No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 226: Joel Dahmen

Episode Date: June 26, 2019

Joel Dahmen joins to discuss purposeful shanks on the range, boozing on the Canadian Tour, and a bunch of other stories from his PGA Tour career. Dahmen also discusses the Sung Kang incident, testicular cancer, finishing runner up at the Wells Fargo, and a ton more. Thanks a ton to Joel for the time.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better than most! All right guys welcome back to the podcast got a good one for you today. This was recorded Last month at the colonial sorry for the delay and getting this one out We had a lot of uh we had a couple majors mixed in there and a lot of other stuff going on and a lot of more stuff That needed to be released timely So kind of getting through our backlog of episodes we have recorded. And Joel, of course, finished runner-up at this year's Wells Fargo to Max Homo. We talk a lot about that. We get into the Sun Kang incident from last year at the Quick and Loans and all kinds of

good stories. So, please do stick around. Thank you for tuning in. If you guys are not familiar with this, we have a YouTube channel, our travel series, TaurusSauce, debuts every Tuesday at noon, and we run a contest. We run a contest every week, both in the live chat during the premieres, as well as just normal YouTube comments. If you go on, if you haven't watched the video already, or even if you have, go on to our YouTube channel, watch the video.

It's presented by Calloway Golf and the best comment left on the YouTube page. We're gonna give away a Calloway Epic Flash driver. These guys have been so awesome and supportive of the series and they're gonna continue to help us with the series by giving away these drivers. So go on, comment on it. Now listen, don't go and say like, hey, give me the driver.

You have to have watched the episode and make a funny comment or the best comment in relation to the episode is going to win the driver. Go check that out on our YouTube channel. You also have to be a subscriber of the channel in order to win. So I would hate for you to leave a great comment and not be eligible to win because you're not a subscriber. And we do check on these things. So without any further delay, here is Joel Damon.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang-Up podcast here in a, I'd say a medium-sized Hampton Inn here in downtown Fort Worth at Colonial. Got Neil, I got Randy with me, and we're joined by Joel Damon, finally making this happen. Yeah, you're right, let loose, you're right. I got some years of built-up stuff, I think. We can probably get out here. Well, let's start with of with background on golf. Kind of let's get the boring stuff out of the way.

People they don't know you like let's what how'd you get in the game? What's your career been like to date? Yeah, so I grew up in a small town in eastern Washington, Clarkston, Washington. My family played, mom and dad played. Both were pretty good. And that's just kind of what we did. I played all sports growing up as a decent high school athlete, basketball football, but not many six foot, 150 pounds at the time. I'm a little bit bigger now.

I got some more beers in me. But there was no future in football or basketball for me, and my dad knew that. So we kind of pushed me towards golf and played at Washington for a year. Had some trials and tribulations during that time. And then played Canadian tour for five years, finally, on the order of merit. Five years.

Five years. That was a mayor up there. Did you get citizenship if you played? Yeah, I think I paid enough taxes up there. Yeah, and actually when I played the exchange rate was decent at the time, so that was nice. But finally, I won that in 14, got out the web tour in 15, played OK, got my card, and then 16, I was 25, man. Until 2016, I was the last spot of the regular season, and this is now my third year on the PGA tour,

and almost know what's going on. What changed, I guess, in that in that in that five years on the Canadian tour, one was their ever question as to whether or not you wanted to keep doing that and then what changed for you to I mean, it's one thing to be out on the Canadian tour for five years to maintaining your card for three years. What changed? Yeah, well, the first couple years we had a great group of guys up there and we partied and we partied hard and it didn't matter.

I mean, there's we're in Saskatoon, our first year up there. And my buddies in second place. And no one's even sniffed at that point up there. We're barely making cars. Is your buddy? Carlos Sains, Jr. He played on tour in 15, maybe 16. And Will Strickler is one of them.

He actually got a year on tour as well. And he was in second place going in the weekend. And we were out all night long. We were out literally until 7 a.m. in Saskatoon, Canada and he went into the sunrise. And I actually shot 67 that day. Out of 70 in the year 67. And Carlos did not.

What was your warm up like that day? I don't remember. It was probably some beers on the way as a golf course. Bloody Mary's. It was not a good sweat. It swept it out. Yes So like that's that was the first couple years up there was just an absolute Jesus what's the craziest stop on the McKenzie tour?

Saskatoon is sneaky fun West Coast always great Vancouver Victoria We went up to Fort Mac in the oil fields Calgary and, and Edmonton, you got a pretty good time there. Calgary's pretty good. Calgary's pretty good. Go out West, still. London, we have the two-er championship in London, Ontario, which is two hours west of Toronto,

and that's the Western University there, which is just a major party university, and guys got after that week as well. Anything in Toronto? Toronto and I used to live there growing up. Yeah, we played at Peterborough, which is, and we played in Mississauga one time. Mississauga, that's where we lived. Okay, Greystone, Greywolf, Greystone.

I think maybe Stone. It might be Grey and I. We'll take that off on you. I want to hear more about Beers the further round. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was just an absolute. Well, I feel like that's what, like, maybe that's what PGA tour used to be like in the 80s in some way. And like a European tour was like at least one point, but it's so I'm sure your lifestyle has changed, you know, out here on this tour. But I mean, so like what was your attitude towards your game at that point where you just like, I was young and dumb and just let it fly. Yeah, I got up there at 22. It's a money.

