Ep. 117 - PGA analyst Arron Oberholser

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Aaron Oberholzer was out on the golf course with him throughout that final round where he chased down grave of Woodland and snacked his fourth career victory, and Aaron jumped on the podcast with me to chat a little bit about it. I know it was a couple of days ago, but we talked, you know, in a round interviews that they rolled out in Golf Channel that I thought did

a great job with them. We talked a little bit about the season and uh, some stuff we do and don't do right considering how good the young guys are these days as on course analysts. So one of my favorite dudes in the business, and it was a lot of fun chat with him. Uh this uh, this year with the Clubhouse, We're gonna continue with some guests. We're gonna have some stuff change up a little bit here

and there around some of the bigger events. But the hope is that we will continue the consistency of the podcast after this break that you just had to endure. And I feel bad. A lot of people live in really cold weather areas and they just sit at home with podcast in their earbuds. And if I'm not giving you one, for goodness sakes, what are you listening to? Before we get to Aaron, I just wanted to let

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and you've heard from zip recruiter. You know what, Let's hear from our guest and we will come back to the clubhouse. It's been two years Aaron Oberholzer. That seems like way too long. I can't believe I had to go back and look through the archives. But Aaron Oberholzer is here live from Hawaii, and uh, I don't want to start with the whole people are jealous of you thing. I mean, you're there for two weeks. It's got to be great. I know the families out there with you.

I want to ask about the vibe of the broadcasting team because I've worked in places that are awesome. You know, We've been Pebble Beach, We've been to those types of places, and I feel like everybody's kind of strolling around and has a smile on their face. And then I've been to maybe some not so awesome places. What's the vibe like for two weeks when you guys get to enjoy Hawaii. I think everybody's a little more relaxed. Um, a little uh, not very on edge. Um, you know where I think.

And you know, even last week's event, you know it's the first event of two nineteen. We've got all this new stuff we're putting into the broadcast. We've got new graphics, PGA tours allowing us to walk and talk things like that and and you know, you would think that everybody's on edge, and the was. There was a slight bit attention in the in the Wednesday meeting, just a little bit,

but not like it could have been. I think if we were if we were stateside, we had that, we had the Aloha spirit going for Share last week, and uh it was really um um, you know, I get to work with great people every week. I'm very lucky with about that pros pros. I know, I'm the I'm the I'm the young guy on the crew. On the crew as far as you know, the experience on the experience side, I mean, Kurt Byron's got twenty years experienced, Uh,

Frank's got twenty years experience. You know, Mark Ralfin got thirty years experience broadcasting. So I mean to have those guys, and then you look at my producer, Brent Packer, who's you know, I I think the world of and is

a phenomenal producer. Um. You put that team together and and I'm just happy to be a part of it, quite honestly, and learn and learn from these guys because I've learned so much from each one of those guys throughout the four or five years that I've been doing stuff, um in live golf, and and I'm still learning every day. So to have that kind of crew makes makes life a lot easier for for anybody. I think. Yeah, I mean,

is there talk. I don't want to get too nerdy TV insider as you and I kind of like that stuff, but is there talk throughout the week before you guys get going, reminding people this is an Hawaii event, this is prime time. It does feel relaxed because I always feel like the broadcast, especially in the first event, because it is a tournament of champions. You know, there is a limited field that's not on TV all day and

all night long. But I've always felt like when you're watching it, it feels like a little bit of a vacation. Is that reiterated between from producers to you guys or is that just kind of how it comes off. That's just kind of how it comes off. Quite honestly, I honestly think that that's just the Island. I mean, that's just what the Islands did. Everybody, Um, you know, do we we want to make great television, There's no doubt, and everybody is is in. I think everybody's actually better

because they're relaxed. I think that when you get too on edge, you make mistakes or don't you don't add anything. I think like, just like doing television is no different than playing golf at the highest level, doing television at the highest level is no different than than playing golf at the highest level, just due to the fact that you can't play golf when you're anxious and you're uptight and you're nervous. It doesn't allow your body and your

mind to be free. Uh, You're you're constantly trying, trying, trying to do things that maybe you can't do, or not allowing your body or your mind to do things you can't you you know you can do. And I think that when you're relaxed anything have everything happens, uh in a in a positive light for the most part, on TV and on the golf course. And that's kind of how the way I look at it. Um, but when you're uptight, it's I think it's tougher to do television. Absolutely.

