Speaker 1: The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how
Speaker 1: much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2: I just love that I can hit any shot I
Speaker 2: kind of want.
Speaker 3: We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about
Speaker 3: what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Ping proven Grounds podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm Shane Bake and with Marty Jerts and as always
Speaker 2: and Marty, we've got not just one of the great
Speaker 2: guys in golf. What are the great golf names today?
Speaker 3: As a guest, Yeah, Seamous Power, It's awesome to have
Speaker 3: you on and we're looking forward to kind of getting
Speaker 3: to know you a little bit more and sharing that
Speaker 3: with our guests.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: All right, Seamus, I gotta start with this initial thoughts
Speaker 2: on Johnson City, Tennessee. When you got there. How did
Speaker 2: you go from Ireland to Johnson City, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a funny one. So our coach, like
Speaker 1: Fred Warren, was definitely one of the first to embrace
Speaker 1: international recruiting. I think, you know, it's probably hard to
Speaker 1: get good US recruits to go to Johnson City, but
Speaker 1: I didn't go on a recruiting visit, so I'd been
Speaker 1: to LA and Miami in my time in US, so.
Speaker 4: Showed up there.
Speaker 2: That's like the Elliott Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was something else, but it really
Speaker 1: is beautiful there.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 1: I was very lucky. So my team my freshman year,
Speaker 1: I think it was my freshman sophomore was like we
Speaker 1: were all as an all GB and I team, So
Speaker 1: I knew guys that had been through and they were
Speaker 1: very helpful and stuff. But I think without that it
Speaker 1: would have been a little more interesting, but it was
Speaker 1: still it was still quite the culture shock. I mean,
Speaker 1: just in introduction to college sports. There's nothing like that,
Speaker 1: certainly in Ireland, probably in norhere else in the world.
Speaker 1: All that stuff was unbelievable. But it was great experience
Speaker 1: and beautiful plays. So it was nice.
Speaker 4: What so you were there for four years?
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, that all four So what was.
Speaker 3: Your journey like, you know, from your freshman year to
Speaker 3: your senior year, you know, from your own personal golf
Speaker 3: game progression standpoint.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was interesting for me because I came in
Speaker 1: like under the radar, but I actually had a very
Speaker 1: good freshman year for the most part. And then I
Speaker 1: had some like hitt and miss stuff kind of my
Speaker 1: next couple of years. And then it was interesting. I
Speaker 1: wasn't even sure about professional golf really for my senior year.
Speaker 1: I didn't play very well in the fallside knee surgery
Speaker 1: like the summer before my senior year, but played very
Speaker 1: very well my last semester, and that was kind of
Speaker 1: the best I played in college. And that was kind
Speaker 1: of thing that I saw enough to like, I'll give
Speaker 1: a professional golf a shot.
Speaker 3: So right there, going into your final semester, in your mind,
Speaker 3: you were teetering were you're favoring maybe not?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't sure. I mean, I was
Speaker 1: lucky enough to have like we had Rees Davies on there.
Speaker 1: It was like one of the best players in college golf.
Speaker 1: He was there my first year. And then there was
Speaker 1: Garrett Shaw who was minimum two or three time All
Speaker 1: americanly or like, he was like our best player of
Speaker 1: my second year. And then it was other really good players.
Speaker 1: So I wasn't I'd never been the best player on
Speaker 1: our team. So I was looking at, you know, all
Speaker 1: these other guys that we played against Georgia, and you
Speaker 1: were looking at a team and you would like Russell Henley, Harris, English,
Speaker 1: Hudson Swafford, Brian Harmon, and you're like, you have to
Speaker 1: play against all these guys. So it was a little
Speaker 1: up in the air for me. It wasn't one of
Speaker 1: that like sixteen, knew where I was gonna.
Speaker 4: Go with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was later to golf, so kind of later
Speaker 1: learning all that side, So it was a little different.
Speaker 1: But I saw enough my senior year at least to
Speaker 1: give a shot. Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 2: You said if you weren't playing golf, you'd be an accountant,
Speaker 2: which is hilarious.
Speaker 4: I said that.
Speaker 1: I think when I got my like like ten or
Speaker 1: ten or ten more years, I definitely wouldn't be but
Speaker 1: I was sure I was. I honestly don't know. It
Speaker 1: was one of those things I hopefully never have to know,
Speaker 1: but from just from being around and doing what I've
Speaker 1: done for so long, it would be tough now to
Speaker 1: go back to kind of I feel like trying to
Speaker 1: get into something where you could still work for yourself
Speaker 1: for some sort of business by yourself would be the
Speaker 1: avenue woul try to go down. But I had an
Speaker 1: accounting degree, so that was that was kind of easy, said.
Speaker 2: And you were like incredibly ranked as a racquetball player.
Speaker 1: As a kid, I was, Yeah, I actually have a
Speaker 1: bronze medal from the Rackaball World Championships. I was like twelve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was very we so it was kind of funny.
Speaker 1: My parents were so I grew up in a very
Speaker 1: rural place in Ireland. My parents were huge in getting
Speaker 1: a community center built, and my dad was huge in
Speaker 1: the handball, like as an Irish sport, like the not
Speaker 1: the throw kind of team on the you know, hitting
Speaker 1: ball with your hand kind of one. But racketball was
Speaker 1: taking off, so racketball ended up being the sport that
Speaker 1: got played in the kind of the handball court and
Speaker 1: I loved it, Like I also a pretty good handl
Speaker 1: likee coordination. I just love racketball. And yeah, we were
Speaker 1: very lucky. Kind of was taken off in Ireland and
Speaker 1: I was kind of plaid at the right time and
Speaker 1: ended up going to Los Angeles a couple of times
Speaker 1: for World Championships and kind of stuff like that. So
Speaker 1: it was really cool a few years and yeah, absolutely love.
Speaker 2: To Since the popularity of like pickle and paddle have
Speaker 2: blown up, do you ever get into that at all.
Speaker 1: I so like ice. My girlfriend and I started playing
Speaker 1: some like pickleball last year, but then I kind of
Speaker 1: got had some hip issues, not because of that, just
Speaker 1: like through golf, so I haven't played much since. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's amazing popular. It's I haven't played paddle but pickleball
Speaker 1: was fun. Like we only played a little bit, but
Speaker 1: it was it was really fun. And it seemed like
Speaker 1: everyone was playing in my gym in Vegas, like they
Speaker 1: changed out a couple of basketball courts to put in
Speaker 1: pickleball courts and all this stuff. But it's it's so popular.
Speaker 1: I'd like to play a little bit bit more, but
Speaker 1: not a hips field.
Speaker 2: But have you got into that yet, Marty?
Speaker 3: Are you just just dabbled, just dabbled. But I'm trying
Speaker 3: to get my kids into ten and they're playing and
Speaker 3: taking tennis less.
Speaker 1: You know, tennis is.
Speaker 2: Hard, I mean with with racketball background and stuff like
Speaker 2: tennis everthing, ping pong, I thing. I'm assuming you were
Speaker 2: good at that.
Speaker 1: Time, okay, when I was younger, like, but so rackaball
Speaker 1: and tennis didn't match up that well because rackaball you're
Speaker 1: hitting everything flat and then you're trying to when you
Speaker 1: go into tennis, trying to change the group and try
Speaker 1: to get like those tops difficult back inside, I'd be
Speaker 1: okay for inside, I kind of just what it wasn't
Speaker 1: as wasn't as good as i'd like, But I mean
Speaker 1: I may ably hit it fine. It's just trying to
Speaker 1: like hit the hit the shots you'd like to hit
Speaker 1: or work kind of.
Speaker 3: Growing up in Ireland, what what you know? Obviously you
Speaker 3: played a couple of sports, but what what did your
Speaker 3: season look like? I'm always curious about that, Like, you know,
Speaker 3: were you like all golf in the summer? What did
Speaker 3: you do in the winter? What other sports?
Speaker 1: Yeah, when I got into golf, like it was strange
Speaker 1: looking back, because you just play. I mean I had
Speaker 1: friends I got into it, and we would play golf
Speaker 1: from all day long in the summer. I mean it
Speaker 1: gets brighted. I can't remember four or five morning, it's
Speaker 1: bright an eleven at night, So you could play all
Speaker 1: day long. But I wouldn't play much during the school year,
Speaker 1: maybe once on the weekend because I didn't live I
Speaker 1: didn't live close to a course, so the season would
Speaker 1: be like that. But honestly it was it was kind
Speaker 1: of funny. Even when I started golf, it wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been my main sport. I would kind of working in
Speaker 1: around so we have Irish football with a sport called hurling,
Speaker 1: which is like it's nothing really like lacrosse mixed with
Speaker 1: field hockey and kind of thing. And then I played
Speaker 1: a lot of racquetball, but a lot of different sports.
