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. Welcome back to the Pink Proving Grounds Podcast. We've got an awesome reserve in today, Christian Payne. You filling in for Marty Jertsen here at Augusta National. We also got a guy by the name of Bubba Watson. You may have heard of
him before. Two time Masters champion, Christian. I want to start here though. Bubba, the nice guy that he is, brought you to Augusta National a couple of years ago and you got a chance to play alongside Bubba, although he made you play pretty far back.
Well it was far back. And the one thing about Bubba, he's got a great heart. And he brought me to Augusta National end John K. Solheim our president last March, and did dream come true for me? Loves I'm playing first time, Oh yeah, first time pretty much on the golf course because as a rep when I worked here, you're not allowed to go inside the ropes. And so
we came. We had a great time. I mean, Bubba did say, hey, Christian, you were not playing the members teas, you were gonna come back and play with me like a man. And so I manned up, even though all fifty five years as well, I was fifty four last year. But it's really long, I'll just say that. And I didn't know that there's only championship teas and member tees and but it was fun. It was a dream come true.
We had a great time. Bubba's taking care of me over the years, Like I've played a lot of golf with him, and he's taken me to some really cool places. This is number one. So anyway, it was great.
Tough to beat that Bubba.
Can you kind of dive into the experience how his game was, how he played from the back to how many head covers he pulled out on the par fours?
Oh gosh, I lost count. But the key is, though you don't want to leave a guy being a ex professional golfer as you are and a champion in.
Japan, it is yeah, hey, good memory.
And so I love when the Japanese media comes up and takes pictures of you and talks about all the history anyway, that's a different podcast. So my thing is, though, when you come to Augusta and you play, and you have any kind of ability, you want to be back there totally. You have to like, why say that you played Augusta National and you played the uptease like you
want to say, you played all the way back. You saw how difficult it is, you felt it, and you're like, man, and now you can appreciate it when you watch it on TV, right, you can see the struggles. You can be like, oh, yeah, I felt that struggle. Number eleven is a struggle for everybody. So there's guys this week. I don't even know what the weather's going to be on Saturday, but this week guys are going to have head covers off.
So yeah, it was He's right. It was a great experience from the back. And what is always amazing to me is Bubba and how he plays the game and like from the back tease, how easy he can make the golf rush look and the shots that he hit. I remember, I'm just gonna tell sorry, sorry, Shane. So fifteen he had like a little he has two drives, his denk driving in his bomb and he hit the little dinker out there, didn't really hit one hard, and he was probably two fifty to the pin and it
was back left. He says, you know what, I want to try out this three, but I want to try to hit this shot. And he hit this forty yard slice three wood that I swear was coming in sideways to that pin. I don't even know if it went over the water. I think it went around the water and then hit like the middle of the green and rolled right past the pin. I think he almost made it too. It's probably the best shot I've ever seen.
It was just it. I mean, it was amazing. So like for me, I'm just like a you know, a giddy guy just watching a great player play golf, and it was it was amazing, Bubba.
The way you've played golf over the years, I mean, it's it's must watch TV. I mean, you know, especially when you're winning those Masters Championship. I mean, I will never forget the t shot you hit on thirteen. We'll get to that in a little bit.
I don't know if that was a line.
You were picking, but we'll ask you about that in a bit. But shots like that, you know, the forty yard cut or you know the wet shot you hit in the playoff. Do you see lines or is it just the feel in your hands that makes sense to you to be able to pull off these golf shots that even a lot of pros wouldn't have either the guts or the abilit to pull off.
Yeah, it comes down to feel, right, you see the shot, you visualize the shot you've hit it before the shot that he was talking about with the slice three wood, that's two fifty, right, So a three wood's gonna go further than that if I hit a dead straight three wood. So you don't have the club right, you can only allow fourteen's right. You've got to figure out a way to do it. And so the forty yard slice is just the way for me to get it up and get spin on it, then slow it down right, And
so that's what I envisioned. That's what I see with the pin on that side, the left side. So I'm always trying to figure out so about don't slice it now. We still have a room over here and we can chip to the hole. So that's what I'm seeing in my head now to pull it off as a whole right front ball game. But yeah, so visually, mentally, I picture this shot and I can can see myself pulling it off because I've done it with buddies and things like that. Now under the gun, can you pull it
off of that one moment? And luckily I've pulled the shots off twice around this place, so it worked out.
Do you see like a start line pick? You know, like Jack Nicholas famously picked a spot, you know, three or four feet in front of him. Are you picking a spot to kind of cut it off of or again? I mean, I know you're such a feel player. Does it just again your hands in your brain? It just kind of makes sense to be able to kind of cut something, you know, forty yards onto a pin that you know it's gonna kind of land in the area too.
Yeah, So it depends on the shot, right, So like a three wood, it's more of like I want to aim it far enough over so you're gonna and then off a tee. You're actually looking for something, right, So, so I'm looking for a tree maybe if it's a crowd, it's a person, or an edge of a bunker. I'm looking at something way in the distance to start it
and then just then feed it off of there. The big slices, you're basically, especially under the under gun or under the pressure, you're aiming it and going, Okay, if I really slice this, I'm barely gonna get in the rough on the left. If I underslice it, we're just gonna be in the right rough. So long as I slice it, I'm good. Right, you hit it perfect in the middle the fairway, So you're trying to You're trying to play the percentages in your favor.
So this is your sixteenth start here to go oh lash, Okay. I wanted to go back to your first It was two thousand and eight. I believe you got into that because of your great play at the US Open at Oakmont. I think that's how you got into it at oh eight. Do you remember your first Masters? Can you kind of take us back to like nervy young Bubba Watson playing at the Masters for the first time, obviously having so much history in the state, you know.
