Gary Christian - Golfer/Broadcaster Encore
The focal point of this podcast episode revolves around the insightful discourse on Gary Christian's forthcoming literary work, entitled "Beat the Course Not Yourself: One Golfer's Path to a Winning Mental Game." In this engaging dialogue, I, alongside my esteemed guest, delve into the intricacies of the mental aspect of golf, illuminating how it is often overshadowed by the emphasis on physical prowess and technical skills. The book, co-authored with Dr. Kurt Ickes, distinguishes itself by intertwining narrative elements and practical worksheets, thereby facilitating a more personalized and relatable experience for readers. We explore the significance of mental fortitude in achieving success on the golf course, particularly in the context of the pressures faced by junior golfers and their parents. Ultimately, this episode serves as a poignant reminder that mastery of the mental game is as crucial as refining one's swing, and it invites listeners to reflect on their own mental approaches to the sport.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Golf Channel
- Standard Insurance
- Weston Kia
- Birdie Ball
- Painted Hills Beef
- Oregon Crab Commission
- Kia Corp
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Grilling at the Green.
Speaker A:Join Jeff Tracy as he explores a golfing lifestyle and tries to keep it in the short grass.
Speaker A:For the hackers, new sweepers and turf spankers.
Speaker A:Here's Jeff.
Speaker B:Tomorrow's gonna be better than today.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Hey, everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome to the show.
Speaker B:This is Grilling at the Green.
Speaker B:I'm Jeff Tracy, your host.
Speaker B:How's your golf game?
Speaker B:How's your head game?
Speaker B:That's a good question for today.
Speaker B:Well, our friend Gary Christian from Golf Channel and former tour player is back with us.
Speaker B:He's got a new book coming out and we'll talk about when it comes out and all that, but it's a very interesting book.
Speaker B:It's called Beat the Course Not Yourself.
Speaker B:One Golfer's path to a Winning Mental Game.
Speaker B:Gary's the co author with Dr. Kurt and I'm going to say this right.
Speaker B:Ickies.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well done.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Very interesting book.
Speaker B:Very easy read.
Speaker B:And I reached out to Gary about this and he said sure.
Speaker B:And so here he is.
Speaker B:Welcome back, buddy.
Speaker C:It's great to be back.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I'm disappointed I didn't get to see when I covered the, the Portland event on the LPGA at in the middle of last year.
Speaker C:So hopefully next year I'll get a chance.
Speaker B:Well, it's back.
Speaker B:They got a sponsor.
Speaker C:That's what I heard.
Speaker B:Yeah, they got a sponsor, Standard Insurance and so they're to three year deal there.
Speaker B:So we'll see your smiling face for a few more years at least up here.
Speaker C:I hope so.
Speaker C:It'd be a nice place to come back to.
Speaker C:And it's such a great tournament with all that history that it's.
Speaker C:I'm glad they got a sponsor.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker B:Really good.
Speaker B:So about your book, Beat the Course, Not Yourself.
Speaker B:As you and I were talking off here, Gary, there's, there's a ton of golf instruction books about your swing, you know, how to not hit a slice, how to chip, how to putt, how to this, how to that.
Speaker B:And there's also a ton of psych books, if you will, on your golf game.
Speaker B:But yours is different.
Speaker B:And I've read a ton of those books.
Speaker B:You know, when you do a show like this, people want you to read their book and have them on the show and they're all great.
Speaker B:They're all, they've all put a lot of time and effort into it.
Speaker B:But what I, what I told you before we came on the air was it's a little different because it's, it's like a, it's in a story form and it's like, it's got a worksheet in it for you at the, at the end of each chapter, which I found fascinating because it really kind of guides the reader to say, what did you, what did you discern out of this?
Speaker B:You know, and, and questions about their own mental and physical game.
Speaker B:What prompted you to do it that way?
Speaker C:Yeah, I just think I always felt the most useful books that I read when I was trying to become as good as I possibly could.
Speaker C:And the mental side of the game is what took me as not a particularly gifted, physically skilled player and not a very gifted, physical statured player to get the absolute most out of my game.
Speaker C:And there were a thousand players better than me that never reached their potential.