Speaker 1: Played soccer for a while too, so it was kind
Speaker 1: of interesting. And yeah, I still like when I go home,
Speaker 1: there's you know, the like by hurling at football coach
Speaker 1: he said, that's my new was in trouble when I
Speaker 1: started kind of, you know, all of a sudden planning
Speaker 1: hurling football around my golf. But it wasn't like it
Speaker 1: was probably fifteen ish that I would play. I had
Speaker 1: more of a full season, which is amazing. I go
Speaker 1: home now and in the winter. I don't know how
Speaker 1: I ever played golf in the winter, but I did,
Speaker 1: and I loved it, and yeah, I mean I just
Speaker 1: I just liked the challenge of it and started getting
Speaker 1: into it more and more. And then by the time
Speaker 1: we got to like fifteen sixteen, kind of got picked
Speaker 1: for some panels and then like you'd go and you'd
Speaker 1: use coaching panels and you so then you'd really be
Speaker 1: all season long, but you do a shorter season, like
Speaker 1: you could play in the winter. But it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's ball in hand everywhere, and it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: miserable and frostly.
Speaker 3: In my trips over there to Ireland and and anywhere
Speaker 3: in Great Britain and Ireland, there's not like great. It's
Speaker 3: not like over here where you are on perfect range
Speaker 3: and great practice facility. Did you have a range at all?
Speaker 3: I've been to a lot of courses that don't even
Speaker 3: have a range, or you're just playing all the time.
Speaker 1: A lot of playing. But I mean our drive range
Speaker 1: was on a probably twenty five degrees slope and it
Speaker 1: was two hundred yards long, and you're.
Speaker 2: Always above your feet or below your field.
Speaker 1: I mean you could you could hit either end. It's
Speaker 1: not it's not like a rain. It was basically just
Speaker 1: basically just a field. Yeah, so you could, you could.
Speaker 1: That's the thing if you're working on something, if you're
Speaker 1: cutting too much, you got the other end. But it
Speaker 1: was yea, I was interured you'd pick up your own
Speaker 1: all your own balls. It was totally different. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: you ranges aren't particularly big in Ireland. It's kind of funny.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's I'm not really sure. Like
Speaker 1: you guys would just show up to take a couple
Speaker 1: of swings and get on the first tee and off
Speaker 1: you go. Yeah, it's very different. Yeah, so you would
Speaker 1: just be you'd be on the course a lot more.
Speaker 1: I mean in the summer. Yeah, you'd play, you could
Speaker 1: play two, three rounds. You'd come in and you just
Speaker 1: had other I was looking. I was at a golf
Speaker 1: club that there was a lot of juniors and we
Speaker 1: would play so much golf. Looking back, it was crazy.
Speaker 2: But yeah, absolutely love to Americans go across the pond
Speaker 2: and they have to work on flighting the golf ball.
Speaker 2: Did you have to learn how to hit the ball
Speaker 2: up in the air?
Speaker 1: I always, I rarely always had a higher ball flight.
Speaker 1: I always when I was sixteen seventeen, we always hit
Speaker 1: a little higher. And obviously in the wind you want
Speaker 1: to hit the lower. But I always found it easier
Speaker 1: to hit it lower when you need it to rather
Speaker 1: than trying to hit the higher. When you did so,
Speaker 1: I was like, this will be fine, but you do
Speaker 1: have to learn to add different shots. But the biggest
Speaker 1: thing is like going from never playing Bermuda grass to
Speaker 1: go chipping on bermuda grass. It's just it's bizarre. You
Speaker 1: it looks like a fine line and you hit it
Speaker 1: and it goes a foot in front of you and
Speaker 1: you're that takes a little bit of time because it
Speaker 1: messes with your mind. Like we obviously play a lot
Speaker 1: of shots around the greens. It's tight grass, but it's
Speaker 1: like it's perfect to chip off if you if you
Speaker 1: can clip it, it just it comes off exactly how
Speaker 1: you think it is, and all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: there's so many unknowns and that was the biggest part
Speaker 1: to me. I was just figuring that out. And even
Speaker 1: on like on the fairway, like little climb the grooves
Speaker 1: or like it wall, like little different things like that
Speaker 1: we just wouldn't have seen before.
Speaker 3: When you jumped right into the bermuda and tennessee probably right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, straight like it was, it was bizarre, like it's
Speaker 1: welcome to the stage. Yeah, I think you're you're so
Speaker 1: naive grown up in our l I'd never seen grass
Speaker 1: called dormant. I didn't know that was.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So my freshman year that fall, you know, we got
Speaker 1: like a Tennessee got whatever some hard frost. Didn't go
Speaker 1: to the practice for a day or two, and then
Speaker 1: I go up to practice and immediately panic, call my coach.
Speaker 1: I think our drive man has been vandalized because it
Speaker 1: started to go dormant. And it's like I never I
Speaker 1: didn't notice was a thing, And it was like it
Speaker 1: was the strangest thing. You just you grow, we grew up.
Speaker 1: People ask you working on grass, especially on a move
Speaker 1: to college first, and I was like, I have no
Speaker 1: idea grass is grass, Like we don't have different types,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden it becomes such a thing,
Speaker 1: and you know, playing out here now you get to
Speaker 1: be very aware of you start to figure out what
Speaker 1: to do on certain ones and all that. But that
Speaker 1: was a that was the funniest adjustment for me, and
Speaker 1: especially then coach like driving up in a panic, thinking
Speaker 1: we'll be vandalized and he's looking at me like I'm
Speaker 1: an idiot. So it was it was an interesting introduction, jameus.
Speaker 3: In your time in college, you start working with Scott Sullivan,
Speaker 3: right yeap on just kind of introducing you to equipment
Speaker 3: optimization some club fitting things.
Speaker 4: Tell us about like your first experience with Scott.
Speaker 3: With Ping and and and uh you know some of
Speaker 3: those times in college.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was amazing. I mean when I came to
Speaker 1: college first, I had a mixed bag of everything. I
Speaker 1: think I'd like, I wouldn't be terrified him that, but
Speaker 1: like those small McGregor irons and like mixed bag of
Speaker 1: everything kind of I think I don't remember a Potter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so like like Scott then comes in. He would always
Speaker 1: come with the Bank of Tennessee and like October and
Speaker 1: Scott would come in and do his like like trip
Speaker 1: in around that and it was just I'd never really
Speaker 1: seen that before. It was amazing just even just meant
Speaker 1: like introducing you to like what you're looking for with
Speaker 1: launch and that sort of stuff for you know before
Speaker 1: you're just kind of looking at it, going like that
Speaker 1: looks pretty good.
Speaker 4: Eyeballing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all I would do that one. Yeah, Like
Speaker 1: so all of a sudden you're being introduced to that.
Speaker 1: It was it was amazing. Like I switched over to
Speaker 1: ping was it that fall or that spring and I've
Speaker 1: been paying ever since. It was just amazing that everything
Speaker 1: all the options this and that, you know, like I
Speaker 1: was I guess naives all that I'd be like, I
Speaker 1: don't like this one, so you just assume that just
Speaker 1: get a driver from some like a different companies like
Speaker 1: that one's gonna better, not realizing that, oh no, you
Speaker 1: can like tweak this to suit you. You can do this,
Speaker 1: you can do that. So it was it was amazing
Speaker 1: and we were actually was actually talking about it yesterday,
Speaker 1: like the fact that he was doing on that before
Speaker 1: the adjustable heads to I don't know how many drivers
Speaker 1: he was squeezing in those club gloves. But yeah, Scotty
Speaker 1: was great, Like, yeah, it was amazing. He it was
Speaker 1: an amazing service and it was just like it was
Speaker 1: I was blown away. It's like two days later, like
Speaker 1: like all this stuff starts showing up and it's just
Speaker 1: all of a sudden like night and day difference, and
Speaker 1: like he's gone through every different grip, grip sizes to
Speaker 1: like shafts, all this kind of stuff where I was
Speaker 1: very naive, like you just kind of I don't know,
Speaker 1: you just kind of have clubs and you either sometimes
Speaker 1: you liked or some others you didn't really know why.
Speaker 1: So it was amazing. Yeah, it was an incredible service. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you brought up how he was able to
Speaker 3: do that, you know, before the adjustable. So a lot
Speaker 3: of times we would actually like trim the feral and
Speaker 3: shim the shaft in tilted a little bit. And that's
Speaker 3: now actually what the adjustah houzzle. You know, it's kind
Speaker 3: of in there, just tilted a little and you can
Speaker 3: really fine tune things and looking at your specs you play,
Speaker 3: you play all your woods in a custom like non
Speaker 3: standard setting, like you I think your drivers in the
Speaker 3: big plus, right, it's like adding one and a half degrees.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, so I like, I like, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: I was kind of missing it right like for like
Speaker 1: a little while, and then so I put it in
Speaker 1: that big plus and it just I feel like the
Speaker 1: face is looking at me more in that setting, and
Speaker 1: I like a lot more. It's still only like nine
Speaker 1: and a half degrees even in the big Plus, but
Speaker 1: it just the visually it looks much easier. It's as
Speaker 1: funny as that is. It's just visually is the big
Speaker 1: thing for me. As soon as I put that in
Speaker 1: the dot, or even put a if you give me
Speaker 1: a nine and a half degree in the dot, it
Speaker 1: feels like that toe is kind of sliding away from me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and even like older people aren't going to see it.
