Gene Parente - Golf-Labs
This podcast episode features an enlightening dialogue with Gene Parente from Golf Labs, who elucidates the intricate relationship between technology and the golfing experience. A salient point of discussion centers around the evolution of golf equipment testing, particularly the innovative use of robotics to enhance the precision and reliability of club performance assessments. Parente shares his captivating origin story, detailing how familial influences and serendipitous encounters led him to establish a pioneering business within the golf industry. His insights extend to contemporary issues, such as the potential implications of proposed regulations on golf equipment, specifically the controversial notion of a ball rollback. We delve into the future of golfing technology, exploring advancements such as 3D printing and sophisticated launch monitoring systems that promise to revolutionize the way golfers engage with their equipment.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Birdie Ball
- Golf News Network
- Golf Labs
- Callaway Golf
- Cobra Golf
- Titleist
- Ping
- TaylorMade
- Snell Golf
- Carsley Golf
- Painted Hills Beef
- Weston Kia
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 for the hackers, new sweepers and turf spankers.
Speaker B:Here's Jeff.
Speaker C:Everybody.
Speaker C:Welcome to Grilling at the Green.
Speaker C:I'm jt, of course.
Speaker C:We're based here in Portland and we have stations in Washington and, oh, Texas, in Wyoming and other parts in between.
Speaker C:And also proud to be part of the Golf News Network.
Speaker C:This segment of Grilling at the Green is brought to you by Birdie Ball.
Speaker C:Whether you want a putting green or you want to hit something that looks like a napkin ring to practice with, they work very well.
Speaker C:So go to birdieball.com well, our guest today is Gene Parente from Golf Labs.
Speaker C:I find Gene's story just fascinating because we've all seen the film clips of the robot and the arm and swatting the balls out there 9,000 miles.
Speaker C:And that's Gene's deal right there.
Speaker C:So we're going to get that story and more.
Speaker C:Gene, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker B:It's a pleasure.
Speaker C:No problem.
Speaker C:First of all, what inspired you to do this?
Speaker C:I mean, did you just sit around one day and say, hey, I'm going to come up with a robot that hits golf balls and test clubs?
Speaker B:So it's an interesting story.
Speaker B:If you want to hear the full story, it's kind of an interesting origin story.
Speaker B:My father, he passed away in January, was 85, lived, lived a long life.
Speaker B:But for the last five years of his life, my brother and I would take him up to the AT&T at Pebble beach.
Speaker B:And we both, my brother and I were born up in San Jose, California, and my dad was born up there.
Speaker B:And so we were sitting there one day on 17 at pebble, and he goes to me, turns to me and he goes, do you know how you got in the golf industry?
Speaker B:And I owed my, my origins to the golf industry to my father.
Speaker B:And I said, no.
Speaker B:And he said, you got in because of Wino George.
Speaker B:And I said, who's Wino George?
Speaker B:Now you have to go back a little further.
Speaker B:My grandfather came over on a boat from Italy.
Speaker B:They were dirt poor.
Speaker B:Ital didn't have anything, tried to make it in New York, couldn't.
Speaker B:Ended up in Oregon, your neck of the woods.
Speaker B:Because they lived off the land for a while.
Speaker B:That was really hard.
Speaker B:And so they heard there were jobs for Italians in San Jose, so they moved down to San Jose.
Speaker B:That's where my dad was born.
Speaker B:My grandfather worked In a.
Speaker B:In a cannery his entire life.
Speaker B:And my dad, in the 50s, when he was 15, started working in the cannery.
Speaker B:So he graduates from high school, he's working in the cannery.
Speaker B:He hates the cannery, and he wants to become a gold miner.
Speaker B:And he's working in the cannery, and one day he's standing next to this guy named Wino George, who would work from November to March in the cannery.
Speaker B:And he was a caddy at Almaden Country Club, and so why not?
Speaker B:George turns to him one day, much older, never said a word to him, and said, you play golf, right?
Speaker B:My dad had played high school golf.
Speaker B:And he said, yes.
Speaker B:And he said, show up tomorrow in your best pair of slacks.
Speaker B:I got you an interview for an assistant pro job at Almaden Country Club.
Speaker B:Shows up, gets the job for the next 10 years.
Speaker B:His job on Mondays is to drive members down to play Cypress, pebble beach and Spyglass.
Speaker B:This was his job on Monday.
