All right, we're back for episode Sime the Friday Podcast and to say we have the great guests. His name is Vince India. He's spent the last three years on the web dot Com Tour, also playing on PGA Tour Latin America and he's currently at in Miami for the PGA Latin America Championship and next week we'll be playing in the final stage of Hugh School. So Vince, thanks.
For coming on, Thanks for having me, and this is this is pretty cool my first podcast.
Yeah, it's only our fifth, so you I've only got a little bit of experience over you.
So well good, We're both made to it. Then, So Vince and.
I know each other from Illinois golf. You know, he was one of the reasons that I never pursued a professional career of playing. In the two thousand and what was it ten or twenty eleven.
That you were in ten state Amateur Samwichship. Yeah, yeah, we should tell that story about that if you want to.
Yeah, twenty ten state am I I had played two really good rounds of golf. I was even par and I was in you know, I was in the top ten and I was like nine shots back of Vince, and I was like, and then he ended up beating me by like twenty shots in the end, but his h his round got off to quite a start there and he fired a lot of good rounds to win at Beverly. Do you want to tell that story right off the back?
Yeah? It was. It was going into my senior year of college at Iowa and started coming out as a pretty beefent amateur golfer at the mice finishes and didn't have any super high expectations for my senior year, qualified for the state am and you know, didn't have any massive expectations. And the summer of twenty ten will always be remembered as the summer smearing off ice was a massive,
massive hit in my group of friends. And that's the situation where you know, you go out and buy a twelve pack of ice and you know you had a whole thing where you ice. Tell your friends you hide the spiring off ice like under a couch or under the pillow or in the or in the in the fridge when they want to go get a snack and all of a sudden you have to get on one knee and chuck it. So the day before the state am.
I'm hanging on the berths with a few friends, and things probably got carried out a hand and I ended up getting ice five or six times, and you know, eight thirty two off time the next day, and I'm heading the wrong direction in sobriety, so I kind of waddow myself out to the to the outside area, feeling crappy with all the sugar in my stomach, and you know, at this point, I need to make myself feel better so I'm not hungover and you know, slashing around the
golf course, so I try to make myself throw up, which you know, that seemed like the logical thing to do at that point, you know, get all the boos out of me, you know, hangovers gone, and you know, then we're off tomorrow morning and I have really First off,
I'm definitely scared of throwing up in general. So this isn't my forte and I'm really struggling all of a sudden when my buddy comes out, huge fresh star at Madison and he's kind of coaching me through it, telling me what to do, and he gives me three key words of advice. And I just painted this guy's fence with vomit just everywhere. Go home next morning, steel, feel crappy.
Get to the golf course, hungover, four over through six and I'm on the seventh hole of Beverly, on the back ninth of the sixteenth in the trees just past. You know you've been there. It's you're in jail. And I tried to punch on. I grounded it like ten feet. Who's cadding? I go, okay, hold on, I'll be right back. Go behind a tree, two fingers on the throat again, try to get everything out, and then I go back to this other punch shot almost the identical thing. Look up,
I'm like, oh, there's a window. There's a window like the size of maybe a lamp shade. Let's go through that. Hit it through there to like forty feet, make the putt, and then I played my last eight holes in seven under par, or I least eleven holes in seven under par, and then I ended up winning my seven. So it all started with uh, with that smearing offince, I guess it.
Probably you know, it just got you in the right feeling for the last eleven once you got the last of the booze out of you, you know you were you were that perfect balance of hungover.
Yeah, yeah, that's the key. Sometimes every now and then you'll have a you have a pro am party in South America or in Columbia or whatever country you have down here, that it's almost a little bit too much fun. And yeah, it's hard to not overindulge. But I always look at it that, you know, sometimes you play a little bit better at golf when you're you're not focused on golf, like you know, let's say that you're not
feeling good the next morning. You're just trying to make it step by step to the next golf shot, you know what I mean, Like you're just focused on getting to your next golf trat without falling over and passing out. And then all of a sudden you're at the golf shot and you go, oh, well this is terrible enough. You're not thinking about what could possibly go wrong in between, you know, the the last shot on your next one. So you know, I gotta take everything in strade, I suppose.
Yeah, I think it makes you not try too.
Hard, which is yeah, exactly.
Like everybody I know.
I try. Yeah, so yeah, I go through take some valleys, but sometimes I try too hard and I obviously try a little a little less at times, but that's all about balance. I suppose.
