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Speaking of the UGA, our next.
Guest is the executive director of the UGA, and we're only going to talk golf for the next twenty minutes. Easton Folster, Happy Monday, buddy. How are we doing right?
I'm doing fantastic. And you guys couldn't have picked a better song and sucked us hoping you would. That's just that made my heart happy.
There you go, And we're not only going to talk golf because your text offering your presence on this radio show came with a mandate. And Easton, even though you're a local boy, you happen to be a lifelong fan of the New York Knickerbockers. Let me start with the origin story. When did you and why did you become a Knicks fan?
Yeah, it's a good question, you know. Obviously, being a nineties kid, the Knicks were a little more relevant, you know, back then than they are, you know in the previous two decades now. Obviously I had the jazz troup for but for some reason I hooked on with the Knicks. Was a big trick Ewing fan and I will say that I've remained loyal through some dark years, and now there seems to be somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel. So things are looking a little brighter, that's for sure.
So I wonder what you find most likable about this iteration of the Knicks, Because Porter, my producer, is a younger Nick fan, and so he has this idea in his head that the Mellow years were awesome, and they just weren't. They won a couple of playoff series and look, I'm a mellow guy, love mellow I just it's all bottom line this to me, this is the most likable Nick team, literally since nineteen ninety nine.
What what do you like most about this team?
Yeah? I agree, they're fun to watch, you know. I think the compelling component is the fact that I feel like they're never out of a game. You know. I've told some friends and you know, solo basketball fans, that I feel like, if the Knicks can get to the fourth quarter within ten points and Jalen Brunson is in the game, we have a shot. And I think being able to watch a player like him with as clutch
as he's been, it's amazing. I mean it almost feels like this this confidence when he has the ball, that's something magical is going to happen. So even if we're down, which we've obviously seen in the Celtics series, the Piston series as well, do you have a chance with Jalen Brunson And he's a closer. And it's been a lot of fun to watch. But it's a gretty team. They hustle, they play hard. I wish they wouldn't dig these holes.
I'm sure I speak for all Knicks fans, but they find a way to claw out and it's been heart stopping sometimes, but it's been a lot of fun up to this point.
Did you anticipate Friday Night happening the way it did at all? I mean, I finished the show and drove home and you know, a what, man, it was kind of fun because I will say in this space, when you do this for a living, and as long as I've done it now, you know, approaching twenty years full time, you do have to be agnostic a little bit. You know, you do have to kind of put the biases and fandom aside in order to do the job the right way. Like I would love for the Jazz to be good again,
but I cannot be dishonest about where they're at. Whenever anybody asks me, who do you cheer locally for, I said all of them. I want everybody to win, because when everybody's winning, more people listening to sports soccer radio, and it's better for my bottom line. It's better for my business. But the PTSD of being a Knick fan for really since I was ten eleven years old, really
settled in. And I approached that game on Friday night with tremendous trepidation, and even when they were up like forty, I'm like, I still don't feel like this was real. So what stood out most to you about the way they just blew out the Celtics on Friday.
Well, I'm with you. I was terrified, you know, when we lost Game five the way that we did, even without Tatum, I was. I was really nervous. And it just has felt like Nick's never really blow team out, you know. If anything, They've been getting blown out in games and have caught back, which has been a lot of fun. But I had I wish I could say I saw the Nicks blown them out. I didn't have that level of confidence. I thought it'd be a great game, but it seemed like, you know, they had their foot
on the gas and they didn't let it go. And I'm with you. Even when we got up twenty thirty and I think we even touched forty plus points, you know, there was still some trepidation, like you said that the bottom was going to fall out, and you know, as we know with coach Tibbs, of course kept his starters in the whole entire game, so I'm not even sure that he was confident that we're going to hold on.
But exciting way to win the game, and a lot of momentum going into the Eastern Conference finals, So it's exciting.
What is your confidence level against this Pacer team that just has a grip of physical pitbull wings. They just want to fight everybody all the time.
