Fore Play - American Heroes, with Jon Taffer & Lt Col Dan Rooney

Episode Date: November 19, 2020

Golf brings a lot of people together and drives a lot of important things in all of our lives. On today’s show, we’re joined by two special men who’ve both helped a lot of people. First, Jon Taffer (17:16) from Bar Rescue joins us to talk Frankie’s appearance on his show, opening new restaurants during COVID, how golf can improve as a business, and how nervous he was when first storming into bars on television. Next, we’re joined by Lt Col Dan Rooney (65:15), an American hero, an F-16 fighter jet pilot and a PGA professional. We discuss Folds Of Honor, American Dunes (the incredible new golf course project with Jack Nicklaus), and how golf influenced Dan to become a fighter jet pilot!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/foreplaypod

Hey, 4Play listeners, you can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. We have two interviews on this show. We have John Tapper, who is a Barstool legend, a barstool legend, bar rescue, seven seasons. He's the man. He's been involved with barstool in all kinds of different capacities. And now he joins us. He actually got a start in golf, in like golf hospitality.

So he's got some serious thoughts on how golf can be better, you know, drinks, experience, 19th hole. And then he's got Taffer's Tavern, which is his new project. He's opening his own restaurant, bar restaurant, casual dining. So we get into a lot of fun and also interesting and, you know, thoughtful discussions about the restaurant industry with COVID. Obviously, Frankie, you're here with me right now. That affects you, your family as well. So it's interesting here what he had to say. Yeah, totally.

he he just brings the juice he has the juice like every time he's on anything barcel related it's must watch must listen stuff we go into his history with barso like you said and every time he's a guest on anything that we do i just my i'm captivated like he's captivating i i can't keep my eyes off of him i'm a little biased because he's invited me on his show that which he drops a number in the episode in this episode where i think it's got 90 million viewers of something or something like that his number he dropped was astounding but i believe it like bar I actually think it's one of the, I think it's actually one of the longest running shows on TV right now. Honestly, most consistent episodes.

Like there's a stat out there that like he's put out the most, like, it's like either on his network or just on TV in general. Like, it's one of the most like the longest running network TV shows that do what he, that, that, that consistently puts out the amount of episodes he puts out. Well, also, Bar Rescue is one of those. If you scroll across it, just flip it through channels, you stop. I mean, you have to stop. And there's like 10 episodes in a row. so you can just crush them all. Like, Paramount Network just rides them all day.

That's one thing's I'm to tell him. Like, my episode with Dave airs like three times a week. I'm getting tweets about it like crazy. I'm like, how often is this thing on TV? It's crazy. So we got Taffer, and Fred, he's right. He brings the juice every time. He's fucking hilarious.

He's got a ton of energy. He actually, I guess, is inquisitive. So he's asking us questions. And then we also have Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney. He brings it in a completely different way. He was a fighter pilot. and the Air Force. He's also a PGA professional. I think he said he's the only one of that in the entire world. He's got a brand new book out into the wind. He did three combat tours in Iraq as an

F-16 fighter pilot. So he's the man. And he's also got American Dunes, which is a golf course project going on with Jack Nicholas. So we get into a lot of very important, kind of very deep and also very cool conversations with Lieutenant Carl Dan Rooney about his life, his career, his involvement in golf, how golf sort of catapulted his life in terms of aviation and ultimately leading to him being a fighter pilot. So two really good interviews. Big thanks again to Jake Bass, to Brendan Jones on the production aspect. And a big thanks to Owens. I was actually drinking a little transfusion. First transfusion since, well, I guess I had a couple during the weekend. So really first transfusion in like four days. But just reminded how delicious those things are.

I had somebody else with me who tried it for the first time and they were blown away. So they'll never drink your transfusion. That's not Owens ever again. So big thanks to Owens. You can get 15% off their site with the code barstool 15 at Owensmixers.com. They have several other good flavors as well. You can make a lot of different drinks. They'll even give you a little tip card that's got, hey, here's how you make this cocktail or that cocktail. You pour in the mixer. You pour in a little ice and liquor. Put the mixer in with it. And boom, you have a phenomenal, elite, classy cocktail. People are going to think you're more impressive than you really are. the mint cucumber lime i always talk about that one because it's my favorite but they got a bunch

of other good ones so owens mixers.com bars full 15 gets you 15% off uh and then i mentioned the production and frankie has been you did a nice little tease i don't even know what the fuck you're doing but you did a nice little tease on your instagram story the other day of some machine on a green doing things to grass that i didn't know could be done yeah so we're trying obviously we did behind the greens episode one at wingfoot that had a storyline US opens coming we're doing another one of Torrey pines i'm locking all that stuff in right now but i wanted something to get us between the u.s open the other u.s open and the idea we came up with was the winterization of golf courses so i'm not going to talk too much about it because i think i want to show people i just want

people to watch like what happen when you put your clubs away in the garage and you it's cold and you're in christmas season and you're drinking your eggnog and you're and you're not thinking about golf what's going on at your local golf course you have no clue what those guys are doing and i'm sure some of people do have a clue, but the people that, like me, that just were totally fucking, like, you know, oblivious to what goes on. I thought everybody just leaves. I thought everybody just, like, all the people that work. The golf course just appeared.

They just go home and they'll be like, yeah, we'll just deal with it later. What's crazy is, and I'm learning, so we're filming at a bunch of different golf courses. I'm bouncing around. I'm getting different activities that they do to the grass. It's essentially dirt porn, like what they're doing. They're drilling their drill bits deep into the ground. They're filling it with sand. It's a lot of sexual innuendos in there.

So essentially, you know, what I found out is that during the season for these guys, it's kind of like autopilot. Like they get a lot of play. They do their duties. Like, all right, like we have to fucking roll the green, cut the green, like, like give it whatever kind of fertilizer needs, blah, blah, blah, blah. In the winter, they have no play. This is their time to like rejuvenate the golf course, like do what they need to do.

Oh, they don't like that bunker. The members hate that bunker there. Let's move it over the other side. Let's move a T-box. Let's change it. So, like, there's a lot of things that go on during the winter. And what I think is cool about behind the greens is I don't know anything about golf course maintenance.

So I am filming it and, like, maneuvering my way around these courses as if it's my first, it is my first time seeing this stuff. So I feel like if you're a viewer of it, you're going to see it the way I saw it where it's like, holy shit. Like, I'm really looking at this drill and being like, what the fuck does that thing do? And we're getting an explanation about it. So it should be cool. I don't know when it's going to come out because we have a

couple of shoots of stuff that I'm not even going to say what they do to the golf course, but like there's a thing in like late January, February that I have to wait for it because it happens only one time a year and I need that in the episode. So we'll see when, unless I can find another course that does it. But yeah, I wasn't able to hop on the, the lieutenant interview because I was out filming, um, because this stuff's super time sensitive. Like they only do that drill and fill stuff on that day once a year. So it's like, you know, I had to do it and I had to miss the interview. But I think, think it'll be a great video. It's got to be infuriating on some level for the turf crews because

like you said, like during the year, they're just nonstop because if there's ever a day where play is not, like they can't play their course or play is not perfect. The members are going to bitch. They're going to be furious. They're going to go nuts. But then they also want like they want things fixed. They want things to change. Like how come the greens are this way? How come that bunker? Like you said is that way. What are we going to change that route? And it's like, well, no, actually we can't do both at the same time. It's just not possible. If you want to play the fuck the course all the time, then we have to have it ready to play. We can't actually focus on the other stuff, like fixing and changing.

And so it is, like, I've noticed when they do erration, a lot of courses, too. They'll also, like, try to cram in an adjustment or an improvement to the course when they do airation because they're like, if the course are going to be closed for a couple of weeks anyways, this is our chance to kind of actually change something. So it's not like they just get to airy the course and then they chill and take a break. It's like they actually work harder during that. So like you said, I know outside of just. general kind of eyewitness to certain stuff.

I know nothing either. And so I think that kind of showcasing that, I mean, I'm excited. Some of the shit that you said, we're going to film and include in this video, I actually laughed out loud when you text us. Like, what do you mean? Dude, it's crazy what they do to golf courses.

And I'm gaining respect every single time, more respect, every single time I step on the golf course when I'm with the maintenance crew. It's absolutely crazy. And also, like, what I did the other day was the resources that certain people, courses have over others. We went to a really top 100 golf course. And then we went to another one that's just like a local country club. Like the difference between like what they're able to do to the

greens is like light ears. Like one has to do a certain like drill and fill because like that's like the way that the soil is. That's like the style that they like and like they're not going to get any play because their members don't really care at that point. And then another one was like we need to do this thing called dryjack because like that's the way that our undulating greens like accept this type of water going in the ground and spraying out like a. a bullet and then like they can play on it the next day there's no there's no holes it does the same thing as the drill and fill it's just there's no holes you can play on it you can put on it that night so it's actually it's actually crazy like what like money gets you when you're in so

like some of these like supers like they have all the money in the world to spend and other super's have to just try and get by with like whatever they can do so um i think that's a really cool aspect of it too where like there's guys like in whatever middle america super is that like went to pga school and they're stuck with this like low budget and they got to keep these golf courses as pristine as possible. So we kind of showcase a little bit of that. And then also COVID, like this year, which was pretty interesting, like they said that these clubs are staying alive because of the golf.

And the golf courses got so banged up this year because golf was so high and so much, there was so much more play this year than usual because they needed that because the restaurants were closed. All the weddings were closed. So think about these huge country clubs that the banquet hall. That's how they make their money. Like when you have a membership to a golf club, like you have to spend a certain amount of the rest of the rest of it.

