Speaker 1: The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how
Speaker 1: much the equipment matters. I just love that I can
Speaker 1: hit any shot I kind of want. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to tell some fun stories about what goes on
Speaker 1: here to help golfers play better golf. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Pink Proving Grounds Podcast. We've got an awesome reserve
Speaker 1: in today, Christian Payne. You filling in for Marty Jertsen
Speaker 1: here at Augusta National. We also got a guy by
Speaker 1: the name of Bubba Watson. You may have heard of
Speaker 1: him before. Two time Masters champion, Christian. I want to
Speaker 1: start here though. Bubba, the nice guy that he is,
Speaker 1: brought you to Augusta National a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: and you got a chance to play alongside Bubba, although
Speaker 1: he made you play pretty far back.
Speaker 2: Well it was far back. And the one thing about Bubba,
Speaker 2: he's got a great heart. And he brought me to
Speaker 2: Augusta National end John K. Solheim our president last March,
Speaker 2: and did dream come true for me? Loves I'm playing
Speaker 2: first time, Oh yeah, first time pretty much on the
Speaker 2: golf course because as a rep when I worked here,
Speaker 2: you're not allowed to go inside the ropes. And so
Speaker 2: we came. We had a great time. I mean, Bubba
Speaker 2: did say, hey, Christian, you were not playing the members teas,
Speaker 2: you were gonna come back and play with me like
Speaker 2: a man. And so I manned up, even though all
Speaker 2: fifty five years as well, I was fifty four last year.
Speaker 2: But it's really long, I'll just say that. And I
Speaker 2: didn't know that there's only championship teas and member tees
Speaker 2: and but it was fun. It was a dream come true.
Speaker 2: We had a great time. Bubba's taking care of me
Speaker 2: over the years, Like I've played a lot of golf
Speaker 2: with him, and he's taken me to some really cool places.
Speaker 2: This is number one. So anyway, it was great.
Speaker 3: Tough to beat that Bubba.
Speaker 1: Can you kind of dive into the experience how his
Speaker 1: game was, how he played from the back to how
Speaker 1: many head covers he pulled out on the par fours?
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I lost count. But the key is, though
Speaker 3: you don't want to leave a guy being a ex
Speaker 3: professional golfer as you are and a champion in.
Speaker 2: Japan, it is yeah, hey, good memory.
Speaker 3: And so I love when the Japanese media comes up
Speaker 3: and takes pictures of you and talks about all the
Speaker 3: history anyway, that's a different podcast. So my thing is, though,
Speaker 3: when you come to Augusta and you play, and you
Speaker 3: have any kind of ability, you want to be back
Speaker 3: there totally. You have to like, why say that you
Speaker 3: played Augusta National and you played the uptease like you
Speaker 3: want to say, you played all the way back. You
Speaker 3: saw how difficult it is, you felt it, and you're like, man,
Speaker 3: and now you can appreciate it when you watch it
Speaker 3: on TV, right, you can see the struggles. You can
Speaker 3: be like, oh, yeah, I felt that struggle. Number eleven
Speaker 3: is a struggle for everybody. So there's guys this week.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what the weather's going to be
Speaker 3: on Saturday, but this week guys are going to have
Speaker 3: head covers off.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was He's right. It was a great
Speaker 2: experience from the back. And what is always amazing to
Speaker 2: me is Bubba and how he plays the game and
Speaker 2: like from the back tease, how easy he can make
Speaker 2: the golf rush look and the shots that he hit.
Speaker 2: I remember, I'm just gonna tell sorry, sorry, Shane. So
Speaker 2: fifteen he had like a little he has two drives,
Speaker 2: his denk driving in his bomb and he hit the
Speaker 2: little dinker out there, didn't really hit one hard, and
Speaker 2: he was probably two fifty to the pin and it
Speaker 2: was back left. He says, you know what, I want
Speaker 2: to try out this three, but I want to try
Speaker 2: to hit this shot. And he hit this forty yard
Speaker 2: slice three wood that I swear was coming in sideways
Speaker 2: to that pin. I don't even know if it went
Speaker 2: over the water. I think it went around the water
Speaker 2: and then hit like the middle of the green and
Speaker 2: rolled right past the pin. I think he almost made
Speaker 2: it too. It's probably the best shot I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: It was just it. I mean, it was amazing. So
Speaker 2: like for me, I'm just like a you know, a
Speaker 2: giddy guy just watching a great player play golf, and
Speaker 2: it was it was amazing, Bubba.
Speaker 1: The way you've played golf over the years, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's must watch TV. I mean, you know, especially
Speaker 1: when you're winning those Masters Championship. I mean, I will
Speaker 1: never forget the t shot you hit on thirteen. We'll
Speaker 1: get to that in a little bit.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that was a line.
Speaker 1: You were picking, but we'll ask you about that in
Speaker 1: a bit. But shots like that, you know, the forty
Speaker 1: yard cut or you know the wet shot you hit
Speaker 1: in the playoff. Do you see lines or is it
Speaker 1: just the feel in your hands that makes sense to
Speaker 1: you to be able to pull off these golf shots
Speaker 1: that even a lot of pros wouldn't have either the
Speaker 1: guts or the abilit to pull off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it comes down to feel, right, you see the shot,
Speaker 3: you visualize the shot you've hit it before the shot
Speaker 3: that he was talking about with the slice three wood,
Speaker 3: that's two fifty, right, So a three wood's gonna go
Speaker 3: further than that if I hit a dead straight three wood.
Speaker 3: So you don't have the club right, you can only
Speaker 3: allow fourteen's right. You've got to figure out a way
Speaker 3: to do it. And so the forty yard slice is
Speaker 3: just the way for me to get it up and
Speaker 3: get spin on it, then slow it down right, And
Speaker 3: so that's what I envisioned. That's what I see with
Speaker 3: the pin on that side, the left side. So I'm
Speaker 3: always trying to figure out so about don't slice it now.
Speaker 3: We still have a room over here and we can
Speaker 3: chip to the hole. So that's what I'm seeing in
Speaker 3: my head now to pull it off as a whole
Speaker 3: right front ball game. But yeah, so visually, mentally, I
Speaker 3: picture this shot and I can can see myself pulling
Speaker 3: it off because I've done it with buddies and things
Speaker 3: like that. Now under the gun, can you pull it
Speaker 3: off of that one moment? And luckily I've pulled the
Speaker 3: shots off twice around this place, so it worked out.
Speaker 1: Do you see like a start line pick? You know,
Speaker 1: like Jack Nicholas famously picked a spot, you know, three
Speaker 1: or four feet in front of him. Are you picking
Speaker 1: a spot to kind of cut it off of or again?
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you're such a feel player. Does
Speaker 1: it just again your hands in your brain? It just
Speaker 1: kind of makes sense to be able to kind of
Speaker 1: cut something, you know, forty yards onto a pin that
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna kind of land in the area too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it depends on the shot, right, So like
Speaker 3: a three wood, it's more of like I want to
Speaker 3: aim it far enough over so you're gonna and then
Speaker 3: off a tee. You're actually looking for something, right, So,
Speaker 3: so I'm looking for a tree maybe if it's a crowd,
Speaker 3: it's a person, or an edge of a bunker. I'm
Speaker 3: looking at something way in the distance to start it
Speaker 3: and then just then feed it off of there. The
Speaker 3: big slices, you're basically, especially under the under gun or
Speaker 3: under the pressure, you're aiming it and going, Okay, if
Speaker 3: I really slice this, I'm barely gonna get in the
Speaker 3: rough on the left. If I underslice it, we're just
Speaker 3: gonna be in the right rough. So long as I
Speaker 3: slice it, I'm good. Right, you hit it perfect in
Speaker 3: the middle the fairway, So you're trying to You're trying
Speaker 3: to play the percentages in your favor.
Speaker 1: So this is your sixteenth start here to go oh lash, Okay.
Speaker 1: I wanted to go back to your first It was
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. I believe you got into that
Speaker 1: because of your great play at the US Open at Oakmont.
Speaker 1: I think that's how you got into it at oh eight.
Speaker 1: Do you remember your first Masters? Can you kind of
Speaker 1: take us back to like nervy young Bubba Watson playing
Speaker 1: at the Masters for the first time, obviously having so
Speaker 1: much history in the state, you know.
Speaker 3: There was a there was a lot going on that
Speaker 3: week two thousand and seven, finished finished fifth at the
Speaker 3: US Open. Not that I'm mad about going bogie bogey
Speaker 3: the last week I was gonna bring up. I wasn't
Speaker 3: gonna bring it up exactly. So so you know, I
Speaker 3: got to call my dad. How was Father's Day? After
Speaker 3: the US Open? And it called my dad and said
Speaker 3: we're going to the Masters, and he was excited. And
Speaker 3: so we get there and boo weekly he's slop them.
