Ep. 103 - Author Tom Coyne

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a fun one and a long one. As you can see as you're downloading this thing, this is Tom Coyne, who is one of my favorite authors in the world, the guy that I I tell you, as you listen to this podcast, you'll see I feel like I have a lot in common with and he just is about to release the course called Scotland, which is a book I just finished and it's unbelievable and you know, touches my heart because of course some of my um my, my old timey days back in Scotland, back in St.

Andrew's getting a chance to to live there and play there and caddy there, and um, I've got a chance, luckily to play some unbelievable golf courses around the area. So he was a great guest, just as I expected. It's a book you must get on July three. You can preorder it as a Father's Day gift, which is a great idea and also another good Father's Day gift that's called a segway. By the way, are you tired of getting your dad a world's best dad coffee mug

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a long time. He's a guy that I didn't know when he wrote Paper Tiger, and it touched home with me because you know I, as you people have heard plenty of times, I tried to do the mini tour circuit and obviously failed. Um I thought, of course, Called Ireland was one of the most fun and and envious endeavors that I'd ever really come across in the sense of golf riding. And now with his latest novel, of course, called Scotland, Tom Coin searches the home of this crazy, silly,

ridiculous game to find the secret to it. Tom, I finished your book today, which comes out on July three, and I gotta be honest, I got a little misty towards the end of it. Man. This one was a little bit more personal your life. Step like was just straight bleeding on the pages, the good the bad things you've done, and it was it was really I felt like you really put yourself in this one. Thanks man, and thank you for having me back or having me on.

I've never been on before, but um, it's it's. Uh. You've been a great supporter and have have been great to say nice things about the books, and I really appreciate it. And uh, yeah, this one is um. You know, the title, of course, called Scotland might make it sound sort of just like a sequel to the Ireland book, but it's it's definitely a different, different story. I think it's like you said, I think it's got a lot more.

It's got a lot more of me. It's certainly got it's got everything I got, you know, I I did sort of leave a lot on the page in this one. Um. And not to say that it's a I don't think it's a heavy story or are um you know, hopefully it's just as you know, funny as maybe the last couple of books have been that. That's my hope. But um, but yeah, it's a book where, um, I had a lot of things to be honest about and I didn't

want to pull any punches. Uh. You know, I think if if you sort of tell half a story, you know, the the reader knows. And uh, you know, I teach writing here at St. Joe's and I'm always telling my students to you will be genuine, be honest, tell it all. And uh and I had to listen to that advice myself, you know, and telling this story. Yeah, I mean, I mean I want to get into the book and some some nuggets that I pulled apart and pulled aside as

I was reading through it. But I mean, you're gonna get this question a lot when you do these kind of press junkets, if you will. But you did Ireland, you know, you walked it. It was it was an amazing story. And then you take on Scotland, which you know, I mean, what does it probably mean? The whole UK is four times the size Iron, three times the size Ireland. Mean, it's got all these these golf courses that you wanted to touch. I couldn't believe some of the places you

went in this book to find golf. I didn't even know they existed. I thought for a long time that, you know, when you got north of Dornick and you got up by Bara, that was about it. And you

proved me absolutely wrong. But how do you and you talked about this early in the book, but just for people that haven't got a chance, that they haven't touched obviously now, but that that will think about picking this up, how do you go about just the the initial planning and process of a explaining to your wife and your daughters that you're going to do this again and be just just the massive planning that goes into this plan in the culture for five days is a big undertaking, right,

I know exactly. I mean, gosh, the planning was really the better part the better part of a year, um easily. Uh you know, so I'm trying to basically shoehorn it. I mean, the idea for this starts with I'm gonna go over, I'm gonna play the road to and that'll be a cool story, maybe a magazine story, you know, And then I kind of just grew from there and took off and then talking to friends and making new friends and talking to people about how you gotta play here,

you got to play there. Um, you know, the list of courses just grew and grew, and I had a map in my office and I'm putting pins in the map of like all these different courses I'm gonna play, and and it just it just totally got out of hand to the point where I got to like a hundred and seven destinations and you know, the wind, the time, the window of time that I had because again I'm a professor, so my semester ends, and I wanted the story to end at a qualifier for the for the

for the Open Championship. So this is, you know, this story is my my quest for the secret to golf. And see, you know, I'll put it to the test and in open qualifying, I'll play all the open courses and i'll see, you know, what I figure out. So I said, all right that I'll be a good ending so I left me like fifty seven days to try and play a hundred and seven courses. So the logistics of planning that, um it was a full time job. You know. I was, you know, between booking the golf

which visit Scotland. The tours and folks were tremendously helpful there, um, but booking accommodations, figuring out I mean on some days I was jumping on a plane up to get a ferry, you know, to get to a tea time, then make the last ferry back off that island that took me to another island because that was the only place to stay. And you know there's only one flight on a Tuesday, you know. So so yeah, planning all that stuff between fairy schedules and and and island flights and all that,

it was. Yeah, it was a full time job. But it was fun because you know, like you know, like planning golf trips, like a good part of the fun is in the plant. It is in like putting together and just kind of in your head imagining how it's gonna go. And um so and and I'm an obsessive person. I really love to dive into projects or trips or books or whatever I'm working on and just sort of

that becomes like everything. So this was a great chance to be like totally an obsessive in a really unhealthy way. It was just staying at my banging away my computer and just emailing I think everybody in Scotland, um to uh find a place to stay and find a and get a tea time and then get people to join me and coordinate with their schedules. So yeah, it was

pretty pretty intense. And in terms of like getting Allison too st Alison as my friends call her, to get her to sign on UM for another one of these. You'll notice that, like they like, so paper Tiger is like a year and a half of trying to play next level golf. So it's it's like five days of course called Ireland um, four months um, and we're married at that point. Ah. Then in the interviewing intervening years then there's children come along and left two awesome little girls. Um,

so the trips have gotten shorter. So this one's fifty seven days. I mean her expectations for me. Um. You know in the book I talked about it like you know, where do you set the bar? Like the asshole husband bar is important. You know when you when you go asking for something, you know, for fifty days of golf in Scotland, you've gotta done, have done some ridiculous stuff to to go to your wife and say, you know, honey,