That's how they stay a lot. So when you take all that away, the golf course takes even more of a beating because like that's the only thing they're doing. So this year, golf course maintenance guys and the crew is like, man, they earned every dollar. We're getting these interviews on these guys and they're like, we fucking busted our ass this year. Like the number of plays, like usually we get whatever, like 9,000 plays a week, whatever it is.

And like this year we got 15,000. And it was crazy. The numbers like double. It was insane. So it's also like you forget that a golf course isn't, it's not like an ice rink. It's not a basketball court. It's like a golf course is a living, breathing thing. And like living, breathing things have to have time to rest and recover and recoup.

Like I know at Pioneers, people mention and talk about all the time as the sunsets playing the cradle. Like how does the cradle not just have lights? Like how can people not? And we've talked about it right here. Like, how is the cradle not just open until, like, midnight with lights on it? I don't understand. And there's several different reasons, and they might go that way eventually. But Pioneer is like, you know, when you do play the cradle, people pelt it with wedges all the time.

You have eight-somes walking all over the green, drinking, and it just is nonstop. And the course at some point needs to rest. Like, it just needs to rest so that when you come out the next morning or the next afternoon, like, it's in damn good shape for a course that gets that much play. But if you never let something rest, it's very, very difficult on something because it's grass and this stuff grows and it has to have water. It has to have recovery. It has to have all these things. So it's pretty fascinating. And I'd say people, we know, people are very hungry. People are very thirsty for the behind the greens. The follow up, the, you know, the sequel. And I know that you and Bug and everybody want to like make sure that it's not in any way a step down that we just continue to. elevated so so it's good to hear that that something's coming yeah totally and we'll get some of the old characters i may take a i may take a another dip inside wingfoot so we can get our guy steve because honestly when you're sitting down trying to like write up episode two and like what it's going to be

it's impossible to try and have a cartoon character like steve rabidoo at wingfoot like that guy was a match made in heaven for what we wanted to do we never in a million years thought that that was what was going to happen when we turned on the camera but like what we're fine is there are a lot of these, I call them cartoon characters, because some of these guys are just like, I don't know how they got to wear it. Like, we interviewed this guy yesterday,

and he's just like, he's literally a cartoon character. The guy just like contracts these machines and he's got this slick back hair, smoking a cigarette, leaning over the machines, like spit in all over the place. It's like he,

it's just these people that, like they do one thing for their life. Like Steve Rabbit, who just worries about golf course maintenance. He lives and breathes it and he fucking is a psychopath. when it comes to it. And like, there's also that guy for the people that, that contract the machineries, the dryjack machines, which I didn't even know existed. So it's very, very funny.

And then the last thing I'll say about it is this thing's really open my eyes because I was so oblivious and, um, and like immature in the thought that when I would like think about a golf course, I didn't think of it as like a business. I'd be like, oh, like, why can't I just show up to the, like, all right, like, why can't I just show up and just like play? Like if I just like, like, like after like twilight like if I just walked onto the first tee like the golf course lost no money right like I just like played a course that existed like what what changed before when I stepped up to the first to when I got off the 18th tree like they don't even know I was there and like learning about what you do to the course like and like how a guy has to go out there and replace your divvets and and and roll out the

greens and every single um ballmark and divot on the green is like is another hours work for the team and stuff. It's like you really realize like that your impact on the course. It costs money. It costs the environment. Like everything is like every time you step up to the T, that's why some of these courses are $500. Like you can't believe that. Like you think of Pebble Beach. Like how was that $500? That course just exists and I'm just going to go play it. Like what happened? I didn't take anything. I didn't take. They didn't make a product and I bought it and then I wore it. Like they didn't do anything. It's just land that exists. But no, it's like you're doing stuff that workers have to then fix and rejuvenate and like and get to the same level that you played it at so it is really interesting

it's completely completely changed my mind i'm sure there's episodes where i've like there is an episode on this podcast where i've like joked and said like these people like went to school for nothing like what'd you learn how to grow grass like great great job like well it's also like it's almost like the moral compass of pioneers over here was doing the right thing when when people were sneaking onto the garden course and driving all over the place true it's completely true but no you're right. I mean, it is, it is, like, we've all had that, right? Like, we all grew up, none of us, not a super person on the show at a country club being members of country clubs playing. Like, we just went out and played Mooney Golf and tried to jump on as much as we could.

The whole goal was to pay as little amount as you possibly could. Like the money I was making valet was all going into golf courses and I just wanted to pay the cheapest fee I could possibly pay, usually, hopefully nothing. And I didn't make sense to me why I would ever have to pay more. It's like, you said the land is there, you assholes. Why can't, I just walk on and have a great time. What's the issue? Like you said, there's a business that goes into it. It's cool that we're able to highlight and showcase that to people in different ways. So behind the greens is well on its way. Okay, we've got John Taffer. We've got Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney, both fantastic guests. They have very interesting stories and they're very

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We're huge fans of his. He's been in our world for several years now, all the way back. to an original video with David Big Cat where he roasted Dave for a greasy burger that's just unacceptable. You probably know him from seven seasons on Bar Rescue, Paramount Network. He's got Tapper's Tavern now,

which just opened up this fall, which we're going to get into. But John Taffer, welcome to the show, my friend. Good to be here, guys. Looking forward to this. So, you know, I want to start with the show. Like, we got a lot to get into. I know you have some history in golf.

you started out in golf and hospitality with golf. But the show, you know, Frankie right here, was on an episode of Bar Rescue, and there's nothing we love more than judging each other. And we'd love to hear your kind of breakdown of Frankie's performance on Bar Rescue. I like the way you say you guys like to judge each other. You guys like to beat the shit out of each other

is what you like to do. A little different than judging. I got to tell you, Frankie was great. We did Bar Rescue. Frankie, I'm curious to hear your take on it because I tell people this for a long time. Bar Rescue is real. There's no scripts.

There's nothing set up. And Frankie got to see that when we went in that day. But I got to tell you, Frank, I thought you was solid, buddy. You can come back and do recon any time you want. Did you have a good time? I appreciate that. I was more nervous for that than I think anything I've ever done in my entire life. It's so real, right?

So, like, you know, I'm a huge fan of Bar Rescue. My dad's from the restaurant business. He goes to sleep watch and bar rescue food, all these types of restaurant shows. And I couldn't believe that, like, we're actually sitting in a car behind an alley being like, all right, this guy's going into the kitchen. Then you're going to walk in because he has no idea that you're there. You have a little microphone in the ear. You've got to try and listen to like when you're going to go. Like, all right.

And John's like, hey, why don't you see the bottom of that pizza over there? I'm like, all right. Why don't you mess around with them and let's see what's going on? I'm like, my heart is pounding through my throat, basically. And man, it's as real as it gets. And I had the most fun ever watching John come in and rip these guys and tell them that they need to do stuff a certain way and they had to apologize to me. It was, it was hell of an experience, but something that I'll always remember.

I mean, that's definitely a highlight in my career. When people ask, what's the coolest thing you've done? That's up there with number one or two. If I'm not mistaken, Frankie, wasn't there an older woman who was hitting on you that night? she sort of wanted you The couple wanted to take me home behind us It was crazy You're too young to be in here

Look at your dimples Like touching my face I'm getting pieces of pizza It was crazy It was Yeah, they had big plans for you, Frank So by the way The Portnoy story with the burger

Is now almost eight years ago And I knew Dan But I didn't know Dave So I must say, and when I did pizza review, Portnoy always says, ah, you set me up with the burger. You set me up with the burger. Eight years later, he still busts my balls on setting them up with the burger. I'll tell you guys this, I sort of did set him up with the burger because I was friends with Dan.

I didn't know Portnoy at the time. So Dan won, but Portnoy still gives me a hard time for it every time I see it. Also, shout out to John Tavre. Maybe the best guest of a guest reviewer of a pizza ever had. he smelt the box before opening it up. And that was so next level to like before, like Dave always just comes out. All right, Frankie, we're here at whatever.

And John stopped him in his tracks and goes, hold on. If we're going to get a full review of this pizza, let's smell the aroma, the feeling before we open this box. I remember getting the chills behind the camera being like, this is something different. This is no longer a Barstle pizza review. This is, we've reached another level now.

So that, John Dapper comes into our world and just sets like, sets the bar very high and everything he does. And I think that's just a testament to how much of an electric factor you are. Now, what was the goal that you're going to gain by sniff in the box? What do you learn by the sniff? Well, you know, food is so much with your nose that, you know, before you see it and make a visual determination, give it a smell and rate just that. A pizza that smells great could still suck. That's what's interesting. The dough could be soggy, you know, even though it smells great, it could still suck.

So it's part of the process. But the fun part for me was with the honey cones, guys, right? You know, Portnoy always says a pizza hangs over or it goes straight, right, when you fold it. If it hangs over, it's because the dough is too flat. So there's no air bubbles to keep it solid. So it's sort of like a honeycomb structure. Portnoy still looks like, huh? It's fun to do it, guys.

I did a second one also, but it's fun to do it. you know, I have a great relationship with Barstool and all you guys, and it goes back to the beginning. And, you know, after this, I'm going to do something for a stock market company. I'm going to do Fox News after this. And I do all this very straight stuff, you know, I'm wearing my suit. So when I'm with you guys, it's the greatest of all. I can really be myself and Hank. So that's what I love about all you guys.

