Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
Speaker 2: When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2: And when I find my.
Speaker 1: Ball in arid egg, Frida Egg, the dread Frida Egg,
Speaker 1: Frida Egg, fridagg bride.
Speaker 2: Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf course.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast.
Speaker 2: Today I am joined by Jeff Jackelford. It is lacc
Speaker 2: Us Open week. We are so excited, obviously the last
Speaker 2: week in professional golf. I think it's taking a little
Speaker 2: oxygen away from this US Open, but it is something
Speaker 2: to really be excited about. And uh, I think one
Speaker 2: of the things we learned last year with the live
Speaker 2: PGA Tour drama then was that once the ball is
Speaker 2: in the air on Thursday, it becomes all about the golf.
Speaker 2: And this week should be spectacular. I can't wait. It's
Speaker 2: been kind of circled on my calendar for years, and
Speaker 2: you know, we are we are really thrilled to be
Speaker 2: there and be on the ground for this week's US Open.
Speaker 2: So we are doing our traditional five things about the
Speaker 2: US Open with Jeff Shackelford. Jeff obviously a long list
Speaker 2: of accomplishments in golf, but in particular here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: He's he's from here and I had a hand. He
Speaker 2: was a co architect on the Los Angeles Country Club
Speaker 2: restoration with Gil Hans and Jim Wagner. So Jeff you know,
Speaker 2: and also writes a substack about you know, major championship golf.
Speaker 2: So this was a no brainer for the guests for
Speaker 2: this one.
Speaker 1: We are.
Speaker 2: We will be on site all week at at the
Speaker 2: US Open. We are. We can't wait to be there.
Speaker 2: Just a couple things housekeeping things about the fried egg
Speaker 2: before we get in there. We are releasing on Monday
Speaker 2: night on YouTube at eight pm Eastern five pm Pacific. A.
Speaker 2: I don't want to call it a documentary or a film.
Speaker 2: We don't kind of take ourselves that seriously when it
Speaker 2: comes to, uh, you know, naming of things. But we
Speaker 2: put together a George Thomas video is It's George Thomas
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles. It's about thirty minutes. It features Jeff,
Speaker 2: gil Hans and Tom Doak, all of whom have worked
Speaker 2: at George Thomas Designs. Here and is a look at
Speaker 2: the life of George Thomas and his accomplishments and impact
Speaker 2: on golf in Los Angeles. It is. It is. I'm
Speaker 2: really proud of what the team put together, Garrett and
Speaker 2: Cameron Hurdis on this project. It was. It was a
Speaker 2: big undertaking and I'm really please that they we got
Speaker 2: it done and it will be out on Monday night.
Speaker 2: So join us. We're doing a YouTube premiere. It's fun.
Speaker 2: There's a chat and join us put it up on
Speaker 2: the big screen. It is. It is a beautiful piece
Speaker 2: with you know, footage and insight into Thomas's three famous
Speaker 2: courses as well as his life and some other just
Speaker 2: cool historical photos. Also, it's gonna be a big week
Speaker 2: for Club TF our membership program. We have a every
Speaker 2: Hole at LACC video that will be going up early
Speaker 2: in the US Open week. If you're interested in joining.
Speaker 2: We we do basically daily content on that on that website.
Speaker 2: It's one hundred and twenty dollars for the year. It's
Speaker 2: an awesome way to support us. It is. You can
Speaker 2: join and look at it at the Frida egg dot
Speaker 2: com slash membership and yeah, we get all kinds of stuff,
Speaker 2: early access to events when we when we launch those
Speaker 2: discounts in the pro shop, but then regular content from
Speaker 2: US you know, video and written. So without further ado,
Speaker 2: here is Jeff Shackelford. Jeff, welcome on. I you know,
Speaker 2: there's not much. I was excited to talk US Open
Speaker 2: and this US Open preview. I was excited, you know,
Speaker 2: finally the first tournament where things seemed to start to
Speaker 2: become normal majors. Weren't this like spectacle of gathering of
Speaker 2: these two parties. And here we are at this historic
Speaker 2: LACC major US Open, first time they've ever hosted, and
Speaker 2: the whole pre lead up will not be about the
Speaker 2: US Open.
Speaker 1: Now, I know it's a I've had mixed feelings about it,
Speaker 1: but then as I thought about it, I think it's
Speaker 1: good we got this out of the way. If it
Speaker 1: had leaked in mid midwe week or early week tournament,
Speaker 1: it would have been even worse. So at least we'll
Speaker 1: get this out of out of the system to roll out.
Speaker 1: But but I mean, I mean we I yeah, we
Speaker 1: just have to talk about the elephant in the room though,
Speaker 1: don't you think I mean, it's not Yeah, it just
Speaker 1: wouldn't be right to do a pod without addressing one
Speaker 1: of the greatest stories of our time, which which one
Speaker 1: is that this this this general Patton running the smash
Speaker 1: GC squad.
Speaker 2: I mean, well I was, I was thinking about looping
Speaker 2: it into one of my five things here.
Speaker 1: You know what, what's going to be the workout program
Speaker 1: US Open week for Brooks and uh, but I mean
Speaker 1: if the team is not there, if he's not on
Speaker 1: team time, and and by the way, is anybody on
Speaker 1: the team in the US Open besides him?
Speaker 2: I could tell you that, I could tell you with
Speaker 2: certainty that Chase Kopka is not in the USO.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, I'm confident there. And but I I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you, I I that that was the And I'm
Speaker 1: sure people are going who didn't listen to the shotgun
Speaker 1: start are are regretting it now and they will go listen.
Speaker 1: But just one of the greatest stories I've ever heard, uh,
Speaker 1: and such a much needed tonic in this time of
Speaker 1: strife and sadness and whatever and rage, rage, all the rage,
Speaker 1: you know, I love the rage. And it's over nothing
Speaker 1: that has to do with anything of substance. It's that
Speaker 1: all these people in the club of the BGA tour
Speaker 1: weren't informed. But my god, I mean, if there was
Speaker 1: ever a story that validated why we need team Golfox
Speaker 1: ordering the team to the gym, Brooks ordering a vigorous
Speaker 1: workout that rendered two of his four players unplayable. I mean,
Speaker 1: what was he thinking looking at Cocrak, thinking, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that getting him in shape overnight. That's gonna help smash,
Speaker 1: you know, finally get the top ten of the uh
Speaker 1: of the live whatever whatever they call the thing in DC.
Speaker 1: We won't even get to know what these tournament name
Speaker 1: names are, or will we. I don't know they're going
Speaker 1: away as we record this. They may not be going away.
Speaker 2: It's there's lots of uncertainty. Other big news, other big
Speaker 2: news in golf this this this week, I guess, yeah,
Speaker 2: it would be within the calendar. If the day week
Speaker 2: you released a book. Yeah, you know, you're jumping up
Speaker 2: the charts. You might be the number one golf book
Speaker 2: in Amazon. Golf Architecture for normal people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gone great, it's gone. I mean, there's already
Speaker 1: a second printing coming. It's about to sell out the
Speaker 1: first one. It's gone beautifully, so thank you to all
Speaker 1: who ordered. And so far the reviews have been what
Speaker 1: I kind of hope for, or even exceeding my my.
Speaker 1: I mean I was just hoping for mild satisfaction of
Speaker 1: reading it. And so I've had some cool responses of people. Well, first,
Speaker 1: I love when I hear that people quickly read it
Speaker 1: because it was meant to be a quick read, and
Speaker 1: some people wanting to play more golf because of it,
Speaker 1: and all the things that you kind of hope to
Speaker 1: do with a book like that, and and and then
Speaker 1: I got a bad review on Amazon today say it
Speaker 1: was too basic and for too many it's geared to
Speaker 1: you know, just somebody who doesn't know anything. I'm like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's the best review possible.
Speaker 2: I would have to ask, is that a bad review
Speaker 2: given a book title?
Speaker 1: Gave it a gave it, I don't know, two three stars.
Speaker 1: But I was like, uh, that's that was the idea.
Speaker 1: And it's not like we bamboozled you. That was kind
Speaker 1: of the idea. But I mean, I do think that
Speaker 1: people who are really into architecture, I hope it will
Speaker 1: open their eyes a little bit too. But it was
Speaker 1: definitely geared toward you know, probably your audience a lot.
Speaker 1: You know that person who's and we have so many
Speaker 1: people now that are are intrigued by what goes into
Speaker 1: a course design or the construction or things to be
Speaker 1: able to look for. And so that was the idea
Speaker 1: of the book, was to give those people something without
Speaker 1: going off the rails the way that a lot of
Speaker 1: the rankings have. So so I'm thrilled and excited and
Speaker 1: look forward to more hearing more feedback for people.
Speaker 2: I've read it. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and I have
Speaker 2: I tell people this all the time, but like one
Speaker 2: of the reasons that I got into golf architecture was
Speaker 2: You're writing on golf architecture as I was growing up.
Speaker 2: So I, uh, you know, for somebody I get asked
Speaker 2: this question all the time, what are what are things
Speaker 2: I should read? You know, to get into this to
Speaker 2: start to realize. I thought this was a great entry
Speaker 2: point to the discourse. And in like you said, it's
Speaker 2: an easy read, a lightlift. It's not too long. You know,
Speaker 2: you could read this and then you could go dump
Speaker 2: jump into George Thomas's golf architecture in America. You know,
Speaker 2: if you if you really enjoyed this, right, it doesn't
Speaker 2: you know, it's not a laborious read, and you don't
Speaker 2: feel like you're reading you know, sometimes I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, When I'm reading golf architecture stuff, it's like
Speaker 2: a ten to fifteen page read and then I'm putting
Speaker 2: it down because it's you know, it's like this is
Speaker 2: this is a textbook type stuff like this, this thing
Speaker 2: you can breeze through. Uh so congratulations. I would recommend
Speaker 2: everybody going and checking that out that is interested in
Speaker 2: getting into architecture. That is. That is even somebody that
Speaker 2: has you know, read a ton about architecture is additive it.
Speaker 2: You know, there are there are things in there that
Speaker 2: that will make you think and that's really what you
Speaker 2: want from a book.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. That's just what I
Speaker 1: wanted to hear. And I'm going to go back and
Speaker 1: transcribe that and blurb that.
Speaker 2: So, oh you know this this fancy system we use,
Speaker 2: I think I could transcribe it here.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so IV on the phone, I get, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got I have means. So thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: So we uh, we're going to l a CC this week.
Speaker 2: There's a full disclosure. I'll probably say this in the intro.
Speaker 2: This is recorded on Thursday afternoon, June eighth, with the
Speaker 2: stay of the Golf world. Some really big stuff might
Speaker 2: happen this weekend. This is going to be released on Sunday,
Speaker 2: June eleventh, So you know, if something big happens, we
Speaker 2: don't cover in this. Maybe I'll add it at the intro.
Speaker 2: But this is what we're we're operating with the information
Speaker 2: as of June eighth. This is a big picture podcast
Speaker 2: about the US Open. So, Jeff, this is a as
Speaker 2: an l A native. Uh, this is a property that
Speaker 2: you're quite intimate with your a co art.
Speaker 1: Well, I have an intimate with I'm intimately familiar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you had an intimate, whether we might we might
Speaker 1: have to call the police. But I'm sorry, go.
Speaker 2: On, you know you could you might be you might
Speaker 2: be able to describe some of the things. All the
Speaker 2: photos you have is being intimate with it.
Speaker 1: Well, there is that. Yeah, yeah, I do have a
Speaker 1: lot of photos in the drawers, so yeah, there is that.
