The Hole Story - Golf Podcast

The Proper Golf Society with Robert Brutz & Buck Bryant

• BestBall • Season 4 • Episode 38

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:01:02

Step into the world of vintage golf, where hickory clubs, classic equipment, and timeless traditions bring the game to life. Robert and Buck share the stories behind the Proper Golf Society, discuss upcoming events, and celebrate a style of golf that's less about scorecards and more about camaraderie, history, and the simple joy of walking the course with friends. Whether you're a longtime hickory golfer or just curious about the game's roots, this episode is a reminder that sometimes the best way to enjoy golf is to slow down and play it the way it was meant to be played.

https://thepropergolfer.com/

https://x.com/thwacknicklaus

https://x.com/buckthegolfer

BestBall Links:


Friends of BestBall:


*Music by AlexGrohl via Pixabay

SPEAKER_03

And in my mind, I imagine, you know, Robert, you're on one end of the driving range, Buck, you're on the other. And there it's like love at first thwack. Like you both pull out the persimmon clubs and you're like, wait a minute, we're friends.

SPEAKER_01

That that's gonna be the name of our tell the name of our tell all book one day is gonna be called Love at First Whack.

SPEAKER_03

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Whole Story Podcast. Jonathan, we just reconnected with some friends that we met through this thing called the Proper Golf Society. We got to hang out with Robert Brutz and Buck Bryant. What do you think about uh today's conversation?

SPEAKER_00

You know, the the fun part about this, and we've talked about a lot how other than maybe one show, which I don't even know if we aired that show, but other than one show, there wasn't anybody We've aired every show we recorded. That's right. There's one show, and you know what we're gonna let you all decide which one that is. That we were probably like, I don't know if I want to play golf with these guys. But we're at a hundred and seventy-ish, 180th show, something like that. This is the first time that I think we've been able to play golf with someone and then and then bring them on the show. And once I realized who it was, because like you get a Gmail or whatever in the invitation, I'm like, oh my gosh, like this is gonna be the best day ever. Because the round of golf that we played with them was fantastic. What they their their passion for original clubs and things like that, and the way golf the way they feel like golf should be played, not in the sense of should it be played with just these clubs, but from the perspective of it should just be a good time.

SPEAKER_03

And they whatever whatever makes whatever makes and allows you to have the most fun on a golf course, do that. Because we have a limited amount of time, and so yeah, they are they are maximizing that.

SPEAKER_00

They live that out both on the course, and uh you're gonna get to hear through through the show uh that as well. Uh I was just uh Buck's storytelling is always impeccable. Um he he can he can what is it spin a yarn with the best of them. So yeah, I hope I hope you guys enjoy this show as much as we have enjoyed the four-hour friendship that we now have with them and uh get to play with them again uh in in about a month, month and a half.

SPEAKER_03

So no, it's uh it's a good time. So any anything and everything they do with the proper golf society. I mean, they're based in Georgia, so it's probably gonna be in the southeast for the most part, but they've got the 90s compression classic coming up at Aiken Golf Club at the end of July, and it's all 90s equipment, and you just go out and you play and you have a good time. I had a great golf course, and we talked about Aiken a little bit there, but they did a persimmon and blades tournament, that's where we met. So these guys are doing something fun and highly encourage you to check out what they're doing. And they've been working with great brands, uh, like our friends at Summit. Uh, the first one was sponsored by Fairway and Green. So we got to rock some nice Fairway and Green apparel. They gave some out as well, and then uh they're working with some others uh for for different stuff. But our friends at Fairway and Green, Summit Golf Brands, they uh, you know, the Fairway and Green B Dratty Zero Restriction, they uh they're amazing. And they're doing stuff like sponsoring those guys with uh the tournaments they do. Obviously, they work with us. And if you want to grab some of that stuff, use Best Ball20 at any of their sites, and you can get 20% off. So, Jonathan, any uh any final comments before we launch into this episode today?

SPEAKER_00

You'll never know where you're gonna meet your next best golf friend. That's probably the thing that you really find with these two. And it wasn't on the golf course, so just keep looking. Uh, you'll find like like-minded folks that uh love this game, and uh, and and hopefully maybe maybe you can find a best friend along the way. Very well said. All right, well, here we go. Robert and Buck.

SPEAKER_03

Y'all enjoy all right. Well, joining us today, our friends Robert Brutz and Buck Bryant of the Proper Golf Society. Guys, how are we doing today? Doing good. Oh man, we hit record and immediately Robert leaves us. Uh who knows, man. He he he did say he had to figure out an alibi, and so maybe that was part of the part of the thing. He was like, I maybe not. Maybe I don't maybe I don't want to be a part of this thing.

SPEAKER_02

So it's T-Mobile Hotspots letting them down, you know.

SPEAKER_03

There you go. There you go. Well, Buck, I guess this is all about you then, man. So how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02

I'm doing great, man. Just another Monday, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So can't complain.

SPEAKER_03

Another Monday. Well, here comes Ryvert. We'll get him back in there. That's all right. That's all right. He said your T-Mobile Hotspot dropped you. Oh, y'all y'all are in Georgia, which uh I guess Jonathan is as well. Jonathan's had his fair share of uh of internet and connectivity troubles. Yeah, he knows all about it.

SPEAKER_00

It's been resolved, I believe, at this point, hopefully. Cross my fingers.

SPEAKER_03

We got to know you guys through uh through an event uh that y'all do with the proper golf society. And we want to talk all about these things, but uh like we do with all our guests, we got to hear the story, man, of of how each of you guys got into the game of golf and and when that started for you. So I I'll let y'all do the coin flip, decide who wants to share your your golf history first. Robert, Buck, y'all, y'all decide. Buck hit it.

SPEAKER_02

I'll go ahead. There we go. So I was 15 years old, and uh we were at a family function at my uncle's house. He was a golfer and uh we had all eaten lunch, everybody's kind of laying around, you know, letting the food settle. Well, my uncle's outside with a uh a wedge and a five-gallon bucket. And he's trying to ring the bucket, and I I walk up to him and I said, Do you mind if I give it a try? He said, Yeah, sure. So he kind of showed me how to hold the club, and probably on my fifth or sixth try, I rang the bucket. And so he was impressed. He he was quiet about it, he didn't show too much emotion, but uh that was kind of all that was said about it. And then a couple months later they come to visit and he pops a trunk and gives me a set of uh golf clubs, a set of old PGA custom blades and some Hogan persimmon woods. And uh I had a buddy who played golf and he took me to the driving range and I hit my first solid shot and from then I was hooked.

SPEAKER_00

Those aren't the same uh clubs that you beat us with whenever we played with you a couple of weeks, a couple months ago.

SPEAKER_02

It is not, but the Hogan Three Wood I have uh is a similar version. So, you know, everything comes full circle.

SPEAKER_00

Right, and you were striping that all day long.

