Subpar - Joel Dahmen Interview: His personal White Claw challenge, why he played a mini-tour with a rental set, and the true story behind the Sung Kang controversy

Episode Date: May 27, 2020

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and his close friend and on course rival Drew Stoltz for an exclusive, in-studio, interview. Joel reveals his personal White Claw quarantine challenge, why he played the final round of a mini-tour with a rental set, and the true story behind his on course stand off with Sung Kang over a controversial drop.

Hello, world, and welcome to this week's episode of golf subpar. I am Colt Nose. joined, as always, by the sleazy man, Drew Stoltz. What's happening? Good to be with you, Colty. We're here Monday recording on Memorial Day, and I got to say, just for everyone listening, we're playing a little bit wounded right now.

If my voice doesn't sound quite as sexual as normal, it's got a little extra gravelly tone to it today. But we're playing out, bud. We're doing it for the love of the game, but that's what we do. We had the big match yesterday. You got to send it during the match. Rule 1.

100% have to. I mean, it was a big day. I hope everyone out there enjoyed it. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning coming out on top. You know, it looked like it was going to be a runaway at the start. They were getting just boat raced, and then Mr. Brady kind of sacked up on the back nine and played some good golf. Did what Brady does.

Yeah, I mean, going into it, I thought like, all right, this thing will be tightest baseball, Tiger and Phil. It kind of cancel each other out on the front. And then the back nine, that's where Peyton and Tiger will be better just because I thought Peyton Manning was a little bit better than, Tom Brady and it was like almost the opposite they came out Tiger and Brady or yeah excuse me Tiger and Peyton big lead and then it flipped on the other side Brady finally came alive after fuels he looked like for the first time ever he looked like a human being like he was a fish out of water the only bet I made on the entire match was that you could get Tom Brady or Peyton Manning to miss the fairway on number one at plus money and I was like I've seen Peyton swing I kind of know

I figured he could get something in the fairway but I was like I ain't convinced on Tom Brady I got plus one 10 on Brady to miss the first fairway and he had an iron he pulled out an iron on the team I was like god dang it like this shouldn't count you know I mean it should have to have graphite in it count as a hit fairway I was like he's going to chip some of iron down there and just get it in play and sure enough yeah a little laser beam over to the left not even sniffing grass so that was the only bet I was with you I loved that bet just because I mean first off these guys are going to be nervous as hell yeah this ain't their arena as they said I mean Phil Phil couldn't keep it on the planet I loved I was like I was texting my buddy was like I think I could

give Phil two a side right now. This guy is terrible. He was all over the yard on that front nine. That's when I was like, this thing could be a six. It would have been a disaster if it was like just a six and five pound. You know what I mean? They want that thing to go 18 holes. I was like, I don't know how bad Tiger and Peyton can be to keep these guys in it right now. They're making bogey on best balls. But it was, uh, it was awesome. They did such a great job. Justin Thomas was absolutely incredible. He was awesome, dude. I thought for first time, you know how hard that gig is. It's one of those things that good guys make it look easy, but it ain't that easy. and I thought he was the perfect buffer in between Tiger and Phil.

Because he knew all four of the guys, but he's friends with both those guys. So he can throw some jabs over here, throw some jabs over here, thought he was a home run. I mean, it's a good situation for him because he's like, I can go out here if I suck. I'm still one of the best golfers in the world. I'll just go back to playing that. I don't have to really have to worry about this broadcasting thing.

Yeah, there's way less pressure on him. There's a lot of pressure on me. I don't do this. This ain't my thing. I'm just doing this for fun. So if I stink, I'm supposed to stink. And I'm still in the world number four or whatever he is right now. So there was less pressure, but he was awesome.

Big from the top rope jab at Barclay on the, I think it was the ninth green when Chuck said something, oh, about Tiger getting up and down from the bunkers. Like, he's a pro golfer. He's supposed to do that. I don't get impressed when an NBA player dunks. And without missing a beat, Justin Thomas Chimson. I'd like to see your fat-ass dunk right now.

I was like, oh, okay, that's something probably most guys wouldn't get away with. Charles' comeback was pretty good, though. He's like, you can't call me fat on TV nowadays. That's bullying. Yeah, you can't. That's bullying. Got to watch what you says. And, dude, good for Charlie.

Charles, by the way. I mean, he made a double on 18, but like it was, I thought it was acceptable. Like, it wasn't too bad. Respectable. Not much flinch there. We were talking with Justin Thomas on the radio show earlier. And he's like, dude, I was standing with him on the range. He was hitting drivers perfectly. I was like, oh, this is going to be no problem. And then sure enough gets up on the first tee or on the 18th tee for the first real shot and just like quick top left almost. The driver's a problem for Big Chuck. But awesome, man. I loved what they did. There is 20 million bucks. I mean, that was that was great. Yeah, I thought it was. the perfect I mean it's not real golf it's an exhibition it was still super fun I thought it was the perfect combination of like band great banter way better than match one with tiger and phil where tiger really didn't say anything tiger really didn't say a whole lot during this one either like it was basically phil and and Peyton kind of carrying the load or doing the heavy lifting I guess on the mic but it was a perfect combo of like real golf enough competition it got serious at the end but also like we got to see tom brady and Peyton manning play golf and and I thought the alternate shot format was a 10

And we need more of that and these things going forward. Yeah, because it puts some heat on the other guys, the non-golfers, which I thought was great. But I don't think it's a big surprise. Tiger didn't talk a ton. That's just he's not like that. He threw the one U.S. Open jab at Phil, which was awesome. Right. It's good.

I like that. But I love these things. I think adding the other athletes in makes it even better. Yeah, I didn't know what to expect. And that's where, like, will it be better with Peyton and Brady being involved or will be worse because they're not as great in golfers? I think going forward, for me, it's fun. especially in the alternate shot because like on 18th hole it was Brady and Peyton hitting the two biggest shots of the matches right like that's cool if it's

Brooks Kepka and Ricky Fowler out there like I know what they're going to do they're going hit on the middle of green it's going to be perfect and they're going to both make par and it's over but with that you're like these things could go anywhere I think going forward I'd love to see more guys that aren't pro golfers but can still play a little golf being the other two guys that are included in for sure well done by by everyone involved that was a great event but we have a great event on our show today the man Joel Damon sits down down with us. You know him very well. Yeah. Played a ton of golf with Joel growing up back when he was jickey jack, Joel, not PJ tour Joel. And he's got some great stories. Always one of the

best interviews in golf would be a guy even before he is, you know, who he's become now, like was always the guy at the mini tour event, Canada, corn fray, whatever, always having like the best time. Always the fun dude. Always the first guy. If you want to grab beer after the round or on Friday before the weekend or during the round or maybe at the turn. Yeah. Like Joel was the dude. And he's state, he's basically the exact same guy now. Yeah, he, it's been cool. He is awesome. He's one of my favorite guys to play with when I was out on tour.

Just has a great perspective on life in the game of golf. And awesome, awesome attitude. So much fun to play with. And very fun to interview as well. And here he comes, Mr. Joel Damon. We did record this before the Scottsdale Open, where he was the betting favorite. We did not know it at the time. You went toe to toe with him.

Actually clipped him, I believe. That would have definitely been brought up had we recorded it after the Scottsdale Open. But this was before, but we get some jicky jack sewers. is we get some PJ Tour stories. He's one of the best dudes out there. Here he is. Joel Damon. All right, this beautiful specimen sitting next to us right now.

Currently, the 33rd ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings. And according to an article that I just read before the show, one of the best interviews on the PGA Tour Colt. Pretty big accolade. How do you feel about that? One of the best. Where would you rank yourself? Depends on many drinks I've had.

How many have you had today? Well, start about nine, a couple IPAs, got it into a little tequila. All right, so we're working out. By the end of the show. By the time we get home for dinner, my wife's going to love me. You'll have met the quota. She loves you. She never gets mad at you. That is correct. That's not correct.

I did swiffer the floors before I left today. I did the dishes. I did a couple things. And we were supposed to have this podcast a few days ago. Late cancellation, by the way, which we won't bring up. A bit of a diva move, gold. We're being honest. Our second person to do that to us.

I've come to find out it was due to like house. shores or something like that, wasn't it? Like, I had to hang some lights. There was an outdoor project that had to be done. Well, she threatened me. We had her mom and dad over that next day, and I had to have these hung lights over their backyard. Well, they've been hung for like six months, but the guy didn't do it properly.

So I was supposed to put a cable through from two sides of her house to a pole in the backyard. And I can barely, like, screw it. I can barely brush my own teeth, let alone, like, use, like, a screwdriver and hang lights across the backyard. So a process that I thought was going to take about an hour took a lot longer than that and then didn't get done properly. So I had to fix it again. You just got to come with the excuses. Look, I don't want to hurt myself. You know, I got to play golf. I was on a ladder. That's dangerous. Exactly. That's too much. I mean, if you fall and hurt, I mean, where's the income coming?

