Speaker 1: Anyone who cared about the game of golf. I felt
Speaker 1: like when you put on an Ashworth gvernment you were
Speaker 1: connected to the soul of the sport. That is the
Speaker 1: ultimate dream for anyone that's in the golf industry. If
Speaker 1: you're able to exude that feeling that you actually are
Speaker 1: somehow as relatable to the sport as anything, as much
Speaker 1: as any golf course or any champion golfer, well you've
Speaker 1: You've got yourself a great chance for success. And I
Speaker 1: I truly can't think of many things in the history
Speaker 1: of the golf industry that connected more with the soul
Speaker 1: of the sport than the Ashworth Clothing Company. Put another log,
Speaker 1: nobody here is welcome to the fire pit with Matt Chenella.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another trip to the pit. As many
Speaker 1: of you know by now, I grew up in Santa Rosa, California,
Speaker 1: played most of my junior golf at Oakmont Golf Club.
Speaker 1: I ended up working and playing there through high school
Speaker 1: and St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. Most of my
Speaker 1: paychecks were spent on Ashworth golf shirts. I had the
Speaker 1: pro shop trained to tip me off on delivery days.
Speaker 1: They were definitely a comfortable fit, and as I addressed
Speaker 1: the ball, I would lift a sleeve off my arms,
Speaker 1: just like Fred Couples. And as I walked and carried
Speaker 1: my bag, I tried to imitate the look of the
Speaker 1: golf man the Ashworth logo. And then in two thousand two,
Speaker 1: shortly after getting a job at Golf Digest, I was
Speaker 1: invited to Brooklawn Country Club in Connecticut to play with
Speaker 1: John Ashworth. The John Ashworth. I'm not wanting to get
Speaker 1: star struck, but I was service that day. Fortunately for me,
Speaker 1: the guy is in Arnold Palmer's league of gracious and charming.
Speaker 1: I remember he asked about me, my career, my love
Speaker 1: of the game. I remember his swing, his style, his tempo,
Speaker 1: his soul full approach to life itself. Now he's like
Speaker 1: a big brother to me, a friend and a mentor.
Speaker 1: I've been an ambassador of his current brand, Link Soul
Speaker 1: since two thousandt I'll wear anything he makes. I'll support
Speaker 1: any cause he gets behind, which includes the rescue of
Speaker 1: goad Hill Park, the many municipal that he grew up
Speaker 1: playing in Oceanside, California. I say this often. John Ashworth
Speaker 1: walks his talk. He isn't just the face of Godhill Park.
Speaker 1: He's the first one to grab a shovel. As for
Speaker 1: John Ashworth's American Dream, the story behind the building of
Speaker 1: one of the great golf brands. As we've traveled the
Speaker 1: world together to play in Ireland and Scotland and Pinehurst
Speaker 1: and Bandoned, I've heard various versions of how Ashworth stormed
Speaker 1: the gates of the golf fashion industry, but I've never
Speaker 1: recorded it, and I've certainly never heard it from so
Speaker 1: many of the other voices who were involved in such
Speaker 1: a meteorc rise to the peak of apparel. Around this
Speaker 1: fire pit, we hear from Jerry Monteo, John's business partner
Speaker 1: in the making of Ashworth. When we started the company,
Speaker 1: I had and John had of the company, and you know,
Speaker 1: through the years, as we became a public company and
Speaker 1: the stock crew and the company grew and what have you. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I sold stock, uh you know, not all
Speaker 1: at once, but you know, now and then I'd sell
Speaker 1: some stock, you know, by a house or whatever I
Speaker 1: was going to do with it. And so it was.
Speaker 1: It was very successful for me. I made a good
Speaker 1: amount of money in on Ashworth. We hear from Hank Cashworth,
Speaker 1: his older brother, who eventually worked in sales for the company.
Speaker 1: If you were a golf guy and you were gonna
Speaker 1: have to get gas and you got out of your car,
Speaker 1: you it was a red flag you're a golf guy.
Speaker 1: John just made it like you're a normal guy. You
Speaker 1: could just be normal if you like golf. I got
Speaker 1: time with John Cook, an eleven time winner on the
Speaker 1: pg Tour and one of the original Ashworth Ambassadors. He
Speaker 1: was just John B and John ash ash has never
Speaker 1: changed in the forty plus years that we've known him.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's been that guy. And to be trendy
Speaker 1: like that and have something new to come out and
Speaker 1: something that might change the world the golf for a
Speaker 1: little bit was I want to be part of that.
Speaker 1: I interviewed John Cook and Fred Couples together, which made
Speaker 1: sense because they started with Ashworth together back in the
Speaker 1: late eighties. Couples won fifteen times on the PGA Tour,
Speaker 1: which includes the Masters, And one of the funniest shots
Speaker 1: I've ever seen is when Tiger makes that put on
Speaker 1: the on the seventeen fold TPC when he wins the
Speaker 1: US Amateur and he's got that Ashworth as surt and
Speaker 1: it looks. It looks so big, and he even been
Speaker 1: He and I and I know John knows him better
Speaker 1: than I do, but we laugh about that. He was, dude,
Speaker 1: can you believe I used to wear those shirts you
Speaker 1: guys used to wear? And I just laughed because that's
Speaker 1: the first thing, that straw hat and this humongous golf
Speaker 1: shirt on tigger. My final interview was with Jim Nance,
Speaker 1: who has anchored The Masters since, started as an Ashworth
Speaker 1: ambassador and went on to serve on the board of
Speaker 1: the company. John Ashworth is one of the kindest, sweetest,
Speaker 1: um authentic, real people I've ever had the blessing of
Speaker 1: knowing in my life. I treasure him, treasure his friendship,
Speaker 1: I treasured his soul. It's so pure. Every decision in
Speaker 1: the making of Ashworth came from a place of trying
Speaker 1: to make sure it honored the game. It really was
Speaker 1: if you could take Golf in the Kingdom, that great
Speaker 1: book Golf in the Kingdom, and turned it into a company,
Speaker 1: turned it into an individual, that that was Ashworth, and
Speaker 1: that was John Ashworth. And of course I spoke to
Speaker 1: John Ashworth, the fifth of six kids, who was born
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles in fifty nine to a school teacher
Speaker 1: and a nurse. Soon after moving south to Escondido, in
Speaker 1: Harry and Mary Lee Ashworth gave their eight year old
Speaker 1: and ultimatum that would change his life and the fabric
Speaker 1: of golf forever literally. And I think my mom and
Speaker 1: dad colluded and said, Okay, look at he's he's either
Speaker 1: got to go to Sunday school. He's gonna go caddy
Speaker 1: for you because my dad played every Sunday with his buddies,
Speaker 1: you know, Don Patrol. And and so they presented this
Speaker 1: to me like, Okay, look at you either go to
Speaker 1: Sunday school or you caddy for your dad. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm candying for dad? Are you kidding me? If golf
Speaker 1: was john first love, fashion wasn't far behind. And I
Speaker 1: was always really conscious of you know, I was. That's
Speaker 1: the one thing I think the constant for me was
Speaker 1: I was always really aware of what I was wearing
Speaker 1: and was really conscious of you know, style even back then.
Speaker 1: I mean I wore Hank Tin was really big back then.
Speaker 1: Remember the Hank Tin shirts with a little Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a pretty big surf culture thing. Hey. Cash Worth
Speaker 1: reflects on his brother's style. He always liked to dress nice.
