Elvis mate, welcome to straight Talk.
Thanks for having me Mark.
Yeah, you're only twenty three, is all right? Twenty four this year.
Twenty six, twenty four.
Yeah, April, Wow, that's mad. Do you ever think you'd be sort of sitting in the same seat that Greg Norman sat in three weeks ago?
Definitely not. No, Greg's Gregg's an idol of mine. So that's really cool. Yeah. Yeah, I still remember growing up and watching him play and achieve all the amazing things he did.
I'm sort of sitting here like I'm seeing there's a twenty three year old sitting across from me and just wont a big event and we'll talk about that in a second, but a big, big, big, big take on amount of money too for a young fella. And Cameron was sitting in that seat maybe one year ago. You're on his team Live Golf and he's aside. But what he guys caught again?
Riper?
Ripper Ducy, that's right, Ripper. I love the name. Oh my god, heck, can I forget it's so busy You're you're in that side, which is the captain? This is here like coach too.
Yeah, I mean he's the captain and then he also has involvement in like ownership of the team as well of some sorts. But yeah, Cam and I have a great relationship. I've known Cam now for a few years. I was a scholarship recipient of his back in two thousand and.
Nice trade you ruin the chmistry.
Yeah, I got to go and spend a week with him and Jacksonville, where he lives. And yeah, We've kept in touch from time to time over the past few years. And now I'm part of the team, and yeah, we're doing well.
Do you pinch yourself sometimes? Do you think you know the shoes that you're stepping into in the path you're walking down? Might I add the chair you are now sitting in been followed by your following two of the greats.
Yeah, definitely. I definitely don't take that lightly. I'm very grateful and appreciate for the position I'm in, and it's taken a lot of people to help you guide me to be able to be in this position and to continue continue achieving what I want to achieve.
Your parents both professional sports people in tennis. Your mum probably more well known to me, at least Liz Smiley or I remember her for many years ago. But what is it with you guys? Like, you know, you're at the age of fifteen, you were doing playing two or three is something ridiculous.
Yeah, it was a little bit better than that.
But well, yeah, okay with here. You so like what I'm saying is like, if you ever thought about that sort of natural talent you have and I even worked hard to get to You've got to talk about that, But you ever thought about that gift?
Yeah? I think it's obviously like that hand eye coordination is one thing, but also, you know, just a little bit about me growing up, I obviously did play quite a bit of tennis as well. With you know, the background that I've had. My mum and dad were a huge support in me being able to choose my own path and my own journey, and they were fully supportive of that. And the one thing I love about golf
that was the independent side of things. You know, what you put into it, you get out of it, and being able to, you know, not rely on others to go and go and work hard and go do your own thing. I feel like you're on your own time and that's something that I've I've really loved.
Yeah, does that pre pressure on you because it's just like you can't really rely on anybody else. I mean, you're the one with the stick in your hand.
And I think I like the ownership. I think of having that responsibility of not relying on others, even though I have my own team. I've got a coach, I've got a physio, I've got an sec coach. Like, I've got so many great people around me, but they ultimately just try and keep me in between the lanes, you know, lanees just if you think of.
It, just and they're pre posed to because once you're out on the course something, you can talk to people, but still you're the one who's going to swing the club. Yeah, and they can't do it for you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that's where also the caddy is so important. My caddy, Brad Beacher, is someone that he's had a lot of great success over his career. He's had, you know, twenty twenty five years of cutting. One of the girls that he used to caddy fall was Inmby Park who was well number one for multiple years. She's a seven time major champion. So just having that experience and the relationship that we have is great and Brad since I
was eleven twelve years old. We both a member at Southporl Golf Club on the Gold Coast, and he plays multiple roles on the golf course, not just a caddy, but you know, also tap into that psychologists piece as well.
I'm actually quite fascinated about the caddy piece. I do want to park that for a second and come back and talk about that if you don't mind, But it might just sort of go back. You know. My imagination is that you're a little kid. You know, you see all those videos of Tiger Wood with his dad when he's like two, hitting a golf ball and stuff like that.
I'm imagining your mum and dad throwing a ball at you with the tennis rakers, putting a golf ball on the ground to getting near to hit it, probably throwing a footy at you. Well, what was it like as a young kid growing up? Am I right? Is that this sort of scenario?
Certainly? Yeah. So I lived on a golf resort on the Gold Coast called the Glades, and every day before school my dad got me into it. I was four years old and I'd go to the range every day before school. You know, I probably practiced for about two and a half three hours. I probably practiced from like five o'clock to eight o'clock, went to school at eight thirty, did the whole school day, and then I came back and then I'd be on the chipping green and putting green.
