Speaker 1: I miss the green, for example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 1: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my ball in a egg Friday Egg,
Speaker 1: the dreaded Friday Egg, Friday Frida Bride Egg.
Speaker 2: Lie, I'm about ready to run.
Speaker 1: Off of the course.
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome back to another edition of the
Speaker 2: Friday Egg Podcast. Today I'm joined by European Tour player
Speaker 2: Richie Ramsey. Richie is the former US Amateur Champion, a
Speaker 2: three time winner on the European Tour, and uh burgeoning
Speaker 2: golf course architecture nut Ritchie, Welcome on.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, it's h always exciting to talk to
Speaker 2: guys that can talk about you know, competitive golf and
Speaker 2: playing golf at the highest level, but also architecture.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, it's playing golf for a long long
Speaker 1: time now, since I was a little kid, fortunate to
Speaker 1: travel to some far from places and experienced a lot
Speaker 1: of different courses and cultures and stuff. So definitely got
Speaker 1: a afresh look at some some architecture and that with
Speaker 1: a lot of travels on the European Touring and obviously
Speaker 1: coming from Britain, got a pretty traditional aspect of it
Speaker 1: mixed in there. So yeah, that's kind of my My
Speaker 1: new thing at the moment is is learning a bit
Speaker 1: more about the great designers and what drove them and
Speaker 1: their their skill set and how it developed over the
Speaker 1: last well probably eighty or ninety years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then in your case of where you grew up,
Speaker 2: I mean over the last two hundred plus years. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: one hundred yeah, long time. I can't do that math.
Speaker 2: So Richie, why don't you give our listeners a little
Speaker 2: bit of background. How do you, you know, get into
Speaker 2: golf and uh, and just kind of your story, all right, I'll.
Speaker 1: Try, and I tend to rabble a bit. I'll try,
Speaker 1: and I'll try and cut it as as quickly as
Speaker 1: I can do it with with a little timeline. So basically, yeah,
Speaker 1: I started golf when I was a little kid, you know,
Speaker 1: and plastic balls and plastic clubs in the back garden.
Speaker 1: But like any Scottish kid or most Scottish kids, I
Speaker 1: wanted to play football, so soccer and not American football.
Speaker 1: When I was younger, and by the time I got
Speaker 1: to about thirteen or fourteen, started to realize that I
Speaker 1: was decent at football, but I was never great, and
Speaker 1: I was far better at golf. And it was my
Speaker 1: grandfather who got me into. Used to take me to
Speaker 1: the nine holer cut down clubs and wrap tape around them,
Speaker 1: like you know, you just buy taping at like a
Speaker 1: tennis shop or something, any kind of tape, just wrap
Speaker 1: it around. And yeah, he used to take me up.
Speaker 1: I remember the the Volve he used to drive. It
Speaker 1: was like a tank. It wouldn't he can it would.
Speaker 1: It would knock anything else off the road.
Speaker 2: It was like the most safe car ever built.
Speaker 1: Yeah he would, he would. He would drive it pretty ruthlessly.
Speaker 1: It went one too many indicators or too many looks.
Speaker 1: It was just foot down at the floor, which was
Speaker 1: quite quite amusing. But yeah, he was. He was a
Speaker 1: huge influence on me. And you know, he was an
Speaker 1: ex He was an ex RAF serviceman and he was
Speaker 1: a head teacher at school, so he had quite a
Speaker 1: quite a strong sense of direction. And it wasn't until
Speaker 1: after he passed away that I realized he was actually
Speaker 1: he was an He had an MB, which is a
Speaker 1: member of the British Empire, I think, which is you
Speaker 1: get that stored on you by the Queen. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I sort of, you know, a huge amount of respect
Speaker 1: for my grandfather when he was alive, but even more
Speaker 1: so when he after he passed, because I started to
Speaker 1: realize and research a bit put him. So he was
Speaker 1: the biggest influence on on me. So yeah, fifteen, started
Speaker 1: playing some tournaments and I finished second to my good
Speaker 1: friend now George Murray at the under sixteen's Scotti Strope.
Speaker 1: Been realized, you know, maybe there's a future in this
Speaker 1: for me, because I played well but only lost by
Speaker 1: a shot, and I felt that I could have won.
Speaker 1: So then, you know, travel the world, played under eighteen,
Speaker 1: under twenty one, played for Europe in New Zealand, played
Speaker 1: all around the world by Japan, and you can imagine
Speaker 1: South Africa Eisenhower Trophy. I played Walker Cup two thousand
Speaker 1: and five and had a spell in America for a year,
Speaker 1: and the golf courship came back right about that time.
Speaker 1: And I had four years at university and sterling got
Speaker 1: a degree there two thousand and six and one in
Speaker 1: the US Amateur and after that finished my degree and
Speaker 1: then two thousand and seven turned pro and with a
Speaker 1: degree in my pocket and kind of gave it a
Speaker 1: shot and from then I feel like I progressed to
Speaker 1: the Challenge Tour after a couple of years, and I've
Speaker 1: been on the main tour since two thousand and nine.
Speaker 1: So one three times, South African Open, AMIGA, European Masters,
Speaker 1: and the Hassan Trophy too, which is a Morocco So.
Speaker 2: You're a global winner.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, nice to nice to chalk up a few
Speaker 1: all over the place. And I suppose that's the It's not.
Speaker 1: It says it's a European tour, but where as a
Speaker 1: global tours you're going to get without playing in North
Speaker 1: America really or South America, so everywhere else will pretty
Speaker 1: much go to and lots of air mils, lots of airports.
Speaker 2: I wonder how many guys have won on like six
Speaker 2: contents because you could win in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia
Speaker 2: and then the US that I mean, that'd be pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah yeah, I mean the last four tournaments I
Speaker 1: played in twenty seventeen were in four different contents week
Speaker 1: after week.
Speaker 2: It is crazy. It's it definitely is turning into a
Speaker 2: world tour. I obviously, you know, air travel has made
Speaker 2: a lot easier. Kind of going back to what you
Speaker 2: turn pro. You were You played as an amateur in
Speaker 2: the and the Masters, the US Open, and the Open Championship,
Speaker 2: and I know that year was a Walker Cup year.
Speaker 2: Did you put much thought into staying am and and
Speaker 2: playing in the Walker Cup for a second time?
Speaker 1: You know what? I thought about it, And I didn't
Speaker 1: know really until about the start of the summer, and
Speaker 1: I really thought to myself there were three reasons for it.
Speaker 1: I'm quite a logical guy, and I like to you know,
Speaker 1: me and my coach talk it through, and if he
Speaker 1: asked me a question, he knows that I can always
Speaker 1: validate the answer. So there's sort of three reasons behind it.
Speaker 1: Were One that I just felt it was time. I
Speaker 1: felt I was plateauing out and I wanted to push
Speaker 1: myself a little bit more. I had already played the
Speaker 1: Walker Cup, so I'd already had that experience. Two was
Speaker 1: that all the other guys who were playing the Walker Cup,
Speaker 1: it was a strong GBI team, and when that Work
Speaker 1: Cup was over, they'd all be looking for invites to tournaments.
Speaker 1: And if I turned pro before that, I would have
Speaker 1: far greater access to invites. So that was the way
Speaker 1: I was thinking just to get myself starts and tournaments
Speaker 1: and three can I remember the third one? I don't
Speaker 1: know if I can. There was a third one, but
Speaker 1: I can't remember it. So it was kind of got feeling.
Speaker 1: But the way things were lined up for me, I
Speaker 1: felt that it was the best to just to turn
Speaker 1: pro at that time. And and I'm trying and get
Speaker 1: a foothold on on one of the pro tours, and
Speaker 1: that's what you really have to do. Two things. I
Speaker 1: mean I discussed the other day with someone when you
Speaker 1: turn pro or really you have to find somewhere to play,
Speaker 1: and it helps if it's a good competitive tour like
Speaker 1: Chance to our web dot Com or obviously the main tours,
Speaker 1: and you have to have money to play on those tours.
Speaker 1: So those are those are your two main things I
Speaker 1: think really to accomplish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've seen a couple kids from the State's turn
Speaker 2: pro after their first Master this year, and the logic
Speaker 2: behind it, and it makes a lot of sense, is like,
Speaker 2: you know, these kids turn pro after they graduate or
Speaker 2: after their their school year, but then there there aren't
Speaker 2: enough tournaments to get starting to fill your you know,
Speaker 2: seven or eight sponsors exemptions while you know by the
Speaker 2: end of the year because of the way it's laid out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm surprised that these this day and age, I'm
Speaker 1: some of the decisions I see people make are I
Speaker 1: don't really understand them. I under I totally get everybody's
Speaker 1: individual and I'm a massive believe in that because in myself,
Speaker 1: I'm quite individual and the way I approach stuff and
Speaker 1: the way I look at things and what believe in.
Speaker 1: But I sometimes think people make decisions and almost make
Speaker 1: it harder for themselves, and it's it's a it's a
Speaker 1: harder task as it is to get hold of the
Speaker 1: professional tour. So whatever you do has to be thought through.
Speaker 1: You know, have a mentor your coach or someone from
Speaker 1: outside look at it and maybe throw up a few
Speaker 1: other issues with it, and hopefully you can come to
Speaker 1: a solid decision and one that gives you the best
Speaker 1: chance to progress in the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's almost like you got to maximize your chances,
Speaker 2: because that's almost what It's such a it's such a
Speaker 2: crazy sport. Like it's the difference between it and say,
Speaker 2: like you know, American like football or American basketball, or
Speaker 2: I imagine soccer like when you're playing on a lower
Speaker 2: tier team, you get a scout, you get a salary,
Speaker 2: you get your food paid for, your travel paid for.
