Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. Today,
Speaker 1: I host Eric Lippert had professional at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Speaker 1: The interview was thanks to a visit to this year's
Speaker 1: US Open host Pebble Beach. I was there for a
Speaker 1: couple nights and got to play all the golf courses
Speaker 1: over there. The opportunity to play was thanks to an
Speaker 1: event with our official apparel partner, Summit Brands, makers of
Speaker 1: b Dratty Fairway and Green Zero Restriction and EPNY. It
Speaker 1: was their annual event, the Summit, which is a pro
Speaker 1: member event they have held at Pebble for nine years running.
Speaker 1: It was a really classy event, awesome time, a couple
Speaker 1: different formats. It was neat They did a low gross,
Speaker 1: a net event and then also a pro stableford, so
Speaker 1: it was a fun mix. An awesome time getting to
Speaker 1: play the golf courses and you know, meet some of
Speaker 1: their the pros from all over the country that stock
Speaker 1: their stuff in their shops. This was actually my first
Speaker 1: time playing Pebble Beach, which was an experience. I was
Speaker 1: excited to play with the upcoming US Open and obviously
Speaker 1: I'll delve into much more in written form but you know,
Speaker 1: a few takeaways from Pebble is having watched it on
Speaker 1: TV my entire life and having walked it but not
Speaker 1: really played, is it's amazing how small the greens are.
Speaker 1: You get over shots, and I was playing pretty good
Speaker 1: golf and you can't help but get intimidated, even from
Speaker 1: the center of fairways with wedges in your hands, at
Speaker 1: how small these greens are, knowing you miss. And you know,
Speaker 1: another aspect of the stuff that gets out of the
Speaker 1: course that gets overlooked because of the coverage and the
Speaker 1: way TV flattens things is how penalizing the bunkers are
Speaker 1: around The greens are extremely deep, the scale doesn't really
Speaker 1: show on TV. With that, also, I was unbelievably impressed
Speaker 1: with the land movement on the golf course. The way
Speaker 1: the fairways roll and slant right. You're never really hitting
Speaker 1: a shot from a flat lie, which makes hitting it
Speaker 1: into those small greens even more difficult. So I think
Speaker 1: that's kind of when I think about championship golf and
Speaker 1: testing the pros, it's a great recipe when you have
Speaker 1: intimidating in small targets to approach to and very difficult
Speaker 1: lies in the fairway where you're not comfortable because you're
Speaker 1: never hitting from a really flat lie. I think we
Speaker 1: see at Augusta. Obviously those greens are big, but the
Speaker 1: targets and the shelves are really small, and you see
Speaker 1: these pros hitting from lies that are you get a
Speaker 1: ball foot above your stance and it's just really tough.
Speaker 1: I think that brings doubt and makes it so much
Speaker 1: different than hitting a ball off a flat lie on
Speaker 1: the range. A couple other things just I noticed. Never
Speaker 1: really believed how difficult that par five fourteenth is, But
Speaker 1: my god, this gotta be the hardest par five in
Speaker 1: the entire world. The way the fairway camber's away from
Speaker 1: you kind of for those that don't know. The t
Speaker 1: SHOT's really uncomfortable. It's blind, and then the fairway. If
Speaker 1: you miss that fairway, you're just dead. It's so I
Speaker 1: end up. I made par on it, but I had
Speaker 1: to get up and down and I was hitting like
Speaker 1: a three iron into the green because I missed the fairway.
Speaker 1: And another thing I noticed, the eighteenth tea shot not easy,
Speaker 1: not as easy as the pros make it look on TV.
Speaker 1: You don't really have a lot of space to hit it,
Speaker 1: especially with the way, they've narrowed the fairway. The fairway's
Speaker 1: narrowed up to where the tree is on the right,
Speaker 1: so if you don't you really kinda kind of hit
Speaker 1: a good shot or else you're dead. And that ob
Speaker 1: kind of creeps in on the right. So it'll be
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see. I saw this year at
Speaker 1: the AT and T a lot of guys weren't even
Speaker 1: hitting driver. They just said, Hey, I'm just gonna make
Speaker 1: it a three shot hole. But it'll be with the
Speaker 1: US Open fairway with it, I mean they're getting they're
Speaker 1: really narrow on a bunch of holes, and even playing
Speaker 1: it with short rough for resort play, which was, you know,
Speaker 1: about two and a half inches. I couldn't believe how
Speaker 1: thick and damp that rough gets. So when we see
Speaker 1: it up to five inches, it's it's going to be.
Speaker 1: If you miss those fairways, you're you're not going to
Speaker 1: have a fun time at the US Open. So I'll
Speaker 1: put much more thoughts into my, uh my experience over
Speaker 1: there at Pebble and the golf course and what it
Speaker 1: means for this year's US Open. But I can't thank
Speaker 1: Summit Brands enough for the event. It was it was
Speaker 1: unbelievable and they will be in the US Open Merchandise
Speaker 1: tent this year at Pebble Beach, which is a big deal.
