Good Inside with Dr. Becky - Tony Finau: Staying in the Swing

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

PGA Tour star Tony Finau shares how he’s learned to stay steady in a sport — and a life — built on pressure and uncertainty. Growing up with scarcity shaped his relationship to effort, disciplin...e, and grit, lessons that continue to guide how he competes, recovers from mistakes, and shows up for his family.Tony reflects on the moments between shots, the power of repair after things go wrong, and the quiet role his parents played in helping him build confidence without shame. A grounded conversation about composure, recovery, and what it means to keep moving forward — on the course and at home.This is episode 2/4 of Good Inside Presents: The Playbook, a limited-edition series created in partnership with Nike.Get the Good Inside App by Dr. Becky: https://bit.ly/4fSxbzkYour Good Inside membership might be eligible for HSA/FSA reimbursement! To learn more about how to get your membership reimbursed, check out the link here: https://www.goodinside.com/fsa-hsa-eligibility/Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbeckyatgoodinsideSign up for our weekly email, Good Insider: https://www.goodinside.com/newsletterFor a full transcript of the episode, go to goodinside.com/podcast.Thank you to our partners for making this episode of Good Inside possible! -SmartyPants: Shop on Amazon, or at Target or Walmart today. -Skylight: Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky.Leave Me Alone!, Dr. Becky’s new picture book about Deeply Feeling Kids, is in stores on February 24th, but you can pre-order your copy today! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is The Playbook, a limited series by Good Inside and partnership with Nike. I'm going to be talking to some of the most successful athletes of our time. Leaders who have had real impact in their sport. And I'm going to be talking with them about their highs, about their lows, about their mindset, about team dynamics, about what really motivates them, about the way they talk to themselves and recover from difficult stages. and I also have some of my favorite moments with these athletes where we talk about their life off the field.
Starting point is 00:00:34 Their early years, their family life, the things that keep them grounded, their rituals and superstitions that keep them going. We cover so much in every conversation. I'm Dr. Becky, and this is good inside. Today I'm sitting down with someone whose story I cannot wait to dive into. Tony Finaw. Tony is a professional golfer on the PGA tour
Starting point is 00:00:57 with multiple wins, and he's made history as the first player of Tongan and Samoan descent to compete on the tour. But beyond all the trophies, Tony is known for something even more powerful. His groundedness. He's a devoted father of six who talks about being a part-time golfer and full-time father and about raising kids who understand hard work, gratitude, and faith. His story is about sacrifice, resilience, grit, and warm. what it means to stay true to your values in the face of success.
Starting point is 00:01:33 Today, I want to focus on what's going on the inside, the part of the story that doesn't always show up on the leaderboard or during a broadcast. Hi, Tony. Hi, how are we doing, Dr. Becky? So good to talk to you today. And probably, as expected, I want to talk about a lot of things around sports and performance. But before we get there, I always actually love to rewind. with someone before we come to the present because so much has happened in our stories.
Starting point is 00:02:02 So what were those early years like? Like I think about you and this like amazing athlete you are today, but there must have been themes in your early years that shaped who you are today. So what comes to mind first? Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, thank you. No question. I'm looking forward to our chat.
Starting point is 00:02:20 So I started playing golf in the summer of 97 and there's a couple of people that I really owe starting this game to. One of them is my younger brother, Gipper, and then the other one's, you know, Tiger Woods. I mentioned the summer of 97 just because we all know as sports fans in April of 97, Tiger won the Masters. And that was a huge deal for me watching with my brother and my dad. But I'll rewind a little bit. In 1995, my younger brother started playing golf, but he just had to be.
Starting point is 00:02:58 this curiosity about golf, which was so left field. Nobody in my family played golf. Golf wasn't cool. You know, 30 years ago, golf was not what it's like now, where you got a bunch of cool athletes playing it. It was so random that my brother started watching golf on TV and took this liking to golf. And so he brought it up to my dad that he wanted to play golf. And my dad's idea, and this is him telling me the story, his idea was he's going to go to the golf course, bore my brother to death for a day and then he's never going to ask him about golf ever again
Starting point is 00:03:32 and that pretty much changed the story for the fiendals they went to the golf courts and everything changed my dad started asking questions becoming curious about golf and my brother they stayed at the golf course all day
Starting point is 00:03:49 and my brother loved it he loved shipping and putting and so that was kind of our start And then my dad took it upon himself to be my brother's coach. They went and played. And the very next summer, this was in the summer of 95. The very next summer, my brother, end up winning a junior golf tournament at the age of six, a 10 and under division tournament. And they wrote this huge newspaper article on him.
