WEBVTT - Episode 102: Hunter Mahan 0:00:02.110 --> 0:00:04.050 The guys from Ping, they've kind of shown me how 0:00:04.130 --> 0:00:06.820 much the equipment matters. I just love that I can 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:08.360 hit any shot I kind of want. 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:09.900 We're going to be able to tell some fun stories 0:00:09.940 --> 0:00:12.180 about what goes on here to help golfers play better golf. 0:00:12.940 --> 0:00:15.440 What up, everybody? Welcome back to the Ping Proving Grounds podcast. 0:00:15.500 --> 0:00:18.020 I'm Shane Bacon, joined as always by Marty Jertson. You 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.220 can see the man on your screen if you're watching 0:00:20.260 --> 0:00:23.320 on YouTube. Hunter Mahan joins us. Hunter, is that the 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.430 gold putters? Do they always sit behind you in your 0:00:25.450 --> 0:00:28.550 interviews or just for Ping-specific interviews? 0:00:30.090 --> 0:00:32.440 I try to bring them Everywhere I go, really, I 0:00:32.780 --> 0:00:35.460 just want people to feel uncomfortable when they see them. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:41.250 I want them to understand what they're dealing with. I've 0:00:41.470 --> 0:00:44.030 talked about it before, but it's literally the coolest tradition 0:00:44.070 --> 0:00:46.830 in golf. One of the coolest things ever is to 0:00:46.870 --> 0:00:51.390 get a gold putter in the mail. They're just awesome. 0:00:51.409 --> 0:00:52.809 I love to highlight them whenever I can. 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:56.220 When they arrive in the mail, is it like a 0:00:56.300 --> 0:00:58.910 hand-to-hand situation? I'm assuming they don't want to leave that 0:00:59.020 --> 0:01:01.730 out near the gate or something if it's a gold putter. 0:01:01.770 --> 0:01:04.530 I mean, is it a pretty big presentation in terms 0:01:04.550 --> 0:01:07.030 of the box and unboxing it and all that good stuff? 0:01:07.390 --> 0:01:09.090 Yeah, well, you definitely have to sign for it, right? 0:01:09.110 --> 0:01:11.220 They're not going to leave it at the gate like Amazon. 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.370 They're not going to. Hopefully you don't see them just 0:01:13.430 --> 0:01:15.530 chuck it over and it's just sailing in the air 0:01:15.580 --> 0:01:19.720 like a block and throwing it back to the caddy there. Yeah, 0:01:19.900 --> 0:01:22.679 you've got to sign for everything. I'm sure I never 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.660 have a solid gold one, but maybe they roll up 0:01:24.700 --> 0:01:27.020 with a Brinks truck and security guards to hand it over. 0:01:27.100 --> 0:01:30.279 Maybe when Wyndham gets his, we can have a camera 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.500 view of the guy handing it over to him and 0:01:33.540 --> 0:01:34.440 then signing it off. 0:01:35.110 --> 0:01:37.490 Hunter, you came to the Proving Grounds, what, maybe a 0:01:37.530 --> 0:01:40.070 month or so ago? Did you spend some time in 0:01:40.090 --> 0:01:40.790 the vault when you were in? 0:01:42.590 --> 0:01:47.310 Yeah. Oh, yeah. Last year, there's the Brophy Rodeo, that 0:01:47.350 --> 0:01:51.310 high school tournament that they do. So we brought the 0:01:51.350 --> 0:01:53.830 team last year. We went through it. I was there 0:01:53.850 --> 0:01:58.700 probably a month ago seeing Kenton and a bunch of 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.360 the people and always go in there. It is a 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:06.760 very nostalgic, historic feeling, right? You can kind of sense 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:12.760 the history of peeing itself, the game, majors. You know, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.880 when you see Seve Ballesteros' name and just some of 0:02:16.930 --> 0:02:19.040 the greats in the game of golf and all of 0:02:19.100 --> 0:02:22.350 them have touched pink clubs or a pink putter at 0:02:22.410 --> 0:02:25.810 some point is really impressive from, I think, a company standpoint. 