Gary Van Sickle - Golf Writer - Afterhours
This episode delves into the intricate dynamics of professional golf, specifically focusing on the recent performance fluctuations of notable player Max Homa. We engage in a profound discourse on the myriad factors influencing a golfer's trajectory, acknowledging that even slight deviations in practice and technique can lead to significant alterations in performance. Moreover, we explore the implications of slow play on the PGA Tour, advocating for stringent measures such as a shot clock to enhance the pace of the game. The dialogue further encompasses the nuances of coaching and the essential role of external perspectives in refining a golfer's skills. Ultimately, this episode serves as a comprehensive examination of the complexities inherent in the world of professional golf.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Golf Show 2.0
- SI.com
- Golf Week
- Pro Golf Weekly
- New England Golf
- East Southern Golf
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 B:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker B:It's green.
Speaker B:I'm JT with a bit of a head cold here.
Speaker B:We're talking with Gary Van Sickle, Gary's podcast, Golf Show 2.0.
Speaker B:It's a great podcast.
Speaker B:I watched it a few times, and I would recommend it.
Speaker B:So there you go.
Speaker B:Get out there and watch that.
Speaker B:And you can find his stuff all over the place.
Speaker B:He's got some substack.
Speaker B:He's got.
Speaker B:Does some stuff for SI.com.
Speaker B:You're just everywhere.
Speaker B:Golf Week.
Speaker B:Pro golf.
Speaker A:Pro Golf Weekly.
Speaker B:Pro Golf Weekly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which is all Pro Golf Weekly.
Speaker A:Also has New England Golf and East Southern Golf.
Speaker A:They're all owned by the same guy.
Speaker A:And he kind of puts this.
Speaker A:You sent him a story.
Speaker A:He puts it.
Speaker A:Whichever one of those three he feels like.
Speaker A:So I don't know the first call, which is a daily newsletter.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm in there every other week and sometimes contribute a little more.
Speaker B:Okay, I want to get back to my list.
Speaker B:We never did finish our conversation about Max Homa.
Speaker B:What, the light switch go off in his head or what there.
Speaker A:I don't know if you ever know if a guy's swing goes bad or he, you know, he became a father.
Speaker A:Look, it doesn't take much less practice time to turn you from a number eight player in the world into a number 38 or 48 player in the world.
Speaker A:You don't have to.
Speaker A:Everybody's so good.
Speaker A:You slip a little, you know, I don't know what Max's issue is.
Speaker A:I know he changed caddies, and I think he went back to his coach, his original coach.
Speaker A:But there's so many things that can go wrong when you're a golfer.
Speaker A:And you, you know, and you know, Jeff, you don't know what you're doing.
Speaker A:You think you know what it feels like, but I know I've on video had a guy video me and taking my swing.
Speaker A:It's like, oh, my back swings too long, which has been a lifelong problem for me.
Speaker A:So I said, all right, I'm going to shorten my backswing.
Speaker A:So I did make a swing.
Speaker A:I, you know, I. I shortened it.
Speaker A:I watched the video.
Speaker A:It looks exactly the same.
Speaker A:I swear I shortened it.
Speaker A:But you can.
Speaker A:The video.
Speaker A:No, I didn't.
Speaker A:So at the highest level, those players, more than anybody, need to see minute changes on what they're doing.
Speaker A:You know, I. I know people get on Brandle Chamblee for coming off like A know it all, but his job is to analyze stuff.
Speaker A:And he was talking about Scotty Scheffler.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:He described what Scotty Scheffler was doing wrong.
Speaker A:He wasn't getting.
Speaker A:Wasn't getting extension.
Speaker A:I think I remember what it was, but.
Speaker A:Well, probably word got back to Scotty sooner or later, but he played pretty well at Hilton Head.
Speaker A:He almost made a miracle comeback to beat Fitzpatrick.
Speaker A:So everybody needs a coach or needs a set of eyes they can count on, and, you know, not these guys.
Speaker A:Look, you just played golf, and all of a sudden you make the Tour, you have success, you've got more money within a few years, you've got more money than you would ever spend.
Speaker A:It's easy to get complacent or not focus as much.
Speaker A:I mean, there's just so many ways to go wrong.
Speaker A:I think you see it a lot.
Speaker A:Guys.
Speaker A:Travel, they lose interest when the kids get older, and maybe they've had a few slim years.
Speaker A:The players, like, they want to show their kids how good they were, and they kind of have a renaissance in their mid to late 30s, because now their kids can understand what's going on.
Speaker A:You see that?