SPEAKER_02

They're fun to hit. Those Hogan's got some pop to them, especially if you find the right one, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Well, you've uh you've taken that and you've obviously played a lot since uh since age 15. You're only what like 22 now, so I'll actually be 45 on Thursday.

SPEAKER_02

So got a birthday right around the corner.

SPEAKER_03

Happy uh happy early birthday. Well, what has golf been like since then? You played through high school and you've just continued kind of the love of the game, playing for fun, right?

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah. I uh I played on my high school golf team. Like I said, started at 15, but uh I had a couple buddies who are pretty good. And by playing with better players, you tend to your skills improve you know a little faster than if you're just at it all on your own. I played high school golf from my tenth grade, eleventh grade, and twelfth grade year. Started when I was fifteen. By the time I was eighteen, I got down to a two handicapped. So I progressed quickly.

SPEAKER_03

That's not that's not fair, Buck.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you know, gotta gotta work with what you're given, I guess. Um I had a couple small offers, just some uh small colleges, but you know, if I could go back and tell my young self to go to one of those schools, I would. Instead, I went to Georgia Southern and and had a really good time. I was a two and a half year freshman. That's as far as I got. So I took a little hiatus from golf for about six years and then uh just kind of picked it back up in my mid-20s and have just been hooked ever since.

SPEAKER_00

Have you always played, because we'll get to this here in a little bit, but we played at a persimmon blade tournament. Have you always played those types of clubs or have you ever snuck into the modern technology world?

SPEAKER_02

No, I I was solely modern for really up until about four or five years ago. I mean, I would every once in a while take out my high school driver, my 975D, and hit it around. Uh if I ever took any buddies to the driving range, that would be the driver I would give them because I didn't really care anything about it. In retrospect, I wish I wouldn't. It's it's got some marks on it that I didn't put on there, I promise. But um I very much played modern solely for that whole period of time. And I still play modern today, but I play much more retro these days than I do modern. So it's always fun taking the retro stuff out, especially in the little money game I play at UGA. Everybody's eyes kind of perk up when they see you pull the head cover off and you got some wood underneath. So it sparks a lot of interest.

SPEAKER_03

Tell tell us about that. Is that a weekly thing that you're doing?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, they have a uh it's called the dog fight. And it's just a little sable for system, pro shop credit money game you get in, and uh it's it's the most it's the best bang for your buck in in Athens right now. You can always find a game and you're always gonna get paired with somebody at at that dog fight. It's a lot of fun, great way to meet new people to make golf friends, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Have you have you converted any of your fellow competitors into uh into Persermon players or blades or I'm trying, man.

SPEAKER_02

I'm trying. And then when I'm on the driving range, you know, living in a college town, I've always got young kids that are they're looking over at me when I'm hitting, like, that doesn't sound normal. And uh I talk every single one of them into hitting the persermon. And they're like, oh, I didn't I've never hitting a wooden golf club. I'm like, well, give it a try. And they're always amazed when they hit it solid, how well it performs. So I'm trying to spread the gospel out there the best I can. But when there's money on the line, people are a little bit more tentative to to experiment.

SPEAKER_00

The first thing I thought of is if you if you don't know who the sucker is, and if you can't spot the sucker in the first two minutes, you are the sucker. And in a golf game, if you're in a money game and the guy pulls out woods and and blades, you are you are the sucker because he's gonna take your money every single time.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I've done all right in the dogfight. It it's a little sweeter when you when you're up there on the top of the pack playing for salmon. It's a little bit more gratifying.

SPEAKER_03

So I love it. All right. So, Robert, we've got Buck's story now of how he got into the game of golf. How about you, man? Were you were you 15 and and somebody handed you a wedge and said try to make it in the bucket, or was your story a little different?

SPEAKER_01

No, no offense, Buck, but I'm I'm not an idiot savant like you at golf. DLT. I I uh I take it up the old-fashioned way. My grandfather was a big uh, he was actually a uh college football player and played in the NFL way back when they wore like leather helmets and stuff, and so he really wanted me to get started in a sport. So he took two uh old clubs, a persimmon wood and a blade nine iron, and he literally just cut the middle out of the shaft and then welded them together to make a shorter club. I had those so he could save the grip and didn't have to pay for a grip. He thought that'd be the cheaper thing, is the way my grandfather worked. So they were bent to hell and whatever, but I mean he handed me those and I was probably like three years old, and I run around the yard whacking golf balls with them. And uh I've been in love with the game ever since. So I played a lot of you know junior tournaments and got playing competitively when I was in middle school and high school and so on. But no, it was a early, it was an early acceptance of my fate with the golf game.

SPEAKER_03

I love it. And so did you we were asking Buck and kind of he's he's done the modern stuff, but he loves pulling out the the retro stuff or the percentages and blades and things like that. Like how about you? Did you did you kind of make the shift as club technology was evolving, or did you stick with, you know, you know, forged forged clubs that were put back together from you know grips and and heads of clubs?

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no. Uh so I had kind of a I had a kind of a I think I didn't hear everything Buck said because I was cut out, but I think uh we have some similar uh stories in the I had a golf hiatus for several years, and you know, I goofed around in college and played with my buddies, but never anything too seriously. And then I moved to Europe after college for a couple of years and did my master's degree, and it was just golf was not on the radar screen. Like my dad and some buddies met me in Ireland one time when I was over there, he had to fly my clubs with him to Dublin to meet me from Paris so that I could play. So I didn't even know what was in my bag at that point, you know. But that was in like the golly, 2009, somewhere in there. And so there were several years I didn't play, and then when I came back around to playing again, um the equipment had just really changed. And so you're looking at these 460 CC club heads, and it's like for me, the way that I grew up playing, it was just that was a big jump for me. And just to be frank, I just never really got along with those heads. I felt like I was trying too hard to make them do what I wanted to do, and so, you know, and my competitive days in my mind were kind of gone. So I just wanted to play what made me happy and what I could do with the ball what I wanted. So I just kind of played with some of my older stuff and never really took any of the brand new equipment too seriously. Um, and then on down the road, we could fast forward to meeting Buck, but he and I had a kind of a kindred, you know, meeting of the minds, if you want to call it that, over this stuff. And so that's what kind of led us to this point with the proper golf society.

SPEAKER_00

Do you ever regret now that you didn't take your clubs whenever you had a chance to live in Europe and quickly go play all those international? I mean, how many how many golf courses did you completely ignore for what I'm guessing a year or two, right?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, a couple years. I mean, and you're talking about like, you know, the golf nacionales right there, and then there's this like really cool public course outside of Rome. We actually went back and lived in Europe in 2019 for a summer with my wife and kids, and we were in Rome, and there was this golf course right outside of Rome. I just was like the perfect kind of like half-set place. I just never brought clubs with me to Europe all the times that I lived there and went. So huge regret, but at the same time, it just is hard to describe. But you're in the middle of working, raising kids, doing school or whatever it is, and it just was not in the front of my mind to prioritize golf at that point. So I have happy memories from all those travels and all those experiences, but golf is not one of them.