Speaker 3: They're my idols. There were the guys I looked up
Speaker 3: to when I was in middle school. They played him
Speaker 3: the same high school I went to. They were older,
Speaker 3: so they were out of high school and I got there.
Speaker 3: But those are the two guys that I wanted to
Speaker 3: emulate when I got to high school, and so so
Speaker 3: for them to be at the Masters, that's the only
Speaker 3: year that all three of us were at the Masters,
Speaker 3: and so our hometown, that was a big news for
Speaker 3: a hometown, right It's it's one of those things that
Speaker 3: I think there was a couple of stories written about that.
Speaker 3: But three guys from the same small town, same high
Speaker 3: school were here. So that's really what I remember. I
Speaker 3: remember playing a practice round with them, goofing around with them,
Speaker 3: and always seeing them. Those are the faces I can
Speaker 3: remember I knew and I could talk to and it
Speaker 3: was all new to me with the other guys, and
Speaker 3: the Masters was new and my caddy, Ted Scott at
Speaker 3: the time was he's like, man, just drink it in.
Speaker 3: You know you're good enough, You're gonna be back here.
Speaker 3: You know, you never think that, you know, you shouldn't
Speaker 3: think that you should always be grinding towards making it back.
Speaker 3: But so really the golf itself, I really didn't pay
Speaker 3: much attention about that, So I don't even know what
Speaker 3: I finished. I think it was pretty high up. I
Speaker 3: know I made the cut, but but then O nine
Speaker 3: I wasn't here, so that one's kind of upset me.
Speaker 3: So then I went to twenty nine, by the way,
Speaker 3: twenty that week, but it was a low last round. Maybe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you played really well the last year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about twenty twelve because you
Speaker 1: were trailing headed in the final round. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: people remember that you went on that tear late. I
Speaker 1: think you birdied four holes in a row right started
Speaker 1: at thirteen, yep, what not in the playoff. But what
Speaker 1: was it like for you? I know you're a guy
Speaker 1: like you've talked about dealing with pressure and how it's
Speaker 1: been like for you to deal with pressure over the years.
Speaker 1: What was it like in that atmosphere comparatively to other
Speaker 1: golf tournaments that you've been in the hunt end and
Speaker 1: that you've won in in the past, And how did
Speaker 1: you handle those nerves coming down the stretch with that
Speaker 1: great play late?
Speaker 3: You know, it was crazy. Louis Ustasen made the double
Speaker 3: legal right too. Right then he had a four iron.
Speaker 3: I had an eight iron in there and he had
Speaker 3: a four iron.
Speaker 1: She had an eight iron into two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I I it was. The wind was just perfect.
Speaker 3: I hammered one, but Louis his ball like took forever.
Speaker 3: It lanted like I think it lanted just short of
Speaker 3: the green, but it was firm, so it rolled and
Speaker 3: took the break to that backpen and went in. By
Speaker 3: the time I'm getting ready to hit the crowd of erup,
Speaker 3: so I was like, the ball hasn't stopped rolling yet,
Speaker 3: and so then I sliced it over into the left trap.
Speaker 3: But at that moment when he hold that and I
Speaker 3: think I might have made birdie, I might have made
Speaker 3: par I'm not sure, but I'm four back of him,
Speaker 3: and so at that moment, you know, I'm like, oh
Speaker 3: my gosh, I'm four back of him, and I think
Speaker 3: somebody else might have been he might have been tied
Speaker 3: to the lead at that moment or one up. So
Speaker 3: I'm looking at this going, okay, we've just played two
Speaker 3: holes and four back. Let's have a top ten. Let's
Speaker 3: have a top five, because I remember the US Open,
Speaker 3: how big this is to get a top ten or
Speaker 3: top five. It gets you another eventsah blah blah blah. Right,
Speaker 3: and so I wanted to be able to say I
Speaker 3: played well at the Masters at least one year. So
Speaker 3: that's where my mindset went. And then Teddy on the bag.
Speaker 3: Teddy always tried to keep me in the moment and
Speaker 3: he was always talking about that. He was always like,
Speaker 3: look at top five, here is amazing. I mean, things
Speaker 3: can happen you just you shoot, even from here out,
Speaker 3: you'll probably move up the board right just because of things,
Speaker 3: because of pressure. And then so we just keep battling,
Speaker 3: and the next thing, you know, I bogie. I'm just
Speaker 3: off the green on twelve, but I bogied it a three.
Speaker 3: I counted as a three putt even though it wasn't
Speaker 3: a three putt. And then that's when again Teddy was
Speaker 3: in my ear and I would and I was already
Speaker 3: saying it to myself, but keep fighting like you've got
Speaker 3: a part you got two part five's. You can still
Speaker 3: have a great finish. You're still top ten, you're still
Speaker 3: this And and then you go Birdie. And then me
Speaker 3: and Teddy we were we were on what was at
Speaker 3: fourteen and I remember it years ago, if I don't
Speaker 3: know if y'all remember, but I remember. I remember shots
Speaker 3: and Tiger, and I've seen other people do it where
Speaker 3: you hit it to that back friend ran it up
Speaker 3: the hill, it spins, or you hit it or if
Speaker 3: you hit it long enough drive you spin it back right.
Speaker 3: And so I told him. I told Teddy, I said, hey,
Speaker 3: what if we hit it to that fringe just to
Speaker 3: the left and spin it back down the hill. And
Speaker 3: he was like, yeah, that's perfect. Or roll it back
Speaker 3: down the hill whatever, how firm the greens are. And
Speaker 3: it rolled back down to I don't know, seven feet
Speaker 3: and I made it. And then you know, okay, we
Speaker 3: still have a great finish, We still have great Let's
Speaker 3: just finished strong. Let's finish strong. So you're not even
Speaker 3: thinking about anything like that. You're not thinking about winning,
Speaker 3: You're not any of that. So I hit a great
Speaker 3: t shot freight down the middle, hit a seven ron
Speaker 3: in there, left it about three feet short from twenty
Speaker 3: feet on fifteen. Yeah, on fifteen. So I made that
Speaker 3: putt and I still at this moment, I don't even
Speaker 3: I mean, I sit there, we talk about, yeah, we're
Speaker 3: one back, but you don't really put any thought into it,
Speaker 3: because at the whole time, all you're talking about is
Speaker 3: a good finish, a good finish. And then when I
Speaker 3: hit the eight iron and sliced the eight iron in
Speaker 3: there and made that and my putter raised, that's the
Speaker 3: first moment I was like, here we go. And then
Speaker 3: when I walked to seventeen, I'll never forget it. This
Speaker 3: is the worst thing I could ever do. I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, we're tied for the lead, we have
Speaker 3: a chance to win. And Teddy goes, yeah, I know, man,
Speaker 3: and he goes and then but like it's the same
Speaker 3: thought he had maybe I had. It was just like
Speaker 3: that moment where we forgot everything we talked about all week,
Speaker 3: you know, having my son, we just adopted my son
Speaker 3: and all these things, and so we were talking about
Speaker 3: all this positive stuff and that one moment we elapsed
Speaker 3: and went and I sliced that drive. So far on seventeen.
Speaker 1: Was I was an hour still up at that time.
Speaker 1: It had to have been right in twenty twelve. I'm
Speaker 1: assuming there had been that tree over there on seventeen.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming in twenty.
Speaker 3: Twelve, Yeah it could, yes, yes, but you know we
Speaker 3: don't even see that tree because I guess play right.
Speaker 3: So but yeah, so we we we lost our minds
Speaker 3: for a second and just enough where I could slice it,
Speaker 3: and so that's where we just yeah, so coming back
Speaker 3: those four birdies in a row was amazing, but it
Speaker 3: was just we never thought about winning. We never did.
Speaker 3: We just focused on having a good finish and then
Speaker 3: we get panicked on seventeen. But but yeah, May.
Speaker 1: Seventeen and eighteen obviously, yeah, you know you I've read that.
Speaker 1: You you said I'm never gonna go down there and
Speaker 1: hit that wedshot again, right the playoff a wedgshot you've hit.
Speaker 1: Do you ever go down there and look.
Speaker 3: I've hit it one time. I hit it with Ted. Ted.
Speaker 3: Scott brought Ted to play, and I used a nine
Speaker 3: iron with him because you was gaff hit it. That
Speaker 3: was a gaff wege fifty two degree. But I I
Speaker 3: flipped over a nine iron and hooked it with a
Speaker 3: right handed club hit the green. Maybe it doesn't matter
Speaker 3: all right, all right, maybe.
Speaker 2: We've been trying to go down there and find I
Speaker 2: think have they changed trees.
