Kyle Westmoreland

the Military Academy. Um, so a tenure process to get to the corn ferry and then to get his card. and Um, I really really enjoyed talking to kyle. I'd watched him Um at the US Open that he qualified for out at Tory Pines in Um. But I think this is a story that everybody can get behind and kind of his journey to the PGA tour is very,

I think, unique. Um, it's inspiring and um I think everybody's going to really really enjoy listening to it and I think that with the PGA tour starting, Um, the new season, the rap around and I think he is going to be someone that everybody listening will be looking out for. So really excited for the talk with Kyle Westmoreland. My guest is one of the twenty five players from the corner ferry tour to secure their PGA tour card.

Kyle Westmoreland. Um, Kyle, you're the first player to play on the PGA tour to come out of the Air Force Academy. I mean, are you gonna demand that they announce you on the on the first tie of your first PGA tour event as Captain Kyle Westmoreland? Are you just happy with Kyle? I'm just happy with Kyle. You know, captain was something we were in the past, but happy to be a golfer now and happy to be playing on the golf spe stage. I really appreciate you having

me on. Um, what an amazing story. I mean, I think with all the craziness currently going on, Um, in the world of Professional Golf, with the PGA tour and the live and all that, you know, crazy drama. I mean, your story to me is one of the great kind of feel good stories about, you know, what the game of golf allows people to do and and your story, Um, I mean there's so much to unpack, but I've got

I gotta Talk to you. I don't think people that that watch golf realize that, you know, trying to make it into the tour championship, trying to keep your card. But I think, Um, the drama on on the corn ferry every year for guys trying to get their cards, to get twenty five opportunities to to have a life changer to play on the PGA tour. Um, it's always to me some of the best drama. What was it like for you? Um, you missed the cut in the first of the finals, which puts you behind the eight ball,

and then you pull it out. Yeah, you know, I honestly there's not. There's not much like it. You feel you feel some nerves or anxiousness, you know, playing different tournaments in different situations, but honestly, there's nothing that compares to the Corn Ferry Tour finals coming down to the end on the bubble Um, other than maybe q school right.

Q schools super, you know, competitive and there's so many guys fighting for spots and you know you're just trying to, you know, prove your worth there and uh, and you're trying to do the same, you know, Corn Ferry tour finals. I did put myself on the eight ball, which didn't help. Played well in Ohio. You know, we're pushing for a Birdie or two down the stretch. That, you know, really would have capped it off and made it not come down to uh, two hours after I finished on a

Sunday of Victorian national. But you know, it's just awesome to be there and then just it's just chaos. You know, if you're on the bubble, you know, like I said, I told you, I recommend everyone play better and not be on the bubble. It's a it's a great thing to get your card, but the two hours leading up to it, you know, we're pretty stressful for me and my wife, my family. But then being there was awesome.

You know, that made it, made the variants. Now is and memory will never forget and I'm just thankful to have the opportunity to plan a PGA tour. It's one of those opportunities, Kyle, to where going into the finals, I mean with the cards available. Um, if you're one of those guys, as you said, on the bubble, there's you know what you need to do right. You know

that every single shot, every single pot Um. You know that making a bogey on a par five, you know, a silly bogey, and you look up and you're like, I've just dropped three spots. So it's that constant checking of the leader boards. All the golf sports psychologists always say listen, stay in the moment. I mean, as a coach I'm constantly telling my players stay in the moment, stay in the moment. You can't affect what's going to happen.

You can't be affected by what has happened. But that's so much easier said than done when you're in that kind of cauldron, last round of the year on the corn ferry and you know that if you go out and get your job done, Um, some things could happen to where it's taken out of your control. Yeah, exactly. You know, I typically do my best to uh, like you said, stay in the moment, kind of detached in the situation. I don't play with a bunch of emotion.

Try Not to, because I think you know, emotional decisions are the most of the time bad ones. Um. But I don't watch any leaderboards. So I don't look at the leader board. I don't even I don't want to know. Um, you know, if someone you know tells me. I look, I'll see where the leaders at. So, you know, see what kind of what we need to do to try to get get to there. But you know, other than once when when I get to the last three holes, I typically asked Im like hey, what do we need here?

What needs to happen? But until then it's just, you know, creating that game plan, trying to execute the best your ability. You know, I'm confident in my game and in the confident in the game plan that we come up with each and every week and I know that if I go out and I execute well, I'll be competitive. Um, so it's just trying to do that. I think everybody listening is always fascinated when you're watching golf when you hear players say, listen, I didn't watch any leaderboards today.

I mean there was a great there's a famous story yes, for Parnivic back in the day, had a chance to win the open championship. Um, at turnberry, didn't look at a leaderboard, didn't know that he needed not to make a Birdie. Um. I think people, the fans, are always kind of maybe sometimes confused by that, because in other sports you're constantly aware of what's happening in the game. Right, if you're an NFL quarterback, it's not like you don't want to know what down it is, what score it is.

What you need to do. Um, the thought process behind not watching the leaderboard, because there are players called watch leaderboards. They want to know where they are. Um, why do you take the approach? You said you know, you'll you'll kind of ask on the last three holes in these type of pressure situations. But what is it about not watching leaderboards that you think does for you and for your mental kind of frame of mind? Yeah, I try to only put energy into stuff that I can control.

And I can't control what's going on to the leaderboard, but I can't control what's up, what's up in front of me. And and you know, if I if it comes down in the last three holes, you know, and and and I asked and I want to know. There there is a point where the caddy does need to know where we're at. It does need to know that. Yeah, caddy has got to know. That's part of the job. But but for me, Um, if I can't control the situation, I can't control it, then I don't I don't care

about it. You know, it doesn't. It doesn't matter to me. And if someone goes on a six, you know six whole Birdie run or whatever, and you see you know so and joey garbage made four executive birdies, then uh, then, you know, it doesn't do anything for me to look at it doesn't do anything for me to add some external pressure. Sure that doesn't necessarily need to be there.

