Gary Van Sickle - Golf Writer -Afterhours
The salient focus of our discourse in this episode revolves around the reflections of Gary Van Sickle, who articulates his thoughts on both the tangible and intangible losses one experiences throughout life. In a candid exchange, we confront the complexities of sentimentality, as Gary shares his perspective on cherished possessions and significant moments that have shaped his journey. The conversation unveils a deeper exploration of memory, particularly in relation to familial bonds, as Gary poignantly reminisces about his late father and the lasting impact of that relationship. We delve into the nuances of personal anecdotes from the world of golf, revealing humorous yet profound insights into the nature of competition and camaraderie. Ultimately, this episode serves as a reminder of the importance of connection, both with our past and with those who remain integral to our lives.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Starbucks
- Ernie Els
- Jim Furyk
- Arnold Palmer
- Charles Coody
- Oliver Nutt
Links referenced in this episode:
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:Hi, everybody, it's jt and this is a special version of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker B:Grilling at the Green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker B:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Welcome back to After Hours here on Grilling at the Green.
Speaker B:We got Gary Van Sickle for us today.
Speaker B:By the way, I was going to tell you, I tried to friend you on Facebook, and it said I couldn't.
Speaker A:Why not?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It said, I don't.
Speaker A:I. I hardly ever use Facebook, partly because, you know, when I first tried it out, just to see what it was, all these people are telling me, oh, I just went to Starbucks, and here's what I had.
Speaker A:And I put like, I don't know you well enough to go to Starbucks with you, and I don't care.
Speaker A:So I have rarely used Facebook, and when I go on there, there's all these things, and I honestly, I don't know how to use it very.
Speaker A:I don't really know how to use it.
Speaker A:Well, if it says, you asked me to be friends, you know, when you hit one of those buttons, it says recommended is.
Speaker A:Is it.
Speaker A:Did that person ask to be friends, or is it just saying, well, here's somebody else you might want to.
Speaker A:I don't want to go around asking people, be my friend.
Speaker A:I don't want to put pressure on people.
Speaker A:So I kind of go on Facebook a couple times a year, and that's about it.
Speaker A:But I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker A:I'm ignorant of Facebook.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, it's a problem.
Speaker B:But I was posting some shows because that's really what I use it for.
Speaker B:As I said, hey, I talked to Gary Van Sickle today, and we yacked about this, and here's the link and blah, blah, blah, and we get some good impressions and responses and that type of thing, which is fine.
Speaker B:And I do that all on my personal Facebook.
Speaker B:And then it also gets posted.
Speaker B:Posted what?
Speaker B:For the golf show on the golf site and then for the barbecue show on that site.
Speaker B:Okay, fair enough.
Speaker B:And I thought, I wonder if Gary's on here.
Speaker B:And I, you know, I typed in, you popped up, and it said, we had a mutual friend in Jeff Rude.
Speaker B:And I thought, okay, so I'll.
Speaker B:I'll just hit, you know, add friend or whatever.
Speaker B:And then the message came up and said, you can't do that.
Speaker B:Because you don't know him.
Speaker B:And I'm like, wait a minute, I know him.
Speaker A:I mean, when did Facebook get picky?
Speaker A:They throw all kinds of people on your thing asking to be friends you never heard of, so.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I'm the wrong.
Speaker A:I am not the answer man on Facebook.
Speaker A:So I don't know what happened, but I'll see if I can figure out how to friend you.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right, here's the first question.
Speaker B:Gary, if I gave you a box with everything you've lost in your life, what would be the first thing you reached for?
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Told you.
Speaker B:New question.
Speaker A:I've lost a lot of stuff, but, you know, they're all just things, right?
Speaker A:That's a broad question, Jeff.
Speaker A:What have I lost that was important?
Speaker B:We can come back to it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I don't.
Speaker A:You know, I'd like to.
Speaker A:I'd like to have my old Walter Hagen Persimmon3wood, but I don't know what good it would do anymore.