I remember we had a meeting this year at Shinnicock Hills on on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and um, I

can't remember who stood up. It might have been Joe It might have been Zinger, it might have been Curtis for goodness sake, but somebody stood up and just said, and you know, this is a room of you know, three digital fee broadcasting teams in the full broadcasting team, which is obviously a lot larger than some of the other stuff we do, and somebody stood up and said, just to a reminder, we're doing golf, and golf is supposed to be fun. And the in the whole room

kind of looked around. You're like, yeah, you know, I mean, you're stressed out. It's a big week. It's the biggest week we do. But as you said, when you're relaxed and enjoying it, it really seems to kind of roll

off the tongue a lot better. Somebody that seems unbelievably relaxed and somebody you've got a chance to walk with on Sunday is this twenty five year old kid and Xander Shafley, who I feel like coming into the season and maybe even parts of last season, is this forgotten young player and he does what he did on Sunday. As you mentioned in your post round interview, you know, one of the best rounds you've ever seen in person.

And I'm just wondering, do you now think with this win and what he continues to do on these final rounds and and down the stretch, making birdies on seventeen and eighteen, kind of throughout all of his victories, is he now in that class of ten fifteen players that you consider the upper echelon, if you will, of the PGA Tour. Well, he's put him there with it with his play. I mean you, I guess you have to, um, you know six in the world now, um. And I

don't see. I don't know that there's a ceiling for the young man. Quite honestly, I haven't seen one. Um. He does a lot of things really well, there's not We know, you talk about holes and and we said the same thing about Jordan's speed. Now we found the hole in Jordan's peace game. As we continue to go. You know in fifteen, now, uh in there were no holes in Jordan's peace game in fifteen, uh there were very few. In sixteen, there were, there was, there was,

there was a couple, there was one in seventeen. There was one last year you know obviously with the two last year actually with the putting, but that one big hole in Jordan's Peace game has become kind of kind of No, he just doesn't really have the distance. So that, well, what do you need to do if you don't have that three yard you don't have that three hund plus yrd drive every week and every hole that you can count on, like Xander does, you know, like Dustin Johnson,

like Chasing Day, like Roy mcilroyd. Well what do you do? Well, you've got it. You've got to up the other parts of your game. Well, Xander doesn't have to worry about that. Xander's got that distance. But Xander can also put. He can also hit irons, he can hit wedges. He's a phenomenal pitcher. The golf boy. He's got beautiful touch around the greens, which I think goes unnoticed to a certain extent because because of his ball striking, which short game

does go unnoticed with most great ball strikers. Um, but a lot of great ball strikers don't ball strike great all the time, so they have to get it up and down. So that's something that that saves round, that turns you know, it turns um seventy and seventy two into seventies and sixty nine, which keep tournaments going and keep you alive for a chance to win. And that's what great players do. And that's what I think Xander

is underrated in that regard. Um now giving him all the accolades that he doesn't have, the one thing that I that I would caution, uh, it's people to watch out for and want to see Xander do a little bit better. First of all, I think if you're gonna knock him, you're gonna say, Okay, he's never he's never won from ahead, He's never won with the lead, you know, with an outright lead. Okay, well he's a come from behind guy. Okay, that's fine. I think that that time

will come. I think he can hold the lead. I think he's got the mental makeup to be able to do that, to hold a lead. Um. And the other thing I think is his style of play. He is so aggressive, so aggressive. Nothing says it more than that shot he hit on seventeen when he's oh, he had

a one shot lead. And I'm sitting in that fairway and I probably heard the call from Kurt BYRONM and I and when we were talking and I said, curd, if if this kid goes any further, left and thirty ft left of the of the flat or thirty ft right of the flag. That's too far left. And I was dead serious about that, um. And I'm sure people are saying, oh, this is a new breeder and you're you're an old guy. You know, that's how you played golf.