You kind of hit on it. Some would call you a late bloomer in golf, where you know, sudden you kind of like first time the scene later in your college career. I mean, you won the State am was a like a big kind of jumping off point for you.
Yeah, that certainly it was a stepping stone. That summer in general was really good. I qualified for the US Amateur my first time and finished pretty high in the State Amateur match play, and then I won the State am at a really really nice golf course and beat a couple of the line I players and you know how good their team is, And that kind of kick started me into an awesome fall season at Iowa my senior year. And when all of a sudden, I was getting asked to, you know, play all these clubs for
club manufacturers. So it's amazing stuffing changeing.
How's that work when you, you know, are a really good college player, and like, what's like the turning pro process? Like and when did you know, like, hey, you know, I've got a real shot to play this.
Road living oh man. The turning pro process is not as complicated as you think. The actual the actual turning point and when you're when you become a pro is you sign up for your first event and there's two boxes to check. There's one that says amateur and the one that says pro. And as soon as you click the pro box and press THEB my, you're technically a professional. So that's kind of underwhelming. But the process leading up to that, like behind the scenes with all the clubs
and stuff. Usually kids in college will have some type of agreement with a company that they'll they'll send them products, you know, have them play their balls, watch as clubs, drivers, what have you. And then you know, depending on how how they turn out as a college player, those companies will we'll keep in contact and then approached them once
they're a college. College career is over, and you know, then all of a sudden, you have a manufacturing in your back pocket, and you know, maybe they know a good friend that's an agent, and before that you have an agent and possibly more deals. So that's kind of how it works.
So you're you're a Calvalay guy.
Now have you always been a Calaway guy? Yeah? For as long as I remember, high school was a mixed bag of everything, whatever I could get my hands on, really didn't have a preference. And then sophomore year at Iowa, my coach set up an arrangement with Calway because they were looking to they were looking to send some products of a few college players and they didn't have a they didn't have very many playing their stuff at the time, and I was one of the lucky ones to see
some products. And uh, I think it's been eight years now with Calloway, and I've seen I've seen the good, the bad, and the great, and it's amazing how far our company can go in eight years. And I've just seen how awesome their line has turned out in that time.
I have you hit their new driver.
It's apparently like what rate of what's it's called, like the epic or something.
Yeah.
Yeah, everybody's saying it's just crazy good. I haven't hit it, but I've also heard the exact same things, like a bunch of nickey guys that have gone to Callaway and fiddled with things over there. I've just said it's outstanding. So yeah, hopefully I'll I'll get to go and hit it when I go to the Calli Performance Center in January or whenever I head over there.
That's uh, yeah, I want to get my hands down one.
Yeah, I need all the distance.
Second get what uh.
What I was gonna say? If I if I run across another one, maybe spare one. I could probably uh snag up on my favorite golf blogger. You know, as long as we get a Caloe logo on Friday, how's that's that? I don't know.
I don't know if that's a good deal for for Friday.
That's fine. I guess the logos are expected. Probably looking for more than a SFE.
We'll see, we'll see.
We have a shortage of there, sorry, maybe a full.
So tell us, uh, you know a little bit about Q School. I think it's the most undercovered golf event of the year because it's the only time you really see these guys you know, and not these guys you and all these other pros playing for essentially their livelihoods and their jobs. So uh huh can you can you walk us through like what the vibes who are like at each stage? And you know what, you know, the difference is as you move up to the final stage.
Sure, let's see here, so there's four stages. You have and they're just they're all numbers differently. So the first stage is actually pre qualifying. Then you have the first which is the second stage technically, then second stage and final stage. And as a member of the Web dot Com I get a five pass pre qualifying, and then you go to the first stage, which is there's got to be ten or eleven sites throughout the country. Eighty players will be there. They take the load twenty five
or so. And you know, you see some guys that you've seen from junior golf and college golf that are still playing golf, but you just haven't seen them as much as you probably should have since I've been playing out on Latino American and Web dot Com, and I think they've just kind of been hanging around playing state you know, mini tours and state opens like that. But you know, you really don't need to play great golf
to get out of the first stage. You just kind of need not make doubles and just play solid golf, and that's really all it takes. You know, you could definitely play average golf to get out of there. You just can't play you just can't have any stretches of super bad golf that shoots you in the foot, but also underradedly. For me, first stage is you know, kind
of stressful because you almost take it for granted. Like in my opinion, I think making thirty grand on the web dot com every year, the fact that there's twenty five guys that need to go back to first stage that are in the same position as I am, as it's kind of ridiculous that it's all of us almost
make it out. It's like a stage anyways. I think it's just a waste of time, but also the fact that we have to go back there as we almost play the height of expectations and then you know, as soon as you start thinking about the outcome, before you know, you play around the golf, that's when weird stuff starts happening, and you know, lo and behold, I made it out the first stage on the number that's five hundred part
at the twenty fifth spot. Now, so goofy stuff has And that's the best way I can describe a few school is like Murphy's on, whatever whatever bad can happen, will, is that how that goes, whatever can go wrong will, So you just think differently, You feel a little bit differently because you know, you are fighting for a job next year, and your decision making at times is just completely erroneous, like when.
