WEBVTT - Kira Dixon 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:08.559 It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I am your host, 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.920 Claude Harmon. We always come to you every Wednesday. This 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:17.919 week's guest Kira Dixon doing work now for NBC and 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:22.320 Golf Channel, a former Miss America won that crown in 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.440 two thousand and fifteen. But listen, she's a golfer. That's 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:28.200 why I wanted to have her on the podcast. You're 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.280 going to be seeing her, um interviewing you know, the 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.920 guys on the PGA Tour. But Um, she can play. 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.000 She's made the cut at the A T and T 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:40.519 Pebble Beach Pro Am and um loves golf. Golf has 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.240 been a huge part of her life. And again she's 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.200 one of those people. Um, it's one of the reasons 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.720 why I wanted to do the podcast. Get people who 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:52.320 aren't necessarily playing golf on TV um weekend week out, 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.640 but our golf people. And I mean, what a story. 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.120 I mean if I if I had told myself five 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.080 years ago, I'd be doing a podcast and interviewing a 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:07.000 former Miss America who's now interviewing people on Golf Channel, 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.880 in NBC and in the golf space. Um. You know 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.680 that's the cool thing about all the people that you meet, 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.560 um when you're get to be around golf like I am. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.560 And she's got a great story and uh, to to 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:24.440 make that jump from pageants to now being part of 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.840 the NBC Golf Channel crew. Um, it's cool story. UM. 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.760 I think it's some good stuff and I think everybody 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:36.479 will enjoy um listening to Kira. So, without further ado, 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:44.039 let's get to the interview. Well, it's not every day 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:48.800 that my guest is a former Miss America. But the 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.160 idea behind the podcast was to get people that are 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.320 in the golf space, not in the golf space, in 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.640 the golf space and love golf. Um. I gotta be 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.640 honest with you, I didn't think i'd get a Miss 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:02.960 America winner on the podcast. Ask HERA, UM, it's been Avery, 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.080 there's a I mean, you're working for the Golf Channel, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.399 now working for NBC and stuff like that. I mean, 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.440 are you even surprised that kind of the trajectory that 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.600 your career is going to where now you are firmly 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:20.840 entrenched from being you know, Miss America to now firmly 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.880 entrenched in the golf world. Yeah, if you had asked 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:25.600 me five years ago, if this is where I would 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.119 be I would laugh. Um, but here we are and uh, 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.000 you know, I mean you get more into it. But 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.480 Miss America really blows up your life and kind of, 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.480 you know, in the best way. So prior to you 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:38.400 think you're going to do one thing, and then you 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.040 get exposed to this entire new world of opportunities and 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.119 doors that can be opened. And I happened to walk 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:45.760 through the golf door and here we are and now 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.400 I'm sitting down with you. What a life. Um. So 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.040 obviously now you're part of You're you're involved with NBC, 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.280 with Golf Channel, you're interviewing players, are at all the 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.960 tournaments competition to you're you know, interviewing professional athletes. How 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.720 much of a competition or the pageants because as an 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.800 outsider looking at looking into me, it just looks like 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.920 an absolute free for all, it just looks like it's 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.880 just it would be crazy. It would be a lot 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.560 of competition, it would be a lot of kind of 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.600 you know, all this crazy energy. What's it like? Yeah, 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.480 you know what, I really compare pageants to golf because 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:28.040 you are competing against yourself and um, it's an individual 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:32.880 sport and you can only blame yourself if you mess up. Okay, So, UM, 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:37.200 golfers could could really find a lot of parallels to 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:42.160 walking across that stage because it's all about you. And 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.680 I've always found that that's been an interesting thing for 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.840 me to draw on of of how can I relate 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.280 to players because I understand that UM certainly on on 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.520 a on a basic level. But I mean, you know, 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.119 people have seen ms congeniality or movies or cultural things 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.040 about about pad. It's ensure there's some of that that 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.160 is very much true. But um, for the most part, 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:08.360 this is just a really awesome group of women that 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.560 comes together once a year from all walks of life, 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.320 from all different backgrounds, UM, that end up really becoming 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.760 amazing friends. At twenty five of the goals I competed 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.080 with it, Miss America came to my wedding. So yeah, 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.320 so I've got to ask you this question. Is the 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.800 pageant equivalent of you've got a one shut lead. You're 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.920 standing there in the middle of fairway back back left pin, 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:34.839 you snap hook at the water and you make triple 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.880 or double and