Speaker C:And I reached and maybe even surpassed my potential purely from adhering and spending so much time on the mental side of the game.
Speaker C:So I know the importance of it.
Speaker C:And when I was really delving into that, when I was learning it and trying to implement it into my game, the most successful books I had were ones where I almost took a sharp, sorry, a highlighter and wrote in the book and wrote notes and you know, try to apply what I learned from, from reading the chapter.
Speaker C:And so it kind of felt like it was a really good way to kind of blend, you know, an easy reading story that, you know, puts you in almost inside the mind of a, of a competitive player that just makes mistakes all day long and keeps making the same mistakes and doesn't know why and doesn't know how to cure them and thinks it's all swing related and we find out that we could go in a different route that is the mental side of the game and take care of a lot of the problems and become a successful tournament player.
Speaker C:But with that easy reading story, there's lessons to be learned in every chapter.
Speaker C:And so it's nice where you can, it's almost, you can personalize it to you.
Speaker C:There's no real right or wrong answer because, you know, you read a chapter, then we kind of threw it over to you to see what you got out of it.
Speaker C:And one person will get something out of it, some other person will get something very different out of it, but it is something that you want to just keep kind of going back to and rereading and, and every time you read it, I think you'll find something different and you'll find something different that you do that you think, ah, you know what, this might be worth really investigating a little bit deeper.
Speaker B:I think one of the things that made it different from a lot of the other mental game books, if you will, is the fact that no knock on the professionals that write them.
Speaker B:I mean, they went to, they went to shrink school, they did.
Speaker B:They, you know, they, they had to do all that stuff.
Speaker B:But sometimes you get lost in those books because their espousing things that perhaps through their, Their practice that they've learned or through school, but it's not presented in a way that the average person who doesn't want to delve into the deep.
Speaker B:Into the pool or dive into the deep.
Speaker B:Into the pool, I should say, Gary, on, on the mental game, you know, speak in simple sentences and so that they can.
Speaker B:And, and I'm not being.
Speaker B:Well, I am being sarcastic, but I'm.
Speaker B:Most people don't have the time to sit and get way out in the realm of, you know, Freudian stuff or whatever to figure out why they get the, the, the jitters or the yips when they're putting or whatever it is.
Speaker B:But that's one of the things I found really attractive about this.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And that's exactly the point we were trying to make.
Speaker C:This is almost like an entry level into golf psychology.
Speaker C:And, you know, I was the same, you know, what you just said, it pertained exactly to me.
Speaker C:So I was really de.
Speaker C:Psychology.
Speaker C:Golf psychology to, to get my competitive advantage.
Speaker C:And I would digest every single golf psychology book that ever came out.
Speaker C:And I was always, you know, I was excited to read a new one, but a lot of the time there may be 15 chapters, and maybe only one chapter really pertained to me and spoke to me.
Speaker C:And so the other 14, you know, I either knew already or it just didn't really mean.
Speaker C:Mean too much to me.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:But I got something out of it.
Speaker C:But I knew what I was looking for.
Speaker C:And as you said, if you don't know what you're looking for and you just say, well, I just got to read psychology books.
Speaker C:You know, you can kind of get lost.
Speaker C:And, you know, this is.
Speaker C:It's very clear, it's very concise.
Speaker C:It is, you know, it's kind of like.
Speaker C:It kind of takes you on a journey.
Speaker C:It takes you on a journey through a round of competitive golf and the highs and the lows and then, you know, trying to figure out what a new plan could be and then, you know, spending some time with someone who knows what they're doing and then putting it into practice and then playing ultimately a really impressive tournament.
Speaker C:And, and it's seeing the development of this Jack character who's, you know, a young college wannabe who wants to play collegiate golf.
Speaker C:And he just keeps sabotaging himself because he doesn't have any control over himself.
Speaker C:And all the tenants of golf psychology is control what you can control.
Speaker C:And I think, I think why this book will really resonate is, especially for a parent, you know, when you, when you watch your kid who you know is a really good golf, and you watch them play in a tournament and you say, how in the world did you make a bogey from there, from the middle of the fairway with a wedge in your hand?
Speaker C:And the kid just doesn't know.