Speaker 2: So anyways, we're you know, I figured this would be
Speaker 2: a great podcast to have you on. You write a
Speaker 2: The Quadrilateral, a substack newsletter that is uh that centers
Speaker 2: on the major So we got Major Championship golf in
Speaker 2: l A at a golf course that you are a
Speaker 2: co architect of the rest of who better to talk
Speaker 2: to you, and we're doing our traditional five things about
Speaker 2: the US Open. So I will give you the first
Speaker 2: at bat here, And what's the first thing you're looking
Speaker 2: forward to this week?
Speaker 1: Well, I don't want to make people's eyes glaze over
Speaker 1: because it probably sounds rather drab, but obviously the first
Speaker 1: thing that I'm really watching and fascinated by is we
Speaker 1: have a golf course that nobody knows, we have a
Speaker 1: handful of players who have some experience there, and we're
Speaker 1: in a world right now where War One, there's that
Speaker 1: whole thing going on off the course, and then we
Speaker 1: live in a time where players rely a lot on data,
Speaker 1: and they rely a lot on their caddy more than
Speaker 1: they used to, and they like to play nine holes
Speaker 1: a day and I don't see that working real well.
Speaker 1: So I'm fascinated by how this early week is going
Speaker 1: to go in terms of people get to know the course,
Speaker 1: trying to understand it, because it it is a it
Speaker 1: is a course that has some elements that takes them
Speaker 1: getting used to. And so yeah, not to start off
Speaker 1: with about the least sexy sounding thing you could throw out,
Speaker 1: but I really do feel like, it's going to be
Speaker 1: fascinating to watch how these players take a crash course
Speaker 1: when they're just not used to this kind of thing anymore.
Speaker 1: You know, they used to do the pre scouting trips,
Speaker 1: and there have been guys who've gone there for scouting trips,
Speaker 1: but not as many as you think. And I mean
Speaker 1: we saw it at ok Hill, which was essentially a
Speaker 1: new golf course, and I was out there at late
Speaker 1: afternoon Monday, beautiful day. Marshalls were all out there and
Speaker 1: they were like, where are the players. I said, what
Speaker 1: do you mean. I've been here on about six hour
Speaker 1: six of my shift and I've seen four golfers come through,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, it's a new world. They like to rest,
Speaker 1: they watch aerials, the caddy tells the where to go,
Speaker 1: and I just don't think that's gonna fly on La
Speaker 1: North and so that I think that's just gonna be
Speaker 1: really interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's a different type of golf course
Speaker 2: than Okill too. I would I I don't mean this
Speaker 2: to smirch oak Kill, but I think it was different
Speaker 2: very in front of you. You know, I don't think
Speaker 2: there was much nuance to o Kill. It was you
Speaker 2: know the fairways. Aren't asking you ever a question other
Speaker 2: than just please try to hit me at okill Here
Speaker 2: at La CEC, there might be a little bit more strategic.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, the idea of strategy and pro
Speaker 2: golf is you know, limited, but there is some space
Speaker 2: to operate here. There's some space to think about playing
Speaker 2: a whole a different way. You talked about this, what
Speaker 2: what's one area you think? Think like you know, one
Speaker 2: particular spot you think is an example of maybe you
Speaker 2: want to see this more times so that you understand
Speaker 2: the way something works.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, I mean you could. You could go through
Speaker 1: so many holes, but I guess I would. The first
Speaker 1: thing that comes to mind are the fifth and sixth holes,
Speaker 1: and they're very different holes. You know, at one point
Speaker 1: in my lifetime, the fifth was always considered the hardest
Speaker 1: holl in La It's it's about four ninety and uphill
Speaker 1: t shot, but it's it's going to have a massive fairway.
Speaker 1: And yet if things dry out and it's sunny today, finally,
Speaker 1: uh here it's bliss. We're nice to see the sun.
Speaker 1: The course is pretty green right now. But if it's dry,
Speaker 1: it's this this massive fairway. But you have this this
Speaker 1: slot up the left side, and you have to get comfortable,
Speaker 1: even though you know it just it just calls for
Speaker 1: kind of a big, beautiful cut. But if you get
Speaker 1: that running and it runs down the fairway into the rough,
Speaker 1: into the with a semi obstructed view of the see
Speaker 1: shot by trees, you're going to be kind of annoyed.
Speaker 1: And it's an awkward line and you just have to
Speaker 1: get comfortable with that. Is it? Are you going to
Speaker 1: try to hit a slight draw? Are you just going
Speaker 1: to have to start it left? But if you start
Speaker 1: it left and double cross it, you're going to be
Speaker 1: in massive trouble. So that's one, and then the whole
Speaker 1: right after. It's a drivable four. And I just know
Speaker 1: how these guys tend to play ten at Riviera, But
Speaker 1: that one's data driven, andy, so you know they don't
Speaker 1: have the data to say, well, just bomb it up
Speaker 1: there and gouge.
Speaker 2: And that's what Google Earth's for. You can figure out
Speaker 2: anything on Google.
Speaker 1: Earth right exactly. And of course that's just just just
Speaker 1: not the case here. And you know, and you know
Speaker 1: you read the book I do touch on the value
Speaker 1: of Google Earth and the things you can get out
Speaker 1: of it. But I also make very clear there are
Speaker 1: a lot of things you just can't get out of
Speaker 1: Google Earth. In terms of how you approach a course,
Speaker 1: you can. It's a great starting point. It's a great
Speaker 1: sense of place thing, knowing where the bathrooms are, or
Speaker 1: where the range is, or where the bunkers are, or
Speaker 1: where the bunkers are cut short or set short of
Speaker 1: a green. But in terms of a hole like the
Speaker 1: six that La, it just has so many dimensions depending
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a it's a version of the
Speaker 1: tenth of Riviera, only it has a little bit of
Speaker 1: a kind of hazard. E Baranca won't be marked as hazard.
Speaker 1: I don't believe. I know that decision was going to
Speaker 1: be made this week by Thomas Pegel. But it's not
Speaker 1: a it's not a waterway, so it'll be this kind
Speaker 1: of sandy problematic thing. And then you have a green
Speaker 1: that's perched and it's a long green, and I happen
Speaker 1: to be of the view that you know, it's a hole.
Speaker 1: You lay up down the fairway, you basically hit almost
Speaker 1: the same link shot you could hit to the front
Speaker 1: of the green, and that's just gonna make head spin,
Speaker 1: you know, just just that notion that a two two
Speaker 1: point eighty shot what you get when it's two ninety
Speaker 1: to the front of the green, let's say, or to
Speaker 1: eighty five, but you really should lay up to eighty
Speaker 1: five and then have a wedge end of the length
Speaker 1: of the green. That's just not the way they play
Speaker 1: golf today. So they have a lot to figure out
Speaker 1: on that hole, and I just don't think you can
Speaker 1: do that in one day. And so things like that
Speaker 1: I think are those would be those holes just stand
Speaker 1: out immediately to me to your question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the other aspect of it is like
Speaker 2: getting comfortable just with some of the targets that some
Speaker 2: of the little nooks of the greens are going to present,
Speaker 2: where you just you don't have a bailout option. If
Speaker 2: you're bailing out, you're going to have twenty, you're going
Speaker 2: to have a longer putt like where you know, just
Speaker 2: getting comfortable with that idea, right, is something that is
Speaker 2: unique about this golf course. It almost has the tongues
Speaker 2: that you don't see at Augusta that you see in
Speaker 2: the old photos in certain wings and stuff. And with that,
Speaker 2: like one of my things about this US Open is
Speaker 2: it is kind of the anti US Open test right
Speaker 2: the traditional narrow fairway, thick rough test we've seen the
Speaker 2: USGA they started to go away from that narrow fairway,
Speaker 2: thick rough test. It feels like they've gone a little
Speaker 2: bit back into it. But this is a place with space.
Speaker 2: It's I think it's going to reward some creativity shot making.
Speaker 2: It is not going to be a bludgeon fest like
Speaker 2: we saw at Wingfoot or Tory Pines. You know, this
Speaker 2: is a golf course that is going to potentially, you know,
Speaker 2: reward some different skill sets that we've typically seen at
Speaker 2: the US Open that's become superpower driven. So with that
Speaker 2: in mind, it kind of brings to me to Jordan Speeth,
Speaker 2: a guy that won a US Open at a non
Speaker 2: traditional US Open site of Chabers Bay that had wide fairways,
Speaker 2: that was firm and fast, that presented a golf course
Speaker 2: that you had to think about where you were landing shots,
Speaker 2: you know where they were going to end up because
Speaker 2: of contours in the ground. And obviously he played phenomenal
Speaker 2: at the Memorial, a golf course that doesn't suit his
Speaker 2: his his really profile of game. The swing looks great,
Speaker 2: the numbers look great, and I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 2: we see a player that we usually don't consider a
Speaker 2: US Open type player in the mix here he's.
Speaker 1: He's definitely is that your number one? By the way,
Speaker 1: I'm just curious.
Speaker 2: I don't have I don't have.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: I've usually used mine. I'm a host here. I'm trying
Speaker 2: to keep the conversation flowing. This is just one of
Speaker 2: the ones that I had written down that with our conversation, it's.
Speaker 1: It's a great one and he definitely is a player.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking a lot about partly for the reasons you
Speaker 1: mentioned that he that he seems to be past the
Speaker 1: worst part of whatever was going on with the wrist,
Speaker 1: and I mean, to survive okill without re injuring it
Speaker 1: is fantastic because that rough was just beyond belief. There's
Speaker 1: some stuff like that, and we will get into it
Speaker 1: because one of my items involves some stuff with the
Speaker 1: bunkers and the grass. But he's played there a decent amount.
Speaker 1: I know he's played some some Wednesdays of LA or
Speaker 1: Tuesdays of Genesis week with Jay Danzy and some members
Speaker 1: and likes the course. But more importantly, I mean there's
Speaker 1: always that's always a nice thing to your point on creativity,
Speaker 1: imagination and the things that this course brings out. I mean,
Speaker 1: as I've thought a lot about the course, what I'm
Speaker 1: most excited about, and I may be proven wrong, but
Speaker 1: I feel like all sorts of styles of play can
Speaker 1: handle this. If you're playing well, you're going to be rewarded.
Speaker 1: And I do think there's some some T shots where
Speaker 1: if you can hit a very long, high draw, you're
Speaker 1: going to get a huge advantage. And I do think
Speaker 1: being able to kind of hit a soft cut into
Speaker 1: the greens like any US Open, will still be a
Speaker 1: wonderful advantage, both because of assuming the greens get nice
Speaker 1: and firm and all so just the shape of the shots.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of holes where it feels like
Speaker 1: you kind of have a right to left bend T
Speaker 1: shot and the kind of a nice cut second. But again,
Speaker 1: I think if you're playing well, it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: If you're short, you're long, whatever you're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: do well there. But I do believe that he is
Speaker 1: still of a generation where I think he goes up
Speaker 1: to a different level if he feels like he can
Speaker 1: be uh creative and that he can that he can
Speaker 1: work his magic, and so yeah, I think it's a
Speaker 1: it's just set up really nicely for him, and I'm
Speaker 1: anxious to see how he manages a week. And uh,
Speaker 1: I think having played their decent amounts really gonna help
Speaker 1: him kind of you know, ease into the week, whereas
Speaker 1: some guys are gonna be on this crash course Monday
Speaker 1: through Wednesday trying to trying to learn it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the thing about this golf course that's
Speaker 2: going to yield the variety of of styles is that
Speaker 2: by the space, by offering some space off the t
Speaker 2: some latitude off the tee, it doesn't make driving it
Speaker 2: long a prerequisite, right because it is affording it's going
Speaker 2: to afford players the opportunity to hit a substantial amount
Speaker 2: of irons, you know, like we see are a substantial
Speaker 2: amount of fairways and have good iron shots into greens.
