Speaker 1: Welcome to the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Welcome to the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Shane Bacon, and we're starting something
Speaker 1: new this week, Fun Positive. If you will, We're gonna
Speaker 1: do a few episodes in a row with people in
Speaker 1: and around the golf community that are helping out and
Speaker 1: going above and beyond during this COVID pandemic. And we
Speaker 1: are starting with a young lady who plays golf on
Speaker 1: the Symmetric Tour named Sarah Hoffman. And Sarah is a
Speaker 1: nurse some of the year and a golfer some of
Speaker 1: the year, and she bounces back and forth between both jobs.
Speaker 1: And she went back to the hospital once all of
Speaker 1: this became obviously a huge thing. Sarah went back to
Speaker 1: the hospital that she has worked at in the winters
Speaker 1: when golf is on hiatus and said, I'll help out
Speaker 1: any way possible. And I had a chance to chat
Speaker 1: with here for a good amount of time, about half
Speaker 1: an hour. We talked about the decision to go back
Speaker 1: and what it was like, and the golf game and
Speaker 1: where it is at this current state, and how little
Speaker 1: golf she's been able to play and the plans for
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. It was a great conversation,
Speaker 1: and this is something that I'm gonna keep doing over
Speaker 1: the next few weeks. Is I'm gonna talk to some
Speaker 1: people in and around the golf community that have done
Speaker 1: something different, as that guy said above and beyond to
Speaker 1: help out any and always possible, And I just figured
Speaker 1: it would be a way for you to maybe know
Speaker 1: a little bit more about people that are doing these things.
Speaker 1: That is the hope to all you out there. I
Speaker 1: hope you're being safe. I hope you're being smart. I
Speaker 1: hope you're staying healthy. I hope you were being positive.
Speaker 1: That is also a big part of this, trying to
Speaker 1: stay positive through all this. I know a lot of
Speaker 1: states are opening up golf. More and more states are
Speaker 1: doing that. Just again, be smart when you do that.
Speaker 1: Golf is a great way to go out and do something.
Speaker 1: Arizona has allowed golf basically this entire time. I don't
Speaker 1: think there was day golf was shut down in the
Speaker 1: state I live in. But we've you know, just I
Speaker 1: bring my own water bottles and I wet my towel
Speaker 1: before I go to the golf course. Now I've got
Speaker 1: to obviously rewat it a couple of times because it's
Speaker 1: like a hundred and thirty degrees in Arizona right now.
Speaker 1: But you know, I bring hand sanitizer. I attached it
Speaker 1: on my golf bag, and I'm just trying to do
Speaker 1: little things that I know would cause me to touch
Speaker 1: stuff that I don't want to touch when I'm on
Speaker 1: the golf course. So just try to think. Think of
Speaker 1: all the stuff you touch when you're on a golf course.
Speaker 1: If you have an old golf glove, like an old
Speaker 1: nasty glove that you want to throw away, use that one.
Speaker 1: If you've got to pick up, you know, range range
Speaker 1: ball buckets, or if you've got to use it to
Speaker 1: punch in a code to get your range balls. Little
Speaker 1: things like that always helpful, just easy ways to avoid
Speaker 1: touching stuff. As we continue to go through this, let's
Speaker 1: let's get to Sarah. I want to I want you
Speaker 1: all to hear her story, and we welcome into the
Speaker 1: clubhouse somebody. I'm I'm excited to chat with Sarah Hoffman,
Speaker 1: a professional golfer on the Semmetra Tour. But that it's
Speaker 1: not why we're going to chat Sarah. I want to
Speaker 1: chat about some other things. But before we get to
Speaker 1: those things, I wanted you too. You know, we've got
Speaker 1: golf people listening and people that know a lot about
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour. Can you just
Speaker 1: explain to people a what the semetritory is and how
Speaker 1: long you've been out there in your career through professional golf. Yeah, awesome,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me, Shane. Um. So, the Smutra Tour
Speaker 1: is the developmental tour for the LPGA, So it works
Speaker 1: like the Corn Farry Tour whereat the end of the year,
Speaker 1: there's UM ten cards that are up for grabs, so
Speaker 1: the top ten on the money list every year go
Speaker 1: directly to the LPGA and then um based on how
Speaker 1: you finish on the money list, you can go to
Speaker 1: certain levels of Q School and try and earn your
Speaker 1: way out of the LPGA through that way as well.