Speaker 2: But in golf, it's all on you. It's a help performance.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, it's all on you. And I think
Speaker 1: I think it's you know, it can be hard because
Speaker 1: the way the media present a lot of the guys
Speaker 1: who come through, it's kind of like, oh, he just
Speaker 1: turned pro and then he got a foothold, and well
Speaker 1: look at John Ram he did it and he turned
Speaker 1: pro and you know he's a multiple winner now and whatever,
Speaker 1: top five in the world. And mclroy did it. And
Speaker 1: I was like, but for every one, you know, there's
Speaker 1: tens of thousands, maybe if not hundreds of thousands who
Speaker 1: don't make it. These are exceptions to the role these
Speaker 1: are I mean McRoy, I would say he's a one
Speaker 1: He's not even a one in a decade player. He's
Speaker 1: what he's a player that comes.
Speaker 2: Along every it's like a generational guy.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, I would say at least every fifty years.
Speaker 1: I mean, the amount of talent this year talent he has.
Speaker 1: I think there's only in my mind, there's only haven't
Speaker 1: played with every single person but there'll be you'd have this,
Speaker 1: you know, one hand to cut and other people who
Speaker 1: have this hmount of talent he does, and that's close
Speaker 1: to him, that's not even probably the amount he has
Speaker 1: as just one person.
Speaker 2: Well, I think back to my junior golf days and
Speaker 2: a name that now he's really having a lot of
Speaker 2: success was is Brian Harmon. But as a junior, I
Speaker 2: mean he absolutely dominated golf. I mean he was. He
Speaker 2: was a two time Walker Cup player, probably one of
Speaker 2: the best junior golfers of all time. And now at
Speaker 2: age thirty one, he's, you know, really starting to become
Speaker 2: an elite American player. But it takes time for a
Speaker 2: lot of guys. It's it's so rare to have someone
Speaker 2: like Spieth or someone like McElroy have such success before
Speaker 2: they're twenty four.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah. And I think guys just guys just
Speaker 1: turn pro younger these days as well. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: the reasoning behind that. Maybe I think they see, you
Speaker 1: know that maybe the lifestyle thing. You know, I want that.
Speaker 1: I don't want to go to university. I just want
Speaker 1: it and go for it. Earlier the gates, you know,
Speaker 1: I played against funny enough, I played against Brian Harmon
Speaker 1: and Walker Cup. He was He's you know, he's a
Speaker 1: great He's also a great talent, very natural player, good
Speaker 1: belief in himself. And I think I won one against
Speaker 1: someone lost one. But the guy who was the most
Speaker 1: talented and he's in the top five most talent guys
Speaker 1: I've ever played with and we played against them, was
Speaker 1: Anthony Kim. He was the real deal. He was just
Speaker 1: you know, dry, it drove it well, pretty long, good
Speaker 1: iron player, great natural ability to shape shots, aggressive, good putter,
Speaker 1: just wasn't a weakness in his game. You know, he's
Speaker 1: still to this day was. I mean, he he could
Speaker 1: have won majors. I think multiple majors. That about it.
Speaker 2: It's uh, it's definitely one of the sadder stories of
Speaker 2: golf in terms. Was there anybody like, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: just out of this world talent that you've seen that's
Speaker 2: given up on the game like that you grew up
Speaker 2: playing against.
Speaker 1: I think he was not, really, I think he was.
Speaker 1: He was the one guy who always stood out to
Speaker 1: me and and and people ask me, who's the most
Speaker 1: talent guys you've ever played with? Well, be enforcement playing
Speaker 1: with Tiger, who's obviously immensely talent. Rory and Sergio in
Speaker 1: this in in the same bracket, very close to each other,
Speaker 1: but for someone doesn't even play now, hadn't he was
Speaker 1: the one who's stood out and just yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a real shame that just you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know the reasons, but it just didn't just don't come
Speaker 1: to fruition and work out because he was just so
Speaker 1: naturally just looks so naturally talented, and it was one
Speaker 1: of those guys you like, yeah, I'd pay to watch
Speaker 1: him because he's he's legit. You know, he gets the
Speaker 1: job done.
Speaker 2: I'm waiting for Anthony Kim to get his amateur status
Speaker 2: back and start becoming a menace on the mid amp
Speaker 2: circuit and the worst nightmare.
Speaker 1: Yeah he could. He was enjoy that playing the golf
Speaker 1: court and if you drinks, he'd be all right at that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, cocktail to ur would be shook. Shook from Anthony
Speaker 2: Kim revival. You meant it like, how was your perception
Speaker 2: of golf and like competition changed over the years.
Speaker 1: I would say there there's just a lot more people
Speaker 1: who don't ah give up as much. And what I
Speaker 1: mean by that is there's far more people who are committed,
Speaker 1: you know, who do the right things, who you know,
Speaker 1: who goes to the gym, make sure the stretch, have
Speaker 1: a physio, you know, go out and practice dedicated discipline,
Speaker 1: you know, play play aggressive a definitely. Unfortunately, I would
Speaker 1: say there's more one diment, not one dimensional players, but
Speaker 1: just longer hitters who can dominate golf courses with length,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, they're not playing the same golf course.
Speaker 1: I am as simple as that. But that happens not
Speaker 1: every week but some weeks. And yeah, just overall, the
Speaker 1: competition is stronger and it's deeper at the same time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, a level of commitment commitment of players has
Speaker 1: gone up. I think the distance more, the more guys,
Speaker 1: you know, if you just fly would just bomb it
Speaker 1: rather than you see them really working the ball and
Speaker 1: shaping shots. And also just the strength and depth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I noticed that I was at the BMW
Speaker 2: this year and I was watching Rory play with Alie
Speaker 2: Schneider dance and Ali was hitting it like right up
Speaker 2: even with Rory all day pretty much, and I thought back,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, god, you know, like eight seven, eight
Speaker 2: years ago, Rory was like twenty yards past everybody.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's just everybody's bigger. You know, there's a lot
Speaker 1: more guys. You're bigger on two who really, I've got
Speaker 1: a club it's been that really makes a difference, and
Speaker 1: it's the way it's going, and I kind of feel
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of a shame because that's how
Speaker 1: some of the new courses build it, and it actually
Speaker 1: gives more of an advantage, you know. I love the
Speaker 1: I always love the line over tigerproofing, Augusta. You're just playing.
Speaker 1: What you're doing is you're playing to his hands and
Speaker 1: taking away from the guys who are the bigger hers.
Speaker 1: If you want a tiger proof it, you're now the
Speaker 1: fairs at three hundred yards or put the bunkers further down,
Speaker 1: you know, make it so you so it's it's it's
Speaker 1: narrow and tighter, and it just it shows you can
Speaker 1: tell golf courses you play, which are you know, look
Speaker 1: at Hilton Head, I mean, look at the guys who
Speaker 1: do well there, you know, Couture, Luke, Donald, t Mac.
Speaker 1: I can't remember all them, but I mean, look, you
Speaker 1: know they're up there. They can work the ball, move
Speaker 1: the ball, real shot makers, straight off the tee, tidy,
Speaker 1: short games, good technical tactical awareness of getting the ball
Speaker 1: around the golf course. You never, I mean, when do
Speaker 1: you ever see a guy who stands up and bombs
Speaker 1: it and do well around there?
Speaker 2: It's not really not often. As I had Bill Kooran
Speaker 2: and he was talking about Trinity Forrest, the course he designed,
Speaker 2: and he talked about the idea of making courses shorter
Speaker 2: and wider because it forces players to, you know, not
Speaker 2: only hit the ball straight, but they have to pick
Speaker 2: a line and hit at the right distance as opposed
Speaker 2: to just hitting it straight.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that's a lot what Harbortown is.
Speaker 2: Do you do you kind of schedule your events with
Speaker 2: that in mind?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, There's there's definitely places that you know, I
Speaker 1: look at and I think I can win there, definitely
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. And there's some places that I
Speaker 1: look at and I think I could win there, but
Speaker 1: I still need to play really really well to finish
Speaker 1: top ten because it gives some guys a huge advantage
Speaker 1: and doesn't punish them where I think it should do,
Speaker 1: Like where I'm trying to think of somewhere like like
Speaker 1: a lot of the co golf person in China really
Speaker 1: favor the guys who move it. We used to play
Speaker 1: a golf course there called Lake Malarin and it was
Speaker 1: really bomber central soft and if you could shift it
Speaker 1: and made a big difference. But then you put them
Speaker 1: you flip that and you put me around it. You
Speaker 1: put me around Valdorama. Now that's just like a tounnel
Speaker 1: most holes. And I love that. I could play golf
Speaker 1: there every day for the rest of my life and
Speaker 1: would be a happy man. But some people absolutely hate
Speaker 1: it because it's it's now you have to move it.