Out of that, I can just picture people on my head in this and and but sitting there going people don't understand if you've never hit that shot from two hundred and some odd yards down that hill where that ball hangs in the air forever, and you don't know

exactly what the wind's gonna do to it. If he pulls it a hair, he's potentially down in the penalty area with a brutal um dropping three hitting four shot, hitting a four shot brutal so um, you know, and looking staring six square in the eyes, and that's the end of the tournament, done over, forget about it. Um. But he pulls it off and takes purty to take a one shot lead going down going into eighteen. So well, one shot lead that was we would turn into a

one shot leader here. He obviously came around, came over and Burtie Um. But for certain golf courses and I and I said on Twitter that I felt that he would win a major. Um. He's definitely a major winner in my opinion. But the things that he's gonna have to do it at a major, I think he's gonna have to kind of cool down that aggressive play. Can't be that aggressive an Augusta constantly. You can't definitely can't be that aggressive at Pebble Beach coming up this summer,

you and not do that. You're gonna have to take thirty feet. You're gonna have to you know, front edge plus five when those greens get like bricks. You can't fire it every flag. And he'll he'll adjust, I believe, But it major championships. You're not you know, on the PGA Tour regular season events week in week out, Yeah, fire flags all you want for the most part. But when it comes to major championships, you've got to understand when to back off and when when you know, okay,

yeah left or right here is fine. So that aggressive nature, he'll have to just kind of temper that just a little bit when he goes into the into the major championships, UM and have a little safer game plan. But but he can still, in my opinion, still win those things being being the Zander we all know he's just gonna have to dial it back just a tad bit. Have you noticed I've had an issue with this and you made a great point of it earlier when you're talking

about the shot at seventeen. Have you had to change your mentality as an on course announcer with this new age group because I've said, the waves of these young kids can make us look really stupid if you're saying stuff like that. I've said it last year on a couple of flop shots at the US Amateur I'm going on, it is a really hard shot, and then they hit it to a foot and you're going, Okay, well, I mean,

and it's like their talent makes us look silly. But you almost have to remind yourself that these guys don't have any fear. No, they don't. And you know it's funny. I there there are certain times that I I played too conservatively from I played too conservatively from the fairway in when I played I was all about just G I R G I R G I R. But we didn't have the advanced statistics and analytics that these guys have. Now we had decent stats, but we didn't have all

the strokes gained. When I played. It was all inputed after the fact, you know, after you know. But now I can go back and look at my strokes game because they've gone back all the way like two thousand four with strokes gain, and I can see like where I was good against the field, and but I didn't have that ban so I always played very safe from the fairway. In especially, my deal was seven iron down depending on where the flag was. Attack anything up from

seven iron unless I was really feeling it. It was center of the green, and maybe move it towards the flag a little bit. But for the most part, take the twenty foter and if I made a mistake and pull it toward a flag or push it toward a flag, fine, Now these guys are literally just looking at the flag. They don't care about what else is around. Though, I've had to and it's been hard for me, but I've had to adjust a little bit my broadcast able to

understand how each player plays. But there are still guys that play a little more conservatively that are just about the g I r H. The greener regulation that are that are just looking, you know, don't want to make the big mistake because maybe they don't have the five birdie round capability like Xander. So it's still understanding what the player can and can't do. And there are still guys that can only make three and a half three point eight birdies around, in which case that you know,

a double hurts them, hurts those guys bad. But if you're making four or four and a half five, he's around like some of these guys are now like a like a Cameron Champ. I mean it does you make it double, It doesn't matter. You're gonna make you know, you're gonna make five and five five and a half berties around to make that up. So um yeah, it totally depends on the on the players game. But you're right.

I get stuck once in a while in strategic situations that are as a broadcaster thinking okay, one shot lead, this is how I play it. But these a lot of these young kids are very different with the way they think, which I think is cool and it's great for the broadcast. And I don't mind me sounding that bad quite honestly, because uh, you know, there's there's a there's a there's no right way to play the game.

In my opinion, some guys are uber aggressive. Some guys maybe if it was a different guy up there who was underpart, he would look at that flag and go and I'm gonna play I'm gonna play that right in the flag. You just you don't know at that time. You don't know if they pushed it really quite honestly, so you might have pushed it over there, and you might and you might have sounded like a genius. Yeah, it's it's so, it's just so it's so hard for me sometimes I think to remind myself that you that

you nailed it. Um, they don't. There's not a flag that is tough to go out anymore for these guys. And if you ever play with them, if you're ever out there walking with them, or even just you know, outside the ropes watching just watching how many shots are at the flag? Now it might be fifteen ft short, fifteen feet long, but it's not like they're turning it in anymore. It's it's right at it and you're like, oh, okay,