I think this is a good idea. And and thankfully Allison's used to my Shenanigans and she uh and she was all for it. Um and and they came for two weeks and lived in St. Andrew's with me and um which was just a really special part of the story. But yeah, you know what she was used to from me, you know, fifty days and over the summertime. I wasn't so bad. I you know, I I've thought about this for a while and I mean, like I mentioned when I when I opened it in Paper Tiger, But I

do see a lot of myself in you. I don't know if that's better or worse, but you know, my my wife. There'll be times where I'm on the road doing work and it will be too I'm currently on a on a three week trip quote unquote trip. It's work trip. I mean, I'm doing three events in a row. And you know I get that I miss you text and when you I'm at home and all this stuff, and I'm like, hey, you know, I'm on the road

for the job and uh. And last summer I was on something similar and on the back end, I got this kind of last minute invite to go to St. Andrew's and uh. And it does take a very special person to be with people like us who and you

mentioned in the book have this golf addiction. I mean it really is almost an addictive type of personality where you know you and I'm not gonna give away the end of your book, but you know there was parts of the book where you know you had to go hit a couple more shots, and I've had that before, you know. I I chase the son at Nair and I've I've done some of these things that that you've done. And it's and I think most people probably would look

at us and go, you people are are insane. I mean, there's there's a problem with with how much you guys like doing this absolutely. I mean when you're playing, you know, and on this trip, so I'm doing thirty six a day minimum and holds some days. And you tell that to people and they look at you and they're like, you know, they're like what's wrong with you? And and but to me, and when I'm there, you know, it

just felt like perfectly reasonable. You know, a son's out, there's a golf course, I'm gonna go play, and I'm gonna play until there the sun is down. And that's just kind of like how I you know, that's how I operate. So but yeah, it does take a sort of special people to understand that about you and and accept that about you and uh and indulge it. Really because if I'm not playing or I'm not planning to play, um, I'm a pretty miserable dude, you know. So uh, you know,

I don't three rounds a day. I don't pull that. I don't try to pull that off anymore. If I can get out Saturday, Sunday or Monday Tuesday, if I play five days a week now, I'm I'm feeling pretty good. So yeah, it's it's funny. I mean, I always I always go to this theme when when you go on a golf trip with your friends and and my my again going back to my wife or you know, my best friend Andrew's wife, or you know any of my friends that that that have someone with them and they

always there. There's always a moment where you know, it's day four and you're at Bannon the Dunes, or it's day four and you're in Scotland or wherever, Pinehurst do you name it, and you're explaining to them that you played thirty six holes and then you guys went and

played the Part three course. And even my wife, who's known me for five years and knows that golf is my passion and my job and you know what I love to do, she's still like like, aren't you exhausted, And you're like, yeah, I am exhausted, but it's like a good exhaustion, Like I want to be exhausted from

all this, Like this is what's fun for us. There's no better feeling than like just falling into bed after playing thirty six holes and having a great meal or a few pops or whatever, and and hitting the second No, when you're like back at it in the morning exactly because you know, because because and and just replaying all those shots in your head that tomorrow are going to

go better. You know. It's just that chase. It's it's really it's it's it's the chase part of me that um I mean, I think people that are probably really like settled and content in like what they do maybe who they are and and just kind of um might not have this kind of pension or or understand it.

But um, you know, I think there's an unsettledness and that that runs through this whole story of of me chasing something and it's and it's been in all my books, and I think this is the first time that I put my finger on it in a story and talk about it, um, which which I hope I adds something to it. But yeah, I'm you know, it's that that possibility of like that tomorrow could be better, that is just so um it's so wonderful and tempting and irresistible

that I can't I can't get enough, you know. So thankfully Alison starting to play tennis, and she like played. She played a doubles match and a singles match yesterday and then she had a clinic last night. There you go, she's got the tennis bug. Yeah, right, so she's got she's kind of getting it. She's like, I just want to play more tennis, and I'm like, cool, sare it is? She because you were probably a little better today than

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limited time while supplies last. Please drink responsibly. Back to Tom Coin, you know, one of my favorite ideas you brought up early in the book was this idea of wind and I thought it was such a smart point to be made. I mean you, you you have a way of describing certain things that make total sense that never made sense to me before. And you said, you know, we in the United States, most of us, at least

are afraid of wind. It scares us. And then you go to Scotland and you're on I don't know, let's say day ten, and you've played in brutal weather and

throughout the book. Let me just warn people the weather was not good when Tom was over there, but the wind was blowing and you said, you know, you you had this kind of realization moment where you went, you know, this is a natural part of the game over here, and this is where the game was created, and all of a sudden you weren't as scared of the wind anymore.