Speaker B:This is in the 60s, when golf was completely different than it was now.
Speaker B:So his best friend gets a job in Palm Springs.
Speaker B:My dad ends up getting a head pro job in Palm Springs.
Speaker B:We moved down to Palm Springs.
Speaker B:I grew up around the game in the 70s and can't stand the game.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Because I'm on the working side of the game.
Speaker B:I'm on the cart barns and strike golf balls.
Speaker B:And I wasn't a country club kid.
Speaker B:And so I wanted to do everything but play golf.
Speaker B:You know, play football, baseball, basketball, etc.
Speaker B:So I graduate from high school, go off to college.
Speaker B:My dad leaves being a.
Speaker B:A club pro and starts this company called Hickory Stick USA and moves it to Temecula.
Speaker B:One day this guy calls him.
Speaker B:I mean, this company had three employees.
Speaker B:My dad was manning the phones.
Speaker B:And one day this guy calls him named Ely Calloway.
Speaker B:And he just sold his winery and he was looking to invest in a golf club company.
Speaker B:The company became Callaway Hickory Stick and then Callaway Golf.
Speaker B:My dad was the first president of Callaway Golf, so he had inserted himself into the golf industry.
Speaker B:I was off in college and I wanted to be a diplomat.
Speaker B:I was an international relations major.
Speaker B: I moved down to San Diego in: Speaker B:And I planned on living here for about a year while I studied for the graduate school exams.
Speaker B:And my dad said, hey, I've got this idea for this company to test golf equipment.
Speaker B:And he loaned me $2,000.
Speaker B:We went and bought a robot.
Speaker B:It wasn't even a robot.
Speaker B:It was a machine powered by a Garage door spring from Titleist that they were going to throw away for a hundred dollars.
Speaker B:And we put it on a drill press base.
Speaker B:I was 23 years old and I started this business.
Speaker B:And I got to tell you, Jeff, I was dumb as a box of rocks.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, I thought I knew a little bit about golf.
Speaker B:I didn't.
Speaker B:I knew nothing about testing of golf equipment, and I knew really nothing about running a small business.
Speaker B:But what I did know was that I showed up every day and I worked as hard as I could, six, seven days a week.
Speaker B:And I lucked out.
Speaker B:I got two clients right out of the gate.
Speaker B:One was Cobra Golf.
Speaker B:That was about 5 million a year in sales.
Speaker B:And the other was Callaway Golf, which was about 3 million in sales.
Speaker B:They were both very small companies back then.
Speaker B:And so I started testing and suddenly my dad was right.
Speaker B:There was a need for it.
Speaker B:And I started growing.
Speaker B:And then a couple of years later, I decided I was going to build my own robot.
Speaker B:There were the robots out at the time which people will recognize as the Iron Byro, now the Iron Byron's.
Speaker B:To give you an idea how much the industry has changed, at that time, the industry was Spalding Wilson and McGregor and Titleist were the big four.
Speaker B:Ping was kind of, you know, an up and comer.
Speaker B:And Callaway, TaylorMade and Cobra were just small little incubator companies in Carlsbad.
Speaker B:So I started, I sold my first robot to actually Ben Hogan and the technology took off.
Speaker B:We've sold 54 robots worldwide, 36 years later.
Speaker B: the innovations in golf from: Speaker B:So it's, it's, it's been an interesting ride.
Speaker C:Did you learn the engineering as you went along?
Speaker C:Is that kind of how I am.
Speaker B:A round peg in a square hole kind of guy that it had to be forced in?
Speaker B:It was not easy.
Speaker B:But yes, I have learned it along the way.
Speaker B:And subsequently, you know, pretty much all I work with for the most part are engineers.
Speaker B:And I've learned the language, I've learned testing methodologies, I've learned a lot about the physics of the golf swing, the physics of collision between a golf club head and a ball.
Speaker B:And I was really fortunate because when I started, golf was steel shafts and persimmon heads.
Speaker B:And there wasn't a lot of, there hadn't been a lot of innovation, to be honest, in the last 40, 50 years.
Speaker B:And as I got in the industry, the Cold war was ending and a lot of these technologies from these aerospace firms, they were looking for other options.
Speaker B:And so composites came in, titanium came in different types of materials and they needed to be tested and these engineers needed to quantify.
Speaker B:When I started a lot of golf clubs, the way they were designed is someone would come up with an idea, a guy would shape them and then good players would hit them and that's.