You're dormy and mass play like with a big lead and you're you dot, you take your foot off the gas almost right essentially.
Yeah, that's that my situation the last round at first stage there, I was, I was three under after four like miles in front of the cut line, and I just started getting like real complacent with like every golf shot I hit up there, and it wasn't apparably easy golf course, like there was trouble to be found. But as soon as that started happening, you know, started making sloppy bogies and before I knew it, I needed a birdy, one of my left tools to get through, and you know,
thank god I did. But you know, funny things just happened that you know, you wouldn't you wouldn't normally see during the rest of the year. Yeah, So when you go to second stage, it's.
It's kind of like you're you know, if you make it, you've got.
A job at their level, and if you don't have a job, So you know, second stage for the listeners that don't really understand it. If you get through second stage, you're assured some sort of status on the web dot com Tour, which is huge. Yeah, because you can get starts, you can get sponsors, more sponsors, exemptions. Correct.
Yeah, I mean that's how That's what happened with Trey Mullenax. We played together two years ago at second stage. He
got through them, finished almost that last of finals. I think at the sponsors invite, he wasn't going to get into anything on his number based off it's finish at Q school, but got a sponsor invite in the Bogata the first event of the year because Justin Thomas, you know, has some pull and leverage down there, and uh, well you know he finished well, he shuffled in and then kept his cards that year and then earned his PGA Tour card the next year. So you know what.
School does Justin Thomas have in Bogata? You might need to explain that, explain that.
Yeah, well it's the same thing with the same thing with Jordan's pete. I think. So, I don't want to I don't want to speculate, but I'm almost certain there's some there's some financial pull down there that it is almost required for a sponsor invite. Ah, if you if you know of a person or you know you have a I have a guy that's willing to shell out, you know, X amount of dollars for what one of these sponsored exemptions might cost, then more than likely you'll get into the tournament.
M hm, that's it. What do you so you've been at that same site for three straight years, that's second stage site and you've missed through all three years?
Uh?
Do you just love that golf course?
What is Southern Pines Southern Hills in the Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Florida. So it's a combination of the golf course and end of the arrangements. I kind of I kind of have stuff when I go there. So for anyone that hasn't been in Brooksville, it's forty five to fifty minutes north of Tampa, kind of in the middle. Yeah, Central Florida. Pretty much not a whole lot going on.
People in their free time life to go ATV ATV riding, like to go shoot guns, you know, do some pretty weird stuff, and there's not a whole lot to do up there. The places, to say, are a daze in maybe a Hampton End, like twelve miles away, so it can be kind of a rough place to go you don't have the right people on your side. And luckily my first year there, I got in touch with a nice family within the community and they've kind of taken
me under their wing. And maybe I wouldn't even call it, I don't remember, but they let me come down and stay on property and play at the golf course whenever I want. And it's almost like I have like a whole group of friends in Southern Hills Plantations. Whenever I go down there, it's like like we pick up right
where we left off. So that's that helps a ton, to be honest, you know, staying in like a nice house, having people to interact around around you and feels it feels a little bit more like home, which is nice. And then the golf course is I think, pretty fantastic on top of that.
So that kind of touches on something I wanted to talk about later. So you know, play that Latin Americans who are when you're in snicker Rock and Argentina and Venezuela, like what happens when you miss a cut? Like what do you do in your free time?
