Speaker 1: The guys from Ping.
Speaker 2: They've kind of showed me how much the equipment matters.
Speaker 1: I just love that I can hit any shot I
Speaker 1: 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 4: Hey, hey, everybody, welcome back to the Pink Proving Grounds Podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm Shane Bacon.
Speaker 4: Joined us always by Marty Jertsen. Marty, we got a
Speaker 4: legend with us today, a living legend in the golf space.
Speaker 4: Tim Haren joining us and Tim were fired up to
Speaker 4: have you a part of the podcast. I know you've
Speaker 4: been a part of the Pink family for a long
Speaker 4: long time. I wanted to start with family because you're
Speaker 4: a guy that grew up in an extremely competitive golf family.
Speaker 4: When did you start playing? When did you get introduced to.
Speaker 2: The golf to golf?
Speaker 4: Do you know how old you were when when you
Speaker 4: were kind of introduced initially to the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably seven years old.
Speaker 5: I'd go out and play like three holes of my
Speaker 5: dad after he was done with work and right before dinner,
Speaker 5: kind of run the dogs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So it was kind of always fun.
Speaker 5: And then probably at ten I started catting for my
Speaker 5: dad pretty cheap.
Speaker 1: I guess I was probably cheap labor for him.
Speaker 5: So yeah, ten, probably fifteen, and then started working in
Speaker 5: the golf business. I worked for a pro at a
Speaker 5: club where my dad was actually at. So yeah, so
Speaker 5: I've kind of always been around the game.
Speaker 3: Was your dad a pro player? What was his what's
Speaker 3: his background?
Speaker 1: He was a pro for he was a pro for
Speaker 1: about a year.
Speaker 5: He was a life insurance salesman, so he could get
Speaker 5: out and play a lot of golf.
Speaker 4: It's always so interesting to talk to people that have
Speaker 4: these kind of golf families, like the Knies for instance, right,
Speaker 4: I mean these people that grew up, you know, around
Speaker 4: the game, but growing up very competitively. I mean your
Speaker 4: sister great player, I mean very very competitive, played a
Speaker 4: whole bunch of great golf tournaments. I know, she won
Speaker 4: a lot of big events in her day. You know,
Speaker 4: you know, you talked about your dad being so involved
Speaker 4: in golf, your granddad being so involved in golf. Once
Speaker 4: you got into it, was it instantaneously competitive?
Speaker 2: Was it one of those things.
Speaker 4: That right off the bat you went, oh my goodness,
Speaker 4: I got to play against these people that take the
Speaker 4: game relatively seriously.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, well, my sister's younger than I am,
Speaker 5: but I don't know. I think I probably beat my
Speaker 5: dad at like fourteen or fifteen, and then I kind
Speaker 5: of I shot up and then.
Speaker 1: We're three four years apart.
Speaker 5: You know, my sister was good, and then I kind
Speaker 5: of went to college and played national things, and she's
Speaker 5: went in state amateurs and stayed opens and things like that.
Speaker 5: And then I caddied four in the midamter and that's
Speaker 5: pretty much our only ustre event in the family. So she,
Speaker 5: you know, she gave me a trophy on that her
Speaker 5: bib she framed. So that's what I got down above
Speaker 5: the pool table.
Speaker 3: Tim my wife actually played golf Fort New Mexico and
Speaker 3: Albuquerque on the golf team there. I want to know
Speaker 3: how in the world you ended up there, ended up
Speaker 3: making your way to Albuquerque.
Speaker 5: So I got a scholarship either at University of Minnesota,
Speaker 5: New Mexico or a SU, and AESU started eighty.
Speaker 1: By the time I was going to sign it was ten.
Speaker 5: My dad says, now you're not going there, and I
Speaker 5: wanted to go south. I just didn't know it snowed
Speaker 5: more in Albuquerque than it was Minnesota, but it's gone
Speaker 5: the next day, right, So I didn't know it was
Speaker 5: like high desert, but it worked out great. I was
Speaker 5: John Field's first recruit with actually Christian's brother. I was
Speaker 5: Christian's brother's college roommate. And it's kind of how I
Speaker 5: got there. I knew John threw a pro that taught
Speaker 5: me how to play an assistant pro and John Field's
Speaker 5: actually worked for him before he got the.
Speaker 1: New Mexico job. Yeah, that's kind of how I got
Speaker 1: down there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Christian kanea the head of our tour department from from
Speaker 3: New Mexico.
Speaker 5: Exactly like Blend, New Mexico. And Jason, his brother, was
Speaker 5: my college roommate master here and there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you guys were playing you and him South
Speaker 3: was there at the time, and you guys that was
Speaker 3: your home track.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now my oldest son plays there.
Speaker 3: Oh nice. Nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was kind of during COVID.
Speaker 5: He didn't really have a place to go, so we
Speaker 5: decided New Mexico is a good spot, and he's had
Speaker 5: a pretty good college career down there.
Speaker 3: Mumpy, did you take a liking to the Mexican food
Speaker 3: there in the green Chili?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I did, And when I go back and visit my son.
Speaker 5: I don't eat as much Mexican food. I eat the
Speaker 5: green chili, so I'll put like green chili on a burger, yeah,
Speaker 5: or like even a pizza, right, yep.