There was a there was a lot going on that week two thousand and seven, finished finished fifth at the US Open. Not that I'm mad about going bogie bogey the last week I was gonna bring up. I wasn't gonna bring it up exactly. So so you know, I got to call my dad. How was Father's Day? After the US Open? And it called my dad and said we're going to the Masters, and he was excited. And so we get there and boo weekly he's slop them. They're my idols. There were the guys I looked up
to when I was in middle school. They played him the same high school I went to. They were older, so they were out of high school and I got there. But those are the two guys that I wanted to emulate when I got to high school, and so so for them to be at the Masters, that's the only year that all three of us were at the Masters, and so our hometown, that was a big news for a hometown, right It's it's one of those things that I think there was a couple of stories written about that.
But three guys from the same small town, same high school were here. So that's really what I remember. I remember playing a practice round with them, goofing around with them, and always seeing them. Those are the faces I can remember I knew and I could talk to and it was all new to me with the other guys, and the Masters was new and my caddy, Ted Scott at the time was he's like, man, just drink it in. You know you're good enough, You're gonna be back here.
You know, you never think that, you know, you shouldn't think that you should always be grinding towards making it back. But so really the golf itself, I really didn't pay much attention about that, So I don't even know what I finished. I think it was pretty high up. I know I made the cut, but but then O nine I wasn't here, so that one's kind of upset me. So then I went to twenty nine, by the way, twenty that week, but it was a low last round. Maybe.
Yeah, I think you played really well the last year. Yeah, So I want to talk about twenty twelve because you were trailing headed in the final round. I'm not sure people remember that you went on that tear late. I think you birdied four holes in a row right started at thirteen, yep, what not in the playoff. But what was it like for you? I know you're a guy like you've talked about dealing with pressure and how it's been like for you to deal with pressure over the years.
What was it like in that atmosphere comparatively to other golf tournaments that you've been in the hunt end and that you've won in in the past, And how did you handle those nerves coming down the stretch with that great play late?
You know, it was crazy. Louis Ustasen made the double legal right too. Right then he had a four iron. I had an eight iron in there and he had a four iron.
She had an eight iron into two.
Yeah, I I it was. The wind was just perfect. I hammered one, but Louis his ball like took forever. It lanted like I think it lanted just short of the green, but it was firm, so it rolled and took the break to that backpen and went in. By the time I'm getting ready to hit the crowd of erup, so I was like, the ball hasn't stopped rolling yet, and so then I sliced it over into the left trap.
But at that moment when he hold that and I think I might have made birdie, I might have made par I'm not sure, but I'm four back of him, and so at that moment, you know, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm four back of him, and I think somebody else might have been he might have been tied to the lead at that moment or one up. So I'm looking at this going, okay, we've just played two
holes and four back. Let's have a top ten. Let's have a top five, because I remember the US Open, how big this is to get a top ten or top five. It gets you another eventsah blah blah blah. Right, and so I wanted to be able to say I played well at the Masters at least one year. So that's where my mindset went. And then Teddy on the bag. Teddy always tried to keep me in the moment and he was always talking about that. He was always like,
look at top five, here is amazing. I mean, things can happen you just you shoot, even from here out, you'll probably move up the board right just because of things, because of pressure. And then so we just keep battling, and the next thing, you know, I bogie. I'm just off the green on twelve, but I bogied it a three. I counted as a three putt even though it wasn't
a three putt. And then that's when again Teddy was in my ear and I would and I was already saying it to myself, but keep fighting like you've got a part you got two part five's. You can still have a great finish. You're still top ten, you're still this And and then you go Birdie. And then me and Teddy we were we were on what was at fourteen and I remember it years ago, if I don't
know if y'all remember, but I remember. I remember shots and Tiger, and I've seen other people do it where you hit it to that back friend ran it up the hill, it spins, or you hit it or if you hit it long enough drive you spin it back right. And so I told him. I told Teddy, I said, hey, what if we hit it to that fringe just to the left and spin it back down the hill. And he was like, yeah, that's perfect. Or roll it back
down the hill whatever, how firm the greens are. And it rolled back down to I don't know, seven feet and I made it. And then you know, okay, we still have a great finish, We still have great Let's just finished strong. Let's finish strong. So you're not even thinking about anything like that. You're not thinking about winning, You're not any of that. So I hit a great t shot freight down the middle, hit a seven ron in there, left it about three feet short from twenty
feet on fifteen. Yeah, on fifteen. So I made that putt and I still at this moment, I don't even I mean, I sit there, we talk about, yeah, we're one back, but you don't really put any thought into it, because at the whole time, all you're talking about is a good finish, a good finish. And then when I hit the eight iron and sliced the eight iron in there and made that and my putter raised, that's the first moment I was like, here we go. And then
when I walked to seventeen, I'll never forget it. This is the worst thing I could ever do. I was like, oh my gosh, we're tied for the lead, we have a chance to win. And Teddy goes, yeah, I know, man, and he goes and then but like it's the same
thought he had maybe I had. It was just like that moment where we forgot everything we talked about all week, you know, having my son, we just adopted my son and all these things, and so we were talking about all this positive stuff and that one moment we elapsed and went and I sliced that drive. So far on seventeen.
Was I was an hour still up at that time. It had to have been right in twenty twelve. I'm assuming there had been that tree over there on seventeen. I'm assuming in twenty.
Twelve, Yeah it could, yes, yes, but you know we don't even see that tree because I guess play right. So but yeah, so we we we lost our minds for a second and just enough where I could slice it, and so that's where we just yeah, so coming back those four birdies in a row was amazing, but it was just we never thought about winning. We never did. We just focused on having a good finish and then we get panicked on seventeen. But but yeah, May.
Seventeen and eighteen obviously, yeah, you know you I've read that. You you said I'm never gonna go down there and hit that wedshot again, right the playoff a wedgshot you've hit. Do you ever go down there and look.
I've hit it one time. I hit it with Ted. Ted. Scott brought Ted to play, and I used a nine iron with him because you was gaff hit it. That was a gaff wege fifty two degree. But I I flipped over a nine iron and hooked it with a right handed club hit the green. Maybe it doesn't matter all right, all right, maybe.
We've been trying to go down there and find I think have they changed trees.
They've added some trees.
Okay, that's what I thought, because every time, well the time we came out and even when we go gallery out there, we go down there, I'm like, I don't know where the spot is.