Speaker B:And they'd say, yep, that's good enough, let's go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so I was able to provide a service and then create these robots and sell these robots to the industry that allowed for a testing standard to be developed so that they could really compare last year's model versus the new prototypes and really kind of evolve effectively and efficiently and create better golf equipment.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:When you start talking about titanium heads and that, of course I'm thinking Big Bertha.
Speaker C:You know, in that era.
Speaker B:Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you a story.
Speaker B:Dick Helmstetter, who was a VP of R& D, he used to come out and test with me.
Speaker B:This is how small the industry was.
Speaker B:The VP of R& D would drive, I tested at the polo fields in Del Mar, California.
Speaker B:And he would drive his BMW out park it in the, on the grass field and sit there and watch the test results.
Speaker B:And one day he pulled up and he goes, come here, I want to show you something.
Speaker B:He pops open his trunk and he goes, we're going to call this the Big Bertha and you're going to be the first to test it.
Speaker B:And I remember I was like 25 at the time, 26.
Speaker B:And I remember thinking to myself, gimmicky product, hokey name.
Speaker B:I gave it six months, showing how much of a Nostradamus I was.
Speaker B:But in fairness, there was other technology out there at the time.
Speaker B:A guy named Duke Duclos had a company called Slotline and he had created this hollow bodied club that he had put perimeter waiting and it actually outperformed the Big Bertha.
Speaker B:But he didn't have nearly the marketing.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker B:Behind him.
Speaker B:And so I. Yeah.
Speaker B:So I started.
Speaker B:Well, not only my dad's origin stories, but then because of that testing, I tested Callaway products and then when they got too big, I sold them robots.
Speaker C:So there you go.
Speaker C:We're going to take a break.
Speaker C:We're going to be back with Gene Parente from Golf Labs.
Speaker C:More good stuff coming, I promise.
Speaker C:Stay with us.
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Speaker E:Hey everybody, JT here.
Speaker C:If you need something to practice with.
Speaker E:In the inclement weather, try Birdie ball.
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Speaker C:Hey, welcome back to Grilling.
Speaker C:It's Green.
Speaker C:I'm JT.
Speaker C:You can find us everywhere on the different platforms and stuff.
Speaker C:So I don't want to waste a lot of time doing that, telling you that, but we've got Gene Parente today from Golf Labs.
Speaker C:So the club testing and, and now of course, I don't think you actually when you first started, did this, but now you work with the USGA and RNA and all the governing bodies and you know, there's parameters and, and specs that things that clubs have to do.
Speaker C:What do you do when you find one that doesn't meet the specifications?
Speaker C:And what's the process to you, for you to.
Speaker C:Is it in the analytics, is it in the software?
Speaker C:Now I'm getting in the weeds, folks, but I love this stuff.
Speaker C:Do you, do you have to gauge your findings around these parameters or do you just let the machine do its work and say this does this and this does that.
Speaker B:So really good questions.
Speaker B:The first thing is, you know, what I do for my company is just provide data, good, bad or indifferent.
Speaker B:And when I have to provide bad data, I always kind of sugarcoat it and go, hey, this is called I would rather provide bad data that you can change than misleading data that you go to market and the product fails because of it.
Speaker B:And I've had companies that come to me, you know, and I've seen this time and time again where they didn't get things tested.
Speaker B:They launched in a market and suddenly they were like suffering in the market.
Speaker B:They came to me to find out what was going on and by then it was too late and suddenly they realized they had a bad part product.
Speaker B:So, so that's the first part.
Speaker B:The second part is it's interesting.
Speaker B:So the USGA and the rna, they both have my robots and they use my robots for conformance testing.
Speaker B:Conformance testing and performance testing are two different things.
Speaker B:So conformance testing means the product falls within the conformance of the rules of golf as they have said they don't make any claims on conformance testing.
Speaker B:This is the best product or this is the longest product.
Speaker B:What they will do is just say your product passes.
Speaker B:It's a pass fail system.
Speaker B:At the end of the day, I don't conduct conformance testing.
Speaker B:And the reason that I don't is I don't want to mislead clients and say, or I don't want to get into a competition with the USG and the rna because at the end of the day, they have the final say as to whether or not something's conforming or not.
Speaker B:Now, occasionally I will test under those conditions and just provide test results.