Speaker 1: But the actual Mexican food, that's a little tough on me.
Speaker 3: Now, Shane, have you spent any time in Albuquerque eating
Speaker 3: the food there?
Speaker 4: So I I was gonna say, for people that don't
Speaker 4: know about New Mexico, Mexican food way spicier than what
Speaker 4: you're traditionally run into when you eat Mexican food anywhere
Speaker 4: else in the country or beyond. I think that's one
Speaker 4: of the really unique things about New Mexico. There's a
Speaker 4: couple of restaurants, Marty and Phoenix most Os. I'm sure
Speaker 4: you've been to it multiple times. You got to bring
Speaker 4: a towel. You gotta dat the forehead as you're eating
Speaker 4: through that stuff, because it is absolutely no joke.
Speaker 2: But yes, Tim, I totally understand.
Speaker 4: As we get a little bit older, I'm not sure
Speaker 4: it's the Mexican food there that you want to be
Speaker 4: taken down like midday when you got golf ahead of Yeah, so.
Speaker 5: Allball Richardson's have you been down and in Arizona, in Phoenix,
Speaker 5: I have not been awesome.
Speaker 1: Now Richardson's a little New Mexican too, Okay, okay, well
Speaker 1: that's good.
Speaker 4: I have to check it out. So you played college
Speaker 4: golf in New Mexico. I mean, obviously you were an
Speaker 4: extremely good amateur player and good junior player. When did
Speaker 4: it flip from I'm good too, I've got potential to
Speaker 4: really do this for a living. I've got potential to
Speaker 4: make a Walker Cup team, things like that. When did
Speaker 4: your game really kind of turn for what would become
Speaker 4: your career?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I had potential my freshman year, became
Speaker 5: honorable mentioned my sophomore year, and then first team All
Speaker 5: American and my last two, and then I kind of
Speaker 5: knew right there, college wise is good enough to turn
Speaker 5: pro and give it a try. So, you know, I
Speaker 5: missed out a first stage right out. And then I
Speaker 5: came back and graduated and was assistant coach for a semester,
Speaker 5: and then I went out and played Australia, Canada Mini Tours,
Speaker 5: did the whole thing, and.
Speaker 1: Got my Nike card, which is corn Fairy.
Speaker 5: Yep in ninety five, and then in ninety six I
Speaker 5: got my card and I won my seventh event on tour,
Speaker 5: so it you know, I remember the Honda, the one
Speaker 5: that I won that I was trying to do a
Speaker 5: rain dance that all the rain would come in because
Speaker 5: it was supposed to be nasty, and we played all
Speaker 5: day in it. But what happened and was that I
Speaker 5: played all day and I won the tournament. And I
Speaker 5: think that kind of propelled knowing that I could stand
Speaker 5: tour for quite a long time. Because I finished four rounds,
Speaker 5: they didn't give it to me.
Speaker 4: Tim, I wanted to ask real quick before we get
Speaker 4: into the pro stuff. I was looking at the Walker
Speaker 4: Cup you played at a ninety three, and I didn't
Speaker 4: realize that it was played in Minnesota.
Speaker 2: How special was it?
Speaker 4: How big of a goal was it for you that
Speaker 4: year to make that Walker Cup team? Considering where the
Speaker 4: event was being hosted. I can only imagine for you
Speaker 4: it was like a pinchbe moment to be wearing red,
Speaker 4: white and blue, playing in the state that you basically
Speaker 4: grew up in.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was.
Speaker 5: It was really awesome, but it was nerve wracking now
Speaker 5: looking back. It was extremely just unbelievable experience and memories.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 5: I remember Alan Doyle was a buddy of mine. I
Speaker 5: remember asking him if he wanted to be partners and
Speaker 5: he took. He took Justin Leonard and I was with
Speaker 5: John Harris, who was actually another player from Minnesota.
Speaker 1: He won the US Amitur that year.
Speaker 5: And yeah, we actually defeated some English boys, so it
Speaker 5: was good.
Speaker 4: Do you remember who you played in that first singles match?
Speaker 4: Do you remember who?
Speaker 1: Who? You know? I played singles? I played Patty Harrington?
Speaker 1: Beat him.
Speaker 2: I had a baby. You beat him one up, there
Speaker 2: you go.
Speaker 1: The other two was Van and.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, Van Van was the Van was the matchup.
Speaker 2: You won that one.
Speaker 4: You guys were running away with this thing, but you
Speaker 4: won that three and two. So it was a good
Speaker 4: It was a good Walker Cup for you as well.
Speaker 1: Great Walker Cup.
Speaker 3: I you mentioned, you know, your your your your playing
Speaker 3: partners didn't want to hit all the woods. I was
Speaker 3: going back and I looked at some of your early
Speaker 3: PJ tour stats and you were way up there in
Speaker 3: driving distance. I wasn't aware of that. You know, you
Speaker 3: were in the top five, top ten and driving distance. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, and back then did.
Speaker 1: It almost ten years? Eight years?
Speaker 3: Yeah? And back then obviously they didn't have the shot
Speaker 3: link and how far you are from the middle of
Speaker 3: the fairway and this type of stuff. Did you kind
Speaker 3: of feel like you had the ould strokes game driving
Speaker 3: figured out, like better to hit it far than did
Speaker 3: a ton of fairways before everyone else.
