Gene Parente - Golf-Labs Afterhours
This podcast episode features a compelling dialogue between J.T. and Gene Parente from Golf Labs, delving into the nuances of golfing culture and personal experiences. The discourse encompasses a variety of topics, including the challenges faced by professional golfers, the evolving nature of music preferences, and the significance of personal connections with family and heritage. Notably, Gene articulates his philosophy on music, likening it to a shark that must continuously move forward, which serves as an intriguing metaphor for personal growth and adaptation. Furthermore, the conversation takes a reflective turn as Gene shares poignant thoughts on loss and the enduring value of familial relationships, emphasizing the importance of expressing love to those we hold dear. This episode is enriched by personal anecdotes and profound insights, making it a captivating listen for both golf enthusiasts and those interested in the intersection of life and sport.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Golf Labs
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Grilling at the Green after hours.
Speaker A:The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker A:Hi, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Grilling at the green.
Speaker A:Grilling at the green is brought to you in part by Painted Hills natural beef.
Speaker A:Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:That's Painted Hills natural beef, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to after hours here on Grilling at the green.
Speaker A:I'm J.T.
Speaker A:we have got a great guest today.
Speaker A:If you listen to the regular show, Gene Parente from golf Labs.
Speaker A:Someday I'm going to come down and.
Speaker A:Because it's about an hour and a half flight for me and I'm going to watch you go through testing.
Speaker B:Love to.
Speaker B:Love to have you.
Speaker A:Yeah, that would be great.
Speaker A:So now I'm going to test you, though.
Speaker B:Why don't, why don't you come down in January in Portland?
Speaker B:January or February in Portland when you don't see the sun for like 45 days.
Speaker A:Let me tell you.
Speaker A:I left.
Speaker A:I left home at 18.
Speaker A:I moved to Scottsdale, was working.
Speaker A:Then I went to college in L. A for a couple of years and I loved it.
Speaker A:And then I came back and finished at Oregon State.
Speaker A:But then over the years, every chance I got, I headed back to Southern California just for the sunshine and all that.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:I still like doing that.
Speaker A:Okay, we'll start simple here.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:For you.
Speaker B:Simple is good.
Speaker A:Simple is good.
Speaker A:What's the one song you want to hear on the radio when you start your car?
Speaker B:So that is a really, really loaded question.
Speaker B:So I am.
Speaker B:I have a philosophy for music that's a little.
Speaker B:I'm 59 and my philosophy is a little different than most 59 year olds or, you know, middle aged men.
Speaker B:I take my kids to Coachella every year.
Speaker B:And I am really into new music.
Speaker B:And the reason is, like, my philosophy on music is music's like a shark.
Speaker B:It's gotta keep swimming forward or it dies.
Speaker B: h them, everything's from the: Speaker B:And I'm listening to stuff and they're like, what the hell is that?
Speaker B:Right now I'm really into a band called the Parcels.
Speaker B:And so I would have to say something from them.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I'm a little bit of an outlier as far as that question is concerned.
Speaker A:You're probably the first person I've ever heard say that or confess to it anyway, like that.
Speaker B:Like I said, I marched to my own drummer.
Speaker B:I think it was part of his growing up in Palm Springs, but there you go.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:What is a course that you want to play but haven't played?
Speaker B:Oh, good question.
Speaker B:I would have to say Cypress or Pine Valley.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, I mean, it's interesting.
Speaker B:I've known a lot of people that have played Augusta.
Speaker B:I would love to play Augusta, but it's kind of funny, Augusta for.
Speaker B:For a lot of people that I like.
Speaker B:I've talked to US Amateur champions that have played, you know, every golf course imaginable, and Augusta doesn't rank as high up there, but Cypress, just for its location, and I was born just up the road, and Pine Valley just for how diabolical it is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You're on the road a lot.
Speaker A:You were on the road when I first reached out to you to do on the show name one place or one thing.
Speaker A:And when I say thing, like a restaurant or something you look forward to because you have clients and use a lot.
Speaker A:Go to the same places.
Speaker A:You know, if you're doing stuff with Golf Digest or if you're doing stuff from Nike, used to come up here once in a while and that type of thing.
Speaker A:Name something that you always look forward to when you travel, if anything.
Speaker A:Travel's not as much fun as it used to be.
Speaker A:I'll.
Speaker A:I grant you that.
Speaker B:So I have been really fortunate.
Speaker B:And I'm about to leave in three weeks.
Speaker B:The RNA has been a client of mine.
Speaker B:This will be my 20s, second year, going over to St. Andrews, and Scotland has become my home away from home in that.
Speaker B:And I usually take a week off.
Speaker B:I have traveled extensively through Scotland.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's my, like, reset.
Speaker B:Emotional reset when I get over there.
