No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 372: Wright Thompson on The Masters

Episode Date: November 9, 2020

Long time Augusta attendee Wright Thompson joins to share some of his favorite Augusta stories, some perspective on what the Masters means to him, how the voiceovers for ESPN's coverage come together, his incredible Tiger Woods story from 2016, and how his father never making it to Augusta still sits with him.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yeah. That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang Up Podcast, solid here. We are gonna play a interview here shortly with Wright Thompson from ESPN, Long Time, Augusta Attendee, Stories Forever. We've done, you know, we got a lot of different aspects of our Masters preview. None of this is gonna have to do with who's gonna win this week or golf shots or really anything like that

But I promise you will enjoy this get a ton of perspective from right on what Augusta means to him and what that event As meant for his family and I love this. I can't wait for you guys to hear it before we do get started I want you guys to I know you're trying to kill time before Thursday comes around. It's going to be a lot of masters overload and content. Go to Calibre Golf.com slash muni. It is a love letter to the game of golf. It's a documentary. It's about 45 minutes long. It's told by African American caddies turn players who, you know, despite Jim Crow laws and, you know, the lasting effects of racism, they built a rich and, you know, the lasting effects of racism, they build a rich and vibrant golf culture on a historic municipal course.

And just watch the first minute of it. It will pull you right in and it's a fascinating, fascinating story. The outfits are incredible. We're going to probably have to get Neil dressed up like some of these guys from the outfits from the 60s and 50s, in some future bet related content in the future. The course, it's about the Asheville municipal course, it's an old Donald Ross layout, it's fascinating.

Please enjoy that. Again, that's at CallawayGolf.com slash muni and again, head to CallawayGolf's Instagram. They are doing a giveaway of a sick staff bag here for Masters week. Again, that's on the Calibre Golf Instagram and then head to Calibre Golf.com slash Muni. Without any further delay, here's our interview with Wright Thompson. All right, our coverage has spanned yardage books.

It's gotten into picks. It's gotten into everything that's going on in the current state of golf. But man, I want to talk about some of your experiences at Augusta. First of all, just kind of setting up the scene for the listeners, how long you've been going there, what your role is, and then we can get into

kind of some of those specifics. Well, I've been going there for kind of almost 20 years now. My first vaster was a weir. What year was that? 2003. So yeah, I've been going for 17 years. You know, it's interesting. By the time this airs, I will know whether I will be there this time. I You still know I have a baby that is due November 21st. Oh, come on. So I am

I'm trying to figure it out. I look I have. You know, I'm trying to. How do you not know to plan a baby around a potential reschedule of the masters due to a global pandemic? How did you not see that coming? It was it was obviously a rookie move. I was sweating it out too. I got married like a week and a half ago. And when they were rescheduled for the fall, I was like, I know, I know it's going to fall. I got married like a week and a half ago and when they were rescheduled for the fall I was like I know it's gonna fall. I know it's gonna fall on my wedding weekend and I mean you'll paint in the ass It would be to cancel a wedding duh

I had the thought. I don't think I would have gotten away with canceling the wedding and whatnot But to say I can't think about was all those tour pastors who scheduled their vasectomy for April I can't think about was all those poor pastors who scheduled their vasectomy for April. I thought you could reschedule those. I'm not too worried about those guys, but I that's a master's college fund. Yes. Every time the master's role is around, I've always viewed it as, you know, it's one of the most covered sports event of the year. Every outlet rolls out their top guys.

We're always looking to do kind of some kind of fresh new angle on Augusta. And I find that very challenging. And I want to know, for you as a writer and for somebody that's been going back for 17 years now, do you feel pressured to find a new angle in any way? How do you keep coming up with different things to cover? Well, the beauty of it is, it is incredibly covered, but it also isn't because the golf course is full of tiny little details and the club is full of tiny little details that people love.

It's one of those things that it's so hard to get into that what you're really doing is you're a fact it's tour guide or an ombudsman and you just take people around like you know I love that there's one of America's great wine sellers underneath that clubhouse. I love that they have darkies which is if you're from the satellite my grandmother wouldn't imagine eating a sandwich without darkies on it and that's one of those sort of like old school southern ladies who lunch in golf club things that's fading. But I love having a dark keys on the table in the grill room. I mean, there's always some new thing if you're paying attention. I mean, like, you know, I was eating lunch in the clubhouse one year and because it's the coolest

thing in the world, you're sitting up there and there and you know we ordered our sandwiches and we ordered peach cobbler and then the mater day and it's tuxedo comes over and he's really apologetic but he's like I'm so sorry gentlemen I believe the desserts gonna have to be to go mr. Nicholas needs this table. And we were like yeah yeah okay we're out. We're out. We understand there's a flu chain. We're not idiots like you know, I took high school biology. I understand he eats us. That's how that works. We don't really need that peach copper. Thank you so much. So if you're just paying attention, it revives you always find things you didn't know. Do you feel like you're walking on eggshells when you're there? And is that evolved at all over time? You know, I don't. I mean, this is, it's just a golf course. You know, like, it's not, it's just a golf course. And the rules aren't super draconian. I mean, the rules are just mine your manners. You know, I mean, the stuff you get in trouble for there, the stuff you would get in trouble with your mother's. Don't be an asshole. You know, so I don't really,

I don't feel like I'm walking on eggshells. I mean, you know, you learn, you see the same people, you know, nothing ever changes. It's very weird. You show up and the same security guards work the same station. Now there's the same woman who's always sitting in the chair by the little rope she can pull up right there by the pro shop when you're walking up the hill from the

school bird up to sort of the big tree in the clubhouse. You know like they have the there's the caddy shack and then there's the pro shop and then there's the locker room and then the 19th hole and then the grill shack and then there's the pro shop and then there's the locker room, then the 19th hole and then the grill room and then the clubhouse. And like the same woman is sitting there and has been for 17 years. And so like as opposed to feeling like you're walking on eggshells, it feels oddly comforting. Well, what is it like to cover then from a media perspective, you work for ESPN. ESPN has a media partnership along with CBS with Augusta National and the Masters.

