WEBVTT - Episode 88: Daniel Berger 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.320 The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.040 much the equipment matters. I just love that I can 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:06.560 hit any shot I kind of want. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:08.440 We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:10.600 what goes on here to help golfers play better golf. 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:13.640 What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Ping Proven Grounds 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.320 Podcast Shane Baker alongside Marty Jerts and Marty. We got 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.920 a great guest, Daniel Berger, joining us. Daniel, it's awesome 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:22.439 obviously to have you kind of a part of the 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.919 Ping family. If we could just maybe talk about the 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.120 decision to team up with Ping and how excited you 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:28.680 are for the year. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:31.520 Yeah, well, I'm not really a club tinker, you know. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.600 I use the same set of irons for about ten years, 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.319 and about two years ago I did some testing and 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.440 had a bunch of different companies lined up and landed 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.440 on the Ping irons, and from there I kind of 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.720 went to the Ping driver and I drove it unbelievable 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.760 and was hitting it unbelievable, and I thought, all right, 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.400 we got something going here. And then this year, you know, 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.280 kind of formalized it all and so excited to be 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:56.000 on board. 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.560 First week with irons about a year ago with the blueprints, 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:04.080 right your T two T two finish at the WM. Yeah, 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.080 tell us about that experience, Well, it was. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:08.959 It was kind of eye opening being able to stop 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.440 a five iron onto a green for about five years there, 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.040 I hit the ball about this hot and that was 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.480 really the big, biggest reason I ended up changing irons. 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:19.840 We did a ton of testing and I think the 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.840 new well at the time they were the new blueprints, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.759 they were about twenty five thirty percent higher launch. So 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.840 I mean it was a pretty pretty easy change, no brainer, 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.440 and it paid off obviously here Shane. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.360 I think that's one thing we see, like, you know, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.480 your average listener out there going and getting fit for 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.039 irons in the Bay and you know, low spin irons 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.319 go further on the simulators and all that. But here 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.000 we are, I mean we hear it, hearing it from 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.000 Daniel directly, just how important that stopping power is. Yeah. 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:48.480 I was gonna say. The other thing too, is when 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.480 you play in these big events, the majors, the you know, Bayhill, 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:55.000 the players, it kind of caters to a certain game 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.320 style where you know, the greens are firmer, the greens 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.560 are faster, and if you're unable to off the ball 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.800 with a long iron, you're in trouble. And that's kind 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:04.680 of what you see these best players in the world doing. 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.960 They're they're able to control those long irons and stop 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.600 a ball on a par five with your second job 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:12.760 with a fore iron or a three iron, and I 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:14.880 wasn't able to do that, and then I switched those 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:16.360 pings and it made a huge difference for me. 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.480 Daniel. When you when you say don't tinker, I mean 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.080 it's so easy to tinker as a pro. I mean 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.440 there's certain clubs. I think that pros don't like to change, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:27.520 fairy woods, hybrids, things like that. When you weren't changing 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.160 clubs for so long, would you at times mess around 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:31.880 with other stuff or were you just like, this is 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:33.440 what my bag's gonna look like. These are the irons 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:34.960 I play, and this is basically what I'm gonna have. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.679 I think I just stuck with what I thought was 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:39.919 the best, and I'd never thought that there was anything 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.160 out there. But it turns out ten years of technology 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:43.880 makes a difference. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:44.560 The best change. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.040 I didn't know that, and we found that out pretty quickly. 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.040 But I think, you know, little changes here and there, 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.400 from year to year. But you know, I don't think 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.840 you know, next year's models are going to be, you know, 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.959 fifty percent better. You know, it's just making little incremental changes. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.040 And that's where that's where you see the biggest gains. 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:03.520 Are you like a change, like do you get a 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:05.160 new cell phone a lot? Or do you kind of 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:06.960 stick with the same cell phone model? Like are you 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.000 change in technology outside of golf? 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.320 I got an iPad that's ten years old, you know, 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.800 I got a boat that's ten years old. I just 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:15.560 when it works, it works with it. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:16.680 Yeah, that makes sense. 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.120 Tell us a little about about the driver switch. 