Speaker 2: You know, they are going to be extremely challenging iron
Speaker 2: shots with the way the greens are, the little nooks
Speaker 2: and crannies that they have. But you know, there's a
Speaker 2: feasible world where somebody might hit every fairway in a
Speaker 2: round of golf out here, which you cannot say about
Speaker 2: the majority of US Open courses. They're like, I would
Speaker 2: not be surprised if somebody hits fourteen to fourteen fairways
Speaker 2: in a round of golf here And to me, you
Speaker 2: know what, like, if you're talking about a test, it
Speaker 2: makes sense that somebody should be able to excel at
Speaker 2: that component of the test. And it to be that's
Speaker 2: where so many venues get it wrong in major setup
Speaker 2: is like, are we really striving for a success to
Speaker 2: be sixty percent on one of the aspects of the test?
Speaker 1: Yeah, as well, it's just that obedience kind of golf
Speaker 1: versus letting the players play, and they andre's there are
Speaker 1: plenty of opportunities, by the way to get in trouble
Speaker 1: if you start to get a little sloppy and just
Speaker 1: thinking you can just bomb it out there. You still
Speaker 1: have to be careful at times, but you also are
Speaker 1: not going to be you're gonna be able to hit driver.
Speaker 1: Let's just start there. And we know what that kind
Speaker 1: of does to the whole mojo of a tournament when
Speaker 1: when when they take the a driver out of their hands,
Speaker 1: it just becomes this, It immediately loses something and uh
Speaker 1: and I and I guess we should explain a lot
Speaker 1: a lot of people maybe wondering why is it wide.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's a very severe property in places. And
Speaker 1: if it gets running, and we've seen it in the
Speaker 1: Pac twelve and a little bit in the Walker Cup,
Speaker 1: you have to be careful because a couple of these
Speaker 1: massively wide fairways can get to where they play so
Speaker 1: narrow that it's a little bit goofy that that no
Speaker 1: good drive is rewarded, not every hole but a few
Speaker 1: key holes. And the USA doesn't want that, and that's
Speaker 1: a great thing. That's where they've changed, i think in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Or they're just more cautious, and
Speaker 1: they really do. They're not paying lip service to this
Speaker 1: about the architecture. They're they're genuine. They want to they
Speaker 1: want to let the design when the design is good,
Speaker 1: they want to let the design determine the champion. And
Speaker 1: they they are less concerned with the winning score than
Speaker 1: they used to be, even though they used to claim
Speaker 1: they never were interested in the winning score. They are.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking the winning score will probably unless we
Speaker 1: get just a ton of afternoon when it'll probably be
Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen under. But I think it'll be as I
Speaker 1: think it'll be a great finish in a sensational week, don't.
Speaker 1: I don't see it being something like a birdie shootout.
Speaker 1: I think it'll still separate the field, and uh, that's
Speaker 1: what you want. I think.
Speaker 2: I think that's one of my things to watch is
Speaker 2: the winning score. And I think we're gonna if it's
Speaker 2: at thirteen or fourteen under, there's going to be an
Speaker 2: outrage that this isn't a US Open.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And there's always that, and I think.
Speaker 2: That's just the silliest thing. It's a you know, I
Speaker 2: think the different ways that this golf course puts pressure
Speaker 2: on your game is super unique, and the different shots
Speaker 2: that it's going to require, different shapes. It shows you
Speaker 2: a lot of different windows off the tee, like you said,
Speaker 2: some some really wide fairways that play super narrow, some
Speaker 2: more narrow shots, like I mean, like the way fourteen
Speaker 2: is narrowed down, Like you got to hit a perfect
Speaker 2: T shot on fourteen to hit that fairway. And one
Speaker 2: of the things I think about is like the variety
Speaker 2: of windows. Not showing somebody the exact same with every
Speaker 2: hole makes driving much more difficult because you don't get
Speaker 2: used to what you're looking at. And I think that's
Speaker 2: a big part of this is looking at you know,
Speaker 2: around the greens, you're gonna have bunkers, you're gonna have baranka,
Speaker 2: which is different than the bunkers. It's a very unpredictable
Speaker 2: lie like you don't know what you're gonna get when
Speaker 2: you go into a baranka. You have thick rough, you
Speaker 2: have short grass like that's the type of around the
Speaker 2: green tests that you want to see every type of shot.
Speaker 2: People aren't just it's not just a hack it out
Speaker 2: of the rough or I'm in a bunker. There are
Speaker 2: a lot of variety, and that's what I want from
Speaker 2: a test. I want I don't care about the score.
Speaker 2: I care about the wide range of shots that are
Speaker 2: being asked to be hit to succeed. We want a test,
Speaker 2: a well rounded test that looks at everybody's game. And
Speaker 2: I think that this has the opportunity to do that
Speaker 2: regardless of score.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where the games just more enlightened, that more
Speaker 1: people appreciate that element and not trying to have it
Speaker 1: be well, just not go back to some of the
Speaker 1: things that they used to do. And there will be
Speaker 1: people who miss that. And I get it a little
Speaker 1: bit in that you know, we love the differentiation of
Speaker 1: the four majors, but we've seen when you go to
Speaker 1: a great golf course and then you sort of emasculate
Speaker 1: it with narrowing and rough. Yeah, it just doesn't feel good.
Speaker 1: You feel robbed, you feel cheated, And I think that's
Speaker 1: what's exciting about this setup, regardless of whatever the whatever
Speaker 1: the score is. And so, but you set me up
Speaker 1: for my second thing to look for pretty pretty nicely there,
Speaker 1: so if I may, if you, if you'd like me.
Speaker 2: To, I only jumped in because it was a good time,
Speaker 2: so you know, well it was.
Speaker 1: A beautiful jump in and then it was a beautiful segue.
Speaker 1: So I mean you asked me to think about the
Speaker 1: five things or so that that people should be looking
Speaker 1: for and expecting or watching and enjoying. And I think
Speaker 1: number two, I mean after that early week stuff and
Speaker 1: just sort of what players say. And and by the way,
Speaker 1: it will be fun to contrast early week comments with
Speaker 1: after four rounds, uh, their assessments of the golf course,
Speaker 1: because you know, I do expect some some unhappiness in
Speaker 1: some ways because there's there's some blindness out there. But
Speaker 1: to your point on variety, uh, I feel like this course.
Speaker 1: If these part threes are set up well, there's five
Speaker 1: of them, has the best set of part threes in
Speaker 1: the United States. And that's I understand that there's pine
Speaker 1: Valley in Cyprus point places like that, and places with
Speaker 1: oceans and dramatic shots. But I think when you pick
Speaker 1: these apart, and again, if they're set up well, and
Speaker 1: and when I say set up well, what happened, Uh
Speaker 1: when we did the restoration work, you know, we we
Speaker 1: got away from box t's and so you have kind
Speaker 1: of what you saw at Southern Hills, a lot of
Speaker 1: you know that fair way moment or cut, and you
Speaker 1: have a lot of flexibility and and we were more
Speaker 1: than comfortable doing that because George Thomas was big on
Speaker 1: day to day variety. That was his that's where he
Speaker 1: wanted to see architecture go in the future, and did
Speaker 1: that you use this course as his example, and so
Speaker 1: we actually went beyond the original design concept. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a new left tee on nine that happened after
Speaker 1: some eucalyptus trees died. There's a longer tea on four.
Speaker 1: There's two long te's on seven and eleven that I'm
Speaker 1: that those were built by us. Those were meant to
Speaker 1: be alternate par four ties and his courses in the course,
Speaker 1: but well now they're Part three t's. But I hope
Speaker 1: those I hope those teas are moved around a lot, because,
Speaker 1: as you said, all these wings and nooks and crannies
Speaker 1: in these greens allow you to just have these radically
Speaker 1: different yardages. But more than that, radically different shots, you know,
Speaker 1: the feel it's just can be so different day to
Speaker 1: day that that these part threes never feel the same.
Speaker 1: And there's nothing worse, you know, just watching where they
Speaker 1: just know what they're gonna hit, where to put it,
Speaker 1: and and I don't know how they're gonna figure that
Speaker 1: out in the practice rounds, and I don't know how
Speaker 1: much the USGA will telegraph. You know, Carrie Hague didn't
Speaker 1: do that at all this year. It's o kill, which
Speaker 1: you thought was interesting. I mean one, I think one
Speaker 1: spot he had some netting, but other than that, he
Speaker 1: just left left the Part three t's wide open and
Speaker 1: he moved him around, which was fun for me to
Speaker 1: see because he I think he used to kind of
Speaker 1: roll his eyes at that a little bit. But we
Speaker 1: saw and we've seen it over and over again, it's
Speaker 1: a better test, it's more interesting for the player, it's
Speaker 1: more interesting for us to watch. And and then within
Speaker 1: this set of five at LA again it's just, uh,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see how they're set up and
Speaker 1: what they do to kind of kind of ring every
Speaker 1: little bit of of character out of them. And I
Speaker 1: know what you think in terms of a set of
Speaker 1: par threes and where they rank. But I know, and
Speaker 1: I know some people would probably question that comment, but
Speaker 1: I but I do believe if they're set up with
Speaker 1: a lot of fun and variety, they'll they'll people will
Speaker 1: see like, oh wow, that was that's a pretty cool
Speaker 1: set of holes.
Speaker 2: I might want one that plays kind of uphill. That's
Speaker 2: my it would be my my one critique where you
Speaker 2: have you have two down two significantly downhill par threes
Speaker 2: and then three flat par threes effectively granted one to
Speaker 2: you're fifteen over.
Speaker 1: Fifteen slightly up and you can't see the greens. So
Speaker 1: that's somewhat of a it's I think I measured it
Speaker 1: on Google or it's not much, but I know what
Speaker 1: you mean. Yeah, And I'm not, as you know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't care for downhill par threes or I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like they're essential to the game. Where
Speaker 1: you know, you look at most of the great part threes,
Speaker 1: they are flat too slightly up. I do.
Speaker 2: I do think that the downhill par threes work well
Speaker 2: in in the way they're set up, right. I like
Speaker 2: the idea of the fourth with the tabletop green, how
Speaker 2: it how everything repels on a shot that's really you know,
Speaker 2: that downhill shot makes distance control more tough or more difficult,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna miss right and left a little bit
Speaker 2: more on it. And having that combined with a green
Speaker 2: that that runs really repels everything is a really fun shot, right,
Speaker 2: And I think that one is, you know, it probably
Speaker 2: the the one that probably gets least talked about of
Speaker 2: the par threes. And then I would say I think
Speaker 2: the the leventh works well downhill because of its length, right,
Speaker 2: and just the the whole setting with the skyline. I
Speaker 2: mean that, yeah, that par three And I don't think
Speaker 2: from a playing standpoint, that's my favorite par three out there,
Speaker 2: but from a just a setting standpoint, and and like
Speaker 2: knowing where you are and everything about it, it's a
Speaker 2: hard one to pass up. And I'm sure that's gonna
Speaker 2: to be that banner shot of live from all week
Speaker 2: of going to commercial breaks the skyline, the eleventh green, that
Speaker 2: one is going to get it. It's a lot of airtime.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that And and by the way, number nine
Speaker 1: plays a little up and nine is the one that
Speaker 1: I'm most interested in. It's the one I'm most proud of,
Speaker 1: I think. Yeah. And so when I first played La
Speaker 1: as a as a kid, that green was this little
Speaker 1: just awful. You know, the bunkers had just swollen up
Speaker 1: and you just had one row of pins up the middle,
Speaker 1: and it was too steep and it played long, and
Speaker 1: then there was this horrible shoot of Yuke's and yeah,
Speaker 1: if you hit one of those, you drop down, you're
Speaker 1: just You're just dead. And it just was it just
Speaker 1: was not a good hole. And so that was the
Speaker 1: one where we most just completely rebuilt the entire green
Speaker 1: and we had some great photos and and Gil I think,
Speaker 1: just did a phenomenal job of recapturing those contours. He
Speaker 1: did that one on the dozer. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: all the other greens, you know, we were kind of
Speaker 1: working in a general shell, but that one was really
Speaker 1: a full destruction job. And what's so cool about that
Speaker 1: one is that you know you can play it, and
Speaker 1: we've already seen it. You could just play the tee
Speaker 1: up to a front pin that's that's got a big
Speaker 1: tier behind it, that's just a wedge, maybe a nine
Speaker 1: iron if it's blowing in the afternoon, depending on where
Speaker 1: they put the tea, And it's just this delicate shot.