My life insurance policy. You sent me that picture of it and I was like, so like what are you doing this? You're the one hanging is. Exactly. That was a problem. Interesting. Quarantine. Quarantine. Yeah. That's a problem. Yeah. Exactly. You have been off of golf for a while, not haven't been playing. PJ Tour slated to come back at Colonial, but you're throwing your hat back in the ring a little early with the little Scottsdale Open here coming up. Return to the jickey jacks for Mr. Joel Damon.

How are we feeling about that? I'm pumped. You know, I've won there. Not many people know this, but it was my last professional victory, I think. 2017 Scottsdale Open champion. A little nostalgia. Yeah, so I'm really excited.

I've been grinding pretty hard. I had my, I played this morning, actually. shot solid 69 today. So I think that would probably make the cut maybe next week. So as you know, this is going to be my first jickey jack, as Sleece calls it. This is Colts' first. I never played

a mini tour event. Can you imagine being so good that you just only play Webb or PJ2 your entire life? I can't even fathom it. I don't even know that you can consider yourself like a real tour player. I just got lucky that I never had to go to play a jickey jack. I really I think this might change Colt career going for it. He might play jickey jack over the summer

and just have a blast. It's the best time of all time minus the no money not being able to pay for anything and basically going broke but i feel like you should have to play next i feel like next week you should have to stay in like the shittiest motel and scottesdale and room with three other dudes and eat it outback every night just so you know what it's like i'll back was like if somebody won dude goutback was too high i doesn't say it's great uh that's you're gonna have so much if it wasn't quarantine uh jiggy jack you would have an absolute blast i'm gonna have a blast anyway but i said this last night i was like it's not gonna feel like a real when I'm staying at home yeah and I'm driving my car down there I'm not like sharing a hotel

room with a bunch of dudes what do you think about Parker open for him next year Parker opens right up a dude I got a whole list of shit you can play next summer they will really give you the vibe if you win like three of them you can break even it's a great yeah yeah all you got just average like 64 across the board and you'll push for and then beat all the guys who like don't count all their scores yeah sounds like Parker opens that's the one yeah that's the one that's the one that I had but yeah you guys are going toe to toe so I mean If you look at the field, it's pretty decent. This is probably the best jicky jack field in history.

I mean, you're playing. Brandon Harkins. Isn't Perez playing? Streelman? You're playing. Strelman's playing. Lashley. Lashley, tour winner.

Multiple tour winners. Triplet. Senior two guys are playing. Does he play the same T's as us? He better. But you said you've been grinding. What's grinding looking like for Jol D. I think I know, but what's the Jill Damon grind session look like?

Because I've seen it. playing two or three times a week never more than three but minimum eight beers I'm actually big in a white house right now yeah and then I play a lot of Mesa Country Club Harkins is out there Michael Allen senior tour player and then a bunch of really fun guys so it's minimum lots of drinks

and then probably scramble after it's 5-05 scramble that's how Tiger used to get ready that's what I thought yeah explain the rules at Mesa country club because I've actually never been there, but I heard an interesting pace of play rule down there for the guys that have never been there. If you play in over four hours, you have paid the bar tap. So your group? If you're group, so we only play in six. I'm like if you go on, you can't go on a foursome, but like the men's game is Wednesday, Friday.

Now it's like every day. But if you play in over four hours, you pay the bar tab. That's a hell of six. Have you had to pay the bar tab? No one has even approached like for, it's like a 3.30. You got Michael Allen in that mix. He ain't taking too much time. by the way one of the all-time great.

I love that. Maybe like the sneakiest, most unknown legend. Yeah, he's got great stories. Well, he hung out with John Daly a ton on the champions tour. Well, and even on the PJ Tour. I'll tell you my first Michael Allen story real quick. So I'm in college. I go Monday qualified for the Byron Nelson.

He's in the Monday qualifier, but he had tour status. I get in a, I get in a playoff. Three guys, two spots. Michael Boyd, who was from Tulsa, Oklahoma, I believe, and Michael Allen and myself. So these guys are both. They're coming off like the web category, so they're not in that week. So, I mean, they're trying to make a living out here.

And here's this punk college kid. I burly the first playoff all and go freaking nuts. Michael Allen didn't even shake my hand just bolts to the next team. Respect. Was so mad at me because, I mean, like, here's a guy trying to make a living. And then he ended up getting in, and he's been the nicest dude ever to me. He's the best dude. I love that guy.

He's a great hang. That guy will drink early in the morning, late at night, and he still plays a really good golf. I think he's 61 or 62 now coming off an injury. But he's made a ton of money on the champions tour. one a major out there. He's kind of like the king of Mesa. I think he was like the original pro that was out there. A lot of great guys.

And then he recruited some of them. I shouldn't say recruited us, but I'm going to say he recruited us. He likes us so much. What kind of action do we have out at Mesa? It's a small game, but we go six sums, two on two on two on two, sometimes three on three, auto two downs. Birdies and Eagles are hits. Closest two on par threes are hits.

Do you have a terrible day? You maybe lose 200. Great day. If you're a pro, it all depends on your amateur partner. If you have a seven handicap and you shoot 75, you're probably going to win. As a pro, if you shoot 64, you can lose 100 bucks. So it's really just about having fun. And you train and game beers and playing four hours or less.

Yeah. That's the vital part. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, let's go back to a little earlier days. Okay. Stop trying to read my notes over here. There's a lot of copies.

We got a lot of breeders on this podcast. You and Stoltz have these nice laptops. We are professionals. Yeah, this is real. I was expecting way worse out of you guys. This is incredible. Real journalism stuff. All right.

Well, you're a good junior player coming up. You end up going to the University of Washington. Were you looking anywhere else before you side on UDW? I was looking West Coast for sure, mostly Northwest. I was a good Northwest player, didn't play a ton of AJGA stuff, but I wanted UNLV. Mr. Knight did not want me. That's probably good for you. Thank God I didn't go there.

You might not even shorter career. College. That's impressive to do that, but it would have been. New Mexico State was kind of on the list because, Charlie Belgian was good at the time and they sent me stuff in the mail and said he was good So I thought that would work he was good he was some small schools in California but nothing crazy I had some pack 12 offers pack 10 of the time but uh scholarship in state was nice and not Washington state was great perfect well tell us you end up going to u-dub tell us who some of your

roommates were there uh we had I just missed James lap Brock McKenzie like that really good run of players and then we ended up having an incredible run but nick taylor with my roommate for two years there. Darren Wallace played some. Richard Lee was on tour for a couple years. Alex Pruez bounced around off and on a tour. We had a really good run, but when I live with Nick, he was number one in the world.

And he hasn't returned to number one of the world since I left. Not saying that's a couple tour wins in six years and a bunch of millions, but he's on number one of the world. He wanted me to ask you something, by the way. Nick Taylor did. Yeah. He wanted to know what was the deal with your, with the door in your room during college,

and did someone happen to run through it? No, normal question. I believe he's talking about my actual bedroom door. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm not exactly sure it all started because college and late nights, but we were played a lot of beer pong,

I think like everybody else did. But when we got mad, we'd punch the door. It was next to it. Flimsy, crappy apartment. Start a little hole, got bigger. And then we had a football player, Daniel Teo Nesh. who actually played in the NFL for a while and enough drinks in him he decided he's going to run through the door

just take the whole door out the door was gone you OSR deposit by the way dude that was the oh that was yeah we're gonna need you that we're gonna need to get that deposit i don't think we ever had a chance to get that one back either yeah that was we took that was that was wow that was a long time ago but that was a lot of fun he told me you were a great roommate I was I made sure when he was practicing all the time, preparing, uh, doing really well that I had his weekends lined up for him. And by weekends, I mean like he chose like one a month to go out. And I'm like, I know, okay, we're going here. We're going here. I got a beer pong thing here for you. Uh, our other roommate was Kevin Spooner. So between Spooner and Nick Taylor, they were probably the

best duo of beer pong I've ever seen. Really? Ever, ever seen. So we would practice with water because well, they would play with water. I'd play with beer, but, uh, you don't have to lie on the show. We'd practice with water. No, they would play with water. We played a lot of water bottle. Yeah. But they would are so good. And if you made two cups, you got the balls back, and they would run a table all the time.

So I would go with the money. I bought a travel-along beer pong. You guys ever seen those? No, I didn't know that was even a thing. Oh, yeah. So it folds up in like a three-by-three thing. You just carry around. So you take it to the party, unfold it.

Here's our table. Boom. Line them up, 20 bucks to play. And I was kind of the middle man. And I raked. Yeah. They never, I don't know, like, I'm sure they lost, but it was late at night when they finally lost. Golfers are good at all those little, like, bullshit games like that.

You know what I mean? I think if we did like a beer Olympics, like beer sport Olympics, we would probably win almost every. That's a good idea. Against like other sports. We're patenting that right now. We put our trademark on that. We're patenting that. See, I feel like the NBA guys, their hands are too big to hold the ping pong ball.

It's like a shot when you're shooting free throws. Exactly. That's what people. I mean, you have cornhole, you got darts, foosball, ping pong. Pretty good. All the bar games. Golfers are good at. I can't chug.

I'll volunteer for that. All right. You can chugger. All right. Do you drink beer? I thought you only drink vodka. Well, those is tequila. I switched a year ago to tequila.