SPEAKER_03

Well, let me ask this. I want I want to know how you guys met. And in my mind, I imagine, you know, Robert, you're on one end of the driving range, Buck, you're on the other. And there it's like love at first thwack. Like you both pull out the Bersimmon clubs and you're like, wait a minute, we're friends.

SPEAKER_01

That that's gonna be the name of our tell the name of our tell all book one day is gonna be called Love at First Thack, but but I'll I'll let I'll let Bug give you the readers, I'll let Bug give you the reader's digest version.

SPEAKER_02

So it's kind of a serendipitous way we met. I'm in the pest control industry, and uh Robert, they signed up for pest control at their house, and the guy that usually services his area was out that day. So I got sent out to the house, and uh Robert's not there, his wife's home. As I'm going through the house doing pest control, I see a L8 golf bag in the corner. I'm like, okay, that's like my favorite golf bag of all time. So I just kind of mosey on over there to see what's going on in the bag, you know, because you never know. So I see a set of really nice Mizuno MP11s, but the thing that really caught my eye was we had the same matching BB Fco ferrels on our irons. I had the same ones that he had. And as I'm continuing to do the pest control, everything I see golf related, I'm like, this guy's got the exact same kind of taste that I have in in golf stuff. So I talked to his wife a little bit about, you know, oh, your husband's a golfer. And she's like, oh yeah, he's such a golf nerd, yeah, he loves it, blah, blah, blah. But um, I get done with the pest control and I get out to the truck and I send him a text that said, Hey, everything looks good, got your pest control all squared away. By the way, your irons are sick, and I love those ferrels. And then we texted back and forth a little bit, and the next thing you know, we had a blind date that weekend. Never, never met each other, never seen each other, and we just met at the golf course and played, walked nine holes in like the middle of July, in the middle of the day, with a half set in persimmons, and we've been thwacking it ever since.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. It's the inception of the uh proper golf society. That's it. That's right. Who knew pet who knew pest control would bring us together, you know? Well, I want to know how many how many blind how many golf blind dates you've gone on because you've noticed guys' golf clubs. Like you're just walking through houses going, hey, I'm gonna send this guy a text. Hey, I really like this uh Callaway driver head you got there.

SPEAKER_02

You can't always get blind in a bottle, you know. That's what I mean You know, you don't come across a lot of those scenarios. When I see golf clubs in people's uh houses, a lot of times they're probably got some cobwebs on them or there's some game improvement. You know, it it's it's not very often to find somebody with the exact same golf taste as you. So I felt comfortable making that extending that olive branch out to him, making that leap, if you will. I was shooting my shot, shooting my shot.

SPEAKER_00

I think Rob I mean I'm I must have been in the wrong industry to stick around in golf, because Robbie, didn't you end up getting a set of clubs from a guy because you were doing AC and you found like he had bags and bags and bags of clubs underneath the house. Under his house, yep. Yeah, and he gave him I think he gave him a set. Yeah, you guys go to people's houses.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, last last year, like a Scotty Cameron, that was just like, my husband died, and I don't know what to do with this, but it sounds like you love Scotty.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, one of my customers I serviced for years, and um her husband actually played on the golf team for UGA in the 70s, and he was in his health was declining in the years that I did his service, and um I'd always spend a little extra time there playing uh just talking golf. And um once again, the guy who normally services her house was out that day or couldn't make it by. I went out and her husband had passed away, and I was uh I wheeled her trash cans out for her and was just making small talk and I saw this Scotty Cameron in the corner. I said, Well, you know, would you be interested in selling that? And she said, Honey, David loved you so much, you just take that putter. I want you to have it. So she said it would make him happy knowing that it was getting used. Um offered to pay her for it, she wouldn't have it. And I told her, I said, I promise I'll never sell it. If you ever want it back, you know where to find it. So I love it. And I'll actually be I use that putter quite a bit. It's in my normal rotation.

SPEAKER_03

Very nice. Well, Buck, I know you have uh you kind of tinker with uh a lot of things, but you you kind of work on some of these clubs too. I've got so Jonathan and I got to play in y'all's persimmon blades tournament, and somehow we we win the thing. I've got my Jones bag here in the corner, and thankfully Jonathan's left-handed, so I got to come home with two uh two persimmon drivers because he didn't know what to do with a right-handed persimmon driver. So I'm holding here a power built one. Now, I don't know if you worked on these things or if you just had them and and gave them to me and you might warn me not to hit it because it might fall apart. But tell me a little bit about your love for uh for tinkering with these things and trying to put them back together.

SPEAKER_02

I love finding something that's just beat up. You know, one man's junk is another man's treasure, and it's amazing what a little sandpaper and a little bit of lacquer will do. Now, I don't reshaft them yet. That's that's a little beyond my skill set, but I'm I'm working on that. But um couple YouTube videos, you learn how to whip it, you learn how to, you know, kind of finish it up, and it's really nice taking something that's old and what some people would think is garbage and turning it into something that's really cool and able to use. So it's just a little side hobby. I go out to my shed back here and it's almost like a zen-like exercise, sanding all the all the bad juju off and trying to turn it into something beautiful again.

SPEAKER_03

Gotcha. So you're saying I'm good to use this uh this old power belt one that I got right here.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, if it was good enough for Fuzzy, it's good enough for you. You know I love it.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. I would like to clarify that the real reason Robbie has both of them is because I wouldn't know what to do with the left-handed one either, which was evident of the entire day of golf that we played. Uh Robbie shot really well, and I just happened to ride in the same cart with him, so we ended up winning uh the tournament that's gonna be a good thing.

SPEAKER_01

However, can I take a moment to interject real quick? We're just gonna highlight.

SPEAKER_02

We're gonna be much more left-handed conscious going forward. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna highlight, we're gonna highlight for one second the greatest feat of athleticism I've ever witnessed in person, which was Jonathan moving golf ball that fell off the T mid backswing that he absolutely flushed and hit to about four feet. That was the closest to the pen. It was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02

That was more impressive to me than the putt you hit out of that bunker on the next hole. So it it was great.

SPEAKER_00

I think we've summed up my golf game. I I usually miss the ball by so much that whenever it fell off the T, it actually made good contact. And no idea how to get out of a bunker other than using my putter, which I will I will live and die by my putter in the bunker for a very at least at least a while. I'm I'm still like pulling that one out of the back. Plus, it's a fun party trick. Whenever you're shooting a one oh eight and you can't get off the tee box, hit putting it out of the bunker makes you a good guy to have around. That's right. Amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I I th I think we learned that Jonathan needs to play golf more like kickball where somebody's throwing the ball to him and he just I mean, like a baseball swinger, right? Like here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01

It's like taking batting practice from the side. They're just tossing the ball up and you just catch it out of the air. It's amazing. That is true. No, I agree.

