Ep. 108 - Open preview with Brad Faxon

link style course right here in the United States. And if Seattle isn't in your near term plans, know that you can book your next round at one of the thousands of other great golf courses across the country on TF dot com by the PGA Tour, the official tea time reservation site of the PGA Tour. And you can do so without booking fees. That's right, note booking fees

every course, every tea time. Plus as a valued listener of this here Clubhouse podcast, you'll get to save an additional twenty five per cent on deal times with a single use promo code t off Bacon that's on tf dot com. Check that out and yes, it is Open week. I will unfortunately not be in Scotland because we at Fox have the unique opportunity to bring you a little afternoon golf after you finish up watching the Open in

the morning. The US Junior Amateur will be on FS one uh the semifinals or Friday two to four pm Eastern. The Championship is on Saturday one to four pm Eastern, so make sure you check that out once you wrap up with your Open Championship viewing, because it's gonna be great stuff. These young kids get just better and better and it really looks like you're watching professional golf when you watch this. And it's at Baltics Roll of course,

a major championship venue. So headed out that way tomorrow and we'll be there for the week and the weekend and then Sunday morning. I'll be able to get up after we wrap up the Championship on Saturday and check out check in with Carnousti, which looks extremely dried out, which is awesome, very brown, which is awesome, and the greens look like they're in unbelievable shape. So it's gonna be a fun one. It brings. I think I think

the conditions bring in a lot more players. I think you're gonna hear a lot of people talk about Tiger Woods. I talked with that about I talk about that with Brad facts and the guests this week just about um, you know what type of player can benefit from conditions like this, So it should be a lot of fun.

The Open is one of the most fun viewing weekends of the entire year, just because you get to get up super early and you know, get the coffee brewing and lay on the couch and watch golf, and then you get to go play golf in the afternoon, that is, after you watch the US Junior Ameter on the f S one C. I am such a business guy. Do you hear that? That was I didn't even miss a beat. And before we get to Brad, I just wanted to let you know that when it comes to golf equipment,

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So stop carrying around a bad golf bag, get yourself a brand new bag. Upgrade. Osio the world's best bags. All right, to my summer best friend, That's what I'm calling them, My best buddy of the summer, A guy that I spend more time within my wife Brad facts and up next, and we welcome back into the clubhouse, a man that has avoided my request to quote unquote pot it up. That's why you get so annoyed, is it's the way I referenced brad facts and you hate the way that I say pott it up. I love

come never. You know, you're such a millennial. You know I don't have that vernacular in my vocabulary, but I'm gonna start using that. Maybe people think I'm cooler more contacts that way. Yeah. So you and I have spent basically the entire summer together, and I hate to even bother you on a day that that we're not having to work together, but I appreciate you coming on. You know, I I love chatting with you about kind of golf courses because you and I are both kind of golf

course nerds. For goodness, say so, we just got a chance to do the US Senior Women's Open at Chicago Golf Club, and we're basically salivating the entire broadcast. But when you look at pictures of what we're going to see this week at the Open Championship, you're seeing a golf course today is a historic Open Championship golf course, But it looks the way that if you're going to close your eyes and think about an open venue, it

looks exactly like you'd think it's burnout. The fairways look like they're gonna run forever, but the greens are still in good shape. And you know, for people like you and I, it's gonna be an exciting week to watch because it feels very much like a real Open. Yeah, you're ready, it feels and it looks it looks like burned out, no control over the golf ball in atlant and you know a lot of rubbed the green bouncing and Carnewsti or or is affectionally known by many of the

the players as car Nasty. When the Open was there in ninety nine, you know, Paul Lord somehow managed to win that thing in a mere seven over part, you know, roughly eight ft high, and then the finish by John Vanderbilt. People remember those two Opens there. But I'll tell you what. We played the Senior British Open there a couple of years ago, and you know I've played Carnusti in the