Speaker 1: You just got one little place to put it. And
Speaker 1: then you have these other dimensions when the pins are
Speaker 1: on the upper shelf on the right where it's kind
Speaker 1: of a you almost want to cut it in and
Speaker 1: you almost want to play safe to the middle and
Speaker 1: just take your two putt. And then oddly the back
Speaker 1: left pin the kind of dramatic, the one where you
Speaker 1: could put the tea back, put the pin back. It
Speaker 1: can be fifty yards difference from that front tee to
Speaker 1: front pin, so you know, two three clubs difference. At least.
Speaker 1: That's actually probably the easiest pin on the green because
Speaker 1: the green kind of can funnel down to the pin
Speaker 1: and it's and it's but it's a great feeling shot.
Speaker 1: You can kind of air it out, you can play
Speaker 1: a draw, you can kind of cut it and and
Speaker 1: I just love like it just every day that hole
Speaker 1: can just be it's like a new hole to the players,
Speaker 1: and so it's probably the one I'm I'm just most
Speaker 1: excited about watching what happens there and with the setup
Speaker 1: and then how the how the players deal with that
Speaker 1: and whether they like that or not. And and it's
Speaker 1: one that's really affected by the afternoon win. If we
Speaker 1: can get this this morning marine layer to lift, that
Speaker 1: afternoon breeze can really be something. But but in the mornings,
Speaker 1: you know, people just be ready when it's when it's foggy,
Speaker 1: and that's when max Omer shot is sixty one. When
Speaker 1: it's that marine layer, look out, there's gonna be some
Speaker 1: good scoring because players just it's funny. I mean, I
Speaker 1: asked them, I've tried to do an article on it,
Speaker 1: and you just can't. You just can't. You just can't
Speaker 1: break through. But yeah, Ken Venturre used to always believe
Speaker 1: that that that marine layer was just so much better
Speaker 1: for scoring. It just took away the shadows. You just
Speaker 1: saw what you needed to do better. Everything was just
Speaker 1: just quieter. And I agree with him, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't have the shot linked at it because I
Speaker 1: don't think they enter the weather I've asked if that's
Speaker 1: possible to start entering weather hour by hour and someday
Speaker 1: be able to see this difference. But I think you're
Speaker 1: going to see some amazing scoring in the morning waves
Speaker 1: on Thursday and Friday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I oh, we didn't.
Speaker 1: Even talk about fifteen by the way, on the part threes,
Speaker 1: so I think everybody's starting to hear that one. But
Speaker 1: you know, that's going to be the coolest of them all,
Speaker 1: just because it's such a little little wei hole after
Speaker 1: these two you know, eleven and fifty yards of hull
Speaker 1: on thirteen and fourteen.
Speaker 2: And are just sixteen after it at.
Speaker 1: Sixteen and seventeen and eighteen are all just huge. But
Speaker 1: then in between and in my lifetime, you know, that
Speaker 1: hole was always viewed as an afterthought and this kind
Speaker 1: of mistake and what the hell happened here? And so
Speaker 1: I guess other than number nine, that's probably the other
Speaker 1: one in the third green, or probably the ones were
Speaker 1: at least I can't speak for for Gil and Jim,
Speaker 1: but that we're most proud of, just because I mean,
Speaker 1: talk about all the new dimensions to it and how
Speaker 1: cool it was in the Walker Cup. So I'm a
Speaker 1: little nervous. You know, it's that was a walker cup.
Speaker 1: That's that was not a lot of players. We'll see
Speaker 1: how it behaves when they go, you know, to the
Speaker 1: seventy eight eighty yard shot with a full field and
Speaker 1: you know, just more.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it's a Saturday. Maybe it's a Saturday.
Speaker 1: I think it's probably Saturday, would be my guest, but yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it'll definitely be the weekend if they when they do it,
Speaker 1: and I know they're going to do it, they loved it.
Speaker 1: I mean they took all the numbers. It was so cool.
Speaker 1: I mean will Zalatoris. I wrote about it in the
Speaker 1: newsletter in my recap, and it sounds kind of clich ish,
Speaker 1: but I just don't know why else to put it.
Speaker 1: But anybody who was there that'll talk about the up,
Speaker 1: the way he got up and down. He was long,
Speaker 1: and he had to use the little bump in the
Speaker 1: green and funnel this crazy little shot. And I was
Speaker 1: standing down in the front. It was just the coolest
Speaker 1: little shot you've ever seen. And we had guys almost
Speaker 1: hole out. There'll be a couple of hole in ones.
Speaker 1: I almost guarantee it if they put it in the
Speaker 1: right spot and a couple tap ins. You know, in
Speaker 1: the Pac Twelves in twenty thirteen, Casey Martin was out
Speaker 1: there on the green standing I mean actually coaching. This
Speaker 1: is a real truth, Like I've never seen a golf
Speaker 1: coach to get this much into coaching, showing the guys
Speaker 1: what line he won, and two of his guys hit it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they just had tap ins. It was so beautiful. It
Speaker 1: so cool to watch, you know, and he was allowed
Speaker 1: to do that. And because you kind of have to
Speaker 1: pick a spot and then let it. If you catch
Speaker 1: it right, you spin it and it'll just kind of
Speaker 1: funnel down. And so it's going to be a magnificent hole.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many people will be able to
Speaker 1: get around it. You know, it's in a very busy intersection.
Speaker 1: But I sure hope it's a featured hole, coverage hole.
Speaker 1: I don't have those are Yeah, it just it would
Speaker 1: just be so cool, it better. But I know Tommy
Speaker 1: Roy even a year ago, was already starting to talk
Speaker 1: about it the NBC producers, so pretty confident. He has
Speaker 1: a good sense of what a what a great little
Speaker 1: hole it's gonna be. I mean, like the eleventh the
Speaker 1: Country Club last year, it was a nice little part three.
Speaker 1: This has got way more going on as a short
Speaker 1: short part three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the eleventh of the Country Club was a nice
Speaker 2: par three to look at, but like you know, in
Speaker 2: a professional golf space did not. I don't think it
Speaker 2: really put put the screws to to the players, like
Speaker 2: like this par three will where the target targets here
Speaker 2: are so small because of that central bump. You know,
Speaker 2: there's just not you just have to kind of take
Speaker 2: that aim on a lot of these or use the bump.
Speaker 2: Today's episode and this week at the US Open is
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Speaker 2: back to Jeff Shackelford with the with the U. S
Speaker 2: g A. I guess this is a combination. I've decided
Speaker 2: to combo this. We're gonna spin with the with the
Speaker 2: obviously the Saudi Arabia news, the the great, the great merger,
Speaker 2: the PGA Tour brought to you by Saudi Arabia that
Speaker 2: we have entered into, and then obviously the U. S
Speaker 2: g A and their efforts to reign in the golf ball.
Speaker 2: I think this is a this is gonna be a
Speaker 2: big week. We will get a ball update. There's been
Speaker 2: some presentations made to the PGA Tour, you know obviously, uh,
Speaker 2: Mike One will have it. We'll speak at this event
Speaker 2: and I'm sure I'm just this is the through line
Speaker 2: I think of major championships, uh for the foresee of
Speaker 2: future is you know, and this will be one at
Speaker 2: the Open. But like, what's our update on the golf ball?
Speaker 2: In our pursuit to maybe not have these these fantastic
Speaker 2: athletes that just be able to drive the ball to
Speaker 2: where they render five hundred and forty yard par fours
Speaker 2: into driver nine iron like we'll probably see this week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's going to be a lot to look
Speaker 1: at on this course for people if they if they
Speaker 1: care to see what had to have been done to
Speaker 1: get the holes relevant in certain spots and some of
Speaker 1: the crazy tea locations and numbers and intersections. And I
Speaker 1: hope people see that and see what a what a
Speaker 1: way it alters not just the playing experience, but the
Speaker 1: access fan movement all that stuff. You know, there's some
Speaker 1: areas that in the past would have been a great
Speaker 1: place for a grand stand, Well now there are back
Speaker 1: tee for another hole and things like that. I don't
Speaker 1: expect him to give us much because I think that
Speaker 1: comment period goes through August, so I'm guessing that we
Speaker 1: we won't get much of an update on how that
Speaker 1: that meeting went. And uh uh, it'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: hear where that is on the priority list of the
Speaker 1: of the players now in light of everything that's going on,
Speaker 1: you'd like to think it's about forty eighth on the
Speaker 1: list of things that really should matter to them, which
Speaker 1: is their their their deals with companies, and their their
Speaker 1: their their victimhood at at possibly losing thirty yards. Although
Speaker 1: you know, of course now we're hearing the they were
Speaker 1: told the professional ball would fail under the new testing parameters.
Speaker 1: The ball from the mid nineties where we saw the
Speaker 1: huge leap ironically here at Riviera in the ninety five PGA,
Speaker 1: is when I really saw the the leaf from them.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's it's one of those things that
Speaker 1: that I look at some of these t's in THATXT
Speaker 1: week and I just I just shake my head. They're
Speaker 1: they're in some crazy places. And uh and then but
Speaker 1: this time of year when the guys are it's warm,
Speaker 1: hopefully warm. Uh and and and and the forecast of
Speaker 1: the tournament days is looking pretty good in terms of
Speaker 1: warming up. It's warm, they're in shape, they're in peak
Speaker 1: performance mode. They just hit it some crazy places.
Speaker 2: It's uh it seems like the other aspect of the
Speaker 2: the golf ball out here, uh in in the the
Speaker 2: tee locations is going to be the the flow and
Speaker 2: possibly the pace of place. Yeah. I you know that
Speaker 2: we saw this last year at the Open Championship at
Speaker 2: the Old Course. It just was impossible for anybody to
Speaker 2: get around the golf course in a brisk pace because
Speaker 2: of you know where tea boxes are and having to wait.
Speaker 1: Well, you've done it again. You seg you segued. You
Speaker 1: didn't even know my My next thing to look for
Speaker 1: was but uh so there's a stretch at l Country Club.