Speaker C:He says, well, just, you know, my swing's bad, or, you know, it was just bad luck or whatever.
Speaker C:And, you know, there's more to it than that.
Speaker C:There was a series of decisions or a series of lack of focus that led to, you know, a talented player turn an easy shot into a hard shot and turn a potential birdie into a bogey or worse.
Speaker C:And we see it every single round of golf with the majority of junior players and the majority of club players in their local dogfight or club championship.
Speaker C:And it's, and so it's something that, you know, someone, whoever plays any kind of form of competitive golf, whether it's super serious or just the regular dogfight, they're going to get something out of this and they can use that to get better.
Speaker C:Because, you know, the way I look at things and the way, you know, the way golf is for club golfers in particular, you're really busy people.
Speaker C:You don't have time to devote hour upon hour upon hour hitting hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of balls.
Speaker C:And here's the main thing, hit thousands, hundreds of balls correctly to really fundamentally change the swing so much.
Speaker C:But you can work on how you go about focus and how you go about making good decisions and being fully committed to the shot you know, you can hit.
Speaker C:And so I think it's going to be a really interesting read.
Speaker B:I think so too.
Speaker B:We want to thank the Oregon Crab Commission and also Painted Hills Natural Beef for sponsoring this segment.
Speaker B:And Gary and I will be back right after this.
Speaker B:Just don't go away.
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Speaker D: all time leader in Kia sales: Speaker E:Reported by Kia Corp. Hey, everybody, J.T.
Speaker B:Here.
Speaker B:If you need something to practice with.
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Speaker E:Birdieball.com.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker F:Hey, everybody, I'm Pat Boyle.
Speaker F:I am happy to report I am now part of the grilling at the green team.
Speaker F:I grill the golfers.
Speaker F:Jeff grills the meat.
Speaker C:Hey, Jeff.
Speaker B:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker B:It's green.
Speaker B:I'm JT Today we're with Gary Christian.
Speaker B:And get this up front here.
Speaker B:We want to thank the folks at Weston Kia for this part of the show.
Speaker B:You say it in your title beat the course.
Speaker B:You know, not yourself.
Speaker B:I'm, I'm, I'm right there raising my hand with everybody because you said it at the back of the last segment.
Speaker B:We don't have time to go out there.
Speaker B:We'd love to, but we don't have time to go out and pound balls, you know, four hours a day and work on something like that.
Speaker B:Most of us are weekend warriors.
Speaker B:You can hit the shots.
Speaker B:You've played enough.
Speaker B:You can hit the shots.
Speaker B:Maybe you had enough lessons or.
Speaker C:Worked.
Speaker B:On things like that, but you don't have time to practice.
Speaker B:So you're making that shot one out of four times.
Speaker B:Maybe if you walk up and you just clear your mind and you're relaxed and you hit it, it'll do something probably pretty good for the most part.
Speaker B:But we get there and we get, did I, did I take the garbage out this morning?
Speaker B:Did I, what did my coach say the last time I, the ball was above my feet, I should do this.
Speaker B:Or, you know, you get these clutter little pockets in your brain, and that's when the game isn't exactly fun for people, I think.
Speaker C:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:I mean, when you think about it, when you play your best, whether you're a scratch player or a 20 handicapper, when you're playing your best, you know, everything just happens, doesn't it?
Speaker C:You just, you know, you look at the target and you swing and the ball goes basically where you want it to go.
Speaker C:And, you know, when you get under the pressure of competition, there's all those distractions.
Speaker C:You, you know, you want to play well, you have to play well.
Speaker C:You know, maybe if you're a competitive junior, you're trying to get a golf scholarship.
Speaker C:If you're a 20 handicapper and you're trying to get your quota, you've got a chance to win a few dollars.
Speaker C:And so, you know, that quiet, that focus just wavers.
Speaker C:And, you know, the game's hard enough as it is without all these competing thoughts, you know, trying to get into your brain.
Speaker C:So, you know, every, every golf psychology book will talk about, you know, building a routine to help you, you know, kind of act as a little bit of a force field to kind of stop a lot of those distracting thoughts disrupting how you go about your shot.
Speaker C:And so, you know, we talk about that.