Starting point is 00:04:17 And I still remember it like it was yesterday. I showed up to school the next day. And this is before our phones and all the things. Newspapers were everything, right? And so I show up to school and people start asking me if that's my brother. And so I decided to pick up golf mainly because my brother was spending a lot of time with my dad. And I was not going to be known as his brother. So that's pretty much how I got started.
Starting point is 00:04:45 After he had been playing about 18 months, I told my dad that I want to start playing golf. and kind of chase him and my brother around. And so that's where golf started for me. And again, that Tiger having a big impact as well, watching the 97 Masters with my dad, with my brother, really pushed me over the edge to just start this golf thing. So that's how I got started. And it was all systems goal right away.
Starting point is 00:05:18 My brother had already been developed into this really nice player as a young, you know, six-year-old even. And so when I started, my dad sat me down, my parents sat me down and told me, you know, if you're going to do this, your brother's already pretty heavily involved and we're all in. You know, I got pretty fortunate. My dad, even though he wasn't a golfer, he has a great background and being an incredible athlete. And so he knew the discipline and just the work ethic that was going to be needed to be great at anything. And so to have him to have him mentor me and my brother growing up together once I started was a huge deal for me becoming the player that I am.
Starting point is 00:06:03 And I know you've spoken about kind of sacrifice in the early years that, you know, your dad had a build or your dad chose to build this like makeshift kind of driving range or your mom's sleeping in a car so you could compete. What was it like in the family to allow you? you and your brother to kind of have golf as such a big part of your life. Yeah, so many sacrifices. Looking back, it's so humbling for me. But my dad shows up to the golf course with my brother.
Starting point is 00:06:28 And he starts asking questions about the game of golf. And he finds out pretty fast. This is an expensive sport. You know, this is not going to be a cheap endeavor if we're going to, if we're going to go down this path. So he points at the driving at the chipping green and asks, you know, what that area is, how much it costs. And they say, well, it's a city court. So it's actually free if you chip and putt there. And he asks about the driving range.
Starting point is 00:06:51 And they tell him it's about $7 for a bucket of 50 golf balls. And we'll give you a discount for $10 for a bucket of 100 golf balls, you know. And so he's looking, he's starting to do the math in his head. He put it up, took it upon himself that they were going to chip and putt for free. And they're going to spend all day at the golf course chipping and putting. His golfing Bible and the book that he kind of looked to as one that, was going to help him learn the game of golf was golf my way by Jack Nicholas. And so Jack was the greatest player at that time.
Starting point is 00:07:24 And so he wanted to learn from the best. But Jack talks about learning the green from the game from the putting green all the way back to the tee. So he thought it'd be a great way to learn. And he could do that for free. So chipping putting at home and then he decided to make a makeshift driving range in our garage. And if you can just picture like a rectangular garage, pretty standard garage, probably still at about seven, half, eight feet. And he just put a mattress right in the middle of the garage with netting on both sides.
Starting point is 00:07:53 And so I would hit into one side and then my brother would hit into the other side. And so that's how we learned how to hit. We learned I hit way more golf balls indoor for the first five, six years of my learning than I did outdoor just because of that. And then once every couple weeks, he bought the $7 bucket for us to go out and hit 50, 60 golf balls to see the golf ball fly. But that was how this is how you guys have to, you know, this is how I'm going to teach them hard work.
Starting point is 00:08:24 There's no excuses. We'll do what we can for free. And then we'll hit balls in our, in our garage. Do you feel like those constraints that sacrifice? Do you feel like those were ingredients of your intense drive that led to so much success? Like I think about families who talked to me about their kids and not every family, but some families, you know, it's a million private. lessons. Resources are everywhere and they almost get frustrated with their kids. Like,
Starting point is 00:08:51 am I trying more for you than you're trying? And I was just in my head as you were talking. Like, was there something about the sacrifice, the constraints, the limitations, the rarity? Do you think those were ingredients that made you the athlete you are today? Yeah, there's no question. Those sacrifices, I didn't know it at the time. But once I started to recognize that, I was going about, we were going about this game in a whole different way. making so many more sacrifices than most guys were doing. You know, now, you know, being from Utah, we only had the weather half the year. So having a makeshift driving range in our garage was useful.