Speaker 1: You know, it always if you saw photos of him,
Speaker 1: he was buttoned up. Where you know, guys maybe at
Speaker 1: that age or when you're a junior golfer somebody in college,
Speaker 1: you're just kind of a dorky did You're not that
Speaker 1: interested in how you look. I think he always was that.
Speaker 1: But back to John's golf. Yeah, I played golf in
Speaker 1: high school, had a pretty good little high school career,
Speaker 1: and then played one year at junior college. Had a
Speaker 1: really good year at junior college, got recruited Arizona, went
Speaker 1: to Arizona, you know, and uh, you know, had a
Speaker 1: good time. But I my golf career became super mediocre.
Speaker 1: You know. I was the middle of a pact guy,
Speaker 1: and so he was good. I went to go went
Speaker 1: to Arizona on a golf scholarship, and I think his
Speaker 1: first sophomore year he was third in the Pac Tens
Speaker 1: and the final in the tournament. I know one time
Speaker 1: he played in the field of a hundred and forty
Speaker 1: four players that are really good course up in the
Speaker 1: l a called Valencia, and he beat the field by
Speaker 1: by at least four. He shot sixty seven. The next
Speaker 1: closest guy was seventy one, So so he had a
Speaker 1: lot of game, you know, I don't it seemed like
Speaker 1: he's junior year. He went sideways and went backwards and
Speaker 1: then kind of lost the I don't know, the urge
Speaker 1: or or maybe thought that he wasn't good enough. John
Speaker 1: graduated from Arizona with a degree in agronomy, got out
Speaker 1: and got a job, and of course, you know, uh
Speaker 1: down the road in del Mar. You know. So I
Speaker 1: was living in San Diego and having to get up
Speaker 1: at like, you know, four thirty five am every morning
Speaker 1: and to get to work. And I lasted about six
Speaker 1: or seven months because you know, the party scene down
Speaker 1: a Mission Beach was pretty good, so it was really
Speaker 1: hard to h it was really hard to make that
Speaker 1: wake up call. And then this little course called Fairbanks
Speaker 1: Ranch opened up. He's still living with me, still how
Speaker 1: to commute up to del Mar, and he became an
Speaker 1: assistant golf pro. That lasted about the same So he
Speaker 1: didn't really I don't think he ever knew he was
Speaker 1: getting into fashion business or clothing business. That's when he
Speaker 1: that's that's about the time when he decided he was
Speaker 1: going to go caddy from Mark and get out of
Speaker 1: that whole world. You know, as we learned in episode
Speaker 1: one of the fire Pit, John and Hank Ashworth grew
Speaker 1: up with Mark Weeby Web had turned pro in and
Speaker 1: both Ashworth brothers always had an open invite to Caddy
Speaker 1: from Mark on tour. The story that we told that
Speaker 1: kicked off this podcast was about John carrying Marks back
Speaker 1: for a little over a year and eventually the Masters,
Speaker 1: he got his card and we went on the tour
Speaker 1: and skipped around that and that was that was a blast.
Speaker 1: But I never wanted to do that long term. So
Speaker 1: but his sponsor was a guy by name of Jerry Montiel,
Speaker 1: and Jerry and I became friends. He was probably fifteen
Speaker 1: years older, very successful business guy, and he was starting
Speaker 1: another company that was sporting good store, kind of high end,
Speaker 1: and you know, he goes, hey, John, don't you come
Speaker 1: work for me? You know, why don't you come? You know,
Speaker 1: I was like the first employee of him and his
Speaker 1: partner that started to sing. The sporting good store didn't
Speaker 1: make it, but it left both Jerry and John thinking
Speaker 1: about other business ventures. When I when I started the company, um,
Speaker 1: it was really a case also of the fact that uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I was interested in golf and everything, but
Speaker 1: but none of the apperil fit very well. Here was
Speaker 1: and nothing had changed fashion head. It was that, you know,
Speaker 1: the big stiff collars and the bright, loud colors, and
Speaker 1: you know, it was just stuff you would never be
Speaker 1: caught dead off the course. And I don't know why
Speaker 1: anybody would be caught dead on the course in it either.
Speaker 1: As Montiel recalls, it was on the drive to Escondido
Speaker 1: to look into buying driving ranges that the conversation shifted
Speaker 1: to shirts. I said, I don't know how to do it,
Speaker 1: but I know there's a niche to do some some
Speaker 1: cool golf clothing. That guy's my age here, I am
Speaker 1: twenties six years old. I would want to wear, you know,
Speaker 1: And and he was just like, bingo, that sounds good.
Speaker 1: You know, let's let's do that. So um kind of
Speaker 1: off we went. I mean, I probably was was was okay,
Speaker 1: but in the back of mind guard what not. Hell,
Speaker 1: you got no shot at this, you know. Um, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't think I'd ever just swear him or you know,
Speaker 1: and just say, yeah, let's he should rock, let's go.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would have thought this, you know.
Speaker 1: As I continue to learn and telling these iconic narratives.
Speaker 1: Going the opposite direction of the masses can often lead
Speaker 1: to great success. Initially, we raised some seed money and
Speaker 1: family and friends, kind of deal and kind of cool.
Speaker 1: My dad was still alive, you know, he was kind
Speaker 1: of fighting some health issues, and but you know, I
Speaker 1: told him what I was doing, and I thought he
Speaker 1: was gonna think I was crazy, but he was. He
Speaker 1: was like, God, that's awesome, you know. And he scratched
Speaker 1: out a check for seven grand. You know, he did
Speaker 1: this little family. I know, it's so coabate framed, it's
Speaker 1: so quit, didn't have much money, but man, he fucking
Speaker 1: you know, he got behind. It was really cool. John's
Speaker 1: first step was immersing himself in the fashion markets of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. He'd make some appointments, getting an elevator and
Speaker 1: start learning from anyone willing to share. It was sweaty
Speaker 1: pump time because I thought, this guy's gonna say, you
Speaker 1: don't know what the fun you're doing? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: and I would just go, I don't know what i'm doing.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know what i'm doing. I need help.
Speaker 1: I know what I'm looking for. I just would be
Speaker 1: honest and just I'd ask so many stupid questions, you know,
Speaker 1: but I think that's the only way you kind of
Speaker 1: get to it, you know. Dude, he didn't know a
Speaker 1: sock from shirt. I mean technically, I mean he did,
Speaker 1: but he didn't know how to make any of that.
Speaker 1: But he he disappeared for four years. I didn't see
Speaker 1: the guy. He was gone. John Ashworth was off getting
Speaker 1: his masters in making clothes. It is a miracle that
Speaker 1: we that company made it when I look back on it, miracle.
Speaker 1: You know. It was before cell phones, it was before computers,
Speaker 1: there was any We didn't even have a fact, you know.
Speaker 1: And then you and then on top of that zero experience,
Speaker 1: didn't have a fucking clue what I was doing. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, the girls that I hired were super sweet,
Speaker 1: but they didn't They didn't really know what they were
Speaker 1: doing either. But somehow, some way, we cobbled together a
Speaker 1: sample on and even when you know what it should
Speaker 1: look like and feel like, you still have to have
Speaker 1: someone making which is why they went to f Fashion,
Speaker 1: a manufacturing company that just happened to be down the street.
Speaker 1: We showed him the shirt and we said can you
Speaker 1: make this? And he says, yeah, he's I can, and
Speaker 1: he was kind of a Southern guy and he uh
Speaker 1: will put the fun accent tremendous man. Uh and he
Speaker 1: he says, but we're too busy. You know, we were
Speaker 1: too busy. And we went there about three thirty in
Speaker 1: the afternoon when they were closing up and they were
Speaker 1: drinking Budweiser beer. And so the next day John I
Speaker 1: went over with a case of beer. Uh and uh
Speaker 1: we ended up drinking that beer with him and a
Speaker 1: couple of his U guys that worked for him. And
Speaker 1: you know, that night about I don't know, six seven
Speaker 1: o'clock at night, you know, he was putting his arms
Speaker 1: around me and said, we'll make that shirt for you.