Speaker 1: The things I'm really looking for, I'm not looking forward
Speaker 1: to watching this. I'm just looking to watch this. So
Speaker 1: Captain George Thomas was, you know, not a big template
Speaker 1: guy as you know any but one of the things
Speaker 1: he wrote about in his book was starting off with
Speaker 1: some longer holes and spacing out play. He was ahead
Speaker 1: of his time on pace of play and so he
Speaker 1: had a set formula. It was the only really formulaic
Speaker 1: thing that he and Billy Bell did started it really,
Speaker 1: I guess with well White Marsh has a par five opener,
Speaker 1: but at Griffith Park, which he spent his own money
Speaker 1: George Thomas to finish in nineteen twenty three, and that
Speaker 1: was before he was working with Bell. Starts with a beautiful,
Speaker 1: beautiful par five and then a really great tough part
Speaker 1: four and that became his thing. And so the good
Speaker 1: news is LA Country Club with between one and two
Speaker 1: good ghettle par five should average about four point five
Speaker 1: or something. They'll they'll play it well, and I think
Speaker 1: number two will probably average four point five. Uh, And
Speaker 1: that's his thing, and he did it at Riviera. Although
Speaker 1: I've heard I've heard rumblings that when they have the
Speaker 1: US Open there in twenty thirty one, they're going to
Speaker 1: go par four part five, which doesn't quite go with
Speaker 1: his concept of letting you ease into the day. But whatever,
Speaker 1: that's the that's their thing. And so you then you
Speaker 1: have three and then fours. A par three and five
Speaker 1: is a good long par four, so you kind of
Speaker 1: can space it out there. But then you get this stretch.
Speaker 1: Six is driveable, seven is a hard part three, eight's
Speaker 1: a reachable. Par five be a lot of waiting on
Speaker 1: six and eight. Nine's a devilish little part three. And
Speaker 1: I think in the US Open conditions and especially in
Speaker 1: the afternoon when the wind starts picking up and then
Speaker 1: ten is ten and twelve or two, you know, three
Speaker 1: eighty ish par fours on the back nine that I
Speaker 1: have no idea how those are going to play, but
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna. Yeah, they're not going to be
Speaker 1: fast holes. And the elevens a hard part three, So
Speaker 1: that stretch of six through twelve has the potential to
Speaker 1: be quite a slow play nightmare. So I'll be really
Speaker 1: curious what they're going to be able to do, if anything,
Speaker 1: to try to prevent an all out debacle on that front.
Speaker 1: I mean, I am I am I being overly nervous here?
Speaker 1: Or is that something you noticed when you when you've
Speaker 1: been looking at the golf course?
Speaker 2: I think I think it's the combination of the holes.
Speaker 2: And then you know, are are the just the the
Speaker 2: gazelles of the PGA tour, you know who managed to
Speaker 2: render every golf course slow?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: But then then furthermore, how you're going to have people
Speaker 2: waiting on tees like the ninth and sixteenth tees right
Speaker 2: or the ninth and seventeenth teeth. Yeah, yeah, Like that's
Speaker 2: a spot where you have tea boxes right next to
Speaker 2: eleven and sixteen.
Speaker 1: Eleven and sixteen, Yeah, we have some you.
Speaker 2: Have these close proximity areas where both groups can't tee
Speaker 2: off at the same time, so they could both tea
Speaker 2: effectively tee off, but one's waiting for the other, and
Speaker 2: those little delays over and over again just reverberate their
Speaker 2: way through the field and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: if you're at the back of the bus of one
Speaker 2: of these waves, you're going to be you know, maybe
Speaker 2: maybe one of the tips for the players is bring
Speaker 2: bring a little chair out with you. Yeah, you have
Speaker 2: the cardy, have the caddy, bring a little stool for yourself.
Speaker 2: At every style.
Speaker 1: I wonder what they'll do, uh yeah, Or I was
Speaker 1: thinking more I was going to go with Hogan and
Speaker 1: the shooting stick a little more you know, dignified. But
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I don't know what they'll have in the
Speaker 1: way of they should have some bench seating on some
Speaker 1: of those teas, or maybe they want to encourage it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they don't really do benches in the in
Speaker 1: the US Open, do they.
Speaker 2: It like reminds me of that of the college event
Speaker 2: at Greyhawk when they did they moved that when it
Speaker 2: was a sixteen or seventeen up to drive a bole
Speaker 2: where you had three or four groups of college players
Speaker 2: just sitting on the tea box. So that's gonna be
Speaker 2: you know, the slow play. The rounds are going to
Speaker 2: be obviously you have all the light in the world
Speaker 2: at this time of year, but that that's going to
Speaker 2: be a tough, a tough situation, yeah, especially.
Speaker 1: Six, and I don't I've watched now at Riviera the
Speaker 1: last few years. I'm not even convinced that that waving
Speaker 1: people up does any good. In fact, there are times
Speaker 1: where I feel like it makes it worse. And now
Speaker 1: six in La is interesting because it's so drivable, but
Speaker 1: it's blind. So yeah, I would not want to be
Speaker 1: a marshal on that whole, the whole, the whole h
Speaker 1: dealing with that situation marshaling wise is I hope they
Speaker 1: put their best people on that one in terms of
Speaker 1: flags and systems of when to go. And I mean
Speaker 1: the good news. I think only the only good news
Speaker 1: I can find. Well, we'll see is if a decent
Speaker 1: number of guys actually see the benefit of laying up
Speaker 1: down the fairway and then they'll just hit, they'll lay up,
Speaker 1: and they'll uh, they'll they'll I could see, you know, ready,
Speaker 1: golf being something the USGA is willing to to to ponder.
Speaker 1: I may ask about that early in the week. I'd
Speaker 1: be curious. I'd love to see that. But you know,
Speaker 1: and this will be as you know, I've talked, tried
Speaker 1: to talk to many players about slow play and how
Speaker 1: the architecture and the weights and the and the distance
Speaker 1: component plays a role, and they just they're just not
Speaker 1: interested in hearing it. They really aren't. So it's mine fading.
Speaker 2: My next thing. I'm gonna go. I'm kind of cheating here.
Speaker 2: I'm putting Brooks, Brooks, the smash captain, who I'm sure
Speaker 2: will be, you know, doing military workouts himself all week. Brooks, Koepka,
Speaker 2: Scotti Scheffler, and John Ram to me are kind of
Speaker 2: the stories of of golf this year. There there two
Speaker 2: of them are the stories of the major championships. I
Speaker 2: think Scotty's probably in the same mix as a major
Speaker 2: championships stories. And there there are three players that are
Speaker 2: playing outstanding golf and they come in to a venue that,
Speaker 2: you know, obviously I think fits their games. I don't
Speaker 2: know of many venues that don't fit their games. But
Speaker 2: you know, can can Brooks, you know, he's gone first
Speaker 2: and second in the majors this year? Can he continue
Speaker 2: on a pace that we've seen him do before? Could
Speaker 2: he add another? Here? Is it another? In contention late
Speaker 2: moment with Scottie Scheffler. Obviously you've got the putter issues,
Speaker 2: but at the same time. When you hit it as
Speaker 2: good as he's been hitting it, you know, you can
Speaker 2: put poorly and win. And then John Ram Finally this
Speaker 2: this seemingly would be a golf course that really will
Speaker 2: highlight his strengths. Those three, to me are the are
Speaker 2: the three big favorites, and they have some separation from
Speaker 2: probably I would put you know, Rory in a bucket
Speaker 2: of other players next, But those are the three favorites.
Speaker 2: Do we get one of those players winning and continuing on,
Speaker 2: you know, in all three like Brooks, it's kind of
Speaker 2: unfortunate he's not playing on on the regular two on
Speaker 2: the PGA Tour, so we could see how this year
Speaker 2: might be with Brooks because those other two guys have
Speaker 2: just been such dominant stories of every tournament they tee
Speaker 2: it up in.
Speaker 1: Seemingly Brooks can't play a regular event. What are you
Speaker 1: talking about?
Speaker 2: He won, He won a live event. He's one. He's
Speaker 2: the only player this one too live event.
Speaker 1: You argue that's one of the greatest wins of his
Speaker 1: career given how he plays in non majors.
Speaker 2: Well, that's why I'm so if we just gave him
Speaker 2: a tour win. You know, you all sudden like instead
Speaker 2: of the live win. Like you, you look at the
Speaker 2: tour schedule and Rom's got five, Scott He's got two
Speaker 2: in a top five in every other event that he's
Speaker 2: played in effectively, and then you got Brooks with two.
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's kind of like there aren't many
Speaker 2: tournaments that weren't won by these guys in the twenty
Speaker 2: three calendar.
Speaker 1: Well, no, I agree with you, and those three are
Speaker 1: all obvious favorites. And Scheffler and Rom both have experience.
Speaker 1: Rom in the twenty thirteen Pac Twelves as a freshman,
Speaker 1: played four rounds and then Scheffler was playing on the
Speaker 1: Walker Cup team. Now mind you, but you know Rom
Speaker 1: is a freshman and Scheffler was not having a good
Speaker 1: week and so they're totally different golfers coming to this.
Speaker 1: But I just think having that time around the golf course,
Speaker 1: some memories will come back. I mean, I think Scheffler
Speaker 1: is the favorite just because of his experience there and
Speaker 1: the way he's hitting the ball and the greens being
Speaker 1: yeah it's a mix of greens, Yeah it's George Thomas
Speaker 1: was not a great putter, so he did build a
Speaker 1: lot of He didn't go crazy with the contour, but
Speaker 1: there's some that are really steeply pitched and some really
Speaker 1: devilish putts out there. However, I don't think you need
Speaker 1: to be incredibly creative and you need to be below
Speaker 1: the hole a lot. That's really as I've been going
Speaker 1: through these holes in the newsletter and I hate even
Speaker 1: writing it, but you know, really be good to be
Speaker 1: below the hole here. Yeah, thanks Sherlock. That's brilliant, but
Speaker 1: it really speaks to how well you you need to
Speaker 1: be playing with your irons and maybe even miss a
Speaker 1: few greens just short, uh, and not have that down
Speaker 1: Hiller And and I think that the key with him
Speaker 1: is is is he going to let this frustration with
Speaker 1: the putting eventually sort of boil over into into his game.
Speaker 1: So far he hasn't, but he doesn't look like he's
Speaker 1: you know, exactly patient with those around him and not
Speaker 1: finding a solution. That's it again. The last time he
Speaker 1: was there, he was struggling that week, And I mean
Speaker 1: Camera Champ hit a four hundred yard drive on fourteen
Speaker 1: and yeah, you could walk out in the fairways and
Speaker 1: everybody was wanting to watch Camera Champ that and hits
Speaker 1: a four hundred yarder on fourteen, he delivers and Scott
Speaker 1: he hit it so far out of bounds. I mean,
Speaker 1: he had the entire golf course to the left and
Speaker 1: he hit a four iron just past Aaron Spelling's house
Speaker 1: the manor excuse me, and which is down below the
Speaker 1: fourteenth hole. And he didn't play in the afternoon that
Speaker 1: day and it was probably that shot. But he even
Speaker 1: just kind of knew he was struggling coming into the week.
Speaker 1: So it's funny he was Alatauris and Scheffler were the
Speaker 1: two that were really just not on their game coming
Speaker 1: into that Walker Cup. But some things have changed. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree with you those three. And then I yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw. I mean, I just I think it's
Speaker 1: just a phenomenal golf course for Rory, but I can't
Speaker 1: get past all this drama and not having been there
Speaker 1: and trying to play Canada come in and do the
Speaker 1: crash course. I mean, if I were him, I would say,
Speaker 1: no press conference. I'm not doing a press conference, and
Speaker 1: and just I mean, I I don't know why he
Speaker 1: needs to do one.
Speaker 2: He ever he plays, he does and it's like I
Speaker 2: feel bad because he goes up there and it's like
Speaker 2: what what He's going to answer the same exact questions.
Speaker 2: He answered the last.