0:02:25.870 --> 0:02:29.570 And just from a historic standpoint, it's a very, very 0:02:29.650 --> 0:02:33.810 cool place to see. And, you know, pink should be 0:02:33.850 --> 0:02:36.489 really proud of it. They've really changed the game in 0:02:36.510 --> 0:02:37.309 a number of different ways. 0:02:38.330 --> 0:02:40.730 Hunter, I wanted to start in terms of your relationship 0:02:40.750 --> 0:02:43.070 with Ping on the hat. I think you kind of 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:48.400 made the high profile, high structure hat popular, I'd say 0:02:48.419 --> 0:02:50.660 is probably fair. You, Ricky, I think DJ kind of 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.200 snuck into that world as well. I think he was 0:02:53.300 --> 0:02:54.460 one that kind of leaned into it. I mean, there 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.130 was an era forever where it was the dad hat, right? 0:02:57.169 --> 0:03:00.480 I mean, you couldn't really get a high profile style hat. Um, 0:03:01.100 --> 0:03:03.300 how did you convince him to let you go with that? 0:03:03.340 --> 0:03:06.579 Were you like involved in the, the hat making process? 0:03:06.660 --> 0:03:08.500 I mean, I felt like those were very unique to you. 0:03:08.530 --> 0:03:12.310 Well, it's funny. We were looking at some old pictures of, 0:03:12.590 --> 0:03:15.750 of the, probably the mid early two thousands there. And 0:03:16.310 --> 0:03:18.549 some of the outfit choices that I wore from the 0:03:18.590 --> 0:03:21.190 pants and to the bright colored shirts and different things. 0:03:21.710 --> 0:03:22.090 Right. Yeah. 0:03:22.110 --> 0:03:24.269 I mean, it was very much the Poulter era of 0:03:24.430 --> 0:03:27.549 like sort of design and, and all this stuff. And 0:03:27.570 --> 0:03:30.260 it was very interesting. it wasn't aggressive, but it was 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.260 just a little bit louder than, and there was a 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.060 lot more companies getting involved in golf attire. Right. And 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.980 so I think it all blended together. And I think 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:40.740 it was exciting for ping to sort of jump on 0:03:40.780 --> 0:03:42.810 that wagon as well. And I think Ricky and I 0:03:42.870 --> 0:03:44.750 were wearing the sort of the flat bills at the 0:03:44.780 --> 0:03:48.050 time and introducing a bunch of different colors, which is 0:03:48.090 --> 0:03:50.810 not usually what ping did, but they really leaned into it. 0:03:51.510 --> 0:03:53.570 And we made a few sort of like capsules with 0:03:53.650 --> 0:03:55.970 it and some different color waves and they sold out 0:03:55.990 --> 0:03:58.410 really fast. People loved it. And I think it was, 0:03:59.070 --> 0:04:00.550 it was great for paying. It was great for me 0:04:00.570 --> 0:04:03.710 to kind of be able to individualize myself just a 0:04:03.730 --> 0:04:06.250 little bit. Um, we still have some of them, you know, 0:04:06.270 --> 0:04:07.810 I think they're just kind of like in our attic 0:04:07.850 --> 0:04:10.400 and they're kind of locked away for safekeeping and stuff 0:04:10.410 --> 0:04:14.260 like that. But, um, but it's funny how fashion changes 0:04:14.300 --> 0:04:17.200 like that. And you look back at that and be like, wow, I, 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.200 I decided that was a good idea, but, um, but 0:04:20.220 --> 0:04:22.520 I love the style and the way it looked and 0:04:22.540 --> 0:04:24.800 it was, it was super fun. And I was very 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.960 appreciative of that being, uh, sort of lean into that 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:29.040 and allowed me to do it. 0:04:29.900 --> 0:04:31.980 Marty, there was a, there was an era to me, 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:33.870 what stands out about that era? Because I mean, I 0:04:33.900 --> 0:04:35.570 was heavily involved in an era as well. I mean, 0:04:35.589 --> 0:04:38.850 I loved matching everything, but you'd go hat belt and 0:04:38.910 --> 0:04:41.550 sometimes shoes, but I'll match that was kind of play Marty. 0:04:42.550 --> 0:04:43.870 Exactly. Yep. 0:04:44.470 --> 0:04:47.130 I remember my photos from that time period, man, my 0:04:47.150 --> 0:04:50.100 hair was growing out. Shane, you've seen some of those, man. Just, 0:04:50.260 --> 0:04:52.520 just flowing a little bit. The curls flow. 