Speaker 1: So we're back for another episode of the Frida Egg Podcast,
Speaker 1: and this week we're really excited to have PGA Tour
Speaker 1: player and golf course architecture fanatic Zach Blair on the podcast.
Speaker 2: Zach is heading into his.
Speaker 1: Third year on the PGA Tour and he is also
Speaker 1: you know, has aspirations of building his own golf course,
Speaker 1: which is going to happen called the Buck Club. So
Speaker 1: he you know, kind of fits perfectly with what the
Speaker 1: Frida Egg's all about, PGA Tour talk and architecture. So, Zach,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no problem, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4: So, you know, with the with the na lull here,
Speaker 4: with the PGA Tour season kind of you know, in
Speaker 4: the silly season, what are you doing these days to
Speaker 4: keep yourself busy?
Speaker 3: I mean, honestly right now, just kind of taking care
Speaker 3: of regular stuff in life, you know, getting ready for
Speaker 3: the holidays, shopping a little bit and just kind of
Speaker 3: hanging out with family and friends, but getting ready to
Speaker 3: get it back going. So excited about that.
Speaker 1: Cool. So what's the what's the golf season like in
Speaker 1: Utah these days in November and December kind of non existent?
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, up until two or three weeks ago, it.
Speaker 3: Was actually pretty nice. I mean it was around sixty degrees,
Speaker 3: which is I think pretty seasonably warm for around here.
Speaker 3: But it's snowing now, so not too much golf here
Speaker 3: at the moment. But that's kind of nice to be
Speaker 3: able to get a break from it.
Speaker 1: As they do, you kind of try and stay sharp
Speaker 1: with a winter. Do they have like winter facilities or
Speaker 1: anything there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we just live right down the road from BYU,
Speaker 3: so you know, when I want to go practice, I
Speaker 3: kind of just hop in there at the indoor practice
Speaker 3: facility with the golf team out there bringing me on.
Speaker 3: So that's pretty nice to have when I need it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, it's it's nice that you're right by old
Speaker 1: stomping grounds, so exactly love to hear a little bit about,
Speaker 1: you know, your story about how you got into golf.
Speaker 1: I know, you know, your father had a big influence
Speaker 1: into that, and you know, going from college, you're one
Speaker 1: of the you know, rare guys that earned a PGA
Speaker 1: Tour card in less than a year. So I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear a little bit about your journey to the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour and how you got started in golf.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean like you said, my dad was a
Speaker 3: big influence in my in my life and in you know, golfing.
Speaker 3: With with everything going on, I kind of just followed
Speaker 3: him around. He let me kind of caddy and stuff
Speaker 3: like that, and you know Section Utah section events or
Speaker 3: state opens and stuff. So I just kind of followed
Speaker 3: him around and just you know, like a lot of
Speaker 3: kids do, just tried to copy their dad.
Speaker 5: And so it worked.
Speaker 3: Out and kind of took a liking to it. Maybe,
Speaker 3: you know, sometime in junior high or close to high
Speaker 3: school is when I really, you know, thought about doing
Speaker 3: it seriously. I mean I'd been around it my whole life,
Speaker 3: so I thought I might as well not give it
Speaker 3: a try. And yeah, so it worked out. I went
Speaker 3: to BYU, and like you said, I was able to
Speaker 3: graduate and get my tour card that year following graduation,
Speaker 3: which was always nice. But I kind of took a
Speaker 3: different route than a lot of people.
Speaker 5: I turned pro after a Q School.
Speaker 3: Actually I went to Q School as an amateur and
Speaker 3: made it to finals, but kind of had a you know,
Speaker 3: an average tournament. I think I finished somewhere in the
Speaker 3: middle of the pack, around seventieth or something like that.
Speaker 3: So I was actually just gonna stay amateur and other
Speaker 3: year until I saw some of the people that finished,
Speaker 3: you know, where I finished at Q School were getting
Speaker 3: starts on the PGA Tour Latin America with how they'd
Speaker 3: finished at Q School, with their status.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: So I told my dad, you know, I asked him
Speaker 3: if he thought that would be a good idea, and
Speaker 3: you know, he basically just told me, yeah, you can
Speaker 3: do what you want, but you got to make sure
Speaker 3: you graduate. So I had to. I had to go
Speaker 3: down and play on the PJA Tour Latin America and
Speaker 3: graduate at the same time, which was, uh it was
Speaker 3: a little difficult, but I was able to make it
Speaker 3: work and basically I played pretty good down there for
Speaker 3: half the season. They take a break in the middle
Speaker 3: of the summer, so that was opened it up for
Speaker 3: me to be able to go play in.
Speaker 5: A couple of web dot com events.
Speaker 3: I was able to get a sponsor's exemption into Utah,
Speaker 3: and I was able to get into the Nova Scotia
Speaker 3: Web dot Com Tour event because I think there was
Speaker 3: like a hurricane or something that was supposed to hit
Speaker 3: up there, so a bunch of people withdrew and since
Speaker 3: I had conditional status. I was able to reshuffle in
Speaker 3: and kind of play the last half of the Web
Speaker 3: dot Com Tour season and was able to get into the.
Speaker 5: Finals and get my card.
Speaker 3: So it all worked out.
Speaker 5: It was pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it, And it's a kind of a cool story.
Speaker 1: It's a unique one in the sense that you know,
Speaker 1: you stayed amateur for a while, and you know you did.
Speaker 1: It's it's so many guys come up with the conditional
Speaker 1: status with Q school this week, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: a little bit about, you know, your experience going through
Speaker 1: it and kind of just the pressure of each stage
Speaker 1: and kind of what it's like and and obviously you
Speaker 1: were an amateur, so you were in a little bit
Speaker 1: different boat. But I'd love to hear a little bit about.
Speaker 2: It, you know, Q School.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so for me, I had to go through every stage.
Speaker 3: I had to go pre qualifying, first, second, and finals.
Speaker 3: So man, it was it was an exciting ride. I
Speaker 3: you know, I played pretty well at pre qualifying. I
Speaker 3: remember kind of made it through that fairly easy. And
Speaker 3: then first stage and I got off to i mean
Speaker 3: just a horrendous start. I think I shot forty one
Speaker 3: or forty two. On my opening nine, I was just
Speaker 3: just like basically shot myself in the foot coming out
Speaker 3: of the gates. But I was able to kind of
Speaker 3: rein it in and have a last you know, I
Speaker 3: had a great back nine, i think on the final
Speaker 3: day to end up making it on the number.
Speaker 5: So that was nice to get through there.
Speaker 3: And then second stage again I kind of you know,
Speaker 3: played pretty well and got through, you know, pretty easily,
Speaker 3: and then final stage, I don't really know, I.
Speaker 5: Just played very average.