You feel healthier, slimmer. You look great, by the way. I don't know if I feel either of those, but my hangovers are better. Hangovers are so much better. So much. It's unbelievable. You stay clear tequila with something clear to mix it in. I used to wake up after a long night with vodka, and like, I would have the flinches at impact trying to play golf.

And tequila, I'm like, oh. Just have another one and then you're going to go again. That's how I felt my whole career. Flinch. With or without vodka. Yeah. So I know what it's like. Yeah.

You kind of had a long putter. You didn't quite anchor. Yeah, I started that. I started that. I started that rolled like 250 and then you'd get it around the green and you were great top tenor. Thank you. That's what I was, dude.

Just a steady Eddie. Got your age to be back. Paid the hotel bill. Sometimes enough for Outback. Once in a while. Blumen onion. Is that you treat yourself on the jickey jack with outback? Yeah.

Yeah. Remember the tournament? we showed up on the same plane to Vegas. I think you won, right? Was it a gateway event? Did you win that one? And I played good. I don't know what I did.

Top five. No big deal. Whatever. And we just happened to be on the same flight to Vegas. We didn't talk with that. Yeah. We didn't know we were going to Vegas. You were going with the group.

I was going with the group. I remember I walk on the plane. Jules in the back row. And I was like, Joel? And I get back there. He's already got like one or two of the little mini bottles empty in front of him. I was like, yeah, I'm going to sit right here. He's like, yep.

And we sent it for the next. I don't know how much you can drink in 45 minutes on a Southwest flight to Vegas, but we won. I was about to say, if it was a 45-minute flight, if it was 50, they would have been making an emergency landing. Like, get these two idiots in the back off of the same. Thank God it wasn't longer. Yeah, that was fun. You knew how to do it. Isn't it funny, the flight to Vegas, how loud and happy everyone is?

And the flight home, everybody's just dead. I remember driving home from Vegas. It might have been that trip, actually, because I met guys from here and were like, oh, let's drive back. Cheaper at the time, obviously. And I made, I said, I will never drive home from Vegas ever again. I don't care if it's in a limo. I don't care if I have a bed in the back. I'm never driving home from Vegas.

It's one of those things you plan at the beginning, but it's actually having it. You're like, I'll never do this again. Yeah, the great thing about flights, you just get another one. You just move them back. Yeah, so I think you get back and then back and then back. And then like, you're like, oh, yeah, that's fine.

But a car, you have to leave at, like, one to get home by dinner time, and that's miserable. Yeah, it's no good. And we were going back to your Washington days, you were up there. Sound like you're having a pretty good time. Maybe a little bit too good of a time, being that famously you didn't make it all the way through the four years there.

What was the cause of that? Was it because of this, the beer pong and stuff? Or was it just like, I don't really like school. I didn't like school. I didn't like school. I mean, I was a smart kid. I still think I'm pretty smart. But I didn't understand.

I thought that I was like an athlete and I thought athletes could do whatever they wanted. Turns out when you're at like a big time school that they don't care about golfers, especially freshman golfers who were like maybe like 150. in the country. You don't get preferential treatment when you go to class. You're not really bringing any money to the school. No, I'm costing them. Yes. Yeah, I realize that. So it was, I thought about coming back. Well, the coach was awesome at Thurban out at ASU. He's like, hey, go to community college for a year, study, come back. And I did that. I went, I went to community college for the first semester, did okay, survived. I'm like, okay, I'm on my way back.

And then I started playing amateur events. And I was like, this is way better than going to school. And I was like, I'm still pretty good at golf. Why do I need a degree? Why don't I need a piece of paper? And then I still had a lot of fun and did a lot of, I just partied. Nothing too crazy, but typical college kids who didn't want to go to class. Did you ever get your degree? No.

Do you want to get it. So we got one degree at this table right now. Sorry, guys. I'm the authority here on all things intellect. Does TCU count? Look up to me. Does it count, bro? It's please.

It's borderline Ivy League. Ivy League of Fort Worth. The North Texas Ivy League, dude. Texas Wayland and TCU. Texas Wesleyan. Wesleyan, sorry, I thought it was Whalen. How close are you at SMU? I think I have like 12 or 15 hours left.

You should knock that out. I'm busy. Quarantine was a great time to do it. One would think if you're ever going to get it. Between this and Sirius XM, we're just, you know, we're entertaining the world. If you got a, what was your degree going to be in? Sociology. What is that?

I'd say if his communications, you'd be dialed. Define sociology for us real quick. Actually, that was my, I took murder of sociology first class freshman year. And I thought it was the coolest thing ever. So I really enjoyed the class. And then she's like, all right, write a 10-page paper. And I'm like, I've never wrote more than like a two-page paper. I don't know how to do that.

So I didn't do it. Good choice. Yeah, that was good choice. And you started playing golf instead. Did you turn pro? Like, after you went to community college playing Amber Golf like, hey, this is better than school. Did you turn pro right away? It took me like two years because I had a little bit of money because I worked valet in downtown Seattle.

And that is a lot of money. by the way those filet guys especially in Seattle at a nice hotel nice restaurant I was making a bunch of money so I just run back home and buy all the beers for everybody for it because they're college kids has no money I know I always pick up the bar tab ask my boy Fleener we'll get into that shirt here yeah Microsoft tips well I never have a problem paying for a tab as long as you guys hang out with me have a good time so maybe I pay for my friends maybe I'm starting to figure that one out yeah but there's a reason you're so probably yeah it took me till basically two years I moved back home for a year my dad's rule was either go to school or get a job and both

those sounded terrible so i kind of got a job at the golf course i grew up at like enough to get by and then um i was like i can't do this i can't live here anymore small town so i decided to turn pro what was your first big like decently big check where you're like okay i got some cash i'm comfortable it was my third Canadian tour events uh Victoria i finished i was actually second and last group with Brock McKenzie. I think he won. He won the next year. But I remember, I think

we were two back going the last round. I birdied one and I fist pumped the one. Hell yeah. That's true jicky spirit right there. I was so pumped. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to win. And then I didn't. I get it. I get it. I think I cashed like seven or eight grand. And I was so wealthy.

Like, I wasn't rich. I was wealthy. And I just thought that I'm never, I'm, I've made. it like it doesn't get better in this moment right here now now when you're on tour you finished 40th and make 30 grand you're like god yeah the two are really numb you real it will it'll I'm trying to not be numb to that but um the two rich cashes but dude in Canada like you mentioned you finished whatever he made 7 8 grand like I travel with guys like gram to let before he came up right you I was playing the same multiple years up there with you even though it's not all the money in the world like that tour those

we were talking with the jiggies it's so fun like dude you all your friends are sharing in that eight grand like you're out there you're king of the world with eight grand like is playing on tour now take the money element out of it is it is fun playing on the PJ tour as you had like back in those days when it was just like if you take like no playing the back nine on sunday for a lot of money there's nothing close to having as much fun on the mini tours as like you're four wide an hotel traveling place to place uh you're all in it together you're rooting for your buddies as hard as possible out on tour you're like oh yeah whatever you'll just be fine but like you're like rooting for everybody around you, your same crappy cities left and right. I do love Canada. So they're not that

crappy up there. But, um, sorry, granted. It's not. It's the country of Canada. We, it's just, there's, the camaraderie of mini tours is completely different. As soon as you get to web tour, there's still some camaraderie because you're still kind of just hanging out, but the tour, there's no camaraderie. It's like, oh, hey, we're fun. Let's go to a nice dinner. And it's like, okay, that's fine. And then your wife's hang out and then you hang out with other guys. But the camaraderie of mini tours is so much fun yeah and the fun like did you have to so you obviously came off of Canada to go to the corn friday now you're on the PJ tour did you have to like tone down now that you're on the PJ tour are you like toning down the fun because

dude we used to go on that on those tours right like I can't imagine you're still like it's a total different business the group I had went really hard in Canada I think it was no one else well Harkins made it um Strickler made it for a year a couple of those guys that we didn't have like like we you had like grand Daland and drake and zaw is like they made it and they've done stuff and there's been a couple guys but they weren't a part of our crew. It's like Pina was up there for a year. Well, he didn't hang out with us because he was doing something like you're supposed to be getting better. Yeah. So we didn't, I didn't understand that for a couple years. But once I saw everybody I thought I was better than moving up, at least to the web

tour, I'm like, man, I should probably do what they're doing. That sounds like a better idea. So it took a couple years of having fun. But I knew that I had the game or thought I did. No one knows, I guess. It's kind of a hard deal. But, um, I, I realized I had to practice a little bit, had to tone it down at least during the golf portion of things. There's plenty of time to have fun of the pro golfer, which I realized, and that's not necessarily on a Friday or Saturday. Mostly on a Sunday. Fridays are great if you miss a cut. Sunday nights are way better.