Do you feel, I guess, any, I don't know if obligations to write word or what's it like to kind of, do you feel any pressure in any way to present Augusta in a certain way? Or do you ever get anxious about something that you may have said about August August or any of those limitations that get put on you in any way? It's interesting. I mean, you could say whatever you want on sports center, but if it's going on the broadcast, somebody in a green jacket is vaticant. I mean, that's anything that's appearing in that broadcast

is 100% vetted. So it's interesting sometimes when you think that leaders don't understand why people love their tournament or their course. You know, I mean, like that is sometimes interesting when you have something that you think is very positive and they don't get it. You're like, you know, there's still obviously remains a disconnect, but in terms of like what you put on Sports Center, no, I mean, our muddy waters t-shirt on air there last year that you're before. Like, it's not like school marms are running around. Like, it doesn't feel like that. It's a place of sort of joy and relaxation

when you're there. Like, they do a very good job of that. So, like, I don't ever feel, you know, of that. So like, I don't ever feel, you know, I mean, the members, I know have, you know, great senses of humor about it. And so like, I don't know, I mean, you know, to answer your question, if it's on the broadcast, someone in a green jacket is vetting it, but outside of that, I don't think everybody rolls with a pretty good. Well, what is, what is your relationship with the game of golf? Because I hear and read this reverence that you have for Augusta is so strong. And I guess what I don't know the answer to is

where that comes from, why it is so nostalgic. I know we can talk some about your dad on the back half, but what is it about Augusta or that makes, you don't, you don't fake this stuff, right? Like you really do have this evidence for it. Yeah. So much easier if I did because, you know, like when I get off the phone with you, I'm going to sit down and start writing stuff that will air during and around this year's broadcast and during that college game day. And so, you know, I've been struggling with it because I've

written so many things about it and it has to feel real and authentic to me or I just I'm bad at f***ing and I feel like people can tell. And so, no, this is a hundred percent real for me. It's my dad loved it a lot. And so, you know, it's interesting. I think everyone has their own personal Augusta. I mean, I have conversations with people all the time, like, you know, how do you reckon with the fact that you have this nostalgia for this place that is also can be really messed up, you know, and there, there are a lot of things that are ugly about the club. And so my answer is always, I mean, it is very much an Augusta National of the Mind for

me. I mean, it is very, the Masters, it's very tied into those memories of watching with my dad, and also I feel like I have taken all of my regrets and sort of things, my regrets over things that I didn't get to do with him and he didn't get to do with me and things that, you know, that he's missed out on and I have put those in a master's size box, you know. And so like some of it is clearly that, that like he wanted to go to this thing and if he'd have lived 18 more months, I was working at ESPN and we could do that. And so I think a lot of it for me is tied up in regret. And the Masters is always around his birthday.

Jack won the 1986 Masters on my father's 40th birthday. And so like all of those things are very tied in together for me. From what I understand, you're not the biggest golfer yourself, but I know I'm not a golfer at all. I mean, it is, it is a big thing. But you played Augusta. I have played Augusta. And I've also, I love this. The last three of the last five golf courses I played were Augusta National, St. Andrews and Cardinist. Why go anywhere else if you're going gonna do that? No, don't play golf like I'm I went out I got them to let me own corn. Oostie one morning before to open and I just played the Van Develle hall over and over and over again How'd you do? Oh beat his ass once

And I don't even play fucking golf really Really? I mean, I got clubs every now and then I was out on DeFusky Island doing a story years ago, and I went and played with some bar clubs, and I just had a, it was a miracle day. Like, I don't know what the deal was. Like, I was, you know, like. I had an actual legit part. And I just was like, well, this is it. Clearly the thing that has been standing between me and golf greatness is this set of clubs. And they were like some sort of King Cobra off set.

I don't know what they were. I went out and bought that set immediately. And it's sitting in my house. I've used it twice. But I really thought that I'd unlock the secret. Well, so you kind of touched on something there that I think, you know, even if you're not a big golf fan, you can be a huge masters fan.

Yeah, that's interesting. I want to know, I'm just on the opposite of the spectrum of being obviously a huge golf nerd. And so I feel like I honestly have lost perspective on what it's like to just pop in to watch golf maybe once a year. And I'm not saying that's what exactly you do, but I think you can help speak to a larger sports fan that what it is about the masters that separates it from the rest of the golf calendar makes it such a so much watch.

It's interesting because I am, I mean I understand that the following opinion is very singular, but to me there's the Masters in the British Open, the Open Championship and then the US Open is a distant third and the PGA just doesn't exist to me. Like the idea that like I always feel like when you're one major's the PGA, you just law-eared it. You know? Like you didn't really put a pattern. You never made it. You didn't really win a major. You don't have to mean not really.

Like I understand if you want a bunch of the other ones, you can count it to jack your score up. If that's your one, you know, it's sort of like you want a Super Bowl, but it was a strike here. But, but you know, so for me, the Masters is very, very tired to growing up in my dad watching it. And then the Open Championship, I love that Scotland thing, man. Like St. Andrews is one of my favorite places in the world.

I like that course as much or more than Augusta National. You know, I got somebody, I got this admiral, retired admiral in the Royal Navy, sort of a friend of a friend to take me to lunch one day at the Royal on Ancient. And we went and they have this tiny little pro shop in there. And afterwards he was going to get something and I was going to, I was like, I'm going to get something too. They wouldn't sell me Anything that you could wear Because only members can buy Things you can wear because you're right in their logo like the clubs logo not the you know not the

the public thing and The admiral was with and I sort of looked at him like are you gonna buy this shit for me? Like what the fuck and he was like no, I feel like this is right and proper. I was like, oh, shit. Okay. But I like all that old Scotland thing. So those two tournaments to me, I watch the Open Jaminghip every year. I'd get it up. I watch it live. Like I love that yellow scoreboard. I mean, so I have very similar feelings about those two sporting events that I don't have for other golf events. And you're well known for, you know, you really, I feel like you do get people fired up for the masters.