Speaker 3: They've added some trees.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's what I thought, because every time, well the
Speaker 2: time we came out and even when we go gallery
Speaker 2: out there, we go down there, I'm like, I don't
Speaker 2: know where the spot is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they've added some trees. I remember a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago before they added the trees, Me and Angie
Speaker 3: flew in here to play and and they they they said, hey,
Speaker 3: do you want to see the spot? And it's just like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'll see it. And so they got it GPS pinpoint
Speaker 3: and when where our group was on eight, they said, hey,
Speaker 3: they came up to us and said, we put a
Speaker 3: flag right where it is because there's nobody in front
Speaker 3: of us, so nobody else would know what they were doing.
Speaker 3: So they did it secretly. And so we went over
Speaker 3: there and guys we were playing with went and looked
Speaker 3: at it. But they had a flag, you know, a
Speaker 3: little little flag just sit around. Yeah, they can do
Speaker 3: it with GPS.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one of the one of the great
Speaker 1: I mean one of the great shots in master's history.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you really think about it, I think
Speaker 1: every time I watch it, not only am I impressed
Speaker 1: by how much you move the ball, but I mean
Speaker 1: it was it's just so cool because it rips close,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean it had so much side spinning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you rip it up the hill, which is just
Speaker 3: so wild.
Speaker 1: Where's the gold wedge, because ping major of the gold
Speaker 1: wedge is the post of the gold putter. Where's the
Speaker 1: gold wedges at home? Is it a case?
Speaker 3: It's at home in the trophy in the office, in
Speaker 3: the trophy room. Yeah, so I am am sitting right
Speaker 3: there and the same as the the putter as well. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's awesome. I think it saved I think it saved
Speaker 3: the money by doing a wedge because it was it
Speaker 3: was hollow inside. So they were like, hey, saved us three. Great.
Speaker 1: They need more players to hit wedg shots to win
Speaker 1: major championships.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean gold putters major you get a solid
Speaker 2: gold putter, right, So he's got a couple of them,
Speaker 2: and we're we're counting on him. I mean, we're we're
Speaker 2: really looking forward to another major winner, and so we
Speaker 2: need you to be our guy. You've been our guy
Speaker 2: in the past.
Speaker 3: I got I got lucky too. By the way, my wedge,
Speaker 3: I have a gold plated because they make gold plated
Speaker 3: for inside the vault and and so I have a
Speaker 3: gold plated wedge that they did special for some reason,
Speaker 3: and so they already had one in the vault. So
Speaker 3: they're like, hey, man, do you want this one too?
Speaker 3: So I have that in mind too. So I've got
Speaker 3: the gold plated one just like the vault, and I
Speaker 3: have the the solid going. Uh.
Speaker 1: I want to ask about twenty fourteen, Okay, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, like everybody knows Jordan's speed now at the time,
Speaker 1: he's this kid, I mean, he was still burst on
Speaker 1: a scene. What is he twenty twenty one years old
Speaker 1: when he's battling you that he takes the lead early
Speaker 1: in that final round and you made birdies in the
Speaker 1: middle of the round to kind of grab hold of
Speaker 1: that Master's But I mentioned the t shot on thirteen.
Speaker 1: I remember this was like hot and heavy Twitter days,
Speaker 1: Bubba when this was happening, and this was like pre
Speaker 1: video all across the board, like you didn't have every
Speaker 1: shot like they have now on the Masters app. And
Speaker 1: I remember I screen grabbed the t shot because it
Speaker 1: looked like when you hit it. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you remember. I mean it was an anxious look. Everybody
Speaker 1: was kind of looking and then it flies and you
Speaker 1: have what like sand wedge into to thirteen? Was that
Speaker 1: left of your line?
Speaker 3: What was the line? Years take on thirteen? So let's
Speaker 3: go with the first part. Though. Jordan Speed was coming
Speaker 3: on the seas great player obviously, and he's young. I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't even know if he was twenty one was he?
Speaker 3: And so he Birdie's he Birdie's seven the bowlpen I
Speaker 3: plug it in the lip on seven, but I can
Speaker 3: use the bowl to help me. So I hit it
Speaker 3: make par So I'm three down with and I and
Speaker 3: Teddy and me we were talking about it and we're like, hey, man,
Speaker 3: he doesn't know the pressure yet. You've dealt with the pressure.
Speaker 3: You've succeeded in the pressure two years ago. You know
Speaker 3: what the pressure is going to be like, you know
Speaker 3: what you have to do, and then you know, luckily
Speaker 3: for me, bad for him. I birdy Ate hit six
Speaker 3: hundred and eight. It was down Win hit six hundred
Speaker 3: and eight just over the green made Birdie he hits
Speaker 3: it off to the side, hits it on about thirty
Speaker 3: five feet three putts, so now I'm one back. I
Speaker 3: go to nine. I hit a beautiful shot to ten feet.
Speaker 3: He hits it just off the side. Three putt. Well
Speaker 3: he's just off the green, but he three putted. I burdy,
Speaker 3: So now I'm one up, right, So like whoa? So
Speaker 3: then we just then I just hold on. Nobody really
Speaker 3: we both bog e ten I think, and then nobody
Speaker 3: really did anything. He hit in the water, but made
Speaker 3: a phenomenal bogie on twelve. So now we go to thirteen,
Speaker 3: and I'm at that time, I think I'm.
Speaker 1: Three up, two up, because I birty thirteen.
Speaker 3: So yes, you know you're you're the wind is like
Speaker 3: I said on eight, it's kind of like eight your
Speaker 3: down win. And so I'm going over these trees. But
Speaker 3: usually when I try to just hammer one, it's gonna
Speaker 3: be a slight draw. You pull it whatever, right, So
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, as long as you don't miss
Speaker 3: it that way. And you know, when you're trying to
Speaker 3: fight and make sure you don't pull hook it or
Speaker 3: pull it, you kind of leave it open. And so
Speaker 3: I left a little open and I knew I hammered it.
Speaker 3: I mean I couldn't hit it any better on the
Speaker 3: smash Factor or whatever. And so now it's just now
Speaker 3: we're just waiting. I'm like, oh gosh, and you know,
Speaker 3: you're like, you're listening to see if you hear a tree, right,
Speaker 3: and then when the crowd erupts, that's when you're like, okay,
Speaker 3: we're good. You know when a crowd cheers for your drive.
Speaker 3: And that's when Jordan was like, hold on a second,
Speaker 3: wait a second, because we were listening, right, we were
Speaker 3: listening to hear it. And then we get up there.
Speaker 3: I mean, I have this beautiful picture. It's framed up.
Speaker 3: Asked the Masters for it. Teddy has one too. There's
Speaker 3: two that I know of that we got framed up.
Speaker 3: And it's only me and Teddy. I'm hitting my shot.
Speaker 3: I'm one twenty to the front, one forty hole. I've
Speaker 3: got fifty six degree trying to hit the you know,
Speaker 3: one thirty and then let it spin down to the
Speaker 3: hole and out of the whole tournament. It's Sunday of
Speaker 3: the Masters. Jordan spief Is, you know, he kind of
Speaker 3: left his drive out. I mean, I hit a ridiculous drive.
Speaker 3: But he hit a drive out. So he's hundred plus
Speaker 3: yards away from me and there's nobody. You see the
Speaker 3: camera tower behind the green, and you see the flag,
Speaker 3: and you see me and Teddy, and you see me
Speaker 3: at impact. I'm right here. There's nobody, and so I said,
Speaker 3: this is the greatest picture I've ever seen for us,
Speaker 3: and so I have one hanging up in my house.
Speaker 3: Teddy has one of his house. But going back to
Speaker 3: the t shot, it was a lot of luck involved.
Speaker 3: But what we've always said, it doesn't matter how great
Speaker 3: you're playing, how great you're playing, there has to be
Speaker 3: something during the week that changes the momentum. I don't
Speaker 3: believe in luck. I don't believe in this, but breaks
Speaker 3: have to go your way. It's your moment, it's your time,
Speaker 3: it's whatever. My ball went through the tree. He had
Speaker 3: to touch something right, but it made it through. Look
Speaker 3: at shots that we've seen everybody hit around the Augusta
Speaker 3: not only Augusta, but every golf tournament. They made a putt,
Speaker 3: they chipped in on a Thursday, they made a long
Speaker 3: putt on a Friday to make the cut, and then
Speaker 3: they shoot crazy on the weekend in La like a
Speaker 3: sixty four to sixty four. Wait, who did that? But
Speaker 3: you know like ball stays up. I mean, you're so right.
Speaker 1: It's I always say we don't I think in golf
Speaker 1: coverage because golf so long, we don't go back to
Speaker 1: those Thursdays and Friday breaks enough, you know, because you
Speaker 1: talk so much about Saturday and Sunday. And I mean
Speaker 1: I remember remember James Han years ago when he missed
Speaker 1: all those cuts in a row and then he won
Speaker 1: wells Fargo. I think he missed seven cuts in a
Speaker 1: row and we Fargo. I was talking him about it
Speaker 1: one time and he said, he hit in Adibot on
Speaker 1: Thursday and go, this is why we're gonna miss the cut.