I'd have a little flashlight on the green until pitch black. So that was my That was my daily routine for multiple years.
Well is it because and is that because some if you get back when you're a little kid, Let's say you're five or six or seven, right, whatever the age was, do you remember were you obsessed with the with being really good at it? We're all just so much fun. Can you remember the feeling?
Yeah, it was definitely a bit of both. It was more of the enjoyment factor. I didn't necessarily worry about trying to get like too good too early, because as a little kid, you just want to enjoy it. You want to try and see how far you can hit it. And you know, I I still remember like making my first par and like just little special moments like that. As the years have gone on, I broke I broke par at the age of twelve. Wow, And then I was off scratch at thirteen, handicap at thirteen.
That's so not fair. It's just not fair.
So it's cool because and my parents were there with me, e recept of the way, like we have achieved so many great milestones along the way.
Yeah, it's funny. When I had Ricky pointing here a little while ago, not that long ago, actually a month or so ago, when the cricket was on, he was telling me that a good batsman, not necessarily a bowler, but a good batsman actually tend to have physiological advantages of other people, and particularly in relation to where their
eyes are set on the head. And Hear then went on to say that those studies have said that that goes for all ball sports where you have to actually zoom in on the ball sure before you strike it, which is obviously with a cricket it doesn't a golfer and probably a tennis played too. To some extent, have you ever have you gone into that scientific side of it or you just say no, that's my ability. I'm just going to practice, practice, practice and get better and
better better. Have you actually gone in sort of scratch below the surface and try to work out scientifically? Yeah? What is it about me? And how can I get better based on what I've already got as a talent.
Yeah, well, first of all, that's quite fascinating. It's something that I haven't had the opportunity to dive into too much, but it's something that i'd definitely be worth well. I mean, ultimately, it's one percent stuff, isn't it. And ultimately, as a
professional athlete, you're trying to search for that stuff. So as a particular individual, I like to think of myself as, you know, someone who is gifted naturally, but you know I've worked hard over a period of time, because you know that saying when you know hard.
Work always beats time, you know it? Yeah, exactly how many guys that I know skill? You probably do to like the great student of great footballers, regular players for example, but they didn't put the effort in and they didn't get to where they should have been. But there's other guys who weren't as good. Yeah, and the end playing first grader and played for Coincidental, played for Australia. Yeah, we see that stuff all the time. Unrewarded talents almost a problem.
Yeah, And ultimately I think it's about trying to add as many tools to your toolbox as you can, because when you're out on the golf course for four and a half five hours, you're not necessarily going to have everything go your way. So it's important to rely on particular things to recall on so if you do get faced with moments of adversity, you can be like, oh, yeah,
I remember doing that at that time. And I have a journal as well that I write in most days, and I kind of flick back through certain dates, through particular moments of my career, and that almost just gives me a bit of a like a refreshing attitude on you know, I might pick up something that I wrote down three years ago and that still has the same benefit to this current time in relevance. Yeah, in relevance. Yeah, And I think that's incredibly important.
It's just like I play golf, and maybe my style of thinking, my brain, mind's or whatever, it doesn't really suit it that well. Because if I've had a bad morning and I've got to play in the afternoon, I play bad. And there must be I presume there's some sort of process that you use to maybe control your heartbeat or get everything out of your brain and just think about this is what I'm doing today, and it's
probably slightly easy because that's all you do. I mean not when I say all we do that equally could be a problem because it puts pressure on you as well. But like, how does someone like you when let's say you hit a shot, you end up in the rough, or you're in the sand or not where you want it to be, and or you're behind and you're fighting to get ahead or catch up. What do you do to slow your heart rate down and to get yourself in that relaxed mode.
Yeah, I think the first things first is all about trying to bring your attention back to being in the present moment. And I have little tools that help with that that I've worked with my psychologist Michael Lloyd with And you know, some of those tools are I'd sometimes like touch the tips of my finger to feel the sensation of that, and that will almost help me feel present.
And then I would also tell me myself. I feel like self talks quite important, and that's just reiterating like what's important to me, like doing what matters, making sure you're going through your routine, you know, when things that are less an ideal, just remind yourself that it's okay, and just keep putting your best foot forward. And then sometimes when I have a sip of water, I'd feel
the sensation of it going down my throat. So there's little things where I would shift my attention and my focus to something else rather than just the result and the outcome. And that also just helps me become level and you know, cool, come and compose and just keep going about my business as well as I can.
Are you naturally a calm person or i'd like to think so? You think, well, when you say that's the interesting response, you'd like to think so in other words, that generally someone says that to me, that generally means that they're someone who knows the downside of not being that person, and therefore is always building strategies to manage themselves into being that person in the time. That accounts.