Speaker C:We, you know, we talk about, you know, positive self talk.
Speaker C:You're in charge of what you say to yourself.
Speaker C:And I in the book, you know, it's just a little anecdote that, you know, I remember hearing a long time ago.
Speaker C:You know, the number of times you tell yourself how bad you are and how awful you are and how much you suck and I shouldn't be out here and what's the point?
Speaker C:And then you flip it around and say, if you had a guy caddy him from you for you, who said that to you, you'd probably tell him to drop the bag and fire him on the spot.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:Why would you say it to yourself?
Speaker C:So there's all these things that we're in control of that, you know, we, we're just not aware that we're sabotaging ourselves all the time.
Speaker C:So this book helps to give you awareness of all these things that are making the game more difficult and, and not easier.
Speaker C:And so, you know, the more that we can, number one, find out what these things are and, and, and focus on, you know, trying to be as aware as possible and then catch them before something disrupts you and pat yourself on the back.
Speaker C:And so, you know, that's all part of learning a skill.
Speaker C:Just like when you start learning how to chip properly and you know, you go from duffing every shot to all of a sudden making good contact, you pat yourself on the back and saying there's progress.
Speaker C:Well, you know, progress in the mental side of the game is just as important maybe, if not more important.
Speaker B:One thing I would hope that when the book comes out that parents would read this book.
Speaker B:I came from a different sports world into this, but same thing applies.
Speaker B:We would have the helicopter parents and parents that spent incredible amount of money to get their kid where it is today.
Speaker B:But the kid, usually, if you looked at them, and I was their coach, a lot of times they had a knot in their stomach as big as a cantaloupe, you know, and, and, and you try to talk them off the ledge, as you.
Speaker B:As we would say, like that.
Speaker B:But I would think that this book would be good for parents, too, for junior golfers or high school golfers or whatever, because we've seen that so many times.
Speaker B:You know, I don't play at that level, but I've covered that level.
Speaker B:And, and I can tell you some of the LPGA Tour players that came through Portland over the years, that they had mom and dad and their coach and entourage, and I can think of one very famous golfer in particular, and she always looked about half miserable until she got her folks to stay home, and she was just going to the tournaments with her and her caddy.
Speaker B:It was a world of difference in her.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:And like I said in the first segment, I think it's a really useful thing for parents to read, to understand what their kids are going through and why they see what they think are elementary mistakes.
Speaker C:And they're saying, well, I'm spending all this money on lessons.
Speaker C:Why can't you hit a green with a wedge?
Speaker C:Well, there's more to it than that.
Speaker C:And so hopefully, if they read this, they will understand what their kids are going through, and then they can kind of help them push them a little bit more to taking care of the mental side of the game a lot more than they have to this point.
Speaker C:And that's going to make them better golfers.
Speaker C:It's going to make their relationship stronger, and it's going to take a little pressure off them because their performance is going to be better.
Speaker C:I, you know, we watch these incredible players, you know, coming straight out of college and winning on the PGA Tour.
Speaker C:We see Nick Dunlap win as a college sophomore.
Speaker C:You know, the reason they are so much better than their, their, their contemporaries 20, 30 years ago is because, you know, from 14, 15, 16, they've basically got a PGA Tour team around them.
Speaker C:They got swing coaches, they got psychologists, they got nutritionalists, they got people who help them work out, they got people who manage their, you know, their travel, all of those kinds of things.
Speaker C:So if the best college players and the best high school players are doing this and, and taking care of everything they can control, you know, it seems like if you're not paying attention to the mental side of the game in an early stage, then you're, you know, you're certainly playing at a competitive disadvantage.
Speaker C:So, as I said, this is kind of designed for, for group, but it also applies to anyone who just wants to get better.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I mean, I actually, in reading the book, I actually thought of a Couple things about myself that I do consistently.
Speaker B:No need to discuss what those are because I'm not that abusive to myself.
Speaker B:But the point is it really.
Speaker B:It really does make you think.
Speaker B:And now I'm really glad we're talking about Gary's new book coming out, Beat the course, not yourself.
Speaker B:One golfer's path to winning a winning mental game.
Speaker B:And, you know, was it Bobby Jones?
