Birk Nelson, PGA Professional/Orange Whip Trainer - Afterhours
This podcast episode delves into the nuances of the golfing experience, as I engage in a profound dialogue with Birk Nelson from Orange Whip Trainer. The salient point of our discussion revolves around the evolving nature of golf and the implications of modern equipment on the game. We contemplate the return to traditional golfing elements, such as persimmon woods, which Birk believes foster a greater finesse in play compared to contemporary clubs. Furthermore, we explore the accessibility of golf amidst rising costs associated with longer courses necessitated by advancements in technology. Our exchange ultimately underscores a shared commitment to preserving the essence of golf while fostering inclusivity in the sport.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Orange Whip Trainer
- Powerbuilt Golf
- Linksoul
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Grilling at the Green After Hours.
Speaker A:The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker A:Hi, everybody, it's jt and this is a special version of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to After Hours here on Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:I've got Burke Nelson with me from Orange Whip Trainer.
Speaker A:Burke is also a serious player out there, and he's playing this year in the at Congressional.
Speaker B:When is that May?
Speaker B:Boy, you're gonna ask me.
Speaker B:22nd through the 26th.
Speaker B:23rd.
Speaker B:23rd through the 26th.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:That'll be fun.
Speaker B:It'd be fantastic.
Speaker A:It won't be.
Speaker A:It'll only be 80 human back there at that time.
Speaker A:So this is something that we've not rehearsed.
Speaker A:Of course, if you know my shows, we never rehearse anything.
Speaker A:But these are kind of some fun questions for work.
Speaker A:So here's the first one.
Speaker A:If you were declared supreme Leader of golf for one day, what would you, as supreme leader, declare?
Speaker B:Go back to Persimmon Woods.
Speaker B:This is what I do.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I love the game the way it used to be with Persimmon Woods.
Speaker B:There's a lot more, I guess, finesse with the game.
Speaker B:You can work the golf ball, hit it high or low.
Speaker B:And today.
Speaker B:And the sweet spot was a lot smaller.
Speaker B:Today's golf club is just.
Speaker B:It's just, you know, you just swing as hard as you can, and it's going to be there when you deliver the club.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you could play around a golf with one of your golfing heroes, who would it be?
Speaker B:Oh, boy.
Speaker B:You know, I already.
Speaker B:Already crossed off Tiger on that list.
Speaker B:And then, you know, Padre was a lot of fun, too.
Speaker B:And so one of my golfing heroes.
Speaker B:It's funny because I want to beat them all, you know, so.
Speaker B:So I play with them.
Speaker B:It's not going to be for fun.
Speaker B:It's going to.
Speaker B:Because I want to beat them.
Speaker B:I'm going back.
Speaker B:I've got to think about this.
Speaker B:Honestly.
Speaker B:I would love to play with some of my old teammates from Oregon State.
Speaker B:I think that would be fantastic.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And to get together with some of those guys that, you know, were instrumental to me when I was developing.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What years did you go to OSU?
Speaker B:91 through 96.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I was about 10 years ahead of you there.
Speaker A:So do you think professional golf is getting further removed from just the everyday average golfer.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:You know, Covid really was a benefit for golf where it brought in a lot of young blood into the game, and it was great for the golf game.
Speaker B:And so the problem with golf, and this goes back to, you know, why I would prefer in persimmon woods, is the golf ball goes further nowadays, and you have a golf ball that goes further.
Speaker B:You need to build longer golf courses, and longer golf courses cost more money to maintain, and more money to maintain means more.
Speaker B:They have to charge more money.
Speaker B:So that makes golf a little bit more exclusive for people instead of being more open to people.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:To play and say.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so golf is.
Speaker B:I'd like to see it.
Speaker B:I'd like to kind of see it go back and get governed a little bit.
Speaker A:What's your.
Speaker A:Burke, what's your favorite golf course of all the courses you've played?
Speaker B:The old Trysting Tree.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Before.
Speaker B:Before it was.
Speaker B:A few of the holes were renovated.
Speaker B:I love that golf course.
Speaker B:It was fantastic shape.
Speaker B:There's so much fun to players wide open.
Speaker B:But it wasn't wide open.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Name something or someone that you were really enthused about when you first saw.
Speaker A:Saw it or them or heard of it.
Speaker A:And then with time, your excitement kind of fizzled.
Speaker B:Oh, boy.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I always try to relate everything to golf.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Something that fizzled.
Speaker B:I might have to come back to this one.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I'm gonna have to come back to it.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker B:Thinking.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you could.