Yeah, I think the important thing as well is if I was looking at myself from the audience, how would I want to look from the outside? What body language would I want to show? You know, something that I speak about with my psych is what kind of teammate I want to be, What kind of person I want to be, what kind of brother I want to be son like, what does that look like? And I give myself little little cues and little ideas on what that
will look like. And I just try and carry those moving forward and try and represent myself in the best possible way.
So for a twenty three year old to be I mean, obviously you're at the highest level inters of your profession, but as a twenty three year old, just generally as a twenty three year old to be saying things about make sure I stay in the present. And then for example, the example you just gave me about I might have a sip of water when you're out in the course, you're in competition perhaps, but you can feel the water going to your throat. That's very meditative. That is the
essence of feeling in the present. So for example, in the morning, a lot of people that get the coffee their throw it down and they say, go, I've got to have a coffee. It's a function instead of smelling it, feeling it, tasting it, smelling it, and that is the being in the present. That's the meditative part that's really important.
It does slow your heart rate down and it's all about because like I continue now, if I was playing at your level or like twenty levels below even my sympathetic drive, you know that part of my body where I'm pumping quarters all out and adrenalinees going and like that, which is why i'd you know, stuff up every shot and somehow I would have to tap into my parasitic parasmitic drive in the vegas system. And I do have techniques for business around that, Like I speak a lot
of public events. Sometimes i can be in front of a thousand people and I've had to work out ways to do it because I'm really curious about the science and how your psychologists work with you, and do they explain these sort of things to you, Because like golf is such a valuable profession, there's so much money involved.
You nearly have to get into that top not just as a talent and as an outcome, but that top one percent in terms of how you think about everything, everything, everything, not just going to go and hit a few balls today, Like from the moment you start prepping for the event, to the event and probably surely thereafter the event. What does your team consist of? You got a psychologist, what do you have as scientists?
Yeah, so a few years ago I put a particular individual in place to help me with. You know, at the time, he was thinking of it as running my own CEO of like you're being the CEO of your own company. And at the time I was naive and I didn't really know what to think of it. And as did you do it or someone I told you? You know, someone else told me to do it. And at the time I was quite naive. I'm like, I'm just I'm just playing golf, I'm just traveling the world, I'm doing
all this stuff. I need to worry about that. But as time's gone on, like the importance and the significance of making sure you're communicating with the good people that you have around you is one of the most important things to be able to have success in anything. Right, So you organize, you know, your organized team calls you, You've got people that you're employing, You've got you know,
travel accommodation to organize you tax stuff. Like I was nineteen at the time when that particular person came in, or twenty, and it's just amazing to see how much I've involved with the help of that particular person, and moving forward, I can just use so many of those tools that I've learned from him. Is it a golf person, Yeah, it's a golf coach.
Yeah, and he's a coach or a coach, golf business coach.
He's a golf coach golf coaches as well. And yeah, without that, I wouldn't have the setup that I currently do.
So in other words, they leave you to be the talent correct and to do that and to create the outcomes. Yeah, but they're guiding you and managing you all through the process.
Yeah. I think the good thing is he'll never tell me what to do or what to think, but he'll always just give me different avenues on what to think about and then it's ultimately up to me to make that decision. And that's with the great people that have around me, is that they're not yes people Like I'm not employing them to tell me what I want to hear.
I'm telling them I'm employing them to tell me what I need to hear and what I think is going to help me get the best out of myself and for me to be able to achieve what I want to achieve.
There's a big difference, which is you're displaying right at the moment. There's a big difference between being a great golfer or being in the business of being a great golfer. You're in the business of being a great golfer as well as being a great golfer. You know, there's a huge difference. There's a bit like someone telling me. It could be out the coffee shop out the front there, saying that I'm a fantastic barrista, therefore I can run
a coffee shop. Now, you might be able to make coffee, but that doesn't mean you know how to run a business of making coffee. There's a big difference. Would you consider yourself and at what point you would you have considered yourself to be in the business of golf, professional golf, in the business.
Of probably only within the last year and a half, i'd say.
And what was the moment where you thought, hang on, Elvis, get serious, dude.
Yeah, I mean, I know, there's more to it than just traveling to you know, one particular place, teeing it up and hitting it and then trying to do as well as you can and then leaving to go to the next place. There's more to it. There's more to there's more to see, you know, behind the scenes that the public just don't see. And that's something that at some point I would like to be able to showcase that through the conversation that we're having. Is there's more to it.
There's more stress, there's more you have to manage your time exceptionally well, and I believe I'm doing a really good job at that.
So you chose to go to live yeah, or well maybe you could explained the process tod they offer you to come, would you choose you? Excuse me? Can I take me? Or here's a leg being a school and you want to be in the team, or or is it they reach out to you? How does that work?