Speaker 1: There's a bit of wind, and it really is like
Speaker 1: you know, you come off there and you shoot under par,
Speaker 1: and you know you give yourself pat in the back
Speaker 1: because that's a health round of golf.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, that's I mean. Veldram I had a couple
Speaker 2: of was it two years ago, beef one shooting over
Speaker 2: par right for the four rounds.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I played when and a couple of those round
Speaker 1: I think, and it was it was. It was very
Speaker 1: tricky and strong, strong wind and the greens are quite
Speaker 1: fast and they're quite small targets and they're rough at
Speaker 1: the side of greens. Was absolutely brutal, like if you
Speaker 1: missed it by two yards inside of green, you could,
Speaker 1: you know. I remember having one and I was like,
Speaker 1: there was one round where I was off the green
Speaker 1: by less than three yards, and every single time I
Speaker 1: was chipping away from the pin because I couldn't go
Speaker 1: at it because it was I couldn't control it, and
Speaker 1: it was so quick that it would be chipping off
Speaker 1: the other side. So that was just really tough conditions.
Speaker 1: But it is a phenomenal golf course. It just makes
Speaker 1: you think and you have to think about all the shots.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes hitting you know, like the first hole,
Speaker 1: really really spinny green. You stand there and you get
Speaker 1: the wind into which he knows above the trees. But
Speaker 1: if you don't have that niner and you can know
Speaker 1: one hundred and ten yards, you can't you can't control
Speaker 1: the ball. So that's that's something you just got to
Speaker 1: you got to have. It's you know, it's a lot
Speaker 1: less one dimensional than I say some of the modern
Speaker 1: golf courses are.
Speaker 2: So it kind of brings up an interesting point I
Speaker 2: with with the difference that you know, playing in Europe
Speaker 2: and on the European Tour, you play obviously all over
Speaker 2: the world. How big of an adjustment is it going,
Speaker 2: you know, from playing golf and say, you know the
Speaker 2: British Isles to these different parts of the world.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a massive adjustment. It used to be, you know,
Speaker 1: I argue to a lot of people it used to
Speaker 1: be to our advantage because we generally used to play
Speaker 1: in Europe, so you had time. Difference was helping helping us.
Speaker 1: Type of courses, the type of grass, the temperature. But
Speaker 1: these days it actually goes the opposite way, probably favors
Speaker 1: a lot of the guys who play abroad more. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's just not the same type of golf. You know,
Speaker 1: you play a lot more golf along the ground. There's
Speaker 1: far more wins, so your your your ball flight needs
Speaker 1: to be stronger and it needs to be more penetrating.
Speaker 1: You don't just stand up and hit it up in
Speaker 1: the sky and drop it down. Around the greens is
Speaker 1: dramatically more different from the fact that you know, you're
Speaker 1: you're keeping on the ground, You're putting a lot more,
Speaker 1: you're playing these sort of flop shots as much from
Speaker 1: from thick rough But then you know, in the summer,
Speaker 1: greens are a lot firmer, but they're generally slower than
Speaker 1: the ones on tour, So you know, you take that
Speaker 1: we have I mean, I think, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we have a major, major problem in Scotland with just
Speaker 1: simple facts of life, which are if you want to
Speaker 1: win a tournament on the PGA Tour or the European Tour,
Speaker 1: and you look at what's gained whoever number that is
Speaker 1: guessing it's roughly about three three and a half per round.
Speaker 1: But we don't have greens that we can practice on
Speaker 1: consistently so we can go out and tour and compete.
Speaker 1: So my argument has always been backed up by the data,
Speaker 1: and the data shows that the most important thing about
Speaker 1: when a golf skirt tournament, Yeah you've got you know,
Speaker 1: you've got the ball strike it and a lot of
Speaker 1: Scottish guys do because you can't play a links golf
Speaker 1: without being a pretty good ball striker. Yeah yeah, but
Speaker 1: fundamentally you've got to put well and if you don't
Speaker 1: have that, there are also weeks you can get very close,
Speaker 1: but most weeks you're gonna have to put well to win,
Speaker 1: and we don't have the facilities the match in with
Speaker 1: what the data suggests you need to be a winner.
Speaker 2: So I saw you you were in the States, your
Speaker 2: wife is American and you were practicing at at Hazeltine
Speaker 2: in Minnesota over the holidays. Is that the type of
Speaker 2: setup that you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, something something along those lines. I mean, we have
Speaker 1: a couple of indoor facilities in Scotland. I haven't been
Speaker 1: some number private. One of them is just recently opened
Speaker 1: that haven't been too yet other than the Chance, but
Speaker 1: facility hazel Teene is I mean it's got a punting
Speaker 1: green indoor in the basement that's probably twenty five thirty
Speaker 1: feet by about twenty feet, so great for practicing. You're
Speaker 1: putting working on your working on a skill effectively and
Speaker 1: trying to enhance a skill on a consistent green that's
Speaker 1: similar paste of the tour, a little bit of slope
Speaker 1: in it, and you don't have all these variables which
Speaker 1: are you know, bumps in the green wind especially as
Speaker 1: a major thing for us, and just a consistent surface
Speaker 1: to put so you can you can work on and
Speaker 1: try and improve your you're putting that way, and I
Speaker 1: think that's that's something that we hopefully can address in
Speaker 1: the in your future. I understand there's facilities at Northwest
Speaker 1: and a lot of the northern colleges that help them
Speaker 1: out in the winter. I've seen some of the facilities
Speaker 1: there which look incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So you were part of like the Scottish Golf the
Speaker 2: like performance program when you're an amateur. Correct.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was from almost age fifteen hours in what
Speaker 1: we call the Scottish squads and progressed through what was
Speaker 1: the Scottish Golf Union which now is just called Scottish Golf.
Speaker 1: I believe.
Speaker 2: So like there they pick up your travel expenses, tournament
Speaker 2: entry fees and then like coaching fees. Is that how
Speaker 2: it kind of works.
Speaker 1: They what happens is they they pay for some of
Speaker 1: your expenses. It's not all of them, but once once
Speaker 1: you're like a full let me say a full squad
Speaker 1: member of the Scotland setup, then you get reasonable expenses.
Speaker 1: So you still have to put in money of your
Speaker 1: own to go go away and play tournaments, but they
Speaker 1: assist you with that. And then the major thing is
Speaker 1: is providing help with resources like strength and conditioning, physio
Speaker 1: coaching if if needed, so you may have your own
Speaker 1: coach you work with. You may come to the squad
Speaker 1: sessions and they will Laise and work on that. But
Speaker 1: over the I think over the last i'd say ten years,
Speaker 1: it's it's changed a lot for the better. So it's
Speaker 1: it's it's really really good now and the guys have, yeah,
Speaker 1: a great structure behind them and a great performance set up.
Speaker 1: But with anything can almost get better.
Speaker 2: H How how would you compare and obviously you never
Speaker 2: were a part of it, but compare it to like
Speaker 2: a I know England has it, Ireland has it, Australia
Speaker 2: has it. Are they all pretty comparable or is there
Speaker 2: one that kind of stands out?
Speaker 1: I would say it's funny. I think we so so
Speaker 1: I was split it into two. I was split it
Speaker 1: into your job is to sort of produce great amateur
Speaker 1: and great amateur teams, and I think we've done a
Speaker 1: really good job of that. We've always had a good
Speaker 1: success rate of an amateur golf, especially with our team performances.
Speaker 1: If you look at us when the European Championships, when
Speaker 1: I played Homer Nationals, we really played well. I'm almost
Speaker 1: dominated for about three years, which is is England, Island,
Speaker 1: Wales and Scotland play every year. We did well in
Speaker 1: the Europeans. We did pretty good in the Eisenhewer not great,
Speaker 1: but I think top ten but there's not. But the
Speaker 1: problem is we've, for one reason or another, we struggled
Speaker 1: to produce really good professionals in the last maybe seven
Speaker 1: or eight years. Whereas you know, we're a level pegging
Speaker 1: with England amateur. But then when it comes to professional,
Speaker 1: they seem to produce a lot more professionals, a lot
Speaker 1: more professionals who make it to a higher level. But
Speaker 1: they have a population of fifty five million and formre
Speaker 1: people playing golf, So it's not like for like, if
Speaker 1: you see where I'm see what I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I've always wondered why the States don't have it,
Speaker 2: But it could just be it's just so big.
Speaker 1: Now I think it's I think it's so big, and
Speaker 1: the university is like the university budgets outweigh what what
Speaker 1: the Scottish golf budget would be, I mean tenfold easily.
Speaker 2: That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: Like I hear stories that are just to me are
Speaker 1: just incredible, Like I think this might be a mistake.
Speaker 1: But roughly speaking, I think Georgia Tech I believe were
Speaker 1: because I used to live in Atlanta at the time.
Speaker 1: We're looking for a new practice facility, and they built
Speaker 1: a new one downtown in Atlanta, and they had to
Speaker 1: obviously purchase a land, they had to build a club house. Terrific.
Speaker 1: I would do them with it. I think cost thirteen
Speaker 1: million dollars to do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Illinois built one that was like eight
Speaker 2: or nine million on on campus. That's it's crazy. And
Speaker 2: it's like they these kids they go to school and
Speaker 2: they hit. They can hit on a range that has
Speaker 2: every different type of grass, kind of like what you
Speaker 2: were talking to. They can practice putting on bermuda grass
Speaker 2: even though they're in Illinois.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that, that to me is unbelievable. The
Speaker 1: resources they have to do that, the vision they have
Speaker 1: to do is pretty impressive. But what I would say
Speaker 1: is it's really important to have good resources. But even
Speaker 1: I fell into the this trap is that when I
Speaker 1: was in Scotland, I was far more hardened two traveling,
Speaker 1: playing in tough conditions. So then when I got to
Speaker 1: like a nice country club, I'd be like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is unbelievable. Look at this that there's nucrobe ones in
Speaker 1: the range, Like you know, this is we're petting off,
Speaker 1: turn out and off matts, there's no wind. You know,
Speaker 1: the greens are running at like ten and a half.