Speaker 1: You know, it was negative talk to himself. And then
Speaker 1: he said, I remember his caddy saying we got to
Speaker 1: stop doing that. Let's just let's try to pull something
Speaker 1: off when we hit in a bad spot or do something.
Speaker 1: And literally that was the mental switch that happened. And
Speaker 1: he goes on to win after missing seven cuts. Like
Speaker 1: you've got to almost embrace the when something good happens.
Speaker 1: Like I'm thirteen, didn't hit anything.
Speaker 3: I'm in the grain.
Speaker 1: I better make birdie here, right, Like I got to
Speaker 1: pull off the golf shot, and that gave you off
Speaker 1: the opportunity to kind of to kind of take hold
Speaker 1: of that tournament.
Speaker 3: Right, There's a lot of times the guy that has
Speaker 3: the best ball striking week does not win. Right. That's
Speaker 3: why I say, in a tournament, if you can top
Speaker 3: ten in any tournament in the world, or you can
Speaker 3: top five, you're playing really good. There was a little
Speaker 3: one percent difference in you and the next guy. He
Speaker 3: chipped in twice for the week, so he beat you,
Speaker 3: or he made a fifty footer that you didn't make.
Speaker 3: So it's just it's a fine line. And that was
Speaker 3: my moment. There was other moments, but that was one
Speaker 3: that was like, hey, maybe it's meant to be. And
Speaker 3: then nobody else birdied, so I got lucky. I could
Speaker 3: just struggle my way in.
Speaker 2: You say that too, like thirteen, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 2: that was the year they had a big freeze and
Speaker 2: a lot of the trees were dead. They didn't have
Speaker 2: as many leaves on them. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: remember that. So, like, your ball's going through there and
Speaker 2: usually it's really lush, and so you have all these
Speaker 2: different factors over call it providence, and here it comes,
Speaker 2: here comes your ball is going through and then it
Speaker 2: lands in the fairway, and I'm like, this is his
Speaker 2: I mean, like like you said, I think I'm with you,
Speaker 2: not necessarily luck, like it was providence. All these little
Speaker 2: things happened over over the year, and then you get here,
Speaker 2: you hit this beautiful drive over there goes right through
Speaker 2: the tree. Well over through what everyone's going.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll say over, We'll say over. It's been a while, right, And.
Speaker 2: Then I mean it was beautiful, it was all.
Speaker 3: So then let's go back to that. So on, I
Speaker 3: got two things, not that you care, but I got
Speaker 3: to tell you anyway, do we go? So so number
Speaker 3: eleven Friday, My ball is twenty fourteen and fourteen, and
Speaker 3: my ball is in this pine stroll and Teddy looks
Speaker 3: at me right or left. I'm right, so you're right
Speaker 3: in the pines right now, So you know you gotta
Speaker 3: aim it for me being left hand, I gotta aim
Speaker 3: it over to water and hook it right. And Teddy
Speaker 3: was like, man, we shoe to lay up. And I said, nah, man,
Speaker 3: I got this shot. It's a hook. Man. I got
Speaker 3: this shot. And I took out a nine iron and
Speaker 3: it was stupid. Is one ninety or something to the
Speaker 3: pin or whatever? So I tell this niner and I've
Speaker 3: got to aim left of the water. So I hooked
Speaker 3: it more than I hooked it in the playoffs same year.
Speaker 3: And it's a nasty lie. And I just rope hooked
Speaker 3: this bullet and just catch us the slope right on
Speaker 3: the front of the green. And he goes but before
Speaker 3: we hit, he goes, You're one under man, like this
Speaker 3: is we missed the cut right? You hit this, make
Speaker 3: a triple whatever right? And I said, noah, man, I
Speaker 3: got this is easy, but I got this shot, and
Speaker 3: so I pull it off right. But then you go
Speaker 3: to so then you go to fifteen on Sunday and
Speaker 3: I don't know if you remember, but I hit it
Speaker 3: in the pine strawl. You know that little inlet of
Speaker 3: trees yep, on the left. I'm in the pine straws.
Speaker 3: They've added some trees by the way, just for the record,
Speaker 3: because I've been there before and I can't do the
Speaker 3: shot again. So I'm in there in the pine straw
Speaker 3: and Teddy looks at me and he's like, I was, like,
Speaker 3: I'm not laying up forty yards down the fairway like
Speaker 3: I'm not doing that, and I said, I've got a
Speaker 3: wide open shot. We got one eighty four to the front. Man.
Speaker 3: It's like, dude, I do this every day in my life.
Speaker 3: And I was like, I'm gonna hit a six iron.
Speaker 3: Hit it. We're gonna go over the green just on
Speaker 3: the left of the bunker pins in the back middle.
Speaker 3: You know how that pin kind of traditional pin. We've
Speaker 3: used to it many years, and we can chip it
Speaker 3: short of the green and two put it for par
Speaker 3: and walk out of here. And we're still leading, and
Speaker 3: he goes, all right, man, if you can do it,
Speaker 3: I man, this is easy. I know I can do this,
Speaker 3: and so I so. But you know, when I watch
Speaker 3: coverage with my family and listen to people, the commentators
Speaker 3: are like, what is he doing? Why is he doing that?
Speaker 3: And we've actually thought positively why we're doing it. Now,
Speaker 3: I've got this downhill slope web shot and I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have to try to lift it and spin it and
Speaker 3: guess right on the distance to that green. I would
Speaker 3: rather go for it and then fat my chip shot
Speaker 3: than fat it in the water totally. So I'm looking
Speaker 3: at that and so it's an easy shot. For me,
Speaker 3: I wasay, man, my six irond goes two hundred yards.
Speaker 3: We're gonna hit easy. We're gonna hit it low, bullet
Speaker 3: flat one eighty five, one eighty six, It's no problem. Boom,
Speaker 3: we do it, just over the green, make par And
Speaker 3: everybody's like, why would he do that? Well, because that
Speaker 3: was the best opportunity for me to make par well,
Speaker 3: we felt, And so those are the moments like again,
Speaker 3: I could have been behind the tree, right, and then
Speaker 3: I had to chip out and then I hit in
Speaker 3: the water and lost right. So there are just moments
Speaker 3: that happened throughout the week, especially on Sunday, that moments
Speaker 3: that you don't think about at the time, but then
Speaker 3: at the end of it you're like, man, I just missed.
Speaker 3: I just miss winning because of this, this and this,
Speaker 3: or I just won because of this, this and this.
Speaker 1: Right, fancy dinner twenty fourteen after the Masters win, Right,
Speaker 1: was that waffle House night?
Speaker 3: That was waffle House night?
Speaker 1: So what is a Bubba Watson waffle House Night?
Speaker 3: Order? I get every time I go to waffle House.
Speaker 3: I met the owners a couple weeks ago. It's pretty
Speaker 3: funny people that started it, but they know my order
Speaker 3: too because of the masters. But I get two grilled
Speaker 3: cheese hash browns covered double hash browns. Two grilled cheese
Speaker 3: go on the same plate and cover the hash browns
Speaker 3: and then I just douse it all and catch up nice.
Speaker 1: I mean, no, no waffle no breakfast food. I've feel
Speaker 1: like I feel like you're kind of going like a
Speaker 1: little bit more.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's seven in
Speaker 3: the morning, doesn't matter if it's seven at night two
Speaker 3: in the morning. It's the same, exactly. I do have
Speaker 3: a menu, by the way. They made me a menu
Speaker 3: the waffle house day and it's the Champion's uh Champion
Speaker 3: Special and it's a little picture of me on there. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so good, So I have it in my trophy.
Speaker 2: But that's why I think we just heard Bubba Golf.
Speaker 2: How he you know, plays golf and then Bubba eats.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean exactly, it's amazing, Like that's a new
Speaker 3: YouTube series. You want, you want, but you want comfort, right.
Speaker 3: The reason why I wanted to go over to the
Speaker 3: Manion so if I fat it, it won't be fat
Speaker 3: in the water. So that was comfortable to me. Like
Speaker 3: it now it doesn't make sense in your head or
Speaker 3: your head or the announcer's hit. But that's where in
Speaker 3: my head it all makes sense. And when people say, man,
Speaker 3: you could do this, this and this, and man, I've
Speaker 3: won twelve times, two majors. My career is better than
Speaker 3: I ever dreamed it would be. Yeah, who doesn't want
Speaker 3: to win forty times? But you know, some people just
Speaker 3: aren't cut out for it, right.
Speaker 2: But the thing about Bubba golf too is people out
Speaker 2: always ask me, Hey, when I go out to a
Speaker 2: tour event, you know, any type of high level golf,
Speaker 2: who should I go watch? And I'm like, you gotta
Speaker 2: go watch Bubba. Of course, I mean, I said, because
Speaker 2: you do think differently than most people. You know, I'm boring.