Yeah? So the process started. It was this time a year ago when I went down to the event at Adelaide and I met with the CEO, Scott O'Neill, and the general manager, Nick Adams, and the performance manager at the time he still is a performance manager and really good friend of mine in Tony Meyer. So Tony he worked in Golf Australia for multiple years and he kind of oversees like all the golf stuff, so making sure that all of you know, me, cam Leish and Herbie
all get what we need. And as time has gone on I so flash backing a little bit. Sorry. I won the Australian PGA Championship in November twenty twenty four and that got me a two year exemption on the DP World Tour. So I played the whole year on the DP World Tour last year in twenty twenty five,
and then I achieved some really good things. I finished, you know, second in the French Open, and I ended up finishing twenty first on the Race of the Bystandings, which is the money list, which is you know, all the tournaments added up at the end of the year. And it was about October last year where Cam and Tony approached me and they said, look, we're really interested in having you. I've obviously got that personal relationship with Cam and I admire what he's done and that was
definitely a big driving factor for me joining live. There was a pros and cons list that I made throughout.
This roadown yeah with help or just yeah with help.
I was advised to do that because when you have something written in front of you, it's a lot easier to digest what's going on.
Especially if you wrote it yourself correct and what were the pros?
Well, the pros first of all, was to be in an environment where I felt like I was going to get the best out of myself. So golf can be quite a golf can be quite an individual isolating sport because you're traveling a lot of the time away from family and friends, You're staying in hotel rooms by yourself,
You're eating by yourself, and moving to live. I knew that it was going to be an opportunity for me to step out of my what I would call my comfort zone, because I would call myself quite a you know, I'd keep things close to my chest in a way. And I felt like it was a way for me to step out of my comfort zone really embrace that team aspect of what I've stepped into. And that's something that I feel like I've done really well these last two weeks.
So so you like the idea of testing yourself correct, Regatta sort of been put in a position where you can actually be another type of person.
Definitely, and I think I've I've showcased that in the last two weeks, and it's it's amazing that the results have been a byproduct of that.
Is that one of the greatest advantages that live as a team as a team brings to.
Yeah, definitely like you. Yeah, well you're playing for more than just yourself, which I love. So you're getting the individual aspect, but you're also getting the team aspect. And I couldn't have I couldn't have thought of three better guys to travel the world with, achieve great things with. And they're the best, the best kind of guys to play golf with.
I mean, you're in nirvana.
The reception that we received last week in Adelaide was one of the most surreal experiences that I've been able to witness. Yeah, without a doubt, So tell me, tell me, tell me what is it? There was over one hundred thousand people there. The twelfth hole, which is known as the watering hole, that is full of thousands and thousands of people. You get, you get given it, not given, but you get to choose a walkout song and my
walkout song? Serious, yeah you can probably can you guess in a way with my with my name.
Anyway? So which one which one of his songs?
It was a little less conversation by Elvis Presley.
Okay, and blues rays shoes or something.
Maybe I was actually wearing a pair of blue was on the Sunday in read. Yeah.
El Was Presley is one of my all time favorite singers. I'm old enough to be able to say that, you thought it. And by the way, his name was Aaron, Yes, and I named my firstborn son his middle name is Aaron after Elvis Presley.
Wow, my dad will be watching this. I'll love you.
It's going yeah, yeah, yeah.
So the vibe, yeah, the vibe was insane. As soon as I've walked out, I had a little less conversation going by Elvis Presley. I was pumping everyone up. Everyone was on their feet going nuts. Your heartbeat was racing. That's where I recall on, you know, drinking the water and making sure I'm present and stuff like that, because you don't get to practice that at all. You don't get to practice that feeling when you're away from the lights and cameras. So the best thing that you can
possibly do is embrace it in the present time. And that's exactly what I did.
That's that's amazing. What an opportunity was. Were your parents there? Do they for the music?
That was their first live event they got to experience and we won, which was Yeah, it was a dream.
They must have walt tears to your mum's eyes.
Yeah, I think so? When do yeah on one of the holes it was the fourteenth hole, so the Ripper Golf Club they had a Ripper house, so it was like a massive merchant or not merchandise, but it was just a massive setup with really good infrastructure and my mum. There was an announcer calling my name onto the fourteenth to part three and he's like, oh, Liz, talk us through hot you're feeling right now? Like do you get
nervous whilst watching Elvis play? And it actually kind of brought like a few tears to my eyes as I was walking up the steps from the thirteenth green to down to the fourteenth tee and I heard her voice and I'm like, this is such a cool, cool experience for my mum to be able to see me in my element and for her to be able to witness this, because you know, she was a professional athlete and highly skilled in an own right, but for her son to be able to see that, I think I'd hope to
think that she's pretty proud.