And when I got to hit a you know, when I need to hit a two dirty yard shot over the water too, you know, a green that has uh, you know, water in front, bunkers on the left and right. You know, I don't need to know that Joey made four Birdie. Doesn't matter to me. But but I will

say caddy doesn't need to know. And coming down to the last three holes, that can kind of change a little bit because you start, you know, you start trying to feel where you're at, what you need to do, and especially this last round, right last trying to Victoria national, I'm struggling to shoot even par. Right, I'm I think I made a double. UH, part three, really sloppy shot, bad shot and UH camera showed up. You know, cameras

had followed us. So so I know there's no reason that something that cameras should follow a guy shooting even par unless he's on the bubble. So I knew where I was at and so I kind of asked it then and I thought we needed to make a Birdie on the last. Turns out we uh, we, you know, we could. We would have been okay not making it, but it was nice to make the Birdie in a situation that you think you need to, even though you're

you're playing professional golf. If you're not one of those guys, you know, like a rory mcilory or Dustin Johnson or Justin Thomas who basically they're on camera from the time they get to the golf course right there on their on camera. There's people following them from the parking lot, they're following them to the driving range. So they're used to that. If you're not a superstar and you're playing on the web and and and or on the corn ferry end and the corn ferry, there's less cameras than

there are on the P G A tour right. I mean it's it's a way different kind of media set up. So all of a sudden the cameras show up. You know, you're like, okay, that that puts. Do you feel like that puts added pressure on you? Because all of a sudden you're like, okay, it's not just me doing out this out here on my own. Now I'm gonna be in the coverage. Everything I do, all the shots that I hit now are going to be televised. Do you feel that and you sense that? Not so much pressure,

but are you aware that that's happening? Um, I wouldn't say I feel any extra pressure. I would say actually the opposite. This past week Victoria national, you know I wasn't I wasn't playing great six under. I wasn't in the mix to win. I knew I was, you know, pretty far down the leaderboard, but cameras were there. So get you pretty fired up and try to finish. You know you're doing and something you know you're in the mix. Um, and,

and I love that. I think cameras there, you know, allows my family friends from around the world to watch. I mean I finished and had about five hundred texts from buddies that are stationed all over the world that I went to school with. Their met military time and it's just a it was awesome for me and honestly, it was nice to have them there and let me know that, like hey, we are in the mix and we are you know, this is still still golf tournament.

We're not playing great, but may a couple of birdies. We can, you know, control our own faith. You mentioned the military there. It's so much a part of your story. Um, let's go back to the beginning. You grew up in in. I didn't know you grew up in Houston Texas. I grew up in Houston Texas. Let's go um what. You wanted to go to the University of Texas and play golf there. Such an amazing history. They've had so many great players. They just won the national championships again, coach fields.

You know. I mean the list of players that have played at ut from a golf standpoint. Scottie Scheffler, Um, just our Jordan's speed, Ben Crunshaw, all the greats, Tom Kite, um. But you chose to go to the Air Force Academy. Talk me through what that process was like. Did you have other offers, UM, from other programs in in in college? I did. Yeah, so I was fortunate, you know, to have some options. Most of the smaller schools and in Texas at the time. They've since, you know, grown quite

a bit. But, like you have h was one that I looked to. I looked at Texas tech for a brief, brief amount of time. Looked at a couple of schools in Kansas, which tos state in Kansas State. Looked at Air Force Academy. But, to be honest, I was pretty rock coming out of out of high school. You know, I played, played other sports all growing up and and I played golf in the summertimes, but it was kind

of you know, you know, secondary tertiary sports. So it was it was awesome when I, you know, chose to really pursue golf my last three years of high school and and uh, you know, dove into it. But I was Rong. I had a lot of speed. Didn't always know where it was going. Um, but the you know, the benefit of that is we learned how to chip right, great. The thing. The thing about chipping is, you know, you don't you don't get good at chipping by hitting fifteen

greens around. So so it was awesome. Got The hone in the short game, I say, Um, and then chose air force coach fields, was actually one of the people that, you know, convinced me to not convinced, but talk to me into thinking about air force. I I visited. Didn't plan on going there, UM, but I really like the

coaching staff, liked what the school is about. I thought it would be a challenge for me and, uh, it turns out it really was a challenge for me, but I thought it would be a challenge for me and and coach fields, you know, they he really didn't have space on his team. He had a he has a great program that if you Um, if you check a few boxes, you're guarantee. Uh, I guess I guarantee walk on right. Prefer Walk On. So that's what I planned

on doing. However, the Air Force Academy, you know, came about and talked to him and he said, Hey, you should consider this, and ended up, you know, with the coaches, coaching staff there. We went there, got a lot better and uh, you know, I wouldn't change anything. Before we get to to military report, you mentioned that you started, you played, you really only focused golf the last three years of of of high school. What other sports did you play growing up? Yeah, I grew up playing football,

basketball and baseball as well. Baseball was probably the main sport. Football. You know, if you'd asked me in middle school if you know what sport I'd be playing, I would have told you I was the next eventce young right. Turns out I wasn't nearly as athletic or capable on football field, but but I enjoyed it. And and then basketball. You know I love basketball as well. You know, pretty much anything with the ball I've played it at some point

in time, but baseball is probably my sport. I see so many college see so many kids trying to play golf and you know, the one that's always difficult for me is the you know, fourteen, fifteen year old, you know, either boy or girl, that comes in. You asked them what other sports they play and the parents say listen, you know, they a little soccer when she was younger, but really for the last six seven years all she's done is play golf. Um, as a coach, that's always

a really tough one for me. Um, because I think high school and and and junior high, being in competitive sports, competitive athletics, being on a team. One of the things that I think is hugely important for the development of a Golfer who is trying to play at an elite level is to have been a part of some sort of competitive team to where they could play good in the team could lose and they could play bad and

the team could win. What do you think playing team sports, playing other sports did once you made that choice to say, okay, now, in my last three years of high school, I'm really just now going to be a one sport athlete. But up until that sport, because I tell parents, kyle all the time, keep your kids playing as many sports as

possible as long as possible. Yeah, yeah, exactly that. You know, playing in a team sports, you learned so much, so many valuable lessons there, um, that translate into all walks of life. You know, even even in Golf, right, that is an individual sport, but as a team, playing team sports,

I loved being a part of it. I love the Camaraderie. Um. That being said, you know, Golf was my summertime, summertime out right I was I started playing golf because it was the it was the cheapest form of babysitting growing up and like actually grew up the outside of the Fort Worth there. He went to high school, Junior High High School in Houston, but Um, it was like two dollars to play all you can play. We didn't have a range or anything. So and I didn't do well

the babysitters. So my mom would send me to the golf course at five bucks. And you know, it's been too by, you know, Sandwich with the other one and then playing Nassau with the old guys, you know, early on. So I learned how to do that in the summertime. But but all those other sports, you know, they made me better at different things. Football, you know, obviously Um

gave me some size. You you grow up training for football and and uh, you know, I think strength wise, you you can really benefit there Um as well as well as, you know, just development, learning how to lose and continue on and make a good play or make a bad play and continue to come back because other

people are counting on you to do your job. And then on the golf course, you know, I think I took those other sports, the accountability that comes from those, from those other sports, and applied it and applied the same drive and and I was able to, you know, Mosey into a sport that is uh, you know, you you control your own faith, right. So there's there's bounces, there's things that will happen to you on the golf course.