I had an unbelievable backer who was overly nice to me and I never had to really worry about money. Now we were still going four wide in a room, getting in a car for eight hours sometimes. It wasn't like we were doing fancy things. But yeah, it was one of those things. I just thought this was fun and I recognized after a year that all of the good players were not out with us They were actually practicing and sleeping and doing different things so and then in 2012

I also met my now wife and that Changed a lot. I could imagine that she did she travel with you. She did not the first she had to pay the bills She worked two jobs to pay rent and put food on the table at home. So Yeah, 2012 is when like Will Strickler got on tour that year. Maybe his 11 he got on tour. Nick Taylor came out. He's my college roommate. You know, Ben Hogan Ward winner. Really good. One is rookie around tour. And he was like, these guys do things differently. And if I was good enough and everybody told me I was good enough, but I wasn't doing the

right things and kind of started transferring, you know, kind of going that direction. And I mean, I still have a lot of fun, but there's time for golf now too. So in that, the three years since you've been on tour, what would you say, like, if there is something that was 80% of the improvement you made that has allowed you to, you know, kind of stay,

stick around? This year, I mean, it's mostly putting for me this year. I mean, I was, I think my rookie year is like 190th in putting, like on the last one tour, it was bad. I've always hit the ball pretty well. But for me, it's mostly mental. It's staying patient, believing in myself. But patients, proper strategy.

Sometimes I have to lay up, unfortunately. I don't hit it forever. I know it's disappointing. We'll fix that in post. But it's just it's just being who I am and and staying true to that and having more fun with the game as well. We weren't rooting against you. Well as Fargo we were just I felt it. Yeah I felt the whole I was you know I looked up a couple times like I'm really glad it was Max and not I mean Justin's got enough money. Serge got all the money. Roory, they're fine, but obviously Max is people know that his trials

with the game were, he was in the depths and so I was pretty happy for him there. Well, it made me feel a lot better. If Max didn't win, I definitely wanted you to win. It made me feel better at the clip afterwards of you. He's on FaceTime with Lacey and you're chiming in. Like you guys are buddies and you were seriously like legitimately happy for him.

I was super happy for him. Yeah, it's, I mean, even going into that week, I'd already locked up my card for next year. And I mean, that's really cool. I have a job for next year and anything after that's really bonus. So happy for him to obviously this changes his whole career path.

Everybody knew he was going to be this good or supposed to be this good. He was unbelievable. I'm sure player and got off to hot start even as a pro. So it's just really, really happy for him. Hopefully this is the beginning of big things for him. I don't remember if it was, if this was public or if he told us this, but what did, you know, I think he said something to you like, you know, great playing. Sorry, it wasn't you. And what, what did you reply with? Oh, I believe I said I'm still rich as bleep. Uh, we were, I was, yeah, I was on the plane

and I'd sent a picture of a couple Jack and Cokes on the plane and I said, yeah, you may have gotten the trophy, but I'm still rich as bleep. You ran in first class? No, my wife got it up, my wife sat up front, I sat in the back. Okay. There was only one spot available, so she got that.

And I was just happy. I was I always I mean a five first class two or three times a year. So Jack and Cokes in the back of the plane actually and the rebroadcast was on So I got to pick it up it on. Yeah, that's all so I watched it the whole time and I was kind of well It was interesting and great to see you and Max do the rain delay interviews Did did you volunteer for that with, or did they just grab you while you guys are? They just grabbed me.

I was actually walking, trying to get to the clubhouse because it was raining. Get my wife and my mother-in-law into the dining area kind of through a backway. So I didn't have to deal with traffic and all this stuff. And they just kind of grabbed me. And I'm like, okay. I mean, I don't, I don't,

you don't seem like the kind of guy that would bother me. The fire doesn't really bother me. I don't know. I think Max says he didn't know where he was at on the leaderboard. Yeah. He doesn't even tell them. I mean, I knew where everything was at. I knew where I stood, so I didn't have a problem with it.

When I see you swing it, you go after the ball and you kind of got a little bit of a hit move that, you know, whiffs of a big right miss. Is there a specific miss that you have? Is it a big right miss or what do you fight? So that kind of deal is, it's me dropping my head. I'd lower my level a ton. And so with longer clubs, it can definitely get going. I can relate to that.

So for five years now, I've been trying to stand tall or a little bit, you know, stay up on it. And that helps with the big right miss. I'm not, but under the gun, I'm really nervous. I still get down pretty dark. And it's, I actually, it's weird because I think I swing like Adam Scott.

And I don't. It's amazing how much like if you change like a little, or you think you're changing something big and you're swinging and you look at the video. And if it's like, dude, it looks the exact same as my previous. And so I've, I kind of got over that it wasn't ever gonna look like Rory or Adam Scott or something like that and it's more like Coocher Esk now I think which I didn't even think about it until Somebody on Instagram pointed out and it's like oh that is kind of like coach

I guess in the way that we kind of the fall to the left fall through and stuff and Have his producer a very accurate shot. I'm a great driver. The golf ball is far too to get straight. I'm not gonna hit it real far with that move, but I most of the time nowhere's gonna go. You know what he is too. He's rich as bleep. He's really, he's really rich as bleep.

I didn't think I was gonna get bleep out of you. I thought you didn't swear on this thing. There's a family who's not from that. No, it's not from that. So you've had an incredible year this year. Was it different at Wells Fargo, like coming down the stretch, nerve-wise, that back-knight, that final round,

especially with the delays and everything? Like, it didn't look like it to you on TV, but what was it like on the inside? Yeah, I was certainly nervous, but with the delays and having played well enough up to that point to the secure card, I was in, you know, I was in Jacksonville, which is kind of a, you know,

a bench line of playing while through the year to get in there. Mr. Nicholas, but Mr. Nicholas. Just get warmed up for next round. Right, there we go. I'll work on that. So I was okay. And like if I didn't win,

I wasn't like I was gonna lose my job or this is like my one chance. It was, I felt a lot more comfortable. I think it showed out there and I had a ton of fun. I was I was plenty nervous. I think I was more nervous when I was trying to hang on a second place at the end because that's big difference. A lot of money.

That's I think it's once I kind of knew that Max had it. Yeah, I was almost more I had a tough part save on 16 and 17 and then somehow my ball stayed up on 18 and had a great chip. So I was happy to get out of there with that for sure. That's something Paul Azinger talked about was he never got nervous, nervous, going for a win. But on the 18th green, when he's like in second or third, because then he's like, then I'm choking for the cat.

