WEBVTT - Fire Drill 008: Bamberger! “Phil”! The FPC Is On Fire 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.640 If you really want to have some understanding of the 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.920 struggles of modern golf and the struggles of being Phil Mickelson, 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:17.079 you really have to read this book. Put another log 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:30.160 on the fire nobody hears get the time. Hello, this 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.440 is Alan Schipnak. Welcome back to the fire Drill Podcast. 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:36.879 This is a new little platform for us here at 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.520 the Collective that we're using to cover breaking news and 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.120 we'll blow it out for event coverage, especially the major championships. 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:49.080 And we have some breaking news today. UM, it's a 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.279 big one for us here at the fire Pit Collective. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.720 The dean of the Golf Beat, the greatest living golf writer, 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.680 a hero to many of us, Michael Bamberger, as of today, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.320 is a full time staffer with the FPC. UM For 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:08.080 a scrappy little startup company like ourselves, it means a 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:12.000 ton and we're extremely excited to um blow out all 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.840 of Michael's many talents as as it happens, he's here 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.120 on the line right now, Michael, Thanks for joining us 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.720 in more ways than one. Alan couldn't be happier. Thank 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.280 you so much. I've got my own FPC microphone now, 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.800 so I really feel like I'm in the club. I 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.080 know a year or ten years or twenty years ago, 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:31.720 you would never expected that I would be someone who 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.119 would have my own microphone. And yet here I am 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.240 so thank you for that, Alan, thank you for all 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.840 your encouragement to uh to get me here, and I'm thrilled. 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:45.440 So what was your first byeline back in Martha's Vineyard? 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.080 Did you remember the first story you ever had up 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.920 here in print? Oh? Yeah, it would go yeah, it 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:57.279 would go back to the uh mid seventies. Really, uh, 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.400 writing for my for my local paper, covering the golf 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.720 team that I played for for our local paper, you know, 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.320 writing about yourself in the third person, Mike Barnberger shot 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:13.400 a fine forty seven something like that, And uh, it 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.240 hasn't really advanced very much since then. I'm I'm referring 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:22.480 to my golf game. Well that maybe my writing as well. Well. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.560 One of my first really, my first gig was uh 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.359 for the Sealinas, Californian when I was a stringer for 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.959 high school sports, and um, you know I did. I 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:35.200 played basketball and I ran track, but I would cover 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.400 the football games that my friends were part of at 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.440 Selia's High and I'd always have inside jokes in the newspaper, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.480 and I would always drop their names for no apparent reasons, 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:51.680 so it's analogous. But uh no, I mean, you know, 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.359 for a man, it's well, I don't want to I 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.440 don't want to say your advanced age. But for someone 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.680 who's you know, on the back nine of their career 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:02.040 to uh, it's awesome that you're you're taking the plunge here, 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:07.000 and um, you know, at our the last year, I 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.560 felt a little weird because we've been on the same 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.799 masthead since the mid nineties that Sports Illustrated, and then 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.720 when I left, when I left Golf Magazine, there was 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.640 almost exactly, you know, twelve months that we were We 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.680 were not colleagues. We still had our meals and our 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.800 rounds of golf. But uh, you know, why don't you 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:30.200 tell the listeners about a few of our misadventures in podcasting? 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.000 Like everyone remembers the waffle House of Washington Road with 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.680 the manager bitching at us and Hotel California in the background, 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:38.120 But where are some other places that we've done some 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:43.000 unusual podcasts. It's really weird what resonates with people. But 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:48.280 I have heard about that waffle house session, uh, numerous times. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.800 I mean, it's you know, it's our equivalent of Cheryl 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.680 Crowe and her Tuesday night sessions. You know, which which 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.880 UH would which have a certain family. And yeah, you know, 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.480 as you and I have said many times, alanah side 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.080 aside him, you know, maybe him and a few him 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.920 ideas and a few others, there aren't that many people 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.080 in this world who really understand each other's lives and 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:12.320 the uh you know, the weird difficulties and joys of 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.480 them both. And you know, just thinking about your warm 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.800 welcome there for a minute, but I often think about 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.840 UH six the US Open. UH was at Shannakaka. Grew 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.279 up in Patrick, which is about thirty miles away along 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.400 Suffing County, Long Island, and I sat behind a columnist 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.760 for Newsday named Joe gurg And I know you've got 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.040 people like this in your own mind. And Joe Geron 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.840 was on deadline riding up Brave Floyd's when sitting with 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.320 colleagues and having the time of his life. And you 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.400 and I've had that experience many many times. And uh, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.320 I remember just last year at the Ryder Cup. Alan, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.080 tell me if you remember this, you may not, because 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.159 we've had discussions like this probably literally a thousand times. 