Starting point is 00:09:28 But, you know, I played against guys in California and Arizona and Florida where they had the weather. It taught me grit and it taught me that I had to earn it. But it definitely, you know, my dad was just a huge outwork, the competition. And just a true grit, I think, that it was going to take for me to be. great at anything I learned in those early years. What were you like as a golfer when you were young? Were you obsessed with winning? Were you impatient?
Starting point is 00:09:56 Did you always have a kind of calm to you? I'm just curious a little bit about Tony as an early golfer. Yeah, I would say, you know, I've also had a pretty calm demeanor on the golf course. You know, a little bit of that has had to do with my dad. You know, he was kind of a drill sergeant for us, you know, growing up. And he didn't take any slack. On the golf course, there was no throwing clubs.
Starting point is 00:10:17 There's no throwing tantrums. Any of that, you know, that wasn't acceptable. So a little bit of it, you know, came from how my dad raised me. But a lot of it was just, I think just my demeanor in general. You know, I'm not, I'm a pretty chill guy. I feel like I'm pretty easy to get along with. And that translated right into my personality on the golf course. But it ended up being a great thing, you know, being like an even killed person on the golf course.
Starting point is 00:10:42 helps has helped me throughout my career. And yeah, and a lot of that I think is just the nature of how I am and who I am. But I will say this, you know, like a lot of people look at being competitive and they look at Michael Jordan and they look at Tom Brady and they say, well, this is how, these guys are the greatest. That's how, that's what competitive looks like. And I've learned, you know, there's something that I've learned with how I am. And then just how a lot of great athletes are. You know, the best player in the world right now is Scotty Sheffler. And he goes about his business in a different way.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Does that mean that I'm less competitive than they are? No, I'm just competitive in a different way. You know, everybody finds their inspiration from something different. You know, I think if you watched me on a golf course, I may not jump out at you as someone that's like, oh, he doesn't quite have the fire or the grit. if you know where I came from in my story, like those aren't words that you would ever use against me. I think that's so important because I also think about parents
Starting point is 00:11:48 who are listening to this, who have a kid. And I think we'll get into it. But watching your kid play a sport can be so triggering because you could have been one way as a kid or you can have a model of whether it's leadership or excellence. And if your kid shows up in a different way, it can get very, very messy for many reasons, right? But one of the things that you're saying that's just so helpful is grit and drive and wanting to be the best that can feel similar inside people but look extremely, extremely different to the viewer.
Starting point is 00:12:22 And what you're saying, it's interesting in golf too because one of the things I think about a lot in life is it's not so much an event that bothers us as much as it's the story we tell ourselves about the event. So maybe I yell at my kid. I don't want to yell at my kid, but what's the story I tell myself? Is it, oh, I'm the worst parent ever? And, you know, I ruined my kid. Or is it, okay, Becky, that was not my best moment. Let me take a breath. What do I want to do next?
Starting point is 00:12:48 And let me move forward. And it makes me think about an in golf you literally have, right, like these walks between the shots, the walk between the whole. And the tantrum can come from not just a bad shot, but probably the story you tell yourself about the shot. shot, right? And it makes me wonder about, like, you've had bad shots, right? You've had a hole, right?
Starting point is 00:13:13 Talk to me a little bit about the walk between the shots or the walk between the whole, your process, how you talk to yourself. I love a little peek inside. Yeah, I think that's the hardest part about being a great golfer and being a competitive, a high level competitive golfer is the time in between shots. You, you know, it only takes me, they've done the math. I'm standing over the golf ball five to six minutes around, you know, where I'm really over the golf ball ready to hit the shot. And so if I'm out there for five hours, you know, where we average about four and a half, five hour rounds on the tour.