Speaker B:But I always state, these are not.
Speaker B:These do not guarantee that, you know, you are going to pass the conformance.
Speaker B:What I focus on, and my main thing is performance testing.
Speaker B:So let's say, Jeff, you've got a new driver or a new wire or a new T and you want to, you want to test it and then you want to see where it's in the marketplace.
Speaker B:Let's say it's a new driver and I say, what's your price point?
Speaker B:Are you going up against The Callaways, the TaylorMade's, the Titleists?
Speaker B:Are you going up against the Tour edges?
Speaker B:Are you going, you know, direct to consumer?
Speaker B:Where.
Speaker B:Where are you in the marketplace?
Speaker B:We decide that we get three or four competitors, clubs, and then the next question is, who's your target market?
Speaker B:Is it a tour player?
Speaker B:Is it a scratch golfer?
Speaker B:Is it your average player?
Speaker C:Is it?
Speaker B:And you say it's an average player.
Speaker B:Then I come back and go, all right, so here's the beauty of the robot.
Speaker B:People think of a robot as kind of a drill press.
Speaker B:It hits the same way what I design my robot for.
Speaker B:My robot can duplicate any golf swing.
Speaker B:It can duplicate your golf swing.
Speaker B:My golf swing, the number one player in the world.
Speaker B:I've worked with Bryson DeChambeau and duplicated his golf swing to test products for that I do.
Speaker B:I've tested for 25 handicappers over the top, negative three, hitting down on the ball, outside in swing, big fade and tested products to see.
Speaker B:So what I would work with you on is say, okay, you want an average player, they're negative.
Speaker B:Two, they hit slightly down on the ball, 95 miles an hour.
Speaker B:We're going to set up for that.
Speaker B:And then we're going to test a Callaway Elite Max.
Speaker B:We're going to test a Qi 35 Max.
Speaker B:We're going to test a G440 Max.
Speaker B:And we're going to hit those multiple points on the face to see.
Speaker B:And then we're going to put your club in and do the same thing.
Speaker B:And I'm going to give you data that's not only for research and development, but also for marketing, letting you know where you stand in the marketplace, but more importantly, telling you how to market this product.
Speaker B:If your high toes are the best and you feel that that's where the greatest misses for the average player, you'd be able to market and say, our perimeter waiting is better, you know, than the majors or however the data guide you.
Speaker C:Well, you know, Gene, I.
Speaker C:We have a golf show in Portland.
Speaker C:There's Seattle.
Speaker C:There are a lot of them around the country starting in the spring.
Speaker C:Excuse me.
Speaker C:And there's.
Speaker C:There's always a guy there.
Speaker C:I don't even know his name.
Speaker C:So I, I couldn't even tell you products folks, or what.
Speaker C:He sells these clubs that I've, like, never heard of, and he sells the crap out of them.
Speaker C:He comes in with five or six, you know, boxes like you would get a delivery from Titleist or something, and he's got a big display of them.
Speaker C:And I'm pretty sure that most people that he sells them to aren't really concerned about conformity under the, you know, parameters of USG and RNA on that.
Speaker C:But I.
Speaker C:Is that the kind of guy that, quote, unquote, should come to you and say, test this club and tell me what it can do, you know.
Speaker B:You know, it's interesting.
Speaker B:Here's here.
Speaker B:Obviously, I'm biased because of what I do, but it's, it's, it's as simple as most guys of that position.
Speaker B:And I don't know who this person is.
Speaker B:You know, for all I know, they could be a client.
Speaker B:Because you'd be surprised at how, how some of the smaller companies have come to me, then they just come to me for a day to kind of get a benchmark of their products.
Speaker B:But I've tested with a lot of small brands equal to the large brands.
Speaker B:But more importantly, usually those companies, they don't have enough money in R D to make their own design.
Speaker B:So what they do is they go over to Asia and there's what's called open models.
Speaker B:And what those are, is they'll sell them to anybody, but they'll put your logo on it, you know, or give you the colors or whatever.
Speaker B:At that point, you're kind of relying on the.
Speaker B:The Asian manufacturer.
Speaker B:It's got to be a trust game.
Speaker B:If you're not testing with me to believe Whatever they're telling you are the attributes of this product.
Speaker B:And so if you don't use me or a robot or anything, it's really interesting.
Speaker B:Player testing is the ultimate last step in this evolution.
Speaker B:Every manufacturer use player testing.