You've been fantastic on. You've been on Barstool. I mean, we've all, again, grew up watching Bar Rescue. and when you come in to just rip people's assholes apart, it's one of the best things on television. So we've always loved it. With the smell thing, is really, really interesting to me. Because, so one of our good friends, Eric,

has this great speakeasy bar, Jabba spoke downtown in New York. It's sort of midtown-ish. And they make really nice craft cocktails. And one thing that he taught me is they put the fruit right in the back of the drink and you get that sniff right before you actually take a sip. But I just, for whatever reason, it never occurred to me that that is creating the aroma and then that's a part of the drinking experience that you smell. And they were like, oh, yeah, that's intentional and that goes a long way.

I just never thought of smell when you're drinking something. Yeah, it's actually with everything you eat. You know, scent really is a large part of flavor. Speaking of flavor, what about tigers hole? What about the lake? And I know you guys are big tiger fans. I can imagine what you guys would do on TV when you watch that hole. what's that do with flavor that's got another do with flavor if you really want to talk about the flavor of that hole sucked so i'm so that's sort of got

i'm a incredible pivot i'm a big tiger fan so i'm not beating on it but that was something else wasn't it it was tough to watch that's what i would focus on you know you come in and you improve things you turn things around did you see how tiger made a 10 and then five of the next six holes he made bird that's what makes them so great that's what makes them really special you know i have great respect for how he reinvented the game years ago, how he reinvented his swing, how he just went back and just really taught himself the game over again. I think he's an amazing story of what happens in life when you start really young. And if I had a son, I'd put a golf club in his hand at about three years old these days, but I don't. So let's talk a little bit about kind of golf and your experience in golf.

I think it was one of your first jobs in hospitality was, you know, at a place that had three different nine holes. What was it? Grossinger's. Upstate New York, we had three nine hole golf courses. We used to have the New York State open there. And, you know, we had a lot of great golfers. It was a beautiful course. And our fourth hole was an island in the middle of a lake, small green in the middle of the lakes. You want to talk about losing some balls. But yeah, and, you know, I was more in a business side of golf, you know, running a golf course and such. But one of my greatest stories was when I was at Grossinger's, the golf pro lived in a house and the other side of the golf course

from where I lived. And one night we went to his house and I'm in his house. It's about midnight. We're getting drunk. We're really drunk and it's freaking pouring rain. And I got to drive my golf cart

back to my house across the golf course and it's pitch black and it's pouring rain and I drove the golf cart into the lake. Went off to travel into the lake. And I was the laughing stock of the golf course for months. Tafford drove the golf cart into the lake. But that was the last time

I had been on that particular do a course. But you know, golf is a fascinating business, guys. And you're sort of the anomaly if about 60% of golfers are over 65 years old. That's an actual statistic, you know, that I got from Greg Norman. And, you know, it's great to see that you guys are keeping the game alive, you know, and making it exciting. Greg Norman, I was on a show with him about a year ago, was talking about a night, I believe you guys have had him on the show. He was talking about how he's looking to build 14 whole golf courses now. And, you know, he's, so his feeling is if he can get a golf game down to about two,

two and a half hours, that that fits, you know, more contemporary lifestyles, you know, we don't have four or five hours to go on a golf course. So it's interesting how they're reinventing the game in so many ways now. Yeah, it is interesting. And I was hearing, I was reading some of the comments that you had made, I think, with our guy, Dylan DeCher, over at golf.com. He spoke with him earlier this year about some things. that golf can do.

And what I love is you really spoke about it as golf is just a whole experience, right? It's not just about the golf holes or the architecture or hitting a draw or a cut. Like, actually, it's way bigger than that in that capitalizing on the overall experience, which is obviously sort of your expertise. And that's still in line with what we do or we talk about, you know, grab some cocktails, have a little match going, make sure you hit the 19th hole. And so I think it's spot on that golf in order to, you know, grow and go more in the right direction, needs to kind of improve upon the entire experience.

I completely agree. You know, it's when you go to the clubhouse, you know, what is it like? What is that experience as you go out to the game? What is the pro shop like? Now, what is the golf cart like for Christyx? But, you know, just being out there is special in some cases. Some courses are so beautiful. Golf is a complete experience.

from the time you walk into the pro shop to the time you leave. And golf clubs that are great at it have a 19th hold that's so cool you've got to go in there. It's a scene. It's exciting. And you're right. There's a lot more to golf than the ball. That's for sure. And even just, you know, touring courses, seeing courses, the beauty of being out there.

I got to tell you, it's, you know, years ago they used to say baseball was very special because you're sitting out in the sun and you're at the ballpark. And, you know, they would say that's the whole experience. And what's a baseball game without a hot dog? But what's a golf game without a beer? But that experience is critical. And it's nice to see that golf is starting to make a comeback with people your age, you know, especially during pandemic.

You know, it's safe to play golf outside. So it's nice to see it with you on. Yeah, it is interesting. The, you know, the pandemic, as bad as it's been, and there's obviously, you know, tons of terrible things. But for golf, I mean, if you're going to look just at something that's similar, it's been huge for golf. And numbers are up all over the place. Obviously, you're a restaurant tour like Frankie's family restaurants.

I got to ask you because Tafters Tavern, you know, this fall 2020 opening seems like quite the challenge deciding and opening, you know, a restaurant, a restaurant franchise during COVID and the pandemic. Like how innovative do you have to be? And how innovative can restaurants be during this whole thing to kind of survive and even do well? It's like playing golf without a club, to tell the truth, guys. That's how bizarre it is. So when I started Tafer's Tavern almost two years ago, it was a very different world. We had no labor. Remember unemployment was so low the restaurant industry couldn't find employees.

So I said, okay, I'm going to create a robotic kitchen. I'm going to create the kitchen of the future because I can't get people back then, so I'm going to replace them with machines. So I put together this incredible, high technology scientific kitchen. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. And I put the franchise together. We sell a bunch of franchises. We're doing great. COVID hits.

And then I realized we got the safest freaking kitchen in the world. There's no contact. It's all computerized and robotic. So we wound up with the taffersafed binding system. which has scanners that scan your hands. And if there's any bacterial matter on your hands, you got a red light. You got to go wash them again.

So it tests how you wash your hands. And it's a device that freezes every glass before we put cocktails in it. So it kills all bacteria and virus on it. And so we wound up with this incredibly really cool concept. And I'll send you guys some pictures of it. But hell, we're serving about 1,100 people a day during COVID. And we're doing it safely.

So it's a home run. guys. I'm just really excited about the way people have reacted to it. And we're doing it, we're doing it all safely. How did you come up with that? Are you like some Tony Stark genius to come up with a kitchen thing like that? That's incredible. Well, it's, it's a, it's a, it's, it's a, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I want to be more humble than that. But this is what I do, you know, for a living. Yeah. You know, it's no different than somebody who loves golf creates a new kind of golf club because he's so into it. He has a vision that somebody else won't have, right? So sure. I guess I had some vision in this and I was on to something, but now we're selling franchises like crazy. We have one coming up in Washington,

D.C., one coming up in Boston, another one coming up in Atlanta, and it's unbelievable, but it's happening during the pandemic. But guys, pandemic's almost over, for sure. So does somebody like you, I mean, you got so much confidence, like you said, this is what I do, this is what I know. You've gone into, you know, dozens and dozens of other restaurants. We've seen it on TV. It's such a show. It's great. But also, you know, you guys report on how typically, like, well, the restaurants are doing.

So then when you put your money where your mouth is and you start your own, you put your own name on it, like, does that make John Taffer nervous? Are you at all, like when you do that? Well, it's a little bit. But, I mean, I did these, right, which are my seltzers. And those came out about a year ago. Then I did these, which are my mixers, right? And I have a frozen food line coming out in about two months, which I'm pretty excited about. The answer to your question is, sure.

You know, it's a lot easier for me to put your name on something than it is my own. It's a lot more pressure, of course, man. This is my reputation here. When you do something like this, you can't fail. yeah it's it's personal it's a whole it's a whole different level but it's it i mean it's clearly um working like you just said and it and it seems like it makes sense but it's also it's like that type of innovation in restaurants it's it's amazing that somebody would think of those things because and even now like with covid with all the outdoor and i know like borelli's has done it

where people are starting to get crazy things like people have been eating at restaurants forever and now all of a sudden like that people are still able to get this innovative and come up with new ideas. It's just, I don't know, it's amazing because, like I said, restaurant throwing out forever, and it's the most basic experience that you can have as a restaurant. Everybody has that experience. You know, it's also something that's always changing.

There's always a new food type or a new thing or a meatball store or this or that. You know, these new ideas keep coming. It's the greatest part about the restaurant industry. It's actually a very creative industry. But think about building a new golf course today, guys. Think about if you had a piece of land and you were going to build your own course and the three of you sat down. You'd start to have visions too, wouldn't you? You'd start to think about certain kind of holes that you'd want and that you'd start to think about

what your 19th hole would be like. What would the clubhouse look like? So suddenly you guys would have some vision too and you'd be picturing with the future of a great golf course would be. So I think we all possess those things, uh, that vision about the things that we know the most about. Frankie does that on a video game. Yeah, which game golf? So it's PGA Tour 2K and you can build your own golf course. So I literally sit there with a plot of land and I decide on where the holes are going to go and you build the land, you maneuver it. What's the best route?

What's the most beautiful layout? Now I don't have the ability to like make the golf carts like more comfortable or whatever in it. But I get what you're saying where it's like if you have something from scratch, you don't have to take pieces from other. You just build it the way you want, right? Like, oh, this would be cool. Let's try it out. It doesn't work.