Speaker 5: No, my Caddy was a little old school, so I
Speaker 5: just remember watching Phil going, I'm just gonna try to
Speaker 5: hit as far. I remember him having arguments with Butch harmon.
Speaker 5: Butch goes, I can get your swing a little tighter,
Speaker 5: you can hit it more consistent, and he goes, no, man,
Speaker 5: I want to hit as far as I can. And
Speaker 5: I just kind of back and forth. If I need
Speaker 5: to contend in the Major, I need to hit a
Speaker 5: little straighter. That doesn't mean hitting irons off the tee
Speaker 5: all the time. I just need to hit the driver
Speaker 5: a little straighter. But I think whenever, when the body
Speaker 5: starts slowing down a little bit, I could I could
Speaker 5: time it a little better. So maybe when I got
Speaker 5: fat and ole, actually I actually hit it straighter and
Speaker 5: not as far.
Speaker 4: You know, it's so interesting to hear you say that
Speaker 4: about Phil because obviously now the modern and Marty was
Speaker 4: kind of touching on this but the modern mentality of
Speaker 4: players is hit driver all over the place and go
Speaker 4: and find it. I mean, no event is better illuminated
Speaker 4: to that point than what we saw in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: Win Bryson, Win and wing Foot and he basically said,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna aim for half of the fairway and the rough,
Speaker 4: like I do not care where the driver goes.
Speaker 2: I remember there was an Open Championship years ago.
Speaker 1: VJ.
Speaker 4: Singh was last in the field and fairways hit and
Speaker 4: first in the field in greens and regulation. I feel
Speaker 4: like VJ was a bit ahead of his time and
Speaker 4: that stat as well. What players outside of Phil Nicholson
Speaker 4: were you looking at? Going the way this guy plays
Speaker 4: makes maybe a bit more sense than what people are
Speaker 4: telling me to do.
Speaker 5: I think you're correct on that VJ saying if he
Speaker 5: was in between clubs, he'd always pull out a driver.
Speaker 5: He always tried to say, as aggressive as he could,
Speaker 5: and he was so strong and Tiger Woods, well you'd
Speaker 5: see Tiger back off, like getting the British Opens and
Speaker 5: stuff like that. Yeah, because he could hit that stinger.
Speaker 5: All you need to do is get in the fairway.
Speaker 5: Because he was such a.
Speaker 1: Good iron player, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5: But I think a lot of guys used their length
Speaker 5: to an advantage, like a VJ.
Speaker 1: Singh.
Speaker 5: I remember, I'm at Firestone right now playing the Senior.
Speaker 1: The Senior I don't even know that.
Speaker 5: I think it's our Tour Championship anyways, I'm playing with that.
Speaker 1: I remember playing with VJ.
Speaker 5: One round when he won it, and he pulled out
Speaker 5: driver every hole and just tried to drive it up.
Speaker 1: As far as he could.
Speaker 5: Figure, if you're going to hit it in the craft,
Speaker 5: he might as well be closer to the green.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it was fun going back and look at
Speaker 3: some of your stats, Lumpy from before the shot Link era.
Speaker 3: You know, way down there in driving distance. Your driving
Speaker 3: accuracy was like you know, but your greens and regulation
Speaker 3: was super high, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's always a pretty good iron player mid irons,
Speaker 5: especially like part threes and stuff. That felt like I
Speaker 5: could take advantage on part three's and get up there
Speaker 5: on part fives. I think I'm a much better wedge
Speaker 5: player now since I've been playing the Champions Tour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the last five years than I have.
Speaker 5: Out on and now I carry like four wedges where
Speaker 5: I used to only carry three because I felt like
Speaker 5: some of the weapons or one irons back in the
Speaker 5: day and.
Speaker 1: Stuff like that. Now you can't even get the ball
Speaker 1: in the air with a one iron, But I remember
Speaker 1: the pick one iron. Right, you still have like twelve
Speaker 1: of them at home.
Speaker 3: What what was it like? I feel like you played
Speaker 3: in the very interesting time. You got on tour right
Speaker 3: before Tiger, Right, you won some Germans and then he
Speaker 3: came on the scene.
Speaker 5: Actually we're rookies the same year, but he only played
Speaker 5: half less than half the year, and he got Rookie
Speaker 5: of the Year and I won that year too.
Speaker 1: But I think it worked out all right for everyone.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 5: Tiger wents coattails a little bit, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: But I'm like, he didn't play. Should he really be
Speaker 5: Rookie of the Year?
Speaker 1: Should he be that?
Speaker 5: I always get he remembers me beating him in the
Speaker 5: US Ham and I go, you know what, I'll give
Speaker 5: you that US amateur if you just give me one
Speaker 5: of those major trophies, just one you got fifteen or
Speaker 5: whatever of them, just one of them.
Speaker 3: You beat him in the year before he won the
Speaker 3: three in a row.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I beat him.
Speaker 5: He was still in Yeah, he was still in high school.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And the funniest part about the story is Brian Gay.