Speaker 1: You know, one cool thing from their brands is Faaraway
Speaker 1: and Green. All their men's tech polos are made in
Speaker 1: the US and a portion of the proceeds from purchases
Speaker 1: on those polos are given back to Folds of Honor.
Speaker 1: So every year they cut a big check to Folds
Speaker 1: of Honor, which is a really great cause. And if
Speaker 1: you don't have their gear stocked in your favorite pro shop,
Speaker 1: do us a favor and tell your pro to stock it.
Speaker 1: And if you don't want to have a club logo
Speaker 1: or your local course logo, check out the frieda Egg
Speaker 1: Pro shop where we have b dragty polos, T shirts
Speaker 1: and some Faariraway and Green pollovers. So, without further ado,
Speaker 1: here is Pebble Beach pro Eric Lippert. We talk about
Speaker 1: a lot of things, ranging from his journey to being
Speaker 1: the pro at Pebble Beach to this year's US Open.
Speaker 2: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset when
Speaker 2: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2: And when I find my ball.
Speaker 3: In a Frida egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg,
Speaker 3: Frida egg, Frida egg brid egg, Frida egg bride egg.
Speaker 1: Lie. I'm about ready to run off the golf course.
Speaker 1: Four years at Pebble Beach, sixteen years with the company.
Speaker 1: How did you get your start at Pebble Beach?
Speaker 2: You know, I, oddly enough, he started at Pebble Beach
Speaker 2: back in ninety eight, not not here specifically, but at
Speaker 2: Dalmonti golf Course, and the head pro who I replaced
Speaker 2: here actually was the head professional at the time at
Speaker 2: Dalmani I. You know, I was just out of college
Speaker 2: and trying to play a little and I needed to
Speaker 2: make some money. So my family had moved over here
Speaker 2: and seemed like the right place to get a job.
Speaker 2: So I worked for about a year with the company
Speaker 2: at Delmani and then took off to continue to try
Speaker 2: to pursue a playing career. Obviously, I had a lot
Speaker 2: of weekends off, which is bad if you're trying to
Speaker 2: play for a living. So at that point I decided
Speaker 2: to come back and teach school. And I really enjoyed
Speaker 2: teaching and you know, grade school, and I thought I
Speaker 2: would do that and in the interim though, I didn't
Speaker 2: have my teaching credentials, so I worked at a golf
Speaker 2: course and that turned into going back to Delmani. But
Speaker 2: I worked at Spanish Bay as well for a little bit,
Speaker 2: so I kind of got my entry back into the
Speaker 2: company in two thousand and three.
Speaker 1: How long did you try and play for?
Speaker 2: You know, in my head about ten years on paper,
Speaker 2: I you know, I probably played committed, fully committed about
Speaker 2: four years. You know, I was on played on the
Speaker 2: Canadian Tour the last two years I was playing, and
Speaker 2: you know, I had some minor success here and there,
Speaker 2: but probably had more success actually as a as a
Speaker 2: PGA professional while I was working at Delmani. In terms
Speaker 2: of the playing career as well, had a couple of
Speaker 2: good seasons that turned into being able to play in
Speaker 2: the PGA Championship in two thousand and nine and also
Speaker 2: being part of the PGA Cup team in two thousand
Speaker 2: and nine. So those were things I thought would never
Speaker 2: you know, they far superseded any goals I had after
Speaker 2: two thousand and three for playing.
Speaker 1: Do you think the balance of you know, working and
Speaker 1: playing actually helped you play that, Like, say in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine when we had a really good year.
Speaker 2: What really helped me actually was I think becoming was
Speaker 2: being a parent. It kind of it created a little
Speaker 2: bit of a It created kind of a situation where
Speaker 2: I wasn't it wasn't the most important thing in the
Speaker 2: world was how I played golf, and so you know,
Speaker 2: it was it was more I got I kind of
Speaker 2: had that enjoyment again that I had been missing for
Speaker 2: a while, And so when I would go out and play,
Speaker 2: I would just I would have fun. There be I'd
Speaker 2: have really good rounds, or i'd play just kind of eh.
Speaker 2: But but the really good rounds. I just enjoyed playing
Speaker 2: so much better and competing that I was able to
Speaker 2: really shoot some lower scores. When I got got playing
Speaker 2: well better than I I could shoot lower scores than
Speaker 2: I did when I was actually playing full time. It
Speaker 2: seemed like more often.
Speaker 1: The perspective of you know, with life, I think is
Speaker 1: so big. I think about that all the time, as
Speaker 1: like I got better a golf as I got older,
Speaker 1: because it's just like maturity. Sometimes I think like it
Speaker 1: might be smart to for some kids to wait to
Speaker 1: go play pro, you know, and work a little while
Speaker 1: because of the perspective.