Like, in general, what do you do in your free time. That's entirely dependent on what city we go to and like how close we are to city center. So let's say let's say we're in Bogota, Colombia, and the last couple of terms we've played in Bogata, we've stayed in the city and she made it out to the golf
course maybe half hour forty five minutes. If I miss the cut in Bogata, there is maybe a five to seven percent chance that I'd go to the golf course that weekend, because more often than not, after missing a cut on Friday, I'll be going out to dinner with friends, more than likely not going out to the bars and
experiencing nightlife. Then comes Saturday. I mean, the thing is, people party down there until four or five in the morning, and you know, you're not going to get home from the bars until you know, four thirty five, even five point thirty, who knows, And by that time you're in no shape to go to the golf course. So you
might as well just scratch Saturday off. You're gonna be borizontal for most of the day, and you know, depending on how how you se on the later Saturday night, you either you go back out and do it again, or you know, you try to recuperate and have a productive Sunday. So, yeah, it really depends on the city, and I will always try to spend as little time as possible in a hotel room or an airbnb or I'm whoever I'm saying. So if I'm at the cut, more than likely that I'll be out doing the seeing
the sights and check it out the city. So somebody, you know, once.
Told me that it's you know, professional golf. You know, the difference between professional golf and college golf is really how you're able to handle travel, being on the road, being away from friends and family, Like, would you say that's probably the hardest thing about it.
Yeah, absolutely, it's got to be different for a guy that are married, didn't have families, but it's forever anyone that's not. It's certainly not easy. Yeah, it's especially having a language barrier down there and having people down there and look at you differently. You almost feel like you're not welcomed or you know, not appreciated. So and then and then if if you don't have like a decent group of friends down here, it makes it even tougher.
So that's, uh, that's one of the hard parts. And I'm pretty fortunate to have a good group of guys that are to hang out with and spend my time with if I ever if I ever need a some time away from golf. Yeah, that's.
How How's that?
How's kind of like your golf life balance change. I imagine when you first turn pro, like you're just going golf, golf, golf all the time.
You hit a point.
Where like you're like, you know, I got to have balance, And then what what do you like to do, like when you're not practicing, Like, you know, what do you do with all your downtime state when you're traveling and you're away.
That's a good question. You kind of hit it on the head there. Like right out of college, I was just you know, pumped and move to Florida and play golf year round. And I did that for three straight years. You know, whenever, whenever I wasn't on the road, I'd be home in Florida practicing and playing, or even up
in the Chicago area seeing my coaches. And I think I found out last year that I was just wasn't I wasn't like physically or mentally ready to you know, start the season or when it came time for April and May that I wasn't all there, like mentally, like I was almost already burnt out. And we're not even halfway down with the calendar year. So this year I
decided to change it up. For last year, I suppose I'm going to winter in Chicago for the foreseeable future and possibly the year round, just because that's how I did it in college. You know, we had a solid month and a half two months off of ah, not a whole lot of golf. We worked out and you know we hit balls indoors sometimes, but no traveling, no grinding, you know, no pressure on scoring or you know, tournament results. And I think that's kind of what I needed. I needed.
I needed some downtime and time to freshen up. And I think that's I wouldn't say it's a recipe for everybody, but certainly the way I need to operate.
I think that, Uh, you see, guys, with the way the professional golf landscapes turned into a year round calendar thing.
I mean, you know, he like Jason Day.
Shuts it down after the FedEx Cup.
Yeah, I think last year he didn't play until he didn't. He said he didn't touch a club until uh that Kapaloo turned him, even though I thinked out other things about how he just worked on a short game and putting all the time. But at the same sense, like time away from the game, I think is always good. I think I see it even like if I start playing bad, if I take a week two weeks off in the summer, does younger you.
Know, Yeah, I'm the biggest proponent of less as far at times, so you'll see me often than not takes extended time away from the game of golf, and I think it does wonders for not only your bodies just because of how bad the golfing is first joint, No, you're back and all that, but also for your mental mental stability, as you probably know.
Yeah, so so tell me if the you Monday qualified this year for the Belts are so now you've played on the PGA Tour, the Web dot Com Tour, and the Latin American Tour.
What is it?
What's just the difference in experience as a player on each of those tours. Like from I obviously know that it's gotta be a huge difference from America Tour to the to the PGA Tour. But walk us through what it's like to be inside the ropes on each of those tours.