It doesn't work. And in the restaurant industry, yeah. Like that stuff happens all the way. time. And it's really, it's really incredible to see how fast some people work and how other people are very conservative in the fact that it's like, no, this is going to work. And then something like COVID hits, it's like, no, you need to start moving. The ball's moving. You got to go with it. And you got to just think, you got to take risks. So, yeah. Think about, frankly, think about if the three of you did that separately. Oh, different. Each one of yours would be. Totally. And that's that

vision that we're talking about, that everybody has it. But, you know, when you put your brand on something, and I have bar rescue as an audience in 91 million. So I think about it that these people are coming to my place. They're walking under my sign because of my last name. That gets a little scary. So now they trust me enough to get in their car and drive and come there. And I better not freaking let them down. It becomes a really personal thing to me.

No different than if they were coming to your house, Frank. Right. I mean, you're just, you're going to come through for those people. So you guys are right. It's a lot of pressure to do it. Yeah, I've always been, you know, I've always been amazed at when you come into these restaurants on the show and how much people, that clearly there's going to be some abrasiveness and there's going to be some resistance. But ultimately, you know, like when they do trust you and then it does work out, like that is such a personal thing.

And you guys always dive deep into their business and a lot of times it's the family business. sunk everything they've got into it, and then here comes John Taffer. It's like you're going to save the entire day. Like, that's an incredibly pressure-packed thing that you've been doing for so long. Yeah, I'll tell you something. I've never told anybody ever before in the media. The first season of Bar Rescue was 10 episodes. And before I went in every time, I had never done this before.

So the producers look at me and say, okay, you're going in. And I puked. Oh, my God. And I don't want to sound like Ozzy Osbourne, who used to puke before all of his concerts years ago was the thing about him. I would get sick to my stomach before I went in that first season. Because think about this. I'm coming into your place, your turf, to insult you personally in front of your freaking wife and your kids. And that's pretty pressureful. So I got to walk into your business and I got to fight with you. And that's a unique kind of pressure. Think about

that, Frank. That's a unique kind of pressure that you, you know, are you going to go in? You're going to fight with this guy. You have no idea what's going to happen. Is he going to belt you in the mouth? Is he going to walk out? Is he going to throw the cameras out what's going to happen? It was incredibly high pressure in the early days. Now I go in there. I mean, it's nothing to me. We've got 196 episodes. And Frankie saw how easy it is for me to go in and do that. But guys, it was scary as hell in the beginning of Bar Rescue. And it takes time to build that kind of confidence to be able to go in here and do it. And Frankie knows this again because he was there, but I have no scripts.

I have nobody telling me what to say, what to do. It's just, I just walked in there, and Frankie saw when we was sitting in a car, we were sort of figuring it out as we go. Am I going to send you guys in? Are we going to go in together? We're going to this. So it's working a moment. And you get a moment, and then you go to the next moment.

And then you go to the next moment. And it's such a strange thing, Bar Rescue, because you can't plan ahead, because I'm not sure what they're going to do. So it's living life one minute at a time. Don't worry about the next minute until you get past this minute. Make this minute. Freaking great.

And it's a whole different kind of pressure than anything I've ever experienced before. But when it works, it really works. Now I'm picturing you walk up to a halfway house. And these people scrambling in their boots as they try to make you a hot dog and whatnot as you look behind the counter and actually see what's going on. It's interesting. Sometimes when I'm in an airport or something, I'll walk to the bar in a restaurant deliberately. They start to feel the pressure. Oh, my God.

They freak. Yeah, they freak. When I'm in other people's restaurants and stuff, I got to walk slower. I can't walk deliberately. You got to wear a mask. People freak out. It's sort of fun. Everybody chill out.

I'm just here to eat. The non-scrish, I don't know how you don't puke before everyone. I think in the episode that I was in, you made that guy say that he was weak or a wimp. Broke him down where he's like, you're weak. He's like, I'm not weak. You're like, you are. and you rattled off all the words that associate with being weak. And you're like, is this not you?

He's like, you're right. I am. And he like broke down. It was like, you're breaking down people, but you're also building them up after. But I can't imagine, like you said, just walking in. And you are direct eye contact with them. You're in their face. You're nonstop.

And you let them know, like, this is serious now. This is not a TV show. This is like, this is your life now. Like we're not on, this isn't, this isn't the paramount. This is me and you now. Like, this is going to end up. on TV, sure, but the way that you react is like how your business is going to survive or fail. That's what's really cool about it.

Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting. Every failing business is a failing owner. Right? If you have a bad golf game, it's a bad golfer. So what is going on in his head to create that bad game? You know, he had a great game yesterday. You know, what's going on in his head? He's got the same club.

He's got the same ball. He's on the same golf course. He's having a shitty. What is it? So, you know, I always feel that these owners are failing, not the business. So why are they failing? You know, in many cases, they're drunk, they're irresponsible, you know, they don't try hard enough. So I got to beat them up.

I got to really challenge their pride. Look, how can you do this? What is your wife going to say when you lose your freaking house? How many times you say no to your children every day because you're a loser? I got to make them react somehow. And if I get them pissed or I get them to doubt themselves, their brain opens a little bit and I can walk right in. So there's actually a method to my madness. It is beat them down, Frankie.

You know, make them doubt themselves. So at least they're open to a new idea and then try to build them up again. But I get my hug every time, but one time I've always gotten my hug, guys. So when I get the hug this week, it allows me to scream louder next week. Waring a seatbelt, ladies and gentlemen, I make a stink out of wearing a seatbelt all the time. I've been ridiculed a little bit online for rocking a seatbelt in Uber and taxis. I will say that people originally kind of came after me and just said that that's a weird move. I don't think anybody said it's dumb, but they just said it's weird.

And eventually I was defended and people, yeah, that's a smart. Why wouldn't you just, I mean, why wouldn't you just wear a seatbelt? It's not like Uber's and taxes, just can't get in car accidents. That's just not true. Now, to bring that full circle from November 16th to November 29th, 2020, state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation are stepping up their enforcement efforts for motorists who are not wearing their seatbelts. People might claim I'm not going very far or I'm in a rush. It's very close to my home. I don't need a seatbelt. That doesn't matter. You're not kid yourself. There's no such thing, not one, good excuse for not buckling up. In 2018, nearly 10,000 people were unbuckled when they were killed in crashes. That is 43% of people killed in motor vehicle crashes that were not wearing seatbelts. Cops are on the lookout and riding tickets. So why take the risk? Not only of getting a ticket, but also of dying. It just doesn't make sense. It's stupid. It's not smart. Seapelt save lives. That's a fact. Do yourself a smart thing. Buckle up every single trip day or night, close or far. No matter what, click it or ticket is not about citations. It is literally

about saving lives. In 2018, 9,778 unbuckled passenger vehicle occupants were killed in the United States to help prevent crash fatalities. We need to step up seatbelt enforcement day and night. So please wear your seatbelts. Please do it for us. Please. Please. Please. please wear your seatbelts. What do you think, talk to me, guys, about the Masters for a minute? First of all, do you think there's too much money to Masters? Do you think there's not enough money to Masters? What do you guys think?

I'm curious. I think we think the Masters is clearly something that they project. They overdo it. But a lot of times we actually have a negative perception of those kinds of things. Yet at Augusta and the Masters, we're all in. Like we want it to be, we know that like some of the things are actually fake or they're painted or they put dye and raised creek and we're cool with it. We want like we want the wool pulled right over our eyes and we want to just believe in everything that is the Masters. It's the North Pole.

It's Christmas. It's Santa Claus. It's elves. So there's a degree of just give it to us one week a year. And I think that we're pretty much all in on that. So how do you feel about the audience in NFL games that that's typed in? I hate that. Yeah.

It was tough in like, especially with hockey, right? Like, I felt like there was a guy and, I mean, you're a Vegas fan. So, like, you saw during the playoffs, like, there's a guy that's hitting a button on ooze and Oz. And sometimes he was off. Like, a guy would be on a breakaway and they'd hit the ooh by accident. And I even talked to some of the players that were playing in it. And they're like, sometimes, like, the crowd would just go crazy when, like, we made a line changed. And he's just like, this is ridiculous.

It's just not natural. But I don't know. It's more for the viewer at home. I know the guys on the ice and on the football field. They're putting on a show really for us. So I guess it doesn't really matter if it's annoying to them. Is it easier for us to engage with the content that we're seeing? I do think it makes it a little easier to watch it with some ambient noise going in the background.

Like on TV, it's just, if you're watching a football game and there's just nothing, it's a little weird. It's awkward. It is. Yeah. So it creates a comfort. So, you know, when you look at all the leagues this year, I thought actually hockey did the best job of it. Totally. In a way they presented the league and stuff.

Even there was a hat trick in the playoffs. They actually got the hats out there. Yeah, that was cool. And they did a couple fun things like that. But I got to tell you, you know, I thought the Masters was really well produced. And I'm glad to see you guys say that, that you can put away the production for a year. You can just get into the game itself and understand that those things make it more TV friendly. They do.

It creates more ratings, which creates more money, which creates a big. person for the players. Yeah. Who's the best golfer, the three, you guys? You talk golf. Is this bullshit or do you guys actually play? I know you're good, Frankie. Right.

You're a good golfer. I think Frankie's three. I like to golf. When you put me in a pairing of other golfers, I'm average. And our listeners may not like me even saying that. But I would say between Lurch right here and Riggs, and I don't know. It's a constant battle between who's the better one.

I was just going to say, raise your hand if you think you're the best of you guys. I think it's those two are going to raise your hand, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Riggs is tentative about it, though. I don't know. What are the handicaps at right now? What are the handicaps at? I think I'm about a five.