Speaker 2: Well, I think so I think I think that you're
Speaker 2: probably onto something there. I think, you know, technically and
Speaker 2: physically obviously I was say I was better earlier, could
Speaker 2: do more things. But you know, it's kind of staying
Speaker 2: within it. It's that mental side of that game that
Speaker 2: everybody talks about that. It's that maturing of that portion,
Speaker 2: you know, where you know, you do one thing and
Speaker 2: do it really well and you can still have some success.
Speaker 2: But to your point, yeah, a lot of these guys
Speaker 2: should probably be waiting and if nothing else, finding an
Speaker 2: appreciation for what life is really like versus coming out
Speaker 2: of college and trying to go straight to playing on
Speaker 2: tour and not really having any perspective on the reality
Speaker 2: of what ninety nine point nine percent of people do.
Speaker 1: It's like a bad date playing on the PGA Tour
Speaker 1: is a pretty good day. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they still let you eat and food's pretty good.
Speaker 1: Where'd you play college golf? That?
Speaker 2: I played down in southern California at Division two school
Speaker 2: cal State San Bernadino. I played two years there. I
Speaker 2: took a little time to get going in college, So.
Speaker 1: I nothing wrong with that, you know, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: got to see the world. Life's a journy.
Speaker 2: It is, it is, and I'm a traveler.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, speaking of what were your best moments from
Speaker 1: your playing career, you.
Speaker 2: Know, you know, leaving college, my last year at college,
Speaker 2: I played some some really I started playing some really
Speaker 2: good golf. I won a couple of tournaments leading into
Speaker 2: our national championship. When we played Nationals, I had won
Speaker 2: the tournament, the qualified tournament to get there by about
Speaker 2: eight strokes, had some great you know, just started to
Speaker 2: win tournaments by a lot of a lot of strokes,
Speaker 2: you know, so that was really really kind of fun.
Speaker 2: And then you know, later down the road, you know,
Speaker 2: I had some a couple of good, good scores, a
Speaker 2: couple of good rounds, and on the Canadian Tour and
Speaker 2: started to kind of get a little bit of a
Speaker 2: feel for what I was doing out there, and had
Speaker 2: some difficulty the next year, and so that kind of
Speaker 2: led to me, you know, calling it calling it quits.
Speaker 2: You know. I I tied the course record in Delmanti
Speaker 2: back in I want to say two thousd was an
Speaker 2: eight shot, a sixty one with a boge on the
Speaker 2: last hole, So you know, I was shooting for fifty nine.
Speaker 2: I was trying and then obviously, yeah, well it was
Speaker 2: it was good.
Speaker 1: Sixty, Ok, it was good.
Speaker 2: It was good. You know, there's not one golfer alive
Speaker 2: that probably has ever been satisfied with the squarely shot
Speaker 2: because I think about that round and the funny thing
Speaker 2: is is as good as it is and no matter
Speaker 2: what anybody I know, that's the first question they asked, Well, well,
Speaker 2: how'd you make your bow here? Do you remember when
Speaker 2: you were going to shoot fifty nine and you hit
Speaker 2: it over by the bathroom And it's like, well, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I do, Yeah, pretty much, I do. I think about
Speaker 2: it every single day.
Speaker 1: I think that I don't hit on Like the best
Speaker 1: part about golf. It's like you win a golf tournament
Speaker 1: and you still are like, wow, I should have shot
Speaker 1: so yeah, a couple of shots better. I left a
Speaker 1: few out there. Yeah, that's that's fying. Like people always
Speaker 1: want to make it easier, dub it down, but the
Speaker 1: beauty of golf is like the unattainable perfection. Yeah, it's impossible.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, what's a perfect score? Is eighteen under?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: If you burdi in every hole? Maybe some people would
Speaker 2: say par because par is what it's set at and
Speaker 2: what you're expected to do. But I would say a
Speaker 2: perfect score would be a birdy every hole.
Speaker 1: Your day to day here at Pebble's what's it like
Speaker 1: being a head pro at Pebble What are your kind
Speaker 1: of day to day operations? And maybe how is that
Speaker 1: different than you know, your your peers around the area.
Speaker 2: A lot of coffee in a lot of hours. We
Speaker 2: always joke we work half days, you know, because there's
Speaker 2: you know, twelve hours is half a day with AnyWho
Speaker 2: you know, day to day, there's no set routine. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't say that. You meet a lot of interesting people,
Speaker 2: and I think probably the best part about my job
Speaker 2: is the excitement people have when they come in to
Speaker 2: play Pebble Beach. It's, you know, it's such a unique
Speaker 2: property and it's such a unique place, and that you know,
Speaker 2: here we are, were one hundred years old this year, right,
Speaker 2: we're celebrating our centennial. And the course for the most part,
Speaker 2: you know, the layout's been pretty well untouched, right, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe the extension of the way back when when it
Speaker 2: first was built, of the of the eighteenth hole turning
Speaker 2: into par five and just a couple of teas here
Speaker 2: and there in some green complexes, but you know, it's
Speaker 2: it's just a unique, unique place and everybody that's ever
Speaker 2: played the game has been here, right, and people aspire
Speaker 2: to get here and to play here, and that's a
Speaker 2: great thing. And so our job really and the you know,
Speaker 2: the pleasure, but also the difficulty is is making sure
Speaker 2: that we live up to that standard that they've set
Speaker 2: in their mind and meeting that expectation, if not generally
Speaker 2: exceeding it. Right. So that's that's always the goal, and
Speaker 2: so that's that's our biggest challenge, right, is that you
Speaker 2: have to you got to think people have been saving
Speaker 2: to come here. Golfers have And I think another thing
Speaker 2: that's interesting about Pebble Beach too is when you if
Speaker 2: you go into anywhere you go, I should say, I
Speaker 2: don't know wherever it is. You go into a bowling alley,
Speaker 2: go into your seven to eleven, whatever you want to
Speaker 2: call it, and then say something about the word Pebble Beach.