Speaker 5: We're looking at the brackets, is Brian Gay, Jonathan Kay
Speaker 5: And they're like, oh, Tiger's in your bracket. I wouldn't
Speaker 5: want to play him. So I won Tiger one and
Speaker 5: now I got to play him. I'm like, why do
Speaker 5: these guys have to put it on me?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 5: And I actually, uh, I played pretty good and beat him,
Speaker 5: beat him up pretty good. But where was that one
Speaker 5: at Lumby Mierfield?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Mierfield Village? Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean like, like, we're not this isn't a historian podcast.
Speaker 4: But I think there's an argument to me that might
Speaker 4: be the only match he lost in a USGA championship,
Speaker 4: or one of maybe two because obviously.
Speaker 5: We people say, I don't know, I haven't really gone
Speaker 5: through the archives, but I think he.
Speaker 2: Might have lost too, you know, I think he lost.
Speaker 2: I think he played in two ams.
Speaker 4: He didn't win when he won those juniors, and then
Speaker 4: played obviously in the three one. So there's your Jeopardy answer.
Speaker 4: Is is Tim Harrot whenever anybody wants to answer that.
Speaker 4: By the way, Marty's mentioned it a couple times.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 4: I know you've answered this question two billion times in
Speaker 4: your career, but can you tell us the lumpy nickname story?
Speaker 2: Pleaser?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 5: Yes, So that golf course that I worked at my
Speaker 5: first So the golf shop was a little separated from
Speaker 5: the clubhouse and the driving rangers down this hill and
Speaker 5: I walked in. They go what's your name? And I go,
Speaker 5: Tim Harron. I actually knew the pro but this is
Speaker 5: some pros kind of giving me some grief, right, So he.
Speaker 1: Goes, well, do you have a nickname? I go no,
Speaker 1: I don't have a nickname.
Speaker 5: He goes, why didn't he go down and pick the
Speaker 5: range and we'll we'll have a nickname for you when
Speaker 5: he come up. So I go down there for about
Speaker 5: forty five minutes an hour, clean the range up, come
Speaker 5: back up and they go, hey, Lumpy, how are you doing.
Speaker 5: How do you like your nickname? I go out on,
Speaker 5: don't really like it? And it's been lumpy ever since.
Speaker 5: So that's my nickname.
Speaker 1: What did it?
Speaker 4: What did it derive from? Were you doing something weird
Speaker 4: picking the range?
Speaker 5: Like we're They just thought I always kind of look
Speaker 5: frumpy lumpy, you know what I mean? Okay, And there
Speaker 5: was actually a kid in high school that was nicknamed Lumpy.
Speaker 5: So I wasn't even lumpy in high school. It was
Speaker 5: all around the golf community. I wasn't even lumpy in college.
Speaker 5: I thought I got rid of it until I was
Speaker 5: winning my first tournament in ninety six and the pro's
Speaker 5: brother played on the Champions Tour and knew Dave Mar
Speaker 5: really well, and Dave.
Speaker 1: Goes, do you know anything about this kid from Minnesota?
Speaker 5: We need something on this kid, you know, put on air,
Speaker 5: and they go he said, well, his nickname is Lumpy.
Speaker 5: So then that came out, you know, with Johnny Miller
Speaker 5: and Dave Mar and that.
Speaker 1: So I've been Lumpier ever since. So it is what
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: Just got to stick with it, Yeah, totally. If you
Speaker 1: try to fight it, it only gets worse.
Speaker 3: Lumpy, What you were a drake, great driver, the golf
Speaker 3: ball hit it far, you know, kind of when you
Speaker 3: first came on the scene. What were some of your
Speaker 3: favorite getting into some equipment things like, what were some
Speaker 3: of your most memorable or kind of drivers you played
Speaker 3: during that time period, probably like the S I three TI,
Speaker 3: s I G two, like in that kind of time
Speaker 3: frame of the late nineties early two thousands.
Speaker 1: So what was the name where the hozzle? What?
Speaker 5: Well, most of the hozzles are plastic, but it was
Speaker 5: plastic hozzle.
Speaker 1: I called it.
Speaker 5: I ping's probably not gonna like it looked like a
Speaker 5: Folger's tin can on a stick, right, But I'm.
Speaker 1: To say driver.
Speaker 5: They almost ring with my entire life. What's the name
Speaker 5: of that one? It was really thin face?
Speaker 3: The is I?
Speaker 1: I think it was? I?
Speaker 5: I Y And I remember I was playing the Hunt
Speaker 5: a couple of years later, it was probably like ninety nine,
Speaker 5: and I pulled the driver on a par five out
Speaker 5: of a bunker and I hit it on the green
Speaker 5: made eagle come on, yeah, fairway bunker shot.
Speaker 1: I hit driver on it, I mean off the ground.
Speaker 5: I could do anything with it. And I finally cracked it,
Speaker 5: but under the soule plate. And yeah, the soule plate
Speaker 5: finally just fell off. But that thing was amazing as
Speaker 5: the best driver I ever hit. But what it was
Speaker 5: so stupid is we played everything so uh firm and heavy.
Speaker 1: I guess maybe because the ball moved more.
Speaker 5: So maybe you know, we're using equipment where we're trying
Speaker 5: not to make the ball move as much. Now the
Speaker 5: ball doesn't move and you're trying to make it move.
Speaker 5: So I think people play probably softer shafts and things
Speaker 5: like that. But we were playing telephone poles. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: Everyone used to go, oh lump, you're still with the
Speaker 5: low launch, and I'm kind of old school.