Speaker B:Those five inches between your ears, that deal, you know.
Speaker B:So Gary and I'll be back in a minute on grilling it to green.
Speaker B:Stay with us.
Speaker E:Hey, everybody, it's jt.
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Speaker E:But it's more than that because each bite of painted hills will make your taste buds explode.
Speaker E:Put a big, bright smile on your face, and whoever's at your dinner table will have a big, bright smile on their face.
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Speaker B:You won't regret it.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker B:It's green on jt.
Speaker B:Today we're talking with Gary Christian.
Speaker B:You now.
Speaker B:This is your second appearance.
Speaker B:So, Gary, now you're officially friend of the show.
Speaker B:How's that?
Speaker C:Oh, I like that.
Speaker C:Do I get a blazer?
Speaker B:You get a.
Speaker B:Well, I'll.
Speaker B:I'll send you a patch.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:I like that.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:When you come to Portland, you can wear it across from the golf channel one on your shirt.
Speaker B:How's that?
Speaker B:Gary's got a new book out.
Speaker B:Beat the course, not yourself One golfers path to a Winning Mental Game with Gary and Dr. Kurt Ickes.
Speaker B:The characters.
Speaker B:I like the characters.
Speaker B:I like Jack.
Speaker B:I really like Matt.
Speaker B:I like the old coach.
Speaker B:I know a bunch of guys like Nick.
Speaker B:I think we all do.
Speaker B:Not to give away all the character profiles, but, you know, Jack's the hero, Nick's the anti hero, and.
Speaker B:And Matt's the.
Speaker B:The sidekick, the.
Speaker B:I don't know what you want to call it.
Speaker B:The Walter Brennan and westerns used to be for John Wayne.
Speaker B:He was the good guy.
Speaker B:Always kind of did that.
Speaker B:And you know, it's funny in.
Speaker B:In.
Speaker B:In thinking about this after I read it, trying to reflect back on some different rounds, recent rounds and stuff.
Speaker B:And I thought, you know, talking to my friends when we're playing and just talking about stuff, completely irrelevant to golf, you know, whether it's business or a trip we took or restaurant or whatever.
Speaker B:I found that most of the time when you do that and then you get up and take your next shot and, you know, go through your routine and set up like that.
Speaker B:You do better.
Speaker B:I'd never really thought of it about that way, but a little reflection, you know, kind of said, yeah, when you do that, but when you're ticked off at the last shot and you, you know, you walk 10 yards to the next shot because you muffed it and you're still all buzzed up about that and thinking, God, Jeff, don't be an idiot this time.
Speaker B:Don't do that again.
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker B:You're in for a long day.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:I mean, as I said, you are in control of yourself.
Speaker C:We are relatively advanced human beings who play golf, so we, you know, we should understand that the more we sabotage ourselves, the harder it's going to be.
Speaker C:So it just, it basically works as a vicious cycle, doesn't it?
Speaker C:So, you know, you, you hit a bad shot and then you obsess about it all the way to the next shot, and that means you're not in a very good frame of mind to hit the next shot.
Speaker C:You go through your routine, but it's not very focused because you're still thinking about the previous one.
Speaker C:Then you hit another bad shot and then the cycle just keeps getting worse and worse and you just spiral out of control.
Speaker C:And, and so, you know, if we can kind of stop and be aware of those poisonous thoughts and those poisonous reactions to a bad shot and then try and kind of re gather ourselves and do the most efficient pre shot routine we can, it certainly doesn't guarantee a great shot, but it gives you a much better chance.
Speaker C:And then at the end of it, you can say, hey, you know what?
Speaker C:I did everything I could do.
Speaker C:Golf's just a hard game and, and sometimes you just hit bad shots, but at least you don't have regrets.
Speaker C:It's, it's that, it's that thing when you get back at the end of the round and you, you know, let's say you shot 90 and you say, God, if only I'd have just kept my head in the game and not given up here and not just completely lost the plot there, I could have shot 82.
Speaker C:You know, it was, you know, it's just so many bad mistakes that I made that I wish I could have had a do over.