Speaker B:I recommend player testing because what the robot cannot tell you is sound and feel and presentation.
Speaker B:And those are things that I could tell you.
Speaker B:Jeff, this is the greatest golf club in the world.
Speaker B:But when you look down on it, it looks too closed.
Speaker B:Or when you look down on it, you don't like the shape or you don't like the sound, and it doesn't matter what I tell you, those are the things that are going to be the limiting factor.
Speaker B:So player testing is necessary.
Speaker B:I tested a magnesium driver one time.
Speaker B:Had amazing perimeter weight characteristics, meaning if you hit it high toe, low heel, it was so forgiving, but it sounded like hitting a pillow when you hit it.
Speaker B:And everybody.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:This client came to me, and he said, Everybody's saying is 15 yards shorter.
Speaker B:And we tested it, and it was equal in distance to all the major manufacturers at the time.
Speaker B:But because it sounded soft, people thought that it was shorter.
Speaker B:So there's these X factors that are built in.
Speaker B:But that being said, if you don't know what the performance characteristics are, it's tough to market, and it's also tough to improve.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:We're going to take a break, and Gene and I will be back here on grilling at the green in just a couple minutes.
Speaker C:Go practice your putting while we're gone.
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Speaker C:Welcome back to grilling.
Speaker C:It's green.
Speaker C:I'm JT Today we're talking with Gene Perenni from Golf Labs.
Speaker C:Real quick, we want to thank the folks at Snell Tour quality balls directly to consumers at consumer prices.
Speaker C:Go to snellgolf.com and also Carsley Golf, home of the Rimmer Rhymer.
Speaker C:I can never say it right.
Speaker C:It starts with an R 2.0.
Speaker C:Go to carsleygolf.com Anyway, we're talking with Gene Parenti from Golf Lab.
Speaker C:So I'm gonna cheat here.
Speaker C:Gene in one of the other shows that I, I watched a bit of.
Speaker C:I want to talk about the ball rollback.
Speaker C:And believe me, We've only got 11 minutes in this segment, so.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker C:I, you know, people are all over the board on this thing.
Speaker C:Ian Baker Finch was on the show a couple weeks ago and he was talking about he wanted to roll the ball back.
Speaker C:And I'm like, yeah, I can see your point.
Speaker C:But I don't.
Speaker C:Because I'm a weekend warrior hacker deluxe.
Speaker C:Okay?
Speaker C:I need, I need any forgiveness and distance I can get.
Speaker C:You know, I'm in my 60s, so it doesn't just come out of there.
Speaker C:And, you know, they're always.
Speaker C:The pros are making the courses, you know, obsolete.
Speaker C:No, they're not.
Speaker C:You know, you don't have to make a course 9,000 yards long to do that.
Speaker C:Those are my thoughts.
Speaker C:I'm not big on the rollback, and I'm really not big on trying to.
Speaker C:They want to do that to the pros and the.
Speaker C:And like, the PGA Tour accepts it.
Speaker C:That's their business.
Speaker C:I don't want it to affect Jeff and Gene and the people we hang out with.
Speaker C:Take it away.
Speaker B:Well, first off, you know, I'll say this.
Speaker B:USGA and the RNA is in a difficult position because they, they initially proposed that there was bifurcation, that there was a ball for the Tour players and a ball for the amateurs.
Speaker B:The Tour rejected that.
Speaker B:PGA of America rejected that.
Speaker B:And so they came back and said, all right, here's our compromise.
Speaker B:We're going come up with a regulation that affects driving distance at the higher speeds.
Speaker B:10 to 15 yards, but only a couple yards at 95 miles an hour.
Speaker B:Once again, no one was crazy about that.
Speaker B:Now, I can tell you this.
Speaker B:No one in the industry is for this, no manufacturers for this.
Speaker B:And the main reason is this.
Speaker B:We've only had one other situation in golf.
Speaker B:What the governing bodies have been really good at is preventing future innovation.
Speaker B:Meaning that a head can't go over 460cc or it can't be much longer than this.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:This many inches.
Speaker B:What they haven't done is taken away.
Speaker B:They did it one time before with U grooves, turning them to V grooves, and they kind of grandfathered that out.
Speaker B:This one is going to be different because you're taking away from your point for the average players.