Yeah, exactly. So you're thinking about that on 18, the cat. Yeah, and my cat, he was a ton, we're in the middle of the fairway. Two, I got two, 10, two, 15, and he's a kid, we're in a five iron, way to the right. He's got me lined up this CBS tower in the pins way back left and I said yeah, okay, okay, yeah, Gina sounds good. Okay. We'll just do this and not to get over it in the way I am not aiming at CBS tower if I make this from 250 yards and max somehow hits it in the water or something

I have a self-achance well the pull hook left My my big miss can also turn into a big left miss if I don't want to miss it right so the two way that yeah I have that every time I listen for sure and Thankfully it stayed up and But I would like over that that it's a very simple chip. I had a great lie It was actually chipping back up the hill. There was just a minor detail of this little mini Creek in front of me And I'll 999 out of thousand. I'm going to chip it pretty good. And this one, I'm like just get it over the water. Yeah.

It's going to be something that everyone's watching. Yeah. So it was like, oh no. So thankfully it came out nicely. Who's your caddy? How did you know him? For some stories. Yeah. Gino Benelli. He's pretty Twitter famous in the golf world, I think, now. We grew up together. He grew up on the Idaho side of the river and grew up on the Washington side.

He's four years older than me, but he's a good player in his own right. So we played, we teamed up a lot in amateur events for best balls and stuff. And he went into the PGM program at University of Idaho. Was a CIS approach to Holly. He did it. Was making no money, folding shirts,

dealing with Mr. Mrs. Havocamp. And he just, he couldn't do it anymore. So he moved back and him and his wife moved back home and they have a, you know, he's had a normal desk job and when I got my web card, he's like, hey, I'm cattying for you. And I said, you are a ding dong. You have a young kid, you make no money, like how, and he somehow convinced me that we were gonna go out on this journey together, and I'm really thankful that he took that jump because he's awesome. He takes care, I call

my life, Katty. He does way more than just Katty for me on the golf course. That's like easy for him. It's like shutting off the beers at the right time and getting me to my flights and making sure I practice. So that's way tougher for him. It's like shutting off the beers at the right time and getting me to my flights and making sure I practice. So that's way tougher for him than giving me garages on the course. You guys a lot of banter out there? Like what's the vibe on the course? Yeah he does a great, well he's hilarious and he's got tons of stories and he was in, I know a lot, we have a lot of same mutual friends growing up and we just kind of talk about how big idiots they all are back home and what kind of trouble they get into. And we chat a lot about that and he's always got something from Twitter and whatever and

anything but golf. And then he talks me about golf for 10 seconds, I hit it and then we go back to something else. How long into, you know, somebody talking to you, do they usually wait before bringing up the incident from last summer with Suncang? You know, it's one of the things I've had to go away and apparently if you use the big C word in golf cheating,

it doesn't really go away, which I think I'm on the right side of the law. And this one here, I'm feeling 98% of the two are probably agrees with me. You wanna, can you explain the incident for those that maybe aren't familiar? Yeah, so I don't want to get you in trouble. That's right, be careful.

Yeah, there's rules here, but it was last summer at DC Tigers event, I mean, on the other hand, it was just Tigers event to me. Quick and long. Quick and long, thank you. Mr. Woods. Mr. Woods. Randy, do you have anything to say about that?

No comment. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that.

I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that.

I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. I did not think crossed by the green. He thought it did. 25 minutes later. Even Ben Crane played through us that day. Ben Crane and Ryan Palmer played through. It was taking so long. I basically arguing. What was taking so long? The rules official had to come in. No, I just said he just said he wanted to drop. I said you're not dropping here.

Then he moved, tried to move back like 40 or 50 yards. Said, I want to drop here. I said, no. Then the rules, Fitch will finally come in after probably 20 minutes. He's like, you guys have to make a decision. I said, I'm already made by decision. Like, I can't do, I can't like physically to strain him.

So they him and off for another few minutes. And then, you know, he's dropping closer to the green on the green side of the hazard, about 230 yards. So he went back to like the first spot that you'd been like, that's not. Well, it ended up being the second spot. He won the first one by the whole. Then we went back like 30, 40 yards.

Not close. And I know he made a great chip, great pot made par and he ended up finishing third. And honestly, the British open and I decided to to somebody asked me on Twitter that night. It's like, hey, what was the incident on 10? Because it was at half an hour. You know, we backed up everything in the group and yeah, somebody just goes, hey, what happened on 10? And then I said he cheated. Just kept it real. He used a seward, cavalier.

Yeah. He had a cavalier drop. He's a seward cavalier. Yeah, yeah, I get a cavalier He's the wrong seward So that night I'm actually staying at a friend of a friend's house and he's kind of He's like half an hour from the golf course, but he's kind of in the boonies. There's no cell reception So go to bed don't think anything of it really and I wake up and have like three or four texts. It's like oh boy And then I drive if we have to like you know pack up and we're leaving Monday and all of a sudden my phone goes off and then Everybody's sending me like it's on Yahoo. It's on like Apple news. It's all over the place. I'm like oh, this is this is good Apparently you're not supposed to use that word or people take notice and

That was that I was told not to speak anymore on the issue and And here we are. I don't think we covered any new ground, at least. I think I'm okay here and if not, then. But I think it's fair to provide context. Right? Absolutely. Because everybody is up in arms about a tweet, which is like out of context a little bit. So, because I never really heard the story.

Yeah, it's appreciated. If people are interested, there's a lot of info out there, and they can do their own research, and they can come with their own opinion. Is there specifically, I mean, maybe you can't comment on this, but what grounds is like the tour say, please don't comment on this any further? Apparently, you're not supposed to say disparaging remarks about another player. What on what grounds is like the tour say like please don't comment on this any further Apparently you're not supposed to say disparaging remarks about another player Why don't you make sense? It's like a work like you can't talk crap out somebody in the office

Can't really talk crap out, but I didn't thought I was just speaking the truth But you're not allowed to tweet mid-round what's I realized also at Valero this year What happened there and you're not allowed to call you're not allowed to use poor language. So I'm San Antonio. I'm the first at Sunday and there's, I'm the first off 10. So I'm like 20, I'm right in the middle of the field, whatever. A good round could top 10, a really good top 20. Like nice, nice payday. I get off to a terrible start.

