WEBVTT - Episode 4: Sahith Theegala 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.400 The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.320 much equipment matters. I just love that I can hit 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:06.600 any shot. I kind of want. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:08.480 We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:10.640 what goes on here to help golfers play better golf. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.480 Welcome back to the Proving Grounds podcast. Here with Saw 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:16.320 Hit Tagala in the Ping Tour truck. Is this where 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.079 the magic happens or you happens? Are you a visitor 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:21.360 of this like weekly? Do you come over this way much? 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:23.439 Do you kind of tinker a lot with your stuff? 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.040 You know? I'm not a big tinker. I really don't. Well, 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.319 I don't think I am, although recently I feel like 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.200 I have been Actually I haven't been in the truck 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:33.240 that much, but I feel like I've had guys going 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.720 and out of the truck with Ko and Adam and 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.800 Jack and but yeah, I don't usually tinker a whole lot. 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:40.440 The only thing I've been kind of messing around with 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.159 this driver stuff and just different shafts and stuff like that. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.120 So but honestly, I need to come in here more. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:47.320 I need to steal some snacks. 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:49.919 Is there a thing that the driver you're trying to hit, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.360 like window or trying to make a move one way 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:52.760 or the other. 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.360 Yeah, So I've always been driver has always been the 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.600 worst part of my game, and I've always been the 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.480 way I've gone about my driving, which like ping has 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.360 done a great job of helping me through this is like, 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.800 let's just go anti this driver instead of like, oh, 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.520 let's make I'm not even worried how good my good 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.280 shots are. I just want my bad shots to be 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.399 less bad. So I went to like a my driver's tip, 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:16.560 like I want to say, almost two it's either an 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:18.280 inch and a half or two inches the inch and 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.480 a half. It's something. It's crazy bordy, like it has 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.160 no kick in it. And I played a shorter shaft 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:25.679 for a while too. I just switched back to a 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.520 forty five inch but it's just basically an anti left 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.600 shaft for me, and it does not like, honestly, I 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.360 don't spin it very much. I'm definitely bottom fifteen on 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.480 tour and spin. Yeah, but that's just my mechanism not 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.040 hitting it left. And we're just trying just because my 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.759 swing and my body's gotten a little bit better. We're 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:43.520 trying to like see if I can get into a 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.679 more normal setup and see if like even my bad 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:48.840 ones are less bad, but also my good ones are 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:49.960 actually going to be really good. 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:51.560 So you're good ones. Are you trying to hit it 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:52.920 like dead straight or little cut? 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.640 Definitely cutting? Yeah, I used to play a big cut, 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:58.680 but now it's say my stop cut is like between 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.720 it's still pretty big ten and ten to fifteen yards. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:06.440 It's definitely falling pretty tilts, falling right pretty aggressively. But 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.800 my swing is like, just from being in better shape, 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.200 my swing's gotten better and tighter. So now my start 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.640 lines are a little bit tighter and sometimes I'm missing 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.800 it a little left. Yeah, not curby as much because 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.200 of that. So that's why we're trying. 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.160 What are you What are you doing in terms of fitness? 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.120 I mean, what have you changed? Has it been plast 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:25.080 six months last year? 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:26.960 What have you done in that world? I'd say it's 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.720 my last four years. Honestly, I didn't work out one 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.400 time in my life till college. I got to college 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.480 and I'm like, I can't even do these basic I can't. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.240 I couldn't do a dead bug. I couldn't. I was 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.399 benching twenty five pound dumbells in each hand. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.400 It was embarrassing, like when he first came the Lakers, 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.320 just straight off picture worse but worse. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.760 I've literally never worked out, And then in college I 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.360 realized the importance. I got injured a decent amount of college, 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:54.919 which was a bummer, but I realized, like, I can 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.480 prevent this by just get in the gym. And I honestly, 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.800 I don't lift very much at all. But I've been 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.240 working with the same trainer even actually even in college 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.400 but after college, and he does a great job kind 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:08.960 of dialing me in and my flexibility has gotten better. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.800 It's just honestly all on where I was injury prevention 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.960 and knock on whatever, knock on wood. I haven't been 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.760 injured since since I've turned pro. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.560 You probably know, say, but you've played more events in 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.399 the last twelve months than anything tour. Yeah, I mean, 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:25.840 I think that's a good takeaway from Yeah, bitiness standpoint 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.240 for the listeners, like, for sure, here's straight from you. 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:29.480 You're just trying not to get injured. 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.280 Yeah, exactly, I'm just trying not to get injured. Yeah, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.320 I played thirty two last year and I was really 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:37.880 happy with how my body held up. There's definitely too much, 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.800 definitely too much. That'll that'll be the most, That'll be 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:42.760 the max you play in your career. I feel like 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.560 I've taken so many weeks off this year and I'm 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:46.680 still gonna play twenty seven or twenty eight, which was 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.360 a lot, but uh yeah, it's just a testament to 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:51.640 my trainer and then the work I've been putting in. 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.600 I've just been more diligent about it. Yeah, there's just 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.320 times where like in the even my first year as 0:03:58.320 --> 0:03:59.960 a pro, I was I was getting better at it, 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.119 but I just wasn't on top of it, so I'd 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:03.680 go on the road for two weeks and lose all 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:07.080 my progress. But now I feel like I'm stacking my 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.280 progress and I've just gotten better and better at it. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:13.360 It's huge help. I haven't even tried to gain distance 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.400 or any luckily, Like I just have long levers and 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.880 hit it. I'd say averagely far. But I've never even 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.320 worked on speed stuff, and I've gained four or five 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.800 miles per ball speed just not even not working any speed. 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.719 And we'll see if I do. Yeah, you know what 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:29.680 I got to cover you? 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.480 I remember I think it was the Oakland Hills, USAM 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.159 and oh yeah, it was like maybe twenty sixteen, Yeah, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.400 you were sixteen. I mean it must have been sixteen 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:39.640 or seventeen years old and you made a run. Yeah, 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:41.760 and it was a lot of fun to cover you. 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.320 And then obviously to see this progression into pro golf 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.360 and now on the PGA Tour. Obviously, the popularity of 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:49.919 what happened at Phoenix last year and then Netflix. What 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.640 is this year over the last twelve months been like 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.120 for you to go from a very good player obviously, 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.279 and then a professional golfer it's and now being somebody 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.080 that people yell out I want to autograph from. 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.960 It's pretty nuts. I never saw myself as a very 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.000 good golfer even through college. I know that twenty sixteen 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.240 am really gave me a lot of confidence and helped 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.200 me come into my own and I had a couple 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.120 of nice years in college after that, But even then 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:15.640 I was like, I didn't know if I was good 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:17.599 enough to I always thought I could make the tour, 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:19.760 but I was just even in the end of college 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:21.120 where I was like, am I gonna be any good? 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:26.520 And last year or last year helped a lot. I 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.159 just it's just been so fun, like the journey to 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.279 get better is fun. I'm not even worried about the results, 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:32.960 and I think that's been key for me. I have 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.000 very little expectations for myself and I'm just like, dude, 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.080 I'm living my dream like I'm just gonna go out there, 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.120 and I feel like I'd be doing myself and my 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.440 team and my family and friends a disservice if I'm 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.680 not giving it my all to get as good as 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.280 I am, because I'm given this opportunity now. So that 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.280 part's been really really cool and definitely humbling to see 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:54.400 all the fans that I've gotten over the last year, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.880 and at this point, I feel like I'm doing it 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.159 a lot for them to I mean, it comes from myself, 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.160 but I feel like I want to like play well 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.640 for them too, and that that's kind of helped too. 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.600 But it's been really really cool. I will say it's 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.440 been overwhelming sometimes because I'm an introvert at art and 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.440 I love having my own space and I feel like 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.000 I play a lot of golf from around a lot 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:19.040 of people. Yeah, but no, I think that's a good 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.279 problem to have and I'm I'm definitely getting more used 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.320 to it. And I used to be a horrible, horrible speaker. 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.440 I'm still not great at it. I'm getting better, but 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.919 but no, I mean, life's been I cannot complain it all. 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:31.960 It's been an awesome ride. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:32.640 So he does. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.119 Man, that's so refreshing, is that? I mean, you want 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:36.799 three Junior Worlds? 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:37.279 Yeah? 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:41.280 Yeah, really tiger number of Junior Worlds and you're still 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.359 don't have that. On the confidence meet, I'm picturing this 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.800 confidence meter. Yeah, and he was even going through college, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:47.960 it wasn't that well. 