WEBVTT - Billy Harmon 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:08.200 It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. We come to 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.320 you every Wednesday. I'm your host, Claude Harmon. 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:11.680 This week's guest. 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:13.760 We've had him on back in twenty twenty one. My 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.320 uncle Bill Harmon, one of the best teachers on the planet, 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.919 my dad's fourth brother, so the youngest of the Harmon brothers. 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.079 But the reason why I wanted to get him on 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.280 is at age seventy three, he went back on the 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.640 bag for Bill Hass last week in the MX caddying 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:34.559 on the PGA tour. Caddied for Jay Haas for so 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.440 long and as much as being a player and was 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.200 part of Billy's DNA, as much as being an instructor. 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:44.680 As part of his DNA, what is the biggest part 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:45.720 of his DNA is. 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:46.640 Being a caddie. 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:48.640 And I thought it was fascinating to talk to him 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.199 about that experience with Bill last week and to kind 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.640 of get his views. He's an old school guy, speaks 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.080 from the hearts from the hip and it's a good one. 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:00.840 But before we get to Billy, our friends at Cobra 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.920 Golf have a new driver out. It's the Dark Speed 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:08.120 three models this year tailored for different types of players. 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.720 The LS model that's low launched, low spin, So that's 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:14.840 going to be the one that if you're trying to 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.319 get that spin down, if you're hitting down on that 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:19.840 golf ball it's spinning too much, the LS will be 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.760 the one for you. They've got an eight degree LS 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.320 model eight degree launch are Loft, which they kind of 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.040 think of as their kind of race car. It's their 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.720 fastest one. So if you're looking for speed, if you're 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.119 looking for distance, that eight degree in the LS take 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.520 a look. Then you've got the X, which is kind 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.759 of combo of both worlds. It's got low spin, it's 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.160 got super fast ball speed with a lot of stability. 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.800 It's got a new forward weight which is going to 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.360 help people kind of maximize where that spin is and 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.120 maximize the spin they're getting off the driver. And then 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:57.320 you've got the MAX which is the most forgiving of 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.520 the three highest MOI, and that's going to be the 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.080 one that if listen, if you're not hitting it in 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:04.720 the center of the face all the time, that's going 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:06.160 to be the one that you're going to want to get. 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.639 Cobra Golf their drivers. I like them, I really do. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:12.320 I like the way they look I like the way 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.400 they feel, and I like the way they perform. If 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:18.280 you're looking for a new driver in twenty twenty four, 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.000 give the Cobra Dark Speed a good look. And now 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.919 let's go ahead and get to a really, really fun 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:33.520 and informative interview with my uncle Bill Harmon. My guess 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.360 is my uncle Bill Harmon Philly. We had you on 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.839 the pod in the first year in twenty twenty one. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.760 And you know, there's so many stories going on in 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:44.680 professional golf right now, and it seems to be all 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:49.239 about money and fighting, and I think your. 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.120 Story about you know you going back at how old 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:52.239 are you? 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:53.000 What do you? 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:53.360 What do you? 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:54.040 How old? 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:54.240 Now? 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.360 Seventy three, seventy three? 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:01.080 You caddied last week on the PJ Tour for Bill 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:06.720 Hoss at seventy three years old. It's me it's amazing. 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:08.760 I mean there's nobody out there caddy and that's your age. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.399 I mean there's some old guys out there, but there's 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:12.200 nobody caddy in that at your age of. 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.440 I think Hiller Coffy has me, uh Fluff might be 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:20.520 might little older than I think I am, but there 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:22.600 weren't too many I didn't see anyway. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:23.720 How did it come about. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.919 I mean, obviously the history, we've talked about it before, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.800 but when did you start caddying for Jay Hoff? 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.000 You know, I started with Jay in nineteen seventy eight. 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:34.240 I've worked for. 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:38.720 My brother Craig at Oakhill in the seventy seventh season, 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:47.520 and I got just totally soured on the country club business. 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:50.520 My dad told me that I had a thirty mile 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.680 proer brain and a hundred mile prour mouth, and I 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:55.920 seem to prove that at every job I went to. 