WEBVTT - Butch Harmon: Masters Preview 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.600 It's the Son of a butch podcast. We come to 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.800 you every Wednesday. This week it's Masters week, and we 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.080 had him on last year, and I think we're going 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.279 to make it an annual event. Butch Arm and my 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:22.040 dad getting his takes on the twenty twenty three Masters, 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.720 and then tomorrow a bonus episode where we put out 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.840 questions the other day kind of an ass book section. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.519 But m wanted to get kind of his ideas, kind 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.159 of his thoughts on the twenty twenty three Masters, you know, 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.120 a little bit about the golf course, kind of his 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:42.080 thoughts on that, the favorites, and I think it's always 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:44.599 good to get kind of Butche's kind of take. He's 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:47.279 going to be doing TV for Sky this year. But 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.559 I mean he's been a huge part of Augusta, you know, 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.320 as a broadcaster, he's worked with players that have won there, 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.560 and then obviously having a father that has won there 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.920 in the forties. It's it's kind of in my dad's 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:03.680 DNA Augusta National and it's a special place for him. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:07.440 So let's sit back and enjoy listening to his thoughts 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:15.080 on the upcoming twenty twenty three Masters. All right, Dad, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:16.759 So we did this last year. I think we're gonna 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:21.640 make this a annual event for Augusta. What is it 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.240 about Augusta, Dad that is so I guess special? That 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.520 makes it so much different? Is it because it's the 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.400 first major championship of the year, the fact that they 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:36.240 go there every time, But it just seems like, unlike 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.800 any other major, the buzz around going to august every 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.840 year is completely different than the rest of them. Well, 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.520 first of all, it is the first one of the year. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.400 It's always been an Augusta National, the most iconic place 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:49.840 for a major championship because we've all seen it for 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.720 all these years on TV. And it's also a very 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.440 small field. I think only eighty nine players this year. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.880 So those guys cherish that invitation when they get one 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.440 because it's some place they want to be. They want 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.320 to be there this time of year. And then the 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.720 golf course, you know, the golf course is iconic, it's beautiful, 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:13.560 it changes every year. It lends itself to heroics on 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.880 the back nine. You know the old adage that the 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.320 Master's done to start until the back nine on Sunday, Well, 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:20.200 that's that's true. You know, we think about all the 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.400 great things we've seen to happen in the disasters we've 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.040 seen happen. We've seen all of that, and you tie 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.679 all that into one thing and it's just the Masters. 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:32.519 And besides that, it's the finest run event in the world, 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:34.920 not just a sporting event. There's no event in the 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.320 world run. It is properly as first class and as 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.440 good as August is. You would think that with the 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.400 fact that it's at the same golf course every year, 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.919 the fact that you know where everything, even if you've 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.280 never been there, you've you can have watched it so 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.920 many times, you would think that it would I'm not 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.200 saying would be an easy place to add to win, 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.799 but it's definitely a place that I think you can 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:02.960 become incredibly knew you're win. Would you agree, absolutely? Fuzzies 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.480 Ella was really, in modern times, the only first time 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.800 winner that's ever happened. He wanted a playoff, if you remember. 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.880 But you know there's something about the place is they 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:18.120 change something every year. You'll see the part three courses 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.000 completely different. Now they've redone the whole thing. They change 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.760 certain spots on the greens. Thirteenth tea is a new tea. 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.919 They moved it back almost forty yards. Jack Nichols has 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.960 said that he thinks the Masters is the easiest of 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.200 the four Majors to win, the reason being number one, 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.960 they invite all the former champions. They invite a lot 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.680 of the amateur winners, so you know that eliminates about 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.040 half the field, and then the next half of that 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.560 half our guys that probably aren't going to win have 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.960 never played it in major before, so then you come 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.760 down to maybe only ten or twelve guys that you 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.360 really have to battle to win. So Jack always said, yes, 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.080 it's the first Masters, but it was the easiest one 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.280 because the field was smaller and who the field is now. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.640 Having said that, the cream changes arrives to the top, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:06.840 you were just I think, what were you there about 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.480 two three months ago? I mean you got to see 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.440 the changes at thirteen DJ and both Patrick Reid and 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:15.760 Harold Barner said they were up there. Recently said there's 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:17.680 been a little bit of a change kind of to 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.080 the middle of the seventh green. They kind of raised 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.920 it up, made it not so severe. But obviously the 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:25.520 big talk this year is going to be what the 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.040 changes have been at thirteen. What did you notice, I mean, 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.200 other than that it's way the hell back there. Now, 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.440 well that's a shoot, it's narrow, it's back about forty 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.440 yards and where it was. We played in November, my 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.719 brothers and I and let's see, Tony Fein now played 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.440 in the group behind us one day, so I asked him, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.520 I said, what did you have in the thirteen? He says, 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.880 I hit a really good drive and I had two 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:48.280 or five to the front and had to hit a 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.599 four act. You know, they were hitting six and seven 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.839 irons and there over four some of them that would 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.000 go over the trees. Well, going over the trees is 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.000 out of the question, and you almost have to. You 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.800 can actually hit it just straight out right right at 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.080 the corner of the pine straw and the trees up there, 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.320 and if it draws a little, it goes down, but 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.280 it's going to be a longer shot into the green. 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.359 And that was the whole idea that they wanted to 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.280 make it where it was back to where you're you're 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:13.360 not hitting a eight or nine iron or seven iron 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.039 or a part five. They want to make it where 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.120 you have to hit a good drive. Now, if you 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:18.960 turn it, you can get it down on the flat 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.080 spot on the left but then you bring in the creek, 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:23.680 which is another problem. If you hit it in the creek, 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.440 then you're taking birdie out of the question. But it's 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:28.719 going to be still challenging. It's just going to be 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.200 a longer shot into the green. For everybody that's listening 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.040 to that hasn't been there, the difference between the way 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.120 that it's probably going to play now, even some of 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.560 the longer hitters. DJ said he didn't think that he 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.440 could cut any off. He's either going to have to 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.520 hit a three wood. But the difference for people that 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.599 haven't played there, that don't don't understand it four iron, 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.840 five iron versus going in with six, seven or eight. 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.200 What does that mean for the player, Well, it means 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.600 it may take away as many eagles as we're used 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.440 to seeing there. It'll bring in a little more disaster 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:05.320 with a creek in front of the green because as 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.960 you know that that green runs from the left side 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.160 to the right side at an angle, it's probably i'd 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.360 say fifteen to twenty yards longer from the front left 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.760 pin to the right pin because of the angle of 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.400 the green. Then you bring in the slope of the fairway, 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.720 which if you've never been there or never played there. 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.960 You have no idea how severe that slope is. And 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.960 so now you're sitting there and you're afraid to hit 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:30.640 a hook off of that slope. So you cut it 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.159 a little and you know, hit it solid and hangs 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:33.719 out to the right, the ball goes in the creek. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:35.480 So I think it's going to be more exciting. I 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.800 think we're gonna see as many more disasters as we 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.240 are are used to seeing, and it's it's going to 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.440 be interesting. It's still reachable. You know how these tour 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.440 players are. They get upset when they have to hit 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:47.920 a four or five hours and they think that's oh 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:49.640 my gosh, because they hit a four or five hourn 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:51.599 about two hundred and thirty yards. So I mean it's 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:53.880 I get the biggest kick out of listen to the 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:55.440 oh you know I had to hit a five iron 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.320 to this. Ah yeah, well back there with the three 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.560 wooden can't get their prows. So it was funny were 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.039 walking around the course this week and Slugger White. It 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:06.440 was a long time PGA tour officials sets up all 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:10.200 there's a par three on this course downhill, you know, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.600 the fifteenth hole and the you know downhill's probably gonna 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.720 play down wind and the green is really really difficult. 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.000 And in the practice rounds dead typical tour player, they're 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.320 all going up to Slugger and saying, hey, don't put 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.160 the pin over here, don't put the pin over here. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.040 And further to your point, Slugger said, you know you 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.040 don't have to aim at all these pins, right, you 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.000 don't have to go at every one of these flags. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.800 Give us some holes dead. Obviously, everybody knows the iconic 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.880 holes around Augusta National. But give me a couple holes 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.440 on the front that you think are key holes that 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.920 maybe don't get a bunch of, you know, fanfare, and 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.400 then key holes on the back that you think that 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.600 a couple holes on the front, a couple holes in 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.880 the back. You feel like if you can take advantage 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.600 of these holes, it really gives you kind of a 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.440 step up on what everybody else is doing. Well, believe 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.400 it or not, one of the most difficult holes on 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.520 the front line is the very first hole. Every year, 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:04.600 it plays almost the hardest holl. Now it's not the 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.800 longest part four the fairway is pretty wide, but it's 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.680 an anxiety thing. The guys are all anxious to get started, 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.840 and they hit bad drives, and that green can get 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.360 pretty severe with the slopes in it and stuff. So 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.440 number one is you wouldn't think of it when you 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:19.240 look at the yardage for these guys. You know, four 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.640 forty five or what is that's nothing for these guys. 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.560 But it's a difficult hole. It's a difficult starting hole. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.080 The fourth hole is a great part three, I mean, 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.200 just a wonderful print. They can stretch that out to 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.440 about two twenty five, two thirty. They can get it. 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.160 And now they have a lower tea which they will 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.559 play one day out of the four and then it's 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.720 only eight or nine nine or something. But that green, 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.559 especially around to the right over that bunker, can get 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.880 very difficult. And then the next toll. The fifth hole 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:46.840 is probably one of the hardest holes in the golf course. 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:48.719 I mean, it's a hard hole. Then moved the tea 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.080 back fifty yards a few years ago and so, and 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.280 they've built another flat spot up on the left side, 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.480 back kind of left portion of the green, which is 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:00.360 a pin. It's so hard to get to. You got 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:01.920 to take the ball up the slope. Then you got 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.760 a bunker right over the green. The fifth hole is 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.920 just really really a hard hole. The one hole. I 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:09.880 wish they would go back to the way it used 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.000 to be in the old days of seven. I think 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.760 they've made seven too long for a green that's small 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.120 because it's built to hit up a wedge or something 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.440 like that to the green, and now you hit it 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.160 down there and sometimes you can hit six iron to 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.559 the screen. It's a little windy and stuff, so you 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.480 can never the tea up and I think if they 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.280 moved the tea up and tempt them to try and 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.880 drive it, you'd see as many double bogies as you 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.560 would birdies, just because the guys would try it. I 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:36.400 think that's one of the greens if you've never been 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.160 to Augusta National the seventh green, when you actually go 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.840 up and you stand behind it, how much it's pitched 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.320 from back to front. That back portion and then those 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.520 two distinct it kind of has a little kind of 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.440 spine right in the middle. And that was one of 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.880 the things that Patrick Greed told me that they've softened 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.800 a little bit because there's two kind of distinct areas 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.679 at the bottom, both to the right and to the left. 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.120 And I just think that green has so much slope 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.400 to it, and if you get dead on the wrong 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:08.920 side of it, if you're on the left side trying 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.040 to pot all the way across to a pin that's 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.880 front right, I mean, not as a very treacherous, treacherous 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.199 green to try and navigate. Well, they have flattened a 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.000 spot out there in the back. They've taken that slope outwards, 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:24.400 not near as severe. But once again, like I said, 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.840 that green was built to hit a wedge too, and 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:28.800 guys are back there with seven and eight irons and 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.200 six irons, and then if you don't drive it down 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.400 there far enough, you're on a downhill lie to a 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.320 greenness above you. So it's it's a difficult hole compared 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:38.960 to what it was supposed to be the way it 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:40.720 was built. I would love to see him move it up, 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:42.959 just because guys would try and drive it, or try 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.120 and drive it in the right bunk in the front bunkers, 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:47.440 but it would bring in a lot more disaster. But 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.920 it is what it is, and it used to be 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.880 when you walked off the back of the sixth Green, 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.720 the tea was right there. Now you walk off the 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.640 back of the sixth Green and you go thirty forty 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.120 yards to the to the left. The golf course that 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.160 your dad won in the forties is the golf course today, 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:11.920 design wise, unrecognizable, And that is the golf course today, 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:17.640 conditions wise, the agronomy, the way that they're able to 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.240 get golf courses today. It's do you think it's polls, 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.520 I mean miles apart or do you think there's still 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.600 some similarities now? I think there's a lot of simularities. 