Speaker 2: I tried to hit it straight, right right down the middle,
Speaker 2: not very far. You like to hit it high, you
Speaker 2: like to cut it, you like to hit it low,
Speaker 2: draw it. I mean, it's so much more fun to watch,
Speaker 2: and I wish I could do it, But like you're
Speaker 2: I mean, Bubba golf is a real thing. And I
Speaker 2: tell people all the time, you have to go watch
Speaker 2: Bubba play golf because it's different than anybody else and
Speaker 2: it's you're gonna enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's always enjoyable, and especially in
Speaker 1: modern golf, so many players are trying to just simply
Speaker 1: hit the ball straight. Yes, Bubba was kind of a
Speaker 1: bit of a throwback in terms of the way he
Speaker 1: moves it. It's funny. A buddy of mine played with you.
Speaker 1: I think I've told you this story before, but buddy
Speaker 1: mine played with you in a mini tour tournament years ago,
Speaker 1: and he was a good player. His name was Casey
Speaker 1: broad Us. He played college golf in textas he played
Speaker 1: with you. I think was a tight lights tour venter
Speaker 1: and Adams even or something like that.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: But he said, you're the only guy in all of
Speaker 1: his years of playing pro golf that he called his
Speaker 1: dad after and said, remember the name Bubba Watson. He said,
Speaker 1: you didn't necessarily shoot a great number. I think he
Speaker 1: said you shot three or four under, but he just said,
Speaker 1: your ability to move the golf ball, how far you
Speaker 1: hit it. I think you had a pink shaft you
Speaker 1: painted yourself at the time. But he just said, this guy,
Speaker 1: it's different to watch. And I'm assuming you've heard that
Speaker 1: probably a lot in your life. Is that it even
Speaker 1: from pros like I remember when you burst on the scene.
Speaker 1: Tiger loved playing practice ons with you because it was
Speaker 1: different to watch the way you go about your business.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. So my dad used to paint all
Speaker 3: my putter shafts and all my things like that, So
Speaker 3: my putter was definitely doctored up with paint and different things.
Speaker 3: Is that where the pink came from from? Your dad?
Speaker 3: Is that where the Yes, my dad loves bright colors
Speaker 3: and it stood out and it's easy to notice, and
Speaker 3: so pink it was. It made sense because it's funny,
Speaker 3: right when a guy has a pink driver, then he
Speaker 3: out drives. You can't really make fun of it exactly right.
Speaker 3: But then as I got older and became a professional golfer,
Speaker 3: it's like, how can we help people? People help me
Speaker 3: to get here? So then we started pink Let me
Speaker 3: do the pink Drivers for charity, and we've helped two
Speaker 3: We've helt many places around the world, but two hospitals,
Speaker 3: the one in Phoenix, the Children's Hospital in Phoenix, Children's
Speaker 3: Hospital in Pennscol, Florida. So that's what the pink drivers
Speaker 3: are for. But no, it's it's funny. I played with
Speaker 3: a couple guys this week that that don't really I've
Speaker 3: never played with. One guy never played with, and so
Speaker 3: I hit a couple of shots that were Bubba esque
Speaker 3: and and I could see him. He looked at me,
Speaker 3: he looked at his caddy. He looked back at me.
Speaker 3: He's like, what was that. I said, well, I had
Speaker 3: to take some off, man, so I had to hit
Speaker 3: this big old slice and had it like this, And
Speaker 3: he was like, okay, what I talk about. As he's
Speaker 3: laying up on this part five and I'm going for it,
Speaker 3: He's like, okay, okay, I didn't see it, but okay. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So but it's like, but if you think about it,
Speaker 3: like Bryce and d Chambeau, he plays a different game,
Speaker 3: but it's straight correct. He's trying to hit it miles
Speaker 3: but straight. He's not trying to do all these curves
Speaker 3: and things. So he's still doing what everybody else is doing,
Speaker 3: trying to hit the ball dead straight. Uh. He's just
Speaker 3: going about differently. He thinks differently. So that's the way
Speaker 3: he draws it up. We all draw it up differently.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yours is just I think the prettiest drawing in
Speaker 1: my opinion, Just the way again, I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: it's just fun to watch because it's just so different.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, the shot tracers messing up sometimes, Thank good, Yo,
Speaker 3: you know what you're sure we need of the tracer
Speaker 3: like five years earlier for Bubba, like like prime prime
Speaker 3: prime Bubba curving the golf ball.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's great. Bubba fits the Ping brand
Speaker 2: great because like the Solheims, like Carson was thinking outside
Speaker 2: the box when he was making his clubs. You know
Speaker 2: what I mean, everybody's like, oh, this crazy guy is
Speaker 2: bringing out this butter. Nobody's gonna like the butter, right,
Speaker 2: and then once somebody gave it a chance, they're like, Wow,
Speaker 2: this is really good. And I mean I think it's
Speaker 2: been all the years I've been at Ping. I mean,
Speaker 2: Bubba and the relationship he has with John has been
Speaker 2: really special. And I think it's been a great relationship,
Speaker 2: a great partnership for many years and for many years
Speaker 2: to come. So and you know all the charity work
Speaker 2: he does, He's he's got a great heart, has done
Speaker 2: so many great things. And I think you know a
Speaker 2: story I've never told anybody before and I'll tell it now,
Speaker 2: but my daughter got sick when she was fifteen years old.
Speaker 2: You know, she had leukemi and he's a big donor
Speaker 2: at Phoenix Children's Hospital where we spent a lot of time.
Speaker 2: But I was gone for like two weeks, you know,
Speaker 2: two months from helping the guys on the tour and
Speaker 2: then you know, I think the first week back, you know,
Speaker 2: I was I'm close with bub and Teddy both, and
Speaker 2: you know, they were encouraging me all the time. They
Speaker 2: would text me, hey, we're praying for you. Hang in there.
Speaker 2: And you know when I saw him, you know, they
Speaker 2: gave me a big hug and said, hey man, we're
Speaker 2: praying for you guy, hang in there, and the whole thing.
Speaker 2: And these guys were really supportive. It wasn't like every
Speaker 2: player was texting me, but these guys stayed in touch
Speaker 2: with me all the time. They really were an encouragement.
Speaker 2: And a couple of cool things he did for my daughter.
Speaker 2: He did a couple of videos. One was with Ricky
Speaker 2: I think and Pee Reid, and so, you know, my
Speaker 2: daughter knows Bubba and knows Ricky. She's like, oh, that's cool,
Speaker 2: that's Captain Jack. I was like, yeah, I was Ricky Fowler.
Speaker 2: You know, he used to look like Captain Jack back then,
Speaker 2: and then she loved Justin Bieber and his buddies of
Speaker 2: Justin Bieber and they sent over a video to Gabby
Speaker 2: Hey get well, be well, and so like Bubba's always
Speaker 2: going to have a special place in buy heard just
Speaker 2: through you know, difficult times in life. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: him and Teddy both are really great and they're a
Speaker 2: great encouragement to me. So and then the work that
Speaker 2: they do for Phoenix Children's Hospital has been amazing, Like
Speaker 2: we spent so much time there and all the kids
Speaker 2: that they help is amazing.
Speaker 1: So when did you start wanting to get into the philanthropy?
Speaker 1: When did that become a part of you, not just
Speaker 1: as a person, but as a pro golfer, Because I
Speaker 1: feel like you got into it. I don't want to
Speaker 1: say you know earlier than most people do, but it
Speaker 1: felt like something that kind of popped up the moment
Speaker 1: you started to become a household name.
Speaker 3: It's funny when I was fourteen years old the golf
Speaker 3: course I was playing at. The guy that's got me started.
Speaker 3: He's left haended pro golfer, Harm Cook. He loves junior golf. Right,
Speaker 3: That's how you build the game of golf, right, the
Speaker 3: grassroots is it's not pro golfers on the PGA Tour
Speaker 3: or at the Masters. It's the club pros in the city.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like the churches. They know the people
Speaker 3: of the city, right. And so there was a special
Speaker 3: Olympics group that used to come out and I used
Speaker 3: to help with that, and he said, hey, why don't
Speaker 3: you come out and help and you learn so much.