Yeah, they've added some trees. I remember a couple of years ago before they added the trees, Me and Angie flew in here to play and and they they they said, hey, do you want to see the spot? And it's just like, yeah, I'll see it. And so they got it GPS pinpoint and when where our group was on eight, they said, hey, they came up to us and said, we put a flag right where it is because there's nobody in front of us, so nobody else would know what they were doing.
So they did it secretly. And so we went over there and guys we were playing with went and looked at it. But they had a flag, you know, a little little flag just sit around. Yeah, they can do it with GPS.
I mean, it's one of the one of the great I mean one of the great shots in master's history. I mean, when you really think about it, I think every time I watch it, not only am I impressed by how much you move the ball, but I mean it was it's just so cool because it rips close, you know, I mean it had so much side spinning.
Yeah, you rip it up the hill, which is just so wild.
Where's the gold wedge, because ping major of the gold wedge is the post of the gold putter. Where's the gold wedges at home? Is it a case?
It's at home in the trophy in the office, in the trophy room. Yeah, so I am am sitting right there and the same as the the putter as well. Yeah, that's awesome. I think it saved I think it saved the money by doing a wedge because it was it was hollow inside. So they were like, hey, saved us three. Great.
They need more players to hit wedg shots to win major championships.
Well, I mean gold putters major you get a solid gold putter, right, So he's got a couple of them, and we're we're counting on him. I mean, we're we're really looking forward to another major winner, and so we need you to be our guy. You've been our guy in the past.
I got I got lucky too. By the way, my wedge, I have a gold plated because they make gold plated for inside the vault and and so I have a gold plated wedge that they did special for some reason, and so they already had one in the vault. So they're like, hey, man, do you want this one too? So I have that in mind too. So I've got the gold plated one just like the vault, and I have the the solid going. Uh.
I want to ask about twenty fourteen, Okay, I mean, you know, like everybody knows Jordan's speed now at the time, he's this kid, I mean, he was still burst on a scene. What is he twenty twenty one years old when he's battling you that he takes the lead early in that final round and you made birdies in the middle of the round to kind of grab hold of that Master's But I mentioned the t shot on thirteen.
I remember this was like hot and heavy Twitter days, Bubba when this was happening, and this was like pre video all across the board, like you didn't have every shot like they have now on the Masters app. And I remember I screen grabbed the t shot because it looked like when you hit it. I don't know if you remember. I mean it was an anxious look. Everybody was kind of looking and then it flies and you have what like sand wedge into to thirteen? Was that left of your line?
What was the line? Years take on thirteen? So let's go with the first part. Though. Jordan Speed was coming on the seas great player obviously, and he's young. I mean, I don't even know if he was twenty one was he? And so he Birdie's he Birdie's seven the bowlpen I plug it in the lip on seven, but I can use the bowl to help me. So I hit it make par So I'm three down with and I and Teddy and me we were talking about it and we're like, hey, man,
he doesn't know the pressure yet. You've dealt with the pressure. You've succeeded in the pressure two years ago. You know what the pressure is going to be like, you know what you have to do, and then you know, luckily for me, bad for him. I birdy Ate hit six hundred and eight. It was down Win hit six hundred and eight just over the green made Birdie he hits it off to the side, hits it on about thirty five feet three putts, so now I'm one back. I go to nine. I hit a beautiful shot to ten feet.
He hits it just off the side. Three putt. Well he's just off the green, but he three putted. I burdy, So now I'm one up, right, So like whoa? So then we just then I just hold on. Nobody really we both bog e ten I think, and then nobody really did anything. He hit in the water, but made a phenomenal bogie on twelve. So now we go to thirteen, and I'm at that time, I think I'm.
Three up, two up, because I birty thirteen.
So yes, you know you're you're the wind is like I said on eight, it's kind of like eight your down win. And so I'm going over these trees. But usually when I try to just hammer one, it's gonna be a slight draw. You pull it whatever, right, So I was like, okay, as long as you don't miss it that way. And you know, when you're trying to fight and make sure you don't pull hook it or pull it, you kind of leave it open. And so I left a little open and I knew I hammered it.
I mean I couldn't hit it any better on the smash Factor or whatever. And so now it's just now we're just waiting. I'm like, oh gosh, and you know, you're like, you're listening to see if you hear a tree, right, and then when the crowd erupts, that's when you're like, okay, we're good. You know when a crowd cheers for your drive. And that's when Jordan was like, hold on a second, wait a second, because we were listening, right, we were listening to hear it. And then we get up there.
I mean, I have this beautiful picture. It's framed up. Asked the Masters for it. Teddy has one too. There's two that I know of that we got framed up. And it's only me and Teddy. I'm hitting my shot. I'm one twenty to the front, one forty hole. I've got fifty six degree trying to hit the you know, one thirty and then let it spin down to the hole and out of the whole tournament. It's Sunday of the Masters. Jordan spief Is, you know, he kind of left his drive out. I mean, I hit a ridiculous drive.
But he hit a drive out. So he's hundred plus yards away from me and there's nobody. You see the camera tower behind the green, and you see the flag, and you see me and Teddy, and you see me at impact. I'm right here. There's nobody, and so I said, this is the greatest picture I've ever seen for us, and so I have one hanging up in my house. Teddy has one of his house. But going back to the t shot, it was a lot of luck involved.
But what we've always said, it doesn't matter how great you're playing, how great you're playing, there has to be something during the week that changes the momentum. I don't believe in luck. I don't believe in this, but breaks have to go your way. It's your moment, it's your time, it's whatever. My ball went through the tree. He had to touch something right, but it made it through. Look at shots that we've seen everybody hit around the Augusta
not only Augusta, but every golf tournament. They made a putt, they chipped in on a Thursday, they made a long putt on a Friday to make the cut, and then they shoot crazy on the weekend in La like a sixty four to sixty four. Wait, who did that? But you know like ball stays up. I mean, you're so right.
It's I always say we don't I think in golf coverage because golf so long, we don't go back to those Thursdays and Friday breaks enough, you know, because you talk so much about Saturday and Sunday. And I mean I remember remember James Han years ago when he missed all those cuts in a row and then he won wells Fargo. I think he missed seven cuts in a row and we Fargo. I was talking him about it one time and he said, he hit in Adibot on Thursday and go, this is why we're gonna miss the cut.