But if, I think, if you apply those same work ethics that you learn in those other sports in the Gulf, I think that's a, you know, a winning recipe. One of the other things called that I find when you work with young kids who really get out of all

other sports and they just focus on golf. Um, from a coach standpoint, from an instruction standpoint, Um, sometimes kids that have been an individual sports and nothing else, they're very difficult to coach because they've never really he had to deal with anyone with a coach saying hey, you miss that play, get out, we'll bring somebody in. That kind of I always say to the players it's funny in golf you can be working on something with a

player and say, listen, why don't you? You know, you try and let's hit this shot right, we're gonna hit fades, fade, fade, fade to fade, and you know you're trying to start the golf ball left and you know the golf ball starting to the right, starting to the right, starting to

the right. And and I'm always thinking if this was team sports, if this was high school football and the coach was telling you to run an out pattern and you were supposed to run five yards and then cut across and go across the middle, and you kept running five yards and cutting towards the sideline. The coach would sit your ass down. They'd bring somebody in and you would sit there. You don't go practice, you don't go work on it like we're doing golf. You just go sit.

And I am always interested in somehow, some way in team sports, when the coaches take you out, you don't go to the you don't go to the range and hit balls. You sit there and then the coach will come back to you and say, okay, are you ready to come back in and do your job? And do the job like we've practiced it. I'm always fascinated that that seems to work in team sports, put an individual sports. Sometimes you can tell somebody what to do over and

over and over again and they struggled to do it. Yeah, yeah, I think I mean just facing adversity mentally. You know, it is something that you learned so early in team sports, especially like a football or a baseball right, because there's immediate feedback with your coaches and yeah, I just I agree. You know, I haven't really thought about it like that in that sense. But yeah, but you know, if I have missed a snap in football, you know I was

going to hear about it. Right there's immediate repercussion and I guess you know, if you were to set me up on the range and say hey, you need to hit a cut right now, I would probably hit a cut, you know, if I knew that there was a repercussion of somebody yelling at me right. So you could. You can hit a cut. You can take a guy and you can tell them, hey, you need to hook this, you can't cut it. You know, it needs to start writing hook to figure it out, especially people going at

this level or or even in high school. Right, you can do that in high school. But but I agree, that's neat. I haven't thought about it like that. So let's take a short break and we will be back right after this. All right, let's get back to the interview. Most people that are going to go to college in the United States and try and play competitive Um Golf

and go to college. It's very different to go into the University of Texas and being a College Golfer and making that decision when you're eighteen, nineteen years old, and then the decision you made to go Um, not only to you know, the Air Force, but you're enlisting in the armed services. It's not like you're going to go did you? Were you aware of everything that would come after that at the time you made that decision? Because

you go to college for five years Um. I read that after after college, used still had five more years that you had to do in the military. You're seeing people that you played with in College Golf, people that were in college golf at the same time as you. Maybe go to the PGA tour, maybe go to the corn ferry tour basically, they played their college career, however long that was Um, and then they had an opportunity

to go live their dreams. You go play, you have a really good career at the Air Force Academy, you win tournaments and then everybody goes to q school, does what they do to chase the next phase and you've got to wait five more years in order to do that that. Were you aware when you started the process as an eighteen or nineteen year old that it was going to take that long? I didn't know what would happened six months from then. So so I visited the

academy and the coaches were great. I knew that I didn't have anyone that had gone there in the past, you know, so I didn't. I knew there were service time afterwards and that, you know, likely playing sport was off the table. But I uh, you know, I chose to go there. Had No idea that anything happened after basic chining. So how it works as your fresh year, summer before your freshman year, in June, is when was mine, when mine was your report, and you're straight into basic training.

You know, you're going full speed eight weeks and then the school the academic season, their academic year starters. And when that academic year starts, you know, I thought that was it, like Hey, I've gone through basically, you know, a part of the academy. It turns out there's like a whole freshman year process. So you're still getting you know, you're still getting the brunt of it for for the whole year there, and then after that, you know it's

your sophomore year. kind of tears tears you up mentally. As far as you know, they just load courses on you and then your junior and senior year much better, but you have service time after that. You know, I chose not to fly and so I had a five year service commitment. If you fly out of the Academy it's a twelve year commitment. Um. So it's so it's like basically. It's like basically. Either it's like basically going

to med school. You know that wherever you go to to college and get your your degree in medicine, then there is another process. So for you to one day have your practice and someone call you Dr Wes Mooreland, you know as a doctor that that process is X. Um. What was the reason? Was the reason that you chose not to go down the pilot route at the Air

Force Academy? I mean, I think you know in the military, whether it's the army, the Navy, the Air Force and Marines, there are so many you know, the commercials show you all of these different things that you can do. It's just not being a general, it's just not being, you know, a fighter. was there a conscious decision that said, okay, I want to try and have a career in golf after this. Um, the commitment to be a pilot is probably going to make me miss that window. Absolutely. So

I didn't. When I got to the Air Force Academy, I was excited and while I was interested in was, you know, making those first tournaments and competing and that even you know, that drive even got further through basic train any when I learned that, you know, there was something. There was a freshman year that was still you're still going to be in the front of it, but if you went to a tournament, you know you're gonna miss

a week of that at a time. So so it was even you know, spurred to make those tournaments more. But I had great coaching there. Um, I had, you know, coach George Corey, who was a head coach at the Air Force for a long time, and then coach Chris Wilson, who's now in Kansas, but he's a great coach. He's gotten he's made teams better everywhere he's gone and he's really a player development guy. Now there's a sense like swing technique and stuff like that, but kind of course management,

game management. So I got there and he introduced me to the thing called a wedge basket and, uh, we sat on Wedge Baskets for about my first year and a half. There and you know, so we kind of worked on that short game, worked on the wedges, worked on the scoring clubs and just beat it into us and you know, we we got that. The whole team got better those years. It turned out to be the best team air force has ever had. But for me,

my junior senior year at Backman to some success. You know, I was able to when I guess, uh, I don't know, like five times or so, but I won a all American Tournament and at that point I was like, okay, I can do this, I can compete with these guys and I want to do it. I want to pursue this. And so that was the time where I made the conscious decision that golf is what I was going to do after after my service time. Going there, I didn't know the golf is what I was going to do,

but I kind of backed into it um so. So it was an awesome experience and as soon as I made that decision I knew pilot was out the window. Twelve years is too long. In the first two years of those twelve years you are not touching the golf club because you're you know, you're going through pilot training. Your studying and you've got all kinds of stuff going. So I chose a career field. Um, well, they chose a career for me, but it turned out to the

financial management. Took me to Bloxi and Charleston. Um, so both, you know, in the south, which were great. You know, allowed me to get out and play in practice. Used to. There's a night range in Charleston, so I use that a bunch. Knew the College of Charleston Coach through college to play a lot with their team on the weekends and and just trying to get better. Um, I know you know Alan Tarrell. I worked at Allent Haarrell for a long time and he was up in Myrtle Beach,

so about ninety minutes away. So it was it was a good time and try to get better where I could. But like to answer your question. It was a conscious decision about my I guess my junior year that I was not going to fly. So five years you have some success, but then you graduate from the Air Force Econemy and you know that you've got to wait another five years of giving your service to the Air Force.