SPEAKER_03

It was one of the best shots I've ever seen. And I thankfully he made the birdie putt, too.

SPEAKER_00

Is there a rule that you have to set a ball on a team or are you allowed to toss it up? Because I could give that a try. Like I've never even thought about that. Definitely doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02

Just tell your player partner, give me one slow and bouncy.

SPEAKER_03

For for all proper golf society tournaments, I think it's going to be legal from now on. So Robert, you have a Twitter account or an X account, I think, that has gained some pretty good notoriety in Slack Nicholas. And so I want to ask you about that.

SPEAKER_01

So it's not very big, and I don't have any uh illusions that it is, but I was one of those guys that was I've been on Twitter forever and I never really commented on anything. I just followed a bunch of guys and didn't say anything. And I don't remember what the moment was, but it's all to do with the golf rollback and the USGA. And something just sort of like snapped in my head where it was just like I I just started tweeting. I just literally put up the phone and was like, no way, like pros should be doing this. Like a major league baseball players can play wooden bats and pros can play Persimmons and so on. And you know, I know there's a lot of trickery, and you know, probably a third of my followers are like Russian AI sex bots or whatever, but but but it's like I I think that there is hilariously an audience uh out there for really what we're doing. And it kind of came about because Buck and I have been playing uh persimmons and stuff together, and so that was kind of like where my mind was, and and I just detest all the modern, you know, driving the drivers in particular, but all the modern equipment. And so maybe it was kind of like rage tweeting or something, but all of a sudden there's like a couple of things that I tweeted kind of got like picked up by the algorithm and started running, and you're kind of like, wow, like I didn't expect to get you know a hundred thousand impressions on a tweet about like what if everybody just played the clubs of Tiger Woods, won the 97 Masters with or whatever it was, and then you know, lo and behold, there's people out there then and more than anything, it's become a fun conversation. I mean, you know, I know a lot of people say crazy stuff just to, you know, for the social media imprints, but I've met a lot of interesting people. I'm in a conversation right now with a guy who's trying to teach me via Twitter direct messages about what equipment to buy to like grind my own wedges and grind some forged irons and try to make my own set of clubs. So there's a lot of people with a lot of knowledge out there that are willing to share it if you can kind of get past the you know burner verse facade of golf Twitter, which to me I'm sort of adjacent to. I don't wouldn't really consider myself in that realm of Twitter.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe you need to get in touch with the folks that are still trying to keep live golf alive and say, hey, since you're failing at regular golf, why don't you guys start making them themed weekends? So you could have like the the throwback per Simmons, you could have a week where they have to use a ball that was made before 1970, uh, and then you could have you know retro 90s like you guys are planning uh soon. But yeah, theme. I'll tell you what, for it you I can't imagine for one, the golf sickas and nerds and everyone else, that would be must-see TV. Oh, absolutely. The the curiosity of everyone else going, wait a minute, what are they doing this weekend? That would be a blast.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you know, they gotta figure they gotta figure something out not to get on a live tangent, but they don't they don't I mean the clearly the money does not add up, so we'll we'll let them sort that out. But but I do think, and that's kind of one of my regular sticks on Twitter is like what happened if you just gave normal tour pros a bag of Persimmon Club, Persimmon Woods, and Blades and said go play this week, and they play one of the regular golf tournaments, like what would what would happen? And I think like the tour is never gonna go for that, and the sponsor's never gonna go for that, and like we're not delusional about that. And so Buck and I kind of said, Well, why don't we just do these things ourselves? I mean, people they like the old stuff, they're nostalgic for it. It's a different way to to conceptualize the game. So, you know, we don't have to wait for the PJ tour to you know give Scotty Scheffler a power belt persimmon wood from the 80s. I mean, we can just do that ourselves in the response to it, both on Twitter and other social media, and with people like you coming to play in the tournament and give us some attention is has really been kind of uh inspiring.

SPEAKER_03

Well, let's let's talk about it, right? So the the one we got to play with you guys right there outside of Athens, was that the first event, uh, the first Persimmon Blades event?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yes, it was. It was our main voyage. I love it. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_03

And Jonathan and I uh borrowed from our friend we were talking before about uh from Corey, Retro Golf Clubs. Uh his episode, you know, we're recording this early June. His episode that we recorded with him is actually dropping this week. But, you know, Jonathan and I are thinking, like, all right, persimmon and blades, like this needs to be all old clubs. So Robert or uh Corey was kind enough to let us borrow some. And we show up with the persimmons and like probably 1980s blades, and then we're like, oh, just any kind of blades. It could have been new stuff like Robert and Buck have. And we have these giant, like huge blades, pointy in, like the standard twos, I think, were what what mine were uh but oh yeah. Man, what what a fun event! Like it was you know, golf doesn't have to be like you said, the the brand new stuff, like try to try to do whatever, like be creative. I love the creative rounds, half sets like you guys were talking about. Like uh has the response because I know you've got another Persiminum Blades event coming up here in a couple weeks, and then we'll talk more here in a second about the 90s compression classic. So uh the persimmon blades event, what what's been the response to the one you had and the one coming up?

SPEAKER_01

So the uh the one that we had, I mean, I I'll let Buck speak for for himself there, but I mean, I think the traction that we picked up with people through social media that were interested in it, and then the sponsorship coverage that we got from Summit Golf and from uh John Hayes is a pretty well-known custom persimmon builder um and a couple other folks was was honestly kind of overwhelming. I mean, I think it really is what made the event happen. And so uh yeah, I mean, it like I said, it just kind of felt like we were building the airplane as we were flying it, but that allowed us to feel like we had some momentum going forward, which was which was great, you know. And I'll like I said, Buck, you can give your interpretation of that, but I was inspired by it.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, totally. Like, I mean, I think the greatest thing is when we got done that day, just kind of the smile everyone had and the realization, like, wow, this is fun, you know. This is a different form of golf, but it's probably more rewarding when you're hitting those old clubs and you can, you know, kind of make the ball do what you want it to do with that old technology, it's definitely a more gratifying experience. And I think that's that's what Robert and I have always kind of realized, and really we're just trying to spread that experience with everybody else. You know, you don't have to at the end of the day, what you want to do with golf is you want to make it it's a game, it's supposed to be fun. You want it to be enjoyable. So just do whatever makes it the most fun for you. So maybe we're just trying to open people's eyes to that and be like, there is a different way.