Speaker 1: And from there they they made all of our shirts,
Speaker 1: everything made in San Diego County, and they had about
Speaker 1: three employees that did all have cut and so for us.
Speaker 1: And without them, we would have never been successful, or
Speaker 1: at least not as successful as we were, because they
Speaker 1: dedicated their whole business to us, and we were there
Speaker 1: exclusive uh customer. They had made a lot of product
Speaker 1: for Ocean Pacific before that, and they they ended up
Speaker 1: only making product for us. So we had great success
Speaker 1: with them. Going back to why Ashworth was unique. John
Speaker 1: shares his vision for the line. I went completely, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, against the grain in terms of you know,
Speaker 1: cotton um like all the shirts did. I went, we
Speaker 1: went with nit callers instead of like self calling. Now
Speaker 1: we do a lot of self callers, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just it's better looking, it's probably easier. But we
Speaker 1: went with those nick callers with a little stripes in them,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, it was actually a little bit oversized.
Speaker 1: If you can remember. It's kind of payable to look
Speaker 1: at now. And I see a video Ralph Lauren had
Speaker 1: a had a U shirt called a big shirt at
Speaker 1: that time, and it was an oversized shirt, etcetera. And
Speaker 1: so we just you know, just kind of talk it
Speaker 1: from him. Everyone was so tired of being so in
Speaker 1: these tight polyesters that like a breathable cotton that's just
Speaker 1: big and lucy. It felt good, you know what is
Speaker 1: it feels so good? Through a mutual contact, This is
Speaker 1: when John reaches out to Barry Grimes, who worked for
Speaker 1: NBC Studios at the time but was also away photographer, artist,
Speaker 1: designer and eventually a colleague and close friend. Unfortunately, Grimes,
Speaker 1: who still lives in Carl's Bad is in his third
Speaker 1: year of battling brain cancer and wasn't available to share
Speaker 1: his side of this story. But as John reflects on
Speaker 1: the late eighties, his first call to Grimes was about
Speaker 1: the need for a logo. I called Barry and I'm
Speaker 1: explained Abouchael Barry. You know, I'm trying to do this
Speaker 1: new clothing line and I wanted to be sort of like,
Speaker 1: you know, old school meets new school. I'm really into
Speaker 1: walking and you know, the traditions of the game, but
Speaker 1: I wanted to be hip and modern. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just telling all this stuff like, you know, I
Speaker 1: love Scotland. I've never been to Scotland. I've never been
Speaker 1: to Scotland. I love Scotland goes. I've been to Scotland's
Speaker 1: you know. It's like, you know, and and you know,
Speaker 1: so we're just talking on the phone and unbeknownst to me,
Speaker 1: he's actually, you know, as artists do, he's actually doodling
Speaker 1: in sketch and he actually drew through the golf man.
Speaker 1: From that conversation, Barry Grimes is enormously talented. Um, he's
Speaker 1: aid and he was a huge, huge part of our success.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, I mean his photography and and the
Speaker 1: looks and feel of what he could do was was
Speaker 1: just tremendous. But that's how the logo started. The Ashworth
Speaker 1: the Golf Man what we called it, and uh was
Speaker 1: from Barry Grimes. As for the name of the company,
Speaker 1: we tried, sticks, we tried, I don't know. We had
Speaker 1: like a few different names, but everybody was. John and
Speaker 1: I were sitting and we were talking about it and
Speaker 1: I and I said, John, we got to name this
Speaker 1: company Ashworth. And he said, what don't you call it,
Speaker 1: Marti l And I said no, I said, I think
Speaker 1: Ashworth is you know, it's two syllables. It's it's got uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's easy to pronounce, it's very English and uh,
Speaker 1: I said, I think it's a perfect name for golf.
Speaker 1: And of course it ended being that, but John was
Speaker 1: John was a little humble about that and a little
Speaker 1: embarrassed to me, uh call it by his name, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was the best thing for the company,
Speaker 1: and it was certatle good for John too. In John
Speaker 1: Cook won the International, Fred Couples won the Byron Nelson
Speaker 1: and they lived near each other at Mission Hills Country
Speaker 1: Club in Rancho Mirage, California. Ashworth needed ambassadors, if we
Speaker 1: could have anybody on the tour, you know, and I knew.
Speaker 1: I said, Fred's the guy. Uh you know, I played.
Speaker 1: I didn't play with him or against him in college,
Speaker 1: but I played in some similar tournaments. I saw him,
Speaker 1: I'd see him. And then of course he was already
Speaker 1: a couple of years into his career, you know, and
Speaker 1: he was just he was just Fred. He was just cool,
Speaker 1: you know, you just he was cool. And then I
Speaker 1: knew John Cook a little bit, and I knew John
Speaker 1: Cook was It was kind of like Butch Cassidy and
Speaker 1: the Sun Dance Kid a little bit, you know, you
Speaker 1: got It's kind of nice to have two guys that
Speaker 1: are totally different and stand out and look different. John
Speaker 1: Cook and then Fred couples on their first meetings with Ashworth.
Speaker 1: When John showed up at our place, I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: fall of nineteen seven, and he had called me up
Speaker 1: and said, Hey, I've got a line of clothes i'd
Speaker 1: love to, you know, have you take a look at.
Speaker 1: And I just started wearing the kind of flowy, pleaty
Speaker 1: pants and bigger shirts and I just wasn't into the
Speaker 1: you know, the daffinies and all that stuff of the world.
Speaker 1: So I was I said, sure, yeah, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: go for this. I want to dress you know, a
Speaker 1: little bit differently. And I'll never forget. He took the
Speaker 1: clothes out, put him on this rack, wheeled the rack
Speaker 1: into our house and there were the clothes and it.
Speaker 1: I went, okay, now we got something here. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think Matt right after he left John's house he came
Speaker 1: over to my house and had the same had the
Speaker 1: same little steel thing. He wield it in there and um,
Speaker 1: I you know, I used to represent back then landmarks.
Speaker 1: So we would go in and I think Cookie did
Speaker 1: two at Mission Hill. So we would go in and
Speaker 1: we would just take any shirts, you know, with the
Speaker 1: tree logo on him and leave. And then when when
Speaker 1: this started with John, it was an eighty seven. John,
Speaker 1: you are exactly correct. Um. I mean I put a
Speaker 1: couple of shirts on and I'm like, you know, wow,
Speaker 1: this is the biggest shirt I ever had. The design
Speaker 1: of it was incredible, and we talked for a second.
Speaker 1: But Jerry Montiel is also um a guy that that
Speaker 1: really new clothing. Um. I don't know if he knew
Speaker 1: what guys like John and myself and Mark Weby wanted.