I'm like a five right now. Yeah, I'm like a four and a half. But, I mean, we've been pretty tight for, I don't know, a long time. Usually Riggs gives me strokes. but now, I don't know, the last month or so, I guess it's changed, flip-pop a little bit now where I give him, either we play straight up or it's a stroke. How's your game, John?

Well, I haven't played in years. I used to be a pretty darn good golfer when I used to play, but I haven't played you. I work so freaking much these weight, guys. If I get out in a golf course, I haven't played it so long. It's, you know, I'm just not good. Now, I have a place in Palm Springs on a golf course. So we're going down there next week,

and I'm going to try to get back into it this year. I played maybe twice in three years. I suck right now, guys. I'd be interested, and I'm sure you'd have to read up on it because you're a stats guy. You like to have all your data, but like there's this huge debate in the golf world about expanding golf courses for these long-hitting players.

You got guys like Bryson D. Chambot. He's learned how to hit the ball 400 yards, 380 yards to carry. And they're saying that he's ruining the way the golf course architects have made the course. You're supposed to hit it in a certain spot. And the mound is supposed to put you on this spot at Augusta National. He's like, well, now, didn't do it this week because he was dizzy or whatever he said. But the argument is that

like he's hitting it over it and that's not fair. What is your take on that? Like the fact that a guy went out and learned a better way to hit the golf ball, but the fans of like the diehard fans of golf are saying that's not allowed. And we need to do things to change the course so that he can't do that anymore. That's making new teas. And now that's also growing the golf course by a ridiculous amount, going into people's backyard, getting T-boxes. So more land, more resources. Like, don't you think that, well, what's your take on that? Like, you know.

I don't think that you change the golf course because of an exceptional player. You know, it's like moving the wall in Yankee Stadium because, you know, there's some home run hitters. Now, they tend to move the walls into those stadiums, so there are more home runs. But fact of the matter is, I don't think that a golf course should be changed because of the dynamic of one or two players. What happens to a guy like you, Frankie? You'll be on that hole all day. Correct. Yeah, and that's the debate that we've had where it's like.

Like this whole argument's about what, 0.000-0-0-0-1% of the golfers in the world. There's like 150 of these guys that can, that it affects. And then when we go out there and play these courses, I mean, we're going to end up playing the five T's up from wherever they end up building it for Bryson and Brooks

and all these guys. Like that doesn't make any sense for the game. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. I agree with you. So I think, of course, you should stay the same day of the truth. Right.

So John Daly is a good friend of mine. And John Daly did a bar rest of, you with me. And of course, watching him play golf is, is, I think he's the greatest golfer to watch, I think, in business, because you never know what he's going to do from his outfit

to the way he hits the ball. And so I got to do a bar rescue with John. And it was an incredible experience to, and watch him drink John Daly's all day long. Now, you guys know what a John Daly technically is, right? A John Daly, and I have a bottle right over there signed by him, but a John

Daly is an Arnold Palmer with vodka. Yeah. Right. Basically. That's the difference between Arnold and John Daly. Vodka. Someone told us a story recently.

I don't know who it was. Maybe it was at the Barso Classic, but they said that they played with John and they tried to get in his cart and he said, no, no, no. This seat is saved for one person, one person only, and that's Jack Daniel.

I believe he would say that. He's a bottle with them every single round and he just finishes it from whole one to whole 18 and that's it. He straps them in and that's it. He goes on to the golf course. So he has John Daly in bottles. I mean, he made it and he bottled it and he sells it. I'll show it to it.

Oh, you have it. I want to get it. He's got it all right there. He's sitting at his bar. There we've ever seen that. Whoops. So that's John Derry, signed by John, of course. But there's his Arnold Palmer with vodka in it.

Smart. You think about players like him or in any sport. It's these dynamic players that make a game. You know, it's these dynamic players that draw the eye, draw the money, draw the cameras and all of that. And, you know, when you look at the great golfers who lack color, I mean, they're fun to watch play, but they don't grow the game. It's players like Tiger that have this personality, that have this caveat to them,

this appeal to them, this curiosity about them, this personality about them, that makes the game so special. And it's nice to see that we're starting to see some of that personality, I think, in golf. And we're starting to see some of these young players come up that are a little more dynamic. But, you know, I think that's what's exciting. And I think for too long, golf got a little too old. And that dynamic sort of disappeared a little bit. You know, those colorful guys, you know, even a bad language on occasion, the anger, the frustration, the emotion. That's what makes golf wonderful.

So it's great to see that, you know, younger people are getting back into it again and that dynamic is starting to come back. Don't you guys are great? Totally. Yeah, we have guys like Justin Thomas who get, they hate on him because he says like, oh, fuck me. After he hits a shot. But then you have a guy like Webb Simpson who's like, yeah, he's T9 at the Masters. But like the guy's vanilla pudding. I've never seen him say a word.

He doesn't get excited. He doesn't get mad. So like give me the cursing, the F-bombs, give me the Bryson ripping out of his shirt all day long. We need storylines. Or else we don't have a podcast or else there's no media that can talk about that. You can't talk about a guy who went ho-hum, T-box, Farroway, Green, walked up the golf course and he wore his white shirt and his plaid pants and then that was it.

Like, we need guys that are doing cool stuff. That's the only way the game grows. And personalities make every sport work at the end of the day much more than that sport. you know and it's really the truth and you know take a look at the olympics or any game it's always the backstories that are meaningful it's a true what do you guys do in the winter do you go play golf or you guys are going to go south to play golf because you're all in new york right well that's riggs riggs riggs just went across the country to go play golf every day i moved i moved literally yesterday to scottesdale a i'll be in arizona until may wow you play every day

i mean we're going to try to play a good amount yeah it's weird i will say this. It's weird being two hours behind everybody. But I do think that'll work in my favor in terms of trying to play golf. If people were done with the workday by, you know, three or four o'clock my time, get out, play golf for a few hours. It's not a bad way to live. You know, Frankie told me you've been two hours behind for years. Did you tell me that, Frank? Yeah, I told you that.

This is also coming from a guy that fled New York. And honestly, it's very, he was probably the most efficient pandemic, like, like person in the world in the fact that the pandemic hit, he flew to Pinehurst, North Carolina, where they have 10 golf courses, the Carolina Hotel, and he stayed there for 99 straight days. While we were all just stuck in our rooms, we couldn't leave our house,

this guy played golf on the best golf courses, U.S. Open golf courses, the cradle of Part 3 all day long. And then when he left, he actually cried. He actually teared. He wept. He cried. And there's a video of it, John. They were, they clapped for him as he left, and he cried real tears saying,

I don't want to leave. You guys, this has met the world to me. And he had to come back to reality. So this guy, this guy, he's flying all around the place trying to play golf. So you can hit the nail on the head with that. Is anyone playing golf during the winter? Jealous, man. I'm jealous, you guys.

We all are. Yeah. I noticed yesterday, like, right when I landed, there was this announcements that a bunch of the places in the Northeast, cities are just shutting down again. The second thing I landed in Scottsdale. Yeah, they're talking about shutting to Vegas stripping down again here. Terrible.

Which is unbelievable. You know what's interesting in Vegas, guys, is the golf courses are all pretty much closing. You know, even the wind course. They were going to take it. They were going to shut it down and put a lake back there, et cetera. And it's fascinating how golf has been so important in Vegas over the years. But the last eight, ten years, there's been like a migration away from it. And I'm curious because it's typically a lot of conventioneers that play the golf when they come here.

And without the conventions coming, because the conventions are canceled through next year. So when the pandemic ends, they just can't suddenly come back again. I'm curious to see what happens in Vegas. But playing in the pandemic here is incredible. You pull into a parking lot. They pick you up in another vehicle and take you to the golf course in a sanitary vehicle. When you play golf, there's a guy who comes with you who pulls the flag out and puts it back in. You're not allowed to touch it.

This is Vegas. So there's a host who travels with you around the golf course. Everybody must be in their own golf cart. You can't be with anybody in the golf cart. And there's this extra guy traveling with you who touches the flag, touches the ball cleaner. You're not allowed to touch anything else on the course, and that's the way they play.

It's pretty bizarre. Do they call them a caddy or do they call him a host? I guess they're sort of calling him a host because you have a caddy. He's not caddying, but he's handling all the COVID-related restrictions and stuff. It's fascinating. But once you're out there, you're out there. Yeah. Interesting.

We're down. It's crazy times. You know, guys, this is going to be over in a couple months, right? It really will. A couple of vaccines. Yeah, and I've been saying that for a long time. You know, come February, guys, you'll be back out in a golf course and we'll be digging out of this thing, which I can't wait.

Yeah, I sure hope so, man. Even like with our restaurant and stuff, just watching the inner workings, like, it's been fucking brutal and absolutely crazy. People are now, even with this new, like, 10 o'clock rule in New York, people are afraid. Like, we were going. we were 50% outside was pumping like we were we were good and then all of a sudden everyone's afraid now last saturday place was empty at seven o'clock because people don't want to be stuck

there at 10 o'clock what's going to happen we're going to get a fine we're going to get arrested like this is everyone's everyone's nervous so just that that mental that mental awareness now of like having to be scared is it's killing people it's absolutely think about it guys the first thing you're going to do after you get a vaccine would be what and and you're going to go do something that you haven't done think about the first thing you're going to do you got a vaccine you got the antibodies you're done where are you going i'm going strip off all my clothes and run i think i'm going to strip off all my clothes and run down the street what do you got what do you're going to what are you going i'm going to get naked and i'm going to run down the street

i don't know if that's probably not what i do miss and i didn't think that i would miss it is movie theaters i miss movie theaters more than i thought i would and i wasn't a big movie guy but i like the option to go in and having the option to go to a movie theater again would be would be very very nice and cathartic i think what's your first thing frank man i mean i'd love to go to just a packed restaurant and and have to as odd as it sounds like have to lean over someone to get the bartender's attention to grab a drink right like hey i won't you haven't you haven't seen me in a half an hour can i get my beer please that used to be such a frustrating feeling but i kind of like missed that like being like, all right, I'm going to go get around for the boys and then not come back for

an hour or maybe you meet someone else. That was what life was. In New York City, that was what life was. It was craziness. It was chaos and it was nonstop. Like going to a bowling alley, I would love to go to go bowl with my friends, go to movies. Like there's just stuff that it almost feels like it's never going to come back, but I know it will. It's just like it's been so damn long.