You know, it was negative talk to himself. And then he said, I remember his caddy saying we got to stop doing that. Let's just let's try to pull something off when we hit in a bad spot or do something. And literally that was the mental switch that happened. And he goes on to win after missing seven cuts. Like you've got to almost embrace the when something good happens. Like I'm thirteen, didn't hit anything.
I'm in the grain.
I better make birdie here, right, Like I got to pull off the golf shot, and that gave you off the opportunity to kind of to kind of take hold of that tournament.
Right, There's a lot of times the guy that has the best ball striking week does not win. Right. That's why I say, in a tournament, if you can top ten in any tournament in the world, or you can top five, you're playing really good. There was a little one percent difference in you and the next guy. He chipped in twice for the week, so he beat you, or he made a fifty footer that you didn't make. So it's just it's a fine line. And that was my moment. There was other moments, but that was one
that was like, hey, maybe it's meant to be. And then nobody else birdied, so I got lucky. I could just struggle my way in.
You say that too, like thirteen, if I remember correctly, that was the year they had a big freeze and a lot of the trees were dead. They didn't have as many leaves on them. I don't know if you
remember that. So, like, your ball's going through there and usually it's really lush, and so you have all these different factors over call it providence, and here it comes, here comes your ball is going through and then it lands in the fairway, and I'm like, this is his I mean, like like you said, I think I'm with you,
not necessarily luck, like it was providence. All these little things happened over over the year, and then you get here, you hit this beautiful drive over there goes right through the tree. Well over through what everyone's going.
Yeah, we'll say over, We'll say over. It's been a while, right, And.
Then I mean it was beautiful, it was all.
So then let's go back to that. So on, I got two things, not that you care, but I got to tell you anyway, do we go? So so number eleven Friday, My ball is twenty fourteen and fourteen, and my ball is in this pine stroll and Teddy looks at me right or left. I'm right, so you're right in the pines right now, So you know you gotta aim it for me being left hand, I gotta aim it over to water and hook it right. And Teddy was like, man, we shoe to lay up. And I said, nah, man,
I got this shot. It's a hook. Man. I got this shot. And I took out a nine iron and it was stupid. Is one ninety or something to the pin or whatever? So I tell this niner and I've got to aim left of the water. So I hooked it more than I hooked it in the playoffs same year. And it's a nasty lie. And I just rope hooked this bullet and just catch us the slope right on the front of the green. And he goes but before we hit, he goes, You're one under man, like this
is we missed the cut right? You hit this, make a triple whatever right? And I said, noah, man, I got this is easy, but I got this shot, and so I pull it off right. But then you go to so then you go to fifteen on Sunday and I don't know if you remember, but I hit it in the pine strawl. You know that little inlet of trees yep, on the left. I'm in the pine straws. They've added some trees by the way, just for the record, because I've been there before and I can't do the
shot again. So I'm in there in the pine straw and Teddy looks at me and he's like, I was, like, I'm not laying up forty yards down the fairway like I'm not doing that, and I said, I've got a wide open shot. We got one eighty four to the front. Man. It's like, dude, I do this every day in my life. And I was like, I'm gonna hit a six iron. Hit it. We're gonna go over the green just on the left of the bunker pins in the back middle.
You know how that pin kind of traditional pin. We've used to it many years, and we can chip it short of the green and two put it for par and walk out of here. And we're still leading, and he goes, all right, man, if you can do it, I man, this is easy. I know I can do this, and so I so. But you know, when I watch coverage with my family and listen to people, the commentators are like, what is he doing? Why is he doing that?
And we've actually thought positively why we're doing it. Now, I've got this downhill slope web shot and I'm gonna have to try to lift it and spin it and guess right on the distance to that green. I would rather go for it and then fat my chip shot than fat it in the water totally. So I'm looking at that and so it's an easy shot. For me, I wasay, man, my six irond goes two hundred yards. We're gonna hit easy. We're gonna hit it low, bullet
flat one eighty five, one eighty six, It's no problem. Boom, we do it, just over the green, make par And everybody's like, why would he do that? Well, because that was the best opportunity for me to make par well, we felt, And so those are the moments like again, I could have been behind the tree, right, and then I had to chip out and then I hit in
the water and lost right. So there are just moments that happened throughout the week, especially on Sunday, that moments that you don't think about at the time, but then at the end of it you're like, man, I just missed. I just miss winning because of this, this and this, or I just won because of this, this and this.
Right, fancy dinner twenty fourteen after the Masters win, Right, was that waffle House night?
That was waffle House night?
So what is a Bubba Watson waffle House Night?
Order? I get every time I go to waffle House. I met the owners a couple weeks ago. It's pretty funny people that started it, but they know my order too because of the masters. But I get two grilled cheese hash browns covered double hash browns. Two grilled cheese go on the same plate and cover the hash browns and then I just douse it all and catch up nice.
I mean, no, no waffle no breakfast food. I've feel like I feel like you're kind of going like a little bit more.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's seven in the morning, doesn't matter if it's seven at night two in the morning. It's the same, exactly. I do have a menu, by the way. They made me a menu the waffle house day and it's the Champion's uh Champion Special and it's a little picture of me on there. Yeah, so good, So I have it in my trophy.
But that's why I think we just heard Bubba Golf. How he you know, plays golf and then Bubba eats.
Yeah, I mean exactly, it's amazing, Like that's a new YouTube series. You want, you want, but you want comfort, right. The reason why I wanted to go over to the Manion so if I fat it, it won't be fat in the water. So that was comfortable to me. Like it now it doesn't make sense in your head or your head or the announcer's hit. But that's where in my head it all makes sense. And when people say, man, you could do this, this and this, and man, I've
won twelve times, two majors. My career is better than I ever dreamed it would be. Yeah, who doesn't want to win forty times? But you know, some people just aren't cut out for it, right.