Speaker 1: Once I have something, I hold on to it. I
Speaker 1: hold on to it. I hold on to it, and
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to give it up. I'm not.
Speaker 5: Uh, there's a guy out here, Steve Flesh. He'll put
Speaker 5: anything in at any time.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: He change the score by one. He's into it.
Speaker 1: I totally know what you mean, which is awesome.
Speaker 5: I mean, I wish I had that kind of mentality,
Speaker 5: but so but anyways, that was awesome. They had some
Speaker 5: awesome three woods, and they kind of I think ping
Speaker 5: really started getting things more upright and and things like
Speaker 5: that to try to take the slice out of the game.
Speaker 1: It's pretty impressive on what I've seen, But I think.
Speaker 5: I was one of the last guys to play Io's
Speaker 5: and a Caddy finally said, you know, there's a lot
Speaker 5: of good stuff out there, maybe, and I forgot what
Speaker 5: I switched to. I switched to, Oh, you know what,
Speaker 5: I switched to the first forge ping irons.
Speaker 3: Oh the answer, Yeah, I actually actually was that's right.
Speaker 3: I designed that iron, you remember, Yeah.
Speaker 5: That, I'm like, wow, I'm hitting at least a club longer.
Speaker 5: That's pretty awesome. So now I'm messing with shafts because
Speaker 5: I've been playing well, I used to be like seven. Oh,
Speaker 5: now I'm six. So now I'm almost thinking five to
Speaker 5: five and then graph fight. I do have the new
Speaker 5: blueprints with a graph fight. It's just a little harder
Speaker 5: to time the irons. I've played so heavy for so long. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: maybe you might have some good advice. I'm trying to
Speaker 5: help my hands out right, but I'm I want the
Speaker 5: heavy hit, but I want when it's cold, I want
Speaker 5: to be able to feel it, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah there, Yeah, steel fiber is a good option. If
Speaker 3: you tried the steel fiber, it's it's literally half graph
Speaker 3: I have steel.
Speaker 1: No, that's what I have. Fiber, That's what I have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good. The one ten.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good That's what I was gonna say, Tim,
Speaker 3: That's that's a good one to try to kind of
Speaker 3: give you that in between.
Speaker 1: Come on here and I get advice. I love it.
Speaker 2: There we go.
Speaker 4: We're trying to help out golfers in some capacity, even
Speaker 4: if they're professional golfers. You said you're a bit of
Speaker 4: an old school golfer. What's the oldest club you currently
Speaker 4: have in your bag? Well, I'm still playing two tens.
Speaker 5: I still haven't gotten over the you know, to the
Speaker 5: blueprint or whatever, and my my son plays that one,
Speaker 5: so we were always messing around.
Speaker 1: But I'm like ready to go to the steel fiber.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I was thinking maybe going to five to five and
Speaker 5: then and then maybe steel fiber, but I think I'm
Speaker 5: ready for the steel fiber.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And I'm playing the four hundred driver, but I have
Speaker 5: a driver that goes twelve years farther. But now I'm
Speaker 5: at Firestone, so I'm gonna wait until the next week
Speaker 5: to maybe put that one out, which is the ten K.
Speaker 1: I can't remember all the names, but the ten.
Speaker 3: K yeah, yeah, And then I heard there might be
Speaker 3: there's some rumblin like there coming out of a really
Speaker 3: fast one, so we'll see. Lumpy. What about putters? You got?
Speaker 3: You got three putters and the gold putter Vault. All
Speaker 3: answers have you have you been? I know now I
Speaker 3: think you're using using the time or prime time. But
Speaker 3: what were you traditionally an answer putter most of your
Speaker 3: career so far?
Speaker 5: I used to be, so I was probably the third
Speaker 5: guy to claw they called the claw. Yes, that might
Speaker 5: have been like ninety nine, so I kind of had
Speaker 5: a little flinch issue back in the nineties and the
Speaker 5: claw kind of save all the way through two thousands, right,
Speaker 5: so yeah, it's been uh, it's been great. So then
Speaker 5: I kind of went more mallet, but all the wins
Speaker 5: were answers. Yeah, maybe I should go back, but it
Speaker 5: looks weird an answer, but my son buds with an answer,
Speaker 5: so really, yeah, it's a little better.
Speaker 3: Was Calc the first player that you remember doing the claw?
Speaker 1: No, it's DeMarco.
Speaker 3: DeMarco was the original DeMarco.
Speaker 1: Hip Kendall.
Speaker 5: Skip Kendall taught DeMarco how to do it, okay, Skip Kendel,
Speaker 5: then he putted unbelievable Skip Kendall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then I think.
Speaker 5: DeMarco showed it to Kelc and then kind of Calc
Speaker 5: showed it to man and then people started doing it.
Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean DeMarco called it the gator, right, he
Speaker 4: wouldn't call it the claw because he wanted to give
Speaker 4: a shout out to Florida.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: He would not call it the claw. He called it
Speaker 4: gatored his way nearly to a green jacket, that's.
Speaker 1: For sure, of course, the Gator.
Speaker 5: Yeah, christ you gotta love that.
Speaker 4: You've talked a lot about your son's game. So we
Speaker 4: Marty and I both have kids. They're younger than your son.
