No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 98: Rory McIlroy, Part I

Episode Date: September 18, 2017

Rory McIlroy sits down with Soly and D.J. at the BMW Championship in Chicago to talk about his 2017 season, getting married, his golf swing, his schedule going forward, and a lot more. Additional topics... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 98: Rory McIlroy, Part I appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alright guys, thank you so much for tuning in to a special episode of the podcast, but first before we do that I want to mention to be sure to check out what scratch is doing with adventures in golf documentary filmmaker Eric Anders Lang is taking viewers on another tour around the globe searching for the craziest and most intriguing stories and personalities in the game It's fascinating stuff be sure to swing by scratch and check that out. And a bit later in the show, we're going to talk a bit about Calloway's recent acquisition of clothing and a peril company, Travis Matthew. Really excited about this one. I've already sent in my sizes and can't wait to see what they're sending me in the mail. More details on this later for now. Let's get to a really awesome conversation we had

with Roy McElroy. Let's go. we had with Roy McElroy. Let's go. Be the right club today. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. I'm Chris Solomon. We got the Swiss Army knife DJ Pi on the ones and twos and joined for the first

time in person, around three. Roy McElroy. Roy, how are we feeling? Third time lucky. Third time lucky. It's been a while for us. This is like six months since our last. I know.

We've seen a lot of each other. We have six months. We've been trying to do this in person, but I'm glad we could figure it out and make it happen. When was the last time you paid for golf? Best opening started question. Last time I paid for golf? Uh, oh. Best opening started question. Last time I played for golf. Valderama, when I was about 15 or 16,

paid 250 years to play it. So 12 years since you've paid for golf. Yeah, unless you're kind of like, I pay my membership, I'm not the best club and stuff, but I actually pay for my own golf. Yeah, it's been a while. Over a decade. All right.

Let's talk about this week a little bit. I want to talk first, your intro into the first tee on Wednesday for the BMW Championship Pro Am. Have you ever had a cooler intro? Not quite. No, driving a six-liter V12 BMW onto first tea was was the first story there tell the story so I guess I was playing with a guy His name was Bruce who had bought one of these cars. It was a 760 M sport

And I think it was he was ticking He was the first guy to take delivery of it in the US and BMW wanted to do something special for him So we thought okay get Rory to to drive it on to the first tea he can play with Rory in the US and BMW wanted to do something special for him. So we thought, okay, get Rory to drive it onto the first tee he can play with Rory in the Pro Am. So that was basically it. So it was a pretty cool thing for him and obviously he loved it and got a kick out of it and something to, you know, some, he actually got me to sign the inside of the car and I was like, I'm going to run this car. Like, it's just went from a 200 grand down to 150. Did you have to park it right where you parked it and did you know you're gonna have to essentially hit over it?

No, so I knew I was gonna have to park it there But I thought it was gonna be moved before I had my open t-shirts I mean I was hitting this five wood and amin it so far right trying to I didn't want to try and hit over Because I think if I get this thing a groove low, I mean I could ruin this guy's car So that would have gone and you know that's gonna that's going viral. Yeah, exactly to try and hit over because I'm like, if I get this thing I groove low, I mean, I could ruin this guy's car. So that would have gone, and you know that's gonna, that's going viral.

Yeah, exactly. I probably would have reached more people. Yeah, probably would have. But I didn't know, so I was aiming this thing so far, right? And I hadn't had a shot, so I hit balls on the range. I went for lunch, I did this thing,

so I hadn't hit balls for maybe 45 minutes. And I got another the first day, I was like, oh, this isn't gonna be good. So I like chunk towed it onto the second. I think it was like on the second hole. Like, and if you know the first hole here, call my farm. That's where solid hit it is there.

I've been there. It's 80 yards right with a five wood. So it wasn't the best start. I mean, I imagine you don't get really first T-Gitters anymore, but that kind of situation might be a little bit different. Yeah, it's different when someone parks a 200 grand car in front of you. You're trying to miss it.

Well, because you had, I think you told me you got in, you left Bermuda Wednesday morning. Yeah. So you were getting out of the way the hurricane is at the point? No, so for my wife, Erica, we always go to Bermuda for her birthday. And it was the third year in a row that we did that.

We actually held our first date in Bermuda during the Grand Slam in 2014. So it's sort of a pretty sentimental place for us. So we always go back to Bermuda and spend a week and we love it there. It's our favorite island. So we just wanted to make the most of it. And with the two-hour time difference from Bermuda to here in Chicago. And we took off at it 30 in the morning in Bermuda on Wednesday, landed here at 10.

I was at the golf course for 1130, did two hours of practice, did my thing and rolled onto the first tee for the Pro Am, so it was perfect. So let's get some of the boring stuff out of the way first. We talked a bit about your schedule and stuff going forward. What's your plan to ride out the rest of the year? I know you're nursing an injury,

you've been nursing it for a while, going to get it healed. So what is your plan going forward? Yeah, so my plan going forward is, obviously, I've got two more days left here to try to get to Atlanta. It's not looking great at the minute. It's just going to come out on Monday, so it's a little bit different to say. Yeah, okay, so well, well, we call your shot. Okay, so I'd like to, I need to do something special. So say I don't get into Atlanta,