Speaker 1: But I know John Ashworth, did I remember we had
Speaker 1: this our office space in l A was on the
Speaker 1: seventh floor of this old downtown l A. Was so gross,
Speaker 1: it was, you know, back then it was even worse
Speaker 1: than it is today. And uh, you know, Barry and
Speaker 1: the two girls and we had a little sample sewer
Speaker 1: and and we had the line on the rack, you know,
Speaker 1: ready to go, and we did. We did this whole
Speaker 1: you know seance and gave it a prayer and you know,
Speaker 1: Barry did this whole thing. Boom, went down the elevator,
Speaker 1: put in my car and just started trying to hit
Speaker 1: places up and down the coast of California. I think
Speaker 1: I went to Lahoya Country Club first because my buddy,
Speaker 1: I had some buddies that was you know, Rick Riley
Speaker 1: and Brad Wheeley were the assistant pros, and I knew
Speaker 1: they'd have me. First of all, we said, we're only
Speaker 1: going to sell to green grass accounts. We're only going
Speaker 1: to sell the places that have a golf course. You know,
Speaker 1: we weren't going to sell to a discount store or
Speaker 1: something like that. So so they the golf pros liked
Speaker 1: us because they had it basically had an exclusive on it. Uh.
Speaker 1: We also made it for golf. Uh. You know, we
Speaker 1: had the shirts with a longer tail so it didn't
Speaker 1: come out when he swung the club. Uh. We used
Speaker 1: great fabric. Uh, you know, our fabric we chose h
Speaker 1: was was top of the line and and so as
Speaker 1: was the trim. We use every everything uh that we
Speaker 1: made was we made with you know, with wonderful product.
Speaker 1: So they had the ambassadors and John was hitting up
Speaker 1: his friends along the coast of California. But now it
Speaker 1: was time to go across country. He went to the
Speaker 1: trade show in Orlando. He was by himself, a rookie
Speaker 1: in the industry, and he found himself in a ten
Speaker 1: by ten booth showcasing his line off the main show floor.
Speaker 1: It went good, It went good. Arnold Palmer came by,
Speaker 1: which was just a mind blower, you know. It came
Speaker 1: sauntering by with his you know, pink cardigan and draped
Speaker 1: over his shoulders or whatever it or his v Nex switter,
Speaker 1: and you know, he had a couple of people, he
Speaker 1: didn't have a big entourage, and he he stopped, Uh,
Speaker 1: he looked at it and he's like, this looks pretty good.
Speaker 1: You're gonna do good? All right, thanks Ernie. The brand
Speaker 1: name and the logo both became iconic, but so was
Speaker 1: the marketing. So the first shoot was amazing because Barry,
Speaker 1: my buddy, Barry and I became great friends. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was my He was kind of my art director, photographer, everything,
Speaker 1: kind of like Jeff is with links. So Barry was
Speaker 1: at for Ashworth. You know, we were we were thick
Speaker 1: as thieves, and but he lived in a downtown loft complex,
Speaker 1: right and you know where all the artists lived in stuff,
Speaker 1: and and he had this buddy that was this like
Speaker 1: super European high fashion photographer that did you know the
Speaker 1: film has a blade you know, four by five, you know,
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean he you know, totally non golfer,
Speaker 1: just super artie FARTZI guy. Right, And so we got
Speaker 1: Fred and John Cook in the studio and the photos
Speaker 1: are amazing, but that was you know, the images we
Speaker 1: did were always definitely avant garde, you know, because of
Speaker 1: the crew I was hanging around with. Barry was very
Speaker 1: avant garde. Uh. And then we hired then we started
Speaker 1: using this kid, Michael Faye as a photographer because he
Speaker 1: lived in that studio as well, but he was more
Speaker 1: of a young artistic photographer that went to the Pasadena
Speaker 1: Art School, so he was again he kind of took
Speaker 1: it to a new level and we started doing these
Speaker 1: black and white series that were just they just stood out.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody else was doing the dumb dumb super
Speaker 1: high high high gloss color and we're doing black and
Speaker 1: white stuff that was kind of blurry and stuff. You know.
Speaker 1: The Ashworth catalog was called the Yardage Book. The images
Speaker 1: and inspiration was a John Ashworth and Berry Grimes production.
Speaker 1: John Ashworth was really a lot like us um And
Speaker 1: and Matt. You travel all over and some guys when
Speaker 1: you go do things, they're like you and you have
Speaker 1: a great time. Other times they go and they want
Speaker 1: you to wear a spoort code or a tuxedo. Ashley
Speaker 1: Worth really took care of us. And I can tell
Speaker 1: you right now I did a few photo shoots in
Speaker 1: some areas that they got no clearance. You know, John
Speaker 1: Ashworth and Berry would go find a spot. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've seen it where I'm hitting on the railroad tracks.
Speaker 1: I can tell you two or three times we hopped
Speaker 1: off the railroad tracks down underneath it. The train would
Speaker 1: go buy in Dallas, and it's probably, you know, I
Speaker 1: I have the shot somewhere. We went through Palm Springs
Speaker 1: with Cookie and I living there. We were in areas
Speaker 1: that you know, like like, well, if the cops come,
Speaker 1: we just pack up our stuff and leave. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: so are we you know, are we supposed to be here? Well,
Speaker 1: we don't know, you know. So all of it was
Speaker 1: was really kind of fun and it was not nerve
Speaker 1: rat it was just it was just entertainment. It was
Speaker 1: never boring. And trust me, as you get older, you
Speaker 1: know some sometimes you don't want to do things. But
Speaker 1: you know, I thought a little bit. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to go to Cobbo one year. I wanted to do
Speaker 1: everything around town. And we did stuff in in the
Speaker 1: greatest places. But it comes down to your leader and
Speaker 1: John and I and and you know then Ernie Els
Speaker 1: and Mark web we were the guys leading. But really
Speaker 1: John Ashworth led us and Barry Grimes what a photographer,
Speaker 1: and and he made us look like golfers but cool
Speaker 1: guys too. And I, you know, I don't usually say that,
Speaker 1: but I felt like kind of a cool guy. So
Speaker 1: our collateral material or catalogs and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: website and stuff like that was really really really well
Speaker 1: done and looked very professional. I'm bragging about our company,
Speaker 1: but I'm bragging about somebody else in the company, And
Speaker 1: so John did that really well. Um, and that's where
Speaker 1: I think he really excels is that he he knew
Speaker 1: the history of golf and he was able to put
Speaker 1: it into a visual format that really really gave us
Speaker 1: some impetus in our growth. Jim Nance joined the Ashworth
Speaker 1: family of ambassadors in the photo shoots were just an
Speaker 1: amazing experience because it wouldn't be anything like you would
Speaker 1: think of a photo shoot would be like. And let
Speaker 1: me just take this opportunity to to add the Barry
Speaker 1: Grimes was someone who really captured the look of Ashworth two.
Speaker 1: He just his artistic flare and his ability to even
Speaker 1: create the golf man logo. I mean, the golf Man
Speaker 1: logo was basically scratched on the back of a paper napkin,
Speaker 1: and that low go became a universal symbol for people
Speaker 1: that cared about the game of golf. You know. It
Speaker 1: was just sort of a period of time where you know,
Speaker 1: everything lined up, you know, everything just clicked into place.
Speaker 1: I mean without even thinking about it or knowing. It
Speaker 1: was just sort of this timing of everything happening, and
Speaker 1: you know there's a ton of hard work, but it
Speaker 1: was just all happening. You know, to say it was
Speaker 1: all happening, that would be an understatement. Our first year
Speaker 1: we did three thou dollars. Our second year we went
Speaker 1: to two point two million. Our third year we went
Speaker 1: to seven million, and then we went to seventeen million,
Speaker 1: and then twenty nine million and forty eight million, and
Speaker 1: then sixty three million and the ninety million. So we
Speaker 1: had very very quick uh uh, grow very fast, grow.