I don't know. So your first thing is a bar? Probably, yeah. Riggs, what's your first thing? I would say pub, like I'm a huge pub guy. So Frankie, what Frankie was just saying, like, I'm not a club guy. I'm just, I'm more like, give me a pub.

I want to sit down at a high, high top bar, maybe a couple people standing around and just shoot the shit with people, try a couple different beers, local beers. I love doing that. And the other thing is a concert. Like, I just want to go to a concert, you know. I would love to see somebody perform, some live music. Everybody's on the same vibe.

Like, I haven't been to one of those in years. So two bars. calls. What's yours, Ben? I would probably say a bar call too. I mean, like, you settle up on a Saturday and watching a college football game with a bunch of buddies. And, like, that's, I miss that so much, you know, just that easy Saturday vibe where you're like, all right, it's the weekend. What do you guys want to do? Let's do something fun, meetups. And then just, yeah, I guess the relaxed pressure of it all and, like, feeling that you can do these things again and not, like, bother anybody else, I think would be a good thing.

So I got four bar guys here that are going forward. Think about this. We're going to lose about 50% of the bars. And after the vaccine this spring, I think we're all going to go crazy and go to bars. So I think there's going to be a boom this spring. And there's going to be half the bars and restaurants we used to have. So getting in is not going to be so easy. I think it's going to be boomtown, guys.

I think it's going to be one of the most exciting times we've ever lived with them this spring and summer. Personally, I do. I like that. So what's what now is the greatest golf club out there, guys? If there's a club or something that you all wanted, what would it be? Is there one that comes to mind? Well, my dad uses these clubs. It's called the Spin Doctor, and it's an illegal golf club,

and it's got these, like, rubber faces on it. And when you hit the ball, hit the back of the green and spins back to the fucking all. He got it in like 1980 from his dad. It's the funniest golf club I've ever seen in my entire life. but he actually holds it by the, he puts his hand over the face when he walks up to the green so no one can see that it's got this rubber soul on it. It's the most outrageous golf club of all the time, but we all love him for doing that because it's the very, very funny thing that he doesn't go golf sports.

Years ago, I used to own a big sports restaurant in San Francisco area named Rawlings, and I licensed the baseball name from Rawlings. It was called Rawlings All-American Grill. And my partner was Barry Bond as the baseball player. And Barry used to have to come. he was supposed to do appearances and stuff at the restaurant for me. But Barry wouldn't come. And no matter how much money, Barry, we'll give you $25,000 if you come tonight and he wouldn't come.

But I had a soft trade with Mizuno. And Mizuno used to send me all the new golf clubs and stuff, right, for promotional purposes. So if I had the new Mizuno club, I could call up Barry and say, Barry, I got a club for you. Then he'd come. The only way I could get him to come was if it was a new golf club. and he was a great golfer. John, let me ask you a question.

So I want to paint like a hypothetical situation. I want to see how you'd react to it. I want you to imagine that you've got like a pale-skinned, kind of feminine featured mid-20s white male who steals golf balls from local driving range and then hops a fence at a golf course and then goes and hits a bunch of balls onto that green while, you know, trespassing onto the course,

makes a bunch of ballmarks in the green, and then just leaves them and disappears. If you were to, you know, kind of see this situation happening, how might you react to that? Obviously, that person would be an asshole. I imagine that somebody who's done something like that might be on this call at the moment. But I would call that person an asshole.

On the other hand, sort of a cool idea, actually. Listen, I used to live on a golf course years ago. And I didn't know this, but a friend of mine told all the golfers, listen, when you have a shitty ball, just throw it in Tafer's backyard. I didn't know he told anybody that. Every weekend, I got 20, 30 golf balls in my backyard. So I'm starting to fill buckets, and they're all really shitty, cut up balls and stuff. And months, I got all these balls in them at a party.

And I must have 300 golf balls in the golf course. And everybody started laughing at me. They set me up. I had 300 of the worst freaking golf balls you ever saw in your life. But my house used to get hit all the time

and the siding had dense in it. Not very good golfers on that course. I had a hard time keeping it on the course. I wonder how much damage goes to those houses, like right off a fairway, like right in the duck hook zone. Then you have these windows just like, how often are those things getting replaced and shattered?

And then they, they come on to your property, right? And they try to hit off your property. It's weird. It's sort of strange living on a golf course, especially when you're at the tea, and you're sitting in your backyard, and they're lined up at the tea all day long.

If you buy a house on a golf course, don't be by the tea. Okay. That's good, now. All right, John. Well, look, we know you got a bunch of different media hits and different things going on. We got to try out.

We've got to get to the restaurant. We've got to check out Tavers Tavern. And so right now it's outside of Atlanta, it's Alpharetta, Georgia. That's the Kaplan's Tavern. That's the first one, yeah. Okay. And then you said Washington, D.C., you've got... Next and Boston are both under development.

And there's some great golf courses in Atlanta. You didn't know that. Oh, yeah. Really good golf courses. Yeah. So we've got to get you guys to come down one of these days, okay? Absolutely. All right, John.

We appreciate the time as always, my friend. My pleasure, guys. Good to see you. Thanks, John. Mack Weldon, ladies and gentlemen, it's a premium men's essentials brand. So I guess men, we're talking about men, that believes in also ladies too. I mean, you want to get gifts. You want to be making sure you're a guy, your man, any man in your life look sharp.

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Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney is the founder of the, Folds of Honor. You did three combat tours in Iraq, an F-16 fighter pilot. You're also very heavily involved in golf, which we want to get to. But welcome to the show. Thank you very much for your service. And we, I mean, you got the whole set going on here with the flag and you look great. Yeah, coming to you from the land of common sense is my neighbor, Gart Brooks calls it in Owasso, Oklahoma. So God and Country are alive and well here. We appreciate that. So, you know, Fold of Honor,

we've done a few different things with you guys over the years, but for those who may not know or be familiar with Full Devon, which you found and talk to the people a little bit about, you know, what you guys do and the mission. Yeah, so 13 years ago, I started this above my garage.

And I think it's, you know, a message for all of us. What sums on your heart, you know, have the courage and the faith to take a step forward. And I wrote our mission down on a piece of paper and it has not waver. honor the sacrifice by educating their legacy.

And so, you know, we've provided now over 28,000 scholarships to spouses and children who've had someone killed or disabled defending this country and about $130 million out the door since we started. And, you know, I'm a big believer. We'll talk about it today. It's like following your passions in life. And, you know, our two biggest fundraising partners are Budweiser and the PGA of America. So it's not getting better at golf and a cult Budweiser,

and you get to change lives in the process for these deserving families. And it's really cool. You know, this year there's been a lot of unrest with COVID and, you know, all the racial stuff going on in America. But 41% of our recipients are minorities at the folds of honor, which is, you know, a staggering statistic. And, you know, humble opinion of one, I think that education is the only lasting bridge to equality.

and, you know, one more thing to love about this mission of teaching people out of fish, right? So they can feed themselves for a lifetime. And it wakes me up seven days a week really early to make sure these families get to chase that American dream that they fought so hard to defend. It's extremely impressive. I mean, especially in today's world with social media and how selfish a lot of us can be and not even necessarily to uphold. It's not that people were to blame for that, but you're looking out for a numero uno. You know, you're out there trying to build your own life. And even if you are a little selfless, a lot of times it's just family or it's just your close network.

And here you guys are, you know, $140 million, like you said, 30,000 life-changing scholarships that the organization, that you, that others that work with you have worked so hard to provide just better lives for so many people. I mean, that's just in today's world. That's awesome, man. It's awesome. Yeah, and I think the message that I've learned that I try to share with everybody around this is that there's this incredible irony that when you reach out to help someone, that you're actually one being helped. And to kind of dovetail on your comment about how myopic this world is, right? It's my brain. It's my focus. I will tell you that the less time you spend on yourself, the more fulfilled and happier you're going to be.

beat. And that's the cool thing about holes is it gives us all this opportunity. You have nothing else to go out and play at a rural grounded golf on Patriot Golf Day with Memorial Day weekend. But just in general in our lives if you're not filled up spending time focusing

on helping other people is an extraordinary thing because as I said ultimately you're the woman's getting helped. So we've got to talk about when you're describing somebody you're talking about their life and career.

I think maybe the most badass thing that you can possibly describe somebody as is like an F-16 fighter pilot. So, you know, like it's, I think it's honestly number one. So for me, you know,

talk to me about how does somebody even be, was it, was it as a kid where you just infatuated with, with flight, with aviation, how does somebody actually become? Because to me, that's like you might as well say astronauts.

Like that's just such a far-fetched thing to become. And here you are. or three combat tours over 1,800 hours of flight time as an F-16 fighter pilot. How does that even happen? So it all goes back to golf, right? Crazy. Everything good in my life is connected to this game of golf that brings us together today with you guys. But I met a fighter pilot when I was 12 years old on the golf course.