My way to shooting 80. And we're on the back and we catch the lead group. like nice nice pate and I get off to a terrible start my way to shooting 80 and We're on the back and we catch the lead group and that's always gonna be the slowest and that that's there's some Travel or there's travel part four. There's part five so we're all stuck and even so I pull up I phone and don't care at this point Maybe looking at different flight home texting my buddies for that we're drinking tonight and I pull up Twitter because why not? And notifications on there's like Joel Damon, there's like at Joel Damon loves making sixes on par five this week.

I'm like, well that's weird, I just played a par five and I just made par. So I tweeted at whoever this random guy was. He's like, hey, I just made a par asshole. And nothing really came of it. Obviously, it kind of went off in the golf world again. I think this guy just tweeted been round. He's like, oh no. A lot of these guys have their agents and managers of it. Obviously, it kind of went off in the golf world again. I think this guy just tweeted, been round. He's like, oh no.

A lot of these guys have their agents and managers do it. And not mine. I was saying managers don't get on and say, I just made par. So managers control it so you don't get on and say, that's exactly. So I was on the third hole and I kind of looked again on sixth and it was getting a lot of retweets. I'm like, oh, this is going to be good.

I'm definitely going to go to call from tour. Do anything of it in like three days later, the call they say, hey, you can't tweet mid-round. Okay, yeah, sorry. They also can't use word asshole on Twitter. What's the season to system the tour? Basically, it was fun. I know the thing we can relate to.

Yeah, so we're all, it's a, I love the tour. You guys do great. Thanks. Thanks guys. guys for a job. I will not be tweeting mid-round anymore. Oh man. If I do, it's coming for my manager. Yes, there you go. Your pleasure.

What do you get a lot of crap from DFS people online? Yeah, so it's something that's never happened in my life until this last, I guess last summer I started playing well. You know, most of it, you ignore most of it, but there's some that like it's just fun to banter back with them and like, hey, you're an idiot. You bet $10 and you lost and I lost like $500,000 playing golf today. So I'm sorry about your $5. I just, it's interesting. Obviously like the, the, the, the good players are the common, like they all understand

like they, they all understand. They deal with it. And it's kind of interesting. So I'm getting it more. And actually, there's one guy just Carl, who told me he's about $10 on me this week. And I said, Carl's back. So I think that's got some traction on my Twitter right now.

That's very entertaining. Carl's back. Fashion question. Bucket hat. Bucket hat. Bucket hat. When did it start? How did it start? The Fisher's bucket.

That was a strong flex. That was when it came out on tour. So I wore bucket hats off and on at home because Arizona living in Scottsdale. It's sunny. And it's just like if you're just laughing on sunscreen all day, it's just either throwing a bucket hat,

practice for a couple hours. Perfect. And then I went to I got to play Fisher's right before travelers championship and I mean it was awesome and I Every bought something and I just like I bought a bucket out. Love to wear bucket at that time. I didn't have a hat deal on tour So okay, this is easy. So it wasn't stunning It wasn't a good weather in travelers, but the next week was DC and it was hot It wasn't sunny, it wasn't a good weather in travelers, but the next week was DC and it was hot. I'm like, oh, perfect. So I wore it all week and then I happened to play with Tiger Woods on Saturday. And apparently people watched Tiger play golf. And there was a couple times people saw me wearing this hat and it kind of blew up and I played well.

And then I could kept wore it the next week and finish fifth and I wore it the next week at deer and I finished second. And it was pretty cool. And now it's definitely not a fashion statement. I'm not a fashion icon. I don't really care what I look like. I think the bucket hat is just uh, I mean, it's great like you've seen more and more people wear it for sure. It's functional It's very functional. I actually just was presented a nice no laying up bucket hats So it's a lot of the story. The world is afternoon. Dot no laying up dot com check us out. We're a small. The world is afternoon. Dot no laying up.com. Check us out or a small shop.

Which we, it sounds like we just missed our window because now you have a hat deal then. I do, yeah. So actually almost because of that, like it got out there and then tradition energy. Thank you guys. They're great, Mr. Alan Cursor. Yeah, so been with them since last summer

and I think it's gonna be a long partnership, hopefully. Because you did a mid-round hat change at Wells Fargo to the bucket. Were you expecting that to get attention? Yeah, that's it's really, so I don't play in front of many people. I have my wife out there and then like three or four other people and a lot of times in the morning,

like not, or if it's a breeze or something, I'll wear it. And then the sun comes out, I'll throw on the bucket at. Not a big deal, I do it almost every week. Well, as far as I kind of forgot I was on TV and people were actually watching, since I just did it, because the sun was coming out. And the rally cap. Yeah, I was, and then all of a sudden,

I get with the first rangelator, the rangelator, we're talking about it and I'm like, I could not figure out why it was a thing. And I'm going back out to restart and I'm like, Geno, I just figured it out. I'm actually on TV today and there's people watching. That's and they realize this whole and I guess Gary McCord kind of got a hold of it and made a deal out of it.

So was not intentional, but I like the idea that it could be a rally cap for me. I do too. I think that, you know, well, it depends though. It's like, are you heating up quick, and then you pull it out or things go in south, and then you throw the bucket on. I am not really superstitious. I'm just a little stitious,

and if I'm playing, well, I won't switch golf ball like no matter how bad it is if I'm making so, every time I put a new ball on a make a bogey. So I have to, something has to go a little south for me to do any type of switching, whether it's a ball or a hat, and I make a bogey. So I have to something has to go a little south for me to do any type of switching, whether it's a ball or a hat. And I just bogeyed nine. Yeah.

So the hat came out. What was it like playing with Tiger? The coolest thing of all time. Was it? It was unbelievable. What'd you shoot with him? I shot 69. Vegas had me at plus one and a half.