Speaker 1: And I would go to a lot of these shows,
Speaker 1: these trade shows, like the Magic Show in Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: and when when you walked down those those massive corridors
Speaker 1: where it's booth after booth after booth, and it's still
Speaker 1: even true today. When people would see John Ashworth, they
Speaker 1: would they almost would gasp. They would just stop and
Speaker 1: it's like they they were seeing someone from out of
Speaker 1: this world. It was like, I don't know, Michael Jordan's
Speaker 1: babe Ruth, someone was walking in their sphere that it
Speaker 1: was like I'm not worthy. There's John Ashworth. Of course,
Speaker 1: John is kind of walking around with no idea that
Speaker 1: anybody has given given a second thought that he's he's
Speaker 1: in their universe. Ashworth and Grymes had their expertise. Montiel
Speaker 1: handled the money, and again Jerry was the mastermind of
Speaker 1: all the finance thing, you know. Uh, and he always
Speaker 1: wanted to have a public company for some reason. You know,
Speaker 1: I was an agronomy major. I wasn't. I wasn't much
Speaker 1: help on that, and they were focused on the weeds,
Speaker 1: so to speak. Yeah, I took a lot of weed
Speaker 1: back then too. Do you think that was partly the success?
Speaker 1: I would work. I would work pretty much most I
Speaker 1: would work all day without you know, I'd be grinding, grinding, grind,
Speaker 1: and get home, have a little dinner, smoke a little weed,
Speaker 1: and then I'd stay most of the night. You know.
Speaker 1: I was like this and kind of go out there
Speaker 1: and get creative with things, and then you know, and
Speaker 1: then the next day reel it back in and be
Speaker 1: all business like them, boom, go out there again. And
Speaker 1: so it was this constant ebb and flow of that
Speaker 1: which I think was a driver in a lot of
Speaker 1: respects creativity was coming in a lot of ways, especially
Speaker 1: as it related to getting the big name ambassadors invested
Speaker 1: in the brand and the growth. We were able to
Speaker 1: give them stock and a public company, so it actually
Speaker 1: had some some value that they could you know that
Speaker 1: they are their managers could look at and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's worth this or it's worth that. But they also
Speaker 1: had the fact that, you know, if we were going
Speaker 1: to really grow and they were going to help us grow,
Speaker 1: that this uh public stock could be worth a lot
Speaker 1: more in the years ahead, and which ended up happening.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, we I think we went public for
Speaker 1: ninety cents to share, and you know, it ended up
Speaker 1: going to eighteen dollars a share, so uh, you know,
Speaker 1: not that they all held it on that long, but
Speaker 1: they would hold it for a few years and and
Speaker 1: did did very well with it. John Cook's father was
Speaker 1: his agent at the time and had endorsed this deal,
Speaker 1: and that stock and equity just started to grow and
Speaker 1: grow and grow, and as the brand grew, and I know,
Speaker 1: I'll remember Fred had a phenomenal year, leading money winner,
Speaker 1: player of the year all that I was third on
Speaker 1: the money list and one three times and had lots
Speaker 1: of other chances. So what better branding opportunities and uh
Speaker 1: publicity do you get to have the number one and
Speaker 1: three players in the world whearing the stuff that you know,
Speaker 1: anybody could go out and get. So, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of how that started. With just a little
Speaker 1: bit of cash, not much. I didn't really want it,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to be part in, you know, an
Speaker 1: equity partner in this, in this whole project. Fred Couple's
Speaker 1: business manager was and still is Lynn Roach. You know,
Speaker 1: for me, I'll never forget Ashworth. We're incredible, and Jerry
Speaker 1: Montiel was incredible. John's sister worked at Ashworth. John's brother, Hank,
Speaker 1: worked at Ashworth. So everywhere you went you knew the
Speaker 1: people very very well. And I remember wearing Ashworth. Maybe
Speaker 1: it happened to be after Augusta and I got a
Speaker 1: call from Phil Knight I didn't but from Nike, and
Speaker 1: I went up there and Ashworth got word of it
Speaker 1: and they signed me to a lifetime contract. Just how
Speaker 1: powerful was that Barry Grimes blessing on that first rack
Speaker 1: of shirts. Apparently it was so good that from it
Speaker 1: seemed to be a series of perfect decisions and steps.
Speaker 1: I suppose the biggest one would have been when Fred
Speaker 1: won the Masters. You know, that was a big one.
Speaker 1: We were already going pretty good by then, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean that was full systems. God. One of the
Speaker 1: things I became was this laid back guy because of
Speaker 1: Ashworth clothing, and I then had a look that I
Speaker 1: think most people can have. And so then leading up
Speaker 1: you know to augusta, yeah, ninety two, I had an
Speaker 1: argyle shirt on one day and as John said, had
Speaker 1: the blue stripe on the collar and the blue and
Speaker 1: the blue stripe on the bands. Those are my favorite shirts.
Speaker 1: And then Sunday I wore that kind of like a
Speaker 1: like an art painting shirt. Um and one and uh
Speaker 1: no idea teeing off on Sunday, whether I was gonna
Speaker 1: win or not like everyone. Um, but it became a
Speaker 1: shirt that kind of was was seen around the world
Speaker 1: and they sold a lot of them. And uh, as
Speaker 1: John will tell you, uh, we really were. It's bizarre.
Speaker 1: If John and I played together, it was really more
Speaker 1: fun because it's it's I'm changing it to Echo shoes.
Speaker 1: But when I started wearing Echo shoes, people thought I
Speaker 1: was wearing tennis shoes and Ashworth clothing. They really thought
Speaker 1: we were wearing kind of like a T shirt look
Speaker 1: as a sales rep. Hey cash Worth offers his perspective
Speaker 1: from the trenches. I remember a couple of different hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollar orders that I got. One of them was
Speaker 1: at Monica, and I had known this gal. She'd worked
Speaker 1: at a different course. She'd worked at Mondolon and moved
Speaker 1: to Monica. I walked in at a meeting, got to
Speaker 1: my car, started adding it up and I go, it's
Speaker 1: a hundred grand. And I remember going to the airport.
Speaker 1: On my way to the airport, stopping at a pay
Speaker 1: phone because they were still pay phones then, and calling
Speaker 1: and trying to get ahold of John. And I didn't
Speaker 1: get John, but I got Jerry, and I go, Jerry,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna believe this man. I just got a
Speaker 1: hundred grand. And then I also got one of the
Speaker 1: Olympic Club one time for a hondo and um, I
Speaker 1: told the guy was sort of turning was for the
Speaker 1: tour championship. They're gonna have it back to back years.
Speaker 1: And he looked at all this stuff and he and
Speaker 1: he ordered and while we were sitting there or that
Speaker 1: I could add it up. Jim O'Neill who's the value
Speaker 1: O'Neil or ballet Neil, he's the Neil side of that
Speaker 1: was the buyer for Olympic Club and uh hundred, I
Speaker 1: can't do this too much. What if it's what if
Speaker 1: it's what if you don't sell it all? It's just
Speaker 1: the ridiculous because no, I really want it did and
Speaker 1: I go okay, And on the way home, I remember
Speaker 1: I bought a new car. It was it was a workman,
Speaker 1: but it was a new car. The ripple effect of
Speaker 1: success was being felt and enjoyed by everyone at Ashworth.