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:19.760 Yeah. 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:21.600 So I've always been a pretty accurate driver of the 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.720 golf ball, and I've used some other companies in the past, 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.320 and I think the biggest thing for me with the 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.880 ping driver was, uh the miss hits. You know when 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:31.680 you when you catch one slightly on the toe, you 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:33.760 catch one slightly on the heel. The dispersion was so 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.040 much tighter for me, and and I think that has 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.119 a lot to do with the spin and seeing much 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.840 more consistent spins. And I'm a guy that likes to 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.000 you know, hit the driver low. I call it a bullet, 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.280 which is for me kind of like a really low, 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:49.240 you know, seven eight degree launch window. And that was 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.800 the shot that I really leaned on, you know, eighty 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:53.640 percent of the time on the course. And so when 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.080 that SHOT's working, I'm playing well, and you know, you 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.160 want to be able to hit it slightly off the heel, 0:03:58.240 --> 0:03:59.760 slightly off the toe, and you know, still see the 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.560 ball on the right side of the fairway, left side 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.720 of the fairway, not these major misses. And and that 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:05.280 was the biggest thing that I saw. 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.320 I was going to ask you about that because when 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.400 you came into Focal our motion capture system, which you've 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.120 come in a few times with your coach, Mark Blackburn, right, 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.640 is you hit both your kind of kind of bullet 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.560 in the bomb, the bullet and the bomb. Tell us 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:20.560 a little bit more about that. 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.039 Yeah, well, I think you know, early on in my career, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:24.320 I was just trying to find a way to get 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.320 the ball in play, and so we kind of worked 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.080 on this shot that I ended up calling the bullet, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.080 which is like I said, that seven eight degree launch window, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.839 and then that's my everyday, you know, eight out of 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.000 ten times I'm going to hit that shot. And on 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.080 a par five where you know you're looking for an 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.560 extra ten twelve yards. You know, that's where I will 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:43.960 tee it up a little higher, put the ball a 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.680 little more up in my stance and try to send 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.520 it and hit the bomb, as I call it. And 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.800 you know, it's a it's more of a it's not 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.560 a go to shot. It's more of a kind of 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.240 a situational shot on a par five, looking for that 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.320 extra distance. And but I think accuracy for me is 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:01.800 the most important thing. I'd rather hit a eight iron 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.359 out of the fairway than a nine aired pitching wedge 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.160 out of the rough, So you know, I'm looking to 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.640 hit fairways, and that's that was the biggest thing with 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:09.560 that pin driver for me. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.920 It is so wild. We talk so much about distance 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.520 of speed in the modern game, and you hear so 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.040 many pros talk about accuracy, and I mean that. You know, 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.440 we're here kind of in Phoenix chatting about this. You know, 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.359 you just saw Justin Rose pick up a victorya hit 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.600 a whole bunch of fairways. Now he was hit along, obviously, 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.600 but he was hitting a ton of fairways. Are we 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.839 as much as we obsess over distance in terms of 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.440 professional golf? Do you think there are times where we 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.400 kind of forget about the importance of that in the fairway. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.600 Well, I wonder that question all the time, and then 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.080 you you know, you look at the PGA Championship in 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.560 Rory McElroy's second and strokes, he ain't off the tea 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:47.000 and he's hit four fairways. If I don't quite understand 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.839 how that works, it doesn't quite add up for me. 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.800 But I think, you know, in order to attack a pin, 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:55.680 you have to be playing out of the fairway, you know, 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:57.560 I mean, can you hit it on the green from 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.880 the rough, sure, but you know, if you really want 0:05:59.920 --> 0:06:01.560 to be aggressive, you have to, you know, have to 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.120 be in the fairway. And so that's where I take, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.200 you know, ten less yards from the fairaway than you know, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.640 a fifty percent chance of missing the fairway with hitting 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.120 it really hard. But statistically, I think, you know, maybe 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.720 I'm wrong on that, but that's what's always worked for me. 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.120 Marty would know that. Marty. I remember the first time 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.559 I saw something in terms of distance like dominating golf. 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.080 It was like four open and VJ was last in 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.160 the field and fairways hidden first in the field. In 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.400 greens regulation, he was one of those players that early 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.360 into it adopted the idea of I'm going to send 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:34.479 it as far as I can. I don't care what 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:35.920 club I have date off the team. Yeah. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.040 Yeah, I think what Daniel telling to is like there's 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.520 a there's a certain trade off there, right, and once 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.560 you have some I mean, your ball speed's still high 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:43.280 one seventies. 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:45.000 Yeah, I mean, like even this morning, like I was 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.480 hitting what I call my bullet, which would typically drop 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.560 to like, you know, what I've been working on is 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:51.799 trying to get the bullet in the one eighties ball speed, 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:53.520 and today I was one to eighty three, which for 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.400 me is like that's massive, you know, like to be able, 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.120 you know, to get that distance out of something that 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.479 I know is going to hit the fairway. And three 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.720 four years ago, you know, I would have been seventy six, 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.840 seventy seven. So a little bit more speed, a little 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.160 bit more accuracy. Those are kind of the small margins. 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:12.400 We're looking for. 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.520 Yeah, I think, Shannon says, you hear Daniel talking about 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.000 it reminds me. We asked Mason Howell after he won 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.480 the US AM like the importance of distance, and He's like, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.440 I don't know if it's that important. Well, his ball 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.560 speed's also one to eighty three or whatever. It's like 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:27.600 asking Rory about distance. Yeah, once you get to the 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.360 high one seventies, it is. There's kind of an assump 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.440 tote where hey, once you're in your your window for 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.600 ball speed, then hey, it is more about that. And 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.240 one thing I love that you mentioned, Daniel, which is 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.640 we literally laser it on the face of our driver, 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.640 is the consistency of spin right, and just how that's 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:46.520 kind of a proxy. And do you do you look 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.280 at that on in your TrackMan metrics or is this 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.240 some more you're seeing and feeling out on the golf course. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.360 Probably something I'm a more of a field player, so 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.720 you know, the analytics I kind of leave to my 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.520 coach more so, but I would say I definitely go 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.320 off of feel. And I think, you know, when you've 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.200 been playing golf for twenty five years and you've hit 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.000 millions of golf balls in your life, you know when 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.080 you slightly healed it or slightly towed it. And to see, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.040 you know, I want to see a slight heel with 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:12.760 a little cutter. I want to see a slight toe 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.320 with just a little draw, but not you know, the huge, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.560 you know, twenty yard hooks or twenty yard slices, and 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.200 that's the biggest thing. Is it fairways for me? Put 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.560 the ball in play, you know, get it in position, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.680 and then let the rest of your game take take 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:26.200 over from there. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:28.920 Daniel, I know you battled an injury for what was 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.800 it was the nineteen months you were basically away from 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.079 the game. I'm assuming healthy now, but did you pay 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.079 attention to the game when you're away? I mean, were 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.480 you watching golf or did you disconnect from golf and 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.080 just kind of deal with yourself? 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:42.960 Yeah, I think I was a little bit disconnected at 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.400 the time. I think, you know, golf I was always 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:47.720 it was in the back of my mind all the 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:48.760 time because I was like, what am I going to 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:50.000 play again? What am I going to play again? And 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.199 then you put the pressure on yourself like is it 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.080 this week? Is it next week? Is it next month? 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:54.800 Is it two months? 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:55.480 Is it three months? 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.120 And the time kind of goes by pretty slowly when 0:08:58.160 --> 0:08:59.520 you think about it like that. And then I just 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:01.959 brought the mindset where just every day I'm going to 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:03.560 get better this day and this day, and then you 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.040 stack a bunch of good days in a row. Next thing, 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.679 you know, you've had six good months and now it's 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:10.920 a non issue. I think, you know, obviously working with 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:12.800 my coach and changing my golf swing a little bit. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:14.640 You know, it may not look all that different, but 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.160 biomechanically it is much better than it was before. And 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.520 you know, changing the strength and conditioning program that I 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.480 was on and you know, really dialing that part in. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:26.920 And like I say, now I'm much more professional than 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.240 I was at twenty three, twenty four years old. But 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.400 you can get away with some of the things at 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.360 twenty four that you can't get away with at thirty two. 