Dunhill Links Championship. It's a fabulous golf course until the last couple of holes and then it's very I would say, out of character, what would think of Links golf and British golf with these creek beds that run through those two holes. But nevertheless of those two holds are impossible too. But it's one of my favorite courses and the same my favorite story is when when Ben Hogan came over to plays one and only British Open he played at Carnews. The d ended up winning that event to win the

first three majors of nineteen fifty three. And then I couldn't get back in time to play the PA Championship to win the Grand Slam because he took the boat back and it wouldn't get back in time. You don't take the boat anymore, you're telling me that's not that's not an option. No, I don't want to be on the q E two. But it's just it's just there's so much great history there the course. You're gonna have

to have a little bit of everything here. And and I love the RNA's approach to the Open Championship is unlike what we expected a US Open, for um hard to be the score of the winning score around part. I think the U s g A has a different

amount mentality of the RNA. The RNA so dependent on weather, and you know that's gave me course is difficult Ternbury and eighty six when Norman one mirror field when Els one had very very high if I don't remember hitting so right rough there and it was over my belt high obviously Carnoustian. It can be as difficult as they wanted to be. But it's fun when it's fast, you know, when it's narrow, and when the wind blows so that

the RNA hopes to have some wind. It looks like the forecast is for some steady, um warmest weather for over their high sixties. Nothing crazy, but as you know, it changes in a minute. Yeah, it was. I want to get into kind of a couple of names and predictions, and of course we'll talk a little tiger there as well. But I wanted to ask you, because I know you've got some interesting stories across the pond in your career.

What was your first introduction to links golf? Not in America, if you will, but links golf, you know, in Scotland and England and Ireland. First time I ever played in England was in the Walker Cup at Royal Liverpool or hoy Lake as we called it, and it was the first time I crossed the Atlantic and that hotbed of golf and Royal Liverpool looking at St Anne Birkedale, you know they're all tied in there within a half an hour's drive of each other, and some other great qualifying courses.

But I think what blew me away was, well, there were two things that brew me away, but playing the game. Part that brew me away was how irrelevant yardage was. And what I mean by that you played over there to know that you could be in a in a situation where you might be in the rough down wind from two hundred yards and hit a nine iron and it just bounces and bounces and bounces, and then you could have a shot from a hundred and thirty yards. It could be a foreign and might not be enough.

So it's I love the old school mentality, even with the technology and new equipment, of having to think about a trajectory rather than what club and what yards. You know, it's really about containing and controlling the golf ball. Yeah, I mean, so many people talk about you being a great putter. I know that that's something that's followed you around your entire career, but I don't think you've ever

really gotten the credit. This is a compliment you're getting, by the way, I don't think you've ever gotten the credit for being such a great pitcher. I mean, your your ability to get the ball up and down from around the greens is something that a lot of the people that played golf with you throughout your professional career

talk about. You had to have loved being over there just simply because you could be so creative around the greens, not just with these approaches that you're talking about, but just you know, looking at a pitch shot knowing there's twelve ways to play it. We felt we saw a little bit at Shinnikock. We're gonna see a lot more of that at Carnoustie, I'm sure, yes. And it's a different kind of chipping and pitching. You'll see a lot more guys bouncing the ball along the ground, putting from

farther away because it's so baked out and dry. Uh. You'll see less sixty degree wedges used for pitching. You know, you might see you know, the odd pop punker shot around the green where guys taking a sixty outer has to get a lopshot over one of those those bunkers. But you know, the greens of Carnunsity have a lot of folk to them, and there's a lot of rough around the greens. So finding a fairway, you know, like

everybody to play. If you can find the fairway, find the greens, you're gonna be a big advantage and the start of carnysity. I mean, the holes are so different. You have holes where you gotta draw it. You got hole where you gotta fad. You got a long part, four sharp parforce. You've got holes that go into the way and against the wind, and it's it comes at you. In the first four or five holes, they turn every

different way. And then when you get to the par five six, that famous hole or Hogan took it down to the left side between the bunkers and the obi where most players lay it out to them right now. Um, it's there's so much choice, and you know, you and I would have a battle to see who has the most great logos and who has played the most top hundred courses. And I bet if we sat in the room and had a beer and just said, Okay, what

are your favorite courses? Those courses have so much choice and so much option, and that's what you'll see it. So do you feel like you're a lot of the a lot of the things we're hearing from the players is that driver is going to be out of these guys hands. And you already mentioned hoy Lake. I'm sure if you had a dollar every time somebody says who we like this week, you're not gonna have to retire and never have to worry about working on the broadcast