Cat It takes, I would kyle, it takes a lot of mental strength to stay focused on a dream and a goal that long, because I worked with so many young kids that are seventeen, eighteen. You remember what you were like there, and you say, listen, I want to go play Division One college golf or division two whatever. And I say this all the time on the PODCAST. I see more kids that are better when they're sixteen years old than they are when they're nineteen and twenty.

They get burned out. Life happens. They meet, you know, a guy or a girl, they've never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend. They they're away from their parents for the first time, Um, and they just said, listen, I ultimately I just I just don't want to work this hard. Um, was it hard? Or does all of the training that the military, the air force, puts you through on the process, on discipline, on all of the things, did it make

the five years easier for you? Do you think? You know, as far as the easier in the sense of in the sense of golf not burning out? You know, I've always seen golf, from the time I went to college, even in high school, as as an opportunity. Right. So opportunity to play in a golf tournament is always something that you know, has been great. Um has been you know, I've I've looked forward to and I still look forward to him even playing. You know, there's twenty six weeks

on the corn ferry. We played twenty seven, so we played them all and then one up on the we played the Honda as well. So, you know, play one there. But but throughout my service time, you know, I looked forward to going on the weekends to work on Golf. I look forward to playing in my next tournament, whether that was a state open or a Monday qualifier or

whatever it may be. Um. But the perspective and and I really like the process of, you know, trying to get better, going out playing, analyzing what you did, trying to, you know, put some data behind it and go and go, get better at that. And I've always liked that and I think the military doesn't still that in you. And you know, the thing I'm most you know, most glad they're most appreciative of them from the military are the

people that I met. You. I met so many good people, so many great supportive people that, you know, followed me through this journey. Um. And then the perspective, you know that he gave me right I was able to travel around, got to uh, you know, I had going into college. I had been to one other country and I was Mexico, and it was, for you know, a graduation trip, right, and so I got to tour around the world see

some different parts of the world, good bad. I met some great people along the way and I think that perspective carries me and, you know, kind of defines who we are now and you learn who you are right. I think it's a huge leg up on the guys

that are coming straight out of college. You know, you barely know how to tie your shoes or what's important as far as what's important to you coming out of college and I got to kind of learn who who we who we were, we being my wife and I am going through this together, but kind of learn who we are and what's important to us. And you know, you can try to carry that into the game of golf.

I think the other thing that I find interesting is, you know, if if you you wanted to go to the University of Texas, because you see Scottische Scheffler have success. You know Jordan's speak, all of the great players that have come Justin Leonard, all the great players that have come out of those programs and you can find them anywhere. You can find them at Alabama, you can find them at Oklahoma state. There aren't other than Billy Hurley, who

was in the navy. There isn't someone that you can point to and look to and say, okay, he's my role model, because there's not twenty people that have come out of the armed forces and said, okay, I'm gonna play professional golf and make it on the PGA tour, on the European tour, wherever they play. I think it's fascinating that. Um, I always think it's interesting that you know a lot of the players that come from around

the world, from different countries. It allows the junior golfers to say, listen, I'm I'm a junior golfer in India and honor Bond Lahieri plays on the PGA tour. I can do that. He's a role model for you. You you don't have that at the Air Force. There's somebody that you said, Oh, yeah, there was a guy two years ago, he's now playing on there. Yeah, and then there was a guy six years ago. He came out

of the academy, he's on tour now. Um, was that hard to not have that kind of role model that you could kind of look up to and then ask, Hey, how did you do this? Yeah, so I actually am fortunate to be friend pretty your friends and Billy Hurley. He lives about a mile from me now and UH, in Charleston, South Carolina. So, so billy had done it. And there's a guy named Tom Whitney. He was about four years older than me. He's doing is on a corn ferry tour. Um, but not having, you know, not

having someone to talk to about it too much. You know, I'm not super worried about I've been fortunate enough to meet meet some guys. Gary Woodland is a great guy and and to be honest, you know, and in my it sounds bad, but I don't. I don't really idolize golfers. Right, I don't. I don't. You know, I love aspects of People's games. I love to see how guys handle different situations. Um, but you know, that's just one of those things where you know who you are and you gotta trust in

what you have. And Uh, you know whether there hasn't been anyone from the air force, but I hope there's gonna be more after this and I'm an open book if anyone you know in the military wants to reach out and ask how I did it and or you know what I would do differently or anything like that. So hopefully, hopefully I can be be that to some people coming out of the military. So you finished your military service, you know, ten years at the academy as

a student as a Golfer, then ten years. I read that. Um, during those five years, Um, when you were, you know, waiting to to get out of the military, Um, you would do a lot of stuff at night, sometimes if you were traveling in a hotel room, putting short game um in your hotel. I mean talk me through that process. Yes, we have a night range here in Charleston that you know. It has, has lights on it or whatnot. So I ended up going out there a lot. I contributed. I

was a frequent range member there. During the week I went out to a place called Patriots Point, where College Charleston Practices here and grinded on a pretty hard in the weekend. But I got really good at putting on a ruler. You know, there's there's always the saying that an air force, Air Force based has a golf course and most of them do. But that is the Venus

in great shape or anything. So chip and stuff. I chipped to you know, people laugh at me because my chipping practice now I chipped the holes right it so just trying to land it in the hole, not where it was going to. So I got Um. You know, I started chipping the holes to tease and then putting on a ruler right, so just making strike and can

control that first eighteen inches of the put. Um. You know, it's what I grinded on a lot during my time, whether that was wearing boots or whatever, you know, doing it. It was you know, there's a little gray area there, but but it was. But it was awesome and you know, I just tried to get better where I could. And then my last assignment was back at the Air Force

Academy and teaching. So that was a great assignment for me because I had access to the same facilities that he was using in college and even if it was dark there's they do have an indoor there. So I was able to, you know, really get some work in, get some video work in. But you know, there's Times where I was gone played, you know, as we got stuck in Spain. We were in route to Africa. Got Stuck in Spain and played three rounds of golf with you know, they only let me it would only let

me rent one club per day. So I played to the six iron, player with the seven iron, played with an eight iron, and it turns out the six iron is probably the best one play with on that course. So so I have one clubbed it for three days. But you know, it just got better where we could and got ready to go. You're not alone in practicing Um,

you know inside I could. I remember and Tiger Woods was in college and my dad was working with tiger and he called from a tournament and he said, you know, I wasn't really hitting at that good and he was like, you know, I felt like the cloud was getting a little bit behind me, or whatever he was saying. And My Dad told me the story afterwards and my dad said, listen, you know, we've been working on trying to get the club here, here, here, and Tiger said, hold on a

minute and he put the phone down. In my dad says he here's this noise of Tiger hitting a shot. In my dad says, are you in your hotel room? What are you doing? He goes yeah, no, I took the rug and put it over the window and I'm hitting balls inside my room into a rug in the hotel room and said you're gonna break something and tigers to no. I mean, I've got to try and work on this. Like. So you're not alone in trying, Um, to get better. I think you've said this a couple