Sunday nights are way better. Especially in certain places, which we will. Dude, I got a story real quick. I remember one of it in Canada, we were in Saskatoon, right? It's Gran Belette's home joint out there, right? That Lynx course that was up there. I remember I was playing well. You were having like a weird one-off week or whatever, and we were hitting balls at the same time on the,

range. And I was like all nervous. I was like, dude, if I win, like this matters and all this stuff. And you, like, couldn't care less. I think you're already going to graduate. You'd already won like once or twice out there. But we're sitting there hitting balls, talk on the range. And you're just firing these intentional. He's like, you're like, so, watch this, watch this. And you would hit the hardest shank I've ever seen in my life on on purpose and like look around. People are like looking at you, like, yo, this dude's got the shanks right now. But you have this intentional shank that you were just working on on the range. You still got that? Yeah, I do. I'm pretty good at shank in the golf ball. I think if you can hit a hawsele, you can hit the center.

And if you practice a hossel, you'll never, it won't come up when it, when it's not supposed to come up. But a pretty good huzzle story. I was last year, well, yeah, I guess last year at Wells Fargo, Max won. But we came after Lorraine delay. We only had four or five holes left. And I'm in second place. Probably no real chance to learn unless Max hit it in the water made some major mistake. But I was hitting hossels before we're going back out.

And I'm in second place at Wells. And like, I can hear guys like laughing behind me like in the crowd. There's 10 or 12 guys, but they're like, oh my God, can you believe what's going on? This guy doesn't get. Almost always I go to the range. I try to set up on the left side so everybody can get a taste of the hossel going past them. And now most guys know what's going on, but it's still hilarious to see some people and the reaction when I'm hosling three or four in a row.

Where's the wells? Those were intentional shanks. Those were. I was nervous. That's a unique warm-up routine. I've never heard that, though. If you can hit the hosel, you can hit the center. If you could dodge a wrench, you could dodge a ball.

That's true. You know. But like, I mean, I'm serious. I've tried to hit, check. I'm terrible at it. It's so hard. Like this old guy, Todd Fisher, I shouldn't say he's old. Just a veteran guy.

I was out on the web and all this. I mean, he was unbelievable at hitting just intentional household. I remember one year at the players, he brought an old, like, a club he wasn't going to use. And would shank a few in the, a few in a row in the water on 17. And the place was just like going crazy. But he put that old club in Jason Gore's bag. And he went over and grabbed one of Gore's Club, shanked it, snapped it over his knee and threw it in the water. And everybody was like, oh, oh, my God.

they just broke one of Jason Gores clubs. That is a great moment. Especially at 17 at Sawgraf. Maybe you put that in your pocket for the right time. Gino, if you're listening, can we get an old club, please? Thank you. Yeah. There you go.

I mean, you just said Gino, so we might as well get into him. I mean, you all have one of the greatest relationships on the PGA tour. Gino is your caddy. I've been with you for a very long time. Started with you before you even actually wanted him to start with you. True. Yeah, it was a, I graduated off PJ2 or Canada in 14. played great that summer he wrote me an email like well he had he said he wrote it all summer but

it was delivered like the monday after i had officially graduated and he's like i want a caddy for you he wrote out this long email and it's just uh he's gonna like get a honda civic he's gonna make it it like modify it to where he could like sleep in the back and drive the entire circuit and how he could like do it he at the time he had a young kid uh married obviously and i'm like you i don't think you understand what catting is man And it's like hard work. It kind of sucks mostly. And I'm on the web tour.

I'm not going to make any money. He's like, no, let's do it. I believe in you. We can do this whole thing. So I like kind of left it on the back burner for like three or four months. He's like, so am I going to quit my job or not? And I'm like, man, if your wife says, okay, I talked to Holly for a while, she said, give it a go. His in-laws were super helpful.

His parents were helpful with a kid. Holly had a good job at home. He's like, I'm sick of my desk job. I love golf. I want to caddy. all right dude come on out and uh there was some grown pains for him and i wasn't you know first year web guy not great learning everything uh he was learning a ton obviously so we we went through some growing pains but uh he stuck it out he always believed in me more than i believe in myself which i thought

was incredible uh he's like man i think we can do this uh and it's great to have your best friend when you're he hates called the web drive jinky jank but it's it's not but the way that we travel kind of is we'd drive seven, eight hours. We'd always stay in the same hotel together, eat firehouse. We had a lot of firehouse subs, which was, I actually drove past one the other day. I'm like, ooh, I kind of missed that place.

There's one up north. We'll go back just for old times. So we did a lot of that stuff, which was fun. But he always kept me in line as far as golf concerned. Like, there was plenty of time for fun. But, yeah, when it was time to play golf, he had me ready for it. And I'm glad that he was with me now

because he put in the time and the effort, as much as I have. Certainly. That's awesome. And you've said in the past before, like you guys have arguably the best relationship, I would say, of player caddy on PJ Tour,

but you also say, I fire an unfired Gino every single round, right? There are times where you're fired and you're back in, right? Have you guys ever legitimately had a situation where you're like, hey, maybe we need to explore other options? Or like genuinely mad at him?

Yeah, it's like a brother. Like, you can get really mad at your brother for, like, days. But, like, he was so good. about not taking what I said personal like I would fire some shots at him not fairly obviously but he always came back with like a great attitude was willing to talk through it I'm like hey I just want this in this situation next time and he learned from every little mistake I obviously learned as well not to beat him up all the time and it's really came out to a great situation but we had one

well it was web final so it was I had my car I got my card off the web tour in summer 16 so I played rookie year kind of 17 and lost my card went back to web finals and I was in right near the lead knowing like top five gets me my card back and I said this one hole don't let me hit driver and I talked to him into driver. Okay. Thanks to him. And I said, all right, we talked to him there like this week I just got to chip out. Don't make doubles. He told me I could hit the shot. Well, I talked them into it, but he said, okay, made double. And I lit him up. Like, I've never lit anybody before.

Like, I'm like, this cost me job. Like, you know, you go all this whole thing. And we have, I have 10 holes to play. And if I play, like, one over in these 10 holes, I'm going to get my card back. He's like, I call them some bad names and lit him up. And I kept going. I hit my shot on 9 and turn around. He goes, I wasn't effing trying to screw you up.

Like, I'm here for you too, whatever kind of a deal. And he settled me back down. And we went on with it. and actually made double on 18, but still played well enough the rest of the way to get my card. And I just broke down in tears after, I knew I'd finish, I knew I'd get my card back and broke down in tears.

I'm like, I'm so sorry I treated you that way. It'll never happen again. I think that was a huge growing point for both of us. And I don't think I've ever, I've definitely never lit him up anymore. Obviously he knows I'm mad at him when he gives me wrong club or wrong read, but that's pretty standard.

But since then, I think that was like a turning point with me anyways of treating, like this guy's in it. for the same reasons i meant it he's the money i make goes to him and his family and he's out sacrificing as much as i am and uh it was a cool moment i think it was a real big transition in our career i guess you could say yeah so you learned a lot from that moment but back in 2017 you actually caddied for him i did and i think a midam qualifier i did it would have been uh yeah it was actually it was two weeks a week before that crazy moment two weeks before that crazy

moment. So we were, right before the Boise tournament of that, there was a mid-am qualifier in Idaho, McCall. And caddied for him. I've never seen my caddy. Well, so I play with him all the time. He's a good player, obviously. I've never seen him more nervous to my life. So we're out having grand old time, and he buries the first three holes, and he immediately froze. He knew that if he part in from there, he's locked and loaded. So I'm watching this happen. And I'm like, is this what I look like when this is happening? He's like, yeah. And I'm like, oh, crap. Okay. So both of us were like, I'm trying to guide him around this golf course of like, okay, hybrid here, like do this, like pitch out of this tree. And it was a really wild experience. And he made an incredible par in 18,

thought to get to a playoff, end up guy making a boge and he got in. But that was a really cool moment for us because that was his first USGA of any qualified for probably his biggest of him. He's played stadiums and all that stuff. But that was so much fun. And, I always said if you, he hasn't, he hasn't tried to qualify again because he's always catting for me and go, dude, you've got to take this week off. Like go play. Like go, you've got to do these things. And I'm like, if you ever go back, I'm catting for you in the USGA thing. I heard the bag was a little heavy when you got there. Oh, geez. You have guys have so much info. Yeah, don't worry about our sources, dude. We got boots on the ground.

Holy cow. So, uh, show up. And I might even be having, I think he's got like T-Oft, like 730. I'm probably having a beer in the truck because it's cold. We're in the mountains of Idaho in September. It's like 45 degrees before like when you show up. And I'm like, dude, you can warm it by yourself. Like, I don't need to help you. He was like very insistent about, so I go out to the range like after a few minutes and like kind of helping out clean clubs like doing nothing. And he was so insistent about grabbing the bag and taking it back.

This is Idaho, by the way. So you had to get back in your car and drive to the clubhouse to get to the first team because the range so far away. Standard. And I'm like, why is he so insist? So I finally grab it like to go to the first tee and I'm like this thing is a brick. He's got like a hofer bag, a standard small bag. It is ways way more than any staff I ever picked up in my life. Like what could possibly be in here?