Speaker 3: I mean, these guys and girls are just smiling and
Speaker 3: having a blast and all these things. So I used
Speaker 3: to do things like that, right, I didn't think that
Speaker 3: was helping, even though it was because time. Some people
Speaker 3: don't have money, some people just have time, or some
Speaker 3: people have energy or or shoulder to cry on. Whatever
Speaker 3: that is, right, you can always help. And so for me,
Speaker 3: I saw that. And then when as I get older,
Speaker 3: I'm like, hey, when I start realizing what a sponsor is, well,
Speaker 3: you know, as a kid, I didn't know that these
Speaker 3: banners meant anything. You know, I'm playing junior golf tournament
Speaker 3: and there's a banner over here, and there's a banner
Speaker 3: over there. What is that? And then the reason why
Speaker 3: my golf tournaments, my junior tournaments were free is because
Speaker 3: of these sponsors or it was five I remember tournaments
Speaker 3: were five dollars. Some tournaments, the big tournaments, you know,
Speaker 3: there was one hundred dollars fee. But my parents would
Speaker 3: pay for these or not pay because of sponsors and
Speaker 3: people helping want to give back. So I learned that
Speaker 3: at a young age. But then when I finally started
Speaker 3: doing my own stuff and became a pro, I wanted
Speaker 3: to do it listening to these guys. John Soheim has
Speaker 3: been my granddad, right, and I know I'm putting an
Speaker 3: age with him, but that's who it was, because obviously
Speaker 3: he can't take the place of my dad, but he's
Speaker 3: my dad figure. And so that's the guy that I
Speaker 3: ran information by, asked him questions, even though he wanted
Speaker 3: me to be at the Pink staff. He said, look, man,
Speaker 3: if there's a deal out there that's better for you
Speaker 3: and your family, you leave ping take this hat off
Speaker 3: and go somewhere else, right like that's I'll drive you there.
Speaker 3: And that always stuck with me. And I know how
Speaker 3: much they give. They don't tell the world how much
Speaker 3: they give and what they do and what they're helping.
Speaker 3: And so that's where I just started resonating with me
Speaker 3: and who I want to be as a person. Where
Speaker 3: I come from, there's somebody helped me throughout all my years,
Speaker 3: and so I wanted to give back. And then when
Speaker 3: you start thinking about like my wife, we had to
Speaker 3: adopt both of our kids, how would you not want
Speaker 3: to help kids. Kids are born into a situation. They're
Speaker 3: not asking to be in that situation, and whatever that
Speaker 3: situation is bad or good, it just happens, right, So
Speaker 3: let's help them develop and grow. Maybe they're going to
Speaker 3: change the world, maybe they'll change cancer, maybe they'll be
Speaker 3: the next president or whatever. So that's why I always
Speaker 3: want to help the kids. And then getting involved with
Speaker 3: hospitals is an amazing journey in itself. And then you know,
Speaker 3: so it just I've done a lot of things outside
Speaker 3: the US, a lot of things inside the US, but
Speaker 3: the hospitals have probably been the best. Because the Watson
Speaker 3: name will go away.
Speaker 4: The Ping, the people of Ping will go away, but
Speaker 4: the hospital is still going to be giving, right, so
Speaker 4: your legacy is still going to be part of that history.
Speaker 1: How is your relationship with pro golf right now? I mean,
Speaker 1: you're still passionate about it, you still love it, and
Speaker 1: I remember years ago. I think you said maybe that
Speaker 1: if you win ten times, you were going to walk
Speaker 1: away from Is that?
Speaker 3: Is that? Right? Did you say that years and years
Speaker 3: and I said, I said, I might just walk away
Speaker 3: because I never you know, I always had a dream
Speaker 3: to get that card, right, you know, the PJ Tour
Speaker 3: card they actually get I don't know they give now,
Speaker 3: but back then they gave you. Yeah, that whole thing,
Speaker 3: and so so it was cool, right, I had it
Speaker 3: in my interview. I never got a word out because
Speaker 3: I was crying so bad. And then you actually win
Speaker 3: a tournament, You're like, well, I guess I gotta change
Speaker 3: my goals. I gotta win again. So then I set
Speaker 3: my goal at ten unreachable. I'm at one and now
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get ten. It's unreachable goal. And then I
Speaker 3: get there and you're like, I guess I gotta change
Speaker 3: my goal. So you always have a goal, right, And
Speaker 3: so right now, to be honest with you, I retired
Speaker 3: from the PJ Tour. I put in my resignation and
Speaker 3: went to live. And the reason why I went to live,
Speaker 3: there's a many reasons, but one of the big reasons
Speaker 3: I went to live is it's lonely out here. It's
Speaker 3: very lonely out here. Now you have guys, but he's
Speaker 3: working with a bunch of guys. There's other people, my
Speaker 3: caddies got friends. I mean, it's just it's very lonely
Speaker 3: and am now having a team. Gosh, And not to
Speaker 3: keep talking about him, but Matthew Wolf, I see a
Speaker 3: lot of me and Matthew. Matthew Wolf is a talent
Speaker 3: that we rarely get to see. And so when you
Speaker 3: think about a twenty four year old, he was I
Speaker 3: think twelfth in the world or fourteenth in the world
Speaker 3: at age twenty. At age twenty now and then been
Speaker 3: through some struggles. I've been through some struggles. So going
Speaker 3: back to the ten Wins, I wanted to retire. I
Speaker 3: wrote a book about my issues, my mental issues, because
Speaker 3: I don't Anthony Kim. There's a lot of people I'm
Speaker 3: mentioning now. Anthony Kim mentioned it last week that you're lonely.
Speaker 3: He felt lonely. A million people could be around you,
Speaker 3: but you still feel lonely. And that's how I feel.
Speaker 3: That's how I felt, and I didn't know how to
Speaker 3: deal with it, and so I wrote the book to
Speaker 3: help me. But help other people. And then Matthew Wolf,
Speaker 3: I see a lot of him and me, or me
Speaker 3: and him, or however you want to word it. And
Speaker 3: such a great talent, better talent that I've ever been.
Speaker 3: And but forget his talent, who he is as a
Speaker 3: person is what I want to help. So live is
Speaker 3: giving me that opportunity. Being a team golf gives me
Speaker 3: the opportunity to help people around me and just be
Speaker 3: a light for the people. I don't might not have
Speaker 3: to say words to you, but if you watch what
Speaker 3: I'm doing. How when I leave my wife or how
Speaker 3: I greet my wife, I always give her a kiss
Speaker 3: because it could be the last time. YE always tell
Speaker 3: him I love her always when I say bye, going whatever, right,
Speaker 3: you tell her as much as you can. And then
Speaker 3: he'll see that and go, oh, Kim his fiance soon
Speaker 3: to be wife. You know, he might feed off of that.
Speaker 3: I fed off that from my dad, and so you know,
Speaker 3: there's little things you can teach without even saying a word.
Speaker 3: And but the first phone call I made to him
Speaker 3: when I made the trade was Matt I've been trying
Speaker 3: to get you on my in my life for five years.
Speaker 3: We've been friends. I've helped you send you text, but
Speaker 3: now I want to help you. And I said, I
Speaker 3: don't care what you shoot. You could shoot a hundred
Speaker 3: for the rest of your life. That's not what I
Speaker 3: care about. And so so that's where when you ask
Speaker 3: about the game of golf, my game of golf. I'm
Speaker 3: healthy about almost two years for my surgery, where they
Speaker 3: said I was going to blossom around two year mark.
Speaker 3: Just like any athlete that has surgery, about the two
Speaker 3: year market, you start really filling one hundred percent and
Speaker 3: I'm forty five, but I feel energetic, I'm excited. And
Speaker 3: then having people around me a team, when we can
Speaker 3: battle together, it's just like Ryder Cup President's got I
Speaker 3: want to battle with them. Even if we don't hang
Speaker 3: out for that one week, we're best friends totally, and
Speaker 3: we are pulling. We are blood, sweat and tears together.
Speaker 3: And so that's where my journey of golf right now
Speaker 3: is at an all time high because it's not about me anymore.
Speaker 3: For years, it's all about me, and I don't care
Speaker 3: what you want to do. It's about me, and so
Speaker 3: now it's so much more fun than that is. It
Speaker 3: is a long answer, but it only was a great answer.
Speaker 1: Is it strange to be a mentor? Like you know,
Speaker 1: I mean you, like you mentioned, you're a young person.
Speaker 1: You come up and you're taking this from this person,
Speaker 1: and you're giving this to this person. Then you get
Speaker 1: to a point in your career where all of a
Speaker 1: sudden you can kind of give back to this younger
Speaker 1: generation that, as you said, you might see some of
Speaker 1: you in or you might see him going down a
Speaker 1: path that you think might not be the right path.
Speaker 1: Is it strange to be a mentor now in your career?