That's like, I can't imagine what it'd be like as a parent to me. That'd be amazing. But as a player going from the thirtieth to fortieth, how do you manage that emotion? I mean, like, does it inspire you to do that I'm going to do this for money without doubt, or does it go oh my god.
Well, it's amazing because I feel like I've been given a platform to be able to showcase my skill but also show the type of person that I am on a global scale, global stage. And doing that in front of thousands and thousands of people and showing them that I want to interact with like little kids are giving them a high five and signing things and putting a smile on their face. It genuinely makes me so happy
and so you know, giddy inside. And then you know, adding the financial side of things, I want to give back in meaningful ways, and that's something that really inspires me and motivates me to be able to, you know, start a charity or a fundraiser of some sorts and being able to you know, step into cam shoes the way he's you know, been doing his scholarship. To be able to do that in my own right one day.
And to actually influence undercent things good outcomes. Unfortunately can't rely on Unfortunately, can't rely on good politicians that these days. Not that I wanted to get political, but individuals have far more impact. I think on those sorts of environments and our political leaders and got well done. If I could just you know, everyone's sitting there, oh wow, you know it's great, and you know you've done the great
achievements and you did fantastic in Adelaide, et cetera. But most people don't understand the hard work it takes to get There's one thing to be naturally gifted as a sports person or an athlete, which you were both, but to be at the elite level, there's a lot of effort, training, commitment. Can you give me a sense of you said what you were doing you a little kid, but like once you decided to start to play, at what point did you play professional?
I turned pro in twenty twenty one, so I was eighteen eighteen.
So at what point did you sort of say this is what I'm going to do for my life stuff, school, university of whatever the case might be, I'm going to be a golfer. And what was what did you have to undertake to do that? Like, what does it look like in the day of it's called it training or prep for a professional golfer.
Yeah, going to the personal stuff a bit that I'll be happy sharing. I went to school from prep to year eight. So I went to All Saints Anglican School on the Gold Coast, and I went from prep to year eight. And I never really enjoyed school that much. I always felt like I struggled to fit in a bit.
I was always a little bit more mature than the kids that were around me at the time, and the fact that I had such a huge passion for golf and wanting to play at a professional level, I felt like I could never really get along with anyone in that regard because that's all I loved when I was that age and wanting to share that passion and hobby with others. But you know, I remember talking to mom and Dad and I got home from school was absolutely balling my eyes out one day, saying like this is
this is not fun, Like I'm not enjoying this. It was a really tough decision to make, but I ended up doing online schooling for the remainder of my schooling.
Like high school.
Yeah, well, I had I had teachers online, so my parents weren't my teachers, but I had. I did it through a school called Australian Christian College, which is based up in Brisbane. So you can either do an on campus version or an off campus version. So I did the off campus. I got all the work sent to me. I had the exact same teachers that all the other
students had, but I would create my own hours. So I'd probably do about four to four and a half hours a day of school in the morning, and I would do it, you know, straight, so I wouldn't have a break, and then I'd go to the golf course for the rest of the day. And the thing was, when I was fourteen fifteen, being able to create that structure at such a young age was really difficult to get right because you know, with school, you've got the
eight thirty to three o'clock set regimented time. But when you go straight into online schooling in distance education, you have to create that yourself. And that helped me. You know, at the time I was mature, but that almost just took another step, you know above, and I felt like that tough period that I went through there, even though
my golf was a huge benefit of that. The social side did go down because I wasn't hanging around with anyone my age, and that was tough because as I look back, I think that, you know, the golf definitely served its part, which was the priority at the time, but the social stuff was was really hard, and I.
Think you missed out or something. Apart from drinking getting drunk at fifteen or.
That that was an interesting I think it was more the friendships, I think, But you know, i'd like to think and I do think, and I do believe that now I've got really good relationships with really good people. And some people are you know, closer to my age, but a lot of people are a lot older than me, and that's fine.
It doesn't really matter, no, as long as it's not when of a certain age. It's not about age commonality. It's interest commonality. And you've got the same interest. We've got a team. And by the way, like my grandfather's ways say, like Mike, don't worry about having too many friends. You can count as you get older, you know that you're going to count on one hand those people who are close to you and then be your family. It's just someone will be like family. On there could be
a family member. But five is enough that in itself is a lot to manage. Definitely, and like it's very interesting and I appreciate you sharing that with us the audience as well. You know, like the sort of it sounds a bit sort of average to say sacrifices, but to some extent, these things are sacrifices.
I was proud to sacrifice.
