Speaker 1: Welcome to the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Welcome to the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Shane Bacon and um AS for everybody.
Speaker 1: Been a very um down week, strange week, depressing for society,
Speaker 1: for our country, and I wasn't gonna do a podcast
Speaker 1: this week. I I do get a grip with Max Homa.
Speaker 1: We barely post one on Monday. We didn't really know
Speaker 1: what to say. A couple of guys, you know, speaking
Speaker 1: speaking just from our heart is all we could really
Speaker 1: do there. And uh and I reached out to Damon Hack,
Speaker 1: a golf channel, a friend of mine and and somebody
Speaker 1: that posted an unbelievable piece this week on golf channel
Speaker 1: dot com that I urge you to read. Will Well,
Speaker 1: we'll post that on on social media along with the
Speaker 1: link to this podcast if you haven't had that yet
Speaker 1: or you hadn't seen it. And Damon was kind enough
Speaker 1: to join me, and we just had a conversation about
Speaker 1: you know, what's going on and what we can do
Speaker 1: and and golf and and moving forward and moving upward.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like not just forward, moving upward
Speaker 1: as a society. Um AS a golfer, as golf fans,
Speaker 1: just trying to improve as people, as listeners, as humans,
Speaker 1: as friends, as strangers, all the things we can try
Speaker 1: to do to be better. So I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed talking to them. I always enjoy it obviously.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a pretty heavy conversation because it's a
Speaker 1: heavy time right now, and I think heavy conversations are needed.
Speaker 1: And and just all I ask for you, listener, friend
Speaker 1: of mine, person that I respect because you downloaded this podcast,
Speaker 1: I'll ask for you is if there's things in your
Speaker 1: life that you're doing that you don't love. There's stuff
Speaker 1: you've said, or jokes you've made, comments, all of those things. Listen,
Speaker 1: those are in the past, and and there's nothing you
Speaker 1: can do about them. All I ask in all errorges
Speaker 1: that you try to change those things that maybe you
Speaker 1: aren't happy about with yourself or maybe you know, disrespect
Speaker 1: or make people uncomfortable. And that's all we can do
Speaker 1: moving forward, is just trying to improve his people. You know,
Speaker 1: I always go back to the Einstein quote, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, what's the definition of insanity? It's doing the
Speaker 1: same thing over and over again and expecting a different
Speaker 1: result if if that's who you are, if you're a
Speaker 1: person that that feels like they're on a track they
Speaker 1: don't like, all I say is just make changes. And
Speaker 1: if the changes mean you lose friends, or maybe your
Speaker 1: golf groups not the same, or you're gonna get yelled
Speaker 1: at by certain people on social media, for goodness sakes,
Speaker 1: you know, God forbid. I just say, those uncomfortable moments
Speaker 1: will be worth it when you get to a point
Speaker 1: where you're happier with who you are and where you
Speaker 1: are in society and how you feel about yourself. And
Speaker 1: I've had to do that the last six seven eight
Speaker 1: months personally about some things. And you know, you there
Speaker 1: are moments as a narcissist where being proud of yourself
Speaker 1: is hard to do and uh, and there's been some
Speaker 1: moments where I felt proud of the changes I've made
Speaker 1: about myself and this is a great time to do that.
Speaker 1: So that's all for me. I I want to get
Speaker 1: to Damon as soon as possible. Just the last thing,
Speaker 1: Damon was on Shack Jeff Shackford's podcast, The Shack Show,
Speaker 1: also a part of My Heart and my Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and i Heart Network. Um so listen to that if
Speaker 1: you can, because they're they're conversation, they've worked together for
Speaker 1: a long time. I just felt like it was as
Speaker 1: a very lovely conversation. It was a powerful conversation. And uh,
Speaker 1: and I feel like if you if you're gonna listen
Speaker 1: to this and like this, I urge you to go
Speaker 1: listen to that podcast as well. And uh, and let's
Speaker 1: do it. Let's get to Damon and we welcome back
Speaker 1: into the clubhouse Damon Hack of Golf Channel Morning Drive.
Speaker 1: You guys all know, Damon he penned a piece this week,
Speaker 1: a very impactful piece on golf channel dot com titled
Speaker 1: Can I Be Both Thankful and Horrified? And Damon, it
Speaker 1: was a piece that you know, universally I can only imagine,
Speaker 1: you know, universally massively accepted. And I know you've mentioned
Speaker 1: a few times, I've I've listened to a couple of
Speaker 1: things you've done over the last few days. Just how
Speaker 1: many people have reached out to you about the piece
Speaker 1: you wrote. Used to be a writer, man, this is
Speaker 1: what you used to do all the time. Now you're
Speaker 1: on TV US TV folks, we don't write that much anymore. Um,
Speaker 1: How was it to to sit down and and why
Speaker 1: were you so inclined to put something up kind of
Speaker 1: about some personal stuff that you've gone through throughout your
Speaker 1: journey in this sport, in and around golf. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: don't write much anymore, Shane, And it's it's always great
Speaker 1: to visit with you when when we have some time.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, I was kind of moping around
Speaker 1: the house, to be honest with you, I've been watching
Speaker 1: some of the coverage in the last week and a
Speaker 1: half about the murder of George Floyd and it's just
Speaker 1: it kind of hit me and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going on television while this is going on, and
Speaker 1: I'm smiling and enjoying my job in my life, but
Speaker 1: but there's just a pardon right now that is absolutely
Speaker 1: broken and hired of a storyline that's happening in our country.