Starting point is 00:13:47 So if I'm out there for five hours, but I'm only over the golf ball for five minutes, that's a lot of time that my brain has think of a bunch of stuff, you know. And so when I hit a shot, if I know that I've done everything I can preparation-wise to go into the show, shot and execute the shot. If I don't execute the shot the way I wanted to, there's always going to be a reaction. And I think some guys react to it different than I do. I haven't been wanting to throw my club and different things. But I definitely will get mad. Like, I definitely will be disappointed. Like, I can't believe that just happened. But as soon as I, as soon as I hand my club to my caddy and he throws that at the, you know, throws that in the bag and I hear the grip hit the bottom of the bag, that's like a, that's like, that's like, that's like,
Starting point is 00:14:36 a trigger to me that it's time to move on. That's over with and it's and and now my focus is moving forward. We all know there's nothing you can do about the past. There's nothing you can, but it's easy for us to blame ourselves for the past, but it's like you did everything you could to try to execute the shot in your power. Bad shots happen. It is what it is. You know, the faster you can learn how to get on with it, I feel like in the game of golf, the better chance you have it being good. I have two follow-ups to that. Number one, you just, I feel like you
Starting point is 00:15:12 held two things as true without just saying that. I'm a big fan of that idea that we can hold two things as true, right? And I think what you just said is I have a very high expectation for my game and bad shots are going to happen. Like those are just both equally true. One's not more true than the other. I expect myself to hit great shots
Starting point is 00:15:32 and bad shots will happen. Those are just both true. Is that accurate? That's accurate. Yeah. And I just, I love, I think so many times we feel like we have to pick. Like, there's no picking. They're just both on the shelf.
Starting point is 00:15:45 They just live next to each other. So that's number one. And the other thing that's a true question for you. Okay. So you hit a bad shot in the Masters, whatever it is, okay? You hear the club hit. There is a moment at some point and maybe to reflect on weight. Like, did I do, this is my limited golf knowledge.
Starting point is 00:16:04 It wasn't my grip. Like, what did I do? What, okay? But are you saying in the match itself, are you not even doing that? Are you not even reflecting? Are you like, that's what I'll think about after the tournament. I'll learn from the past to change. Are you doing that live?
Starting point is 00:16:17 Are you literally like, that happened? I'm in a heated moment. I trust my prep enough. I'm not even learning in the moment. I'm just letting it go and moving on. Yeah. Mostly let's move on. Let's move on to the next one.
Starting point is 00:16:28 You know, and I feel like a lot of times, you know, like if you get so upset on a bad shot, It's almost like you're telling yourself, well, I'm not good enough to recover. I'm not good enough to move forward and do better on the next thing. And so it's almost like a self-deprecating type attitude when to me it's like, this is an opportunity to recover. This is an opportunity to show, this is an opportunity to show that I can still fight back after that shot. And so I'm not going to react. I'm not going to give this this bad shot the energy that it deserves.
Starting point is 00:17:07 It's already given me, it's already costing me a shot or two, whatever the case may be. It's like not adding my bad energy to that. I'm going to add good energy and no, I'm not going to overreact to this because it's like, look, I just hit in the water. I know I can recover. I've done it thousands of times. I've got up and down from everywhere. I've made, who knows if I'm going to make a 40-footer, you know? But that's like repetition, straining of the mind.
Starting point is 00:17:33 That's a whole different. Yeah. And that's a whole different practice. And that's what I've seen myself. But with the best players in the world, you know, just being around them and watching them. I think as a parent trying to incorporate that. And for my son who plays golf, trying to be an example of that, not only tell him, but also when he watches me, he knows it's like I hit a bunch of bad shots.
Starting point is 00:17:58 but man, I don't really react to them. And it's like, it's not that I'm not mad. It's like I have so much confidence that I'm going to recover. I'm not wasting my energy on this bad shot. It doesn't even deserve my attention. I'm moving forward and I'm going to, you know, I'm going to show my golf ball that I can put you in the whole class, you know. So you know what I'm associating to and I'm curious.
Starting point is 00:18:29 I know, you know, being a dad is being part of your life. So when parents ask me like, what's the one thing I should do? What's the one thing I should get good at? you know, and I said, look, if I had to pick, it would be repair. So let me finish this, because I think it's so connected to what you just said. And I'm curious if you think so. We all have moments when we yell at our kid or we're distracted or we blame them when really we had some bad day. And to me, that's like my bad shot.