Yeah, well, therefore it's not a sacrifice. No, it's just a concession. Yeah, yeah, it's a concession you're making for yourself. No one else is losing out on. It's just you. And what we tend to do is we tend to watch you. Obviously have done. You've gone back and made up for it in other ways. Do you think that decision had a major impact on your let's call it your polishing up of your talent?
Without a doubt, I think it's helped shape me into the person I am today. I was. It was an extremely tough decision because making a decision like that at fourteen years old, where you choose being a professional athlete over education. I mean, some people may think otherwise, but at the time, I was proud to make that decision, and I don't look back and I'm pretty happy with it.
I don't think be too many Australians athletes who have done extraordinarily well have done that. I mean, I can think of people like Ian Thorpe probably is one of those people where you would have gone to Ennswiss or one of those places when he was fifteen or fourteen fifteen in order to become I want to become a limpin. I want to be the greatest swimmer of all time. There wouldn't be too many and you have to have
a high level of maturity to make that call. In the day of a of a golfer, what do you train? What's training the way together? The gym, you get a run, yeah, what do you do?
Yeah? So it probably consists of total about five six hours a day. Yeah, so that's not always just at the course. I love to go to the gym. I have my strength and conditioning coach, Luke Macki. We both live close to each other on the Gold Coast, so I catch up with him whenever he's home and we we have a lot of fun together. He does all my programs and you know, it's not just the gym stuff that's the fitness side of things, but I love
to go to pilates. So there's a there's a studio back on the Gold Coast called Sweat Society that I like to go to, and you know that's like an avenue as well to meet new people.
Just gave you a rap sweats. It'll be packed tomorrow. But it is a part of a plant. Does someone work that plan? If we say you're a strength and conditioning person to hear he or say he is it?
Yeah?
Yeah, Luke says, okay, mate e was We're going to do polarates through for abs normal strength, other other areas or strength. I mean, is that something that a golfer should do because I can't imagine you need to go and start to bulk up. Yeah, that's not going to work out very.
Well, No, I think yeah. I think the great thing with pilarates it targets a little muscles and I really enjoy that. So the gym side serves its purpose with its you know, the squats and the lateral movements and the rotational movements and all that, but then the polates is very much more like core engaged and shoulder activation stuff, and that's important.
Do you need to run, do you need to have a run.
I mean, look at me, I'm tall and slender. I can't lose weight.
Y Arabic fitness and heartline stuff is not something you need to do much.
Of, not necessarily. I mean maybe if I speak to some people around me, if they think it's a good idea, at some point that I might explore that avenue. But for the time being, I'll stick to the gym and.
Practice what you like. You say tomorrow to now putting tomorrow.
Yeah, So I remember two courses on the Gold Coast, Southport and Saintry Cove, and they're both great. I'd probably spend yeah, four hours on the golf side of things. I love to go and play holes. So there's a difference between you know, going out too the putting green and doing all your drill work and then chipping green doing your drills, and then going to the range and just hitting balls. But going out the course is where
I have the most fun. Because what I'd do is I'd go out and play with the half set of clubs. So you genuinely have fourteen clubs in the bag, but what I'd do is I'd probably have about six or seven clubs. So on odd days of the week, so like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'd probably play with you know, like five iron, seven nine, nine nine, some sort of wedge and then a driver. And the idea of that is to be able to mix it up and not always just have have the perfect club or have the
perfect shape or the perfect flight. Like the idea is to try and challenge yourself so when you do get put in tournament situations, you're like, oh, I remember practicing that, I remember hitting that kind of shot, and that's something I love and that's something I've done ever since I
was little. Because that's really that's helped the longevity of my career because golf can be quite monotonous because it's a stationary sport, like you're looking down and you're just seeing one thing and you've got all the time in the world, and it kills me. Yeah, I think, you know, time can can be a and like not that great for you. So that's that's why I like to do the seven seven club challenge.
Could you could you explain to us all? So I do want to talk about the caddy stuff, because the caddy is more than just caddy shack walking around with the bag of his shoulder or a cart. So explain in your case, at least the role of your caddy. Hey, you choose your caddy and what are the important things that caddy does. You mentioned psychology, especially during the game and or probably before you start as well. Could you just give us a bit of a flavor of that.
Yeah, So, as I was mentioning before, Brad Beach and my caddy, we've been working together since December twenty twenty four. So you know, as you know, you've got a golf range finder like you where you look through the lens and U zap it and tells you how far it is. But when you're playing professionally, you actually you can't always
have the access to the range finders. So what you do is you get given a yardage book that has all the numbers and it's got a photo of the hole that's ahead with all these measurements that are in the book that also replicate the measurements that are written like on sprinkler heads or that are written on like little red dots in the fairways, and you have to step it out from that particular point to get the yardage.
