Ian Baker Finch, Australian golfer and sports commentator - Afterhours
The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around an enlightening conversation with Ian Baker Finch, who shares insights from his newly released book, "To Hell and Back," which is now available in the United States after a successful international run. Throughout our discussion, we traverse the intricate landscape of Baker Finch's illustrious career, encompassing his notable achievements and the challenges he faced along the way. We delve into the dynamics of broadcasting in the golfing arena, highlighting the camaraderie and humorous exchanges that characterized his experiences with fellow commentators, such as Gary McCord and David Feherty. Furthermore, Baker Finch articulates his vision for enhancing the game of golf, focusing on pace of play and the necessity for evolving rules to maintain the sport's relevance and enjoyment. This episode promises to be an enriching exploration of golf, broadcasting, and personal anecdotes that resonate with enthusiasts of the sport.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Golf Channel
- CBS
- NBC
- USGA
- RNA
- Liv
- Joaquin Neiman
- Fleetwood Mac
- Eagles
- Little River Band
- Royal Birkdale
- Barnes and Noble
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, beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker B:That's Painted Hill's Natural Beef, everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome to After Hours.
Speaker B:Here in Grilling at the Green, I'm jt.
Speaker B:Today we are honored to have Ian Baker Finch with us.
Speaker B:Now, I'll do it right this time, Ian.
Speaker B:This is his new book.
Speaker B:It's new to the States.
Speaker B:It's been out for a while in other parts of the world.
Speaker B:World.
Speaker B:But it's new to the States.
Speaker B:It's a great read.
Speaker B:Ian Baker Finch, to hell and back with Jeff Saunders, who did the taps on the keyboards, I'm assuming.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And Ian covers everything.
Speaker B:He doesn't really hold anything back in this.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And it's a pleasure to read it, and it's a pleasure to see how he dealt with, you know, the rise, and I don't want to call it the fall, but the setbacks, and then came back and then had a brilliant career in broadcasting there.
Speaker B:I don't know if you're.
Speaker B:If you're ready for this, but I'll try.
Speaker A:I'll do my best.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Because like I said, there's some things that are kind of fun and thought provoking and other things that are just.
Speaker B:You're gonna scratch your head and go, what?
Speaker B:So we'll start with something easy.
Speaker B:Is there one story?
Speaker B:I'm sure there's hundreds, but is there one story from a tournament that you saw with the nefarious.
Speaker B:To McCord and Ferrity, as you're sitting in your.
Speaker B:We got to explain something to him.
Speaker B:You're.
Speaker B:When you're covering, like, 16, for example, Ian was kind of always on 16 there.
Speaker B:You're not actually there at the green.
Speaker B:You're looking at it on a screen.
Speaker B:For the most part, yes.
Speaker B:You know, people.
Speaker B:If you've ever been to a pro golf tournament, you'll see the Golf Channel, like, for example, Towers, which then moved to CBS or NBC or on the weekends, blah, blah, blah, same camera people, etc.
Speaker B:But usually it's just the camera guy up there, you know, and they're in a trailer or a booth somewhere.
Speaker B:But anyway, is there one story about those two yahoos that you could share where you just actually had to, like, cue off your mic for a minute and stop laughing?
Speaker A:Well, all the Time.
Speaker A:I worked with Gary for 14 years.
Speaker A:David left a little earlier.
Speaker A:He left for NBC.
Speaker A:I probably was with David 10 years at CBS.
Speaker A:But the best part of our whole time was the ad breaks.
Speaker A:And whenever we.
Speaker A:Yes, you stop down for an ad break, it might be a minute and a half.
Speaker A:Two, two and a half minutes at times.
Speaker A:That was when we had so much fun.
Speaker A:And McCord and Ferty and their banter back and forth really kept us all energized.
Speaker A:They, they were the energy of the show.
Speaker A:And then Peter Costas who was out on the course, you know, sweating it out, walking the fairways, they would always, you know, jab at him and have some fun with Peter.