I'm being real. I'm going gonna play a couple more events in Europe. I'll probably play the British masters that I haven't really, I haven't announced that. I haven't set up but they're holding an invitation for me just in case that I have to play it. So sponsors. Yeah, because the entry it's already closed. Oh, yeah, yeah. So we have to enter like three weeks in advance in Europe, I guess. So I haven't entered. So, Yeah, yeah, so we have to enter like three weeks in advance in Europe, I guess so I haven't entered so Thankfully, they're holding a spot for me. So that's nice and then I'll play the Dunhill links with my dad Which would be an excited for all year So I don't want to miss that so he's all I mean he's he can't wait for that So we're gonna do those two weeks and then and then that's it. I'm gonna shut it down So from the end of the Dunhill

going to shut it down. So from the end of the Dunhill, probably six weeks, I probably won't touch a club or swing a club. I'm just let this thing fully heal, give it time, just rest, do some rehab stuff, some exercises, but really just take that time to get healthy again and focus on my body, focus on my health. I'm going to go and do some physical tests and stuff and sort of figure out if there's anything that I'm gonna go and do some physical tests and stuff and figure out if there's anything that I'm eating that's causing this inflammation or anything that I'm just gonna reset. Yeah, reset mentally, physically, just go through the whole process of getting myself completely 100% right to go for next year.

What was the timeline on the injury? When did it first start and then, you know, I'm sure it's probably changed your whole practice schedule and pretty much everything. Yeah, it's been really frustrating. So I first felt it when I was practicing over the sort of Christmas and New Year period. Every time I did a practice session,

I could feel my upper left back getting tight. I didn't really know what it was. I thought it was just like, oh, I haven't hit balls for a while. I'm just, you know, a little sore and I'll get used to it type of thing. But it just didn't go away. And I was hitting a lot of balls at that point because I was testing equipment and I was trying to get ready for the season. And then I went on to South Africa and played in that first event.

And I was feeling really good about my game. I mean, I had worked hard. I got what I thought was, you know, my clubs and my ball and everything. I was ready to go for the season. And I hit my second drive on the range on Thursday of that tournament. And I felt something just sort of, I wasn't a snap or a pop, but it just something went and it felt really, really bad. And I thought I was going to have to pull out after about four or five holes on

Thursday inside Africa. And I didn't, I sort of, I took a couple of pretty strong anti-inflammatories, finished the rind, got some treatment on it, not knowing what it was, I didn't go for a scan or anything. So played through the tournament, I got in a playoff, and my game was in good shape. I think I finished like 18 or 19 under for the tournament. So I was playing good. But then I went back to Dubai. I hadn't pulled out yet of the next few events, because I didn't really know what the high serious this was.

Went and got a couple of scans done in that Monday in Dubai, and it showed a stress fracture in my rib. So then that's when I was like, well, I'm gonna have to shut it down here for a while. But the diagnosis is pretty straightforward for something like that. It's 60 a week, it's rest, it's recovery, you can start to increase the load by what the fourth or fifth week and by the sixth or seventh or eighth week, you should be back to full health and that's what I was and that's when I came back to Mexico. So it felt really good through the Masters and then I took a few weeks off. I got married.

I went on honeymoon and then I went back and instead of maybe just gradually increasing the practice each day, I went first day I got back. I was out there for five or six hours, heading balls and practicing and playing, felt a little tight the next day. So that was my body showing, saying like, okay, you need to slow down here, but I practiced a little bit more the next day. And then on the Monday, the players, and I just announced that I was going with Taylor made all this sort of stuff. I felt to go again. I was like, oh, this is not good. But again, I persevered.

I played through it during the players. I made the cut. I finished 35th. And then again, I went back and got another scan. And I hadn't refraxured it, but there was a big stress response right in the Samaria. It was more the joint this time, rather than the rib. And then I had to shut it down again.

So it's one of these things where it's probably even though I'm going to take this six or a week off and I'm going to get healthy and I'm going to get back to 100% fitness, it's something I'm going to have to monitor over the next sort of 12 to 18 months and I'm really take care of it. So I've had to alter everything I guess, yeah. The McJoy doesn't sound as good as the McRibs. No, the McRibs. Did you come up with the joint thing just to avoid the nickname McRib?

I like McRib. I said to Sean, I like it. I think it's sort of sticking. But yeah, so it's basically that. It's just this. It's the joint and it's the rib. The rib joint and the rib. That's been the problem.

And it's a real like, you think about how my ankle, my ankle, was in 15 after that football accident and I'm back on the course six weeks and hasn't given me any problem since and this tiny little thing, I mean it's just a tiny little area in my sort of back or rib or whatever and it's just giving me all these problems. So it's been annoying but at least I, we know what it is, which is a great thing. And I haven't done it any harm by playing these, these last few weeks, and at least I have this time, you know, in the off season sort of October and November