Speaker A:It's almost a.
Speaker A:It's almost a stereotype on the PGA Tour.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I don't know where Max went wrong, but it was good to see him have it.
Speaker A:Have.
Speaker A:Have some good rounds with the Masters.
Speaker A:And because he's an interesting guy.
Speaker A:He's got a dry wit.
Speaker A:I know he came.
Speaker A:He came into the Hilton Head press room.
Speaker A:I went down there for a few days after the Masters.
Speaker A:And Doug Ferguson is the AP writer, and he always wears these hideous Hawaiian shirts, which was a genius, genius move to get him so players would recognize him when he first started.
Speaker A:He's been out there forever.
Speaker A:They all know him.
Speaker A:But he was asking Max Homa about the.
Speaker A:The master's policy of unbefitting, you know, unprofessional behavior.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Well, what would.
Speaker A:What would.
Speaker A:What do you think?
Speaker A:What would constitute.
Speaker A:What should constitute, you know, behavior bad enough to be worth two shots.
Speaker A:And Max quietly said, well, you're sure it would be one?
Speaker A:And he kind of said it under his breath.
Speaker A:Even those in the microphone, Doug actually didn't hear it, and it was not on the official transcript.
Speaker A:I'd gone over to Doug afterwards, like, oh, that was a great line Max had on you.
Speaker A:He goes, what line?
Speaker A:And I told him that goes, oh, I didn't hear that.
Speaker A:Like, well, I've got crappy hearing.
Speaker A:But I did.
Speaker A:And so Max is a fun guy.
Speaker A:He's got a dry wit.
Speaker A:He was funny on Twitter.
Speaker A:I think he gave that up because you can't win on Twitter.
Speaker A:There's 10 million morons who can't wait to belittle you in some way.
Speaker A:So that wore him down.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I actually have gotten pretty much away from Twitter.
Speaker B:I got hacked.
Speaker B:Twitter took my account away.
Speaker B:I was trying to get it back through them, which is just like any conversation or information goes in a black hole, you know, it's way out there.
Speaker B:And so I opened up another account and I just thought, there's other platforms I can use.
Speaker B:And like you said, there's not as many morons, obviously, on other places.
Speaker B:There's a lot of them.
Speaker B:There's enough to go around.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:So, yeah, when you have these short messages, people misinterpret them or everybody just likes to, you know, whatever you write, somebody is good, just will write boring, you know, whatever they want.
Speaker A:You know, they don't care.
Speaker A:Like, all right, well, if it's boring, why are you reading it?
Speaker A:Why you.
Speaker A:You know, I tell people, like, can.
Speaker A:Would you like me to send you instructions of how to unfollow me?
Speaker A:Because I'm more than happy to do that.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Last topic I wanted to talk to you about was the tour.
Speaker B:Came out with a bunch of stuff, I don't know, last couple days about.
Speaker B:Few days about slow play.
Speaker B:And now they're going to use all the data and statistics and this.
Speaker B:But they still didn't.
Speaker B:I. I'm still a believer that if there's some people that are notorious for slow play, and I still think a penalty stroke probably wouldn't hurt, it's only going to take a couple of them.
Speaker B:And that's just my thought.
Speaker B:I want to get your take on it.
Speaker B:Well, it's harsh, I know that.
Speaker A:But no, the problem is, yeah, the rules officials are not in a position to really hand these guys penalties because they're out there all the time.
Speaker A:They know them.
Speaker A:Every situation is a little bit different.
Speaker A:They know the shot link data.
Speaker A:They already know who the slow players are.
Speaker A:Here's the problem on the PG Tour.
Speaker A:You know what the.
Speaker A:You know what the main cause of slow play in the PGA Tour is how far they hit the ball.
Speaker A:Now everybody can reach every par five and two that backs up play.
Speaker A:Oh, we have this great trend now of the last eight years.
Speaker A:We have to have a drivable par four that's fun, that backs up play.
Speaker A:So it's not so much that they play slow.
Speaker A:It's like on the Tour, there's no place for anybody to go.
Speaker A:And the second most thing on the PGA Tour is.
Speaker A:A friend of mine calls it the kabuki dance they do on the greens.
Speaker A:They take a lot of time.
Speaker A:And why would they.
Speaker A:It's important.
Speaker A:These are.
Speaker A:But, you know, nobody is doing their stuff when the other guy's doing his.
Speaker A:Nobody's ready with their line to do it most of the time.
Speaker A:But I don't know how much.
Speaker A:I don't know how much time you can shave.