Speaker 3: Obviously, there's a lot of good players, and you know,
Speaker 3: I didn't have my best stuff that week, and I
Speaker 3: finished like seventy, you know, mid seventieth, you know, middle
Speaker 3: of the pack. But I do remember I birdied my
Speaker 3: last three holes the final day to finish where I finished,
Speaker 3: And I mean that was I mean, if you look
Speaker 3: back on it, that was you know, that was everything,
Speaker 3: because that was what made me able to get into
Speaker 3: those PJ Toy Latin America events, and it was what
Speaker 3: helped me get into those, you know, that event in
Speaker 3: Nova Scotia on my number and a bunch of other stuff,
Speaker 3: and so I mean it's just kind of goes to
Speaker 3: show that every shot kind of counts and I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, it could all be different if I kind
Speaker 3: of just threw in the towel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that the Q School is.
Speaker 1: One of the most undercovered events in all of golf.
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's kind of fascinating. You know, you
Speaker 1: see these guys that were coll phenoms. I mean that
Speaker 1: are you know, fighting for their livelihoods and yeah, are
Speaker 1: on the on the brink of hanging up the clubs,
Speaker 1: and you know, just seeing these guys under the you know,
Speaker 1: ultimate pressure it is is kind.
Speaker 2: Of it's crazy.
Speaker 1: It should should definitely get more coverage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think, you know, like you said,
Speaker 3: it's definitely doesn't get the attention it deserves. I think
Speaker 3: a little bit has been taken away from it now
Speaker 3: that you don't get right out on the PGA Tour,
Speaker 3: So I think they kind of overlook it even more now.
Speaker 3: But I mean it's a really cool event. I know
Speaker 3: they changed it to four rounds, you know, a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago, but I mean those are those are
Speaker 3: some of the biggest rounds these guys will ever play.
Speaker 3: So it's it's pretty good, you know, it's pretty fun
Speaker 3: to watch. I got a lot of friends, but do
Speaker 3: it every year, so you know, good luck to all
Speaker 3: of them. Hopefully they play well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I got a buddy that's in a whole
Speaker 1: and they you can lock down full status. It's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, conditional. It's tough, too tough when you don't
Speaker 1: know when you're getting.
Speaker 2: Your next start.
Speaker 1: You were exactly lucky to get through and uh and
Speaker 1: uh you know, get into that reshuffle. So you know,
Speaker 1: with the with twenty seventeen and.
Speaker 2: Kind of the break.
Speaker 1: Curious how you go about building your tournament schedule for
Speaker 1: the year.
Speaker 2: Do you like to block it out where you have
Speaker 2: a couple of.
Speaker 1: Weeks on the road and then some weeks off. Do
Speaker 1: you pick certain courses? Do you look at, you know,
Speaker 1: your past performance. Love to hear a little bit about
Speaker 1: how your how you build your schedule.
Speaker 3: I mean kind of all of those things that you said,
Speaker 3: I try and do. But you know, everybody that knows
Speaker 3: me knows that I.
Speaker 5: Play a lot.
Speaker 3: So uh, you know, I go into the first two
Speaker 3: years I got out here, I kind of said, I
Speaker 3: want to play as much as I can, kind of
Speaker 3: see what courses I like, what course I play well at,
Speaker 3: and you know, then start building a schedule from there
Speaker 3: and then so this year I kind of went into it,
Speaker 3: you know, the same way, thinking that I wasn't going to.
Speaker 5: Play as much.
Speaker 3: But I mean, I just love to play golf, So
Speaker 3: it's kind of hard for me to say I want
Speaker 3: to take this week off or that week off. But
Speaker 3: we'll see. I mean, this year, I kind of have
Speaker 3: the plan to you know, not play more than four
Speaker 3: in a row and you know, be able to get
Speaker 3: my rest, and I, like you said, I like to
Speaker 3: see kind of my past performances and see how I've
Speaker 3: played at certain places or see what courses set up
Speaker 3: well for me. Obviously, I like any course that's a
Speaker 3: part seventy, you know, not as many par fives and
Speaker 3: stuff like that, but all the courses under the right
Speaker 3: conditions I feel like I can.
Speaker 5: Play well at.
Speaker 3: So I'm just excited to kind of get back out
Speaker 3: there and get playing.
Speaker 1: Any new staffs that you're kind of looking forward to that,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe new courses on the on the schedule.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they're the only new course that
Speaker 3: I can think of. Is that I think Tiger or
Speaker 3: the what event is that it's usually a congressional.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the TPC.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Click and Loans. I think might be at
Speaker 3: TPC Potomac this year, which that's my wife's hometown, so
Speaker 3: that should be fun to go out there and play that.
Speaker 3: Uh were but well, I don't know if there's anyone right,
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, wells Fargo at Eagle Point. Yeah, I've
Speaker 3: heard a lot of good things about that place, so yeah,
Speaker 3: definitely looking forward to that. Qul Halla is always a
Speaker 3: sweet spot, so hopefully you know, I can make the
Speaker 3: PGA there again. And but yeah, yeah, definitely looking forward
Speaker 3: to those two stops this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what are what are your favorite some of your
Speaker 1: favorite spots in general, whether it be golf course or
Speaker 1: town or you know, combinations.
Speaker 3: Man, they're all pretty good. But uh, definitely Nearfield.
Speaker 5: You know, Jack tournament is pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 3: The golf course is always set up awesome, and uh,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 5: The town's great.
Speaker 3: You know, there's some good places for food.
Speaker 5: Uh, you know, every week.
Speaker 3: It seems like, but I mean, man, there's not too
Speaker 3: many bad weeks out there. Every week kind of you know,
Speaker 3: does the right thing to hopefully try and different differentiate
Speaker 3: themselves and try and get good fields. So I mean
Speaker 3: we get taken care of pretty good, and we play
Speaker 3: a lot of good golf courses, so it's tough to pick.
Speaker 1: So what's your take on the new format for the Zurich.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think that should be really cool looking
Speaker 3: forward to that for sure. Played Zurich last year. We
Speaker 3: had some stuff going on and kind of worked out
Speaker 3: in our favor. I guess the weather down there was
Speaker 3: you know, a nightmare, So looking forward to getting back
Speaker 3: down there. You know, they got some good food down there.
Speaker 3: The golf course is cool, and that'll be a good format,
Speaker 3: is you know. I wish we could play stuff like
Speaker 3: that a couple.
Speaker 5: More times a year, but we'll see how it goes
Speaker 5: this year.
Speaker 1: What you know, you hit it in the you know,
Speaker 1: kind of nail on ahead with it, playing more different stuff.
Speaker 1: What other types of formats would you like to see
Speaker 1: beyond just the partner best ball or alternative shot? Is
Speaker 1: there any other types of formats you'd like to see
Speaker 1: more of?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I would love to see match play,
Speaker 3: you know, in in an event other than that World
Speaker 3: Golf Championship. I think that would be really cool. The
Speaker 3: Stableford format is is really neat, I think as well,
Speaker 3: so I think that's another one that I think should
Speaker 3: be maybe utilized one time in the fall and then
Speaker 3: you know, the in Reno and then like I said,
Speaker 3: I think if we played Stableford twice a year, the
Speaker 3: Best Ball tournament twice a year, and match play twice
Speaker 3: a year, I think, you know, it would be a lot.