Like so I start going through and finally get to the big pocket. He literally put three or four rock like big rocks like boulders in this thing. And I'm like, he is like he falls over laughing so hard. And I'm like, were you, did you actually think I was going to do this? And he, uh, if we had a really good laugh about that, I think he. kind of helped him out, where those first three holes by thinking I was going to carry

like a 70-pound bag around. Have you ever done any pranks to him with the bag? I don't think I have. I know that he gets pranked a lot by his fellow caddies. I think it's kind of a fellow, but everyone loves him.

He's fun to be around, so I think they try to get him all the time. I know that one time he caddyed nine-hole practice round with a full bag of balls in the belly. Love that. And he's like, this is so heavy,

what's going on? And it was Tim Giuliano who was Harkins caddy. I'll tell you quick one. this guy out on tour, they call Pepsi. He's known he goes around hiding Pepsi. He got us too. So we're playing Napa and my guy, John Davenport's caddied for me and we get to the

11th hole and all of a sudden I watch Pepsi like reaching. I'm like, hey, that's not your bag. And then he pulls out of Pepsi. He had like a whole six pack of Pepsi's in my bag that John had to carry the whole way around. I was like, oh, that was pretty good actually. Yeah. I didn't say I word to John.

I'll let him keep going. We were at Wyndham and it was, I mean, Windham and Greensboro, North Carolina August is so hot. And I'm like, man, I was like, okay, this guy drinks Pepsi hot. Like he'll drink some water. He doesn't drink water. He said water makes him sick. I'm like, well, that's pretty good internal.

That's when you know you're functioning at the highest level when water makes you sick. It is such. And I'm like, so, but first when he pulls out were make the turn on one, he goes underneath the grandstands, finds one, pulls it out underneath like the apron at the bottom. Like, what is going on? fourth tea out of her bag. There's only one for us, but it was just absolutely incredible. Respect. It takes some four thoughts and pull that off.

I'm like, do you, like, we were off early, like, how early do you have to go out to Sashy 6? I think he does it during, like, the practice round. Like, Tuesday and they'll go out and walk. He carries a little Easter burn. Right? And he grabs the ice, dumps it in, and he rolls with his pepper. God, I can you imagine with 110 drinking Pepsi old? Oh, my God.

Respect. We had Daly on here recently said he once to drink 28 Diet Coke in a day, so it can be done. Only for the top top athletes. Quarantine challenge for me. Costco's now selling 24. Well, they sell their 12 packs of white claws, but they put them together. So they only sell it 24.

I'm like, I'm going to get through all 24 of these today. I got to 22. And my wife kind of said, maybe you should probably not have another one. And fix the lights, by the way. Yeah, get up on that ladder after 22 white claws. I was kind of disappointed. It was actually just last Saturday. That was only.

help a run. It was pretty good. I definitely could have had two more. For the record, for the record, I could have got there. I'll pretend you got to the 24. I know you've got to the problem is it's a little warm out now and you've got to kind of either hydrate really hard before or die the next day.

I'm not sure which one's the best option. Yep. I love it. We're talking about Gino in your great relationship. I want to get to another great relationship. How is your boy's song Kang doing right now? You know what's weird about song is that I never spoke to him before the incident and I certainly haven't spoke to him since so I would say it's the same that was going to be my next I have you guys has there ever been a like

squash the beef hey it's over any of that have you had any conversation with him since that day and it was in Maryland right yeah we were Maryland at DC he I played with Tiger Saturday I thought that was the biggest moment and it was up to the moment and then 25 hours later I had another by far the biggest moment of Mike from my career in, mostly what I'm still known for now. But he came, I don't know, it's probably a month later maybe, and we're

Canadian open, think Wednesday kind of practicing around, and he's like, hey, Joel, can I talk to you? And I'm like, sure? What could he possibly want to say? He's like, I want you to apologize to me. Well, let's describe the moment. Yeah, just for everyone who might not know. So, 2018 Quicken Loans in D.C. This is fun. This is Sunday. This is fun. Sunday.

Sunday. You are playing well. We're around top 10 starting Sunday. He goes for a par five and two number 10. Yep. Pulls it. Have you played there? Yes. Yeah.

I know that hole. Claims it crossed. You say, no, sir. It did not cross. Yep. In his defense from 230 away, it was really close to crossing. But as I got up there and you saw the physics of the ground, like it is a steep slope left and like almost kicks, well, definitely kicks right if it lands on the red line. So it was one of those.

But he wanted to drop up by the green. said no like I don't think it crossed I went like very political about the whole thing got to protect the field like I don't want to do this but I think you got to do you know those the first five minutes the next five minutes was I don't even know it's kind of became a blurb it was like himming and hawing about he's like well what if I drop back here I'm like that's even further right then like that's impossible for you to do there so I got him to agree as ball didn't draw I go so if you hit from back there and you're bald and draw then it couldn't have crossed go back and forth I have the

shot and guy in my team I got the spotter who was standing almost it almost hit the spotter there he marked his ball immediately in the hazard I think it was 25 minutes later well we had a rule we had a rule special come over at 15 minutes and he's like what do you think and I go well I know that he didn't cross here I don't feel comfortable with it got to go back so then he like goes back he drives something all the way back during this time I mean we're like fourth or fifth to the last group and we're holding up everybody.

Ben Crane and Ryan Palmer played through us. You're the only guy in the world is that Ben Craig play through. Go ahead and send it. They played. I don't think there's been an instance in tour that anyone knows of. I'm sure it's happened, but like that someone played through. I didn't know it was allowed. Well, I didn't either.

But Ben Crane and Ryan Palmer played through. And I'm laughing. I'm like, Ben Crane. And he's like, what is going on? And I'm like, don't worry about it, guys. Just go. So that was an interesting one. but it just eventually came down to the rules fish came over to me and he goes

I can't do anything about this I didn't see the golf shot we have to go with a player in this instance I go with the rules of golf are not helping me right now and they're just letting this guy do whatever he wants so he decided I I would have been way more I probably would have been more comfortable he would have dropped right next to the green where his ball kind of was he was like whole high he went like 40 yards back where way more right of where that line is and then he did a good shot, made the put proceeded to make multiple birdies coming in

finishes T3 locks up his card for the year, goes to the British Open and I was pretty heated all day everybody's like oh you just you just called them out because you didn't want to or like because you were losing to him whatever I'm like I was so far ahead of me at the moment

it didn't matter like I think I finished like 20th but then you have a guy on Twitter that comes out and says hey Joel what happened on 10 y'all let a group go through yeah And I decided, I had a couple beers at the time, obviously, but I explained the situation by using the C word, which is cheating in golf. So I've learned since I've come to this side. There's two C words.

Cheating in golf is worse than the other one in golf. I totally agree. And I've learned since I've come to this side, that word is not very, they don't like that word very much. They don't. But I felt that it was appropriate. I ran around the clubhouse as soon as I finished. I was like, this is BS. The only thing I wish I would have changed is I wouldn't have signed his scorecard.

I talked to Gino about it for eight holes we finished. I was like, so I signed he's like, if you don't sign someone else is going to. So like, why waste 10 minutes of your time? Like the only thing it would have just really firmed up everything, I just wouldn't have signed it. A rule switch came in and signed it. It would have been done. But I still put it this way. He withdrew the next week.

I had my career best finish of fifth at Greenbrier. The next week of John Deere, I had my career best finish of T2. So I slept okay, played great. And he's obviously a good player. He won last year. He did whatever. But I think... So take us back to Canadian.

Yeah, he comes back. Give me that conversation. I got to know what happened to that conversation. Canadian Open. So we're Wednesday, whatever. He comes up. He's like, Joel, can I talk to you? I was like, sure.

I was actually in the middle of my first putting lesson with this coach who I'm paying quite a bit of money to... I'll pick my putting, obviously. And he goes, Joel, I want you to apologize to me. I said, apologize. to me, I go, look around. You should apologize to everybody else I was in that field. You took money from him. You did all this stuff. And we just went back and forth for five minutes about apologizing. And finally, he's like, well, you did this to, you know, you ruined my reputation and this.

And I go, you did it to yourself. I didn't do this. Like, either way, this was getting out. And everyone knows it. So I just accelerated it a little bit. But that was, it was back and forth of five minutes of, I told him to apologize to me. He really wanted me to apologize to him. And then we have not spoke sense. It's not squashed. He's not inviting you to his birthday. No. He's not invited to mine either.

What was the reaction from the other play? Like, I know what the media did. I know I saw all the stuff in the media just like, but what were the players reaction? Were people coming up to you saying like you did the right thing? I was a second year guy at the time. I really didn't know that many people wasn't playing great golf. Kind of a nobody.

And I had multiple major champions in next week, Greenbier thanking me for standing up for what was right, saying how hard it is to do we've all been in that situation as a golfer of like man i don't think it crossed there i know it didn't cross there but how do you bring that up how do you you know no one wants to you know be the be the asshole in the grip kind of a deal but um yeah for it was just like i had a lot of i would say 99% was incredible um there's one percent that probably said i shouldn't do it but you can guess who that one percent is it takes a lot of guts to do it though because It's tough because we've all seen instances where you're like,

that might not be the best. Well, wait, so, and I think a lot of those are like 10 or 20 yards. Did it hook here? Did it hook here? But this one was so egregious. Like, it was just so not even possible. And it mattered so much. It's like one thing, like, I think we've both done it.