December to make sure that when I come back out in January, I'm 100% ready to go. I mean, it feels like it's, it's kind of hard to, and I don't want to project by saying that, I would say you're not thrilled with the way your 2017 season has gone overall. It's not your 2013 season, it's different. It's different. But I mean, does it feel like, and maybe you're placing too much, I don't want to place too

much of the blame on the injury, but do you feel like the injury kind of almost just didn't never allow you to get into a good routine, get into a rhythm, and that feels like the source of your quote unquote issues for the year and you feel like, if I'm healthy and good, like everything is still there, I still feel like it's there. Or do you think there's other contributing factors

to what your 2017 season became? Yeah, I definitely think the injury is the biggest. If someone was to say why didn't things go the way you wanted them to this year, I would say, well, I would say because of the injury. I can't swing when you're not healthy. Yeah, and you play away from, are you swing away from pain? And so I started to get the club way on the inside, on the, on the Dying Swing and swing. I mean, my path was so far from end to end. Because anything going left at impact

was putting pressure on that ribbon on that joint and it would hurt. So I played for four months without hitting a shot left or right. And he can't do that. That's just not. So it made me play a certain way. And I'm part of the fact that I used to be

very much draw by a player and the last few years I've been able to hit it both ways and I definitely think that's being a big part of my success is being able to get the back right pins in line because I can hit it at the middle of the green and I can feed it back and stuff like that and this year I just haven't been able to do that and that's why, you know, if you look at my statistics, my wedge plays, not being very good, my iron play has not been very good. But even over the last couple of weeks, I feel like I've made some little tweaks in my swing,

which is starting to make it feel a little bit better, but it's so nice that I have this time, not in the off season to work on all this stuff and make sure that, you know what, it hopefully never happens again. We were yesterday at Shore Acres and Brendan Todd was there kind of doing a bit of a clinic and talking about Wedgeplay and he just kind of made an interesting point.

He was talking shit. Yeah, he was talking shit. He just made a really interesting point that I've never thought of when it comes to Wedges. He just, you know, is hitting them and saying, you know, Spin comes from creating speed through the contact zone. Somebody like me has a slower swing speed and I have shorter gaps between my wedges

whereas somebody like Rory creates a lot of speed through the ball may struggle more with wedges because he has larger gaps between his wedges. Is that something kind of, or what's kind of your thought process that goes through your practicing and your analysis of your wedge game? Yeah, so I had this...

And also, what are those gaps in your wedges? What are these gaps? Yeah, so I had this conversation with Thomas Bjorn in Scotland. I played the first day in Scotland, the Scottish Open, and I came in and my wife, Erica, was having lunch with his girlfriend, Gris, and I sat down with Thomas. I said, I need to talk to you about wedges. And then he made a very interesting point, is he said, what makes you so long,

like in terms of my speed and hand speed and all that stuff, it's also what makes you struggle with your wedges. And he said, opposite with me, I hit the ball nowhere, but it's why I'm good with my wedges, is because I don't have that flash speed at the bottom. And I'm not able to create that speed that you guys can to hit it so far. So there is merit to that.

But you look at someone like a DJ or look at someone who's been able to control that. And that's to do with, you know, there's a lot of, you know, I see DJ and I see the way he used to hit wedges and taking huge divots and you see him now, he hardly took the divot, he clips it. So every single time he hits a wedge shot, it's so consistent, you know, so he doesn't hit one that it might be a degree D lofted, but a degree is five yards, you know, and five yards in our game is the difference between hitting it stiff and hitting it over the back of the green and a terrible lie and making five. Right. You know, so he uses Track Man that I heard. I've heard that on TV.

He does? Yeah, a little bit. So those gaps, so like say, for example, my full lob wedge, you go 100 yards. I use four wedges because of, you know, I think most long, longer, most of the longs, long guys do use four wedges. Exactly, we spoke of, your distance is gonna give you more wedges too, so it's kind of a tough conundrum. Exactly, you're gonna have more wedges than your are three yarns, so that's why I forego using a three yarn and use four wedges. But I'd hit my fill out law by a hundred yards,

my fill out, 56, 115, my fill out 52 between 125 and 130, it's usually like 127, 120 hit, and then my fill out wedge goes 145. So there's always, and you're never going to get these exact perfect numbers. And you're always going to have to determine, okay, where's the wind? How soft are the greens? How much is this going to spin? You know, there's a lot that goes into wedge play, and a lot that you sort of have to calculate. But so there are obviously big gaps, but you can practice and you can try in to have certain swings for certain numbers. And like I used to sort of like the pelt's thing

where you have, I had three different swings for each wedge. So if I'm using four wedges, that's 12 numbers I have between, say, 70 yards and 145 yards. So you can lay it up to one of those numbers and get sort of close to one of them, no doubt. And then, I feel like my wedge play was very good at a point. And I think it's just, I need to work on it a little bit.

And if I can create the right path and the right speed through impact, there's no doubt that I can get back to being a really good wedge player. But it's something I have struggled with this year. But you see someone like DJ practice at a lot and do what he does, and you can see the results. So, a quick break here. We're going to take a minute to talk a bit about Travis Matthew Apparel. Again, this is the recent acquisition that Callaway Golf has made in the apparel industry.

If you're not familiar with Travis Matthew, they draw their inspiration from all aspects of Southern California culture and lifestyle. Their focus is on making premier men's apparel for work and play and they've cemented their foothold in the sportswear world. Travis Matthew wants to make sure you're looking great whethered their foothold in the sportswear world. Travis Matthew wants to make sure you're looking great whether it's grinding it out in the office or squeezing in nine holes on Friday afternoon with your buddies coaching your kids soccer games or getting in after hours shenanigans with the boys. Travis Matthew is throwing a party and you are invited. So swing by at Travis Matthew dotcom and find out more. Now back to the podcast with Rory McElroy. Do you, I mean, we kind of wanted to ask you a bit about Trackman

and about your analysis of the golf swing. You mentioned just a few of the things that kind of your injury did to you as far as the path of your swing. How dialed into Trackman are you? And I just remember like you getting into it with Brando a bit, talking about upward angles of swings. And I just kind of wanted to hear how you view your golf swing, what changes you make to your golf swing.