You get your video essays, kind of lead in a lot of the shows and whatnot. And everyone recognizes that voice that comes on. What's it like writing those? How much easier is that or is it easier than a big story is to write? And how do you come up with new ones every year? Well, that's interesting. I mean, technically, they're a lot easier just because, you know, they're very, they don't take long.

I mean, it's hard to feel like one, you don't want to repeat yourself, but two, you don't want to end up being so concerned about not repeating yourself that you become obtuse and miss the thing that makes it powerful to begin with, which is we are, you know, we are reenacting this ritual. And so some of it is ritual. So you don't want to get too far away from that. I mean, that's a cop out answer a little, but it, you know, that's, that's the truth is that, you, you know, you want it to be different, but not so different that you're reinventing wheel and losing the plot, yeah. And so, yeah, yeah.

So, do you need like, do you work with someone or a group of people that are, like if you're writing something and like you got to have kind of the footage to match it, right? So, and it's got to have the music, it's got to have the pace, and like, I know it's a symphony, and it doesn't all, there's not an answer,

like a true sequence, but how does that all come together as a group? Well, the dirty secret of this is, I've done a lot of essays and have gotten a lot of positive feedback on them. The real secret is there's a guy named Tim Horgon who has a company named Bluefoot Entertainment in West Hartford, Connecticut, that does most of the high-end stuff like that that he

is being does for a lot of different things. And I've been working with Tim for 15 years and Tim and I are very close. You know, me and Tim and a cameraman would go to Scotland and you know, all those open to you, when we used to have the open championship, it would literally be, they would be out shooting sunrise. I would be able to computer at the hotel, figuring out what we were going to do that day, and then we would go do it.

And so these things are very, very collaborative. I mean, he was just, I was supposed to be in Augusta two days ago on the first and the second, and my wife's doctor was like this maybe could be coming any day down. And so I had to bail on that trip. They were just there, fun drone. They were the only people in the golf course.

So they were just there shooting stuff that I'm going to go in and write to the moment we get off the phone. So sometimes I, sometimes I write things and they edit them. And then sometimes, you know, like this, he said the drone footage is so amazing that I was like, can you just pick me, you know, 30 and 45 second sequences of drone shots that you really like and just let me write to those?

So like it works both ways. I mean, sometimes it's, I write something and they created. And sometimes it's, and they create it. And sometimes it's, you know, it's, let me write to video. And like, you know, when we're, when we're traveling around together, it's happening in real time. We have made it. We have finally made it. It is Master's Week. This Sunday is honestly going to be a Sunday like no other. Very rarely rarely. I would have to say almost never. If not never, this weekend's major golf tournament, which we all know the name of, lining up with both professional

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only. Risk-free coverage paid out in site credits, restrictions apply, cdraftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Gambley problem called 1-800-Gambleer or an Indiana 1-109 with it. Let's get back to Wright Thompson. What, and we probably touched on a couple, a little bit of this, just talking about the atmosphere and the vibe of Augusta, but I have a question down

that just is, what is myth about Augusta and what is real? For somebody that's been going there as long as you have, do you hear anything about it that you just want to correct people immediately? And then what's something that, you know, you hear people say and that actually ends up being perfectly true? I mean, a lot of times you do see people who are so pumped to have gotten this ticket that

they do it wrong. I mean, you know, and you understand why. I mean, I probably would too. But like, you know, there's that it's Tuesday. It must be Belgium thing where, you know, you want to, you're going to Europe and you want to go to so many places you don't ever actually see anywhere. And like, I just encourage people to find a spot and just stay there. And, you know, you can walk around and go get beers and sandwiches and stuff, but like, the real joy of, if you want to experience a gust of

At its best and also see what the ritual is like to people who have been doing it for generations. Get in, go park your chair somewhere, you know, there are a couple of great places and just be in this community of people. Like that's my favorite thing. I mean, I took my wife a couple of years ago and had an off day and I just went and parked our chairs. We immediately went right out to Amin Corner and parked our chairs there. You could see 11 approach, 11 green, 12T, 12 green, 13T. That's a lot of shot to see. We just sat there, right? How about 12 piment of cheese sandwiches and a bunch of chicken sandwiches. Got some beers and some waters. And we just set there all day. And like, you know,

that's what I would encourage people to do. If you get a ticket is don't try to rush all over the course and see all the course, you know, you can see it on TV, you can only feel it there. Well, it's interesting. I other than you mentioning Jack winning the 86 masters and I've noticed this with your stuff over the years as well. I find so little, I was digging for something that you written or something that was about the result or about the professional golf tournament that's played about what happened, what unfolded, and I don't see any of that. And that's what's unbelievable, right? About this event is that you could just talk about it forever. We haven't talked about one single golf shot or anything related.

That's the thing, is that what's happening there has very little to do with golf. Right. That's not true. It has very little to do with golf. Right. With, that's not true. It has very little to do with professional golf. It has everything to do with golf. Yeah. It has very little to do with the sort of global, the global sports entertainment complex. Like I don't really care who wins except that you always wanted to be tiger.

You know, I mean, just because, you know, I've been there for a couple of tiger wins, and that place is that shit crazy when he's rolling around, you know. But I will go against everything I just said, and like, if tiger is winning on Sunday, just walk the back nine with a man, it's a religious experience, and not because of him, just because of this communal energy that's built it. It's something else. A feel where I was sort of like that too. Well, what I was always wanted to ask, and I've never got a clear picture on this because

you know, we've never really tried to get credentials or anything for it because I feel like it's just hard to do what we do from onsite there at Augusta and from what I've heard, even if you have a credential, it's not super easy to see a lot of golf. How do you think it's not the ropes? I was going to say how do you follow Tiger on the back of the back of a master's win? The trick is, well first of all, there used to be a media bleacher at a men corner, media and members. And that's gone now, but that was the greatest trick in sports.