Speaker B:Now, here's where it really becomes challenging is the USGA has said, hey, the 90 mile an hour swinging player is not going to see that much difference.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, there are amateurs who swing 115 miles an hour, 120 miles an hour.
Speaker B:So why should you be punished if you're on the higher end of an amateur?
Speaker B:And then let's just say you're an aspiring tour player, you know, at a high school, do you start playing the rollback ball?
Speaker B:It opens up a can of worms.
Speaker B:I personally am curious to see whether it gets implemented because at the end of the day, you know, I get asked this question all the time.
Speaker B:Is it legal?
Speaker B:You know, is this legal or is that legal?
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker B:And people are using the wrong language.
Speaker B:No one's going to come out and arrest you on a golf course if you're playing this.
Speaker B:It's not legal.
Speaker B:Is it conforming or not?
Speaker B:Now, you got to remember this.
Speaker B:The PGA of America, the USGA and the RNA control two tournaments equal both a year.
Speaker B:The professionals play in the Open and the U.S. open.
Speaker B:Other than that, it's all amateurs that are playing in this.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And the PGA of America or the PGA Tour, sorry, not of America Tour, voluntarily goes along with the USGA and the RNA Rules of golf.
Speaker B:They don't have to.
Speaker B:That's the point.
Speaker B:And so the PGA Tour and Live, which is another big X factor, they're about Entertainment.
Speaker B:What's entertaining?
Speaker B:320 yard drives and sticking pins.
Speaker B:Nobody's going to be excited to see a tour player hit it out there 275 yards and have to hit a five wood in and miss the green.
Speaker B:And so I understand their position.
Speaker B:I really do.
Speaker B:I just, I don't think the PGA Tour is about entertainment.
Speaker B:And I don't think at the end of the day that they are going to want to water down their product by having it be less sexy.
Speaker B:And what's the sexy part of the product?
Speaker B:Big drives.
Speaker B:So I, I'm sitting on the sideline watching this, but I don't, I, I'm putting the chances of implementation at about 50.
Speaker B:50.
Speaker C:Well, and the other thing you touched on, Gene, was you got Titleist and Callaway and TaylorMade and they've got millions of dollars in R D on golf balls.
Speaker C:They've got manufacturing with molds and injections and all this.
Speaker C:Different things that they've got that they've developed and it's been on a upward trajectory for years.
Speaker C:And then to come back and say, no, we need to change this now, like you said, they're, they're not in favor of it at all.
Speaker C:But I just think from strictly a business sense, kind of like, are you nuts?
Speaker B:Well, it's just, it's unfortunate timing because the pandemic the unintended consequence of the pandemic was golf exploded.
Speaker B:And golf has never been more popular.
Speaker B:And if you start taking away distance, I think you're going to discourage a lot of golfers.
Speaker B:And I just, I've been public on my stance.
Speaker B:I'm not, I'm okay with bifurcation.
Speaker B:I'm not in favor of taking away from the average player.
Speaker B:I just don't think that that benefits the game.
Speaker B:The game is hard enough and the game is not.
Speaker B:Golf courses are not in threat of being overrun by weekend warriors by any stretch.
Speaker B:And, and so, and here's my other thing that I believe.
Speaker B:If it is such an issue, grow the rough out at 290 yards from 290 to 320, narrow the fairway down to 10 or 15 yards, and make it a risk reward game.
Speaker B:And so if someone's going to go for it, they have to thread the needle.
Speaker B:And by growing the rough out, you solve the problem of distance because they'll either lay up or they'll go for it because they're down and they have to press.
Speaker B:I think that actually adds an interesting strategic aspect to the game that would be really exciting from a viewer standpoint.
Speaker B:And like I said, the important thing to remember is this is entertainment.
Speaker B:This is not, you know, this isn't cancer research.
Speaker B:You're, you know, you're, you're, you're tuning in on Saturday or Sunday because you enjoy golf and you want to see, you want to see golfers, professional golfers do things you're not capable of.
Speaker B:Same reason you watch the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball, and with the rollback that starts bringing them back into the mere mortal status.
Speaker B:And I don't think that will be as appealing for, for fans and viewers.
Speaker C:I think if the governor governing bodies really want to do something to help golfers, let them move it out of a divot.
Speaker C:I have, I have more people that I play with, talk to.
Speaker C:Even pros on this show will say I, you know, if I'll ask him, what's one thing?
Speaker C:In fact, you're going to get these questions after the regular show.