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.120 So I think, you know, I'm still young, but just 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.520 I'm glad it happened when it did because I was 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.439 able to recover. And you never know, you know, you five, six, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.000 seven years down the road if that happened, where would 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.640 I be able to get back to where I was? 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.480 And so it's it was all it's all a learning lesson. 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.439 I mean, I can only imagine there's you know, I'm 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.720 assuming it's like not playing on a major championship. You know, 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.160 once you've played a major champs are not playing a 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:56.600 Ryder Cup, and you've played a Ryder Cups, and I'm 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.800 sure there's that level of like I want to get 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:00.960 back there. But all so, if you watch it, there's 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:02.640 probably a level of man, I'm missing out or I 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:04.920 wish I was a part of this team. I mean, 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.559 disconnecting is probably the thing most people would do. Like 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.679 would you check your phone Monday morning to see who 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:10.440 win golf tournament? 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:10.640 No? 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.320 I really wouldn't even you know, I didn't pay any 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.400 attention to it. I was so hyper focused on like 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.360 how do I get But how do I get better today? 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.959 And you know, would it have been nice to, you know, 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.320 have been able to do that? Yeah, but I'm so competitive. 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.280 I think it actually upset me to look at the 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.760 tournament and be like that guy won or that guy won, 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.680 like I usually beat that guy, you know. So from 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.520 that regard, it was definitely tough to deal with that 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:35.480 part of it. But happy to be back and glad 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.439 to be healthy and looking forward to some good years 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:38.840 ahead of me. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.160 Would you would you watch other sports during that era? 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.360 Like would you watch like I know you watched tennis 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.320 and pay attention to tennis pretty closely? Would you watch 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:46.840 tennis and kind of keep up with the with that 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.319 space in that world maybe you know Florida State sports 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:49.760 things like that. 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.480 Yeah, I was doing a little bit of everything. Definitely, 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:54.560 tennis was one of the few things that I was watching. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.319 I like Champions League soccer, So I was watching Champions 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:57.920 League soccer. 0:10:58.040 --> 0:10:59.120 Who's your team? 0:10:59.440 --> 0:10:59.679 It's not. 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:01.600 I don't don't even necessarily follow a team. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:02.160 I just like it. 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:03.920 One of the best, you know, biggest teams in the 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:04.960 world play against each other. 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:06.720 So I think golf fans root for a playoff because 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:07.320 they get more golf. 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:08.800 Yeah, you know, so that was the kind of a 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.120 cool thing for me. But yeah, definitely no golf, no golf. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.000 Yeah, I'd love to take a little step back and 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:15.720 just talk about how you got into the game, what 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.440 sports you played growing up, and did you play on 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.160 your high school golf team or not, rather some. 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.040 Conflicting Yeah, I played a couple of years on my 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:25.880 high school golf team, but it wasn't you know, the 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.640 most competitive, you know, college or high school golf team. 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.680 But my dad was a professional tennis player. He was 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.400 a professional tennis coach. So I started playing tennis when 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.520 I was young, grew up doing that, loved it, still 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.240 play tennis now. Did a summer camp when I was 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.440 about eleven or twelve years old, and just like I 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.679 remember falling in love with the game and being like, man, 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.199 I can't wait to go back tomorrow. And I always 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.760 knew I wanted to do something in sports, and I 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.400 just twelve years old, I was like, I'm going to 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.800 be a professional golfer. And so I just you know, 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.559 woke up every day with the mindset of what can 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:59.760 I do today to get better? And obviously having a 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.720 dad who had played professional sports, there was kind of 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:07.400 that pathway and understanding what it took. And so I 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.160 would always ask him, you know, how many hours did 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.160 you practice? And he would say, well, I practice six 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:12.880 and I said, okay, well I'm gonna practice eight today, 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:14.480 you know. So that was just kind of the way 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:16.760 that I always went about it. But obviously a lot 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:18.400 of things have to go right for you to be 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.600 able to get to this level, and so, you know, 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.839 it's hard work, it's a bit of luck, it's the 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:24.000 whole thing combined, you know. 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.640 So do you kind of specialize in golf that you 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.559 know as a teenager somewhere right in there? 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:29.600 I don't know. 