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.319 The link has changed, But then again, equipment has changed. 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:31.360 You know what. One day, I like that they do 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.040 it Augusta National. These changes on these holds where they 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.000 add teas, they're trying to bring the hold back to 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.719 the way they're originally designed. Instead of being able to 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.200 because they drive it so far these days, instead of 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.000 being able to hit a wedge or nine iron to 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:45.920 every hole apart four, they're trying to make it where 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.360 you're back they're hitting five and six irons, which is 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.680 the way it was back in the forties and the 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:52.600 fifties and the sixties. And I think they've done a 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.000 really good job of that. Now the players are so 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.959 much better than today than they were because of equipment reasons. 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.680 The ball goes further, doesn't curve as much. So I 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.280 think they're they're trying to change these holes to make 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.679 them where it's just not a drive in a wedge. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.640 You're driving a nine iron driving iron where we have 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.120 to hit a four or five or six iron. I 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.520 think the thing that I'm marvel at the last few 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.600 years is how well Bernhard language has played there. He's 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.360 six or five years old. Guy made the cut. I 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.840 mean he's hitting Highbreds and woods and the holes guys 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.400 whore hitting eight irons on. It's pretty impressive when you 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:32.959 think about it. You've been going to Augusta basically your 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:37.440 whole life. You've helped Tiger Woods win around there. You've 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:41.160 helped Phil Nicholson went around there. You helped grag as 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.840 much as you can't help anybody have a chance to 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.640 win there. So the obvious question, Dad, what is it? 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.640 What does it take from a game standpoint? But what 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.720 does it take from a mental standpoint? Well, local knowledge 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.120 is use huge it Augusta, because you're very seldom shooted 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.079 a flat where they put the pins and the slopes 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.160 and these greens. If the pins over here in the left, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.400 you might slope hit their shot to the right to 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:07.400 catch the slope to go down there. We see it 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:09.560 on sixteen all the time on Sunday with that back 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.599 left pin there. How they shoot it up into the 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.480 middle of the green and use the slope to bring 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.160 it down where there's a lot of holes like that. 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.640 It's why first timer is very seldom contend to win 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.920 there because there's so much local knowledge involved. Then the 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.400 pitching around the green is very difficult those areas, and 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.880 there's a lot of runoff slope. The areas around the 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:31.679 greens is cut so firmly and so tight, and then 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.160 you're pitching into the green that you have to change 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:35.960 and you're on a little uphill eye most of the 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.720 time you're changing the way you pitch balls. So it 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.000 takes a lot of not only local knowledge, but knowledge 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.439 on how to play some of these shots and definitely 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.559 how to play some of the holes. Do you feel 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:52.480 like it's a golf course set ask questions of your 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:58.480 game or as much as ask questions of your mental thinking, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:03.199 because it always teams like there are shots that if 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:05.480 you've watched there a long time, if you've been there 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.440 a long time, when you're commentating like you are, players 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.679 will hit it in places and everybody sitting around you 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.720 will go, he's making bogey. Now, well, there's a lot 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:17.480 of that out there, there's no doubt. That's why I 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.680 say local knowledge is so important. The examination is do 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.440 you have control if you can drive the ball good 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.240 around and got to of course obviously gets a little easier, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.440 especially the par fives, But do you have total control 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.040 of your iron game? Meaning do you have control of 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.880 the distance you're hitting every shot. One of the things 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.560 that I used to think set Tiger aside from everybody 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.200 else is when you watched him play, how many times 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.960 do you hit the ball exactly pin high, exactly pin? 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.040 I mean he had total control of his iron game 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.800 going into these greens, and they're not easy greens to 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.760 get the ball close to. They're big enough where they're 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.840 easy to hit, but you can get in some areas 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.040 where it's impossible to tu punch. So I think if 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.120 you have control of your iron game and you're driving 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.800 the ball pretty well, you're gonna have good chance there. 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.440 The other thing is we always say we tell guys that, Okay, 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:06.360 I used to tell my paryers, I got one hundred. 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:08.720 If you don't three pot one green seventy two holes. 