Starting point is 00:18:50 Like, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. I have high expectations for myself as a parent. And sometimes, because I'm human, it's going to happen. Kind of like a bad shot and, of course. That's right. And I think sometimes the story we tell ourselves after, right? I'm the worst parent.
Starting point is 00:19:04 Oh my goodness. If anyone saw me, they couldn't believe it. And I messed up my kid forever. And now, ironically, the moment lasts so long because of the story, kind of like the bad shot. And what I think is so powerful as a parent is when I can say, okay, Becky, that moment happened. Like, if repair is my most powerful strategy, like, what I'm proving is like, I'm going to show up in my next moment with my kid. And maybe you're going to like put the ball in the hole. But like, I'm going to go to my son and say, hey, Sorry I yelled at you. That was not cool. Honestly, that had very little to do with the situation. I was stressed from my day. I'm sure that felt scary. I love you. Something like that. And what I tell parents is that repair is some of the most powerful connection building you can do with your kid. And you can't even repair unless you mess up. So it's not even the messing up. That's the bad thing. It's what do I do after? Everyone messes up, but not every parent. can like crush a repair. And I think kind of what you're saying is every golfer is going to hit bad shots. But the golfers who are really elite are the ones who can kind of like repair on the next shot. I was playing in, I was a freshman in high school. This is one of the greatest, my greatest stories because it's meant so much to me. I told you, and I told you the beginning of the show, my dad was tough on us.
Starting point is 00:20:30 He was a drill sergeant. There was no throwing clubs. There was no all the, all the, No attitude. That was the first thing. Clean up the attitude. So anyway, so I'm a freshman in high school and I'm playing in the state championship of golf, high school golf. And I'm in the final group. I'm leading the tournament and I get to the last hole with. I'm a freshman and a senior I'm playing with and we're neck to neck for the state title. We both hit it in the fairway. Anyways, I have a five foot par to tie and go to a playoff as a freshman to win state championships.
Starting point is 00:21:01 I proceed to miss the put. I knew the situation. I missed the put. And because I missed the putt, I was extremely disappointed myself. I tried to backhand the next one in, and I missed that. And then I try and tap in the next one.
Starting point is 00:21:15 And I missed that. So I five putted the last green of the state championship tournament of my freshman year to win state. And so I finished second place, you know, which for most freshmen, that would be a really nice finish. For me, I looked at it and said,
Starting point is 00:21:30 you're supposed to win this, you know? Everybody was around the green watching and I was just totally embarrassed by how I acted and what I did. I'll never forget to drive home. I got in the car and pretty much silence all the way, all the way home. And my dad just said to me, son, are you okay? And I just think like that's pretty much all he said. You know, he may have threw in a couple other things,
Starting point is 00:21:59 but I'm getting a little emotional just because I still remember that moment. And it was like, I'm waiting for him to scold me. I'm just ready for him to lay the law down. And I was embarrassed because of how I acted and, you know, feeling like I should have won the tournament. I was defeated. I defeated my own self. And I'm expecting this thrashing of yelling in the car and of just an out. absolute scolding and it was the opposite. And so I think what I learned from that and that I
Starting point is 00:22:35 try to take with me as a parent is your kids need you there as someone that can help them recover and heal and strengthen them. But a lot of it is exactly that. And so like I love that you shared that. That's exactly, I think as a parent, maybe some of the best things we can do for them is after tough performances, just being like an anchor for them and not someone that's going to push, you know, kick them down while they're, kick them down while they're already down. First of all, thank you for sharing that. That, like, really struck me. I, I, it was like, picturing you in the car ride. And the other thing that your dad did, and I'm going to say it the way we say it now, is if it's a negative. He was just there. Like, I think being just there and saying very
Starting point is 00:23:23 little is probably one of the most underutilized parenting strategies, right? He didn't lecture you. He didn't yell at you, but he also didn't say like, here's all the shots. He wasn't fixing anything. He recognized you were upset. Like, you were there. I always picture, I call this thing like the feelings bench. Like, if you were on a bench, you were on the bench of embarrassed, of sadness, of frustration. You were just sitting on the bench. And the worst part of the worst part of being on a hard emotional bench is actually just being alone. We think it's the feelings,
Starting point is 00:23:59 but it's actually that we're alone in the feelings. And ironically, when someone piles on, we're more alone in the feelings and they're more intense. And when someone tries to pull us off the bench, oh, it's fine, you'll get the next one like too quickly or invalidating that also doesn't feel good. And sometimes saying little and just kind of saying, I pictured, Tony, when you say,
Starting point is 00:24:19 when your dad said, are you okay? It's like he just sat down, on the bench next to you. And now it's so interesting, Tony, is you seem to have this ability as a golfer to like do that for yourself to access that calm, collected feeling right next to your frustrated feeling.