Speaker 1: Like also funny game for that, but yeah, it's been
Speaker 1: a huge, huge change for me putting that big plus.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's incredible the way you can do that.
Speaker 1: You can completely change your club, changes our plays.
Speaker 2: You're big minus guy, right, I mean you're the opposite.
Speaker 3: I'm a ten to five and I put in the
Speaker 3: big minus.
Speaker 4: Interesting, I kind of wanted.
Speaker 3: The phase point just a little bit, right, But it's
Speaker 3: it's so fun to have those options, have that individual
Speaker 3: reference to your eye, right.
Speaker 1: It is yet because I like I like to fade it,
Speaker 1: but I don't like to see the face because as
Speaker 1: soon as when the face starts getting I feel like
Speaker 1: I was going to want make you want to do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like it's it's such a strange game for that.
Speaker 1: And like sometimes it's as soon as you see a club,
Speaker 1: you don't even realize the time, but like it's somewhere
Speaker 1: deep down is telling you. Your gut's telling you we
Speaker 1: don't like to look at this one. And sometimes it
Speaker 1: takes you a little like to kind of trust it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it is amazing to have those options. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can just completely change how I mean, how thing
Speaker 1: that ball flies distance, it's going everything basically, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's incredible.
Speaker 3: Now shames, Your grips are interesting too, right, plus five
Speaker 3: wraps in the bottom hand, yeah, right, plus two at
Speaker 3: the top taills how that kind of came to be?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I was this was CP was like we
Speaker 1: were talking. Actually I got them regripped, and it's almost
Speaker 1: no ordeal to get them regripped. There there's a lot
Speaker 1: going on. But I don't have particularly big hands. But
Speaker 1: I think I just have like shorter fingers and bigger
Speaker 1: palms or something someone told me. So I just had
Speaker 1: I can't like probably regular midsize. I kind it's been
Speaker 1: a few years regular midsized grips. And I think it
Speaker 1: was like one of Bubble's clubs that was like sitting
Speaker 1: around when I was at the fact dory, like seven
Speaker 1: on it and I was just like, oh, that feels nice.
Speaker 1: So like I was with CP, so he was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we'll just like we'll build it up a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I think he would go like one or two
Speaker 1: raps and I'm like I could still go a little
Speaker 1: and eventually at the end of the day, like he
Speaker 1: was like, so what is that, he was like, and
Speaker 1: they were like, it's it's all sorts. There's a black
Speaker 1: tape in there, there's like other stuff. But it feels
Speaker 1: amazing in my hands, like when I hold like a
Speaker 1: regular sized grip. Now, I don't know how I ever
Speaker 1: was able to do it. Like the biggest thing for
Speaker 1: me is especially around the greens. I go up and
Speaker 1: down the shaft a lot, and I didn't like when
Speaker 1: I would go down near like the end of the grip,
Speaker 1: the club feel like really really small. It just kind
Speaker 1: of like a toy club. So I much prefer like
Speaker 1: it's just less tapered, so it's it just feels a
Speaker 1: little more similar when I go up and down the
Speaker 1: shaft a little bit. So I liked it. It was
Speaker 1: something I hadn't really experienced it before. It was just
Speaker 1: it's something that I picked up and I liked, and
Speaker 1: it's been like that for a few years. So it
Speaker 1: feels amazing my hand now.
Speaker 3: Short iron shots, let's say nine iron pitching wedge, you
Speaker 3: grip down.
Speaker 1: When a lot of times I do, yeah, ok, yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's that's when it feels much more similar to
Speaker 1: what it does of the top. So it's I like
Speaker 1: it like it's and it's strange, like so many people,
Speaker 1: I want to.
Speaker 4: Pick them up.
Speaker 1: Like when it feels better than I thought it would,
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know what it is, but
Speaker 1: it definitely feels nice in my hand, like it just
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. It just feels comfortable to size fits.
Speaker 2: So yeah, don't Can we talk about the back to
Speaker 2: back aces that the masters?
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure.
Speaker 2: So the first one goes in, Yeah, you have a
Speaker 2: moment everybody goes nut's obviously that's a lot of fun. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the second ones in the year, I mean, what's going
Speaker 2: through your mind?
Speaker 1: It was the craziest like it was. It was because
Speaker 1: on seven actually lipped out, Like I got up to
Speaker 1: seven and it lit the hole. I was like, this
Speaker 1: far from the hole and then so I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that would be just like the most dialed ever, right,
Speaker 1: And then you get on eight and we're waiting and
Speaker 1: I played the previous year and it pins on the
Speaker 1: front and this screen just comes ripping back, so you're
Speaker 1: like trying to land it thirty feet past it and
Speaker 1: as soon as it lands, you're like, I knew, like
Speaker 1: from last year, you kind of knew how it was
Speaker 1: breaking was like, oh, that's kind of chance, and it
Speaker 1: just went in perfectly, and then yeah, it was. It
Speaker 1: was a crazy feeling down and like that part of
Speaker 1: the part three course, it's so loud, it's so all
Speaker 1: the people are. It was amazing walking up there and
Speaker 1: get the ninety and like, you know, there's people like
Speaker 1: they're behind the ninety. They're like, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: see if you can follow that, but all these guys
Speaker 1: like saying this kind of stuff. I was like, and
Speaker 1: I honestly on nine didn't even hit it particularly a
Speaker 1: good shot. I probably pulled it four yards, but it
Speaker 1: funneled off the left slope back in and that was
Speaker 1: that was obscene With that one in, I just like
Speaker 1: I didn't know what to think. And then yeah, it
Speaker 1: was my brother was caddying for me. I thought that
Speaker 1: was funny because I feel like he was probably the
Speaker 1: only one wasn't de lied because he was the one
Speaker 1: is like he was following that and I was like, yeah, good,
Speaker 1: look at that one. So it was gassed. And then
Speaker 1: I'm walking up and they were signing out like they
Speaker 1: call the group up behind in Scottish. Schiffer dunks in
Speaker 1: on top of my ball. So like you didn't even go.
Speaker 2: Scottie Scheffer's ball out as you're getting your I left.
Speaker 1: It in there for him. Yeah, it was on top
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a rare scenario. Yeah, what should I
Speaker 4: do here?
Speaker 1: Funnel pins throwing the water from But no, it was.
Speaker 1: It was amazing. It was like that's such a unique experience.
Speaker 1: Like the year before, like I don't have kids running yet,
Speaker 1: but like I was with Scott Sollings and Keegan Bradley
Speaker 1: both of their kids out and it was just it's
Speaker 1: just nothing like it. It's just a blast. Is everyone's
Speaker 1: in good form, like everyone's happy to be there. It's
Speaker 1: just amazing and obviously to have like memories like that.
Speaker 1: And then they said, which is kind of a cool
Speaker 1: thing they send you like crystal, but it's like, so
Speaker 1: it's Waterford Crystal, which is where I grew up in here,
Speaker 1: so it was like I've seen the boxes coming, so
Speaker 1: it was it's pretty special. Just yeah, I mean everyone,
Speaker 1: like I asked about it. It was like on ESPN
Speaker 1: Top Plays and so it was. It was fun. It
Speaker 1: was just a I don't know, it was different. It's
Speaker 1: different to normal home and ones and obviously the back
Speaker 1: to back ones.
Speaker 2: Was absolutely your brother hit after you made this second Yeah,
Speaker 2: hit in the water.
Speaker 1: Actually hit a pretty good shot, but it was Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was tough to follow.
Speaker 2: How nervous was he? I mean you know, I mean
Speaker 2: I can only imagine if you're sitting up there cold turkey. Right.
Speaker 2: I swung all day so I twin brother. So it's funny.
Speaker 1: So like they did back to back years and they
Speaker 1: don't play a lot of golf and then they're like
Speaker 1: they're like carrying around. They're like one of them like I
Speaker 1: haven't had a golf shot for like four months. I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is not a good place to start. But they
Speaker 1: both did decent shots. But it like it's that's a
Speaker 1: tough one because there's just as you said, water all around,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot of people when you're not used
Speaker 1: to it, it's a lot of people around. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they had fun with it.
Speaker 2: Since we're on this, this is a big debate on
Speaker 2: social media, so I want to ask you this too.
