Ep. 137 - Dan Hicks

then of course the finals in the championship. I mean, you get a nineteen year old player that had just started playing golf when she was fifteen, when she finished up with tennis, with Gabriella ruffles and birdies, the thirty five and thirty six sols to win, you know. I mean, when you're watching that and you're getting a chance to broadcast stuff like that, and this is what you want.

When you're doing match play. You never know which players you're gonna get through into the sixty four, into the thirty two and on down the list, and this is this is we got in the finals. So it was awesome and I can only expect it will be the same Pine Nurse as one of the greatest places in the country for golf, and I just want to give you a quick schedule for the week so you can have it. Wednesday we go four to seven pm Eastern on FS one, the same on Friday and Thursday four

to seven. Saturday it moves three to six. It also moves to Big Fox and Sunday three thirty to six thirty pm Eastern on Fox, and we'll keep that going until we continue on to our champions So make sure you set the DVRs. I would add an extension if I were you, add about thirty minutes. We went long a lot because we wanted to follow those matches when they went to extra holes, and I'm assuming it we'll do the exact same stuff this week, So add thirty minutes,

maybe at an hour. We went deep a little bit at the Women's Amateur, and I expect probably gonna go deep if some of these matches continue on the golf course number two. I mean, my goodness, it is an unreal shape. It is very hard. I am kind of glad I didn't qualify for the US Amateur because I'd be nervous of what I would go out there and fire. But these kids are a lot better than us average good Joe's that think we can go out there and play,

So it'll be a fun week. This Clubhouse podcast with Dan Hicks as they all are, is sponsored by titlist and the new T Series Irons from the Tour's Best to the Best in your foursome titleist. T Series irons are designed to help discerning players at every level go lower than ever before and from the precision of T

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series are great. Check those out titlist dot com. The T Series irons, they have the T three hundred and again, I mean it is it is the next set in the title list lineage of irons. They always do a great job with them. And uh, one last thing, do

me a favor. Go on Instagram and social media and follow this account the Clubhouse at the Clubhouse Pod on Instagram and Twitter as I consistently giveaways stuff and if you want tease or coozies or stickers, all you really got to do is send a note to those accounts and ask And I sent him out when I'm home, and I ask you to follow my Instagram account at Shane Bacon as I've got some stuff to give away over the next few weeks. That's where I'm gonna give

it away. So if you want to be a part of that, go to add Shane Bake and hit follow and that'll be that You'll have a chance to win some cool golf stuff that I've collected over the summer. That's it. That's all I got. We got into a lot of different stuff with Dan Hicks, you know, one of the best in the business at what he does, sitting next to Paulaising or a friend of ours at Fox obviously and helps us out with the open coverage. And uh, I wanted to have Dan on for a

long time, and I got that chance. Here we go and we welcome into the clubhouse for the first time a man that you know, Dan, I didn't realize I had as many similarities with you as I do. Dan Hicks, of course, the voice of golf for NBC has been doing a great job for so many years. I was reading your bio. We both went to University of Arizona. I know you grew up in Tucson. My first internship was with k v o A. Uh, there was there's

some similarities there that I didn't really realize. Ran so deep. Yeah, the the Shane Bacon Dan Hicks coincidence, which should be uh researched even further maybe now, Shane, it's it's great to be on your show. Um, you know, obviously watched a lot of you guys on Fox and follow it very closely, and uh, you're just doing a great job, and it's always a pleasure to talk to to a

fellow wildcat. Not too many of us out there, um, you know, in the broadcast world other than our our producer, our fame producer Tommy Roy at NBC, who is a U of A alum as well and grew up in Tucson, but not a lot of us out there, so a pleasure to connect again. Yeah. And and today, of all days, I'm online kind of digging around, and there's a large basketball podcast that I listened to that today put up.

They're calling it a rewatchable and it's the two thousand and five Elite eight game between Illinois and Arizona, which I still believe is the most depressed I've ever been following a sporting event. I've got a lot of those depressing moments, uh were Arizona sports. Not not too many of them around the basketball hoops team, but boy, um, I've been a part of the whole Arizona Tucson scene forever, seemingly and still still watch it closely as I can.