well that's how you're gonna play it. I want to ask you what was more ridiculous the shot into seventeen or that second into eighteen for Xander Um, I would say the shot into seventeen still. Quite honestly, I know you know the shot into eighteen, You've got a massive bail area right, just like you do seventeen. Um, they're very similar shots except for distance. Um, you know you've got downhill lies, You've got uh, very similar conditions on

both golf shots. Uh. I would just I would say seventeen. I just think that eighteen. I've hit that shot at eighteen, and I've hit the shot at seventeen and the shot at seventeen. Still this day, when I'm looking down that hill, I can picture myself when I played in the Century Tournament of Champions and think back to hitting that shot, and I'm just you're you're sitting up there, you know,

trying to use the contours. I was trying to use the contours of the green from two hundred and ten yards down that hill, and these guys are going right at it eighteen eighteen. You're you're always, I would think, you're never looking at that flag. You're never looking at the green on eight team. You're always looking at the right center. You're looking at a flag um by one

of the um in the grandstands. You're looking at one of those flags blowing a little right to laughter down or something like that, right to left and down, and you're picking it as far a right line, but not so far right that it's gonna hang up there right edge of the green to maybe four or five steps right of the green, and that's where you're starting it. Now.

If it ends up there, you're fine. It bounces down on the green and does what we always see if you if you draw it in a little bit, that's when you get the money shot like what Zander did, and you roll it up there at eleven ft for eagle. UM. But they're never looking at that flag on eight team never. I can promise you that I can't believe he was looking at the flag on seventeen. I want to talk

about that what I'm saying, so you you mentioned it already. UM. You guys had those in round interviews at the Century Turn into the Champions I'm assuming you're gonna happen this week at the Sony and on and on and on.

And it was a partnership with the PGA Tour allowing you guys to kind of sneak in there as these players are playing and uh, and there was there was a funny moment, uh I think was Patton Kazi almost got hit by a golf ball and then um, you had thought after but what was the conversation like, uh, not just this week and last week, but going into it, how you approach the players who you can approach and um, I've heard that they're allowed to say no, I'm good,

I'm gonna skip this one right now. Yeah. So so how we do it and how we discussed it bones and I talked with our producer Brent Packer last week and how we all discussed it was, Um, was that we were going to go up to the player each day, even if they were a no and unequip vocal no okay, um, and we were going to say, uh, you know eight today, you know how about today? Are you okay today? No, Aaron, I'm I'm good, or I'm a maybe like Gary Woodland.

I walked with him twice last week. He was a maybe on the on the sheet and so so for me, it was every there was no doubt. Every day I had to go up to Gary, which I don't mind at all. And I don't mind a player saying maybe, um, that's just that's just cover for us actually to help us to make sure that you understand that, Okay, I

asked you, and so there's no misunderstandings. Well, you know, like what we're trying to avoid is we're trying to avoid a potential problem with well I asked the player before the round and he said and he said no. And then the player says, well, no, I would have done him if he would have asked me past the round. And that's what we're trying to avoid. We want to make sure every day whether it's a yes, no, or

or hey, maybe just give me the signal. And it's just a simple you know, I just kind of show him the mic and point to them and it's I can do it from a hundred yards across the Ferrway. And most of the guys know what I'm talking about with these walking talks, and uh, if I could get waved off, and I got I didn't get waved off once last week on course, so everybody when I wanted to talk and I felt it was it was the right time, and our producer, Brand Packers, said, hey, can

you get him? You know, I never got the I never got the cold shoulder, which I really want to thank the players for that, you know. I want to thank Patt, and I want to thank Mark Leshman who I got two interviews with Mark Leishman and then two with Gary Woodland. I want to thank those guys a lot,

because those guys really made the broadcast. And those guys, I think whenever you can get information from a player directly from the horse's mouth, so to speak, it just adds so much value to the broadcast and for the people at home to be able to hear what those guys are really thinking and what they're thinking about that day is massive. UM. And I love the endeavor and I love the initiative. Unfortunately, Shane, they're not going to do them past this last week. So we we wanted it.