Speaker A:But the, the things that they got up to David one night, he was doing the late night show at the Masters and he drove his car across the par three course because he was late to get to Butler cabin.
Speaker A:So instead of going around all the way around to get to go through the main entrance, he just said, oh, to heck with it.
Speaker A:I'll drive straight across the path.
Speaker A:Recourse.
Speaker A:Well, then he's in the cabin doing the late night show and the security guards finally caught up with him and they come in and anyway took the keys and there were so many totally irreverent, crazy things that they did.
Speaker A:But it was more, more than anything with McCord especially.
Speaker A:He was the energy of the show.
Speaker A:He was Alaric and he brought so much to it in his own way.
Speaker B:Oh, those guys had to be so much fun.
Speaker B:I will tell you something about Peter Costas.
Speaker B:A few years ago, when Dottie was on the show, the first time she was on the show, and I sent her an email and I said, hey, I had Peter Costas on the show, you know, three weeks ago or whatever, and that was a lot of fun.
Speaker B:And she, she wrote back, she goes, you make me laugh.
Speaker B:You're the only person that ever put Peter Costas and having fun in the same sentence.
Speaker A:That's not it.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:He's sharp, isn't she?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, she's so quick.
Speaker A:And I gotta say, though, I really enjoyed Peter because you're right, in a way.
Speaker A:He was so analytical and so smart.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, I enjoy and I love Dottie.
Speaker A:I've been working with Dottie since when David Feherty left.
Speaker A:Dottie came over.
Speaker A:So for 10 years.
Speaker A:Yeah, working with Dottie.
Speaker A:And I think that was the, the best part of working was the throwing it down to Dottie and Dottie and I having a conversation on golf.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Well, she like you said she's sharp, she doesn't miss a thing.
Speaker B:And of course, I did have to ask her in that interview about getting the bear and the white pants and all that stuff that's happened to her years ago, you know, and.
Speaker B:And she was, she was really good about it.
Speaker B:She laughed about it and all that.
Speaker B:Okay, if I declared you supreme ruler of golf, Ian.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Supreme ruler of Gulf for one day, what would you, as supreme ruler of golf decree?
Speaker A:Just one thing.
Speaker B:Yeah, you make 20 decrees if you want.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:You're the guy from.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:First one would be pace of play.
Speaker A:And then all of the things that surround pace of play, I would change.
Speaker A:No more straddling the line.
Speaker A:If you want to do the aim point stuff, which really helps, a lot of players do it, but you got to do it in 40 seconds and you're not allowed to straddle the line of the putt.
Speaker A:I would have no more dropping.
Speaker A:Just place the ball.
Speaker A:You've already paid your penalty.
Speaker A:Just place the ball where you want to place it.
Speaker A:Hit the shot.
Speaker A:Save so much time.
Speaker A:The dropping thing takes time.
Speaker B:That's crazy.
Speaker A:I think anything to do with speeding up the game.
Speaker A:I would make 12 on the stint meter, the maximum rather than 13 or 14.
Speaker A:If you get a windy day and the greens are 13, no wonder it takes five and a half hours to play because you can't chip the ball wall inside 10ft.
Speaker A:All the long putts.
Speaker A:You're three putting.
Speaker A:So anything at all to make it more fun and a little faster and more enjoyable.
Speaker B:So here's a subtopic of that.
Speaker B:Would you, as supreme ruler, tell the USGA quit messing around at the Open and, you know, put limitations on.
Speaker B:You know, you can't have four foot rough.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Just make the guys are so good.
Speaker A:The guys and girls play so well.
Speaker A:Doesn't need to be relevant anymore.
Speaker A:Par does not need to win the tournament at the U.S. open.
Speaker A:And they try and trick the course up and they say, oh, the best player or win.
Speaker A:I disagree.
Speaker A:I think the luckiest player in time sometimes wins.
Speaker A:Not always, but it can happen.
Speaker A:And this year was a perfect example.
Speaker A:Not giving Burnsy a drop.
Speaker A:Sam Burns a drop there when he was swinging through the mud.