When you look at the data, are you like, I'm doing this, this, and this? I mean, how much are you relying on track man? It's a combination. I don't think you should solely rely on track man. I definitely don't think that's the way to go. I think it's a great tool that if used properly can be very beneficial.

But some of these guys that are right here and I'm using Trackman for every single golf swing that they make in terms of a taco angle path, you know, it gets too much. Because at the end of the day, you have to look at what the golf ball's done. You know, and that's the real thing. That tells the story.

Yeah, that tells the story for sure. So if I'm struggling with my swing, or I feel like, I'll say to my coach, I really feel like I'm getting this on plan. It feels like I'm coming down, and it doesn't seem like I'm attacking it from the inside. We're like, okay, put track mount on, and at least it will tell you because it's objective data.

It's not subjective. It's not what the IEC is. It's actually that is what it is. It's your baseline. It's a baseline. Exactly. So we use it for that. We use it for some wedge distances and stuff like that. Obviously, for clubfitting, it's been a really useful tool to help maximize how far you can hit it. Yeah, look, a tack angle hitting up on it with a driver is obviously going to create more better launch conditions. You know, higher launch lower spin is going to go further. So all of that stuff goes into it as well.

But I wouldn't be, you know, I'd use it a little bit. I think it's definitely helped me understand how a ball does what it does in the air in terms of Like I always used to think that You know your club fish should be open to hit a cut on your club fish should be closed to hit a draw when it's actually they should To hit a cut it should be Left of your intended target line and working it back because the ball starts Primarily where the where the club face is aiming and then the opposite. So when I was actually struggling with my swing in 13,

I sort of every time I wanted to hit a cut, I closed the club face because it just encouraged me to swing left. And every time I wanted to hit a draw, I opened the club face because it encouraged me to swing that little bit further right because it just gives you more of an idea. Because if you go back to all these PJ manuals when we didn't have track man, it was always, you know, to hit a cut, you know, aim your body left where you want

the ball to start and the club where you want the ball to finish when it's actually the opposite of where, opposite where I'm. So, um, so it's been, it's been a very useful tool. I think it's very helpful, but only if it's used in the right way. And I think people can get a little carried away with it at times, but I use my Trackman. I wouldn't use it every day, but I would use it very regularly, and I think it's a very useful tool. We got, from the program yesterday, we got our Trackman data. I got an email. It compares my data to yours. I'm not going to embarrass embarrass you, but put it on the information. I'm injured though, I don't have as much speed as I was. You got me by nine miles an hour with the Clubhead Speed.

I do have you a smash factor, I don't know what that means, but... What do you want? One five, oh, or one five, oh nine? What am I? One four seven? No. That's what it says, the data doesn't lie.

Bullshit. Maybe they're just trying to make the brilliant people feel good. Try to fluff my nose. Actually, they got Guy Bruce that got the car yesterday. He made me hit his golf ball on track. Did you like that? Oh, that's good. So it was all like on the 9 pull, wasn't it?

So he goes up Bruce Bruce of every 3.37. Did the spin rate, mine's 3,600, is that terrible? It's too high. You could hit it way further. What's your launch? Launch angle 10.3. Yeah, you need to get that launch angle up to 14. So this is yours is 10.1. I don't think it's my number is right. It might be old fake news data. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, this is. Maybe story 17. 17. Yeah.

So I need my launch angle up higher. Yes. know. Yeah, this is very 17. We're 17. So I need my launch angle, uh, Pire. Yes. OK. Yeah, you need to speak to your boy, JT. He'll tell you all about high launch conditions and hitting up on it. That's his specialty. That's his specialty. All right.

Well, we need to get that dialed in the folks from Calaway are listening here. So, um, moving on from that, I think, uh, going, going back on your, on your season, I know we kind of debriefed on 2017, but I think going back on your season, I know we'd debriefed on 2017, but I think a lot of, and we talked about this in Scotland, actually, a lot of stuff dates back to kind of the way the cards fell, goes back to Nike getting out of the equipment business, and that you had this new freedom to test all of this equipment, which ironically was kind of how you ended up injuring yourself, testing your equipment for hours and hours, kind of led into this period where you had not only this injury going on, but also this freedom to do whatever you wanted.

And if I was to estimate how it appeared to me, the freedom appeared to be a great thing, and then kind of ended up working against you. And you were doing a lot of tinkering. Is that kind of how you saw it as well? Yeah, I 100%. I think I was actually overwhelmed at the end of last year with the amount of stuff that I had.

And I'm there and I've got obviously all these different manufacturers that have sent stuff to me in different golf balls and different, and you're testing every single combination. And it's, you know, it's sometimes hard to differentiate what's really good and what's, and you have to go out and play in the course with it, and it's, um, it was pretty tough at the end. I, you know, it was, it was tough because you, there were certain clubs and certain balls that I hit were like, okay, I don't like that. I know that that's discarded straight away. So that, you know, you will, you will, you will, you will, you will, you will, you will, you will, you know, is going to be sort of close to what you're going to end up with. But that still is, you know, maybe three or four different golf balls and, you know, two or three

drivers or fairway woods and a few sets of irons, a few sets of wedges. So you're still, and all those different combinations. So there's still a lot to be tested. So yeah, it did. I thought having this freedom was going to be a great thing. And then I sort of realized, my wish, I was just, I think, if I just go with one single company, it makes things so much more simple.