Speaker 1: And how long have you been playing, you know, bouncing
Speaker 1: on the semmeritore. I know you've played some LPGA as well.
Speaker 1: Know you've played some Q school as well. How long
Speaker 1: have you been out on the Semetric Tour. So I've
Speaker 1: been trying on the Semetric Tour since two thousand sixteen.
Speaker 1: In two sixteen, I got partial status for the seventeen
Speaker 1: season and I played four events, and then last year,
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen was my first full year on Sumetra.
Speaker 1: And this is why I had you on, not because
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about your golf game, because
Speaker 1: I would like to talk about your actual golf game.
Speaker 1: But we are going through unprecedented times. Everybody listening knows
Speaker 1: that obviously, with COVID and and self isolation and quarantining,
Speaker 1: it is a weird time in society and civilization. And Sarah,
Speaker 1: you have done something that I think everybody will be
Speaker 1: massively impressed with, something that I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of people a can't do and maybe wouldn't do, is
Speaker 1: you put the golf clubs away. Obviously, Symmetric Tour is
Speaker 1: on hiatus now, as every professional sport is. But you're
Speaker 1: someone that as a nursing degree and you've gone back
Speaker 1: to help out. And I just wanted to start with
Speaker 1: the decision there because I know you spent a lot
Speaker 1: of the off season at at a at a hospital.
Speaker 1: You said, it looks like you spend basically October to
Speaker 1: January at a hospital, and then you get back into golf.
Speaker 1: The decision personally for you to get back into a
Speaker 1: hospital and try to help out. Yeah, so the decision
Speaker 1: to go back to the hospital was a little bit
Speaker 1: limited on information. We knew. We had played the first
Speaker 1: event on so much with part and then our California
Speaker 1: swing got canceled, and so I was just waiting for
Speaker 1: an update to figure out when we were supposed to
Speaker 1: resume season UM. I was in Atlanta at the time
Speaker 1: and trying to get a travel contract, which means anywhere
Speaker 1: from Usually it's a third team week contract UM, but
Speaker 1: due to the pandemic, they for offering shorter contracts from
Speaker 1: four to eight weeks, and so I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what contract I could sign that wouldn't I
Speaker 1: wouldn't interfere with my ability to play as many tournaments
Speaker 1: as I could on Sumetra, especially if we're going to
Speaker 1: have a limited season with limited events. I knew I
Speaker 1: couldn't necessarily afford to give up an event or to
Speaker 1: to UM to the field where they could be making
Speaker 1: money and and I couldn't, So I was waiting for
Speaker 1: an update. Once we got an update, I tried to
Speaker 1: get a travel nursing job in Atlanta, but I've never
Speaker 1: worked as a travel nurse, so that position didn't come.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, I had this temp job at
Speaker 1: Michigan Medicine, and Michigan was one of the hotbeds. Um
Speaker 1: is one of the hotbeds, and so I, uh, it
Speaker 1: was a tough decision. I think it's hard when there's
Speaker 1: any amount of uncertainty that um, it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: easy to go to the worst case scenario in your head.
Speaker 1: So when I would think about the worst case scenario
Speaker 1: and potentially developing COVID nineteen myself or passing it on
Speaker 1: my as if I were to stay with my parents,
Speaker 1: then I would be absolutely terrified. But that um, when
Speaker 1: I started to think about how much the community with
Speaker 1: carping up, and how people were donating ppe so personal
Speaker 1: protective equipment such as maths, and people were even making
Speaker 1: maths for health care workers, and how so many people
Speaker 1: were willing to work at home to help spread or
Speaker 1: to help stop the spread of COVID nineteen. Um, I
Speaker 1: knew that if I looked back when this all was
Speaker 1: over and I just took the time to only work
Speaker 1: on my golf game and and sit on the couch
Speaker 1: when I had the skills necessary to go back to
Speaker 1: the hospital and help my co workers on the front line,
Speaker 1: that I would regret not doing everything everything in my
Speaker 1: power to help you. Talk about worst case scenario. I
Speaker 1: feel like we as humans, we especially as Americans, tend
Speaker 1: to and and golfers for matter, I mean golfers, we
Speaker 1: look at a hole and go, there's water left and
Speaker 1: out of bounds. Right, you know, this is brutal out
Speaker 1: by I hope I just keep it on the planet.