Speaker A:Someone that weighed 20 pound more would have got a drop anyway, those sorts of things.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's too serious.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:Just set the course up like you'd like to.
Speaker A:They'd say they don't want to bifurcate the game.
Speaker A:The game is already bifurcated.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:My wife plays up there at 5,000 yards.
Speaker A:You play at 6,000, I play at 6,600.
Speaker A:My son in law plays at 7,000 and Scottie Scheffler plays at 8,000.
Speaker A:It's already bifurcated in the distance.
Speaker A:We play the courses.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So just make the rules different for the elite players so we can speed up the game and make it a bit more fun.
Speaker A:Yeah, I agree with your point.
Speaker B:Not, not to sound cynical, but sometimes I almost think, and I can do this because I'm over 65.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:But I think that sometimes the USGA and the RNA are trying to find ways to stay relevant, if you will.
Speaker B:They're great historical things.
Speaker B:There's great benefits to membership, I get all that.
Speaker B:But when they do these things like we've been talking about, it's like.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's, that's just me though.
Speaker A:I think they're trying to be good stewards of the game.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's hard to make a decision today that lasts a long time.
Speaker A:Winding the ball back or changing the driver, head size or whatever, I think is a necessity.
Speaker A:But there's a lot of people that will disagree with that and making it harder and harder to change.
Speaker A:But if, if players are going to start driving 400 yard par fours and hit nine irons into 600 yard par fives, something has to be done if you're really going to preserve the heritage of the game.
Speaker B:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker B:I agree with you on that.
Speaker B:Who was the biggest influence on you personally?
Speaker B:Was it your dad or was it Steve Williams or Jenny?
Speaker A:Well, I would say my personality in so many ways would be from my mum and dad, I'm sure even though I left home at 15.
Speaker A:Your formative years are formed, aren't they?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:At early age, Peter Thompson was a huge influence on me with my golf game.
Speaker A:And then over the years I've always, I've always tended to have a lot of older people around me.
Speaker A:I've always looked up to people and, and tried to follow their lead.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of people.
Speaker A:Jim Nance would be one where I always feel like I'm a better person having spent time with him.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Jim just gives that, that aura, if you will, and through the broadcast and when you see him on other things, he just seems like that's him, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Wonderful person.
Speaker B:You're on the road a lot, or you were for many, many years.
Speaker B:Name a place that you always kind of went to.
Speaker B:Let's talk about broadcasting someplace like Harbor Town or Augusta or Southern California in the spring.
Speaker B:But what's one place you always look forward to going.
Speaker B:And maybe.
Speaker B:And let me reference this for you.
Speaker B:Maybe it was a specific restaurant or a specific something you saw or something you made time to do at a particular location or venue or event.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That is difficult to nail down to.
Speaker A:To just one.
Speaker A:Because, as you say, we.
Speaker A:We always enjoyed going back to the LA Open, to the Genesis, going to pebble beach, going to Harbor Town, obviously, Augusta Memorial, some of the great tournaments.
Speaker A: ents I was invited to play in: Speaker A:I love the course and the people and the style of place at.
Speaker A:In Fort Worth.
Speaker A:The stake there is awesome, too.
Speaker A:We always go to some great state places.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I think Colonial would be the one that I.
Speaker A:That I really enjoy going back to and getting a chance to put that plaid jacket on and.
Speaker A:But there's so many great memories.
Speaker A:This year was the 41st time I had been to some of those events.
Speaker B:Oh, my.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's really.
Speaker A:The cat was the catalyst last year for me stepping away from doing the television.
Speaker A:I could have stayed on for another 10 years.
Speaker A:I was certainly, you know, offered the job to stay.
Speaker A:But having been 40 years doing the same thing at the same places.
Speaker A:Augusta, Harbour, Town, Colonial, various others.
Speaker A:It's a long time to be going back, you know, the same.
Speaker A:The same Hertz counter, the same Delta Airlines desk.
Speaker A:You know, gets a bit monotonous.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:When they call you by your first name, you know.