And it was a very interesting take because I feel like in the States when we play park lay and golf and you're hitting lob wedges and they back up off the greens. You know, you you look outside and it's blowing five miles an hour and it's a little bit rainy, and you're going, you know, I'm not gonna go out today. It's like to make us the best golfers, it has to be perfect outside. And that is not

how golf was created. No, and it's it's yeah, it's a whole I mean links golf, Gosh, we can talk about ours, right, you know, It's just it's a whole other kind of sport and and wind is a is a huge part of that. And you know, yeah, the golf we play over here, wind is like I resent the wind because it's it's interrupting my chance to make birdier par and and it's it's messing up my scorecard and I wanted to have a good number today. You know, That's kind of how I think when I when I'm

playing over here. You know that I'm like, I'm entitled to a good number because I'm hitting a good and I feel like I'm making good choices and and damn it, the wind is screwing up my golf ball. Um. And you just can't think like that when you're playing over there, you know. And there is that point in the book where you come to accept it, or I come to accept it. Is like, hey, man, like, uh, the weather I had the summer I was there, was it was

it would not qualify as the summer it was. The weather was brutal um consistently, and I just had to get like I had to be okay with it. And uh and and what was kind of cool is I I found my golf like adapting to it and my shots changing, and like I don't going over there. I didn't really know how to hit a good knockdown shot. Um. And if I sat at the range of my club here and tried to learn that, I don't know if

I could. But playing into the wind for three weeks, you know, you learned to the low your body just starts to do it, you know, like because those shots that just go flying up into the air and coming right back, it's, um, you know, it's just not gonna work.

I mean because I think here, like I grew up like learning to try to like avoid the golf course, you know, like play over it, play over the scary stuff, get to the green, you know one and uh, And that's the beauty and the soul and the spirit of playing links golf is that you know, you're not avoiding the course. You're you're you've got to embrace it and

play with it. You've gotta shake its hand, and you got to say, all right, all those humps and bumps out there, here it comes, and I'm gonna try to guess what the ball is gonna do across them. They're not so scary, after all, I guess you could say. And they're not and once you once you're okay with it and you're like, hey, yeah, I'm gonna put from fifty yards off the green or or I'm gonna hit an eight iron from ninety yards because it's it's fun to hit a punch shot. Um, it's really a blast,

you know. Uh. And you have to let your ego go because yeah, you're hitting what you thank you hit an iron or a driver or whatever like that. Throw that out, you know, Um, don't be upset that you're hitting seven iron from one ten because you know, a three quarter punch shot is your friend in Scotland and I and that was a shot that I learned and I and sometimes I really even go back to over here because it's just it's fun to hit. It's fun to make like the right club go the wrong distance.

It's a great way to put it. I always, Uh, it took me. I'm thirty four years old, and I think it was just the last about year and a half two years where I'd go on these trips with my friends and maybe I'm a club longer than said friend when we play in Phoenix and we go on these trips and I almost do it as kind of like an f you to them where they'll be like,

what are you hitting here? And I'm like, oh, I'm hitting four iron and They're like, you're hitting four iron from one sixty and I'm like, yeah, I mean like this gives me the best chance of succeeding, you know, I mean, that's just simply what I'm trying to do here in the first place. And it's you're you're so true. I would love to tie the locals in St. Andrews and be like, do you know how far you hit

your clubs? Because I bet they'd say now right, exactly exactly like and you know, and it's and it's no accident that the yardage is over there. Everything is to the front of the green. You know, all our yardages are to the middle because you don't want to ever carry the ball to the middle of the green. You know, you're thinking, all right front of the greens as far as you want to go. You're probably even playing shorter than that. Um, you know, you're trying to add something low.

So it's just all this imagination and creativity that that becomes part of the links golf that it's just it's a whole other you know mind. Um it engages your mind in like a whole of our way. You know, it's just a blast. So I wanted to get your thoughts on golf course rankings because I know you laid out your plans to play kind of the rota, and you hit up some courses that people say you've got to play, and then you hit up some courses that

you know most people have never heard of. What are your thoughts on you know, the one through one golf course rating basically the idea that still exists. I mean, I think it's I think it's good and valuable and worth doing because it's good for conversation, right, It's good for like, uh, well I played there, and I played there, and why is that ranked ahead of that? It's good for debate, It's good for you know, clicks, it's good

for all that stuff. So I totally get it. And that's good for putting the list on your wall and trying to check a punch off the list too. I always check it out and and try and like see if my my cannon has grown at all, you know, if I if I can check anymore off. But in terms of like how I like rate courses and feel about good, what makes the golf course great. Um, it

doesn't really jive with those lists at all. Um. So there, you know, I get the need for him and uh And like I said, I love people, love to debate them, but I mean, how do you decide what, um, you know, if if cruden Bay is better than Mirror Field or press Wig is better than Truan, Like how do you do that? You know? I know there are these checklists and these shot value things, which is an expression that you could probably do a whole show on, like what

the hell does shot value? What does that mean? But you know, and so I know there's like some metrics that go into it. Um. And course raiders take their do take their job seriously and probably do a really good job and better than I would because as you see by like how I ran courses in the back of the book, like I don't think anything any of my top ten really hardly would show up. I mean some would be like in the top hundred in Great Britain and Ireland. But um, you know the courses that

the list will tell you are the best. Um, you know they're not my best. You know, my my the factors, it's it's you know, I go by my gut, you know how um you know, how likely and how excited I likely would I be to run back there tomorrow if you said I had another chance to play? And how excited would I be if you just said, all right, tomorrow we're playing Turnberry. Tomorrow we're playing there. You know, like, just can can you gauge in your gut? Because for me,

I'd get all giggly about there and Turnberry. I'd be like, oh cool, um, maybe I can play press Wick when I'm there. Um, you know. So it's all it's like that butterflying or stomach kind of factor that and that's so subjective. It's it's that has to do with you know, how was your last time there, how'd you play, who'd you play with? How was the starter, how was the soup? You know, like there's all these things that go into that,

um that personal list that we all have. Uh So in my list, I'm not trying to be like a total contrarian. Um. I know, like John Garrity, it will throws in some crazy um names in his top ten, which like of course as people haven't heard of. And I'm not trying to do what he does exactly, even though our list kind of overlap, um, but they're just I just tried to give people to places that I genuinely, most honestly spelt were the days that I remember most fondly. Yeah,

and you mentioned the experiences. I mean, I I always talk about this. It's and it's sad. It's sad for people that care about how they play. But if you play a golf course and it's blowing fifty and you shoot ninety and you're with a couple of guys that aren't that fun to be around, your experience is gonna be what it was, you know, two days before when you shot seventy two and it was sunny and you were with your buddies and the soup was good, you know.