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.200 I think I kind of I played a little bit. 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.800 I didn't think I got like kind of to the elite, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.559 you know, amateur level, till probably like my sophomore year 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.640 of college. I think my freshman year was a wash 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.520 at eighteen, you know, on your own, partying whatever, doing 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:44.400 things that you do and what people do in the 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:46.640 they go to college. And then the second year I 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.600 was like, all right, let's kind of lock in a 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.400 little bit. And that's when I really kind of elevated 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.880 my game. And uh, you know, guys weren't really leaving 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.559 school after two years. Yeah, it wasn't really the thing 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.679 to do. And then Jordan did it, and then I 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.560 did it, and that Justin Thomas did it, and there 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:03.920 was kind of like that class of twenty eleven where 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.000 guys weren't really finishing school and and you're kind of 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:08.880 naive at the time. You're like, you don't really know 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:10.480 it's ahead of you. You just kind of wake up 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:12.680 and go to tournaments. And you know, I went to 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.240 Q School and got my Corn Faery card and played 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:16.640 a year on the Corn Furry and I've been out 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.280 here ever since. But I definitely, you know, if I 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.679 knew how difficult it was now, I don't know if 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.600 that's the path I would have taken. And I always say, I, 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.800 you know, if I knew that this is how my 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:28.240 golf career would have went, I wish I would have 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.120 just stayed in school that extra two years because. 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.840 I had so much fun. But yeah, for sure, I 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:34.760 mean you think about PJ Tour you now, I mean, 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:36.480 we focus a lot on it when we do corn Ferry. 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.839 But it's promoting that idea of staying throughout all four years. 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.800 And it's basically players aren't kind of going down I 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:44.840 mean some are, but few are kind of going down 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.959 that avenue. They want to stay through their senior year. 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.320 So they get that opportunity to get the PJ Tour card. 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.400 Through PJ Tour, you were get the corn Fairy Tour starts, 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.160 maybe get it that way. So and in a way, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.080 I think that's actually helping players kind of say. 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:57.640 I mean, they don't have that if they if they 0:13:57.679 --> 0:13:59.439 had that back when I was in school, I definitely 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.000 would have stayed. And so but what a great opportunity 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.000 for a nineteen twenty year old to earn your PGA 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.160 Tour card as a college golfer, and that just that 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.240 the whole thing is amazing for them, Daniel. 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.600 You know I've heard stories of like the professional dad, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.920 the professional athlete dad. I mean Davis Love and Drew 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:19.480 have told the story where Drew went to Davis at 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:20.800 one point and said, Hey, if I want to do 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.880 what you do, I want you to approach me like 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.160 a professional golfer, not like a dad. When you have 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.560 a dad that has kind of gone through it, is 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:29.680 he laying out plans for you? Is he? Is he 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:31.840 kind of you've asked, you asking him questions, But is 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.000 he laying out a guide? This is what you need 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:35.200 to do, and this is what you need to put 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.480 in to get to the point or the dream you 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:38.160 have in your head. 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.880 Well, I think that's always the toughest battle for a father, 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:42.600 you know, who has a son that wants to play 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.360 right because they know what it takes. But it's so 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.080 easy to push them in one direction, and you always 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.080 have to come in with the mindset that you have. 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:50.840 To love what you do. 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:53.280 And I think, you know, sometimes when you have a 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:55.920 parent in that position, they can be a little you know, 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.720 too handsy, and so he always let me make the 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.000 mistakes that I was going to make, and obviously just 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.360 try to guide me you know, on the railroad track 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.960 to success, but you know, you have to live it 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:07.760 and do it on your own. And it's great to 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.800 have someone to talk to that's been there and done that. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.600 But it is a very individual and lonely sport. 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.960 So both, I mean both, That's what the interesting thing too, though, right, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:17.960 I mean he was in an individual sport as well. 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.280 So you're a professional basketball player very different than a 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:20.960 tennis or golfer. 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:21.240 Yeah. 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.640 I think the one thing he always was an unbelievable 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.640 thing is the contacts that he had and the people 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.320 that he's always been able to put me in touch 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.840