But the thing about Bubba golf too is people out always ask me, Hey, when I go out to a tour event, you know, any type of high level golf, who should I go watch? And I'm like, you gotta go watch Bubba. Of course, I mean, I said, because you do think differently than most people. You know, I'm boring. I tried to hit it straight, right right down the middle, not very far. You like to hit it high, you like to cut it, you like to hit it low,
draw it. I mean, it's so much more fun to watch, and I wish I could do it, But like you're I mean, Bubba golf is a real thing. And I tell people all the time, you have to go watch Bubba play golf because it's different than anybody else and it's you're gonna enjoy yourself.
I mean it's it's it's always enjoyable, and especially in modern golf, so many players are trying to just simply hit the ball straight. Yes, Bubba was kind of a bit of a throwback in terms of the way he moves it. It's funny. A buddy of mine played with you. I think I've told you this story before, but buddy mine played with you in a mini tour tournament years ago, and he was a good player. His name was Casey broad Us. He played college golf in textas he played
with you. I think was a tight lights tour venter and Adams even or something like that.
Yep.
But he said, you're the only guy in all of his years of playing pro golf that he called his dad after and said, remember the name Bubba Watson. He said, you didn't necessarily shoot a great number. I think he said you shot three or four under, but he just said, your ability to move the golf ball, how far you hit it. I think you had a pink shaft you painted yourself at the time. But he just said, this guy, it's different to watch. And I'm assuming you've heard that
probably a lot in your life. Is that it even from pros like I remember when you burst on the scene. Tiger loved playing practice ons with you because it was different to watch the way you go about your business.
Yeah, for sure. So my dad used to paint all my putter shafts and all my things like that, So my putter was definitely doctored up with paint and different things. Is that where the pink came from from? Your dad? Is that where the Yes, my dad loves bright colors and it stood out and it's easy to notice, and so pink it was. It made sense because it's funny, right when a guy has a pink driver, then he out drives. You can't really make fun of it exactly right.
But then as I got older and became a professional golfer, it's like, how can we help people? People help me to get here? So then we started pink Let me do the pink Drivers for charity, and we've helped two We've helt many places around the world, but two hospitals, the one in Phoenix, the Children's Hospital in Phoenix, Children's Hospital in Pennscol, Florida. So that's what the pink drivers are for. But no, it's it's funny. I played with a couple guys this week that that don't really I've
never played with. One guy never played with, and so I hit a couple of shots that were Bubba esque and and I could see him. He looked at me, he looked at his caddy. He looked back at me. He's like, what was that. I said, well, I had to take some off, man, so I had to hit this big old slice and had it like this, And he was like, okay, what I talk about. As he's laying up on this part five and I'm going for it, He's like, okay, okay, I didn't see it, but okay. Yeah.
So but it's like, but if you think about it, like Bryce and d Chambeau, he plays a different game, but it's straight correct. He's trying to hit it miles but straight. He's not trying to do all these curves and things. So he's still doing what everybody else is doing, trying to hit the ball dead straight. Uh. He's just going about differently. He thinks differently. So that's the way he draws it up. We all draw it up differently.
Yeah, yours is just I think the prettiest drawing in my opinion, Just the way again, I mean, it's just it's just fun to watch because it's just so different.
Right, Yeah, the shot tracers messing up sometimes, Thank good, Yo, you know what you're sure we need of the tracer like five years earlier for Bubba, like like prime prime prime Bubba curving the golf ball.
Well, I think it's great. Bubba fits the Ping brand great because like the Solheims, like Carson was thinking outside the box when he was making his clubs. You know what I mean, everybody's like, oh, this crazy guy is bringing out this butter. Nobody's gonna like the butter, right, and then once somebody gave it a chance, they're like, Wow, this is really good. And I mean I think it's been all the years I've been at Ping. I mean, Bubba and the relationship he has with John has been
really special. And I think it's been a great relationship, a great partnership for many years and for many years to come. So and you know all the charity work he does, He's he's got a great heart, has done so many great things. And I think you know a story I've never told anybody before and I'll tell it now, but my daughter got sick when she was fifteen years old. You know, she had leukemi and he's a big donor at Phoenix Children's Hospital where we spent a lot of time.
But I was gone for like two weeks, you know, two months from helping the guys on the tour and then you know, I think the first week back, you know, I was I'm close with bub and Teddy both, and you know, they were encouraging me all the time. They would text me, hey, we're praying for you. Hang in there. And you know when I saw him, you know, they gave me a big hug and said, hey man, we're praying for you guy, hang in there, and the whole thing.
And these guys were really supportive. It wasn't like every player was texting me, but these guys stayed in touch with me all the time. They really were an encouragement. And a couple of cool things he did for my daughter. He did a couple of videos. One was with Ricky I think and Pee Reid, and so, you know, my daughter knows Bubba and knows Ricky. She's like, oh, that's cool, that's Captain Jack. I was like, yeah, I was Ricky Fowler.
You know, he used to look like Captain Jack back then, and then she loved Justin Bieber and his buddies of Justin Bieber and they sent over a video to Gabby Hey get well, be well, and so like Bubba's always going to have a special place in buy heard just through you know, difficult times in life. I mean, he's him and Teddy both are really great and they're a
great encouragement to me. So and then the work that they do for Phoenix Children's Hospital has been amazing, Like we spent so much time there and all the kids that they help is amazing.
So when did you start wanting to get into the philanthropy? When did that become a part of you, not just as a person, but as a pro golfer, Because I feel like you got into it. I don't want to say you know earlier than most people do, but it felt like something that kind of popped up the moment you started to become a household name.