Speaker C:And, and that's, that's what we're trying to get to with this book where, you know, the more you hang in there, we're all going to have that nice little patch of two or three holes where if we've kind of just given up and spiraled.
Speaker C:It doesn't matter how good that 45 minutes is.
Speaker C:You're not going to.
Speaker C:It's not going to really make a big difference at the end of the day.
Speaker C:But if we kept our head in the game and we've, you know, tried our best and we've given ourselves the best opportunity, you know, that 45 minutes might all of a sudden completely transform something and turn what was looking to be a bad day at the office to be actually a pretty good one.
Speaker B:Your character, Jack, is that a compilation of people you, you know, or you've taught?
Speaker B:Because I know you teach that type of thing.
Speaker B:I'm kind of assuming some of the character traits in these are from some of your students.
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, that's the nice thing.
Speaker C:I've taught a number of, you know, college players and high schoolers trying to get to college, and, you know, that that's why I wanted to write the book, because it's.
Speaker C:It's a story that all of.
Speaker C:All of those guys, you know, as soon as they read it, they'll say, man, that's me.
Speaker C:That's me.
Speaker C:Oh, that character's like this guy that I knew.
Speaker C:Oh, that coach is just like the old guy that used to hang out at our golf club.
Speaker C:And, you know, Matt is.
Speaker C:Yo.
Speaker C:It's just like my best friend who was always so supportive of me, believed in me more than I did.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And so, you know, I got a lot of, you know, in the acknowledgment pages, you know, I just, you know, mentioned a few of them of, you know, the honesty that they gave me when we sat down and just talked.
Speaker C:You know, be honest with me.
Speaker C:What is it like when things are going completely out of control and they really kind of had to dig deep because a lot of them kind of suppressed it and really didn't want to talk about it.
Speaker C:They really enjoyed talking about when they played well, what that felt like.
Speaker C:That was easy, but it was really.
Speaker C:It was really illuminating for me.
Speaker C:And it took me back to when I was playing as a junior and playing as a college player.
Speaker C:I mean, I made, you know, a lot of the same mistakes.
Speaker C:And, you know, my big regret was I didn't throw myself into the mental side of the game until I was, you know, 28 or 30.
Speaker C:And by that time, you know, if I'd have done it 10 years earlier, I would have been on the Tour not at 40, but at 30.
Speaker B:How much do you think that.
Speaker B:That was actually my next question?
Speaker B:If this book would have been around, you know, 25 years ago, 30 years ago, because you're, you're, you're barely 30, so.
Speaker B:But we didn't, you didn't have, they weren't this type of information, Even the thought provoking information really wasn't available.
Speaker C:Yeah, not, not widespread.
Speaker C:And it was kind of a little bit of, you know, this, is this voodoo or what is this?
Speaker C:You know, I'm not really sure about this.
Speaker C:And then, you know, Bob Rotella kind of, you know, was the first sort of real, you know, out front golf psychologist that players were proud to work with and wrote books.
Speaker C:And you know, that was kind of when it kind of all kicked off in the 90s, I would say.
Speaker C:But you know, it, but again, you've got to have, if it's something that people are kind of a little reluctant to delve into.
Speaker C:The last thing you want to do is make it an intimidating type of book where they read, you know, half a chapter in and they say, nah, I don't know, this isn't for me.
Speaker C:So that's why it was in a story form.
Speaker C:I read a really good book when I was, you know, one of the many books I read.
Speaker C:7 days in utopia was one of my favorite books.
Speaker C:And the reason it was so good was because it was a story.
Speaker C:And you know, after half a chapter I was hooked and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to the characters.
Speaker C:And I think this is exactly the same where I think you're, that first half a chapter, you're kind of, you know, get inside feeling what Jack's feeling and you, you kind of want him to succeed and man, I can't wait to see how he plays and, and then, man, I really feel sorry for him and I hope he gets to the bottom of this.
Speaker C:And then you, you feel kind of elated when he starts to figure it all out and then culminates in playing well.
Speaker C:So I, I, you know, this is kind of a secret to a good story, isn't it?
Speaker C:You, you want to have empathy with the, with the main character and you're pulling for him.
Speaker B:Do you ever have any Knicks in your career?