Speaker 2: Par three holes in one count I definitely counted.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I remember someone asked me that interview. Right afterwards,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I get it, but I feel like there
Speaker 1: were long enough where one was like one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty and one was I think they're bout one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty or something like that. I do get the debate,
Speaker 1: but I'm definitely counting augusta. I think if I get
Speaker 1: it from h R to a ghust, I'm counting it.
Speaker 2: Well, I say this, I always ask pe all this.
Speaker 2: I'm like, how many times you hold out for eighty yards?
Speaker 2: You know, if you're a ten handicap, it's like once
Speaker 2: in your life, then count it. If you made a
Speaker 2: hold in one from eighty yards on a short course,
Speaker 2: who cares, I'd say, counted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like if I I mean I've spent pebble last week,
Speaker 1: If I get one of number seven airs, that I'm
Speaker 1: definitely counting and that's shorter. So I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I definitely did. I definitely did.
Speaker 3: What What wedges do you bring to the Part three
Speaker 3: contests or do you have to bring like a nine iron.
Speaker 1: Or there is I brought up to nine iron. There's
Speaker 1: I can't remember the exactly. There's one. It's like high
Speaker 1: one forties is a numbers five ish. It's really fun
Speaker 1: like and they changed it up the two years I've played,
Speaker 1: like they completely changed it was amazing that we're able
Speaker 1: to do that, Like the first hole was completely different.
Speaker 1: It was several holes that changed a lot, so it
Speaker 1: was it was pretty cool, like you've the first hole
Speaker 1: is short, and then the third down the hill is
Speaker 1: like seventy yards downhill, which is a very unusual distance
Speaker 1: for downhill. You just throw it on the green, but
Speaker 1: then I think it's four and five or like a
Speaker 1: little longer where you're hitting like one hundred and forty
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty yard shots. So I think I carried
Speaker 1: up to a nine er, and just to be sure
Speaker 1: in case, it was in two winters.
Speaker 3: So your wedge is Shamus, you play fifty eight? Did
Speaker 3: you ever used a sixty? Did you grow up with
Speaker 3: the fifty six? How did you settle around it?
Speaker 4: Eight?
Speaker 1: I just liked it around. I liked it around the greens.
Speaker 1: I did like I had at sixty at one six.
Speaker 1: I went the other way at sixty fifty six fifty
Speaker 1: two pitch or probably forty eight, But it's I like
Speaker 1: chipping with the fifty eight and it fits my set
Speaker 1: a little bit more like the pitchers have gotten gotten
Speaker 1: stronger over the years, so like that gap between forty
Speaker 1: six and fifty two is getting a little bit too
Speaker 1: big kind of thing. So it was like I I
Speaker 1: liked it, and then by much before chipping with a
Speaker 1: fifty I do most of my chipping with a fifty eight.
Speaker 1: It's just right in between everything kind of. It just
Speaker 1: always kind of made more sense to me instead of
Speaker 1: like swapping within sixteen fifty six and all that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I like that there. As soon as I was
Speaker 1: okay with that, then it made the gaps going through
Speaker 1: the bag just a little bit.
Speaker 4: That's rare.
Speaker 3: I'm always curious if if a player has gone from
Speaker 3: a sixty down to fifty eight for green side and
Speaker 3: that's what you've done that idea.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like it. It gives you more obviously if one
Speaker 1: time you have to did a flop that you've got to
Speaker 1: open a little bit more whatever. But I feel like
Speaker 1: my standard chip shot is just a little bit simpler
Speaker 1: with the fifty eight.
Speaker 3: So you go fifty eight, then fifty four bent to
Speaker 3: fifty three.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, they're basically at that point all just fitting
Speaker 1: the filling my yardage numbers. Yeah, because I do as
Speaker 1: I said, I do most of my chipping with the
Speaker 1: fifty eight. So like my lobby goes one hundred yards,
Speaker 1: and I want like that fifty four to fifty three
Speaker 1: goes one sixteen and you know, like one thirty and
Speaker 1: then one forty five, So we match up to the
Speaker 1: my like I feel like a pitching way with the
Speaker 1: set like dictates one dictates one end and then the
Speaker 1: labo detext the other.
Speaker 3: And then you just yeah, match shames. I love this
Speaker 3: because we are built with the new S one fifty nine.
Speaker 3: We built this really cool wedge app that does the
Speaker 3: gaping right for the players so they can do exactly
Speaker 3: what you've been able to do out here, you know,
Speaker 3: in the truck and the track man, and it'd figure
Speaker 3: out you're gapping.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: For me, it makes it so easy because then is
Speaker 1: the most you can be away from a full wedgshot
Speaker 1: is going to be seven yards seven eight yards for me,
Speaker 1: So then it's like you just have to basically need
Speaker 1: one other shot with your wedges, which is at one
Speaker 1: in between, and you should be pretty set from all
Speaker 1: the way from ninety yards all the way from me
Speaker 1: to one forty five. So it's a big gap. We
Speaker 1: hit a lot of shots in that and it's nice
Speaker 1: when you don't have to worry about too much about
Speaker 1: taking stelf Off or this or that.
Speaker 2: Or Yeah, Seamus, you played so well in the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two PGA Championship. I was reading some of your
Speaker 2: quotes after and you were like, I wasn't that far
Speaker 2: off from getting the playoff. It feels like that gave
Speaker 2: you a lot of confidence. Can you kind of go
Speaker 2: back to that Sunday after the great round on Saturday
Speaker 2: and just what you were feeling at, like, how are
Speaker 2: the nerves going into that final round?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Actually felt great because I was I can't remember
Speaker 1: what group I was. I was maybe fourth, last or fifth,
Speaker 1: Like I wasn't like right in it, but I wasn't
Speaker 1: too far away, and it was that it was the
Speaker 1: golf course was going to play. It played very difficult
Speaker 1: that weekend, and yeah, I had chances like I I
Speaker 1: look back, I I had a very makeable like BIRDI
Speaker 1: pott on nine for maybe eight feet, a lot of break,
Speaker 1: but still when you're hoping to make a three point
Speaker 1: of ten like against a tough green, but you would
Speaker 1: like I wouldn't have expected three pout of it, And
Speaker 1: then had really good chances on like what was that
Speaker 1: part five? Like thirteen I hit fluid right over the
Speaker 1: top of the pin and only made a par and
Speaker 1: lipped out on sixteen, didn't birdy seventeen. I was like,
Speaker 1: there wasn't much out of a playoff in the end.
Speaker 1: It was like, damn, what could have been? But that's
Speaker 1: golf and it was fun to be And I hadn't
Speaker 1: hadn't played many majors at that point, so it was
Speaker 1: fun to kind of get get into a position like
Speaker 1: that in the tour. And there's definitely a different feel
Speaker 1: to them, Like you I heard it from guys forever.
Speaker 1: They're like it, you kind of our majors feel different
Speaker 1: even showing up on a Monday, and they definitely do.
Speaker 1: And that was that was a special week. I had
Speaker 1: a good run, like even in the US Open. Then
Speaker 1: not too long after that it was another good run there.
Speaker 1: So you have some some some positive stuff, so hopefully
Speaker 1: you can kind of get back in there en this year.
Speaker 3: James your your let's talk about your putter a little bit.
Speaker 3: You're just playing the PLD three right, yeah, And and uh,
Speaker 3: I'm in the office. Tony Serrano would always come in
Speaker 3: and when you guys were working on that and talk
Speaker 3: about the design, the Nuance. You were super involved in
Speaker 3: the design of that putter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, Yeah, it was cool how I came
Speaker 1: to be like I like Tony was kind of he
Speaker 1: was sending me like designs. Yeah, and it looked it
Speaker 1: was amazing, and he like some of the things he
Speaker 1: was able to do. I've always been I found like
Speaker 1: like all sorts of little custom things. I'm slower on
Speaker 1: the stroke, so he's like put copper on the bottom
Speaker 1: for a little bit more and all this. But I
Speaker 1: love love the design, absolutely love it. And it originally
Speaker 1: we designed it in the different huzzle so probably I
Speaker 1: can't remember what number looks like the kind of the
Speaker 1: bend huzzle and h but then I saw that like
Speaker 1: the answers I think the answer fur huzzle I have
Speaker 1: now and I absolutely loved it. It's been ever ever since.
Speaker 1: I've gotten a few kind of variations, one like in
Speaker 1: the ANSWERCU style head and one even this week like
Speaker 1: like this small catch head yep. But it's hard to
Speaker 1: get me out of it when I have absolutely love
Speaker 1: it. It just it makes like I love I like the
Speaker 1: size of it where it's like in between mine's like
Speaker 1: it said, whatever you call it it's not the full
Speaker 1: size mid mallage.
Speaker 4: Yeah again a small mid mallage.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is. Yeah, it's not particularly deeper and so
Speaker 1: it's it's it's very nice and I always though it
Speaker 1: looks cool as well, like obviously in the All Black
Speaker 1: as well. And yeah, Tony did a great job of it.