Speaker 1: How has it been for you in terms of what
Speaker 1: you thought maybe worst case scenario and what it has
Speaker 1: been like for you in the hospital day to day. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when I made the decision, we were we were
Speaker 1: in the peak UM and so Michigan Medicine had two
Speaker 1: patients I think was their their peak um, which meant
Speaker 1: there were in the sick U, which is a surgical
Speaker 1: I SU. There were um two patients per room where
Speaker 1: normally there's only one patient. And they had opened up
Speaker 1: a rick you, which was a special special i SU
Speaker 1: for COVID positive patients, and they had opened one unit
Speaker 1: and then they had to end up opening a second
Speaker 1: second unit, and so it was starting to get um,
Speaker 1: starting to get to that worst case scenario that are
Speaker 1: we going to have enough ventilator's situation and UM luck
Speaker 1: the Michigan's governor H. Gretchen Whitmer put in some pretty
Speaker 1: strict stay at home orders and UM fortunately for the hospital, UM,
Speaker 1: Michigan residents were UM following those orders and their efforts
Speaker 1: made a direct IMPACTUM on the front line. So by
Speaker 1: the time I got got to Michigan and started working
Speaker 1: at the end of April, we were already seeing UH
Speaker 1: decline in the amount of cases. So in the beginning,
Speaker 1: UM my my floor had UH positive COVID patients and
Speaker 1: UM fortunately by the time I got there, so far,
Speaker 1: we haven't had any COVID positive patients on on my unit.
Speaker 1: You know, I was reading a little bit about you
Speaker 1: on the Semmetric to our website. I was reading about
Speaker 1: your collegiate schedule with your nursing degree and also playing,
Speaker 1: and I mean, you had an unbelievable collegiate career, three
Speaker 1: time Women's Golf Association Division to All American at Grand
Speaker 1: Valley State University. I mean, you're you're you're a great
Speaker 1: collegiate player. But there were there were days when you
Speaker 1: were in school and you'd be in class from nine
Speaker 1: am to nine pm. You credit your coach with changing
Speaker 1: your scheduling, and I've already mentioned your work schedule now
Speaker 1: where you go in from October to January. Do you
Speaker 1: consider yourself a golfer that's also a nurse or you
Speaker 1: a nurse that's also a golfer. That's a good question.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've ever thought about it. Um.
Speaker 1: I think when I'm golfing, I'm a golfer that's also
Speaker 1: a nurse. And I think when I'm nursing, I'm a
Speaker 1: nurse that also happens to be a golfer. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it just as as I kind of read through
Speaker 1: bios and stories on you, and and and current stories
Speaker 1: about you making this decision to go back to the hospital,
Speaker 1: you know, it really does paint this picture of this
Speaker 1: person that has always balanced these two things. And you know,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't think a lot of people understand
Speaker 1: the life that a symmetric tour player is choosing. I mean,
Speaker 1: we read about corn corn Ferry a lot. You know,
Speaker 1: I'll occasionally see a mini tour story pop up here
Speaker 1: and there. But you are both trying to make money
Speaker 1: as a golfer, and you also have a job, as
Speaker 1: you call it, on the side that helps pay the bills.
Speaker 1: And I mean this is a job in a hospital
Speaker 1: helping people. So it's not like you know, you're working
Speaker 1: at a circle k or you're driving an uber. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're doing unbelievable work when you're not on the golf course.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what seems to be so impressive.
Speaker 1: Are there other people like you out on tour that
Speaker 1: are doing this full time in two different landscapes. I
Speaker 1: know a lot of girls have part time job at
Speaker 1: the off season. I don't know of anyone that has
Speaker 1: like a full time position like this. No. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's just that that has been the thing that
Speaker 1: that has seemed so impressive. And and something else is
Speaker 1: is you talk a little bit about, you know, feeling
Speaker 1: like this was something you had to do. You said
Speaker 1: everyone and realize we had to come together as a strong,
Speaker 1: united front to provide the best possible care for all.