Steve Court, right, was his name. This guy walked straight out of the right stuff, right? His chiseled, great-looking dude. He was my first man crush. And I'm like, you can be this cool and grown. up and he was like, yeah, he wanted to be sipping my beer, and I was 12. I'm like, I'm all, and so literally, I told my dad the next day we're flying golf, I tell my dad, I'm like, dad, you know, I got a new dream and it's not want to be a golf rope and a firepower. And it's funny, the question he asked me when I

pronounced this with I'm 12, and he was like, son, can you tell me which way an airplane takes off? And I'm like, there's an end of the winds, and that's exactly right. And like, few people I've ever met, he could say so much was so little and prepare me for these headwinds that would stand between me and for whatever it's worth, I'm the only guy in the world to be a class A, PGA professional, and a fighter pilot. But all the headwinds that would stand between me and those two unlikely dreams. And kind of a cool data set on being a fighter pilot. So when you start this program as a fighter pilot, there's 45 of you in a class. And if you run the gauntlet over a two and a half year period to complete this training,

the government will spend about $8 million per pilot on us. But the real staggering thing talking to me is that only 4.8% of the people actually make it through the training program. So it's the most expensive, highest attrition rate of any training in the U.S. military by far, and just was incredibly blessed to make it through. and I'm going to have a conversation, but the most life-changing lesson I learned during this process, I share it. My new book comes out tomorrow,

flying to the wind. And we'll talk about that, but when you go to F-16 training, you get four rides with an instructor in what's called a D model. We call it a family model, but it's a two-seat version. And I've taken out, you know,

David Faradie and Ricky Fowler, a couple of people on the two-seater. But you only get four rides and your fifth ride is by yourself, you're solo or you wash out of the program. And I vividly remember I'm sitting in this $45 billion fighter jet. I literally know it like half the buttons and switches to it. And they're like, bro, don't worry. You're not going to kill anybody yet.

You just need to go how to fly it. And I go, I fly this bird and come back and land it, you know, an hour and a half later. And I'm rolling up the canopy at Loop the Air Force Base in Phoenix. since like 105 degrees outside and the wind feels cool when it hits me. I mean, that's how much pressure there was in this moment. But this life-changing epiphany hit me at the same time, and it was go before you're ready. And so often in our lives, you know, we place all these barriers on what's possible. And if we're ready to chase a dream we have or to pursue one of our passions.

And this just like blew my world away. From that moment forward, I'm just like, you know, it's this leap of reckless faith, as I like to call it. But going before you're ready, I think, is like this common defiant DNA that ties all greatness together. And that was probably the most impactful lesson I have ever learned in, you know, 21 years of flying fast jets for freedom. That's so wild because I was going to ask you how much flight time was required before they. they send you up by yourself. So you're saying you get four rides with an instructor and then they sort of throw you in the fifth time you're by yourself?

You're by yourself. Yep. And no way. It's up to me that I would have ever climbed in that cockpit and thought by myself. But that's the program is so pushing up. And it's always really washing people out, right? Can you make it? Can you handle the stress and still function under pressure?

And so obviously they thought I was ready. and I'm still here today, so it works. That is so impressive. A hundred percent chance that the rest of the people on this show are not here today if we had to go through that situation. Like, we just wouldn't be able to do it. There's just no chance. I mean, Lurch's grandfather, like flew planes and drop rocks and stuff, but outside of that,

we have been there. They give me a lot of crap because my grandfather was a Bush pilot. And he's actually pretty famous Bush pilot. But, yeah, he used to drop rock. trying to play to see if he could land in little ponds and whatnot. I told that story on this very podcast and pretty much got laughed out of the virtual room.

Oh, we love that fact. I think that's very cool. They used to legit drop, like, have you ever heard of that of dropping rocks out? Yeah, I'm sure you have.

We just dropped big rocks now and turn bad guys into pink mist. So it's just a little different. My are laser or GPS guided. So your granddad probably had more skill than I have to drop it up. I doubt it. I don't know. You sitting there in that leather vest with the flag behind you is about as cool as it gets. So we actually had a debate on this show within the last year or two about what the percentage chances are that one of us could actually land a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier. And I mean, we, I can't remember the exact terms. I don't know if you guys can remember the exact terms.

but we were saying basically like 0% chance. And so for you, how difficult of an actual, you know, maneuver execution is it to actually land a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier? So I'm the Air Force guy. So thankfully, I land on 10,000 feet of concrete. But I can tell you, flying down in the Persian Gulf, looking down at the aircraft carrier and the F-18 were peeling off to go there and I was going to a guitar.

I said a prayer of things. And I bet you guys could, you could hit the deck, but you probably wouldn't live, right? That's the key, right? I'm just landing, but surviving the landing. So I, and I've got lots of buddies in the Navy, and that is certainly a skill that separates them from everybody else,

and it's very impressive. Yeah, the point is there's like none of, Like there's a 0.000000% chance that any of us can ever do anything like that. So we've talked a little bit. You've obviously mentioned golf, PGA professional is a huge part of your life. You've been a motivational team speaker for a couple different U.S. Rider Cup teams. What were those experiences like?

So really cool. So we won. They actually pipe me in in Bahala from Iraq. And we won. And they were like, well, that would so well, let's take Noonan. So real quick. So Noon is my call sign. So you have no names or call sign.

Your first two years in the fire squadron, about a year and a half of this name tag that says F&G on it, which stands for something new guy. And finally you gave your call sign, and obviously the golf pro and a fighter pilot first name, Dan comes from Caddyshack. So Noonan is my call sign. If you ever meet a fighter cop,

they're like, my call sign is Iceman or Maverick. They're a complete tool for starters, all right? but no so yeah i won and they were like let's take newman with us for the second one so i got to go over to wales and i lost that rider cup um remember hunter mann you know flowed this chipped last man it was the only rider cup we gave the final day with the final mass to like the 17 hole. And so I have not been invited back to the Ryder Cup since. So that was my one-in-one career. I'm done. You're putting a lot on yourself. You're saying I lost. I lost. I mean, the motivational speech is a big part of it, but it's not all of it.

Yeah. But once you claim, once he claim that like I won the first time, then you also have to take credit if you lose the second time. I didn't win or lose, but I have not got it back. And that is a true statement. So I also, I want to talk a little bit about the golf clubs. You know, I know the Patriot Golf Club, which I'd love to hear you talk about. And then also the one that I'm most excited about is American Dunes Golf Club in collaboration with Mr. Jack Nicholas and sort of talk about kind of those projects and where those come from and how cool those are for you. Yeah. And I would think in the spirit of flying to the wind, right? Building golf courses is why. wildly challenging and financially, rarely successful.

But, you know, I've found a patriot here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Amazing place. Fold of honor is headquartered here. Robert Trench, Young Jr. Design, so we're about 10 years into this fight. Amazing. I mean, the common DNA of both the places we've got country and golf in that order. We're not politically correct, right? we want our people that come together and celebrate what's important to us.

And then, you know, out of the ashes, this story actually tell it in the book flying to the wind. But my family golf course in Grand League of Michigan is where Poles of Honor started. The very first tournament we ever hosted. So that's our why this thing unfolded. And we were slowly going out of business. It was like an airplane with a fuel leak. And I went down and met with, you know, my boyhood hero, Jack Nick was about three years ago now. And I've shared with them, you know, the story of kind of where we were financially and the fact that Fultz of Honor started here and do you think we could get together and save this place.

And I would say it's dangerous to meet your boyhood hero, right? because there's usually nowhere to go but down because you idolat people, you watch them through television. And I will just tell you that, you know, Jack and Barbara and Scott, I mean, just unbelievable. And so Jack on the spots that I'm in, I weigh my $3 million fee. And then the wind really started to blow at that point. But over the last two and a half years, we put together a bunch of like-minded patriots that believed in creating this golf course to forever memorialize the birthplace of

Bolter Farm, give 100% of all profits back to benefit the education for spouses and children who have been killed or disabled in combat. And American Dunes will open on May 2nd to the world. I don't think there's ever been anything done like this. It's also really exciting. The golf course, the physical golf courses, and we're 100 yards in Lake Michigan. in pure sand dunes, you know, twice the elevation of Pine Valley. But it's a public golf course, right?

And that's what's so cool about this place. It's for the people, by the people. In Grand Haven, which is about a four-hour drive and 30 million people. It's a couple hours in Chicago, you know, a couple hours in Detroit, Indie, all that area up there and up in Midwest. And we're really excited to unveil a place that I think will become a place. pilgrimage for golfers. And the golf is going to be incredible. But what it stands for is just the next level. And the only way I'll finish this for that, the only way you can get into the property

is through the Pold Memorial. And it's a big open-air tunnel that's 10 feet wide with 90-foot walls. And you actually walk through the bootprints of soldiers who have been killed in action whose families are folds of honor recipients. And I was saying, when you go into the church, nobody has to tell you to lower your voice. And this will be a place of real reverence that you know why you're here. And that is to honor the sacrifice of, you know,

the less than 1% of this country that lives up every day and says, you know what our country is about free about home and die for it. So you can go play golf and, you know, have an awesome Budweiser in this corner and bar and do all the fun stuff that we're going to be able to do with American Dunes, but never forgetting that freedom isn't free.

And it's just so important, right? I mean, because we've talked about a few times already, but perspective and sort of understanding that what our show is about is being out, playing golf, having fun, laughing. But like, in order for a country to get to a place like that, where its citizens can simply go out, be free, enjoy them, selves however they want, right? Like we choose to use our Saturdays and Sundays to just go out to the score just golf courses and play golf. But like, not everybody has that privilege. And that comes

from people like you and people like thousands and thousands of others who have legitimately sacrificed everything, the ultimate sacrifice, so that we can just live our lives. And it's going to be such an important experience for people to go through that. Like you said, nobody has to tell you anybody when you walk in a church to lower it. to have that experience and then be reminded of that as you go out to enjoy that freedom. It's just so important. And again, it's something that we don't bring up very often on the show, but we probably should more often.