But you know, growing up in Arizona, growing up in Tucson, following the Wildcats and going through the whole deal. When I was at school there, I was a public address announcer for the baseball team. I probably saw a hundred and fifty, as they called him back in the day, six pack games for for the Wildcats. So it's in my blood, it's in my DNA, and um it's it's it's fun. So I was. I just wanted to kind

of talk through your career. You mentioned it already. Not a lot of people got into broadcasting from the University of Arizona. Everybody out of the state of Arizona basically went to Arizona State and Walter Cronkite in the school there. They do such a great job. How did you get into it? What was your path into broadcasting, you know, through the University of Arizona. You mentioned some of the

internships and some of the stuff you did there. Yeah, first of all, I'm very disappointed that we get the Arizona State in there already in this podcast. But anyway, um, now, you know it was the best part about my Arizona education was the journalism. I was a journalism major and the journalism department at you have A is exceptional. Always knew it was. Had some friends of my sisters who went to the Arizona who were in the journalism department,

So that was on my radar. There just wasn't there wasn't really a broadcast you know, division there or department there to kind of sink your teeth into. So I started off the journalism, you know, learning the who, what, why, when, where, and the real fundamentals of writing, which I still used today. Believe it or not. Some people thinking, get into this television business and you stopped writing, and you don't. I'm

sure you've realized that. But look and back. I just did as much as I could in school as possible. I was on I was a sportswriter for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. I covered all the sports there, and then I, like I said, I was a public address announcer for the baseball team, and I just started working my way through there. My first job out of school was a job in radio. I did news. I had to get on the air some way, shape form. I had to get live and get comfortable with that part of the

broadcast business. So I did radio for two and a half years in my hometown at two Center, Arizona, and then I got the the opportunity to go to k v O, a TV where you um you had you spent some time, and that was just a really good, solid number one NBC affiliated. Hey listen, I've got you

know all these tapes. I've got fifty tapes stacked up in the corner of my of my office here, and these are all from people that have had at least two, three, four five years experience in the business, and I was just a radio guy at two soon and I said, well, if you just let me get on the set and give me a little audition with my buddy there, who I knew at the time was John Hook, who have to come and remained good friends with do the year. Can you just let me get on there and do

an audition? And he did. I said, if it sucks, you can jump in the lake and I'll never bothery again. Um, so I did it. I got a call from the next day, and you know, a long story short, I got hired there and got my start in television. So and then from there I went to see an in sports and met my wife, and from there I went to NBC, which is crazy because we went there at the same time from CNN and uh, twenty seven years later, here I am talking to you. So that's the thumbnail version. Yeah,

it's it's uh. I mean, it's interesting to hear you say. The writing thing. I talk a lot about this. I mean I wrote it for the years in a daily Wildcat for four years, and writing was my pedigree. I wrote online after that, I wrote for y'all who sports and CBS, And I really feel like the writing thing helps you with your broadcasting. I mean, I write my scene sets, I write the stuff that I say on air. When I'm preparing to write these things, it's something my

producer Mark Loomis has hammered home. I mean, make sure you write it so it feels like it's in your own words. And I feel like you probably do a lot of the same stuff, and uh, it does it. It really, in a weird way, has helped me. And and this sounds so broadcasting, but it's helped me kind of find my voice because it's a it's a helpful it's a helpful thing to have as a small tool kind of in in the in the pack of things

we use about it. Um, you use it even if you're not, you know, physically writing it down or hammered it down in your iPad or whatever. While you're up in the broadcast booth, you're thinking writing in your head. Because the fundamentals that were pounded into me in the journalism department at Arizona, where first of all, if we made one error, whether it was a spelling area of a spelling error of a name, we had to have a middle initial on names. That's how much they pounded

it into your into your head. If you didn't have that, forget about what you wrote, you know, how much reporting you did, you've got an automatic E which was a fail. And so that still is in my head when I when I try to get things right, and again we're not going to get everything right because there's just too much going on in the in the show. Oh as

you know. But if you go in there with that thinking that that is your worst nightmare is to make an air or screw up somebody's name, or make basic airs that you could really you know, have a you know, put a good watch out. Then you're then your head of the game. And writing is all a part of that because it's what basically comes out of your mouth through your brain. And like I said, if you don't write it down, you're certainly thinking in the right manner

of how do you know what's brick by brick? Can't tell a guy who's gonna win at eighteen on Sunday his whole life story on Friday or even Saturday for that moment, you kind of pick here your points in an old executive producer at NBC Sports Terry O'Neill once told me, it's a brick build your house, brick by brick, and that is the That's what I try to do, is to just let people know a little bit about him or her as we go along, and at the