Starting point is 00:24:40 I just wonder how much moments like that happen and they kind of started to get wired together. His calm next to your embarrassment and all of a sudden over time it became your calm next to your own embarrassment on the course. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. I think just little by little, I picked up on things that I, the feelings that I liked and then the stuff that I didn't.
Starting point is 00:25:04 But, you know, you try to take the good things and build on them. And for sure, I think it's helped me in golf. You know, one thing, you know, that I try to tell myself all the time is the game's hard enough. You know, the game's incredibly difficult. And if you're trying to be great at anything, getting to a, to, to, to be successful is extremely, extremely hard. But I always try to tell myself in golf, you know, like don't allow the game to make you salty. Don't allow the game to make you who you're not. So I don't want to be on myself for trying my best, doing my best, and adding to that fire of
Starting point is 00:25:45 negativity and bitterness and all the hard things that life just is already without us adding to it. So one of the things you've said is you're a part-time golfer, you're a full-time father. How does all this translate into your parenting? Whether it's literally your kids with sports or just like the day-to-day non-sports-related stuff with your kids. Yeah, it's been quite the juggling act. I love what you said earlier. You know, two things can be true at once. You know, I feel like I'm trying to be the best golfer in the world and also trying to be a great parent to my kids.
Starting point is 00:26:18 I'm trying to do, I'm trying to juggle both. and it's it's it's it's a it's a it's a tall task you know there's no there's no way around it it's a tall task but I really find so much gratitude and joy in the journey of of what I'm trying to do what I'm trying to accomplish on the golf course and then having the opportunity to to be a father to my kids man I'm like I feel blessed all the time anything Tony like I know a lot of people who are listening whether it's sports or just their lives every we're also busy, right? Like, it's so much. Anything with your very busy schedule, are there any of like very small, even practical things that you do that you feel like really help you stay connected to
Starting point is 00:27:01 your kids with this kind of, you know, life you're balancing? Yeah. So, I mean, I always make my time, you know, my time for practice. I, you know, I always have, I'm training in the morning and then I'm at practice, you know, it's a nine to five, it's a nine to five job pretty much. But, you know, I go on like, I do these daddy dates that I do with my kids that I think just mean a lot to them because I have six, you know, and so they don't get a lot of time by themselves with me and Elena. And so I take the opportunity to do that once a week with just one of them. And that's, I feel like having individual time with them. And that could be a drive to the gas station and get gas and grab some snacks from the gas station and just catch up with them and really try to
Starting point is 00:27:47 have a conversation with them. At dinner, my wife and I try to put our phones away and just and have a dinner setting. You know, it's something that I had when I was a kid, but I just think at the dinner table, being with your kids, them knowing that they, that's something we look forward to to just talk as a family. You know, those little things, you know, have been everything, I think, to anchor our family together and bring us together. You know, we have family prayer.
Starting point is 00:28:15 I think, you know, morning and night. and I'm a huge advocate for just praying together as well. And so I think those are a few things that I do to make sure I'm anchored to my children in a way that means something to them. And just giving them the time that they deserve outside. Again, when I'm home, it's like a job. You know, I leave for training before the kids start school. And then I'm not back until they're done with school. And so it's basically like a job.
Starting point is 00:28:41 But the time in the evening means a lot, you know, trying to just spend time with them. But I think those are just a few things that I really try to try to do with them. I love those two things and they're huge. I mean, one on one time, right? Where you don't have a huge agenda, right? It's not like I'm trying to get something on my kid. Kind of it's one-on-one time I'm there. And family dinner without phones.