Speaker 1: Thing exactly, and he's great at it. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: good sport. And you know what, it's time to not
Speaker 1: be a good sport. It's time to be an ass
Speaker 1: and say, you know what. I know, I'm a former
Speaker 1: US Open champion. I have work to do. I have
Speaker 1: rest to do.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: He's spoken how he can't. He loves West Coast Opens,
Speaker 1: he loves the idea that it's going to be in
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills. I've got my family. I just can't talk
Speaker 1: to you. There's nothing. There's nothing I'm going to be
Speaker 1: able to tell you about the golf course. Nothing I
Speaker 1: can tell you about live and all that crap. I
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about it. And I would have
Speaker 1: all the admiration in the world for him and doing that, because,
Speaker 1: like I said, man, some of those t shots, Oh man,
Speaker 1: I would love to be able to hit his drive
Speaker 1: on his And even there's even a couple that in
Speaker 1: this setup in the Open you wouldn't normally call draw holes,
Speaker 1: that that are really becoming draw holes because of the
Speaker 1: kind of US Open. Tees one and sixteen immediately come
Speaker 1: to mind so and then yeah, I'm I'm I'm just
Speaker 1: but I am with you on speeth and and just
Speaker 1: feeling like you know, Bermuda grass too. You know, that's
Speaker 1: another thing people need to remember. That's the Yeah, he
Speaker 1: plays that a lot. I mean, it's not a big thing,
Speaker 1: but there are a lot of stars aligning, certainly for speed,
Speaker 1: but it is hard to get past Ron, Scheffler and
Speaker 1: Kopka and Brooks. No reason why he won't love the
Speaker 1: golf course. I can't, I don't. I don't believe he's
Speaker 1: been there. I believe he did answer that question. I
Speaker 1: don't believe he's been so I'll see when he rolls
Speaker 1: into town.
Speaker 2: Were any of those on your list? Were any what
Speaker 2: those players on your list of things to watch?
Speaker 1: No? No, I didn't. I didn't want to. I wasn't
Speaker 1: going to specify any players I was. I was, Yeah, No, So.
Speaker 2: What do you got next?
Speaker 1: Well, we'll go back to since we just mentioned grass
Speaker 1: and architecture. But I would love to make a little
Speaker 1: explanation because I'm a little nervous about the reception to
Speaker 1: the Bunkers, and I think the Bunkers are going to
Speaker 1: be a big story. Yeah, so try to explain this
Speaker 1: because it's I don't think it's that complicated, but and
Speaker 1: try to give people kind of an idea of what
Speaker 1: we tried to do and where they're at for this
Speaker 1: this championship. But so George Thomas and Billy Bell worked
Speaker 1: together and they kind of had a style and it
Speaker 1: evolved with each course. They got a little more aggressive
Speaker 1: with it. It was sort of a fringy dune blowout,
Speaker 1: baseball glove, floating cloud, you know, irregular edges look. And
Speaker 1: we had good photos, but we didn't have every whole
Speaker 1: a perfect groundshot of And so when we pitched this restoration,
Speaker 1: we said, look, we you know, the bunkers become totally dysfunctionally.
Speaker 1: They were hard to get in and out of. Everything buried.
Speaker 1: I mean it was a Friday egg everywhere. They were awful.
Speaker 1: They had these shelves h they'd just been edged to death,
Speaker 1: they'd been rebuilt not very well. And we wanted to
Speaker 1: get get everything backed down a little bit, a little
Speaker 1: less swollen and nice, nice easy walk in on the
Speaker 1: low side with fairway right up to the edge, and
Speaker 1: people are going to see that and then get back
Speaker 1: this this look that Thomas and Bell did but we said, look,
Speaker 1: this is an old club and it's an old golf course,
Speaker 1: and he should look old. And Gil and Jim had
Speaker 1: done a process that created a process of creating a
Speaker 1: thicker lip and you know, just just just that kind
Speaker 1: of cool old look. And so we did a test
Speaker 1: bunker figured out which grasses would be best. And it's
Speaker 1: fine fescue kind of as you'll see on the lips,
Speaker 1: and then it's tall fescue on top, which is kind
Speaker 1: of a popular or was a popular lawn grass. I
Speaker 1: don't think it is as much now because it loves water.
Speaker 1: It's cool season grass, and so they're very hairy and
Speaker 1: they're very there's a lot going on in there, and
Speaker 1: then with all the rain we had, they're really you know,
Speaker 1: they're thriving right now, and there may be a little
Speaker 1: too much, so you know, it's a visual thing mostly
Speaker 1: was the goal, but also just to kind of really
Speaker 1: make those bunkers pop. You know, Bermuda edges wouldn't have
Speaker 1: done so, so those things are pretty hairy and wild
Speaker 1: right now. Whereas the rough on the course, you know,
Speaker 1: we just haven't had much warm weather, so it may
Speaker 1: not be the dense Bermuda rough that people expect. Also
Speaker 1: because the style of grass bandera, it just the way
Speaker 1: it grows. Sometimes the ball sits up on top of it.
Speaker 1: Even at three inches, it just doesn't just doesn't quite
Speaker 1: fall down as much. So I'm very nervous.
Speaker 2: Two types of bermuda, right, isn't there bandera and something else?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the bandera is in the rough. Yeah, it's not
Speaker 1: the fairway grass. And uh so I'm a little nervous about,
Speaker 1: you know, that dichotomy of of the two kinds of
Speaker 1: rough grasses. And then obviously some of the lies that
Speaker 1: guys will get her in those bunkers are around them
Speaker 1: and then inside the actual bunkers. You know, the USGA
Speaker 1: does not They're not big on firm sand and and
Speaker 1: kind of what the tour tends to do to not
Speaker 1: to make sure guys don't get embarrassed. So they and
Speaker 1: that's that's been standard of the US Open a while. So,
Speaker 1: uh there's no liners in these. You can get some
Speaker 1: funky stances sometimes if you really hit a weird shot,
Speaker 1: and uh so, you know, I hope that well, I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm thinking. Players don't view these things
Speaker 1: as now I'm so naive they they just they think
Speaker 1: they're just very spoiled when it comes to bunkers as
Speaker 1: we know. U.
Speaker 2: I mean, take about the Southern Hills drama. Remember the
Speaker 2: Southern Hills drama, like the sand pebbles.
Speaker 1: And the changing the bounce, and they they they got
Speaker 1: a little carried away with the pebbles and the and
Speaker 1: the the outrage and they were, uh yeah, they had
Speaker 1: all week to practice him, I mean Tiger at least
Speaker 1: when he sculled them out of him in the first round. Uh,
Speaker 1: he didn't blame the sand. I don't think he did,
Speaker 1: at least not that I recall. He was he was,
Speaker 1: he knew he hit bad shots. So I mean, these
Speaker 1: are not going to be as firm, I don't think.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, it would be nice again if
Speaker 1: we keep getting some sun to dry it out. So uh,
Speaker 1: I just hope that people understand that they are they're
Speaker 1: supposed to be hazards. George Thomas did not throw at
Speaker 1: bunkers everywhere, and they're really well placed and and if
Speaker 1: you're in one, you know that's your problem. But I
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I'm naive. I realize that's that
Speaker 1: that the guys and then you may not have a
Speaker 1: perfect lie on them, and I think they're going to
Speaker 1: have some meaning and the areas around them will have meaning. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I don't I don't know if players will be
Speaker 1: how receptive they'll be to that. So that's definitely something
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2: I think I'm bout my fifth one, okay, and I
Speaker 2: use this one for oak Hill, But I think this
Speaker 2: is a develop big story that needs to continue to
Speaker 2: be you know, we love our best player to never
Speaker 2: win a major debate best player without majors. That's that's
Speaker 2: a great topic that everybody loves to be on. And
Speaker 2: I don't I think these two have just a sneakily
Speaker 2: worked there that been just top ten players without doing
Speaker 2: much of anything in notable events. But they are quickly
Speaker 2: ascending the weeks of the top ten of the world
Speaker 2: rankings list, and I think they need to be talked
Speaker 2: about like these This is a perfect fit for both
Speaker 2: of them, xanderst Patrick Cantley to Southern Californians coming to
Speaker 2: play LACC. You know, they do everything well. This golf
Speaker 2: course should should set up beautifully for them. They've spent
Speaker 2: each of us Xander's been in the top ten in
Speaker 2: the world for one hundred and eighty nine weeks. Patrick
Speaker 2: Cantley has been in the top ten for one hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy nine weeks. To put that in perspective, Ricky Fowler,
Speaker 2: who everybody always cites is the best player that didn't
Speaker 2: win a major of this generation, he was in the
Speaker 2: top ten for two hundred and six weeks. I don't
Speaker 2: know if he'll get back there. Luke Donald at two twenty.
Speaker 2: So really in the next year, in the next calendar year,
Speaker 2: these two will have passed. Luke Donald will have passed
Speaker 2: Ricky Fowler, and we'll be bearing barreling down on the
Speaker 2: next next longest stint without a major, Steve Stricker. And
Speaker 2: at that point there are Lee Westwoods, the only next
Speaker 2: target really that's on this list in Monte without majors.
Speaker 2: So you know, these guys, I don't see them falling
Speaker 2: out of the top ten in the world rankings because
Speaker 2: they seemingly knock off a win or two in these
Speaker 2: in these elevated, uh hitting giggles on the PGA Tour
Speaker 2: that are contested. So to me, in particular with with
Speaker 2: Patrick Cantley, I need to see something from a major championship,
Speaker 2: you know, and if.
Speaker 1: This isn't the weak line up for him. He shot
Speaker 1: sixty two. Now when he shot the sixty two, and
Speaker 1: by the way, very clear here, I'm not in any
Speaker 1: way demeaning the round. In fact, the round was spectacular.
Speaker 1: The greens were soft, they were having some trouble in
Speaker 1: the early days of the growing and there was some
Speaker 1: scalping going on and it was a stunning round because
Speaker 1: the greens were not perfect. So he has a sixty two.
Speaker 1: He knows members, he's played there a decent amount. You know,
Speaker 1: he's just so Jeckyll and Hide and these in majors.
Speaker 1: You know, he does show up sometimes and and but
Speaker 1: seems to and then their weeks is just not there
Speaker 1: at all. I I really do expect him to play well.
Speaker 1: I mean, this one is just set up for him.
Speaker 1: But as we know, there's a lot of pressure too
Speaker 1: that can really throw you off. And I think the
Speaker 1: good news is, by the way, another guy who should
Speaker 1: not do a press conference because I just again I
Speaker 1: think it's a week where he needs to go. You
Speaker 1: know what, that's a big one for me. This is
Speaker 1: my my my area. I have a lot of views
Speaker 1: on the tour thing. I don't want to get I
Speaker 1: don't want to go down that I want to. I
Speaker 1: want to play well here. I played a lot here
Speaker 1: at U C l A, So I hope he does that.
Speaker 1: Plus I don't think his press conferences are very interesting.
Speaker 1: So then there's Xander. Yes, I mean great US Open
Speaker 1: record again this one just he's played there with Patrick
Speaker 1: he by all. I talked to him at Riviera this
Speaker 1: year and he really likes the golf course. And I mean,
Speaker 1: I would just like to step back to and just
Speaker 1: point out what an unbelievable time this is for us
Speaker 1: in Southern California. And I know the people think that
Speaker 1: golf here is is really a wonderful place for a
Speaker 1: developing player. It is not. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: great ranges, especially if you're a public course person, you
Speaker 1: have no place to hit off of grass and so,
Speaker 1: and I include San Diego in this. They have a
Speaker 1: few better ranges, thankfully than La Area. So and Xander's
Speaker 1: obviously the San Diego side of Southern California. So you
Speaker 1: have Max Homa, you have Xander and Patrick a Southern Californians.
Speaker 1: Patrick obviously grew up at Virginia Country Club. Not a
Speaker 1: public course guy, but but somebody who played you know,
Speaker 1: all the junior stuff around here, and so you have yeah,
Speaker 1: Max saiath Thikala, Yeah who played. I just found out
Speaker 1: as a ten year old and a qualifier at LA
Speaker 1: Country Club, a US junior on Earth by either somebody
Speaker 1: at the USGA. But Julia shared that with me, Julia Pine.