Speaker 1: And my wife said, well, why don't you write? And
Speaker 1: so the first thing I did was like, I didn't
Speaker 1: Instagram post that I wrote these words down. And I
Speaker 1: don't usually delve into anything, you know, beyond the ropes.
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, Tiger and Phil and the Shambo
Speaker 1: and Rory, and that's kind of been it for me,
Speaker 1: But I just I couldn't keep doing what I've been
Speaker 1: doing and be true to myself or the viewer for
Speaker 1: that matter. So I attend this little Instagram post and
Speaker 1: next thing, you know, you know, my Folks and Golf channel.
Speaker 1: Some colleagues were like, why don't you write a longer piece?
Speaker 1: Can you do you mind expanding that for for dot com?
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm sure I'll do it. That's fine,
Speaker 1: and um it was really appreciative of the comments I
Speaker 1: got on Instagram page first of all, and then um comments.
Speaker 1: I received phone calls from Folk seven talked to you
Speaker 1: for twenty years, nice notes from people who said, man,
Speaker 1: I never would have known you got pulled over a
Speaker 1: couple of times for doing nothing, that Christ in front
Speaker 1: of your house, for standing in front of it. Um,
Speaker 1: all true, all painful, and that that that pain, those
Speaker 1: memories were just stirred up. So I'm watching a a
Speaker 1: grown man, uh you know, be choked out of his life, um,
Speaker 1: on television. And you know, but for being on television.
Speaker 1: You know, I go jogging in a predominantly white neighborhood.
Speaker 1: I've been in elevators with strangers and seeing the looks
Speaker 1: on faces and um, I got a bald head, and
Speaker 1: and stereotypes are are deep seated in our country, so
Speaker 1: I know what looks of discomfort looked like. Um, I
Speaker 1: tighten up. If I ever get pulled over for any reason,
Speaker 1: if even if there's a cop driving behind me, I
Speaker 1: get I get nervous and tight. And this is having
Speaker 1: a cousin who's retired FBI and my wife's cousin is
Speaker 1: active with the n y p D. So it's just
Speaker 1: that just really a collision of emotions. I want that
Speaker 1: put tend to paper. I didn't expect the response that
Speaker 1: it's received, but I'm glad it's had the response that
Speaker 1: it's received. Yeah, it's something you wrote in the piece,
Speaker 1: and it it's something that I've continued to think about
Speaker 1: over the last few days since I read it, and
Speaker 1: and it's it's something a different experience that I had
Speaker 1: about something that was very similar. You said you don't
Speaker 1: want to talk to your boys about the same thing
Speaker 1: that your dad talked to you about. My buddy of
Speaker 1: mine had made kind of a I guess, for lack
Speaker 1: of a better term, kind of a woke playlist. He
Speaker 1: makes playlists all the time and sends him to friends
Speaker 1: and he made a playlist of just you know, some songs.
Speaker 1: Is as we all kind of sit around wondering, you know,
Speaker 1: what the hell we can do? You know, he just
Speaker 1: sent a thing out to some friends and it was
Speaker 1: some songs about you know, I mean, just you know,
Speaker 1: the you know, the common song from the movie. And
Speaker 1: there was a lot of those types of songs, and
Speaker 1: there was some Tupac on it. And as I was
Speaker 1: listening to the music, I was I was hiking the
Speaker 1: other day listen to this playlist, and I was shocked
Speaker 1: at how similar a song from Tupac and what the
Speaker 1: early nineties sounds like all of us now in two
Speaker 1: thousand and twenty. And it goes back to your point.
Speaker 1: You're speaking to your sons about the same stuff you
Speaker 1: got talked to about when you were a child, and
Speaker 1: you're two years away from being fifty years old. I
Speaker 1: just feel like, you know, my level of frustration with
Speaker 1: all this just you know, it has continued. I've been
Speaker 1: very frustrated with the golf world over the last little bit. Anyway.
Speaker 1: I just feel like nothing really changes and and it
Speaker 1: and it feels a little bit like avoid at times
Speaker 1: in and around golf and we'll dive into that in
Speaker 1: a little bit. But you know, when how do you
Speaker 1: not get frustrated? How do you not sit there and
Speaker 1: go why why do I have to keep doing these things,
Speaker 1: keep saying the same stuff over and over and over again,
Speaker 1: if nothing will ever change, And how do you find
Speaker 1: hope in all of this that maybe see changes in
Speaker 1: the future. Well, I am frush traded. Um. I'm also
Speaker 1: mystified that I was sitting around the dinner table with
Speaker 1: my wife and kids, and my wife actually initiated. My
Speaker 1: wife from Hong Kong. Um, so we are, you know,
Speaker 1: your typical twenty one century blended multicultural family, and my
Speaker 1: wife's trying to explain, you know, this is what your
Speaker 1: dad and his people have gone through. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: we're extremely blessed and and and thankful for the gifts
Speaker 1: we have, but there is president prejudice and racism in
Speaker 1: the world. And I literally I probably said just a
Speaker 1: few words. My wife did most of the topic. I
Speaker 1: suddenly almost it was like an out of body experience
Speaker 1: of like, wait a second, this this is so familiar.
Speaker 1: But here I am almost fifty, So I'm kind of
Speaker 1: you know, you start thinking about mortality and and and
Speaker 1: where your planet is in your country and your town,
Speaker 1: and I just was like, wow, I've lived probably more
Speaker 1: than half my life and I'm having this conversation with
Speaker 1: my kid that my dad ha would be and it's just,
Speaker 1: it's just And this was before I wrote the story,
Speaker 1: and I just was I was depressed. I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: here I am joyful, um happy that I'm doing the
Speaker 1: job I love. I would not want to come off
Speaker 1: as being perceived as a whiner or a complainer, because
Speaker 1: I'm not, but that my soul, something inside of me says,
Speaker 1: you know what, You're not completely free, You're not completely
Speaker 1: able to be yourself because of this baggage from our country.