Speaker 2: People know whether they golf or not. You know, but
Speaker 2: if I mean, yeah, Augusta, all those are great properties
Speaker 2: and people know about them, but there's still more golf
Speaker 2: centric type people, you know, maybe the masters, but but
Speaker 2: you know, when you talk about Pebble Beach. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: my uncle wants to go. Even if they're not a golfer,
Speaker 2: their uncle or their aunt or their anybody, they've heard
Speaker 2: about it and they they're interested in it. So it's
Speaker 2: a unique place that way. And so that's what we
Speaker 2: experience on a day to day basis. People who aspire
Speaker 2: to get here, and it's our job to make sure
Speaker 2: that we meet their expectation. Well, I'll not meet, but
Speaker 2: exceed them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that excitement of somebody on the first t you know,
Speaker 1: their first time. I just played it for my first
Speaker 1: time the other day and it's pretty unbelievable. I you
Speaker 1: watch it on TV for so long and you see,
Speaker 1: you know, since it was a kid, and there's just
Speaker 1: some stuff that you don't really expect to wow you
Speaker 1: as much as it does when you watch it so much.
Speaker 1: Like you know, the TV, I think almost like it
Speaker 1: flattens the property. It doesn't show how much movement there
Speaker 1: is in the property. And I mean like those cliffs
Speaker 1: are something else. Yeah, what would you say is your
Speaker 1: favorite stretch on the course? Maybe underrated stretch, not the
Speaker 1: one that everybody's going to go to.
Speaker 2: Well, if you're saying underrated in terms of difficulty, right
Speaker 2: would I would say twelve, thirteen and fourteen is very
Speaker 2: to say it's underrated. I don't know in terms of
Speaker 2: the difficulty part, but you know, generally people point to eight, nine,
Speaker 2: ten is the that real difficult stretch. But you know,
Speaker 2: I think twelve thirteen, fourteen is is there's a lot
Speaker 2: of teeth in that, especially when we start talking about
Speaker 2: you know, the US Open, which we have coming up
Speaker 2: here eighty days away. I think, but oh I didn't
Speaker 2: know that. Yeah, yeah, well we decided to go ahead
Speaker 2: and host it. We're gonna we're gonna go forward with it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, just this just in we might as well
Speaker 2: host it. You know, that's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: So okay, it's kind of nice that matched up with
Speaker 1: your one hundred years.
Speaker 2: It just seems to have worked, right Yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 2: that that's a special relationship with ESJ and so that's
Speaker 2: that's a great thing for us and that we shared.
Speaker 2: So that's fantastic. But to your point, you know, thirteen
Speaker 2: from that back tee, there's a there's a tea back
Speaker 2: there that into the wind. I mean, it's hard to
Speaker 2: almost get it past that cross bunker, which seems, you know,
Speaker 2: obsolete when you're on the normal tea box. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: then you know twelve, I mean that's such a hard
Speaker 2: part three. It's such a narrow front to back hole
Speaker 2: with that giant bunker on the front left that you
Speaker 2: just how do you get what shot do you hit
Speaker 2: in there? And still try to hold that green. I
Speaker 2: mean two thirds of it is really difficult to get
Speaker 2: it close. And then you have you know, then you
Speaker 2: go to obviously to fourteen, which is just a beast
Speaker 2: of a par five. And so that's a great stretch
Speaker 2: right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It's an awesome stretch. I think, like
Speaker 1: one of the things I've I've I couldn't believe it
Speaker 1: was how small the greens are out here. Yeah, It's
Speaker 1: like you see it on TV. You can tell like
Speaker 1: when the best players in the world are missing green.
Speaker 1: But then you get out and you're having hit the
Speaker 1: shots and you're like, oh my god, this is tiny.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If I miss left, I mean it's really deep bunker.
Speaker 1: If I missed right, I'm in a really deep bunker.