team anymore. But it's it's gonna be brought up a lot. It's gonna look like when Tiger one, when you hit one driver. All week long, we've heard Phil Nicholson say you might not have a driver in the bag. Tiger said to day he feels like this is his best chance ever. Does this eliminate distance? And when I say that, does it mean does this eliminate the bombers? And allow basically everyone that's a media medium distance short distance hitter

to contend this week if they play well around the greens. Absolutely, And and you know when Tiger won there and Mcarroy want at Wylak, they did it in different ways, but they weren't hitting driver and every hole for sure. And it's not that you can't, but you have to be precise. And you know, it's amazing that You could have a bunker that's you know, seven yards by seven yards wide, and it seems like a ball that's ten yards left or right of it. They all end up in that bunker.

For some reason. The way that the design works, balls end up kicking to those bunkers, which, as you know, or death. On the golf course, it's like a hazard. You got to hit it out sideways. So um, you can play a strategy that takes all that out of play, but then you've got to really play some controlled iron shots and if it gets windy, it'll be fun to watch when these players are gonna have to do. I want to take just a moment to talk about how hard it is to hire people. Hiring people is brutal.

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results like that, it's no wonder. The zip recruiter is the highest rated hiring site in America and right now for my listeners, you can try zip recruiter for free at this exclusive web address zip recruiter dot com slash clubhouse. That's zipp recruiter dot com slash Clubhouse. C l U B H o U s E. Nailed it. Zip recruiter dot com slash Clubhouse. Zip Recruiter the smartest way to hire. Now let's get back to Mr faxon do you believe that that this is Tiger's best chance, not just this

week but the Open Championship in general. Do you feel like this is Tiger's best chance to contend? Considering he can look at holes, green back to the t he can use strategy, you can hit a lot of those long irons. Do you feel like going forward? Uh, and and focus is always around Tiger Woods, that this is the best major he's going to have to win. Well, it depends are you're talking about this year in the

next few years that he plays. I mean, he seems to be getting back and stronger and um contending in different ways. Now, you know, we used to see Tiger win by driving it far, hitting great approach shots, and putting like nobody's ever putted before. And now you know, we see him contend by having one of those three things working, but never all three things working. So he needs to find a way to ramp up the consistency.

I love Shamblie's comment that when he went around carn Neusti yesterday that it will be the best chance Tiger has to win because he doesn't have to draw the ball and there were only two holes that he has to draw the ball. And I'm pretty sure if if that's the place Shamblie is accurate, those will be three with or two iron holes for him. Yeah, it's it's just, you know, the comments we're getting from carnoustis crazy. I mean, these guys are hitting thirty yard drives. We saw it

a little bit last week at the Scottish Open. Ricky was hitting forward in fifty yard drives and uh, it's it's gonna take. I don't think patients is the right word. I just think a game plan. Whoever has the game plan that I feel like it works the best, not for Thursday, not for Friday, but for all four days and I wonder if if you have to look at at a guy that's really really smart when you know

the guns go off. I mean, I I know Jordan's speed struggled this year with his game, and I know if he doesn't win this week, it's going to be the first calendar year that he hasn't won since he was a kid. If ever, but you think about a Jordan's speed, and you think about a guy that has has has definitely I would say, you know, taking a bigger leap than most of these young guys as somebody that can outthink a golf course, no doubt. And the variable is going to be the wind in the wind direction,

strength and wind and where it blows from. And an experience always makes a big difference if you've played the course in these different conditions. But there are some players and speak your games. I would put Justin Rose in that category of guys that know how to be precision like a machine like when they play, but still have

a knack. They have the ability to to find a way when they're they're awf a little bit to get the ball up and down or get it in the fairway with enough length or enough pop and that's why Tigers got a chance here. And there's something about I would maybe you should have said this earlier this year.