Because you just, I would go out there on Sunday and wait and pick up the leaders. And it's like, that's why I saw the weirdest thing I've ever seen, which is I saw a big time Hollywood agent giving less moonves a back rub. It's where to go. Three feet from you can't take pictures. That's it. Yeah, you can't. So anyway, I that was really good. The and then there's a bleacher at 18, a media bleacher that's still there that you

need to. So usually what I would do, if Tiger was winning and it was a coronation, right, and you wanted to follow it, you would go pick him up at nine green. And then you just sort of, at least what I do is, I then go, I would then skip 10 and skip 11T. Because you can walk straight across one, straight across nine,

up, around what's that 15 green? There's a way to go straight to A-Men corner from the clubhouse. So I would go there, and I would pick them up, and I would watch, so I would watch 11 approach, 11 green, 12 T, 12 green, 13 T. I would immediately go up to 13 green and then I would skip 14 and go to 15 green and then watch 16 and then I would skip 17. And unless he's winning, there's a great moment

to get a scene if you're writing because the sort of closest the winner is going to interact with people is going from 17 green to 18 teeth because there's just a shoot and what they do is the marshals or whatever they call them have ropes and they just sort of build a tunnel where there wasn't one. So they sort of cut their fans out so the players can walk. So like, if you're a kid and you want to try to get Bill to give you a golf ball, that's your best shot. Like that, that right there.

If you just sort of look for where the guys are holding the ropes, you can sort of see in the sea of people where the tunnel's going to be. And you can just stand on the spot and you're in a huge crowd crowd of people and then all of a sudden you're against a rope. So I've done that a lot and then you and then I skip 18t and rush up and try to get a seat in the bleachers. But if you're just a fan you want to skip tee shots and move to goons. Yeah well I want to kind of detour a bit from Augusta you're're talking about Tiger there and I know you wrote what is the, maybe the seminal piece on Tiger, at least that all the kind of things he's been through in his life since his dad died.

You wrote this in 2016, it was 10 years after his dad had died. And as, as Tron and Randy touched on you, that we ended up calling our office the, the kill house. Thanks to, thanks to that article. And I guess for me, I'd heard some of you rumors, military rumors, you know, training injury rumors from Tiger, and I don't know if I'd ever really seen it documented with names and pen to paper and kind of really tracing

the steps of how many times he visited what he did and all that. Reading that just kind of really painted the picture for what life was like for Tiger. And it's very interesting to reread now, which I did last night, four years later, four and a half years later, where he's back and has won the masters,

because the tone of it at the time is that, and Michael Jordan even has a quote in there that I'm not sure if that's what you got directly or not, but he says, the thing is, I love him so much and I can't tell him you're not going to be great again. And I'm like, whoa, this is a very different read four years later. But sorry, a long-winded way of saying, what did you know going in to starting that story and what kind of, how did it end up varying from what you were expecting? I didn't know anything, and I wasn't expecting anything.

Which is probably why it worked. I just was like, I need to start calling people. I mean, it sounds oversimplicated, but basically what I just tried to call every thing he ever interacted with in those 10 years. But Navy SEAL thing was interesting. I still talked to some of those guys. I was texting with one two days ago.

It's interesting that like once one of them decided that they were talking then everyone was talking. And so, you know, they took a long time to crack, but once you did, just a number of people who had whole area stories. And like, I've gotten whole area stories after the fact, like after the story ran some of the seals who I hadn't found reached out to me. Do you mind for the listeners at least Revis, it's impossible, it's like a 14,000 word story or something like that, it's impossible to recap it completely, but kind of just at least telling the story of, you know, that at least what I consider the main crux of the story, which was after his dad passing, passing away, he really away, he really looked quite seriously into becoming a Navy SEAL.

He really wanted to. And to the point that he was running around our Earth in combat boots and long pants, which is, you have to do, there's a sort of unafated number of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and a timed mile-and-combat boots that to even sort of be considered to get into the buds, which is the seal selection process and weeding out process in the training program. And I mean, he was doing that. I mean, that was not, that was something that was happening. And that were friends of his who really thought that he wanted to join the Navy.

You know, it's interesting that seeing, I sort of feel like the Jack catching Jack obsession is a media thing, but I feel like I learned enough about Tiger Woods to know. In some ways, I bet last year's's man was it last year? Good Lord, it seems like 10 years ago. Was it last year's master really meant the world to him? You know, people don't realize his kids had never seen him beat Tiger Woods. One was an infant and the other one wasn't born the last time he'd won a major. You know, they heard all these stories. You know, he talks about his kids thought he was a YouTube golfer. Yeah. And so in some ways, I'm just so happy for him. I'm happy for him for a million reasons. But one of them is that his kids don't have to sort of spend their whole lives trying

to get to know Tiger Woods. The most important part of his father's life would have forever been a mystery to them. It would be a thing they learned about but never felt. And so for him to do that and for them to see him be type of fucking woods, that's an incredible gift. And I mean, I don't know how many majors he has now 1415. 15 now, yeah. And I just don't think it matters. Like catch Jack, don't catch Jack. His journey is incredibly singular. You know, he's like LeBron James in that heat was burdened with these incredible expectations and yet They didn't break him. They've been in they've been the shit out of him. I think he would tell you that but like there is something

They've been the shit out of him. I think he would tell you that but like there is something There was something I cried Watching that last year. I was on an airplane watching it and the airplane had the TV. Thank God and I just was really really emotional because I sort of felt like I understood what it meant and What the God did some shitty things and like if your wife understand the epistad of but. I mean my god he paid a public cost and so i was really really happy for. Yeah well what were some of the you said you touch on the you still are here funny stories trickle in but either you know stories that you've heard it since you wrote it or the ones your some of your favorite stories. That made it into the story if you could relay a relay, relay some of our stories. Secure the tennis ball is so great to me.