Speaker 1: And but what gives me hope because I'm an optimist
Speaker 1: by nature. But even beyond that, I've received calls from
Speaker 1: people at the U. S g A and text messages
Speaker 1: from the PG of America PG two. Like I said
Speaker 1: that there are people that want to help. What the
Speaker 1: recipe is, Uh, that's that's gonna be hard, But I
Speaker 1: know it's gonna be heavy lifting, dirty fingernails, uncomfortable conversations,
Speaker 1: and really getting down into some tough topics to figure
Speaker 1: out how to address things that are systemic, that are
Speaker 1: embarrassing I think for our country, and that a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't want to talk about and they're like, hey,
Speaker 1: I didn't I have nothing to do with this. But
Speaker 1: I think the time for being comfortably naive and ignorant
Speaker 1: is over. And I think that thankfully, it feels like
Speaker 1: a multicultural um issue and not a black issue. I
Speaker 1: think if you look at the protests and the conversations,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's because of COVID nineteen and most people
Speaker 1: are at home anyway, that people are having some really
Speaker 1: deep conversations, and I'm at least hopeful and happy that
Speaker 1: that's happening. Yeah, I mean, you are someone that's going
Speaker 1: to get approached when something like this happens. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're you're a black man that is on one of
Speaker 1: the most recognizable golf shows out there. I mean, I
Speaker 1: mean a Morning Drive is on TVs and pro shops
Speaker 1: and all around golf fans, you know, living rooms every morning.
Speaker 1: You know, throughout the week when you see these things,
Speaker 1: you know, these horrific things happen, and you know that
Speaker 1: at some point you're gonna start getting requests by media
Speaker 1: and by people like me. You know, Hey, do you
Speaker 1: mind coming on the podcast and talking and and and damon,
Speaker 1: it's such a limited group. I mean, you think about Tiger, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, Tiger is a guy that I mean I
Speaker 1: noticed there was a there was an article on golf
Speaker 1: channel dot com and on June one, and it was
Speaker 1: it was a question why Tiger hadn't spoke up yet.
Speaker 1: I think Tiger that day posted something about it. But
Speaker 1: we're always looking for answers from people that went through
Speaker 1: experiences or have gone through these experiences. I think about
Speaker 1: Dr Fauci during coronavirus. You know, if you're an expert
Speaker 1: of the viruses at that time, you're probably phone is
Speaker 1: ringing off the hook, right, I mean you're the guy
Speaker 1: or the woman that's getting approached to maybe help somebody
Speaker 1: try to understand this. What's that burden like for you?
Speaker 1: Knowing that when things like this happened, when race comes up,
Speaker 1: when a huge race issue blows up in our country
Speaker 1: and now and around the world, you know that you're
Speaker 1: going to be a sounding board. You're gonna be a
Speaker 1: voice that people are gonna want to listen to, that
Speaker 1: we're gonna want to hear from, and hopefully they're gonna
Speaker 1: get some answers from because that's that's that's a huge burden. Damon.
Speaker 1: It's exhausting, Shane, That's what it is. Um And it's
Speaker 1: not the only time that this happens, whether it's being
Speaker 1: the only black kid in your school or in your
Speaker 1: you know, newspaper or whatever, you know, graduate school. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's exhausting. And it's been at least nice
Speaker 1: to share the load with some other minorities in our
Speaker 1: game and knowing that they have dealt with this their
Speaker 1: whole lives that are dealing with it now. So part
Speaker 1: of me is thankful that I can speak to it,
Speaker 1: that I at least have experience and a platform to
Speaker 1: speak and share. But it is exhausting, and I think
Speaker 1: that it's unfair to expect black people to figure out
Speaker 1: a problem that is an American problem. I do think
Speaker 1: that it's going to take a collective effort. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna take deep pockets and people who are invested
Speaker 1: in this game, both from a financial standpoint and an
Speaker 1: emotional standpoint, to say this is a problem. Uh, some
Speaker 1: of my fellow American citizens are in pain and anguish
Speaker 1: over the state of this country. And that you can
Speaker 1: love your country and be a patriot and have questions
Speaker 1: and problems with the way things are going. And just
Speaker 1: because you know, lebron is, you know, wealthy, and Tiger
Speaker 1: is tiger, and Barack Obama has been elected and these
Speaker 1: are all remarkable strides that our country has made, does
Speaker 1: not mean that there's there's room to grow and a
Speaker 1: long way to go. And I just think without assigning
Speaker 1: assigning blame to to, you know, the current crop of
Speaker 1: people that I might say, hey, I didn't you know
Speaker 1: owned no slaves, um, never use the N word. I'm
Speaker 1: nice to everybody. Well, that's that's wonderful. But for this
Speaker 1: to be rectified, it's gonna take some people that are
Speaker 1: maybe not quite aware of the situations. Maybe it's gonna
Speaker 1: take doing some research on your own, reading books on
Speaker 1: your own. Read The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein,
Speaker 1: pick up Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers Watch by Ava
Speaker 1: du Verney. I mean, there's a lot of information out there.
Speaker 1: I know people that just don't want to talk about race,
Speaker 1: and and I think it's, hey, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: see race everybody. I fee everybody the same. Well, I
Speaker 1: do want people to see race. It's not it's not
Speaker 1: it's not working out this way with us not seeing race.