Speaker 1: You talk a lot about the difference really in the
Speaker 1: way you approach golf versus the way you approached nursing.
Speaker 1: You talk about golf being so individual and how the
Speaker 1: mindset is yours and years alone, and then you get
Speaker 1: to a hospital and you've got to do it as
Speaker 1: a team, and you've got to lean on others. I'm
Speaker 1: assuming right now that's probably never been more true. Is
Speaker 1: you're having to lean on other people to make sure
Speaker 1: everybody does what they're supposed to do. And really that
Speaker 1: kind of bleeds out into the community, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: if people aren't staying home and following orders, that's going
Speaker 1: to affect other people. Yeah, I mean this is a
Speaker 1: team effort for sure. And uh again, I think nurses
Speaker 1: and doctors get a lot of credit in the media,
Speaker 1: but um, I mean there are so many other people
Speaker 1: in the community that are doing their part that because
Speaker 1: of their job, are inherently taking taking fire risks of
Speaker 1: potentially contracting COVID Night Team themselves. But I mean in
Speaker 1: the hospital, we have the nutritional services that are delivering
Speaker 1: patient meals, and we have ebs that are environmental services
Speaker 1: that are cleaning all the rooms, and we have people
Speaker 1: dropping off equipment for the units, and we have our
Speaker 1: clerks and our managers and supervisors and educators and respiratory
Speaker 1: therapists and physical therapists and occupational therapists, and I think
Speaker 1: it's um, it's awesome and I've appreciated all the words
Speaker 1: of support. UM, but I think you know, and then
Speaker 1: people in the community that people delivering packages and groceries,
Speaker 1: store clerks and gas station attendants and UM, I just
Speaker 1: it's a team effort to achieve the best outcome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what is what has morale been like? You know, we've
Speaker 1: read stories of certain hot spots where you know, hospital
Speaker 1: workers are are exhausted, they're working these crazy long hours,
Speaker 1: they're working in their day easy bleed into other days.
Speaker 1: What has morale been like a Michigan medicine for you
Speaker 1: and your group of people? And what is how has
Speaker 1: that been different than when you normally work obviously without
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Yeah, so without the pandemic. We UM are
Speaker 1: an orthopedic trauma unit, which means UM. Usually we we
Speaker 1: see a lot of elective surgeries, a lot of elective
Speaker 1: hit surgery, near knee replacements, shoulders, ankles, you know, you
Speaker 1: name it. UM. A lot of those ortho surgeries are elective.
Speaker 1: So UM, with this pandemic going on, all those elective
Speaker 1: surgeries have been canceled. UM. So we're seeing a patient
Speaker 1: population that's very different from what we're used to. So
Speaker 1: my unit is UM stepping up as a whole. Are
Speaker 1: educators are sending us emails daily to update us on
Speaker 1: the new patient population. But it's UM. It has to
Speaker 1: be a team effort when you're taking care of patients
Speaker 1: that you're not normally used to seeing as much. It's UM.
Speaker 1: The thing about nursing is you have this base knowledge
Speaker 1: that allows you to take care of a wide range
Speaker 1: of patients UM. And the thing about nursing is you
Speaker 1: have to be willing to ask questions when you're on
Speaker 1: share of something. And so we're using each other as
Speaker 1: resources and using our management UM as resources and just
Speaker 1: doing doing the best we can. And we've just kind
Speaker 1: of settled into into this new normal of wearing masks
Speaker 1: for thirteen hours a day and being different patient populations
Speaker 1: than UM. It's a it's a time where we feel
Speaker 1: like we're even more important in our patients lives because UM.