of times. Get better where you can. Um. Where does that kind of philosophy and thought come from for you? Uh, you know, I don't know. I think between coaches and in my military time, you know, you're always you're throwing

different stuff, maybe playing other courts. You're always there's always gonna be some scenario, but you can always, you know, do your part and feel like you're doing, you know, everything you can, and I think that that's half the battle, right, is having being mentally, you know, sharp enough and confident enough to say like Hey, I've done everything I can to get here, to make this possible. Now it's time

to go out and do it right. I think if you believe that you've done the preparation, you believe in your game. Um, I think that you know, that goes a long way. They say they say. You know, true, you can, you can have a chip on your shoulder right for not being able to play for five years, but that only gets you so far. Confidence will take

you the rest of the way. So I don't need to be cocky about it, but you know, for me, I just I want to know that I've given everything I have and I've done all the preparation I can to be ready to go. How much of your time in the military and the things that being um in the military, being in the Air Force, going through basic training, how much of that regimented day in, day out? Of Do it? You've got to do it this way. There's

one way to do things. We stick to the process. Uh, I would imagine that has helped you with not only your golf on the golf course, but are you very regimented in the way that you practice and the way that you prepare? Very very much. So, yeah, yeah, everything's you know it. It may change a little bit pending on the day, but I'm very structured. I have things that I want to get done every day and you know,

basically I try to check them off. You know, there's days where I'll fall short because I didn't make it out of a drill or something like that. But I you know, but I need to. I mean I feel like sticking to that regiment that you kind of the military military has instructed and instilled in me. I mean, I have things I want to get done and I get them done, whether it takes, you know, two hours or twenty minutes. You know, I just want to get those done and I would say yes, I'm very, very regiment,

especially on playing days. So give me kind of a overall view of of your game. Um, I've read you can get up to two hundred and six ball speed with the driver. I mean that is pushing kind of that kind of low end of where the long drivers are. I mean that's kind of the range that you know, Bryson got into. I mean Dj. I mean I think the most I've seen DJ get up to, you know, ball speed wise, is kind of in somewhere in the

not in the one nineties. Um, driving the golf ball. Um, another thing I read you have three you said you have three different driver swings. Talk me through the three different driver swings and what they are. Yeah, just depending on the course, you know, playing at. I never I'll never play. I'll never play a golf course with, you know, over two hundred ball speed. Right. It's there. They're just

not enough for him to hit it. If you you know, draw out that cone, that decade cone, if you want to use decade, it's it's a uh, it gets pretty wide there that landing area. But you know, I my cruising speed, you know speeds, we call it a cruising swing, isn't anywhere from about eight eight to nine and two and I think that's a comfortable I think it's a comfortable place to play. You can play everywhere Um for the most part. And you know, it for control for

me is there. I like to I like to cut a driver like draw three wood Um, so you know kind of where where it fits right. And then the second swing is a we call it a bunt. Um comes off about undred sixty ball speed, flies about two fifty and it basically a shot that you know, in Colorado started using because it you know, winds can blow fifty miles per hour. So the ball gets probably fifteen feet in year and flies about two fifty. It's it's the same. It's the same as a two iron. I

just there's just less room for error, right. But there's a time to use and there's a time not. You know, if we've got wind blowing in off the left, I'm not gonna hit the Bund because it doesn't have enough spin on it. You know, hold the line right, it's gonna fall off to the right. So so there's a time for that and then full swing. You know, if I, you know, want to, want to hit one out there kind of how we played Tory Tory Pines last year,

if there's like a three cover or something like that. Um, we'll bump it up to mid mid nineties probably. So you said you're cruising speed kind of just every day thirty five thousand feet, take the seatbelt off, ball speeds kind of in the high one eighties. Just for everybody listening, I mean Dj and and when I worked with Brooks, kept going. I mean they kind of cruised right around in kind of that one eight, one eighty three range

to wear that. So I mean you're, you know, miles your five to ten miles per hour faster than those guys are. Um, what are the areas of your game, you know, moving forward now that you've made this big jump to get to the you know, the biggest stage, Um, and play on the P G A tour. What are the areas of your game, Kyle? Are you going to try and feel like you can make some gains in, and use that phrase, just to get a little bit better at yeah, so, honestly, driving is one of those things.

When I came out of college I was I was swinging harder, so I was said at about one thirty five six club head speed Um coming out of college, and and so I've we've toned it back right are everything, everything I do is to try to drive it a little bit straighter and get those strokes gain driving up, because there's been many tournaments out there where I've actually lost strokes driving because I'm, you know, I'm hitting it in the rough to a short sided pen or something

like that. So for me, you know, I'm trying to get better off the tea. That's that's kind of kind of been our status quo for the last couple of years.

I think that's a it could be a huge advantage for me if I'm able to effectively use it um but until then, you know, I think for the last couple of years, you know, hitting it far has been, you know, such a high ticket item and I think it's the most overrated asset and golf right, there's a few courses out there that really benefited, Tory Pines being one of them. Or if you take a course like an oak ing and you and you draw the sorry

going wing foot, getting courses mixed up here. Um, you draw the fairways in too narrow to where everyone's gonna miss the fairway, then it just becomes a long drive contest, right, and so other other than those courses. Um, you know, I want to be able to win. I feel like I can Win Day weekend and wink out. And so for me to do that, I think we need to get a little better driving golf ball. You know, you mentioned distance. Everybody listening thinks that, okay, the way to

get better is to hit the golf ball further. And we look at the best players in the world right now. Rory mcelroy hits the golf ball. Miles John Ram hits the golf ball. Miles Dj Brooks, when he was dominated, did that. BRYSON dominated a couple of years ago by hitting the golf ball a long way. Um, players are trying to hit the golf ball further, but at some point, like you said, you have to have. I always call it usable distance. It doesn't do you any good to

have all of this distance. To me, it's a little bit like a race car driver. Um, you've got to get the car around the track without crashing. It doesn't matter how fast you're driving it. If you're driving it too fast and you're crashing, it doesn't doesn't do you any good. Yeah, diminishing returns. You know that that cone at like one percent at three sixty yard land zone. It's like ninety yards, ninety yards wide, right and so like.