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:54.800 But you and I were sitting next to each other 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.440 at the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and uh, and 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.080 we're sitting there, we're you know, we got our notes 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:03.680 and we got our laptop and we got our fingers, 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:07.799 and I just said, it's just a weird, fulfilling, great 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.640 thing to have this idea in your head and you're 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.960 going to transmute it if that's a word from your 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.880 brain to your fingers, into the laptop and then out 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.960 into the world. And you know, to me, it was 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.440 sort of like, you know, our Watson nucleus moment of like, 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:26.640 and you were like, you didn't say these words, but 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.039 this is what it was. This is what you were saying. Yeah, 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.120 that's what it's all about. Just like Big Jack said 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.280 to Tom that day. Do you remember that moment at all? 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.000 I do, Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, the the adrenaline 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.479 of of writing on deadline. It's still the most powerful 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.320 drug guy I've tried, and I've tried a few lately, 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:48.720 but Southern California living, I mean a lot. Every morning 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.159 Karmel was micro dosing mushrooms like you might as well. 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.200 But yeah, it's uh, it's just the energy of it. 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:00.160 And it's more pronounced now with you know, we used 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.599 to back when we're just writing for Sports Illustrated magazine 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.160 as are called grick Lips used to call it UH. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:07.680 You know, we have all night. We have sort of 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.799 had the luxury of time, and that was our biggest advantage. 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:12.520 And everyone else had to file their stories right away 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.080 for their newspaper and we didn't. We have until the 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:16.960 next morning, and so you could really ruminate, and you 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.160 could spend all night. And I watched the sunrise plenty 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.400 of times from from press rooms and hotel rooms. But 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.520 you know, now we're writing for UH, for the internet 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.040 and and speed kills. I mean, if you take two 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.200 extra hours to make your story better, you might miss 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.360 the whole readership that one's gone to bed so um 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.760 so trying to capture the moment and do it quickly. 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.480 And and that went in the rooms doing the same thing. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:41.480 And you know, we all have egos. We want our 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.160 story to be the best. And it's really it's hard 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.040 to replicate that feeling. And I'm not going to suggest 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.120 it's the exact same thing that a golfer feels on 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.520 the back nine when they're trying to win a big tournament. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.760 But it's our version of it, and it is addictive 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.520 and it's fun. Yeah, it's see how you and I 0:06:57.560 --> 0:06:59.599 will compare notes and we often see things in a 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.760 similar away or we're drawn to something similar in our reporting. 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.800 We've talked about this, you know, we show up at 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.040 the same odd spot, just uh, just the two of us, 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.600 and then to read our stories afterwards, and like the 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.760 way we write it up is so totally different and 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:18.080 sometimes not sometimes very similar. But but no, no, just no, 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.440 just different, just different, just different takes of different emphases. Um, 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.240 but that's fine. Uh, you know right now, for some reason, 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:26.960 my mind's going, and I know we bring this up 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.280 from time to time. We wrote on uh, the US 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:32.680 Open at Pebble Beach, what year word have that been? 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.840 Two thousand nineteen, Allen when when Woodland won? And uh, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.680 and we were we both wrote and they were in 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.040 deadline and then we're in that tavern room at the 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.600 tavern is what they call alan the tavernet and in 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:49.760 the Pebble Beach club House room the tap the tavern. Uh. 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.440 For some reason, I'm just thinking right now about after 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.200 Gary Woodland won the US Open a Pebble Beach two 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.960 thousand nineteen. We both we both wrote on Deadline and 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.320 you're a little wired and but also looking to relaxed 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.280 a little bit. And we went to the tap room 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.360 um in the in the Pebble Beach Lodge and it 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.200 was packed and we knew a lot of people, and 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.920 Jordan's Speed came over and just started chatting us up. 