And it's so, so impressive that you're part of an awesome project like that. Yeah, it's been a blessing. And you know, you've got to have people believing in your life. But to get to combine golf with our country and giving back is a real peak experience. So how meaningful was it? I mean, how cool is it that Mr. Jack Nicholas was like, I'll wave my fee. I'm in on this project?

Just, you know, amazing. Again, it's like, you know, it's Gall's first family. And he and Barbara and Scott, you know, their lifelong manager. But they're just incredible people. I mean, I just, they, so I've had the opportunity as part of a lot of lawful president Bush 43. And he always said the same thing to me this evening. He said, hey, Newton, you know, too much is given, much is required. And that's so lost in life when, you know, people have all of this and they don't give back. And Jack and Barbara, I think, epitomize that,

you know, biblical calling unlike anybody I've ever met in my life, but just give and give and give. And for them to believe in, you know, some kid from a loss of Oklahoma. And, you know, he's been up there 10 times since we've been under construction and literally designed this whole thing. But to get to do that with Jack and Barbara, my dad's also 80, has been, I mean, one of the greatest blessings in my life. So May of next year, people can- You guys got to come up. Yes. We got to come up and go live from American Dooms with no apology. We absolutely, because we want to do, by the way, next year we want to do our, we do kind of this travel series, we go through and showcase different regions of the country and the world

with golf courses. We're absolutely going to make this a stop because we wanted to hit sort of that Michigan, that region of the country next year and do it. So we absolutely have to schedule that and get out there. Yeah, it'll be the most heroic round you've ever played in your life. I guarantee. It's great. So I got to ask about the, you're a two-time recipient of the Top Gun Award. I think that I speak forever when we think of that. It's as stereotypical as it can be. Tell us a little bit about the Top Gun Award how somebody goes about receiving that.

You know, I just think it's, I've been fortunate, right? And that just means that I can drop bombs better than the rest of the guys. And I think it goes back to my golf game. I've been around targets my whole life, right? and where it was going for a pin or going for a bad guy in combat. But it's nice, you know, it's all things. You can never control the outcome in life, but you control the process and working really hard. And, you know, you get a couple of wooden flags for it that my grandkids might think are pretty cool.

But, you know, other than that, I'm really lucky to fly with an incredibly talented group of pros. What's your golf game like? I mean, PJ professional, you've got all these different involvements. What's your, what's your game like right now? Number one, nobody cares about my golf game, except me, but that is the story of every golfer. How can something be so important and so meaningless at the same time? And how can you love yourself and hate yourself based on this stupid game? It is mind-boggling to me.

But I think unlike a lot of people, Corona has been really good in my golf game. I've been traveling, playing a bunch of golf, and, playing section events. So in my little team con, I've had a good golf year, but turn on the Masters and watch DJ yesterday. It just doesn't mean very much to me. And it seems like when that white ball is in the air

and it's going the right place, nothing else matters in life. And I've had a few of those moments this year, so it's been fun. Yeah, it is funny how few people in the world care about one's golf game and how it's the only thing that you, the person, can actually think about. It's like, here we are.

We're standing out waiting for an Uber and everybody's like practicing their swing and their club positions. You're watching the masters. You go grab your wedge and you're like, you know, that technique. I think I got it down. And literally no one on earth cares how good, you know, your actual golf game. Yeah. It's a crazy thing.

So the book, Fly Into the Wind, you know, you touched on it a little bit and you have such an amazing story, but give us a little bit more about the book. I assume there's some really cool stories with some great perspective, you know, throughout kind of your career and your life. Yeah, I mean, I really think this book's the culmination of my life at 47. And it certainly doesn't have all the answers, but it's the best I've come up with at this point. You know, the title really says it's flying to the wind. And as fighter pilots, we always take off into the wind because we need resistance to ascend, our lives are no different. And this book, I'll tell you, it's the only golf book, and it's much bigger than a golf book, but we're sitting here on a golf show that will

change your life. And it's a culmination of lessons that I've learned from, you know, some of my heroes in life, some I know, some I don't. I mean, they range from, you know, the apostles to Jack Nicholas to Ricky Fowler to Gary Woodland to name a few of the golfers that are that are in this book. But, you know, at its core, fighter pilots, you're going to say, hey, what's the fighter pilot better at than anybody in the world? It's we are better at intaking copious amounts of information at high speed and prioritizing. And man, we're all drinking through a fire hose in life right now, right? Everybody has more to do in a day than they can get done. And at its core, this book is the way I prioritize my life. I break it into 10. It's called LOEs or lines of effort.

And it is a routine that I live by every day. And it's not going to be a perfect solution for you guys when you read it. But it's an 80% solution, I think, to living a life of fulfillment and not happiness. I think happiness is a bunch of crap, right? It's an emotion, it's fleeting. The more you chase it often, the less happy you are, but really living a life true to yourself and not the life that others expected of you.

And so these LOEs, just a brushstroke on some of the LOEs, is number one, the first part of the book's pretty front-end loaded it. We say in the fighter power world you've got to slow down and speed up. and it really requires you to take a personal inventory of your life, man, where have I been, where am I, where do I want to go, and set that target in your life. And then the book really, I think the magic in the book is the way it unpacks and gives you a roadmap to get to that place. One of the cool things ties back to golf to is volition is the third line of effort.

And volition is the power of choice, right? And every day the choices we make, both big and small, they're going to culminate. to write the legacy of your life. And there's a brand that Puma makes called Volition America that I pitched them on three years ago. And my bro, Gary Woodland, won the U.S. Open last year wearing Volition America. And that's good for sales.

By the way, we've doubled on Sunday. But this concept of volition, right? And I called the uniform for life. You're going in your closet and put something on that's a force multiplier for you, which I can always do with my flight suit, but I've never had something to put on in my civilian world. And so volition is kind of the juice that unlocks the rest of the book.

Understanding, man, your choices that you make every day are going to define you. And, you know, one of my other favorite, LOEs, is called parasitic drag. And so I think that's number six in the book. So Chuck Yeager wrote the sound barrier, August 14th, 1947, one of my personal heroes. But in order to do it, they had to eliminate parlor. parasitic drag off the tail of the Bill X1 aircraft so they could actually break through the sound area. And so the book forces you to look at your life and be like, man, what's your parasitic drag? Right. And this is, you know, by yourself, you look yourself in the mirror. You can answer this question.

What are the things in life that are holding you down, right, that are preventing you from moving forward? And, you know, the first one in paracetative grab is forgiveness. And I had somebody open the book and they called me yesterday and they're like, oh my gosh, I randomly opened the book to this exact page, which there's no randomness in life, right, chance and purpose all around us. And it was a lady and she said, hey, I've never forgiven my dad for divorcing my mom, right? If you've got resentment in your heart, if you're holding on to someone, it's like grabbing a hot cold because you're pissed off at somebody, right? That's not going to work well because I'm going to throw it at you.

But parasitic drag can be alcohol. it can be the internet, it can be bad relationships in your life. All this crap that bogs us down, freeing yourself from that. And really, the journey goes through the book and just it's heroic stories about people that have inspired me and taught me lessons and ultimately, you know, how to live your best life and to live a life of fulfillment on a daily basis,

regardless of your circumstances. is I finished up talking about the book here, but we're all going to go through seasons and life where we're winning and we're losing, right? Seasons of great, seasons of struggle, but I live my day the same way every day. And that is, this book is engineered to help you find fulfillment

and be your best self on this crazy journey. And the thing I promise you is, you know, we're all going to wake up in 10 years, And you'll be like, dude, I have no idea where that time went. It is going so fast for all of us. But the code of living that I outlined in this book, I promise you, will allow you to answer that question because I live every day the same way.

I mean, it's an installment every single day living, as I said, the best I've figured out in 47 years into this journey. I can already tell I want to be a better person and a better golfer after I read this book. Yeah, promise. promise. If you execute, right, that goes back to your choice. I can just tell. It's just so, it's so obvious. And look, I mean, we appreciate it. We appreciate the time. You're an incredible person. You're just a man. And we have to get out and play some golf.

At this point, it's a no-brainer. We've got to get out. We'll film a little bit. We'll have a good time. And we'll have, you know, one of those great experiences out of the course that we clearly all love so much. So let's set it up. Let's make sure, you know, we get up to the new course, up to American Dunes next year. year and let's set it up. Yeah. So my promise, when you guys come up, you'll have a day that you will never forget the rest of your life. Unfortunately, we forget most of the days we live.

But this is, it is religion in the game of golf that we're creating on so many different levels. And as I say, thanks for having me. And I hope that flying to the wind has an impact from a book perspective. and the best books I've ever read is I take one thing out that changes the finger ever and I think this book is

going to help change a lot of lives and my hope and prayer is that it finds its way to the right folks and thanks for sharing that message and hopefully people are listening out there and want to make a commitment to push into 2021

as a better version of yourself. Absolutely. Well, Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney we appreciate the time Everybody make sure you check out the book. When this airs, it will be out flying to the wind. And you're the man. We appreciate everything that you've done, not only just joining our show, but for the country.

And keep up the awesome work. We appreciate it. Yeah, we're blessed to spend a little time, you guys. Have a wonderful afternoon. And as always, God bless America and notes and serve.