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:54.190 And I mean, it was, I don't know if it 0:04:54.210 --> 0:04:55.810 was a good look or a bad look back there, 0:04:55.850 --> 0:04:57.430 but it does feel like, to your point, Hunter, it 0:04:57.450 --> 0:04:59.770 feels like we're kind of creeping to that era again. 0:05:00.170 --> 0:05:02.890 It feels like some of the outerwear companies are going 0:05:02.910 --> 0:05:05.450 a little bit bigger, a little higher, a little thicker. 0:05:05.690 --> 0:05:08.310 It feels like we're kind of gravitating back to maybe 0:05:08.370 --> 0:05:10.210 prime Hunter Mahan, so you might be right back into 0:05:10.230 --> 0:05:11.090 the rotation, dude. 0:05:11.940 --> 0:05:17.060 I don't know. We went to joggers and we went 0:05:17.100 --> 0:05:20.710 tight and super athletic, right? uh, very European. Now it's 0:05:20.730 --> 0:05:22.450 getting a little baggier and a little bit looser and 0:05:22.470 --> 0:05:25.170 a little bit more comfortable, but there's also such a 0:05:25.170 --> 0:05:28.180 very classic appeal. That's coming back to, but a little 0:05:28.190 --> 0:05:30.700 bit more refined. And, you know, I never thought pleats 0:05:30.740 --> 0:05:34.840 would be coming back, but Tommy's bringing them back with style. And, um, 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.640 Tony Finau is wearing, uh, the bigger baggier pants now 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.760 and everything. So golf is in a really fun place, 0:05:41.900 --> 0:05:44.680 I think. And it's in, in, in some places it's interesting, 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.440 but I think from a fashion perspective, I think, uh, 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.600 people are getting a little bit more classic, which I 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.900 think is also good, right? You come to the golf course, 0:05:54.540 --> 0:05:57.140 and it feels like an event, right? And you're just 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.850 not coming from running five miles, and you just throw 0:06:00.910 --> 0:06:02.930 on a shirt, and you go into the range. 0:06:03.570 --> 0:06:08.360 Yeah, beltless, looking very casual. Hunter, something I talk a 0:06:08.380 --> 0:06:10.039 lot about with my friends, I feel like it's kind 0:06:10.060 --> 0:06:12.680 of specific to golf, because it feels like if you're 0:06:12.700 --> 0:06:15.940 an NBA player, NFL player, whatever, um once you get 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.719 into the pros you progress uh golf is a very 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.400 different sport in in the sense that you can play 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.920 your best golf in theory when you're a teenager I 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.040 mean I think about some of the you know junior 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:28.460 kids that popped when they were young I think that 0:06:28.540 --> 0:06:30.760 the best we saw Jordan Spieth was when he was 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.969 21 22 years old you were an incredible amateur collegiate 0:06:33.990 --> 0:06:36.210 player and then popped on the pros do you feel 0:06:36.230 --> 0:06:37.870 like I know it's a tough question to ask you 0:06:37.910 --> 0:06:39.760 but When you look back on your career, do you 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.700 feel like when you were your best golfer was what age? Marty, 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.320 I'm going to ask you as well. So I want 0:06:44.339 --> 0:06:46.500 you to think about it, but when do you think Hunter, 0:06:46.540 --> 0:06:49.599 you were like the most dominant, the most consistent, the 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.680 most confident player that you could have been? 0:06:51.700 --> 0:06:55.770 Ooh. Um, yeah, that's a great question. I mean, you 0:06:55.810 --> 0:06:59.130 can go have a whole podcast about that question and 0:06:59.230 --> 0:07:02.430 the specific sport and how all those things sort of 0:07:02.450 --> 0:07:08.320 materialize and, and, how your physicality progresses through time. Right. 