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.120 And Uh, just a million moments like that that we've 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.679 had together that are just fun and make you feel 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.559 like part of the fabric of the game. Uh and Uh, Anyway, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:22.920 I look forward to doing a lot more of that 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.320 in the future. Well, you're bearing the lead. We went 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:27.920 to the tap room because we were going to record 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.080 our podcast We're looking a place with a guns, but 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.360 it was closed to the public. You have to be 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.000 you haved be staying at the lodge. But because you know, 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.199 I've been around Pebble Beach forever, we sneaked in. But 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.040 there were so many players there, justin Thomas and remember 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.559 Thomas and speak wood Eventually, yeah, there was a big 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:50.560 table that was saved. It became obviously it's gonna be 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.760 for Woodland, and uh, we kind of detected the vibe 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:56.000 wasn't right to put out these giant microphones and podcasts 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.200 that we just enjoyed the whole scene. But um yeah, 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.080 I mean there was an Italian restaurant in St. Louis 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.480 after the Bell Reeve p GA we were recording a 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.160 pod and they're like sweeping under our feet, like trying 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.120 to close up on Sunday night. And I remember we 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.080 found a weird little nook in the clubhouse at Aaron Hills, 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.320 Like that's one of the fun things is to find 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:20.560 these places that have ambiance and a sense of place. 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.559 And um yeah, mean that's definitely for for those who 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.440 are listening. That's one of the one of our goals here. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.200 Mike and I are going to podcast a lot um 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.600 when in Tulsa, we'll probably do daily podcasts from the 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.600 PG Championship, just recapping the acction. We're gonna try and 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.800 bring in some other voices, whether it's Jeff Ogilvie or whomever. 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:43.160 And um, you know, we all love your typing, Michael, 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.880 and it's it's going to remain the foundation of your 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.040 professional life. But at your old shop, you're kind of 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.480 an underutilized asset as far as podcasts and video storytelling. 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.160 And even social media, which we know we're not gonna 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.600 get a Twitter, but I'm kind of I'm kind of 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.920 scooping myself here, but I'm gonna a wash of bamberger 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.480 Um account that probably I'm going to maintain. This will 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.680 help us some other FPC staffers and um, just you know, 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.720 it's it should be a big moment anytime you drop 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:14.080 a story like we we got to get it out 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.319 into the world. So we're looking forward to, uh to 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.240 promoting and just getting in front of readers, most of 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.520 them already are familiar. But um, you know, if there 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.760 there's been a little lag and in in promotion of you, 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.319 of your material, so that that's an institutional priority here. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.040 And I know you hate to hear that, but it's true. No, 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.600 But I'll tell you what does trigger you know, when 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:38.320 when there was some talk about me joining Fire Pick 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.720 Collective and I was, you know, definitely intrigued from the beginning, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.400 and there was a little bit of sense like uh oh, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.679 and you know, you know, we'll want you to podcast 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.920 and maybe do some some videos as well, and like, oh, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.120 maybe you know I might be resistant of that, And 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.160 I truly feel the opposite. I feel like we're in 0:10:55.200 --> 0:11:00.160 a period now where you want to reach people where 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:04.000 they are. And you know, to use Matt's phrase, Mattel's phrase, Uh, 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.960 our colleague, both n s I and now again, you 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.120 know what does you say, uh, read, listen, watch. I 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.240 don't know I have the order correct, but I totally 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.199 believe that reach people where they are. We have something 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:21.520 we want to convey. It's storytelling in different forms, and 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:23.400 it's all good. And you see the New Yorker has 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:27.360 embraced that spectacular early. And and I'm very devoted to 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:28.839 New Yorker and I do I read, I watched, and 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.160 I listen. Uh. And so we're gonna we're gonna do 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.480 the same thing. And I and I and I welcome it. Yeah, 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.200 it's just interesting. I mean, it's a big investment for 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.720 you or I to fly off and do a story 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.800 for just to type it up. But it's a slightly 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:46.640 larger investment. But if you bring a if you bring 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.880 a video crew and you bring your podcasts gear, uh, 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.160 it amplifies it and it gets people excited about it. 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.600 Not even's gonna read the story, but someone watch the video. 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.480 So I gonna listen to the podcast, and it's just Um. 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:00.400 You know Sports Illustrated with slow to embrace that. Golf 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.280 Magazine was slow to embrace that. But that's really kind 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:04.160 of the foundation of what we want to do here 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.440 is just reach people in a lot of different ways. 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:08.960 And so it's gonna be fun to um, you know, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.200 to blow it to blow it out with you, Michael, 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.920 because the reason you're so good on camera is because 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.080 you don't try at all. And I mean that as 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.400 a compliment. You know, the rest of us try too hard, 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:22.840 but you literally don't care, and so it comes across 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.640 as genuine and real in a way that can't be faked. 