Speaker 3: It would be a lot of fun and kind of
Speaker 3: spice things up, you know, instead of just playing stroke
Speaker 3: play every week. Because like as you know, you know,
Speaker 3: golf was you know, built on more than just playing
Speaker 3: stroke play, and you know a lot of those you know,
Speaker 3: people that grow up you know in England and Europe
Speaker 3: play match play a lot.
Speaker 5: So I think it's a it's.
Speaker 3: Definitely a different format and fun. So I think if
Speaker 3: we could do that more, it'd be it'd be awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's it's just more relatable to the
Speaker 1: everyday golfer also because you know, your your weekend warrior
Speaker 1: very rarely just goes.
Speaker 2: Out and plays you know, stroke play.
Speaker 1: When he plays with his foursome, it's usually some sort
Speaker 1: of team format.
Speaker 3: Or match yeah, you know, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: So I think it brings a little bit more fan
Speaker 1: appeal into it as well.
Speaker 2: So I have to, you know, ask.
Speaker 1: About you know, the golf world buzzing about Tiger Woods's return.
Speaker 1: Did you watch much of it? And if so, what
Speaker 1: what do you think?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I was able to watch a little
Speaker 3: bit of it. We were I was playing this little
Speaker 3: member member guest tournament back in Sea Island, so we
Speaker 3: were kind of playing while they were playing.
Speaker 5: But you know, I saw some highlights and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: And I mean, everybody that knows me knows how much
Speaker 3: I like Tiger, So it was obviously nice to see
Speaker 3: him back playing. And I mean he played, he played well.
Speaker 3: You know, you could just tell he was just a
Speaker 3: little rusty, you know, not in tournament form, and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, it was pretty evident that he probably just
Speaker 3: doesn't have the stamina right now. In his first week
Speaker 3: back to kind of you know, play all the practice
Speaker 3: rounds in the pro ams and all the tournament rounds.
Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of a you know, it's probably
Speaker 3: a pretty stressful week for him. But it was cool
Speaker 3: to see him make birdies and you know, make that
Speaker 3: run that second day. And it was nice to see
Speaker 3: him back because golf definitely needs him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, first event back, and you're also the
Speaker 1: host has.
Speaker 2: To be just.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: You know, it was a I couldn't imagine doing that,
Speaker 3: so so it was good to see him back.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think the birdies are telling statistic
Speaker 1: with anybody for sure. If it's not like he was
Speaker 1: making a ton of long putts, he was hitting the
Speaker 1: ball close and that, yeah, a lot, and you know,
Speaker 1: you eliminate a lot of the mistakes and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden he's.
Speaker 2: Up in the top five.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1: So you know, kind of what are your goals now
Speaker 1: going in You know, I guess you were in the
Speaker 1: middle of your third season now, but you know, going
Speaker 1: into twenty seventeen, do you get do you have any
Speaker 1: kind of cemented goals for the upcoming season?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean some of them would just be you know,
Speaker 3: you obviously want to keep your card and make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I would love to qualify for two or three of
Speaker 3: the majors this year, and you know, the ultimate goals
Speaker 3: to win out here. So those are kind of three
Speaker 3: to one three goals that are at the top of
Speaker 3: my list and hopefully I can get those done this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh, you know, win, Win's a great thing.
Speaker 1: You know, it's amazing how many kind of doors it
Speaker 1: opens up, whether it be getting into the Masters, the
Speaker 1: two year exemption, I mean, it's a that is the uh,
Speaker 1: the ultimate prize.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is pretty good.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So let's move on kind of.
Speaker 1: Towards at golf course architecture and golf courses, and let's.
Speaker 2: Start with the.
Speaker 1: One project that's near and dear to.
Speaker 2: Your heart, the Buff Club.
Speaker 1: And I wrote You've met up this summer, and I
Speaker 1: wrote something just a little bit about the inspiration behind it,
Speaker 1: but for people that didn't read it, I think it'd
Speaker 1: be great to just kind of tell the story of,
Speaker 1: you know, the Buck Club and where you're at with it,
Speaker 1: and and.
Speaker 2: We'll kind of go from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, the whole idea about the Buck Club is
Speaker 3: just to kind of have a really good, old school,
Speaker 3: you know, Golden Age architecture type golf course in Utah
Speaker 3: with that, you know, that vibe or that feel that
Speaker 3: everybody likes when they go to their favorite courses. I
Speaker 3: just think Utah has a really big golfing fan base
Speaker 3: or whatever you would call it. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: good golfers here, a lot of people that love golf,
Speaker 3: and I just think we're missing a really truly great
Speaker 3: golf course in Utah. We have a lot of good
Speaker 3: golf courses, but I don't think there's a golf course
Speaker 3: in Utah that people from you know, back East or
Speaker 3: California would make their way to Utah specifically to play
Speaker 3: that golf course. So, you know, basically just trying to
Speaker 3: put together this whole project and get a nice national
Speaker 3: membership of you know, good guys that love golf and
Speaker 3: appreciate good golf courses, and I just think it would
Speaker 3: be something cool to have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: It's I think the you know, Denver has some good
Speaker 1: Golden Age architecture, but for the most part, if you
Speaker 1: look at kind of from really Kansas West, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like a dead spot where it got passed over
Speaker 1: in the in the twenties when most of those courses
Speaker 1: were being built and all the courses got built in
Speaker 1: kind of the dark ages.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we got plenty of those here, So.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of I mean, I think that Arizona
Speaker 1: is another example of that. They have some really good
Speaker 1: courses there, but they also have some very very bad ones.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it happens. That's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but in terms of kind of where you're at
Speaker 1: with the project, you know, and in terms of influences architecturally,
Speaker 1: why don't you kind of share that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean again, anybody that knows me knows how
Speaker 3: big of a fan of Seth Rayner and Seephe McDonald
Speaker 3: I am. So those are two, you know, huge influences.
Speaker 3: But I mean anybody from the Golden Age, whether it's
Speaker 3: you know, Ah, you know, Perry Maxwell, Donald Ross, Alistair mackenzie,
Speaker 3: you know Cold Allison, any any of those guys. I mean,
Speaker 3: George Crump. You know, he did one course and he
Speaker 3: did it right and it's still the you know, number
Speaker 3: one course in the world. So any anybody that was
Speaker 3: associated with that timeline that built those golf courses that
Speaker 3: we all know about that are so great. I mean
Speaker 3: I've pulled things from you know, every one of their
Speaker 3: golf courses, you know, the great aspects of each of them,
Speaker 3: and tried to put it into one golf course without
Speaker 3: it being cheesy or you know one of those courses
Speaker 3: that's trying to uh emulate a different poll or something
Speaker 3: like that from other golf courses. I've just tried to
Speaker 3: take the best things that each course can offer and
Speaker 3: just kind of change them in my own way to
Speaker 3: make it great.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That's uh, that's cool. I mean I think that's
Speaker 1: the way to go. And I think another thing that
Speaker 1: we've talked about is, you know, restoring these courses to
Speaker 1: the original shot, you know value.