Speaker C:What's one thing?
Speaker C:If you were supreme commander of golf for a week, what would be your one decree?
Speaker C:And Gene with, without a doubt, 95% of them say, make it so we don't have to hit them out of a divot.
Speaker B:Well, what's so crazy about that is you could roll up next to a sprinkler head, but you're in a divot.
Speaker B:And if it rolls 2 inches to the left in the sprinkler head, you get a drop, but you don't get a drop in a divot.
Speaker B:And a divot is not a natural to me, part of the golf course that is a man made implement.
Speaker B:And yeah, these are things that are interesting.
Speaker B:I've never heard anyone argue the opposite.
Speaker B:And that's kind of fascinating because I get into these philosophical discussions all the time and I, and I have people in the industry that are in favor of the ball rollback.
Speaker B:I, a friend of mine who developed golf balls for Nike Golf, I ran into him at the marina here in San Diego and we got into a heated discussion and he was, you know, in favor.
Speaker B:And, and I respect that, I really do.
Speaker B:But I've never heard anyone say, oh, I think you should play it as Eliza, the divot, because it's, it's, you are being penal.
Speaker B:Usually a divot is in a fairway, meaning that you hit the fairway and yet you're being penalized for a good shot.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's those pesky little divot animals that come out after dark and make divots in the fairway.
Speaker C:Gene and I are going to take a break for a second.
Speaker C:We'll be right back with more on Groovy at the Green.
Speaker C:Stay with us.
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Speaker C:Hi, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker C:Grilling at the Green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker C:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker C:That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker C:Hey, everybody, I'm Charlie Reimer and you're listening to JT on grilling @ the Green.
Speaker C:Welcome back to Grilling at the Green.
Speaker C:We're talking with Gene Parenti today from Golf Labs and jeans down in the San Diego area.
Speaker C:I'm jealous you talked about Delmare.
Speaker C:I've been to Delmare.
Speaker C:I've been to the Polo fields there before.
Speaker C:Beautiful place and had, I think I had a lot of fun there.
Speaker C:I'm not really sure though.
Speaker C:Anyway, that was a long time ago.
Speaker C:Put on your prognostication hat.
Speaker C:We talked about the ball rollback in a second.
Speaker C:What futuristic thing can Gene Parenti.
Speaker C:See, for equipment, when I say equipment, that's limited to clubs, okay, but is there something out there that you've seen that you can talk about without naming names or whatever that's got a lot of potential?
Speaker B:So these things are all public.
Speaker B:One is 3D printed irons.
Speaker B:And there are manufacturing methods that are coming up that right now are expensive, but soon will become cost reasonable in maybe five years or so in which you can have your own set of irons created specifically for your swing type.
Speaker B:And right now, we are in a really, really amazing time.
Speaker B:If you've never been on a launch monitor or fit, go get fit.
Speaker B:They're everywhere.
Speaker B:And it's, it's, there's, there's a.
Speaker B:Here's the crazy part.
Speaker B:Only last time I heard, it was 20 or 25% of golfers get fit.
Speaker B:And the reason that they don't get fit, I believe there's time, there's cost, which is kind of minimal because you, you can go to a dick sporting goods and get, you know, get on a launch monitor for free.
Speaker B:The third is intimidation.
Speaker B:People are intimidated to because they don't want someone standing there looking at their bad golf swing.
Speaker B:The reality, though, is when I work with players, a bad golf swing for me is the most beautiful side in the world because it has the greatest potential for improvement.
Speaker B:A plus four golf swing is a nightmare for me because their potential for improvement is so small, and you've got to really search hard to figure out what's a way that you can improve.
Speaker B:So the worse you are, the more you should be fit, the more golf equipment can help you.
Speaker B:Launch monitors are amazing technology.
Speaker B:There's a piece of technology from Bushnell right now called their link system that is amazing that you can go hit all of your clubs on a launch monitor, upload those to your range finder, and you have a caddy.
Speaker B:So when you shoot the pin and it's 150 yards, your rangefinder knows that you hit your club 145 yards and there's a slight tailwind and it's downhill, and so it'll tell you to, you know, hit your seven iron.
Speaker B:It's, it's amazing technology.
Speaker B:So technology will become more omnipresent in golf, and as it does, the role that it's going to play is that of a caddy.