If you show me a course or you can hit it in a ninety yard window, then I'll show then I'll show you two hundred balls being on a course, but until then I'm not gonna do it. It's just diminishing returns. And you know there's a there's a place for it, but uh, you know I'm I'm trying to hit it and chase and hit it again. You mentioned Um, Tory Pines shut seven under to qualify for the US Open in two thousand and twenty one. I saw you there. Um,

I know you played some practice rounds with Gary Woodland. Um, you made the cut. What was that experience like? I mean to play in the US Open, but to play it on an iconic kind of then or they play a tour event there, Tiger Woods, just one there. Um, it's a great golf course. What did you learn that week? and was that week kind of looking back now, was that an opportunity for you to use that as okay, I made the cut in a in a in a major, Um, I can do this. I'm going to take this and

and move forward with this. Yeah, you know, to be honest, we we kind of felt a little short of our goals that week. But what was the goal? Well, the goal is to do well enough where you you continue playing on the PGA tour, which probably would have taken the top ten, maybe fifteen and a major to continue to play. So so that was our goal and there's if there's a course to do it, it's that one, right. And so we got there, created a game plan. So there was a lot of bunkers to cover at about

yards and you know, knew that we could. Knew that we could be in the mix if we execute a game plan well. So, if anything, coming off that week it was just, you know, a lot of reassurance. Hey, we can compete here, we can you know, continue to get better and refine the same process as we have and go about playing the same way and as long as we, you know, execute well, we can compete with

these guys and I think you know, that's a huge reassurance. Right, the best players in the world are playing in the US Open. Obviously there's a bunch of qualifiers there too, so it's not, you know, the player's field or whatever, but it is. But it is a great field and you have all the best and you know, you see yourself competing with them, playing against them, and you know, if for me it's just, you know, helps build that

confidence right. That I think you need to have. The Corn Ferry Um, I don't think the average golf fan has any comprehension as to day in, day out, weekend, week out, on the corn ferry tour how low you have to shoot. You shoot sixty eight on the corn ferry tour in the first round your ten back. I mean you shoot four under. Somebody everything. It seems like every single day on the corn ferry tour someone shoots a course record, someone shooting sixty two, someone, multiple guys

are shooting sixty three. It is a it is a it is a sprint. It is not a marathon. Every single round on the corn ferry tour you feel like you have to go to my dad always says that anybody that comes off the corn ferry and and gets a PGA tour card, Um, they will learn have they will have learned how to shoot low. Um. What is that like as a player, knowing that okay, is probably not gonna get it this week? Yeah, yeah, I mean

I missed. I missed probably four or five cuts this year on the number at like five, you know, four plus underpart right. So, Um, it is. You're exactly right. That is that is you know, knowing that if you don't, if you're not gonna get to twenty, Um, then you're gonna get you know, you're gonna get laughed. You're not gonna win there. There is definitely something behind that. That's not typically the style of golf I really enjoyed playing.

I like the Hart are parts are good type golf courses, um, where it really becomes like a ball striking context, right. And and the reason the corn ferry, you know, corn ferry scores are so low. I'll call it what it is, is that you have courses that are you know, roughs not quite as high as a PGA tour. Greens aren't quite as firm. So it's not, you know, it's maybe not as penalizing to someone that either hits it. You know, it's hitting a five four iron in or hitting it

out of the rough. Right. So everyone has a lot of looks at Bertie's and and you yeah, you do need to learn how to shoot well and score well on the corn ferry tour. But but there's I think there's a mindset. You know, it's like you're playing a Monday qualified right, you go out and and if you shoot seven under, you have a chance. If you don't, you're not gonna have a chance, you know. And sometimes you shoot seven under and you still don't have a chance, right.

So so it's just, you know, going out and knowing you have to shoot low scores and doing it is just, like I said, just building confidence knowing that you can do it. So that big jump Um from the corn ferry. You know the golf courses, the set ups are going to be different moving into the season on the PGA tour. You know that. You know that the courses that you're going to play weekend, week out are going to be vastly different than what they are um on the corn ferry.

What are you expecting? What are your expectations and and and tell me some of your goals for this upcoming season on the P G A tour. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited for, you know, playing a little bit, playing courses that are set up a little tougher or, you know, maybe your roughs up a little bit. A lot of

overseaed on the PGA tour. I've been fortunate enough to play, I guess, five or six PG events now, um, kind of seeing the gamut from the US Open too, you know, I guess, Waste Management to a green brier kind of playing in different locations in the country and Um, so I know that the roughs, roughs typically up a little higher, fairways are probably a little, you know, a little narrower and greens typically are running a little quicker. So that's great for me. I think that makes it even better.

You know, hitting spots, controlling your distances are key out there and I just want to go out, you know, refine my process, get a little bit better driving the ball and and see if we can, you know, see if we can't do some real damage. I think we've been you know, it's kind of been a long time goal to be here. We're here now and I want to compete against the best. I want to play trying to play the best golf I can. So you're on the PGA tour now. Um, you're going to be playing

with some of the best players on the planet. Um, you know, who are the players that you are excited to be playing alongside of and who are some of the players that you look up to and that you now are going to have an opportunity to walk up on a practice range to all the great players and say, listen and Kyle, any chance that we could play a practice them together? Who are the players that you're looking forward to playing alongside of and and and trying to

get information from as you embark on your PGA Tour career? Yeah, I always I always enjoy playing practic round with Gary Woodland. He's been very nice to me in the past and and been willing to play practice rounds with me. He's he's great. He plays a similar style game and so, you know, it's a great it's a great person for me to pick his brain on courses and see how he's kind of played in the past and he's willing to talk about it. Right. So I also really enjoyed

playing with Zack Johnson. Every every time I you know, every tournament I go to, I try to play nine holes of Zack. We couldn't play different games, more different games, but he's just, you know, such a great guy on and off the course. How he goes about professional golf and playing on golf's biggest stage and playing on the PGA tour, and you know just how how he how

he does it. I I kind of I really look up to so play with him and uh, you know, probably a lot of my buddies that are coming out from the corn ferry tour right our our Tuesday birdie game just just went. You know, we increased the dollar figure on those, but but I look forward to playing with those guys. You know, it's it is a different stage. Um, guys have played the same courses over and over again for years, Um, but it's still golfs eighteen holes. You've

got to make a game plan executed. Everyone knows how to build a golf you know the course strategy. But I'll try to pick the brain of you know, Gary as much as as much as I can, and I know Dustin is not out there anymore, but I would have probably tried to tap him. He's been pretty quiet in the past. So Um, you know, I probably would have tried. I don't know if I you know, if I don't know I would have gotten through there. But I just look forward to getting out there and meeting

a lot of the guys too. Are you excited, Um Kyle, about the opportunity to play some of these amazing golf courses that they play on the PGA tour that you've watched your entire life? You know there's some, you know, colonial, memorial Um, where they hold these these great tournaments. which courses are you really, really excited to get to and say, man, I'm getting off tune to play a PGA tour event

on this golf course? Yeah, I grew outside of for worst, so colonial is, you know, the top of the list. We've got some work to do to get there. Memorial is also top of the list just for you know, being the memorial Um, you know, Jack Mr Nicholas Tournament and just, you know, being able to play play there would be would be incredible. Um, Houston Open, you know, I've always wanted to play in my hometown. Have never done it. You know, I haven't done it yet, but

I just look forward to that. Look for I've never been out the pebble you know. Honestly, I'm excited to play every week that I can out here, Um, this fall. As you know, it is pretty important you go out and you try to, you know, do do well and reshuffle up up a little bit so you can get in some more tournaments. I'd love to play Tory. I mean right now I'm like a kidney candy store. You know, I just want to go and play them all and enjoy it. I will say that Honda beat me up

last year, so it beats everybody up. I'm looking forward to, UH, going back and getting a little redemption on it and seeing, you don't see if we can't do some more damage this year. But but, you know, I'm looking forward to all of it. I'm looking forward to, you know, enjoying these tournaments with my my family, my team. Um, I

think it's gonna be awesome. So, from a goal standpoint, you know, if you and I were talking at this time next year, you know, at the start of the four season, Um, what would be a win for you this year? Um, what are the expectations? Are you somebody that sets realistic goals? Are you someone that sets unattainable goals to try? Because there's two ways to do it right.