And that's the sort of decision I ended up with in the middle of the season. Well, say, well, you confirmed then for the equipment junkies that beat me up that you said you told me you would be a free agent for all of 2020. Yeah, no, yeah. So I, no, I did say to you that I was going to be a free agent all of this year and play what I wanted to, but I didn't know what was going to happen and obviously you didn't either. So take that message. Yeah, there you go. Take that golf WRI. So what was the recruiting process like? I mean, did any of the companies really go above and beyond and kind of pull out all the stops? Some more so than others.

Obviously the, obviously went with Taylor mid in the end and that was, that was great. And I played their driver at the end of last year and whatever. year and whatever and they like they they did the hard sell and whatever and so did a couple of companies and there was actually a couple of companies that were very standoff fish and wouldn't even send me equipment or and I was like okay that's fine that's okay no problem so. So you just go to Dick's sporting. Yeah, exactly. I was like, you know what, I don't even, yeah, fine. I don't need to, yeah, it's okay. So, but no, no one went above and beyond.

They, you know, I think they appreciated as well the position I was in and, you know, leave you alone, let you sort of make your own decision at the end of the day. And everyone was respectful of that. And I became close with, you know, Leave you alone let you sort of make your own decision at the end of the day and everyone was respectful of that and I Became close with you know a a couple of people from different manufacturers and on it was a tough decision in the end Because I built personal relationships with people that you know

They genuinely thought that you know that there was a chance that I would go with someone else But at the end of that I had to make the decision that was best for me, and that's why I went with Taylor mid in the end. Was it, I know that there's a sum of a lot of parts that end up to the final decision to that, but is there anything leading, say, driver distance, iron, spin, rates, ball? I mean, is there anything that was like really the convincing final factor in that regard?

Ball, ball. Yeah, ball was the big thing, and it wasn't, you know, and it was a ball that I needed right there and then. It wasn't something where, well, we can make you a ball and a few weight three or six months, you know, we'll have the ball as perfectly. I needed something like van, you know, and that's why that was the reason I hit that tail in my balls.

I was like, wow, this is, and because of the struggles I had in the wind at Augusta, that was a huge thing in my mind. I needed something that was good in the wind and that was the struggles I had and the wind and Augusta, that was a huge thing in my mind. I needed something that was good in the wind, and that was a ball that came out the best. Bad hosting by me. I know it's not true, it's true that I said. It's like, I'm not supposed to do this.

So the prototype thing is super interesting to me because it must be so weird to kind of have a team of scientists with clipboard just ready to kind of make whatever you tell them to make. Yeah, it's tough as well because I'm not that way in line. I'm like, give me something that works and I'll play it. You know, I don't need something that's bespoke to me. I don't need something that you have to change the dimple pattern on or, you know, just give me something that I think works and I like what I see in terms of ball flight and the window that's going in.

Because you're used to reacting to what a ball does, not being in that shoot that's made of like, make this around me. Yeah, exactly. I mean, what, you know, where would you start? Yeah, how do you even articulate what you're trying to say? 400 yards off the tee with no spin and on, but I just see a time can spin with a wedge. Yeah, it's just, it's so hard.

So, but that's their job. Their job is to make something that suits everyone, I guess, you know, but all these manufacturers make great stuff. And, you know, I was witness to that. You know, I tested all of it. And, you know, it's tiny little percentages here there. And what might one person might ensuit another? and at the end of the day what suited me you know was the best was for the most part the Taylor made up of. Alright moving on. I can see your sort of wriggling in your chair.

You want to stop saying Taylor man? We can bleep that far as well. On top of all these changes you got got married in April, which was awesome. You're not, you know, 2017 as much as we're saying it's been a bad year, it's an unbelievable year. And that's kind of what I want to talk about. I mean, you're not, you're far from the only player that is in a personal relationship.

But it's not like specifically unique to you. And I don't think it's, and you don't use it necessarily as an excuse for anything that has happened. But I think, you know, in kind of going week to week and seeing you guys more often and kind of seeing the personal side of everything you guys do and the process that goes into it, it's maybe something that listeners or fans

may not understand and how much that changes things. What has changed really in your life? I mean, there's things that go into planning a wedding. There's a person that you are with, I would imagine, more of the time now that you're married and when you're engaged. What has changed is in a way that it relates to your golf career as well, how has that relationship and going through that like life commitment affected the way you practice or anything with your routine. Yeah, I mean if anything she's encouraging me to get out of the door, get out the door more and she's sick of practice. Yeah, exactly. It's not saying you don't practice. No, no, no, no, of course.