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.520 So I actually left Craig early. I couldn't finished the 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.080 season because I was just disenchanted with the Gulf Inness 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.320 and I went up to the Russian River area of 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:16.479 northern California to find myself, and unfortunately I did and 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.560 I ran out of money. And there was a guy 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.279 who played at wake Forest but J named Lex Alexander, 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.000 who was working for my dad at the time at Wingfoot, 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.400 and Lex called me up and said Jay just won 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:34.359 the San Diego Open. Looking for a caddy he's exempt. 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:36.640 I don't know if you've ever heard this whole story, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.520 but so I came down to the desert and I 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.400 met him, and he told me to meet him at 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.000 Orlando in two weeks at Rio Pinar's where they played 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.919 the tournament in Orlando. And I got off the plane 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.680 with my luggage and I had forty dollars to my name, 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:58.360 and it was a twenty dollars cab fair. And I 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.280 got to the course on a Monday, and I saw 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.599 somebody that I knew, and they asked me what I 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.520 was doing there, and I said I'm Caddy and they 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.680 said for who Jay Haas, And they said, well, we 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.120 just found out that he failed to commit. So now 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.520 I got twenty dollars to my name, I got no job, 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:19.320 got my shoecase with me. At this time, I'm overtaking 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.840 your father as the biggest jerk in the family. It 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.360 was I going into this thing, which in the. 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.760 Old days, you know, I mean, obviously we. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.920 All complished that even with him, and obviously we all 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.039 know who my dad is now and who he's become. 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.880 But if you think about the four brothers, you know, 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:41.080 my dad, Craig, Dick who sadly passed away and left 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.600 us too early, and yourself, you and my dad were 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.360 the black sheep, and Craig and Dicky were the straight arrows. 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:49.280 And you wouldn't think. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:51.480 I think a lot of people listening to this podcast, 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.960 you see who my dad, who Butch Harmon has become now, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.400 they don't realize what a what a He was a 0:05:58.440 --> 0:05:59.240 lost soul and. 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.480 A rebel, sure, you know, and you know didn't have 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.120 it easy and stuff. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.880 So it's no surprise that in the seventies that you 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.120 and Buchie were well fighting for low Man on the 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:11.800 Totem hole. 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.919 They had a Monday qualifying, so I was looking to 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.160 see if I just knew anybody because I had to 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.600 get one hundred dollars from somebody. I mean, I couldn't live, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:22.080 I have no job, I don't have a place to stay. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.560 I got a suitcase. So Terry Deal was from Rochester 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.960 every Deals, Yep. I'd played junior golf with them. I 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.800 knew Terry. I've played many tours with him. So I 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.239 went out on the course and lo and behold, Lynn 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.920 Strickler was caddying form. I'm not really ashamed of this story, 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.040 but the truth is that I did have a good 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.679 bag of weed from northern California with me, and Lynn 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.120 was four caddy in on this hole, and I thought 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.200 I'd introduce myself by asking him if he wanted to 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:54.039 smoke a joint. So this is how this caddying things start. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:58.440 So I finally talked to Terry, tell him I'm shooting bad. 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:01.240 Lynn thinks on the greatest guy in the world, and 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.440 I still love him to this day. And Terry says, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.440 you know, I just got a new car in Rochester, 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.320 New York. I'll fly you up there. I'll give you 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.000 a couple of credit cards and you can drive it 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.040 down to Durrel. So now I have a week of living, 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:16.920 which when you have twenty in your pocket is a 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.280 heck of I feel like a millionaire. So I fly 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:25.680 up to Rochester and I tell Craig my story. Of course, this, 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.800 you know, goes through the family. Another Billy story, not 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.880 a Butch story, this time of Billy story. And when 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.920 I left Rochester in August, I thought I had fifty 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.000 dollars in the bank. Well, when you only got twenty fifties, 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:40.600 looking pretty good. So I went to the bank I 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.960 had five hundred. Man, I'm liking this tour, you know. 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.920 So in the meantime Craig had called Dad to say 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.120 he can't believe what Billy did. He showed up in 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.880 orlandover twenty dollars and the whole thing. And now he's 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.240 up here going to drive Terry Dial's car. My dad 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.640 says to Craig, will give him one thousand dollars. I 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.679 don't want him walking around with nothing, and I'll write you, okay, 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.880 which my dad is a very genderous man. So now 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:07.400 I got fifteen hundred. I'm liking this tour well, fifteen 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.760 hundred and twenty, I guess technically, so don't forget the twenty. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.040 So now I pick up Terry's car and I'm driving 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.640 down to Miami. I've got plenty of time to get there, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.320 and I swear to God, about an hour outside of Manhattan, 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.160 I started getting the sweats because I'm saying, okay, they'll 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.119 just drive straight over that bridge. Do not take a left, 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.240 Do not take a left. Do not take a left, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.720 because I have many childhood friends who lived in the 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.640 city and do not take a left. Do not take 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.880 a left, do not take a left foot I go left, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.959 took a left, So I stay there three days. I 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.439 remember I spent six hundred, so that wasn't too bad. 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.440 So I still had nine hundred and twenty. But now 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.960 I have to drive straight through. I'm tired, I'm beat up, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.719 and I'm so disgusted with myself. Why did I make 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.400 this decision? And just see my whole life. I couldn't 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.240 make the right decision. I'm not going to drive straight too, 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.400 and I'm tired. I got no shot really to do this. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.720 And I drive across the George Washington Bridge and I'm 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:12.920 just joked and self loathing and hatred. I see these 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.840 two college kids. A little cardboard sign says Fort Lauderdale. 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.360 I pull over and I said, you're my guys. I said, 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.760 there's only one stipulation. I'm paying for everything, but I 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.440 ain't driving. You two were driving, and we're driving straight through, 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.000 and I'll be rolling the joints in the backseat, and 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.719 we're going straight through to Fort Lauderdale. And that's how 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:40.679 my caddy life started. In the very first tournament ch 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:47.320 we were paired with Nicholas and so that was my 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.680 basically my first week on tour, other than, of course, 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:56.520 you know, catching clubs like Javelin's coming at me, heading 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.040 for your dad in the sixty nine Canadian Open. But 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.280 that's how it started. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.360 I mean, you know, when you look at what the 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:10.240 PGA tour has become today with all this talk about 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.040 live and the money and all of this stuff. I mean, 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.360 the PGA Tour is still just it is an amazing organization. 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:19.640 It's an amazing product. 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.839 You know when you look at caddying in the seventies 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:27.920 versus going now in twenty twenty three. So PGA Tour 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:32.240 event where there's courtesy cars and free laundry and there's 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:34.040 I mean. 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:35.560 Bones and everything. 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.000 Bones mackay has made so much money caddy and he 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:40.360 could probably fly private. 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:44.640 Oh I thank you, probably could. The caddying has become. 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.360 But I think, h when we were when I started, 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.880 I think the first three tournaments at j one that 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.440 I caddied for in first place was forty thousand. But 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.920 forty thousand was a lot back then, and so if 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.640 first bridge is forty, that's what first prize is. And 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:07.719 so and I look back on those days. None of 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.880 us had any money. The caddies, we took great care 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.000 of each other. If someone needed a hundred to get 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.360 out of town, you gave it to them. Many weeks 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.640 we slept three or four in the room, and there 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.880 was a camaraderie there that happens when people are poor. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.400 I mean that, and you bond together in different ways 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:32.920 when you're there for each other. Plus we didn't know 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:36.280 any different and so we would pack four in a 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.480 car that couldn't fit for and we drive through the 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:44.760 night to some tournament. And I mean, the money today 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.319 is great. It's a much greater life. And I wouldn't 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.360 trade anything for those first three or four years because 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.520 all of those people that I traveled with today are 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:59.400 still lifelong friends. And I think we're lifelong friends because 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.520 we didn't have all the advantages that they have today. 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.520 And I think the advantages today are fantastic. I wish 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:09.920 I was still caddying, but I'm kind of like Bob 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.360 Goldby told me one time, the first three tournaments Bob 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.920 won in the sixties, his total winnings was seventy five hundred, 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.240 and he said, you know what, that was more money 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.080 than I ever had. And I was a truck driver's son, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.960 and I was winning tour events and I was playing 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.680 golf for money. And he never begrudged the players the 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.040 money they made one bit. I don't begrudge the caddies 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.800 what they make one bit, or the players. I do 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.440 think they're spoiled, though to be honest with you, I do. 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.680 So it was kind of funny last week I was there. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.679 I didn't know hardly any caddies, maybe four, so a 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.360 lot of them are kind of looking at me like, 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.600 who's this boso, you know, And I'm thinking to myself, PayPal, 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.160 this is my seventh decade, so he just better back 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.719 it up a little bit, you know. But those were 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:59.079 great days, and I think back on it. The caddyan 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.280 on the PGA Tour your greatest job I've ever had 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.319 in golf. Like I said, to this day, I still 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.760 have the friends that I had then. I love them, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.559 and I think part of it is Jackie Burke said 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:15.400 one time that humor usually comes from four people because 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.480 they use laughter to get through the day. And I 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.040 think we use laughter a lot because nobody really had 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:23.080 any money. I mean, I guess if you won ten percent, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.560 you want four thousand. Caddy today can't Marcus Ball with 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.360 four thousand dollars. That'd be a bad week for him, 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.800 you know, a great week. I had a blast. I 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:33.360 wouldn't try. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:34.600 How was it? How was it? 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.760 I mean, listen, I mean I've I've I was lucky 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.840 enough to caddy on who were twice in my life. 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:46.319 Once for my father in the Quad City Open. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:48.720 Yeah, he didn't make the cup. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:55.000 And what what was it? It was the old Peak 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:56.119 die course across. 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.520 The Yeah, yeah, it was a monkey course. I caddied 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.240 for him there too, Yeah. 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.400 And then I counted once for Steve Elkington the week 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.360 before he won the first Players Championship back when which 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.280 you worked in New. 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.280 Orleans, Man, And. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:16.720 This is the true story. We got paired with Scott 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:24.880 Hoke and Chip Beck, right, and on the first hole, Scott. 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:26.400 Holm, one of them is the eye, had tole and 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:27.880 the other one's mother Teresa. 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:32.240 On the first hole, Scott Hoak's got like a forty 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:36.920 footer and it doesn't go in and he's just livid. 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.240 On the first hole on Thursday in the morning. And 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.280 on Friday Chip Beck lipped out a three footer to 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.440 miss the cut and he said to his caddie. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:48.920 Smiling, you remember smiling. Oh yeah. 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.920 So on the other day he said to Smiley, you 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:53.920 just gotta love having a chance to make the cut 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:54.280 out here. 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.800 That's it, yeah, And that's it is forced. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:01.480 But that's the spectrum, right, And how was it? I mean, obviously, 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.040 Billy at your age in your early seventies carrying, I 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:06.200 mean carrying the golf bag. 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:07.560 I mean those bags are not Did he give you 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:08.600 the full staff back. 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.640 Or did you know he didn't. I'm in good shape. 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.120 I work out twice a week with a trainer. I'm 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.080 I've lost about twenty pounds it it wouldn't have been 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.560 a problem for me. My shoulder might have hurt, but 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.400 my legs and everything now, I'm I'm blessed to have 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.440 good health, you know, as you know, I beat throw 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.360 cancer and alcoholism and addiction, and so I'm my last 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.280 two mulligans I hit down the middle of the fairway. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:31.200 So I'm in good shape. 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:32.680 So did you go big bag? 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:33.760 I just look like I'm not. 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.680 Did you go big staff bag or did you go 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:37.240 carry back? 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.400 He brought a carry bag, a little pless carry bag, 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.240 you know, with the stand and everything. So there was 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.280 a part of me that really wanted the big bag, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.280 because you know, I wanted to prove that I could 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.400 do it. But it didn't. It didn't bother me that 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.880 I had the little one. 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.520 Your relationship with Jay Hoss has been you know, he's 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.640 one of your best friends. It's been a lifelong friendship. 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.120 I know, you love him like a brother. And you know, 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.440 Bill Hoss is named after you, and your first born 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.840 son is named after j Jahas. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:16.760 So I would say, in some respects Thh that the 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.440 public doesn't know that I call you c h because 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:21.360 you notice, but I've called you that my whole life. 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.960 It just comes out naturally. I was actually in the house, 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.240 the Hoss home, when Bill Hass was born, and I 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.920 was somewhat responsible because. 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:34.560 I went back to. 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:36.880 The room that I was staying in and it was 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.960 across from Jay and Jan's room, and Jan was very 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:45.920 pregnant and she was making these like unbelievable noises and sounds. 