Speaker B:Half the time I don't even play golf.
Speaker B:I just go hiking or I go salmon fishing or I do something.
Speaker B:It's just such beautiful country.
Speaker B:But there is a restaurant in Edinburgh called the Devil's Advocate, and it's down this little alleyway right off of the Royal Mile.
Speaker B:You'd miss it if you didn't have gps.
Speaker B:And it's this funky, cool restaurant in Gothic Edinburgh.
Speaker B:And every time I fly in, I go and have a meal there, and that's my ritual.
Speaker B:And it just.
Speaker B:It, like, centers me.
Speaker B:And I realize, man, I'm in Scotland now, I'm not in Southern California.
Speaker B:And I just do this, like, mental set.
Speaker B:And then I usually have this amazing trip because I allow myself to just be immersed in all things.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:By the way, I'll tell you a story real quick about Scotland.
Speaker A:I'VE not been.
Speaker A:It's on the list.
Speaker A:I've been lots of other places in the world, but for some reason I haven't been to Scotland, but I'm going to go to Glasgow and the reason I'm going to go to Glasgow is my family was big in the horse business for a long time.
Speaker A:When my dad was in the war, the police department in Glasgow gave him a breast collar for his horses, one of his horses, and it says Glasgow Police on it.
Speaker A:Now, this thing.
Speaker A:This thing is.
Speaker A:I'm sure it was well used when they first gave it to him.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A: And that was in: Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:Because it belongs in a museum for them, not hanging on my wall, you know what I mean?
Speaker B:That is such a great story.
Speaker A:Yeah, that is.
Speaker B:And you will, by the way, you will love Glasgow.
Speaker B:So Edinburgh is the posh San Francisco of Scotland.
Speaker B:Glasgow is the New Jersey.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's more working class.
Speaker B:But it's funny, I love Edinburgh and Edinburgh will always be my heart, because I fly into Edinburgh.
Speaker B:But over the last five years, I've got a chance to go to Glasgow a little bit.
Speaker B:And it is.
Speaker B:It's gritty, but the people are amazing and they're really friendly and they're.
Speaker B:And they're just.
Speaker B:They're very.
Speaker B:The one thing about Scott's that I love, they don't suffer fools gladly.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They're very kind of direct people and I appreciate that, but they're also very, very kind.
Speaker B:Love Glasgow.
Speaker B:And from Glasgow, Turnberry is like 25 minutes away.
Speaker B:All prune.
Speaker B:All those courses are right there.
Speaker B:I mean, the reality is, it's kind of crazy from Glasgow to Edinburgh, it's like an hour and a half.
Speaker B:It's not that far.
Speaker B:But it is a cultural divide even in Scotland, like the Glaswegians, as they are called, just.
Speaker B:They are, like, bewildered by those from Edinburgh.
Speaker B:And those from Edinburgh will tell you to watch your purse and your wallet and everything when you go to Glasgow, go.
Speaker B:Because they're rough and tumble and it's just crazy because it's an hour and a half away and yet there's these just two totally different perspectives on.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker A:You're making me want to go faster now, Gene.
Speaker B:Get.
Speaker B:Get on an airplane and go that.
Speaker B:I am a huge believer, you know, it is the best time to go is October, November, the tourists are gone, the weather's not too bad.
Speaker B:And you'll.
Speaker B:You'll have an amazing experience.
Speaker A:I'm gonna.
Speaker A: show, I'm gonna put it on the: Speaker A:Please do.
Speaker A:I'm serious.
Speaker B:And send some pictures of, of that presentation.
Speaker B:I, I'm a big history guy.
Speaker B:I love history, and so I love to hear that story.
Speaker B:And I just, I 100% support what you're doing.
Speaker B:I totally agree with that, and I think that's just really cool.
Speaker A:I'll do it, and I will.
Speaker A:Well, we've got each other's numbers, so we can do that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I'll get.
Speaker B:And I'll give you tips along because I've spent a lot of time there.
Speaker A:I would appreciate that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What's one thing you wish spectators at tour events, ladies or guys, would not do?
Speaker B:Would not do?
Speaker A:I mean, most of the time, they're pretty, pretty good.
Speaker B:I mean, obviously, yelling in someone's backswing or being, you know, we're, we're in this.
Speaker B:So social media has created this kind of artificial connection where we feel like we know these people better than we do.
Speaker B:And, and because of that, you add a little alcohol and you get this situation where people feel like they can say or do things that there's a degree of familiarity that they just don't have.
Speaker B:I mean, I, I, you know, I'm all for respect on the golf course because in other sports, I was at a.
Speaker B:My daughter is a senior at Loyola Chicago, and I was there a month or so ago, and I went to a Cubs game, and I was like, oh, my God.
