WEBVTT - Lukas Michel - 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.280 Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.480 Today's episode is powered by tdamor Trade. Whether on the 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:09.480 course or in the market, it helps to have a 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:11.480 second set of eyes to keep you on your game. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.600 That's why Tedammeritrades Trade Desk is here to help gut 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.599 check your strategies so you always feel confident teeing up 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.000 a trade. Visit tedomritrade dot com slash Frida Egg to 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:23.520 learn more about what their trade desk can do for you. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:29.200 Member SIPC, We are back with another edition of the 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.440 Frida Egg Podcast. Today I am joined by twenty nineteen 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:39.520 US Midam champ Lucas. Michelle. Lucas is in Australian. He's 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:41.640 the first international player to win. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:42.440 The US Midam. 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.480 He won it last week out at Colorado Golf Club. 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:50.720 He is from Perth originally but went to school in 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.680 Melbourne and we get a little bit on Lucas's background 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.160 is how he got into golf and how he got 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.560 to the US to play the Midham and his plans 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.959 for the next year as well as a little bit 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.920 on the Midham. Enjoy the episode. Lucas is a golf 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.880 course architecture nut in fact, he's now texting me pictures 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:18.759 of a seaside course that he found in Perth sand Greens. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.720 He's definitely he's just a golf tragic. So it's an 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:28.000 interesting conversation and really looking forward to seeing Lucas play 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:33.760 the next year on TV in the US AM Masters 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:38.880 and US Open. So, without further ado, here is Lucas Michelle. 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.560 The fried egg requires a different technique. What you need 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.720 to do is actually square the face so they'll dig 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.400 down underneath that bad lie and propel that ball right 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:50.120 out onto the green. 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.200 Here's it's a playing out of a buried lion of 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.720 bunker is completely different than playing out of a night 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.160 and clean lion of greenside bunker. You need to be 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.040 aggressive on any shop, whether it's sitting cleanly or it's 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:03.000 Friday Egg. 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.240 Well, we've all made the dreaded Frida egg not to 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.560 be feared though it's actually a pretty easy shock to hit. 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.400 The best Am events are like the invates at the clubs, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:24.280 you know. 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:29.160 It's yeah, like I've seen, like I've obviously played a 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.600 few of them now and like I thought, the Northeast 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.400 Am was probably as good as it gets. Really, I 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.560 mean that course is awesome one a moy set and 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.840 then like the club runs it perfectly and they get 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.079 in there, like I think they get in the where 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.320 is it Rhode Island. Yeah, the Rhode Island State Golf 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.200 Association comes in and kind of does the rules and 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:52.359 stuff like that, but the club still runs the tournament properly, 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.239 and you know, they just they take they take ownership 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.680 of it and they yeah, they just do it right. 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:00.520 How do you like? 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:01.560 What? So? 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:06.000 Like? What made you start playing stuff like Northeast am 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.800 want to moist, like traveling over the US to play? 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:16.400 I well, I finished my studies at UNI in end 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.960 of twenty seventeen. I'd never been to the US to 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.760 play golf, but I'd always kind of gone around and 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.960 played top level amateur stuff, you know, through Europe and 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.840 the UK and and I don't know, I had a 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.240 pretty keen interest in it all, in playing good courses 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.000 and playing competition golf. So I sort of started out 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:45.680 I guess. I mean, as a junior you play competition golf, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:47.760 and then I kind of got old enough that I'd 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:52.400 kind of get into some big events back home, and 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.760 then at some point you start wanting to travel overseas 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.760 so my first sort of big ones were when I 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:04.320 traveled to the UK played the Dutch Ameter at a 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.080 course called Eroinhoven, which is like a good Harry Colt course. 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.280 There's actually a bunch of really good Harry Colt courses 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:15.040 in in the Netherlands. Then I played the warm Heath Trophy, 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.400 which is I think it's Herbert Fowler walm Heath, but 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.240 it's like great, great old school architecture, really early Golden Age, 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.120 so it's like kind of got kind of it's a 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.360 bit rougher around the edges in terms of the shaping 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.000 and stuff like that, so that's really cool to see. 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:34.640 And then I played like the North of Scotland. I 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:39.880 think that was a course called lossy Mouth. Actually it's 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.080 called more a golf club, but it's in losty Mouth. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.159 And then I kind of just started traveling around and 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.800 really enjoyed the I guess the element of really good 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.200 courses and really good tournaments. And then I sort of 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.800 that was on the way to an exchange for my 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.000 university degree where I did six months in s andrew 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:03.719 So that was I guess the start of a bit 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.560 more love for links, golf and all that. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.280 So that that had to be well, got the xtay 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.880 to go spend six months at Saint Andrews. That's one 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.800 of my regrets now, never doing a broad thing. 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.599 Yeah, I think it was funny, like when I when 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.919 I moved to so I moved from Western Australia. I 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:29.919 grew up as a kid in Western Australian and I 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.080 moved to Melbourne and I started studying at the University 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:37.960 of Melbourne and I I didn't kind of realize, but 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.919 Melbourne UNI had this exchange program with the University of 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.440 Saint Andrews. And it took me until my third year 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.480 before I realized it actually was there. And then I 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.159 remember looking online and it said, you know, University of 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.080 Saint Andrews. And I'm like, hold on a minute, like 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:54.960 that's the St Andrews, isn't it like in Scotland? And 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.000 I looked it up and it was, but there was 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.760 only one spot for an exchange so kind of looked 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:02.599 looked into it a bit more and applied and I 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:07.440 just had my fingers crossed and eventually got that spot there. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.480 And then that was the sort of the trip I planned. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.200 My first overseas trip I sort of planned was to 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:17.279 go play some events before I went in and studied 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.400 at Saint Andrews, and yeah, that was sort of the 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.440 leading I played those ones I sort of talked about 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.360 just then, like in the Netherlands and in England and 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.440 up in Scotland, and then had six months over in 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.320 St Andrews, which was I mean, the bit's actually the 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.760 best deal in the world because you're effectively considered a 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:41.719 town resident. What they call it's a Links ticket, which 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:47.480 is it's a two hundred pound pass for all seven 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.920 courses of the St Andrews Links Trust, so that includes 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.800 like the Old Course of course, and that lasts a year. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.360 So you played, you paid two hundred pounds for a 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.960 year's golf on unlimited off on any of the courses, 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.919 including the Old Course. So it's yeah, I made the 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.080 most of that. I think I probably played the Old 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:12.160 Course in over six months, probably like I'm going to say, 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.600 like thirty times, twenty five times, I don't know, and 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.280 then a new course a bunch and the Jubilee and 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.560 the Castle and all of them. They're all really really good. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:27.320 So that was pretty much dream come true for someone 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:27.600 like me. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.720 I need to look up like graduate programs at University 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:32.040 of the same. 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.360 Yeah, yeah, it's a good it's a good university. I'm 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.880 pretty sure they just got like he's got rated like 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.480 number one in the UK for some list. I don't 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:48.440 know what exactly was, but it's where the Prince, Prince 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.920 and Kate, Yeah, Prince William and Kate Mett. I think. Yeah, 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:57.040 so it's a pretty like prestigious uni. But it's yeah, 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:01.800 I mean, it's an unbelievable deal to be able to 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:02.120 do that. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.160 Were you playing golf at University of Melbourne then? 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:11.840 And then yeah, back home, like college golf doesn't really 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.720 exist in Australia. It's kind of disappointing. So all the 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:21.000 golf that I've played has been outside of any university 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.760 or college programs. So I've just the way it sort 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.360 of works back home, is you the guys that I'm 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:30.520 kind of friendly with that sort of my age a 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.880 bit younger, tend to to play their golf separate to 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:40.920 any college affiliation. But we've got good state sporting organizations 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:45.440 that sort of run high performance programs and through those 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.240 it's kind of like a team training environment environment and 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.480 that's how the players get better that in that sort 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:55.760 of way, So it's definitely a bit different to college. 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.600 So through my I studied engineering at Union, and through 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.760 that I kind of didn't really play any golf while 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.439 I was actually at YETI, but I played it all 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.319 on the side in the summers and played all my tournaments. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.600 There's a good we've got a good amateur circuit in Australia. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.679 We always get a few top players come down and 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.000 they'll play like the March of the Amateurs. I was 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.320 the amateur and a few of the other big tournaments. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:25.760 So yeah, so since you graduated, do you graduate when 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:27.160 you're twenty two ish? 