It's like, man, I got hit in the water, but he's five over going on the cut. I'm like, just drop it and hurry up. And like, let's get out of you. Like, we don't care. You're not affecting anything. Maybe even 50th. You're like, maybe, like, whatever. But like that was close.

All right. But this one was just too much. This is where your experience on the jicke, playing in a number of years that you did on the jigs that help. I've seen dudes hit quacks off. I mean, these things didn't get knee high and didn't cross nothing. And like, oh, what do you think? Right by the green? I'm like, uh, you know what I mean?

There's no, hey, bring in shot link and all that stuff. It's literally just you versus dudes. Yeah. So we had, I mean, like I said. And since then, I've kind of been known. Some people call me the sheriff out there, which is kind of laughable. With the mustache. Yeah.

Like a cop, dude. If you get the proper lenses on, yeah, you can do it. But it was, it was interesting. But I think, honestly, it kind of started maybe like a new thing of like being more aware of this and maybe standing up to it more. And you hear more and more about it of, oh, this drop happened, but we called them out on it. Or I think it opened the door a little bit. I think Jimmy Walker's backstopping instance thing when he called it out. Like that opened, that changed the backstopping thing forever on tour, I think.

People are running to mark their balls now. They don't want to be the backstopper, helping their buddy out. So I think mine, you're hearing more anyways, at least in the locker room, about the distrop happened, and we actually called them on it or this and that. I think you hear most about it on social media and Twitter.

There's all the Twitter trolls out there, which I know you have some. Oh, yeah. That means you made it. Yeah, after you finished second at Wells Fargo, I mean, there were some guys hating on you for finishing second, which is absurd. You made $800,000.

Yeah, nice week, idiot. Nice 800. Yeah. They hate on you for, you know, maybe ruining their fantasy team and all that. But I heard a little from a little birdie back in the day. You got a little upset at a tour player for ruining your little fantasy team back in the day. Do you know this off the top of your head?

This is good. Wow. You guys have gone so deep. I don't actually know. So I heard you confronted Jason Gore about messing up his fantasy team back in the day. Yes. The truth comes out. I don't even know if I remember this either.

I know that Gore and I have. gone back and forth a bit. We've had some fun. I don't know if I recall this one. I did have fantasy teams prior to my... I'll just read it who I got it from real quick so I can make sure I get it correct. We're serious about journaling. We have multiple sources. You guys are full on media now. You guys are the enemy. This ain't a joke, dude. This is not a joke. So just to refresh your memory, this is from the great Andres Gonzalez. There you go. Just defer your source. He's basically honest, Abe. He wouldn't lie. He goes, we had an outing at Corderlane Resort and Jason Gore was one of the pros.

It was later in the year, maybe 2015. Joel went up to him and said he had him on his fantasy team and that Jason needed to step up his game. Jason didn't seem to know how to take it and perceived him to be perturbed. Joel didn't let up the whole day. I do now. It's coming full circle now, dude.

Now you can't get bad at these haters since you were one of them before you made it. I was, but I needed that fantasy money to keep going, guys. This is different. I needed my, well, at that time, I think I was in, we call it the Montana League I don't know some guy in Montana around but there's

hundreds of people in it now this is a little smaller back of the day but you'd pick one guy sorry you have 25 points however much money they made the previous year was their point oh 5 million's five points one million or less or rookies are one point and uh

I kind of thought Gore might be like a sneaky one pointer I don't think he maybe's coming off the web for his 19th time or maybe he kept his card I'm not here Joe check him all it's down there he took well now he's play relations with USGA, we just, oh, his job is to get ripped on, I guess.

So, yeah, but I, I mean, it was probably a crowd of a couple hundred people were doing a clinic type thing, and we all had mics on it. I lit them up pretty good. That's good. I think I played despite him, obviously. I think my team was good enough to get my money back that year. Okay, good. All right.

That's good. That's a good story. It's getting into a little story time right now. We're going to rewind it back now. That's a good story about Twitter. Rewind it back to the jikis back in our days when we were playing. I remember a certain event. You're on the gateway tour. I believe the event was Papago, right? This is a whole-time store. I love this story. I'll leave it there. You just take over from there. You know what? You know the one of the best. I, uh, this is I, it was a

spring of 12. I had just met my now wife. Uh, love you Lana. And, uh, we, we were pretty new. Uh, we were only in a month or two. Um, so it's, you know, pretty smitten by this young gal. And, uh, play Papa Go first year, rounds pretty sure i'm going to miss a cut cruised her place at the time she lived in arcadia and we like to have fun obviously still do but we went out early crushed it at a great time i got like a email like blue golf was in email like you have a tea time at eight o'clock and i'm like i didn't make the cut i don't know how it's possible whatever i'm too far and having fun not stopping now go out a great time like i guess i'll get up at like six a m to get this stupid thing to shoot 75 and collect to my last place check and get my entropy back.

Well, I wake up, go out to my car. No, not true. My car was in Old Town. So I had grabbed a cab to Old Town to get my car, locked my keys in my car. That'll happen. My clubs are in my trunk. I have no golf clothes because I stay at her house.

I got nothing. So I wear the same. So I call Ryan Prey, head of the tour at the time. Go, Ryan, I'm just going to withdraw. Like, just give me last place. money like you'd give me other like fifth place which which unless you're trying like five you're getting anyways yeah so uh I was like I'll just show up I'll just whatever so he's like don't come down here we'll get you we'll figure it out we'll go through

like all of our clubs and we'll give you something well we get out there and he's like oh I know my clubs Tom did him his clubs the other tour guy and I'm like all right he's like oh I just grab a rental set and I'm like I just want to go home like I'm going to shoot a million anyways So I grab rental set It is like a regular shaft I think like an R7 at the time So I go into the shop I'm like is he may have like a lob wedge I can use

It's actually like decent Grab a kid's a lob wedge like don't hit out of the desert Like this is new That's so good All right that's fair I'm like can I borrow a putter too This thing sucks so I grab a putter The first T is part five

You normally get home and easy And I I moonball this thing like 240 and I'm like this is what I'm playing with today I look I'm like I gotta get out of here I think it's playing the Eric Meyer Dirks as well. It's kind of a mini 2-Hard legend. Who hits it 350 yards? Yeah.

Yeah. So I am miserably hung over, cruising around, but I get it around. I shoot a bogey-free 67. I don't know how I did it. I buried all four par fives because I had to lay up, wedged it, and I buried the short part 412 with another wedge. Boge-free, 67, move up to like seventh place or something like that. Make another like four or five grand, and I'm like,

that is an unbelievable round. no one will ever appreciate what I just did with these golf clubs. That's arguably the best round you've ever played. I remember hearing about it. Word was trickling down. They're like, yo, what Joel's playing with Reynolds set today? I was like, ah, he's going to shoot 100. This will be great.

And then I get in. It's like, uh, six, seven, huh? Cool. He just beat me. He just beat me. I had all my stuff. I got all my shit. I got my real clubs.

It was one of the better rounds that doesn't get enough attention. I agree. That one does not get enough attention. But that was a really good round of golf. I remember like super hungover, sweatered it out to where you. you feel okay and then just dying like the last like three or four holes and I'm like I got to get this in the house I think I had a really good up and down from 30 or 40 yards

in the last and I was so jacked for two years I'm pretty sure I drove right back to Lana's house and we started drinking in to just made an extra four racks let's go spend it that's what you do on the jicks of course that's you get it I got one last Gino comment from from him for you so how did you guys get his number don't worry about I've got skills bro anyways he tells me that you have the self-proclaimed yips with basically at some point you've had him with every club in the bag or every facet of the game this is interesting which i've never heard this so i want to discuss this and i'll just give you an example he told me he goes i'll tell jolly he has a hundred yards to the front and one 10 to the

hole and he'll in your response will be that's a sandwich i can't hit that club i have the sandwich yips and it just happens like randomly throughout the year and i got more examples but i want you to kind of explain to me how the hell one of the best players in the world can have yips with every club in the back. There comes a time that it's just not going to work. And not, if you would ask me to do it maybe earlier or later than that,

I'm like, oh, it's 110 like sandwich. Got it. No problem. But every now and then I get this feeling. And I'm most definitely Amateurs can relate, I think. I'm probably golfers, but I like, I can only do one

shot with it. Like, at that moment, I'm like, I'm either going to knife it I'm going to chunk it. If you give me a 50 degree or a pitching wedge, I can probably figure out a way to finagle it up there. He's like, but it's a perfect club. I don't know what the problem is. I'm like, this is going to work. This club is not going to work right now. So this is another thing we've battled through for a while. I'm like, uh, sometimes he loves a three wood. Well, he's not going to work here. I go, it's driver or four iron. He's like, well, driver goes in the water. I'm like, I'll just chip it out there. It'll be fine. Like I can do that way better than three wood. But I get these and it happens a lot on the greens. I'll have like a 15, footer down the hill and I'm like Gino this is either four feet short or 12 feet past

He goes you're telling me That you have a 16 foot window this ball will not go into I go this ball is not going to go next to the hole Like I don't know what to do I'm like should we chip it like I don't and I'll get these And for a long time I would smash it pass all every time I was like Gino I told you I told you this is going to happen He told me you have had the punch out yips

Oh yeah those are real that was actually during that time Oh yeah it's a real That's every golfer knows those. I need to go see Clubbrile guy for that punchout thing. Yeah, there's a guy for that. He also gave me a specific story. I believe Bay Hill this year, number six, the par five around the water. You hit at the fairway bunker.