Speaker 1: Having played in a major championship, yeah, from a day
Speaker 1: to day course set up to a major, what would
Speaker 1: you estimate the differences in shots of difficulty.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I think it's I mean, it's it's
Speaker 2: really it's an unfair comparison when you talk about a
Speaker 2: regular day versus a major championship. I mean, obviously when
Speaker 2: you look out here and we've narrowed the fair ways
Speaker 2: tremendously already, so right now, yeah, it you'll get some
Speaker 2: of that experience. But the rough isn't at its you know,
Speaker 2: it's resort height. It's not at it's you know, three
Speaker 2: and a half for it. I mean, it's just not
Speaker 2: grown out to that extent that it's going to be
Speaker 2: as penal as it will be in the tournament.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: But what we have and what we're lucky and I
Speaker 2: and quite frankly, I don't know that anybody's actually done this.
Speaker 2: I think it's the first time is that in the
Speaker 2: in the last year, we've had an AT and T,
Speaker 2: you know, or actually you start back with the US Amateur,
Speaker 2: but we had a US Amateur, then we have you know,
Speaker 2: the PGA champions Tour out here in September, and then
Speaker 2: we host the first excuse me, the AT and T,
Speaker 2: and now the US Open. So in a stretch of
Speaker 2: less than a year. You're really hitting on a lot
Speaker 2: of different types of events, but all major you know,
Speaker 2: championships and professional championships, and so the reason I bring
Speaker 2: that up is all four of those. The golf course
Speaker 2: is different in terms of setup and how it's played
Speaker 2: and the way it's laid out. And of course, you know,
Speaker 2: it's still a resort course, so on a daily basis
Speaker 2: you get great conditions, a great golf course, but much
Speaker 2: more user friendly than than your major championships.
Speaker 1: Especially the US AM Open.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the Am was a little it was it
Speaker 2: was we didn't narrow in the fairways there, but it
Speaker 2: was a lot more intense with the rough in the firmness.
Speaker 2: But man, the Open, that's that's just a whole different world. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was standing out there. I played okay yesterday, but
Speaker 1: I was thinking I was like God, with five inch rough,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I could even get it around
Speaker 1: out here. Yeah, it's uh, it's a whole other beast.
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Speaker 1: for you. Member sb I c. How will the weather
Speaker 1: be different from say the at and T year and
Speaker 1: year out, which is in February, versus the US open
Speaker 1: in June.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, that's a good question. The likelihood of
Speaker 2: rain is obviously almost null, right, It's just it rarely rains.
Speaker 2: We generally, I say that, of course it's sprinkled today, right, So,
Speaker 2: but you know June June won't really rain. You know,
Speaker 2: there's there's a possibility some fog that time of year.
Speaker 2: If we get fog, it's generally in that time frame,
Speaker 2: just just due to the fact that the weather inland
Speaker 2: is so warm and it heats up all the deep
Speaker 2: cold ocean water that's out here, and you get that
Speaker 2: little marine layer. So I think if there's anything weather related,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's simply just some fog, which is much
Speaker 2: better than what you experienced maybe in the Midwest when
Speaker 2: you get the thunderstorms for that time of year. So
Speaker 2: we'll take a little fog over over a thunderstorm and rain.
Speaker 1: Let's keep the greens firm or no rain, lets you
Speaker 1: keep the greens firm too. And yeah, the fog, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the tough thing, is that fog makes
Speaker 1: it you know, that kind of dense air will make
Speaker 1: it play longer, which is absolutely it's a it will be.
Speaker 1: Do you expect so with with Pebble, with the AT
Speaker 1: and T, we see so many of guys that are,
Speaker 1: you know, great approach players. Obviously with the small greens,
Speaker 1: would you expect to see the same type of players succeed,
Speaker 1: you know in June as as the ones that we
Speaker 1: typically see play well and at the AT and T.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, so, first of all, everybody that's won
Speaker 2: the US Open here I shouldn't say everybody all, but
Speaker 2: I think Graham mcdowal is the only one that didn't
Speaker 2: has all won an AT and T as well, you know.
Speaker 2: So Tom Kite, it's dad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is.
Speaker 2: It's a good one, isn't it. Yeah. So yeah, you've
Speaker 2: got You've got Jack, Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Tiger Woods
Speaker 2: and right if if if Phil Michelson can pull it off, well,
Speaker 2: then there you go. I mean he's he's won as
Speaker 2: many as Marko Mirro. Now, so DJ, what a head
Speaker 2: you not had that collapse? Yeah, he's one. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 2: he'd replaced Graham and there you'd have here. Everybody would
Speaker 2: have won both that's ever won here. But but that said,
Speaker 2: I mean, I think if you look through those are
Speaker 2: some pretty straight hitters, good drivers of the ball. I
Speaker 2: think you're going to have to be a really really
Speaker 2: good driver of the ball that week. And so I
Speaker 2: think as much as you know, I think Michelson can
Speaker 2: be a crowd favorite and a potential favorite. I think
Speaker 2: you know, for him that might be a tougher just
Speaker 2: a tougher road because his driving accuracy isn't just isn't
Speaker 2: quite where it needs to be probably, so it's going
Speaker 2: to make it tougher for him to pull off the wind.
