Episode 69: Thriston Lawrence

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 Pink proven Grounds Podcast. Shane Bacon, Marty Jerts, and we got Tristan Lawrence with us for the first time. And before we get into golf, I think we got to talk about the most important thing. We were just talking about fishing before we got going. Would you say fishing's number one passion over golf right now in your life?

Definitely, you love it. I think golf is all be at the moment for me, especially when I'm back home. You know, don't tend to play a lot of golf back home, so golf is definitely saken when I'm home. But over obviously golf is golf is pretty ority. But yeah, fishing is amazing.

Yeah, I mean is like, I mean, golf's the job. I mean, golf is what you do for a living. Did you get into fishing as a kid. Was this something you just recently got into or have you always kind of been into it.

Yeah, said my father loved golf fishing so always always, as I can remember as a you know, always went into lakes and we had cold fishing and always had a bass road you know involved, so you know, I would catch myself just standing in the water and just casting, casting away. So it's always been a thing that I remember as a kid. And then obviously when you travel, you need to try and find a hobby out there when you're traveling, and I just thought, you know, fishing is the perfect example.

You know, if I play in the morning.

After practice in afternoon, I can go fish for a couple of hours and it gets my mind away from from golf, you know.

So it's yeah, I just love it.

I mean, Marty, I think about like yelping a restaurant when you're on the road and I see Tristan, Like what lake is near the golf where I go? Is that something you're doing? Like researchers, you're going to a new place.

Definitely.

When we arrived here on Monday, check straight away if there's a bass pro shop. So we went there on Tuesday morning, got myself to your rods and everywhere with there's water, there's a there's a chance to maybe catch my baby.

So yeah, it's amazing.

What does the travel look like for I mean, I know you just picked up a ride in the past pro shops, but what does the travel look like? Do you get a do you get a ride you can break down, put in your in your golf bag.

Yeah.

So I actually find myself buying a new one every year. I've got like two three piece rods back home that I can travel with, but just thought, you know, it's admin to travel with it and whatever. And then because I played in to buy my first tournament, so I'm not going to fish there, so I just thought, I'll I'll get myself a new one. Yeah, but then managed to buy two so but overweight. But yeah, definitely the ride always needs to be in play wherever I go.

Definitely got to be there. Can you take us back to the Open last year, because obviously I think that was when you really burst on the scene for kind of worldwide golf fans. What was that week like? What was it like kind of sitting on the lead, obviously competing against some of the best players in the world in that level of an environment, and as you look back on it like would you do great that week? And what did you? Could you have kind of maybe buttoned up towards the end.

Yeah, it was an amazing week.

You know, that final round in the final group of the Open Championship is just point to dream come true for me.

But you know, arriving there, it's a normal tournament.

It's a Lynx golf course where I I've won before on in South Africa, in England. You know, my first ever amateur event was the Lettam Trophy in England and I won that, so very you know, familiar with Lyn's golf and you know, I think.

It's it's a sort of golf I like, you.

Know, there's no perfect picture when it comes to Lynch. You know, I was probably the only guy that did drive on almost every hole that week, So I just feel like there's there's so many ways to play, not just that golf course, but any Links golf course. So I just felt comfortable when I arrived there. You know, the golf was fairly good. You know, mister cut the Scottish Open the week before, but unfortunate made Boguan the

I want to win.

I want to compete, and yeah, it never got to my head that it's bigger than what it actually is. And I think that's why I managed to stay patient and do well.

It's playing in those elements, you know, or the weather, wind conditions, something you enjoy. You feel like you have an advantage in those conditions.

Definitely. You know, I'm not your stock standard stock shape guy.

You know.

I like to work it and I feel like when there's something in the air, I can make it happen. I feel like I've got the all round game to eat a lot of different shots. And I mean, I'm not too used to rain, so that was it's never fun when it's raining, But when it comes to win and stuff, I know how to manage myself. And yeah, I've played in all types of conditions, so definitely gave me, especially playing in Europe where you can get if you're

It can changed so quickly.