There's a spirit that comes out when you go over to play in Scotland, and I think you throw away the rules and I don't mean the rules of golf, but the rules of what you normally do, and you know you're you're hitting shots to avoid pop bunkers, to leave yourself longer on approaches because you know they're dead, or else you're you're getting up and hitting a four hundred yard drive so that you can have a two hundred yard eight iron to a six hundred yard part five,

there's there's so many or else you'll play on number six, you'll play with three iron, five iron, seven iron and walk away with the best part of your life. So there's going to be so many different options, so many different choices out there that that a player. And you you said you don't like the word patients. Maybe it's persistence. You've got to have something that keeps your nose to the grindstone here and realize that this isn't a normal

Open championship. Carnousti is different um and then it's gonna make you hit some shots, and especially these last three holes seventeen and eighteen, two tough parfloors that are parallel to other different directions. Um one of them is always amazingly difficult. So it'll be it'll be interesting to see what wind comes up the carnst and what type of player or players can do the best there. You know, I'm not sure I've ever played a golf course for

the first time. When I first played Carnousti, where I stood on the t on, I would say three, four, maybe five holds. You mentioned seventeen this is the best example of it, and had no clue where to go and stand on seventeen for the first time, I had no deal where the fairway was. I mean, you know that's I think seventeen is tougher than eighteen, you know, ten times out of ten unless the winds right behind you.

But you know, when you I was watching I was watching the Sergio Padrick Open the other day on they had on Golf Channel, and you know, you're hitting long iron, long iron. It's like you said, it's a completely different strategy and you have to commit to it, and then you've got to go out there and hit the golf shots, and so you know, you can stand on sixteen T two three four five under par and feel pretty good about yourself, and you can walk off shooting even very

very easy. I mean, it has to be the toughest three whole stretch that you finish in just about any major championship, right. No, I agree with you that I'd love to see by the end of the week what the percentage of Green's hit on sixteen are, especially when the ts way back there. It's two D twenty yards. Uh. It's it's a complete inverted saucer. It's a Donald Ross style degree not a Donald Ross screen, but the style where it's high in the bill and it runs off

on all the sides. If if you're gonna land it short, it's got to be just a perfectly placed, a shaped shot, uh. And it goes off far enough that there's never an easy pitch or chip or whatever it is that you're gonna hit. And then seventeen, you know, if it's down wind, Yeah, sure, it's a it's a short, shorter T shot, but you've got to keep it short of those that burned the crosses. And it's it's never in a situation where guys are

going to drive it across that burn. For some reason, the founders of the game figured out that that t shot. And you know, if it is down when God bless you, because when you play eighteen, you're gonna see the toughest shot. Yeah, that eighteen toldly, you know, you cut the ball as a lefty eye, draw it as the right. You can land a shot of the ante screen, have it go out of bounds, left of the green. It's it's the damnest thing I've ever seen. And never mind the creek

you get across the O B on the left. The ghost of John Vandervelt. I mean, it's I can't wait to sit down and watch this. Then, yeah, you know, you you think of Vandervelt and his name always comes up, of course it does. I mean he makes triple on the last it loses in a playoff, and we'll forever in in a hundred years from now, if you're alive in a hundred years, you'll remember him standing in the burn, you know, with his pants rolled up. It's an image

that is forever burned in the golfer's memory. But you forget, you know, Sergio Bogie's eighteen Padrick Harrington doubles eighteen. I mean, these are the guys that are contending to win this Open Championship and they're playing it multiple over par on that final day. I mean, it's not just Vandervelt that struggle with it. And and I loved on Twitter last

week Scott van Pelle chimed in. I was talking a little bit about you know, they were showing a special on Golf Channel about Vandervelt, and I said, I'm not sure I can watch it because it's still just it just pains me. You know when you see somebody like that melt down and he says, you know, he got one of the worst breaks of all time Van Develle did, and everybody forgets that. But uh, you know, I know you didn't play in that Open in ninety nine. I

don't know if you're watching it. If you you had, you were at the end of edge of your seat. But I remember where I was during that whole thing. And as you said, it's something that is so burned in the memory of golfers that any professional on that t you don't have to have a seven shot lead to feel comfortable there, right, no no doubt. You know, maybe it's so easy after, you know, watching what happened to Vanderbilt to say, why don't you just play six

R and six iron and six um. And by the way, you could have hit the six iron in the creek, you get hit the next six R and the funker you get hit the next six tron out found um. But Vanderbilt, you know, pulls driver out and it would have been an easy decision to go wedge wedge, but US two D ten yards. All he had to do was hit it over the creek in the grand stands.