Speaker 1: So yeah, those two. You have Colin Morricawa, another public
Speaker 1: course kid from southern California. I mean this, you know
Speaker 1: my dream scenario is and.
Speaker 2: All these guys.
Speaker 1: Ricky's Temecula absolutely, and I think Ricky would be rooting
Speaker 1: for a little that afternoon Sea breeze because we know
Speaker 1: he's a great win player and he's playing really well
Speaker 1: right now. I don't have any idea on his track
Speaker 1: record at LA. So it's a very special time in
Speaker 1: terms of players we've produced, and most of them being
Speaker 1: public golf golfers. Now what what that means when they
Speaker 1: come to LA Country Club? Because yeah, what about him?
Speaker 1: He's northern, Northern Cown, Northern cow Clovis. Come on, come on,
Speaker 1: you're Californian, now you got Yeah, we don't count that. No,
Speaker 1: that's central California, I guess, but no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we draw the line. Plus it's him, So yeah, so
Speaker 1: we have these I mean, I feel like all those
Speaker 1: players should have a great shot. I mean, so I
Speaker 1: was playing beautifully. Another person who this is, you just
Speaker 1: look at the golf course. It's great for him. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about all of those players and and I
Speaker 1: feel like all of them are. And it's just a
Speaker 1: it's just an amazing thing to think about when if
Speaker 1: you've been here, I know we have beautiful weather. Now.
Speaker 1: The one thing is most of those people all grew
Speaker 1: up on Coculea and Poa, Coculia Fairways, Poa Greens, so
Speaker 1: uh La is beautiful, Bent and Bermuda. It's more of
Speaker 1: a kind of a upscale southern golf course kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But I yeah, you know how it is you get
Speaker 1: to your home area. You know, there's something about the
Speaker 1: sea breeze you just you just remind us comfortable. I think, so,
Speaker 1: I think so. And and just knowing the city of
Speaker 1: l A and kind of where to be and where
Speaker 1: to stay and and and all that stuff is those
Speaker 1: are all little things. And having some some hometown crowds
Speaker 1: behind you, which also sets us up for my last item.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I feel like it's an exciting time.
Speaker 2: I feel like the Australians love La too. There's there's
Speaker 2: something about La and Australia and and you know, I
Speaker 2: could see like I feel like this real quick. The
Speaker 2: screams camp Smith.
Speaker 1: It does, it does, and he doesn't need to you
Speaker 1: don't need to be super long. And yeah, it should
Speaker 1: be good for him. I mean, Adam Scott has shown
Speaker 1: some moments lately and it should be a good week
Speaker 1: for him. I'm I'm I'm assuming he's probably gonna roll
Speaker 1: into town if he hasn't. He loves l A. You know,
Speaker 1: it's amazing how my players don't, yeah, don't like it
Speaker 1: here and it and it seeps into their game. It
Speaker 1: could be the time of year they come to Riviera
Speaker 1: and it's just different. It's winter, it's a lot of
Speaker 1: traffic and crazy stuff going on. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I do feel like some people love it though, because
Speaker 2: it's like you they there's stuff to do. It's so
Speaker 2: Riviera and this one I think it's just so cool,
Speaker 2: like the you know, in the sense of like God,
Speaker 2: these guys get to just be immersed in culture in
Speaker 2: like a in a cultural experience outside the golf course.
Speaker 2: And you know, obviously for these guys, there's extraordinary food
Speaker 2: in the areas of of these courses and and uh,
Speaker 2: you know would be just a you know, it's just
Speaker 2: a delightful place to visit. Well.
Speaker 1: And nearly all of them could walk down any street
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles without their logos on and no one
Speaker 1: will have a clue who they are. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know Rory loves uh. I mean, he's mentioned going to
Speaker 1: a coffee shop in Santa Monica with his wife before.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows who he is in LA. They're oblivious. It's hilarious.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he can sit there read his book and
Speaker 1: and nobody's gonna bother him. And you know, the other
Speaker 1: thing is too is even if people recognize you in LA,
Speaker 1: there's something here about celebrities. Uh. People are kind of
Speaker 1: used to seeing them out in the wild and they
Speaker 1: generally kind of leave them alone. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: there's an element to that that people don't quite understand
Speaker 1: how centered this course is in the city. And there's
Speaker 1: all these neighborhoods you can go off and it's not
Speaker 1: like everybody's staying in the same area. There're gonna be
Speaker 1: people in the Palisades Brentwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood,
Speaker 1: Culver City. They're going to be coming at the place
Speaker 1: from all these different directions, and you can kind of
Speaker 1: leave the course and not be in that sort of
Speaker 1: herd like tour World. And some players I think are
Speaker 1: like that. They like being with the herd at the hotel.
Speaker 1: But we know the great ones don't, and they want
Speaker 1: to be left alone. They need their they know, in
Speaker 1: a major they need their their quiet time or their
Speaker 1: getaway time. And yeah, go out to dinner. They can
Speaker 1: actually go out to dinner, although they all bring their
Speaker 1: chef now I know, and there's a very good chance
Speaker 1: they won't be bothered. There's some amazing, amazing things to
Speaker 1: do in terms of foods. So but yeah, that sets
Speaker 1: me up for the last thing, which is is another
Speaker 1: weird one. I'm a little you know, besides obviously the
Speaker 1: location and you know, I've been kind of covering both
Speaker 1: the architecture, but the surrounds of the golf course are
Speaker 1: just amazing, you know, the homes are crazy, and then
Speaker 1: the views and the idea that you're on the cusp
Speaker 1: of Beverly Hills u c LA to the West Century City,
Speaker 1: the towers. You know, everybody's probably getting tired of hearing
Speaker 1: about it, but when you're on the property, it really
Speaker 1: is spectacular. But I am I am nervous, and I
Speaker 1: will defend my hometown Andy because the last time we
Speaker 1: had a major championship, we had very poor attendance at Riviera.
Speaker 1: It was one of the last majors before Tiger. They
Speaker 1: overpriced the ticket. It was August. People do other things.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a big place, but nobody knows this
Speaker 1: thing is coming.
Speaker 2: There's been no It does seems like it. I noticed
Speaker 2: that with Airbnbs, Like I was, you know, you anytime
Speaker 2: these US opened, you go to you're you know, you're
Speaker 2: trying to we rent a house, you know for these
Speaker 2: US opens, and it's like, uh, you know, you're just
Speaker 2: trying to find the deal. And I'm looking around, like
Speaker 2: close by them, like it's like this is this isn't
Speaker 2: jacked up from their normal rank, right if you look
Speaker 2: at it, you know, a month later, it's like they
Speaker 2: don't even know it's coming.
Speaker 1: They don't. They don't. And I mean I've even talked
Speaker 1: to golfers and and they'll say, now, yeah, what year
Speaker 1: is that again? I go it's in June. It's coming hello. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what's happened. There's no there's
Speaker 1: no there's no banners on this. You know. We have
Speaker 1: these street signs and uh they tend to put good
Speaker 1: uh charitable things or event things, you know, the Hollywood
Speaker 1: ball season coming on the on this lamp post. There's
Speaker 1: nothing about the US Open. Uh. You know, the Genesis
Speaker 1: sold out this year, So I just want to establish that.
Speaker 1: First of all, yes, Tiger was playing, but the price
Speaker 1: was actually raised and they did cut off because they
Speaker 1: wanted to have a quality fan experience at a certain
Speaker 1: point That's never happened in my lifetime. And there were
Speaker 1: crowds were fantastic. It was also the one decent week
Speaker 1: of weather we all of January and February, and we're
Speaker 1: not complaining. We needed the rain. But so this is
Speaker 1: a very expensive open and they've sold you know, two
Speaker 1: thirds of the tickets are going to the members or
Speaker 1: to the corporate world. So I'm just very nervous about
Speaker 1: what this is gonna be like energy wise, We're gonna
Speaker 1: be playing late in the day. Uh, I got you know,
Speaker 1: thank thankfully NBC doesn't have the synchronized swimming trials to
Speaker 1: cut away to. So we're gonna have nothing Olympics. Wow.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there'll be some tacky promos to remind us
Speaker 1: about Paris. But I am nervous about what it's going
Speaker 1: to be like out there in the evenings with with
Speaker 1: the amount of people and who's out there, and how
Speaker 1: much energy they're giving the players, because already it's a
Speaker 1: tough one in terms of you know, with all these
Speaker 1: back teas, getting close to the getting close to some
Speaker 1: of the greens and teas. So it's just something, you know,
Speaker 1: you want things I'm looking for and I'm looking for
Speaker 1: that how that fan experience goes and what kind of
Speaker 1: energy is there, And I'm hopeful, but I am nervous
Speaker 1: that that uh, you know, later in the day and people, Yes,
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on and people might be worried
Speaker 1: about traffic or whatever getting back to their car. I
Speaker 1: I uh, I think it's something to watch and we'll
Speaker 1: see how that how that plays out.
Speaker 2: If they ride it out long enough, they'll miss the traffic,
Speaker 2: you know with how well well.
Speaker 1: That would be my argument. Yes, correct, We'll be playing
Speaker 1: late on Saturday and Sunday for a while. We know
Speaker 1: they're late Thursday, Friday, let's hope they finish and uh
Speaker 1: and then yeah, Saturday Sunday they will be late, and yeah,
Speaker 1: you'll be you'll and and traffic on the weekends is
Speaker 1: is uh is not so bad. But uh but you
Speaker 1: got a long walk to the parking structures down in
Speaker 1: Century City and all that kind of stuff. You got
Speaker 1: to go over a bridge, and I know how people are.
Speaker 1: They start to ah, we gotta go. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like the uh, the commercial where they arrive at the
Speaker 1: game and you know they're already wanting to know what
Speaker 1: time they're gonna leave. So uh uh So we'll see
Speaker 1: how that plays out. But uh I I if the
Speaker 1: sun comes out, it's gonna be spectacular on TV. And
Speaker 1: you know the way the bunkers look, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they've had a lot of time to plan how to
Speaker 1: how to show this visually. And I don't think they'll
Speaker 1: do anything that matches your you know, your drone shots,
Speaker 1: but I'm confident that they'll they'll do some great stuff.
Speaker 2: And you gotta turn the saturated You gotta turn the
Speaker 2: saturation down. You gotta, you can't, you just gotta, you
Speaker 2: gotta start by not just auto jacking up the saturation,
Speaker 2: you know, actually show something what something looks like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's pretty green right for a lot.
Speaker 2: Of photographers also, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah it's look you know they uh that's television.
Speaker 1: They that people like green, and this place is green.
Speaker 1: Right now. We had a lot of rain and uh,
Speaker 1: but I'm I'm hoping that today it baked out a
Speaker 1: little bit. And uh. Unfortunately the weekend here as as
Speaker 1: very cloud drops, very cloudy and dank. But I you know,
Speaker 1: later in the week it'll it'll be nice. But more importantly,
Speaker 1: there will be no smoke from fires, and there will
Speaker 1: be no thunderstorms that force us into Monday. I'm confident
Speaker 1: in that. Although I did see some little afternoon thing
Speaker 1: on Monday, I don't know. That may have been my
Speaker 1: weather app getting confused about it. Rained.
Speaker 2: It rained in my town on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we may get a morning drizzle. Let's be clear,
Speaker 1: there's a big difference. So between drizzle and potentially stopping play.