SPEAKER_00

So well, you mentioned make it fun, but the reality is we're all addicts to just punishing ourselves in one way or another, which is why we come up with the crazy games and the ways to do it. Because like you you think about the amount of people that were there that maybe for the first time had I never in my life, I mean, uh you always talk about the phrase hit it and the screws, and I had no idea what that meant because I didn't pick up golf until almost my 30s, took 10 years off until just recently. So I had no idea that that was an actual thing, that whenever you look at a club, there's screws on the head. And if you don't hit it between those two, then you don't have a good golf shot. But it also makes the day in again exciting and fun because one, you have I mean, I remember Robbie getting in a cart going, I'm 150 yards out. I have no idea. I guess I'm gonna hit my my three iron because I don't know how far it's gonna go. I don't know what it's supposed to do. Now, to be fair, he also grinded out of 81. So it wasn't like he had a bad day. But that's the fun part of golf, right? Yep. Right, like you you try to come up with with different ideas and different ways to make it more difficult, which is why as you get better you keep backing up as opposed to, you know, staying at a reasonable distance that you could with a gol with a regular golf club. Let's go, let's play the tips today because we're we're seeing if we can do it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I mean, whenever you do something hard and you accomplish something hard, it's way more gratifying than if you try to do something easy, you know? And that's the thing, when you're hitting the shot that you're envisioning and you pull it off, but you're also pulling it off with a piece of wood on the end of a steel shaft, it's like, man, that was awesome. You know, it's it's why I love it, you know. I mean, sure, I play my modern stuff from time to time, and um I actually had a scramble that I was playing in, and um I knew I couldn't show up there with my persimmons, the guy would have been so I took my my stuff out of the range.

SPEAKER_01

I recommend highly not doing that. Do not show up at a at a scramble with persimmons.

SPEAKER_02

But I I was I was ripping my 460 driver, and I mean it was like easy, and I just thought to myself, this is a soulless endeavor. There's there's there's nothing to this, you know. And I was yearning to get my pers I couldn't wait to be done with that scramble so I could get my persimmons back in the back.

SPEAKER_00

So, you know. I think that's the idiot savant coming out in terms of this is so easy. Golf with a regular club is just like boring, and the rest of us are still trying to figure out a hard slice to the left or to the right if you're right-handed. Well, I guess that's a humble brag. Maybe not so humble, but it's like this thing just keeps going 325 every single time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Where's the fun in that? And I will, I will say, I will say um on our behalf, I think one of the misconceptions about what we're doing that would be kind of like good to address is like I think a lot of people take it from the perspective of like, oh, you guys are golf hipsters, and uh, you know, it's like, oh, golf must be so easy for you, you just got to try this stuff to make it hard on yourself or whatever it is. It's really not about that at all. It's just about uh you're searching for something different. I mean, I think American golf on the whole is just obsessed with uh hitting the ball really far, shooting the lowest score possible, and telling everybody what your handicap is. And there's just a lot more to golf than doing those three things. And you can accomplish that. So, like my set of clubs, I mean, I almost exclusively play with the persimmon blades now. And so it's like I have a very severe set of golf clubs. I mean, it's a persimmon driver, it's an old metalwood from the early 90s, and then it's a two-iron, three pitching wedge, and a putter from the 90s. And it's like they are harder to hit, even for me, who's an above average golfer, than a modern set of clubs. And I'm not doing it because I'm too good to play modern clubs, but because when I hit that two iron right out of the middle, it's like Buck said, it's an amazing feeling. And I will go home thinking about that one two-iron shot nine times out of ten more than I will if I shoot two under par, playing with all of my modern stuff. And that now people are gonna differ with me on that, but that's where my head is. I'm not playing competitive golf anymore. I mean, I play for fun. Buck and I play matches all the time with friends, but I'm not qualifying for the U.S. Open like these guys are doing today. I'm not trying to win the club championship. I'm just out there to have a good time. And if I'm gonna have a good time in the limited amount of space in my schedule to play golf that I have with three kids and a job and everything else, I'm gonna do it on my terms, you know. So we're just out there trying to find other people that see it the same way. We're trying to maximize our enjoyment.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Basically, you know.

SPEAKER_00

So well, and the reality is the three things you mentioned of hitting it far and shooting low and winning things, no one's good at that. Like we we are delusional as golfers when we think about I mean, I'll be honest, I've played a lot of golf with a lot of good people, and what I've realized is that no one's good at golf. I Bucks Bucks good at golf, right? Let's let's get but yeah, I mean, the number of people of all the folks that I've been around in and played golf and all that kind of stuff, there's so many times because I'm not that great. I used to shoot mid-90s, it's whatever, right? I like to get better, that's fine. But I've seen a scratch golfer and everybody else that's the you know, supposedly the best one out there, and they shank a ball just the same way I did. They just did it just as many times. And so, like the enjoyment factor, and the reality too is you can grind away and lose all your friends that like playing with you and lose all the sense of joy that comes out of it because you're throwing clubs or angry and about stuff that you just shouldn't be. I played with a kid the other day who's sort of getting into it. I think you know, he's trying to break a hundred and he was getting angry. And I was like, you are not good enough to be angry, like not even close. Like there's you're like 30 shots away before you really should probably figure out how to be angry. This is just figuring one thing out after another and taking it nice and easy and thinking through how am I gonna get closer to the hole on every single shot more than the five yard duff. And then what's gonna happen is you're gonna get down to a single digit handicap and you're still gonna hit the five-yard duff. And that's okay. That's the way golf works. But I mean, at the end of the day, it turns out that's right. But at the end of the day, it turns into something like this, where now you've got two guys that found each other by sneaking into someone's room, I think. Uh that's a pest control guy. That's enough. But but now you guys are like best friends, and that's the point of golf, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01

That's the that's the that's the story. That's the story here. And like I said, when Buck and I play, which regrettably is not as often as we'd like, but I'd say every maybe a couple of weeks we get out there and squeeze in nine or something. And like when we meet on the T-box, the first question is like, what the hell do you have in your bag? I mean, that's the fun of it for us. You know, it's like, oh man, this was uh, I bought this at you know, goodwill and I kind of dolled it up a little bit or whatever. I mean, that we truly that is the part that we enjoy, and then we go try to beat each other, but it's not a vanity exercise and who's better than who, it's more like a shared enjoyment. And I was trying to explain early on when I met Buck, like to my wife, I was like, there is a part of me that you do not know that you will never be able to know because of my deep love and knowledge of the game of golf that I have carried with me since I was like three years old and I had that first club. And like Buck is like one of the only people in the world that I can be on the same level with where it's like, oh, that club from 1993, didn't it come with a stock chef that was blah, blah, blah, and blah, blah, blah. It's like, no one knows that, but you and me that we typically talk to, but we do, and so we enjoy that part of the game. So we are after kinship and enjoyment, and like Buck said, maximizing that enjoyment way more than we are about vanity, scores, handicaps, distance, all that stuff. And so we're just trying to find as many people that are along for that ride with us. And and surprisingly, we've found a lot, you know, and it doesn't have to be like uh um from our perspective, you don't have to play persimmon blades every single round you play in order to be doing what we're doing. It's just like just try it, just come and grab a set of clubs and go hit it around like you guys did with us. And you may go back and play your normal stuff and never do it again, but it's about having an experience, a memory, making friends, community. Um, and this is just the angle that we're coming from.