Well, let's start at the bottom here. Depending on what type of event it is. On Latino America, you either get nobody out here or you'll get a decent crowd. Like let's just take the Argentine Open last week. That's that's a staple on the tour by far, the best
run event, biggest crowds. And you know you have Fabian Gobas playing Emiliano Grillo and on Helberra as well, so you're gonna get I have to say there was at least a couple of thousand people out there, and yeah, it's nice to see people out and it's uh as my first impression, my first event out here was I was certainly uncomfortable because it was uh you know, you saw banners and you saw everything roped off in grandstands, and in twenty fourteen or thirteen, I was I was
that was that was new to me. This was cool, like I'm playing on a legitimate tour. And then I slowly built up a talents. You know, I felt comfortable playing with people in front of me, and you know, then you get to the web dot Com and it's like, you know, it starts all over again, like there's more people,
you're playing for more money. You know, the players are better, the golf courses are better, and you know, I still live, been getting comfortable out there, and then all of a sudden, you know, I qualified for the Valist line, and you know, it's like a whole new level of uncomfortableness. You know, instead of you know a few hundred people, there's tens of thousands of people, and there's you know, all the people that you see you know that you've watched growing up,
or you know, hitting bunker shots. Next year you're putting right next to like DJ skin Lucdal is just really bank cool. But you know, it's kind of all about getting your feet web. That's what I told everybody is that, you know, the games aren't very different between the top players on web dot Com and some of those guys that keep their PG Tour card every year. It's just you know, they kind of know what to expect and they handle themselves pretty dang well in some situations. And
that's really all it is. Yeah, I think every golfer struggles with when you.
Move up a level, you get a little uncomfortable, and when you're uncomfortable, bad things happen in your swing and exactly tend.
To go out across the rails a little bit quicker.
You know.
It's it's interesting.
It's that. So you know in terms of.
You know, the web dot com where where you've played most of your golf, Like you know, who's been the most impressive guy that you've played with? Where you've really been like, wow, this guy's really good, and you know they could either have made it to the PGA toury or haven't made it yet.
Well, if we really turned back the talk when I played with Padeki Matsuyama in twenty and eleven when we were both amateurs, still, that's h that's kind of knew how good the players were coming up because this guy was top five in the world amateur rankings. Like, man, how good can he be? I'm like, I'm like twenty five. He can't be that much beigher than me, And yeah he shot sixty two, So give meredemes.
Where did you play with him?
That was at the World of University Games and like a deef and golf court's not overly easy by any means. And I think I shot one or two under, And I mean he literally hit like sixty two for pick golf shot. I thought, and I got, wow, it looks like I got a long way to go. Yeah, he was definitely one of them. Played a lot of golf with Russell Henley before before he got in the PGA Tours, both in college and then every now and then a few Hooters Hooters events. I always know he was gonna
he was gonna get out there. The guy's just a crazy good athlete and then awesome competitor. So he was another one. And probably John Peterson too wild. John Peterson, great ball striker, good good guy, hits it on a frozen rope every time. And I've been playing with him a few times in college and on many tour stuff. I staid, yeah, at the time, I'll see you out there. Yeah, So those are a couple that come to mind.
He's a big hunter, huge, might might be hunting more than he's golfing.
Yeah, he's you know, he's really gotten into Instagram these days, especially the far right now opinions. But uh, John's a good guy. Comes from a great family, and I like what he's doing. You know, he's reached out and he found his he found his niche, you know what I mean. He's found his his group of followers and he appeals to them and he's honestly quite a funny guy. Did you see what he did with his Christmas Lives?
No?
No, oh, it's outstanding. It's uh. He put it on Instagram and he he syncd it up all with some Christmas song and apparently he took him five days and it's like something straight out like Chris Wald. It's hysterical. So I would really recommend looking at that.
That as a PGA to remember, you know, doing very well that he.
He did it all himself.
Yeah, he did, and he loved that. He's uh, I think as his second year of doing it, and I think he knew that people liked when he put up his Christmas Life last year, and then I think he outdid himself this year. And yeah, I can't wait to hear what you think when you watch the Instagram video. It's just so comical and if you know John at all, then it makes perfect sense because he's.
So goofy for all the listeners I'll in bed, I'll find that Instagram post and embedded on the podcast stage so everybody doesn't.
Have to look for his legendary.
So, you know, tell us, tell us your best story from from your travel.
You know, are we talking like golf story or you know, you know, laugh, maybe because there's a ton of them. Some of them are I don't really remember, but the one I was just talking about with some friends here.
I mean, I would say either or you know, the best story from either of West dot Com who are at.