We want it it this week, we wanted it for two weeks. We wanted it next week when I'm not going to be there next week and at the Desert Classic, but our producers wanted it for the Desert Classic. UM, because we think that it's gone very well this week, and I think the players, I hope the players think it went very well this uh this last week. But it's got to go back. It was just a test for the PGA Tour, and it was a test for

the players. And now it's got to go back to the pack and to the committee, and the players have to discuss it, and then they have to bring it back to Jay Monahan and the commission say you know, hey, this is what we need to change. This is great, you know, or no, it's great, let's just keep doing what we're doing. And um, but I thought they went. I thought they went as well as they could have

went for the first week. And um, you know, we were given a script and what we could and couldn't ask and and I think we did a good job following it to uh as best as best we could. I wanted to take a quick break to let you know about robin Hood. It's an investing have to let you buy and sell stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto all

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sign up at Clubhouse dot robin Hood dot com. That's clubhouse dot robin Hood dot com. That is Robin Hood. Let's get back to Aaron. It's interesting because you know, I've heard a lot of people, especially as they were starting last week, talk Mike and the players, Mike and the players, Mike and the players. And my issue with Mike and the players is a the PGA Tour is not gonna allow anything out there that, uh that I

kind of think we actually want to hear. You know, It's kind of like when you get those coaches interview, you know, the Mike coaches, or you get the players like in the NFL that have the mics on. I mean, nothing ever comes out of those things that I would call quote unquote interesting. I mean it's very safe. I mean, somebody's listening to that making sure they're not talking about scheme or they're not cursing any of that stuff. So what I like about the the in round interview is

you're able to control it. You're able to ask a couple of questions. I love that you guys were two questions Max. I felt like that was really really smart just to get in and out of their way and you actually can talk to them about what's going on that was actually on the sheet as one of the things we we could and couldn't do that two questions max. Four players per day. And it's got to be about it's got to be about something in round. It cannot

be what happened yesterday. It can't be looking ahead to the future. You're trying. And as a player, I like that. There's nothing wrong with that. I would want the same thing as a player if I was being interviewed in the middle of a round UM on course and so um. You know, I agree with you on the miking situation. I've never liked the ideas of mike dup players. First

of all, I've done it. It's cumbersome. It's actually cumbersome to have a mike on you and I feel this chord on you, and it's it's it's it's you know, you never know if they got the chord on right, does it doesn't work with how much my body can move, so on and so forth. That's number one, Just the physical kind of um issues that can bring UH in

the field, you know. And then you've got this pack in your back pocket where you normally put your yardage book or you gotta switch it over to the other pocket where you normally have nothing, so now you have something there and potentially thinking about that, you know, it's the mic stuff. I'm I'm not. I've never been about mic and up players or mic and up caddies. I've

never been about that. I've never really liked that. We've got these great you know, boom microphones out there, the effects mics that can pick up radio free Europe for goodness sake. And if the guys, the guys hit the trigger on those things, I mean, they're they can you can hear everything, you got it. You can hear conversations last week. But yeah, but yeah, I I think that the fact that we can control the interviews um. And as long as we um, I think this, it keeps

everything simple. The questions have to be simple, they have to be direct, they have to be to the point, um. And it has to be about what's going on right then and there about that day? Uh? And then you just got to use your best judgment as a as a broadcaster to ask uh. You know, And for me, I'm always I want to ask positive. I want to ask questions to the positive. This player, I don't want

to ask negative questions, what's going on to the positive today? Um, and so especially in play and if you can do those things then you're in good shape. So I'm hoping they bring it back. I had a blast talking to the guys en course. Um, but we'll have to wait and see it. We'll have to wait and see how the players felt about it, and how the pack feels about it, and how it looked on television and sewing

and so forth. Yes, something I initially didn't like to do when I first started doing this is I didn't like going out on the range before rounds and talking to guys. And a producer mine once told me, he said, you know this is their job too. I mean, you know, their job as independent contractors and as you know, partners with the PG tour in the U. S g A. And whichever group they work with, is there selling themselves. They're selling the event, they're selling interest, and so they

get it. And you know, when you go up to a Ricky Fowler before round and he does an interview and answers a couple of questions, you get out of his way. You realize that, and I think this is very much the same. I mean, it's it's a chance for these guys to have a quick conversation to maybe give one or two things that's going well in there around. You know, I got a great break here on fourteen, or the putter has been hot, or whatever they tell you.