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.160 Yeah, so I did. I started out doing a bat 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.120 floor of science, which took three years, So I finished 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:39.440 that when I was like twenty one, and that's that 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.000 was when I was doing my exchange and in the 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.560 in the last year of that. And then when I 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.760 finished that, I went straight in and started an engineering 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.880 master's degree because where I was studying it at Melbourne, 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:56.800 they didn't offer a Bachelor of engineering. Then he did 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.000 the engineering programs through masters and I kind of always 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.600 knew I wanted to do an engineering degree just because 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.480 I was more of like a math, science y kind 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.360 of guy, and so I kind of ended up doing 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:11.160 another two years there. So I finished when I was 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:17.320 twenty three, I think, Yeah, so I kind of took 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.679 my time a bit doing it. I think I took 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.320 an extra year and what was allocated, it's only a 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:26.040 five year program. I took six. Finished when I was 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.000 twenty three and then just sort of didn't really want 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.520 to go into full time work and I felt like 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.800 my golf was at a decent enough level that I 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.280 thought I might be able to put a couple more 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.280 years into it and maybe try a professional kind of 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.719 route with it. That's sort of what I've been doing 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.400 the last couple of years, and it's it's kind of 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.400 it's been up and down, but last week's been pretty good. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:55.640 So yeah, yeah, that worked out well last week. But yeah, 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.720 talk about how you've been you know, most people would 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.839 turn pro immediately, but you've stayed amateur. Well, you've been 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.280 working on it and you've been like, how what's your 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.480 life looked like for the last two years? 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:14.920 Yeah? So, I actually pretty much since finishing university, I've 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.800 I work at a golf driving range, the Melbourne Golf Academy. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.400 It's called It's Good Driving Range. I just work there. 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.360 I do some caddying, out of Rayal, Melbourne and Kingston Heaths. 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.959 So many of your listeners come down and need a caddy, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.199 they can just look me out and I'll try and 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.560 jump on the back. But yeah, I do some cadding 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.360 down there. We don't officially have like caddy programs, but 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.640 there's like a sand Belt caddie program that I'm part 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.760 of and and we sort of caddy all over the 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.560 spot in Melbourne. So I've been doing that. And then 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.280 I've got a friend of mine who's opening up another 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.360 golf business that I'm going to be working for soon, 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.240 so that'll probably be a probably potentially give up the 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.800 driving range job to help him out. Yeah, just sort 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:05.200 of working a lot of nights and then throwing a 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.520 few caddy shifts here and there in the summers, and 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.800 then practicing my game. And and I tried out of 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.440 Australian to a school end of last year to try 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.480 and get a card over here, and I guess try 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:21.240 and make a bit more money than what I was 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:26.400 at my caddying and driving range jobs. But I made 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.920 to the final stage, but I missed out by two shots. 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.679 So instead of turning pro, which was kind of the 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.680 plan at that stage, I decided to hold off because 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.040 I knew i'd i'd be pretty close to getting a 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:43.240 start in that mid amateur, and then because I was 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.280 only turned twenty five at the beginning of the year, 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.800 so it was my first year eligible, so I figured 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:49.440 I might as well wait for that and give that 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:54.000 a crack and kind of paid off. I guess you. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.240 Did you have to qualify for the mid or did 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.320 you get Okay? 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.000 Yeah, I was an exempt player based on the World 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:06.480 Amateur Golf rankings, so I think they exempt thirty of 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.600 the top ranked midameters and I was. I came in 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.120 at like the eleventh ranked midameter or something like that. 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:17.040 So yeah, luckily didn't have to qualify because it would 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.360 have been a long trip for a little roll of 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.040 the dice to try and get into it. But yeah, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.079 that was sort of the reason I came over was 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:26.319 because I was exempt. 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.560 So so you came over. Tournament was at Colorado Golf 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:34.480 Club and common Ground, and came over a little early 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:35.760 to get acclimated. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.720 Yeah, well, I mean Denver's it's like a mile high, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.520 I think, so I came in on it would have 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.600 been it was the ninth of September, which tournament didn't 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:52.160 start till the fourteenth, so I had five days or 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.000 so before the tournament started, but we couldn't get out 0:13:55.000 --> 0:14:00.720 to practice until the twelfth, well the eleventh, technically he'd 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.840 use the practice facilities, but you can play the courses 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.520 till the twelfth. So I chatted to a good friend 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.520 of mine, Mike Clayton, who's been on the pod, and 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:14.040 he he had a good con Yeah, Clayton's yeah, great guy, 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.200 Yeah he is. And he he got me out to 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.320 sand Hills in Nebraska, which I kind of thought it 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.000 would just be like, you know, a couple hours down 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.160 the road or something like that. But it was a 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.480 fair trip out there was a five hour drive, but 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.240 worth every second of driving out there because that place 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.520 is like so cool. I loved it. 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.240 It's funny because like of where it is, Like, yeah, 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.200 I was like a couple of weeks ago in eastern 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.960 Nebraska and I was looking at the map and I 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:49.840 was talking to a buddy. I'm like, I might go 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:51.800 to sand Hills and he's like, what do you mean. 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:54.840 I'm like, I'm faut as close as you can get. 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:58.480 You know, yeah, pretty much. It is literally in the 0:14:58.480 --> 0:14:59.280 middle of nowhere. 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.760 Like d as close as you get pretty much. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.240 You can get. Yeah, I think Denver and Lincoln is 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.720 the nearest in Nebraska. I don't know, it's like five 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:12.480 hours either way. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.840 Is it an amazing driving in to that place? Like 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.800 you're just driving down the road and you look right 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.280 and you look left, and you just see golf holes 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:23.400 that don't again. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.880 And every time you're round a cresh you're thinking, where's 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.160 the ocean because because it looks like you're in like 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:35.360 the sand dunes in Scotland, it looks identical. Yeah, it's 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:37.880 it's such a cool place. And yeah, like like you said, 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.120 like you're looking left and right and you looking down 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.000 and you almost feel like you're going to drive off 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.680 the road because you're just seeing golf hole after golf holl. 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:45.440 It's incredible. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.640 So is that you spent a few days there? 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.120 I spent two, Well I've slept one night there and 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:56.520 I spent two foolish sort of days. So I played 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:00.720 the course the afternoon I arrived and then so the 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.920 guy that Mike and you was the course superintendent. Yeah, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.600 so I went out in the morning, Yeah, Carl Heglund. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.320 So I went out in the morning and kind of 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.000 had to chat with him because I didn't I didn't 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.280 catch up with him the night before and had to 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.320 chat with him ally. So the cutting the grains and stuff, 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.120 which was pretty cool. Talked about it all and yeah, 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.040 I really enjoyed that getting up at sort of sunrise 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.760 and having a walk around, having a look and taking 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.560 some photos. It was. It was awesome. That place is. Yeah, 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:29.359 it's it's unbelievable. 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.360 I'm convinced sunrise when the when the groundscrews out, it's 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.720 like it's the best, the best time. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.040 To be on a golf course. 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:41.760 Yeah, it's like so peaceful and it's just you know, neat. 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:43.560 Yeah. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.840 How would you compare the way sand Hills plays to 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.480 golf and Australia and then also in. 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:56.520 Scotland, I mean the sand Hills there. I think it 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.720 looks almost identical to what we have down on the 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.520 morning to Peninsula in Melbourne. So like courses like Saint 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:08.960 Andrew's Beach and the Dunes and Moonal Links and the 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:14.520 National they're all on almost identical sort of topography and vegetation. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:16.159 It's kind of it's kind of crazy. Like when I 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.119 was driving in, I was like, oh my god, like 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.400 it feels like I'm down by the dunes or any 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:25.399 of those courses. So it looks a hell of a 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:27.439 lot like that's that that sort of golf that we 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.120 probably don't have the quality of a course as good 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.720 as sand Hills, but there's some pretty good golf down 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:38.600 there in down the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. But I 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.320 mean it plays very similar. Sand Hills is full kind 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.119 of fescue and our course is a bermuda fair ways 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:49.359 at least the grass greens. But yeah, I mean it 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:55.000 plays very similar. Firm, fast winds always an element, and 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.119 similar to look aesthetics, spunk cring kind of that wastepunk 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.880 cring kind of looks. So it's yeah, it's very similar, 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:02.560 i'd say. 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:08.320 Yeah, so after sand Hill's you head back and then 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.680 this first time playing at like major elevation. 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.480 Yeah, i'd played it like I mean, we had one. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:20.080 We've got a course in Australia up in Canberra that 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.520 there's always a tournament every year, and that's maybe at 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.400 like one thousand meters, which is like three thousand feet, 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:30.199 so there's a slight noticeable increase in the distance that 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.159 you hit it. But Denver was a full sort of 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.439 ten percent, So all your numbers whenever you're doing and 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:41.760 you I rather than kind of adjusting my numbers for 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.840 the week, I kind of just ran them backwards to 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.000 what was my normal numbers and kind of worked off them. 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.320 So like if it was one sixty, then I'd hit 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.440 a I'd take ten percent off, which is sixteen of 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.520 one sixty, and then so it's one forty four and 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.359 just play that number. So that's sort of how I 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.560 approached it. But yeah, I definitely felt like that. I 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.959 didn't know, like I didn't realize at first, but you 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.600 just have to drink so much water and it's so 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.560 easy to get dehydrated. And I had a headache for 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.560 a bit. And it's definitely like has an effect the elevation, 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.359 particularly like it's I've been at C level of my 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.680 whole life. So yeah, definitely took a while to get 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.080 used to. But yeah, yeah, I just got over it 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:24.479 in the end. 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:26.600 I was out there a couple of weeks ago for 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.919 a wedding and it's like, you know, you go to 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.720 a wedding and the next morning you're just so dehydrated 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:35.160 because like, yeah. 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.440 He's so dry in the mouth. It's crazy. It's nute 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.040 and well if you were drinking alcohol as well, you 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.119 would have noticed it, because I had a beer or 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.280 two like on a couple of the nights and felt 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.040 hammered a couple of SIPs. 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.280 Yeah, it's it's wild. So did you do you notice 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:56.560 the ball like goes straighter. 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.840 Or yeah, I didn't notice that. No, I agree with that, 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:03.800 Like I think I guess it's like there's less air 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.359 resistance against it, so it kind of just like doesn't 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.520 fizz as much with the wind with the spin. And yeah, 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.679 definitely you notice like if you carve one offline, it 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:15.280 might be like you feel like you just healed it 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.080 or something that should have cut like thirty yards off 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.879 line it only goes like twenty. Yes, you can. You 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:22.680 can definitely see it sort of floats up a bit 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.520 more and doesn't crazy curve offline. 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.000 Yeah, I heard, so I heard Colorado was playing like 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:32.000 really firm. 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:36.040 Oh yeah it was. It was perfect for me because 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:39.239 like we play golf like that all summer, all our 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.200 tournaments all summer like that, especially the ones in Melbourne. 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:47.439 The generally, the I think the Aussie Ameter is in 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:50.240 Melbourne every second year, so every second year will pretty 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.760 much be on a sand belt golf course. Last year 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:55.640 was at Woodlands Golf Club, which is one of those 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.479 sort of under the radar kind of sand belt tracks, 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.080 and and that I mean it was exactly like that. 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.600 You know, greens rolling at twelve or thirteen and feather 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.159 to slope on them, and then rock hard greens that 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.200 you have to like a nine eine and you've got 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.760 to account for like six seven yards a roll or 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:18.040 bounce and roll, and even if you're coming in as 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:19.640 high as you can, like, it's still going to roll 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:24.080 out heaps. So it kind of made it the process 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.679 of calculating yardages because you had the ten percent with 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:32.160 the with the elevation of the site, so you kind 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:34.159 of go with that. With those numbers, they say that 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.119 one sixty number. Again you go okay, that's one forty four, 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.440 and then it's so and then you go, okay, it's 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.840 going to roll out like six, that's like carrying one 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.920 thirty eight. And then it might be uphill plus four 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:47.760 or something, so then it's like one forty two. And 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.240 then you're like, oh win, that might be like into 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:51.879 the wind like and you think it's like tens. So 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.640 then you there was so much to think about, which 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:59.840 is obviously, I guess makes it more interesting. I think 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.040 when you've got to got to think about what you're 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:02.840 doing a bit more. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.200 Do you feel like that plane in that firm conditions 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:08.680 was a big advantage obviously, like you know, most of 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.320 the American golf is not firm and fast. 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:13.960 Yeah, no, I think I actually think it was a 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.119 pretty It was a pretty big advantage because yeah, I 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.280