I mean, there's just there's so many factors that played play into it outside of the fact that you're playing a golf course. Because they're all golf courses, especially over there. I mean, you can take a hole from frasing Borough and Nairn and Cruden Bay and St Andrews and mix them up and you know, nine not have a hundred. People might not know which one is which, you know, but it's about the experiences that you have at these places.

I think it's so important to the fun factor. Absolutely, I mean and and yeah, it's all about the experience. But and I still think that, you know, I look at that list like top U in Great Britain or you know, top in the world, and I do straight up scratch my head about some of them. You know that that that that Trump Aberdeen, you know it is ranked ahead of like cruden Bay. It's unbelievable that doesn't even know. I mean, come on, that's not a real list.

Let's be that's my that's my issues. Sometimes there's so many politics. I mean, and of course this is before you know he was President Trump. But there's so many politics that go in the fact that these these courses are ranked where they are and you're like, no, no no, no, have you played, have you gone and had have you played eighteen holes there? I mean, cruden Bay is one of the best places in the world. I mentioned frasen Boro.

I was listen. I gotta tell you, I was like fist pumping throughout your book because I did this Scotland golf media trip a few years back, um with Darren Bunch and a crew, and I think I was there. You we were supposed to meet up. That was when I think that was when you were doing your book, because Rue McDonald was like, Shane Bacon is in there, and I was in there, and I would have made in the book. And yeah, I think you were staying at the Golf View and they're in or something. Yeah,

that's right, I'd see I would have made the book. Dang, I wish that would have happened. Anyway, the we were playing and the idea of our media trip was to play these courses that most Americans don't go play, and so your praise for Frasenburg got me all excited. I was so pumped up because we played it and we walked out and we were like, this place doesn't even have a golf shop, and this is unbelievable, right, I mean that place was you know, Yeah, you play the

first goal and you're like, what am I doing? You know, it's nothing, you know, it's just it's not special. And then you get start playing over this like mountain that's just in the heart of the golf course, and um, I mean that is like true, true, you know, beautiful lengths, not messed up behind any designer, old and ancient and just awesome. That Yeah, that place is just we just

had a blast there. You know. That's and that's a place that people skipped, um, because there is very much the And I hope this happened a little bit with you. I know what happened with the Ireland book because people have told me. But I hope it happens with this book too. Is that golfers, you have that checklist of just like, all right, I gotta play these ten bucket lits before I die that they yeah, I do that.

That's great, but that you you go back or you expand your list and uh, and you try some of these other places, um that are a little more off the beaten path. You know that, Yeah, you're gonna go play Royal Aberdeen, but man play Murker like right next

to so. Um, you know you're gonna go up to play door Knock, but please play Brora, you know, um, And I guarantee you that you'll remember you're probably your day of Rora is going to be more memorable as great as Dornick is, just because it's such a unique and quirky and unspoiled James Bray gem that uh you know, so yeah, definitely encouraging folks to go, uh, to get off that beaten path is hopefully something that comes from the book. Yeah, it's it's a it's a hard sell.

I actually was texting one of the best I was texting the best friend of mine yesterday because I've just gotten through I think it was mcrahanish part of your book and and it's you know, it's something I haven't done, and it's something I want to do. And I was reading through it and you know, you're you you're so good at painting the picture of what what you've done and how you did it, and you talk about the good and the bad. That's a very uh, that's a

that's a great quality of the golf. But because it's not all roses and sunshine. I mean there's brutal days where you don't want to play the golf course and you're there and you know you have to do it because it's your job. And so I was texting a friend of mine and you know, you get the text back like, yo, I'm not gonna go to Scotland and not play St Andrews and Turnbury and and Troon And I just want to be like trust me on this, you know, like trust me one day when you're fifty

or sixty, will go do that. But you know, let's go play these courses that, um, we're not gonna see McDonald's. You're not gonna here an American accent for a long long time on this trip. And you're probably gonna remember this one way more than you're gonna remember maybe one that you go play all the places everybody's got the shirts from. But I mean it's no it's no knock that either. I mean, you want to play the old course, We're gonna say this is my favorite golf course in

the world. You did this that I thought was really interesting and it's a it's a quality that I'm not sure I have in me. You met up with people on your trip in this book that you've never met before in person, and so judging by the way you talk about yourself, you had to be nervous and uh worried. I don't know it scares the right word, but what were you thinking when you meet these people? So yeah,

I was totally terrified. Well the idea, you know, and I learned from the from the Ireland book or you know, you've learned something from each book and hopefully the next one gets better because you learned something about the writing or how to do it or whatever. Um. You know, and I know that the story can't just be I golfed again. It was great. I went to the pub again, I met, I heard a funny joke, etcetera. You know, it can't just be that at nauseum and and I

certainly didn't want this book to be that. And and the way to make it not that is to make the story about characters. Um. You know, the books of hopefully all the character driven, but probably this one more than an of the others that um, you know, it's really a story about people and relationships. Um. And I have golf the role that golf plays in that, and the role that travel plays in that. I mean, travel bonds people like like nothing else. Um. And I certainly

found that to be the case in this story. So what I did is, I'm like, all right, I gotta invite a lot of people to come on this trip. Um. So I started just throwing out like open invitations, and I felt like squirrely doing it, but I thought, you know, let's just trust the universe to put interesting people in

my path. And and just you know, what the hell you know, and and and and the writer in me also feeling like, all right, the worst this goes, the better, you know, like if this goes totally off the rails and someone turns out to be nuts, um, it would be really good for the book. So so I, you know, Facebook, I'm inviting people. I went I was on Matt Adam show on series sex Time, and throughout an invite, Hey, anyone want to play Scotland in the summer. So know,