Speaker B:If anyone's ever used a caddy when you're traveling or, or locally, they usually save two to three strokes off your round because they will give you knowledge that you didn't have.
Speaker B:And with technology, you will be able to have the assistance of a caddy on all golf shots.
Speaker B:And that's, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker B:And then with manufacturing methods, it will start on the high end, and then it will move down.
Speaker B:I don't know if it'll ever be like at.
Speaker B:At a kind of a.
Speaker B:A lower in retail level, but a mid to higher in retail level.
Speaker B:There is a good possibility within five, 10 years, max, you will be able to hit balls on a launch monitor, go through a session, and get a personalized set of clubs designed and manufactured and shipped directly to you.
Speaker C:Does the Bushnell thing have something that, like, in my case, when you looked at it, it would say, you don't have the club, pal.
Speaker B:I think there's a button that says, pick up another sport or go home and watch the game.
Speaker C:Yeah, that would, that would be.
Speaker C:But you talked about fear.
Speaker C:That's the only thing I know.
Speaker C:You'd be looking at it.
Speaker C:Yeah, just.
Speaker C:Just says nope on the bottom.
Speaker C:Something like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker B:Golf is the one sport.
Speaker B:I built a robot for Nike.
Speaker B:Nike was a client of mine in the golf industry forever, but I built a robot for Nike that kicks soccer balls, footballs.
Speaker B:I built a robot that hits baseball bats.
Speaker B:I've worked in different sports, looked at all different implements, tennis rackets, basketballs, footballs, et cetera.
Speaker B:And golf is the only sport that equipment really matters.
Speaker B:Now, how much does it matter?
Speaker B:That's a question for debate.
Speaker B:But it matters to golfers.
Speaker B:And for a lot of golfers, what I found is there's the intellectual and the emotional side of equipment.
Speaker B:The intellectual side, they know they need to take lessons and grind on the range, but the emotional side says, man, my buddy hit that ball 15 yards past me.
Speaker B:I really got to check out that new driver.
Speaker B:And, yeah, and I think part of it, let's face it, most golf products are bought by men.
Speaker B:I'm totally in support of women.
Speaker B:Any women listening to this, you know, 100% use the same, you know, philosophy of getting fit.
Speaker B:But most of it are men over 50, and they don't have a lot to, like, buy.
Speaker B:They buy some watches that.
Speaker B:Buy some wine occasionally, you know, nice car.
Speaker B:But for the most part, if you play golf, golf equipment matters.
Speaker B:And so you tune in to see and there's an entertainment aspect to it.
Speaker B:But what, what's beautiful about this day and age?
Speaker B:And I do a lot of work with Golf Digest, and we issue a lot of videos.
Speaker B:If you go to golf Digest.
Speaker B:We do a three year review where we we analyze this year's products, last year's and the years before, the year before.
Speaker B:And we'll tell you honestly, sometimes it's like if you have last year's product, we don't see a tremendous improvement.
Speaker B:But maybe two years ago we do.
Speaker B:Or we'll find specific things.
Speaker B:But there is information out there right now that can allow you to make an informed decision that will be will benefit you by getting you into the closest piece of equipment that fits your needs and your game.
Speaker C:Cool, Gene, thank you.
Speaker C:Gene's going to stick around for after hours.
Speaker C:But real quick, if they want to find out more about Golf Labs, where can they find you?
Speaker B:So you can go to golf labs.com for information about my company.
Speaker B:I do a weekly podcast for Golf Digest called Golf IQ that you can find on We Do It.
Speaker B:It releases on Wednesdays that is on Spotify, Apple, any podcast.
Speaker B:And then if you go to Golf Digest you will see a lot of information.
Speaker B:We do testing for a series called mythbusters where we address a lot of the concepts and then we do equipment testing throughout the year.
Speaker B:So if you're interested in a new hybrid, new set of irons, wedge, driver, et cetera, go to Golf Digest and we'll be able to provide you information.
Speaker C:Cool.
Speaker C:Gene Parente, Golf Labs, thank you for being with us today.
Speaker C:And folks, thanks for listening and letting us take up part of your life with hopefully some interesting and fun stuff here.
Speaker C:We'll be back next week with another edition of Grilling at the Green.
Speaker C:Until then, go out, play some golf, have some fun and be kind.
Speaker C:Take care everybody.
Speaker A:Grilling at the Green is produced by JTSD Productions, LLC in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserve.