Yeah, I think it's going to be a great series. I think we'll match up well. I'd really I think that Knicks fans might be making a mistake and kind of overlooking the Pacers and looking onto the finals. That would be a mistake. I mean, Pacers man handled a really good Cavs team and so I could see this going six. I could go see it going seven, but of course, as a true Knicks fan, I think I think we'll get it done. You know, I'd have to say maybe Nix and Nixon six would be my prediction.
In fact, I think that's what we've done. The last two series is one in game six, so hopefully we get that done again.
Does it make it sweeter that it's been so long?
I mean, I've kind of gone back and forth on this because certainly, as a fan, every year, you want your team to have a shot, and if for honest, you know, the Knicks have not had a shot it doing anything since nineteen ninety nine. I mean, it literally has been twenty five years, and if for honest, the Jazz haven't had a chance to win a championship in my opinion, probably in that same timeframe.
But during that time, the Jazz had d.
Will and Booze and Memo, and then they had Heyward in favor in that group. Then they had Mitchell and Gobert and good teams. So I know the Jazz right now are nowhere close to competing, and we have a fan base that's a little bit disenfranchised with the products. And my hope is, you know, when the Jazz are able to get this thing figured out, and they're back to respectability and competition. Our community here and our basketball fan base here will be reminded of how fun spring
basketball is. So I know, as a long suffering Nick fan, you probably prefer to have better teams over the past twenty five years.
But does it make it any sweeter that it's been so long?
Yeah? I think so, And I think most Knicks fans would say that. I mean, if anyone saw the social media buzz around the Knicks fans going absolutely crazy in New York City, I mean, on one side, it's a little embarrassing. I mean, all we did was win two series, but they celebrated, you know, like we won the championship. So I think you see that that somewhat of a relief, you know, from fans that it's been so long that
we've to this point, and it certainly is sweet. You know, I've I've had to stop myself from you know, day dreaming to what might be and in a few weeks we still have a really, really long way to go for that. But no, it's it's it's been what you know, two decades or twenty five years since you know, we got to this point and so I think, you know, for all Knicks fans, there's this certain release that you know,
it's been satisfying to see the team perform. I listened to your previous segment about the Jazz playing the lottery offs and some of their struggles and you know, and tearing it down and can't help but be reminded that that's what the Knicks were doing for the better part of the last two decades. And so it feels it feels good, you know, to be at this point, and hopefully we can keep it rolling.
All right, Before we will, we do need to talk a little golf. But before we get there, I have your Instagram pulled up and number one, congrats, that's number one.
I was going to ask you if you're raising your young your young.
Fella as a fan of this team, because one of the things, like my poor son has grown up Jazz, Nicks, Jets. Luckily we have the Yankees, but I feel bad that I ever encouraged him to cheer for the Knicks or the Jets. But he was at one of the games and he posted a picture in his John Starch jersey that I bought him when he was about the same age as your boy, And I see you've got your boy in a Jalen Brunson jersey.
Yeah that's right. Yeah, No, And he's a you know, for only being four years old, he's a real fan. I mean he can name I would say at least six or seven players on the team. So for being four years old, i'd call him a real fan. I mean he's watching the games with me, and he's and he's excited. And you know, as you mentioned, wife expecting and I've told her, if we're lucky enough to win it all, Jayalen, the name Jalen is certainly in play. You know, she's not necessarily a fan, but I've just
warned her that Jalen is in play. So you might see that here in a few months. But yeah, I mean we're excited, and I know my son is too. He of course didn't have to suffer through the long decades of ineptitude. But yeah, we're pretty pumped at our residents.
Thinking, Jalen Spencer fulster, how's that land?
I like it. I'm all in.
You put a basketball in his hand, can he shoot it? Did he dribble it?
All? He can play? Yeah, he's an athlete, you know. Right now, he's just kind of trying to figure it all out soccer, te ball, you know, basketball. But he can play, and you know, like I said, he's he watches, he observes, and you know, he's a big fan. So Jalen's is his favorite player. We went to the Knicks Jazz game when they were here in town and he caught Jalen's attention. He waved at him, and of course that just made his day. I think it made my day more than his. But yeah, he's a big fan.