It's, it, you know, uh, he likes to talk in military lingo, copy that, you know, uh, he, uh, his dog ran off of the tennis ball at a marina one time and he called on there and asked him if they could secure the tennis ball. That's so good. You know, one of the things they do in the kill house is they, you're presented with scenarios where their hostage is, their hostage takers, there are civilians. And you can only kill the right people. And they just, the seals love to laugh at how tiger kept shooting photographers, which

I thought was perfect. I like Freud, the motherfucker. I also love the part where they, you know, he comes in and they said they light him up his eyes lit up like a deer in headlights and they were lighting him up with, you know, paintball, basically like paintball guns, but how he wasn't ready for some of the attacks that came on him.

No, I mean, now these are serious people and all that stuff is hilarious. I mean, what should have been one of the main takeaways of the story that I don't think was was, you do not want to fight Tiger Woods. Like, Tiger Woods will kick your ass. Like, I mean, you know, that is a bad, bad idea. And you also just think like,

I mean, and this is sort of combined the two threads of this conversation, but watching Tiger Woods, when a golf tournament is very different than watching one of these other guys won a golf tournament. And I don't just mean, I mean, the numbers bear that out for sure, but it's also just like, it's a difference between the Champions League and the LES game, just in terms of the energy. And that's for all sports fans. That's not just golf fans, you know, I mean,K, just in terms of the energy. And that's for all sports fans. That's not just golf fans, you know what I mean?

No, it's just a different thing. Like I don't, some of these guys, so I saw a leaderboard for the event that was last weekend. It came up on like I saw it on ESPN. I didn't know a single one of those names. It is weird to have the masters in the fall when it's such a weird kind of silly season time. And now it's like, everyone's

usually trying to peak around this time in the spring. And now it's like very much, it's close to off season as it gets engulfed. And this the biggest event of the years coming up in a, in a weird, weird spot on the calendar. It's very hard to kind of process, you know, process. Is there somebody who's going to peak? Is there someone that this is like a cosmic gift for? Is there some golfer who's going to win the Masters because of how all of this turned out? I mean, in theory, a lot of people are thinking Bryson because if it's slow, if it's

soft, if it's slow, and kind of some golf courses in this general area can get that way in the fall, if it rains, there's a little bit of rain in the forecast, I think, and that's going to give advantage to guys that hit it longer. And Bryson has been doing nothing but hit drivers for the past, like, 28 days or something like that to prepare for this. So what's the weird obsession about? I mean, it seems like he passed, like, he took like three science classes and now we talk about him like he's Albert Einstein. Well, at least in my opinion, it's one of the, it's the story of the year in golf.

It really is. And that this guy has formulated a golf swing that is so different and a playing style that is very different than anyone else on the tour. And it's like the like the most common thing, you know, one of the biggest like warnings in golf is about chasing distance and how it's for most, you know, a lot of great players have lost their game trying to get five extra yards.

And here's a guy who has a swing that's different and is kind of, it turns out, built to be able to add distance like this, just pure muscle, speed drills, all this and drastically improve his game. And now kind of exposing the game for like this is the way it should be played. If you're, you know, if you can do this, you should do it. And what he did at the US Open just kind of opened a lot of people's eyes to say like,

whoa, this is really translating to some major championship golf courses. And he could hit some shots in this tournament. If the wins are right, temperatures right, conditions right, et cetera, he could do some things that really are going to be jarring on some of the corners he's going to be cutting and some of the yard he's going to have in. It's going to look a lot like 97 masters. I love it when people do that to a golf course because there's something really cosmically hilarious about the pride of man.

You think you can keep, you know, like I love it when people just annihilate a golf course. I mean, I'm one of those like, I didn't tune in to watch the best players in the world make folks. I see where you're coming from here. I do, I think. I am gonna make you a self-informed.

You have to open that rather like, you can watch me in the face do, I think. I am gonna be. I see US open. US open, I'd rather like, you just punch me in the face to make me watch four rounds of that bullshit. Yeah. Cause I'm just like, why do I wanna see the best people in the world at something struggle as opposed to see them in the full expression of this,

like I just don't get it. I mean, I'm not a golf guy, but I'm just like, I just feel like it's old rich dudes masturbate. What I don't like is homogenization of the game, you know, a lot, and I think it's trending that way. There's a lot of similar playing styles are kind of rising to the top of the game. And a lot of that golf is not interesting. You know, I mean, John Rom is an incredible player. Is it that interesting to watch and play golf?

I don't think so. Is it interesting to watch Bryson succeed or fail? Is it interesting to watch? Absolutely. Oh my God. It's the story heading into the masters. Where Tiger Woods is defending like it's incredible what he's done in terms of excitement and it's just sparked this whole new

debate again. Or it's it's taken the debate to a whole new level of, you know, should this be allowed in the game? Or are we, you know, truly blowing by, you know, sacred sites like Augusta or having to, you know, move roads to be able to accommodate these players. So it's a it's a complicated, complicated debate that, uh, that's, you know, we couldn't solve in 10 hours, I don't think. Can't think just this is really dumb enough, I'll just... Can't think just limit distance with a golf fall and so should we have all that money? Thank you! We do a course.

Thank you. I'm so glad you came to that conclusion. That's what we've... A lot of... But what is it that is cheaper than moving land? So much cheaper. And it's again, very complicated, but the answer is, you know, equipment companies are standing by to be, you know, ready to sue the USGA or the governing bodies if that is the case

because of how much R&D they've put into, you know, technology gains and all this stuff. So it's really, the answer is like, yeah, I'm with you. Do we change the equipment or change? Yeah. But that's obviously not, that's Saber Adler because if the equipment companies broke the USGA and the Royal and ancient, then they would be designing equipment for something that didn't exist.

They wouldn't do that. That's insane. Listen, make this your next topic, next big story that you need to dive into because I feel like you as a sports fan rolling up your sleeves diving into this one with a fresh perspective. It's very divisive. It's like a lot of golf purists just think it's, you know, are very much on the side of like, look at the ball just shouldn't go that far. And it's okay, a golf is still gonna be challenging, it's gonna be fun, it's gonna be great to watch on TV.