You can say, listen, I want to get to the top of Mount Everest and I'm just gonna start at the bottom and just keep climbing and I'm gonna Climb as hard as I can and if I get to the top, good, if I don't, well then I've given it my all. Or do you come from a different mindset and say, okay, I've got a bunch of different goals this year for the for the upcoming, you know, PGA tour season, and if, if you, if you have any of those? Would would you be willing to share

any of those? Yeah, I typically, I typically hold hold my goals pretty pretty close, but I'm very much a guy that is like a one FT in front of the other. You know, I'm gonna IT'S A it's a process to get there, to get where I want to go. I set a goal and then I, you know, work those pillars back to that goal. Right, how are we going to get to that goal? And I really focus on the day to day how we're going to get there and then let that, you know, try to let

that accomplish the end goal. But my end goal is to win. I'm not I'm thirty years old, I'm you know, we're getting to the PGA tour for the first time. I'm here to try to win golf tournaments against the best in the world and and that's that's my goal and what we need to do to get there. You know, I think we've identified some areas that we can improve on and, uh, you know, if we're gonna try to push as hard as we can. Lastly, Um, you're a

Puma gaw you wear the volition collection. The amazing work that Dan Rudy and the folds of honor have done. Um, Gary Woodland is part of that as well. Um, that also makes you kind of feel like you're part of something as well, the work that Um folds of honor have done, the collaboration they've done with Puma. Um, when you wear that clothing. Um, you know, I'm a Puma guy as well. They send me volition stuff. I have

no military background. I like the stuff. I'm I'm proud to wear it, but it must feel different for you to put on the folds of honor clothing from Puma, because you've actually I mean it's it has been your life. Yeah, yeah, I'm very fortunate to be able to wear where the Brand Puma and volition and together have been great. You know, they say dead. By definition, volition is your ability to choose and you know, choosing to build a team around you.

That's very pro military. have been a part of the military. Supports the military. Is How we want to do it, you know, we want to build our brand. That's that, you know, coincides with our values and and that, you know, just having volition there and Puma backing as is an awesome opportunity for us and it gives back, you know, to families of lost or injured military members and support by supporting scholarships and you know, I think education is

so important. Um, they provide so many great opportunities for people around the world and I just think, you know, folds of honor does a great job in folition, you know, in supporting folds of honors. Is An incredible brand you're making. You starting next week in Napa. I am Yes, we're gonna get on a flight here in a couple of hours to go to a rookie orientation. There you go, but real quick before we go, a couple of fun

facts here. I, uh, I actually grew up my my first place I started taking lessons that was a Dick Harmon School of golf in Houston under with art scarborough. I don't know art. What Arts? One of the best. Yeah, so I grew up there and then somewhere in the butch harmon archives at Rio Saco there's Kyle Westmoreland golf swing. I spent about a day out there. We're playing an

a J G aven an anthem. That's where my dad lives. Yeah, yeah, he was riding around in a off carton saw us and so we, uh, I saw three of us from Houston. Started talking to us for a couple of holes. Realized we went to Dick Harmon and invite us out for a whole day. So I spent the day with him and Nick Wattney and he took some of my money on the putting green at the end of the day. But but it was but it was great. So somewhere

of those archives is a pretty raw golf swing. You know, you walk into my dad's for for people that have never been out there. You Walk into that his facility out in Vegas. I worked there at the beginning. It's like a museum. I mean it really is, with all of the memorabilia. You walk into that big hitting bay that he has and you look at all of those tiger woods, Major's flags and all of the stuff. Um, if that doesn't I mean I've talked to you mentioned it.

Players that get to the opportunity to work with my dad, Um, that get out there and go through that, it is such a motivating thing because you're walking in and you're you're just like man, this is this is like, this is like a museum. I mean it's like there's so much stuff. I'll make sure that I um that. I'm mentioned that to him when I talked to him this week.

Kyle Um, congratulations, you've you've you've had an amazing amount of success and I think everybody listening Um is going to be following you um this year on the PGA tour. Best of luck. Stick to your guns, trying not to make any huge drastic changes. I see so many guys, kyle go out there, UM, if they don't have success early they say screw it, I'm just gonna start changing everything. I'm gonna Change my coach, I'm gonna Change my caddie,

I'm gonna Change my equipment. Um, if I give you one piece of advice is Um, you know, uh, we were in at a tournament and one of the girls that I was teaching on the ladies tour, Marina Alex he was leading going into the final round. Um, I think it was in the first turn of the LPGA this year. Um, she didn't win, but I was with Dj and I said we we I videoed. I said, DJ, Give Marina one piece of advice going you're in the

last group. Give her a piece of advice. And, you know, typical, Dj said, just remember all the stuff you did to get you into the last group. Just keep doing that. So, Um, best of luck. We'll be watching and, uh, congratulations on all your success. Thank you. I really appreciate you having me. And Uh Yeah, Go Air Force army, there you go. Thanks all right. Thank you. So that was Kyle Westmoreland

and really cool to talk to him and someone. As I said in the interview, I'm I'm really excited to watch, UM listen to to make it from the corn ferry to get your PGA Tour Card. That's always a steep curve. Um, it's it's the show, it's you know, it's it's a

step up. Um, you're playing against, you know, some of the best players in the world on, you know, one of the biggest stages in the world when it comes to professional golf and I think it's a dream of of everyone's to play when they start out, when you're in college, to play on the PGA tour. and Um, I think kyle you know, his journey, how he's done it and I think his background. Um, I think he's going to be a success. Um. I think Um he has the type of game, he has, the distance he has,

the length and Um, I think he has the background. Um, he's definitely not going to be out worked out there on tour. So really excited, glad he took the time to talk to us and excited to see, Um, how he does in the wrap around and how he does next year in three. So getting to questions, Um, obviously continue questions about live Um my thoughts on that and the whole PGA tour thing. But we've gotten a lot of questions about, Um, the fact that the lift schedule

right now is maybe not as kind of condensed. Um, there's less tournaments, Um, and there seems to be a gap, more of a gap than on the PGA tour right now. So a lot of people are asking me about, Um, the practice schedules for the guys, I mean certainly the guys I'm working with. Um. Anybody that thinks that professional athletes and professional golfers are not going to practice, Um,

I don't. I just don't get that. Um. I just I fundamentally don't get this argument that if you're getting paid, if you've got guaranteed money, that you're just going to start phoning it in. We don't see that in any other sport. Um, we didn't. We don't see it when Lebron signs a big new contract, when Russell Wilson signs a new contracts not like Russell Wilson just he signs a huge new contract with a big chunk of it guaranteed, Um, as a quarterback in the NFL for the Denver broncos.