You were trying to just lay up with a nine iron. Just hit out to the right. And he said, you get over it, and you turn around and you're like, this is going in the water. And he's like, what? And he goes, there's no chance this ball to go in the water? And he goes, well, is there any way I can help you? So this does not happen? And you're like, no, there's only one place this ball's going and it's in the water.

He goes, so these are the things I deal. deal with with Joel, but I love him so much that we just, we battle through it. What happens in that situation with the nine? This is going to water. What goes? Meanwhile, like Bay Hill, I think I was, I was, I finished T5. It's probably around like 15th the time because pars were good on Sunday. Every part you made, you kind of moved up the board. And I was like, because if the right bunker, if you chunk it out, it goes left, you still have like 220 into the hole. Like, it's not like you're going to like survive that one. And I'm like, if I hit it right, then I just have to chip out again kind of a deal.

and I just I couldn't I'm a I have a fairway bunker like an actual problem with very bunker play I he's 33rd on the FedEx company's like yo I can't punch out I can't hit a nine and out of a bunker because I was hitting the fairway I'm a good driver of the ball it's like cold always it's fairways yeah I hit it a little further not much but it's always a fair way so when it's not I so I went through scolding every shot of bunker in the lip if there was no lip I still found the lip or I chunk the crap out of it to make sure got over the lip and then you hit four extra If you chunk it off that lie, it's going left in the water.

And I'm like, he's like, well, do you want like hybrid then? Like, you're pretty good with hybrids. I'm like, yeah, but balls above the feet. And I'm like, I don't know what to do. And we had kind of a crowd around us. And I like get over this ball. I'm like, I can't do it. I got no shot.

I'm like, I could putter out of here like sideways. Like, and then we can deal with it from there. But I don't know exactly what happened. I know I kind of was like basically at some point I just say, F it. I'm like, I just got to like hit this. So scold the crap out of it. perfectly wedged on to 25 feet, two putter for par. Ladies and gentlemen, even the best in the world have demons.

This dude's got crazy demons. The punchout yips is my favorite. The punch out yips is a good one. It's like, dude, there's no way I get this in the fair way. I went through a phase where I couldn't get it over the rough and underneath the limb, even if it was a 30-foot gap. Like there was just no way, or a big, I would just find it, of why to screw it up. You know your game, so I respect it.

One last story we got to get into before we get into some other stuff. But you had a very, another very unique situation. this year at the Zozo. Max Homa actually wrote in wanting us to ask you about this. So your last, I believe it was the Sunday round. Correct me if I'm wrong. But Max wants to know, tell us about your course management strategy there coming down the stretch on the par five's at Zozo this year. You guys talked to screwman last week, right? Yeah. Did he bring this one up? He did not bring this one up. He was saying. But he was your playing partner, correct? Yes, he was. So

we were in Japan, Zozzo. It was my second week over there. We played Korea first, then in Japan. Two weeks over there's a long time, especially when you're like rain delays in Japan and you're stuck and the hotel was average and the whole setup was pretty average. So now I'm struggling with kind of like, get me out of here. My wife and are going to Bali the next week. And I'm like, just give me to Bali. Like that was kind of our honeymoon. We waited a long time to go. But like this would be incredible. Like just get me out of here. I was already in last place. So it didn't matter what I did. But I'm like, do you know, I'm going to withdraw? And he's like, no, you got to stick it out. Like da-da-da. So we go. So we go.

whose holding so any of it's Sunday night Max finishes and most the field finishes so we're in the hotel lobby drinking and having a great time standard Sunday night but I have golf to play six bowls left we drink plenty and then it was like new it was midnight or one and I'm like we got to go out tonight guys like karaoke bars Japan like of course we got to go that what else he's going to do so my my wife Max home and his wife Lacey and uh Justin was was having a Justin Thomas was having a good time. So we're like, all right, let's go out. We end up going a place called The Cage,

which is a karaoke bar that's cool in that area. But we were intoxicated. We go, have a great time. I'm not sure what time we got home. Pretty late. I have to catch the bus to the golf course at 6.30 in the morning. Catch the bus. My wife actually, like, turn sideways and kicks me out of bed.

I'm not going. I'm not going. This is not good. So get out, go there. go I don't know hit balls I think I slept on locker room floor for a while got out go out there first all is water on the left

snipe driver in the water next hole or next shot I got a drop I only have like 150 yards over water I can get to the greener in the next shot cold chunk it like right in front of me into the water like it goes 10 yards in the water I look at Gino he starts laughing

and at this point we're all laughing he looks at Streelman and strilman is buckled over laughing so hard He's never laughed. Like, he's dying laughing because he knows I'm not in good shape. So grab whatever, hit the next one in green. We go to the part three and I'm like, gee know, balls we got left. We have one ball left.

We have a 210 part three with water short right, all the way short right. No, sorry, we have two balls left. Part three, water, ball goes in the water. Now I have 50-yard or lay up. Well, 50-yard shot to the hole and there's water still in front of me in the hole. I pitch it almost sideways to make sure the ball isn't going to go in the water Chip up I think I make triple

And Strelman can't stop laughing At this point then we join the group in front of us Because the last two The rule is on the back line on Sunday lat You can make a foursome out of it So Ches Revy joined And a local Japanese guy He has a Japanese guy

He has no idea it's going on He's like still trying hard Bless his heart And me, Ches and Strelman are just trying to finish Next hole Hard Dog they write all around water I stand on the T on 6th. I go, Gene, we have one ball left.

So we don't finish. Like, this is all for not. I could have been in bed all morning. I go, what's left? Like, how far left can I hit it? And is it out of bounds? Smoke hook at left. Like, gone.

Hybrid barely gets past the water. And after that, I'm home free. Cannot lose a golf all the rest of the way. It's all treeline the rest of the golf course. So I think, I don't even know what I shot, but I, like, made, like, quad double or quad triple, probably double. And then, like, came in the house, okay. probably bogey nine but

incredible last golf ball yeah and I got it sideways yeah no it was over water I mean 50 yards hung over over water that's stress Max told me he was playing entire holes with like he's like he dude he's playing wedges down par five just because he's like this is my last ball I showed up here I'm hearting it out

I ain't I ain't WD or DQing or whatever At this point I couldn't I had to I had to get through this round so we got through it then my wife wanted a tour of Japan so I had that afternoon in the city of Tokyo cruising around

it was a rough go but I got my what one or two if I got my what one or two if it could be the difference if this could every point matters

that's the motto this old I owe Gino a lot of money if you squeak into East Lake by a point or two you're gonna look back on that round and be like that was the one that's the one that did it

yeah it's strive too bad scrimand didn't tell the story yeah well we may have been purposely left out saving it for you because that's got to be one of the only times on tour that guys are playing par fives with wedges oh that's so good okay all right now we do this segment with every guest it's called emergency nine nine nine fun questions get to know the great jol damon a little more and i'm gonna let sleazy man start it off i'll kick it off

this is a this is a constant here on the show but we got a movie being made about the life of jol damon you're the director who plays you i don't know anything about movies uh you don't need to. I'm going Jim Carrey. I mean, from Dumb and Dumber. That guy's legendary. Maybe actually Harry's probably more of my style, but I had a Jim Carrey like bowl cut for a long time at Candle of that. That's a good answer.

Jim Carrey would be good. You have an answer. Yeah, I had James Franco for you. He's a bit strange. No one really knows what to make of him, but I like him. And that's you. I had Steve Carell. He's kind of, I don't know. He's funny. It's got to be a funny guy. Steve's too maybe good at his job.

He can do like multiple. It's just based on looks and who could represent you. That's fair. It has nothing to do with how good they are. Oh, well. I like Jason Sadaikis has a backup for you. If Franco can't do it. See, I don't know what those guys are, but yeah, I like Jim Gary. A funny guy from all kinds of shit. All right, number two. I don't know if you know this or not, but this whole golf subpar thing is kind of like the hotel business where if you don't cancel within a certain amount of time, you still got to pay a fee. And last week, you canceled 30 minutes before we were supposed to go on air. That's generous. So would you like to pay cash or credit to the sleazy man and I?

I always pay cash, not traceable. All right, but just give you, what's your credit card number, though? Just in like, like 2749, I think. What's the three-digit code on the back? It's four on the front because I'm an MX guy now. And you're social. It ends in like a five or nine. There's smart people out there that will figure this.

Someone's hacking you as we speak. All right, next question. But seriously, we're going to need that cash. Yeah, we're going to want that. Best on course cocktail for Joel Damon. Tequila lemonade. Actually now, well, tequila fresca is the jam. A lot of people like that, yeah. That's a popular one for tequila guys. This guy at Whiskraultzio, Joe Sposy. I mean, it's basically give me a Sposy.