Speaker B:You say these things to the outfielders.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, there's just, like, there's a little bit of the Christians and the Lions.
Speaker B:If you go to a football game or you go to a baseball game.
Speaker B:And I, I don't.
Speaker B:I'm not on the side of the golf club and having to just be, you know, it.
Speaker B:Totally solemn, but at the same time, at least show the base level of respect.
Speaker B:Don't scream in someone's backswing or don't sit there and taunt someone as they walk down the fairway.
Speaker B:It's just, that's, that's, that's not what the sport is about, because these players are playing themselves in the field.
Speaker B:They're not playing, you know, they're not hitting somebody else or doing something in which that activity involves comment.
Speaker B:And so it's, it is a unique game in that regard.
Speaker A:As one of my old friends used to say, couple glasses of loudmouth and you get a bad case of the double dose of the dumb ass.
Speaker B:Yeah, 100%, you know, but I mean, trust me.
Speaker B: in: Speaker B:It was on Wednesday during the pro am.
Speaker B:And I saw that to the extreme.
Speaker B:I did it in front of 22,000 well lubricated fans.
Speaker B:And when I walked in with my robot, I felt like Mad Max's beyond the Thunderdome met the Coliseum.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm looking at, you know, I'm waiting for them to bust the lions out and eat me.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, that is.
Speaker B:That is the extreme.
Speaker B:And for that tournament, that's fine, and I'm in favor of it, but it's like it for the most part, just, you know, be cool.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's what you're there for.
Speaker A:If you saw Tina Turner walking out right then, you knew you were done.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Okay, a couple more here.
Speaker A:Name a player on, on one of the tours that you think is underrated.
Speaker B:Underrated.
Speaker B:Well, he won.
Speaker B:He won.
Speaker B:Tori Adberg.
Speaker B:I am a huge.
Speaker B:I think his upside is huge.
Speaker B:And he is, I think in the next five or 10 years, going to be a sensational player.
Speaker B:He's got the length, he's got, He's.
Speaker B:He's got the whole game, and he's already won.
Speaker B:So it'll be interesting to see if he can put it together.
Speaker B:The, the challenge with the tour, the challenge with the whole thing is the difference between success and failure is one stroke around.
Speaker B:And for a lot of these guys, they have the tools, but the mental aspect is always a question.
Speaker B:Look at Tommy Fleetwood.
Speaker B:I mean, he is an amazing player, and it took him so long to finally get over the hump and win this FedEx cup, which is a nice way to break it from a financial standpoint, but it just shows you player like that has all the tools.
Speaker B:And yet it is so tough to win on the tour and then win consistently and then win in majors, which is another, like, hurdle and another level.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:A couple more here.
Speaker A:Gene, what's your favorite color?
Speaker A:Lifesaver.
Speaker A:This really important question.
Speaker B:I haven't had a lifesaver in forever.
Speaker B:The ones that I'm thinking about that I enjoyed as a kid were those tropical ones.
Speaker B:I remember those.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't know what color that was.
Speaker B:Orange maybe, but yeah, I always liked the tropical ones when I was a kid.
Speaker A:Okay, last question.
Speaker A:If I gave you a box with everything you've lost in your life in It.
Speaker A:What would be the first thing you would reach for?
Speaker B:Lost physically, it's all you do.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker A:It's your choice.
Speaker B:You know, the one thing that I would say, this is gonna sound a little melancholy, but the one thing I've lost is being able to call and talk to my mom and.
Speaker B:And just having that connection.
Speaker B:You know, I tell people and my dad, but especially my mom.
Speaker B:It's like, you know, the one growing old is beautiful because it beats the alternative, but it always is tinged with this melancholy because of the existential nature.
Speaker B:And so, you know, I tell people all the time, if your parents are alive or, you know, you have family, tell them that you love them, be there for them, because, you know, nothing's permanent.
Speaker B:And so, you know, when people pass and they go away, try, you know, try to have, you know, a complete sense.
Speaker B:And you'll always feel that sense of loss.
Speaker B:But it would be nice to be able to check in every once in.
Speaker A:A while when you say that.
Speaker A:Not funny, but I said the same thing or very similar to my father.
Speaker A:I was very, very close to my father.
Speaker A:And I was close to my mom, too, don't get me wrong.
Speaker A:But my dad always had this kind of cowboy wisdom he would lay on, you know, he was very funny guy, and I really miss that.
Speaker A:Anyway, Gene Perenni from Golf Labs, and it's been great to meet you and to talk with you and thank you for being on the show and for sticking around for After Hours.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker B:This was a lot of fun.
Speaker A:No problem.
Speaker A:We'll be back next week with another edition of After Hours.
Speaker A:Until then, like we always say, go out, play some golf, have some fun.
Speaker A:Be kind.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