Speaker A:But the simple answer is the European Tour, like, five or six years ago, had a sponsor, and they called it the Shot Clock Masters.
Speaker A:I think it was in Austria, but I don't remember.
Speaker A:They had a shot clock with every group.
Speaker A:And I think you had the first guy to hit, had 50 seconds.
Speaker A:Everybody else had 40 seconds to hit a shot.
Speaker A:And you were allowed, like, two timeouts in a round or something like that.
Speaker A:Kind of like tgl, you know, they have a shot clock.
Speaker A:Look, the only way you can speed play up on the PGA Tour is to have it black.
Speaker A:You need it black and white, no gray area.
Speaker A:If you have a shot clock with every group, you can speed up play.
Speaker A:Until then, it's never going to happen.
Speaker A:You know, in one plus from a shot clock would be, oh, Mickelson's got.
Speaker A:He's all done, though.
Speaker A:He's got 10 seconds left at this putt.
Speaker A:I don't know if he's going to get it in.
Speaker A:It could.
Speaker A:Oh, he got it off.
Speaker A:Oh, it's in.
Speaker A:You know, it's like a buzzer beater.
Speaker A:You can bring the buzzer meter to golf.
Speaker A:A guy getting a shot off the last second, and you know what else happened?
Speaker A:So they knocked a half hour off a pace of play in Austria or at the Shot Clock Masters.
Speaker A:And I think there were only three slow play, three violations all week.
Speaker A:And two of the guys said, I forgot we had a shot clock.
Speaker A:That's what happened.
Speaker A:So they took their shot, they took their penalty.
Speaker A:Everybody loved it.
Speaker A:And that sponsor went away the next year.
Speaker A:They have never revived it.
Speaker A:It's like, oh, man.
Speaker A:If there was ever something that cried out for a silly season event or something, the Shot Clock tournament is the way to go.
Speaker A:The pga, you already have walking scores, right?
Speaker A:You know, it's.
Speaker A:It's totally that.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's doable because the European Tour already did it.
Speaker A:So to sit around like, well, he's like, why don't you put him on a clock?
Speaker A:It solves their problem.
Speaker A:Does anybody get a Clock violation on tgl.
Speaker A:It's just not that hard if you really want to do it.
Speaker A:The bottom line is nobody really wants to do that.
Speaker A:They just want to talk about it.
Speaker A:But the distance of how far these guys hit it, that slows down playing the Tour, and nobody ever brings that.
Speaker B:Part of it up.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Two more.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:Two more here.
Speaker B:Gary, what was your favorite thing at the Masters this year?
Speaker B:Outside of the golf?
Speaker B:Because we always talk about whether you ate too many pimento and cheeses or whatever.
Speaker B:Just an example.
Speaker B:But what was your favorite thing?
Speaker A:Boy, that's a tough one.
Speaker A:You know what I think?
Speaker A:I think the best thing they've done that's been what, three, four.
Speaker A:Now?
Speaker A:It might be.
Speaker A:Might be.
Speaker A:Ever since Tiger.
Speaker A:One in 19, CBS figured out this camera that, you know, when the winner comes off 18 green, they have the people.
Speaker A:They have a walkway lined up with people and friends, and the camera just walks ahead of the player as he's going.
Speaker A:You remember Tiger was crying and picking up a kid, his kid and Rory last year, and Nance and those guys don't hardly say anything.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:Just camera just walks as this guy walks all the way to the end.
Speaker A:That is one of the.
Speaker A:That is the best moment of the Masters, I think, that camera shot.
Speaker A:And why am I watching that?
Speaker A:Well, because I can't even.
Speaker A:As a media guy, I can't get out there.
Speaker A:If I'm out there, I'm blocked.
Speaker A:I can't see.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So at that point, you're probably in the media center watching to see who won.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:Then you catch a shuttle and get out there and try to talk to some of those people you just saw shaking Rory's hand or something.
Speaker A:But that camera is.
Speaker A:That's a great shot of the winner walking.
Speaker A:And you know, they use drones at Augusta.
Speaker A:Drones are awesome for golf.
Speaker A:The players aren't thrilled, but you get to see places, of course, from.
Speaker A:From a view you've never seen before.
Speaker A:I. I love drones as an idea.
Speaker A:I love the camera shots as a player.
Speaker A:They're not silent.
Speaker A:You can hear them.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker B:And what's the worst thing?
Speaker A:Oh, the worst thing is going to the.
Speaker A:Trying to get in the.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The golf shop, the shopping center, Monday through Wednesday are people who probably won the lottery practice round tickets.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:A lot of them have never been to the Masters.