Speaker 1: The patients that we're seeing, you know, because they weren't
Speaker 1: elective surgeries, they've been emergency, emergency situations where these patients
Speaker 1: would love to have their their support system there, their
Speaker 1: loved one there. And due to COVID nineteen, visitors are
Speaker 1: no longer allowed at the hospital except for extreme exceptions,
Speaker 1: and so they're facing this unknown time, an emergency situation
Speaker 1: without their loved ones as well. So we're really trying
Speaker 1: to step up and be there, be there for a
Speaker 1: patient as well. We're gonna take a quick break and
Speaker 1: be right back. Yeah, this is unfamiliar territory. I mean
Speaker 1: it is for everyone. You're a person that goes through
Speaker 1: schooling to learn, as you said, about everything, I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got to know things about everything so you can
Speaker 1: be helpful in all scenarios. Are you reading at night?
Speaker 1: Are you are you having to take a break? You
Speaker 1: know what? What is what is protocol for a nurse
Speaker 1: during this to feel like you're educated enough to have
Speaker 1: in certain scenarios because it's something that nobody knew much
Speaker 1: about four months ago. Yeah, for sure, I definitely read
Speaker 1: as much as I can um and our educator has
Speaker 1: been great about sending daily emails and helpful tips and
Speaker 1: and things like that. But also it's just the team
Speaker 1: I work with at Michigan Medicine is so great, and
Speaker 1: the doctors have been understanding that we're not necessarily working
Speaker 1: with patients that were used to and they've also helped
Speaker 1: to educate us about what is normal? What is abnormal?
Speaker 1: When the page when did not be concerned? And um,
Speaker 1: I think everyone's just learning, learning how to be a
Speaker 1: little bit more flexible and maybe give each other a
Speaker 1: little bit more grace, um, in order to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're all doing what we need to be doing
Speaker 1: for the best outcomes for our patients. Alright, golf question,
Speaker 1: when's the last time you touched the golf club? Actually
Speaker 1: this morning, so yeah, I got to play nine holes
Speaker 1: this morning. Um. Michigan reopened um golf courses, So I
Speaker 1: had the since the second week of March. I hadn't
Speaker 1: touched a club until Saturday. Um. Yeah, how was the game?
Speaker 1: How was the game on Saturday? The game on Saturday
Speaker 1: was a little bit of almost like beginner's luck. And
Speaker 1: then today the harsh reality that golf is a tough
Speaker 1: game kind of slapped me in the face. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I was. I was. I was talking to
Speaker 1: a good friend of mine that works with us at
Speaker 1: Fox who lives in California, and their golf courses have
Speaker 1: been closed for six weeks. They just opened up last week,
Speaker 1: and I told him, I said, You're gonna go out
Speaker 1: today and shoot even par one under and then the
Speaker 1: next round you're gonna shoot eighty five because the first
Speaker 1: round it always like where do you put your hands?
Speaker 1: And how do you grip this? And it all feels
Speaker 1: so it feels like a new game and you're just
Speaker 1: trying to go through the motions. And then the second
Speaker 1: round is the one where all the bad thoughts get
Speaker 1: back in your head. Oh, that couldn't be Yeah, that
Speaker 1: couldn't be closer to the truth. So what is it?
Speaker 1: What is your plan for the rest of the year
Speaker 1: in terms of play? I mean you do you have
Speaker 1: a do you have a set date? Is semestric to returning?
Speaker 1: What are your plans in terms of your golf No,
Speaker 1: Obviously the situation is dynamic and kind of always strangers.
Speaker 1: So we had originally got an email that we're going
Speaker 1: to start a mid June and Harris Michigan. We just
Speaker 1: recently received another update that July, I believe it's fix
Speaker 1: speak of July. UM in Cincinnati is our our target
Speaker 1: start date UM, and so my goal or my plan
Speaker 1: is to work in the hospital for another month, month
Speaker 1: and a half and then UM quarantine for two weeks
Speaker 1: and then be able to UM start practicing for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks before or before season starts. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be interesting because normally I like to play
Speaker 1: three weeks in a row, maybe four weeks in a row,
Speaker 1: and take a break. But with a short season, I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna have close to potentially thirteen weeks in
Speaker 1: a row. So I'm not so young as one up there,
Speaker 1: So I gotta start ramping up my workout routine so
Speaker 1: I can keep up with everybody. Call Rory and see
Speaker 1: if he'll send you as peloton. I mean, that is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Thirteen straight weeks is unheard of. I mean, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be uh, that is gonna be some serious leaning on
Speaker 1: the I gotta get nine or ten hours of sleep
Speaker 1: every night type of thing. What is what is it like? No,
Speaker 1: you know, a veteran in the Semetric Tour, You've done it,
Speaker 1: You've done it for a number of years. What is
Speaker 1: the Symmetric Tour like? Does it feel very European tory?