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.030 And that's, I think that's a big part of it. 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.180 And golf is sort of funny. You don't really know 0:07:13.220 --> 0:07:16.320 when your physicality kind of reaches it's really strength. Right. 0:07:16.580 --> 0:07:18.420 And it's sort of maxing point. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:18.700 Right. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:23.050 Because there, and also your athleticism, that's a real thing 0:07:23.090 --> 0:07:26.170 as well. Hitting a golf ball is a very athletic 0:07:26.230 --> 0:07:29.410 thing and timing and hand eye coordination. And when you're 0:07:29.430 --> 0:07:31.770 younger and you've got a little bit more kind of 0:07:31.850 --> 0:07:35.450 flow and it's a little easier to, And but as 0:07:35.470 --> 0:07:37.750 you get older, you lose your athleticism. That's just sort 0:07:37.790 --> 0:07:38.250 of a fact. 0:07:38.330 --> 0:07:38.590 Right. 0:07:39.170 --> 0:07:40.730 And that's going to hurt your golf swing as well. 0:07:40.750 --> 0:07:44.170 That's why technique is really, really important when you talk 0:07:44.230 --> 0:07:47.270 about aging through the game. But I do think probably 0:07:47.290 --> 0:07:50.740 I think when everything sort of came together for me 0:07:50.820 --> 0:07:54.700 from like a confidence perspective and hey, I can go 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.780 up against the best and know that every part of 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.470 my game is good enough. I mean, that took me 0:08:01.550 --> 0:08:04.840 probably till I think I was probably 26. And I 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:10.680 like I remember stepping on it like in 07. I 0:08:10.700 --> 0:08:14.890 would have been like 25. I stepped on the range 0:08:15.010 --> 0:08:18.960 at Travelers and it was like, OK. I'm 100% ready 0:08:18.980 --> 0:08:21.280 to win and I feel more than capable and I 0:08:21.300 --> 0:08:24.980 can do this. And so I think 26 to like 32, 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:28.460 33 when I really felt like I was looking at 0:08:28.580 --> 0:08:34.820 everyone as a complimentary player and not as a superior 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.160 in any way. But it took me some time. Some 0:08:37.179 --> 0:08:39.599 guys step on tour and they just love the competition 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.460 and they want to show everybody how good they are. 0:08:43.460 --> 0:08:46.000 And I just, I got out there and I, it 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.460 just took me a few years to really take all 0:08:49.500 --> 0:08:53.970 the new, the sort of a being a PGA professional 0:08:54.030 --> 0:08:54.870 is a whole nother thing. 0:08:54.890 --> 0:08:54.990 Right. 0:08:55.390 --> 0:08:57.410 Traveling and playing 25 weeks a year, getting sort of 0:08:57.490 --> 0:09:02.010 used to that, getting comfortable and getting comfortable from a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 0:09:02.090 --> 0:09:04.530 and then going into the weekends and feeling like this is, 0:09:05.250 --> 0:09:07.140 I'm good enough to compete at any, anywhere. 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.060 Yeah, Marty, it's interesting because it feels like right now 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.220 in pro golf, we went in this youth movement, right? 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.480 I mean, you think about like Spieth and JT and 0:09:16.500 --> 0:09:19.100 that crew, right? And then right after those guys, you 0:09:19.140 --> 0:09:22.660 got Hovland and that crew, Justin Suh and Hovland, and 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.920 all those guys are popping, right? Out of kind of 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.580 2019 camp into 2020 and beyond, you're thinking this is 0:09:29.620 --> 0:09:31.880 the new crop. And it feels like those guys pop 0:09:32.710 --> 0:09:34.850 out of the gate, to Hunter's point, you're getting this 0:09:34.870 --> 0:09:37.179 level of confidence, right? And then you see a little 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:38.720 bit