Speaker 1: We gave stock options away like they were water h
Speaker 1: two people because you know, to get them to join
Speaker 1: our company and not have to pay him as much
Speaker 1: or what have you. So we not only gave stock
Speaker 1: options to you know, to all the guys who had
Speaker 1: uh that endorsed our line, but also to our employees.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, they would give them ten thousand shares
Speaker 1: of stock options. And you know, I remember something walking
Speaker 1: into my office one day and say, we you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you Gerry for the stock options
Speaker 1: because I just sold them, and uh, you know we
Speaker 1: were able to buy our house with it. I remember distinctly,
Speaker 1: Uh I don't remember the lady's name, but remember distinctly
Speaker 1: when that happened. And so there was a lot of
Speaker 1: good feeling about about our company, so good they added
Speaker 1: Dave Stockton, and eventually, as John Cook explains, the Big
Speaker 1: Easy Open Championship was at Merefield. John Cook lost to
Speaker 1: Nick Fabo by a shot. Els finished fifth. I'd play
Speaker 1: with Ernie in the final round of the Open in
Speaker 1: ninety two. He was my final round pairing and he
Speaker 1: hadn't he had no status on any tour at all,
Speaker 1: and I remember getting done playing. It didn't work out
Speaker 1: the way I wanted it too, but he was more
Speaker 1: emotional than I was going off that eighteenth green, knowing
Speaker 1: what might have just happened or had just happened. And
Speaker 1: I remember John coming to me, Ashworth coming to me
Speaker 1: later on and say, what do you think about signing
Speaker 1: Ernie Els, and said, well, number one, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: status anywhere, but it won't be long until he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys and you better wrap him up right
Speaker 1: now and get him because it was gonna happen. And
Speaker 1: certainly it did just a couple of years later. So um,
Speaker 1: he fit the mold. He fit, He fit the group,
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. Jim Nance on a decade
Speaker 1: of dominance. From in just a short span you go
Speaker 1: from selling shirts out of the back of your trunk,
Speaker 1: so where now within ten years you're the number one
Speaker 1: golf apparel line in the world, in the world, and
Speaker 1: of course number one in the United States by a mile.
Speaker 1: If you go back and look at old footage of
Speaker 1: players like Phil Mickelson in Tiger Woods when they were kids,
Speaker 1: all the all of stock photos you see of them
Speaker 1: before they had endorsement deals, they were just kids. They
Speaker 1: were wearing Ashworth. They had to put on the shirt
Speaker 1: that made it authentic that they were golfers, that they
Speaker 1: were into it, that they got the message, and that
Speaker 1: they were part of this group of people that really
Speaker 1: loved the game. Meanwhile, John Ashworth was starting to feel
Speaker 1: the effects of a fast growing publicly traded company. It
Speaker 1: was a special time, you know. At the time, though,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're I was peddling so fast all the time,
Speaker 1: it seemed like that I'm not sure I really knew
Speaker 1: what was actually happening. It was just happening, and not
Speaker 1: unlike most wildly successful small companies that get big quick
Speaker 1: other companies were interested in an acquisition. Quicksilver wanted to
Speaker 1: buy us back in the I suppose it was or something,
Speaker 1: and and that, you know, at the time, it did
Speaker 1: start to get a little bit of a grind. And
Speaker 1: and maybe some of the fun was sucked out of
Speaker 1: it because as a public company, you're trying to shareholders
Speaker 1: what you do, what you do last quarter, you know,
Speaker 1: what's the next quarter? You know, what are you do
Speaker 1: next to you? How are you gonna keep doubling? You know?
Speaker 1: And I was getting kind of exhausted, to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, like so but that deal Quicksilver, But then
Speaker 1: I thought, God, what a great company itself to Quicksilver.
Speaker 1: I loved him growing up surf company. Bob McKnight's a
Speaker 1: phenomenal guy. Perfect I was in. But then that felt
Speaker 1: that deal fell through and I don't even know why.
Speaker 1: And then three months later we hired their CFO, Randy Harrold,
Speaker 1: to be our president. And because Jerry was trying to
Speaker 1: he was trying to step away, you know, And and
Speaker 1: and I didn't have the sort of tool kit to
Speaker 1: be the president of a public company. And I get that.
Speaker 1: I was totally hip to that. Bob McKnight, who was
Speaker 1: a CEO of Quicksilver at the time and started Quicksilver
Speaker 1: of of the United States. UM, he was not able
Speaker 1: to UH to put this through to his h his
Speaker 1: board of directors to get them to accept it. But
Speaker 1: that's how I met Uh. The gentleman that Randy Harrold
Speaker 1: that we hired to replace me. Montial told me he
Speaker 1: had to step away at that time for health issues.
Speaker 1: The hiring of Randy Harold, it's the beginning of the
Speaker 1: end for John at Ashworth. He didn't get it. He
Speaker 1: was trying to squeeze every last dollar out of everything
Speaker 1: and cheapen the product. And I was just you know,
Speaker 1: I was standing here and I had a big standoff,
Speaker 1: and the board for the most part, would side with him.
Speaker 1: That was a big argument that John had with UH,
Speaker 1: with the person that that was running in the company
Speaker 1: at the time. John was a creative guy. You just
Speaker 1: had to let him, like, hey, if he wants to
Speaker 1: show up for twelve thirty and sleep all morning, let
Speaker 1: him do it. You know, let him come in whenever
Speaker 1: he wants his free spirit, let it. And we don't
Speaker 1: we leave him like punch the clock. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a bad thing about being in Ashworth is when you
Speaker 1: make up your mind, it's nothing's gonna change you. And
Speaker 1: it's not about the money, you know, it's about what
Speaker 1: you think is right. And sometimes that stubbornness. I mean,
Speaker 1: it doesn't look like John has that sometimes, so an
Speaker 1: out started looking in. But he's super competitive and super
Speaker 1: wants to do it his way. And once he's decided that,
Speaker 1: I doubt you're gonna change his mind. I just remember
Speaker 1: John kind of parting ways quietly, and then Mary went
Speaker 1: and I think maybe Hank, who had a family, still
Speaker 1: was a rep. But that's about really all I know.
Speaker 1: It just kind of slowed down, and then I just
Speaker 1: kept wearing stuff. We all took it personally that uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the Astra family was no longer part of
Speaker 1: that um. But John wanted to make it known to
Speaker 1: us that because they weren't part of it, not to
Speaker 1: you know, not to bail from it, that it was
Speaker 1: going to be such a great thing and a great
Speaker 1: thing for us. The company just um, you know, went
Speaker 1: in the direction where it went from trying to do
Speaker 1: the right thing to try to make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: Couldn't sleep at night. I was just so unhappy you know,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, that we're just on top of
Speaker 1: the world on one hand, but on so happy. On
Speaker 1: the other you're a nine million dollar company ten years
Speaker 1: into it and you're you're you're miserable thirty seven years old.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like it's like stupid, isn't it when
Speaker 1: you think back? And I so I wish I you know,
Speaker 1: I was probably impatient. I probably should have dug my
Speaker 1: heels in more just stayed the course. And luckily for me,
Speaker 1: I basically got to the point where I just said,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna I didn't see it getting
Speaker 1: any better. So, um, I ended up selling my stock
Speaker 1: at probably the highest value it ever was. So so
Speaker 1: that was fine, that was good. Um. And then this
Speaker 1: opportunity came up in Scotland. So this was middle of
Speaker 1: it was like June, and just like that, Elvis had
Speaker 1: left the building. It was hard to accept because I
Speaker 1: was just getting a little taste of being uh so
Speaker 1: in the middle of it with him. But he really
Speaker 1: wanted to go do something again big for the game,
Speaker 1: and he kind of cashed out and he went to Scotland.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's incredible property at Archer Fields and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the timing of it wasn't right. It ended
Speaker 1: up being this remarkable property that today is called the
Speaker 1: Renaissance Club. And but John had the vision and his
Speaker 1: vision was dead on. This is a property that abuts Mirfield.