Speaker 1: When when I say that, I mean camaraderie, you guys
Speaker 1: staying together, host housing. What is the Symmetric Tour feel
Speaker 1: in terms of the players and participants week to week?
Speaker 1: It's just feels like a grind. It feels like, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's like the question of do I want to get
Speaker 1: Subway because it's cheap for dinner, or do I want
Speaker 1: to go get something that I know is gonna like
Speaker 1: really nourish my body to be able to perform well.
Speaker 1: It's this question of like, finances are always always on
Speaker 1: the mind, and it's leaning heavily. Last year, I played
Speaker 1: twenty events. I stayed in host housing for eighteen of
Speaker 1: those twenty events. UM. I used a volunteer caddy. I
Speaker 1: never paid for a caddy last season. UM. I definitely
Speaker 1: am following on a budget, as they say. And I
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be the tough part when we get
Speaker 1: back because there's been talks of not having caddies to
Speaker 1: limit you know, community exposure, and there believe there won't
Speaker 1: be any host housing for this year, so that's gonna
Speaker 1: increase expenses and UM, so that's gonna be a tough challenge.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think the semetric tour um, because everyone
Speaker 1: is in this sort of struggle together. UM, there is
Speaker 1: a sense of commodity and it's um, it really felt
Speaker 1: like a first day back at school for our first event.
Speaker 1: UM to kick off the season and it was so
Speaker 1: good to see everybody and to catch up and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I was excited to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 1: And then unfortunately, uh we had this second off season here,
Speaker 1: so um, it'll be it'll be good to get back.
Speaker 1: And UM, I'm we're fortunate, you know, in we played
Speaker 1: for the most amount of money that that the Cemetri
Speaker 1: has ever played for before Mike Nichols, and like one,
Speaker 1: I've done a great job of stepping up and increase
Speaker 1: our average purse sizes to make it to make it
Speaker 1: more affordable and to make us playing for more money
Speaker 1: every week. And I just I don't know how the
Speaker 1: how the women did it before before they stepped up
Speaker 1: to the play and started raising more money for us. Sarah, listen,
Speaker 1: I can't promise a lot of stuff here, but I
Speaker 1: will promise you this. If you've got to play thirteen
Speaker 1: straight weeks and they don't allow you a caddy, I
Speaker 1: will find some push card company to send you a
Speaker 1: free push card. I I don't, like I said, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't have a lot of pool here
Speaker 1: in this world, but I think I can maybe make
Speaker 1: that happen with what you've done. In your community and
Speaker 1: for people, and your selflessness and your commitment to giving back.
Speaker 1: I think we can probably find a click gear company
Speaker 1: to send you some some sort because if you're hoping
Speaker 1: your bag for thirteen weeks, I mean, this is like
Speaker 1: a golf iron man or something. I know. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: gonna hold you to that, gonna need that, and maybe
Speaker 1: like a water bottle or something. I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 1: We can work this. We can, we can note this
Speaker 1: lean and YETI let's get you the best water bottle possible.
Speaker 1: These are gonna be the gifts you get. You're coming
Speaker 1: on the podcast dot you were, you know, you're discussing
Speaker 1: your schedule in volunteer attis I just have to ask,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming you have an unbelievable volunteer caddy story. I
Speaker 1: don't want you to put throw anybody under the bus,
Speaker 1: but if you want to just not use names or
Speaker 1: tournaments and just give us your best volunteer caddy story,
Speaker 1: I'm sure people would love to hear it. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: there are so many um these people are golfers, I'm assuming, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're getting you're getting at least local caddies
Speaker 1: or club caddies or or golfers in some regard. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you're you're getting caddies that that at least
Speaker 1: know what's going on. I mean, sometimes it's not always
Speaker 1: I was. I've been I've been very fortunate with all
Speaker 1: of my caddies, with all my volunteer caddies, that they
Speaker 1: just really want to be there for me and help
Speaker 1: me out. And I appreciate it. Um. One, you know,
Speaker 1: listeners at home. One of the one of the horror
Speaker 1: stories luckily didn't happen to me, but happened to someone
Speaker 1: I was playing with. And I'm not going to name names,
Speaker 1: but someone was hitting the ball amazingly well and I
Speaker 1: think was three under with maybe six or seven holes
Speaker 1: to go and ended up three putting her last five holes, Um,
Speaker 1: five out six or five out seven holes or whatever
Speaker 1: it was, Uh, to finish a couple over and um.