Speaker 2: So you know, you're gonna have to find somebody that's
Speaker 2: hitting it pretty straight off the tee. Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: that's going to be the person that really does it
Speaker 2: at that point. And maybe somebody that hits it fairly
Speaker 2: high with their approach shots, just because I know some
Speaker 2: wind can hurt that, but with the firmness of the
Speaker 2: greens that that tends to help a little.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's interesting, I think. Yeah, Phil obviously great approach player,
Speaker 1: I mean legendary, but that rough with where I will
Speaker 1: be What of the narrow of the holes that have
Speaker 1: been narrowed. What hole do you think it makes the
Speaker 1: biggest impact on from say, just from your playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think eight is incredible. If you look at eight,
Speaker 2: if you see eight, it's normal. I mean that is
Speaker 2: such a wide fair way on a normal day, and
Speaker 2: now it's like a bacon strip way over to the
Speaker 2: right way over by the cliff, and it's fantastic. I mean,
Speaker 2: it is just gorgeous. But that's a tough spot to hit.
Speaker 2: And I mean you think about a guy again, think
Speaker 2: about a Phil. He's got to probably hit a little
Speaker 2: bit of a draw there, which is kind of scary
Speaker 2: get away with you, Yeah, because it goes down and
Speaker 2: runs from him. So you know, are you going to
Speaker 2: aim way way right on the edge of the cliff
Speaker 2: and cut it back so and hitting that ball out
Speaker 2: of that thick rough, you know, you catch it a
Speaker 2: little bit heavy, there's nothing there to save it except
Speaker 2: the Pacific Ocean.
Speaker 1: Nothing to save it.
Speaker 2: But yes, there you have see.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's gonna give it a nice gotten a long
Speaker 1: tumble down to it exactly.
Speaker 2: It'll stay on the rocks and be safe.
Speaker 1: But yeah, as far as operations go from from your perspective,
Speaker 1: how does it being a US open your change your
Speaker 1: your day to day? Uh?
Speaker 2: You know, well, again, we're we're extremely busy, like like normal.
Speaker 2: You know, we've got a lot of play here. I
Speaker 2: think there's just a buzz and an excitement. Uh, there
Speaker 2: isn't the staff and that translates to the uh, to
Speaker 2: the guests and our arms work guests as well, and
Speaker 2: I think they feel it too operationally day to day.
Speaker 2: You know, there's not a major impact at the moment,
Speaker 2: but you know it's certainly coming. We're all we're all
Speaker 2: kind of you know, buckling down and getting ready to
Speaker 2: put on a great show.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's a exciting. So with the week of
Speaker 1: how did what do you guys work in the shop
Speaker 1: or how does that work? You know, I know they
Speaker 1: got the big merchandise ten but then what what is
Speaker 1: the Pebble Beach staff role?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so so it's funny that you ask. I was
Speaker 2: just asked that question this morning as well in a
Speaker 2: different meeting. And but you know, my team is going
Speaker 2: to do a lot with the player services portion and
Speaker 2: working with you know, just kind of all of the
Speaker 2: ancillary stuff that the that the that involves some of
Speaker 2: the players, you know, your locker room areas and driving range.
Speaker 2: You know, there's going to be a couple of cart barns.
Speaker 2: We've got to manage all those facilities. And of course
Speaker 2: we'll also be working through the shop. The shop generally
Speaker 2: is just open for the for the players, so it's
Speaker 2: some of the traffic is a little different than normal,
Speaker 2: but we still have to man that too.
Speaker 1: So yeah, does the rest of the rest of the
Speaker 1: resort remain like operational? Are people playing at Spanish Bay
Speaker 1: and and Spyglass at that time?
Speaker 2: Yeah? There's shotguns it both places double shotguns this morning
Speaker 2: and afternoon. And there's you know, some corporate play, and
Speaker 2: there's resort play and all kinds of places. Yes, golf
Speaker 2: is happening everywhere.
Speaker 1: Golf is all around us.
Speaker 2: Golf is around us. We are in it.
Speaker 1: Have you ever seen that love? Actually, I know made
Speaker 1: me think of they sing this song Christmas is around us.
Speaker 1: Golf is around.
Speaker 2: Maybe we could have our own song.
Speaker 1: You just you could rip it was a rip off
Speaker 1: of another, it would fit perfectly.
Speaker 2: I said, I didn't. If I say I never heard
Speaker 2: of it, it's not really stealing it.
Speaker 1: Then Yeah, exactly, you just play play stupid.
Speaker 2: That's what's where I'm good at.
Speaker 1: So you you watch thousands of guests come through on
Speaker 1: a daily basis, one hundreds on a daily basis. Right,
Speaker 1: what would you say is the the thing that you
Speaker 1: would recommend most that might be a little off the
Speaker 1: radar when you come to Pebble.