Speaker 1: This is incredible. Whereas sometimes you can build up these
Speaker 1: great facilities, but if I was a coach, yeah, let
Speaker 1: them practice fill it, but one day a week, I
Speaker 1: take them to the worst place, worst golf course in
Speaker 1: wherever they were, and make them play, and I want
Speaker 1: to see them hit it out of like rubbish lies,
Speaker 1: putting greens that aren't that great, deal with conditions and
Speaker 1: see how they're actually develops over that day and see
Speaker 1: how they work with that, because you because when you
Speaker 1: have everything at your disposal, it's only going to get
Speaker 1: worse from there because it doesn't. It's not all. It's
Speaker 1: not all one hundred percent first class facilities everywhere you go,
Speaker 1: especially when you're starting out in professional golf.
Speaker 2: Like the challenge to her, I bet you you probably
Speaker 2: played a lot of places that were suspect at best
Speaker 2: and conditioning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Chancer has got a lot of good
Speaker 1: courses and it's a great tour to build off. But
Speaker 1: when I played, you know, sometimes there wasn't a driving range.
Speaker 1: You know, you're just hitting a net and then you
Speaker 1: teed off on the first so you know, you've got
Speaker 1: to You've got to deal with that, and you have
Speaker 1: to and then you go and play, you know, qualifying
Speaker 1: school and you know, say the weather hasn't been great
Speaker 1: and the golf courses in great condition. You've got to
Speaker 1: deal with that. And I think I'm a big believer
Speaker 1: that adversity makes you very strong. And it's not in
Speaker 1: the peaks that we build the characters in the troughs
Speaker 1: and when you're down in a lot, in the sort
Speaker 1: of trenches, that's where you build your character and your
Speaker 1: belief and your determination, your motivation which will see you
Speaker 1: get to the top. And when you're at the top,
Speaker 1: you need to remember that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think golf is it's a different sport in
Speaker 2: the sense that like you almost learn more when you fail,
Speaker 2: like when you get in a moment and you fail,
Speaker 2: because then the next time you you remember that and
Speaker 2: you might think differently.
Speaker 1: Right, oh, yeah, we've all been there, you know, especially
Speaker 1: in professional golf. You walk off and you do question yourself,
Speaker 1: even the top players. I'm sure they question themselves. It's
Speaker 1: is just what I would be doing. Is this. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it feels like it's torture, you know, but there's a
Speaker 1: you know there's there's a light attended tunnel, and I
Speaker 1: think you need to have good people around you. Is
Speaker 1: really to support you and be a positive impact and
Speaker 1: pick you up when when times are down. That's that's
Speaker 1: a that's something that I have, and it's something that's
Speaker 1: a major I'm not saying I've I'm not saying I've
Speaker 1: been an incredible player, but the success that I've had
Speaker 1: is attributed to people that are there for me when
Speaker 1: I ultimately need them. Because you know, everybody, maybe from
Speaker 1: the outside it looks great, you know these guys, you know,
Speaker 1: top players in the world, you know, making millions and
Speaker 1: flying private jets and you know Holliday in the Bahamas
Speaker 1: and you know all this kind of stuff. But you know,
Speaker 1: just like in everybody's life, you know, you get these
Speaker 1: times where they can be pretty hard and you've got
Speaker 1: to have those people around you which provide a safety
Speaker 1: net and pick you up when you're feeling down.
Speaker 2: So with it being kind of a new year, how
Speaker 2: do you in new season for you? Is it do
Speaker 2: you get do you just kind of keep rolling from
Speaker 2: season to season, or is do you do you have
Speaker 2: a kind of new season structure or like have a
Speaker 2: mentality to approach it.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll try and clock out. I was very much
Speaker 1: a guy who would be off season. Now we just
Speaker 1: keep going, keep practicing, and keep working on it. But
Speaker 1: I've realized it's different now. I've got family. I've spent
Speaker 1: time with them, but I really sort of hold myself
Speaker 1: off and get away from it as much as possible
Speaker 1: in order that when I come back, I'm refreshed, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go. Because it's not always the time that
Speaker 1: you're playing. Sometimes the most important time is a recipediod.
Speaker 1: You know. I analyze the year, think about what I
Speaker 1: did well, think about what I didn't do well. I
Speaker 1: test equipment. I like to set on equipment before I
Speaker 1: teat up in the first tournament. Just think about schedule
Speaker 1: and try and try and do a lot of like
Speaker 1: advance work so that when I'm at the tournament, I
Speaker 1: don't need to I just need to focus on that
Speaker 1: tournament and come into it fresh and and but at
Speaker 1: the same time still sharp. That's why I go to
Speaker 1: Dubai early doors to get good practice and just be
Speaker 1: you know, sounds sounds a bit of a little bit cliche,
Speaker 1: but you know, attitude of number one train like train
Speaker 1: like your number two.
Speaker 2: Mm hm, that's it's a good good mentality you have.
Speaker 2: You got to have confidence in this game, that's yeah.
Speaker 1: And Scottish Scottish Scottish confidence is is like pessimism really,
Speaker 1: to be honest, it's not Scott's have never been shouting
Speaker 1: from the rooftops and if you do, you get dragged
Speaker 1: down pretty quick. So yeah, I'm not. What I do
Speaker 1: admire about a lot of Americans, A lot of young
Speaker 1: Americans is there really are confident and aggressive and they
Speaker 1: play with a you know, a swagger about them. Even
Speaker 1: even the people who are great ambassadors for the game,
Speaker 1: like Speace, you know, he's just he's got he's got
Speaker 1: an edge in there.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: You could see that with that punts on fifteen Open
Speaker 1: last year. He's like you picked that ball at the hole.
Speaker 1: You know, he's got that little edge that I like.
Speaker 1: That's I really like that kind of style of player, constant,
Speaker 1: but little kind of little edge to them. Very very
Speaker 1: strong in their belief that they know what they want
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: In terms of scheduling, What do you think about like
Speaker 2: the unique formats that the Europeans Spent Tour has been
Speaker 2: trying out in recent years.
Speaker 1: I like the ideas I think I I honestly don't
Speaker 1: know if it's if it's a game changer and up,
Speaker 1: I probably couldn't ask that question. What I do like
Speaker 1: about them is that they are being proactive in testing
Speaker 1: you new formats of the game out in a professional game,
Speaker 1: trying to make it more appealing to tery, to make
Speaker 1: the product more appealing to the general public, especially the
Speaker 1: younger generation, and just give them curious that they're trying.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not saying we're gonna we're going to
Speaker 1: turn things around, but they're they're definitely making people think,
Speaker 1: raising awareness and instead of just standing there planning, they're
Speaker 1: actually executing and getting it done, which I think in
Speaker 1: the Gulf world, like people talk so much and they
Speaker 1: just like I just sometimes I'm just like, you know what,
Speaker 1: if you want something, you go out there and get it.
Speaker 1: Just get it done. Stop talking about it and get
Speaker 1: it done. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I like the idea of changing up like the the
Speaker 2: short matches was like a really cool that was the
Speaker 2: Golf sixes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Golf sixes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and having it in a city like it was
Speaker 2: in the heart of London. Right.
Speaker 1: Well, this is well this is from my point of
Speaker 1: use is the one thing I would changed. They had
Speaker 1: it at the Centurion Club, which is outside of London,
Speaker 1: and it's a very good golf course, a lovely facility,
Speaker 1: very very good. But I'd have it. I'd have it
Speaker 1: as close to the city center as possible. I'd have
Speaker 1: buses running, three buses running on loop from the city center.
Speaker 1: You know, make it as easy as possible for people
Speaker 1: to be exposed to that tournament. And and you know,
Speaker 1: you've really got these days. The difference between America and
Speaker 1: I would say one of the big difference between America
Speaker 1: and Europe is that when you have a golf tournament,
Speaker 1: it's a social event. You know, you'll get guys who
Speaker 1: will say, you know, in the office you work ninety five, say, oh,
Speaker 1: they've got that what do you call that? That Phoenix
Speaker 1: Open going on and they've got Testa playing and it'll
Speaker 1: go on there for the day. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: into golf, but looks looks a good fun event. Whereas
Speaker 1: generally in Europe it's although there is some social aspects
Speaker 1: to generally more people who actually play golf and take
Speaker 1: a firm interest in golf.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, it's definitely. I mean the Phoenix one
Speaker 2: is like I feel like it's a kind of an outlier,
Speaker 2: but for the for the most part, like that, I
Speaker 2: know that Nelson is a big social event and they do.
Speaker 2: It's so much with those corporate hospitalities that makes it
Speaker 2: in hospitality tends to make it much more social.
Speaker 1: On an American tour, yeah, I mean that's it's probably
Speaker 1: a little bit more that way in places like Dubai
Speaker 1: Abba Dabbi because there's you know, people can love coming
Speaker 1: to events and it's a great you know, the sun's
Speaker 1: on your back and it's a great little walk in
Speaker 1: the green grass when there's desert around you. So a
Speaker 1: little bit more that way. And I would say the
Speaker 1: new markets, but we have a lot of established markets
Speaker 1: and it's probably more the other way with more golf
Speaker 1: golfers who come to the events.
Speaker 2: So do you set like, do you have goals for
Speaker 2: this year or are you just kind of you just
Speaker 2: try and play your best and wherever it goes, it goes.