And he shot 68. So I won if you took me in Vegas should have I Burdy 17 he bogey 18 and about a boom about a bank Vegas is thinking yeah Everyone's been exactly how it was this who is this idiot he's playing with but it was incredible He was so diced to play with he we chatted quite a bit Told some funny stories. I mean you're an awe awe of him. And then with me, he made four birdies in the front to get to like second or third at the time because we were playing pretty well.

And it was, uh, it was so loud, never seen that many people before. And I think that really boosted me moot going forward because if you can handle that atmosphere, then like being in contention is about the same or not even it's not quite on that level. So, and I think the next month or so it proved itself. Can you, could you imagine playing like in front of a crowd like that every week or what? No, it's so. Do you get many go-jole chance out there? Yeah, there was two or three maybe. It was like, you know, the really drunk guy who was his like, hey. The guy that had your fancy. Yeah, exactly. And he like, who the fuck is John Dan?

Did you hear any like whispers like that like why I forget all day? Yeah, so she's out kind of like navigating and she said it was She was just laughing she also said if I ever play them again She's not going out because she can't see much and it's just a mess Yeah, that's what I think a lot of people attending tournaments don't realize that when they're watching a player And there's a small crowd around and they're commenting on the player. The people that are watching that player are probably friends and family. Yeah.

Those are any good stories. So that, like friends over hearing stuff that Brandon fans say. Yeah, it's almost always with me. It's like, who is that guy? Or it's, wow, he looks like an idiot wearing that hat. Are you so stupid for wearing that hat? Um, or like my wife shares it all the time.

It's like, oh man, he's, he sucks. Like how, how could he miss that pot? It's like 20 feet and breaks three feet. And mom is like, she's to learn to ignore it. But she gets pretty pissed off with like the real, there's like always two or three drunk guys that like kind of travel and they're just allowed idiots or the, the Chad and Brad's or whatever they're called now

out there. And Chad. Chad. It's, it's, yeah. So I mean, she gets worked up over that a little bit Brad and Brad's or whatever they're called now out there and Chad Brad. It's yeah, so I mean she gets worked up over that a little bit because I mean she's that's what she does. But we're the most part. We're easy to roll out the PGA lighting up.

Who was it? Why are you airing me out? Because we were at the last athletic club at the PGA Championship. We're seeing like 14. Yeah. And who's white? Who's white was it that was sitting there? Steven Gallagher. That's right. And Randy's like who like Who knows this guy? Well, I assumed he was a club pro I said some well. Is this back in like like 2011? Yeah, this was at Atlanta athletic club. Oh, when Keegan Bradley won

Yeah, yes ganglif got in off of play and not as a club bro. I played Canada with Gangliff once. No, no, no. Steven Gowt, thank you, my point. Yeah, he's a Scott. Steven Gowt here. Yeah, it's a little bit. But he had a good run there.

He had a good run there. Yeah, and then Randy's like, so who is this club pro? And his wife was sitting right in front of us. She's like turned around hard. He's like, who is? Sorry. That's a wife right there. So we've been the, we've been chatting Brad. We've like, he's sorry. That's why he freaked out. So we've been the we've been we've been we've been we've been

already on the chat and Brad. Yeah, no, you're just so knowledgeable on the game of golf. You would never make that. Of course not. No way. Thanks for bringing that up. No, whenever Steve a Gallagher's in contentious like, gosh, it's cool to see a club pro still so competing out here. Sorry, Stephen. I don't know. Yeah, I still remember know who he is.

I still remember his wife's face that she was horrified. Yeah, yeah, like these daft Americans. It is, I mean, the crowds last week where I played with Miliano on Sunday and he was just so ready to leave New York and the ridiculous. It was just like, just they have to be leave New York and the ridiculous it was just like Just they have to be said and actually good story there in Sunday. I'm walking off of 17 the par three and I'm on my way to breaking 80 shot 79 so that was that was big for me. Hell yeah and I don't get the fascination with like fist bumping or if you're under the age of

15 reaching their hand down to touch and theincrebal job actually have wider robes. And that was great, because some events, like you have to squeeze through and you can't avoid them. You can't avoid them. And this guy, and you know, a high five, two or three young kids, great. And this guy's like, hey, you know, yelling at me, sticking his hand out.

And I just kind of, I look at him with like, dude, you're like 35, I'm not touching you. Go on. Hit my shot. Now we're walking back kind of past him. And I look over and this guy goes, aim and you suck. Like vicious.

Like he meant it. And he was being mean. It wasn't like what's smiling. So I look over, he ducks down behind his friends. So my catty June was like, why you hiding? Why you hiding? And I was just kind of laughing at him. And Emiliano was like losing it. He was some choice words that were pretty loud and yelling at this guy. And he were walking. He's like, I am just

so sick of like, because there's only four or five of them that ran it for everybody else. Is it four or five at the PGA? No, they start one up and each other. That's what happens. Yeah, it is a little bit there. And I wasn't around it a ton as much as obviously some of those, you know, the bigger groups or lead groups. But I'm all for loud having fun. But I'm on the record is saying, I'm for supporting the post-shot shout

if it's creative. It's like, it's almost like a no-lang up move. Like you better get home or else, like you better come with something good or else, it's awful, right? Or fail miserably, right? It's the A or F. You gotta be on one side of this, by the way.

But it's gotta be creative. Like you just can't say mashed potatoes. Right, I can't do it. I'm really happy. What's the best of y'all you've heard? I can't do it. I'm what's the best yell you've heard. I don't hear many out there. Did you saw? Yeah, actually, somebody yelled poof at me.

I was playing with, we're in San Diego this year on Sunday. I got to play with Rory and Billy Horshull. And obviously Rory's hitting it a mile. Billy has a pass me. But they hit bombs and all of a sudden it was like poof I'm like I guess I'm on me like my shot like mine's in the fairway that's I do I like that that's good I do have hybrid in versus worry seven iron it's my that's it we have to incorporate that would't have ever said that because now people are gonna go with it, go follow you and say that.

Woof! My 166-pounder ball speed isn't quite catching on anybody's radar. Sometimes I hit it high and I like it though. What type of courses do you enjoy on tour? Are there certain stops you look forward to? Colonial. I love this place.