SPEAKER_02

It's also a built-in kind of excuse not to play well. I mean, some of your best golf experiences are when you have zero expectations. You know, some of my worst rounds I've ever had are the nights that you know, I'm cleaning my golf clubs in the sink, you know, listening to some smooth jazz, getting them ready for the next day, and just really apt. But you get out there and you play like dog strip, but then there's days that you like, let me just throw in some of these one dollar golf clubs I got from Goodwill that got ten dollar grips on them, and just see what happens. And you go out there and light it up. You know, it's just like low expectations equal better times, a lot of times. So I love it.

SPEAKER_03

I was uh I was talking with a guy at church yesterday, and he was notorious for always playing until probably a couple years ago. He played like 1993 DCI title as DCI Irons. And I was talking to him because of of course y'all's 90s compression classic was coming up or is coming up, and I said, Man, you you need to come check out what our guys Robert and Buck are doing over at Aiken Golf Club on January or July 27th. So tell everybody out there what uh what's gonna be happening that day.

SPEAKER_02

Go buck. July 27th, Aiken Golf Club. We are playing in a the 90 compression open. So there's only one rule. Your golf clubs have to be from January 1st, 1990 through December 31st, 1999. You can play a modern ball, that's fine. But uh we just want to kind of highlight one of the, in my opinion, the golden years of of golf equipment. The 90s are great. You could have a guide that had persimmon, steel, and titanium all in the same bag. So it kind of opens up the door for a lot more options. You know, there was a lot of really wacky golf clubs from that time frame too, like Cleveland Bass Irons or or the Alien Wedge. Yeah, whatever. You know, and so we're trying to kind of broaden the horizon, let people you know, have a little bit more leeway with what they're playing, and just kind of celebrate, in my opinion, like the coolest time in golf. I mean look at Payne Stewart, for example, in the 90s. I mean, he looked cool wearing the get up he was in. If you saw a guy now wearing that stuff, he looks like he's trying hard. You know, like there was just something effortlessly cool about these golf, and we're just wanting to celebrate that.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know if I can find the clubs, but I do want to find an oversized polo so that I always have to like pull it up just like they did in the 90s. I'm trying to figure out if I can find pleated pants and some type of polo that's made of a hundred percent cleaning.

SPEAKER_02

eBay is the place to go. I just got a nice like pale yellow polo golf shirt. They touch the elbow. I'm I'm constantly having to do this. But you know, that's that was part of the 90s golfer pre-shot routine is is pulling the shirt up.

SPEAKER_00

You know, have you guys played Aiken Golf Club before?

SPEAKER_02

I've played it one time. I actually got this flag right here above me from Aiken. So and what a gem that place is. I think Aiken is a prime example of what golf needs more of. Affordable, interesting golf at a at a fantastic price. Right. I mean we need more Aiken golf clubs in the world. And that's one reason that we kind of looked at Aiken for doing this event because it's just a special place where older equipment is is really relevant there because it's not a long golf course. You're not trying to play a 7,400 yard golf course. I mean, I think it's what, like 58, 5900 yards. But from the tips, yeah. Yeah, and but it's interesting, like the green complexes, the condition. And and plus Aiken just has a cool story too. You know, it's it's had some transformation throughout the years and and the people that own it, the things they've done, I mean, it's just a really special place. And we want to highlight that as well.

SPEAKER_00

Well, whenever they tell you that all the uh greens will break towards the railroad tracks for the first, I think it's four holes, believe it. I don't care what the read is, I don't care what you think is happening, it's gonna go towards the tracks.

SPEAKER_01

We'll be listening for the train while we're out there. And if if I can add just a little bit more approbation, it runs along that left side for sure. If I if I can add just a little bit more approbation for Akan Golf Club, Jordan, the club manager there, has been amazing to work with. Um he's made it really easy on us. He's been really open to us and welcoming to our idea and easy to work with. And so we're actually going over there a week from today on Monday to meet him in person, get things started to be set up for July, um and uh and I'll get to play the course for the first time. So I'm very much looking forward to being over in Aiken next week. But yeah, I mean, all by Buck's been there, I have, and I'm I'm excited to be there. But from all accounts, it seems like a perfect fit for what we're trying to do. Um, and we've got some local uh Aiken people that are already signing up to play with us, so we're excited about that too. That's great.

SPEAKER_00

Don't forget to free uh free free piece of fruit at the halfway house too. You can get a free apple.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Awesome. Very nice.

SPEAKER_00

Uh you're needing more Aiken golf courses. I I think that is an absolute true statement. Like it's a public course, it's a reasonably, it is an appropriately priced course. I think that's fair. Yes. Like I would that's the thing for me. Like, I don't care. If you think you're worth $150, then you better be worth $150. Exactly. Right. There better be something about a hole or a green or something that makes it there. And if you're if you think you're $90 during the week, you better not I better not have a six-hour round because you've booked too many tea times. But the Aiken, I've never felt at any point in time that I've played, and I've played there probably three or four, maybe five times now. Even if I'm playing bad, it's an enjoyable round. Like there's just enough uniqueness to the holes and the places and things like that that they somehow wind themselves through a neighborhood without ever feeling like full neighborhood golf.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00

And so, yeah, I I'll have to check the calendar and maybe eBay to see if we can figure out some clubs and make it over to that tournament in July. Get you some dockers, pleaded khaki. Oh, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02

It's July. You probably want to get the you know, pleats are making a comeback, so you can get some pleated shorts.

SPEAKER_03

Well uh how many people are y'all hoping for this tournament and and uh how are signups going so far?

SPEAKER_01

So we so we've got about half the field filled right now, and we're looking to have about 20 two-man teams. So we feel like about a I mean, we're close to two months out, a month and a half out that we're in a pretty good spot as far as signups go. Uh, you know, when you I'm learning about this business, uh there's a lot of, oh yeah, yeah, man, I'm totally there. I'll be there, you know, and then you got to follow up, and then you got to follow up, and then you got to follow up. And so part of that is nerve-wracking, part of that is learning how to kind of massage those conversations and talk to people at the right time and all that. But we feel good about where we are. But Jordan there has given us uh basically like a 40-man slot for that Monday morning. So our goal as a sort of a fledgling enterprise here is to fill all 40 spots and have great prizes, have a great time, and make sure everybody walks away feeling like it was worth their their energy and their money to be there. Um, and then we're gonna pick up and look for the next thing.