Speaker 1: The next day she told her caddie, Hey, I'm on
Speaker 1: the putting green when you get here, just you know,
Speaker 1: so he could help, he could find her a little
Speaker 1: bit easier. And uh, he goes, oh good, I hope
Speaker 1: you were there all night last night. And then Dard
Speaker 1: hanging around. Uh, she hits one close and you know,
Speaker 1: we're saying nice, nice pot or whatever or a night
Speaker 1: and shot, and he looks at me like, do you
Speaker 1: think I can let her put with her driver? And
Speaker 1: I was like yeah, And it was just kind of
Speaker 1: some comments like that, and and she made a birdie
Speaker 1: and he's like, oh finally, and I you know, I
Speaker 1: kind of helped myself. I was like, I would like
Speaker 1: to see you do better, and unportantly for him, unfortunately
Speaker 1: for him, he did. He she made the cut and
Speaker 1: he didn't make the cut, so she she she carried
Speaker 1: her back for the last day. But that was that's
Speaker 1: definitely an exception to the rule. For the most part,
Speaker 1: everyone's just trying to help us out and they want
Speaker 1: to do whatever whatever is best for us. You know
Speaker 1: what what I envision in my head, Sarah about a
Speaker 1: volunteer caddy is as I've been to events and seeing
Speaker 1: the volunteers and how excited they are about their job.
Speaker 1: Is I bet at times it's just about scaling them back.
Speaker 1: You know, Hey, man, I got this. I actually I
Speaker 1: got the read. I know a club it is. I'm good.
Speaker 1: I bet that's more than the guy. That's underwhelming because
Speaker 1: so many people are so excited to help out because
Speaker 1: you know you're you're you're getting a professional golfer. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're getting a bag of somebody that knows what they're
Speaker 1: doing and that I caddied. That is very very rare
Speaker 1: when you're when you're a club caddy or a course caddy,
Speaker 1: just with every day, every day play. Oh yeah, one
Speaker 1: third percent. And I feel like I always have the
Speaker 1: conversation with my volunteer caddies of thank you so much
Speaker 1: for what you're doing. I appreciate it. Uh, you're here
Speaker 1: to limit my physical expenditure for the week, so I
Speaker 1: don't have to carry my own bag, and I would
Speaker 1: love to talk to you about anything besides golf. Um.
Speaker 1: So that's my that's my take on it. UM. I've
Speaker 1: had a caddy that we had a practice round. He
Speaker 1: did great. We got to the first hole and as
Speaker 1: a part five hit okay, drive got up to the
Speaker 1: green side bunker and two he goes, oh, don't go in,
Speaker 1: don't go in. I'm like, no, that's okay. We're you know,
Speaker 1: green side and two on a part five we can
Speaker 1: get that up and down for Bertie and then you know,
Speaker 1: we get to the next hole and the pins talked
Speaker 1: and he goes, oh, gosh, that's a that's a tough pen.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, you know it is. And in my head,
Speaker 1: I'm like, why did you say that? When we get
Speaker 1: to the third hole and he goes, okay, what are
Speaker 1: you thinking here? And I just had to say, remember, listen,
Speaker 1: remember that conversation we had about we can talk anything
Speaker 1: besides golf. He's like, oh, yeah, okay, okay, and then
Speaker 1: he totally got it, and with him, I shot my
Speaker 1: season well the next day and made the cut and
Speaker 1: you know, made top twenties. So I think that's, uh,
Speaker 1: that's very true. Just reminding them. They're so excited and
Speaker 1: they just want to help so much. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: unless you have the same caddy every week, it's really
Speaker 1: hard to trust somebody and they don't know my game.