Speaker 1: I think we have to see it, address it and
Speaker 1: make things better. Yeah, and and and you know, Damon,
Speaker 1: it is you and I in the golf world. You know,
Speaker 1: we do live in a fairly conservative, you know, very white,
Speaker 1: very male sport. I mean, that's what golf is. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can only imagine what your life was like first
Speaker 1: starting out writing about this sport, you know, being in
Speaker 1: a press ton I mean, were you the only African
Speaker 1: American there? I mean, was there anybody else of color
Speaker 1: doing the job you were doing? You know? I mean
Speaker 1: I'm I'm guessing probably not, or maybe one or two
Speaker 1: other people in the room. I mean, that's that's intimidating
Speaker 1: just to begin with, right it is, I mean, thankfully,
Speaker 1: you know, there are some pioneers like Pete McDaniel, Cliff
Speaker 1: Brown from Golf Digest in the New York Times respectively,
Speaker 1: Forrell Evans, who um was an editor at Sports Illustrated
Speaker 1: and occasionally would be on the scene at golf tournaments.
Speaker 1: But you're talking about two or three, you know, we're
Speaker 1: talking height of the Tiger era. You know, they're hundreds
Speaker 1: and hundreds of hundreds to have three or four African
Speaker 1: Americans in a press room of five hundred or or
Speaker 1: seven hundred fifty at a US open you get to
Speaker 1: pick to um. So yeah, I remember having to turn
Speaker 1: my credential around a couple of times, make sure that
Speaker 1: the security guard knows, Hey, that's me. I'm legit. I'm
Speaker 1: where I'm supposed to be. UM. But you know what
Speaker 1: I've I've I've you know, worked hard. I've written the
Speaker 1: stories and and and told the stories on TV now
Speaker 1: and I feel like I feel like I'm okay, like
Speaker 1: I've earned my keeping the game. It's fine. I don't
Speaker 1: have to prove that I know about this game and
Speaker 1: I've covered it and uh and have loved it and
Speaker 1: given it the respect and appreciation that it deserves. For me,
Speaker 1: it's about It's about the community from which not even
Speaker 1: that I necessarily came from, but my cousins, my parents,
Speaker 1: people that I know it's not enough for. People said, well,
Speaker 1: Damon has made it, so why can any black person
Speaker 1: made it? You know. It's like it's like that's my
Speaker 1: parents with the Compton High School uh and moved me
Speaker 1: to the San Fernando Valley, which was not Compton, which
Speaker 1: was much more affluent. Both my parents, you know, dual
Speaker 1: degree holding, um educated, you know, tough disciplinarians who said,
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna do things the right way. But
Speaker 1: I'm as an outlier in my own family and outlier.
Speaker 1: I have cousins who or who's who's experienced is much
Speaker 1: more traditional in the African American sense of struggle in
Speaker 1: our city, UM kind of bumping up against pillars and
Speaker 1: different aspects of our society that are systemic and that
Speaker 1: are hard to address. So this isn't about like me
Speaker 1: looking for any specipathy, but it's about me sharing my
Speaker 1: personal truths in my my background and trying to find solutions.
Speaker 1: It feels like it's a big task. It feels like
Speaker 1: it's multi layered, multi textured, and and that it has
Speaker 1: to be multicultural in the end. And I think it's
Speaker 1: it's it's important. You know, I mentioned the article about
Speaker 1: Tiger not speaking up. I mean, I do think we
Speaker 1: are now to a point where it's as you said earlier,
Speaker 1: it's important to be uncomfortable. It's something that I battled
Speaker 1: with personally Damon a lot over the last few years.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mentioned not loving golf like I once did,
Speaker 1: and I think it's because, you know, I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: social media is a horrible place to begin with. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna I'm not I'm not. I'm not gonna say
Speaker 1: everything in this world is the same as social For
Speaker 1: goodness sakes, I don't think anybody should ever do that.
Speaker 1: I've actually taken a step away from social lafter the
Speaker 1: last couple of months, and let me just tell you,
Speaker 1: way happier. Like I believe the correlation there, but you know,
Speaker 1: I do think that personally for me, and I want
Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts here. You know, I I feel
Speaker 1: and I felt at times that there were things I
Speaker 1: wanted to say, there were things I wanted to support,
Speaker 1: you know, something like Black Lives Matter, for instance, and
Speaker 1: I felt really uncomfortable a putting something out there to
Speaker 1: the world about that and be understanding that there were
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of those really tough guys
Speaker 1: social media people that we're going to yell at me
Speaker 1: and curse at me. And again, I mean, what does
Speaker 1: it matter to me? Right? I mean? What? Why? Why
Speaker 1: am I scared of this? But I am scared. I
Speaker 1: am scared of what's gonna come from that? And you know,
Speaker 1: one of my commitments over the last week is I
Speaker 1: can't be scared of supporting people I want to support,
Speaker 1: and I believe I should support ideas I want to support,
Speaker 1: and also the other thing I want to do, and
Speaker 1: and and again, I don't know if this is right
Speaker 1: or not. This is why I wanted to have you on.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to ask you some questions. Is the
Speaker 1: people that yell, the people that cuss, the people that
Speaker 1: come after me and say horrible stuff because I posted
Speaker 1: a black Lives Matter hat, I want to talk to
Speaker 1: the people. I don't want to avoid them. I want
Speaker 1: to discuss it. You know. I want to explain that
Speaker 1: saying black lives matter doesn't mean other lives don't matter.