And as a player like yourself, you understand. You know, I'm not gonna get in these guys way longer than a minute, minute and a half, and I'm gonna get out. And I think it's to me. I think it's a great first step, and I thought you guys did a great job with it, and I'm hoping that it continues, and I'm hoping they bring this thing. I hope this

becomes the norm. Uh. My only question and I was wondering about this the first time I saw you do it, is what happens if a guy's like eleven deep through fifteen? Is it like the picture? Is it like the no hitter? They're like, hey, you go talk to Justine Thomas that that's because Gary Woodland was playing really well. I believe it was on Friday or Saturday. I can't remember my my second, my no, my my first interview with Gary. I think it was Friday and he was playing pretty well.

He was a sixer, I want to say, six or seven deep going down walking down seventeen and Brent gets in my ear and he was a maybe. And I hadn't flashed the mike to him all day and Brent gets in my ear. He says, hey, what do you think you think you can get him now? And we weren't really thinking about it or talking about it the rest of the day because I can't remember who Gary

was playing with that day, but he wasn't. He was an unequivocal no and wouldn't talk, which is fine, I totally and I will never fault a player for not wanting to talk in the middle of a round. UM, And I said, sure, I can, I can, I can find out. So I flashed the mike to Gary and boom, Gary was on it. He was like, yeah, sure, let's talk. Like oh my gosh, all right. I wasn't expecting it. Um, so you know, I just uh, yeah, you gotta come up with two questions and you get going you and

you get moving. I think that that's I think the endeavor is gonna catch on and guys are gonna realize, to your point how important it is for their brand. Gary and Mark with those two interviews. They did two interviews each with me, and that really helps their brand. It helps put them in a fantastic light. Um. And

the players, now, certain players don't need it. Certain players are gonna go, ah, I don't, I can care less, you know, but other players are gonna see it and go, you know, this could really help me my brand, my brand from a public image standpoint, from a public you name it whatever I mean, Um, it could mean their sponsors could see these and go oh and you almost. I hate to say it, but if these things go live every week, you know, the sponsor could go could

write it into a contract. You gotta do one. If your group is being followed, you have to do one. But but why wouldn't you? I mean, if you think about the time spit in front of a microphone. Okay, if you're Gary Woodland, for instance, who has been around for a long time. And I would say to any golf fan, they know who Gary Woodland is. If you went to these sports ends of this world, maybe they've heard of them, maybe they have it. I mean, I

think that's a fair thing to say. But if you think of what the time is spent in front of a mic for Gary Woodland each week if he's doing a twenty minute press conference that's airing probably airing on Golf Channel maybe, but it's gonna be aired you know, digitally PJA dot com. I'd have it whatever how many people are watching that. If people are watching the actual broadcast and Gary Woodlands in front of a mike, that might be one of the few times a casual sports

fan who's tuning into golf here's from them. So it's a really good chance to speak. Even post round interviews, as you know, sometimes don't air or sometimes they're you know, tacked onto the back end of a broadcast. I mean, this is a chance for, if you will, a primetime interview to happen as the golf's unfolding. So, I mean, I think it's a brilliant plan for the players as well. I'd be shocked if they didn't make this kind of a regular thing, not just in twenty nine but beyond.

And like I said, I thought you, I thought Bones did a great job and a and I mean I think it's I think the way you guys kind of laid it out is the way it's gonna be. Let's ask too smart golf questions and get the hell out of their way. And that's the key. That's the key, is to not bother the guys, because if you don't bother the guys, they're gonna say yes next time. Yeah, I think it's gonna obviously it's not gonna happen. It's gonna happen potentially in in PGA Tour events, but and

I don't know. I wouldn't even know. I would like to see it happened in the World Golf Championships, but those might be bigger events where the guys might not want to talk as much. But you never know. I mean, there are certain guys um Leshan Leishman hit kind of a poor wedge on sixteen, ripped it right back off the green, and he still talked to me. So guys like Leishman who are just great people, you know, and

and Gary as well. Uh, they might talk to talk to me or talk to whoever is on the ground no matter what. Um, but it'll it'll be a wait and see. I'm I'm kind of cautiously optimistic that these will continue or we'll have one more tournament where the guy where they say, hey, we're gonna do him again, but again same rules applied. Da da da da da