Speaker 1: We won't be we won't be having that. So weather
Speaker 1: will will definitely be a story in a different way,
Speaker 1: but a great way. I mean, you imagine if they
Speaker 1: were trying to play it at oak Hill this week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like the again. By the time
Speaker 1: this drops, people will know. But the I think the
Speaker 1: Belmonts in jeopardy and yeah, so we're so we'll focus
Speaker 1: on the positive, sunny beautify California, and I just, uh,
Speaker 1: I can't wait, and I can't wait to hear what
Speaker 1: people think. But I'm pretty confident they're gonna They're gonna
Speaker 1: have a great, great show to watch.
Speaker 2: Awesome. So who's your pick to win?
Speaker 1: I think Scotty Shuffler's gonna win. I do believe that.
Speaker 1: I think we'll have we'll see the best major we've
Speaker 1: ever seen from Max Homa. I just think he loves
Speaker 1: the golf course and I think he'll I think he'll
Speaker 1: he'll figure out how to deal with the obvious pressures
Speaker 1: and distractions, and I think we'll see can't le give
Speaker 1: it a good run. I really do think he's he's doing.
Speaker 1: I think Rory will be very dangerous if he can
Speaker 1: compartmentalize and learn the golf course. I think he's good
Speaker 1: at at at picking up a golf course pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: But man, it's still I still don't like the rolling
Speaker 1: in late and I do love the idea that the
Speaker 1: way speed's trending, But I I just think that Scott
Speaker 1: he's on a slightly different level right now and and
Speaker 1: rom I yeah, I I just I'm back on that
Speaker 1: on some of those t shots, I don't know if
Speaker 1: he has that shot that that that he really feels
Speaker 1: great turning one over if he has to, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I've seen many of those though
Speaker 1: over time. So uh, but I think I'm most excited that.
Speaker 1: I just feel like it's going to be a course.
Speaker 1: It rewards a lot of different styles and and I
Speaker 1: think that's the most exciting thing. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: going to pigeonhole this into a bomb bomb and gouge
Speaker 1: thing group or anything like that. And uh. And then
Speaker 1: there's some great qualifier stories too. I'm excited about those.
Speaker 1: And I mean Stafford getting four four guys in the
Speaker 1: field and Barry the Yeah, so yeah. I watched him
Speaker 1: a little bit at at at Hillcrest on Monday, Omore
Speaker 1: Morales and really cool story talking to his coach Arman
Speaker 1: at U C L A and UH finished d D
Speaker 1: D F L in their first tournament in the fall,
Speaker 1: and UH won the last tournament they played, and you
Speaker 1: see Davis qualified for the Mexico Open a one spotter
Speaker 1: shot eleven under. I believe it was at Hillcrest and
Speaker 1: has a low round of the Bruins this year at
Speaker 1: the North Course where they play a lot. Weirdly, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's mostly USC club and yet U C. L A
Speaker 1: plays there more than then sc don't don't ask me
Speaker 1: why that is. So yeah, he's a he's an interesting
Speaker 1: one to keep an eye on if you're you're looking
Speaker 1: for for a young player that you've never heard of. Uh,
Speaker 1: and gool representing Mexico. And but yeah, I mean I'm
Speaker 1: still just blown away by Stanford that is, that's impressive.
Speaker 1: And then we'll get to see Gordon Sergeant see what
Speaker 1: he does and uh, you know a lot of short
Speaker 1: grass around the greens, so we'll see how that, how that,
Speaker 1: how the chipping is and and but it's it's easier
Speaker 1: chipping than I guess this is guess this tricky chipping.
Speaker 1: So I I don't know if I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's a good one to judge somebody on the more
Speaker 1: I thought about it after the Masters. So and yeah,
Speaker 1: Barry the uber driver, I mean how about how about this.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I I think so. So
Speaker 1: when we were in the.
Speaker 2: What the Hensonator, Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's what we're calling for. But I want
Speaker 1: to know why himself? Yeah yeah, why if we found out?
Speaker 1: You why it's Berry with an E. I haven't I
Speaker 1: have an article open, I haven't read it.
Speaker 2: But he told what he what do? He appeared on
Speaker 2: the Shotgun Start. He told just a great story of
Speaker 2: I think it was you know, he plays on the
Speaker 2: Asian Tour and one of his first starts in the
Speaker 2: Asian Tour, he got introduced as you know, attempting to
Speaker 2: pronounce his name. It came out very handsome. It was.
Speaker 2: It was a beautiful story. I mean that that's from
Speaker 2: five years. It was the near the beginning of the
Speaker 2: Shotgun Start, but the the very very handsome.
Speaker 1: Now, why did you have him on the Shotgun.
Speaker 2: Well, we were just we were just interested in the
Speaker 2: American Plane Nation Tour. You know what that what that
Speaker 2: whole experience was like. And it seems like it's been
Speaker 2: quite nice that. I mean, he told the uber driving
Speaker 2: story on that podcast, you know, because what he spent
Speaker 2: whenever he's home, he drives an uber around.
Speaker 1: Okay, but how about this. So we're sitting around the
Speaker 1: little press room at Hillcrest and I, you know, somebody
Speaker 1: gives me the synopsis and I'm like, we need to
Speaker 1: find out his UBER rating. So I got an email
Speaker 1: yesterday from from Julia Pine. He's a of the USCA
Speaker 1: four point nine.
Speaker 2: I like that.
Speaker 1: That's more impressive. That's more impressive than qualifying for the
Speaker 1: US Open. Nobody's a four point nine. No driver gets gets.
Speaker 2: That, having having uh you know, talked to him over
Speaker 2: the years and it communicated with him. He's a lovely guy,
Speaker 2: you know he is.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: I could I could foresee him being just like a
Speaker 2: terrific guber driver, like a guy you get you get
Speaker 2: out of the car, You get out of the car
Speaker 2: and be like, oh what a nice guy. Wow what
Speaker 2: I said? Uh? You know a few years ago, you
Speaker 2: remember Brad Merrick from Kiowa, the club Pro.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the club Pro. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: So I grew up playing golf against him and I
Speaker 2: hadn't seen him for years and New Years. I was
Speaker 2: out at a bar, I get in the cab, I
Speaker 2: get into the Uber. It was in the early years
Speaker 2: of Uber and Brad Merricks by driver. So you know,
Speaker 2: I think that Uber driving is a is actual uh
Speaker 2: an actual occupay, regular occupation for aspiring professional golfers. If
Speaker 2: you think about think about like the I think about
Speaker 2: like you know, in even like two thousand and nine,
Speaker 2: twenty ten, before Uber was around, you know, the occupation
Speaker 2: was caddying or or waiting tables. Talk about any way,
Speaker 2: better job for somebody trying to play professional golf is
Speaker 2: Uber then then having to wait tables at a restaurant.
Speaker 2: You go practice all day and you you want to
Speaker 2: go wait tables at night, or you know, trying to
Speaker 2: get up the next day after waiting a table, you know,
Speaker 2: versus like sitting in a car and driving.
Speaker 1: Well, you get to kind of quiet your mind. Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Maybe you run into somebody that gives you some cash
Speaker 2: for upcoming tournament, you know.
Speaker 1: A future sponsor. You're not in the gym before the
Speaker 1: round with the two behind the lead and doing reflex
Speaker 1: work and and hurting your back and having to withdraw.
Speaker 1: You're just you know, sitting in the car with the
Speaker 1: seat heater on hopefully and uh yeah. Although I was
Speaker 1: shocked when he came on the screen, like geez, that
Speaker 1: guy's in good shape, So it didn't really fit the
Speaker 1: concept of the uber driver sitting there just you know,
Speaker 1: stuffing their face with Cheetos all day in between rides.
Speaker 1: He was ripped.
Speaker 2: He's apparently transformed his game because what we when we
Speaker 2: interviewed him, he wasn't a long hitter, and now he's
Speaker 2: he's apparently gained like over the last few years tons
Speaker 2: of speed. He's done the speed training, the Patrick Harrington
Speaker 2: yeah even yeah so, but uh but yeah, I'm glad
Speaker 2: for Barry Henson. He's not a pick. I'm taking, uh
Speaker 2: take Brooks, gonna go.
Speaker 1: Brooks never never played the golf course, and uh.
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't think it matters works for him.
Speaker 1: It may not, it may not. Okay, Well that's uh.
Speaker 1: I mean, we didn't really go on a limb with
Speaker 1: either one of those.
Speaker 2: But I think it's hard to not, well, like my
Speaker 2: thing is, like, it's really hard not to pick one
Speaker 2: of those three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is just on form and we have no
Speaker 1: reason to think there in any way less outstanding at
Speaker 1: the moment.
Speaker 2: And uh yeah, and yeah.
Speaker 1: I just I for some reason, just something tells me
Speaker 1: there is a little bit of an edge to of
Speaker 1: having played there. But it is about two hundred yards
Speaker 1: longer than it was in the back twelves. Uh so
Speaker 1: there is that, but I mean it's it's the same
Speaker 1: same that was only ten years ago. Wasn't that long ago?
Speaker 2: So the other thing is I'm in a one and
Speaker 2: done league and I need to take Brooks and amazing
Speaker 2: real truth.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, well that's impressive. You haven't used them yet.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's a better choice than Hoylake. Yeah
Speaker 1: that's but no, I think it'll I think it'll be Uh,
Speaker 1: I think you're right, it'll be a great week.
Speaker 2: So all right, Jeff, thank you. Everybody can find your
Speaker 2: work at the Quadrilateral. It is a outstanding sub sac
Speaker 2: that I would recommend signing up for and uh, you
Speaker 2: will be on site, you'll have a lot of different insights,
Speaker 2: and they can find you on social media apps as well.
Speaker 2: And thank you also for being a part of a
Speaker 2: lot of our video content. We wouldn't have been able
Speaker 2: to do some of the projects without you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, thank you, and thank you for the beautiful
Speaker 1: work you've done to highlight Captain Thomas and and all
Speaker 1: the good stuff. And I think you've made people more
Speaker 1: excited about what's what's to.
Speaker 2: Come, appreciate it. Thank you for listening to another edition
Speaker 2: of the Friday Podcast. Today's episode was produced by Matt Rushes.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Matt. As a quick reminder, we will have
Speaker 2: a bunch of little vignette videos on Los Angeles Country Club.
Speaker 2: So we've got the George Thomas video that I talked
Speaker 2: about at the open. We've got the big LACC preview
Speaker 2: video that we released a couple of weeks ago. If
Speaker 2: you haven't checked that out, check it out. It's about
Speaker 2: twenty minutes. So we've got those videos. But then we're
Speaker 2: gonna have a bunch of little breakout videos. They're gonna
Speaker 2: be available on social media on our Instagram page but
Speaker 2: also YouTube and Twitter. So if you're looking for more
Speaker 2: LACC stuff, it's gonna be some fun features. They aren't
Speaker 2: just gonna be your stock you know about you know
Speaker 2: this whole We're gonna we're gonna cover some different top
Speaker 2: in them, and so be sure to check those out.
Speaker 2: If you haven't subscribed to our YouTube page, do that.
Speaker 2: It's a we're going to be We're continuing to be
Speaker 2: up the YouTube content that we're doing, but these vignettes
Speaker 2: will be spectacular watched there, you can always put them
Speaker 2: up on your TV and h and that makes for
Speaker 2: nice viewing. So if you're looking for more LACC content,
Speaker 2: we have more video content coming. Just be tuned into
Speaker 2: our social media channels and our YouTube page. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for listening to the pod. We will be back later
Speaker 2: this week, Garrett. We'll have another podcast and then we'll
Speaker 2: be back after the US Open to talk about what happened.
Speaker 2: So thanks and thank you to be Draddy and we
Speaker 2: hope for a great championship here at Los Angeles Country
Speaker 2: Call