Speaker A:This is one of my favorites.
Speaker A:I think this tells you a lot about folks.
Speaker A:If you could dine with a historical figure, who would it be and what would be on the menu?
Speaker B:Okay, it's going to be Lewis and Clark.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:And it's going to be beaver jerky.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:It's going to be horse meat or some just nasty thing that they had to eat.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:On.
Speaker B:On their adventure.
Speaker B:Whether buffalo or horse or beaver or.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker A:I could.
Speaker A:I could do the buffalo easy.
Speaker A:I've.
Speaker A:I've.
Speaker A:Even being an old horse guy, I actually ate dogs.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker A:Dogs.
Speaker A:They do.
Speaker B:And they like them.
Speaker B:They said they were good.
Speaker B:They would trade for dogs.
Speaker A:I'm not sure dogs had kibble back in those days, but.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
Speaker B:Oh, I make the best cup of coffee you would ever imagine.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I nerd out on it.
Speaker B:I even weigh my beans.
Speaker B:I get my filter all, like, already wet, so it kind of leeches all the flavors out of it, so it's more of a clean cup.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Get a nice grind.
Speaker B:I miss my beans before I grind them.
Speaker B:So there's any static electricity forming.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:I get the water at the perfect temperature, and it is the most delicious cup of coffee.
Speaker B:I only have one cup of coffee, but it's a really good one.
Speaker A:Well, you are in Eugene, so there's a lot of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, like that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Perk.
Speaker A:If you could erase one mistake from your past, what would it be?
Speaker B:One mistake from my past, what would it be?
Speaker B:B.
Speaker B:I would have hit a nine iron on the 18th hole instead of the eight iron.
Speaker B:During the PAC 10 championship, when I lost in a playoff to Jason Gore, I absolutely flagged it.
Speaker B:And if you ever played Tucson national, you do not want to go over that green at all.
Speaker B:And because I didn't really understand how adrenaline worked, I just hit that 8 iron about 10 yards further than I ever have in my life, and I would.
Speaker B:It's so much better to be pin high or short.
Speaker B:And I've always prided myself in being really good at distance control with my irons.
Speaker B:And so to be 10 yards long was just.
Speaker B:I left myself with the most impossible sand shot downhill, and I lost a PAC 10 championship of Gore because of that.
Speaker A:Well, adrenaline and dry air don't help.
Speaker B:I knew my.
Speaker B:I knew my distances.
Speaker B:I knew where I was.
Speaker B:It all made sense.
Speaker B:It all added up in my head.
Speaker B:I just didn't factor in adrenaline, and I just.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:I flagged it, too.
Speaker B:It was perfect.
Speaker A:So, Burke, if I gave you a box with everything you've lost in your life, what is the one thing you would look for in that box?
Speaker B:Oh, this is so funny.
Speaker B:You know what?
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It'd be a bayonet.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:When I was.
Speaker B:When I was a kid, Remember, I grew up in the country.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Somehow my parents, we.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:They had this rental.
Speaker B:There's an old rental, and someone moved out, and when they moved out, they left a bunch of stuff.
Speaker B: ft a bayonet, and it was from: Speaker B:Had a little wood handle on it.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And I had no idea where that thing went, But I loved that bayonet for some reason.
Speaker B:It just felt cool.
Speaker A:I'll tell you a secret.
Speaker A:I don't see it right now.
Speaker A:I have one of those that I found in our creek when I was a kid.
Speaker A:It's about that long.
Speaker A:It was from World War I.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It was a bayonet.
Speaker A:They used on their.
Speaker A:I don't know what, they weren't using M1s back then, I don't think.
Speaker A:But whatever it was, it was a really long bayonet.
Speaker A:And I've kept it for, you know, 60 years, since I found it when I was a kid.
Speaker A:It's a little rough because it'd been in the crick for a while, but.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know exactly which bayonet you're talking about.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So what's the biggest change you think should be made in.
Speaker A:Besides for Simmons in pro golf and then amateur golf?
Speaker B:In pro golf and amateur golf.
Speaker B:You know, I'm going to go back to getting that golf ball to, to go, you know, a little bit more governed, making those golf courses a little more realistic.
Speaker B:You know, these, these 240 yard par threes are just ridiculous.
Speaker B:I felt like the game was better when.
Speaker B:Back in the day.
Speaker B:But I'm sure everybody that gets older says that, too.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B: nship back in, I think it was: Speaker B:Todd Dempsey, fantastic player.
Speaker B:And so he's nostalgia, kind of like myself.