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.920 I just never heard noises like this painful stuff. And 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:51.520 so I went out to Jan and I said, boy, 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.360 I think Jan is struggling. He said, Ah, they're just 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.440 labor pains. No big deal, said he ain't no labor pains. 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:02.360 Sound he was born thirty men mites later. Wow, he 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.719 was about to come out right then. So in some 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.719 ways it's hard for me to caddy for Bill or 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.040 j because I'm too close to him. They mean too 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.800 much to me, So it's hard for me not to 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.400 get emotionally involved with him. I'm good at it because 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.800 I've done it all those years, three hundred and fifty 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:23.760 tournaments with his dad, and I'm good to turn him 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.639 that on and off. But you know, if they have 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:32.240 a bad day, you know, your emotions are that of 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.480 someone like your son. You know, you just feel bad, 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.080 and you know you can't do anything about it. If 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.560 you're caddying for a guy that you really don't care for, 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:44.240 and it's just a business. He really doesn't bother that 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:46.520 much for the guy when you're leaving the course, you know. 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.040 And so it's always hard for me to caddy for 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:53.359 for either Bill or j because I am too close 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.840 to him, you know, and I'm rooting so much as 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.040 a friend for him. I never think of what it 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:03.800 means to me. And I told this story the other 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:08.240 day on the Golf Channel, but what no one really knows. 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:10.080 I don't think I ever told you this story. But 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.840 when my first son, Zach was born in Rhode Island, 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.639 you know, I was still drinking and drugging, and I 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.040 remember this day looking in the back seat of him 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.439 though even though Robin and I had the seat turned 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:27.080 the wrong way, and I saw this little thing that 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.000 was a day or two old and I never felt 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:30.879 more in love in my life as something. And I 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.480 remember looking out the window and excre's my language. But 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.439 I never felt like a bigger piece of shit. You 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.879 know that this kid's dad was an alcoholic and a 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.920 drug addict, and that's where the I think that's where 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:45.960 my bottom started. I'd love to say I quit that day, 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.040 but it was about ten weeks later when an intervention 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:54.800 was done. But about two weeks before the intervention, Zach 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.159 broke up in the middle of the night like he 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.320 always did, around two in the morning, and Robin would 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:00.919 go feed him. And I had been drinking that night before, 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.199 and it bothered me that he woke me up. How 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.760 about that. That's a good guy, that's a good dad. 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.720 I remember as soon as Robin woke up, I felt 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.440 like the most worthless piece of shit on the planet. 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.919 I'd self loathing that if she wasn't there, I wouldn't 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.200 have been able to take care of That's the bottom line. 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:23.639 He would have been an inconvenience to me. That's what 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.800 alcohol and drugs do to people. And we lived right 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.879 above the eighteenth Green in the clubhouse at Newport Country 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.119 Cover where there's balcony, and she went back to sleep, 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.880 and I went out in that balcony and I contemplated 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.320 doing a swan dive. I didn't have the guts to 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.760 do it, but I felt like I didn't want to 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:46.000 be around anymore. Now we'll fast forward to June of 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:51.000 twenty twenty four, which is coming up. The Senior Open 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.960 is at Newport Country Club. You can't make this story up, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:20:01.560 no way, Patty for Jay in the eighteenth Green sits 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.040 right below the balcony that nineteen ninety two I was 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:09.040 going to commit suicide on. And if anybody's struggling with 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.719 alcohol and drugs and thinks that your life can't turn around, 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.320 I'm going to look up at that balcony and I'm 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.960 going to think, Man, what a lucky guy I am, 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:20.240 because there was a day. 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:21.520 So I don't think. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.520 I'm not a religious guy would say I's spiritual. I 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.400 don't think a human being could write that story because 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.040 they wouldn't. Hollywood wouldn't accept it as too corny. 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.320 They could write it, nobody would believe it. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.520 That's a factual statement. So the same guy that showed 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:45.000 up at twenty dollars in Orlando wanted to jump off 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.520 this building, you know, in the year twenty twenty four, 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:53.280 we will end our county relationship right below that balcony. 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.040 You can't make that up. So I'm a really lucky dude. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.760 To say the least, it must be amazing for you 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:03.680 to caddie for a player like Bill who. I don't 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:05.840 think Bill gets enough credit for being as good a 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:06.600