So that's where I think it also helped me that week.

You're iron player. You mentioned shot shapping. What about on a conditions when it's calm, You got left pins right pins? Are you the type of player that hits your stock ball flight in there? Are you curving it into left pins and right pens?

I would say depends on firmness of greens, you know, slope and stuff. This week it's not firm firm, but it's not soft, and there is a couple of slopes you can work it from, So it all depends on the golf course.

I never tend to do the same thing every week.

Whatever I see in front of me that instance, I try and figure out what's base for me and what I feel comfortable with.

I've never been a.

Guy that just say, okay, this is your stock a tie and you need to stand like this. Nothing is ever flat out there. It's flat as the driving range and that sort of confuses me. So I just trying to get comfortable over it, because that's when I know I'm going to be at my base committed through a shot to be comfortable. But I mean, I can, I can hit it high, I can eat it low, I can I can feel like I can spin it whenever

Trust.

And one thing at the Open that got a lot of attention was the length of your driver. And I always I'm kind of a proponent in general of players playing a little bit longer drivers. And we've seen a lot of our tour players go a little longer with our drivers being more forgiving and and just the premium on distance over accuracy. Your driver length is forty three and three quarters, I think somewhere in that neighborhood. How

Yeah, once again, being comfortable over it, like I always felt like short Like ladies golf clubs, for instance, if I have to take a lady's driver, it feels unbelievable. Like the shorter the better it just my body feels like it's in a good position over the ball and that's the most important thing for me is being confident and comfortable over the golf ball. So I mean I was very short when I was young. I only stretched up, you know, probably when I went to high school I

It felt like I say, comfortable.

That's my main thing in golf is to be comfortable, because I mean it's never perfect.

You can't be perfect in this game.

But if you're comfortable and you commit it over it, it's just going to make it mentally much better.

I think share.

I just think that's a great case for custom fitting Shane, and why it's so important to bring in the X factor of your comfort level.

Well, I think about linked like you play longer.

Driver, right, yeah, I mean close to forty six.

Yeah, I mean yours is long, long long. I mean I'm more in kind of Tristan's world where I, you know, like you and I kind of dove into this driver world, you know, the twelve degree driver that's kind of replacing the three wood YEP. And again, like comfort levels, like if I got a tight hole and I'm not comfortable with the big boy using the shorter one, being able to kind of grip all the way up on it and it feeling short your hand. Even the nine wood.

By the way.

I really like the shortness of it. It just kind of feels it almost feels fun to play with. I mean, I love what you were saying about. Just you know, as long as you're comfortable with what you're swinging, I mean, that's obviously the key.

To success exactly.

I mean I went to top Golf Top Golf a couple of times in Dubai, and they drive a limbs are like almost like mine, so it just a normal drive.

It just feels awful for me, like I always hit it out of the yell.

I don't know if it's mental how I swing it, but it just it doesn't feel comfortable. It feels like I need to get my elbows really tucked in and it's just not normal for me. I don't know, it's my arms are long as I don't know. It's just always feel comfortable and if I could choose. I would maybe make it an if you know, like Brice and it just it just feels.

Unbelievable about that world. But obviously what's working for you exactly?

When you got a top golf what game are you playing? Are you like competing against your buddies?

Are you going to have more just eating shots? You know, take family that they haven't haven't been there, so just see them eat I eait a couple of shots and mess around and eat shapes and stuff and try and dunk it, but not really play any games.

Intimidating one of the best players in the world's next to you in the bay at top Golf. More, this is probably got a little bit done, Yeah, christer, what you just got on to do?

G four forty driver and tell us a little bit about that process. What are you noticing there?

Yeah, So it took me a while to change spens and the guys fit me with the with the four thirty in in l A what was it two years ago? Years open and I've been using that driver since and I got it. I got the new four forty November in November last year at the Bang Golf Challenge, and you know, it was good but it wasn't it wasn't the same.

Obviously, they explained to me how they had differs a little bit.