Speaker 1: Well. My mission is kind of I always like to
Speaker 1: take the viewpoint that kind of got to be the
Speaker 1: best I can be, so effectively, don't worry about Rory mcelroyal,
Speaker 1: Jordan Speith. I just got to be the sort of
Speaker 1: the best Richie Ramsey I can be, and I try
Speaker 1: and do all the things I can do every week
Speaker 1: to do that. And and if if I miss a
Speaker 1: cut and I walk away, I walk away with my
Speaker 1: Hotel tie. But at the same time, if I I
Speaker 1: finished second, I walk away with my health tail tie.
Speaker 1: So no, I really want to get back in the
Speaker 1: winner circle because effectively that there's nothing better than winning,
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. And you know, raced buy is also
Speaker 1: a big thing. You always want to be in a
Speaker 1: season ending tournament in Dubai and get a little bit
Speaker 1: more feel for, you know, playing in this WG season,
Speaker 1: those those major tournaments, because I played in the US
Speaker 1: Open and Open this year and I feel a lot
Speaker 1: more comfortable playing in them. And I feel that I've
Speaker 1: I played good at the Open this year, fourth last
Speaker 1: group on the Saturday, but I feel like I've got
Speaker 1: a little bit more in the tank to show I
Speaker 1: didn't quite finish it off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're right in the thick of it. And
Speaker 2: then the weekend, which is you know, it's a major
Speaker 2: championships obviously, but I mean to a certain extent. I
Speaker 2: so instead of overrated, underrated, our major championships overrated. When
Speaker 2: discussing players legacy, that's a.
Speaker 1: Great question, that's a very good question. I would say no.
Speaker 1: I think it's the main determination of how good a
Speaker 1: player they are. The WGCs have an impact because the
Speaker 1: fields are so strong. I would love to see wgc's split. Differently,
Speaker 1: I a staunch believer that another's one in Mexico.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it seems like there should be one in
Speaker 2: the at the Home of Golf.
Speaker 1: Well, there's one in Mexico, but let's be honest. For
Speaker 1: the for the line's share of the last three years,
Speaker 1: there's been three in America, and there's been one in China,
Speaker 1: And if you want to grow the game worldwide, you
Speaker 1: don't have three in America. But what what what? What's
Speaker 1: the reason they're there is because the sponsors put up
Speaker 1: the money, and they've got fantastic sponsors in America, and
Speaker 1: a large share of the best golfers in the world
Speaker 1: lived there, so it's easy for them to get to
Speaker 1: tournaments and play there, which makes the fields great, which
Speaker 1: makes the sponsors happy and brings excitement in a great
Speaker 1: product to the fans, so I don't blame them for
Speaker 1: putting there, but the I think one of the founding
Speaker 1: things was that they should be that there are are
Speaker 1: World golf events. They're not American golf events.
Speaker 2: So that's it.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I completely agree, especially when it's the World Golf
Speaker 2: Championships and then you look at the golf courses they play,
Speaker 2: and they play Austin Country Club, which is like, it's
Speaker 2: a nice golf course, but it's this is a World
Speaker 2: Golf Championship. You play Firestone, same kind of you know, idea,
Speaker 2: the Mexico course, and then they play in China at
Speaker 2: a at a brutal golf course there. But like it's like,
Speaker 2: why why aren't these hosted at like a great course
Speaker 2: in Australia, a great course in the British Isles, a
Speaker 2: great course in America, And obviously you hit it with sponsors,
Speaker 2: but like that would be such a better product in
Speaker 2: my mind.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would. I know what I would love to see.
Speaker 1: And I've said this a lot is I'm not saying,
Speaker 1: you know, you have to have basically you have to
Speaker 1: the sponsors, you have some money put it there, right,
Speaker 1: But I would love to see a World golf event
Speaker 1: in Ireland now I am. I love Scotland, and I
Speaker 1: am immensely proud to be Scottish, and I love playing here.
Speaker 1: I love living in Edinburgh and everywhere I go I
Speaker 1: carry the saltar with me. But the atmosphere and the
Speaker 1: fans in Ireland are as good as it pretty much gets.
Speaker 1: And they because the courses they have as well, and
Speaker 1: the players they have, you know, talking about McElroy and
Speaker 1: g Mac, you know, Daring all those guys have added
Speaker 1: to Hinton. I think they generally deserve a war golf
Speaker 1: event and the fans you would get in the hype
Speaker 1: would be incredible. And if you think about it, what's
Speaker 1: effectively one of the closest places to the US. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not not actually, you know, if you lived in
Speaker 1: Okay for the West coast guys, but if you lived
Speaker 1: on the East coast of America, it's.
Speaker 2: Shorter from New York to Ireland than New York to la.
Speaker 1: Well, there you go. There's there's my point precisely. And
Speaker 1: I think the difference in the the warmth, the atmosphere
Speaker 1: and stuff you would get would be incredible and and
Speaker 1: I generally think in the future that's the way if
Speaker 1: you'd have it. You know, it's say you have the
Speaker 1: Irish Open one year in the north, have a World
Speaker 1: Golf event in the south. Okay, would it? Would it work?
Speaker 1: I think it would. I think. You know, Rory obviously
Speaker 1: does a hell of a job promoting the Irish Open,
Speaker 1: but you know, and it's a it's an it's a
Speaker 1: life experience for a lot of these guys. But a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys haven't gone there and played. And
Speaker 1: maybe you could go over there with your family and
Speaker 1: play some nights. Golf course has experienced the the hospitality
Speaker 1: do in Ireland, which is his first class. And like
Speaker 1: I said, let's be honest, logistically it's it's one of
Speaker 1: the easiest ways you could do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree. I mean, like who would in
Speaker 2: the interest would be so much higher? Like how many
Speaker 2: more people are going to tune in to watch the
Speaker 2: WGC at Royal County Down versus Firestone.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and you know you'd I mean, you'd sell out,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. But the reason that they're taking one
Speaker 1: of the reasons they're taking the Open back to Port
Speaker 1: Rush is because when we had Dirish Open there they
Speaker 1: sold out. Only time I think they've ever sold the
Speaker 1: European Tour event out and the weather wasn't even that
Speaker 1: great and it was an incredible atmosphere. I know they've
Speaker 1: changed the golf course a bit, but I think that
Speaker 1: was one of the the reasons they took it back there,
Speaker 1: and it's great to see that happen. But I definitely
Speaker 1: think that in the future is I can't really see
Speaker 1: a major a major fall with it, if I was honest.
Speaker 2: So we've gotten on to kind of courses in Ireland.
Speaker 1: What are.
Speaker 2: What are your favorite courses in just generally the British Isles.
Speaker 1: British Isles always very tough because there's so many golf
Speaker 1: courses and I would say straight away, I would say
Speaker 1: I haven't played them all.
Speaker 2: So so let's just say you got ten rounds. How
Speaker 2: are you going to split up the ten rounds?
Speaker 1: Oh right, okay, so this ten This is great, so tough.
Speaker 2: You can spend. You can do multiple at a course
Speaker 2: if you want to do multiple.
Speaker 1: Okay, So what I would do would be okay, so
Speaker 1: you've got to have so and Andrews in there straight
Speaker 1: away because everything goes on about it. It's a home
Speaker 1: of golf. But it's a magical place. And walking around
Speaker 1: there and just walking up eighteen and playing seventeen and
Speaker 1: hit the t show at first. There's something special you
Speaker 1: can you can't put a price on it, you can't
Speaker 1: put it together. It has something that other places simply
Speaker 1: don't have. So it's a special place. And I would
Speaker 1: always try and get a game on there if you can.
Speaker 1: And it's very deceptive because it is actually a good
Speaker 1: golf course that makes you think a lot more than
Speaker 1: you do the first time you play it. You've got
Speaker 1: to maybe play it a couple of times, probably more so,
Speaker 1: of course I could play every day for a week.
Speaker 1: Is Mirrorfield. Mirorfield. It's an incredible place golf course design wise,
Speaker 1: as probably as good as it gets, you know, shot
Speaker 1: making ability, fairness, condition experience, you know, slopes look, everything
Speaker 1: is is just it's a fantastic day out. Lunch is brilliant.
Speaker 1: The members are always great cracket To have a big
Speaker 1: lunch and maybe a few glasses of wine and then
Speaker 1: play fours in the afternoon. That is a real golf
Speaker 1: day out. Number three pretty tough, but these three all
Speaker 1: sit together and all for different reasons. I would say
Speaker 1: Turnbury Birkdale and loch Lomond turn Bray because it's just
Speaker 1: a majestic place, great history, beautiful views. Haven't played the
Speaker 1: golf course since it's been redone, but I just I
Speaker 1: played the Open there once, so it's it's just a
Speaker 1: it's just a very very good golf course. Strong I'm
Speaker 1: quite iconic in the Scottish West coast. Birkdale, what a
Speaker 1: fantastic off course that is. I mean the views a
Speaker 1: lot more like my home course of Rother Aberdeen, where
Speaker 1: you tee up on the dunes and you hit down
Speaker 1: into the valleys. The back nine, I mean, i'd say
Speaker 1: from a living onwards, you know, eight of the best
Speaker 1: finishing holes you'll ever find. Obviously got a lot of
Speaker 1: history there and just of course that I love playing it. Esthetically.
Speaker 1: It looks great on the eye, tests you that way
Speaker 1: you think around it, but at the same time it's scorable.
Speaker 1: You know there's a score out there to be had.