Speaker A:I used to be.
Speaker A:When I was a kid, I loved that club when I was a teenager, I mean, and I used to kill that thing, but I'm sure it's totally worthless now.
Speaker A: It was a: Speaker A:It looked great, but that was my favorite club.
Speaker A:I had an atrocious putter, too.
Speaker A:That was a hand me down.
Speaker A:It was a Marty Fergal autograph putter signature.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it was nothing more than a standard straight shaft with a kind of a lightweight.
Speaker A:It probably wasn't fiberglass, but it was probably aluminum or something.
Speaker A:It was just one of those thick metal bronze looking heads like you'd see at a miniature golf course.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker A:You know, I'd like to have that just to.
Speaker A:And just to laugh at what a bad putter it was and what probably affected me to being a mediocre putter at best.
Speaker A:But I can't think of anything really important that I lost.
Speaker A:My old comic books.
Speaker A:I wish I'd saved those.
Speaker A:Maybe that's a good one because they.
Speaker A:They might be worth money.
Speaker A:Although since I beat the hell out of them reading them, they're in bad condition, so.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I bet people say comic books and baseball cards, but I use those things, and they were poor condition, so they had no value.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:A lot of people, when I ask them that question, they'll say, like a ring my mother gave me growing up or something.
Speaker B:Sentimental, mostly.
Speaker B:Yeah, mostly like that.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker A:If you had some letters or if your mom sent you a letter when you were in college or something, it would have been smart to save those.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, so what?
Speaker A:Yeah, but what's yours then?
Speaker A:What's your answer?
Speaker B:My dad.
Speaker A:Oh, well, if you're gonna throw people in there.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's, that's.
Speaker A:I wasn't even.
Speaker A:I was thinking things, not people.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, that was.
Speaker B:I was very close to my father and he's been gone a long time, but I think about him every day.
Speaker B:He was quite the character and had a great sense of humor and not to get if in the weeds, but I.
Speaker B:Maybe I told you before, he was a D Day Veter and so he had a really kind of low key perspective.
Speaker B:Of course, I was born, you know, 11 years after the war type thing, so.
Speaker B:But he just would say, I'm not going to worry about anything but my family.
Speaker B:And he went through the same job for 35 years.
Speaker B:Did okay, did all that, but he just never let things except my mother upset him.
Speaker A:And imagine that.
Speaker B:Imagine that.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:But he can't give someone.
Speaker A:Jeff, you can't give someone a better compliment to say than to say, I lost my dad a long time ago, but I still think about him every day.
Speaker A:You know, that's all parents and grandparents, you know, they just want to be remembered.
Speaker A:So I think that's the highest tribute you can give him.
Speaker B:Well, thank you.
Speaker B:And you'd like them.
Speaker B:Yeah, he was a funny guy.
Speaker B:Okay, when you get in your car, Gary, what's the first song you would like to hear on the radio or serious or whatever you listen to?
Speaker A:Picking one song.
Speaker A:It depends on your mood.
Speaker A:One song.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I never get tired of hearing Yesterday by the Beatles.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:That can't go wrong with that.
Speaker B:What's your favorite Lifesaver color?
Speaker A:Do they still make those?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:I'm gonna say orange.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Mine was green.
Speaker B:But a lot of people I had not had anybody those kind of off white.
Speaker B:I. I don't know if that was supposed to be pineapple or what.
Speaker B:Those are the ones I always give to somebody else.
Speaker A:There's a pineapple on them.
Speaker A:Might even be a great.
Speaker A:But you remember because you're the same age as me pretty much when you were a kid, one of the most common Christmas gifts you would get was the box, like this bookcase that would open up and it would be like how many Lifesaver packs and all these different flavors, like little bookends, and they were connecting.
Speaker A:You know, you got.
Speaker A:You got 12 packs of lifesavers and different.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That was a.
Speaker A:All purpose you could give to anyone.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a big deal.