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm not talking about Nick Bryce or Nick Falvo, but yeah, plenty of them.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean there was always that guy that always, you know, I didn't come, I came from humble means and you know, I didn't have very good equipment, I didn't wear very good clothes.
Speaker C:There was always that guy that was just dressed perfectly, you know, had a car before Anyone else had a car, had the, had the great set of golf clubs, just looked the part, dressed the part, swung great, always won tournaments and he was arrogant with it.
Speaker C:And it's the same at club championship, you know, with a bunch of 50 year olds.
Speaker C:There's always that one guy who just sort of stands out and people really, really want to beat because he's just got that air about him.
Speaker C:And so you know, that, that's, as I said, that's why I think it resonates so well because those characters you could turn from 15 year old Jack into 50 year old Chip playing in the second flight of the club championship and really wanting to beat Johnny who's won it for the last four years in a row.
Speaker C:And you know that that's, that's where the, the kind of, the fun comes, where it is relatable to everyone.
Speaker B:I know the Caddyshack, Bushwood deal with Judge Smails and the, and the doctor, you know.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker B:Oh gosh.
Speaker B:So what, what prompted you, what prompted you to just say the light bulb went on?
Speaker B:I'm going to write a book, Gary.
Speaker C:It's very strange.
Speaker C:My life, my career has just been, there's been little moments of just the right thing happens at the right time and I'm not broadcasting enough to make a comfortable living at it.
Speaker C:And so I knew, man, I got to throw myself into something a little bit different here.
Speaker C:And I was just looking around, I was trying to figure out what it is I want to do in addition to broadcasting.
Speaker C:And just out of the blue, a guy who I used to stay with when I played in the Corn Ferry Tour event in Columbus called me out the blue and said, hey, I got a.
Speaker C:My best friend, he's a psychologist who's written a bunch of baseball psychology books for kids and he really wants to do a golf one.
Speaker C:Any way you can help there.
Speaker C:And I said, I know just a man.
Speaker C:And so it was just something immediately.
Speaker C:It was just one of those lucky chance meetings or chance phone calls.
Speaker C:And all of a sudden I said, well, you know, I've got time in my hands and I've got plenty to say and I've got plenty of experience.
Speaker C:And you know, a lot of it's learning from the mistakes that I made.
Speaker C:I think I can do this.
Speaker B:Well, there you go.
Speaker B:We're going to take another break.
Speaker B:Gary Christian and I are going to be back when we wrap up the show.
Speaker B:Gary's got a new book coming out.
Speaker B:I want to make sure I get the title right.
Speaker B:It's Nothing worse for a host than to get the title wrong.
Speaker B:Beat the course, not yourself.
Speaker B:One golfer's path to a winning mental game.
Speaker B:That's what Gary wrote part of it and Dr. Kurt Ickes wrote the other part of it.
Speaker B:And we're going to write some commercials here and then we'll be right back, I promise.
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Speaker E:Go to birdieball.com check out the actual birdie balls, their packages, their putting greens, which I happen to have couple of those and they work great.
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Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker B:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker B:It's green.
Speaker B:I'm jt.
Speaker B:We want to thank a, we got a whole litany of sponsors for this show, if you never noticed.
Speaker B:We've got squares, golf shoes, of course, Painted Hills Beef, the Oregon Crab Commission, Hammersol knives, Birdie Ball, heritage cookware, all those great people that supported this and the TV show.
Speaker B:We thank them a lot.
Speaker B:You can go to our website and find links to them wherever you want.
Speaker B:And of course, we're on Golf Newsnet on The iHeart channel there 24, seven golf shows.
Speaker B:So that's kind of fun.
Speaker B:So from where we started this thing a few years ago, it's, it's grown a bit.
Speaker B:But we're talking with Gary Christian today, former corn fairy and PGA Tour player.
Speaker B:Dad does some broadcasting for Golf Channel, among other places, and now he's an author.
Speaker B:How about that?
Speaker C:I like that, I like that many strings to the bow.
Speaker C:So that's, it's nice, it's nice to push yourself.
Speaker C:I, I, I've always enjoyed kind of just pivoting off and trying different things.