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.000 You know what happened is I was really really good 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:51.800 when I was young, like young young. I won my 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:56.440 Junior World six, eight and ten. I was just going 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.520 off of like talent. I was just bigger than other 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:00.360 kids when I was young, so it was just getting 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.279 it further. And I wasn't even that skilled, I felt like. 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.440 And then once started, once people started really practicing and 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:08.360 getting real at their craft in middle school in early 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:10.280 high school, that's when I went into a huge slump 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.240 hit my growth spurt. I was not a good recruit 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.120 and even in high school, and I didn't play any 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:19.160 of the inmates, like I never played any invitationals, and 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.640 I was lucky that even I I was looking at 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.280 some bigger schools but I wouldn't. I was gonna be 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.080 essentially a walk on. So Pepperdine was kind of a 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:28.880 blessing for me that I knew I was gonna play 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.600 right away. So definitely college was a big kind of 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.280 step in the right direction. That's why I just went 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.960 through a pretty big slump, I feel like, and well, 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:39.520 for me, I felt like it was a slump. I 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.320 still had good tournaments and one a little bit, but 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.800 I just didn't know if it was next level potential. 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.040 Did you think that gives you that extra motivation? Made 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:50.880 a room around here on the tour as you're you're 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:52.400 out here practicing. 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:58.720 A lot at least, you know, Yeah, I. 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.040 I just I just love it, you know, I'm I. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.640 I truly love love the game. You love the practice, 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.360 You love the grind, which everything out of it. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:05.520 I don't. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:07.760 I love the grind. I really do love the grind. 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.800 There's obviously days where're like, god, I don't want to 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.160 do this, or like travel day, or you know, you know, 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.040 to work on something that week on the range, and 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.120 I don't. Personally, I don't love just beating balls. I 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.320 love chipping now. It's my favorite part of my game. 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:22.960 I can sit on chip. I can sit on these 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.240 chipping greens for legit ten hours. I can sit all 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.720 day if you leave me on supervised. But I just 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.800 love it. I love playing just every part of it. Again, 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:33.880 I think it goes back to the fact that I 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.280 have this chance to do it, so it's like, why 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.720 not give it my all? Within reason? And I'm getting 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.760 better at leaving the I've spent Last year, I spent 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:43.640 all day every day at the golf course, and this 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.000 year I'm doing a good job breaking it down where 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:49.160 I only spend like Tomorrow, Wednesdays, I've been my chill 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:51.520 days where I'm only on the course. Luckily, I've got 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.720 a lot of morning prim times I'll leave the course 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.199 by one or two pm. Yeah, but a day like today, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.120 I'm usually I'm just here all day. I'll sleep in 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.800 a little ground on a Tuesday. Yeah yeah, I mean, 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:03.880 I don't even know what's grinding though, because I sleep 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:05.720 in I Like today, I got up at like seven 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.440 forty five eight meandered over here, had breakfast, got to 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.440 the range like nine. Didn't feel like I was stressing, 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.680 didn't feel like I obviously I had stuff that I 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:16.440 wanted to get done In practice, and stuff that I 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.560 wanted to get done on the course, but I spent 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:20.559 six hours out there and it just went like that. 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.680 So I don't know, It's just it's it's really nice 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.800 to have all these every week. Have insane practice facilities too, 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.800 where you just kind of get lost. It's like, well, 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.320 it putting means perfect, I might as well go sit 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.120 there and putt for a while. So but I'm learning 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.920 the balance of overdoing it and still getting my work done. 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:40.960 So you love chipping. Tell us about your your WEDB 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.120 set up. You know we've always you're playing fifty eighth 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:45.880 grade right now? Yeah, did you grow up chipp in 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.000 the fifty eight ever reached sixty to fifty six? 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:48.360 Yeah? 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.640 So I grew up chipping with only a fifty six. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.800 And there's no really rhyme or reason for that. I 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:55.920 think just when I started playing golf, I just picked 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:57.640 up a fifty six and didn't feel like I needed 0:09:57.640 --> 0:09:58.240 a law bludge. 0:09:58.480 --> 0:09:58.800 Yeah. 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:00.520 I thought that was a law blunch when I was young. 