SPEAKER_03

Very nice. Uh, and I know you talked to uh or you mentioned the other day in a text with me, you got uh some sponsors lined up. You want to give them a shout out?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so we're working uh our our kind of prizes that we're working with, we've kind of been jumping around. But um Hudson Suttler is uh sort of like a lifestyle luggage brand, and they've come out with a couple golf bags in the recent past. And so um I bought one of their golf bags. I was lucky enough to snag one the day that they went live, and very few people got them because they sold out very quickly. Um, but they're giving us some cool weekender bags that are branded for the tournament and for proper golf, as well as shoe bags for various winners. Uh, and then uh we're working with Summit Golf with Dan Drellinger on supporting us with some clothing items and stuff. I don't want to give away too much, but Dan mentioned to me in a text that uh they they've got some old zero restriction stuff from the 90s that we might be able to crack out from the warehouse. Uh so we're we're looking forward to the possibility of that happening too. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Summit folks are great. And you know, I if I could just echo this for anybody out there listening, that we had such a good time at the Persimmon and Blades event that highly, highly recommend you check out the 90s compression classic or anything else, whatever the next event will be with you guys, because again, it it makes golf fun and you know doing it with good people is uh is what it's all about. And yeah, it's built relationships like this where we've gotten to know and and hopefully get to hang out with you guys a lot more.

SPEAKER_01

Totally well, we're and we're trying just to might add, we're trying to work with uh with Core with Corey Creelin, uh retro golf. He's got so many. I mean, it's he just texted me before we hopped on here that uh Larry Bobka from Titleist was legendary club fitter, is trying to like give him like 14 boxes of clubs he's trying to get rid of. And he said he's just become like a dump or like repository for for people's old golf clubs, but he likes going through them all. And so what we're trying to do is work with him and have a big event in the fall where we provide all of the clubs to everybody in the field. So no one has to go looking for persimmon clubs and blades, they can just show up, grab a bag, left-handed or right-handed, hit the range, and then take off on the first T. So our next persimmon blade event, I think, will be uh have Corey heavily involved in it. We're looking forward to that relationship. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Very nice. Well, as we start to wrap up, and we'll be sure to put links in the show notes for for this event and and for all the stuff you guys are doing. Uh we have to ask, and you, Robert, reference Jonathan's shot. That might be his most memorable shot now, but we want to know the story of of each of y'all's most memorable golf shot.

SPEAKER_02

Sure. Um yeah, well, you know, most people would would reference a hole in one. I do have a really I've only had one hole in one, and it's an interesting story, but probably the greatest shot I've ever hit was uh during my golfing hiatus in college. I was with some buddies at a driving range and the Georgia Southern golf team was over there practicing. And uh, you've seen I I can get it out there pretty far. My buddies were just uh harassing me to mess with the golf team. I really didn't want to, but they just wouldn't leave me alone. So to shut them up, I I started eyeing the guys on the range and I found the guy that hit it the farthest. It was a net that's 300 yards at the end of the range, and he was bouncing his driver into this net time and time again. So I walked over there to him and I said, Hey man, that's a that's a nice driver you got there. Uh I bet you I can hit my three wood farther than you can hit that driver. And uh he just kind of blew me off and was like, whatever. And I said, All right, I'll tell you what, 20 bucks, I'll give you, I'll make it fair. I'll give you three shots to my one. And so then his teammates were like, take this clown's money, you know, take it. So he hits all three balls right into this net that's 300 yards. And I was kind of sweating bullets for two reasons. I, you know, this is like the year 2000. I can't hit a three wood 300 yards. And I didn't have $20 on me either. So I don't know if it was adrenaline or the grace of God or what, but I hit the best three wood of my life and it flew that $300 net. I mean 300 yard net. And everybody's jumping around and like going crazy. I'm still in my pose, just like I'm going crazy on the inside, but I'm trying to keep composed. And I just turn to them and say, Will that be cash or check? So that was so that that is my that is my greatest golf shot I've ever hit in my life.

SPEAKER_00

The driving range greatest shot. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02

I didn't have a whole one. There was another good, but that's another story for another day. But I love it.

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know how about you. I don't know how to follow that up, Mike. I mean, seriously. Right. You should have gone second for sure. Exactly. No, my mine, uh we were talking earlier about how, at least for me, my pursuit of golf is more about experience and not about score. And so I was fortunate enough to go to Scotland for the second time a couple of years ago. We had a COVID trip planned and uh and it just kept getting bounced and bounced, and we finally went in 2020. Uh and uh we were playing North Barrack, which much talked about golf course, obviously. Um, in the 16th hole, if you don't know what I'm talking about, just go Google it because you'll see about a thousand images that are drone shots of this unbelievably crazy looking beer. It's green that's there. And so it's up in the front, it goes down in the middle in this valley, and it comes back up in the back. And so the wind's blowing, it's just a perfect Scottish day. And I've got like 150 yards, it's blowing straight into me with the flag in the back. And I hit a five-iron from 150 yards, and I just flush this five iron. I mean, it was just truly just flagged it, you know. And so it lands about a foot from the flag and runs about 10 feet by, and I'm feeling real good about myself, and I'm real happy. And you know, they talk may make a lot about Scottish people with their dogs and the golf courses. And so this local guy is walking by as I'm walking up to the green, and he looked up at me and he said, That was a right proper shot, Laddie. And that literally just made my entire trip. I mean, I'll never forget that. Just some stranger, and he didn't even know he was watching and he saw it, and all of that love for that one shot, it was awesome. So, probably the greatest golf shot I've ever struck.

SPEAKER_02

Man, the Scotland golf shot is way cooler than a driving range in States for Georgia, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. You didn't have the 20 bucks on you. That might be my favorite part of that story. Exactly. And you couldn't hit a three-win. Oh my god. All right. Well, another thing we like to do, just a little back and forth between for both of you here, what we call the quick nine. So the first question: what is the favorite course that you've ever played?

unknown

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

You gotta go? Um, that is a really hard question to answer. It's like, what's your favorite kid? Uh, but uh, if I had to pick one, I would say Sweeton's Cove. It's just a really, really cool place. And out of I've been to a lot of great courses, but it is truly the only course that has truly lived up to the hype. You know what I mean? Like it everything that was promised was delivered. Yep. So Sweetens for me.

SPEAKER_01

All right, for for me, it's Carnousty. It's just this big giant behemoth of a Lynx course with all the history and Hogan's Alley and Tom Watson winning in 75, and I mean John Vandeveld in the burn. I have a picture of myself standing in the burn where he chunked it in there. So just history is a big thing for me. So being on a course where all that happened, and it's just it was the caddies were great, perfection. All right. What what course then is at the top of the bucket list? St. Andrews for me. Um Augusta National. I'm from Georgia, it's gotta happen.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I was gonna say that, but I'm just like, you know, at least I got a chance to get into St. Andrews. You know what I mean? So But hey, I guess never never sell yourself short, you know. You never know what can happen.