Starting point is 00:29:04 It's, you know, I know a lot of people listening. There's a guilt spiral. Oh, I haven't done that. Like, anyone can start it. I always say, you know, today is always earlier than tomorrow, which it's always true, mathematically. So today could be the first day. They're like, you know what, let's do no phones and try it on.
Starting point is 00:29:18 And I agree. I think that's a huge impact. Now, when it comes to your kids, going back to your childhood, how do you think about building grit, resilience, gratitude? I'm guessing their life is very different from yours as a kid. So how do you think about that? It's extremely different. And that's something that really, you know, I'm struggling with at the moment is how do I teach the grit, you know, But I think the thing that has come to me on there, you know, for them is to teach them gratitude.
Starting point is 00:29:52 You know, another G word. I think if they have gratitude and just understanding that their life is is different than my, you know, Elena and I's life and different than most people's and just have that gratitude, you know, I think that they'll recognize it and use it as a source of, inspiration to continue down a good, a good path. You know, the grit part is tough. I have to say, you know, like, I'm Dresa's coach. You know, he's playing golf. I'm his coach. I'm his, his dad is at the same time, you know, and I'm also working on my game, but I take him out
Starting point is 00:30:32 there and I do my best to try and give him inspiration to, to teach him that, you know, it doesn't matter what you have. What matters is inside, you know, and that's, that's, that's what's going to carry you through to become successful at anything, you know, whether it's that's, that's fantastic, if that's what you want to do. But just being, having, having that come from inside is going to make you accomplish great things in any field that you choose. I happen to choose golf and my atmosphere assisted with my grit. And he knows his atmosphere is a lot different than mine. He's got, he's starting at a little different starting point that I started. But, But that's more, you know, I'm trying to teach them.
Starting point is 00:31:17 That's more inspiration for you to work as hard as you can and and have it come from within. I want you to think about when your kids are older and someone says, oh, like your dad, what was he like? And they just have kind of one or two sentences that they say. What do you hope they say about you? I hope they say he was fun to be around. And he was loving. He loved me. Yeah, that'd be great. Those two things, I hope are true.
Starting point is 00:31:51 Well, we say two things can be true, fun and loving. There you go. I have a feeling they'll say that. We're going to kind of wrap it up with overtime, okay, some overtime or playoff. I guess golf better playoff. Playoff, right? I'm going to give you a bunch of questions in a row. Rapid fire. You ready? Ready. Best piece of advice you've gotten along your golf career. Know yourself and play your game. Do you have any superstitions or rituals that you kind of secretly believe in or just like part of your rhythm? I wear green every Sunday. My mom's favorite color was green.
Starting point is 00:32:27 She passed in 2011. So just to honor her, I wear green. And that's, yeah, that's something I definitely just love to do. The last thing your kid did that, I don't know, knocked you off your chair or kind of made you say like, what the heck? My son Sage likes twerking. I don't know. And so he starts twerking randomly and it gets me pretty cheap. It doesn't get excited.
Starting point is 00:32:53 We'll talk about that offline. We'll figure that out together. Something you want to tell parents who have their kids in sports right now. Love your kid unconditionally. It's meaning without conditions, without your predestined. predetermined, you know, result-driven conditions. Just love them unconditionally. I think that is the perfect note to end on.
Starting point is 00:33:19 Thank you. This was incredible. I have loved getting to know you. And thank you for your stories and your wisdom. And so much that's so applicable to so many areas of life. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me on, Dr. Becky.
Starting point is 00:33:32 It was great. I absolutely love that conversation with Tony. There were so many parallels between themes we talk about in parenting, themes on the course, and what grit and resilience really look like. And there are two main things that I'm thinking about and we'll continue to after this conversation. Number one was this common theme of repair. We all have bad moments, whether it's at work and parenting on the course. But actually, what's most important is what we do next, how we recover and how we repair.
Starting point is 00:34:08 The other thing that I'll be thinking about is the power of being next. of being there to help your kid recover and how there's not a lot we can say. There's no fixing, definitely not time for a lecture, being present, sitting down on the bench with your kid in their hard moment. That has more impact than we know. And that's what really, really matters. Let's end the way we always do. Place your feet on the ground. Place a hand on your heart. and let's remind ourselves even as we struggle on the outside we remain good inside
Starting point is 00:34:50 I'll see you soon

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