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.400 So it's gonna be it's gonna be fun to do 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.440 more of that stuff. Good, thank you. Yeah. Um, well, 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:35.760 I guess this would be a good time to um 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.520 to pay some bills. So I'm gonna think a couple 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:40.600 of our corporate sponsors will help us keep the lights 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.720 on at the fire Pit Collective. One is a good 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:45.319 Walk Coffee. I think they were the first company that 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.400 actually advertised with us, going back almost a full year 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.640 when when we just launched this thing. As you know, Michael, 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.280 I've always been a hot chocolate guy, but I've lately 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.680 tried to become an adult and drink coffee, and the 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.679 good Walk coffee is freaking good. So I would encourage 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.400 people out there to check it out. And uh, if 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.080 you use a fire pit code, you'll get a nice 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:07.560 little discount. And then that's also par points golf, which 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.040 is another great supporter what we try and do. And 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:13.480 we got to test this out together, Michael, I think 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.959 you'll actually enjoy is this new scoring system for golf. 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.319 It's not based on strokes, it's based on points, and 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.600 you can't you create your own golf course. It's pegged 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:23.200 to the yardage of the whole, so you can play 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.280 any t you want. You can even drop a ball 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.160 in the middle of the fairway. The closer you are, 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:28.600 the few of the points you get. But it also 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.040 becomes strategy. If you're playing against a long hitter, can 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:33.959 they carry the hazard but you can't. You can you 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:35.720 can start your hold in front of the hazard. And 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.800 it's great for beginners and kids who are kind of 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:40.720 I think live in fear of the dreaded like triple 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.840 Bogey and um and also for kids like every video 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.000 game they play, whatever they do, the point is to 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.000 is to get as many points as possible, and golf 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.560 has tried to take the fewest strokes and I think 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.640 for for for kids, it's kind of like cognitive dissonance. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.760 They want the points. So anyway, thank thanks to uh, 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.359 thanks to those folks for what they do. Because journalism 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.880 is is expensive. Then um where we're you're trying to 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.000 keep this whole thing going. So I look forward to 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:12.520 learning more about both those uh things that you just mentioned. Uh. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.040 I'm a black coffee drinker and I haven't tried a 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.640 good walk coffee yet. But but I'm but I'm eager 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.040 to Uh our son who's a tremendous coffee snob, speaks 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.520 of flavor notes and coffee, so I'll be busy. I'll 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.160 be here to have him and tried it in baron 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.600 Burger and tell uh, tell me what flavor notes I 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.600 should be talking about. Um, but and and and as 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.080 for the what's the other group called part points? Well, 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:38.840 part points, you know, I'm not familiar with that. I'm 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.920 gonna read up on that. That's very interesting, but uh, 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.480 I have for years UH when playing with like minded 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.760 UH golfers. I'm surprised you and I haven't done more 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.080 of this. And maybe we've done some of it. Uh, 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.640 winner calls the t So whoever has the honor choose 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:55.920 where you're gonna tee off from. And you could, you know, 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.080 you can take a foreigndred yard Part four and turn 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.960 into a you know, a d seven yard Part three 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.640 if that's your if that's what you want to do 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.120 at any point, and you know, play to your straints 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.440 or whatever you might want to do. And uh, people 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.080 need to be more inventive about the game. So whatever 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:15.800 these guys are talking about, I'm in favor of. And um, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.880 you know it's easy. Uh. The U s A is 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:24.040 an authoritative figure in our lives and always dictating how 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.040 the game should be played. Uh, but you know it, 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:28.680 golfs a lot older than the U. S j A. 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.240 So the idea of you know, creating your own scoring system, 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.360 just having the joy the game, the fun of the 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.760 game anyway it happens. Um, obviously it's part of why 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.840 we play. So, um, I'll be eager to learn more 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.520 about that as well. Yeah, it is sort of freeing 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.600 because uh, you know, if you're playing a GLIC like 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.680 there's some courses, feels like every part three is like 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:53.360 a five iron, you know, the way they set it up. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.600 It's a design flaw and it's like, gosh, I wish 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.440 this would be so much cooler if you played it 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.440 all the way back, or you played it as a 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.400 little hundred yard or and uh, if you're playing off 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.600 the scorecard and traditional golf, you don't grant yourself that liberty. 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.280 But the whole point is to have fun. You might 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:09.840 as well play the hole as you want to play it, 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.800 so uh, it's kind of nice to be given that permission. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.160 I don't know why I need that permission. It sounds 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:16.760 like you've already figured that out a long time ago, 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.120 But I just kind of play the courses it's presented 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.120 to me. But I guess that's kind of an outdated view. 