you lose. Is that is the pageant 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:42.360 equivalent the the IRAQ statement, Is that the same thing? Yes, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:44.680 the onstage question is kind of a make or break 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.719 it moment. It's that last plush to really show the 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.960 judges that, like I, I can speak on national television 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.240 or in front of whomever and be able to give 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.520 a good year and answer on this thing. And if 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.400 you stand up there like a deer in the headlights, 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.960 then it's probably not going to go well. Um. So yeah, 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:06.359 that's definitely the triple boggy that you're trying to avoid. Also, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.279 I think in two it would be easy to look 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.640 at I'm sure there is a segment of the population 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.799 that looks at the Miss American Pageant is being you know, bad, 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.520 bad for women and justifying women, you know, you know, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.040 really really kind of tearing women down. As somebody thats 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.160 going through this and there's someone that has probably made 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.839 lifelong friends who are part of this world. What place 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.800 in in in the current weird culture that we live 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.279 in where everybody is so quick to try and cancel 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:43.040 anybody U in two, what what where are pageants today? 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.000 I mean, what what what does that world like? And 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.440 where do you think they should be and where do 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.320 you think moving forward they can be? Because the Miss 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:56.440 American Pageant is a huge part of cultural American history. Yeah, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:02.000 just celebrated its hundredth anniversary. It's crazy. Yeah yeah, Um, 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.880 so I will explain why I did miss America and 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.800 then you know how it's evolved to today. So as 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.520 a kid, I loved to sing and dance. I love 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.640 to be on stage. I loved anything involving a performance. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:18.800 And one day we got a flyer in the mail 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:24.360 for like a local no makeup, very basic, just opportunity 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:26.920 to put yourself on a stage. And my mom I begged, 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.040 my mom begged, beg, beg. My parents who are Russian immigrants, 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.000 so they have no context for what this is. They 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.800 have no idea. They moved here in nineteen ninety. Yeah, yeah, 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.479 what was the not to get touch? What was the 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.840 reason that your parents chose to leave the Soviet Union 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.640 income to the former Soviet Union at that point or 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.080 was it still the Soviet Union at that point? That 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.640 was called in nine believe, and then because I remember 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.159 I was in college when we watched the Wall come down, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.680 you know, the whole kind of Soviet Union was so 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.120 nineteen nine, parents say, Okay, we're gonna get out out 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.680 of this situation, come to America. Yes, Uh, well, my 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.080 dad's a surgeon in America now, but at the time 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:08.600 he was a surgeon in Russia, and a surgeon in 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.320 Russia was getting paid less than a bus driver. Um. 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.920 He they mean, they uh, this is a much you know, 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.080 we can talk about that for for hours and hours. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.960 But they wanted a better life. They wanted to be 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.559 able to live in a country where they could depend 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:28.080 on food sources and education and you know, possible peace 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.040 and not have to beg barter and steel for anything 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.080 and everything that you have. So um, they were able 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.679 to get out. And I mean my dad wrote hundreds 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:42.160 and hundreds of letters to doctors whose addresses not email 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.320 addresses at the time, but physical addresses were listed in 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.240 the back of like the American College of Surgeon's Medical Journal. 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:51.320 And he wrote hundreds of letters to all of these doctors. 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.360 A few of them responded, and one doctor Prince in Chicago, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.160 helped him get his piecea to come here. Um, and 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.160 Dr Prince came to my wedding as well. So my 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.160 wedding was like, you know, big meeting of the minds 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.200 of all these people of different of different parts of 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.280 our lives. Um. But you know, they came here with 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.440 absolutely nothing A couple of suitcases and no money. Some 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.000 distant family took them in California. They then lived in Chicago. 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:18.960 My dad lived at a Y m c A for 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:20.960 for months while he was trying to get his first 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.760 research job, and got into a residency in Kentucky, a 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.640 fellowship in Texas, and then finally a private practice and 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.600 now um works for Kaiser in Oakland. But that's a 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:35.000 whole aside of it grows up to be miss American. 