It's tight, three lines, not a bomber. I mean, a bomber bombers can play well anywhere. But explain that a little bit though like bombers paradise first bomber playing well kind of anywhere. So I think you can get misconstrued a little bit. Yeah, and I'm not maybe up to date as much as you guys are in Friday and some of the overalls to these players, obviously Zach Blair is big into that stuff. I don't, but like last week at Paths Page,

we're all gonna miss fairways. It's all tight, and if I can hit a 330 in a misafairway, I'm gonna have, I can hack it around the green like Brooks does. Well, every time I miss a fairway, I had to literally hit a 50, 60 yard, that's all I could get out of it, and because I'm 200 yards away from the hole.

So I'm hitting four irons, five irons, hiberts in all week, and if I hit the rough, it's just autobogie. You have to slap it out. Where, you know, if you do that, and around the places like this, I mean, I can compete. We're all hitting it to spots more so around here. Now I have to hit my driver to some spots where they're hitting two irons and stuff. But also around the place like this, where if you hit it in the rough,

you can still have a fun shot to get around the grade. You curve it around a tree low high whatever it is but you can still get it around the green and then you have more strategy that way as far as missing on the correct side if you you know most time inside of dog legs bad so hit it the outside you'll have a shot at the green chipping uphill putting uphill versus you know a short side of shot I think that's a lot more fun to play and and fits into more of me Than just tited as far as you can and then hit as far as you can and can and hopefully it's in a good spot Because I think people, you know, can maybe assume that either whatever we say whatever, you know Proponents of kind of more balanced approach say is not like hitting it far and straight as a skill and it should be rewarded

I have no like and that's kind that's the point. Like I think anyone's trying to make it's just like, it shouldn't be safer to hit it further. Like it shouldn't just be like, like PGA was just a prerequisite to like hit it really far. Like you said, like everyone's gonna miss fairways. So like having that distance regardless of whether or not your straight was a huge advantage. Or just not every week.

Yeah, right. I don't know how to talk with Beth Page because that is the best version of you better hit it long and straight and like the roughness is thick. or just not every week. Yeah, right. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week.

I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week.

I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know about every week. I don't know Yeah, and that's fine But it is really fun for play like Hilton head is awesome. DJ was still leading through three rounds Right lead it like they can still it doesn't like take them out of play. They just hit that club

Anywhere and there's like there's some pulls out here to the par 511 like I can't really get there in two of it long players Can get there no problem. Well, that's great advantage for them But if they missed that fairway or they miss it right all of of a sudden they're in the hazard. And there's spots where I can lay short of bunkers this week if I can't fly them, where they can still get up and fly it over them. But for me, I'll just play more position golf out here. And I like that. Small greens is great too. I think it's, you have to be very accurate and miss it in the right spot, which I think is important. And I think people, again, can think that, you know, brooks are, we classify brooks and DJs just like straight bombers and not skilled like just hit it

really far and that's all the only skill they have and that's not the case. That's not a point like at you know at heritage like DJ was leading through three rounds that's like that's maybe the least DJ course of the whole. Just shows how good he is at golf. Exactly. Oh, well it's taking driving while he's still peering his two iron or whatever he's doing around. His wedges are great and he's putting better. I don't like it. They can take a play anyway. If you're number one in the world and or top five of the world, you're going to be top five at any golf course. It just lets more players play. Yeah, which I think is fun. All right, I got a couple speed round questions for you.

Okay. If we opened up your Spotify or music app right now, what would be playing? Okay. If we opened up your Spotify or music app right now, what would be playing? It would be country, but I don't watch movies and I don't listen to much music. What are you doing in your spare time? Like during a tournament week, what do you do? Do you go out a lot or... So my wife has a food blog, travel eats and treats on Instagram? No free ads, we're not doing that.

We eat and travel eat and treat. Definitely checking that out. We didn't're not doing that. We eat some travel. We eat some treats. Definitely checking that out. We didn't lose her for that. Yeah, I mean, the other day, how much is that real estate's worth? So we, she loves food. She's incredible cook at home. And we love, she loves finding holes in the wall. All of, you know, wherever we go. And I ended up eating really good food.

It's not like, oh, we're going to Ruth Chris. We're going to Musicsman's stay-vows. Now, we like to go where, like last time we went to Velvik Tacos here in Fort Worth, unbelievable. We have 20 different Tacos cheeses for them, they're all really good. And we like finding those little holes in the wall. And that's kind of what we do, basically. We'd play golf, and then we'd go find places to eat,

and little cafes, or little bars that are really fun. So on the subject of, you know, you don't watch many movies You don't listen to much music. Tron actually tipped me off that you're a reader Usually have a couple books with you. I do. Yeah Can I ask what you're working on now? Yeah, ego is the enemy is the one right now I think Rory actually talked about that one a while ago, but I've had that one long before we got his I love reading about like Navy SEALs and that stuff, so zero direct 30, you know, American sniper stuff like that.

And how crazy those guys are and what they do. I love that stuff. Getting more into history. World War II stuff is pretty nourishing me right now. I love biographies. Anything, I don't do fiction very well. Okay. What's the goal?

I mean, is it just kind of a, just a bettering of yourself or? Yeah, and just maybe understanding everything more. I never cared about the why. It was always just tell me how and I'll figure it out. And now I'm getting more into the why of things. And it's almost scary when you're going down that road and because then you can know too much

and then it can kind of screw with you a little bit down that way. But I think just understanding myself and how I think or how even just other people think and how stuff like that works is very interesting to me. Is that your issue? You know too much now? No, certainly not. I do way too woke. Yeah, I know enough to help myself out on the road. Like I don't have my coach out here every week. So that's like I can fix myself a little bit, which is nice. Do you follow golf when you're not playing every week? I do. Yeah. And I think it's more so just hanging out, like just seeing what the peer is doing. And it's not like it's

more, it's weird. I didn't always watch the tour, but since I've been on tour, I follow it religiously every week now. Great pronunciation of tour, by the way. Tour. That's where, they're wearing off on you pretty well. Did you enjoy the the buy-in-outs in the show? Oh. Randy, quit asking, gotcha questions. I didn't watch it at all. I just wanted the laugh.

