It was just he would do things you just
couldn't imagine that. It just wasn't normal, Like he was just hitting driver down these ferries that everyone else is hitting two irons and four irons and he's just like shipping it over this and that. So he was amazing from the get go. I remember all the saying it's like I hope he makes it because if he doesn't, like,
none of us have a chance. Yeah, but Shane was later like I wouldn't have met Shane until we were about seventeen, and then he got on like a lenser team with the Province in Ireland and then he was put on the Irish National panel and then all of a sudden, he like with this guy's this guy's amazing and when they am right when the amor won the Open as an am or something, when the Irish Open as an amateur, but he won that, like in between
he won everything as an amateur. It was amazing and it was just it was it was just all of a sudden, You're like, where does this guy just come from? So he was he was a little different, but immediately could tell he was going to be special as well. And yeah, I mean that those guys are amazing careers and it's been fun to watch because I said, like I've met them, like I've known him for so long. It's it's kind of amazing they've done, like they've done
so much for Irish golf. I mean, she's Rory is gonna go down as one of the best players ever and it's just amazing. They've seen him right from the start. It's it's it's pretty special. It's spill. It still blows me away when I watch him hit the ball. It's just it doesn't look like other people at all. It's it is it's amazing and it's it's different level of stuff. But yeah, those guys, it's amazing how long they've been on tour now, Like well.
Rory especially, you know, like you're going back to like nine and ten. It's like when he started to like win and compete and then twenty twenty four and he's still one of the best in the World's crazy.
I think his first year and like he got like turn pro and seven after the Walker Cup, I think it wasn't somewhere around there. I mean, that's amazing, and I mean even Shane. I think this is maybe like Shane's fifteenth year as a professional it's like in the world it's amazing really years ago, but yeah, those guys have have done so many amazing things, and yeah, it's been really cool of kind of watching following us as they've come up.
Shame as what was your time like like between college turning pro and then you made it on tour? What seven six seven years later somewhere?
Yeah, so I got my Yeah, actually six years after I finished in college on a pizza Jork.
What was that journey like your mini tour? Yes, corn Fair and.
Marty in One of the keys to a lot of these pros is like he won a lot, you know, like if you kind of go through the resume, it seems like you kind of won on the different stages that he built up.
Yeah, I did. I mean it was it was fun, Like I wasn't when I finished college first, then I was trying to figure out if I was going to go then Europe play in the US. Eventually decided on the US to move back at the end, so graduating in like May or whenever it's April May and ten moved back to Charlotte at the end of twenty ten. Because the ego it's not even around anymore. But the egof tour was and it was I tried tell me
like it was. It was a really well run tour like my first year, like you'd get thirty thirty five thousand for a win. It was like properly run. It was really like they did a really good job. So I went to you know, I started playing in twenty eleven, and I mean, it's just shows, like it wouldn't have had a whole lot of money turning pro I remember my first tour. I'll never for house tell people this is like whatever said. I think they might have been
like Wednesday through Saturday. So like I booked my hotel to check out on Friday morning, Like I can't risk this two hundred dollars if I missed the cut, so I nt really boost the complience too. But it made the cut, Like and I remember, I think it is the greatest thing ever pulled back into the hotel, like sitting in the car park trying to connect to the WiFi to book it on Priceline again. But that's I mean, that's what you do with me. You're trying to keep
the expenses down. But I was very lucky, Like the egof tour was really it was very strong. So I ended up playing that for four years. You know, I like everyone else, I mean, who was like my first twenty eleven like I got through, was at second stage and Ben Curtis makes like a forty footer across the seventy second green to stop me from getting through second stage.
We both would have got through. Like I didn't have a great last round, but I made like a ten footer in the last which I thought got me through. Like when I got the scores sent, they were like, we think that got you through. And then I see this pot and you're like walking the car to go to the airports, like, I hope that didn't Can that please be for Bogie? So if he two puts, we go through. But anyway, don't get And that was when
it was I guess the cards are back. But it was still like twenty five PG in the final stage and Patrick Reid like was at that stage. I mean, it was that same kind of timeline. And you know, twelve, I go to second stage. I think I missed by second stage by one or two shots. Again, I'm like, oh god, this is terrible. Thirteen, I go to first age, get sick at first age, finished like last I'm not sure I broke eighty because I was like I might
as well try. Yeah, And then fourteen, I got had a great year and Mini Tours one multiple times, like did all sorts of cool things. But then you're going to still going to Q school and you're like, oh, this needs to count. But yeah, it's a CU school is a horrible like it's it's a tough tournament because
you all your worrior was not playing. You're not worried but playing well, You're worried about not playing badly, right right, But like we was at the PG National and like it was six rounds and I chipped it stone dead for Birdie and I was going to finish like it was cards well locked up, but I was standing looking into the water and I was likez I was so relieved. It was just like and I was like I remember
thinking it was like, dude, I gotta do everything. I can't make sure I'd never have to come back to this again. I haven't been backed. Whatever that was. I was twenty fourteen, So yeah, I got onto corn Ferry and then I don't rough start my first year on corn Ferry, but then kind of got my feet under me kept my full card and then I won in twenty sixteen and it kind of got me going and got my card into fall on the twenty sixteen.