So there's a bit of a time process that you have to go through, and that's something that Beach and I go through in order to get the number. But then you also have to look at the wind. You have to look at the coldness of the air, like the if you're playing early in the morning, the air is quite heavy, so the ball's not going to go as far. There's more moisture. Yeah, So, and then sometimes you're playing at altitude, so the ball goes further than normal.
So that's where you have to take that into account a bit more. So, There's so many different aspects that Brad and I both go through. I mean, Brad's are professional, so I actually rely on him in particular areas to do things a little bit quicker than I do, just to help with the time efficiency of things.
Is that like? But is it like more a check off you sort of say, well, yeah, and what do you think? Or is it he's to say, listen, this is what we're going to do, because.
No, he won't. He'll always he'll always hear me out before we make the final decision. He'll never tell me like what to do. And that's something that I respect so much of Beach is that he'll always give me the like I'm the one hitting the shot. I'm the one that knows what I want to do here, and then he's he's the guy that's just going to help signify what the right decision is and what the right shape is, what the right flight is.
So what could we just look at the element? So you just mentioned a couple then, so because most people just pick up the club and hit the blow. Yeah, but you're you're thinking about geometry, like the geometry of the course and the geometry of what you're going to you're going to hit the ball in terms of height, weather, your conditions.
Different grass types.
Well, so just go if you might just give me a little little just a little example of some of the detail.
Yeah.
So let's say we're playing somewhere with its early morning and it's humid weather yeap, and you know you're a one hundred out from the from the green.
Yeah yeah, So if we have one hundred meters to the hole and it's early in the morning, maybe the ball's not traveling as far. You know that instinctively, it's probably playing you know, a few meters more. So, let's say it's playing one hundred and five hundred and six meters, So there's there's clubs in my bag where I know the stockyardage for each club, so i'd hit my you know,
fifty six degree wedge. I'd know that if I hit one hundred percent swing here, it's going to go one hundred and six meters, So that's going to allow for that heavy air. So then i'd say to Brad, well, Brad will say to me rather, he'd be like, mate, this is feeling like one hundred and six meters shot. So then I would instinctively just say, okay, I know that my fifty six goes one hundred and five hundred and six, so this should be perfect. And then also you have to to think about like if the ball
is going to spin or not on the green. So that's where the preparation is so important. On the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before the tournament starts on a walking around, yeah, correct, So you you have those three days to be able to come up with a bit of a game plan for the week. So by the time we get on Thursday and have a shot like that where we have one hundred meters to the hole and we know how the ball is going to react already before even hitting
the shot. That's that's important to take into a to take into a.
Factor, and then once it hits the green, Yeah, you sort of know what to expect. Yeah, because you've done you've done your walk around. You know what to expect in relationship, which way it may roll.
Yeah, yeah, based on like which flight, which way it's coming into the green. And then also the the interaction, like the way you strike it. You know, like if you've hit a good shot based off like that sensation that feels straight away.
With the noise. I mean, that's any thing like that's satdy. Time I enjoy golf is when I get that when you hit it that sweet spots therapeutic. It's not that often, but it's still in mathematical, Yeah, I'd like to you just say you have a good example. You said, as a hundred one hundred met of shot, but because the weather, you're allow for another six, so you need to pick a club that's going to get you one hundred and six meters. Blah blah blah. That's just like quite mathematical.
I'm learning a lot more in the school of life then I perhaps learned at the actual school. Let's say that I feel like you, like in school, you don't actually learn that much, like about the finance side of things as well, like the tax and all that. And that's something that I've really stepped into this last year and a half, and that's something that I'm really looking forward to learning more about because it's it's going to help you become more of a complete person, if that makes sense.
It's a bit in the business being a professional golfer. Yeah, I mean, that's what it's all.
I'm learning so much WEM.
Greg Norman was a great example. I mean Greg has his detractors, but at the end of the day, the guy has lived a long career, way past your golfing days, making money out of golf, and you know, like he's I find him quite amazing. He's seventy, he's the same age as me. He's a little bit older, he's seventy seventy something. But I finally quite amazing how he's reinventing
himself into golf, into the golf world. And that's because he understands the business of golf, like sponsors countries who need golf club golf courses in order to build golf tourism, like in Vietnam where he's working on at the momy top. So do you look I mean given to your you know, at the age of fourteen, you decided to leave school and go do it from home and become a professional golfer. Just in an other word, you're looking way ahead. Do you look way ahead beyond your golfing years now?