Speaker 3: So yeah, for sure that you know, you've.
Speaker 1: Got ridans where people have to hit long irons into.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Nowadays you play a lot of these places and it's
Speaker 1: amid to short iron in and you know that kind
Speaker 1: of defeats the purpose of it.
Speaker 3: A perfect example of that was I played Piping Rock
Speaker 3: this year and there was a new back tee on
Speaker 3: their beer. It's green, and I can't remember how long
Speaker 3: it was, but I want to say it was like,
Speaker 3: you know, it was to a back pin and it
Speaker 3: was around like two sixty or two sixty five or
Speaker 3: two seventy or something like that, And I mean I
Speaker 3: keed up a driver low and just hit you know,
Speaker 3: a low chaser that kind of landed on the front
Speaker 3: part and rolled down the little swale and came back up.
Speaker 3: And I just thought like, how cool was that? Because
Speaker 3: I mean that was how they intended that hole to
Speaker 3: be played. With a long you know, a long shot
Speaker 3: end like a driver or a fairway would. So I mean,
Speaker 3: like you said, you kind of hit the nail on
Speaker 3: the head. I definitely want my course to play to
Speaker 3: the shop values that they were originally intended. You know,
Speaker 3: you want long irons into a dand and you want
Speaker 3: you know, you want short irons into short greens, you know,
Speaker 3: stuff like that. So that's definitely another key point that
Speaker 3: I'll try to make happen at my course. And you know,
Speaker 3: if I can do those things, I think it'll be
Speaker 3: pretty great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So how do you get into architecture in the
Speaker 1: in the first part with you know, just growing up? Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of golfers.
Speaker 2: Aren't into it.
Speaker 1: I think it's growing, but I'd love to hear how
Speaker 1: you you know, got such a love of architecture at
Speaker 1: such an early age.
Speaker 3: Again, my dad, you know, he was a club pro
Speaker 3: and he ran a couple of you know, just like
Speaker 3: regulation nine golf golf courses and he designed them and
Speaker 3: everything like that. They're called Mulligan's golfing Games in Utah,
Speaker 3: and they were, you know, they were just little nine
Speaker 3: hole courses. But he did he did all the design
Speaker 3: work and stuff like that. So I mean I just
Speaker 3: grew up watching him, you know, doing all these drawings
Speaker 3: and all these sketches. And then later on, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, a few years back he got involved in
Speaker 3: redoing a couple of courses down in southern Utah, and
Speaker 3: so again I just kind of, you know, would always
Speaker 3: see him doing his sketches and you know, having his
Speaker 3: routings and all his maps and stuff like that. And
Speaker 3: like I said earlier, I just kind of always wanted
Speaker 3: a copy and be like my dad. So, uh, it
Speaker 3: kind of came pretty easy me just kind of sitting
Speaker 3: next to him drawing golf holes. And you know, as
Speaker 3: you grow older, the interest got a little bigger and
Speaker 3: did a little more research and studied a little more,
Speaker 3: and you know, got to where I am today.
Speaker 5: Cool.
Speaker 1: You know, I know you are a big reader in architecture,
Speaker 1: So you know what we're what are some of your
Speaker 1: favorite architecture books? And you know what's next on your
Speaker 1: list of things to read that you haven't gotten to yet.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm not sure there's so many of them. I've
Speaker 3: gotten a lot of books over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: The evangelical golfer, Uh, that is a really cool book,
Speaker 3: you know, if you like CB McDonald and Seth Rayner
Speaker 3: talks about all their courses and and stuff like that. Man,
Speaker 3: I wish I had I wish I was in my
Speaker 3: little library right now so I could read off some
Speaker 3: other ones. But uh, I don't know. I can't really
Speaker 3: name too many that I like Live and Die by
Speaker 3: besides that book.
Speaker 5: I love that book, Yeah, that one.
Speaker 3: But you know where, you know where I read a lot.
Speaker 3: I just read a lot of stuff online though, too,
Speaker 3: just uh, just random stuff about golf courses. You know,
Speaker 3: I'll hear about a golf course and find it online
Speaker 3: and kind of re read up on it, and then
Speaker 3: you know, just I'd like to talk to my dad,
Speaker 3: and I'd like to talk to other architects just about it,
Speaker 3: kind of see what they have to say. So it's
Speaker 3: just kind of a combination of a lot of different
Speaker 3: sources where I like to learn from.
Speaker 1: I think obviously the best, the best way to study
Speaker 1: architecture is being great architecture and action.
Speaker 5: At the Teah courses.
Speaker 4: So, you know, what were some.
Speaker 1: Of your favorite courses that.
Speaker 2: You saw this year?
Speaker 1: And like the other question, you know, do you have
Speaker 1: any ones that you're really excited about it lined up
Speaker 1: for twenty seventeen, or places that are on the you
Speaker 1: know must see list.
Speaker 3: For me this year, I was able to get to
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of good spots, So I'm
Speaker 3: sorry if I miss any that offends somebody, but I
Speaker 3: was able to go a couple of them that were
Speaker 3: really awesome to me. Chicago Golf Club and Fisher's Island
Speaker 3: Yale was really cool. Those are all C. P. McDonald's
Speaker 3: and Seth Rainer spots, so again, you know, you can
Speaker 3: see how much I love those guys. But uh man,
Speaker 3: where else where else did I play? I went to
Speaker 3: so many places that I forget, but I mean I
Speaker 3: really loved Chicago Golf Club like a lot.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 3: It was a really cool day and to see that
Speaker 3: place it was pretty special. But some places I'm excited
Speaker 3: for this upcoming year. I don't usually like set anything
Speaker 3: up until kind of like that week before I'm gonna go,
Speaker 3: But you know, I really want to see Short Acres.
Speaker 3: I've heard that's a good spot, and I really want
Speaker 3: to see Marion. Never been out there, and a couple
Speaker 3: of my friends. You know, tell me, it's a tell
Speaker 3: me it's a must see, so I really need to
Speaker 3: get out there. And obviously, you know, like if Gusta
Speaker 3: that would be a nice one to go see. I
Speaker 3: really have always wanted to see Jaman's Hall, another step
Speaker 3: Rainer Country Club of Charleston, and then I mean there's
Speaker 3: too many to name. Honestly, I really want to see
Speaker 3: Myopia Hunt up up near Boston. That's kind of one
Speaker 3: that I've just like wanted to go to so bad.