But yeah, that's some good work at being this week or last week at HQ, and managed to find a lower degrade driver. You know, I normally played ten ten and half, so we tried the ten and half head and didn't really work, and then managed to get a nine degree head too and loft it up to ten and it just worked straight away. It looked more like mine, felt like it felt way better off the face, a

And every crow, yeah, every crow just like talks about the sounds. I remember when we first started talking about drivers the acoustics being a thing. Obviously you were pushing so hard, but it's just so funny. Every tour player wants to hear good sound with the driver. It's something that it's like something stands out right away when you hit something new.

For sure, you know, even even the yells strikes that with the old driver, it's it's not as nice on the Yeah you can year, it's not a good drive, but even the yells strikes now it's it sounds more like the middle of the of the previous one. So overall it's unbelievable. The Fairway boots are the best I've ever played it.

What do you got in?

What do you?

What do you got in the bag?

This week three with five wood and then I've got a new five ibrids that replaces the.

Four iron hybrid replacing the four irony. What's the reason for that?

So, like we spoke this week at HQ, like the Fine is more of a short part four off the tea where I can run it. There's no I don't need to laughter it and get it onto the green. And then when I actually had to use the fine, like into long part fives or shortish part fives, I couldn't keep it on the like the ball flights just to penetrating the spin levels down, so I would always maybe go to the five with and slice the five

It was almost like a three wood for me, So.

I wasn't sure, you know, I felt like I'm still too young to get into the ibrids and stuff. But i' mean straight away, it gave me the exact same distance I needed. It gave me the ball flight needed. The spin was great, like it's supposed to be four fine, and yeah, it's just a no brainer. So now I actually want to eat a four five ibrids it's fun and into a far five the.

Then hit it exactly so you can stop it on the green.

And like spin said, you know, why have a club in your bag that you don't use, You know, why deviate away from something that could actually be beneficial for you. So yeah, no brain and it's in the bag and ye are very excited.

Can you talk us through your journey into golf, like who taught you golf? How old were you when you when you started playing? And when did you start to realize like I'm actually good at this.

Yeah, so I think age of five I started.

Well, that's where I can actually remember, you know, getting a set of clubs from my grandfather.

Your granddad was a golfer.

He was a golf Both my father's father and my mother's father loved golf. So yeah, I just got into it straight away. But being in South African, you play sports, that's that's a common thing. You go to to primary school and you play everything, and I did. My my father was a very good tennis player, so I played tennis, cricket, rugby, golf. But just yeah, and then I just felt like individual sports.

Is what I wanted to do.

I knew it's probably just my personality, but I'm very competitive, and it felt like team sports. It's you're never going to be the best in your team because it's a team sport.

Right, and you've got to trust everybody else.

Felt like, you know, trust your teammates and sometimes like I was, I was scrum off in rugby and I would pass a great pass and then the fly with knock the ball or whatever, and then it feels like somebody is holding you back. And when in individual sports it's it's up to you. There's no blaming anybody. It's up to you to put in the work and and succeed. So that definitely gave me the mindset that individual sports the one is my my direction.

And then golf is what I loved.

My father ended up doing his PGA professional degree and he started coaching me, and yeah, he's been my coach ever since.

It still your coach, now, still my coach.

There was like a two year period where I saw someone else just to get like a different perspective. You know, when it's a father son relationship, especially me going into my teens, you know, there's fights and yep, because he's my dad, he's right, I'm the player, I'm right, So you.

Get your differences. But it was good for me as well.

You know, I got taught, you know, learned a lot of new things from someone else. And but yeah, I mean my father is the one that that gave me what I have today and taught me what I what I know today, and it's just the relationship is good and it's it's worked ever since.

So when there's a there's a college basketball coach that had his son on the team, and I remember reading a story and he said, like when they went to practice, I'm not dad, like I'm coach. Like, how did you guys handle that? As you started to progress and get better? Was it could you talk to each other as coach, you know, player and not kind of do the dad something like did you guys have a way of discussing things where it wasn't like you said Dad's wrong, Son's wrong, whatever the case may be.