Have you put a golf club in this young fellaw's hand yet, Yeah, a.
Little bit, just a little, you know, a little plastic set. Golf's tricky, as you know, I mean, we're we're adults. I still haven't figured it out. And I've been playing, you know, for the better part of a deck gage. So I feel like that's a long road and maybe I can get him some more quicker than golf. But eventually, yeah, we'll put a golf club in his hand and see what he can do. But got a long ways.
To go for that, hopefully, Because when I was younger, I thought it was boring. I did not want to play golf. My grandfather may he rest in peace. Loved it, and he always said, like your natural athlete, you could be good at this if you wanted to, And then I would just get frustrated and quit, and I'd want to go shoot buckets. I want to go play basketball
or football. So are you planning on fighting through the boardom to encourage him to keep playing the game, or you just kind of going to kind of let him find out what he loves on his own.
Yeah, probably more of the latter, you know, figure out what he likes, you know, I think exposure is important, especially for kids, you know, expose him to everything and let them kind of pick what they excel at and what they enjoy. And if it's golf, great, you know, that would make me certainly a happy father, you know. But not going to push him, you know, in that
in that direction. But you know, hopefully, you know, like I did, and it sounds like maybe you did as a youth, he'll pick it up recreationally and you know, from there we'll see what happens. But yeah, no, you're right, I mean, eighteen holes as a kid back in, that's long and it takes a little bit of time to learn to enjoy that. But we'll see what happens with them.
What do you think it is about this game, the game of golf that seems to draw people in on a level where it truly turns into an addiction.
And I'm not even kidding. What do you think it is.
About how people just get addicted to the game.
I think it's I think it's those little moments of success, which of course are relative to the golfer. You know, if you're incredible and you're really talented, obviously you know your success and that little addiction might be shooting a sixty four, sixty three, going for the course record, winning championships, you know. But for the rest of us, it might be flushing a fore iron and that feel of, you know, hitting a green in regulation and a drive that's straight
and far. And it's those I've always found you can get a golfer to hit, you know, just one, two or three of those moments in a round where they think that was a lot of fun. I think I can do that again. I think that's where the addiction comes in, as Wow, I just flushed a foe iron. That's how it feels. I'm going to go back next week and I'm going to give it another shot, and if you can turn that into a few times each round,
that's where the development comes. And that's where you know, those moments of you know, like you've kind of said that, that addiction which I think we've all had with golf. Those that you know love the game, it's those small moments of success that give you a taste and you know what, you know, the really good player, you know, experiences on you know, on every shot basis. We don't get those very often, but with golf, you know, on any given day, you know, there's a lot of players
that can hit a shot like a professional. They do it consistently. We do it maybe once around, But it's that one shot that I think gives people that itch.
You know what's interesting you reference how the pros are so consistent with it. I don't know that I fully understood their ability to figure out problems and get out of trouble until I went down to Bay Hill as an honorary observer and followed Sam Stevens' Nick Taylor around
the course. And then when you look at some of the stats like fairways hitting regulation or greens hitting regulation, these guys aren't hitting every fairway they're not hitting every green, and watching their ability to problem solve has become like a fascination of mine. Have you noticed the same as you've watched some of these pros, Like yes, to your point, they're going to hit most of their shots pretty flush, but.
They're not hitting every fairway. They're not hitting every green.
They've got to figure out how to solve problems and get out of trouble. That that to me is like the line of delineation.
Sure, and you know, and I think it's you know, it's avoiding the big mistakes that I think amateur players you know, tend to make the big numbers you just don't see as often from the prosolical out and make a number of double bogies and triple bogeys in around.
And that's what kind of adds to that score. And those guys, you know, bogie for them is bad because, like you said, they're able to calculate, they're able to see risk, probably unlike you know, you know, every diameter player, and so you know, I think they avoid the big numbers more often than probably you know, the double digit handicapped player is. And then just the talent, you know, to be able to pull off some of the shots.
I'll say that maybe I can see the shot that's required, but I don't have the talent to pull the shot off. So I think that combination of you know, if talent and risk management is really what makes you know professional golfers the elite.