Speaker 2: It's in terms of just coming in and playing or Yeah,
Speaker 2: I would say the first thing is get here, plan
Speaker 2: far enough in advance to do all the things, and
Speaker 2: give yourself a little bit of time. Right, give yourself
Speaker 2: the time, the extra time you need, because as we
Speaker 2: talked about earlier, it's an emotional experience. Like I said,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people that have saved for a
Speaker 2: long time to get here, or they've won a contest
Speaker 2: with their company, or they're they're on a their client
Speaker 2: you know there there it's client golf, whatever, and and
Speaker 2: it's just a heightened experience because of where it is, right,
Speaker 2: and so you know, you want to get here a
Speaker 2: little bit earlier, give yourself time to kind of get
Speaker 2: around the property, absorb some of that energy, absorb some
Speaker 2: of that just that feeling, just to kind of let
Speaker 2: it subside a little, you know, come in, make sure
Speaker 2: you have time to have a little bit of breakfast,
Speaker 2: and just you know, hit some range balls and just
Speaker 2: kind of get comfortable because you know, as you as
Speaker 2: you said before, you know, your first time standing on
Speaker 2: a tea and I don't, I don't, you're going to
Speaker 2: be nervous. If it's your first time, you're going to
Speaker 2: be nervous. I mean I still get butterflies walking on
Speaker 2: that because it's such a special spot. You know, you're
Speaker 2: going to embark on this little journey and play this
Speaker 2: fantastic golf course where everybody's been and you just you
Speaker 2: can feel the history.
Speaker 1: How many times have you played pebble on the record
Speaker 1: on the record.
Speaker 2: Well, I only, I only, I only played twice a year. Yeah, no,
Speaker 2: you know, we get out there and as appropriate, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it's never as much as you'd like it to be. No, right,
Speaker 2: it's never as much a golf course like that, it's
Speaker 2: just begging for you to play, and I love to
Speaker 2: play every day.
Speaker 1: There's only a few people that have a job where
Speaker 1: they play too much golf.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't have that one. I can promise
Speaker 2: you that is my one problem I don't have.
Speaker 1: That's that's like where this week I'm playing three days
Speaker 1: in a row. I'm like, I've played too much golf
Speaker 1: this week. I haven't been doing enough work. It's a
Speaker 1: it's an awful feeling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But well when you get older, too, it starts
Speaker 2: to hurt as well. That's that's even better. So now
Speaker 2: now it even hurts after too many days in a row.
Speaker 2: That's when you know you played too much. When you can't,
Speaker 2: you know, you can't pick up the club the fourth day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you you got any tricks of the trade. You know,
Speaker 1: what are some insider tips for playing say, we'll say,
Speaker 1: playing pebble, you know, dining at around around the resort,
Speaker 1: maybe one off campus thing.
Speaker 2: To do well insider is simply you know, the best
Speaker 2: way to be here is just to stay and have
Speaker 2: the full experience. You know, trying to work around things
Speaker 2: is just doesn't you don't get the full experience. I mean,
Speaker 2: the resort's all freshly renovated, as well, which is exciting
Speaker 2: for us at this time. You know, we just finishing
Speaker 2: up our renovation of rooms are gorgeous. The golf courses
Speaker 2: are fantastic. I mean, you just you just got to
Speaker 2: do the whole just dive in and get into the
Speaker 2: whole experience. We got a five star spa. I mean,
Speaker 2: why do you need to go? That's that's the insider
Speaker 2: is call up our reservation line and just treat yourself
Speaker 2: to a great you know, weekend, week, two weeks, whatever
Speaker 2: you want to stay, We'll put you up and play golf.
Speaker 2: I mean where else would you rather be?
Speaker 1: Right, There's there's a few places, missus Stridike, like the
Speaker 1: spot a lot.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah. So and then the dining, you know,
Speaker 2: dining wise, I mean the resort wonderful, wonderful dining, great offerings.
Speaker 2: I mean the tap room is a can't miss. You know,
Speaker 2: I love the tap room, uh personally, great steaks, just
Speaker 2: it's just a wonderful spot to have a nice glass
Speaker 2: of red wine and a great steak. Happily is fantastic.
Speaker 2: They've got this Tuscan Italian cuisine that is unbelievable. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the Osubuko there and you won't eat it anywhere else.
Speaker 2: It's it's just that good. So it's just it's a
Speaker 2: really it's it's unique. We've got all so many great
Speaker 2: things here, so so why go somewhere else. You just
Speaker 2: come here and you're done. That's it.
Speaker 1: It's a good, good company man right there.
Speaker 2: Anywhere else two weeks, Yeah, stay two weeks, eat everywhere
Speaker 2: morning day and play the golf and then you.
Speaker 1: Know that'd be heaven. So you got parking for and
Speaker 1: you did this for the last time that the Open
Speaker 1: came on your Part three course on the peter A.
Speaker 2: That's actually not that's not just not a parking. That's
Speaker 2: not parking. That'll betructure. Yeah, the infrastructure there will be.