Speaker A:So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, there's a line to get in there to shop.
Speaker A:It's like Black Friday, only worse.
Speaker A:And I hate it when, you know, people I know say hey, can you pick me up a hat?
Speaker A:It's like, do you know what I have to do to get a hat?
Speaker A:So Monday through Wednesday are out.
Speaker A:Don't even try to go there.
Speaker A:Thursday to Sunday, that's when the regular patrons come in who have tickets every year on Thursday, they haven't shopped yet, so now they pile in.
Speaker A:Thursday is very crowded till late in the day.
Speaker A:Or depending on if there's.
Speaker A:If there's a Rory or used to be a tiger, if he was playing, he would draw people away.
Speaker A:Really, for me to go buy something for somebody, I have to wait till Friday and even Friday afternoon, and then you can go in.
Speaker A:And they have the old Disney ticket way.
Speaker A:You walk in, go back and forth, but there's no line.
Speaker A:We just have to walk through it like a rat in a maze.
Speaker A:Then you can go in, but it's still chaos.
Speaker A:It's so crowded inside.
Speaker A:The shirts are all up on a high thing so you can see them.
Speaker A:They're all numbered.
Speaker A:Like, oh, I want.
Speaker A:When you.
Speaker A:When you get up to a counter, you go, yeah, I want a number 12 in large and then 31 and double X.
Speaker A:It's just very crowded.
Speaker A:Then when you get out, the smart thing is you give all this crap with you.
Speaker A:And I don't want to take it back to the media center.
Speaker A:You just.
Speaker A:Or if it's not for me, I just go next door.
Speaker A:They have a UPS shipping thing.
Speaker A:You take it next door, UPS box, they ship it right out from there.
Speaker A:You don't have to carry it anymore.
Speaker A:That part is genius.
Speaker A:But shopping there is over the top.
Speaker A:And I feel like, I don't know, it's maybe gotten away from what they intended.
Speaker A:Maybe they should have fewer things.
Speaker A:Maybe they should make less money.
Speaker A:I know this, it's crazy talk, but shopping.
Speaker A:Shopping at the, at the, at the merchandise center is not.
Speaker A:Not fun, in my opinion.
Speaker A:The one item I did buy, and my wife loves them, are a pair of gnomes.
Speaker A:Gnomes wearing jumpsuits.
Speaker A:Salt and pepper shakers.
Speaker A:Oh, these are adorable.
Speaker A:She put salt and pepper in them and went to put salt out and the salt just came pouring out, like in a gusher, like it doesn't even work.
Speaker A:But they look cute.
Speaker B:They look cute.
Speaker B:Well, I was going to tell you, a friend of mine who brought me this hat.
Speaker B:He said he walked in there Tuesday morning, 7 o'.
Speaker A:Clock.
Speaker B:I don't know if that's exactly what he said.
Speaker B:He said the line was an hour and a half long to get into the shop.
Speaker B:He goes, when he left that afternoon.
Speaker B:The line was still an hour and a half long, but he said, I got your hat.
Speaker B:They had these little smaller kind of.
Speaker B:He didn't tell me how many, but I think he maybe said like two or three of these little kiosks here and there.
Speaker B:And he said, that's where I got your hat.
Speaker B:He goes, I had to wait 10 minutes at that one to do that.
Speaker A:Well, the whole gnome thing, I don't get it.
Speaker A:I have zero interest in a garden gnome.
Speaker A:The only thing I would think they'd be worth having if I was independently wealthy, maybe I had a farm and I like to shoot guns.
Speaker A:I think they'd be great target practice.
Speaker A:Yeah, if you're the kind of guy who lights the.
Speaker A:Lights a cigar with a ten dollar bill, I'd buy a bunch of gnomes.
Speaker B:And boom, there you go.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Gary Van Sickle, as always, great to talk to you.
Speaker B:Thanks for your report.
Speaker A:I know I'm going to get a letter from the Gnomes Association.
Speaker A:They're going to.
Speaker B:I'm sure you will.
Speaker A:Supposedly this was the last year for the gnomes, Jeff.
Speaker A:I'll believe it when I believe it.
Speaker B:As Yogi Berra said, Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker B:We'll be back next week with another edition of After Hours.
Speaker B:Until then, thank you, Gary.
Speaker B:And thank you for listening and letting us into your home today.
Speaker B:Go out, play some golf, have some fun.
Speaker B:Be kind, but most of all, have fun.
Speaker B:Take care, everybody.