No, it's been great. I, you know, Erica traveled with me before we got married. So like, that was always, and we lived together before we got married. And, you know, so getting married didn't change anything. Right. It just made it official, more than anything else. So, nothing's really changed. I mean, it felt like the most simple thing in the world to do. It wasn't, you know, we had a great party over a weekend with all our closest friends and family know, we had a great party over a weekend

with all our closest friends and family, and we had a great time. So, but, you know, you're married then, and there's, you know, we, you were in the process of, we just bought a house, and we're just starting to, to sort of renovate it, and stuff like that. So there's, there's different,

and I'm definitely in a different place in my life to say where I was a couple of years ago. So you know where I you know there's there's there's guys on tour that I would have hung out with more because I was single or not my rate and you know whether that's Ricky or JT or you know whoever it is and now it's more you know oh let's go out with this couple or that couple and it's a little you start to do that sort of stuff., and now it's more, you know, oh, let's go out with this couple or let's go out with that couple. And it's a little, you start to do that sort of stuff. So it's a little different, but it's great to have someone that's there that doesn't care

if you should 65 or 85, and you know, you come off the golf course and you might be pissed off because you've shot a bad score, but there's someone there at the end of the day that you know is gonna be be there, no matter what. You know, that's really nice. So, Eric is a massive part of my team, and I'm sure she is going to be a massive part of, hopefully, my success going forward. So, but it's been a transitional year. Planning a wedding is stressful and I mean she took more of the burden than I did but That was when you were calling me to say let's do another podcast together.

Yeah exactly. I'm like I'm sort of yeah I had two hours in the phone with a wedding planner. I'm done. I want to talk about something else. But no so it's been it's been a really cool year and yeah but it's always, I've always earmarked 2017 just with a lot of stuff, even like with equipment-wise and stuff and getting married. It was always going to be a bit of a transitional year. I didn't want, I didn't think an injury would go into that as well, but it's, but I mean

off the golf course, it's been awesome. I couldn't, you know, I can't completely and I'm a bit, I'll buy it anything that way. So my wife plans wedding. So I'm always really curious to ask people, you know, what's one thing that you really kind of hated about the wedding planning process? Um, she doesn't do a lot of weddings that are quite like yours.

I don't know what I'll learn from this. Ah, ha, ha. I think, you know, for someone that's planning a wedding, just, you know, don't allow yourself to be talked into stuff that you don't need. And now Erica was huge on that. And I'm a guy that just goes the foes and say, yeah, that sounds good. And Erica's like, how much is that costing?

So I said in my wedding speech, I was like, I was actually like the wife and she was the husband in terms of like this whole thing because I was like, yeah, that sounds great and she was like, how much is this gonna cost? So the rules are reversed a little bit, but I think that's the thing. I mean, a wedding is where you get all of your friends and family together and you just have the best time.

And everyone, you know, the people that you see in that room, that day, you would never have imagined would be in the same place ever. You know, you see you look at the back corner and you see uncle and whoever and then you look over here and you see Sergio and whoever. It's like, well, this is so weird. It's, but it's so cool. It's just, it was a really, really great weekend. And that's kind of what I was the reason for asking was I, it's like, well, this is so weird, but it's so cool. It's just, it was a really, really great weekend.

And that's kind of what I was the reason for asking was I think it's so easy to be as a golf fan to think. Yeah. Look at this event before it, and then, oh, yeah, I've always been married this weekend. All right, now he's back this week, like what can we expect from him? And it doesn't really highlight the difference

in life versus your job. Yeah. Your job is golf. Yeah, of course it is. And as much as you don't wanna call it that because that, it's not a job. You know, I don't feel like I'm working on the golf course. It's a dream job.

It's a dream. It's what you wanna be doing, obviously. It's how I make a living. But it's not a job. But at the same time, if I didn't have know, what else would I be doing, I guess, you know, so... But it is, it's so... Yeah, you can definitely lose perspective on stuff like that, being... I think if you played golf weekend, we got in terms of being on tour weekend, we got you would lose.

You need some sort of balance everyone does and as you know general golf fans sometimes don't understand that because everyone's a person and everyone has a life and everyone has you know there's stuff going on in people's lives you don't realize and you even take you know prime take, you know, prime example, Tiger, you know, you know, I think people struggle to differentiate Tiger, the golfer and Tiger, the person. And you know, Tiger, the person is someone that we all need to support right now and get behind him. And hopefully he makes a recovery and and gets healthy again and gets back out on the golf course. So he can be Tiger, the golfer. But right now it's Tiger, the person that everyone wants to root for.

So. Yeah, and I think you just kind of, there's only a few guys that can really relate to it. You've been, I think, one of them, and that you reach this certain level of, I don't know if it, I don't know if it's the word, or if it's just kind of, I'm the way I've been watching the kid

when watching Tiger grow up. I never felt like I was watching a human. You know what I mean? Not that he's a robot. No, but it does it dehumanizes people. And you see it not just in sports, but just every walk of life. And now that everything and everyone is so much more accessible

with social media and it dehumanizes people even more. So that's when people just need to take a step back sometimes and be like, OK, this is actually, this is a real person that went to a real school that had real parents that has a real family. And even though they do something different, and their lives may be drastically different to someone else's, you know, they still, at the end of the day, are no different.

And that's sometimes something that the general sports fan just needs to realize. And I haven't, like I'm compared to Tiger, I'm nothing but I've seen first hand just by being a huge Tiger fan and seeing the stuff that he's had to deal with and how people have reacted to it. That's like, sort of not fair. You know, it's, you know, I think you're, you probably are fine with not ever. No, I'm, I'm, I'm 100% happy not reaching that level of, I'd love to have the success, but with like the, their other stuff. That's, you know, I'm like, it's a double-edged sword because to have that success, you're gonna have to deal with other stuff.

So, you know, if that means I only win, you know, if I win whatever, I'm 10 mages less than I'm not. I don't want to be 10 mages less than at the end of my career, but say that I end up with half a dozen less. I'll be, you know, I'm still have somewhat of a normal life. Yeah. Happy days. I think what kind of goes underappreciated with what you guys do in our ask to do is how often you have to be on.