Speaker 1: Loch Lomond again very similar to Mirfield experience wise, incredible
Speaker 1: staff there are fantastic will Lye in the locker room
Speaker 1: exceptional remembers your name even though you've maybe not been
Speaker 1: there for two or three years. Services, first class ross
Speaker 1: t house, one of the best clubhouses you'll ever see
Speaker 1: in your life, at a setting that is probably one
Speaker 1: of the most spectacular, not in the British Isles, but
Speaker 1: in probably the world. And a very underrated golf course
Speaker 1: that Tom Weiskoff designed mm hm as a joy to
Speaker 1: play there really is just fantastic golf course. Where's that
Speaker 1: being up to one two Andrew's Mirfield?
Speaker 2: I think five right?
Speaker 1: Five? Yeah, mm hmm, okay, I'm going to put I'm
Speaker 1: going to put Sonny and Dylan in there. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you could you could play the newer the old both exceptional.
Speaker 1: You've got what I would like to turn laser beam
Speaker 1: around there. If you hit it offline, you'll be buying
Speaker 1: more golf balls in the pro shop. No doubt about
Speaker 1: that great halfway house. Fantastic halfway house. I mean leave
Speaker 1: leave twenty minutes. The stuff you're facing there, sausages in
Speaker 1: a roll, smoke salmon. I'm sure the members have a
Speaker 1: couple of cheeky drinks as well, So that's a that's
Speaker 1: a great little kind of touch. But again, fantastic golf
Speaker 1: course design, old school greens that just sitting to you,
Speaker 1: but play quite firm and fast, especially in the summer.
Speaker 2: Harry Colton, Willie Park well.
Speaker 1: Just he doesn't get cold, doesn't really it doesn't really
Speaker 1: get much better than him, So I would I would
Speaker 1: say that would be a.
Speaker 2: Classic.
Speaker 1: Dale was one and if you could play the older
Speaker 1: than New thirty six that day, and I'd a little
Speaker 1: bit like Mirfield, I'd play eighteen in the morning, lunch
Speaker 1: and then fourth themes in the afternoon, because that's the
Speaker 1: tradition at Mirfield. So we're up to six. Oh god,
Speaker 1: I've got four lefts and stuff. I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of the open courses at I don't know where to
Speaker 1: put Carnishtee, but I feel that it's going to be
Speaker 1: in there, just because it's as fair a test of
Speaker 1: golf as you will find, and it's always irrespective of
Speaker 1: the wind. It's always a place you love to go to.
Speaker 1: The greens or I'm accurate, normally the best surfaces you'll
Speaker 1: you'll put on in Scotland. I would say Mirfield are
Speaker 1: close near, are very good, but but CARNOUSTI tend to
Speaker 1: be exceptional. And the finish I mean what I finish,
Speaker 1: what I finish size? I mean you always talk about
Speaker 1: winning tournaments of coming down the stretch and have a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure. Well, sixteen is a tough hole. Seventeen
Speaker 1: is very tricky, but eighteen is probably I think one
Speaker 1: of the toughest version holes, if not the toughest version
Speaker 1: hole you'll play. It's it's just great place to play
Speaker 1: golf and obviously a huge amount of history with the
Speaker 1: people who have won there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's gonna be a good of course. That sets
Speaker 2: up well for you.
Speaker 1: Its well for me because I think it's a ball
Speaker 1: strikers golf course. Yeah, you can't. You can't fake it
Speaker 1: round there. You can't just go well, just put well
Speaker 1: and I'll get away with it. You've got to really
Speaker 1: know where the misses are, stay out of the bunkers,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you've got a challenge of bunkers. I think
Speaker 1: you just got a flat out play around there, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it. Can't fake it and it'll be it'd
Speaker 1: be good to see how the best players in the
Speaker 1: world set up to It's definitely scorable. It's definitely scorable,
Speaker 1: but it's just a very very fair golf course. I
Speaker 1: would put Royal Aberdeen, my home course in there, especially
Speaker 1: the older course that we used to play when I
Speaker 1: was a junior. The origin more of the original design
Speaker 1: it was, you know, I used to play it in
Speaker 1: the front nine. I used to front nine. I loved.
Speaker 1: I used to go away and play all these different
Speaker 1: golf courses. People used to rant and rave about and
Speaker 1: speak and say this is a great golf course. And
Speaker 1: I used to come back and will and just think
Speaker 1: this place is just way better. Really great memories. They're
Speaker 1: fantastic membership that have helped me and helped a lot
Speaker 1: of people progress their golf and progress you know, off
Speaker 1: the course, and just a place that is close to me,
Speaker 1: and I'd love to go back. I'd love to go
Speaker 1: back there and and and play and try and enjoy
Speaker 1: the golf course and the traditions because it was the
Speaker 1: seventh oldest club in the world. It's seventeen eighty it
Speaker 1: was established, so.
Speaker 3: Some great traditions there and just fortunate to be a
Speaker 3: member there. They've got two left left.
Speaker 1: Dominated dominated by Scottish golf courses.
Speaker 2: Yeah, any more heath and courses.
Speaker 1: I'm not I haven't really played a Hoastling course that
Speaker 1: I thought really stood out for me. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think that there there's a couple that. There's a great one.
Speaker 1: More Town is definitely something that I would I would
Speaker 1: I wouldn't include in my top ten, but it would
Speaker 1: be somewhere where I would play.
Speaker 2: That was Mackenzie's first design.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's in I think I believe it's in leads
Speaker 1: and I had the Ryder Cup in a long time ago,
Speaker 1: thirties maybe.
Speaker 2: H Yeah, I think that was Mackenzie's first design.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's there's a there's a few courses up there
Speaker 1: that kind of fall off the radar just because of
Speaker 1: where they are. They're not down south so they don't
Speaker 1: get ridden a.
Speaker 2: Bit too much, and they aren't open courses.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know what, I haven't actually played a ton
Speaker 1: of golf courses in England that have been blown away
Speaker 1: by I might get some backlash for that.
Speaker 2: You're loyal to your country.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Scotsman, I would say port Rush has to
Speaker 1: be in there. I haven't played all these other ones
Speaker 1: that are far away, like La hinch Tralei, Waterville and
Speaker 1: all these ones, and I would love to play there.
Speaker 1: I think County Down is good, but I just think
Speaker 1: port Rush is better. I think the design is better,
Speaker 1: I think the views are better, the golf course is
Speaker 1: more in front of view, and I think again being
Speaker 1: close to the town, it has that great atmosphere and
Speaker 1: it would be really interesting to see how the new
Speaker 1: holes bed in and how the guys perform at at
Speaker 1: the opening a few years time.
Speaker 2: Have you played Dornick?
Speaker 1: You know what I haven't. You got to get it
Speaker 1: out there, played Dornick. I've played ski bowd which is
Speaker 1: very good, but I haven't played Dornick for I don't
Speaker 1: know why I haven't played it. I just never ventured
Speaker 1: up there. And this is going to sound really funny,
Speaker 1: but I'm notorious for falling asleep really quickly, So vide
Speaker 1: with me for a minute. So driving long distances can
Speaker 1: be tough for me because sometimes, I mean the other
Speaker 1: day I was at Mirfield and I got up early
Speaker 1: and played and we had lunch, beautiful lunch, stuffed, and
Speaker 1: I had to drive back and I had just stopped
Speaker 1: ten miles down the road to get a coffee because
Speaker 1: I said to the guy who was with I was like,
Speaker 1: my eye, I'm going to be like a nod and
Speaker 1: dog here, so I need to stop and get coffee.
Speaker 1: So the courses that are I mean, dorn is a
Speaker 1: long way north. So that's that's my only excuse for
Speaker 1: not playing it. I can't really drive that far with
Speaker 1: that falling asleep?
Speaker 2: What where's the what's the what's where's the weirdest place
Speaker 2: you've fallen asleep?
Speaker 1: Oh? God, where's I fall asleep? I remember in Argentina,
Speaker 1: I fell asleep on a on a moving bus when
Speaker 1: I was standing getting a chance to event and the
Speaker 1: bus was packed, had to stand. I was that tired
Speaker 1: that I nearly fell over because I fell asleep standing
Speaker 1: up where the bus was moving, which is quite impressive.
Speaker 2: That's uh, you get in the wrong spot. I went
Speaker 2: to Argentina last or many two years ago with my
Speaker 2: wife and I went for a run and I got
Speaker 2: lost and I ended up running like into like a
Speaker 2: bad neighborhood and it was like one of the worst
Speaker 2: experiences in my life because I didn't have a phone
Speaker 2: that worked, and I don't speak Spanish and I was
Speaker 2: trying to, you know, figure out how to get back.
Speaker 2: And I ended up running like fifteen miles that day,
Speaker 2: So I got good work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet you ran out a fair pace as well.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: It was a brutal experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 2: A bus in Argentina would be really tough to fall
Speaker 2: asleep on.
Speaker 1: Though I fell asleep, I don't. I don't remember this
Speaker 1: because it was a night someone said to me almost
Speaker 1: I fell asleep in a club and I was I
Speaker 1: was next to a speaker. But that was that. There
Speaker 1: was a few other variables that were involved in that.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just when you get a couple of drinks,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like, it's what.
Speaker 2: What what's the what's the best course in Scotland that
Speaker 2: nobody knows about the radar?