end you've got this nice house build. Everybody has comfortable. So it is all a part of writing. It's all about all about putting a story together. And I really feel and I think that's somewhat of a lost art with some of the younger people today. I mean it's I think that you can easily get caught up in just let's just get on the air, you know, what's the quickest way, and you know, sometimes we lose those those most valuable skills that I think really give a

broadcaster longevity in this business. Well, I want to transition into your year. It's probably been one of the I wouldn't I don't want to say strangest years, but it's probably been one that you'll you'll look back on and really remember. Of course, Johnny Miller departs and Phoenix and you have Poulaisinger come in to the seat next to you. What's been the biggest difference with Zing joining after you had to spend all those years, you know, alongside Johnny Miller.

It's it's funny they're they're very different, but at the same time, there are a lot the same. And I say that in the sense of I think of everybody out there who we were looking at, and we had some really fine quality candidates that were right in the house, you know, at Golf Channel, in an NBC that everybody knows about that that was coming up and auditioning with me, and through the course of you know, some several shows that were really good and and and and could have

done the job as well. But what distinguished Zinger was, and you know this well too, is that he he doesn't really I don't want to say thank too much, but he doesn't really care about what he says in the sense of, you know, is this is this right? Am I going to offend somebody? And Johnny was a lot like that. He spoke from the heart, he spoke truth.

And sometimes those aren't the flattering of the people that were covering, and they can get a little bit um, they can sting a little bit, especially to the people that are that's being directed at. But but it's important it's important. That's what that person gets paid to do. You know, you don't have to agree with it, but that is what he's getting paid for, and that is his job. You may not agree with it. And Zinger

is from that same mold. He's going to give it to you exactly what he thinks, exactly how he feels. It's not going to be you know, sheltered or insula did by you know, things that he's worried about repercussions from what he says, and that is one of the most difficult things for ex athletes to come into our business and do. And some never get it, you know, never kind of get that part of it. But but

Zinger has been great. Um, So I would say that's that's the that's been the easiest transition, is working with somebody like that who's just free form and goes. But at the same time, he's very different. You know, Johnny had his way of preparing singers got his way of preparing um. But that's what makes this whole mix interesting. But he's really fitting well with the guys. And I told him right off the bat that that it's just been a great fit well. And he's he's massively fun

to be around. You know that is you know when when we we have him now a couple of events and when he comes around, every the mood goes up. I mean, Paul Easinger is one of those guys that can really get every get the most out of everybody in terms of energy and entertainment. And I feel like that's the quality that's really hard to come by. And

you know how important that is. If if you enjoy working with the people, um that you work with on and off the air, man, it's gonna it's gonna come across first of all on the air, and it's just gonna give the whole morale a totally different feel. And then you know, maybe from time to time, we've all worked with people that you know are represent a little bit of negative energy, um, but there's just none of that with Zing. He's enthusiastic, he's passionate about about golf.

And I've had the great fortune of working with so many not only really good analysts, but you know through various sports, whether it's Olympic swimming or whatever, that just love what they do. Can you can turn onto television and it just comes through the set. Like with Rowdy Gaines for instance. I mean, he's just a phenomenal analyst, but his passion and his enthusiasm is what drives his his whole commentary. So Zinger's got that in spades, and we all enjoy having him, and he's just he's just

positive energy and that's always good. Yeah. The time I was host, I believe it was three US amateurs ago and it was Zinger and Brad Faxtson and myself, and Zinger said something on the Wednesday, you know Wednesdays around of sixty four, and it's this chaotic day and there's all this stuff going on, and you've got papers everywhere bast it. So you're not familiar with these guys, right, you're just kind of like bouncing around in thirty two matches.