You have a favorite golfer to watch right now or historically? Is there one that comes to mind?
Yeah, you know, I hate to be right on the bandwagon, but I just there's I can't find anything not to like about Scotti Scheffler, both from a playing standpoint and just from a you know who he is as a person. Of course, I don't know him personally, but from everything I see, just seems like a very likable guy. Like
the way he plays his swing a little unorthodox. You don't see that every day, and it's consistent and just wins and so, like I said, I hate to jump on the bandwagon of probably where everybody else is at, but I when he's in contention, I certainly like to jump in front of the TV and watch. He's probably one of my favorites right now.
When he's dialed in.
And I've talked about this on the show with a lot of my golf guests quite a bit. One of my big regrets is that I was not dialed into the game of golf when Tiger was Tiger. I wasn't watching. I had an opportunity. In nineteen ninety seven. I was living with my grandparents, and as I referenced, my grandfather was a big golfer, and for whatever reason Easton, it is known on the show that my grandfather named me nickname me Spencer Doobie when I was two years old.
I don't know why. There's no way he knew what that was. I can promise you that. And so nineteen ninety seven, I'm a senior in high school and I'm downstairs and my grandfather yells down, do be come upstairs. This young man is about to make history. So we watch the final round of Tiger at Augusta. But I did not see Tiger at peak Tiger very much. I've watched some documentaries, I read the book, and I find them to be very fascinating.
And I know that it is it is very, very dangerous to compare.
Like golf gatekeepers in a way remind me a little bit of NBA gatekeepers. When the Jordan stuff comes up, like there are so many people, and by the way, I'm one of them. There's so many people that will say Mike is the greatest and he'll always be the greatest. Do not come to me with Kobe or Lebron or I don't want to talk about it, Okay, And whenever I draw comparison to Tiger, it's like sacrilegious for golf gatekeepers.
But at what point do we start talking about Scotty as potentially in the midst of the beginning of a run that kind of feels like it did when Tiger was being Tiger.
If that makes sense, Yeah, it does, and I think we're there. I think the run has at least started, you know, like you said, now, what made Tiger so great is you know, the how long the run really was and the dominant really was. I mean we saw with Rory he came out too, you know, when he was a younger golfer and he started that journey and I think he had if I'm not mistaken, he had four majors right off the bat and then had to wait eleven years until he just recently won the Masters.
And so you know, there's some cautionary tell there as well as yes, I think he's on that path. I think there's been other golfers like Rory, like Jordan Speif that have come out hot and then they've fizzled. So to be able to be that dominant, that consistent, I think that's what made Tiger, and that's what made Jack great.
Now.
I think Scotty is certainly right there on the path. Only twenty eight he's got, you know, I would say fifteen twenty years of competitive golf left, and we'll see what he can do. You know, Tiger was fifteen majors. Scotty now three, so he's got a little ways to go. But I mean, I'd be shocked if you if you asked me to predict, I'd be shocked if he's not at least at double digit majors by the end of
his career. So he's a lot of fun to watch, and I think we're watching something special and we'll see what happens.
Does the live thing move the needle for you at all?
I mean I was gonna ask you, like, I don't know how it would affect your job, but in you know, in and around the game of golf, it still seems to dominate the conversation part of me feels like we've settled into acceptance, if that makes sense, where like, all right, Live is just gonna be around, and it's just gonna be another tour. It's going to be like the USFL
or Minor League Baseball or whatever it is. It's just, you know, for a while, it was okay, the merger's happening, and then there were negotiations and Jay Monahan and the leader of the pift Fund, we're kind of like, all right,
we're making progress and there's no progress. Then the President gets involved, like okay, maybe this is going to move the needle, and it hasn't, and we're just kind of in the place where we've come to this acceptance that Live is going to be lived, and the tour is going to be the tour, and the best players on Live that have earned the right to playing majors are going to have the right to do that. It feels like that's where we've landed. You think that's where we're
always going to be. And does this stuff kind of move the needle with what you have to deal with day to day.