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.000 I think tiger Wood is the only one ever did it, 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:17.720 which is so for everyone listening that hasn't played there, 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.400 or if they haven't been there. The test of the greens, 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.800 I mean some of the greens, I mean it's it's 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.400 controversial to say, but some of the greens there are 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.080 putting it nicely, would say they are severe. The sixth green, 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:38.240 the fifth green, the fourteenth green. But the test that 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.480 the greens demand of you as a potter, what do 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.040 you feel like those are? Well, first of all, you 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:46.960 have to have tremendous field because you're going to have 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:51.120 long pots, and these greens are normally around thirteen and 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.040 a half on the step meter. And then you put 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:54.680 the slopes in there on some of them and they 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.200 just get brutal. So you've got a number one, put 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.000 your second shot in the right place where you can 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.640 avoid some of these areas. But I think you look 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.040 at it and the greens have pretty much been the 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.720 same to the whole existence. They just because of agronomy, 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.480 they've gotten faster and stuff like that. You know, maybe 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.360 if you've built that those greens today on some courses, 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.200 some people would say, no, that's ridiculous, it's too severe. 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.440 But it's the Masters, It's Augusta National. It's always been 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.080 that way. That's part of what it is there, and 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.360 it's part of a big part that the players have 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.000 to learn how to conquer. In the practice rounds, they 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.680 literally have to spend a lot of time hitting long 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.800 pots across the greens to get the feeling of the slopes, 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.000 get the feeling of the speed a guy. You know, 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:37.840 first of all, you can say, if you don't put good, 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:39.880 you're not going to win a tournament anyway. But to 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.640 win the Masters, you have to really put good. Jack 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.479 Nicholas won there. I mean, he and Tiger have dominated 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.320 there so much. Do you feel like they play a 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:53.600 similar type of game mentally in that they have always 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:58.280 been willing to let everybody else beat themselves as opposed 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.040 to I mean, when Tiger won in nineteen on Sunday, 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.760 he makes one birdie all day long. You know that, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.560 everybody knows that. You know, he watched everybody in front 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.119 of him on twelve rinse it into the water and 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.800 make double, and he aimed left of the green there 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:15.320 and just dumped it to the middle of the green 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.080 and got out of there. Jack had that type of 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.399 ability to control his iron shots, but also mentally, Jack 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.840 talked a lot about letting everyone else beat them. I 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:32.040 think more so than any major we see, Augusta forces 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:36.119 you in almost it wants you to beat yourself mentally, 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.040 to get ahead of yourself, to not stay in the moment. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.359 Would you agree, Oh, definitely. And first of all, we're 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.600 talking about two greatest players that have ever played, Jack 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.640 Nichols and Tiger Woods, and they are similar in that regard, 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.080 as both of them are two of the best mental 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.320 strengths they have, and the ability to just dump the 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.080 ball in the middle of the green when you have 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.800 to and not get caught up in the little tricks 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.719 around Augusta where they can put the pins where if 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.840 you miss it on the wrong side, you almost have 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:03.760 no chance of getting up and down. And you have 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.240 to know all that when you play. And those two 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.600 were the best in the world, the best players, the 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.320 best thinkers, the best putter's mentally stronger than anyone else. 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.760 The difference between Jack and Tiger was Jack would be 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.199 content to win by one or two shots. If he 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.200 had the lead going out on Sunday, He's going to 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:21.879 dump the ball in the middle of the green or 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.480 only take on pins that he has a chance because 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.639 if he's leading, he knew that you had to do 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:28.720 something crazy to come get him. And then if you 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.959 get up there, then he takes some chances and stuff. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.359 Tiger just goes out and wants to tear the golf 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.520 course apart. I mean, he can play conservatively, even though 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.159 it doesn't look like it's conservative, because it's a conservative 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.000 for him because he's so aggressive. But he's also smart 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.160 enough and he knows that place so well. He knows 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:47.520 how to get around there, and that's the big key 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:52.080 watching these guys get around this course. So obviously Tiger's 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.080 playing what do we expect from him? And we haven't 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.240 seen him a lot. We haven't seen him play a lot. 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:02.640 When we have seen him play, it's it's not what 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.480 we're used to seeing. What kind of chances do you 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.399 give tar I mean, Hank Kney, I've listened to him 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.560 on his podcast. Hank thinks that Augusta is one of 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:15.840 the chances Tiger has to win not only another tournament, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.080