And then when you show up at the golf course and you're good at it, not everyone's good at it, but you look people in the eye, you talked to them, but you are somebody's always wanting something from you. The tour is going to want you to go, you know, pop over the range and do this. Or a sponsor tour is gonna want you to go pop over the range and do this or a sponsor's gonna want you to do this and this and that is almost a, I don't want, it's certainly a distraction of some kind, but it's kind of a challenge that,

I don't know, I don't think I fully understood it until I started walking inside the ropes and you hear fans say something to you every single hole and dumb stuff, every single hole. And I'm not above this because I'm kind of in this, we're in this kind of weird media space where I make requests of you too, but that's gonna blend in with however many media requests

you have. I mean, how challenging is it to balance what you know you need to do versus what you wanna do? Yeah, I think at the end of the day, you have to realize you Yeah, I think at the end of the day, you have to realize, you know, you have an obligation to yourself, but also to your sponsors, to the tour, to your fans, to do enough. I don't think you have to be overly giving,

but you have to do enough. And if you can figure out what you enjoy doing, so for me, I enjoy doing stuff like this. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I enjoy doing stuff with kids. So if you figure out what you enjoy doing, this one's both. Yeah, exactly.

But so if you figure that out, it doesn't become so much of a chore. And it's actually sort of fun, but you're doing something good at the same time. It's good for you. It's good for them. It's good for them. It's good for everyone. So that's sort of, and I've had a few years of figuring that out.

I went through the problem of, geez, I have to do this, I have to do that, but if you can figure out what you like to do, and I think that's the biggest thing as well, someone told me, after I won the US Open in 2011, someone said, I mean, the biggest thing you're gonna have to learn to do is to say no. Yeah. And it's true, because you just, you can't do everything. But if you figure out what you wanna do, what makes sense, what you enjoy. Perfect. Did you struggle with that?

Because, you know, whether it was working at the tour or whatever, I feel like I've seen a lot of guys who don't really have that gear where they can say no, and they tend to kind of get take an advantage of. I feel like Ricky's kind of- Ricky, I was just like, Ricky, but he's such a nice guy. And that's what I mean though. I think it feels like it must be so hard

to say no right to someone's face. There's gotta be a point where you have to just say, you know, I'm sorry guys, but I have to do what's right for me. And look, if that is what's right for Ricky, then great. But I feel like Ricky doesn't get a day off. You know, he goes from tournament to someone's charity day to next tournament to someone else's charity day

to a sponsor shoot to, you know, so it must take its toll. And look, he's young and he's single and you can do all these things and he doesn't really have many. He's not tied down anyway, I guess, so he can do all these things and he doesn't really have many. He's not tied down anyway I guess, so he can do this, but you know, has to take some time for himself as well. And I had to figure that out as well because I was always the one saying yes, and you just have to, you can still please people and you know, you don't have to feel like an asshole by saying no, you can just do what you need to do and limit it.

Well, I've always kind of extrapolated that out too. You know, that plus money growing by saying no, you can just do what you need to do and limit it. Well, I've always kind of extrapolated that out to that plus money growing at these astronomical rates. It's hard to say, and I'm curious what you think, on whether or not that'll kind of have a take its toll and have an effect on the length of guys' careers. Yeah. I don't, I think you reach a stage where it doesn't, obviously, there's guys in their 30s right now

that could retire and be very happy and be comfortable for the rest of their lives. But I think you reach a certain point where it's not about the money, it's about the titles, it's about trying to leave your mark on this game and have a legacy. So it really depends what your drive is. Knowing no one turned professional and wanted to play in the PGA tour because they wanted 100 million in their bank account. They wanted to win tournaments and win trophies.

And that's the reason that we all started to want to become professional golfers and play this game. The money is just icing on the cake. That's a bonus. It's so nice to be able to not just nice. It's unbelievable that we get to play for. It's incredible.

But the way the world has went with media rights, with TV deals, with everything, it's not just in golf. You look at the deals in basketball, and baseball, and football, the money that the guys are on over in Europe for soccer. I mean, it's massive. Yeah. Golfers in general don't play for that much money relative to other sports. No, I mean, you look at the US Open Tennis last week. First prize was $3.7 million.

That's so nice. I mean, that is just unreal. But it just shows where, you know, and corporate sponsors get a lot out of it. They can take clients and, you know, you've got to realize these days that, that high-end professional sports, it's a business at the end of the day.

And the ones that are providing that entertainment are the players and the athletes, and they have to be compensated for that as well, I guess. Do what's the biggest difference between, you know, the way the media presents the game or covers the game in the reality, or like what's an example of something that like the media is covering this as if this is reality, but it's not necessarily the case. Um,

and golf or an any and everything. I would, I would lean towards golf with it. I mean, for, for example, for me, the, and I'm not to lead you right into your into the answer. Um, but to me, my opinion, the reality of necessarily winning a major gets a bit lost. And then when people say, Rory's in a major drought. Going three years without winning a major isn't a disaster in terms of the actual reality of trying to win a major tournament. So that's kind of what I was going for. So what do you see and read that you say, like, well, that's just not how we view things