Speaker 1: It's a focus on on a race and a people
Speaker 1: that have been oppressed for hundreds of years, and it's
Speaker 1: it's giving them, it's it's supporting their movement. That's the
Speaker 1: idea here. It's not saying I don't care about white
Speaker 1: people or I don't care about police officers. It's that
Speaker 1: right now, black lives you know, statistically do all the
Speaker 1: work and all the dive in into online. You want
Speaker 1: to do. Life isn't the same and that's screwed up
Speaker 1: and that sucks. And so it's on me, and it's
Speaker 1: on you know, some of these golfers you saw, you know,
Speaker 1: Justin Thomas, guys like that, they were posting, you know,
Speaker 1: blackout Tuesday. They were joining in. I'm not sure that
Speaker 1: would have happened ten years ago, Damon and and and
Speaker 1: at least the conversation. It's not just on you, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not just let's get Damon Hack on the phone
Speaker 1: to talk about this for three minutes in the B block.
Speaker 1: It's on white people and white women and you know,
Speaker 1: Asian Americans. It's on everybody to support a group of
Speaker 1: people that are fed up with the way things are
Speaker 1: and be they want life to change, and hopefully this
Speaker 1: is the moment that it does. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: talked to Cheyenne Woods about this, and she says she
Speaker 1: hopes this isn't a moment, that it's a movement, and
Speaker 1: it does feel that way. And I've been trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, like why, And I'm happy that Justin Thomas,
Speaker 1: Ricky Fowler Brooks kept up participating in that blackout Tuesday.
Speaker 1: And I was saddened by some of the negative comments,
Speaker 1: and I think you can go down a rabbit hole
Speaker 1: trying to go back and forth on social media. But
Speaker 1: my thought is that maybe these are these are young
Speaker 1: men of different generation, a younger generation than I am.
Speaker 1: They've interacted with the Steph Curry's and the Andrea Buddallas
Speaker 1: and Larry Fitzgerald's, other athletes who absolutely adore the game
Speaker 1: of golf. So I feel like it was a kinship there.
Speaker 1: But it's going to take. It's going to take the
Speaker 1: Shane Bacon's and the Justin Thomass and the Brooks kept
Speaker 1: us and the Ricky's, And I think it's it's important
Speaker 1: because it's it's a it's a heavy stone for for
Speaker 1: you know, the African American community to feel like this
Speaker 1: is all up to us. Um. I think it would
Speaker 1: get more attention, more traction, more eyeballs if if there
Speaker 1: were allies that are uncomfortable but that want to learn
Speaker 1: and want to know and want to at least have
Speaker 1: a conversation. For me, it's not even so much that
Speaker 1: Shane Bacon you come up with a solution and then
Speaker 1: j T you come over this and I'm just glad
Speaker 1: to have you listening and and and having your empathy
Speaker 1: and want to learn. I mean, these are these are
Speaker 1: hard questions, and these are questions for obviously sociologists and
Speaker 1: historians and others to have to really delve into. But
Speaker 1: just having the ear of of people. And that's why
Speaker 1: you know, I was if I was depressed a week ago,
Speaker 1: I'm more optimistic now because and maybe it's because people
Speaker 1: see me on TV. I feel like I'm who I
Speaker 1: am on off the air, it doesn't matter. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to be the same every day. And I've been actually
Speaker 1: uplifted by viewers, even those who said I had no idea.
Speaker 1: I've been a little surprised that people would be surprised
Speaker 1: that I've been pulled over and frisked. That's that's that's
Speaker 1: you know, I was a little surprised, But that's okay. Um,
Speaker 1: I hear people think game and I'm surprised you went
Speaker 1: through those things. I'm more happy and optimistic that folks said.
Speaker 1: I don't like that. Obviously hate what happened to George Floyd.
Speaker 1: I don't like what has happened to others in the
Speaker 1: African American community, to fellow American citizens. I mean that
Speaker 1: that's what that's These are fellow Americans, my fellow Americans.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are fellow Americans. And and it's if
Speaker 1: it's important enough to to have those complex and hard
Speaker 1: to find answers in conversations, I still think it's worth it,
Speaker 1: and it's at least a start. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think I think a lot about Augusta National. I mean
Speaker 1: Augusta National hosts the most popular golf tournament in the
Speaker 1: world each and every year, and one of the most
Speaker 1: popular sporting events in the world each and every year.
Speaker 1: And while two thousand twelve, again two thousand twelve, that's
Speaker 1: not that long ago, was way too late to admit
Speaker 1: a woman member for the first time. Now, you know
Speaker 1: what is this year three of the year two of
Speaker 1: the Women's Amateur And you know, I bet your first
Speaker 1: year covering the Masters, you probably never in a in
Speaker 1: your wildest dreams, thought you'd see, you know, a female
Speaker 1: golf tournament happening on the grounds of Augusta Nationals. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, there there are people and organizations trying to change.
Speaker 1: The one thing I have noticed in and and I
Speaker 1: was wondering about this with you, is you know, you
Speaker 1: write this piece for golf Channel dot com. Do you
Speaker 1: do you feel like in tw a you would have
Speaker 1: felt comfortable doing that and be you would have felt
Speaker 1: the backing that you got from the company, the co
Speaker 1: workers and on and on. Because I am feeling that
Speaker 1: movement almost as much as I am from the people.
Speaker 1: Is that companies seem like they're going, we've got to
Speaker 1: step up. And I think that's very, very important, because
Speaker 1: you know, companies drive business, they drive discourse, they drive
Speaker 1: conversation a lot of the time, probably more than we know.