It's it's a wild, crazy fun but it's uh yeah, and you know you can't prepare because you don't know who's going to qualify. I mean, you can sit there and read about Cole Hammer all you want, but if he doesn't get through, you just wasted thirty five minutes. And so it's just kind of the nied of you. You're reading everything. And Zinger said something on Wednesday, and we went to commercial and he looked at me and he goes, bacon, that's a Wednesday comment. I'd never make

that on Sunday. And it was, you know, it's kind of a and it was just it was so great because you know, I'm a little nervous and you know, it's kind of my first time doing this and I'm sitting next to these two great guys, and uh, it just again was it was so polaizing Er, you know, and it was it was very light and it made me laugh. And and he just has as I said, he has a great ability. And I'm so pumped that he got the job because I I know, I know you two are gonna do such a great job and

you have in an exciting, exciting stuff moving forward. I do want to touch a little bit on kind of the hot button topic right now in golf over the last well, it's it's really I guess it's it's blown up the last week. This has been the slow play issue. Bryson came out and said his interesting, i'll say comment in his rant last week about this, and the PGA tour came out and said they're gonna they're gonna look

into this. So and in the off season and really kind of see if there's a there's a there's a path they're gonna go through. When you're in the booth and you're broadcasting this slow play, I feel like is the easiest to notice because if you're on a guy and he's taken two and a half minute to hit a shot, you're sitting there watching every single second of it. Is it gonna have to be penalty strokes? I mean, what are they gonna have to do to get these guys to speed up a little bit? If they actually

say this is an issue? Yeah, I think uh. I think Rory McElroy hit it right on the head and Brooks kept it got the ball rolling as well. Um, I think you've got it. You've got to give them shots. You've gotta give the start giving penalty shots. This it's almost like it's not almost they know they can get away with this. They can get a warning, they can get another warning, and they can be told you're on the clock, but they're never but they know that. You know,

when's the last time a penalty was given out? I mean it's been It's been a crazy amount of time and a crazy amount of two slow players doing what they're doing. Why why do we even have the rules written the way they are if we're not going to enforce him And I I'm really disappointed in the way that that this has been enforced, with the lack thereof, And I think that the players are finally taking things into their own hands. We saw keptco, We saw Rory

mci right nothing. What McElroy said was was right on the money. Give him a warning and then you come back and if they're still and again it's not an easy the issue too to nail down, but I believe that penalized these guys. And and everybody knows who the guys are. That's no secret. They've been called out and you asked the tour players. They know more than any you know, better than anybody who's who's being slow out there.

So it's not a secret who's playing slow. I know, it gets a little tricky, and we can sit here and talk about it a long time about what's going to happen with you know, how are they going to enforce it, and who's slow in the group and all that stuff, but it's it's the time is common. I think the players have taken into their own hands. To try to try to enforce it. I and I think

what the Shambo did was great. He just he just hit his head on He's still a little bit in denial, but I think that he I think his breast conference was was fantastic and he said, let's talk about this, and I want to talk about it with guys that are upset with me. And I think that's a good step. But we're not going to see anything happen, you know, really significantly, until they throw a penalty shot on these guys. Then they're gonna wake up. Yeah, I mean it's you.

You could say it's ten thousand dollars if you're slow, and the guys wouldn't even realize that they got the money taken out of their account. There's so much money in golf right now. The one thing they don't want to lose or shots. I mean, that is the easiest way to do it. I had Brandon Shamble and we were talking about Sergio Garcia a couple of weeks ago, and he said, you know, with his kind of antics on the golf course, he said, find him a hundred

thousand dollars, then maybe he'll notice that. And I feel like this is kind of the same. This is This is at least in the same vein is if you're gonna do something to them to get their attention, say hey, you just got doctor shot. There you go. Yeah, I think that's the ultimate that's the only way to go about it. And I'm just about ready to give my two dogs a penalty shot. If you can hear them in the background, barking and buttons, They're now on the clock.

They've been warned and two and two more barks and I'm gonna, you know, take their food away for the night. And I think they just I think they just heard me and they stopped. That's really the other wa It's very impressive. See this is the booming broadcast voice. Even dogs know they gotta lock it up and get it together. We have a couple of lame podcast stuff here. Yeah, we have a couple of events left in the playoffs. I am interested and I want to hear your thoughts.