of a lull, and then they might get back 0:09:38.740 --> 0:09:41.430 to the mountaintop. And on the other side of it, 0:09:41.780 --> 0:09:43.480 you've got these dudes in their 40s. I mean, you 0:09:43.500 --> 0:09:45.860 think about Gary Woodland's year this year, Adam Scott, Justin 0:09:45.900 --> 0:09:48.400 Rose last year, end of this year. It feels like 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.570 there's this third life of a pro golfer that can 0:09:51.570 --> 0:09:53.900 take over. Fitness is a big thing. I mean, Justin 0:09:53.900 --> 0:09:56.090 Rose drives around with an RV, and it's bigger than 0:09:56.110 --> 0:09:58.550 the proving grounds to keep his body locked and loaded. 0:09:59.010 --> 0:10:01.830 It feels like both camps can, can play as good 0:10:01.870 --> 0:10:04.360 as they can play. Um, and, and I am very 0:10:04.390 --> 0:10:06.840 interested in the world of that 24, 25 year old 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.060 to Hunter's point right now, who feels like they're successful 0:10:10.100 --> 0:10:11.960 out of the gate. Then a couple of years go 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:13.800 by and then they get back to, to be in 0:10:13.860 --> 0:10:14.360 peak power. 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.940 I think the 40, I think the 40 pluses Shane 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:18.480 is going to be a bit more rare in the 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.900 guys you all named their, their ball speeds are pretty 0:10:20.940 --> 0:10:21.699 much higher than ever. 0:10:21.900 --> 0:10:22.100 Right. 0:10:22.179 --> 0:10:26.620 So that's, what's made that unique where, you know, the youngsters, 0:10:26.660 --> 0:10:30.060 I mean, Hunter nailed it. Physicality, what you see, if 0:10:30.100 --> 0:10:33.120 you just plot ball speed, right. Swing speed, ball speed, 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:35.949 you're going to have this window between 20 and 30, 0:10:35.950 --> 0:10:38.370 where you're kind of peaked, you know, just, just naturally, 0:10:38.390 --> 0:10:40.150 if you don't do anything, you're going to kind of 0:10:40.190 --> 0:10:43.800 peak there. And then once you get past 30 to 35, 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.090 you've got to do some work. You've got to do 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.910 some training, some technique work to kind of keep that 0:10:47.950 --> 0:10:51.309 speed up there. But that's what you've seen with those 0:10:51.370 --> 0:10:53.650 three players you named in their 40s. So this is 0:10:53.670 --> 0:10:57.500 a very interesting time. I love this topic of what 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.060 are we going to see going forward? Are we going 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.699 to see the tour player having a shorter kind of lifespan, 0:11:01.780 --> 0:11:03.820 so to speak? What do you think on that, Hunter? 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.680 I think what's really interesting is from when I was 0:11:06.700 --> 0:11:10.130 like 15 to 22, I just was on an ascension vertically, 0:11:10.150 --> 0:11:12.370 just getting better and better and better. I had a little, 0:11:12.450 --> 0:11:14.850 I had a little hiccup when I transferred from Southern 0:11:15.150 --> 0:11:18.390 California to Oklahoma state where I had a few months 0:11:18.650 --> 0:11:22.069 where there was a big transition. Cause I was only 0:11:22.110 --> 0:11:27.410 like 18, 19 and my game really, I got really 0:11:27.570 --> 0:11:29.840 not unfocused, but I just got out of my structure, 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.060 sort of my life going to college and everything. And 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.260 I was not in a great, not just in a 0:11:34.300 --> 0:11:37.600 great place for me to kind of keep going. And 0:11:37.620 --> 0:11:40.140 so that's why I transferred. I just wasn't comfortable with, 0:11:40.570 --> 0:11:43.189 And then I got back on track when you're good 0:11:43.270 --> 0:11:47.250 for like seven, eight years and you're always ascending. And 0:11:47.270 --> 0:11:48.750 then you get on tour and you get kicked in 0:11:48.790 --> 0:11:51.190 the teeth a little bit. You kind of don't know 0:11:51.230 --> 0:11:53.620 how to react to it. Right. And it's like you're like, 0:11:53.740 --> 0:11:55.959 I have never not been going up. Never. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:56.219 Yeah. 0:11:56.620 --> 0:12:00.280 Now, as an adult, I'm going back down and I'm 0:12:00.300 --> 0:12:02.140 not really sure what to do with it. And 90, 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:06.569 I would say most of the time you just need 0:12:06.590 --> 0:12:09.600 to keep going to the next week. And realize that, oh, 0:12:09.620 --> 0:12:11.840 this is just life. And this is just the tough 0:12:11.900 --> 0:12:14.100 part of playing golf over and over and over again. 0:12:14.500 --> 0:12:18.579 And just being on the circuit. And you're going to 0:12:18.620 --> 0:12:20.380 have those bumps, but you just have to stay steady 0:12:20.420 --> 0:12:23.220 with what you're doing and not try to figure out 0:12:23.340 --> 0:12:27.910 what the problem is and start changing things. Anyone I've 0:12:27.970 --> 0:12:30.550 talked to about this stuff is like, especially younger players 0:12:30.610 --> 0:12:32.569 and college players, is like, really find out what you're 0:12:32.590 --> 0:12:36.090 really good at. Understand that and harness that and don't 0:12:36.110 --> 0:12:38.970 let anyone touch that. even if it looks a little different, right? 0:12:38.990 --> 0:12:41.010 Like Scotty Shuffler is a good example of like his feet, 0:12:41.050 --> 0:12:44.080 the way his feet move. Like Randy and him have 0:12:44.179 --> 0:12:46.940 never tried. I've never heard them talk about it. They 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.580 don't really seem to mention it. They're, you know, Scotty's 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.579 talking about his hands and they never mentioned it. It 0:12:52.620 --> 0:12:54.709 would be really hard for us to find an instructor 0:12:54.750 --> 0:12:56.650 who would not be like, Hey, we need to keep 0:12:56.670 --> 0:12:59.710 your feet solid with a solid base. But that is 0:12:59.770 --> 0:13:02.370 sort of his power, right? Like that's a big part 0:13:02.410 --> 0:13:06.470 of who he is. And yeah, you know, people are 0:13:06.490 --> 0:13:09.089 getting scared of injuries. Now you can, they're talking about 0:13:09.130 --> 0:13:11.170 Jackson Coyvon and like, Oh, he's gonna have to change 0:13:11.230 --> 0:13:13.940 this and change that because of Wills Altaurus. But those 0:13:14.059 --> 0:13:16.400 that's such like Wills Altaurus is such an, I feel 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.620 more of an anomaly than he is sort of an example. 0:13:19.340 --> 0:13:21.840 And that's really unfortunate for him. That would have derailed 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.500 his career. Cause he was, he came out and I 0:13:24.540 --> 0:13:26.970 core loved his story. And he just was like, he 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:28.869 looked like he was on an incredible trajectory and the 0:13:28.910 --> 0:13:31.090 injuries have just derailed him, which stinks. Cause he was 0:13:31.150 --> 0:13:33.930 a heck of a player and he's really tough. But, um, 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.760 It is a really interesting climb with golf because it's 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:40.959 not a short runway. You can have a really long 0:13:41.020 --> 0:13:45.700 career if you just handle those bumps and those declines 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.800 softly from a mental perspective and just keep grinding because 0:13:50.820 --> 0:13:52.479 that's what golf is. I mean, it's just a grind. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:55.880 Yeah, it feels like in terms of professional golf, to 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.850 your point, Hunter, we give a lot of air to 0:13:59.900 --> 0:14:03.360 guys that have big seasons, right? Dominant seasons. best seasons 0:14:03.380 --> 0:14:05.660 of their careers. I mean, it happens to everybody. And 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:07.460 I feel like maybe we don't, and it sounds like 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.829 you will, and you do give the appropriate amount of 0:14:10.870 --> 0:14:13.970 love to longevity as a pro golfer. I mean, Phil 0:14:14.010 --> 0:14:17.130 famously incredible longevity as a pro golfer. I think what 0:14:17.210 --> 0:14:20.350 Rory's doing right now is a little slept on how 0:14:20.410 --> 0:14:23.360 long he's been dominant in terms of being a great player. 