Speaker 3: I wasn't able to make it to the Deutsche Bank
Speaker 3: this year, so I was pretty bummed because I was
Speaker 3: going to go and check that out. But uh, I
Speaker 3: mean every week somewhere where you go has a great spot,
Speaker 3: so I always like to go and check those out,
Speaker 3: see what what each place has got going on. So
Speaker 3: I'm sure I'll find some some good horns this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as short Akers is my favorite golf course I've played,
Speaker 1: so I think that'll be a treat for you.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, I've heard it's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then you know, Blue Mound is a really
Speaker 1: cool rainer in Milwaukee that if you're there you should
Speaker 1: check out. You know, very average land to say the least,
Speaker 1: you know, pretty pretty dismal property, but the green complexes
Speaker 1: are so good that it makes it just such a
Speaker 1: fantastic golf course and you know, ultimate template hole golf course.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was able to play there during the US
Speaker 3: Am Aaron Hills, that was the secondary course, So that
Speaker 3: was really cool. That was honestly one of the first
Speaker 3: rainer courses I had played. So, I mean that was
Speaker 3: kind of one of those aha moments where I was like, Wow,
Speaker 3: this stuff is like really cool. I need to I
Speaker 3: need to kind of read up and see what these
Speaker 3: guys were thinking and you know why they did this stuff.
Speaker 3: So that was That's a pretty special course to me.
Speaker 3: So I definitely like that spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I think it's a testament of somebody said to.
Speaker 2: Me one time. He's that.
Speaker 1: They said, have you ever played a golfle, a great
Speaker 1: golfle that didn't have a great green?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Probably not for me. I'm I'm big into green complexes,
Speaker 3: and Seth Rayner's by far my favorite.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think he did a really good job of giving
Speaker 3: you a lot of pinnable surfaces and I just don't
Speaker 3: I mean, for me, at least, you play a lot
Speaker 3: of his golf courses and you get a lot of
Speaker 3: putts from long distance that you feel like you can make.
Speaker 3: I just think he made the golf. He just made
Speaker 3: golf really fun. In my opinion, it wasn't crazy hard.
Speaker 3: You see some of these architects now, they make the
Speaker 3: green complexes so hard and so challenging, which I understand
Speaker 3: is some courses, you know, if they want to host
Speaker 3: a major championship or they want to host a PGA
Speaker 3: Tour event. You know, the architects aren't in charge of
Speaker 3: exactly what they want to do all the time. You know,
Speaker 3: there's other people that influence them and tell them this
Speaker 3: is what they want. So, I mean, they're getting paid
Speaker 3: and they have to do, you know, what they're being told,
Speaker 3: so they're not, you know, in charge of that all
Speaker 3: the time. But for the majority of the time, I
Speaker 3: just think the green complexes from today's architects are pretty bad.
Speaker 3: If you like Seth Rainer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's they They definitely go to extremes and for
Speaker 1: sure where they kind of try and defend par for.
Speaker 3: The yeah, which I think is stupid.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: I think the same thing is is that like they
Speaker 1: try and defend par that you know, I.
Speaker 6: Really believe in the width that they have you know,
Speaker 6: started to do. But yeah, times the greens get so
Speaker 6: wacky where you know, if you haven't played the golf
Speaker 6: course like fifteen times.
Speaker 1: You you don't understand where you're supposed to hit him.
Speaker 1: And that's also.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fair, Yeah exactly. I just I just got
Speaker 3: I was playing Frederica last week. It's a I want
Speaker 3: to say if Fazzio of course and uh in Georgia
Speaker 3: and Sea Island and one of I mean on my
Speaker 3: first hole, I've never played the golf course before. In
Speaker 3: the first the tenth hole, the pin was back left,
Speaker 3: and my caddy was just like, yeah, I mean, you
Speaker 3: don't want to go in the water left, You just
Speaker 3: kind of want to keep it in the green. And
Speaker 3: it's this huge putting, you know, surface, and I hit
Speaker 3: it right in the middle of the green and there's
Speaker 3: this huge hump like a ten. I don't even know
Speaker 3: how big, but it was like it was to the
Speaker 3: point where I had like a fifteen foot pott and
Speaker 3: I couldn't even keep this thing within eight feet of
Speaker 3: the hole. No matter how good of a putt you hit,
Speaker 3: unless you made it, it was going eight feet away.
Speaker 3: And I just, you know, for the most part. I
Speaker 3: mean there's exceptions, but for the most part, at a
Speaker 3: seth Rainer course, you know, most of the time you
Speaker 3: get on the green and you feel like you have
Speaker 3: a pretty good chance to make a pot, which is
Speaker 3: which is a lot more fun, I think, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the things that Rainer, from
Speaker 1: my experience, was so good at was creating like small
Speaker 1: subtle piece and you know, you hit what you think
Speaker 1: is a perfect putt and it might not move exactly
Speaker 1: the way you thought it did, and it and it
Speaker 1: just you know, it drives you bonkers. But it's like
Speaker 1: these little tiny breaks that are almost harder to read
Speaker 1: than you know, seeing yeah, weeping break is easy to
Speaker 1: read that putt, whereas you know you have a ten
Speaker 1: footer and you're trying to decide, you know, is this
Speaker 1: a you know, half ball out versus you know inside
Speaker 1: the hole. That's almost a harder putt sometimes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think, I mean, I almost think some
Speaker 3: of that stuff it just goes it goes to kind
Speaker 3: of what I was saying. He gave you so much
Speaker 3: flat putting surface that you know, originally that putt that
Speaker 3: you're talking about might have been a straight putt, you know,
Speaker 3: the year of the course open, but over time and
Speaker 3: that you know, his ground settles and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: those little subtle teas where the greens were flat, they
Speaker 3: get those subtle little breaks, you know, And like you said,
Speaker 3: you know that stuff can drive you crazy when you
Speaker 3: got a ten footer that you think is you know,
Speaker 3: dead straight, and it just kind of can wiggle either way. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, I love I love flat putting surfaces, you know,
Speaker 3: generally flat. Yeah, I like a little slope on him.
Speaker 3: You know. Some of the stuff that I see today,
Speaker 3: I just I can't stand, especially when I read that
Speaker 3: some of these guys, you know, they're they're idols, you
Speaker 3: know in the architecture world. Where were some of the
Speaker 3: guys that we've been talking about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's isn't it's interesting, It's it's.
Speaker 2: They they've it's clearly that they.
Speaker 1: That the ideas with and then defense of the green
Speaker 1: is kind of the that's bad right now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: So we got a lot of Twitter questions, So I
Speaker 1: I want to jump in.
Speaker 2: Here and uh, you know, some of these.
Speaker 1: Will be quick ones and some of these will be
Speaker 1: a little bit longer, so you know, we'll we'll jump
Speaker 1: in and the first ones from uh Kyle Nathan and
Speaker 1: he's he's asking this question for a friend. It's sounds
Speaker 1: like there's some money on the line here. If Tiger
Speaker 1: plays fifteen events this year, how many cuts.
Speaker 2: Will you make?