I don't know if you have talked about this yet with Tommy and the crew. When you guys get to the Tour Championship, what's the approach gonna be in the way you present the scoring. Are you going to have two numbers. Is it just gonna be what they're at considering they've changed that changed the way the players will start the tournament, and it's something we've never seen before. What is y'all's approach going to be at the Tour Championship when we get to Atlanta. Yeah, that's a very

good question, Shane. It's something that's that we've discussed a lot, because there's a lot going on. It's, first of all, it's brand new, and I think just in a nutshell, the obviously the emphasis from the start and to the

finish will be who wins a golf tournament? Right now, you've got you've got a seventy two whole stroke thing going on as well that is not even going to be recognized as a PGA Tour win, which is a little bit strange, Not a little bit, it's very strange for people just taking this whole fort new format in for the first time to think to themselves, Okay, let's say Tiger Woods slips into the Tour Championship in the

you know, twenty eight position. He starts off at even parties ten back, but you know he wins, he wins seventy the seventy two whole stroke play event, but is well back of the pack in the you know, the whole the new the new system of starting the ten under at the top and working its way down. I do think we're going to mention that. I think you have to, and I think you've got to stay cognizant of the fact that who of these incredible top thirty guys for the season who have assembled at east Lake,

who's got the best seventy two whole stroke score? I think you have to recognize that. But with that being said, it's not what it's all about. You have to keep realizing that this is the season long race. There's a reason the guy started the ten under and seven under an on down, So that would be the big emphasis.

I don't think we're gonna do anything graphically to illustrate the seventy two whole stroke play event that's kind of going on in the background, because I think that's that kind of goes against what you're trying to do, and that in the end, here was simplify the people at home watching the tournament so they could simply watch it, no instantaneously who's gonna win by just keeping your your your eyes on the leaderboard and the numbers, the adjusted numbers at that that are that are going to be

going by, so that I think that I think we'll recognize who's winning seven, you know, over four days. I think you have to, and I think we'll be mentioning that from time to time. But really, the overall deal is Tour Championship winner, FedEx Cup winner, and that's gonna be one guy, one deal. And that's another thing they wanted to emphasize was just one you know, not keeping

track of two trophies and all that. So but you know what, you get into these things and it all you know, it'll sound how everyone as we're talking now. I don't think we're fully going to realize how it's all going to come down and how how it's gonna feel until we get to East Lake and get to the weekend and just you know, say to ourselves, are

there going to be any tweaks from here? So the only way to do that is I think let's go you know, yeah, I mean, it's the FedEx Cup has you know, it's been adjusted a few times and they've they've gone and tweaked things here and there. I personally think the idea of one person winning makes sense. And if this is the way you have to go about it, I think it puts more emphasis on the other events. I think it more puts more emphasis on the season as a whole. And you know that is the point.

The point is to make guys care about events that maybe they didn't care about throughout the season, knowing that they can move up and they can improve. And I feel like the FedEx Cup at times um gets flak from like the hardcore golf fan. But what like I think is after two weeks, we don't really have any meaningful quote unquote meaningful golf event until the President's Cup. So it's it's in ay, this enjoyed the new format

and see how it goes. But there's no reason to sit there and trash it before we see it, because it could be really cool to watch guys, as you said, battle in two different ways for one prize. And you know what, when we get to the you know, the back nine on Sunday at the Tour Championship and you've got you know, three big stars going at it, and and in the audience clearly knows that, Okay, Rory mcarroway's one back, John Rama's two back and Brooks Kepta leads

for instance. That's all they're gonna be focusing on. And oh, by the way, you know another five million dollar stone and fifteen million dollars. It's going to have some major juice to it, and it's gonna be very easy to see what's unfolding rather than you know, Steve Sands in the Sands in the sandbox. No no offense to Steve, but um that that that kind of detracted from the tournament. We had Steve, you know, explain what's happening, and people

are getting used to that format. But I think that this is far more simpler and this that's gonna be. That's what's gonna be. Everything to be focused on is like, okay, we we get it and we see it, but you know what else is a cool thing. Even going into the BMW Championship, which is the penultimate FedEx Cup event, you know, they're just gonna be some guys finishing up to not only get into the top thirty, but it's gonna mean are they starting at you know eight under?