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.280 It's like the ultimate American dream. But you don't. That's 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.000 one of those stories. And there are you know, millions 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:46.520 in American history, millions of people who whose parents, whose grandparents, 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.440 whose great had that same experience. And so if somebody 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.960 brought you a script and said, I'm gonna take down 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.480 your mother and father's life. I'm gonna write this script 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.679 and all of these things that kind of happened by 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.880 chance a sidents. Look, you'd read the script and go, 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:05.560 I mean that's not believable, right, I mean that that 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.079 there's no way that could happen. It's what it actually 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.600 really happened to your parents. Yeah, you can't make this 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:15.400 stuff up. So's it's wild that we ended up here 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.480 that they ended up where they got to that I 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.200 get to live the life that I get to live 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.360 because of so much hard work and sacrifice, and that's 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.360 certainly not lost on me. I have such a wonderful, charmed, 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:30.160 privileged life because of what they did. Um, and yeah, 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.520 it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazy. So the end of 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.360 this script, somebody's writing the script on your parents life 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.440 and they say, I've got a great way to end 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.640 this this this movie. She grows up and she becomes 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.199 Miss American, and you don't get the hell out of here. 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.600 She does. She does, Okay, so I'll take you back 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.079 to how this happened. So I convinced them to let 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.480 me do this. Great We end up doing this like 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:57.079 once a year till I'm sixteen, seventeen years old, and then, 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:58.319 you know, we kind of go out of it. I 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.240 go off to college and then and I decide that 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.480 I want to go to law school. I get into 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.640 Notre Dame. You know, I've finished taking me outside Dame. 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.440 I've paid my deposit. And at the time, I was 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.080 living in New York, and I was like, you know what, 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.640 I kind of missed that that part of my life. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.440 I have some friends still from from that age that 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.920 have gone on and competed in Miss America Miss USA, 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.680 and they are the largest provider of scholarships to women 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.760 in the world. And I'm about to go to law school, 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.920 so why not this will be fun while I'm still 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.800 before I go off on this next big thing. So 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.959 I compete once at Miss New York. I make the 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.040 top ten. Okay, well that's fun. But I'm gonna try 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.520 it one more time. And if I win, great, I'll 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:40.080 stay in New York for an extra year. I'll defer 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.600 my law school acceptance. If not, I'll go straight to 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.880 to Indiana and that'll be that. And I end up 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.320 winning Miss New York UM, which is awesome. Being Miss 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.679 new York is the best thing ever because you're like 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.720 writing the subway to appearances and being like, you know, 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:58.280 doing the grit with the glamour and you know, fighting 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.959 every day for appearances and being elevant because nobody cares 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.480 about Miss New York and New York. There's like all 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.000 these other things to pay attention to. It's a lot 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:10.120 different to be Miss whatever other state. UM. So that's 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.079 that's an education in itself. The two women that were 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.880 Miss America before me were also Miss New York's. The 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.720 organization had never had a three pet or you know, 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:22.840 three winners in a row from the same state, so 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:26.160 it was statistically impossible for me to win, which is fine, 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.280 and people would tell me that, and it took so 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.560 much pressure off. So this is a great lesson for 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.160 all your golfers out there. It took so much pressure 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:39.880 off being yeah, being results oriented. All I did was 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:45.320 have fun and be myself and be relaxed and do 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:46.840 do the things that I knew that I was going 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.480 to be really good at and those were my strengths, 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.520 and I let those strengths come out without putting so 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:54.360 much pressure on myself to the point where it was 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.760 crippling and I couldn't perform at my best. So I 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.800 won because everybody else but a lot of pressure on themselves. 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.480 And it's also you know, different day, different judges could 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:10.120 be a crapshoot, who knows um And Yeah, So the 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.880 way that at the time, Miss America was produced by 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.800 Dick Clark Productions. They produced the Billboard Music Awards, the 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.920 American Music Ward Awards, American Country Countdown, Academy Country Music, 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.720 La La La, and the deal was that Miss America 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.640 would not only be at these red carpets, but present 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:32.080 at these shows, these huge national shows. So I went 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:37.440 from being this little law student, hopeful grit, you know, 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.360 writing the subway in New York to getting my hair 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.480 and makeup done every day and having this you know, 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.880 this insane life and you know, getting exposed to you know, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:48.439 and in this, America does a whole lot more than that. 