Speaker 2: That's going to be some retail tents and things of
Speaker 2: that nature. So that'll really be the grand entrances people
Speaker 2: come through. As you can imagine, with the flow and
Speaker 2: traffic of people coming in, there's just not parking here
Speaker 2: to facilitate that, and so everybody parks off site. Yea,
Speaker 2: it's bust in that has their tickets and then there's
Speaker 2: a you know, so that creates a grand entrance opportunity
Speaker 2: and really it's a great way to experience kind of
Speaker 2: coming into the Open and kind of landing at the
Speaker 2: first tea at Pebble Beach.
Speaker 1: So what's the plan after with the par three course.
Speaker 2: Oh well, well, you know, once that's once the tournament's done,
Speaker 2: we'll put that back together and yeah, we'll have a
Speaker 2: we'll have another great par three course ready to go again.
Speaker 2: This is okay cool for guests that have been here.
Speaker 2: It will be completely different, right already. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: we're still in the planning stages, so we'll see exactly
Speaker 2: how that how that pans out if we you know,
Speaker 2: we're we're definitely gonna look at some design options. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it'll be a great be a great return to peter A.
Speaker 1: As far as a playing, are you gonna try and
Speaker 1: try and play in the US Open you don't qualify, No,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not. It's gonna be kind of busy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know, I just I I uh, I've
Speaker 2: got wife and two kids, and I figure I ought
Speaker 2: to continue to be able to afford paying for for
Speaker 2: them sure, or helping them alone, you know, paying for
Speaker 2: the house payment, making that probably a better idea to
Speaker 2: do that, then try to try to do the whole
Speaker 2: thing play and all that, But it would be a
Speaker 2: great honor to be honest obviously, But yeah, I'm not
Speaker 2: I'm not going to try and qualify at.
Speaker 1: This point, just just sticking to beaten up on the
Speaker 1: Northern California guys.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's it. Yeah, yeah, you know, I don't
Speaker 2: know if I can even do that anymore. That was
Speaker 2: a long time ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Now, maybe they need a marker, you may mark.
Speaker 2: I've got a pin if they need a marker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, Eric, thanks so much for coming on. We're
Speaker 1: really excited to look forward at the US Open this year.
Speaker 1: It'll be I mean, what an amazing venue, amazing history.
Speaker 1: Who's your pick here? We're picking this on I don't know,
Speaker 1: March twentieth.
Speaker 2: March twentieth, sentimental pick. I'm gonna go with Phil Mickelson. Yeah,
Speaker 2: just in the fact, I just think that it would
Speaker 2: be a great tie into you know, he wins that
Speaker 2: he's you know, well, it's Father's Day number one. He's
Speaker 2: a great, you know, family man. He always has has
Speaker 2: his wife and his kids around, and I want to
Speaker 2: say it might be his birthday. I believe it's his birthday.
Speaker 1: That's research.
Speaker 2: So I think that would be pretty cool for him, right,
Speaker 2: And then I mean, and then do you do do
Speaker 2: thed mic drop if you're Phil Micholson, because what it
Speaker 2: also does it closes out his Grandslam, his Grand Slam,
Speaker 2: and so you kind of hit three of the best keys,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, milestones you can I mean you
Speaker 2: almost have to just say, hey, that's Michelson out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he should just retire.
Speaker 2: Then well maybe whoever does you know? Golf, football, all those?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just so hard to leave and think
Speaker 2: that you're you got to respect like a Peyton Manning, right,
Speaker 2: he wins and then that that's probably it, you know,
Speaker 2: he guess sometimes you know, and I'm not that Phil
Speaker 2: Micholson doesn't have maybe a win or two left in him,
Speaker 2: but I it would be hard to think that he would.
Speaker 1: You'd have a lot of major He's won the AT
Speaker 1: and T and the US Open the same year when
Speaker 1: it was Woods.
Speaker 2: Oh he did two thousand?
Speaker 1: You're ready? Was that the year he came back on?
Speaker 1: Uh on? Was it Goggain and the two thousand?
Speaker 2: All right? Well, now I'm not sure. So that's a
Speaker 2: good question. So you've stumped me.
Speaker 1: There he had that, But one year he won the
Speaker 1: at and t from like seven behind the final round.
Speaker 1: It's well, yeah, that I mean that would it might
Speaker 1: have been a year there, It might have been that year.
Speaker 1: He was kind of doing that to everybody, wasn't he. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that were those were good, good years. So thank you,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on and uh look forward
Speaker 1: to this and uh when people are here at Pebble,
Speaker 1: they can come in and say, hi, absolutely, yeah, please
Speaker 1: do I miss a green? For example, I'm already upset
Speaker 1: when I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 2: And when I find my ball in.
Speaker 3: A frid Egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg, fridagg
Speaker 3: Frida egg egg bride egg.
Speaker 1: Lie, I'm about ready to run off the gump
Speaker 3: A named Sunny at La