and uh, um, we'll see where goes from there. I can I definitely, I definitely don't see the U. S. G A or the PGA of America or the RNA or the August To National allowing it on the golf cart because obviously no one is allowed to walk with the don I don't. I don't think you're gonna see. I don't think you're gonna see somebody walking down the middle of the fairway at fifteen August to going So, Phil, are you gonna go for it or not? So? But but yeah, every i'd like to see it. I'd like

to see it happen. Um, maybe it's not every week. Maybe they decided to do it. Oh, you know what, we're gonna do it once a month. We're gonna we're gonna do it once every two weeks. We're gonna allow these. Maybe it's only uncertain events, um, which again is fine as well. I would just like to see it. I would like to see it more more often. It doesn't need to happen every week, because I think there's maybe there's a novelty in listening to players once a month.

And listening to them talking seeing if you can get you know, three or four interviews in a in around each day to where and to talk to the players. Um, and maybe it doesn't need to happen every week though, so well we'll see. Yeah, I mean it's it's I was as I was watching it, I would thinking, I mean, this would be a great opportunity like this week and next Of course I didn't realize that they were. It

was just kind of an experimental phase. But you know, this week and next week with a lot of these rookies who a lot of people maybe have never heard of or never seen or never heard speak, Um, it'd be fun to do, you know, on a Thursday and Friday, which is the early rounds where there's some guys out there that maybe you know, aren't going to get a lot of TV time, having kind of a rookie focus and having you know, one guy at Doug Gim who's out there playing and you know, you you kind of

throw his profile up and you say, this is a young guy that we think is gonna have a great chance of having a long career, and uh, let's go down to Aaron with Doug Gim and you get a chance to ask him a couple of questions and you can kind of almost have it as like a rookie reveal. I think that would be really cool. But we'll see, we'll see what, We'll see what comes to it. I just I love that. I love if nothing else, that

it was introduced. And I love that you guys. Uh, you guys did a great job of it, because I think if it would have been botched, maybe they'd say never again. But the fact that you guys did a great job with that, Like like I said, you said there's no stress, well, well, the fact that we were in the islands that reduced my level of stress on those things to have as low as you could go, it was still a little strapped. So how close was the ball to hitting you guys? Oh my gosh, that

would have been a nightmare on a stick change. I mean, I mean, that was my fault. That was I mean, I thought the interview went well. But the one thing I didn't do is I didn't keep a moving I heard about it, trust me, I heard I heard about it in a nice way. I heard about, hey, keep him moving, ao you if he gets smoked in the head. We think these things are gonna met Definitely, Yeah, that was that was you know, that was the that was

the kind of that was the very first one. So I was, you know, making sure that I wanted the questions to come out the right way and the interview to go the right way and not thinking about that we needed to keep walking because yet yes it is a walk and talk and that was that was definitely my bad. But the ones after that, I tried to

keep the guys moving. And so now you transition from an event with a lot of guys you know obviously to you know, in the Tournament of Champions now to the Sony where there are going to be a lot of new faces. Does the homework hap and before her last week or has it been mostly Monday, Tuesday, Wendy Wednesday? Preparing yourself for as I mentioned, guys that maybe you don't know on a first name basis. Well as you know, we have a broadcast window, so you're gonna see certain

guys in that window. And for me, um, I'm the two. I'm no, I'm the two. You know, I don't know if we have one in two, but I'm pretty much the number two walker. So I'm the one that gets moved quite a bit unless bones group is really going downhill. He's usually he's going to be with the Marquee group on Thursday afternoon, and I'm going to be with the number two groups. So I'm with I believe, I'm with Cameron champ um and so yeah, no, hey, I love my job. It's about as good as it gets other

than playing. Yeah, it's it's ridiculous. So, um, you know, I'll go with those guys. I'll go with Cam and his group, and and Paul Casey and I did believe see with Kim. So I only have to worry about those three guys. So when I'm doing but when I do, when I get to do Tower, and I do Tower, now I have to worry about a chunk of the broadcast. Um. But you know, am I going through a hundred and thirty two to a hundred and forty four fifty six bios every week? Let's I'll be honest with you know

that I don't have I can't that that's almost impossible. Yeah, to learn to learn a hundred and fifty six guys in a full field, Um, you learn it as you kind of go throughout the year. Um. But when you're on the ground, you have you have two or three guys, depending on the how they're doing the tea times to worry about each day, or maybe maybe you've got six