This course in Miami and one of the friends that traveled with me. Either or either or well, uh, we'll start with my first year out here, and and I'm I run into my old friend yesterday who's ahead of the golf course, and we were telling each other stories of the one that we kind of went back to frequently was turnap KNDA and the Dominican and the tour put us up at the Rock Hotel Casino. I who
who's out of you? You're gonna one hundred and fifty one hundred and fifty, you know, twenty early twenty males to a resort destination, all inclusive, nonetheless, and expect them to have like a tournament. Well, I ended up walking golf course after twenty seven holes go over far and all I wanted to do, So I went to the b and later that night went out to the clubs. A couple of guys that weren't kind of snuffed through through the back entrance, which is pretty fun, Like you
need you need a break at the kind of resort. Uh, I think you get us courted by police if be caught. But two of our friends were stuck in somehow ship and everything's funky. Dorry, we go to you know, hit the roulette tables, you know, say one o'clock. Then our friend, uh, we'll call We'll call him Paul. Our call. This team running up being chased by three or four big bousers and uh he kind of looked you feel like a person and do some some very very limited, uh limited practice.
And I get to the range and I see Paul emerged from the brush behind the range, and he's walking along the cart path toward the top house, and I can kind of just see him, and I'm trying to think to myself, what in God's name is he getting out here? Makes his way to the front of the range. I have a conversation. I go, Paul, what what the hell happened? Where have you been? He goes, Vince, I
just slept in a bunker on the sixteenth fairway. He outran the security guards in the pitch black of night, somehow found his way to the golf course and the sixteenth that's kind of close the hotel. He ran back first down the sixteenth and hid in a pot bunker and slept in it overnight, and then walk down the driving range backwards pretty much had a reverse walker shame and the fire, you know, tournament staff and officials.
Was Was Paul a player in the field?
Yeah, Paul is a player in the field, not just like myself. But uh, that's just that's just the type of things I going on here. That's good fun, that's great.
I mean, I wonder what it what it was like sleeping in a pot hunker could.
Be it had to be questionable. This golf course was cut out of the jungle, so I only knows whether what other stuff was like walking around to you at that point of night. There had to be panthers, yeah, possibly monkeys, definitely snakes and giant lizards. So yeah, hats off to Paul for sleeping in a bunker. That's just legendary right there. Absolutely love it. He's a legend.
Yeah, that's terrific. H So well, uh, let's get into some reader questions here, mm hmmm. So we've got one from We've got a couple here from Rabbi Jeevich. He uh, he wants to know what is your pre round meal and does it change throughout the week.
That's a great question. Breakfast is always the same, I will say before I go to bed, I will have three three whiskeys. That's always a consistent and sometimes it's three and a half, but it's never more than four. So that's uh, that's usually what I what I call my three round meal, is my three scotches or three whiskeys.
Does it just it helps you sleep? I imagine, oh yeah, amongst other things.
You know, it helps you sleep, It takes yet job and thanks your mind off off a little bit. So you know, I think that's my it's my pre and my post round.
You know, I suppose what's what's your whiskey of choice or scotch of choice? Are you more of a whiskey fan than a scotch fan?
It really depends on how I play because one is so much more expensive than the other. So if I'm playing good, and let's say I made a decent check in a Latino event and I happen to go by duty free, I'll reward myself with a decent bottle of Scotch. But if I'm traveling's black, Q School is a good a good, a good example that, like first stage, there
is no first same thing with second stage. So you know you don't want to spend a whole lot of money, So let's go buy a twenty five dollar bottle up Buffalo Trace and put on the rocks every night, you know.
M That's so if you if you went on like a ten straight Misscutt event, we might see you drinking like Evan Williams.
Yeah, exactly, the class Evan Williams, the well like count Oh gross, Yeah, I'd be drinking like a Canadian club or something like that. Gross.
All right, Robbie also wants to know what's the best shot you've ever hit?
Geez, Robbie, So I think okay, probably for the magnitude of this situation was my first school final round, the sixth and final round of twenty fourteen Q School, where I'm two back of the cut number with two to play, and I'm playing PJA West that stadium course. Are you familiar with it at all?
Uh? Yeah, yeah, the one that sends every year.
Yeah. So for anyone that can't picture that seventeenth hole, it's that island green that looks like algat Dress all the rocks around it. It's similar to the seventeenth at StarCraft, except it's thirty yards longer and you're elevated ten yards above the green.
I think the greens them all are two, right.