Speaker B:What's the first thing you reach for when you're done with a round of golf?
Speaker A:Any racer.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Name an unsung hero of the golf world.
Speaker A:Unsung hero.
Speaker A:Boy, there's so many ways to interpret that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Ernie Els has done a. I.
Speaker A:He's been.
Speaker A:People know he did this, but he's, he's been big.
Speaker A:His son was born with autism.
Speaker A:He's been big in the autism movement and got a lot done for that.
Speaker A:And you know, he had a pretty good golf career too, but he's had a great career as a leader of the autism, fixing childhood autism and research and all that.
Speaker A:And gosh knows he's built hospitals, he's raised a lot of money.
Speaker A:And you know, there's a lot of the guys who lend their names to fundraising and this and that, but you know, there's guys like Ernie and Jim Fury who go out and are actually involved and really get into it.
Speaker A:Not just, you know, they can raise money no sweat off theirs nose, but these guys put sweat into.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Trying to do something good.
Speaker A:So I. Ernie, Ernie.
Speaker A:There's a lot of golfers have done it, but Ernie Ells really would be.
Speaker A:I mean, if you need somebody like Arnold Palmer.
Speaker A:Well, he's not on song, everyone knows, but Ernie probably hasn't gotten as much publicity for that as he deserves.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:This is like that moment on the inside the Actors Studio with.
Speaker A:Who's that guy?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, James.
Speaker B:And he's got the slick back, black hair.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And Will Ferrell did a killer impression of him.
Speaker A:And he would ask people, what's the first thing you'd like to hear God say to you when you get to heaven?
Speaker A:I feel like it's that moment.
Speaker B:Yeah, kind of.
Speaker B:Kind of.
Speaker B:What is the funniest thing you ever saw a colleague do or happen to them at a golf tournament?
Speaker B:So like if it was Jeff Root or Maselli or anybody.
Speaker A:I saw a guy, they had a.
Speaker A:On a Wednesday at the Greater Milwaukee Open.
Speaker A:They had a media long drive contest.
Speaker A:And I don't remember this guy's name, but he was like a guy who worked in the office.
Speaker A:He was never out of tournaments.
Speaker A:He was like an editor.
Speaker A:I don't remember his name.
Speaker A:He worked at the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Speaker A:I was at the good paper, the Journal.
Speaker A:And he goes up there and he swings and he like his, his club head hits behind the ball, kind of goes over the ball Just skims it and he dribbles it like four feet in the long drive and he's like, oh, he quick reaches over, picks it up and puts it back on the tee and swings again and hits it like 250.
Speaker A:He winds up winning because me and some other guy hit ours like off the crooked one.
Speaker A:But he got two swings.
Speaker A:You just hit it four feet.
Speaker A:That's your drive, buddy.
Speaker A:But now you put it back up.
Speaker A:So he got some dumb trophy, got a mulligan.
Speaker A:Yeah, he had a, he had a four footer.
Speaker A:And I saw the first time I got to play the Masters on media Monday.
Speaker A:Back is probably 81.
Speaker A:There was a group of Japanese gentlemen just ahead of me, which you can imagine was delightful.
Speaker A:And they were not good golfers.
Speaker A:And this guy, you know, the first tea to Augusta, you need to might as well be xlax.
Speaker A:You are scared to be on that tee, right?
Speaker A:And this guy was not a good golfer.
Speaker A:He hit a tee shot and I'm not exaggerating when I say he dribbled it between his legs, which you could not do with 10,000 tries.
Speaker A:You know, it's kind of like the guy just said he almost missed it, but he dribbled it.
Speaker A:But he, this guy did the same thing, but he went between his legs, down the side of the tee eight feet and he went scurrying after it and comes back and hits it again and like, well, this is going to be a six hour round.
Speaker A:Yeah, you could.
Speaker A:I know Peter Jacobson.
Speaker A:I know a lot of guys who you want to, they can top a ball, you know, for show.