Speaker 3: I mean, if he plays fifteen events, he'll make fourteen
Speaker 3: or fifteen cuts.
Speaker 1: I think, all right, that's it. I think I'm I
Speaker 1: think I'm in the thirteen to fifteen. Yeah, I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: his made cut streak is what I think is his
Speaker 1: most impressed I don't know whether what do you you're
Speaker 1: look say, what do you think is his most impressive feet?
Speaker 1: Is it the amateur you know, three straight juniors, three
Speaker 1: straight usns, the mad cut streak, the you know wins?
Speaker 2: You know what what stands out to you?
Speaker 1: Is it most impressive feet?
Speaker 3: I mean, all of them are pretty unbelievable. And I
Speaker 3: think all of you know, his seventy nine or eighty wins,
Speaker 3: whatever he has, and his majors and his you know,
Speaker 3: amateur USGA titles and his made cut streak, all those
Speaker 3: things will never be like even sniffed again, I don't
Speaker 3: think so. They're all unbelievable. I don't think I could
Speaker 3: pick one, but the mad cut streak is unbelievable. I mean,
Speaker 3: the guy, when he's healthy, he knows he has the
Speaker 3: knacks to make the cut and get into contention. Like,
Speaker 3: you know, he's that good, he's that special of a player.
Speaker 3: So if he's healthy, he's not he's not gonna be
Speaker 3: missing cuts. Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Good, It's crazy to think that, Like during that streak,
Speaker 1: his worst weeks, we're like twenty Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's just, it's crazy, better than everybody else.
Speaker 3: But you know, now he's when he's playing his best
Speaker 3: and he's healthy, I still think he's just as good,
Speaker 3: if not better than everybody you know, of those top
Speaker 3: echelon players. So yeah, he'll he'll make he'll make a
Speaker 3: bunch of cuts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. So this one's from old Tom. Shout
Speaker 1: out to uh Saint Andrews here. But who do you
Speaker 1: wish to work with splash do the construction of the
Speaker 1: Buck Club?
Speaker 3: Uh self? Yeah, and probably my dad more than anybody.
Speaker 3: But I mean, if a like, if a big time
Speaker 3: architect wanted to get involved, I mean I would be
Speaker 3: open to to working with you know some of those guys,
Speaker 3: you know, the Doaks or the core Crenchshaws. I would
Speaker 3: just have to make sure that I do the greens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this one's from Tony Beer. Another architecture nut.
Speaker 1: To what extent do PGA two or players notice consider
Speaker 1: evaluate course design and can they explain why courses good
Speaker 1: or bad?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean, I only know of a
Speaker 3: handful of guys really out there that really like talk
Speaker 3: about it or even bring it up and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: I know, Johnson Wagner is a guy who I've you know,
Speaker 3: spoken to throughout rounds, and I remember playing with him
Speaker 3: at the Barclays this year, and I mean the guy
Speaker 3: shot like sixty two or sixty one or something like
Speaker 3: that in the whole round. We were talking about, you know,
Speaker 3: golf course architecture and stuff like that. But I mean,
Speaker 3: I think there's a handful of people out there that
Speaker 3: appreciate it and get it. And then I mean, I
Speaker 3: think there's a big chunk of guys that, you know,
Speaker 3: they don't really pay too much attention to it. They
Speaker 3: just you know, go about their business. And each of
Speaker 3: those is fine, but I'm not really too sure.
Speaker 1: Okay, this is kind of along the same lines. Why
Speaker 1: don't you think more pros are publicly expressive about architecture.
Speaker 1: And this is from Drew ned Zsky ned Vinsky.
Speaker 3: Yeah, again the same thing. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 3: there's a handful of guys out here that do openly
Speaker 3: talk about it and express like what they think. And
Speaker 3: then I think there's a big chunk of guys that
Speaker 3: really don't care, you know, they just have other interests,
Speaker 3: which I think.
Speaker 1: I think it mirrors the general population of golfers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2: It's all right.
Speaker 1: So we we covered uh half of Chris's question here,
Speaker 1: which is what courses are on your bucket list? What's
Speaker 1: your favorite uh cev Rainer Banks template hole?
Speaker 3: Oh man, I don't know if I could answer that,
Speaker 3: because I like a lot of them. Yeah, I really
Speaker 3: like you know, Radan's and virus is. I will say, however,
Speaker 3: the alp like you see at Fisher's Island and stuff
Speaker 3: like that could probably be my favorite hole though in
Speaker 3: the world. I just think it's exciting and fun and
Speaker 3: it's uh, you know, you can hit a bad shot
Speaker 3: and get super lucky. You can hit a good shot
Speaker 3: and just have a turnout average, So that ALP's punch
Speaker 3: bowl or even a punch bowl in general, I guess
Speaker 3: I think you're pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, punch bowls are pretty cool. It's so they're kind
Speaker 1: of making a comeback. I know the drainage is always
Speaker 1: an issue with them, but now as you see more
Speaker 1: modern architects creating them. I played a if you're out
Speaker 1: in Philly, I played this cool girl hands course called Applebrook.
Speaker 3: Apple Brook.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he had this really cool short part for it
Speaker 1: was like three hundred yards and it was like an
Speaker 1: Alps punch bowl.
Speaker 2: It was a blind green.
Speaker 1: And you know it had you know, big mounting bunkers
Speaker 1: that you know protected the front at like two sixty
Speaker 1: and then this great punch bowl green.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: It was one of It was one of the cooler
Speaker 1: holes that I played on the year, just from like
Speaker 1: a you.
Speaker 2: Know, fun to play hole.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Southampton has it's a rainer course up in
Speaker 3: the Hampton has.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'm sure he got the idea from that whole. It
Speaker 3: sounds exactly the same.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty good one.
Speaker 7: Yeah all right, So this one's from Buck Walter and
Speaker 7: he says, your best finish on the PGA tour came
Speaker 7: at a rainer design coincidence or does a good architect
Speaker 7: help your play.
Speaker 3: I mean, I I think it's just a good golf
Speaker 3: course that makes you do a lot of good things.
Speaker 3: So I would say his architectural features do encourage just
Speaker 3: a solid, you know game from tee to green. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll go with that. Shout out to back. He was
Speaker 3: the one who helps me get the copy of The
Speaker 3: Evangelical Golfer, So he's amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the probably the hardest book to find.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's unreal.
Speaker 1: Anybody can get their hands on it.
Speaker 2: I highly recommend.
Speaker 1: So if the US Open headed rota, like the Open
Speaker 1: Championship across the pond, what courses do you think should
Speaker 1: be in it?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 3: Well, I think Oakmont. I think Oakmont and Pebble should
Speaker 3: be in it like every five or six years. I
Speaker 3: just think they're extremely fun to watch, and I definitely
Speaker 3: Oakmont should be in the rotation every five years. But
Speaker 3: I mean, you got courses like you know, Shinnacock again,
Speaker 3: who should probably get it every every few years. You know,
Speaker 3: those courses like Tory Pines. It does a good job.