Speaker 1: And it feels like, you know, Adidas joining in on
Speaker 1: the Nike campaign they came out last week. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're brand sure, but you know, these are steps. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are steps in a direction that that does seem
Speaker 1: like again, there's a little bit of light there, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I would have written this five
Speaker 1: years ago. Obviously, we've had situations that Trayvon Martin happened
Speaker 1: just before I moved to to Orlando from New York. Um,
Speaker 1: and I didn't really write about it. I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't really I didn't write about it then. Um, when
Speaker 1: I worked at Sports Illustrated, I was actually pleasantly surprised
Speaker 1: that no one stopped me providing this piece and said, well,
Speaker 1: it was a little too hot, this is a little
Speaker 1: too a sensitive right now. I have felt support from
Speaker 1: the folks at NBC and Golf Channel for letting me
Speaker 1: express myself. After all, it was the folks that that said,
Speaker 1: you have to be yourself when you're on TV. Can't
Speaker 1: be somebody else. You have to be you. The viewer
Speaker 1: will see it, the viewer will know it. And I
Speaker 1: just said, well, I'm gonna be myself. I have to
Speaker 1: be able to express myself. And I've been just I've
Speaker 1: been really surprised that at the positive reaction, and it
Speaker 1: makes me feel like folks want to make a difference.
Speaker 1: And whether it's you know that the question is, okay,
Speaker 1: so what do you do? Um? Is it going to
Speaker 1: the inner city and bringing a hundred kids to to
Speaker 1: the Bay Hill Tournament? Um? Is it systemic? Is it?
Speaker 1: You know, you know, education from K through twelve? Is
Speaker 1: it that? Is it? Is it supporting black business? Is
Speaker 1: it calling your local police department and finding out if
Speaker 1: they have body camsh is it? You know? Is it
Speaker 1: conversations with the handful of of African American CEOs there's
Speaker 1: are four in the in the fortune may be over
Speaker 1: stating that that number, but there's a lot. There's a
Speaker 1: lot that probably needs to be done. It's going to
Speaker 1: take a multifaceted approach, but I do think that there
Speaker 1: are people of all stripes that want to address this,
Speaker 1: especially in golf, which unlet's it's it's got exclusionary dn A. Um,
Speaker 1: it just does. It's come a long way. Like gosh,
Speaker 1: the the members that Augusta as you mentioned, the drive
Speaker 1: ship and pot and the the women's amateur those are
Speaker 1: things that I when they're do in fathoms twenty years ago,
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, and those are important steps and it
Speaker 1: just shows that there needs to be more to help
Speaker 1: make the systemic and sustained the difference. And I feel
Speaker 1: like the governing bodies and the folks that have you know,
Speaker 1: skin in this game, part in the punt, are gonna
Speaker 1: do what they can to change the narrow of our
Speaker 1: country because we're not living up to the all men,
Speaker 1: all women are created equal. We're just not. And I
Speaker 1: think that was really shown in that nine minute video
Speaker 1: that that I'll never watch again. Yeah, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: going to golf just you know, since we're we're golf people.
Speaker 1: Is you know the something I listen, if if you
Speaker 1: type these words in your Gmail account, damon, you'd probably
Speaker 1: ten emails will pop up. Grow the game. It's it's
Speaker 1: something that has every organization, every network, every company has
Speaker 1: you know, jumped behind some an issue in the idea
Speaker 1: of growing the game. You know, my issue always with
Speaker 1: the with the grow the game sentence in Mantra was
Speaker 1: I've if if I was a minority, if I was
Speaker 1: a female, I would look at golf specifically in this
Speaker 1: country and say, does that game like me? You know,
Speaker 1: because the hedges are tall, man, I mean, the gates
Speaker 1: are closed, and there's a guard guard gate there, and
Speaker 1: all the these unbelievable golf courses that you see on
Speaker 1: the biggest stages, you know, in high definition, aren't always
Speaker 1: the most welcoming. And I wonder sometimes, you know, when
Speaker 1: I look at at a country like Scotland, where you know,
Speaker 1: the best courses they have there are open to anyone
Speaker 1: and everyone as long as you've got a five iron
Speaker 1: and a golf glove. That's not the case in this country.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if the the the idea that we
Speaker 1: have of growing the game needs to change. It's almost
Speaker 1: golfers need to grow, you know, we need to grow
Speaker 1: and be more accepting. Because you know, you said it.
Speaker 1: Do you go grab thirty kids from inner cities and
Speaker 1: bring them to a golf tournament or a golf course.
Speaker 1: Is that going to hook him? I'm not sure that's
Speaker 1: one day. And if they get there and they look
Speaker 1: around and everybody's wide and it's you know, everybody's you
Speaker 1: know there, maybe they're not looking, but maybe they they
Speaker 1: do a double take at one point, you know, does
Speaker 1: that make you feel real comfortable? So I feel like
Speaker 1: as as a golfer, as a person that you know,
Speaker 1: as played private clubs and has you know, taken invites
Speaker 1: to these types of places that a member of a
Speaker 1: country club, you know, is is it my duty to
Speaker 1: make golf feel more welcoming to people? Because I I
Speaker 1: imagine and your experiences golf doesn't always seem that welcoming.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always seem like it's it's excited to open
Speaker 1: the doors up to two places that maybe it hadn't
Speaker 1: open up board two before. Yeah, and it's not very
Speaker 1: accommodating or relatable to to someone from the inner city.