Yeah, definitely. I definitely want to step in a new type of professional environment after I retire from the game of golf, and I have, like I was mentioning, the fortunate people I do have around me. You know, Todd
Woodbridge is a really close friend of mine. And as soon as Todd, you know, stepped out of the tennis playing side of things, he's moved into the media side of things, and he's made a huge success for himself and he's he's he's been able to engage in a different type of audience than just the tennis audience, which I think is great, and people are learning more about Todd Woodbridge the media person rather than just Todd Woodbridge
the tennis doubles player, yeah, or the doubles player. So I think that's something that you know, motivates me, is to be able to step into I'm not saying that media might be as strong force had.
It's just an example.
It's just an example. So I think whenever that time comes, i'd definitely be interested in doing something like that.
And you and I are talking earlier before the show, and you know Greg has been great at designing courses, sure, and he's made a small fortune out of it. There's all so many avenues that are on tapped us a bit like because you know how often we hear about it. You mean you're a Bronco supporter, you're about rugby league players.
They at the top of the tree, and they don't actually prepare for something for the day they retire, which they retire pretty young and and or either retire just by virtual of age or injured one of the two and most of them, for some of them, really anything they do is either coaching or commentary. But that's getting pretty crowded at the moment. In your sport, you have a much longer life potentially subject to injury, et cetera, but a much longer life and sick. But you've got
to be successful. You're only as good as your last in your game, You're only as good as your last win.
It keeps me working hard and staying accountable.
But but but you do. You have a responsibility to yourself to build something for the future. It's not just that accumulates some money, buy some assays you know, and some render whatever it is you know, play that game, but also you know where can Elvis Smiley end up when he's forty.
I want to. I want to look back in my life and I want to feel like I challenged myself as much as I possis we can, and I want to step into uncomfortable environments and situations and try and get better, because I think comfort is a it can be a dangerous place, it can serve its purpose. But ultimately I'm trying to I'm trying to add as many
tools as i can to my toolbox. Like I've mentioned, I love using that analogy because it just shows what a worldly person I can become, and I'm excited for that opportunity.
That's interesting coming from a kid who's sort of growing up in Queensland. I want to be a worldly person, but you are in a worldly game. It's a for me. It's funny you should say that that point about challenging yourself, testing yourself and building as many tools for you in your toolbox in golf, but also they will also be very good for you in future life. But what's really important, and it's coming out of all the studies scientific studies these days, even when it comes to how we age.
Once upon time, we thought when you turn sixty five, you should retire and relax and have a game of golf or sit in the lounge room and not have to be able to work in the morning. But actually what's coming out now is that we should actually be challenging ourselves. We should be pushing ourselves as sixty five, more so than when we even when we're younger, because if you start to don't challenge yourself, everything sort of slows down and feels comfortable. And Australia has been that country,
you know, where we're very lucky. Everything's sort of pretty goody. You know, we save up, we get our super and we retire blah blah blah blah. But it's interesting a young person at twenty three is thinking that way in relation to a lot of people saying the guy's gone
enough money, why doesnt ity retire? It's interesting to say that you're looking at it that way because for me, listening to what you're saying, It's about actually extending your life, either as a golf or just as a person by challenging yourself all the time until the day, maybe at the day you die, which is another thing that Greg Norman does. Greg is all he's challenging himself, even of this age. He's not retiring, no interest what not retiring.
I'm sure he's got enough money to retire, but that'd probably send him nuts. Do you think about those things? And do you have a person who's your like a model? Is it your mum or dad or is it Great Norman? Who do you think about that? Is it a proxy for you?
The best version of myself? That's what I'd like to think of it. As I had role models growing up. Greg was one of them, Adam Scott, Cameron Smith. That's just obviously just in the professional sports profession. But yeah, ultimately the best version of myself. You know, I remember watching Matthew McConaughey win a Golden Globe and the winning speech. You know, who do who do I look to? Who do I look up to? And what do I look forward to? And those are the three coolest things ever?
That's good?
Yeah, So you know who does he look forward to I think is like the future self trying to become the best person he can be that who does he look up to? Who he's got a really strong faith with the man upstairs? And so do I. And that's something I'm proud of speaking about.
And then that's good. You're proud to say that I am. And yeah, what's twenty six? Hopefully twenty twenty six? Well, I mean we're at the beginning of DIB. What do you I hope, what's one big goal for this year?
You've got me? I don't know. I want to I'm in two majors this year. Oh wow, I want to do something very special in both of those. I will say that.
Okay, we're going to be watching that. And I want to say to you, Elvis, like, just from my point of view, and I guess anyone who's listening, congratulations for sort of getting it together at such a young age. I mean, apart from your wonderful talent and you know what your recently won and all that sort of stuff. I mean, apart from all that, just congratulations for getting it deather at such a young age and very impressive. Well done. May thank you you war