Speaker B:You know, you've been there too long.
Speaker B:What's one thing you wish spectators would not do?
Speaker A:Just singing out those crazy sayings.
Speaker B:Mashed potatoes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Someone hitting a shot.
Speaker A:I hate that.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, I'm with you on that.
Speaker B:Okay, Something simple here.
Speaker B:What's your favorite color?
Speaker B:Lifesaver.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker A:Favorite color.
Speaker A:Green.
Speaker B:Good man.
Speaker B:Good man.
Speaker B:What's one song that you want to hear on the radio when you go start your car in the morning?
Speaker B:Something you would really look forward to.
Speaker A:Taking it easy.
Speaker A:By the Eagles or Desperado or something.
Speaker A:By the Eagles or something in that era?
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:That's my era, too.
Speaker B:Name somebody who you think is an unsung hero in the golf world.
Speaker A:You mean as an underrated player or just anyone at all in the golf.
Speaker B:You can handle it any way you wish.
Speaker A:That's a tricky one, because there's some.
Speaker A:That I really like what they're doing that some people in the industry would know.
Speaker A:I love what I think Augusta national and the Masters.
Speaker A:Fred Ridley, I think he does a great job, but he's not really an unsung hero because everyone knows him.
Speaker A:But I think he's doing a good job of leading in the world of golf.
Speaker B:Well, name a player you think is underrated.
Speaker A:There's so many.
Speaker A:This is so.
Speaker A:It was so good to see Russell Henley this year come Good because I always thought he was underrated.
Speaker A:He was such a good player.
Speaker A:It was good to see him come back and play really, really well.
Speaker A:You know, I'll go out on a limb here with a lot of people that don't watch Liv or don't care for Liv.
Speaker A:The young fellow over there that's playing great golf is Joaquin Neiman.
Speaker A:And I think if he were playing on the PGA Tour, he'd be really, really highly ranked.
Speaker A:I think he deserves a start in the majors, even though maybe he's not getting one.
Speaker A:But he travels.
Speaker A:He won the Australian Open last year when he came over to Australia to play.
Speaker A:He's won five times on the live tour this year.
Speaker A:He's really someone that.
Speaker A:I think if he were more in the mainstream and playing PGA Tour golf, I think he'd be someone hard to beat.
Speaker B:Do you think that lives going to continue or is it eventually just going to fade?
Speaker B:I mean, I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't think it'll fade.
Speaker A:Only because they have so much money.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, the Saudis are willing to throw $1 billion a year.
Speaker A:Something that's, you know, getting 200,000 people watching on TV.
Speaker A:A test pattern on CBS gets more viewers than.
Speaker A:Than live does.
Speaker A:But it's not to say that those players aren't good players.
Speaker A:John Ram.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Joaquin Ne.
Speaker A:There's a bunch of good players over there that really, really good.
Speaker A:Even Sergio's still playing well in his mid-40s.
Speaker A:But anyway, it will never merge because it's three rounds and it's shotgun start and there's so many things that PGA Tour are not right.
Speaker A:Does it have a place?
Speaker A:I think it kind of does.
Speaker A:Like, it can be that, that other tour, 54 players, 54 holes, a bunch of money to play for.
Speaker A:And yeah, I would.
Speaker A:If I was running the mages, I would give the leading five players a start in the Mages because the leading five players are still really good.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, it's.
Speaker B:I just think.
Speaker B:It's not that anybody cares what I think, but I was.
Speaker B:I've been to Saudi Arabia.
Speaker B:I had some dealings with them back in the 90s and they treated me very well.
Speaker B:I Guess I'm old school, if you will.
Speaker B:And I can probably loop you into this is.
Speaker B:I don't think it's an actual Tour event.
Speaker B:It's more like an exhibition to me.
Speaker B:It's a made for TV event.
Speaker B:And that's fine.
Speaker B:That's fine.
Speaker B:But I. I don't hold it as far as the competitions themselves, with the.
Speaker B:At the same level as the Tour.
Speaker B:So that's just me.