Speaker 1: It's just not. I say that knowing that golf is
Speaker 1: a lot of good with UM with its charity Drew
Speaker 1: Charter for example, in Atlanta. I don't want to minimize
Speaker 1: the positive things that golf has done, But when you
Speaker 1: really get down to the nitty gritty, it's not a
Speaker 1: very welcoming It's a game, it's intimidating, it can be
Speaker 1: extremely exclusionary, and I just don't think it's very relatable.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how you a bridge that gap.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, a kid from the Cities is
Speaker 1: can't can't even wrap his or her mind around spending
Speaker 1: four hours or five hours at a country club and
Speaker 1: lunch at the turn and a cnar at the end,
Speaker 1: and it's just this, just this, it might as well
Speaker 1: be on on the moon, that that type of that
Speaker 1: type of thought about you know, the game of golf.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how you you close that gap.
Speaker 1: Whether it's investment in in in those communities UM or
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's it's a one day thing. And
Speaker 1: I said to someone who's actually brought kids from UM
Speaker 1: near Stanford, which is north of Orlando, and had a
Speaker 1: bus of kids who had never been a go off course,
Speaker 1: had dam come to to Bay Hill on a Monday,
Speaker 1: and it was great and I was so thankful I
Speaker 1: was able to help Fastil tate that. But then they
Speaker 1: went back to their homes and it's expensive, man, golf
Speaker 1: is an expensive game. And I do think there's something
Speaker 1: about the cost, the not necessarily always warm that it's hard.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there are a lot of impediment I
Speaker 1: think of bringing golf um to the inner city and
Speaker 1: really making that type of difference. We're gonna take a
Speaker 1: quick break and be right back, So I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna end it with this very happy question. So I
Speaker 1: apologize because this is gonna be I know, like you said,
Speaker 1: we're not sociologist, you know we we don't nobody knows
Speaker 1: all of the answers here. But if somebody comes to
Speaker 1: you and says, Damon, what can I do right now? Like,
Speaker 1: what is there? What is something that I can do
Speaker 1: that would make a positive impact on society and where
Speaker 1: we currently stand to make things better? What would be
Speaker 1: something or some things you would tell a person that
Speaker 1: would ask you that, because you know, those are the
Speaker 1: questions I feel like a lot of people have right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've I've thought about this quite a bit, and
Speaker 1: I would say you can almost get his grandmuler as
Speaker 1: you want, or you can go more big picture, whether
Speaker 1: it's educating yourself, I would say, you know, read a book,
Speaker 1: look look for books on this topic. If that's where
Speaker 1: you feel deficient. UM, you can donate to historically black colleges,
Speaker 1: which are in many ways suffering from a budgetary standpoint. UM,
Speaker 1: you can support black businesses. You can google black businesses
Speaker 1: and support them. I would like to see a concerted
Speaker 1: effort by the governing bodies or the pg of American
Speaker 1: PJ Tour to have more interaction with with black businesses.
Speaker 1: And and there's different ways you can go about it.
Speaker 1: And I think it's gonna be what your comfort level is,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's outside your comfort level. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: spend a day in the inner city, go go go
Speaker 1: find a church or or or or a leader in
Speaker 1: the community and find out how you can help a
Speaker 1: sponsor a child. I think there are a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways to help. UM. I don't know what's most sustainable,
Speaker 1: but I think it's gon me one person at a time.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a couple of people here. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be having conversations, you know, with your own family, with
Speaker 1: your own friends, with your own inner circle, with people
Speaker 1: you play golf with at the country club. It's about saying,
Speaker 1: you know what, this is important to me. It's not
Speaker 1: just saying, hey, how cool am I? How cool is this?
Speaker 1: How how great is this golf club? Knowing that there
Speaker 1: are heavy issues, you know, beyond those hedges. So I
Speaker 1: think that's that those are a few ideas that I have. UM,
Speaker 1: and I actually um your listeners may know that that
Speaker 1: I'm I've become a bit of a wine connoisseur. I
Speaker 1: didn't even know that there's a black owned winery in
Speaker 1: Nappa that I didn't even know about a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago. So I'm gonna order a bottle of wine,
Speaker 1: or a black owned one. What's it's It's appropriately called
Speaker 1: brown It's called Brown Estate. And my sister told me
Speaker 1: about it. It's been a couple of months now and
Speaker 1: actually sent me some bottles and they're fantastic. And if
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have known that it was a black going winery,
Speaker 1: you just would have ordered it with your steak in
Speaker 1: a Friday night dinner or had it on Saturday when
Speaker 1: you're kicking up and watching a movie. Um. But but
Speaker 1: those types of things, I'm just I'm I'm I'm kind
Speaker 1: of anxious and eager and excited and trying to find
Speaker 1: different ways in small ways and big ways, Uh, to
Speaker 1: help make a difference in the community that's hurting right now,
Speaker 1: inside a country that's hurting right now. Now, Damon, I
Speaker 1: said last question, and that's not true. I do want
Speaker 1: to ask a golf question about you. I do need
Speaker 1: to find out you know. I mean, we were one
Speaker 1: to know all time playing as teammates. How how is
Speaker 1: your current golf game? Have you been able to play
Speaker 1: during the quarantine, during everything that's been going on the
Speaker 1: last three months, have you got out there? Because Arizona,
Speaker 1: we were able to play a decent amount of golf,
Speaker 1: So that's really been the only thing we've been able
Speaker 1: to do. It. Has that been similar out there in Florida?
Speaker 1: It has? And the beauty of this time has been
Speaker 1: that I've been able to play golf with my boys.