Speaker 1: But it was fun to be involved on. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know how much he was taking on, but
Speaker 1: just even to see like which line it was, he
Speaker 1: was able to show me what options there are and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff, and yeah, came out really well.
Speaker 1: Absolutely loved that. That was I mean that's probably six
Speaker 1: it's gonna be six years ago maybe now, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty much didn't been in the bag ever since.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was super cool.
Speaker 3: I remember remember him working on it in our CAD
Speaker 3: software and then he'd send you screenshots and back and
Speaker 3: forth and from our iping data. That's our tool we
Speaker 3: we put you on. Uh you know in iPod on
Speaker 3: your measure putting shrow. You have always you mentioned it,
Speaker 3: but you've always been on the slow tempo ratio side.
Speaker 3: So our fitting logic there is that you need you
Speaker 3: folks with the slower tempo ratio, do better with the
Speaker 3: heavier putter. So is that something you've kind of noticed
Speaker 3: just it is experimentally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it just feels especially when you get to like
Speaker 1: you just like slightly longer. I've always been excellent short putter,
Speaker 1: so it's just trying to add a little bit more
Speaker 1: to like mid to longer putts and just felt easier.
Speaker 1: Felt you know, like if you get forty feet with
Speaker 1: a regular weight putter. For me, I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: taking it back to my waist to get it like
Speaker 1: long enough. Yeah, so with the extra weight, it just
Speaker 1: gives you a little bit, a little bit of help
Speaker 1: there where you kind of needed. But yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: great that one's a nice mix. I said it didn't
Speaker 1: affect my short on his X and I love the
Speaker 1: white line on top. It's clean and everything, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it was great. I was lobbing to have it called
Speaker 1: sp one but didn't quite get it.
Speaker 2: Get there pushing through, you know what, Just win the
Speaker 2: Masters and the really start to make your nails. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think that's the key. You'd go back to kind
Speaker 2: of college days. You talk about a mixed bag, you know,
Speaker 2: you get this ping bag full of clubs and then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you play ping and then you
Speaker 2: get to this point in this pro career we're helping
Speaker 2: designing a putter. I mean, do you have these moments
Speaker 2: where you kind of sit back and go, hey, I've
Speaker 2: made it. But b this is pretty crazy from a
Speaker 2: kid from Ireland that's going to you know, East Tennessee
Speaker 2: State or whatever, and now all of a sudden, I'm
Speaker 2: helping make this putter that you can sell and go get.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like I like, I've like I tried
Speaker 1: to remind us of not to lose perspective on stuff
Speaker 1: like as it is, it is pretty cool. Like it's
Speaker 1: the biggest moment for me always is is with the
Speaker 1: thing stuff is when you go into the vault and
Speaker 1: you actually have because I remember going in there in
Speaker 1: college and there was you know, you're blown away by
Speaker 1: it and it's like you're looking for your favorite player.
Speaker 1: And then like I have like some Potters in there now,
Speaker 1: which is that's when it kind of hits it home
Speaker 1: to me. But yeah, having to having the potter designed
Speaker 1: was was was amazing and yeah, I mean, like it's
Speaker 1: it's been a cool journey for me with Ping. I said,
Speaker 1: I switched that I can't remember my freshman or sophomore year.
Speaker 4: And I have.
Speaker 1: I haven't changed anything almost since the seconds. So it's
Speaker 1: been a it's been a really really cool journey. It's
Speaker 1: like like Scott Sullivan, like, I mean I still when
Speaker 1: I get this se himhen I'm in the office and stuff,
Speaker 1: he's still in a which amazing, Like it's like he's
Speaker 1: so good at his job. And that's like, I mean,
Speaker 1: the staff and everything is being it's been. It's been amazing.
Speaker 1: It's I always say, like, my my coolest thing that
Speaker 1: I can say about paying is like over the years
Speaker 1: is like when I was in college, you're treated incredibly well.
Speaker 1: And I feel like, no matter like mini tours all
Speaker 1: the way, but you're still treated incredibly well, Like no
Speaker 1: matter what if you're struggling, if you're playing well, they
Speaker 1: still treat you like incredibly well. It's it's amazing. The
Speaker 1: equipment is fantastic because you have like you've got more
Speaker 1: and more guys go to like that, I don't you
Speaker 1: call like free agent type rights now? And I was like,
Speaker 1: people ask me if you thought about that, and I
Speaker 1: was like, if I thought I could find something better,
Speaker 1: maybe I would. But like I like I don't think.
Speaker 1: I like everything I have is it does exactly what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. So like it's amazing equipment that
Speaker 1: it's it's been a it's been a great.
Speaker 4: Run, Shamus.
Speaker 3: Let's talk a little bit about your driver in your
Speaker 3: fitness training. You work with a friend of the pod
Speaker 3: Mike Carroll do yeah, Irish influencer here. Yeah, it is
Speaker 3: touching a lot of people with his with his fitness app.
Speaker 3: You use this app, But what do you do on
Speaker 3: you know, the fitness side or maybe like to the
Speaker 3: ball speed side with your driver, Right, you've lived in
Speaker 3: the high one seventies, Yeah, I have sort.
Speaker 1: So I've been actually talking a lot so I yeah,
Speaker 1: but at the moment, I'm way down. I like hip issues.
Speaker 1: Like the second half of last year. Everything feels good.
Speaker 1: My speed isn't coming isn't back yet, so I'm working
Speaker 1: a little bit more on it. But yeah, like that
Speaker 1: was when I talked to I started with Mike in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, I think, and it was just talking was
Speaker 1: I loved this stuff. It's very simple. You're not like
Speaker 1: it was like new kind of technology and new stuff
Speaker 1: where you're much more efficient in the gym with your
Speaker 1: stuff and then obviously golfs. He was like, realistically, his
Speaker 1: job is like to keep you injury free and to
Speaker 1: then try, especially at my age like this, why would
Speaker 1: have been like getting towards my mid thirties or was
Speaker 1: like a minimum you want to be keeping your speed
Speaker 1: ideally if maybe able to pick them up if you can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and all the stats now show how much of a
Speaker 1: help it is. So yeah, doing a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: at the moment, like swinging like speed sticks and doing
Speaker 1: all this stuff, and it's just trying to get used
Speaker 1: to me moving. Probably from March April last year, I
Speaker 1: was restricted like all year, and so I wasn't able
Speaker 1: to swing at full speed and now my body kind
Speaker 1: of thinks that's full speed. So it's trying to work
Speaker 1: work that back. But then I'll see the West Coast
Speaker 1: has been horrible weather, so I know it hasn't been
Speaker 1: the most like confusive to to some speed. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a huge part of golf, you know, and you're
Speaker 1: trying to match that up with the equipment and then
Speaker 1: like and that's that's what's been so interesting with the
Speaker 1: when I gained a little bit of speed with Mike
Speaker 1: first and then like you have to tweet the equipment
Speaker 1: of all that stuff to strike all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's like climbing a little bit too much with the
Speaker 1: extra speed and this and that. So it's it's a
Speaker 1: huge thing. You know, you see the stats of golf.
Speaker 1: Every you know you can gain the massive place you
Speaker 1: can gain if you have it in if like if
Speaker 1: it's in there. So trying me trying to get back
Speaker 1: to something that I win seventies, it's only like the
Speaker 1: low one seventies at the moment. So it's it's frustrating,
Speaker 1: but it'll get there now once I get kind of
Speaker 1: fully healthy.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That you bring up a good point that if a
Speaker 3: player picks up like five miles an hour of club
Speaker 3: speed and you delivered the same same angle of attack everything,
Speaker 3: you're gonna spin the ball like three hundred RPMs more.
Speaker 4: So you have to refit your dry Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, every Yeah, it's it's it is amazing, yeah,
Speaker 1: every all. I mean that's obviously a big jump, but yeah,
Speaker 1: even even a little jump, you can just see something different.
Speaker 1: I react with the ball and kind of trying to
Speaker 1: balance them up. But when you get him in it,
Speaker 1: when you're when you really feel like you're swinging the
Speaker 1: well with some speed and equipments. Right, you can see
Speaker 1: a big difference. And that's when you see those like
Speaker 1: stats really help me out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the crew is telling me you're around with radar
Speaker 2: at home. Was like the Pope come into town. Like
Speaker 2: it was crazy. People were coming out of the woodwork
Speaker 2: to say, what's up. What's it like going home these days? Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was a blast. Actually I'd never done anything like that.
Speaker 1: It was really fun and it wasn't like the nicest
Speaker 1: day ever, and I wasn't sure really what to do.