Speaker 1: They don't know if I hit puts hard or soft,
Speaker 1: or if I you know, aim a little bit right
Speaker 1: and push it or pull it, you know whatever. They
Speaker 1: just don't know my game. So um, having a new
Speaker 1: caddy every week, it's, uh, it can be a little
Speaker 1: bit of a challenge, but um, I'm just appreciative to
Speaker 1: be able to talk about you know, their kids and
Speaker 1: grandkids and what they do for fun and stuff like
Speaker 1: that helps keep me loose on the course and you know,
Speaker 1: definitely saves me some energy. Yeah. Any and just no golf,
Speaker 1: I mean, just we'll talk about anything. I will. I
Speaker 1: will literally discuss all topics as long as golf is
Speaker 1: not the main focus here in between shots. I do
Speaker 1: love the uh there. I had a good friend of
Speaker 1: mine caddying for me years ago in a State Open
Speaker 1: qualifier and I shot you know, I shot thirty nine
Speaker 1: on the front. I didn't play very well, and he's
Speaker 1: given me the oh my goodness, we've gotta make some
Speaker 1: birdies on the back, and you know it's one of
Speaker 1: those where you want to say, no, no, man. I know,
Speaker 1: like I'm well aware that that wasn't great, and I'm
Speaker 1: also well aware of what needs to happen on the back.
Speaker 1: And I make two or three birdies and I got
Speaker 1: it back to even and we get to eighteen and
Speaker 1: hands me a driver and he says, let's not mess
Speaker 1: it up now. And you're like, oh my god, so positive,
Speaker 1: just unbelievable positive speak. You know, caddying is not an
Speaker 1: easy job, and I just I I respect the hell
Speaker 1: out of people that know how to do it well.
Speaker 1: And the professionals out there that are great at it
Speaker 1: are really really good at their job because they know
Speaker 1: how to handle a person in the situation, at the
Speaker 1: time and the conversation. So shout out to them, Sarah,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. You know, you're a saint. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for what you're doing. I hope that
Speaker 1: you and everybody are staying safe. I hope that that,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it continues to get better in
Speaker 1: your area. It seems like that's that's the case, at
Speaker 1: least the way the way you're you're talking about it,
Speaker 1: And like I said, I think people are going to
Speaker 1: really uh really appreciate you know, what you've done in
Speaker 1: your decision to kind of go back to the hospital. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you so much and thanks for having me on
Speaker 1: and I'll look forward to that free push cart, push
Speaker 1: cart and water bottle. You can follow her. It's Sarah Hoffman.
Speaker 1: That's Sarah with an h Sarah Hoffman Golf. That's on Instagram. Sarah,
Speaker 1: are you not on Twitter? Is that that nobody young?
Speaker 1: No young people are on Twitter anymore? Right, Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 1: You need to get a come on it's making a comeback.
Speaker 1: It's I'm telling you, it's making you gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta just dive in, dive in and laugh. That's
Speaker 1: all I can ask Sarah. I appreciate the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We're gonna take a quick break
Speaker 1: and be right back. A big, big thanks to Sarah
Speaker 1: Hoppin for joining us, and a reminder you can follow
Speaker 1: her on Instagram at Sarah with an h Sarah Hoffman
Speaker 1: Golf on Instagram. Follow her and we will continue to
Speaker 1: track her progress and her successes this year. Great story,
Speaker 1: unbelievable young lady, and I was I was pumped to
Speaker 1: have her on. If you guys get a chance to play,
Speaker 1: go out and have some fun, be smart, be safe,
Speaker 1: and we'll be back next week with more of these
Speaker 1: feel good podcast focused around the golf community and what
Speaker 1: we are doing to uh, you know, to shift maybe
Speaker 1: the focus that's normally what certain companies or people are doing,
Speaker 1: but all the shifting is to help other people and
Speaker 1: that is the point of this. I hope you guys
Speaker 1: have a great week. We will check back in soon.
Speaker 1: The Clubhouse was Shane Bacon as a production of I
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