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:26.240 And it's really interesting how at US opens in particular. Um, 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:28.360 if the U s JA does have any fun in 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.480 terms of changing team positions radically from what the practice runs, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.520 are players freak out And it should be the opposite. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.120 They should embrace the challenge of, oh now I got 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.280 to figure out something on the on the fly, and 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:44.720 the better players would welcome that more. Uh, But they don't, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.120 And I think it's telling. Well. I always think about 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.840 Jim Fear at the Olympic Club on the final round 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.480 the year that Webb Simpson won, went on that part 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:59.000 five I think sixteen. The tea's way up and it's 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.400 this big dog leg and he couldn't figure out how 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.280 to play the whole about of making a killing bogey. 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.320 And after we just bitching about it, well, they didn't 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.080 put the teas there to practice, rouser, how are we 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.399 supposed to know, We'll figure it out, Jim one of 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.359 the best players in the world, like number three all 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.640 time on the money list, Like figure it out. Then 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.280 I thought it was such a weird complaint. Um, you know, 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.359 that would be like Tom Brady complaining, well, we didn't 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.560 practice against his defense. They threwout us in the fourth quarter, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.679 so it wasn't fair, Like come on, man and Marian 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.840 had that famous when Phil Mickelson, uh struggled with the 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.760 long part three and Uh, I played the whole the 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.000 other day with the driver by the way and and 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.440 drove it on the ground. Who cares. It's still get 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.440 the ball in the hole and the fewest strokes possible, 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.399 or in this other form that you're talking about, get points. 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.160 So I don't know much about how that works. But yeah, 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:51.359 as you say, figure it out, it's part of the 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.160 part of the joy of the game. That was an 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.679 A plus humble brag there, Michael effortless. Not only the 0:17:57.680 --> 0:17:59.560 Mary and tea time, but you know you drove it 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.440 all the green like that. Impressive. Well, now the guys, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:04.280 the guys started playing with any four are and so 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.040 it was really a humble bag. It was more like 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:08.360 gout a necessity. But you know what, I find that 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:11.600 that's a that's a very telling moment from Phil's career. 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:16.479 That's two thousand. It's a final round and um, they 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.560 put the teas all the way back. Phil had dropped 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.560 his driver that week because Marian plays short. He added 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:23.800 a fifth wedge and he gets up there and he 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:26.879 needed more club. He tried to smash his three wood 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.960 made double bogie, veering off the tea. He got in 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.280 Mike Davis's face and was barking at him like, bro, 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.639 you're trying to win the US Open, Savior energy to 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.360 make part, not to complain to the setup guy. And 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.479 even though you know, Davis later told me, well, the 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.520 wind switched and maybe was into the wind. It was 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:47.439 playing too long, and you know, Phil might have had 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.720 a point, but the larger point is to get to 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:55.159 get so distracted and flummix that you're you're in the 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.679 face of the setup. Dude, when when you got to 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.159 go like try and win the US Open Like that 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.720 was a telling moment on Phil, I thought, very much so. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.520 And this will probably a wonderful moment to segue into 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.560 our raised on debt today. Um uh to talk about 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.040 your new book, Allan, Uh? Are are you ready to 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:20.400 do that? Yeah? Yes, it's you know, the release date 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.520 now is whatever, less than two weeks away. Thank god. 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.439 I've been thinking about this book for years and and 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.720 then you know, we dropped that excerpt back in February 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.840 and things got a little crazy, and it's been so 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.080 much build up. So I'm happy to talk about the 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.320 totality of the book and not just little teases and 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.359 and have to hold off like it's cathartic to actually 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:41.760 be able to talk about it in full. So I'm ready, 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.760 if you are, I am. Let's let's just start right there. 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:49.400 Because it's the weirdest record in golf to have six 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:53.440 runner up finishes in US Opens. The math would you 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.320 would you would think it is impossible? Uh? For for 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.680 that to happen. Um, Now, did you cover all six 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:07.439 runner ups or yeah, uh, what stands out most in 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.960 your mind? Which is the most colossal of them? To you? 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.800 That is such an inititing question because they all have 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.480 their their own backstory. I mean, um, you know, shinna 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.840 cock and O four is some of the best golf 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.919 that Fills ever played in his life. And you know, 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.639 the course went over the edge and he made that 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.439 double bogey on the seventy one hole, And in reporting 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:33.840 this book, I've never heard the story like that. He 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.439