the emails start coming in. Everyone wanted to play St. Andrew's and that was the time I was gonna be with my family. So I was like, no, not St Andrew's, but if you want to come meet me here there elsewhere, let's go for it. So yeah, there were probably a dozen they were. I was met by well over a dozen people, but eight or nine or maybe ten of them I've never met before and it only exchanged emails with um and I was going to spend like ten days with them, go and and playing and eating and

living with him. I had a strict like no roommate policy. Yeah, I gave up phone roommates like after Ireland. So um, but you know, all these uh you know, unknown people were showing up and uh and joining me, and and thank god they did, because they add they make the book is kind of how I feel about it, and and and they saved me from having to just be a book about me, because I didn't want this to be some self indulgent like search for my soul, you know.

I wanted the book to be about other people and matter to other people. And so we end up becoming this like little team of like random misfit, I mean, the people like, all right, so I've got like Grandma Billy, who's a reader from who's a Canadian, beautiful, wonderful Canadian woman living in Colorado who wrote to me about my Ireland book, and and and so she came over with her partner Geane, and I've never met her before. This this guy Penn, someone named Penn. I never even heard

of anyone named Penn before. H he comes from Georgia. UM, the director of golf from stream Song signs up. Uh. There's a designer from Chicago, the world speed golf champion,

Gretchen Johnson. She signs on UM. Then I blend that in with some of my Philly crowd, who people would know from the Ireland book who are Yeah, they're Philly through and through, and it's just this incredible mix of of people who just would have no business ever associating with one another if it weren't for if it weren't for golf, if it weren't for Scotland, and and and what's so incredibly cool about it is is these are like they all became dear friends of mine that I

probably text with like now on like a daily basis. Some of them I email with Grandma Billy like three times a week. Still she sends gifts from my girls all the time. And it's just become this incredible friendship. And in a couple of weeks, we're having a like a book launch at my club here Waynesboro, UM outside of Philadelphia, and we're having like a tournament in a kickoff party, and every single person in the book, you know, aside from the Scots, every American or Canadian is coming

in for the party. I mean from Canada, from Arizona, from California, from Florida. Uh, Everyone's going to be there. And I didn't like twist their arms that, you know, I just told him this is what we're doing. And everyone said, I'm in and because they want to see each other again. And that's just I mean that that to me, it just means a lot because you know, in the book I talked about like I got to a point where I was sort of lacking like genuine

probably like genuine friendships, um, and connections with people. And the great gift of this adventure for me, you know, aside from the secret to golf and the chance to play in an open qualifier and get to know all these places, was that I came out of this with people that I'm gonna like be in contact with and be close to for the rest of my life. And um,

that's just a that's an awesome gift. Man. You have to talk to me about Schibo Castle because this place sounds I mean, I've stated some decent hotels in my life, but I don't think I've ever stated a place that even comes close to this. So you've never been, did you? You didn't play the Carnegie Club, No, I've never been.

All right, well you must, so this this was like I crossed it off my list and one I was only playing link score and I heard that there were probably like two places in Scotland that no matter how many strings I tried to pull like that. I just wasn't going to get on. And I guess there's a course of Glenn Eagles where that I wasn't that I had no shot of. And um, and that's fine because I wasn't going there anyway. But you know, when I'm up and around Inverness and I'm seeing, well, geez, there's

this course here the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle. Um. But I was told, you know, that's pretty much off limits. So I just shot him an email and uh, and wouldn't you know, like the director marketing comes back. She's like, well, you can't play because you have to be staying here. It's you know, it's very much members only. You have to be staying at the estate. And then she comes back and says, well, hey, maybe we could stort you

a room at the estate. And I said, well that sounds like a lovely idea, and don't I don't mind if I do that. Yeah, so I like reach uggle the schedule. Um, I'm with a bunch of friends. At that point I fell. I'm like, yeah, I've seen a couple of days, guys, good luck at the b NB. I'm going to um Shangri law here. So it was just like and I've stayed obviously me like we travel a lot, we're stay in a lot of places and stayed in some great places, but um never quite stayed

anywhere like this. I mean this, It was just like a taste of a different kind of world in life. So I show up and there's a butler waiting for me, you know, with like a tray of whiskeys and killed like waiting at the door, Mr Coin, and uh, you know, I walk in and and and you know, there's another person waiting for me to show me to my room.

And I'm like, well, wait, my car's out there, because I didn't see any cars anywhere when I pulled up to this huge manor house, I was all confused and I thought I was lost and in the wrong place. Like no, no, your car is being taken care of. Uh and like what about my bags? No, no, your your your bags are in your room, Like wait a second. I just you know, it was like spooky. It was hospitality,

like supernatural hospitality. I get up to my room, it's got like quarters for my butler, which I forgot to bring. But next time I will bring my butler. Yeah, I mean it's it seemed like you whipped on that. By the way, I totally that was a total total whiff. Um. He's at home. I'm like doing nothing. Was it was it like the big Was it like the butler in a what is it big? What is it's not? Big Daddy? Mr Deed's the butler that just shows up behind you. Yeah, exactly.