It just doesn't, you don't need to bypass 300 plus yards of a hole on almost every hole. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But it was interesting. I spent a day with Nicholas while he was designing a golf course down in Anguila. And it was interesting to watch and do that and because everything was around what they called the turn point. The hole was designed around where the T-shirt landed and the second shot was coming from. And here in him to scribe the decisions they wanted golfers to have to make

made me one one of the reasons I was like, oh, I just need to never pick up golf clubs again because the front part of golf is being able to hit it consistently enough to make those decisions. I just realized I'm never gonna be good enough to be able to make those decisions. I'm just worried about getting the ball in the air. And so to hear someone talk about designing a golf course, to make people

decide whether to take risk or make decisions, I just realized that I've never actually played golf. I just hit a white ball. Well, that's part of the issue there is the gap between someone like yourself in that conversation and the top level keeps getting wider and wider. And the top guys are able to distance themselves so much because the technology gains benefit them so much more than it would benefit someone like you. It's becoming almost impossible to design a golf course that's going to fit both your game and a top player or even a low handicap player.

That gap keeps widening, and that's where I think a lot of people have concerned with where things are trending in the game. So that's interesting, because you can't. What's your saying is there need to be three different golf courses? Yeah, or they just limit the equipment for the pros is what I would say.

If you go play tennis, it's not like that might be a bad analogy. I'm not a good tennis guy. But also, if you go play tennis, you know, it's not like the get that might be a bad analogy. I'm not a good I'm not a good tennis guy. But also if I go, if you and I go through the football in my yard, I'm not under the illusion that I'm Tom Brady. Right. Also, the football that I would buy isn't the one that Tom Brady is going to buy into flight. That's the thing too. There's a, I don't even think people actually believe this.

I think it's just a convenient argument that, you people say, like, I just want to play, you have to play the equipment to pros play. Like, that's the beauty of the game. We play the exact same clubs that they play. I'm like, guys, you don't like they have such special clubs to admit. Yeah. No, every one of those is bespoke. Every club in that bag is made specifically for them.

Yeah. And like I said, there, you know, I said, if you swing at a certain speed, you are getting benefits of technology. But if you're not, all that technology is just widening. The gap is just widening and widening and widening. That's like guys wanting an AR-15 or an M4 with the Navy SEAL combat optics. Like, what do you fucking,

you rescuing a lot of hostages? I'm gonna get there big boy. There are some layers to this we could unpack. Maybe maybe it's just interesting. Yeah, it's psychologically interesting because like it's funny. A friend of mine was like one of the Tiger Navy seals is a big L Conner. I'm like, oh, do you have all your military gear? And he's like, well, yeah, I mean, I still have all that stuff, but I don't take it elk hunting. I elk hunt with my bow like I grown up.

And I was just like, oh, no, the whole thing is fascinating because, oh, this is, yeah, there are many, many layers. Yeah, and there's a lot of people like to say things like similar to what you said where I love when watching guys just obliterate a golf course. And I think that that joy in satisfaction is temporary. I think if that happened all the time,

which I think is kind of what we're seeing, just bombing driver, bombing driver, bombing driver. If you watch that on repeat, it does get monotonous at times. Whereas the value of a great drive kind of has been lost a little bit because you see it so often, it's like, is it really great? It's kind of like what we're seeing with baseball, all the home run stuff is I think kind of boring.

It's become a more expected outcome and it's kind of lost that special feeling of it. But yeah, like I said. No, no, no. And it's also like the other thing you realize is that, I mean, this is now, if you want to get real meta, this is the ultimate fallacy of every sports take because it's all bullshit on a certain level, because we're all none of us are no two people rarely are two people watching

the same thing because we're all bringing our own stuff to it. And so like, what I want from a masters and what you want from a masters will never, ever be the same. And they shouldn't be. And so, any opinion I have is based on the Augusta National of my mind. And it really is like the fallacy of all sports takes because everybody going into a stadium or a golf course or watching on TV, even if they can't articulate it, want something a little bit different from that experience. Everyone is there chasing something that is at least in some way personal.

And so, you know, people get angry when other people don't love it for the same reasons they love it. I mean, they're golf fans who are nuclear at me about the US Open thing, because I don't get that what I'm really watching is the best players in the world be tested. And that is the joy. You know what I mean? Like, they're people who like, it's just interesting how all of this is so personal and no one is right. And if no one is right, then the obvious corollary is no one is wrong.

The part that bothers me about it, I'm sure I'm guilty of this at times, is like when other, like you can say, what, your comment you made earlier, you don't like watching the US Open for four straight days. I hate the person who will try to sit there and tell you, no, you do, no, it's great, like it's great. You don't even realize how great it is. It's like if that's the way you feel about something,

like who am I to tell you what you like? People do this with me with food. They're like, how do you not like this? And I'm like, I am I to tell you what you like? People do this with me with food. They're like, how do you not like this? And I'm like, I wish I could tell you, like, do you think I want to not like this kind of food? No, I can't control it. Yeah, I don't like mushrooms. I'm sorry, you're forger.

Like, you know, it's, and it's also like, none of these things line up. I love a two one game where one of the pictures on the mound of the play in Kershaw. Yeah, like I like that. And I understand that on a certain level, that is the US Open of baseball. Mm-hmm, yeah.

Like, you know, actually I get that. I still don't give a shit. I'm with you there. All right, well, there's a few more things I want to cover with you before we do have to let you go. The last thing I had on the Tiger thing is, I will honestly just be doing, going about random bits of my life.

And I will think about Tiger at the lunch table with all those guys and with six guys or whatever and the check comes and sitting around awkwardly and not picking it up and getting all of them getting separate checks. I just think, I think I've got life figured out, and I think to that moment, I'm just like, what the, how does that happen?