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.120 I didn't know any better. But I think I graduated 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:09.240 to a fifty eighth degree pretty late in high school. Yeah, 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.800 and I've tried a sixty degree one time and I 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.240 just hated it, like I've just been so used to 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:18.160 my whole life, fifty six fifty eight. I just liked 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.040 seeing chip shots come out, come out in a certain window. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.000 And I hit full shots, well full shots with my 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.640 fifty eight degree too, you know, ninety percent shots for 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:28.960 I feel like with a sixty it's almost too much off. 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.520 But it's definitely something I think I'm going to invest 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.800 you in the future because the greens are so firm 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.120 and fast every week, and I feel like golf course 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:38.920 are getting tighter and tighter with the grasses, so you 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.240 need a little more nip. But yeah, I've always been 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.959 a fifty eight, so I go fifty eight, fifty four, fifty, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.200 and then I've kind of bounced between a forty seven 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.880 or forty six degree and then a blueprint pitching ledge. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:51.880 I've been kind of the blueprint pitching ledge for a wow. 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.960 So a really hard hitting question here, how many I 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:57.400 have the over UNDERD three and a half. How many 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.199 iterations of facial hair do you feel like you've had 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.360 on tour? Yeah, I mean because the stand you had 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.439 the stash for a bit and it was Hall of Famer, 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:06.640 thank you. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.480 I think four because when I first got on tour, 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.800 I had like the high. I didn't really shave it 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:16.600 down very or trim it down very much. I had 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:21.520 like the high, unkempt, just caveman beard, and then I 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.400 went clean shaven for a while. I still randomly, you know, 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.560 one one or two weeks randomly you need new car 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.440 or you need new uh what's the word. You just 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:32.600 need good vibe, you need new vibes. With the beard. 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:34.280 You need to get rid of the old vibe. So 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.480 I just clean shave it and then try and get 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.200 some new vibes with new facial hair. I've gone the 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.400 stash two weeks. I did it as you play with theah. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.240 Not great. Actually I did it last year with the players. 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.080 That was my first iterational stash. It was sick. But 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.000 I improved on it this year because I went like, 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.720 I didn't trim anything. I just left it all there 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.720 and I went clean on the end right, which was 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:01.880 a little aggressive. It is very true. I know, I 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:04.160 know you're I know you're younger. There's never been a 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.240 mustache that's mauntograss. That's actually part of the mustache experience. 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:09.400 My take on mustache is, I don't know if you 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.400 guys agree, is like, I don't think anyone actually looks 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.080 better with the mustache. Acically, it's a statement, agreed. You 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.520 make a statement, You're like, that guy has a mustache, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.120 like he's confident, and then all of a sudden you 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.920 think that he looks better like my Caddy car. Actually, 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.360 my Caddy Carl is a really good looking mustache. I'll 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.319 give him that. If he shaved it clean, would he 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.160 looked better? No, I don't think I was one of 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.800 so ingrained in my head right that it's become a 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.160 part of this thing now. But this, like you say, exactly, yeah, 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.080 you see it in your brain. But this year I 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.280 went the stash, but with like a one on the 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:41.839 rest of my beard, and I think it looked a 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.440 lot better and I played well. I came in fourteenth 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:45.319 at Bail with it. 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.480 That was my question, what's the correlation there? 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.240 You know, the first one I missed the kind of 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:53.360 the players last year, but immediate, immediate shade. 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.439 So you play a ton of golf. We've heard you're 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:58.480 a pretty competitive chess player as well. Yeah, how good 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.280 are you want? Your handicap at chess? And you what 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:01.480 would you put yourself. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.560 At if I had to put my chess eglo as 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.520 a handicap. I'd say I'm a one or two ny caps, 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.000 so you're very I think some other people would say 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.360 I'm a scratcher better, but I just I don't believe 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.960 that because I've only really played online. I haven't played 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.200 in person that much because I picked it up over 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.679 when I hurt my wrist in twenty nineteen. So I'm 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.920 pretty good. My rating is nineteen hundred, okay, I'd say 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.839 a beginner, A true beginner is probably four hundred, five hundred, 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.880 and then you can intermediate players on thy to twelve hundred. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.080 So I'd say I'm definitely I'm better than like on 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.199 my chest dot com thing, it says what percentage your 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.760 profilesand I'm ninety nine point four or five. I'd feel 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.600 pretty confident it could beat anyone like you feel like 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:47.440 you the best chess player on tour. That's my question. Yes, yeah, 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.280 you'd I don't want to make one Chess FedEx cup 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.599 you're leading. Yes, I don't. Actually, I don't want to 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.880 say that too, because there could be some guys finally 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:56.880 out there. You've got to put it out there. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:58.920 You didn't grow up. You didn't play chess growing up. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.000 You just started, so I knew the moves, and I 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.880 went to Chess Masters thing in middle school, so I 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.840 knew the moves. I knew I didn't know any openings, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:09.560 but I knew how all the pieces moved, and I 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.040 knew the objectives. So when I started off, I didn't 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.560 start off as a four or five hundred. I kind 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.320 of started off as like a seven hundred, so I 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:17.560 had a little better grasp of it. And then I 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.280 have a very addictive personality. Once I get stuck on something, 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.080 I'm just I'm just sending the books. I'll just in 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.520 injury three books in a week. And but I did 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.720 this thing with chess where I just I couldn't do 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:29.760 anything because I had surgery my wrist. I just watched 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.040 chess videos for six hours and study openings. 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.200 So so the engineers at PING, they're working on data 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:38.800 scientists and all stuff. Data scientists Ping, they're on chess 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.960 dot Com. A few of them played you related you 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.640 He's like, no way, I'm playing no way. Yeah, someone 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:47.240 a couple do you know what? 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.040 I don't know. I can't remember. 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.360 Got the results. I haven't been playing in it. But 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.440 also addicting. I played last week a decent amount and 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.520 I had a bunch of just like fans give me 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:02.840 challenges that I played one of them, someone beat me. 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.200 So it's like your user name like the Gala one. 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.560 How do they feel that's s R. And then Daniel 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:14.840 Daniel Rapp report in late last year was like tweeting 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.960 about my chess or asking me about chess and like 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.120 here here's my account. Challenge me and I'll play. And 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.960 I got a thousand requests. I couldn't even play anyone 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:24.760 because I got too many. So I think now that 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.720 it's died down, now I'm actually able to play people 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:29.640 that want to play. You said you said you're into 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.200 books when you read right now, right now I'm reading. 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.480 I'm rereading The Kill Mockingbird. I have one of my 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.040 favorite authors. He's kind of a young adult author. I'd 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.320 said my brother he's at and he gave me his book. 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.240 It's a Neil Schusterman book called Roxy. But I read 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.800 a lot of just I like fiction, just like I 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.480 like easy reads. And I'm not a huge I mean 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.240 I read like some self provement books are life books, 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:57.080 but not not very often. But those are the two 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:57.880 books I have right now? 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:58.560 Are you digital? 0:15:59.240 --> 0:15:59.440 No? 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.240 No heart the heart? 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.520 But you know I get a headache looking at it. 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.520 Oh man, I've been like deep in your my kindle, kindle, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.040 my four you'll just scratch my kindles now it's like 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.040 not only reading on a kindle, but has just this 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:13.400 deep scratch right middle. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.160 That's not brutal, it's brutal. That's why maybe I haven't read. 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.600 When do you read like on the on your tour schedules, 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.640 at traveling weeks only hotel, let's see it with your. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:23.160 Just kind of at night. 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.760 I've been trying to because like I'd literally fall asleep 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.720 watching Chester Years or playing chess or watching YouTube or something. 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.840 So I'm like, I'm gonna try and sleep without my 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.520 phone near me. So I put my phone away, pick 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.600 up the book, and then soon enough you get tired 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.800 enough when you shut it away. But it's pretty much 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.400 only at night. And then if I have an off 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.120 week and I'm just sitting at home doing nothing, I'll 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:46.960 pick it up and read song. But I used to 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.760 be crazy reader when I was younger, but I probably 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:51.560 stopped for four or five years and just picked it 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.240 back up a year or two ago. 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.760 Yeah, when did your relationship with paying start? Because I 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:58.840 know you'd mentioned some stuff at knowledge. When did that 0:16:58.880 --> 0:16:59.640 relationship again? 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.600 It was all Brownie, to be honest to my coach, 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:05.639 Rick Connor, who is still with me, we've been together 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.760 seventeen years now, but he was on Ping staff when 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:11.760