Well and then well in it killed Um it was like that. So and then you know, I get to my room and I'm like, I'm kind of hungry, and they're like, we'll call the kitchen. You know, there's no ment, no room service men. You just call him and tell him what you want, which freaked me out. I mean, it was so nice. I was like uncomfortable. I was like nervous. I wanted to walk around and check the place out, but I'm like, no, I'm just gonna stay

in my room. And the room was so absurd. I walk into my bathroom and there's like two giant cloth foot tubs in the middle of the room, and in the bathroom is the size of uh It's just massive. So I just like hung out and just checked out my room and there's and and there's like a guy to etiquette while you're there and stuff, and it was it was I mean, this is the place where Madonna had her wedding, Um so really over the top awesome. Uh it was, yeah, you know, there was. It was

non transactional. You couldn't use money for anything. I couldn't even use a credit card for anything. I have. They get I got a massage because at that point, I played like sixty rounds in like, you know, twenty five days and I was feeling a little sore. So they arranged a massage for me. And I couldn't pay for it or tip anyone, but um they they it was funny. They gave me like crystal jars to sniff from, and the aroma that I liked would like identify what was

wrong with my body or where I needed attention. And so I'm like sniffing all these jars and everything points to me just being like exhausted, weary and tired, and I'm like, yeah, I thought they were just gonna like send me back to bed, but ninety minutes later cracked me from like a new mole man. I was like

reborn at Skibo. And this was before we even played the golf course and and the next morning we go out and buddy, didn't they let a friend come and join me And it was so cool, man, it was just so you go into the halfway house and everything's free, and they have a thing on the wall peg for like where you'd hang your bag tag, and so it's like, you know, it's Pine Valley, Okman and Cypress like all all the clubs, like where members at Schebo would have

left their bag tag from home. So of course, like we go to our bags and like rip off our our bag tags and hang them up there. And mine from McCall Country Club and Upper Derby, Punsylvania are sixty four and uh it's it's got my driver's license photo on the car because it's like, you know, so that it notes. So I didn't hop the fence. So I hung it right there, right right in front of Pine

Valley and felt good about it. As um, next time I go to a massage Envy, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask him where the own a roma jars are like you guys stars out because they don't know what's wrong with your when when my membership there's it was the only place. It was the only place in the book that was. I mean, it was the only place in the book that didn't sound like every BnB I ever state in Scotland. Yeah, I know. Otherwise, yeah, if you if you state in Scotland, my my accommodation stories will

ring true. But this place was was different and fair enough. Uh. They weren't all the people who worked there and you have me there, they weren't snobby and they were just really great. But it was just I didn't know what to do. When I left, I'm like, um, can I pay for my dinner? Like where's my tab? They're like, we don't have those, you know. When I asked for a key to my door and they're like, the doors don't lock here, sir, you know, don't You're fine? I'm like,

my gosh, what is this? It sounds like I've been to some you know, been lucky enough to be invited to go play some very exclusive country clubs in America, and I am just the type that I get uncomfortable because it's so nice, Like I don't I don't really know what to do, and I don't know where to go to the bathroom or what I can I take my hat? Do I take my hat off? Where do I change my shoes. I always feel just like I'm out of like like I don't just I don't belong

to I shouldn't be here? What am I doing here? And that's what it the way when you told when you said in the book you didn't go out in the Hulk and you didn't know, you didn't know what what courtesy thing you should be doing or not. I was cracking up because it's just it's so true. It felt like an American country club. Yeah, totally. I've I've had a bunch of those experiences over here where you're like, yeah, shoes or no shoes or is that the members bathroom?

And that doesn't happen. And it's amazing for like we think of Scottish golf for like the homeland of golf in St Andrew's at Mirrorfield, and you have this idea, this notion that it's going to be like really stuffy um and hey Merefield they do their stuffiness with the kind like you kind of wanted to be stuffy there actually, But otherwise, I mean, dude, these are just places to

play a game, you know. They for the like ninety eight percent of the clubs couldn't give a damn like if you're wearing your shoes or not, or you know where what door you wentered, or any of that kind of nonsense. Um, you know, it's it's it's very much. The vibe there is is a lot more laid back than I think people would expect golf in Scotland to be. You should take your hat off on doors, though we Americans aren't good at that. I try, I really, I really do. I went to me, any now, your hats

that you wear, it's got to be difficult. Well it literally I bought a hat today a quick ridge and I walked by one of the U s G guys and goes, oh, well, another hat, And I was like, listen, man, this is my thing. This is my thing. You have like a just a hat room. I have a golf room that has now earned into kind of hat room. So there's a lot of golf clubs, and there's a lot of hats, and there's a lot of golf shoes.

Um that's basically it. You know, my puppies, it's my puppies favorite room because at any point, um, at any point during the day, on any day, she can find about seventy golf balls hidden amongst hats and shoes and clubs, and um, she's a big fan of golf ball. So hey, now it's kind of I guess my kind of my dog's room. I don't really know, but that's where I store all of this stuff. And yes, I do continually

add hats, and I know it's an issue. Um. You one of the things you did in this book was talk very much about your attitude on the golf course. And it's something I battle with. I battle with my attitude on the golf course. I feel like when I go into the round, knowing I've got to be a quote unquote good guy that day, I'm pretty good about it. You know, if you're playing with the boss or my father in law, or you know you're you're trying to

impress somebody, you know, I'm not gonna get frustrated. It's it's the it's the comfortable groupings your friends, UM, where I feel like my frustration still come out. And I hated about myself and you wrote that. You wrote, you know, you get done with the round and you hate yourself for the way you act in the golf course. And I think a little bit of this book, in this trip was about trying to solve that as much as it was trying to solve golf. So has have you

solved that? Do you feel like you're a better person in the golf course? No? Absolutely, I think in the end, you know, it's not a story where like in Paper Tiger, I took the approach that I'm gonna try and solve my golf via like the in a technical sense, I'm gonna solve my golf twing. You know, I'm gonna hit a thousand balls, I'm going to get a coach, I'm gonna get on the monitor, I'm gonna do all that stuff, you know. And that was I'll take that path to