He gets a drop in front of him. It's it's an easy six if he hits it in the grandstands, which you did, but it's somehow cams and ricochet back over the creek. Even if it when in the creek, it's a better shot, UM, a better break. And I was, you know, thinking about where you were. I was actually in a car driving head just maybe I had I had a broken wrist, so I didn't get to play that one. I had landed somewhere and I was at an airplane and I was called Rett Quickly's dad, Paul.

Paul is so consistent because he's always watching golf, and he would be the great announcer like Brett is, and and he was giving me the play by playing what bandvelt he's doing? I had to stop the plot. You're going to wait a minute, he's he's in the burn? What does he doing? Just take a drop? I mean, I think everybody, everybody's just sitting there was just staring at the TV with their hands out, going what is happening? You just hope it doesn't happen again. For goodness sakes,

just don't happen to anyone this week. We don't want to see it. The train wreck is only fun once every twenty years. I was gonna ask you a little bit as I know Brett, I know you've worked with some players with their putting lately. I don't want to get in, you know, specifics with certain players, but I did want to ask you about your philosophy when you talk to players, and you've worked with some of the best players in the world the last few months, in

the last couple of years. Is it a philosophy you try to teach him or you're actually working on mechanics. Well, there's always both, and it's it's up to the individual, you know, and the coach to figure out what's the plan for each person? I And there's no cookie cutter to putting. And to me, I've seen guys that have awkward strokes be great putters, and guys with beautiful looking set ups, a beautiful look at mechanics be pour putters. And there's no part of the game that tests a

player more than than the putter does. And I would much rather be a confident putter than any other part of the game, because it drives you crazy. The worst thing is when when people tell let's call it Billy ray Brown or Steve Ellington or whoever might be the greatest swinger of the golf club, oh, you should win every tournament with your swinging um, and then they put

more pressure on themselves to put better. You know, when when players hit the ball well, they don't make seem to make as many birdie putts as they do par putts. And there's a psychology to that, and why so I always try and ask the player what is it they've felt the best that when they've putted their best? You know, do they do they have thoughts? What are the thoughts are they? Fields? Can you see shapes, colors, stripes? What do you see when you're out there, do you do you?

What are your senses? Like? You know, you've got to you've got to really get inside a player. And you know there are times one of the players when you're completely lost shame where they have ten fifteen swing thoughts, stroke fought where you gotta say, Okay, I've got to find a way to get this guy back to ground zero where he has just one. And it takes time,

and it takes thoughtfulness. And and I'm a believer that you don't have to be perfect to put you know, there's there's too many guys I think that want to make sure that putter faces aimed perfectly at address. They want to make sure that ball starts directly on the line every single time. And I'm not that guy. I believe there's there's a lot of different ways that ball can go on the whole um. The ball is much

smaller than the cup. You can you can pull or push the shot and puttons to have them go in. And you know, there's there's guys that were risky strokers. There were shoulder strokers or arms strokers, and and now the way that players hold onto the putter, I mean, I don't even think that the conventional right hand low grip for right handed player, it's the most popular grip.

And if it is, it's not by much. So for somebody to come up with a statement that says, well, this is all you have to do is hunting takes, you know, coming around too long. And I think I'm proudest as a as a player and a guy that had a reputation for being a good putter to have been able to do it for decades. And I don't I say that humbly. I don't say that, um with any kind of ego, because I worked my tail off

at becoming a better putter. I spent a lot of time with Scotty Cameron and the Scottie Cameron studio, looking at strokes, different strokes, how the ball leaves the putter, and talking to players, well, how do they think? What do they thinking about? Um? So, you know, the hardest question and the most often ask question I get is can you just give me one thing? What's the one thing? I'm like, God, I wish I had that one thing.

I could you know, put in a jar and put it on the shelf at CBS and you could just go by this one thing that would help everybody. We would all be better off. Is this the easiest major for a bad putter to win at? Well, that's a great question, there's to To me, the hardest greens to put were always the flattest greens to put. Remember going to to best page black and early two thousand two, I think um and a lot of people that were familiar with the golf course said, oh, you're gonna play

great there. These greens are so simple. Every puts a straight put. And what they meant by that was you didn't have to play a lot of break. And I thought they are the most difficult holes to read, dreams to read. And I'd much prefer to put greens that had a lot of obvious slope, like Augusta National Um or Shinnecock, where you knew that there was a lot of break, but it was obvious what that break was um.