We can move. I mean, I think that golf course has good bones. I think it could be firm and fast. They got rained on. What are you going to do? Yeah, that was not a course question, by the way. All right. Meal him with another.

I like uptown Dallas. I want to take it, take it full circle to something he said earlier. Said you grew up playing Dallas. I want to take it take it full circle to something he said earlier Said you grew up playing basketball. Yeah, if you had to describe your game in the form of a current or former NBA player Who is most like you on the basketball court John Stockton really? Yeah, he's a he's a Spokane guy. So Torres Wai gun zagga grew up emulating him a little bit and you were past point past first point guard. I was not great at creating a mount shot. I could catch and shoot just fine, but love to kind of dribble drive and kick out

and pick and roll and enjoy that. Great week side read bounder. You put me in that two, three zone, the bottom half, and the ball just kind of came to me a lot. And that was fun. Didn't love playing defense, but I coach yelled at me all the time, so I had to play a little bit more. What about, talk to us about the supersonics?

Oh, such a sad, sad thing, isn't it? It's almost, it's worse. It's like, you think you would be okay, and then Portland's playing well now, and we're kind of rooting for them a little bit. I love Steph Curry, love watching him play, and just the worries is a whole, I guess, I'm pretty bandwagon Warriors fan. Me too.

And it's just so sad with the song. I mean, it's when you when you dig through it all and you really say, it's David Stern, the commissioner at the time, Clay Bennett, the owner of O.K.C. just basically stolen Howard Schultz, too, is running for president, which is laughable. It's Randy's boy. Yeah, the owner of Starbucks. Uh, he just, just the way it was ripped away, sold it to. They all knew it was going down. It was just brutal. And now because our Mariners sock, we haven't made the playoffs in steals one. Seahawks have been great for the last about six years now, seven, eight years. Uh, so that's

fun. But we just, we need our time. And we're getting a hockey team. So that's fun. But we just, we need our time. And we're getting a hockey team. So that's huge. Pretty excited about that. But where are they coming from? The hockey team. No, the expansion. The expansion.

Because the Atlanta thrasers are now the Winnipeg Jets. Right. Which is much deserved for Winnipeg. I don't think anyone in Atlanta was like, except it's too sad. It was part of the way. I wasn't too broken up about it, I mean, they just didn't get enough support down there.

Yeah, so we have a couple minor league teams around Seattle area and they always sell out and they're huge. So I think hockey will be big in Seattle and I'm going to hop on that bandwagon. Any like murmurs about a NBA team? Yeah, so we have to get the hockey team, build a Serena.

Those are crazy in depth on this, but we have a Chris Hansen try to build his own arena with his own space, but the port is blocking it because the lawmakers in Seattle are ridiculous. And so they're redoing key arena, the old key arena and it's terrible and it's going to cost them extra $500 million or something crazy. But any hockey team will go there for a while. If they, if we do a good job with them, hopefully this arena gets built and then we'll have an NBA team and hopefully five, six years. But the problem is they're not going to come, we're going to have to steal somebody else's team. You don't want to do that after what after what we've been through, we feel bad about it, but we're pretty sure New Orleans was gonna come to us.

And then they somehow got them on pick. So everybody in Seattle is screaming, you know, it's rigged, conspiracy, that whole deal. I was surprised to read this because I feel like this is kind of the media story that would be like, because when a guy comes on screen, there's like three things about every player that everyone says, but I was surprised to read that,

again, in 2011, you had diagnosed with testicular cancer? Yeah, so it was February or March of 2011 was diagnosed with testicular cancer, removed it a little bit of chemo through May, and then I was back in the golf course in June. So pretty easy for me, but still pretty scary. With the cancer history of my family, I lost my mom in 2005 to cancer.

My brother had to stick it to cancer in 2009. So it was, you know, I had plenty of history with that. And was it more on your radar because of that? Was it something you were checking for regularly? No, not at all. I mean, just being typical dude, sitting on the couch, playing with yourself. So, yeah, exactly.

It's, so if you're men under 35 it's pretty common actually. So I think give a lot of those so rubber balls. I think Tom Green has a song. The old comedian rubber balls tease your balls. That way you don't get cancer. It's true. It's helped. I don't I feel bad laughing. It's like super high success rates of of care. So I'm healthy now. I'm a brother's healthy and yeah, we're good now. So we were trying to get a little background info on you and actually Max. Max said two things. He said, he said, asking about his round in Springfield and how you felt and then He's he's fascinated by sometimes you were warm up routine and

Apparently how random it can be yeah, that's fair so maybe the biggest story of my career until last summer was Springfield was there in the Web 2 were in 2015. It was my first year out there. And I took it off in the morning, and you have to make so many birdies there. I think I shot four or five under for two days,

and I was like, oh, that's gonna miss a cut. So we go out and start drinking. We're gonna play like a par with three quarters under the lights with my caddy and a couple of other buddies, and a bunch of beer, end up getting a fire ball. And it was late, and all of a sudden we check, I have a text from the tour. Says UT off at 730 with Craig Barlow. And I'm like, that's, I made the cut.

Oh no. So continue to drink obviously because it's not point, there's no turning back. And through up that night. Gino takes me to Waffle House on the way to the golf course. I had a couple balls. It's really hot spring filled Missouri in July. It is 100 degrees with 95% humidity and miserable. So now I'm hungover with this.

Gino goes to the tee, it's like a 200 year walk and I film myself to my buddies walking to the tee, I'm saying this is gonna be, you know, this is the death of me. I love you guys. I'm gonna shoot 79 a day and I'm gonna like it. And, you know, I'll chat with you guys later. And that's like a two minute video that kind of went, went pretty big in our small golf world out here.