Speaker 3: I think they had one a few years ago that
Speaker 3: was pretty exciting. But man, my big ones, I just
Speaker 3: looked at this last night. I hope Brookline does a
Speaker 3: good job, because I think that's a really cool one.
Speaker 3: Marion did a good job. But I think those those
Speaker 3: those courses like Marion and the Country Club should probably
Speaker 3: only get them every few years because they're just they're
Speaker 3: you know, small, and they're probably not big enough for
Speaker 3: what the US Open has kind of become. But you yeah,
Speaker 3: I would love I love Best Page and I love Baltistral.
Speaker 3: I think Baltistrall and Best Page should get it more frequently.
Speaker 3: I don't think Best Page or I don't know if
Speaker 3: either of them will get them anytime soon. It looks
Speaker 3: like the kind of the PGA's kind of snagged both
Speaker 3: of those sites. But those are really good ones. There's
Speaker 3: I think there's definitely a there's a good, solid group
Speaker 3: of about fifteen courses. I think they should ever go
Speaker 3: anywhere else Beside those fifteen courses, I don't think, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't think Chambers it should go back there. I
Speaker 3: don't think I think it will, but I don't think
Speaker 3: it should. I would rather see it at Oakmont every
Speaker 3: year before I see it at you know, Chambers Day. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel like Oakmont a lot of people like watching
Speaker 3: the US Open there for some reason. It's just you know,
Speaker 3: it's brutal and at the same time, like this year,
Speaker 3: you saw when it rained, people were eating it up.
Speaker 3: So I think you can play that course a lot
Speaker 3: of different ways. You don't have to be a bomber.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of holes under three hundred yards, but
Speaker 3: they can get rough up and they can get the
Speaker 3: greens crazy fast and crazy firm. So that's probably the
Speaker 3: one that sticks out more than any other one in
Speaker 3: my mind. And then I did play Shinnecock earlier this year,
Speaker 3: and the stuff they've done to redo that place I
Speaker 3: think are going to be really really exciting for the
Speaker 3: for the Open.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I think.
Speaker 1: Everybody wants to like, yeah, to talk about golf courses,
Speaker 1: but I think the ultimate ultimate defense.
Speaker 2: Anywhere has got to be firm and.
Speaker 1: Fast and if it rains, if you know, you guys
Speaker 1: are just too good to not, you know, you're going
Speaker 1: to eat up almost anywhere.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, Yeah, you see it every week. You know,
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter how long the course is, how long,
Speaker 3: the rough is, how long anything is, the rains, the
Speaker 3: guys play it well. Another course that I would like
Speaker 3: I would love to see Riviera get a get a
Speaker 3: US Open, and then I'm excited to see the US
Speaker 3: Open at La North. That's one of my favorite courses
Speaker 3: in the world, so I'll be really excited to see
Speaker 3: that in a few years.
Speaker 1: I know Rivs got the UF fan this year or
Speaker 1: so that could be in the they do.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, wow, you know, I got to actually get my
Speaker 1: indoor putting that out and start start grinding, and.
Speaker 3: I need to get out there exactly. Yeah, wow, that'll
Speaker 3: be really cool. That's a really that's a really cool
Speaker 3: golf course, and I think it's it can be really
Speaker 3: really challenging. But as you've seen the last two years
Speaker 3: at the LA Open, it's poured rain the first you know,
Speaker 3: Wednesday night and Thursday, and the guys that eating it up.
Speaker 3: So that just kind of that goes to show that
Speaker 3: any golf course can kind of be uh can be
Speaker 3: taken apart if the conditions are right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that place was one of my favorite courses I
Speaker 1: played this year. It's just there's very few weak shots
Speaker 1: on it. The par threes are really unique and interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's spoors gotta be out there, it's got
Speaker 1: to be one of the best for dan holes in golf.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty cool one, huh.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The problem is this the last couple of years, Like
Speaker 3: I said, it's rained so bad that that you just
Speaker 3: you can't play it quite the way you'd want to play.
Speaker 3: It seems to always be right in between clubs, and
Speaker 3: so when you have to hit a shot at the
Speaker 3: ten instead of playing it off the side, it just
Speaker 3: kind of takes away a little bit from the hole.
Speaker 3: That's a course where I've talked to a lot of people.
Speaker 3: I would like to see that course with no rough.
Speaker 3: I would like to see the whole thing be fair
Speaker 3: with cut because the rough really isn't rough because it
Speaker 3: just fits right on top every time that I've played it.
Speaker 3: And then it also but it is just long enough
Speaker 3: to kind of stop balls from going into the trees
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. So that'd be a cool course.
Speaker 3: I think if the whole golf course was fair way cut,
Speaker 3: and you know, you could probably hit balls that ran
Speaker 3: out a little and got into some trouble, I think
Speaker 3: that would be a pretty unique place because it looked
Speaker 3: like it used to kind of be like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you look at old ariels, there were a
Speaker 1: lot less trees, and I mean everywhere I think was
Speaker 1: a lot There was just so much less rough on
Speaker 1: almost every golf course.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: So this one's from Ghosts of Hogan.
Speaker 2: The biggest surprise about the tour.
Speaker 3: So far. To get surprised about the tour, yeah, I'd
Speaker 3: probably just say how nice everybody is. You know, how
Speaker 3: nice all the guys are. You know, whether you your
Speaker 3: stuff in the media about certain players, you know, everybody,
Speaker 3: the perception of how people are gonna be. And I
Speaker 3: just think, after you know, a couple of years out here,
Speaker 3: just seeing how genuinely nice all the guys are to
Speaker 3: each other, and you know, how good everybody gets a
Speaker 3: lot and basically.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the lot of camaraderie. It seems like everybody
Speaker 1: that works for the.
Speaker 2: Tour is really nice too.
Speaker 3: For the moment, Yeah exactly. Yeah, everything kind of associated
Speaker 3: with the to learn they do a pretty good job.
Speaker 3: So it's nice to be out there.
Speaker 4: So you know.
Speaker 1: You also asked why why the dancing season when putting.
Speaker 3: I couldn't really tell you. It's just how I've always been.
Speaker 3: I guess it kind of. I don't really read puts
Speaker 3: too much, so I think it's just kind of my
Speaker 3: way of kind of feeling it out, seeing you know,
Speaker 3: what the break's doing around around the ball.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Well, so then we have a bunch of interesting ones
Speaker 1: here from Zak Johnson or Nick Johnson, not Zack Cheeze.
Speaker 2: And they're kind of like a rapid fire.
Speaker 1: So these are all so all these are based off.
Speaker 2: Of tour courses. So okay, best t shot on tour.
Speaker 3: I would probably say eighteen at Pebble. That's pretty cool one.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like almost like a holy type ceiling
Speaker 3: out there. It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't really go wrong with that one.
Speaker 2: Best green green complex.