Yeah, it certainly looks smaller from up there as well. And I think that day was I don't even know it's in between like one hundred and sixty five hundred and seventy yards. Pin is back right like it's almost in that stupid walkway, Like it doesn't even look like it's on the green. And I need to make two birdies coming in. Sorry, one birdie. I just birdied the
sixteenth hole. I needed to play my last three and two under, and I'm looking at this pin and I just kind of manned up and I hit an eight iron right at it, and it landed six inches shore of the hole and nestled up to within my finger length. You know, I couldn't miss it if I tried, so, uh,
if that had to be for the situation. You know that that was my first year on web dot com and that probably went a pretty far away into helping my experience and my uh my confidence in my game of golf just you know, playing that whole year on web dot com as well.
Yeah, I say.
So.
Tommy Kays wants to know if there are any special ladies in your life? Very personal question.
Oh, super personal. Well, yeah, to be fair, my putter and I have been on pretty good term plately. I got starur there for a little bit. I thought about, uh, I thought about steparating the beads and maybe go sleeping in the uh sleeping in the living room for a little bit. But she's come around, and uh, she's starting to she's starting to pull her weight around here. But so far, she's my She's my one and only lady.
Does she have a name?
Oh? Does she have a name. Oh, well, she does have a name, but we shall call her Valerie. How's that?
Valerie?
All right?
Yeah, I can go with that.
I don't think number seven.
I don't think you'll meet any ladies in our respective age group or many named.
Valerie, so exactly only only down here in Columbia.
Yeah, that isn't I guess that that isn't that uncommon. But see, you know, you could go Babs, you know Barbara.
I could go bad. Well, we'll figure it out. I guess I can't put a name on her yet. Well, brainstorm, we'll see how she's down here the next couple of weeks.
Yeah, the next two weeks are big, two weeks for for for val Yeah, you.
Might as well just ask me then, and you know, I'll give you an answer in two weeks time. So Scott, Scott g had.
A couple of architecture questions, and I know you're you're an architecture fan.
So uh huh, what's your favorite type of course to play?
Like where you you like to play the most? Is it like you know, a bomber shop maker course like small greens type fairways or wide?
Uh?
Yeah? Where where do you feel like you have the best advantage?
Where I play well is long golf courses where you have to hit a lot of drivers but not overly tied. You know, there's there's a space to hit it, obviously, and then when you are coming into the greens, you have a lot of seven irons through nine irons. That's my favorite type of golf course and that's probably why I keep going back to Southern Hills so often, because you have like three wadges and the rest are nine irons through six irons, And uh, that's kind of where
I feel. I feel like that's my niche, that's what I what's what I do best is mid iron play. So I probably should go work on my wedges since the web dot Com Tours all drivers and flip wedges.
So but that's what I was just gonna say, is that it doesn't seem like that's what the web dot Com Tour is about.
Do you know that?
You know, like with the web dot Com like is it I you know, you look at where you played well last year and for the most part there they were at courses that were deemed like.
More or less PGA Tour style setups. Do you feel like that the.
You know, the general courses you know, don't really aren't really a good predictor of futures success on the PGA Tour because they're, you know, really the courses are just basically bomb and gouge Central all over.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you pretty much nailed it there. You can get away with a lot of stuff, a lot of Aaron shots, Aaron decision making. There's not a whole lot of places where you need to where you need to do a lot of planning on the web dot com in reference to your in reference to where you want to put the ball in the spare way, where you want to leave it on the green, and things like that. There's only a maybe a handful, maybe a half a dozen that that really will spark your
spark your attention. So it's I think it's getting better. They've hated some good golf courses the last couple of years, and I know there are more on the table for next year, but yeah, it's it's it's like we'll see next week or at Orange County National for Q School Finals. Both of those golf courses are near seventy four hundred yards long. And a friend I just talked to who
play who played it yesterday. So the fairways aren't rolling, and the majority of the clubs are gonna you know, they're gonna be like five four, maybe even a couple six and seven irons in the end of the par four US, So you know, then an accurate qualifying school for the web dot com? Probably not, But I think what it comes down to is that the best players get out every year. You know, the top twenty, the top twenty five. All those guys are gonna have to
play in the PGA too. Are sure? There's a couple of guys that kind of snuck their way in there, you know, maybe maybe fiddling it around with good watch play and shoddy driving, But you know, the cream of the crop always rise at the top, and you know, I guess I guess that's really all that matters. You know, that's.
So with uh, you know, Where's what's your favorite stop on the web dot com too? Are?