Definitely, I think when I got older, like to fifteen sixteen, he was also Mike Caddy in my first like amateur you know, stent over in Europe, and as as professional, I think the first six seven months he was my caddy.

Caddy as well, so he was dad caddy coach. And I think when I was like fourteen fifteen, I just we had a fight on a driving range or something and I just told him, listen, I respect to you as my father, but when were on the drive range, you might coach.

And I'm you said that to him. Yeah, it's interesting.

I'm technically the boss because i'm the player, and then when we're on the golf course and you might gaddy, you might caddy, and then I'm still the boss. But I wouldn't.

I wouldn't be unreasonable or anything. You still respect whether it's your father or not. You respect your caddy, you respect your coach. That's a big more I have. But we just set that bar clear, you know, early on, because if I want to excuse me, if I want to swear on the golf course, I don't know, my father, tell me listen, you're being disrespectful because I'm your father, and I'm like, I understand it. But today you might

What type of things do you guys work on. Are you more technical side looking at numbers or is it more feel sided things? You know, what type of instruction and.

Yeah, so so growing up, I played a lot of golf, so it was never, never really technical. I mean, if you look at my swing, it doesn't look technical, it doesn't look like the normal swing.

I just played golf.

So we obviously worked on fundamentals and basics and stuff that I have in place. And it's not the best, but I think what helped me a lot is playing a lot of golf. I was fortunate enough to we lived on a golf course for about six years and my father was the local pro the golf course at the pro Shop was in charge of the golf course. So I would after school, grab a card, play thirty six holes. Holidays, five o'clock in the morning, play thirty six in the morning, play. I would play seventy two

Just not who you are.

It's not who I am. It's not what I want to be.

And that's why I feel like I have an edge when condition gets tough or I really need to get into the fairwell, I can hit a forty yard slice and know for sure I'm not missing it left bad.

I'll tried.

I can hold a fairway if I want to. So yeah, for now, we just work on. Obviously, I take videos every week. He's not here every week, and we send it through just to see that the fundamentals he's still fine.

And I use the g sy.

Quad to look at numbers only actually distance, it's not I can see the shape in the air.

I don't need to.

Look at a system that tells me it's moving left or right. I can see out it's moving and just believe that, you know, believe in the distances and work on that.

Yeah, what was your big moment as an amateur player? You know, talking about kind of coming up in golf and you have this family that's golfers and you're getting tied and your dad's kind of involved. What was your big breakthrough moment where you kind of started to realize how good you are.

I would say junior golf. Like in South Africa, we have a system. It's called the Junior Golf Foundation. It's every Sunday, there's a tournament, thirty six holes.

And I think.

When I started, you know, winning quite a few of that every Like I mean, you can be eighteen and still play those, but I was twelve thirteen beating those, eating those guys, and even before that playing I played the Calaway Junior Ward two thousand and I think seven and eight maybe in San Diego, and I finished I

When you were growing up, you know, you're kind of like Ernie higher power. You have this kind of retief run and things like that. Who was the golfer you were looking up to thinking about, you know, wanted to see in person, like who was that kind of golfing idol in your country to you?

Definitely Ernie Ils I think growing up.

I mean I was five in two thousand and one, that sort of Tigers Prime. Ernie was involved there as well, one and two in the world. So definitely Ernie. He was the big easy for us. He was the ultimate guy, the nice guy. You know, I was fortunate enough to I grew up and now it's a town called now Spirit. It's forty minutes from Leopard Creek and every year in the Semur it was the Oldfra Daniel Championship there and Ernie was the big shot.

You know, he was the guy to look out for.

So going there, you know from Thursday to Sundays just idolizing, you know, just be in awe every single time when you see him swing. So yeah, he was the guy. And then you know, I was fortunate enough to be in his foundation as well as a kid, and he helped me. You know that the foundation helped me to actually get the tournaments, pay entries, pay flights, accommodation. So he's I'm very grateful for him. He's personally never done something for me, you know, like it's the foundation that

So yeah, he's he's the guy.