Speaker 1: There were two courses that dated back into the eighteen
Speaker 1: hundreds and they had disappeared like after World War One.
Speaker 1: I think I was and and uh and I just was.
Speaker 1: I got caught by the bug, you know, the lynx bug.
Speaker 1: But that kind of went sideway that that's a whole
Speaker 1: another story too. So one of the things that was
Speaker 1: in my office one day and he and he walks
Speaker 1: in with the Duke of Scotland into my office, introduced
Speaker 1: me dude, because you can reade braveheart, right the dude
Speaker 1: on Braveheart. But but but two hundred years later and
Speaker 1: he's bought property with this guy adjacent to Merefield over
Speaker 1: in Scotland, and he's become a member at going to
Speaker 1: I think, and he's they put steaks up. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's like he likes it over there, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna build a couple of golf courses and I'm going,
Speaker 1: what he mean, came this close to pulling it off.
Speaker 1: I mean he those courses exist today, they've been you know,
Speaker 1: he just kind of cut he got. I think he
Speaker 1: got swindled. He's such a nice guy. I think he
Speaker 1: got swindled out of the money from the investment guys.
Speaker 1: You think he went into business with a guy that
Speaker 1: that owned a bunch of restaurants in Edinburgh and he
Speaker 1: didn't come out of it on the good side. My
Speaker 1: brother didn't come out of the good side. John was
Speaker 1: brought back to Worth in two thousand seven, and it's
Speaker 1: old to Taylor made Adidas in two thousand nine, but
Speaker 1: John continued to think about the development of the brand
Speaker 1: links So, which he started with his nephew Jeff Cunningham
Speaker 1: in two thousand So. I had to go back to
Speaker 1: Bob McKnight afterwards and said, hey, listen, you know, can
Speaker 1: I get that name back because you guys aren't going
Speaker 1: to do anything with it, and I think someday I might,
Speaker 1: I might build that into the into a brand. So
Speaker 1: um so he was He was kind enough to say, yeah, sure, here,
Speaker 1: So how good is that? Yeah? That was good. You
Speaker 1: get one hell of a story and you get the
Speaker 1: centerpiece of your life. You know, now, yeah. Yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: when you look back, you think, well, had I've been very,
Speaker 1: very lucky. I've been around a lot of great people.
Speaker 1: And again the Ashford thing, I mean, there were so
Speaker 1: many great people. I mean, any any time anything like
Speaker 1: that happens, it's as much about the people as anything else.
Speaker 1: And and I'm sure it would have been great if
Speaker 1: I would have stayed. But but I look at all
Speaker 1: the things that I've been able to do and be
Speaker 1: in touch with people and do with different projects, and
Speaker 1: you know, and then you just go, I go. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't you know, I wouldn't change that for the world either.
Speaker 1: We wouldn't be sitting here right now and Link Soul
Speaker 1: Shop and having a chance to communicate, you know, and
Speaker 1: promote golf and um goad Hill Park wouldn't be Hill
Speaker 1: Park wouldn't be here at least I wouldn't be Poliment.
Speaker 1: In addition to building the brand of Linksoul, in two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen, John Ashworth Rallied the City of Oceanside and
Speaker 1: saved Goat Hill Park from being developed by a billionaire.
Speaker 1: He and his team of tireless staff resurrected the golf
Speaker 1: course and the community spirit by revamping the look the
Speaker 1: field and the hang. They've added the playground, the kids course,
Speaker 1: and they host the annual Wishbone Brawl, a turn back
Speaker 1: the clock competition with tour pros playing per Simmon Woods,
Speaker 1: with all proceeds going to charity. Some final reflections from
Speaker 1: the group. I think his vision was always different than
Speaker 1: people trying to make money. He wanted to do it all.
Speaker 1: He wanted it all to come together and uh and
Speaker 1: work out for everybody. So, I mean, look, you can
Speaker 1: the fashion part of it, the clothing part of it
Speaker 1: is just is probably the smallest part. What he did
Speaker 1: with that is what he's always done, is he brings
Speaker 1: what's cool in the real world to the golf world,
Speaker 1: which is always way behind. And then he markets and
Speaker 1: talks about all the virtues and the greatest things about
Speaker 1: the game of golf, and he brings those two components together.
Speaker 1: Now with this golf course. Um, oh my my, My
Speaker 1: dad would be so proud of him for all that,
Speaker 1: you know, unbelievable. Are you proud of him? Oh? My god?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding? I probably don't tell him enough, but
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, you know, he's a producer. He brings,
Speaker 1: he brings everybody together. Everybody's involved, but he's the one
Speaker 1: that is the lead dog. He's the one out front
Speaker 1: for sure. He's not afraid to make decisions the hard
Speaker 1: ones that and to keep moving. John changed the game
Speaker 1: of life through clothing. Um, there's no doubt in my
Speaker 1: mind that after Ashworth came out and rolled for a
Speaker 1: few years and kept going, every golf shirt looked like
Speaker 1: an Ashworth shirt with just a different logo and so
Speaker 1: one of the things but I I always look back
Speaker 1: on is with John that that he could be a
Speaker 1: moodie star and would remind me of people that are
Speaker 1: kind of a shucks, you know, our clothing is doing great.
Speaker 1: He never was around, I mean, he never pushed him,
Speaker 1: so I don't even know if John Ashworth ever did
Speaker 1: any media or anything. I mean, it was just you know,
Speaker 1: his name and it started out a different name and
Speaker 1: the logo became incredible. Everything just went wonderful. And it
Speaker 1: still is. It's still talked about, and I have so
Speaker 1: many friends that talked about John Ashworth. Where is he?
Speaker 1: What's he doing? And some of my very good friends
Speaker 1: know exactly what he's doing, and uh, it is amazing.
Speaker 1: And John is a very very very good guy. And
Speaker 1: and really had the interests of John Cook and I
Speaker 1: when we started completely had our interests NIA exactly right,
Speaker 1: and Matt you said it right to that. John he
Speaker 1: loves the game so much and wants to preserve the
Speaker 1: game so much and has such an interest in where
Speaker 1: the game is going with Goat Hill Park. And I
Speaker 1: remember the last time I played golf with John actually
Speaker 1: was at Madison Club and it had barely opened, and
Speaker 1: I took John down there and he insisted on walking
Speaker 1: and carrying his bag, a little a leather little Mackenzie
Speaker 1: walker bag. He had a wooden driver. Um. He just
Speaker 1: he was not gonna, you know, fall into that category
Speaker 1: of you know, where the game. He just wanted to
Speaker 1: preserve it as long as he possibly could. He did
Speaker 1: that with our clothing, and like Fred said, he he
Speaker 1: wanted the best for Fred Couples and John Cook because
Speaker 1: we were early parts and we were a long time
Speaker 1: part of that that family. And that's what John Ashroth is.
Speaker 1: He's he's just a family guy and he loves the
Speaker 1: game of golf. Do you take the Goat Hills project.
Speaker 1: There's no one else on the planet that would take
Speaker 1: that on, No one, no one. And again This is
Speaker 1: not driven in any way by trying to cash in
Speaker 1: on a huge financial opportunity. This is about John trying
Speaker 1: to spread a great message to get people involved in
Speaker 1: the sport to be inclusive. I mean, it's all He's
Speaker 1: just it's all the right things. It's just it's amazing.