Marty, do you remember your first miniscore tournament?
Yeah, it was what tour was? It was?
It was the Hilton Open and uh Scoro, New Mexico.
Nice.
Yeah.
How nervous were you and how'd you play?
I was pretty I was pretty nervous because you're ponying up a lot of money split in the hotel room with three other players. The high score sleeps on the floor.
That's good.
That's good.
But I turned this. I turned a little profit. I think it was like six hundred dollars entry. I made like nine to fifty nice. I paid for the next entry. Feel I think I told you this.
My first mini tour event was Pepsi Tour out here in Arizona, and I made more money. I shot like seventy eight and I made more money on skins than the guy that won it. It was a mini tour tournament that had skins you could buy in. I made like two skins and one more than the guy that got first that day, and I was like, this is gonna be a tough slutting.
This is not gonna be the easiest thing in the world. Yeah, men, Jors is not glamorous at all. It's tough gone. It is tough going.
I like the high score sleeps on the floor.
Yeah I always did that.
Yeah, you gotta put over the last Like how stress were you?
Like?
I don't want to sleep on the four my bass.
That's what I'm worried about.
Shamous goals for this year kind of what are you looking at? Is what you want to do an accomplished in twenty four.
Yeah, for me, it's gonna be like like started every year, it's going to be to have to get at least one win. I mean there's nothing like winning like I've been able to win twice, but it's just yeah, there's just nothing like that. So that's almost that's the one goes on the page first, and then for me, it's gonna be get back in the top fifteen the world. So the injury second half of last year is kind of like obviously wasn't an to pick up any points
or whatever. And then the other big one is gonna get to the tour championship. You know, the last two years now I've been inside the top thirty going to the playoffs, and then I haven't played as well as I would have wanted. This last year I was with the injury. In the year before, I just didn't play well.
So it's like, they're gonna be my big three, Like and you know, there's a lot of little you know, like statistical goals and stuff I have as well along the way, but they're gonna be my big three that I'll be kind of, you know, looking at kind of regularly, just to make sure I'm kind of head in the right direction. Do you have a golf course that's your favorite on tour? TBC saw Grass is hard to beat.
Like we we we're very lucky we play so many, but that's a that's there's something about I feel like it's such a great test of golf. There's short holes, long holds, like you gotta be able to draw out, fade and do all these things. And I always think it's a great sign when you look through the past champions, there's some long hitters, there's some short hitters. Yeah, I think that's a great sign of just playing. I mean, you really look at it. It's like, who played well this week?
It's not favoring. I mean Rory's won there, Tim Clark's won there.
Yeah, he's actually very very different winners, and I think it's a it's a great sign of a course. But I mean we're like we're just coming like from Pebble. You get to play here with riviernex. I mean we're spoiled. It's hard to pick one, like riv is not an amazing one. But like I think TBC Sawgrass to me is a great mix of everything. It's like intimidation factors, birdie chances, all these kinds of things mixed in together.
And obviously it's a player of Shame as well. You know, it's the one it's a HiT's the non major one where everyone's looking to win, so I think that throne in as well. It's just it's just an incredible combination.
Shim.
So you you talked about some stats in your goals. Are you big stats guy? Do you dive into them? Do you use them?
Are you kind of just lightly.
Somewhere in between like the like some guys are. It's so interesting the statisticos of on course, I don't use as much as other guys, but I'm almost monitoring my own stats to like pretty closely to know because you could,
like golf is a really strange game. Like sometimes you can come off of course and you're kicking yourself and you're you're telling your caddy, oh, you're sucking this and so, and then you look at the stats and you're like, huh because for some reason, one shot you might have had really annoyed jes Yeah, it might cover up like three or four other poor shots that you don't notice because everyone's the same. Like, at least for me, there's a certain myss that a player like will annoy your player.
If you hit one of those, it'll cover up everything else whereas you hit three or four a miss that doesn't but bother you almost they almost can go unto the radar yea. But for me then you're always from like a good way of tracking, like the wages and like all that sort of the proximity to hold from certain yard is it's a fun way to practice too. It's like I look at the tournament and or even how you are in the seasons, like oh I'm down
and say seventy five two hundred yards. It's like extra little bit of time to practice that week and then you can kind of like, you know, next couple or next off week, I have it's going to be that improved a little bit, This one's down with and this kind of go through it and you eventually get to all aspects of it. And it's, uh, I think it's a big part of it now. I mean, they know
so much. The encore stuff to me is interesting because like strategy, strategy is yeah, if you see some of them and I some like I can see what they're what they're getting at, and I mean they're not trying to get any think these these are the stats, but they don't take into account like how a player sees certain holes. Like I was like travelers. I mean it's obviously very like, but travelers the ninth hole of travelers.