Yeah, you know, it's really tough to predict. I do agree that I think that we've kind of landed in this acceptance. I think that there was some turmoil there when Live was picking off some of the you know, the best tour players, and I think that made everyone uneasy. That's settled, and now kind of the rumors are Bryson could come back, John rom could come back. You know, there's some regrets that they took the money and don't get to play on the on the tour, you know,
as Live loses those players. If that does happen and they lose a Jen Ram and they lose you know, a Bryson Deshamba, I don't know. I mean, there's not a lot of interest in Live Golf right now, and if there was any, you know, without those golfers, I really don't know, like you said, outside of being a minor league, I just don't know how they survive now.
Could they continue to pump money and and try and you know, I'll say, steal more players or take away more players from the tour maybe, but that hasn't happened. I feel like in you know, at least a year or two, So I don't know, you know, if I had to predict, I don't know that Live will be
here long in the way that we know it. But I do, you know, I do agree that I think we've kind of landed in a place of acceptance and it seems like it's kind of settled a little bit, and you know, maybe they can come to grips or come to terms on an agreement where we can get some of these players on tour, because how fun has
it been to watch bryceon to Shamba. I know he's not for everybody, but he's been incredibly relevant at the last three majors, I think top five in the last three, and a great personality and it's been a lot of fun to have him. I mean, golf is missing having ice into shambles and having John Rahm's play, you know, in on a consistent basis on on weekends that we all get to watch. So hopefully we get those players
all playing on one tour again. I you know, I'm strictly on the amateur side, you know, far more on the local side than ever having to deal with live So you know, I just cheer for what's best for golf and let's get people excited to play. I don't know that that's live. I think it's more like Scottie you know on this tear that he's one or Rory winning the Masters. I think that's what gets people excited. So that's what I tend to roop for.
We don't really need to get more people excited to play Euston. We just we just don't. Okay, I've already presented my endeavor of hashtag shrink the game, which you summarily dismissed, And of course I'm being facetious. But before I set you loose, I know you've got tournaments, you've got mid ams, you've got state ams, qualifying senior and all that women, all that stuff. So what what do you want our listeners to know about what you have going on with the UGA?
Yeah, appreciate it, and you know very much we're we're in the camp of expanding the game, and you know, we want everyone to come out and play as much golf as humanly possible and stack up the t sheets and and hopefully there's still some tea times that you can book as well. But you know, my challenge for any golfer that's listening, or even non golfer, is to push themselves to the to the next level, whatever that may be. You know, golf is on a boom right now.
It seems like everyone's you know, trying to get in the game one way or another, whether it's at top golf, whether it's going to the driving range. I would encourage everyone to go get top golf a try go to the driving ranges if you're new to the game, and as you become more familiar, we'd love to have you as members of the UGA. You know, get a handicap index and start tracking your progress. That's that's our goal.
We think it's you know, we help develop those players that can go from just beginning to maybe one day playing you know, championship level golf here in the state. So I encourage everyone to go out and try something new, whatever that may be. And if you'll visit you Jade dot org. That's how you can become a member, get a handicap index, and play as much golf as possible.
I gotta tell you before I set you loose, after you're on last time. I showed up the next morning to play around of Bottleville and as I checked in paid the fee. As I was walking out, one of my guys up there said, hey, go easy on Easton, will you? So I don't know if you got any feedback last time, but people were listening, and I apologize if I went too hard on you.
No, of course not. I know where you're coming from. Everyone wants to tea time, and everyone wants to get out there and play. You know, like I said, from our standpoint, love seeing t sheets full, and our golf professionals are working really hard to make it a good experience. But no, we want you to be able to get out there and play, you know, a quick ground too. I know you're busy, so hope you'll keep playing.
Oh you know, I will. You know, I will, Buddy.
I appreciate the time today, and if the next keep advancing, we're going to keep having you on because now the good luck charm apparently he's in play, all right.
I love it. Thanks for time, Spence, Go next.
Easton Foster, executive director of the Utah Golf Association.
Go to UGA dot org