Speaker 4: But you know, Marty's kids are kind of now competing
Speaker 4: in drive, chip and putt.
Speaker 1: Mine are a little bit younger.
Speaker 4: I'm in the stage of trying to get him in
Speaker 4: golf and get him interested. How is it being an
Speaker 4: accomplished player, obviously, somebody that's win multiple times on the
Speaker 4: PGA Tour as a golf dad of somebody that's obviously
Speaker 4: good enough to play collegiate golf and compete in in
Speaker 4: big time state events, actually play pro golf.
Speaker 1: You know it.
Speaker 5: It's uh, it's a lot of golf. I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 5: gonna admit it's a lot of golf.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: I'm trying to get away from the game and they're
Speaker 5: trying to play, So I try to do a mix.
Speaker 1: But you know what, the practice is way more fun.
Speaker 5: So like when I get I have too eighteen year
Speaker 5: olds that are gonna go away and play golf as
Speaker 5: freshmen this year, and they're gonna try to get on
Speaker 5: some teams and and it's just kind of camaraderie wise.
Speaker 1: We go out on the range and.
Speaker 5: We all can't hit balls, and some go pot and
Speaker 5: if I need to chip, I'll go over and chip
Speaker 5: with them, And so it's kind of fun that way.
Speaker 5: I understand the game enough to where it's a hard game.
Speaker 5: I look at more of their attitude, which I'd say
Speaker 5: in college I probably didn't have the best attitude either,
Speaker 5: so so I don't it's not really the score whatever,
Speaker 5: it's kind of more of the process.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I teach them.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm like, you know, get your mind out of
Speaker 5: the gutter a little bit, and you know, get thinking
Speaker 5: right and get the process right.
Speaker 1: You have no chance of your thinking negative thoughts.
Speaker 5: You got to think some positive yeah, even though it's
Speaker 5: a tough, tough game. But I kind of wanted to
Speaker 5: go to like football games and stuff like that. Now
Speaker 5: I'm on the golf all the time.
Speaker 4: It should have been so good man, they would have
Speaker 4: They wouldn't have wanted to be like dad, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I want to be a dad. Let's go to
Speaker 5: old miss games. But no, it works out great, and
Speaker 5: you know what, it's gonna be something that we have
Speaker 5: all together the rest of our lives. Even if I'm
Speaker 5: not playing, I'm still around it with them, So it's
Speaker 5: gonna it's it's awesome. It's just I just hope they
Speaker 5: know how hard it is and when I did it
Speaker 5: back in the nineties compared to what it is now.
Speaker 5: I mean, the lifespan is gonna be so much shorter,
Speaker 5: and you could be a heck of a player and
Speaker 5: it'll just be harder and harder for.
Speaker 1: You to get back on.
Speaker 5: I mean, I felt like I could have kind of
Speaker 5: have a poor year and still over the hump and
Speaker 5: have a decent year the next year and kind of
Speaker 5: get right back in the top fifty in the world
Speaker 5: or something like that. Yeah, now it's hard. I mean,
Speaker 5: it takes a year to get back. So if you
Speaker 5: have a bad year, so I mean it's difficult. I mean,
Speaker 5: you better bring it when when when you're called up
Speaker 5: to the main tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a really good point. Lo, I haven't given
Speaker 3: that much thought, you know, just your life, like the
Speaker 3: golfer's lifespan. Now you know their career span, I guess
Speaker 3: it's going to be shorter and shorter. That's a really
Speaker 3: good point.
Speaker 1: I think so.
Speaker 5: And I just talked to a caddye that just went
Speaker 5: out and caddied for Daniel Berger and he he said
Speaker 5: instead that he goes back in the nineties, there's always
Speaker 5: two good college players that'd come out.
Speaker 1: Now there's like eight.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and if one just has a bad year, they're
Speaker 5: not probably playing the next year. They got to go
Speaker 5: all the way through the corn Ferry to get their
Speaker 5: card back. Yeah, So it takes a whole year to
Speaker 5: get get back out there.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a different animal. You know.
Speaker 5: I'm glad I did it when I did it because
Speaker 5: I had almost a twenty year career.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Tim, you bring up a great point
Speaker 4: about like the mentality of the young players. I host
Speaker 4: all the Corn Ferry coverage on Golf Channel and talk
Speaker 4: to a lot of these players, and it's very interesting
Speaker 4: in the windows right now for the post collegiate players
Speaker 4: because some through PJ Tour you and opportunities through sponsors
Speaker 4: get PJ Tour opportunities or corn Fairy tour opportunities.
Speaker 2: Right out of the gate, and it's either they make
Speaker 2: it right away.
Speaker 4: Like what you saw with Tiger in ninety six ninety seven,
Speaker 4: or as you mentioned, they've got to go through basically
Speaker 4: like a two year re route to go through you know,
Speaker 4: corn Ferry, or maybe they go to Europe for a bit,
Speaker 4: or they have to figure out a new path to
Speaker 4: get back to the PGA Tour. But it's either they
Speaker 4: jump right in and it's successful right away. We've seen
Speaker 4: a lot of that this year and last year with
Speaker 4: some of these young players, or you're talking two or
Speaker 4: three years before they get that opportunity.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 2: It's very very interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I have a question kind of, I mean,
Speaker 1: how does it work with Canton? Right? Is that the
Speaker 1: kid's name that second John Deere?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think he finished when he finished
Speaker 5: like third and second the last two weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, two top tens.