Speaker 1: You know, we have the playground we can have you know, kid,
Speaker 1: you know, three year old four year old kids running
Speaker 1: around there playing for free, you know, with their parents,
Speaker 1: and their parents are playing for free. Driving range where
Speaker 1: you see all all kinds everybody, you know, chicks with
Speaker 1: leggings and tank tops to you know, construction workers, you know,
Speaker 1: with boots on too, you know, yeah, Dean Wilson, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know with his dog. You know we we
Speaker 1: allow dogs. People love bringing their dogs up there. So
Speaker 1: I guess my that's my point is that golf needs
Speaker 1: to be this holistic melting pot of people enjoying the
Speaker 1: outdoors with their friends, but still treating everyone with equal
Speaker 1: amounts of respect and playing the game with this reverence
Speaker 1: to the rules and you know, not not you know,
Speaker 1: not to like stiff rules, but just you know, pace
Speaker 1: of play and you know, be kind, be considerate, you know,
Speaker 1: fix your ball marks, you know, repair your dibots, you know,
Speaker 1: things like that. And if I think, you know, there's
Speaker 1: not that many difficult things to figure out, you know.
Speaker 1: And and so if only, if only life was more
Speaker 1: like that, if you took the golf the golf guidelines
Speaker 1: of goat Hill Park and and and put them how
Speaker 1: timely is that conversation? How timely is that? Just in
Speaker 1: life in general? Just accept played by the the general guidelines,
Speaker 1: be kind, make par not war. Isn't that? Isn't that
Speaker 1: where it's all going? Yes, yes, I hope, So I hope,
Speaker 1: So I really do hope. So I can't believe I
Speaker 1: almost forgot. But one thing we get from everybody is
Speaker 1: what is your favorite firepap? Well, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I really have one. I mean, I've been to your now,
Speaker 1: thank you for that. I appreciate that. And that was
Speaker 1: a great nat I remember, that was funny and and
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Um I you've inspired me to build one.
Speaker 1: Um that's right after this bathroom. Instead, we're gonna put
Speaker 1: a little gas one back here with a different patio.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna have one. But I would say my
Speaker 1: kitchen table, we don't use it all the time. But
Speaker 1: I mean if the story, when the stories get wrong,
Speaker 1: that's where they roll. Whether it's just my little immediate family,
Speaker 1: or if it's neighbors or friends or whatnot. I would
Speaker 1: say our little dining room table, which is a cool spot.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't drink, so it's usually sitting around.
Speaker 1: We do have a fire bit right outside where I'm pointing. Um,
Speaker 1: it probably is there because it's supposed to be there.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of a fixture in the in the yard.
Speaker 1: But most of the time, you know, when I get
Speaker 1: rolling like this, I really enjoy anywhere and it would
Speaker 1: be fun, you know, some marshmallows and hot dogs and
Speaker 1: talking with Cookie. And when he called me yesterday, I
Speaker 1: was really embarrassed that my phone was screwing up and
Speaker 1: we had to do it today. But I would talk
Speaker 1: about Ashworth all day long. And I I've really I've
Speaker 1: enjoyed this. It's made you know, made my day. Uh.
Speaker 1: And like I say, I have jeans that are thirty
Speaker 1: three jeans in my closet. They must be cookie twenty
Speaker 1: five years old, so I can wear those to the
Speaker 1: fire fit and stay warm. I have a jacket, an
Speaker 1: Ashworth jacket that's twenty five years old. I I have
Speaker 1: stuff in my closet that I absolutely love, uh and
Speaker 1: it's just it's just I can't let go of it.
Speaker 1: I always go back to Spanish Bay, Matt. I mean
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's where you know, you finish around
Speaker 1: of golf and you know, playing in the tailor made
Speaker 1: or the Callaway or the Spalding or whatever it's called. Um,
Speaker 1: go back to Spanish Bay and when it's the first
Speaker 1: thing we knew, we go to the bar, you grab
Speaker 1: a glass of red wine, you go out to the
Speaker 1: fire pit. That's it, and then you watch the you know,
Speaker 1: watch the bag piper come down to the path. And
Speaker 1: next thing you know, it's five o'clock. It's time for
Speaker 1: dinner and another glass of wine. So if that's what
Speaker 1: we do. The fire pits are synonymous with Carmel and
Speaker 1: Double Beach, and in Spanish Bay you go on sensory overload.
Speaker 1: I believe when you're on the moner Ray Peninsula. I
Speaker 1: always felt that, and now I'm a resident, I still
Speaker 1: feel it. Everything feels a little better, you know, smells
Speaker 1: a little better. The view is the best in the world.
Speaker 1: Everything feels a little bit better. You're on sensory overload
Speaker 1: and it's a good feeling. And you know, every every
Speaker 1: week I gotta go out on the road and do
Speaker 1: what I love to do, what I'm trained to do,
Speaker 1: and broadcast. But my fire pit is uh is my home.
Speaker 1: And I count my blessings for that, and I count
Speaker 1: my blessings that I've had people like John and like
Speaker 1: Freddie who have helped me kind of find my fire
Speaker 1: pit in my life. You've set it before, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask you again your favorite fire pit is see now, um,
Speaker 1: goat Hill is great, But I was thinking about it too,
Speaker 1: and I'm We've been using our fire pit at home
Speaker 1: a lot, and it's it's kind of grown on me.
Speaker 1: So I'm torn. We got the hatand in one, we
Speaker 1: got the Goat Hill Park one, and now we have
Speaker 1: the home one. So I got three. Good to have
Speaker 1: a good roster of fire pits. You don't want to
Speaker 1: just don't, you know, diversify the fire pit portfolio. You
Speaker 1: fy the way, what a great name, by the way,
Speaker 1: because remember I forget the other name you remember. Remember
Speaker 1: you throw another name by me and I go, no,
Speaker 1: that's not it. The fence. I can't even remember what
Speaker 1: it was. I'll tell you. I'll tell you right now.
Speaker 1: It was so good I don't even remember it. It's
Speaker 1: a flush that went down like a dead goldfish, just
Speaker 1: down into the ocean. She gone awesome, Mashie, thank you, buddy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is uh we I you know. Part of the
Speaker 1: vision was to have you as a regular uh you know, correspondent,
Speaker 1: you know, like in the in the field for the
Speaker 1: fire Pit. So this is the way it's working out.
Speaker 1: You know. You can pull me in when you're when
Speaker 1: you're in trouble. You can pull me in like a
Speaker 1: good big brother, like a good big brother. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there we need absolutely. I'm here for you, buddy. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm at Janella, your host of the fire Pit. As
Speaker 1: a listener to this podcast, my friends John Ashworth and
Speaker 1: Jeff Cunningham at Link Soul in Oceanside, California are offering
Speaker 1: you a discount on all future orders of what I
Speaker 1: consider the best golf and lifestyle of pairl Whenever you
Speaker 1: go to link soul dot com, use promo code Matty.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, make park not war put another logo.
Speaker 1: Fine nobody here is getting time. This is the fire
Speaker 1: Pit hosted by Matt Janella. Thank you for listening to
Speaker 1: The fire Pit. It's produced by Alex Upeggy. It's edited
Speaker 1: by Rex Lint. The theme song is by Joe Horowitz.
Speaker 1: Please rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts and
Speaker 1: we might track you down and send you one of
Speaker 1: our new Imperial Road Pats. Got a question, comment, or
Speaker 1: a story for us to track down, You can find
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Matt Janella or on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Matt Underscore Janella. And if you haven't already done so,
Speaker 1: please subscribe to The fire Pit on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher,
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Speaker 1: You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is
Speaker 1: where we post portion of our podcast and add some
Speaker 1: visual surprises. M