Speaker B:And he actually makes persimmon woods.
Speaker B:Now he sells them through two companies, sells them through Powerbuilt Golf.
Speaker B:And then he also sells them through Linksoul, a golf company that's kind of related to Ashworth.
Speaker B:And so he.
Speaker B:He's so nostalgic that he still plays with persimmon woods.
Speaker B:And he almost qualified for the Champions Tour with persimmon woods.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Dempsey, what.
Speaker A:What's your favorite flavor of Lifesaver?
Speaker B:The pineapple.
Speaker A:You're the only guy on the show that's ever said that.
Speaker A:Pineapple.
Speaker B:Pineapple.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm the green guy.
Speaker A:I like the green ones and some of the red ones.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're all good with the pineapple.
Speaker B:It always.
Speaker B:It always gets me.
Speaker A:Pineapple good.
Speaker A:You have a favorite movie.
Speaker B:A couple.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:It's a random one that no one's ever really probably heard of, but it was Jack Nicholson, it had Mary Steenburgers in, And, oh, Danny DeVito is in it.
Speaker B:Christopher Lloyd.
Speaker B:It was called Going South.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:And absolutely love that movie.
Speaker B:I used to watch with my mom and we just laugh our heads off.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker B:I still say lines from it all the time.
Speaker B:Absolutely love it.
Speaker B:Going south.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What's the best and then worst concert you ever went to?
Speaker B:Best concert was you to Seattle.
Speaker B:So they played their Joshua Tree, which Was album Absolutely Love Growing Up.
Speaker B:And so I got to the concert and they play that who album start to start to finish.
Speaker B:And they sounded so good.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Just like they used to.
Speaker B:And it was just absolutely amazing.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The worst concert I've ever been to.
Speaker B:Oh, man, I love music so much.
Speaker B:It's hard for me to think of a bad concert.
Speaker B:It's, you know, it's so bad, I probably erased it from my memory.
Speaker B:That's usually how bad it was, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I have some.
Speaker A:I just flat don't remember, but that was the era I came up in.
Speaker A:So, you know, you have to say.
Speaker B:There' been a couple.
Speaker B:But there's.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's been so many that I remember that have been so, you know, I've been.
Speaker B:I recently watched Squeeze.
Speaker B:They were fantastic.
Speaker B:Those were Violent Femmes, all these little bands.
Speaker B:I used to.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:So that brings me to the next question.
Speaker A:If we put Burke's skills to music, what would the music be?
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:If you put my skills to music, what would it be?
Speaker B:Alternative.
Speaker B:I guarantee that it would be.
Speaker B:It'd be a mishmash of different.
Speaker B:It's not one group.
Speaker A:Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker B:Everything on the alternative scale be a soundtrack.
Speaker B:It would be because, you know, my golf game is.
Speaker B:If you.
Speaker B:If you read a textbook.
Speaker B:Not everything is really textbook.
Speaker B:My golf game.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But it's fun to watch.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, like kind of like alternative music.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's not like anything that you're going to hear on popular radio, but it's.
Speaker B:It's going to be good.
Speaker A:Hey, I was a disc jockey in LA my first two years of school.
Speaker A:I was the morning drive.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was a morning drive guy.
Speaker A:And the station's no longer there.
Speaker B:What years were that?
Speaker B:Was that.
Speaker A:That was in the mid-70s.
Speaker B:Mid-70s.
Speaker B:Oh, boy.
Speaker B:That's going back.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I would start with little Black Sabbath, little Jimmy Buffett, some Zeppelin, some Bob Dylan.
Speaker A:So I mixed it up, you know, of.
Speaker A:Of everybody that was.
Speaker A:And we would get all these strange.
Speaker A:When you were a college music station back there, you got the.
Speaker A:The dump is what we called it back then.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:From the record labels.
Speaker A:They would send you records, but they never sent the college stations their hits.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:They never sent the number one album cuts from like, you know, Bob Dylan or something.
Speaker A:You'd get some abstract, but you would also get these bands that were trying to make it right, you know, so you might go in a club in.
Speaker A:In East LA and actually see the band There with four people listening to them.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So we had a lot of that.
Speaker A:I don't even remember a lot of them, but it was when Rhino Records first started and so you could get bootleg albums and all kinds of crap there, but we would play that.
Speaker A:But I usually started with stuff people knew to, to get them out of bed in the morning because that was the morning drive time.
Speaker A:So I went on the air at 6 and we played 6 to 9, 15.
Speaker A:And then you just put on Indigada Davida or something and leave your shift, you know, like that.