Speaker 3: It is because of the fact that for so long
Speaker 3: I was so selfish, right, right, young people are selfish
Speaker 3: as we all are like that, right, and sometimes you
Speaker 3: might even creep into the old people with selfish. I
Speaker 3: was kind of in that area too, And so you know,
Speaker 3: for me, I was so selfish for so long. And
Speaker 3: I don't know if many kids, when I say kids
Speaker 3: below thirty can can be as good as they are
Speaker 3: without being a little selfish or a lot selfish. But
Speaker 3: the one person that comes to mind is jordan'spief. I've
Speaker 3: always looked up to Jordan speech, even when he was younger, right,
Speaker 3: he was so Yeah, we all get animated, but man,
Speaker 3: his mindset, his drive, his parents, I mean having his
Speaker 3: sister now married with kids. But like just watching him, yeah,
Speaker 3: we're always gonna have moments, but watching him and how
Speaker 3: he carries himself and how he is always kind and considerate.
Speaker 3: I always think of him as older than he truly
Speaker 3: is right. And so going back to that, there's no
Speaker 3: way at that age and that's successful. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: who knows where i'd be right? If I was successful
Speaker 3: as Anthony Kim at his age, I probably would have
Speaker 3: been dumber than I am right, and I was pretty dumb.
Speaker 3: I got a lot of stuff written about me that
Speaker 3: was pretty dumb. But you know, so you know, I
Speaker 3: now being able to especially a guy that's willing to listen,
Speaker 3: a twenty four year old Matt Wolfer or anybody else
Speaker 3: that's willing to listen, I'm thankful for that because like
Speaker 3: Matt's almost I'm almost double his age, and I'm like, look, man,
Speaker 3: I'm catching I'm trying to help you catch stuff before
Speaker 3: you get to where I'm at and have to write
Speaker 3: a book about the problems. But so, yeah, it's crazy
Speaker 3: to think about, but it's overwhelming, truly to think about.
Speaker 3: And I mean, I'll probably tear up. But when people
Speaker 3: come to me and say, hey, man, this book meant
Speaker 3: this to me, this book this, and let me tell
Speaker 3: you what's going on in my life, and and it's
Speaker 3: it's amazing. I've had volunteers, I've had tournament directors, I've
Speaker 3: had players, I've had caddies, I've had random people on
Speaker 3: the streets to tell me about my book and what
Speaker 3: that meant to them. I mean, so yeah, it's it's
Speaker 3: crazy to think that this goofy golfer that's never had
Speaker 3: a lesson from Baghdad is now looked up to and
Speaker 3: and and and not only for them, but my two kids, right,
Speaker 3: and I've got to be a leader for them. And
Speaker 3: so yeah, it's it's overwhelming to think about all the
Speaker 3: stuff that I've been able to do and accomplish. This
Speaker 3: means the most.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's awesome. And then I mean my thought,
Speaker 2: you know, when I was working with you on the reins,
Speaker 2: and we must have been dumb and dumber, because.
Speaker 3: Which one's dumber?
Speaker 1: I think it's stay to day before we go, Bubba,
Speaker 1: I do want to ask just two equipment things. One
Speaker 1: is the grips. Yeah, okay, I mean, you know, you
Speaker 1: grow up a young person, you have just a normal grip.
Speaker 1: I mean that's how we do it. Maybe you wrap
Speaker 1: it a couple of times. I mean yours have like
Speaker 1: fourteen wraps under one hand and not so many under
Speaker 1: the other.
Speaker 3: When did that start? Why do you do it?
Speaker 1: And how annoyed did these guys get when they have
Speaker 1: to regrip your things with fourteen exactly on one side.
Speaker 2: That's not that bad.
Speaker 3: Say let's start from the last part. Man, they hate
Speaker 3: it when I come in, They're like, man, we got
Speaker 3: to cut out the whole day. We're only doing Bubba's grips.
Speaker 3: Got everybody in the factory work, And what is it?
Speaker 3: Fourteen under the left hand? Is that right? No?
Speaker 2: So it depends on the club. So the drivers like
Speaker 2: ten and twelve, you know, ten wraps on the top
Speaker 2: and twelve on the bottom. I always say top and
Speaker 2: bottom because he's the left. He always get the hands confused.
Speaker 2: And then like his wedge was always bigger as I
Speaker 2: think it was eleven and thirteen. But now Spencer's told
Speaker 2: me you've got another one in there. There's like a
Speaker 2: twelve and fourteen. Yeah, I don't know exactly we're always
Speaker 2: trying to help him cut the ball. Okay, so the
Speaker 2: bigger grip helps that, and he sets it like ten
Speaker 2: degrees open. I'm like, there's no way it's ten degrees.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, I think it's way more than ten degrees,
Speaker 2: but we call it ten degrees like the actual grip.
Speaker 2: Like if you have the logo of the grip going down.
Speaker 3: Said, is that the irons because you know the driver,
Speaker 3: the irons in the lobways are different, correct different?
Speaker 2: There are those are the three difference, and then the
Speaker 2: other thing that's the grip, the big grip, and then
Speaker 2: the hard part, you know, putting on the grip, which
Speaker 2: I don't have to put on the grip. So it's
Speaker 2: no big deal. But if the guys don't mark down,
Speaker 2: they can lose count. You know when you're counting. Wait
Speaker 2: a minute, did I mark it down or did I
Speaker 2: not mark it down?
Speaker 3: I think I did, and sometimes they redo it and
Speaker 3: then yeah, I forgot, I'm twelve. I don't know.
Speaker 2: The greatest thing is his feel is so good. He
Speaker 2: can tell if there's not enough raps or too many wraps.
Speaker 2: And then the other thing is the manufacturing process is
Speaker 2: not perfect, so sometimes the grips are a little different sizing.
Speaker 2: And then the other thing we do to help him
Speaker 2: cut the ball is we do a deep heel grind
Speaker 2: on his irons, so we cut off. There was a time,
Speaker 2: I think when he first started with the S five
Speaker 2: to fives, which lasted like ten years, you know, there
Speaker 2: was a time where we went through it. Hey, we're
Speaker 2: been in a flatter trying to get him to cut
Speaker 2: a little bit more. Felt like the heel was grabbing,
Speaker 2: so we just you know, grind off the heel a
Speaker 2: little bit. And we did the same with the BLUEPRINTSSS.
Speaker 2: So you got a nice But the grips are amazing.
Speaker 2: I mean, I love showing. We always we still do
Speaker 2: have a Bubba driver in there. People come in, they
Speaker 2: can grab it and they're like, wow, how kam. It's
Speaker 2: on sideways and that's way he likes it. So he's
Speaker 2: a field guy there.
Speaker 3: There's a lot to uncover here, but yeah, a lot
Speaker 3: of I mean we're pulling back some here's but here's
Speaker 3: the thing though, so goes back to how I play golf. Right,
Speaker 3: Charles Howe. I've known him since we're eight years old.
Speaker 3: Charles how somewhere fourteen something he had bigger grips. And
Speaker 3: the reason why he had bigger grips he wanted when
Speaker 3: he choked up, he wanted to kind of feel the same.
Speaker 3: You can't, you can't have it perfect. It has to
Speaker 3: be a little off.
Speaker 2: But I think, right, there has to be taper by
Speaker 2: the USA rules.
Speaker 3: So it can't be the same. But he used to
Speaker 3: have that. Man I grab it, and man, that feels great.
Speaker 3: But then so now the beauty of Ping that people
Speaker 3: don't talk about enough or people don't realize enough, the
Speaker 3: beauty of Ping, it's all engineers. The soul how family
Speaker 3: is pure engineer. That's true, right, yeah, oh yeah, right,
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: They're engineering as an engineering company, right.
Speaker 1: I mean we had we had John k was selling
Speaker 1: stories during COVID. He was down there building golf clubs,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like literally building golf courds
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: Yes, and then but then in but Carson Manufacturing, they've
Speaker 3: worked with the military, they've worked with medical, they've they've
Speaker 3: done a lot of things behind the scenes that people
Speaker 3: don't know. And that was Carson Manufacturing. It's the same
Speaker 3: factory as Ping, it's the same family, same everything. So
Speaker 3: so when we think of this now, Bubba Golf. Instead
Speaker 3: of me changing who I am as a person and
Speaker 3: changing your grip and doing this and your hands too
Speaker 3: far this way, let's get it this way. That can
Speaker 3: that changed my whole feel off, Let's work with who
Speaker 3: I am and fix that. Okay, So if we open
Speaker 3: the grips, then the club now with my quick hands,
Speaker 3: you know, I'll just say I have quick hands. I
Speaker 3: have good feel on my hands on stuff. So that's
Speaker 3: why I played a natural hook. And so now to
Speaker 3: slow my hands down and my wrist down, let's build
Speaker 3: the grips up. So we built them up to slow
Speaker 3: them down from rotating. Now we open them so then
Speaker 3: that'll help slow down the rotation and keep the face
Speaker 3: where I want it to be so I can maneuver
Speaker 3: the ball hooks or slices. Then, so that was how
Speaker 3: I thought of the game of golf. Then the ping
Speaker 3: just made the engineering work. I didn't know how to
Speaker 3: make it work, but I said, here's what I want
Speaker 3: to do. I don't want to change me. I want
Speaker 3: to change the equipment. That's the beauty of custom equipment.