Speaker 1: So just just quickly before answer that the last one
Speaker 1: on the list, which is the which is the best
Speaker 1: one on the list that slightly off the radar is
Speaker 1: a place called The Island, which is outside Dublin and
Speaker 1: Malhyde and it is phenomenal, great course, great course, you've
Speaker 1: got to play that beautiful June's fantastic membership. And there's
Speaker 1: a lot of other courses around there, a good Port
Speaker 1: Marnocks just down the road, and Port Mornick's is a
Speaker 1: is a great golf course as well. But the Island
Speaker 1: is is really cool, cool spot. I really like that.
Speaker 2: I think Sally from Millaying up played there. It was
Speaker 2: he was he was talking about that place.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: It was great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely worth a definitely worth a trip. Good question.
Speaker 1: The best course.
Speaker 2: Let's say Americans would just overlook.
Speaker 1: Well, a lot of them really love North Berwick and
Speaker 1: it is a good course. But it's not under the radar.
Speaker 1: It's not like you know a lot a lot of
Speaker 1: guys we've heard of it. Sorry one second, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm going to go with this place, which is
Speaker 1: a pretty cool place to go to. It's actually west
Speaker 1: of Aberdeen, about fifty miles. It's a place called Balloter
Speaker 1: Golf Club and it's actually not far from Balmorrow, where
Speaker 1: the Queen as a summer residence. It's surrounded by hills
Speaker 1: and you play a long sort of very sand based
Speaker 1: turf beside the water, beside the river that runs the
Speaker 1: River Dee which runs from the Highlands all the way
Speaker 1: out to the water in Aberdeen. It's quite short, quite
Speaker 1: tricky course, but a lot of shots where you hit
Speaker 1: hit it up and you can see the ball heading
Speaker 1: into the hills and then it drops down. I'm not
Speaker 1: too sure designed it, but it's a great place to
Speaker 1: go and play, especially if you were in the Highlands
Speaker 1: and you were coming down that way. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: as sounds funny, but it's as Scottish as you're going
Speaker 1: to get because you're you're kind of surrounded by these
Speaker 1: beautiful hills. There's castles on the trip from Aberdeen to
Speaker 1: Ballater and obviously if the Queen, the Queen could be
Speaker 1: in Balmoral residence in the summer, when the best time
Speaker 1: to play it.
Speaker 2: Is, it's the there's I gotta get there for, like
Speaker 2: I guess spent a lot of time there. I feel
Speaker 2: like there's like hundreds of great golf courses.
Speaker 1: Oh, there's tons of places. I know. Silly was over
Speaker 1: and we sort of them out with a game at
Speaker 1: Royal Aberdeen and the boys took them out at night.
Speaker 1: So I think he enjoyed that.
Speaker 2: Uh this, uh this fall maybe I think I'm thinking,
Speaker 2: but how did how do you what kind of sparked
Speaker 2: your recent kind of interest in golf course architecture? Last
Speaker 2: question and we'll get some over right on raids.
Speaker 1: You know what it was, and it's it's bad to
Speaker 1: say it was just complete and utter amusement and disappointment
Speaker 1: with some of these modern golf courses and and and
Speaker 1: modern designers who have tackled redesign. I just I honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't know what to help some of them with
Speaker 1: saying I don't know how they've got jobs. It's I
Speaker 1: think we're just going through a period where we don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of good designers, and for all the
Speaker 1: resources that they have, the product that they're producing is
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty poor.
Speaker 2: It's I think it's the it's changing, but there was
Speaker 2: there was so many years of bad and I imagine
Speaker 2: you see it so prevalently when you go to like Asia.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's they want to put the signature
Speaker 1: on it and I don't know what it is, and
Speaker 1: and it tends to be in the form of huge
Speaker 1: hills and humps and hollows that a lot of the
Speaker 1: time Luke Man made and just looks so false and
Speaker 1: don't aren't bring any playability to the golf course. And
Speaker 1: they're trying to almost make it not impossible, but just
Speaker 1: trying to make it really really hard to score. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to defend parr all the time,
Speaker 1: but the best courses we play are the classics. You know,
Speaker 1: you want to play the golf course over and over again,
Speaker 1: Like I think the sign of a good golf course
Speaker 1: is if someone said, well, do you want to play
Speaker 1: this for five days in a row? And a lot
Speaker 1: of these modern golf courses no, but these old classics
Speaker 1: like Mirrorfield, Son and Dale CARNUSTI turn brat you just
Speaker 1: you just want to play them every day for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I you know, this fall I get to go out
Speaker 2: to I played sand Hills. I played sixty three holes
Speaker 2: in two days, and like, since then, all I could
Speaker 2: think about is like, you know, like when you get
Speaker 2: to go see one of these great golf courses, like
Speaker 2: getting to play it multiple times, it just gets better
Speaker 2: every time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, there's there's so much, so much character to it,
Speaker 1: so many different ways to play it. It changes every day,
Speaker 1: you know. It's it's it's like one of those especially
Speaker 1: those courses. I love those courses where you go out
Speaker 1: and you think, you know, I play good, But why
Speaker 1: did I not shoot like four or five better? Because
Speaker 1: the design sort of pushed me, like it put a
Speaker 1: bit of pressure on me as and it looked really
Speaker 1: tight off on the t's with actual fact there was
Speaker 1: lots of space there, and you know, I miss it
Speaker 1: in the wrong spot, and and you can't get up
Speaker 1: and down from there. And I want to get back
Speaker 1: out there and play that. And I feel like I
Speaker 1: could shoot a better score because I've played it, understand
Speaker 1: a little bit more of what the designer was thinking
Speaker 1: and how he's how he he's fooled me. Almost can't
Speaker 1: beat that.
Speaker 2: I feel like the really great golf courses, you almost
Speaker 2: walk off a lot of them saying like, you know
Speaker 2: what that that golf course. I could really go out
Speaker 2: and shoot a low number, but you very very rarely do.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, spot on, spot on, because it protects you know,
Speaker 1: it protects itself because it just lows you into almost
Speaker 1: sometimes a false sense of security. I think you're doing
Speaker 1: fine and then it just hits you out of nowhere
Speaker 1: where you're like, it just gets you, and it's I
Speaker 1: think it's it's a little bit sad. I said to
Speaker 1: someone the other day also playing playing your field. We
Speaker 1: were talking about golf architecture, and I think that they're
Speaker 1: a great model. They they what they do with their
Speaker 1: golf course, there is the they mold it. They don't
Speaker 1: change it. They mold it over time. So for instance,
Speaker 1: like they'll extend a green by four or five yards
Speaker 1: like they did on I think number five, so you
Speaker 1: get a backpin position when they play the open there.
Speaker 1: They'll make a bunker a little bit bigger, so it
Speaker 1: becomes more of a becomes more of a danger. They
Speaker 1: will shape a fairway a little bit more so it
Speaker 1: feeds the player into one of the fairway bunkers instead
Speaker 1: of dramatically changing because it's a great golf course, you
Speaker 1: don't need to. You just need to slowly but surely
Speaker 1: mold it. And it's a little bit like what we
Speaker 1: have over here. We have if you have in America
Speaker 1: but listed buildings, so basically enlisted buildings you have to have.
Speaker 1: You can't really change the building too much. You can
Speaker 1: maybe change the internal parts of it, but the overall
Speaker 1: fundamental structure, things like the windows, the roof, the chimneys,
Speaker 1: the design of the building, you can't change that. You
Speaker 1: have to work with it. And I really think that
Speaker 1: these old classics should almost be like listed buildings. You know,
Speaker 1: you really have to go through a lot of not motions,
Speaker 1: but a lot of procedure in order to change some
Speaker 1: of these because I think a lot of people are
Speaker 1: giving carte blanch for them and they destroy them and
Speaker 1: then you can't go back and redo them.
Speaker 2: You know how much better golf and like and especially
Speaker 2: America would be if they if they had listed golf
Speaker 2: courses and they couldn't change them. I mean it would
Speaker 2: it would have changed the complete course of American golf.
Speaker 1: Oh it would, you know. We just it's it's like
Speaker 1: the golf course. The other thing is the golf course
Speaker 1: is your product generally that that's when people come to play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's experiences a lot of clubs, and that is great,
Speaker 1: but you know, most of the time people go there
Speaker 1: to play the golf course.
Speaker 2: And and they join there because of the golf course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you because because you play the golfers you think, actually,
Speaker 1: well I love that. I would love to play that
Speaker 1: every week. And I think committees and designers, you know,
Speaker 1: I would love I would love to I would love
Speaker 1: to see a designer go into a golf course and say, right,
Speaker 1: we want you to do a redesign, and him just
Speaker 1: to come back and say, you know what, you have
Speaker 1: sixteen fantastic holes here. I don't think you should change
Speaker 1: much of it. What I think you should do is
Speaker 1: maybe redo some of the bunkers because they're falling in
Speaker 1: or or you know, to the holes. I would love
Speaker 1: to change a little bit because you know modern ten anology,
Speaker 1: and maybe you move the bunker that's currently out of
Speaker 1: playing now another twenty years further up and I'd love
Speaker 1: to maybe now the fairway at three hundred yards or
Speaker 1: something like that, or add a tree to give a
Speaker 1: little bit more character to the whole, give a siteline
Speaker 1: off the tee. Small things like that I would love
Speaker 1: to see. And I would say, hands down the best
Speaker 1: redesign I've seen. It was the one that went with
Speaker 1: it was done last year, but I think McGinley and
Speaker 1: Bjorn had something put into it. But McGinley is a
Speaker 1: who's obviously he knows the history of the golf, you know,
Speaker 1: playing the European Tours for a number of years, rider Cup,
Speaker 1: you name it. He's pretty much done it. But he plays.