Speaker 4: But he's a he's so I believe those points can't
Speaker 4: apply if he goes if he turns professional. But again
Speaker 4: it's it's it's like you're doing that as an amateur,
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, you can get these points. The
Speaker 4: same thing could happened with Korn Ferry and Pjdre last
Speaker 4: year where there was some issues with players that are
Speaker 4: playing in US opens and they weren't getting the opportunity
Speaker 4: at corn Fairy Tour event. They're trying to make it
Speaker 4: a little bit easier for people that show that much potential.
Speaker 4: But yeah, again, let's say he turns pro and doesn't
Speaker 4: have the success that he had these two weeks.
Speaker 2: It might be and now it uphill battles.
Speaker 4: So it's just it's like the lightning strikes and you
Speaker 4: got to jump on it right away, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he should have cashed in, he should turn pro.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think you He goes to Florida State,
Speaker 1: so I'm sure he'll be Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's gonna give him confidence, like he can
Speaker 5: do this again, you know what I mean? But like
Speaker 5: what you said, yeah, cash and cashing on, right, because
Speaker 5: you don't know how long the window is and these
Speaker 5: guys are swinging so hard. You don't know how you know, tweak,
Speaker 5: you know, you get a slip disc.
Speaker 1: Or something like that, you don't know.
Speaker 5: Ye, So yeah, yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting next
Speaker 5: few years to see how the the game grows because
Speaker 5: there's market more kids coming out.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 3: Oh bit, what else have you been to outside of golf?
Speaker 3: You talked about doing other things outside of golf, but
Speaker 3: how do you spend your time up there in Minnesota,
Speaker 3: you know, different seasons and whatnot.
Speaker 1: Well, I do like to fish.
Speaker 5: I haven't fished much, but I like to fish. I
Speaker 5: kind of I have a fishing probably five years. I
Speaker 5: didn't go out ice fishing this year. I usually go
Speaker 5: out a couple times a year. But you know, I'm
Speaker 5: on the golf course. If I'm not playing, I'm watching
Speaker 5: my kids. So I'm watching a lot of golf. So
Speaker 5: that's kind of what I do. I like being outside
Speaker 5: and walking the dog and and doing things like that.
Speaker 5: But yeah, you know, like go to concerts and sporting
Speaker 5: events and things like that, or at least watching them.
Speaker 5: And I spend a little time in Arizona now, So
Speaker 5: I'm gonna be an empty next year. You guys have
Speaker 5: a ways to go. But yeah, it's another a life
Speaker 5: you turn and try to figure that one out. So
Speaker 5: I'm gonna spend a little time in Arizona and some
Speaker 5: time in Minnesota.
Speaker 4: And Tim when you were playing, you would spend most
Speaker 4: of the time in Minnesota still, right, even in the winter,
Speaker 4: you practice up there in the.
Speaker 5: Winter, Yeah, I wouldn't practice much up there. I'm not
Speaker 5: a big hit offf Matt type guy. Even I know
Speaker 5: there's a lot of places and I think they can
Speaker 5: dial it in, but you know, as a professional, you
Speaker 5: gotta get it. You know, you want to know how
Speaker 5: the turf interaction and how the ball's coming off, you know,
Speaker 5: with iron and the turf and things like that. I
Speaker 5: think Matts have a trampoline, but I think for most
Speaker 5: amateurs they can narrow it in there and find you
Speaker 5: the best equipment possible. But I'm not a big ball
Speaker 5: beater on Mats. Yeah, I like getting it off the turf.
Speaker 1: You know, same same, yeah, But.
Speaker 5: I'll mean I'll do like three foot putting grills for
Speaker 5: like an hour off artificial turf just to kind of
Speaker 5: get the path right. So like when I do go
Speaker 5: south to practice, it's one less thing and I have
Speaker 5: to do.
Speaker 3: Do you still do you still claw it?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, yeah, I still clot.
Speaker 5: Still kind of mess around where my hands are going
Speaker 5: to be, you know, weaken them or or you know,
Speaker 5: shut out whatever, But yeah, I still clawed. I'm gonna
Speaker 5: clad I think for a long time, Aman, I've tried
Speaker 5: a little bit of the you know up here and
Speaker 5: do the.
Speaker 1: Uh not anchoring, But what do they even call it?
Speaker 1: I don't know. It looks does it well?
Speaker 5: But I everyone else does it well. I'm not very
Speaker 5: good at it. Mentional, my friggin stroke looks great and
Speaker 5: I can't make a putt, so it doesn't help.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: This is this is a little known tidbit Shane and
Speaker 3: Tim that we just ran some stats as best we
Speaker 3: could estimate it because people switch techniques. But there's a
Speaker 3: higher percentage of players on the PGA Tour hutting with
Speaker 3: the broomstick than the Champions Tour. Come on, really, yes, yes,
Speaker 3: like right now, I mean think all the younger players
Speaker 3: hut with the broomstick. It's like approaching ten percent broomstick
Speaker 3: on the PG less than ten percent on the Champions.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 5: Do you think USG kind of dropped the ball on
Speaker 5: like they're trying to get rid of it, and they didn't.