Are they starting in a group at you know six under? So that's going to be a new twist to the BMW Championship. That's going to be interesting for us to get set for the final thirty and the Tour Championship. Where does last year's Tour Championship rank for you in terms of golf events You've got a chance to cover in your career because that scene on eighteen, I mean, it's going to go down as as one of the coolest,

you know, non major scenes in the history of golf. Yeah, it was unbelievable, and you know it, you know, be honest with you. It was surpassed just a little bit by getting climbing the back up of the mountain at Augusta, which was just phenomenal. But I thought at the moment last year the Tour Championship that who knows if we'll

ever see Tiger win another major again. I know, the hype started, you know, significantly after he didn't win the Tour Championship, when it looked like he was going to be able to play, you know, enough golf to be healthy enough to really make more run majors. But at

that time, it was it was surreal. It had been talked about, it had been basically in people's imaginations that Tiger would ever get to that point, including his own and just some of the things that were popping through my head as I looked back, you know, behind us on the tower with a swarm of people who made it even more amazing moment. You know, PGA Tour was not ready for that kind of uh you know, a surge of people that that went behind It looked like

an open championship. But I remember looking back and seeing that, going, this is crazy. I don't think I'm ever gonna see I've never seen something like this, and I don't think i've ever will again. Just the the excitement over this guy winning again. And it's funny. As the final put dropped, I had it in my mind that I wanted to say, it's one of the greatest, it's one of the greatest

comebacks in sports history, and it is. I looked at the at the tape afterwards the rebroadcast, I actually said it's the greatest comeback in sports history, and I thought, oh my god, that's a little much. And I'm sure people, I'm sure people thought that, you know, what about you know, Ben Hogan obviously gets talked about and all these other things.

But then in the end, as I thought about it a little bit more I I would argue with anybody get you know, I know that Ben Hogan story was incredible, but the multiple facets of which Tiger faced, from public scrutiny to the microscope of the media that that Ben Hogan could only imagine being swarmed around in his day, the Tiger in the ug shot that was put all over the world, everything that happened in the physical comeback that he had, I think, you know, I would argue,

you know, give me a better one, you know, in the end. So it was, it was. It was one of those moments saying that you're you're you're in the you're in this right place, right time, You've got your crew around you, and you're just hoping to stay out of the way and let the pictures, you know, do their thing, which is basically what we did. It was phenomenal moment that will go right up there with all the great moments that I've been privilege should be a

part of through the years. Yeah, it was. You know, when you look at and Tiger, we're gonna remember the Masters win and that will be you know, whatever he does the rest of his career, Masters will be something that will basically stamp home as you mentioned the comeback, but he played awesome golf for four months. I mean he was in the hunt at the Open, he was in the hunt of the PGA Championship, and then of

course he wins the Tour Championship. Really, if you look at his season this year, outside of the Master's win, he hasn't he hasn't really been a factor at all. So when you think of the way he finished off the season, as you said, the win, and we all were going, great, he did it. He won something we can we can let him sail off. That's all we

ever wanted the Master's win. Of course Trump set but at the time it was it was just a phenomenal, phenomenal thing to to see and it was, you know, ten years after your call, and you know, one of the more famous calls in the history of golf. I wanted to ask you a little bit about it. I know you have to talk about it a lot, I'm sure, but expect anything different. Did that just was that just roll off the tongue? Did you think about that before?

I always wonder with broadcasters because I'm just new to this. Is it, you know, is it something you you'd written down? Is it something you were thinking before you said it, or did it just come to you when the putt went in. Yeah, it's get asked about it all the time and talk about being the right place at the

right time. But that was that was that was an era in the Tiger era that um that as I as he was lining up that putt at Torrey Pines, it got just so silent, and I remember just kind of looking out the window of the tower and just kind of soaking it in. And it was just like you know, thousands of people obviously around the eighteen to Tory and kind of looking over at Johnny and we were just kind of laying out, And what kept creeping into my mind was, I think, everybody here expects this

guy to make it. And I look over Johnny's gotta look on his face like this is going down. I had the same feeling because you know, we ever seen Tiger miss a put that mattered like this, And and so it kept coming into my mind subconsciously, like I, you know, I expected to make it, and everybody around this green expecting to make it, so you know, it

didn't have it in my mind. I just was going to kind of let it, you know, let the put go, and as started to go in, it just kind of burst out, you know, from from within expect anything different, just that that that expectation word kind of took over and so that kind of flowed out. And you know, not to say that you don't we as announcers or at least you know personally, I can say that you do kind of think a little bit loosely in terms of, Okay, what are we seeing here? And what if so and

so wins or what if this plut drops? What's the feeling here? What is what's the what's the emotion here? That you know, you would formulate maybe a couple of words in your mind to kind of maybe be ready for that moment. But I have really really um stayed away from orchestrating anything in that moment at all other