It's like a triple tequila. Yeah, it's like nine tequila and then fresca. Well, I mean, probably half and half. All right. All right. Well, there's this popular game around the world. I'm going to change the words a little bit. It's going to be Mary, sleep with, and kill. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Make love to. No, just sleep.

to cuddle with them. Oh, yeah. Because it's going to be all guys. Yeah, passionately. Marry, sleep with, kill. Max, home up, Brandon Harkins, Gino. Oh. Or you can blow your own head off.

Wow. Wow. I'm going to marry Gino because we're basically married. Oh, boy. Someone's about to get bad. This is the one. The one I want, the next one. I figured that one.

I got Harkins to sleep with. because we've done it before. This is incredible. We've, Harkins and I have had, well, he was one of my Canadian buddies back starting 2011, and our wives are super close. My wife was actually in their wedding. Didn't make the cut.

Thanks, Brandon. That's shocking. Yeah, well, he has so many boys from back home, and we were newish. Just started dating. Well, we were two years in, but, you know. So, yeah, Harks, he's. He's, well, he's close, and we have a lot.

So Max is dead. So you're killing Max. So Max is dead. Is that because of Wells Fargo? Well, like, Max completely outplayed me. It wasn't like I, like, did something weird or he did something weird than last old win. Like, he completely outplayed me on Sunday.

But, yeah, I mean, without that, I have a tour win. And life would be probably just, I mean, I love Max, but it'd be a hair better without him. That makes sense, actually, now to think about it. Yeah. The most part. You probably, if you kill him, you might inherit that check too. All right. All right.

Number five. Next question. Song or artists you're most ashamed to have in your eye tint? Not ashamed, but like I'm bare. Like what's, I know you got some soft stuff in there. Man, I, I'm like a big sucker for JT, but, you know, in high school, like, Insync was cool. And when Insync comes on the radio or over, you know, a Spotify thing coming through,

I'm not afraid to sing to it. But mostly JT. So I'm like, I'm, like, I'm. Nick Lechay with 90 degrees was underrated as well. 98 degrees. There you know. Last from the pat. Yeah.

Boy bands, I would say. Your boy band guy. Number six. Not afraid of it. Most hungover you've ever played in a golf tournament. If it ain't Zozo, then damn. No, I had another one that was actually turned out better. Like, I was still drunk as Zozo.

I was hung over in Springfield, Missouri on the web tour. I might have a video from that tournament. All right. That would be true. I won't show it. But it was that. is epic that is absolutely epic and yeah springfield Missouri summer of 15 I was super hungover and it was a hundred I don't hint he didn't X there was 110 probably

but I made 10 birdies do you have rental clubs 63 right 10 birdies 663 went from making cut on the number to like fifth at the end of the day and ended up top 10 that there seems to be a theme here with you making the cut on the number getting blasted so I was texting Brandon Harkins I was like give me some good stuff on Jill and he goes well while I think just enjoy this video and it was a video you sent to all your boys before the round you're like it's 110 I'm gonna shoot 79 and you shot 63 I ran in a spider web spider was on my hat puked up some fireball and we had some red lava coming out that'll happen yeah that's normal stuff once again thought I missed a cut that's what I'm saying you got a little

came back strong I played with Craig barlow on that Saturday morning and it was first time we became pretty good buddies after that because he I think he respect me after that day. You get immense street cred when you do stuff like that on tour. I don't do it much anymore. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You kind of toned it back. We need old Joel, but you're still, you're still doing it. All right, next question. Seattle guy, Washington guy. You could be responsible for the supersonic's coming back to Seattle or you win a major, which would you rather have. Wow, that's such a good question. I mean, I got to say major because that's worth like a ton of money, like long term, right?

I was going to say change that to regular PJ tour event. All right. Would you rather win Colonial at the first event back this year? Or you could be everyone in Washington knows Joel Damon's responsible. Okay. The major things are total another. A master's that you're saying master's? Because, yeah, like, if you'll say I'll never win a true event,

then I'd probably choose that still. But if you're saying like, oh, you can win, like you'll win one last true event or, well, hopefully I'll win some. Apparently it's hard. But if everybody who was a Sonics fan, knows that I'm responsible for it. You get all the credit for it. I might even, actually, I would even trade that for a major because the comeback that I would get, as long as the PGA, I want the other three majors. The PGA is can, I would change the Sonics for a PGA right now in a heartbeat because.

That's a fan, bro. Sean Kemp's looking, he's listening to this right now and he's, Gary, Gary Payton. He's, the glove is smiling. The last shrimp, Nevic Millen, Hersey Hawkins, Sam Perkins, that's my crew. Sweet Sammy. All right, number eight. best town on tour to party in after a good week in who are you bringing with you i mean Vegas is an easy answer obviously we do that kind of often uh new Orleans is another easy answer um oh there's so many uh there's a lot actually need to bring gerow back new york city gets you some miami you seem like a miami guy you're a sosa type of guy i know my i am not a

Miami guy. Tight pants. Type of a dude. Boy, Ben. Charlotte's sneaky good to party. Charlotte's a great. Charlotte's incredible. Great time.

Played a bunch of jicks down there. Yeah. I mean, like New Orleans is good because everyone's partying around and they wouldn't necessarily, like, if you like carried around like the Wells Fargo trophy on Sunday night, like Max, but he just went to his guy's house and he just sat there, which was super low. What a lame. I would have absolutely wrecked that place on Sunday night.

But Vegas is simple, but I feel like that's like what we do all the time. anyways and you're killing you don't even need a US open all you need a US Open trophy I even drank out of it when Gary gave it to you for a bit I had my name on it yeah if you drank out of the jug dude you basically want it is that true I feel like Gary Gary let me have it in Vegas and I put a piece of tape with my name on it under one of the deals and we were just showing it to people hey dude just won this we yeah I drank out of it a couple of my random well random to you but or Gary about my buddies drink out of it that was at uh what's

That's that little baller of a alibi. I think we had like seven spark clubs and spark plugs and then we went out. Yeah, pretty standard. That'll do it. Congrats on the US Open. All right, number nine. All right, last question. Would you rather not have Gino on the bag or have Gino and play with only 10 clubs for the rest of the year?

Deep question. Man, I, well. Ten clubs, probably want to go to the Tour Championship this year. I think I can do it. I think you do it 10? No. Well, I only use it. He was a couple.

No. No, damn it. Yeah, I don't think. That's one's hard. I really like Gino. I would attempt it with 10 clubs with him. That's love. That's why you married him.

I would attempt it with 10 clubs and knowing that we can just try to get next year with 14. That's why you married the man over Max and Hark. Awesome. Joel, you've been an absolute legend. Love it. Thank you so much for joining us here on Golf Subpar. Thanks, fellas. You guys are awesome.

Well done. And that was PGA tour player Joel Damon on. golf subpar. So ladies, give me your thoughts. Dude, uh, the thing that sticks out to me with Joel just because I knew him, like I said before, he was a big time Joel Damon now. But that story about him barely thinking he missed the cut on the mini tour event was the gateway of a gateway tour out here at Scottsdale at the time thought he missed the cut ended up making it went out to dinner like one of the first dates with his now wife sent it as he is accustomed to do has a great time realized he locked his clubs in his car shows up the next morning shoot 60 whatever he shot

63 with a rental set from Papa. It was at Papago Golf Club, which is now the Arizona State University of Golf Course. And it's like the word kind of trickled around that event. And I was like, oh, my, like this kid, he's just talented. They can figure it out with anything. He's very talented.

Absolute legend out there on the jickey jacks. Yeah, he was tough to be. I don't think we'll see him on the jickey jacks much anymore. I think he's found a home. I think he's found a home. He is great. But I mentioned his caddy a lot. Just their relationship is really cool.

And I love the story I shared with me that, like he's had the yips in every part of his game. Like even the punch out yips or a sand wedge yips from, because 100 yards just all that. I mean, tour players are mental nut jobs kind of. Yeah, and I love it that it's like a specific thing. It's like, no, dude, I got the seven iron yips. I'm fine with six.

I'm fine with eight, but we cannot hit a seven iron right now. Just weird stuff. And the Sun Kang story, too, dude, that one got a lot of buzz at the time. I think pretty much most guys are on the side of Joel Damon on that. But it takes, dude, it takes balls to stand up and be like, no, that ain't right i ain't signing your card it really it really does i mean good for him for for standing up letting ben crane play through which never happened in ben crane's life but uh like you said it takes a lot of guts to call a call a player out like that um because you know that can obviously ruin a relationship

pretty easily and but i mean he's he's got to do what he what he thinks is right and like you said either that or you don't sign a scorecard um tough situation but he handled it great yeah and i think most of the players probably side with him, but he knows if he refused to do that, that's going to be an unpopular thing and it's going to cause waves. But he was like, look, dude, there's no way that crossed. I ain't signing this.

So he's fun, man. We'll get him back in here at some point and looking forward to see him back on tour. Well, we hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. That's it for us this week. We'll talk to y'all on next week's golfs book park.