So straighter puts were tougher to me at most of the times of British Open a road to the half tamer greens or a little bit slower greens. And I think slower greens test the quality of the player's stroke too, because you have to be you know, you have to take a longer stroke, the faces opening and closing. More so, slower greens and flatter greens were always the most difficult

in my opinion. I just want to take one more break to remind you that if you're not going to Scotland, shorter flight and easier flight is to go with your buddies. Two Chambers Bay, host of the US Open Championship, and experienced the thrill of link style course right here in

the United States. And if Seattle isn't in your your term plans, know that you can book your next round at one of thousands of other great golf courses across the country on tif dot com by the PGA Tour, the official tea time reservation site of the PGA Tour. And you can do so without booking fees. That's right, note booking fees every course. Every tea time plus is a valued listener of the clubhouse. You get to save an additional on deal times with the single use promo

code TI off Bacon. That's a dot com. Now let's get back to Mr Paxon. All right, I need your pick, I know, and I am good, for goodness sakes, I know how you do this normally, Normally give me like seven people. I need one person, Brad, just one that you think we'll walk away with the Clare jugg And I know picking is a little silly for any of these major championships, but you know, somebody that I think you feel like has a really, really good chance. I

think I think I'm gonna be very happy picking Dustin Johnson. Okay, he's played well in British Opens. He's knocking on the door. Like you said, if it's true that you don't have to be the best putter in the world. I think he's a confident putter now. I think he's been able to keep it. I'm complicated that I looked up, you know, and I very surprise if he's not at least in contention. I mean, it's it's silly. That's just one guy. I'm im prised you picked the one number one player in

the world. Way to go on that um, but I mean he is the guy that I think you you have to look at as somebody that's coming in with, as you mentioned, all of the tools for this type of thing, and it's gonna be to me, it's going to be kind of a second shot pitching kind of golf course and it's very much a part of his

game that he's improved on. So would you say for people out there that are looking at their pools and they're looking at the guys to pick, and they they're itching to pick Tiger, what do you say to those people? Do you think Tiger's got a top ten and them the top five in him? Do you think that he legitimately can win this? Yes, yes to all of them. Um, I think that CANUSI of of all the open courses I've played it, it kind of can tell you what

shot you want to hit. But that being said, if if he's not confident off the tea and I remember him hitting I believe on the first t shot his iron out of bounds, I got out of bounds, but into the burn on the left. If he's not comfortable off the team, we've seen that with him. You know, he's been a little erratic, uh this year with his game. He's he's had you know, stints where he looks like Tiger Woods and then he says, since where you're going?

Who is this guy? It's it's it's definitely been kind of a role to die. Of course, you and I were calling the U s open and he comes out of the first hole and makes triple and we're going, oh goodness, it was It was actually funny, I mean funny for us. You and I had filmed something for titlists and we did these little segments, these complete performance segments, and you know, we we were kind of tricked trying to sneak around Shinnecock to do him and not disturb

any of the players during their practice rounds. And it was late I think it was Wednesday, and the first hole was clear, so we got a chance to do something on the first hole, and then we went to the green and you were going to talk about pitching the ball and kind of different options around Shinnecock, and you were like, this is a great place to do it.

Long on one is a really really bad spot. And you hit a few shots, and you know, we did a couple of takes of it and you and I are calling action and Tiger hit it almost exactly where we've done the complete performance thing from and you knew how hard that shot was. Well that the green fell off, you know a lot of the greens at that page fell off on all sides. You know, the the new architecture there closely mowing areas where that was the buzzword and the first hole and when we tied was posing

on that second shot. It was into the wind. That hole can be drivable, and you know he's looking at his eight iron from a hundred and fifty yards and this thing just sort over the green down into some row exactly where we hit those shots, and the little stiffets for titliston and we knew that, hey, let's not be silly here. You've hit a bad shot here over the green, this is the first hole. Five's okay, let's