than just organic feeling of what are we seeing? And nothing word for words, certainly, But I will say that I have, you know, words kind of creep into your mind and ideas um and the word that came up in two thousand and eight at Tory Pines was expectations and expect them and it just kind of came out. So that was pretty cool. And sometimes you don't want to. You don't want to take away from moments. You try

to enhance them. And I think our whole crew and the way they handled that moment was was pretty much bought on you. You said it expectations And when you think back, I was watching highlights of that US Open a few weeks ago, and you know, it was a bumpy put and it could have not gone in, and it did, you know, And you think about Jordan's kind of shove off of the Russell and makes the shot, and like when he was hanging in the air, You're like, this is not gonna miss. You know, he's going to

make this jumper. It is going to go in. And you think about Phelps and reaching, and you know, it's it's just crazy that there are certain guys, there's certain any certain women of course in sports, that just had the ability two in the biggest moments when all of us are like so nervous, we can barely watch this, they're capable of pulling it off. And I find it, uh,

you know, sometimes you just think about that. I think about that with the corn Ferry Tour last week and these guys getting their top twenty five cards and coming down the stretch, literally playing for their livelihood. I mean we follow the PGA Tour a lot, but it's it's special when you get to watch sport happen and it and it changes lives. You know, yeah, you just you hit it on the head. While we all get into sports and it's to see these moments and to be

a part of these moments. That's the best reality show going period. And whether it's Simone Biles who just want her I believe her sixth national title and gymnastics, I mean, what she did and what she does with the pressure on is just unfathomable. And the athletes that are able to take their games, Michael Phelps, Tiger Gretzky, on and on down the list, Steph Curry, you know, Lebrone. I mean, it's fascinating to see who's able to perform and who's not.

And even in like a corn fairy example, like you get, how cool is it to be a part of a moment, whether it's golf or whatever sport, it is to see somebody succeed and client and and get to that moment that they've been dreaming about since we were a little kid.

And try to inject a little bit of personality. Instance watching from our perspective, our job and that's what you know, that's what I think our biggest job is to do, is to make people care about the pole are watching and then to have them come through and to have the moment just kind of organically happen. And you know, like Corey Connors this year at the Villero Texas Open, here's the guy, you know, who is he gonna win again? Ever? You know, I don't know. I think he will. He's

he's really good, he's good. He won, but you know, he got into the tournament. You know, he qualified to get into the tournament. And here's his wife drinking out of a you know, a plastic cup drinking at wine watching and we just you know, we saw her and we and she became such a part of the story. But that's the part of sports which is so cool. It doesn't have to be a Tiger Woods. It can be people on down the list that just make it so compelling and such a cool thing to be a

part of it. All right, Dan, I'm gonna get you out on this. I have heard from people that you are unbelievable at impersonations, and I know you do I know you do some broadcasting ones. I wanted to ask, what's your best golf impersonation? Who can you do the best in golf? Well, I took a lame shot of you know, I think Joe Buck celebrated his fiftieth birthday.

Some ling I think is that. That's yeah. So Paul Azinger and I were in the Open Championship and Zinger was the asked thing to do a little piece of tape for Joe's birthday celebration to play with the video at and he said, would you mind doing something with me? And just kind of because I'm just kind of nervous, I don't know what exactly. I goes, yeah, sure, I'll we'll do something. You know, I did a lame Joe Buck impersonation where you know, he welcomes everybody in the

broadcast booth and you know he's Paul, I'm Joe. So we did we did a lame thing on that. So I did that. That's my much, my best and worst golf impersonation at the time of anybody in the booth. Um. You know, I have messed around a little bit with Verne Lunku was, but it's not a part of my regular repertoire. But I do like the way that Verne through the years seems to get an octave lower every year.

You watch the Masters, and there was a time where Gee Milka Singh was was playing the Masters and he would get to sixteen and all Verne would say is molda see and it was like just golden, it was just perfect. Jeeves Milk is seen for birdie. It was like he's the best. He's just unbelievable about capture at the moment. Oh man, he laid out on sixteen when Tiger made birdie and he walked to seventeen tea and