I mean, Tiger's obviously, everybody's Tigers, everybody's Heero, but being a South African, Ernie's the one.

Yeah, we talked about being kind of a field player. I want to talk a little bit about your short game equipment. You use our S one grind. Tell us a little bit about how you got into that grind, any changes you're making, uh and and why you like that with your your technology style.

To be honest all around eight Shtrins is the beast for me, but sometimes I do put him the six grind. I think it's t t I think this week, I might put it in play, especially bunkers. Bunkers, there's quite a bit of SAand but it's tough to get through so that eight bounces too much. So the sixers helps to dig a little. But the eight, like my short game, is really good. But it felt like playing American grass

And where the ah just bounces.

And glides through that grass like it's supposed to, so soft conditions firmed the conditions. The eight is just overall amazing. Yeah, it's just the bunkers where I feel like, especially Links golf course, where the bunkers are quite deep, that it just doesn't feel it looks like it's coming out too low. Probably doesn't, but just for those type of bunkers this week as well, there is quite a few deep ones that you really need to short sighted ones that you need to get it up so that.

Where the six might be might be a little better. But the eight's been overall amazing for me.

Seane, that's a question we get a lot from our listeners, like do the tour places should I carry two different languages and change based on conditions? I think a lot of the time that every day golfers playing mostly at one course, right, I mean, I.

Mean that's part of some of the tools you have online too, Right, It's like you're playing your golf at one golf course for the most point. I mean, I'm sure you have the data on that, but the players, I mean it's probably what eighty ninety percent of golfers probably playing most of their golf, if not all their golfers in plays.

So Tristan, you carry both both the H and the tea grind with you most of.

The yea most most of the time between the fish and ride exactly.

What's good separation for me to know? We had always?

But yeah, definitely, like I said, I didn't have the tea this week, so Spencer and the guys pulled me one this week. I just fell straight away because I know last year it was a lot softer, so the H would have been better maybe, but I know it's it's firming up, and really, especially around the greens, it's quite tight, so that sixty just outs because it doesn't dig as much. It's still it's still you know, fair, but it definitely works better than the.

Than the h This week, Tristan, last thing for you, you play the well in the Open Championship, it gets you into the Masters. I mean, you know you talk about a week to week not making an event bigger than it is, or a tournament bigger than it is. As you kind of think ahead to April, how excited are you to play in the Masters, and how do you keep yourself from getting kind of too amped up for it?

Yeah? I think you can see it in my smile. I just think the way they actually.

Run the Master is insane, Like how you get your invitation in December, I mean for the PGA Championship you get an email or for the Open you get an email for them.

It's written and written.

Were you like checking the mail on a daily basis?

So we actually I was back home, it was just off just before Christmas, sorry, and we got a goal. We we live in like a security state, And got a call from the from the gate and say UPS is and I was like, I didn't even know UPS works in South Africa it's like the one yes and I didn't order something and I'm like, I looked at my golf girlfriend, I'm like, I think this is it, you know, this is this is maybe the invite. And then I saw straightaway you know, Gusta National and whatever.

Have you ever been before?

Never? Never been, So I think that's important.

Not I know, I've been told like from Monday to Wednesday, have a condition of the course like changes gets firmer, it gets quicker and whatever. But I think it's important to see it first and before the tournament. I don't want to get there and you know, Worry wears everything and wears the first ty and hour. There's the first look. I mean you can see it on TV, but it doesn't do justs and whatever. So but I'm very excited. It's an amazing opportunity. It's a it's a dream come true.

So it'll be, it'll be. It'll be fun to watch it. And you know what, I learned something today ups is in South Africa to know that, So that's you taught me something as well. Well, good luck the rest of the year. It's been fun to watch you kind of go out there and do your thing and play the way you play. I hope it goes well obviously, Augusta National and uh and yeah, Tristan, it's a it's just been a fun chat and also keep enjoying that fishing and in the fishing boat. I'm I'm excited to see