Like stat's say hit driver, hit driver, and I've I've stood there, and I was like, you can't see anything. You don't know where you're hitting it. It's like if I if I pull list, it's in true like and it doesn't suit me at all because I've always played it. I played it very well, playing it the way I like to see it play it, And stats are tricky
like that. I like seeing the stats to see what they recommend, maybe trying it in practice and see if you like it or not rather than But I've also played with guys who just like that's what they do. They're like, this is a strategy pull.
Club and they go like a computer.
Yeah. Like and some guys it's the same like with the you know on the greens. Obviously they've reduced it, but like the am point stuff, remember like the books from a couple of years ago, the exact numbers. I played with Joel dam like, I hope he doesn't be saying this, but like.
Whatever it is.
But we played it pebble on and I was blown away. I don't think Gino or him read one pot all day long, just because you know, they had it. It was so exact. They were like pacing it off and it's like this pot is this and I he put it really well, and I'm like blown away because I don't really I like reading pots and stuff. Always been a good potter. But I'm looking at this going is do I need to be adapting here or what? Like
what's going on? So you kind of look into do a bit of research with it and see where I use it a little bit now in little spots, But I think you golf is very unusually you have to sive through a lot of stuff to find out what you like and what works for you and other stuff. Even though it might work amazing for certain like ten other players, if it doesn't work for you, you have to get rid of it and find something that does
work for you. So I use the stats where I think that they helped me, and I look at them and I try analysm and see where I can make improvements where I have been improvement, so I can keep it there and do all that sort of stuff and kind of just monitor myself.
Basically, I like that approach to encore strategy. It's like the Daniel Kahnman book Thinking Fast and Slow. It's like using stats to delay your intuition. Right, So if you stand on nine at Travelers and they might might say do this, then it doesn't feel right, it doesn't You do what you gotta.
Yeah, you know, I mean like the NFL playoffs. I mean you think about earlier this year in the NFL playoffs, and like, you know, the Lions had this strategy which made sense for the regular season in the whole year, and at some point you go do you kick the field goal and go up through right. I mean, you know, analytically, what is it telling you to do? But you kind of got to like maybe potentially change it in certain situations.
Yeah, I remember, I don't remember, like the Moneyball movie, they kind of go into that a little bit. One hundred and sixty two games into like a five game series? Do you change it? And stuff? And I mean it's forever, it's all. It's in all sports.
It's yeah.
I was watched that Dan Cammell like should he have gone? Should you've not? And obviously so you can't separate yourself from the results because if they make it and get it's like this is what stuck to them all year. And then if they don't get al, so they should they have changed it. But like I mean, Greg Olsen was commentating and that's what he said. It's like they've
done this all year. This is how it's gone. But it's like, I don't know it's gonna be It's gonna be a battle that will go on for a long time. And I'd say, like the older coaches and I of every sport must be looking at it like cringing. But then you see his up and coming guys, and they say, like they have that in the NFL. They have a book and it's like totally fourth and two from this line.
It's it's it's out of green light, red light. It's like, you go, it doesn't matter, and that's statistically gives you a And Evan, so do you see the stats for that? Them going for increased their chance of winning from like ninety four point two to ninety four point three. So technically he was correct, but they lost the game.
Like it was like Dan Campbell and Greg Olson. I like, yeah, it was like football is out, the NFL is in.
Yeah, it was just when I lived in Charlotte, like Gregor, I randomly met greg on a night out.
Great guy, huh.
I didn't get speaking for long as he was just so big. I was blown away. But it was like I was always a fan of from being in Charlotte and stuff. But yeah, it was just like stats, like that's the thing with stats, and every coach in every sport is gonna swear away what they believe, and it's like I feel like if you believe it strongly enough, it's probably the best strategy for you in a way.
So it's it's gonna be but I'm sure they all use it behind the scenes for a certain extent, but it's a yeah, it's a it's gonna be a long battle in sports. Before we let you.
Go, I saw that you're a Pats fan. Now are you still a Pats fan? Because I know you're a Brady guy. So are you staying with the Pats? Are you moving on somewhere else?
So again, these things are filled out so long. I'm actually a Panthers fan because so when I moved to the US, the only team he would have heard of would have been doing the page. That would have been they were in the middle of winning everything and then the NFL had It's really very popular back home now, but it wasn't back then. So it was your favorite
like American sports team. Was like, that's the only one I heard that you would have heard of, Chicago Bulls, like the Lakers, maybe the Knicks, the Patriots, not many, the Dallas call, but it wouldn't have been many teams. So I was like, I mean, they're good, so I just put them out. But I'm actually a Panthers fan now. So I live in Charlotte for ten years. But like when I was in college, is off. I was following the Patriots because they were only when I kind of
knew of. But then when I moved to Charlotte, I lived, like, you know, three hundred yards in the stadium and it was cool and so became like a Panthers fan. And it hasn't been the best time for them.
Yeah, and this year wasn't great. Get better, say well, Seamus, really appreciate the time apably with you, A great kind of learning a bit more about you, not just as a golfer, but as a human. And I hope you have a great year, hope you stay healthy and hit it a lot longer.
Good equipment. Excited to see you go. Thank you very much, thanks for having me on.
That's shamous power. This is the Ping Proven Grounds podcast