Verne just said nothing. He just said nothing. The camera followed him to the tea at seventeen and I was watching that thing. I was like, what an unbelievable as you said. He he can he can hit it with three words and gets out of the way. And every time he does it, I'm like, this is poetry. He's so good at you know, we go around and we go around and round a little bit. Okay, Who's who? What's the best golf call ever? In my book, it's

in your life? Have you seen anything like that? I don't think that that could have been captured any better in the moment with what he said. When he said it, the timing of it was perfect. It was like, it's just I get Goose, I'm thinking about it, you know, forget about the yes, sir, and I mean that that moment and the what and what he said was as good as it gets. And that's just it encompasses what Verne Lunk was is all about, talk about feeling the

moment and letting it happen in your life. Have you seen it? No, it just came right out of him. It was It was fantastic. I gottahead, you got it. You gotta do Joe. I want to hear the Joe and then I'll let you go. No man, because you know Joe is probably gonna listen to this play. I don't really do Joe. That's the thing. I just I came out and I said, welcome to the broadcast booth. Every one. He's Paul, I'm Joe. Um, you know I

did this like totally. Like you can have Joe show you the the video of that and you can have fun with that among yourselves. But maybe, you know, maybe later on when I hear Joe a little bit more I can, I can kind of go public with it, but I don't know. I got a great I got a great amount of respect for Joe. But tell you what, I just played golf with him earlier this year. Talk about a fun guy to hang out with, and he

hits everything. It's unbelievable. He was nursing a thumb injury when I played with him earlier this year, so I didn't see his full game, but I talked to Zinger and some of the guys are, yeah, Joe is good, And I think didn't he I think he was in the finals of Yeah he was. He was in this club champion, Yeah, yeah, because I think, yeah, I think so. Anyway, I mean, you know, we're getting way too deep into Joe's game right now. But um, he was a pleasure

to hang out with. So we were watching the Masters and they were down in Butler cabin and we we had that we had we had the incredible privilege to go down there and play around in augusta National together, and we stayed in Butler cabinet and we went down and hung out, and Butler count on NaNs and all these years they you know, presenting the Green jacket. So we're smoking cigars down there, right, So I get a

text from Joe Dause we're watching the Masters. He goes, hey, they're they're down on the basement where we smoked cigars. Did they ask us to take a go down there? You know? Just funny stuff like that. Pretty funny. He's, well, Dan, I pretty good luck the next couple of weeks. It's gonna be fun to watch. I know, I know you could. I know you've been on a crazy run your Northern Ireland, South Korea and now you're in Chicago. Is that right

or your head? Yeah? Not too many directs from Port Rush to Soul, South Korea, but we made we made that happen and um yeah, and then now it's BMW in Chicago, and then we do obviously East Lake will wrap it up and then we kind of slow things down before revenue up a little bit towards the end of the year. But Shane, one more thing, man, I think I think you're one of the real rising talents in this business. I'm not just saying that. I speak for a lot of people, and uh, I've been watching

a lot, looking a lot and it's you guys. Are you're you're part of a great crew and guys have made such great strides as because of you in there and Joe and the rest of the guy. So I'm a big fan of Mark Loomis. He's a member of my same club. And um, you guys have a great group of people together. Well, I appreciate that's very nice you to say, Dan Hicks. Make sure you watched this week and next a lot of golf on. They've got

a five days of the Amateur. We've got we've got playoffs, wine and down, a lot of options and uh and the DVRs will be hot and heavy this week. I appreciate it. Have a great next couple of weeks. It looks like a big thanks to Daan for taking some time out of his week. Obviously, a couple of FedEx Cup playoff events left, including the Tour Championship, so a busy man with the with the finale of the PGA

Tour season, we'll be busy this week. A reminder Wednesday, Thursday, Friday FS one and then Saturday and Sunday the US Amateur on Fox, Big Fox. Brad Faxton and I are gonna be in suits for those two days and I brought a tie that hopefully doesn't get as much criticism as the one I had at the U S Senior Open. I was kind of got dragged through the mud there on on social media about one of my ties, so I left that one at home and I brought a

couple of less loud ties for this event. A big thanks to titlist and a reminder about the T series irons, the T one hundred, two hundred three hundred, there is an iron there for you. Go to titlist dot com to learn more about the T series irons and it's uh, like I said, they're beautiful, They're unbelievable. The technology in those irons are exactly what you want and you're going to enjoy them. And next week, hopefully the hope is the US am Or Champion joins us here on the clubhouse,

so check for that. Have a great weekend. There's gonna be a lot of golf on TV, so hunker down on the couch and prepare as we finish up our twenty nine season here at Pinehurst.