Speaker 1: But he was like he's obviously done a lot, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's fun to be around. He made it, He's
Speaker 1: made it such a great experience. But yeah, people coming out,
Speaker 1: I think they were trying to like limit some of
Speaker 1: the people because I mean I grew up in a
Speaker 1: small town, so like something like that is not happening
Speaker 1: very often. And you know that's like also I grew
Speaker 1: up in and it's like, you know, I know so
Speaker 1: many those people for twenty twenty five years. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was really fun. It was actually a great It
Speaker 1: was a lovely morning right before the Irish Open was
Speaker 1: that last Yeah, last year, so it worked out great. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was fun time because he's still well able to
Speaker 1: hit it and stuff, and yeah it was it was
Speaker 1: a blast. I wasn't sure exactly how it would work,
Speaker 1: but I was glad he'd give me a couple of
Speaker 1: mulligans and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: I was like, tae something. Yeah, we've gone through that
Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, I also saw you're a big reader.
Speaker 2: You'reeah a history reader. So you're on the road, you're
Speaker 2: watching stuff, or you're reading stuff.
Speaker 1: I probably mix it up, like I'll I probably, I
Speaker 1: mean it's probably fifty to fifty. But I do like
Speaker 1: reading a lot. Yeah, I just I've read a lot
Speaker 1: of history stuff, all that kind of stuff. I'm reading
Speaker 1: about a book, I'm reading the moment, like the Secret
Speaker 1: History of the world kind of stuff like this, like
Speaker 1: going back a couple of thousand years, so all this
Speaker 1: kind of I like reading that, like that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't read many novels and stuff anymore. I sometimes
Speaker 1: when I'm flying, every novel's a little like easier reading.
Speaker 1: But if I'm just sitting like in the room, like
Speaker 1: I like reading more history stuff and all that. So
Speaker 1: you want, what do you watch right now, not really
Speaker 1: anything in particular. Are you like a brain dead watcher?
Speaker 2: So like if you need to go to bed, you
Speaker 2: got an early teach sometime trying to dive into like
Speaker 2: some show that you've seen a million times.
Speaker 1: It depends like late at night, someone's I'll put out,
Speaker 1: like I'll often put on like The Office or something.
Speaker 2: America.
Speaker 1: Okay, I actually always watched the American Yeah, yeah, I was.
Speaker 4: I missed.
Speaker 1: I actually was late to both of them. I didn't
Speaker 1: watch any of them month they were all done on TV,
Speaker 1: so that was that's my one excuse. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: is funny when Ricky Gervais makes it like appearances in
Speaker 1: the in the America, So.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like such a little easter egg.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and i'd always watched the American one. First. When
Speaker 1: I started watching like the British one, and the first
Speaker 1: couple of episodes are identical. It was really funny because
Speaker 1: but after you've seen The America when it's weird because
Speaker 1: then you picture like each character a certain way, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden it's different. But yeah, they're they're
Speaker 1: very funny. But you know, if I'm by myself, like again,
Speaker 1: I watch like docu series and they've like Netflix is
Speaker 1: brilliant for World War two stuff and all kind of
Speaker 1: interesting kind of stuff like that. So I'll usually I
Speaker 1: find by myself. That's kind of what I'm much.
Speaker 2: You ever dive into golf history stuff when you got
Speaker 2: into that at all?
Speaker 1: Not really, No, like I've learned somebody, I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not great with that stuff. I see, we didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't grow up around golf. Nobody in my family plays arounding,
Speaker 1: so I wouldn't like I you know, I remember it
Speaker 1: was such a huge deal when Tiger win the mass
Speaker 1: was in ninety seven. Yeah, but I wouldn't have really known,
Speaker 1: like I it was only like when I maybe ten
Speaker 1: years after, I was like, oh, Markomer won two minute,
Speaker 1: Like when in ninety eight, I was like, it was
Speaker 1: like ninety seven happened and nothing else happened like around.
Speaker 2: Till like the Tiger Slam, and then it was like,
Speaker 2: oh he chipped in a five. It's like following that career.
Speaker 2: So I was like a little later to it. So
Speaker 2: I'm not as as good with all that stuff obviously.
Speaker 2: When you know, in Falo or something like that, or
Speaker 2: something someone from like like Britain or a home won,
Speaker 2: it was a big deal, but outside of that, it wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Be great with some of some of this stuff with it.
Speaker 2: And you grew up playing junior golf, like against Shane
Speaker 2: Lowry and Rory was kind of coming up. Yeah, did
Speaker 2: you play against him? Where were you in terms of
Speaker 2: their level?
Speaker 1: So well interested, So Shane was a late bloomer, like
Speaker 1: so Rory. I think I was thirteen and Rory was
Speaker 1: or was like fourteen. Roy was twelve. We were put
Speaker 1: on some like panel together and he was like it
Speaker 1: was amazing straight away, like it was. He was like
Speaker 1: everyone at thirty fourteen is basically like you know, hitting
Speaker 1: it out there and then chipping and podding and that's
Speaker 1: how they kind of figure out to play. And he's
Speaker 1: over there with his cut down little blade iron and
Speaker 1: you're hitting high draws and you're looking at it. I remember,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. It's like it wasn't great conditions. He
Speaker 1: just like like he he was like small. He had
Speaker 1: an e orc driver categories way down. He was ripping
Speaker 1: these things and it was so strange, but he was
Speaker 1: amazing right from the get go, like in an Irish
Speaker 1: godf It was just he would do things you just
Speaker 1: couldn't imagine that. It just wasn't normal, Like he was
Speaker 1: just hitting driver down these ferries that everyone else is
Speaker 1: hitting two irons and four irons and he's just like
Speaker 1: shipping it over this and that. So he was amazing
Speaker 1: from the get go. I remember all the saying it's
Speaker 1: like I hope he makes it because if he doesn't, like,
Speaker 1: none of us have a chance. Yeah, but Shane was
Speaker 1: later like I wouldn't have met Shane until we were
Speaker 1: about seventeen, and then he got on like a lenser
Speaker 1: team with the Province in Ireland and then he was
Speaker 1: put on the Irish National panel and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, he like with this guy's this guy's amazing
Speaker 1: and when they am right when the amor won the
Speaker 1: Open as an am or something, when the Irish Open
Speaker 1: as an amateur, but he won that, like in between
Speaker 1: he won everything as an amateur. It was amazing and
Speaker 1: it was just it was it was just all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, You're like, where does this guy just come from?
Speaker 1: So he was he was a little different, but immediately
Speaker 1: could tell he was going to be special as well.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean that those guys are amazing careers
Speaker 1: and it's been fun to watch because I said, like
Speaker 1: I've met them, like I've known him for so long.
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of amazing they've done, like they've done
Speaker 1: so much for Irish golf. I mean, she's Rory is
Speaker 1: gonna go down as one of the best players ever
Speaker 1: and it's just amazing. They've seen him right from the start.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's pretty special. It's spill. It still blows
Speaker 1: me away when I watch him hit the ball. It's
Speaker 1: just it doesn't look like other people at all. It's
Speaker 1: it is it's amazing and it's it's different level of stuff.
Speaker 1: But yeah, those guys, it's amazing how long they've been
Speaker 1: on tour now, Like well.
Speaker 2: Rory especially, you know, like you're going back to like
Speaker 2: nine and ten. It's like when he started to like
Speaker 2: win and compete and then twenty twenty four and he's
Speaker 2: still one of the best in the World's crazy.
Speaker 1: I think his first year and like he got like
Speaker 1: turn pro and seven after the Walker Cup, I think
Speaker 1: it wasn't somewhere around there. I mean, that's amazing, and
Speaker 1: I mean even Shane. I think this is maybe like
Speaker 1: Shane's fifteenth year as a professional it's like in the
Speaker 1: world it's amazing really years ago, but yeah, those guys
Speaker 1: have have done so many amazing things, and yeah, it's
Speaker 1: been really cool of kind of watching following us as
Speaker 1: they've come up.
Speaker 3: Shame as what was your time like like between college
Speaker 3: turning pro and then you made it on tour? What
Speaker 3: seven six seven years later somewhere?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I got my Yeah, actually six years after
Speaker 1: I finished in college on a pizza Jork.
Speaker 3: What was that journey like your mini tour? Yes, corn
Speaker 3: Fair and.
Speaker 2: Marty in One of the keys to a lot of
Speaker 2: these pros is like he won a lot, you know,
Speaker 2: like if you kind of go through the resume, it
Speaker 2: seems like you kind of won on the different stages
Speaker 2: that he built up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did. I mean it was it was fun,
Speaker 1: Like I wasn't when I finished college first, then I
Speaker 1: was trying to figure out if I was going to
Speaker 1: go then Europe play in the US. Eventually decided on
Speaker 1: the US to move back at the end, so graduating
Speaker 1: in like May or whenever it's April May and ten
Speaker 1: moved back to Charlotte at the end of twenty ten.