It's funny when I was fourteen years old the golf course I was playing at. The guy that's got me started. He's left haended pro golfer, Harm Cook. He loves junior golf. Right, That's how you build the game of golf, right, the grassroots is it's not pro golfers on the PGA Tour or at the Masters. It's the club pros in the city. It's kind of like the churches. They know the people
of the city, right. And so there was a special Olympics group that used to come out and I used to help with that, and he said, hey, why don't you come out and help and you learn so much. I mean, these guys and girls are just smiling and having a blast and all these things. So I used to do things like that, right, I didn't think that was helping, even though it was because time. Some people don't have money, some people just have time, or some people have energy or or shoulder to cry on. Whatever
that is, right, you can always help. And so for me, I saw that. And then when as I get older, I'm like, hey, when I start realizing what a sponsor is, well, you know, as a kid, I didn't know that these banners meant anything. You know, I'm playing junior golf tournament and there's a banner over here, and there's a banner over there. What is that? And then the reason why my golf tournaments, my junior tournaments were free is because of these sponsors or it was five I remember tournaments
were five dollars. Some tournaments, the big tournaments, you know, there was one hundred dollars fee. But my parents would pay for these or not pay because of sponsors and people helping want to give back. So I learned that at a young age. But then when I finally started doing my own stuff and became a pro, I wanted
to do it listening to these guys. John Soheim has been my granddad, right, and I know I'm putting an age with him, but that's who it was, because obviously he can't take the place of my dad, but he's my dad figure. And so that's the guy that I ran information by, asked him questions, even though he wanted
me to be at the Pink staff. He said, look, man, if there's a deal out there that's better for you and your family, you leave ping take this hat off and go somewhere else, right like that's I'll drive you there. And that always stuck with me. And I know how much they give. They don't tell the world how much they give and what they do and what they're helping. And so that's where I just started resonating with me
and who I want to be as a person. Where I come from, there's somebody helped me throughout all my years, and so I wanted to give back. And then when you start thinking about like my wife, we had to adopt both of our kids, how would you not want to help kids. Kids are born into a situation. They're not asking to be in that situation, and whatever that situation is bad or good, it just happens, right, So
let's help them develop and grow. Maybe they're going to change the world, maybe they'll change cancer, maybe they'll be the next president or whatever. So that's why I always want to help the kids. And then getting involved with hospitals is an amazing journey in itself. And then you know, so it just I've done a lot of things outside the US, a lot of things inside the US, but the hospitals have probably been the best. Because the Watson name will go away.
The Ping, the people of Ping will go away, but the hospital is still going to be giving, right, so your legacy is still going to be part of that history.
How is your relationship with pro golf right now? I mean, you're still passionate about it, you still love it, and I remember years ago. I think you said maybe that if you win ten times, you were going to walk away from Is that?
Is that? Right? Did you say that years and years and I said, I said, I might just walk away because I never you know, I always had a dream to get that card, right, you know, the PJ Tour card they actually get I don't know they give now, but back then they gave you. Yeah, that whole thing, and so so it was cool, right, I had it in my interview. I never got a word out because I was crying so bad. And then you actually win a tournament, You're like, well, I guess I gotta change
my goals. I gotta win again. So then I set my goal at ten unreachable. I'm at one and now I'm gonna get ten. It's unreachable goal. And then I get there and you're like, I guess I gotta change my goal. So you always have a goal, right, And so right now, to be honest with you, I retired from the PJ Tour. I put in my resignation and went to live. And the reason why I went to live, there's a many reasons, but one of the big reasons I went to live is it's lonely out here. It's
very lonely out here. Now you have guys, but he's working with a bunch of guys. There's other people, my caddies got friends. I mean, it's just it's very lonely and am now having a team. Gosh, And not to keep talking about him, but Matthew Wolf, I see a lot of me and Matthew. Matthew Wolf is a talent that we rarely get to see. And so when you think about a twenty four year old, he was I think twelfth in the world or fourteenth in the world at age twenty. At age twenty now and then been
through some struggles. I've been through some struggles. So going back to the ten Wins, I wanted to retire. I wrote a book about my issues, my mental issues, because I don't Anthony Kim. There's a lot of people I'm mentioning now. Anthony Kim mentioned it last week that you're lonely. He felt lonely. A million people could be around you, but you still feel lonely. And that's how I feel. That's how I felt, and I didn't know how to deal with it, and so I wrote the book to
help me. But help other people. And then Matthew Wolf, I see a lot of him and me, or me and him, or however you want to word it. And such a great talent, better talent that I've ever been. And but forget his talent, who he is as a person is what I want to help. So live is giving me that opportunity. Being a team golf gives me the opportunity to help people around me and just be a light for the people. I don't might not have to say words to you, but if you watch what
I'm doing. How when I leave my wife or how I greet my wife, I always give her a kiss because it could be the last time. YE always tell him I love her always when I say bye, going whatever, right, you tell her as much as you can. And then he'll see that and go, oh, Kim his fiance soon to be wife. You know, he might feed off of that. I fed off that from my dad, and so you know, there's little things you can teach without even saying a word.
And but the first phone call I made to him when I made the trade was Matt I've been trying to get you on my in my life for five years. We've been friends. I've helped you send you text, but now I want to help you. And I said, I don't care what you shoot. You could shoot a hundred for the rest of your life. That's not what I care about. And so so that's where when you ask
about the game of golf, my game of golf. I'm healthy about almost two years for my surgery, where they said I was going to blossom around two year mark. Just like any athlete that has surgery, about the two year market, you start really filling one hundred percent and I'm forty five, but I feel energetic, I'm excited. And then having people around me a team, when we can battle together, it's just like Ryder Cup President's got I
want to battle with them. Even if we don't hang out for that one week, we're best friends totally, and we are pulling. We are blood, sweat and tears together. And so that's where my journey of golf right now is at an all time high because it's not about me anymore. For years, it's all about me, and I don't care what you want to do. It's about me, and so now it's so much more fun than that is. It is a long answer, but it only was a great answer.
Is it strange to be a mentor? Like you know, I mean you, like you mentioned, you're a young person. You come up and you're taking this from this person, and you're giving this to this person. Then you get to a point in your career where all of a sudden you can kind of give back to this younger generation that, as you said, you might see some of you in or you might see him going down a path that you think might not be the right path. Is it strange to be a mentor now in your career?