Speaker 1: And I have triplet sons. They're gonna turn nine years
Speaker 1: old on the ninth, and I've got two out of
Speaker 1: three die hards. My oldest Jame's oldest by a minute.
Speaker 1: He's a bit of an iconoclass. I thinks golf has
Speaker 1: too many rules, a little bit slow, so he rather
Speaker 1: we need, we need, we need. I got two out
Speaker 1: of three. That's a good percent. But but but Jaymo
Speaker 1: wants to just throw the football around, and Miles and
Speaker 1: Reece they like to to swing their golf clubs. But
Speaker 1: it's it's been uh, it's been nice to bomb with
Speaker 1: them and spend some time my short game. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say it's good, but it's improving. I feel like
Speaker 1: I have a system now. I'm more of the Jason
Speaker 1: Day Steve Stricker. Keep the hands out, let the body
Speaker 1: be the engine. That's that's kind of where I am
Speaker 1: right now. That's to kind of stop being so flippy
Speaker 1: at the bottom. So so I think there's some hope.
Speaker 1: I think there's some hope it should we ever pair
Speaker 1: uh together again abandoned, I hope we would walk away too.
Speaker 1: And oh after our great win several years back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my my my son just turned one yesterday, and and
Speaker 1: obviously at one, at one year old, he's not uh,
Speaker 1: we're not, you know, playing golf. But I did get
Speaker 1: him the Fisher Price set of clubs that they recommend
Speaker 1: much older and of course I don't listen to those rules.
Speaker 1: And I got him at and I will say this, Damon.
Speaker 1: His favorite toy is the driver. He just carries it
Speaker 1: around all the time. He goes to grab it whenever
Speaker 1: he sees it, and it makes it just it just
Speaker 1: as a father, I just light up. Man, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is I'm so happy that this is something You
Speaker 1: have no idea what it is, You have no idea
Speaker 1: what it does. You could care less, but at least
Speaker 1: you're holding something that makes dad happy, you know, because
Speaker 1: I I can't wait to do what you what you
Speaker 1: talked about is is getting out there and getting to see,
Speaker 1: you know, my my son find that love or maybe
Speaker 1: it takes him till he's forty. I'm never gonna push
Speaker 1: it on him, but you know, I just I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see what it's like. I can only imagine, you know,
Speaker 1: you getting to see that through your son's eye is
Speaker 1: probably there's a rebirth of love for the game. And
Speaker 1: internally it's true, there's no doubt about that. Being outside
Speaker 1: and the reason why I love the game, camaraderie, fresh air,
Speaker 1: blue Skies, Bird chirping, you know, having fun with your friends.
Speaker 1: It's even more meaningful when it's your when it's your
Speaker 1: own child or or children. And I'm not surprised that
Speaker 1: your son would be grabbing a draft considering how well
Speaker 1: you hit that club. That is not a shock to
Speaker 1: me saying at all. I'll pass the message. Damon. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I like I said, I know you know
Speaker 1: it's Friday. I know you've been bombarded by by request
Speaker 1: and by people, you know, just trying to get some time.
Speaker 1: I respect you. I always have, I always will. I
Speaker 1: love what you wrote and and and I know you
Speaker 1: well enough to know that you know one piece on
Speaker 1: golf channel dot com isn't the end for you. And
Speaker 1: I I envision some editorial pieces on Morning Drive when
Speaker 1: you fell the need and uh and you've you've got
Speaker 1: the voice and and and you're such an unbelievable human
Speaker 1: that uh that you know you're you're a person that
Speaker 1: that does that gives me hope in a sport sometimes
Speaker 1: that I I look on negatively. So I appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you and and just you know, I
Speaker 1: just appreciate what you do. Man. I just I got
Speaker 1: all the respect in the world for you. Well, Shan,
Speaker 1: I appreciate the time. I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1: I appreciate those words, and I feel like this is
Speaker 1: the beginning. And if I can be a part of
Speaker 1: the solution in a small way, If this conversation, you know,
Speaker 1: motivates someone to do something different, I think we're on
Speaker 1: the right track. Awesome. Well, thanks so much, Samon, Thank
Speaker 1: you pal. We're gonna take a quick break and be
Speaker 1: right back. A big thanks to Damon Hack for joining
Speaker 1: just being who he is. He's a great person, he's
Speaker 1: a great voice and uh and he's somebody that that
Speaker 1: I feel like it has really taken, you know, the
Speaker 1: golf burden of this on and has done an unbelievable
Speaker 1: job with it and will continue to do so as
Speaker 1: I know he will. Thank you all for listening. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys supporting the podcast, supporting Get a Grip.
Speaker 1: You know, all the things that we do and we've done,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna try to come up with some ideas
Speaker 1: that are that are different, that are highlighting some things
Speaker 1: that maybe we haven't highlighted before. And again, we're we
Speaker 1: all can do better. We all can be better we
Speaker 1: all can improve. Hate has no home here on this podcast.
Speaker 1: Hate has no home here for what I do in
Speaker 1: and around my life. And I hope you are the same. UM.
Speaker 1: Enjoy your weekend, reflect on things, talk speak. Let's keep
Speaker 1: the conversation going. There's no reason that you know by
Speaker 1: June tenth or or July August that this conversation shouldn't
Speaker 1: still be going, because it's a very very important one.
Speaker 1: And UH, and things definitely need to change, and I
Speaker 1: hope and pray deep down internally that they do. UM
Speaker 1: and that's all for me. Thanks again for listening, Thanks
Speaker 1: again for subscribing, and UH and I appreciate you. The
Speaker 1: Clubhouse was Shane Bacon as a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.