And what I mean? Russell Wilson's just gonna tell that entire organization. Hey, guys, I just I don't need to practice now. I don't need to look at film. I'll make it to the Games on myself and I need to travel with the team. I'm just gonna do my own thing and I'll just show up for games. So if you think that any of the guys that have going to live aren't practicing in in the off season or in between, Um tournaments, you're crazy. Um, certainly none of the guys that I'm working with. Um, I think

DJ's practice schedule, if I'm honest, is kind of ramped up. Um, he's doing the same things that he's been doing. Um, I think it's harder two. I think a lot of people look at players. You know there's four majors in the past for the for the live guys, that they would try and peak four. So even though they've got some time in between some of these tournaments. I mean DJ, he he gets a week off, but it's not like he's not going to practice. So his practice schedule is

pretty much the same, um as I've seen it. If he's got a month off, okay, he'll take a week off, maybe two weeks off. But if guys on the PGA tour are going to take a month off, they're going to take a week off. Maybe two weeks off to spend time with their families, go on vacation and then come back to it. So I don't see that as a problem and, Um, I think we're going to continue to see great golf on all the tours. Um, see, what do we get? We uh, as a beginning Golfer,

how many times should I get to the practice range? Listen, you get into the golf what you get out of it? So, Um, if you can get to the range, I think a lot of people, if you get the opportunity to practice, if you're gonna play on the weekend, if you if you're gonna play on Saturday, you're gonna play on Sunday, if you could get to the golf course. Not Everybody is a is a tour player to where you you

can just practice all the time. So if you could find some time to get to the range, whether it's to chip, whether it's to put, whether it's to work on your full swing, whether it's to work on all of it, Um, I think that would be a huge, huge, Um win. I think it would help you um a lot of times. Um, getting reps is just a good thing, getting your body moving. Um, so you're not going to

the golf course called. If you don't have the availability to do that during the week, try and get to the range, you know, a couple of hours early, maybe hit some balls, maybe just chip and pot. But the last thing you want to do is just show up to a golf course having played no golf, having practiced no golf. Um. And you've got to practice, you've got to put time in, Um to what you're doing. Um, let's see which to Ur pro that you've taught has

the most natural golfing ability. Um. I think DJ has got to be at the top of that list just from a sheer athlete standpoint. Um, the things that he can do in all the sports that I've seen him play is is pretty phenomenal and there isn't really much he can do or he can't do. I mean, if you gave him a surfboard, I guarantee you he can figure out how to surf in a in a fairly

short period of time. So Um, I think that, Um, DJ, from a natural talent standpoint, would be probably at the top of that list for me for sure, out of all the players I've worked with. Um. Yeah, I mean the guy's a freak athlete. He can do pretty much anything. Um Can you talk about the low point in the golf swing, how important it is and how it affects the golf swing? So when we're talking about the low point, it's something that we can measure now with launch monitors.

It's where the bottom of the golf club but where the ARC is, where the ARC is bottoming out. So if you think about what the best players in the world do with their iron specifically, that low point is going to be in front of the Golf Ball, not behind the golf ball. So you're hitting the ball and then you're hitting the ground in front of the Golf Ball. If you ever have an opportunity to watch tour players at golf balls, the divots are in front of the ball.

The divots are not behind the ball. So a lot of players, in an effort to try and get their irons into the air, they're going to have that low point bottom out behind the golf ball. So as the club is coming in, their weight shifts back. They're trying to hit up on the golf ball with an iron and they're gonna bottom out their arc behind the golf ball, and I think that's something that I see on a

regular basis. If you are someone that that has that problem to where you're you're hitting at a lot of golf balls fat, you're hitting behind the ball, you're catching a lot of golf balls thin. That is going to show you that your low point is probably going to be behind the golf ball and the best players in the world, the best ball strikers in the world from an iron standpoint, that low point is going to be in unt of the Golf Ball. Um. I had a

question about shaft lean Um. Excessive shaft lean is that something that you need to do to be a great ball striker? I mean, obviously you could get the shaft leaning too far forward an impact Um, but for the majority of people listening to this podcast, if the club head, if the if, when you think about where you are at impact right, if you think about where you want to be at impact, you're going to want to have

the shaft leaning forward. You'RE gonna want to have your hands ahead of the Golf Ball, you're gonna want to have that shaft leaning a little bit more forward. That's a very easy way to start to clean up contact. If you think about what you do when you're chipping

and pitching. The first thing that you do if you're gonna hit a little bump and run pitch shot, you're gonna put the golf ball back in your stance, you're gonna open your stance a little, you're gonna put your hands a little bit ahead and you're gonna go ahead and keep your weight and put the majority of your weight on your lead foot. If you ask yourself, I mean everybody gets told to do that, but sometimes it's important to ask yourself, okay, why am I being told

to do that? Well, because the swing is so small and in a little pitch shot or a little chip shot you're not making a massive weight transfer. You're not turning behind the golf ball, you're not turning through the golf ball. So what you're actually doing by playing the golf ball a little bit further back, putting those hands forward, leaning that shaft a little bit forward and keeping that weight on that lead foot and then opening that stands a little, is you're basically trying to pre set your

impact position. So one of the ways if you're struggling with quality of strikes, specifically with your irons, is go back and forth between hitting a chip shot and then hitting a full swing and ask yourself, okay, what do I feel different in this swing? What do I feel different in the chip shot where I have really good quality of strike, really good contact? And then what am

I not feeling in my full swing? And again that's going back to that previous question below point, if you're hitting a chip shot, the low point is going to be in front of the Golf Ball, not behind the golf ball. And if you can go ahead, I mean you can always find, you know, swings on Youtube and

go look at slow motion swings. They do a lot of this and all the broadcast where they show people at impact, the old Ben Hogan that moment of truth where impact is that shaft is going to be leaning forward, you're going to be catching the ball first and then the turf in front of you. And if you can get that feeling and get that concept, it's really, really going to help you with your iron game. It's going to help you with the quality of strike in your shots are going to be hit better. So I want

to thank everyone for listening. If you haven't gone back and listen to old episodes, please check them out and, like I said last week, if you've got people that are interested in golf. Um Tell them about the podcast. Hopefully they'll they'll listen to people maybe they haven't heard before, and maybe they'll learn something that can help them with their golf. Son of a which comes to you every Wednesday. We will see everyone next week