on the tour, how we would describe that situation. Yeah, that's just not how we view things on the tour, or how we would describe that situation. Yeah, that's fair. And I think, again, that goes back to this culture and the society, and everything is, it seems it's so much more condensed and reactive, and people forget what you did two weeks ago, or what happened today or what, it sort of, it all gets lost a little bit. So that's a fair comment,

but whenever someone like me who won four majors and four years and then I go zero and three, it's a fair comment, but I wouldn't call it a draw, I'd just say. no, that was just the same. Yeah, no, he's zero and 11 and you know, it is what it is. But you know, hopefully I can come out of it. But I'm it's not a it's not like I'm there panicking going, geez, I haven't won one in three years. And you know, I'm 28 years of age and there's a

lot of road ahead of me. I hope to be able to at least give myself chances to win. But it's tough. It's hard to win them. It's hard to win any golf tournament. The fields are so deep. People are so, you know, the difference between the first guy and the hundredth guy is very, very small. It's tiny little percentages here and there that make the difference.

And you know, some weeks you're on and you look at someone like a like Jason Day this week he sort of struggled this year and he's you know I know this is going on in a couple days time but you know he's 13 under after two days here and he has a great chance to win the golf tournament and you know you know people wouldn't have thought that maybe four weeks ago right you know so it's things can change so quickly and golf and its form can come and go but I feel like through the ups and the downs everything sort of levels like everyone finds their level. I think if I crunch the numbers you can paint it two ways you can say you're

over your last 12 majors or you can say you've won four of the last 28 which is like 14-15% if you maintain that ratio through the rest of your career you're O for your last 12 majors or you can say you've won four of the last 28, which is like 14, 15%. If you maintain that ratio through the rest of your career, you're passing Arnold Palmer and majors one and stuff like that. So that, so yeah, I kind of led you into that part, but in general, is there something that fits something like? Yeah, I think everything sort of sensationalized. But something like media is talking about the ball going too far. In reality reality are you guys like, you know I'm not we don't care about this or you guys are way off on this like for instance I was talking to a player

I won't say his name because there's a reason why he was saying this case But he's saying well the balls never gonna get restricted because of this this this and this and it made a ton of sense So yeah kind of the way that just kind of an example. So I don't know broadly. People, I don't think the ball will ever get restricted. This is a completely off, but you know, a regulation or a, you know, a tournament golf ball for a major, that would be something I would be open to because it'd be pretty cool.

Yeah. You know, it does, it happens in tennis, they go from playing a Wilson ball at the US open to a slasinger at the, at the, at Wimbledon to a Bab a Wilson ball at the US open to a slasinger at Wimbledon to a Babelat ball at the French, so people have to adjust to these certain balls and they do stuff differently. They spin differently, they react differently off the court. So that would be cool, but I mean, does the ball go too far?

I think in terms of sustainability of golf courses and obviously shipmux got this thing about 9,000 yard golf courses and stuff. Well, there is going to be a point where that might need to happen, but that's not sustainable. Like trying to build a 10,000 yard golf course is just so much land and the water that has to be used to maintain that golf course and it's just, it's nuts, you know, that can't happen. So we do need to find a way to bring some of the old classic golf courses back into playable tournament, you know, condition. I don't know what, who knows, you know, Mike Davis said, maybe an 80% golf ball, something like that, to bring these, you know, Mike Davis said maybe an 80% golf ball something like that to bring these, you know, golf golf courses that are

Six thousand eight hundred yards, but then the long hitters will still have the advantage because it's an 80% ball So it's you know, so everyone's gonna just head at 80% about the usually do so it's not gonna bring everyone closer together It's still gonna have you know the long hitters are the long hitters are always gonna have an advantage Yeah, that's just the way the game is. Which is fair, right? Cause, you know, they should be rewarded for something that's a skill. I've always said it's a skill because I, I'm 5'9", 160 pounds and, you know, I hit it as far as Dustin Johnson, who's 6'4", and 200 pounds. You know, so it's not, it's not a buyout big yard, you know, everyone has the ability to do it. It's just a matter of finding the way that you can.

And one drive that goes 350 is the same as being able to hold a six-foot putt. It's one shot in a run to golf. This is totally hypothetical, of course, but let's say this tournament ball is instituted. How long would you feel you need to test and really feel comfortable with something that's totally brand new? I probably need... This is why I can't happen. No, it wouldn't need... Well, I'm just curious. Is it a year? No, no, no, it's two weeks. You practice with it. You go on, you play, wherever that tournament is being held, you go play that golf course and you play a few rounds with it and you jot everything

down that happens. Okay, it pitched this, it spun this, it, you know, when it was left to right, it got hit this much by the wind, right to left this much. I can't hold it up as much, it, you know, it goes further downwind, and my ball does, you know, stuff like that. I think, yeah, give us two weeks to figure it out and I think we'd be fine. All right, we're going to cut part one right there. I think this, this first half of the recording that we did with Rory last week was a bit

more on the serious side, but pretty awesome to hear him flesh out a lot of thoughts on all the things going on and golf and things going on with his game. The second half is coming to come out here on Wednesday. It's a bit more grab bag, a bit more random questions and kind of a bit more freewheeling. But I think you guys are really going to enjoy that part as well. But yeah, we talked for over two hours. So we had to make sure to put this up into two parts. So thank you for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe on whatever network you use to download podcasts and be ready for part two on Wednesday. Thanks. Let's give it a nice blow. Feed a right blow today.

That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different.