Speaker A:But let's see you dribble on between your legs.
Speaker A:Try that at home.
Speaker A:Try that at home, Jeff.
Speaker A:I want to see you see, see if you can pull that off.
Speaker B:See if I can do that.
Speaker B:I'm not sure I can, but I, I will give it a shot.
Speaker A:You better wear some armor in the certain areas.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:Ye old cup there.
Speaker B:At home, you're getting some ice out of the ice machine in your refrigerator.
Speaker B:Or if you don't have an ice machine, just the ice tray and you drop a piece of ice on the ground.
Speaker B:Do you a kick it under the refrigerator, two, pick it up, put it in the dog dish or the cat dish, or three, throw it in the sink.
Speaker A:Well, you left out put in my glass anyways.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, no, I throw it.
Speaker A:I throw it in the sink.
Speaker A:If it's a large chunk and I look around to see if there's any other large chunks, but you know, it's Got to be decent size because when you go to pick it up, it promptly melts in your fingers.
Speaker A:So I, I go ahead and throw it in the sink.
Speaker A:I'm one of those guys, I.
Speaker B:If they're small, I kick them under the fridge.
Speaker B:And then the other day my wife, I told her that story and she was like, ah, fake.
Speaker A:Oh no.
Speaker B:And then I, I was walking through the kitchen the other day and she had dropped some, and I look over, she kicks it refrigerator.
Speaker B:So there you go.
Speaker A:If you drop a piece of toast.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Pick it up, you blow it off and you keep going.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Because Covet extended that rule.
Speaker B:You know, it used to be the five second rule.
Speaker B:And with COVID it got up to eight or nine seconds.
Speaker B:It could be, you know, in un unfriendly territory, so to speak.
Speaker B:And, and do that.
Speaker B:Okay, Gary, what is one story?
Speaker B:This is the last question here.
Speaker B:What is one story from a tournament that you want to share that you never wrote about?
Speaker B:Maybe something weird, bizarre, something that involved people.
Speaker B:Maybe they're gone now so you can finally tell the story.
Speaker B:You know, something like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a, that's another tough one.
Speaker A:You know, in the age of the Internet, almost anything is fair game.
Speaker A:I, I can tell you that I was at the Senior Tour event at Newport Country Club in Rhode island, which is a swank thing right in the Open.
Speaker A:It's an old style links course.
Speaker A:And I was, I was, I don't know what I was doing walking around on Pro Am day because that's always a dumb idea.
Speaker A:Time to get bean.
Speaker A:But I just happen to be out there on, I think it's the eighth hole, so par three, nine doesn't come back to the club.
Speaker A:I just kind of keeps going.
Speaker A:There's a par three and Charles Cootie hits.
Speaker A:And the first guy who was always, I know it, it was Ollie Nut, Oliver Nutt.
Speaker A:He was the tournament director at the time for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.
Speaker A:Out and on the PGA Tour.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:So I knew, I actually knew him a little bit.
Speaker A:And he gets up and he makes a hole in one and there's only a couple people out there and they're celebrating.
Speaker A:So there's two more amateurs.
Speaker A:The next guy goes to peg his ball up.
Speaker A:And Charles Cootie, the grumpiest guy, you know, he's one of those grumps.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:He goes, yeah, let's go.
Speaker A:We can't beat a one.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker A:He, these two guys, other amateurs, look at each other like, what Cooney's not.
Speaker A:You can't.
Speaker A:He's not gonna, he's not letting him hit.
Speaker A:We already got a one.
Speaker A:We can't do any better.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker A:These guys paid how many thousand dollars to play in the Pro Am and Cootie didn't let him.
Speaker A:What if all three guys would have made hole in one?
Speaker A:Would that have been a good story?
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I, you know, I don't think I ever even talked to Ollie Nut about that.
Speaker A:I don't know who the other two guys were and I certainly didn't go ask Charles Cootie, but Charles just wanted to have the day done with faster.