0:14:23.620 --> 0:14:25.400 I'll be interested in what this run looks like for 0:14:25.420 --> 0:14:28.300 a Scotty Scheffler, right? Does he keep this going for three, four, 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.020 five more years? where he's winning floor-based three wins, maybe 0:14:32.060 --> 0:14:33.980 the ceiling is seven or eight, like we saw a 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:37.830 couple years ago. But I think we in golf associate 0:14:37.950 --> 0:14:40.870 the sport with longevity, and I think it's maybe more 0:14:40.930 --> 0:14:43.610 rare than we really think it is. Like we talked 0:14:43.630 --> 0:14:46.550 about Rose and Adam Scott and even Gary Woodland. I mean, 0:14:46.570 --> 0:14:49.210 there have been major drop-off years from those guys during 0:14:49.250 --> 0:14:52.290 their run of obviously longevity and excellent play. But to 0:14:52.330 --> 0:14:54.700 be a great golfer for 10 or 15 years, I mean, 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.700 you've got to be so mentally strong and everything's got 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.580 to be so dialed. kind of, let's say, off the 0:14:59.620 --> 0:15:01.060 golf course so when you step on it, you can 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.220 still compete for a long time? 0:15:03.740 --> 0:15:06.560 I think always what Phil did really well, and he 0:15:06.580 --> 0:15:10.520 played one major in his 50s, whenever I'd see him, 0:15:10.660 --> 0:15:13.680 he really played golf because he loved it and he 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.050 enjoyed it. And everything else that came with it was 0:15:18.110 --> 0:15:20.650 such a bonus to him. I think if you get 0:15:20.790 --> 0:15:25.330 really into the results and professional golf, it can kind 0:15:25.370 --> 0:15:29.130 of wear you down. Yeah. And, but if you just, 0:15:29.450 --> 0:15:32.030 if you can, if you can really bounce, just playing 0:15:32.550 --> 0:15:34.910 and having fun with your friends and just letting it 0:15:35.030 --> 0:15:40.200 rip and understanding that there's a time to lock in 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:41.820 and get ready for a tournament. And there's a time 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.920 to just go play because you love it. You can 0:15:45.020 --> 0:15:47.500 play for a long time. What we're seeing was Rory's 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.920 had a historic run, but he's what, 36, 37. And 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.750 he's like, he's talking like he's just spent. He's like, 0:15:52.810 --> 0:15:56.760 I'm just mentally, mentally gone. And he's only 36, 37. 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:00.960 But that's about normal for any career of a professional athlete, right? 0:16:00.980 --> 0:16:04.380 It's like 36, 37, that's an unbelievably long career, right? 0:16:04.900 --> 0:16:08.520 So that's what's interesting to me with him is he's 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.540 been good at it a long time because he puts 0:16:11.660 --> 0:16:14.760 a lot into this from a physical perspective. He trains hard. 0:16:14.780 --> 0:16:17.020 He does everything he can to be the best player 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.330 that he can and step up and win majors. But 0:16:19.410 --> 0:16:22.610 now you can tell he's sort of like, I've accomplished probably, 0:16:22.630 --> 0:16:25.590 I mean, I think he's made all his dreams come true. 0:16:26.390 --> 0:16:29.150 You know, he's arguably the best European player ever. And 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.120 he's sort of like, I need to, I think golf 0:16:32.150 --> 0:16:33.980 just looks differently to him. He's like, I probably just 0:16:34.020 --> 0:16:35.500 need to get back to just having fun. 