And here's the best part. One of those people is on TV all the time now. Really? And so I see them all the time, just on TV, you know, and I laugh. Because I'm like, oh, he was at the lunch. Well, in the last thing I had, I may have lied there, the last thing I actually

have is how did you find out who now owns the famous escalate? Oh, I, so the Venn number was in the police report for the Ioworth, yeah, in the police report for the, when he hit the fire hydrant. So with the Venn number, I was able to find the car. Huh. Was that easy thing to find? No, I spent a couple of days. My problem with these things, and I'm sure my bosses

will tell you this, the obsession is real. Like, I'm not like, this isn't, I'm not just punching a time car. So I've lost a couple of days chasing the escalade. For one sentence in the story? Yeah, for one sentence. And it was a parenthetical. I just I just got I got mentally stuck.

And I'm sure some of your listeners are going to try to diagnose whatever psychological problem that is. But like I I just couldn't move on until I knew. And so I was like, well, you know, I'm doing this now stupid escalate. Well, the best part is that neither the guy that bought it or the guy that sold it to the guy that bought it knew that it was. No, no idea.

That's crazy. I wonder if that thing's going to end up in a museum somewhere. But no, because yeah, no, it's, I'm sure it's been someone else hasn't now who doesn't know. You know, we kind of touch on at the top and I was I was playing a dig a little deeper on it But it's kind of permeated through a lot of this interview But you're the piece you wrote several years back about your dad and the masters And I would definitely suggest that people do read it But if you could at least kind of tell a bit of that story

I know you'd mentioned regretted not going there with him and I bringing that around I was wondering what it was like for you to watch Tiger in 2019. You know, in the article you cite about talking about the, you know, Augusta is for fathers and sons or fathers and children. And you cited Tiger hugging his dad as one of the, you know, the moments that everyone thinks about Augusta. And then when you see Tiger being a dad in that moment,

did all those feelings, you know, you talked about having a motion on the plane watching that, did those feelings about your dad resurface for you in that moment, did all those feelings, you talked about having emotion on the plane watching that, did those feelings about your dad resurface for you in that moment? A hundred percent. And, you know, the passage of time is an interesting thing. I mean, it's interesting. I have this book that's coming out called Happy Land.

And it is the spiritual child of that story. I mean, they are used a lot of that story in one part of the book and just sort of ultimately didn't. But like all of the questions the book explores about Jillian Van Winkle and his father and grandfather and me and my father and grandfather are questions that were posed in my life, both by writing that story and by the incredible reaction to it. It made me realize that there were lots of people out there who were thinking about these things,

about their fathers and their children in the same way that I was. And when I first wrote that story, I was like, who's gonna give a damn about somebody they don't know and that guy's father? And the is that story isn't I've come to learn and I'm grateful for this knowledge But that story really isn't about me and my dad. It's about the reader and their dad or the reader and their son or their daughter You know as I I have a daughter now and another on the way and so I am I I have a daughter now and another on the way and so I am. I regret the way that I have framed some of these things as father son things because they're really father children things.

You know and that was that was me being a moron that was me writing about something that it the time. I didn't have kids and I couldn't fully understand. But it's a father child thing. And the reason I had the confidence to write this book, and the book is really intimate and personal, and I try to grapple with my own evolving feelings about whether God exists and about what kind of father I want to be, and what of my dad I want to pass on, and what is better off dying with me? The confidence to write that and to understand that I'm not telling people about my life. I'm starting a conversation

with friends about theirs. That all flowed from both the writing of that story and especially the reaction to it. I can't tell you how often I hear from people, man, about that story and how much every one of those email, people stop me in airports. And I can't tell you what that means to me. Well, I've read it before and I read it again last night and it got me thinking a lot. And I took at the exact same way you just said the story's not really about your dad

because I think it just invokes feelings in people about their relationship with their parents or even with their children. And I thought about it on a really macro level of just saying, there's very few bucket lists, true bucket lists, things in sports in general, not even just in golf, but in sports that are things, I don't know what else would be on that Mount Rush more, but going to Fenway Park or something, I don't know what else would be on that Mount Rush more,

but like going to Fenway Park or something, I don't know. But Augusta for a golfer obviously is just like, going to a master's with my, I was like, I've never been to a master's with my dad. It made me think about that. I've gotten to do a lot of cool things with him. And I thought back to my dad and his dad, who was 85, 84 maybe at the time,

they went to Augusta a few years ago together. And it was, and I hadn't thought of it through that lens of like, wow, they got to do that together. And I've now, I've gotten to, you know, my dad has said he plays a lot of golf, but he's like, I can still walk 36 a day, so we need to go do Scotland, you know, before I can't walk 36 holes a day.

And that article made me start thinking like, okay, I gotta do these things because- You gotta do them right now. Like if you're listening, you need to turn this off. Like if there's something you wanna do with your father or mother or with your son or daughter, and you just haven't, because life, no, just, I mean, we all, you need to go do it right now.

I mean, I hear from people who are estranged from their fathers or sons or families, and this article, the story made them reach out. I mean, my God, if that's what this is about, that's what we're doing. I mean, that's, you write all these stories so that that one story so that that one story Nens three relationships You know, I mean like that's the gift that's the joy of all of this and so You know, I feel like the book is

This I think it's the spiritual child of that story and I hope that You know my wife read it was like like, you wrote, eat, pray, love for dads. And I was like, fuck, don't tell anyone else that Jesus. You know how embarrassing that is? Like, but I mean, she's not, unfortunately, that far off. And so, I mean, I'm very... It's interesting you asked about that story because you know the book comes out and You know by the time this air is it will it'll be out It's actually out today. There you go. Holy shit. Go to Amazon buy it right now by ten of them by 30 of them Give them to everybody you know for real like Wallace needs new shoes But no and so I've been thinking a lot about that story in the context of

This book But no, and so I've been thinking a lot about that story in the context of this book. This is my favorite interview I've done. I've been doing them nonstop. And this one isn't about the book, which means I don't to go there. You know, like these conversations about this book have all been really emotional. So this is like, my God, can we talk shit about the US open some more?

Well, let's, I got a couple of things. That's not on our air, is it? What's that? No. We don't broadcast that. No, that's NBC. You're good. You're good.