Speaker B:That's just me.
Speaker B:If you could play with one of your golfing heroes, they can be long gone or they can still be around.
Speaker B:Who would it be?
Speaker B:If they called you and said, ian, let's go out and play around tomorrow at 10. Who would it be?
Speaker A:A Thompson.
Speaker B:Peter Thompson.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That seems like a reasonable choice to me.
Speaker B:Name something that you were really enthused about when you first saw it or heard of it, and then over time, your excitement kind of fizzled.
Speaker A:I can't really think of anything except every time I felt like I found something new, a new move or a new thing in my game that didn't work.
Speaker A:I had less enthusiasm for it after a short period of time.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:That's the only thing I can think of.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:If we put Ian's skills to music, what would the music be?
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It'd be.
Speaker A:It'd be Eagles radio.
Speaker A:It'd be Little River Band.
Speaker A:It'd be a blend of just great harmony and easy listening.
Speaker B:Well, we grew up when it was the best music as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker B:And I used to spin records for a living a long time ago.
Speaker B:And I can tell you that from my perspective, my daughter can't see my infatuation with the Eagles or even Jimmy Buffett or stuff like that.
Speaker B:And I was like, no, you don't understand.
Speaker B:We grew up when the.
Speaker B:The music was really good.
Speaker B:You know, you can sing along to it.
Speaker A:Fleetwood Mac was good, too.
Speaker A:I know every word of every song that Fleetwood Mac did.
Speaker B:Okay, a couple more here and then I'll let you go.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Because I don't want to keep you too long.
Speaker B:This is kind of an oddball question, Ian, but I know you'll handle it.
Speaker B:What would be your last meal if you were on death row?
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:It would have to be steak and steak and salad and baked potato.
Speaker A:Glass of red wine.
Speaker B:That a boy.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:And last question.
Speaker B:If I gave you a box, and in that box was everything you had lost in your life, what would be the first thing you reach for?
Speaker A:My.
Speaker A:My golf game of the early 90s.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:It's in there.
Speaker B:It's in there.
Speaker A: ent back to royal Birkdale in: Speaker A:I hadn't been back since winning in 91.
Speaker A:And I came in the front door and, you know, everyone was, like, really respectful and, hey, it's great to have you back.
Speaker A:And I hadn't played well for a couple of years, so it wasn't like I came back as a champion.
Speaker A:I came back as the past champion at Royal Burkdale, but.
Speaker A:And I said, I really just want you to take me to the locker room because they changed the clubhouse around and.
Speaker A:And he took me in and he said, you were there.
Speaker A:I said, I know where I was.
Speaker A:I was locker number 19.
Speaker A:19 is my lucky number, as it turned out.
Speaker A:1.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A:And I went in and opened up the locker, and he said, what are you looking for?
Speaker A:I said, I'm just checking to see if I left my golf game in here.
Speaker A:So it's kind of appropriate you ask that question.
Speaker B:Do you think Royal Birkdale is kind of haunted?
Speaker B:Because I know other people have had trouble after that.
Speaker A:Yeah, maybe so.
Speaker A:But what a great golf course.
Speaker A:The changes they've done in the last couple of years have improved it, so I'm looking forward to going back.
Speaker A:It's at Royal Birkdale this year.
Speaker B:Oh, cool.
Speaker A:It's coming.
Speaker B:Ian Baker Finch has got a new book.
Speaker B:It's new to the States, as I said.
Speaker B:To Hell and Back with Jeff Saunders, if I can see it.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you can find it on Amazon, and I think you can find it at Barnes and Noble and some other places like that.
Speaker B:It's a good read.
Speaker B:I really enjoyed it.
Speaker B:And Ian, thank you so much.
Speaker A:Thanks a lot, Jeff.
Speaker A:Good to be with you.
Speaker B:Good to be with you.
Speaker B:We'll be back next week with another edition of After Hours here on Grilling.
Speaker B:It's green.
Speaker B:Until then, go out, play some golf, have some fun and be kind.
Speaker B:Take care, everybody.