So I don't think it's hit, I don't think it's hit the airways yet. I have to track that one. We could change that. I was gonna say you just sent a lot of people to track that day. So we'll see, nothing's too bad in there. It's, so that was that. I ended up shooting 63 that day, made 10 birdies.

I was gonna say, there's like a butt to the story. Yeah, I walk off the golf course, I'm in third place, and you want right to sleep. I went right back to bad, and I think I finished eight or nine that week locked up my web card for the future year with that, with that turning. Did you unlock something there?

Do you need to be super hungover for early morning rounds? There's been more than one instance where it's been okay. You can't poke the bear too often though, because then you just feel bad or it doesn't work out. But every now and then it's okay if you're in last place to go get it out of your system and try again the next week.

But to the other question, warm ups, Dominican this year, I wasn't going to play, but I was playing well. So Gina went home for the week and I flew in a buddy and just cdy and it was kind of a boys week or wives weren't there. So we just went three wide in a room and had a great time and It's hot down there. You don't need a lot of warm up. So I just grabbed a hybrid seven iron wax a couple there and off I went and It's for me. It's I don't have to hit a bunch of balls in the morning or whatever It just kind of so people look over and I'm doing it. I love to hit shanks before the round sometimes. On purpose?

So we're all as far ago, we're on Sunday, warming up and kind of cameras on and I hauls a four, five and a row. And you can hear people in the crowd being like, oh, just to keep everyone their toes. And Gino knows I'm doing it, but normally I only do two or three and that day I did four, five and he started to get a other test. And Gino knows I'm doing it, but normally I only do two or three, and that day I did four or five, and he started to get a little worried.

I think that they weren't, and I played off like, you act like you're, you're spooked. Yeah, exactly. Like like 10 times. Oh my god. That's so good. That's a playing with fire. That's really, which craft?

I don't know what you're up to. If you can hit the hausle on purpose, then you can probably get the center of the face on purpose. So, um, that's what I keep. That's what I'm going to tell my stuff. I think a lot of people think that should be true. And it's really, you can't comment. I know, as we said, it's going to give me a lot of comfort next time.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I haven't played golf with you guys yet. I know that time is coming. But, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's okay. If you can hit, if you can hit the Huzzle, warming up, then you can always hit the center of the face. Challenge accepted. That's very comforting. Yes. It's okay if you can hit if you can hit the hosel warming up then you can always hit this in a sub face Challenge accepted. That's very comforting. Yes. I feel like we're leaving some caddy stories potentially on the table here

What do you got? Yeah, so Gino's got plenty if you go to his his Twitter. He's phenomenal and he's he's great But what is what's his handle give him the show? I think it's just at Gino Benelli. Okay. Yo in an a L.I. what's his handle in the show? I think it's just at Gina Benelli. Okay. Go in and Al, but last year after DC, we stayed with this family friend and that week they have a run down car.

And Gina's like, oh, like, do you ever drive it? And he's like, oh, I've driven a couple of years, doesn't run, whatever. Gina was a handyman from Northern Idaho. Dad's a logger, that's just what they do. They just fix things. And he's like, oh, I'll just go fix it up, whatever. So he got a new battery and cleaned out a little bit and all of a sudden it's running. And Gina's like, oh, I'll just go fix it up whatever. So he got any battery and cleaned out a little bit and all of a sudden it's running. And Gina's

like, well, I could drive from here. I could drive to the green briar. Green briar to deer. And I got another vent and then I can just sell it for a couple hundred bucks when I get around. So he puts a craigslist out for I don't, I think we're ending up in deer maybe. And I know it was Barbara saw he's going to drive it down to Barbara saw as well in Louisville. And so he fixes all up and he starts driving or so he's gonna drive it down to barber saw as well in in Louisville and so He fixes all up and he starts driving or so he's driving around he drives to green buyer This is like sob from like 1997 and I end up playing really well that week finish fifth and they have

They had a charter for a bunch of players from green bar. It's a deer hard to get to and so I played well my KG No, they have an extra spot. I'll pay for you to hop on. And he's like, I got a car though. What am I gonna do? And I was like, just sell it to somebody. So we're walking out of scoring, cross the putting green, and there's a good, and Jim's like, do you want a car?

I'll sell you for 200 bucks right now. I think I was like, what does it run? Like, what is this thing? Who are you? Yeah, exactly. Like, what is this whole, so Gina goes to the kit. We have to like get the airport like half an hour so it's like kind of a very time sensitive thing It's like no, I'll just drive like no go sell this car ends up bouncing around talking to multiple people It's up selling it to a police officer on site at the green briar

Sins a title over to him bill a cell and I think he ended up selling it for $150 This sob and he bought it. I think he bought it for $27 off the guy. It was all due. He had it as well at the house. And all of a sudden. All of a sudden. Yeah, so that was, and he hopped on his first, it wasn't a private jet.

It was a traffic accident. The officer, you want a car? It was on the guy, I could not, it runs. It just couldn't believe that this was happening. But that was the classic genome moment, I think. I got to check the trunk for a body first before you buy a car for 150 bucks off somebody. All right, Joel, appreciate the time, man. Best of luck this week at Colonial, and we will have to play some golf in the near future.

Enjoy the Pro Am today. Yeah, thank you. I'm a big Pro Am guy. I'm pretty good at Pro Am. People like me, I try to make sure that they have a good time. My scores in pro-amps are not great. Rarely do I shoot under par, but I make sure that the amps have a good time.

You live under par. I just live under par. Yeah, there you go. Give them a couple of hosls today. Yeah, do that. Please do. It would report back. They'd fair away, just 150 out.

Just right into the bush. that'd be pretty good. I'll have to, maybe Gina can get reactions on video out there. That'd be good. Please do forward. Turn till you guys get ain't swinging vibes. I need to find a chance. I'm searching for a little bit.

I'm searching for a little bit. I'm searching for a little bit. All right, Joel, thanks for the time. Best of luck this week. Yeah, thank you guys so much. Appreciate it. Cheers. luck this week. Yeah thank you guys the matter cheers that's better than most how about him that is better than most

better than most.