guys that you've got to worry about. But the funny thing is that you do have to do some studying in that broadcast window because there might be you know, Brandt might move me, he might move me to another group. So I gotta know what's going on in that other group and what those guys have done to a certain extentard what their tendencies are. But for the most part, in the TV window groups where they're bigger names, I've walked with most of those guys, so I know what

they do. And so my job on the golf course isn't really to give statistical information as much. It's to describe what's going on down there and what I think is going to happen with this guy's shot or so

on and so forth. So for in that case, I don't need to be as I don't need to be as studied on the stuff as let's say a Kurt Byrum or Frank or you know the guys in the towers who or Mark Rolfing who you know, maybe not might need a little bit more statistical information about the player or bio about the players, so on and so forth to tell their story. Um that death. I'll definitely read the bios and I definitely read the bios. But it's more of what's going on in the ground at

that moment. What's his shot going to do a O, what kind of his situation is he in and one of the odds of his you know, of him pulling off the shot if it's in a tough situation, hopefully that'llyander like seventeen and then you go, oh, well, actually came out. I didn't see that. Yeah, well you you think you saw a lot of berties last week? Oh my god, us this week they're the guys are gonna have ledges in their hand on just about every hole

after they drive it. It's just a matter of whether they drive it between the tree lines at wild Ie. So if they do that, the birdies that this is gonna be a birdie fest. If the wind lays down, I could see, you know, this could be another you know, twenty one to under with two par fives instead of four. Yeah, it's gonna be crazy. And this is absolutely a golf course where you gotta you gotta make those six seven birdies around are you? Are you golfing anymore? You just

cycling all the time. Uh, well, I'm pretty much. Um well, you know, I'm playing a little bit. I'm playing a little bit, not not a ton. It's just it when you don't work out and you don't train for it, chain the body hurts every time you pick up a golf club. And that I remember I playing eighteen and I'm walking off eighteen and my body hurt more after playing eighteen holes. The last time I played eighteen holes than it did doing a fifty mile ride. You're like,

I'm done with this stuff. This is silly, and we gotta play. We've played one time. It's like five miles from my house, for goodness sakes. And uh and we haven't played since. I gotta take out the Phoenix Counch Club. We gotta do it. At some point, you get a little, Well, I have to. I'm I'm on the I'm on the Champs Tour um Shaptuck Finale, so I have to. I gotta know that golf course anyway, So let's go play. I would love to take you out arena walls. I

appreciate the time. Good luck this week, you've gotta you've got more, You've got more stuff throughout the season. Um with Golf Channel with NBC, or you're gonna do some PGA Tour live. What's the schedule like, No, it's all Golf Channel. Just a mixture of in studio and on the golf course live golf and in the tower live golf. Um, it's just a uh. I've got a light, fairly light schedule through May. Uh and then I get slammed after May, so June through the back end of the year through

pretty much June through November. Is is really slammed for me? Is from a from a live golf perspective. But I do most of my studio stuff early, um, early in the year. So after this week, I go, I go right on a plane, get off on the fourteenth, On the sixteenth, them off to Orlando for Desert Classics. So that'll be a nice five hour time change. I should be really awake for that person. And it's gonna be when you're mumbling through the sentence as people like okay,

you're like he was in wife thirty minuts ago. What's wrong with him? Got that crop of life. Well, I appreciate the time. And uh, like I said, we gotta tee it up at some point soon. That'd be a great chance. I appreciate it. It looks like I'm a wreck. Well there you have it, the first clubhouse, and hope you enjoyed it. I hope you guys are having an unbelievable winner. Hope you're getting a chance to hit some golf balls, maybe inside if you live in the northeast

or somewhere where that is really really cold. I got a golf trip this weekend. Sixteen dudes coming my way. We're gonna play twenty seven holes a day. Of course, this isn't the best time with sunlight, but we're gonna get as much golfing as we can. And uh, I'm in charge of coming up with some sort of a gambling scheme so we can all bet a little bit of dough as we play. I'm still trying to figure that out. So a golf trip this weekend. We'll be back with a new clubhouse next week, and we got

some guests already lined up. Yes, we're trying to plan ahead. That's a new thing for nineteen, big thanks to Robin Hood, a big thanks to titlist, and of course a big thanks to zip Recruiter. We will talk to you guys next week. M