Oh, that's a good question. In Greenville, South Carolina was very fun. That's probably one of the best run tournaments sponsored by BMW and and sin next. I believe they treat the players very well. There's a bunch of restaurants in downtown Greenville that will will give us meals. I remember Trey Millnex took a bunch of guys out right after his win in Raleigh the week before, and if they racked up like a two thousand dollars bar tap and it was all waved. All they had to do,
you know, tip the waiters and waitresses handle it. They treat us nicely there, and we get to go. We get to go to the BMW test facility and just affuse their cars for as long as we want to. So that's always good fun. Okay, that is sweet. Yeah, that's a nast part.
I missed this question from Scott Gee, who's your favorite architect?
Oh, that's a nice one. Well, ever since I've played Short Acres about a month or two ago, Seth Rainer's got to be up there. He's Uh, I've played a handful of his golf courses, and the way he he uses terrain and landscape and how he appeals that good golfers and bad golfers alike is just outstanding.
So that.
I really think golf architecture is kind of coming into a rebirth or like a revival stage where people are understanding that, you know, golf courses don't need to be these you know, big bunker, massive green complex like you see it like Reece Jones or Robert Trent Jones golf courses. You know, you know, there should be more runoffs and opportunities to use the putter because you know, the the
high handicapper, they should use the putter more often. It's easier, but the low handicapper is going to want to chip it just because of out of pure ego. And you know, you might see the high end of camper getting up and down more often than the low handa camper does with all these you know, collection areas and in the fairway cut around those areas. So I think I think it's coming around. I know Jack Nicholas is, we'redoing a lot of his golf courses that way. Gil Hants is
a fantastic designer. And then I can't say enough good things about Tom Doe and God, who's the other guy, Bill Krohr and Sun Crunch, how those those duo. They're doing some really wondrous things around the golf golf landscape as well.
What's the what's your favorite course that you've gotten the player or maybe not favorite?
Top three?
I know number one always and it's impossible to rank golf courses.
Yeah, for me right now after playing short Acres the first time, awesome, that's that's number one right now. Just the amount of good holes out there that were either you know, even the short holes in the part threes out there are fantastic. You know, nothing to push over. You know, you can't you can't slip up on that golf course. Can't let your can't let your mind go Otherwise you know you're going to find yourself on the wrong side of a whole location. God, you can't even
get the pot within ten feet sometimes. So I like to play that seth design that place, and it's that that was like a that was like a out of body experience. Going to short Acres the.
First time that I've played there so many times and you know, luckily and I haven't found, of course better.
It's awesome. It's just the best. Yeah, the ravines and it's outstanding.
The thing I find hilarious is that somehow golf DIY just says there's ninety eight better courses in the world in that or in the US than that, which.
That just that doesn't make sense to me.
I've played a lot of them ahead of it, and it's it's just criminal. It probably speaks more to their the quality of raiders that they have than anything.
Yeah, they have one of the hardest part fours I've ever played, one of the best short part threes and also one of the best short part fours I've ever I played as well. So, yeah, I played a lot of golf, I'd like to say, And yeah, that does a lot.
Are you talking about ten is the hardest part? Four?
Yeah? Hold them well obviously, And then what's the what's.
The short part for? Is it thirteen or eleven?
Thirteen's pretty good. I like thirteen a lot. And then also number two I thought was really clever. Oh, too's awesome, too fantastic.
Yeah, it's like that's the I For those of you that aren't familiar with shortreakers, I'm gonna post a review of it this week. Been Yeah, it's it's just spectacular steps Rainer course that I think the poles ten through seventeen is probably one of the best stretches of golf and have like ever created.
And it really is.
Outside of you know, you look at like seaside courses, there aren't many courses that are you know, more kind of like jaw dropping beautiful than short acres is, so I agree, yeah, And then so it's it's it's been good having you on.
Man, Thanks thanks for having me. And that was good fun. Well, then I hope you had a good time. I hope everyone's going to enjoy this.
Yeah, yeah, anything, Uh, you know, we hopefully, if anything, we've given more people one more name to watch. Next week and then this week also at the at the finals for Latin America Tour.
So good luck and uh, we'll be uh, we'll.
Be tracking, you know, we'll be sending out a lot of tweets about the into India's status.
Awesome, thanks guys. Yeah, so we'll talk to you doing in good luck. Thanks, Andy, he speaks to you. And I'll see when I'm back in Chicago, all right later ye