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:52.520 I went on a USO tour around the world to Afghanistan, Bahraine, 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:56.640 South Korea, Diego, Garcia, which is a tiny island in 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.960 the Indian Ocean, and all these other places. I visited 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.920 hundreds of children hospitals for Children's Miracle Network, um and 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.920 blah blah blah, all these things in between. But I 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.240 also played golf and I got invited to play in 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.800 all these big celebrity programs, and you know, you can 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:15.400 connect the dots and how that ended up to where 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:19.040 I am today. But at the time, I felt like 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:23.160 they did such a great job of including Miss America 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:28.160 in the pop culture landscape as a gold role model 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.640 for women, as an advocate for causes that you care about, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.840 as um, you know, somebody that can grow up and 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.040 have these really big dreams and actually achieve them. Um. 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.240 In the organization has very much changed over the last 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:44.840 seven to eight years. And there are things about it 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:46.480 that I still love, and there are things about it 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.360 that I very much uh you know, don't necessarily agree with. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.240 But what it has given me is this incredible life 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.480 and an opportunity and a platform. I wouldn't be sitting 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.559 here with you today. We're getting to do the job 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.160 that I get to do if I hadn't had those 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.559 opportunities the insane growth. Um. So that is what I 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.240 would say it can contribute to a woman's life now. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.240 There is so much about the organization to unpack, whether 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.439 it's you know, looking at it from from an image standpoint, 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.560 or how people how it what it does too if 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:17.400 you're like your mental health or how you look about 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.040 like there's there's plenty of negative stuff that I still 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:21.880 deal with on a day to day basis of just 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.880 like yourself image or dealing with bullying online or how 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.560 people would talk about you at the time, um, which 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:33.120 is something that I still deal with every single day. UM. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.080 But I'm here and I'm thriving and doing the best 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.320 that I can. So that is a very broad to 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.040 thousands of view of what the experience was like. I 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:46.560 would imagine being a young woman being in the pageant 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:51.520 world where it is competition. Um, I would imagine that 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.640 world very much parallels to junior golf world, to where 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.640 you have stage parents. I mean, I deal with that 0:14:57.880 --> 0:14:59.960 all the time. I deal with you know. I mean 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:01.480 one of the things that I always do. You know, 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.240 I'll have a young a woman or a man come in, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.960 young kids, they're you know, fift and you know they're 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.360 they're trying to play competitive golf, and I'll say, you know, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.200 tell me a little bit about your game, and the 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.320 dad asks, and the dad answers, the mom answers, and 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:19.800 the kids don't want to answer. And I always say 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.120 to the to the to the kids, whether it's a 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.360 guy or a girl, I said, why is he answering? 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.360 I'm not asking your dad what what your game is like, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.080 I'm asking you. And you can tell that there are 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.560 certain kids to where no one asks so many questions. 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.640 The mom and dad kind of run the show. The 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:39.240 mom and dad are crazy, crazy involved, over involved. And 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.280 then you can also tell, I would imagine from a 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.680 pageant sample, you can tell the girls that are doing 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.240 this because they want to do this, and they're doing 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.000 this because their mother and father wanted this. And I 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:53.360 can spot the kids in a heartbeat that like golf, 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.640 that want to be playing golf, that really really want 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.760 to do it, and you can you can just tell, 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.040 and you can see that they're doing it for their 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.440 own reasons, whatever those are, um, and not doing it 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:06.520 for the moment. Was the pageant world kind of like 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.400 that where you had this group of parents that were 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:14.160 like super pushy, super aggressive, you know, the judges. My 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.600 favorite year as I get this all the time, I 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:20.280 get the kid that wants to play competitive golf. Um, 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.880 played one year of college golf. The reason why he 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.400 played didn't play more was the coach didn't like him. Um, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.840 so he never played on the coach played favorites and 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.840 you know, um, you know hey my son. Yeah, he 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.960 used to beat Jordan's feet and Justin Thomas all the time. Sorry, 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.360 when was that? Oh when they were like nine and right? Yeah, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.200 that was like it was twenty years ago. Is the 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:47.360 pageant world as crazy as the junior golf world is? 