I was about to say, folks, what you just heard was someone committing career suicide. That's the part of the end of the business. You don't think. If you don't think I would get a phone call about that, oh my god, I didn't even occur to be. This is my problem. Like I don't, I'm bad with the, with the notion of consequences. Well, I got a couple more questions, but why aren't since we're talking about the book, why don't you, uh, we, we mentioned you had some stuff you want to give away to a potential, potential, a list of books.

Why don't we do that now? Every year, Julian Benwinkel has this event, and Davis love the third called a Pappy Cup. And they play golf. Julian's a really good golfer.fer when he likes to think he is. So they make gear for this and like you got to think like look everyone knows that no one really likes golf. Everyone just likes the gear. My friend Kevin van Volkenberg who I'm like do you only wear shirts from fucking majors?

We get it man you've been to the majors. Like I get it. Okay all right. You know, holy shit. You know, you've been to Royal State George and Lysome or whatever it's called. Okay. Or wherever they're playing them, you know, whatever. So we have this gear. So I have some pappy cup gear. Then I'm going to be wearing on, you know, I got it because I'm going on TV to do a bunch of golf stuff. I think I'm going to pop a Pappy golf gear. If you buy the book, how about this?

Here's a good way to do it. Book is out today. Take a picture of the book. In a bookstore or your copy and just tag me on Instagram. And write me a story about, tell me your funniest golf story. And the one that I think is the funniest, I've seen some of this Pappy Cup stuff to. Sweet. And like this is like, you'll be like

people be like, where did you get that? What's the, where, where do they send it to you? Uh, so just it's, uh, write Thompson books on Instagram. Just tag me if you're not on Instagram, send me an email, Pappylandbook at gmail.com. There you go. You could get it to me. Send it to these guys. They'll get it to me. Send it to these guys. They'll forward it to me. But tell me your funniest golf story and a picture of the book or a receipt or something just so I know you actually bought it. And yeah, man, we'll get you some cool gear.

Sweet. Well, this is in my little grab bag thing of questions. I got to ask you before we go. And this is the part I warned you that was coming from somebody else. But he told me we're going to we're going to play a game. I'm going to name a city and you're going to tell me where I should have dinner or you're going to tell the listeners

where we should have dinner. It's okay. That sound like something that's up your alley. Yeah, but now I'm on the spot. So I want to do good. That's tough. All right, let's go. Let's just I'll selfishly start with Jacksonville.

I don't know the place to go to to eat in Jacksonville. Luffle house. There you go. OK. Anyone in particular? No, man, they're all great. OK. What about, let's say, if you're in Chicago,

where are you going? Oh, man. See, I'm going to go to, there are a couple of things you can do. One, I'm going to go to Jean and George Eddies. I'm going to get, there are a couple of things you can do. One, I'm gonna go to Jean and George Eddies, I'm gonna get a big fat steak. I'm gonna go see my buddy Marco, who's a bartender at the Billy Goat, and I'm gonna sit there and really booze it up.

I like Southside 10 Chicago pizza. There are a couple places way down Southside, like way south where you can go. I like to go to the South side and eat hot tamales, which is a real Mississippi Delta thing that migrated to Chicago. I'm gonna go probably, girl in the goat, I really like, God, they're submitted.

Oh, I'm gonna go to, oh my God, I can't think of it. It's the Italian place, it's over the park. No, no, no, no, it's super old school. It is by which park is it? I'm looking right now, because I can't, it's by Chicago. The town, oh, Tafanos, Vernon Park. You want to go to Tafanos, Vernon Park. It's like, you know, I love it.

It's really old school. You know, like they got dudes in AC Milan track suits What else now I'm on a roll at Lanna? Well in Atlanta You're gonna want to go to bones in Atlanta. You're gonna want to go to gun show Which is a restaurant I really like I like the varsity in Atlanta. I like to go get drinks at manuals, tavern, a lot in Atlanta. Yeah, that's what I would do in Atlanta. D.C. Oh, well, there are a lot of good places.

I like cations eat place. I like, I really, look, man, I really like bins, chili bowl and D.C. Out in Virginia, there's a great Chinese place that does really great peaking duck, and chili popp popular with Navy people. The bar in DC for me is 100% the tune in. I want to go to the tune in and I really, really love that bar. That's a great bar. I like the bar. I always stay at the Hay Adams. So I like that. I think it's called Honor Off the Record. There's a hotel bar there

that's like a really great hotel bar. And then you know, like DC has a really, like there's a great Ethiopian place over on U Street. Then my friend Eli took me to last time that I really like. There's a lot of good stuff in DC. All right, that was the easy part. Paris. Oh, that's super easy. It's called Shazure. It's DC, H-E-Z, E-U-X. And it's my favorite restaurant in the world. I love that place so much. Look, I have an email I can send you of Paris because I've spent a lot of time there. I was there for like a month for the euros. I've been there a ton for work for like long stretches of time. And so I can send you, I have an email that I send to people for Paris.

If you want that, I'm easy to find. And I'll send it to you because it's like really detailed. And it's also like broken down by Eric DC Maunt, and et cetera. And so, but like, you know, bucket like last meal on earth is that the life. Wow. That is an endorsement right there. So you did not disappoint there. That was you were nervous about that. But that was, you know, that was that was the all tip of the tongue You didn't even have to work too hard for that one. So no, but I you know, you want to like Why and you want it? I wanted to be places I really like and too. You don't want to just sort of like Name drop the famous places to be safe because you know, they're good, right?

So like you wanted to like anyway, that's where I'm at on that. All right, man, we are gonna let you go. That went predictably longer than I thought, but it was excellent, excellent stuff. And we really appreciate you coming on both on the trap draw end here. It's been fascinating tapping into your experience and your mind.

So thanks so much for sharing it and the best of luck with the book. And I can't wait to see how the Master's Unfold is coming week. I'm pumped, I'm gonna be on my couch in the high death. Alright brother, thanks again, let's help to do it again soon. Yep, thank you. It's gonna be the right club.

Be the right club today. Yes! Be the right club! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most.