Speaker 3: Every person, all three of us, are going to be different. Right.
Speaker 3: You might like something I might think this is the
Speaker 3: worst thing ever, but it works, and Ping is the
Speaker 3: company that can do it and make it work for you.
Speaker 3: And one of the things I'm working on right now
Speaker 3: is a putter. And this is why I said it's
Speaker 3: a long answer. So I'm working on a putter. I've
Speaker 3: used this one putter and one style putter for all
Speaker 3: thirteen wins across across the board. It's the same style putter.
Speaker 3: But then Ping was like, hey man, why don't we
Speaker 3: do this putter to make you hit it further? And
Speaker 3: when I say further, because everybody says I lag putts
Speaker 3: and I come it short, which I do, but it's
Speaker 3: it's it's easy to say, hit it a foot harder,
Speaker 3: you know what. I'm okay, you don't just that's my swing,
Speaker 3: that's my putting struck. This is this is, this is
Speaker 3: who I am as a person. So they said, okay,
Speaker 3: we're gonna make this putter this way. They engineered a
Speaker 3: putter to hit it harder, and they do, and it does.
Speaker 3: It does exactly what they wanted it to do. Then
Speaker 3: they said, hey, your putter faces is closing too fast,
Speaker 3: so we needed we're gonna change this hozzle and make
Speaker 3: it arc less and not change you. We're not gonna
Speaker 3: change anything about you, but we're gonna change it. Now
Speaker 3: what the computer can't tell you. I don't like it.
Speaker 3: When I look down at it, I'm like, something doesn't
Speaker 3: look right here, right, the neck being too long. It
Speaker 3: makes me feel weird, right, It's just just the feeling.
Speaker 3: So my long answer is now we're back to the
Speaker 3: PLD answer style putter. But that's where when you asked
Speaker 3: me about the grit and why and what am I doing? Now,
Speaker 3: let's go back to that. The driver I want less
Speaker 3: open so I can hit the straight bullet when I
Speaker 3: need it. It's built to slice, cut right, and so
Speaker 3: I want it to do that under pressure. But if
Speaker 3: I need a hole that I got to try to
Speaker 3: hit one straight. That's where I have the ability to
Speaker 3: do it. My irons are built I always said, I
Speaker 3: always say two degrees open, four degrees open, and so
Speaker 3: that because I like the look of it. I can
Speaker 3: see the face when I set it down on the ground. Now,
Speaker 3: the lob wedge, the reason why it's built higher because
Speaker 3: I feel when I'm trying to hit the field shots,
Speaker 3: the bunker shots or the flop shot, or the little
Speaker 3: shots around long on fifteen. You were talking about it, right,
Speaker 3: So I'm trying to hit these shots because I use
Speaker 3: a lob wedge everywhere bump and runs, spins, flops everything.
Speaker 3: So I want it more open and I want it
Speaker 3: bigger so that I can feel comfortable when I grip this,
Speaker 3: that I can pull these shots off that I want
Speaker 3: to pull off. So that's another demand. Going back to pinging,
Speaker 3: What again is that I use ping engineers? They used
Speaker 3: me because I'm the computer. Can only tell you so much, right,
Speaker 3: it can tell you if we were perfect robots, these
Speaker 3: are the perfect clubs, right, But now they need me
Speaker 3: to test them and hit them and tell them this
Speaker 3: is what I like and don't like. Now sometimes they
Speaker 3: don't like it when I tell them certain answers.
Speaker 1: But but Christian's like, all right, I gotta go back
Speaker 1: and figure this out.
Speaker 3: Thirteen we had thirteen I think it was thirteen clubs
Speaker 3: or twelve clubs, and they were all one one degree apart,
Speaker 3: and I went through. They set them on the ground
Speaker 3: one degree apart and little test and they tested me. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that was perfect. I grabbed it. I was like, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: this one's that. No, this is that.
Speaker 2: The great thing about Bubba. I loved working with Bubba
Speaker 2: is because one of his famous quotes was, I think
Speaker 2: when track men first came out, He's like, I don't
Speaker 2: need track men to tell me when I hit a
Speaker 2: good shot, Like I know what a good shot. He
Speaker 2: wouldn't use it for a while at the start, and
Speaker 2: then we started using it, and it's like a tool, right,
Speaker 2: But still his eye has seen him hit the good shots.
Speaker 2: He knows what he wants, and so.
Speaker 3: The feel in the field that of course track mans
Speaker 3: are they can't computers can't tell you what it feels like,
Speaker 3: feel good.
Speaker 2: And that's the great thing too. Whenever we would bring
Speaker 2: a new club out, he could hit it once or
Speaker 2: twice and he knew right away and like there was
Speaker 2: no messing around. He was like, we either built it
Speaker 2: right or it's right for him, and the field is
Speaker 2: on and it's gonna be good or not. I can't remember.
Speaker 2: I think it was the Phoenix over when we came out,
Speaker 2: it was like the four to ten and it was
Speaker 2: like on a Sunday maybe, and we went out and
Speaker 2: tested the drivers. It was I think the four ten plus.
Speaker 2: It was brand new, and he's the first one we
Speaker 2: tested the driver with because I mean he's the best
Speaker 2: driver in.
Speaker 1: The world, the fastest car in the world as well,
Speaker 1: use it exactly right.
Speaker 2: And so he's out there hammering these shots on the
Speaker 2: back of the ring at TPC, you know, Scottsdale, and
Speaker 2: they were I mean, they were beautiful and I'm just
Speaker 2: like salivating over here, and he hasn't said anything in
Speaker 2: and he's like, this is really good. He kept looking
Speaker 2: at it. He wasn't saying anything, but it was good.
Speaker 2: Like I knew after he hit a couple he hit
Speaker 2: or like he likes it right because he he could
Speaker 2: tell me right away. He's like a take it away,
Speaker 2: take it away.
Speaker 3: I mean, come on back to the shot. One shot,
Speaker 3: I can be done with it. Yes, And that's exactly know.
Speaker 3: But that was that was the black one. Yes, that
Speaker 3: wasn't pink.
Speaker 2: It wasn't pink.
Speaker 3: That's right that I'm not that I we didn't have
Speaker 3: the pink one yet high rent and I need a
Speaker 3: pink driver, but I mean I didn't have a pink driver.
Speaker 3: And they and I was like, can I play it?
Speaker 3: And they said yeah, I said, I'm gonna play this one,
Speaker 3: but it's black. So I used it for for that
Speaker 3: week I think for sure, and then the next week
Speaker 3: I had a pink one, but they were like I
Speaker 3: was like, no, I want this one, pink. I love
Speaker 3: this one.
Speaker 2: Because when I remember my boss Chance Cosby at the time,
Speaker 2: he said, hey, how to go, I said, it's awesome,
Speaker 2: like we got something here, like he loved it. I
Speaker 2: mean it was, it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but listen, we really appreciate the time. I know
Speaker 1: you got a busy week. Obviously, same Champions dinner menu.
Speaker 1: Both times you've won, you win this week? Are we
Speaker 1: going three for three?
Speaker 3: Same thing? And m Rom said it best in some
Speaker 3: of his interviews is that it's a it's a little
Speaker 3: taste of his hair, it's a little taste of his grandma.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's there's a reasons why we do everything. Totally.
Speaker 3: We can lie and say whatever, But my mom, that's
Speaker 3: the She's from Mississippi. I'm from the South country. Cooking.
Speaker 3: It's home cooking. It's the feel good foods. It's the
Speaker 3: foods that everybody likes and and it's and it's an
Speaker 3: homage to my mom, right, like you want my mom
Speaker 3: to feel special at this at this event. My dad
Speaker 3: didn't cook anything for us. So if my dad was
Speaker 3: still alive, you know he's you ain't getting nothing.
Speaker 1: But the last thing, last thing I did read that
Speaker 1: you eat before the Champions Center. In case, what is
Speaker 1: that still true? You still power through a couple of
Speaker 1: burritos before the Champions Center.
Speaker 3: This this week, I will definitely eat before.
Speaker 1: Okay, I go not because that's chestnut Checkers dude, like
Speaker 1: you're thinking outside of the people.
Speaker 3: People ask why, they said why, I said, first of all,
Speaker 3: we've got the greatest golf from it ever produced the
Speaker 3: greatest sporting event in the world. People don't even play
Speaker 3: golfer watching this right, So yeah, I won't comfort food.
Speaker 3: I want my body to know what we're eating. I
Speaker 3: want my body to be used to it, and I
Speaker 3: want to be ready to go in two days.
Speaker 2: No curveballs, no curveballs.
Speaker 1: Listen, but we really appreciate the time. Good luck this week,
Speaker 1: awesome catching up. This is the Ping proven Grounds Podcast