getting better of golf. And I got a lot better of golf. But yeah, this this kind of secret to golf forgetting the thing this that quest is very much more cerebral one year and about attitude and approach, um, and what I learned over there and and learn and in Scotland where and I do think that I've definitely, uh, my attitude has turned around when it's come to the way I play. Um, I think there's a whole lot more I play with a lot more acceptance UM, which

is kind of a hokey word. But uh, you know, I've come to accept a lot more things about my life. Um. And and that's trickled down into my golf. Um, accepting good and bad things about who I am and the way I play or what happens to me on the golf course. Um. That's something that like I was told when I was doing Paper Tiger that you have to learn to accept your shots and get on with the next one. I couldn't do that. I was haunted by

my bad shot. I'm haunted by three puts. Um. But I think that I've gotten a lot better with that. I've gotten a lot better to with you know, kind of just um, you know, surrendering to the idea of like all right, this is the shot that I have, or this is how good I am, or this is what I'm able to do, and I'm going to do my best with it. You know. Um, I've gotten a lot more. Um, I probably just worry about my golf less and and and that has made a big difference

in in my in my results. I think I'm actually playing like really well this season. It kind of takes a while for like you learn something, and it takes a while for it to sink in. So it's been

a couple of years since Scotland. Um, but I'm playing right now better than I even did in Scotland because the things that you know, I learned over there, Um, you know, being present and just trying to like hit I'm just going to try and hit a good golf shot right here, and I'm not going to think about the next one or if i can make Bertie from there, or the fact that I'm five over uh, you know that kind of stuff. I've got a lot better shutting

that stuff out. Um, I'm playing. I'm trying to be be present and I'm trying to just be damn that ull. Let I'm golfing, and U when I do that, like, I hit it pretty good because there's no pressure in that exactly, there's no pressure in like this kicks. Ask man, I'm golfing today and and I'm I'm actually kind of good at this, and if I just let myself be good at it, it's gonna be so much fun. Um. That's that's yielded that that kind of attitude, which is kind of like a lack of an attitude. I guess

it's it's it's a pretty good results. Let's take one more break in the interview. I hope you're enjoying it. Just remind you that the pros are gonna see it up this week at TPC South. When you can go play TPC Louisiana, host of the teens, there are classic I played the place a year and a half ago.

It's really fun. And you might see an alligator book at tea Time at TPC Louisiana and thousands of the great golf courses across the country on te dot com by the pg Tour, the official tea Time reservation site of the PGA Tour. And you can do so without booking fees. That's right, there's no booking fees none, zero zilch every course. Every tea time plus is about listener of the clubhouse. You get to save an additional on deal times with a single use promo code teof Bacon. Okay,

last that was our last break back the time. It's it's something that's helped me lately is two things. One is, you know, there's there's a there's a there's a thing in my head where I'm thinking about a golf shot and I'm nervous and I'm thinking about, you know, left, right, center, short, long, all of the things that it could not be. And um, you know, one thing that's helped me mentally, as I said, I've I've told myself lately like it's either gonna be

good or it's not. Like there's really only two things. It's like a five foot or you're either gonna make the five foot or you're gonna miss it. And that is literally the only outcomes possible. And the other thing that's helped me is nobody gives a ship what you're doing. Literally, not one of your best friends, your caddy probably doesn't

care unless you're paying them, and nobody cares. Like I feel like we think as golfers that people care, and we're like nervous that they care that maybe we shot seven five when we should have shot seventy one and nobody cares. Not even your best friends really care, and uh so why do we care so much? And that's something that I've really tried to kind of hammer in my golfing brain that's always been kind of a psychopath golf brain is like, just go play, man, Like, like

you said, you're out there playing, that's pretty awesome. And no I mean, that's a huge that and that's a sort of revelation to the book that I have at one point is exactly like you said, like nobody gives a damn what I'm doing, and even if they do, like what anyone else is thinking about me is none

of my damn visiness. And that is like, that's something that I've been applying to my life in general, um, as like a writer and as a person, UM because as a writer, you really especially like with the months that I have coming up here, there's gonna be a lot of reviews, there's gonna be stuff on Amazon, whatever. People are gonna say different things. And I've gotten to a point where it's like, hey, man, that's cool, that's

your deal. I'm gonna stay on my path. You know, I'm I'm I'm I'm keeping my side of the street clean. You do your thing on yours. It's all good. You know. Whatever you think about me or or whatever I'm doing, that's fine. And I can do that in my life.

It's like, but why can't I do that my golf? Um, where I do still have this hang up that like this matters so much that um and the whole world is judging me, and I'm judging myself, like I'm basing my worth on on whether this four footer goes in once you get to the point, like you said, where it's like I could miss this and that's okay. Um, it's funny how they seem to go in, you know. Uh So, UM perspective, I guess is what it is.

I think overall in this book. And the difference maybe between the Ireland book or the Paper Tiger or Paper Tiger, it's a little more I've grown up a little more, and I think I have a little more perspective on some different things that I hope UM makes my approach to the game a little bit different, you know, and and maybe the people and you know, this is kind of a combo. Like Paper Tiger is a book you can read and like I think maybe you can improve

your game a little bit. There's stuff in there that's valuable of course called Ireland. You can read it and you'll get some laughs and um and want to go to Ireland. I hope, UM, And I hope this book combines a little bit of the two. I think there's some things that to actually learned here about UM. Golf as a mental approach to it. But even like some some stuff about um, just playing the game physically that

they maybe you can take from it. Um. But then also hopefully it's a book that makes you want to go to Scotland. Yeah, it definitely makes me want to go to Scotland. I've sent like ten and eleven PM text to friends and my dad the last like two weeks as I've been kind of reading together. Next we got to do it. We'll do a trip. I would, I would, I would love it. So here's the million dollar question, and and you've got to answer it. Don't be don't be dancing around this now. Oh I know

what you're gonna ask me? One trip left? Yeah, Ireland or Scotland? Where you going? I knew you see, I'd even talk about that in the book. Like I totally screwed myself because I'm forever gonna be asked now I don't wander Scotland. Which is better, right if you follow up in Ireland book with a Scotland book? Um? All right,

so one trip, one trip? Uh? You know I'm promoting a Scotland book here, Shane, as I always going to say, I think I think you should probably say Scotland, even though I've never played golf in Ireland and I'm doing it in and I'm so excited about I've never gone to Ireland and played one golf course in my entire life. I know, I feel, I mean, I feel like I'm gonna go in. Um, I have to email you a lot about it because I'm planning it for like twelve guys.