SPEAKER_00

You could hit a 300 yard three with so you take your blades of persimmons over there, especially half set. One, the caddies are gonna love you, and two, your ball's gonna roll out for days.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah. I'll make it there one day.

SPEAKER_03

You never know who your next pester control client will be. That's right.

SPEAKER_00

That's a great point. Great point. All right. What is what is your favorite course that no one knows about?

SPEAKER_02

For um, I would say it's a course not far from here. It's called Arrowhead Point.

SPEAKER_00

It's that's a great place.

SPEAKER_02

It is a Georgia State Park golf course. It's out in the middle of nowhere, right on Lake Russell, and there's heart there's never really a lot of folks out there. It's so quiet and peaceful when you're on that back nine on the lake. And it is also a fantastic persimmon golf course. Yeah, if if it was a little closer to me, I would play it every weekend. But it's it is a well-kept secret that I think more people should uh go visit.

SPEAKER_00

The golf is price right. The hot dogs are stupid expensive. That's the only thing.

SPEAKER_02

Can't have it all.

SPEAKER_00

They are expensive. I think it was like $8 or $9 for a hot dog.

SPEAKER_02

It's probably the best hot dog on Lake Russell, though.

SPEAKER_00

It was well, it was the best hot dog at Arrowhead Point.

SPEAKER_01

All right, mine is uh the course that I grew up playing junior golf on in Florida, Spexard Holland Golf Course. If you've not heard of it before, uh just look it up. It's a par 67 Arnold Palmer design that is just sandwiched uh between the Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean in Melbourne Beach, Florida, my hometown. It's awesome. Wind's always blowing. All Bermuda, tough, perfect persimmon course, half set course, one par five on the whole thing. It's just you want to play a round of golf in three hours, enjoy yourself, have fun with your buddies, that's the place to go.

SPEAKER_03

Nice. All right, who's in your dream force them?

SPEAKER_02

Can they be dead or alive? Yeah, all right. Well, I got uh Arnold Palmer would be number one, Charlie Hull, because why not? And uh Spencer Levine, which is kind of an oddball take, but I I love you know, kicking his visor around, smoking cigarettes out of the course, and he's just an absolute flusher. He plays he's not scared to play some old stuff too. So that would I think that would be a great day on the course for those three.

SPEAKER_01

Sebi Vesteros, probably my favorite golfer of all time. Freddie Couples, uh, I've just always admired his golf swing and attitude, and I've just loved to play one round of watching him flush every shot. And then I gotta go with Joanne Carner. Y'all know Joanne Carner, she's an old LPGA pro that just still like tries to play in the U.S. Women's Open and smoke SIGs every round. She's amazing. She's like one of the one of the original LPGA tour players, and she's just amazing. I would just love to pick her brain for four hours.

SPEAKER_00

That'd be a good group. All right. What has been your favorite snack at the turn?

SPEAKER_02

I w I love a good, cold, uncrustable. Strawberry, preferably. I'll I'll you know, I'll get down a great two, but a nice frozen uncrustable is hard to beat.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it's hot hot hot dog, waist potato chips, and stickers bar and a mellow yellow. A mellow yellow. Mellow yellow. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

That seems like that should be the sponsor of the 90s classic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That that may be what it is. My my golf course I grew up on was like a $2 green fee, and then I had $3 to buy like a hot dog and a mellow yellow for 50 cents out of the machine, and then I just took off for another 18. Oh, I love it. Mellow yellow.

SPEAKER_03

All right.

SPEAKER_02

Kind of make I'm kind of on the mellow yellow right now.

SPEAKER_03

I know. I know. Uh Robert, we'll start with you on this one. Favorite golf course logo.

SPEAKER_01

Favorite golf course logo. Um honestly, just the ping man will forever live with me as one of the coolest, just unique golf logos. You know what it is right when you see it, and it just screams classic golf from the 80s and 90s. That's a good answer. I like that. Buck, what you got?

SPEAKER_02

I I'm gonna go with the Fields golf course and the uh the mule. I I it's just a really it's just a good one. You know, that what else do you say? It's just a really nicely done logo. Yep, yep. All right. And a Georgia course too. So I'm you know, I'm I'm staying true to my Georgia roots.

SPEAKER_03

And and the logo was done by Seth McWarter, a Georgia guy.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Well, he did a great job.

SPEAKER_00

All right. We'll start with Robert again. Robert, what has been your favorite Pro Shop purchase?

SPEAKER_01

I bought um a visor at Carnoustie last time I was there. That seems to be the purchase that I use the most often where I go in and buy something and then it just sits on a shelf, or the hat didn't fit right, or you know, the putter cover was for a blade and I'm using a mallet or whatever. So the classic Imperial visor from Carnoustie is like my most used and most appreciated golf course purchase. Buck, how about you?

SPEAKER_02

I love a good visor, but uh and I've got a lot of them, but probably my favorite is a putter cover from Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. That is where Krispy Kreme donuts originated. And they have an old town putter cover that looks like the box of a Krispy Kreme donut. That's awesome. And uh yeah, that's definitely my it's pretty sweet. Fun intended. There it is.

SPEAKER_03

All right. I I'm curious to y'all's answer for these next two. But this one, Robert, we'll start with you. What is one thing golfers should do?

SPEAKER_01

Golfers should play golf in a way that maximizes their enjoyment of the game, not in pursuit of scores, distance, vanity, or anything else. So I make a big kind of uh to-do on Twitter of kind of prescribing about how pros should play with persimmons and blades and all that, which admittedly is like a little bit, I feel passionate about that, but it's a little bit of a shtick for Twitter and social media. But at the end of the day, it's like, man, just do what is right for you. Just play golf in a way that is fun for you and fun for your friends and and that you will look back and enjoy and not for any other reason. So do it for fun. How about you, Buck?

SPEAKER_02

I gotta echo what Robert said. Maximize your enjoyment. Do play golf to to have the best time you possibly can. You know, the whole point of being out there is to have a smile on your face. It's it should be your getaway, your uh your your therapy, if you will. Do whatever you can to make it the most fun you can have and just don't take it too seriously.

SPEAKER_00

That's good good advice here. All right. The last one, finish this sentence. The best part of golf is making friends. Simple as that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, man. Making friends. That's what it's all about, you know. I mean, some of the best relationships that I have have been because of golf. So enjoy the pit time you have with the people you are with out there.

SPEAKER_03

We we completely agree with that, and we are very thankful that uh we are friends with you guys uh through through the game of golf, right? Like uh Persimmon and Blades event brought us together and yeah, excited about the next time we can all hang out and play some golf or just get together doing something like this. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, guys. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. Well, for Robert and Buck and Jonathan, this is Robbie, and you all have been listening to another episode of the Whole Story Podcast.

Head Shot

Jonathan Hill

Co-host
Head Shot

Robby Woodard

Co-host