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:52.040 So yes? So similar? You can, um, you can spot 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:53.480 it from a mile away, which I'm sure you can 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.960 also do in junior golf. And this is also a 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.280 funny parallel in my life because I played very serious 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.760 junior golf at the time when my my dad was 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:05.520 getting his fellowship done in Texas. So I know that life, 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.480 I know those parents. I have been there, um, and 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.639 my parents almost kind of were a bit like that 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.960 with golf, because you know, foreign parents are like, my 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.159 child will do this, that and the other thing, and 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.240 you will. You know, they wanted me to learn golf 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.680 because they thought it would be very important business skill, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:22.480 and then it turns into like, oh, you know, we 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.320 have to do all this with the accessories and the 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.400 lessons in la la la la um. So that can 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:31.280 evolve very quickly. Um. But in pageants you can. So 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.919 if you're genuine and like a normal person that you 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.800 want to have a lunch with or drink with people 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.680 like you, judges will, like you write, a few people 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.119 pick up on on that nice energy. But the minute 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.000 that you have that kind of put on facade or 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.240 someone else told you to say this in your interview answers, 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.160 which is very very clear you have this what you're 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.280 you're putting on. We think people want to hear a performance. 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.520 Then immediately. It's like you can spot that from a 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:04.840 mile away next a bye, and it very much indicates 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.760 inner strength and inner ability to have to have the 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.760 chops to be able to be miss America or miss 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.760 whatever banana pudding festival, which I'm sure you can also 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:16.639 find in. Does this person truly have the chops to 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.640 to play golf on a certain level beyond what mom 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.400 and dad are trying to market to me. So let's 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.359 take a quick break to thank our partner for wellness. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:27.199 You guys have heard me talk about it. I'm a 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.560 big fan of their coffee, big fan of the good stuff. 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.520 I put it in my coffee on a regular basis. 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.320 The thing I like about it, no sugars, no artificial sweeteners. 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:42.080 It's gotten me off dairy. Um, quit putting sweeteners, sugars 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.000 in just the good stuff. But I also put the 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.480 good stuff. Put a scoop of that in my coffee. 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.679 But I also put it in smoothies and take it 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:51.560 on the road with me. And the other thing that 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.720 I've been using are their energy bites. Um, I keep 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.120 them with me on the golf course. UM. A lot 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.240 of times when I'm out on tour, I don't have 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.520 a lot of time to sit and eat. So these 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.560 energy bites, a little coffee hit, a little bit of energy, um, 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.560 all the good stuff, all natural and UM. If you 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.280 haven't given those a try, check those out. They've given 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:14.399 me a special code to share with some of a 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.440 Butcher listeners. You can get off your order plus free 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.320 shipping and a free starter kit worth thirty dollars for 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.040 a limited time when you visit for Wellness dot com 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:29.720 slash podcast. That's spelled fo r w E l l 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:34.160 n E s S dot com slash podcast and enter 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.440 the code c H three at check out. It's their 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.400 best offer right now, so give it a try. They 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:45.200 even back every purchase with a sixty day money back guaranteed. 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.600 That's again the code c H three at full Wellness 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:54.320 dot com slash podcast. So now let's get back to 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:58.879 the interview. I have a golfer. Were you as a 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:00.639 kid and said you played junior? Did you play a 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.560 j g A stuff? Did you play you know, South 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:08.320 Texas stuff, North Texas stuff, San Antonio Junior Golf Association, Babby? 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.480 What was your okay? So? What was what was the 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.359 handicap when you so, when you're really playing competitive golf. 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:19.760 What ages were you? Um, let's see, I started playing, 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:25.600 uh like every almost everyday goal from age seven to 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:32.040 probably about twelve. We lack In Tara have these um 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.080 these golf clinics um all summer long. So my parents 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:36.679 would just drop me off at lock In Tara in 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:39.320 the morning and pick me up. That's where they used 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.840 to place the s the San Antonio Pig. So now 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.400 when I go back to San Antonio, which I've done 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:47.280 in the last two years as a reporter at the 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:49.960 Valero Texas Open, which is the only PGA Tour event 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:52.280 I ever went to as a kid, I stand there 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:54.479 as a reporter and I'm like, holy crap, Like what 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.640 how did life to evolve like this? This is insane? 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.159 Which is you know, put that into the rest my 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.240 book story or whatever that we talked about the beginning. Um, 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.840 But to be honest, Cloud, I don't remember exactly my 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.240 handicaps or how well I did. I remember there was 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.400 this this girl named Samantha. I don't remember her last name, 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.479 but she was always so good. She always beat me, 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.159 always always beat me. And I remember one time like 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.520 I sunk this huge punt and as a twelve year old, 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.960 I remember just like in the middle of the round, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:29.760 cheering and being so obnoxious about having finally beaten her, 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.600