But UM, I think you can say Scotland because you're promoting a book. Um it's called a course called scot Scotland, so you should probably say Scotland right now. So I will say and I will say Scotland because if you said I had, if I one trip, then I'm probably gonna go to St. Andrew's. Um, That's just what I'm gonna do. Because and not just and not even just for the golf, um, because St Andrew's to me, is

the world's greatest town, location, place, everything, everything. It's a university town, it's a history town, it's got ruins, it's got it's the birthplace of golf. It's got the old it's got it's just, it's got great restaurants, it's got incredible people, it's just everything. So yeah, one trip San Andrews wins it. Um and uh and that's what and that's where I had It's funny. And I just did a story um for Northern California's golf for the Golf

Association up there there magazine. They asked me to do in Ireland versus Scotland piece, So I did it. It's like a nine hole match and uh and and and had all these different categories of like value, fun, history, you know, and in that tally, Ireland came out one up. Um. It's just the way the math went. It's the way into the way the ball went that day. And uh, you know, if you want to do that, they're there

are two different kinds of trips. If you an Ireland trip, um, you know, if you just want to go with the dudes and have fun one and laugh and your jokes and have see crazy stuff. You know, great vistas and great views and really you know, golf courses that will just blow you away with drama. Um and you're just there for the crack, as they say in Ireland. You know, an Irish trip for fun is really uh is really tough to beat for a buddy strip, especially now if

you're a golfer. If you're a hardcore offer, if you're in the history and you really want to golf your brains out, man, Scotland is, Scotland can't be beat because there are so many pockets in town. St Andrew's one of them, Inverness, um, North Berrick, Presswick, whatever, where you can drop anchor for a week golf your brains out.

Golf incredible places, um and and never be more than you know, a half hour from where you're staying, and and and just really and and play places where the history is so rich in the game matters so much, you know, in Ireland if they're you know, the game is a little bit younger there, and some people still would consider the British game in Ireland, so um, you know. But if if you're a golf head, Scotland is, Scotland

is where it's at and you're winning either way. Let's be honest, if you're going to Ireland or Scotland to play golf, it's it's it's you're not losing the trip if you're you're looking across the water and going, man, I wish I was over there. Um. Also, one last thing I think that you and I can both agree on is if you go to Scotland, just play Brara. Just play. Just go play Brara. And if you hate it, if you hate Brara, tom Coin and I will ven moo you the green fee back if you hit us

on Twitter. If you go to Brara and say I played eighteen holes and it was awful, we will ven moo you your green feedback. Uh yes I will. I will, but I'll use your your venmo account. Then they'll forget, they'll forget about this. At this point there um of course called Scotland July three. Make sure you pick it up. I was. I loved it. I really did. I mean, I'm not just saying that because you're on the line.

It was. I thought it was your your best book yet in a sense of interest in storylines and stories

within the stories and the people. And I obviously have a soft spot in my heart for Scotland, you know, being over there and caddying and living there and um all that, and it just it brought back a lot of memories, and it brought back a lot of good places that I win in places that we've eaten, in places that we've slept at that are similar to the places that you've been to in the book, and now I got a castle apparently because that's the one place

I haven't been. You just have to tell them that you're ready to put down the fifty grand you know what, somebody been mobi that and then we'll be good to go. I'll take you with me to skibo if you've been mobile fifty thousand tom coin. Uh? And where where can people pick it up? I mean it's gonna be on Amazon and everything like that. Yeah, anywhere books are sold Amazon, Barns and Noble, or for your local independent bookstore too, So um, get it anywhere? And is there? Is there

my last question before you go? You kept talking about weight loss in the book. Have you gained your weight back? I put it all right back on during the writing process, but I was on sabbatical to Spring for my teaching, and I went on a little bit of a fitness kick, and I'd like to say, I'm back to my Scotland waite. There you go. I'm ready to go on a press tour and not you know, be ashamed of my loaded,

be stung face. I just I just was amazed at how many times I read the word haggets in this book. I mean, I knew people ate it, but you like it. It's unbelievable. Love me some haggas. Yeah, a lot of a lot of hack stories, a lot of stories in Prepare Yourself for Haggis in the book. Thanks Tom, Thank you. It looks like I'm a wreck. Many thanks to Tom Coin for jumping on and chatting that long about a

book that I think you will all enjoy. If you've made it to this point, for goodness sakes, go buy it. Probably worth your time in the last one minutes or so. And a reminder that if you're tired of getting your dad a World's Best Dad coffee mug for Father's Day, you need to get your dad a new backpack. Surprising this Father's Day with the Ohio Summit up top backpack. I trust Ohio for all my bag needs, and I

know your dad will as well. Celebrate Father's Day by getting your dad, your husband, or even yourself happy Father's Day of yourself a new Summit backpack. Specially for listeners of the Clubhouse. Use promo code Clubhouse. You'll say forty unbelievable The Summit Backpack on osio dot com through June. Ohio the World's best bags. Hey, do me a favor watch the Curtis Cup this weekend, and also do me a favor watch the US Open next week. We've got

some podcasts rolling out. You'll like them. We are nearing the opening round and shouldn't got kill. It should be exciting alright, have a great weekend.