Speaker 1: Because the ego it's not even around anymore. But the
Speaker 1: egof tour was and it was I tried tell me
Speaker 1: like it was. It was a really well run tour
Speaker 1: like my first year, like you'd get thirty thirty five
Speaker 1: thousand for a win. It was like properly run. It
Speaker 1: was really like they did a really good job. So
Speaker 1: I went to you know, I started playing in twenty eleven,
Speaker 1: and I mean, it's just shows, like it wouldn't have
Speaker 1: had a whole lot of money turning pro I remember
Speaker 1: my first tour. I'll never for house tell people this
Speaker 1: is like whatever said. I think they might have been
Speaker 1: like Wednesday through Saturday. So like I booked my hotel
Speaker 1: to check out on Friday morning, Like I can't risk
Speaker 1: this two hundred dollars if I missed the cut, so
Speaker 1: I nt really boost the complience too. But it made
Speaker 1: the cut, Like and I remember, I think it is
Speaker 1: the greatest thing ever pulled back into the hotel, like
Speaker 1: sitting in the car park trying to connect to the
Speaker 1: WiFi to book it on Priceline again. But that's I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what you do with me. You're trying to keep
Speaker 1: the expenses down. But I was very lucky, Like the
Speaker 1: egof tour was really it was very strong. So I
Speaker 1: ended up playing that for four years. You know, I
Speaker 1: like everyone else, I mean, who was like my first
Speaker 1: twenty eleven like I got through, was at second stage
Speaker 1: and Ben Curtis makes like a forty footer across the
Speaker 1: seventy second green to stop me from getting through second stage.
Speaker 1: We both would have got through. Like I didn't have
Speaker 1: a great last round, but I made like a ten
Speaker 1: footer in the last which I thought got me through.
Speaker 1: Like when I got the scores sent, they were like,
Speaker 1: we think that got you through. And then I see
Speaker 1: this pot and you're like walking the car to go
Speaker 1: to the airports, like, I hope that didn't Can that
Speaker 1: please be for Bogie? So if he two puts, we
Speaker 1: go through. But anyway, don't get And that was when
Speaker 1: it was I guess the cards are back. But it
Speaker 1: was still like twenty five PG in the final stage
Speaker 1: and Patrick Reid like was at that stage. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was that same kind of timeline. And you know, twelve,
Speaker 1: I go to second stage. I think I missed by
Speaker 1: second stage by one or two shots. Again, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh god, this is terrible. Thirteen, I go to first age,
Speaker 1: get sick at first age, finished like last I'm not
Speaker 1: sure I broke eighty because I was like I might
Speaker 1: as well try. Yeah, And then fourteen, I got had
Speaker 1: a great year and Mini Tours one multiple times, like
Speaker 1: did all sorts of cool things. But then you're going
Speaker 1: to still going to Q school and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this needs to count. But yeah, it's a CU school
Speaker 1: is a horrible like it's it's a tough tournament because
Speaker 1: you all your worrior was not playing. You're not worried
Speaker 1: but playing well, You're worried about not playing badly, right right,
Speaker 1: But like we was at the PG National and like
Speaker 1: it was six rounds and I chipped it stone dead
Speaker 1: for Birdie and I was going to finish like it
Speaker 1: was cards well locked up, but I was standing looking
Speaker 1: into the water and I was likez I was so relieved.
Speaker 1: It was just like and I was like I remember
Speaker 1: thinking it was like, dude, I gotta do everything. I
Speaker 1: can't make sure I'd never have to come back to
Speaker 1: this again. I haven't been backed. Whatever that was. I
Speaker 1: was twenty fourteen, So yeah, I got onto corn Ferry
Speaker 1: and then I don't rough start my first year on
Speaker 1: corn Ferry, but then kind of got my feet under
Speaker 1: me kept my full card and then I won in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and it kind of got me going and
Speaker 1: got my card into fall on the twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: Marty, do you remember your first miniscore tournament?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was what tour was? It was?
Speaker 3: It was the Hilton Open and uh Scoro, New Mexico.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: How nervous were you and how'd you play?
Speaker 3: I was pretty I was pretty nervous because you're ponying
Speaker 3: up a lot of money split in the hotel room
Speaker 3: with three other players. The high score sleeps on the floor.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 4: That's good.
Speaker 3: But I turned this. I turned a little profit. I
Speaker 3: think it was like six hundred dollars entry. I made
Speaker 3: like nine to fifty nice. I paid for the next entry.
Speaker 3: Feel I think I told you this.
Speaker 2: My first mini tour event was Pepsi Tour out here
Speaker 2: in Arizona, and I made more money. I shot like
Speaker 2: seventy eight and I made more money on skins than
Speaker 2: the guy that won it. It was a mini tour
Speaker 2: tournament that had skins you could buy in. I made
Speaker 2: like two skins and one more than the guy that
Speaker 2: got first that day, and I was like, this is
Speaker 2: gonna be a tough slutting.
Speaker 1: This is not gonna be the easiest thing in the world. Yeah, men,
Speaker 1: Jors is not glamorous at all. It's tough gone. It
Speaker 1: is tough going.
Speaker 2: I like the high score sleeps on the floor.
Speaker 4: Yeah I always did that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta put over the last Like how stress
Speaker 2: were you?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: I don't want to sleep on the four my bass.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm worried about.
Speaker 2: Shamous goals for this year kind of what are you
Speaker 2: looking at? Is what you want to do an accomplished
Speaker 2: in twenty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, it's gonna be like like started every year,
Speaker 1: it's going to be to have to get at least
Speaker 1: one win. I mean there's nothing like winning like I've
Speaker 1: been able to win twice, but it's just yeah, there's
Speaker 1: just nothing like that. So that's almost that's the one
Speaker 1: goes on the page first, and then for me, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be get back in the top fifteen the world.
Speaker 1: So the injury second half of last year is kind
Speaker 1: of like obviously wasn't an to pick up any points
Speaker 1: or whatever. And then the other big one is gonna
Speaker 1: get to the tour championship. You know, the last two
Speaker 1: years now I've been inside the top thirty going to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and then I haven't played as well as
Speaker 1: I would have wanted. This last year I was with
Speaker 1: the injury. In the year before, I just didn't play well.
Speaker 1: So it's like, they're gonna be my big three, Like
Speaker 1: and you know, there's a lot of little you know,
Speaker 1: like statistical goals and stuff I have as well along
Speaker 1: the way, but they're gonna be my big three that
Speaker 1: I'll be kind of, you know, looking at kind of regularly,
Speaker 1: just to make sure I'm kind of head in the
Speaker 1: right direction. Do you have a golf course that's your
Speaker 1: favorite on tour? TBC saw Grass is hard to beat.
Speaker 1: Like we we we're very lucky we play so many,
Speaker 1: but that's a that's there's something about I feel like
Speaker 1: it's such a great test of golf. There's short holes,
Speaker 1: long holds, like you gotta be able to draw out,
Speaker 1: fade and do all these things. And I always think
Speaker 1: it's a great sign when you look through the past champions,
Speaker 1: there's some long hitters, there's some short hitters. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's a great sign of just playing. I mean,
Speaker 1: you really look at it. It's like, who played well
Speaker 1: this week?
Speaker 2: It's not favoring. I mean Rory's won there, Tim Clark's
Speaker 2: won there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's actually very very different winners, and I think
Speaker 1: it's a it's a great sign of a course. But
Speaker 1: I mean we're like we're just coming like from Pebble.
Speaker 1: You get to play here with riviernex. I mean we're spoiled.
Speaker 1: It's hard to pick one, like riv is not an
Speaker 1: amazing one. But like I think TBC Sawgrass to me
Speaker 1: is a great mix of everything. It's like intimidation factors,
Speaker 1: birdie chances, all these kinds of things mixed in together.
Speaker 1: And obviously it's a player of Shame as well. You know,
Speaker 1: it's the one it's a HiT's the non major one
Speaker 1: where everyone's looking to win, so I think that throne
Speaker 1: in as well. It's just it's just an incredible combination.
Speaker 4: Shim.
Speaker 3: So you you talked about some stats in your goals.
Speaker 3: Are you big stats guy? Do you dive into them?
Speaker 3: Do you use them?
Speaker 4: Are you kind of just lightly.
Speaker 1: Somewhere in between like the like some guys are. It's
Speaker 1: so interesting the statisticos of on course, I don't use
Speaker 1: as much as other guys, but I'm almost monitoring my
Speaker 1: own stats to like pretty closely to know because you could,
Speaker 1: like golf is a really strange game. Like sometimes you
Speaker 1: can come off of course and you're kicking yourself and
Speaker 1: you're you're telling your caddy, oh, you're sucking this and so,
Speaker 1: and then you look at the stats and you're like,
Speaker 1: huh because for some reason, one shot you might have
Speaker 1: had really annoyed jes Yeah, it might cover up like
Speaker 1: three or four other poor shots that you don't notice
Speaker 1: because everyone's the same. Like, at least for me, there's
Speaker 1: a certain myss that a player like will annoy your player.