just get out of there. And then you know, somehow you eat doesn't get his first shot of rolls right back to his feet, and uh, you felt so bad for him because he didn't hit a shot. We watched that happened to Jordan's speech on number Yeah, you get you get out of position. It was It was a perfect example of what us opens are about. Is like you get out of position by a foot and you are you might have ruined your tournament chances or your championship chances. And we saw that with Speed on eleven,

and we saw it with Tiger one. It's been a fun summer. We've got a chance to I would say knockout in terms of broadcasting some of the best courses that we that you'll ever see. And I mean last week was was a great example that. I mean, a chance to showcase Chicago Golf Club. You you're a guy that loves the history of the game, and I know, getting a chance to go there and do that was

pretty special. I know it was special for me. But just to showcase a play like a place like Chicago Golf Club, you know that maybe most of the people that are watching have never seen even video of it. And that's one of the reasons, Shane, that there were so many spectators out there too that they obviously came to watch good golf from the senior women, but they wanted to be on the hallowed grounds of Chicago Golf.

And you know we've talked about see the McDonald and Seth Rayner, this team that you could argue that they build maybe the best course in the world at National Golf Links of America. And if you just went down the list of the golf courses, it's you know, it's a who's who of courses and uh in features and they have these different templates of holes that they've copied and we we've we know these household words like red, Dan h Eden bear, it's you know, it's just it's fun.

And and to watch these players try and figure out ways to hit even just short shots and get them somehow close to the green. I'll tell you what Chicago Golf is that we got to go back there and play shanks. It's so good. And you that's the one thing, you know, I get a like, I'm sure you get these questions too, but you know, I'll post a picture on Instagram or talk about it on Twitter or something when we first get there, and the most questions I get are, you know, how was it? You know you

got to play it? Blah blah blah. And I said, you know, we we really only play a media day at the US Open. You know, we don't our schedules so busy, we don't really have time to do that. And uh and those are the weeks where you walk off and you go, it's like six pm. Maybe we could sneak out on the back end of this championship and get eighteen holes in And I know, uh, I know you'd be there as well. I know you you

you you tow the clubs out there as well. When we get a chance to go around those types of places. And you know, the schedule continues. You and I get to do the Junior am at Baltic for all this week and then and then we'll be at the Women's Am and then the US Amateur which is at Pebble. So the kind of our our great summer continues. And

it's been a lot of a lot of fun. And uh, of course, you and I kind of getting a new opportunity to do this, teamed up with Joe and Paul on a lot of the championships has been a It's been a ton of fun. I know, I've really enjoyed it, and uh, you know, I I hope it continues because you know, I get to sit next to you and as much crap as I give you, it's been a ton of fun. Hey, I love being able to do There's nobody better in the business. It cares more than you do. So I hope this parent goes on for

a long time. So I will see you. I will see you at Baltic Rawl in a few days. Open obviously starts on Thursday. You heard it from Brad Facts and he's picking Dustin Johnson. I haven't decided who I am picking yet. Uh. I think I'm gonna go with the European but I haven't decided that yet. I gotta figure it out. But Brad, I appreciate you taking the time. I know you gotta jump on a flight and I will see you. I will see you later this week. Thank you. It looks like I'm a wreck. A big

thanks to Brad for jumping on. I know he's very busy as our summer continues to roll on. Will be at Baltic Raw at the US JR Ameter. If you see us out there, make sure you say hello. And the Open rolls through this weekend. We'll have a new major champion or a repeat major champion comes Sunday at Carnoustie. And just to reminder, when it comes to golf equipment, we always want a new driver, we always want a

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dot com the world's best bags. I hope you guys enjoyed the pod. We'll be back next week as as kind of the summer of golf for rolls on for us that at Fox and FS one. The schedule lightens up a little bit after ball at this s raw and then we get into the amateurs, both the Women's and the US Amateur back to back, and then we're gonna broadcast the mid Amateur as well, and then I will lay in a prone position on my couch for basically all of the end of September. We'll be back

next week. I hope you guys enjoy the Open. Hope you enjoyed the enjoy the US Junior Amateur, and we will chat with you and if you get a chance, play a little golf on Sunday afternoon after the Open ends and make a couple of birdies.