It is because of the fact that for so long I was so selfish, right, right, young people are selfish as we all are like that, right, and sometimes you might even creep into the old people with selfish. I was kind of in that area too, And so you know, for me, I was so selfish for so long. And I don't know if many kids, when I say kids below thirty can can be as good as they are without being a little selfish or a lot selfish. But
the one person that comes to mind is jordan'spief. I've always looked up to Jordan speech, even when he was younger, right, he was so Yeah, we all get animated, but man, his mindset, his drive, his parents, I mean having his sister now married with kids. But like just watching him, yeah, we're always gonna have moments, but watching him and how he carries himself and how he is always kind and considerate. I always think of him as older than he truly
is right. And so going back to that, there's no way at that age and that's successful. Oh my gosh, who knows where i'd be right? If I was successful as Anthony Kim at his age, I probably would have been dumber than I am right, and I was pretty dumb. I got a lot of stuff written about me that
was pretty dumb. But you know, so you know, I now being able to especially a guy that's willing to listen, a twenty four year old Matt Wolfer or anybody else that's willing to listen, I'm thankful for that because like Matt's almost I'm almost double his age, and I'm like, look, man, I'm catching I'm trying to help you catch stuff before you get to where I'm at and have to write a book about the problems. But so, yeah, it's crazy to think about, but it's overwhelming, truly to think about.
And I mean, I'll probably tear up. But when people come to me and say, hey, man, this book meant this to me, this book this, and let me tell you what's going on in my life, and and it's it's amazing. I've had volunteers, I've had tournament directors, I've had players, I've had caddies, I've had random people on the streets to tell me about my book and what
that meant to them. I mean, so yeah, it's it's crazy to think that this goofy golfer that's never had a lesson from Baghdad is now looked up to and and and and not only for them, but my two kids, right, and I've got to be a leader for them. And so yeah, it's it's overwhelming to think about all the stuff that I've been able to do and accomplish. This means the most.
Yeah, I mean, that's awesome. And then I mean my thought, you know, when I was working with you on the reins, and we must have been dumb and dumber, because.
Which one's dumber?
I think it's stay to day before we go, Bubba, I do want to ask just two equipment things. One is the grips. Yeah, okay, I mean, you know, you grow up a young person, you have just a normal grip. I mean that's how we do it. Maybe you wrap it a couple of times. I mean yours have like fourteen wraps under one hand and not so many under the other.
When did that start? Why do you do it?
And how annoyed did these guys get when they have to regrip your things with fourteen exactly on one side.
That's not that bad.
Say let's start from the last part. Man, they hate it when I come in, They're like, man, we got to cut out the whole day. We're only doing Bubba's grips. Got everybody in the factory work, And what is it? Fourteen under the left hand? Is that right? No?
So it depends on the club. So the drivers like ten and twelve, you know, ten wraps on the top and twelve on the bottom. I always say top and bottom because he's the left. He always get the hands confused. And then like his wedge was always bigger as I think it was eleven and thirteen. But now Spencer's told me you've got another one in there. There's like a twelve and fourteen. Yeah, I don't know exactly we're always
trying to help him cut the ball. Okay, so the bigger grip helps that, and he sets it like ten degrees open. I'm like, there's no way it's ten degrees. In my opinion, I think it's way more than ten degrees, but we call it ten degrees like the actual grip. Like if you have the logo of the grip going down.
Said, is that the irons because you know the driver, the irons in the lobways are different, correct different?
There are those are the three difference, and then the other thing that's the grip, the big grip, and then the hard part, you know, putting on the grip, which I don't have to put on the grip. So it's no big deal. But if the guys don't mark down, they can lose count. You know when you're counting. Wait a minute, did I mark it down or did I not mark it down?
I think I did, and sometimes they redo it and then yeah, I forgot, I'm twelve. I don't know.
The greatest thing is his feel is so good. He can tell if there's not enough raps or too many wraps. And then the other thing is the manufacturing process is not perfect, so sometimes the grips are a little different sizing. And then the other thing we do to help him cut the ball is we do a deep heel grind on his irons, so we cut off. There was a time, I think when he first started with the S five to fives, which lasted like ten years, you know, there
was a time where we went through it. Hey, we're been in a flatter trying to get him to cut a little bit more. Felt like the heel was grabbing, so we just you know, grind off the heel a little bit. And we did the same with the BLUEPRINTSSS. So you got a nice But the grips are amazing. I mean, I love showing. We always we still do have a Bubba driver in there. People come in, they can grab it and they're like, wow, how kam. It's on sideways and that's way he likes it. So he's a field guy there.
There's a lot to uncover here, but yeah, a lot of I mean we're pulling back some here's but here's the thing though, so goes back to how I play golf. Right, Charles Howe. I've known him since we're eight years old. Charles how somewhere fourteen something he had bigger grips. And the reason why he had bigger grips he wanted when he choked up, he wanted to kind of feel the same. You can't, you can't have it perfect. It has to be a little off.
But I think, right, there has to be taper by the USA rules.
So it can't be the same. But he used to have that. Man I grab it, and man, that feels great. But then so now the beauty of Ping that people don't talk about enough or people don't realize enough, the beauty of Ping, it's all engineers. The soul how family is pure engineer. That's true, right, yeah, oh yeah, right, I mean.
They're engineering as an engineering company, right.
I mean we had we had John k was selling stories during COVID. He was down there building golf clubs, you know what I mean, like literally building golf courds in twenty twenty.
Yes, and then but then in but Carson Manufacturing, they've worked with the military, they've worked with medical, they've they've done a lot of things behind the scenes that people don't know. And that was Carson Manufacturing. It's the same factory as Ping, it's the same family, same everything. So so when we think of this now, Bubba Golf. Instead of me changing who I am as a person and changing your grip and doing this and your hands too
far this way, let's get it this way. That can that changed my whole feel off, Let's work with who I am and fix that. Okay, So if we open the grips, then the club now with my quick hands, you know, I'll just say I have quick hands. I have good feel on my hands on stuff. So that's why I played a natural hook. And so now to slow my hands down and my wrist down, let's build the grips up. So we built them up to slow
them down from rotating. Now we open them so then that'll help slow down the rotation and keep the face where I want it to be so I can maneuver the ball hooks or slices. Then, so that was how I thought of the game of golf. Then the ping just made the engineering work. I didn't know how to make it work, but I said, here's what I want to do. I don't want to change me. I want to change the equipment. That's the beauty of custom equipment.