Speaker C:And I really hope this, this, this book can sell the numbers that I think it can sell because I'd love to do some more.
Speaker C:But I was really, that was really proud and excited to get a couple of really good forwards.
Speaker C:You know, one was from Nick Kleiner, the, the head coach of the Auburn men's golf team that won the national championship and he was national coach of the year, you know, and he wrote some very kind words and, and, you know, basically said that you know, this is, these are the kind of the characteristics he's looking for.
Speaker C:So when he's recruiting, yeah, he looks at the swing and he looks at, you know, video and he looks at swing speeds and he looks at all those attributes.
Speaker C:But you know, he wants that something that's going to separate those, that thousand, those thousand players who hit it really well.
Speaker C:They got to have something extra, they got to have that maturity, they've got to have that ability to control themselves and you know, have at least the start of a great strong mental side of the game and mental toughness.
Speaker C:And you know, we're kind of talking about, you know, he may, you know, the last thing he wants to do is recruit a person and then have to teach him that for two or three years.
Speaker C:You know, the best recruit he can get is someone with the physical skill set and already the mental skill set built in.
Speaker C:And then Susie, Susie Whaley, the past president of the PGA of America, also wrote a forward and she really tied it to the, the adm, the American development model that the PGA of America is helping to really develop junior golfers kind of at age levels, you know, going from kind of just, you know, motor coordination to, you know, developing skills and then you get into the competitive stage of development in the, in the mid teens and that's where you introduce the golf psychology.
Speaker C:So she was very nice to, to write that this is that perfect sort of pathway to, to help with that side as well.
Speaker B:Well, I want to start with a, actually a couple of questions or overviews from your book and then we'll pick it up in after hours.
Speaker B:But when you're playing and you're teaching and you've seen all this stuff, you know, one of the things you talk about in the book, of course, and we all do, is a pre shot routine, right?
Speaker B:And you know, 25 years ago, people didn't think anything about a pre shot routine.
Speaker B:You just, that was something that Jack did, if you happen to notice on television, you know, but you didn't really do it.
Speaker B:You ask about commit fully, visualize vividly and feel intentionally.
Speaker B:Are those equally as important to you or are they different levels for different golfers?
Speaker C:Yeah, I think every golfer will be able to do them at a, at a higher or a lower level.
Speaker C:Some people are just naturally more imaginative and, and can visualize things so much stronger.
Speaker C:Others really struggle.
Speaker C:You know, some people are very aware of what it is they're trying to do with their practice swing.
Speaker C:Others, they've got to learn that skill, but it's you know, you're trying to.
Speaker C:You're trying to paint the clearest picture and give yourself the most vivid feel that you possibly can to replicate when you go hit the ball.
Speaker C:And so, you know, all of them are equally important.
Speaker C:But, you know, there's.
Speaker C:To me, the commitment just stands out just a little bit higher because, you know, you, you, if you're standing over a ball and you're not really sure, you.
Speaker C:You're either hitting the right shot or you got the right club or you should be hitting the shot.
Speaker C:If you've got doubt in your mind, there's every chance that you're not going to make a very good swing.
Speaker C:And so, you know, that's why, you know, that's why I encourage people when you watch the PGA Tour, you know, watch PGA Tour live because instead of just cutting from shot to shot where they basically miss the pre shot routine a lot of the time, especially in the marquee group, where you got one group, you can see the process that the player and the caddy go through.
Speaker B:Gary Christian, new author.
Speaker B:Welcome to the world of authors.
Speaker B:His new book, Beat the Course, Not Yourself.
Speaker B:One golfer's path to a Winning Mental game.
Speaker B:Gary wrote that with Dr. Kurt Ickes.
Speaker B:Gary, thank you.
Speaker B:And stick around for after hours, but go to Amazon next week, folks, and, and look up Gary's book.
Speaker B:It's worth it.
Speaker B:I read it.
Speaker B:It's a lot of fun.
Speaker B:We're gonna get out of here.
Speaker B:In fact, I'm gonna get out of town for a few days.
Speaker B:Until then, everybody have great time in December and all that.
Speaker B:And we'll all see in a couple of weeks.
Speaker B:Take care.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is produced by JTSD Productions, LLC in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserve.