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:35.600 Yeah. 0:16:36.500 --> 0:16:38.240 Which is a hard thing to do for a professional 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.320 golfer when you've had a strict regimen in everything that 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.640 you do and you've got all these goals. But it 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.840 can definitely work. And you definitely see it in Rory. 0:16:47.860 --> 0:16:49.680 And what I love about Rory is like, he'll tell 0:16:49.740 --> 0:16:53.600 you like, yeah, I'm just not interested in golf right now. Yep. Yeah, exactly. 0:16:54.410 --> 0:16:56.910 Hunter, what about you, man? What have you been up to, man? 0:16:57.610 --> 0:16:59.500 I think the last 10 years or so, you've been 0:16:59.510 --> 0:17:02.440 coaching high school golf, raising your family, having some fun there, 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.320 and you're getting back into it a little bit. What 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.260 are your plans? What's scratching the itch right now? 0:17:10.380 --> 0:17:13.290 Yeah, I've been coaching at Liberty Christian for the last 0:17:13.369 --> 0:17:15.810 few years with the high school team and stuff, and 0:17:15.869 --> 0:17:20.260 it's been A lot of fun. We got to win 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:24.000 the 6A state championship last year for taps, which was fun. 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:28.100 The kids balled out and played great. It's really fun. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:31.640 It's sort of like being a dad on Christmas morning 0:17:31.660 --> 0:17:33.639 when you watch the kids sort of unwrap the presents. 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:35.800 They get so excited and so fun. And then when 0:17:35.820 --> 0:17:39.070 you see kids achieve something that we sort of thought 0:17:39.109 --> 0:17:41.430 we could do at the beginning of the year, they 0:17:41.450 --> 0:17:43.530 had incredible shots when they had to. They did everything 0:17:43.570 --> 0:17:45.109 they had to. It was really fun to watch. It 0:17:45.130 --> 0:17:48.060 was really neat for them to sort of experience that, 0:17:48.220 --> 0:17:50.840 that win as a, as a team. So that's been 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:52.340 a lot of fun. It's been great just to be 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.020 home and, you know, just wake up in the same 0:17:55.060 --> 0:17:57.659 bed every day and just be thankful to, to, to 0:17:57.700 --> 0:17:59.639 wake up and see my kids and take them to 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.310 school and stuff all the time. I think that the 0:18:02.650 --> 0:18:04.490 itch to get back in the game was part of 0:18:05.030 --> 0:18:07.070 being away from it for so long, which was great 0:18:07.150 --> 0:18:09.510 just to kind of like decompress from it and sort 0:18:09.550 --> 0:18:14.930 of push the, uh, I think push the, uh, being 0:18:15.030 --> 0:18:18.190 critical of myself every time I hold the club and 0:18:18.250 --> 0:18:20.149 just start to swing and see what that feels like 0:18:20.230 --> 0:18:22.750 and see how I can hit the shot that I 0:18:22.790 --> 0:18:24.350 want to hit and how that relates to feel. And 0:18:24.369 --> 0:18:27.260 then those things can help me be a better coach 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.359 and kind of transfer that stuff to the kids. My 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.220 kids are getting into the game a little bit, which is, 0:18:32.420 --> 0:18:35.820 which is fun. We're getting them, you know, ping irons 0:18:35.859 --> 0:18:38.119 and getting them all set up. And my, my third 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.600 Hazel is really loving the game of golf. And she 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.620 has sort of the mental attitude for it. She she's, 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:46.260 never gets down herself. She picks up the club and 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.460 she wants to hit it and, and just enjoy sort 0:18:49.500 --> 0:18:51.939 of being outside. And, and we love taking her out 0:18:51.980 --> 0:18:56.510 there and watching her, watching her swing. So it's been 0:18:56.550 --> 0:18:59.730