Speaker 1: I think he's a member at son Indale, plays there
Speaker 1: a lot. And he really softened the changes and tried
Speaker 1: to bring back the old cult into the west course
Speaker 1: it went with, which was great to see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was I mean the redesign a few years
Speaker 2: ago was like one of the worst redesigns, Like in
Speaker 2: the history of golf.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wasn't overly impressed because I think the original design,
Speaker 1: the one that I grew up watching seven play the
Speaker 1: world matually, you know, watching guys finish three three three
Speaker 1: to finish birdy eagle, eagle to win a match. That's
Speaker 1: the course I grew up on, where you had to
Speaker 1: run it in. That's the English Heathland classic type of
Speaker 1: golf course. Yeah.
Speaker 2: They almost tried to make it like the Dark Ages
Speaker 2: of America, like nineteen seventies course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think it's coming back, and made condition
Speaker 1: of it. The greens last year were absolutely first class,
Speaker 1: as good as you're going to get. And they softened
Speaker 1: the golf course and they took away the larger changes
Speaker 1: the undulations that were putting it and tried to bring back,
Speaker 1: like I say, more of the the cold feel and
Speaker 1: the atmosphere. With a little bit more heastland in there,
Speaker 1: less undulation in the greens, you could a bit more
Speaker 1: playability as and you could run the ball in if
Speaker 1: you're in the rough, and a few little tall grasses
Speaker 1: off the teas which give you a nice little sight line,
Speaker 1: a little nice little path to walk down and and
Speaker 1: shape the whole a little bit more, which I thought
Speaker 1: was a good idea.
Speaker 2: So all right, let's uh, let's get this done with
Speaker 2: some overrated under its all right, first one, golf in Ireland.
Speaker 1: Underrated.
Speaker 2: I think we covered it earlier.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, fitness, I believe underrated.
Speaker 2: So like if you took like like Manti, I can't
Speaker 2: imagine hate him being a fitness not Ever he would
Speaker 2: be at a disadvantage in today's game.
Speaker 1: His attitude and his belief make up for everything. He
Speaker 1: was a great has a great attitude and great belief.
Speaker 1: I think I would say underrated from the fact that
Speaker 1: I just think I find it very therapeutic, as in
Speaker 1: like mentally and stress free is a great I think
Speaker 1: it's a great thing to do. Maybe not Jim, but
Speaker 1: just exercise in general. You know, don't care you're gonna
Speaker 1: play tennis or you play football with your mates. I
Speaker 1: just think it's it's the best medicine you can have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, heh. How about him now never winning in America
Speaker 2: until the Senior Tour, It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's strange. Could he would have the
Speaker 1: game to suit a lot of some of the courses
Speaker 1: over there, because yet it's so straight and very steady.
Speaker 1: But he just you know, he played in America, he
Speaker 1: played in Europe a lot, and you know, US Open
Speaker 1: and those types of courses were built for him. He
Speaker 1: just never got got the major that that probably he
Speaker 1: ultimately wanted.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the European Tour was is different then too, Like
Speaker 2: I feel like the European Tour then they kept almost
Speaker 2: all their stars at home for the most part.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think he was you know, the world
Speaker 1: wasn't as small then, I would say, and and you know,
Speaker 1: it was a lot more European Tour was a lot
Speaker 1: more top heavy. They didn't have the depths that they
Speaker 1: have now. They had, you know, huge strength to look
Speaker 1: at the players undoubtedly you know, great to the game,
Speaker 1: Langer and using them and fal Though and Leland, those guys.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think they just like playing in Europe
Speaker 1: and probably a lot of the odd families got kids
Speaker 1: and then what sees you know, I know, I understand
Speaker 1: you want to get back and see your family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I I mean air travel has just gotten
Speaker 2: so much easier, all right, Uh backboarding, you know, the
Speaker 2: not marking your ball like that everybody complains about in
Speaker 2: professional golf, Like say I say, you're in the bunker.
Speaker 2: I'm playing, you know, I got I got sponsors exemption,
Speaker 2: and I go and I don't mark my ball after
Speaker 2: I hit a sandshot and you're in the bunker and
Speaker 2: oh right.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I think it's overrat It doesn't really bother me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just something that's blown out proportionally.
Speaker 2: I think. See it's it's blown out of proportion. I
Speaker 2: I I when I play in tournaments, I feel like
Speaker 2: that backboarding is prevalent, but it's it's so rare for
Speaker 2: it to actually have an effect.
Speaker 1: But yeah, if if the guy chips it from sixty
Speaker 1: yards and it goes to three feet and the guy's
Speaker 1: playing me, I'm just like, I'm not going to wait
Speaker 1: for him to walk all the way up there and
Speaker 1: hit it. But if he's lag putted it and he's
Speaker 1: put it up there and he's forty feet away and
Speaker 1: he looks at me and says, oh, market, I'm that's fine,
Speaker 1: doesn't bother me either way. But I'm not going to
Speaker 1: probably wait if he's miles down the fairway and I'm
Speaker 1: on the green side bunker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, last one. I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: played it, kill Spindy.
Speaker 1: Kill, Spindy played it, Yeah, probably underrated. I'd say it's
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful part of the world. He's slowly lovely
Speaker 1: part of the world, lovely with towns and you go
Speaker 1: down there and it's a sure week course inside the
Speaker 1: water bomb around there in under three hours because it's
Speaker 1: quite short. Just a good place to go out and
Speaker 1: play with your mates and try and shoot as low
Speaker 1: as number as possible. Well, enjoyed fantastic views And did
Speaker 1: I say some sun signed and some short sleeves if
Speaker 1: that's possible in Scotland?
Speaker 2: When what's the best month to be in Scotland?
Speaker 1: A good question I always get asked this a lot. Well,
Speaker 1: I think as well. I come to Scotland, everybody says, oh,
Speaker 1: it must rain all the time. Right on the west
Speaker 1: coast it can rain for days, but on the East
Speaker 1: coast it's a way drier and called Spindy and well
Speaker 1: basically where Mirfield is in East Slowly and that's one
Speaker 1: of the driest places in Scotland. So it's not as
Speaker 1: wet as people talk about. But the warmest time is
Speaker 1: Jill August, but that's at the same time that's the
Speaker 1: busiest time so the schools get off on the first
Speaker 1: of June. So I would say, like, and the maze
Speaker 1: is not a bad time to come because it's not chao,
Speaker 1: it's not chaotic. The schools are still there. You get
Speaker 1: most of the run of the golf courses and the
Speaker 1: if I had enough of a growing season that conditions
Speaker 1: the golf course are good, or play it like late August,
Speaker 1: early September, all.
Speaker 2: Right, I gotta do one of those times. I don't
Speaker 2: want a crowd.
Speaker 1: If you don't like yeah, like you know, every dyar,
Speaker 1: just come over, run about the Open scottsh opens, start
Speaker 1: playing golf. So May time is a good time. Another
Speaker 1: thing about maytime that is a huge bonus is the
Speaker 1: longest day of the year, I believe is the second
Speaker 1: week in June. So if so, so where I'm in Edinburgh,
Speaker 1: I'm not that far north, but it gets light here
Speaker 1: at quarter to five, maybe half four, and it gets
Speaker 1: dark on a bright day at half ten.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: So like if you get up early, like say you're
Speaker 1: say you're like in Gulland for example, Gullen is a
Speaker 1: good example as a little town niche low then and
Speaker 1: they played the Scottish Open and Gullen number one course
Speaker 1: this year, right, I think two years ago, but it's
Speaker 1: back there this year. Like if you just booking a
Speaker 1: B and B, you can get up early. Let me
Speaker 1: make a sandwich, walk down the first team of your clubs.
Speaker 1: You know, a few hundred yards, tee off but I
Speaker 1: don't know, five thirty bomb round in for breakfast, three
Speaker 1: hours in for breakfast, halfway breakfast, get the train in Edinburgh.
Speaker 1: Of a day in Edinburgh, come back out and then
Speaker 1: going tea off before people. A lot of people go
Speaker 1: and play after work or come off work early, twenty
Speaker 1: off about let's say like quarter to four or something
Speaker 1: like that, and then born around there, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a late dinner, a few drinks, watch the sunset,
Speaker 1: you know, put two rounds of golf and you're still
Speaker 1: fitted in the day out of Edinburgh. Brilliant, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, you can do so much, man, I.
Speaker 2: Might I might have to move. You might have me sold.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna move to the to the east side of Scotland.
Speaker 1: Greatest currently in the world, mate, It was voted that way,
Speaker 1: greatest current in the world. I always I always tell
Speaker 1: my wife that she's an American, but she never believes me.
Speaker 2: It's I don't know, Americans are we're stubborn. So but hey, Richie,
Speaker 2: it was great having you on and wish you're the best.
Speaker 2: To luck this year. You're starting in uh about a
Speaker 2: week and a half.
Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, week and a half abbadby HSBC, So looking
Speaker 1: forward to We're go in to get the the short
Speaker 1: sleeves out next week in Dubai and the shorts out
Speaker 1: turn up the legs.
Speaker 2: Got the Obi steaks, Oh jeez.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're pretty damn wait, there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we'll hopefully run into each other here
Speaker 2: in the in the in the season at some point
Speaker 2: and good luck.
Speaker 1: All right, cool, nice talking to you.
Speaker 2: You've been listening to the fried Egg podcast.
Speaker 1: We do the digging for you.