Speaker A:As many.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:One on Pro am day.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I never really, I've told that story, but I've never, I've never written that because nobody's going to come out of that looking good.
Speaker A:Except Ollie Nutt.
Speaker A:I might have mentioned that to him late.
Speaker A:I saw your hole in one.
Speaker A:But, but you know what, Charles Cooney, what were you thinking?
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:All that goodwill in sportsmanship stuff.
Speaker A:Well, you know, you're trying to get done, speed things up.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's right.
Speaker A:You can't do better than a one.
Speaker A:So it's.
Speaker A:But you know, these guys paid to play, still wanna.
Speaker A:They want, they want to get done.
Speaker A:And somebody says, how'd you play?
Speaker A:Well, they want to say, I shot 79.
Speaker A:They want to score.
Speaker A:You know, Americans were obsessed with the number we want to score.
Speaker A:Golf is a game of constant self improvement.
Speaker A:And that's how we approach it.
Speaker A:And everybody wants to score for 18 holes.
Speaker A:And over in the UK or most of the world, they just play match play.
Speaker A:They don't care what their score is.
Speaker A:All they care is that they beat their buddy in their match.
Speaker A:If they win their match.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And they always say, oh, we play much faster.
Speaker A:Well, they don't really play that much faster.
Speaker A:They pick up more often because they're not putting everything up.
Speaker A:America, we have to put everything out to get a number.
Speaker A:That's how we do it.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:And I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it makes a, it makes a bad weather day a lot more fun to play.
Speaker A:If, if you and I are having a match and it's blowing 50, any score we shoot, it's going to be horrible.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:But we can have a match.
Speaker A:As long as I beat you by one hole.
Speaker A:We had fun.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:There's a lot too, Matt, a lot to like about match play, but it's a lot tougher to assess handicaps when People aren't finishing holes.
Speaker A:And, you know, what did they really make?
Speaker A:Maybe he's making a nine.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, anyway, Gary Van Sickle from SI First Call.
Speaker B:Check out his first call.
Speaker B:Subscribe to that.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker A:It costs nothing.
Speaker B:Yeah, it costs nothing.
Speaker B:Like, so much.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:And you will get your money's worth.
Speaker A:You will get exactly your money's worth.
Speaker A:Nothing more than that.
Speaker A:Jeff.
Speaker B:I. I get it, Gary.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:It's always.
Speaker B:I. I always appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
Speaker B:I really do.
Speaker A:So what was the.
Speaker A:What was the line in Caddyshack?
Speaker A:Was it, oh, the judge smells to his nephew.
Speaker A:You'll get nothing unlike it.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:My favorite thing in Caddyshack is when the Priest is playing Bill Murray goes, I don't think the heavy stuff's coming down yet.
Speaker B:Being from the Northwest, you have to appreciate that, you know.
Speaker A:You know, the funny thing, the Caddyshack is a horrible movie, but there are a lot enough funny lines, I think.
Speaker A:I think there are more quotable lines from that movie than any other movie ever made.
Speaker A:I don't just mean sports movies.
Speaker A:Name another movie that has 20, probably two dozen lines that we still quote.
Speaker A:John, you know, I don't think the heavy stuff's going to come down for a while.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Danny, I've sent boys your age the Gas Chamber.
Speaker A:I didn't want to do it, but I felt I owed it to them.
Speaker A:There's just one after another, and it's incredible.
Speaker A:Yeah, we've got a pond in a pool.
Speaker A:I think the pond would be good for you.
Speaker A:You know, it is a lot of quotable lines in that movie.
Speaker A:And made it work.
Speaker B:It made it work.
Speaker B:Gary, thank you.
Speaker B:We'll be back next week, folks, some more.
Speaker B:What am I doing here?
Speaker B:More reporting on whatever I feel like till then.
Speaker B:Gary, thanks.
Speaker B:And everybody, go out, play some golf, have fun and try to be kind.
Speaker B:If you can.
Speaker B:See you later.