Speaker 3: Well, we didn't get to play it last year, but
Speaker 3: hopefully we'll be back this year. But number three, the
Speaker 3: beer is green at the Greenbrier's probably one of my
Speaker 3: favorite green complexes or holes you know, throughout the year.
Speaker 3: So that's pretty good.
Speaker 1: One is the best single hole you know, from a
Speaker 1: you know, entire hole. What's your think the best hole
Speaker 1: on tour.
Speaker 3: Risk I would probably say seventeen at Stagrass just because
Speaker 3: of all the aspects of it. You know, you got
Speaker 3: the huge crowd, it's a neat little hole. It's challenging,
Speaker 3: but if you hit a good shot, you know you're
Speaker 3: gonna make it two. And it's kind of one of
Speaker 3: those holes you're thinking about the entire round, whether guys
Speaker 3: admitted or not. You know, from the time you get there,
Speaker 3: you're thinking, where's the tin hat, what's wind is it?
Speaker 3: You know what kind of club am I going to
Speaker 3: be hitting? And you see a lot of drama there.
Speaker 3: So I think that's the best ulsay probably all year.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean it's a great interpretation of McDonald's short
Speaker 1: it's hit.
Speaker 2: It or else.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: So best three hole stretch.
Speaker 3: Best three whole stretch, oh Man sixteen seventeen eighteen at
Speaker 3: Stagrass are pretty good too. I think that's a really
Speaker 3: cool you know, it gives you a chance to score
Speaker 3: and at the same time people occasionally as well, So
Speaker 3: that one's pretty good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of risk reward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, from die So best front nine.
Speaker 3: Best front nine, I don't know, God, there was so
Speaker 3: many that that are. I don't know if I could
Speaker 3: give you nine the best front nine. I don't know
Speaker 3: if I could even give you the best course. They're
Speaker 3: all pretty there's a lot of good ones. So I'm
Speaker 3: going to plead the sint on that one.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna assume you're going to say the
Speaker 1: same for the best back nine or is there one
Speaker 1: back nine that's just awesome?
Speaker 3: Oh? Man, I wish somebody would have given me choices
Speaker 3: to choose from, because I probably would have been better
Speaker 3: at that best back nine. I feel like I should
Speaker 3: at least be But the answer this man, the back
Speaker 3: nine at uh? The back nine? Dude, I don't even know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of good ones. I could probably give
Speaker 3: you the best back nine of a not a tour course.
Speaker 4: But let's hear that one.
Speaker 3: The best back nine? What what's it called? I can't
Speaker 3: even remember the course was named. I played it during
Speaker 3: the during the PGA after I missed the cut. I
Speaker 3: would probably say probably Somerset Hills. The back nine there
Speaker 3: is pretty fun, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a course that flies under the radar.
Speaker 2: I haven't pat my god.
Speaker 1: Everything I've seen it's just spectacular.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, I've been on the record saying that
Speaker 3: it's not for sure. I'm saying it's in the it's
Speaker 3: in the conversation for if you had one course to
Speaker 3: play for the rest of your life, just one, you know,
Speaker 3: you could pick one course that you had to play
Speaker 3: every round out the rest of your life. It would
Speaker 3: be in my discussion for that course, because it's just
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's awesome, it's fun. You know, there's
Speaker 3: tons of different holes. It's just you know, it's extremely
Speaker 3: fun and challenging in some spots, but you're gonna make birdies.
Speaker 3: You know, the views are amazing, you know, some of
Speaker 3: those trees in the ball and then it's just cool.
Speaker 3: It's a cool little vibe out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tilling has used a lot of template holes out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah he did. They've kind of a yeah, that's a
Speaker 3: that's a really cool course. I really liked that. A
Speaker 3: lot of people are surprised when I say that, because
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people like it kind of
Speaker 3: flies under the radar, like you said, And you know,
Speaker 3: some people I talk to and say that, they're like, what,
Speaker 3: you know, what is it. You're not going to say
Speaker 3: Augusta or Pebble Beach or something like that. And I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: those courses would probably be in the equation, you know,
Speaker 3: in the conversation. But man, I had a good time
Speaker 3: out there this last time I played there, and it
Speaker 3: was in such good shape. You know, it plays the
Speaker 3: right way. It played firm and fast, and you know,
Speaker 3: balls were rolling and you could play the ground game
Speaker 3: a little bit. And I think that kind of just
Speaker 3: goes into how much fun I had out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it's one of those places.
Speaker 1: And you see there's a bunch of them all over
Speaker 1: the country, but it's a course where the membership knows
Speaker 1: how good their golf course is and they don't care
Speaker 1: if anybody else knows, you know, yeah, exactly. They're very
Speaker 1: content with their course, you know, yeah, being not talked
Speaker 1: about in them being the only ones in on the secret.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I mean that's the type of people that
Speaker 3: I want like at my course, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I mean I've been I've said it a bunch and
Speaker 3: you know, I'm not afraid to say that some of
Speaker 3: the courses on the like top one hundred rankings, you know,
Speaker 3: I could name I could name so many courses that
Speaker 3: that should not be above Somerset Hills on that list.
Speaker 3: And you know, same with like Maids Down and some
Speaker 3: of the other courses, but they are and I think
Speaker 3: those type of clubs. I just think, like you said,
Speaker 3: the membership is like, we don't really care. We know
Speaker 3: that this place is unbelievable, and you know that's the
Speaker 3: type of people you need at your club.
Speaker 1: It's uh, That's what I say about Shore Acres is
Speaker 1: golf dig just has a number ninety nine, And I'm like,
Speaker 1: if there's ninety eight courses that are better than this
Speaker 1: in the country, like, you've got to be cat because
Speaker 1: I haven't found I've played, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: great courses. I haven't found one that, like I could
Speaker 1: say it is better. You know, I think there are, yeah,
Speaker 1: on the same level, but I know that it's a
Speaker 1: lot better than a lot of the courses on there
Speaker 1: that I've played for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but bad but true.
Speaker 1: It is the It's I think it's almost impossible.
Speaker 3: To rank golf courses, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2: It's but it is possibly.
Speaker 1: I think you can put them into tears, you know
Speaker 1: where exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what I was just gonna say. You can
Speaker 3: kind of put them in you know, a B but
Speaker 3: tough to rank him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's but hey, I really appreciate you coming on
Speaker 1: and giving us an hour of your time here today.
Speaker 1: You know, we'll best of luck in twenty seventeen and
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully we'll have you on again after a
Speaker 1: win or you know, something really good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, anytime. Enjoyed it. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. For anybody that doesn't follow Zach, it's
Speaker 1: one of the best Twitter followers. If you're in the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour golf and golf course architecture, I'll put his
Speaker 1: Twitter link and.
Speaker 2: The podcast.
Speaker 1: Page as well as the Buff Club. So thanks a
Speaker 1: lot Zach for coming on and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no problem, buche Bye see