Speaker 5: They left a little door open, didn't they.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll say, I mean, no matter what technique I mean,
Speaker 3: I use, I don't think Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think you help grow the game and if that
Speaker 5: helps grow the game, so be it. I think we
Speaker 5: have to get I think a lot of clubs. And
Speaker 5: I know you're proud of your golf course because how
Speaker 5: hard it is and stuff, But yeah, hard isn't necessarily.
Speaker 1: Fun, you know what I mean? Wouldn't you know? I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 5: I just the mentality is, you know, these guys are good.
Speaker 5: They're gonna shoot low almost any any given day, right,
Speaker 5: So it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 4: Tim, You've played with a ton of great players. You've
Speaker 4: watched a ton of great players over the years and
Speaker 4: over the decades.
Speaker 2: Who when your walking.
Speaker 4: The range, either in your younger years, your prime even
Speaker 4: into PGA Tour champions, who kind of stopped you in
Speaker 4: your tracks as you're seeing somebody either hit balls, make
Speaker 4: a sound that it was kind of Tiger Adam Scott,
Speaker 4: Like who kind of stopped you?
Speaker 1: And who?
Speaker 2: Either who is this guy? Or Wow, that looks different?
Speaker 1: I think it's I'd say VJ.
Speaker 5: Tiger and Ernie Els had something, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like VJ had.
Speaker 5: Man he could hit some shots and I played a
Speaker 5: lot with them when he won.
Speaker 1: I think he won eight times yep that year nine title.
Speaker 1: Lot crazy, Yeah, nine times.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and Tiger freaking amazing, And I think that was
Speaker 5: back in the nineties and early two thousands and then,
Speaker 5: I mean there's some guys that were really good. Now
Speaker 5: I mean this Steven Ams absolutely flushes it. So, yeah,
Speaker 5: he's fun to listen to when you're hitting balls next
Speaker 5: to him. Sounds it always sounds pretty good. No cliking
Speaker 5: going on over there.
Speaker 4: It's in the kind of in the middle of the face.
Speaker 4: It's kind of where you're supposed to hit it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, It's always been in the middle of the face.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Tim, Before we go, can you just talk about
Speaker 4: your relationship with Ping over the years, because obviously it
Speaker 4: kind of dates back to the New Mexico days. How
Speaker 4: it's been partnering with Ping, How it's been kind of
Speaker 4: watching the company grow as your career has grown.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ping's been a great company to be with.
Speaker 5: I've been with Ping for well, you know, since college,
Speaker 5: so I've been playing the Irons ever since. Would never
Speaker 5: even think about playing another another Iron. They got so
Speaker 5: many different options, and you know, just the people are
Speaker 5: great too. You know, the company's really grown. I don't
Speaker 5: know everyone. I mean, I remember back in in the
Speaker 5: early nineties, I kind of knew everyone, and I know
Speaker 5: lou Bebe's still around, so that's.
Speaker 1: Always yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, lou Beby. He's the best.
Speaker 5: But no, you know, just to watch Ping through, you know,
Speaker 5: the bad times and the good times, and they've they've
Speaker 5: you know, they've made it through all the bad times
Speaker 5: and now they're they're a great company, great family and
Speaker 5: uh just proud to be part of the Ping family.
Speaker 1: And Christian Penya. I mean, I got to give it
Speaker 1: up for Christian. I've known Christian.
Speaker 5: I've known Christian since college and I had to babysit
Speaker 5: his little brother a little bit.
Speaker 2: Is his short game as good as people say it is.
Speaker 1: Tim oh man, he's smooth. You just ask him. He smooth. No, No,
Speaker 1: you know what. He was a He was a flusher too.
Speaker 1: He yes, he hit it. He hit it really good.
Speaker 5: If you don't play a lot, and you know you're
Speaker 5: in your mid upper fifties, you know, it takes a toll.
Speaker 1: You gotta feel okay that day, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: But I played with him last year and we had
Speaker 5: a blasts from the past.
Speaker 1: We had.
Speaker 5: Kind of his team, Rob mcguiver, I was the only
Speaker 5: new Mexico guy.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: It was Rob mcguiver and Harry Rudolph and myself. So
Speaker 5: we had a great time. We played outitor uh Phoenix
Speaker 5: kind of you know what, and Christian hit it good.
Speaker 5: I think we're team. We're on the same team. I
Speaker 5: think we broke even I had a putt, yeah, six
Speaker 5: footer that I missed the last ale to beat him.
Speaker 1: But we had a great time.
Speaker 3: He hits that big high he hits up on the
Speaker 3: driver like eight nine degrees, sneaky long, big sweep and draw.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: You know he's like family too, right, He's he's a
Speaker 5: family guy.
Speaker 1: He's all paying.
Speaker 5: He's been a pang forever too, so it's really cool
Speaker 5: to be part of the family.
Speaker 2: Well, Tim, listen, we really appreciate the time. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 4: Good luck this week, play well, make some potts, do
Speaker 4: all the stuff that Marty has been doing this summer,
Speaker 4: and we'll be rooting for you and we'll check back
Speaker 4: with you soon.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, Yeah, let's do it again.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Tim