Every person, all three of us, are going to be different. Right. You might like something I might think this is the worst thing ever, but it works, and Ping is the company that can do it and make it work for you. And one of the things I'm working on right now is a putter. And this is why I said it's a long answer. So I'm working on a putter. I've used this one putter and one style putter for all thirteen wins across across the board. It's the same style putter.
But then Ping was like, hey man, why don't we do this putter to make you hit it further? And when I say further, because everybody says I lag putts and I come it short, which I do, but it's it's it's easy to say, hit it a foot harder, you know what. I'm okay, you don't just that's my swing, that's my putting struck. This is this is, this is who I am as a person. So they said, okay, we're gonna make this putter this way. They engineered a putter to hit it harder, and they do, and it does.
It does exactly what they wanted it to do. Then they said, hey, your putter faces is closing too fast, so we needed we're gonna change this hozzle and make it arc less and not change you. We're not gonna change anything about you, but we're gonna change it. Now what the computer can't tell you. I don't like it. When I look down at it, I'm like, something doesn't look right here, right, the neck being too long. It makes me feel weird, right, It's just just the feeling.
So my long answer is now we're back to the PLD answer style putter. But that's where when you asked me about the grit and why and what am I doing? Now, let's go back to that. The driver I want less open so I can hit the straight bullet when I need it. It's built to slice, cut right, and so I want it to do that under pressure. But if I need a hole that I got to try to hit one straight. That's where I have the ability to
do it. My irons are built I always said, I always say two degrees open, four degrees open, and so that because I like the look of it. I can see the face when I set it down on the ground. Now, the lob wedge, the reason why it's built higher because I feel when I'm trying to hit the field shots, the bunker shots or the flop shot, or the little
shots around long on fifteen. You were talking about it, right, So I'm trying to hit these shots because I use a lob wedge everywhere bump and runs, spins, flops everything. So I want it more open and I want it bigger so that I can feel comfortable when I grip this, that I can pull these shots off that I want to pull off. So that's another demand. Going back to pinging, What again is that I use ping engineers? They used
me because I'm the computer. Can only tell you so much, right, it can tell you if we were perfect robots, these are the perfect clubs, right, But now they need me to test them and hit them and tell them this is what I like and don't like. Now sometimes they don't like it when I tell them certain answers.
But but Christian's like, all right, I gotta go back and figure this out.
Thirteen we had thirteen I think it was thirteen clubs or twelve clubs, and they were all one one degree apart, and I went through. They set them on the ground one degree apart and little test and they tested me. Yeah, that was perfect. I grabbed it. I was like, oh yeah, this one's that. No, this is that.
The great thing about Bubba. I loved working with Bubba is because one of his famous quotes was, I think when track men first came out, He's like, I don't need track men to tell me when I hit a good shot, Like I know what a good shot. He wouldn't use it for a while at the start, and then we started using it, and it's like a tool, right, But still his eye has seen him hit the good shots. He knows what he wants, and so.
The feel in the field that of course track mans are they can't computers can't tell you what it feels like, feel good.
And that's the great thing too. Whenever we would bring a new club out, he could hit it once or twice and he knew right away and like there was no messing around. He was like, we either built it right or it's right for him, and the field is on and it's gonna be good or not. I can't remember. I think it was the Phoenix over when we came out, it was like the four to ten and it was like on a Sunday maybe, and we went out and tested the drivers. It was I think the four ten plus.
It was brand new, and he's the first one we tested the driver with because I mean he's the best driver in.
The world, the fastest car in the world as well, use it exactly right.
And so he's out there hammering these shots on the back of the ring at TPC, you know, Scottsdale, and they were I mean, they were beautiful and I'm just like salivating over here, and he hasn't said anything in and he's like, this is really good. He kept looking at it. He wasn't saying anything, but it was good. Like I knew after he hit a couple he hit or like he likes it right because he he could tell me right away. He's like a take it away, take it away.
I mean, come on back to the shot. One shot, I can be done with it. Yes, And that's exactly know. But that was that was the black one. Yes, that wasn't pink.
It wasn't pink.
That's right that I'm not that I we didn't have the pink one yet high rent and I need a pink driver, but I mean I didn't have a pink driver. And they and I was like, can I play it? And they said yeah, I said, I'm gonna play this one, but it's black. So I used it for for that week I think for sure, and then the next week I had a pink one, but they were like I was like, no, I want this one, pink. I love this one.
Because when I remember my boss Chance Cosby at the time, he said, hey, how to go, I said, it's awesome, like we got something here, like he loved it. I mean it was, it was beautiful.
Yeah, but listen, we really appreciate the time. I know you got a busy week. Obviously, same Champions dinner menu. Both times you've won, you win this week? Are we going three for three?
Same thing? And m Rom said it best in some of his interviews is that it's a it's a little taste of his hair, it's a little taste of his grandma. I mean, there's there's a reasons why we do everything. Totally. We can lie and say whatever, But my mom, that's the She's from Mississippi. I'm from the South country. Cooking. It's home cooking. It's the feel good foods. It's the foods that everybody likes and and it's and it's an homage to my mom, right, like you want my mom
to feel special at this at this event. My dad didn't cook anything for us. So if my dad was still alive, you know he's you ain't getting nothing.
But the last thing, last thing I did read that you eat before the Champions Center. In case, what is that still true? You still power through a couple of burritos before the Champions Center.
This this week, I will definitely eat before.
Okay, I go not because that's chestnut Checkers dude, like you're thinking outside of the people.
People ask why, they said why, I said, first of all, we've got the greatest golf from it ever produced the greatest sporting event in the world. People don't even play golfer watching this right, So yeah, I won't comfort food. I want my body to know what we're eating. I want my body to be used to it, and I want to be ready to go in two days.
No curveballs, no curveballs.
Listen, but we really appreciate the time. Good luck this week, awesome catching up. This is the Ping proven Grounds Podcast