Speaker 1: If you hit one of those, it'll cover up everything
Speaker 1: else whereas you hit three or four a miss that
Speaker 1: doesn't but bother you almost they almost can go unto
Speaker 1: the radar yea. But for me then you're always from
Speaker 1: like a good way of tracking, like the wages and
Speaker 1: like all that sort of the proximity to hold from
Speaker 1: certain yard is it's a fun way to practice too.
Speaker 1: It's like I look at the tournament and or even
Speaker 1: how you are in the seasons, like oh I'm down
Speaker 1: and say seventy five two hundred yards. It's like extra
Speaker 1: little bit of time to practice that week and then
Speaker 1: you can kind of like, you know, next couple or
Speaker 1: next off week, I have it's going to be that
Speaker 1: improved a little bit, This one's down with and this
Speaker 1: kind of go through it and you eventually get to
Speaker 1: all aspects of it. And it's, uh, I think it's
Speaker 1: a big part of it now. I mean, they know
Speaker 1: so much. The encore stuff to me is interesting because
Speaker 1: like strategy, strategy is yeah, if you see some of
Speaker 1: them and I some like I can see what they're
Speaker 1: what they're getting at, and I mean they're not trying
Speaker 1: to get any think these these are the stats, but
Speaker 1: they don't take into account like how a player sees
Speaker 1: certain holes. Like I was like travelers. I mean it's
Speaker 1: obviously very like, but travelers the ninth hole of travelers.
Speaker 1: Like stat's say hit driver, hit driver, and I've I've
Speaker 1: stood there, and I was like, you can't see anything.
Speaker 1: You don't know where you're hitting it. It's like if
Speaker 1: I if I pull list, it's in true like and
Speaker 1: it doesn't suit me at all because I've always played it.
Speaker 1: I played it very well, playing it the way I
Speaker 1: like to see it play it, And stats are tricky
Speaker 1: like that. I like seeing the stats to see what
Speaker 1: they recommend, maybe trying it in practice and see if
Speaker 1: you like it or not rather than But I've also
Speaker 1: played with guys who just like that's what they do.
Speaker 1: They're like, this is a strategy pull.
Speaker 4: Club and they go like a computer.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like and some guys it's the same like with
Speaker 1: the you know on the greens. Obviously they've reduced it,
Speaker 1: but like the am point stuff, remember like the books
Speaker 1: from a couple of years ago, the exact numbers. I
Speaker 1: played with Joel dam like, I hope he doesn't be
Speaker 1: saying this, but like.
Speaker 4: Whatever it is.
Speaker 1: But we played it pebble on and I was blown away.
Speaker 1: I don't think Gino or him read one pot all
Speaker 1: day long, just because you know, they had it. It
Speaker 1: was so exact. They were like pacing it off and
Speaker 1: it's like this pot is this and I he put
Speaker 1: it really well, and I'm like blown away because I
Speaker 1: don't really I like reading pots and stuff. Always been
Speaker 1: a good potter. But I'm looking at this going is
Speaker 1: do I need to be adapting here or what? Like
Speaker 1: what's going on? So you kind of look into do
Speaker 1: a bit of research with it and see where I
Speaker 1: use it a little bit now in little spots, But
Speaker 1: I think you golf is very unusually you have to
Speaker 1: sive through a lot of stuff to find out what
Speaker 1: you like and what works for you and other stuff.
Speaker 1: Even though it might work amazing for certain like ten
Speaker 1: other players, if it doesn't work for you, you have
Speaker 1: to get rid of it and find something that does
Speaker 1: work for you. So I use the stats where I
Speaker 1: think that they helped me, and I look at them
Speaker 1: and I try analysm and see where I can make
Speaker 1: improvements where I have been improvement, so I can keep
Speaker 1: it there and do all that sort of stuff and
Speaker 1: kind of just monitor myself.
Speaker 3: Basically, I like that approach to encore strategy. It's like
Speaker 3: the Daniel Kahnman book Thinking Fast and Slow. It's like
Speaker 3: using stats to delay your intuition. Right, So if you
Speaker 3: stand on nine at Travelers and they might might say
Speaker 3: do this, then it doesn't feel right, it doesn't You
Speaker 3: do what you gotta.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I mean like the NFL playoffs. I
Speaker 2: mean you think about earlier this year in the NFL playoffs,
Speaker 2: and like, you know, the Lions had this strategy which
Speaker 2: made sense for the regular season in the whole year,
Speaker 2: and at some point you go do you kick the
Speaker 2: field goal and go up through right. I mean, you know, analytically,
Speaker 2: what is it telling you to do? But you kind
Speaker 2: of got to like maybe potentially change it in certain situations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, I don't remember, like the Moneyball movie,
Speaker 1: they kind of go into that a little bit. One
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two games into like a five game series?
Speaker 1: Do you change it? And stuff? And I mean it's forever,
Speaker 1: it's all. It's in all sports.
Speaker 4: It's yeah.
Speaker 1: I was watched that Dan Cammell like should he have gone?
Speaker 1: Should you've not? And obviously so you can't separate yourself
Speaker 1: from the results because if they make it and get
Speaker 1: it's like this is what stuck to them all year.
Speaker 1: And then if they don't get al, so they should
Speaker 1: they have changed it. But like I mean, Greg Olsen
Speaker 1: was commentating and that's what he said. It's like they've
Speaker 1: done this all year. This is how it's gone. But
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't know it's gonna be It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a battle that will go on for a long time.
Speaker 1: And I'd say, like the older coaches and I of
Speaker 1: every sport must be looking at it like cringing. But
Speaker 1: then you see his up and coming guys, and they say,
Speaker 1: like they have that in the NFL. They have a
Speaker 1: book and it's like totally fourth and two from this line.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's out of green light, red light. It's like,
Speaker 1: you go, it doesn't matter, and that's statistically gives you
Speaker 1: a And Evan, so do you see the stats for that?
Speaker 1: Them going for increased their chance of winning from like
Speaker 1: ninety four point two to ninety four point three. So
Speaker 1: technically he was correct, but they lost the game.
Speaker 2: Like it was like Dan Campbell and Greg Olson. I like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was like football is out, the NFL is in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was just when I lived in Charlotte, like Gregor,
Speaker 1: I randomly met greg on a night out.
Speaker 2: Great guy, huh.
Speaker 1: I didn't get speaking for long as he was just
Speaker 1: so big. I was blown away. But it was like
Speaker 1: I was always a fan of from being in Charlotte
Speaker 1: and stuff. But yeah, it was just like stats, like
Speaker 1: that's the thing with stats, and every coach in every
Speaker 1: sport is gonna swear away what they believe, and it's
Speaker 1: like I feel like if you believe it strongly enough,
Speaker 1: it's probably the best strategy for you in a way.
Speaker 1: So it's it's gonna be but I'm sure they all
Speaker 1: use it behind the scenes for a certain extent, but
Speaker 1: it's a yeah, it's a it's gonna be a long
Speaker 1: battle in sports. Before we let you.
Speaker 2: Go, I saw that you're a Pats fan. Now are
Speaker 2: you still a Pats fan? Because I know you're a
Speaker 2: Brady guy. So are you staying with the Pats? Are
Speaker 2: you moving on somewhere else?
Speaker 1: So again, these things are filled out so long. I'm
Speaker 1: actually a Panthers fan because so when I moved to
Speaker 1: the US, the only team he would have heard of
Speaker 1: would have been doing the page. That would have been
Speaker 1: they were in the middle of winning everything and then
Speaker 1: the NFL had It's really very popular back home now,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't back then. So it was your favorite
Speaker 1: like American sports team. Was like, that's the only one
Speaker 1: I heard that you would have heard of, Chicago Bulls,
Speaker 1: like the Lakers, maybe the Knicks, the Patriots, not many,
Speaker 1: the Dallas call, but it wouldn't have been many teams.
Speaker 1: So I was like, I mean, they're good, so I
Speaker 1: just put them out. But I'm actually a Panthers fan now.
Speaker 1: So I live in Charlotte for ten years. But like
Speaker 1: when I was in college, is off. I was following
Speaker 1: the Patriots because they were only when I kind of
Speaker 1: knew of. But then when I moved to Charlotte, I lived, like,
Speaker 1: you know, three hundred yards in the stadium and it
Speaker 1: was cool and so became like a Panthers fan. And
Speaker 1: it hasn't been the best time for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this year wasn't great. Get better, say well, Seamus,
Speaker 2: really appreciate the time apably with you, A great kind
Speaker 2: of learning a bit more about you, not just as
Speaker 2: a golfer, but as a human. And I hope you
Speaker 2: have a great year, hope you stay healthy and hit
Speaker 2: it a lot longer.
Speaker 1: Good equipment. Excited to see you go. Thank you very much,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2: That's shamous power. This is the Ping Proven Grounds podcast