Speaker A:And they were actually albums, but yeah, all kinds of stuff we played.
Speaker A:Every once in a while, I'd throw a piece of country music in there and the phones would light up.
Speaker A:What are you playing that crap for?
Speaker A:You know, that type of thing.
Speaker A:So it was very interesting.
Speaker A:Okay, just a couple more here, buddy.
Speaker A:What's the one thing you miss about your 20s?
Speaker B:Oh, boy.
Speaker B:What do I miss about my 20s?
Speaker B:How high?
Speaker B:I used to be able to jump, man.
Speaker B:I could, I could, I could barely, but I could dunk that goal, that basketball.
Speaker B:And so golf was really easy to dunk, but, but, but now I can't, I can't, I can't even jump off a box anymore.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Can you jump down, let alone jump up?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I get that.
Speaker A:Do you think you'll ever retire completely?
Speaker B:I mean.
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker B:I mean, golf is just like.
Speaker B:I mean, here's what I see.
Speaker B:My trajectory with golf is, is, you know, I've been part of golf for a long time, and I'm going to try to get more on giving back to the game as I get older.
Speaker B:So that means not only just like, coaching, you know, at the golf course, teaching at the golf course, but also like, I'm coaching a high school golf team would be great.
Speaker B: high school golf coach since: Speaker B:So he has given back to the game for so many years that, that I would love to follow in his footsteps and, and do that locally because I have, you know, I have so much experience with this game.
Speaker B:It's done so much for me.
Speaker B:I love it so much.
Speaker B:I just want to share that passion and that experience with others.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Okay, last question.
Speaker A:You ready for this one?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What would be your last meal if you were on death row.
Speaker B:Man?
Speaker B:Breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Speaker A:Dinner.
Speaker A:Dinner.
Speaker B:Okay, so dinner.
Speaker B:Um, you know, I, I, I mean, I love everything.
Speaker B:I really do.
Speaker B:I mean, when it comes To Thai food, you know, pizza or, or, or Mexican food.
Speaker B:And I think I may do just a giant breakfast if I'm on death row.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You need anything you want?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean I'm gonna, I'm in a gorge and I'm gonna have breakfast for dinner and it's going to be everything.
Speaker B:It's going to be the hash browns, the bacon, the eggs.
Speaker B:There's going to be a waffle in there.
Speaker B:There's also going to be, let me see what else is going to be on this thing.
Speaker B:Probably some breakfast cereal or something.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's going to be breakfast for dinner.
Speaker B:It's going to be thousands of calories.
Speaker B:It's going to be delicious.
Speaker B:But you know, I mean, I could have said green curry.
Speaker B:I could have gone, I could have gone with anything.
Speaker B:There's so many things.
Speaker B:Sushi, I absolutely love sushi.
Speaker B:I do breakfast for dinner though.
Speaker B:Well, tomorrow might be different.
Speaker A:At that point you don't have to worry about overeating.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You know, it's not gonna matter.
Speaker B:Greasy spoon.
Speaker B:I have to worry about any of that stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's all good.
Speaker B:It'd be so good.
Speaker B:Probably some little smokies in there too.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:Chicken fried steak.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker B:Oh, I love chicken.
Speaker A:Smothered and smothered in gravy.
Speaker B:It's so good.
Speaker A:Burke Nelson from Orange Whip Trainer again, real quick before we go, how do they find out about you, about Orange Whip, all that stuff?
Speaker A:Give them the sightings.
Speaker B:You know, Orange Whip Trainer.
Speaker B:So you can go to Orange Whip trainer dot com.
Speaker B:We're going to have some information, even the history of the Orange Whip Trainer.
Speaker B:We have thousands of videos on YouTube on how to use an Orange Whip trainer.
Speaker B:But at the end of the day it's the simplest thing to use in the world.
Speaker B:You just swing it back and forth continuously.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:We'll be back next week with another edition of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Don't forget to check out the North Valley Challenge.
Speaker A:That's a golf series that I'm involved in that we raising money for students and veterans and that type of thing.
Speaker A:There's three tournaments and you play for some great prizes and cash at the end of the series.
Speaker A:So check that out too.
Speaker A:Go to North Valley Challenge.
Speaker A:It's on a vet caddy and so you can even sign up right there.
Speaker A:Go to the North Valley Challenge anyway, for Burke and me.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening, I appreciate it.
Speaker A:And we'll see you next week.
Speaker A:Go out and play some golf, have some fun.
Speaker A:But most of all be kind.
